Chapter 312
Translator: Ace
Chapter: 312
Chapter Title: Were You Surprised?
'The smell of blood...'
It was an answer he hadn't anticipated.
It had been a long time since he'd heard such a story from his master.
Ever since Seol-ran had stopped being so wary of him, he'd almost forgotten about it.
In truth, the last time he'd paid attention to the smell of blood was during his recent visit to Cheongran Island.
When he'd first returned home, Ha Seol-ran hadn't been able to approach Ha Mu-baek easily.
That had been his sole focus back then.
He never imagined it could be connected to his sect's martial arts.
"It wasn't just because of Seol-ran, then."
Wi Ji-gun nodded as he resumed walking at Ha Mu-baek's words.
"Truth be told, that was the most important part."
A faint smile crept back onto his lips.
To Wi Ji-gun, these siblings were special like that.
"Honestly, I never expected you to reach that realm."
Wi Ji-gun continued.
What realm could he possibly mean?
"Last year. When you returned to Cheongran Island after seven years. I was secretly quite shocked."
Ha Mu-baek recalled that moment.
His master had said they should meet after so long.
He'd drawn his sword and assumed the starting stance.
That was all.
His master had smelled the blood ingrained in Ha Mu-baek from that alone.
He thought that was it.
But there had been something more?
"The Infinite Yi Eight Severance Sword Realm. You'd succeeded in manifesting its final essence."
Ha Mu-baek's eyes trembled.
It had only been a starting stance.
To think his master could discern the level of his swordsmanship from that.
Ha Mu-baek wondered if he himself could do the same.
Honestly, he had no confidence in gauging someone's sword realm just from a starting stance.
Even though his own martial arts attainment was now higher.
Wi Ji-gun's smile deepened, as if amused by Ha Mu-baek's reaction.
"No need to be so surprised. It's just that I know something you don't."
Ha Mu-baek didn't know, but Wi Ji-gun did.
What could it be?
"What is the pinnacle of the Infinite Yi Eight Severance Sword Realm's twelve stages?"
His master's question.
"Perfectly executing the eight severances of infinity."
Ha Mu-baek answered.
Wi Ji-gun nodded.
"Exactly. Mastery of the final technique. That's the great accomplishment of the twelfth stage. Then, what was your level when you left Cheongran Island to venture into the world?"
"The tenth stage."
That alone was astonishing.
Ha Mu-baek had been just twenty then, barely an adult.
Considering he'd started training at thirteen, it was talent bordering on the miraculous.
Of course, he'd poured in bloody effort.
But he'd reached heights unattainable by effort alone.
It was thanks to his brilliant talent.
"Yes. Truly astonishing. I wondered if the Infinite Sword Sect had ever seen such a genius in its history. To master all eight severances of the Infinite Yi Eight Severance Sword Realm in just seven years since joining."
Wi Ji-gun recalled the day he'd first seen Ha Mu-baek properly execute the eight severances of infinity, a pleased expression crossing his face.
His disciple had always brought him joy in teaching, but that day especially so.
The tenth stage of the Infinite Yi Eight Severance Sword Realm meant properly executing all eight techniques.
Refining it further to perfectly manifest infinity.
That led to the great accomplishment of the twelfth stage.
"Is the twelfth stage the end?"
Ha Mu-baek shook his head as he replied.
"It's the beginning. The start of forging a single sword. When I left, Master, you showed me your sword."
From the first severance to the eighth, eight techniques.
Melting them into one sword's essence.
To Ha Mu-baek, it was the final essence.
Wi Ji-gun had shown it to him upon departure.
Ha Mu-baek had watched and memorized it.
But he'd never used it.
More precisely, he hadn't been able to execute it.
"It wouldn't have been easy to execute. No, I never even thought you'd achieve the twelfth stage."
Ha Mu-baek tilted his head.
It was an unexpected statement.
Why would his master think that?
"To perfect infinity, you must first perfect detachment."
An obvious truth.
"Up to the sixth severance, perhaps. But the seventh—detachment—and the eighth—infinity... are techniques impossible to master with a body and mind soaked in the stench of blood."
Ha Mu-baek halted abruptly.
No way.
He had mastered them.
