Chapter 332
Translator: Ace
Chapter: 332
Chapter Title: This Can't Happen!
Ku-ku-ku-ku-ku-ku!
A torrent of fiery energy surged into Ha Mu-baek's body like a flood.
He guided it all straight into his empty dantian.
The immense blaze seemed ready to incinerate his meridians on the spot.
But the remnants of the icy energy he'd absorbed earlier shielded his meridians.
Thanks to that, they held firm even against the scorching heat of the Azure Flame.
The Azure Flame, fierce enough to burn and melt everything in the world, was sucked into Ha Mu-baek's body.
The fire raged, trying to consume even the dantian that was steadily stacking it away.
Ha Mu-baek poured all his focus into circulating the Infinite Free Heart Method to calm and absorb it.
If he hadn't absorbed the ice energy first...
His dantian would have felt an unbearable scorching pain from this heat.
But as it circulated through his meridians again and again, following the profound principles of the Infinite Free Heart Method, the fire gradually calmed.
It blended bit by bit with his inner energy, stacking neatly in his dantian.
He then sent the rampaging heat from his dantian back through his meridians for a full circuit, bringing it home again—now slightly tamed—and repeating the cycle.
Through this process, Ha Mu-baek kept drawing in the heat filling the Takga lands.
The immense blaze and flames that had seemed ready to turn the earth to molten fire began to subside little by little.
Bing Chwi-seol and Han Seol-bing sensed the change.
"What's happening?"
They edged a bit closer.
When the energy bursting from the Palace Lord's divine artifact had turned into a blizzard storm to battle the flames, they'd held out hope.
But in the end, only the fire remained.
At least its intensity had halved compared to before—that was a relief.
And then, the martial artist who'd vanished into those flames: Ha Mu-baek.
No one knew what had become of him.
Even halved, it was still a blaze too fierce for the two women to approach.
They could only wait for it to burn itself out, exhausting its energy.
Yet the flames were dying down.
And faster than could be explained by natural depletion.
"N-No way?"
Shock spread across Han Seol-bing's face at the realization.
"What's wrong?"
Bing Chwi-seol asked.
"M-Maybe... the Corps Leader is absorbing that energy..."
Han Seol-bing stammered uncertainly, her voice trembling.
Bing Chwi-seol's eyes shook wildly.
She reflected on everything Ha Mu-baek had done since appearing at Ice Heaven Palace.
Reviewing it all once more...
"It just might be possible."
A conviction took root in Bing Chwi-seol.
He was a being beyond human common sense.
She'd felt it down to her bones this time.
Ha Mu-baek kept his eyes closed, fully immersed in the Infinite Free Heart Method as he absorbed the fire energy.
Before coming here, he'd regretted not filling his inner energy through meditation.
Not anymore.
His completely empty dantian let him absorb far more, far faster.
Circulating and converting the energy into his own was effortless, too.
He kept absorbing, absorbing, absorbing.
At some point, Ha Mu-baek's brow furrowed slightly.
'Too much.'
Even after losing half to the ice energy clash, it was still overwhelming.
'Take what I can keep, discard what I can't.'
He made his decision.
Greed invites disaster.
Staying within one's limits was the proper way.
Ha Mu-baek resolved to absorb only up to his limit, neutralize what he couldn't handle, and vent it back out.
He wasn't fool enough to try claiming every last bit just because Tak Yo-beom had tamed it all.
Tak Yo-beom hadn't consumed the energy.
This damned power had devoured him.
Even his personality had warped.
One might blame the sudden surge of power.
But not in Ha Mu-baek's eyes.
A family head who'd commanded countless retainers...
Now treating them like trash without a second thought?
No such leader would earn the absolute loyalty he'd seen in the Palace Lord's Hall battle.
As the former head of the Hocheon Corps, Ha Mu-baek could tell.
The personality Tak Yo-beom showed after consuming the fire wasn't his true self.
This energy of unknown origin was the culprit.
And so Ha Mu-baek endlessly absorbed and expelled the energy.
The heat kept fading, the flames vanishing.
Slowly, the scene around Ha Mu-baek—seated in lotus position—came into view.
"C-Corps Leader!!"
Now safe enough to approach somewhat, Han Seol-bing rushed as close as she dared, staring at him in astonishment.
The flames touched Ha Mu-baek's body and fizzled out.
His skin glowed scarlet, then yellow, passed through white to blue...
Then returned to normal.
The cycle repeated endlessly.
Tears welled in Han Seol-bing's eyes.
She knew.
How insane this was.
Forget the dantian size needed to handle that much energy.
The agony of that mad heat racing through his meridians was unimaginable.
She hadn't seen him absorb the ice, so she could only assume.
"He's a martial artist so incredible that 'incredible' feels like an understatement."
Bing Chwi-seol, who'd come up beside her, gazed at Ha Mu-baek in equal awe.
"I-Is there anything we can do to help the Corps Leader..."
Han Seol-bing racked her brains desperately.
She wanted to assist, even a little.
Ease his pain, even slightly.
His face was serene, but inside it had to be hell.
She strained her mind harder than ever in her life—then remembered something.
The icy energy of the Bingjeong she'd felt while activating the Bingcheon Mansang Man-sae Array.
One strand had stretched toward the Takga lands.
She hadn't questioned it then.
Now, it was a blessing.
"W-We can use the Bingjeong's energy!"
With that cry, Han Seol-bing unleashed her lightness skill to the max and raced toward the Palace Lord's Hall.
