Chapter 334
Translator: Ace
Chapter: 334
Chapter Title: When the Successor Appears, Pass It On
Ha Mu-baek slept for a full day.
He was that exhausted.
No matter how tough Ha Mu-baek was, he had raced from Wu Chang to the North Sea without a single break.
And then the battle that hit right after.
Tak Yo-beom's final move.
On top of that, dealing with the flames of karma that the Tak Clan had scattered everywhere.
None of it had been easy.
Ha Mu-baek had handled it all alone.
Even so, he spent the entire twelve hours of the day lost in sleep.
It wasn't a matter of physical strength or internal energy.
It was the accumulation of mental fatigue.
He needed to clear it away.
And so a day passed.
The next day.
Ha Mu-baek sat at a low table with Bing Chwi-seol and Han Seol-bing.
It was a tea room set up in the guest hall.
Bing Chwi-seol had invited him to offer proper thanks.
The teacups were filled with the rarest of teas.
A deep, subtle aroma that soothed the mind filled the space.
"Allow me to greet you formally. I, Bing Chwi-seol, Palace Lord of the Ice Heaven Palace, express our deepest gratitude on behalf of the palace to Ha Daxia, who saved us from crisis."
Bing Chwi-seol rose from her seat, cupped her hands in respect, and bowed deeply.
Ha Mu-baek stood as well and returned the gesture.
"I merely did what needed to be done. Even if it had been a request from another old subordinate instead of Seol-bing, I would have done the same without hesitation."
Ha Mu-baek sat back down and spoke calmly.
Was it because of that peculiar look in Bing Chwi-seol's eyes last time?
He added that it would have been the same for any other subordinate.
Bing Chwi-seol gave a faint smile.
Han Seol-bing watched Ha Mu-baek with a strange expression.
"But how did Tak Yo-beom absorb all that tremendous energy? Even you, Corps Leader, couldn't handle it and had to scatter it into the air..."
Han Seol-bing spoke with a look of utter incomprehension.
Mixed in was deep respect for Ha Mu-baek, who had dealt with such a monstrous Tak Yo-beom.
"If he had fully absorbed it, would the flames have raged so wildly upon his death? It wasn't that he absorbed the flames—it was that the flames absorbed him."
At Ha Mu-baek's answer, Bing Chwi-seol and Han Seol-bing nodded as if finally understanding.
"So in the end, Tak Yo-beom was overwhelmed and controlled by the energy he couldn't handle."
Ha Mu-baek nodded at Bing Chwi-seol's murmur.
"What on earth was beneath the Tak Clan lands? It's bizarre that some of the Ice Crystal's energy flowed there. And to draw out such flames from the North Sea's soil... in that short time, no less."
With everything settled, Han Seol-bing's pent-up questions poured out.
"Gaining that kind of power in such a short time is impossible in itself. He was ultimately devoured by the energy. As I said earlier. And as for what lay underground there..."
Ha Mu-baek paused for a moment.
Bing Chwi-seol and Han Seol-bing's gazes fixed on his lips.
"Jiaolong."
Ha Mu-baek answered curtly.
Just two characters, but the shock they delivered was immense.
Han Seol-bing and Bing Chwi-seol both froze stiff, speechless.
It was absurd.
That was why it made sense.
The reason the Millennial Ice Crystal's energy had reached there.
The reason Tak Yo-beom had wielded such ferocious flames so freely.
And the vast amount of energy Ha Mu-baek had bestowed upon the Ice Heaven Palace.
All of it.
"A fire dragon?"
Bing Chwi-seol asked once she regained her senses.
Ha Mu-baek nodded.
"More precisely, a creature on the verge of its final transformation into a fire dragon."
"How... how could such a thing exist without any incidents all this time? Even with the Ice Crystal there..."
Bing Chwi-seol murmured in bewilderment.
If a jiaolong preparing to ascend had been beneath the Ice Heaven Palace.
There should have been signs.
Yet in the past decades—no, centuries—there had been none.
Ha Mu-baek told them about the lingering will left by Bing Ok-ryeong that he had encountered.
