Chapter 324
Translator: Ace
Chapter: 324
Chapter Title: Where is Seolbing?
"Seolbing. What's the situation now?"
"The number of enemies pouring in through the hole in the sky is increasing."
Han Seolbing answered Bing Chwi-seol's question in a grim tone.
She, who was channeling energy into Han Seolbing, fell into brief contemplation.
"Ji Chief Supervisor, Na Chief Supervisor. Go check the situation outside."
At Bing Chwi-seol's command, who could not move, the two hurried out and returned shortly after.
"Eleven have successfully infiltrated. They're holding out by continuously hurling firebombs and hidden weapons. More intruders seem to be coming through the hole in the sky."
Na Hong-ryeon's report.
"What about the other sides? Seolbing."
She was referring to the enemies targeting the weak points.
"We can somehow hold those two spots. But one is precarious. We're trying to block it, though."
It was where Tak Pung-geon was.
"What about the retainers in the Palace Lord's Hall who don't know martial arts?"
"They're staying on the first floor of the halls or in the outer areas."
Ji Heon-wi's answer.
"If by any chance they break through like this, the damage to them would be severe..."
Bing Chwi-seol pondered deeply.
She soon made her decision.
"Ji Chief Supervisor, Na Chief Supervisor. Evacuate the retainers to the underground. Ji Chief Supervisor knows the escape route. You can enter a distant place from the battlefield through there."
"Palace Lord, this is the palace's forbidden area. Allowing unqualified people in..."
Na Hong-ryeon cried out in surprise.
"I'm not telling them to come here. Just evacuate them underground."
This place, where the Eternal Ice Crystal was, was the deepest part of the underground.
There were considerable spaces above it as well.
"Still, the underground of the halls itself is forbidden..."
As Na Hong-ryeon tried to speak again.
Bing Chwi-seol's words came faster.
"Retainer lives—or rather, palace lives—are more precious than some forbidden rule. Besides, neither Na Chief Supervisor nor Ji Chief Supervisor were qualified to enter here in the first place. Nor Seolbing, for that matter."
The innermost sanctum housing the Eternal Ice Crystal.
Only the Palace Lord and Little Palace Lord could enter.
Just the two of them.
"Understood."
"Yes."
Na Hong-ryeon was ultimately convinced.
Ji Heon-wi also gave a firm reply, and the two hurried outside.
The current evacuation of retainers was taking place toward the outermost edge of the Palace Lord's Hall.
They needed to lead them to the emergency escape routes and bring them inside.
There were two escape route locations.
Na Hong-ryeon and Ji Heon-wi split up and headed to different spots.
"Good. Just a little more."
It was as expected.
The more they broke through the formation, the easier it became.
The more paths they had cleared stacked up, the simpler the remaining paths grew.
It had barely been five-elevenths of the time spent breaching the first half.
They had already pierced another tenth.
At this rate, the time would keep shrinking.
Breaking through here was no different from opening the gate of an impregnable fortress.
Then the Tak Clan forces waiting outside would pour in immediately.
The Han and Bing Clans would be finished.
Tak Pung-geon looked back at the path they had taken.
The path they had continuously carved through.
It wasn't straight. They had twisted and turned every which way.
A distance that should have taken three steps had required over twenty.
Because of the formation.
That was why.
Just looking back, the formation was still raging fiercely.
They had to stick to the safe paths they had found.
He had already deployed Iron Wind Squad and Gentle Wind Squad warriors at key safe paths.
To guide the incoming reinforcements.
All Tak Pung-geon himself had to do was advance a bit further and fully breach the formation.
His eyes blazed.
"Just wait a little longer. Han Seolbing."
Han Seolbing focused all her senses on where Tak Pung-geon was.
There was no way to handle the hole in the sky.
It had been pierced by a combination of weathered sections.
Repairing it required fixing many parts.
The intruders at the other two weak points among the three had all been dealt with.
No matter how vulnerable, it was the Ice Heaven Myriad Phenomena All-Sealing Formation.
They had only penetrated a bit deeper compared to other areas.
In the end, it meant death for them.
However.
Tak Pung-geon.
The spot where that bastard was different.
He wasn't up to Han Seolbing's level, but he was an incredible formation expert.
This guy was exploiting the flaws time had carved into the formation, inching forward bit by bit.
'At this rate, he might break through...'
Han Seolbing's eyes twitched faintly. An unexpected situation.
Even channeling all her power to manipulate the formation's energy.
There were limits.
She needed to repair the formation.
But there was no way in this situation.
Han Seolbing's delicate brows furrowed and refused to relax.
Still, Han Seolbing exerted herself to the utmost.
Even up to the moment of death, she gave her all.
It was the creed ingrained in her from her Hocheon Corps days.
"Hurry! Hurry! Move it!"
The warriors urged the people along.
The number falling from the sky was steadily increasing.
Firebombs kept exploding nonstop.
In the end, the only safe place to evacuate them was the underground of the halls.
That was why Palace Lord Bing Chwi-seol had made that call.
Enemies were dropping onto the roofs of the halls.
But there were also entrances that didn't go through the halls proper.
They had been made as emergency escape routes, but who knew they'd serve as paths to evade ground enemies.
As per Bing Chwi-seol's orders, they headed there.
Na Hong-ryeon, leading at the front, scanned all around.
She also checked on the retainers bringing up the rear.
A great many followed in her wake.
Among them were Im Seo-mwol and Im Jang-mu.
"S-Sis. Will we be okay?"
Im Jang-mu asked in a voice thick with fear.
"The Palace Lord is a good person. She'll definitely protect us."
She herself was still just fifteen, young as well.
Yet Im Seo-mwol carefully soothed her frightened little brother.
How long had they walked like that?
