Chapter 51
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Translator: MadScientist
Chapter: 51
Chapter Title: Song of Ice and Fire (1)
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After escaping the massive uproar caused by Old Lady Hong Soon-deok's tearful meltdown,
I'd gotten permission for an overnight stay and was now spending my second day at the main family estate instead of the academy.
Master Seo didn't seem too thrilled about it.
But know thyself and know thy enemy, and you'll win a hundred battles.
You never knew when some century-old jiangshi that was gunning for me might come pounding at the door, ready to kidnap me. I needed a plan.
Curiosity struck, so I unfolded the paper I'd kept carefully tucked away in my Heavenly Silken Black Dragon Robe all this time.
It was a rough map of ancient, primitive China's vast lands, marked here and there with the locations of secret manuals.
[Yunnan Stone Forest – Lesser Immeasurable Art]
[Hunan Dongting Lake – Six Veins Divine Sword]
[Gansu Dunhuang – Ridge Wave Secret Guard]
[Liaoning Phoenix Mountain – Life and Death Branch]
[Shandong Mount Tai – Eight Emperors Six Harmonies Art]
[Zhejiang Mount Putuo – Lone Guest Nine Swords]
"Dongseon really is a legend."
Dongting Lake was at least somewhat close, relatively speaking.
It would've been nice if they'd added descriptions of the martial arts.
But all that was there was a stingy line: 'For descriptions of mode-added martial arts, check the cafe.'
Like, you had to taste it to know if it was shit or soybean paste?
Judging from cases like the Northern Bright Divine Art and White Rainbow Palm Force, they were probably all soybean paste anyway.
But damn, every single one was ridiculously far away.
Even if I ditched the academy and went on a grand tour around China, it'd take months—no, years—to hit them all.
Nothing to do but collect them one by one starting next fall when free semester kicked in.
The game ends the moment you graduate, but reality doesn't.
"……!"
That very instant.
A massive revelation crashed down in my mind.
Come to think of it.
No one but me could read these mode-added martial arts manuals anyway. Probably.
So.
Why not tell some reliable folks the rough locations, let them grab the treasures however they wanted, and just have them bring back the manuals with the weird writing?
Am I a genius?
Do I have what it takes to be a mid-sized company president?
Life's all about power plays and subcontracting anyway.
"Come on out. Time to train."
I stuffed the map back into my bosom with a wistful glance and followed my Sword Demon master.
Before the Flower Realm, even I was just a nobody.
"Today, learn demonic arts instead of swordsmanship."
"Pardon?"
"Is my disciple... talking back?"
"Ow!"
Sensing my displeased glare, Master promptly jammed his scabbard into my head.
Were all masters just wired to love cracking their disciples' skulls?
I rolled on the ground clutching my head in agony.
But I was Geum Sihyeon, the pride of the righteous martial world and a future pillar of the community.
I couldn't just cave and fall to the dark side here.
"That Hong Soon-deok girl seems to have you marked good. Fighting her head-on at your level is hopeless, so at least you need to be able to run."
"Fair point...?"
"This seat's Soul Moon Demonic Eye mimics the Heavenly Demon's Heart Moon Nine Forms Art. At higher levels, it precisely detects qi waves over a vast area."
Master closed his eyes.
"Let's see. Luri's at the market right now with a friend and a spirit beast. Small one, so probably a rat spirit?"
"Whoa."
My trust in my Sword Demon master shot up 200%.
Sure enough, today that big softie Sojeo—kind-hearted in proportion to her size—was spending the whole day cuddling up to Luri.
...I won't say it's a stalking-optimized martial art, though.
It would've been perfect if he'd stopped at that explanation.
"This seat is still an undefeated sword master. What do you think is the secret?"
"Don't tell me... the power of the Soul Moon Demonic Eye?"
"Exactly. When facing foes you can't possibly beat, the best policy is to avoid them altogether—no defeats that way."
...Is that right?
Master, is that for real?
It kinda sounds right?
It's... kinda convincing...?
Either way, it fit perfectly with my survivalist philosophy.
"Please teach me."
"Very well."
We agreed to proceed.
Following the incantation my Sword Demon master chanted, I sat cross-legged, closed my eyes, and slowly circulated my energy.
True to demonic arts, unlike orthodox righteous techniques, the true qi flowed in reverse.
Even I, a martial arts newbie, could tell this was a straight shot to qi deviation or demonic corruption.
Thankfully, my vast Northern Bright true qi—like an endless ocean—flowed smoothly upstream against the current, like spirited salmon leaping upriver.
"Tch."
Observing the energy flowing through my body, Master clicked his tongue.
He'd clearly been hoping for some easy demonic corruption.
Hah.
From now on, this technique's a righteous martial art.
I can do whatever I want with it.
Its name is now Soul Moon Divine Eye.
Renaming it gave it a bit of a salty vibe, but Divine Eye beat Demonic Eye any day.
TThe sensation around my Chengqi acupoint—right below my eyes—grew increasingly tingly and warm.
Just like when some bastard smeared toothpaste under my sleeping eyes on a school trip as a kid.
And with that, even with my eyes closed,
a sense of expanding vision washed over me, as if I'd opened my mind's eye.
First came the Sword Demon master up close—his body honed like a single blade, every muscle refined, radiating an intense presence with vast inner power permeating his frame.
Then the servants doing chores inside the Ten Thousand Gold Manor, even the patrolling guards—
"Stop. That's enough."