Bing Chwi-seol nodded and stayed to watch over Ha Mu-baek.
In case of trouble.
In the Palace Lord's Hall basement.
Where the millennial Bingjeong rested, Han Seol-bing sat in lotus position at the spot where she'd activated the array.
The place connected to the Bingjeong's energy.
Bing Chwi-seol had amplified it to the max before.
But Han Seol-bing alone sufficed to tap the strand leading to the Takga lands now.
She thrust the Bingcheon Hanseolbi straight into the ground.
A slightly different position than before.
She closed her eyes.
Woooong.
A vibration like the Bingcheon Mansang Man-sae Array reactivating.
But only the millennial Bingjeong hummed faintly.
Through the array's formation...
Through the Bingcheon Hanseolbi...
Han Seol-bing sent her consciousness to the Bingjeong's energy.
And felt its flow.
The Bingjeong extended its energy to protect the entire Palace Lord's Hall.
Except for one strand stretching far to the Takga lands.
There, she sensed the immense fire energy buried deep underground.
'Because of this?'
The Bingjeong's strand was suppressing it.
Without it, earthquakes or eruptions might have ravaged the place long ago—this was cataclysmic fire.
Likely the source of Tak Yo-beom's power, somehow.
Han Seol-bing diverted a tiny portion of the Bingjeong's energy upward.
She couldn't send much.
It would fail to contain the underground fire.
The faint chill cooled the Takga lands.
The heat subsided faster than Ha Mu-baek could absorb it.
Bing Chwi-seol nodded, realizing Han Seol-bing had used the Bingjeong.
Ha Mu-baek remained deep in meditation.
'What is this?'
The ground beneath him grew cool.
Icy energy welled up from below.
The ice inside him resonated.
Thus, Ha Mu-baek began absorbing the rising subterranean ice and the earth-scorching fire simultaneously.
The two energies clashed wildly in his dantian.
-Grrrr! This can't... This can't happen! Do you know how many years I've waited for ascension?!
Then.
A resentful will emanated from the fire.
'The energy has a will of its own?'
Not the Abyss, clearly.
Yet it had consciousness.
'What are you?'
Ha Mu-baek's will questioned it.
-The master of this body? A human? Impressive. You can even read my will.
'What are you?'
Ha Mu-baek asked again.
-I am the fire imugi, the Fire Horned Dragon.
Ha Mu-baek's eyebrow twitched.
An existence beyond imagination.
Now it all made sense.
No wonder the energy felt inhuman, monstrous.
It was the energy of a Dragon Trainer spirit.
-Right on the cusp of ascension, snared by some vile human sorcery and ritual—left to die slowly over a millennium! What was I to do about that grudge?!
The Dragon Trainer's fury washed over him.
But that was all.
It had rampaged as fire, but now Ha Mu-baek controlled it against its will.
The Dragon Trainer's resentful thoughts spewed endless rage and curses.
Through it, Ha Mu-baek learned how Tak Yo-beom had gained the power.
Awakening from deep slumber for its final molt, ready to ascend as a true fire dragon...
Trapped by human sealing sorcery and arrays.
Slowly drained and dying.
Its grudge against the sealer became a lingering will.
That invaded Tak Yo-beom's mind, twisting his personality.
Being "eaten" by the energy was exactly that.
But it was useless against Ha Mu-baek.
-Th-This can't happen!!!
With a final death cry, the Dragon Trainer's will faded.
Ha Mu-baek had absorbed all the fire.
The excess had already been vented outward.
A dense aura settled over Ice Heaven Palace.
Bing Chwi-seol felt it too.
The Takga lands, now free of heat.
Ha Mu-baek's utterly serene face.
Only then did she nod and bellow toward the Palace Lord's Hall, her voice infused with inner energy:
"The Takga rebellion is over, and fortune has come to Ice Heaven Palace! All palace disciples, meditate at once and seize this opportunity!"
She sat in lotus position and sank into her own cultivation.
-Haa. So that's what it was. Tak Ji-myeong...
After the Dragon Trainer's will vanished.
After purifying all the fire energy.
The ice protecting Ha Mu-baek's meridians and dantian gathered in his dantian.
Then, the ideology of the energy transmitted to his mind.
It wasn't just a voice.
In his mindscape, Ha Mu-baek met the energy's owner.
A beautiful elderly woman, radiantly so.
'Who are you?'
-Thank you, benefactor. Thanks to you, Ice Heaven Palace survives. I am Bing Ok-ryeong, the founding Palace Lord.
'Just doing my duty.'
Bing Ok-ryeong smiled and shook her head.
-Not just anyone could. Who'd have thought Tak Ji-myeong's contingency was the Fire Horned Dragon—after a millennium's ordeal... I read the heavens and made my own arrangements, but they fell short. You filled the gap, borrowing your body.
Just as she said.
The ice from Bingcheon Hanbaekryeon had only erased half the flames.
-Who knew the fire calamity was the Fire Horned Dragon's wrath...
A regretful murmur.
'That energy saved my life. Without killing half the fire first, even I couldn't have done this. If anything, I owe you thanks for the lifeline.'
Bing Ok-ryeong shook her head again.
-You could have just left, benefactor.
'Not when it's my people's crisis.'
At "my people," Bing Ok-ryeong's expression shifted oddly.
'She helps me time and again—a treasured subordinate.'
Reading something in her look, Ha Mu-baek added the words.