Chapter 693
"I..."
Just as Bu Eun-seol was about to speak,
"Understood."
The middle-aged woman abruptly cut him off and bowed her head to So Yeong-hwa.
Swish.
At that, the Snowflower Sect Leader, who had been seated on the jade throne, rose and disappeared into the inner chambers.
"Follow me."
The middle-aged woman walked swiftly away with cold, measured steps.
Bu Eun-seol was left dumbfounded, staring blankly at the woman's retreating figure.
'So they've already discussed this beforehand. I have no idea what's going on here.'
Judging by the Snowflower Sect Leader's demeanor,
it seemed they already knew—
why he had come here, what he wanted.
Yet why hadn't they told him anything in advance?
'The most crucial element in any mission is information.'
For any task to succeed, one must be provided with as much information as possible.
But the Martial Venerable had deliberately withheld details and assigned him this mission anyway.
'Did he intend to hide even from Chief Strategist Gongson the circumstances and intelligence regarding the Snowflower Sect?'
If he had wanted the mission to fail, there would have been no need for such an elaborate scheme.
The only conclusion was that this had been orchestrated to conceal the full truth from Gongson Dan-gyeong.
But then, why? The question lingered.
The Martial Venerable had exceptional subordinates, including Mu-gyeol.
He could have discreetly issued orders to Bu Eun-seol through Gongson Dan-gyeong or any number of other people.
So why go through all this trouble?
'I'll find out when I get there.'
Fortunately, the Snowflower Sect didn't seem to practice the evil martial arts they were rumored to use.
True, their temperament was icy, but they weren't tainted by wickedness.
Otherwise, Bu Eun-seol wouldn't have followed them so readily.
"Enter here."
Following the middle-aged woman inside, he soon found himself before an impossibly towering grand hall.
The Snowflower Sect had established its headquarters on Jade Dragon Mountain, carving passages into the rock
and constructing a network that allowed movement between various inner chambers.
"Beyond that point, you'll find a gate."
The middle-aged woman pointed to a massive door at the far end of the grand hall.
"At the end of the gate, you'll see an ice wall. If you can shatter it, you may obtain the Ice Spirit Jade there."
"Is it really that simple?"
"Whether it's simple or not, you'll know once you enter."
The woman's expression was pitiful, as though she were looking at a frozen corpse.
'There's more to this.'
Bu Eun-seol suppressed a bitter smile.
In the current martial world, there was no one who had encountered as many mechanisms as he had.
No matter what traps or devices lay ahead, he was confident he could dismantle them with ease.
Especially when it came to breaking walls—he had mastered that long ago. Hadn't he shattered the Divine Forbidden Heavenly Wall at the Gongson Clan just recently?
"Understood."
As Bu Eun-seol stepped through the door, the iron gate slammed shut behind him with a heavy thud.
Thud. Thud.
Without hesitation, he advanced deeper inside.
Then, a maddened gale began howling toward him from the front.
The wind was so ferocious that standing firm would have been impossible without deploying the Thousand-Catty Drop.
But that wasn't the real problem.
"This cold energy..."
Bu Eun-seol couldn't hide his astonishment.
The wind carried a terrifying cold energy—one that could freeze meridians solid in an instant.
It didn't harm the skin but passed straight through the body,
an utterly unfamiliar Extreme Yin Qi that seemed to instantly freeze one's meridians.
"So this is why they said it was impossible."
Moreover, with every step forward, thick trails of blood and human by-products littered the sides of the passage.
Most likely, those who had entered here
had succumbed to this bizarre cold energy and perished.
The Snowflower Sect had haphazardly cleared away the corpses, leaving behind remnants strewn across the passage.
'This makes no sense.'
Bu Eun-seol had mastered the Glacier Thousand Streams Art, the pinnacle of Ice Arts.
Even when exposed to Extreme Yin Qi, he was nearly unaffected.
But the cold energy infused in the wind here was uniquely potent.