As they listened, Bing Chwi-seol and Han Seol-bing's faces shifted through every expression imaginable.
At last, the tale concluded.
"Hoo..."
Bing Chwi-seol let out a deep sigh.
It was a chain of unbelievable stories.
She needed time to fully accept what she had heard.
Bing Chwi-seol lifted her teacup to her lips.
The tea had gone cold.
Yet its rich aroma still filled her mouth.
"Is such a spell possible? Subduing a jiaolong in its final slumber before ascension and extracting its energy?"
"Is a formation capable of that?"
Bing Chwi-seol shot back at Han Seol-bing's question.
The two exchanged looks and shook their heads.
Indeed.
It was impossible alone.
But together...
"We can't even match our ancestors from a thousand years ago. We've made no progress at all..."
Bing Chwi-seol gave a bitter smile.
"Your martial arts have advanced, though."
Ha Mu-baek recalled the swordsmanship he had seen in Bing Ok-ryeong's lingering will and commented.
Han Seol-bing's swordsmanship far surpassed it.
At his words, the bitterness on Bing Chwi-seol's lips deepened.
"It seems the ancestor didn't reveal everything about the Ice Heaven Palace."
"She only conveyed the memories held in her remaining will."
Ha Mu-baek answered Bing Chwi-seol calmly.
She nodded at his demeanor.
"Just as the ancestor read the heavens and left the Palace Lord artifact, she read the heavens and came to the North Sea."
Han Seol-bing's eyes widened in surprise.
It was a fact even she hadn't known.
"To avert a colossal calamity that would one day befall the world. She said we needed pure, untainted power, so she came to the North Sea."
Ha Mu-baek tilted his head.
How did she know that when there was no record of the arrangements in the artifact?
"That's how she found the Millennial Ice Crystal. A crystal formed from the purest energy, filtering out all impurities. And she obtained one martial art."
"Ah..."
Han Seol-bing let out a small exclamation as realization dawned.
Ice Crystal Radiant Heaven Force.
The technique she had used to transmit the Ice Crystal's power to Ha Mu-baek.
An internal energy method only the Palace Lord could cultivate.
One left by the ancestor as well.
"There is an internal energy method called Ice Crystal Radiant Heaven Force. The story on the first page of its manual is exactly what I just told you."
Ha Mu-baek nodded slightly. The small question in his mind had been resolved.
"And at the very end, there is this line."
Bing Chwi-seol took another sip of tea and continued.
"'When the successor appears, pass it on.'"
She recited softly.
Then she looked at Ha Mu-baek.
"I believe that successor is you, Benefactor Ha Daxia."
Bing Chwi-seol smiled brightly.
She drew a book from her bosom and placed it on the low table.
It was pristine.
Not an ancient tome handed down through generations.
"This is the manual I copied by hand yesterday. Not a single character is missing."
"Why give it to me..."
"The Ice Heaven Palace is known only for its martial arts and formations, but now you know. In truth, it was a sect that could claim supremacy in spells as well. I may not have reached the heights our ancestor achieved due to my shortcomings. But I have at least a small intuition, if not full heavenly insight."
Ha Mu-baek simply listened to Bing Chwi-seol without voicing the questions rising in his mind.
"This intuition doesn't activate at my whim, and it often fails me miserably."
She spoke as if aware of Ha Mu-baek's unspoken doubts.
"Yesterday, it flared intensely. Telling me that you, Benefactor Ha Daxia, are the successor to the Ice Crystal Radiant Heaven Force."
With that, she slid the book toward Ha Mu-baek.
He gazed silently at the titleless tome.
"It's not some extraordinary technique, really. Just an internal energy method for drawing and wielding the Ice Crystal's power. That's all. I always thought it was merely for operating the formations in the Palace Lord's chamber. So I overlooked the final line. But seeing you, it seems otherwise."
Bing Chwi-seol urged him with her eyes.
Take the manual already.
"If you insist so strongly, then I gratefully accept."
Ha Mu-baek took the book and tucked it into his bosom.