They were gradually moving away from the halls, drawing closer to the protective ice barriers.
People glanced warily at the ice barriers as they passed.
Wooong! Rumble.
The ice barriers trembled with a low sound.
Some startled people plopped down right there.
"Huh?"
The boy Im Jang-mu stopped in his tracks and stared at the ice barrier.
"The formation's reacting to the enemies, so don't panic and keep moving!"
Na Hong-ryeon shouted.
In truth, she too was startled by the sudden formation movement, but she couldn't show it.
To calm the retainers, she spoke as if it were nothing and urged them onward.
The people gradually relaxed and resumed walking.
But Im Jang-mu stood stock-still.
"J-Jang-mu. We have to go."
Im Seo-mwol urged him.
However, Im Jang-mu kept staring intently through the ice barrier.
"Sis. Something's weird here."
Meanwhile, the others kept moving.
In the end, the siblings ended up lingering at the very rear.
Na Hong-ryeon spotted them and approached the pair herself.
"We need to get through here quickly..."
Na Hong-ryeon's heart raced a bit.
She suddenly remembered.
Han Seolbing had warned that this area was one of the weak points being targeted by enemies.
Of all places, this spot was where Tak Pung-geon was actively breaking through.
The formation's reaction just now had been to Tak Pung-geon dismantling yet another part.
"Um, warrior. That spot over there looks strange."
Im Jang-mu pointed to one place as he spoke.
Na Hong-ryeon's gaze followed, but nothing seemed amiss.
"Just now, the ice barrier trembled, and something's light got dimmer."
Na Hong-ryeon tilted her head at Im Jang-mu's continued words.
The light got dimmer?
What light?
"J-Jang-mu..."
Im Seo-mwol panicked and tugged at her brother's sleeve.
"And that light's connected to over there, flickering like it's about to snap."
Im Jang-mu, as if entranced by something, took a step forward.
Toward a spot scattered with stones the size of a baby's head.
He pointed at one of them.
"I don't understand what you mean. We have to go now. Come on."
By then, they had fallen a bit behind the group.
Na Hong-ryeon, who needed to lead from the front, had no choice but to press Im Jang-mu.
"Huh?"
Then, as if discovering something new, Im Jang-mu.
"Maybe these stones were originally one piece."
As he said it, he picked up the stones one by one and fitted them around the first one he'd pointed at.
"What are you..."
Such sudden behavior.
But she couldn't watch any longer.
"We need to go. The others are waiting."
At the repeated urging, Im Seo-mwol grabbed her brother's arm and pulled.
In the end, Im Jang-mu couldn't finish what he was doing and rejoined the group.
After they left.
Wooooong.
The formation vibrated once more, low and very low, but no one noticed.
"Good. This spot..."
The moment he could take one more step forward.
Whoosh!
A fierce wind engulfed Tak Pung-geon.
"Ugh, urk."
An unexpected phenomenon.
Tak Pung-geon quickly stepped back.
And the scene before his eyes.
The storm he had clearly just dismantled was raging anew.
"H-How..."
Tak Pung-geon looked closely in shock and realized.
'It's... gone...'
The faint safe path stretching ahead had vanished.
Impossible.
How on earth?
At the same moment.
Han Seolbing sensed the same thing.
'The formation repaired itself? How?'
Impossible.
Even for the Ice Heaven Myriad Phenomena All-Sealing Formation, with parts eroded away by weathering.
That area couldn't repair itself.
It required manpower, but Han Seolbing had given no such orders.
Han Seolbing extended her senses around the formation.
From focusing solely on Tak Pung-geon, she widened the scope.
A group was passing nearby.
The group led by Na Hong-ryeon.
'What happened?'
Han Seolbing waited for Na Hong-ryeon to return quickly.
Six massive kites soared into the sky.
After maneuvering in the air for a while to find position, suddenly.
Six people dropped from the kites.
With their clothes billowing, they rode the wind slowly downward.
"That's the spot."
Ha Mu-baek finally pinpointed the exact location.
The position mapped in his mind.
He nodded and was about to kick off the ground when.
Wooooong.
A very faint, low hum.
Not heard by the ears.
Felt through his energy sense.
Ha Mu-baek's gaze turned there.
The place where energy had been flowing imperfectly.
Its energy had strengthened, if only slightly.
An inexplicable change.
"Guess I need to get in there fast after all."
Ha Mu-baek kicked off the ground as is.
And raced up through the air, stepping on nothingness.
Up, up.
Soaring that high.
Only then did the Tak Clan warriors spot Ha Mu-baek.
"Th-There's someone up there!"
"I-Intruder!"
His attire wasn't that of the palace people.
Meaning outsider, hence the cry of intruder.
In the heart of Bingcheon Palace.
No one had noticed an outsider reach this far.
All attention had been on the Palace Lord's Hall.
Ha Mu-baek ignored their reactions and turned his eyes to where the people had disappeared.
"As expected."
There was a hole, just as anticipated.
The scene visible below.
Fifteen people hurling hidden weapons and firebombs in all directions.
And the six in strange garb who had just dropped were slowly descending, batting away arrows flying at them from every side.
The massive kite that had come down below halted as it was about to pick up new passengers.
Because of Ha Mu-baek's appearance.
He glanced at them dismissively, as if uninterested.
Then slowly stepped down through the air, as if treading stairs.
Thus, Ha Mu-baek descended slowly into the hole.
Suddenly, another figure appeared.
Not slowly gliding down in odd clothing.
But casually stepping down the air like stairs with an impassive face—an unfamiliar man.
At his appearance, not only the Wind Squadron but all gazes from Han and Bing Clan warriors turned to Ha Mu-baek.
Facing the concentrated stares, Ha Mu-baek flashed a grin.
"Where is Seolbing?"