Even he, who embodied the essence of Extreme Yin Arts, felt his bloodline freezing in agony.
Worse, he couldn't even block the onslaught of cold energy.
'Are they testing the extent of my internal power?'
To withstand cold energy of this magnitude, one needed at least three hundred years of Internal Power to envelop themselves in Protective Astral Energy.
Though puzzled, Bu Eun-seol soon nodded.
'Very well, I'll try to resist it.'
He had set Seon-u Jin's maximum internal energy at just under six sixty-year cycle.
Of course, the actual difference was vast, but this level alone ensured he wouldn't fall short compared to past masters.
Whoosh.
As he circulated three hundred years' worth of internal energy throughout his body, a transparent Astral Energy Barrier formed around him.
Bu Eun-seol began taking step after step forward, resisting the cold energy.
'Is even my Protective Aura insufficient?'
Despite enveloping himself in the Protective Aura, he couldn't completely block out the cold energy.
Even though he had mastered the Glacier Thousand Streams Art.
Even with the Protective Aura deployed, he couldn't stop the cold energy permeating the wind?
That meant the number of masters in the martial world who could walk through this wind and into the passageway...
Would barely amount to a handful across the entire Murim.
'Should I double my internal energy, or try another method?'
Bu Eun-seol hesitated briefly.
If he used his true divine internal energy, which far exceeded five hundred years, he could easily withstand even several times the current intensity of the cold.
But that would exceed the limits of Seon-u Jin's established capabilities.
'Martial arts should be resolved with martial arts, after all.'
Pausing his steps, he recalled every profound principle of martial arts he knew.
'Let me try applying the mysteries of "Ice Within the Heart" and "Will Becomes Complete Ice" from the Glacier Thousand Streams Art.'
The reason the Glacier Thousand Streams Art was considered the pinnacle of Extreme Yin Arts was that—
Not only could it generate the most formidable Cold Ice True Qi within the body—
But it could also store the cold energy pouring in from the outside.
In the past, Bu Eun-seol had used this method to absorb all the cold energy from the pond filled with Cold Spirit Divine Water in the Glacier Thousand Streams Hall.
By storing Cold Ice True Qi surpassing even that of the North Sea Ice Palace Lord within his body, he had gained the ability to instantly wield the Glacier Thousand Streams Art.
'Let's try it.'
Whoooom.
As he elevated the Glacier Thousand Streams Art to its peak, his hair turned white, and his eyes gleamed with an icy blue light.
Whoooosh.
Then, the strange cold energy embedded in the wind began to gradually accumulate in his dantian.
After tempering the Water Essence Divine Qi, Bu Eun-seol had stopped storing cold energy in his dantian, instead expelling it—
So that he could instantly generate cold energy when using the Glacier Thousand Streams Art.
After all, harboring both Extreme Yin and Extreme Yang energies within his body at once would eventually destroy it.
'I only need to absorb it temporarily.'
As he absorbed another surge of powerful ice energy through the Glacier Thousand Streams Art, his internal breathing grew uncomfortable.
But something was strange.
After absorbing cold energy beyond a certain threshold, the energy—similar to Cold Ice True Qi—was stacking up in his dantian layer by layer...
Yet it wasn't immediately merging with his Original True Qi?
Instead, it was being stored smoothly, without clashing with the Extreme Yang energy he possessed.
Whoooosh.
The blowing wind now felt pleasant, and the bone-chilling cold that had threatened to freeze his meridians was no longer perceptible.
'How strange.'
But now wasn't the time to analyze this mysterious cold energy.
After walking for a while, he finally reached the end of the passageway.
There, an impossibly tall Ice Wall loomed before him.
Its ceiling was so high it was invisible—likely the Profound Yin Wall he had heard of.
'They expect me to break this?'
Bu Eun-seol's expression turned hollow.
The Ice Wall was at least 1000 feet tall.
And they wanted him to shatter it in one strike?