I obediently followed my master's words.
"Ah...?"
What I'd sensed until moments ago overlapped onto my physical reality like a projection.
Just like infrared footage.
I could peer right through the walls at the people beyond. It felt weird.
"A genius truly is a genius."
"Heh."
"A heaven-sent disaster of a guy."
"Tch."
Not words I wanted to hear from a middle-aged perv whose ID was 'MalangLover'.
"The core imagery is based on defying heaven, so overdoing it will strain your qi and blood. Some went blind from it—ease into it slowly."
"...You're teaching this to your one and only disciple?"
"Get sucked dry and die by Hong Soon-deok, then."
"I've always wondered where your keen insight came from. Turns out it's this Soul Moon—no, Soul Moon Demonic Eye."
He didn't reply,
but Master's lips twitched upward.
A middle-aged perv who loved compliments.
No matter how advanced my sensing got, there were too many things you couldn't see without eyes. Better not push it.
After enduring what was billed as training but was really brutal beatings, I checked my smartphone and found one new message.
[Sister Seol: Can you help me out with something?]
What was this?
What did it imply?
Thankfully, no redhead alliance ambushed me on the way from the main house to the academy.
"Long time no see!"
Since bonding as comrades on Mount Taebaek,
she'd started speaking casually to me before I knew it. Today, Sister Seol greeted me with her usual bubbly cheer.
Being from the north, she seemed to hate the heat—wearing quite thin clothes.
Hmm.
Fashion's all about thin layers, after all.
"N-not anything big. Just help me with some training? Got time?"
"If Sword Master asks, it's a disciple's duty to help."
"Ugh, enough with the Sword Master."
Sister Seol made a pouty face that didn't suit her age.
From her explanation,
it seemed that idiot Moyong Taek had handed over his lucky find to his sister on a silver platter.
I might've done the same if I had a sister who looked out for me.
Past life, this life.
Why did I only get a useless little sister?
"I've been practicing the Blazing Shadow Heart Formula steadily, so I should be able to help plenty."
"Thanks! Wanna go now?"
No reason not to.
I followed Sister Seol to an instructor-only training room deep in the martial hall.
Way bigger than what students got, with walls that looked solidly built—not some half-assed iron plating over rocks.
Proof our tuition was being lavishly misused on the instructors' luxuries!
"You know about ice crystals?"
Snapping me out of my thoughts, Sister Seol launched into explanation mode.
Basically, ice crystals were an amazing spiritual medicine for yin-based arts practitioners.
"The Icy Jade Divine Art is top-tier among ice arts, but even it falls short of the pure yin energy in an ice crystal. To fully absorb it, you dilute the purity a bit by mixing in some yang-hot qi. That's where I need your help, Sihyeon."
"Got it."
Like, you couldn't chug 100-proof pure alcohol straight.
Dilute it to 70-proof Bacardi with some water first.
Perfectly understood.
As I positioned my palms near her back—cross-legged, right by the Body Pillar Blood acupoint—
"Mind closing your eyes for a sec?"
"...? Sure."
I obediently shut them.
Swish.
Swish swish.
"...!"
A tantalizing sound began—straight out of a man's wildest fantasies.
Amid early arrhythmia symptoms,
"...Okay, ready. Direct contact lets the energy flow better, so..."
Sister Seol's voice, laced with shy embarrassment, tickled my ear.
Peeking my eyes open just a bit,
a snowy white back, sculpted like carved ice—different from Luri's I'd glimpsed before.
This life destined for back-eye candy, huh.
"O-okay, here goes?"
At twenty-eight and still nervous in this setup,
she stuttered a bit, bit down on the icicle-like ice crystal in her hand, and began circulating her inner power.
Shhh—
It melted in an instant.
"Ngh."
"Urk."
An unprecedented force raged vividly inside her body.
Feeling the massive pure yin qi pouring through her meridians,
I synced my Northern Bright true qi—drawing up yang-hot energy—to gradually dilute its purity bit by bit.
Sweat poured from my body, but an intense chill swirled around her—enough to flash-freeze my sweat into ice.
But.
"...!"
The ice crystal's energy was overwhelmingly vast.
Sister Seol's already pale face drained to ghostly white in seconds.
Even with my help, the pure yin qi—too potent even for peak experts—surged endlessly, uncontainable.
...Not because it's a mod-boosted elixir, right?
I shoved the ominous thought aside and poured in even more true qi to assist.
But the energy was beyond what even absolute peak masters could handle—we were slowly being pushed back.
I sensed it instinctively.
Hang on, and it'd be qi deviation.
Worst case, her dantian would freeze solid, ice spreading through all meridians to death.
"Sister, hold on! Excuse me for this!"
No time for propriety.
Letting her die here? I couldn't face Taek.
...Come to think of it, if Taek had eaten it solo, he'd be dead too.
I flooded her body with as much energy as possible at once.
Then, pulling my hands from her back, I shifted to her front—palms on her middle and lower dantian.
Firm abs that rivaled mine.
And petite but noticeably soft...
Ping...
Snap out of it!
Even in this life-or-death crisis, my multitasking brain got a wake-up slap.
Focus.
Fail this, and I'm going down with her.
My hands felt like they'd freeze solid in the raging ice crystal energy, but I calmly maxed out the Northern Bright Divine Art.
If water's overflowing one vessel,
transfer it to another.
Our only way to both survive this
was for me to become that other vessel for the ice crystal's power.