Wi Ji-gun stopped as well.
He turned to face his disciple.
"Surprised?"
"......"
Ha Mu-baek had no reply.
"I was even more surprised back then."
There hadn't been a hint of it.
His master had only said the blood smell had faded, that it was a good thing for him.
"Detachment despises the smell of blood."
A curt remark.
Ha Mu-baek's eyes widened round.
The martial art had such a property?
A technique that hated blood's scent?
"Without perfecting detachment, infinity can't be achieved. Yet you threw yourself into blood-soaked battlefields for revenge. So I naturally assumed you'd never reach great accomplishment."
Wi Ji-gun paused briefly.
"But not only did you achieve it—you made even the final essence I showed you your own. A single sword piercing the principles from first to eighth severance. Mastering that changes the aura visible even in your starting stance."
The aura changes?
Ha Mu-baek tilted his head again.
"Look at Seol-ran, and you'll understand. You've only seen your own and my starting stances. Not noticing the difference between ours means you've comprehended the essence."
Ha Mu-baek nodded slightly.
There had been a change he himself hadn't noticed.
"You ignored even the property of detachment that repels blood's scent and achieved great accomplishment in the Infinite Yi Eight Severance Sword Realm. That's how vast your talent's vessel is. That's why I was so shocked—beyond my wildest imagination."
Ha Mu-baek felt his face heat up.
It had ended as praise for his talent, after all.
"However. What you're curious about now isn't something talent alone can accomplish."
Even talent surpassing the technique's properties wouldn't suffice.
"It's only possible after completely erasing the blood smell. So refine yourself further. It won't be solved merely by higher realms or greater strength."
Wi Ji-gun's words ended there.
He picked up the broom again and began sweeping the ground.
Infusing it with internal energy.
Ha Mu-baek watched silently.
Lost in deep thought.
He'd practically forced Hyeon-gwang to shake off his heart demon, inflicting damage to his dantian.
But it wasn't just someone else's issue.
It was Ha Mu-baek's own as well.
The blood smell ingrained in his body was like another's heart demon.
"Understood."
Ha Mu-baek replied lowly.
By then, Wi Ji-gun had walked quite far.
Ha Mu-baek bowed deeply to his master's back before turning away.
The smell of blood.
A koan he must transcend.
"Have you sent word to the Dragon Training Pavilion?"
The Tak Clan head, Tak Yo-beom's question.
"Yes. We confirmed they urgently dispatched a messenger falcon from the Han Clan."
Tak Yo-beom nodded at the report.
His eyes flickered fiercely.
"The gall. Making my son look like that and humiliating him? Han Seol-bing, that wench. Does Ice Heaven Palace still think it's the same as when she left...?"
His voice dripped with irritation.
As if his pride had been deeply wounded.
And more.
A frost-like aura began to rise menacingly from his body.
"Then, until when will the palace lord's chambers remain sealed...?"
Tak Yo-beom replied matter-of-factly to his subordinate.
"Until we capture that bitch Han Seol-bing. If we release it now, the Han Clan might send another message."
"Understood."
The subordinate bowed and left Tak Yo-beom's office.
'Han Seol-bing, huh...'
Yang Jeok-san, Tak Yo-beom's right-hand man and strategist.
A smile played on his lips.
'The time is ripe.'
The Tak Clan's power had grown tremendously over the past decade.
The Central Plains were locked in fierce attrition from the great martial war.
Ice Heaven Palace had committed only half its forces.
A means to maintain their seat among the Eight New Sects.
The Bing Clan, the current palace lord's family, had led that effort.
Among their allies, the strongest was the Han Clan.
The Tak Clan stood in direct opposition to those two.
Thus, ten years ago, they'd been the most reluctant to send warriors to the Central Plains.
After the great war ended.
The tides had turned.
The Tak Clan's power now surpassed the palace lord's Bing Clan, pressuring them.
Clans leaving the weakened Bing Clan's shadow to side with Tak grew steadily.
Now.
Palace Lord Bing Chwi-seol.
She was merely a figurehead.
It was public knowledge that Tak Yo-beom held all real power.
Even now proved it.
The Tak Clan had sealed the palace lord's chambers.