At this level, wouldn't it require a master of the Martial Extreme Realm to unleash Limitless Power repeatedly to achieve such a feat?
"This is impossible."
Bu Eun-seol did not know surrender.
But that didn't mean he couldn't distinguish between the possible and the impossible.
This was an Ice Wall that only a master capable of unleashing Limitless Power could destroy.
"Hmm."
Bu Eun-seol lightly placed his hand against the Ice Wall.
Immediately, a cold so intense it seemed to freeze his meridians seeped through his palm.
The wind surging through the passageway seemed to originate from this very wall.
"This won't do."
Bu Eun-seol gazed up at the towering Ice Wall.
Shattering such a massive structure in one strike was something only a Martial God could achieve—not a mere human.
Click.
But something was odd.
Even when he tried to pull his hand away, it wouldn't budge.
It was as if the essence of ice within this colossal Ice Wall was trying to siphon his Glacier Thousand Streams Art through his palm.
Could it be that this Ice Wall possessed sentience?
'Preposterous.'
How dare a mere wall of ice attempt to steal a human's strength?
A flash of icy blue light flickered in Bu Eun-seol's eyes.
'Let's see which is stronger—my Glacier Thousand Streams Art or your ice energy.'
Spurred by defiance, instead of resisting the suction force from the Ice Wall—
He, too, began absorbing its ice energy through the Suction Formula.
Shuuuuu.
As Bu Eun-seol pushed the Glacier Thousand Streams Art to Grand Perfection, his hair turned not just white but translucent.
His pupils flickered endlessly with surges of blue light.
Shwook! Shuuuuuk!
An unrelenting contest of cold energy had begun.
The suction force of the ice wall was more powerful and cunning than Bu Eun-seol's Glacier Thousand Streams Art.
Yet Bu Eun-seol possessed endurance like a camel and terrifyingly deep Internal Energy.
At first, his Glacier Thousand Streams Art was rapidly depleted,
but as time passed, the ice wall's suction gradually weakened.
Whoosh.
Before long, the situation had reversed.
Bu Eun-seol had begun absorbing the cold energy flowing from the ice wall into his own body.
'This—'
As a strange surge of Extreme Yin Qi flowed into him, realization struck.
'This energy comes from a human body.'
The absorbed Extreme Yin Qi wasn't naturally formed—it was Ice Art cultivated within a person's body.
In other words, someone had used the ice wall as a medium to try and siphon away his Glacier Thousand Streams Art.
But they couldn't withstand his formidable Internal Energy and the resilience of his technique, and now, they were the ones being drained instead.
"Ah—!"
Finally, a scream echoed from the distant heights of the ice wall, and a white shadow plummeted downward.
Bu Eun-seol, whose vision pierced through the darkness, instantly recognized the figure—a woman clad in a crimson palace dress.
'Dangerous.'
If he caught her unconscious body as she fell, her flesh would shatter before his hands could even cushion the impact.
Swish!
Immediately, Bu Eun-seol employed the subtle principle of Diminishing Again and Again from Deflect Flowers and Receive Jade,
reducing the acceleration of her fall and momentarily suspending her in midair.
Thud.
As he caught the lightly descending shadow in both hands, his eyes widened.
She was a bewitching beauty with skin as white as a flower blooming in a pale snowfield, her features like a painting.
So beautiful that even the word peerless felt insufficient.
"A disciple of the Snowflower Sect?"
He hesitated briefly as he considered checking her pulse.
He couldn't recklessly touch the body of an unconscious maiden.
'Right.'
Remembering how the Divine Beast Palace Lord had used Water Essence Divine Qi to diagnose him,
Whoosh.
he immediately formed a translucent hand.
"Her vital energy is severely damaged... Which means she was the one trying to steal my Glacier Thousand Streams Art."
As he continued the pulse diagnosis with the Water Essence Divine Qi, his brow furrowed.
