Chapter 13
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Translator: 8uhl
Chapter: 13
Chapter Title: The Ice Jade Fairy
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“Hoo.”
A misty breath scattered before his eyes.
Beyond it stretched a dazzlingly white snowfield.
Beom Gye-wi wanted nothing more than to escape this godforsaken cold, even for a moment. But he couldn't.
His destination was right before his eyes.
“Why the hell would anyone live in a place like this?”
Grumbling, Beom Gye-wi didn't stop walking. He pushed onward through the biting cold that felt like it would freeze him solid.
How long had he been walking?
The snowfield had seemed endless.
But at its edge, a forest appeared. He found it strange that trees could even grow in a place like this.
*Snap.*
Beom Gye-wi stepped into the forest, breaking frozen branches as he went. Before long, he found a small pond.
Beside it stood a wooden hut, and a sign swaying in the gentle breeze caught his eye.
‘Palace of Cultivated Ice?’
Calling a place that was, at best, a shack, a palace.
Whoever lived here was clearly out of their mind.
It was the moment he passed the pond and approached the hut.
*Whoosh.*
A wind from somewhere swept across Beom Gye-wi's face. At that same moment, a blizzard carrying a formidable chill assailed him.
*Crack.*
Beom Gye-wi's beard seemed to freeze and then shattered.
It was a dreadful cold, incomparable to what he had experienced so far.
Beom Gye-wi hastily drew upon his internal energy.
The wind then grew even stronger.
Only then did Beom Gye-wi realize the wind was no natural phenomenon. There was only one person in the entire martial world who could wield such a formidable, frigid internal energy.
“Hey! You crazy bitch!”
Beom Gye-wi roared and swung his Great Thistle Staff toward the direction of the wind.
*CLANG!*
With the impact, the surrounding scenery distorted for a moment.
The air had momentarily turned into a vacuum due to Beom Gye-wi's strike.
The center of the blizzard parted like a receding tide.
And at the end of it stood a person. It was a woman in snow-white clothes, her jet-black hair fluttering. Spotting her, Beom Gye-wi openly growled.
“Are you trying to pick a fight with me? This means you want to fight, right?”
At his words, the woman raised a hand and brushed back her windblown hair.
Her appearance was then clearly revealed.
Was she in her mid-twenties?
Her skin was so fair it almost seemed translucent.
In stark contrast, her black hair and red lips were utterly captivating.
When her eyes, as deep and clear as steeped tea, were added to the mix, all the flowery idioms used to praise beauty lost their meaning.
Beauty capable of toppling nations.
There were no other words to describe her.
How many men could see her beauty and not have their hearts shaken?
But Beom Gye-wi was certainly an exception. He knew better than anyone that more than a few men had been deceived by that face and ended up on a ferry to the underworld.
—*Fight?*
The woman sent a telepathic message with an indifferent expression.
—*With the likes of you?*
Her expression remained as cold as if carved from ice.
No emotional stirrings could be seen on her face.
Beom Gye-wi felt a surge of irritation. Communicating telepathically clearly meant she didn't even want to waste her breath on him.
But, uncharacteristically, Beom Gye-wi displayed superhuman patience.
*‘Endure. I have to endure. For Physician Dan!’*
Only after repeating this to himself several times could he barely suppress his rising anger.
Another telepathic message came to him then.
—*Why are you here?*
“Ah, right!”
Beom Gye-wi exclaimed and grinned.
“Wait a minute. I brought you a gift.”
Han Seol-hwa flinched at Beom Gye-wi's action.
No sooner had he finished speaking than Beom Gye-wi stuck his hand inside his pants. He then pulled something out from near his groin.
—*You shameless…*
“Huh? What? What's shameless about this?”
Han Seol-hwa, who had looked away, turned her head back. As their eyes met, Beom Gye-wi smirked.
“You used to like seafood dumplings.”
—...
“Here, I'm throwing it. Catch.”
Beom Gye-wi tossed the paper-wrapped dumplings to her. But Han Seol-hwa actually took a step back.