They claimed it was to bring Han Seol-bing back to Ice Heaven Palace.
For revenge against the humiliation Tak Mu-jeon suffered at the Dragon Training Pavilion.
'An excuse. How much could he care for one bastard among countless concubine sons...'
The North Sea was a cold, harsh, barren land.
A place where survival was grueling.
People were scarce, and thus precious—power itself.
Men especially so.
Whether hunting or farming.
In that rugged wilderness, men were thrown into the fray.
The brutal environment made men invaluable.
With so many dying or injured.
Thus, taking not just wives but concubines was utterly natural.
Amassing concubines to produce heirs.
That was power in the North Sea.
The Tak Clan excelled most at multiplying heirs.
Tak Yo-beom, as clan head, had countless concubines and even more children—a given.
One of those many concubine sons had been sent to the Dragon Training Pavilion.
With a lowly orphan whelp as his attendant, no less.
But in what state had he returned?
Beaten by five in similar lowly straits—that orphan whelp and his ilk.
And now, in the latter half, he had to serve other Fierce Dragon Corps trash.
What utter humiliation.
The son of Ice Heaven Palace's Tak Clan head, waiting on Fierce Dragon Corps rabble.
At first, Tak Yo-beom had raged to the heavens.
At those lowly scum.
At those who'd bolstered them.
And at his own worthless son who'd lost to them.
When he heard Han Seol-bing was involved in that bet, his expression had darkened instantly.
Then he'd summoned Yang Jeok-san to discuss how to exploit it.
'Use this as pretext to topple the Han Clan, then ride the momentum to crush the Bing Clan too. Ice Heaven Palace's lord will be the Tak Clan's.'
Tak Yo-beom had declared then.
They had overflowing power, but lacked justification.
Even a tiny pretext would do.
And Tak Mu-jeon had fetched it from the Dragon Training Pavilion.
Even shit has its uses.
Yang Jeok-san hadn't anticipated gaining justification this way.
"Where's Seol-bing?"
"Urgent news says she's departed."
Han Clan head Han Go-jeok's face was etched with deep worry.
"No movement from the Tak Clan still?"
Na Hong-ryeon, the Han Clan's chief steward, shook her head gravely at his follow-up.
Confirming her answer, Han Go-jeok's face hardened further.
"Their intent?"
"To swallow Ice Heaven Palace whole, no doubt."
"Yes. It must be. Otherwise, over something so trivial... "
It hadn't even happened at Ice Heaven Palace, but the Dragon Training Pavilion.
According to the Han Clan's investigations, it had proceeded fairly by the rules, and Tak Mu-jeon had simply lost.
Yet.
They claimed the Han Clan's scheme using Han Seol-bing caused his defeat.
Demanding an absurd formal apology and forfeiture of half their forces.
And the Tak Clan's action: sealing the palace lord's chambers.
Dragging the innocent lord into their feud with the Han Clan.
The Han Clan couldn't yield half their forces, apology or not.
That would be surrendering their lifeline.
They knew the Tak Clan's aim but had no choice but to play into it.
A full war with the Tak Clan.
Imminent, unpredictable.
Thus, Han Go-jeok had urgently recalled Han Seol-bing via messenger falcon.
Her importance to the Han Clan's strength was immense.
"Oh, right. What about Seol-bing's request?"
Han Go-jeok asked as it came to mind.
Na Hong-ryeon gave a wry smile.
"We reported to the palace lord and tried, but the Tak Clan blocked it..."
Han Go-jeok nodded.
He'd expected as much.
They'd attempted it due to her strong plea, but it was blocked as anticipated.
Improving the orphans' treatment.
Seemingly obvious.
Something Ice Heaven Palace had done routinely.
Before the Tak Clan twisted everything.
Such cruelty in the North Sea, where every person was precious.
"At least, we've arranged for that child's sister to handle cleaning in the palace lord's chambers for now."
Han Seol-bing's fervent request stemmed from that backstory.
When Tak Mu-jeon returned to the palace.
Fearing he'd harm Im Dae-chi's siblings.
Na Hong-ryeon had at least handled that much.
"That's the limit, then..."
Han Go-jeok wore a bitter smile.
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