The woman's appearance was elegant and beautiful—she didn't look like a villainess who would steal another's Internal Power.
"I suppose I don't need to treat her myself."
Bu Eun-seol levitated her body with his Internal Energy and headed back toward the pavilion where the Snowflower Sect Leader had been staying.
"We have an injured person!"
When he called out upon entering, the interior briefly erupted into chaos before the middle-aged woman who had guided him earlier rushed out.
"Young Sect Leader?!"
Horrified, she hurried back inside and soon returned with a middle-aged woman in an ornate palace dress and a veil—
Sect Leader So Yeong-hwa.
"Hyang-a!"
So Yeong-hwa gasped and turned to Bu Eun-seol.
"What in the world happened?"
"I was attempting to break through the ice wall at the passage you told me about... when suddenly, I felt a force trying to absorb my Internal Energy from within the ice power," Bu Eun-seol calmly explained.
"I resisted it, and then, amid a scream, she fell from the ice wall—over 1000 feet high."
"1000 feet high? You went to the Profound Yin Wall, so why did the Heavenly Yin Ice Wall appear?!"
As she shouted, the middle-aged woman who had guided Bu Eun-seol stepped forward, trembling in fear.
"I... I led him to the Heavenly Yin Ice Wall because I didn't like him intruding into our sect so boldly..."
"What?!"
So Yeong-hwa was furious.
But after glancing at the unconscious beauty in Bu Eun-seol's arms, she urgently cried out,
"Call the Hall Master of the Revival Pavilion! No—I'll go myself!"
Cradling the maiden, So Yeong-hwa dashed inside like the wind, her disciples swarming after her.
"..."
Bu Eun-seol stood there blankly, watching.
Following them felt awkward, and staying outside left him with nowhere to go.
Helpless, he remained rooted in place, observing the situation for a long while.
How much time had passed?
The door opened again, and So Yeong-hwa emerged with a grave expression.
The middle-aged woman behind her had turned as pale as a corpse—clearly, the situation wasn't good.
"What was your name again?"
Her face stiff, she forced a smile at Bu Eun-seol.
"I only remember you being from the Martial Alliance."
"Seon-u Jin," he replied.
"Ah, Commander Seon-u."
Taking a deep breath, she asked again,
"Tell me in detail—exactly what happened at the time."
Bu Eun-seol explained calmly.
He had endured the freezing passageway and arrived at the towering ice wall.
"As I placed my hand on the ice wall to break through it, a sudden suction force emerged. To counter it, I deployed the Qi Absorption Art."
"Just as I thought..."
So Yeong-hwa finally nodded as if she had fully grasped the situation.
"The place you entered wasn't the Profound Yin Ice Hall where the Ice Essence Jade lies—it was the Heavenly Yin Ice Hall, where the Heavenly Yin Ice Wall stands."
"Heavenly Yin Ice Hall."
"Indeed. It was created by the Founder of our sect. Inside the Heavenly Yin Ice Wall lies a mysterious treasure called the Snow Jade, which endlessly emits boundless Extreme Yin Qi."
She continued, "And above that ice wall, there is a place for cultivation. Due to the frigid energy emitted by the Snow Jade, it is the perfect environment to refine Ice Essence Snow Blossom Energy."
So Yeong-hwa shook her head.
"And Hyang-a was cultivating there at the time."
"But why was I sent there in the first place?"
At Bu Eun-seol's question, So Yeong-hwa bit her lip.
"The Ice Flower Garden Master deliberately took you to the Heavenly Yin Ice Wall instead of the Profound Yin Wall. Everyone who enters that place dies."
Only then did Bu Eun-seol understand the situation.
The middle-aged woman who was supposed to guide him to the Profound Yin Wall had instead led him to the Heavenly Yin Ice Wall—fully intending for him to freeze to death.
While the guide expected him to perish there, Bu Eun-seol had broken through the Heavenly Yin Ice Hall and touched the Heavenly Yin Ice Wall.