*Splat.*
The wrapping paper tore, and the dumplings tumbled onto the snow.
Beom Gye-wi's eyebrow twitched.
“What are you doing? When someone shows sincerity, you should at least pretend to accept it, shouldn't you?”
—*It's dirty.*
“What?”
—*Why would you pull it out from there?*
“Because it's the warmest place! If I'd just carried them, they would have frozen solid in this cold!”
—*Do you dare to insult me?*
“I've seen some crazy...”
Beom Gye-wi scoffed in disbelief.
“Am I crazy? Harass some old hag whose age I can't even guess? I have standards, you know.”
—*...I'll kill you!*
*Thump.*
Han Seol-hwa stomped her foot.
At the same time, the pile of snow on the hut's roof and the icicles hanging from the eaves came pouring down. The icicles didn't fall to the ground but floated in the air, held by an unseen force.
Blatant hostility.
Facing the clear killing intent within it, Beom Gye-wi's lips twisted.
“You think you can take me?”
Han Seol-hwa answered by raising her hand and pointing at Beom Gye-wi.
*Zing!*
Beom Gye-wi's upper garment was torn open in a long gash, and blood splattered.
“...”
Beom Gye-wi lowered his head and looked at his shoulder.
A line of blood on his skin caught his eye. It was where an icicle, flying like an arrow, had grazed him. There had been no preparatory motion, not even the slightest warning.
A distance of fifty paces.
It had crossed that distance in an instant.
In fact, Beom Gye-wi had only seen a flash of light before his eyes.
He only realized the existence of the hidden weapon after feeling the sharp energy digging into his shoulder.
If he hadn't dodged instinctively, he would have been in a world of hurt.
Beom Gye-wi's patience had reached its limit.
“This crazy bitch!”
Beom Gye-wi kicking off the snow and lunging forward happened at almost the same time as Han Seol-hwa reached out and tapped a point in the air.
*Flash.*
Beom Gye-wi instinctively threw his head back.
Feeling a stinging sensation, Beom Gye-wi raised a hand to his cheek.
A long gash on his cheek was wet with blood. A menacing glint flared in Beom Gye-wi's eyes.
*‘This crazy bastard!’*
Han Seol-hwa was inwardly dumbfounded at the sight of Beom Gye-wi continuing to close the distance even in this situation.
She had known for a long time that Beom Gye-wi wasn't in his right mind.
But even recklessness had its limits.
A master who had reached the pinnacle could place the space within a certain distance under their complete control. It was an absolute domain with no conditions or restrictions, where they held the power of life and death.
She herself was like that, as were the Five Absolutes Under Heaven, said to be the greatest masters of the current age.
It was a state that difficult to reach.
Of course, Beom Gye-wi was also a considerable master.
Otherwise, he wouldn't have been included among the Ten Great Villains and survived until now.
He too possessed his own absolute domain, and within it, he was the ruler who presided over his opponent's life and death.
*‘But...’*
Han Seol-hwa was confident she had the upper hand.
Even now, it was true.
The space within ten paces of her was already no different from a great barrier.
Yet he was charging in so recklessly.
It was no different from carrying firewood and jumping into a fire.
—*Hmph!*
The energy that had been subtly spread beneath her feet shot up all at once like blades.
At that moment.
The Great Thistle Staff in Beom Gye-wi's hand writhed as if alive. At the same time, hazy shadows filled the space between the two.
*BOOM!*
A massive shockwave engulfed the area.
For an instant, time stopped and space seemed to tear.
—*You...?*
A strange light appeared in Han Seol-hwa's eyes.
Beom Gye-wi, who had closed the distance in an instant, suddenly thrust his hand forward.
He had pushed through the waves of stern, overlapping energy to finally land his own attack.
This was not the Beom Gye-wi she had known.
*‘He’s fine even after seeing blood?’*
It was then that her eyes met Beom Gye-wi's.
His eyes were still bloodshot. But his gaze was distinctly different from before.
Clear reason had replaced his madness.
*‘What on earth happened to him?’*
Her bewilderment was brief.
—*Hmph!*
To block Beom Gye-wi's attack, Han Seol-hwa also swung her hand to meet his.
*KABOOM!*
A deafening roar, unbelievable for a clash of hands, filled the heavens and earth. At the same time, the shockwave created by their collision engulfed the surroundings.
“Damn it!”
Beom Gye-wi, pushed back, screamed in frustration.
At that moment, Han Seol-hwa's gaze wavered slightly.
It was because of Beom Gye-wi.
Han Seol-hwa stepped back, looking at her palm.
“What now? Are you trying to surrender?”
A telepathic message came to the growling Beom Gye-wi.
—*It's not, is it?*
“What isn't?”
—*The hand that just clashed.*
“...?”
—*That's the hand you touched your groin with earlier!*
“Huh? Is it?”
Beom Gye-wi raised his hand to his nose and sniffed.
“I think it might be?”
—*You...*
Han Seol-hwa was so dumbfounded and furious she couldn't continue her telepathic message.
Han Seol-hwa took a handkerchief from her pocket. Then she began to wipe her hand.
Beom Gye-wi could only be baffled.
“What are you doing in the middle of a fight?”
—*It's filthy.*
Han Seol-hwa shuddered as if something horrible had gotten on her.
Unable to bear it, Beom Gye-wi shot forward first. But Han Seol-hwa had already retreated far away.
“Huh?”
Beom Gye-wi was momentarily stunned, not having expected her to dodge.
But he soon started chasing Han Seol-hwa again.
Han Seol-hwa didn't allow him to close the distance.
She retreated exactly as much as Beom Gye-wi advanced.
“Stop right there!”
—*Don't you dare come near me with that filthy hand!*
And so, a game of chase ensued around the pond for a long while.
In the end, it was Beom Gye-wi who tired first.
He might have been able to hold his own in other areas, but when it came to movement techniques, he was no match for her.
“Be honest. You're scared of me, aren't you?”
Beom Gye-wi tried to provoke Han Seol-hwa, but it had no effect.
—*I'm not avoiding you because I'm scared. I'm avoiding you because you're filthy.*
“That's what you say about shit!”
—*You know that well, don't you?*
Han Seol-hwa's calm telepathic retort.
It made Beom Gye-wi's stomach turn.
“What kind of crazy bastard washes their hands before a fight?”
—*Then you should have kept them clean normally.*
“That damn mysophobia!”
—*Shut up and get lost. Or wash up and come back. If I kill you as you are, I feel like this place will be contaminated.*
“Aish, damn it!”
*Thump.*
Beom Gye-wi stomped his foot hard.
The impact sent the snow on the ground flying into the air. Then, following Beom Gye-wi's hand as it clenched and pulled the air, the snow flew above his head.
In that state, Beom Gye-wi once again drew upon his true energy.
*Sizzle.*
The pile of snow gathered in the air instantly melted, forming a pool of water.
*Swoosh.*
Drenched in the cascading water, Beom Gye-wi shouted proudly.
“Is this good enough for you?”
Han Seol-hwa watched the pathetic display.
Using Telekinesis followed by the divine art of Samadhi True Fire, just for that.
—*You really are stupid.*
Han Seol-hwa raised her hand and pointed at Beom Gye-wi.
*Whoooosh!*
At the same time, an immense chill swept toward Beom Gye-wi.
“Huh?”
A bewildered cry escaped Beom Gye-wi's lips. His wet body had begun to freeze in an instant.
“Khk!”
Beom Gye-wi belatedly drew upon his internal energy, but his reaction was a bit too slow.
*Crack, crackle.*
He barely managed to stop his body from freezing solid.
But he couldn't continue the fight in this state. The slightest movement would disperse the internal energy he was using to counter the cold.
“You cheap bitch!”
—*Better than being stupid.*
“How am I stupid?!”
Han Seol-hwa gave him a look as if he were pathetic.
—*You even forgot the reason you came to find me in the first place.*
“Huh? Now that you mention it...”