And by sheer misfortune, he had been exposed to the Ice Essence Snow Blossom Energy of the woman who had been absorbing the wall's frigid energy from above.
Mistaking Bu Eun-seol's Glacier Thousand Streams Art as energy from the Snow Jade within the Heavenly Yin Ice Wall, she had attempted to absorb it.
Meanwhile, Bu Eun-seol, believing the ice wall was draining his Ice Art, had activated the Qi Absorption Art in response.
This had inadvertently triggered a clash of Internal Energy, and in that struggle, the woman had been injured.
"Is she alright?"
"Her life isn't in danger. However..."
So Yeong-hwa sighed, glaring at the middle-aged woman—the Ice Flower Garden Master—with murderous intent.
"Because you deployed the Qi Absorption Art, that child's True Yin has been lost."
"True Yin...?"
"Indeed. Though no union took place, she has effectively lost her purity."
Bu Eun-seol's lips parted in shock.
A chaste woman's body contains True Yin.
And if a man absorbs this True Yin, it greatly enhances his Internal Power.
This is why the Color Demons of Murim so ruthlessly employ the Yin Absorption and Yang Nourishment Art—to forcibly seize True Yin and amplify their martial prowess.
But...
Bu Eun-seol had merely used the Qi Absorption Art to draw in Ice Energy. How could he have stolen her True Yin?
"There must be some misunderstanding."
He hastily explained, "Even if we both activated absorption techniques, the only things that would have been damaged were her Ice Art and Internal Energy. There's no way I could have absorbed her True Yin, is there?"
In truth, his own Internal Energy level remained unchanged, and he had felt no sensation of absorbing True Yin.
"That's impossible."
"It's the truth. If you wish, you may examine my pulse."
Seeing the sincerity in Bu Eun-seol's expression, So Yeong-hwa frowned in confusion.
But then, as if struck by realization, her eyes flashed.
"By any chance... have you trained in a Yin-Cold aligned martial art?"
Noting the certainty in her gaze, Bu Eun-seol reluctantly admitted,
"By sheer coincidence, I happened to learn one or two techniques of the North Sea Ice Palace's Ice Art."
"The North Sea Ice Palace... I see."
So Yeong-hwa let out a heavy sigh.
"Our sect's Ice Art shares the same origin as the North Sea Ice Palace's. Both martial arts were born from the same ancient manual—the Cold Ice Snow Blossom Scripture."
"You mean... they share the same roots?"
"In a manner of speaking."
She calmly elaborated.
"Originally, the Founders of both sects were lovers. They stumbled upon the Cold Ice Snow Blossom Scripture, a secret manual containing profound and ancient wisdom, and each attained great enlightenment from it."
"..."
"The North Sea Ice Palace devised the Glacier Thousand Streams Art as a method to cultivate Cold Ice True Qi, while our Founder created the Ice Essence Snow Blossom Art."
Bu Eun-seol's lips parted in surprise.
The Founders of the North Sea Ice Palace and the Snowflower Sect had been lovers? And their martial arts shared the same origin?
This was a hidden history—a secret past unknown to the wider Murim.
"Do you understand why I'm telling you this?"
"I don't."
So Yeong-hwa sighed deeply.
"Save our Hyang-a."
"What do you—"
"That child has lost her True Yin, so she can no longer cultivate Ice Flower Snow Blossom Energy. And yet, the True Yin absorbed into your body cannot simply be returned."
Swallowing her anguish, she spoke with ironclad resolve.
"The only remaining method is the Returning Essence and Reversing Yin Phoenix Method—gradually transferring the True Yin within you back to her for a hundred days, in the form of True Qi."
"The Returning Essence and Reversing Yin..."
Bu Eun-seol muttered, his expression dazed.
Just from the name alone, he could guess the essence of this Great Art.
It was a method of dual cultivation—of transferring that True Qi through the act of co-sleeping.