Bing Chwi-seol watched with a pleased expression, then rose.
"That was my business. Please rest comfortably."
She cupped her hands toward Ha Mu-baek and left the room.
"Uh, uh..."
Han Seol-bing panicked at Bing Chwi-seol's sudden departure.
She had come with her, so she assumed they'd leave together.
"What are you doing?"
Ha Mu-baek tossed the question at her as if it were the most natural thing.
"It was so sudden."
Han Seol-bing quickly composed herself and replied.
"You've made quite the progress yourself."
Ha Mu-baek, who had been staring at her steadily, remarked.
"Who, me? You're the one who transcended monster to become a super-monster."
Han Seol-bing recalled Ha Mu-baek's display from the day before.
Ha Mu-baek smiled faintly at her.
"Thanks. As I said yesterday, it's thanks to you. If you hadn't sent the Ice Crystal's energy... who knows what might have happened."
At his thanks, Han Seol-bing turned her head slightly.
That day's events flashed through her mind and faded.
The moment she had desperately raced toward the Ice Crystal and moved her energy without a thought.
"I only did what was natural. You came here to help me, Corps Leader. So I had to help you too."
"Right. That's my subordinate for you."
With that, Ha Mu-baek rose from his chair.
"Well, I'm off."
"Pardon?"
As he took a step, Ha Mu-baek patted his chest pocket.
The manual from Bing Chwi-seol was inside.
"She gave it, so I have to read it. And catch up on some more sleep."
He left those words behind and departed the tea room.
Han Seol-bing remained alone.
"Hoo."
She let out a small breath and soon left the tea room as well.
A land far south beyond Yunnan Province.
The Southern Barbarians.
Beyond the Central Plains, this place was hot and humid year-round, overrun with dense jungles teeming with every manner of venomous insect and beast.
In its deepest reaches.
A massive cave wound deep underground.
A gaunt old man with white hair and blind eyes sat cross-legged.
All around him crawled venomous creatures and insects.
He reached out, grabbed one at random, and crunched it between his teeth.
"Almost there. Just a little longer."
Though his eyes could not see, the old man glanced toward the depths behind him.
Something blacker than pitch darkness seemed to flicker there.
He sniffed the air.
"Heh heh. It's ripened fully. Just a bit more waiting, and it'll be ready."
A satisfied smile crept across his lips.
The old man unfolded his legs and stood.
"Tch. These fools who make it this far are all so scrawny and tasteless."
Grumbling in dissatisfaction, he dusted off his waist and walked on.
His unfocused eyes, covered in a milky film, clearly could not see.
Yet he moved without the slightest hindrance.
Climbing the twisting cavern upward, he emerged into a vast cave.
Outside lay a lush forest.
The old man, sniffing the air, headed toward a spot beneath the dense trees where rotten roots clustered thickly.
There grew all manner of rare herbs.
Spirit herbs and medicines, poisonous plants and toxins.
In the deep jungle where countless herbalists dreamed of striking it rich by finding spirit herbs.
Today.
One herbalist had found this place and gazed at the spirit herbs before him in ecstatic joy.
"Tch. An annoying pest has wandered in."
This was a place reachable only by passing through lands infested with the deadliest insects and beasts.
A place no ordinary person could enter.
Yet this herbalist, apparently skilled, had made it here.
"Gah!!"
The herbalist, trembling in delight, startled at the old man's sudden appearance.
Those milky white eyes staring at him were eerie and terrifying.
Swoosh.
In an instant, the old man closed in and seized the herbalist's throat.
"Gurk. Ack."
The herbalist flailed, but the old man dragged him aside without care.
There grew a red mushroom.
It resembled a deer's antler or a child's outstretched hand.
One thing was certain.
The thick poison it exuded.
Toxic enough to kill an ordinary person with a mere touch.
The old man grabbed the herbalist's hand and forced it toward the mushroom.
"N-No... gurk... ack... no... don't..."
The herbalist knew exactly what it was.
Red Deer Poison Horn Bitter Fungus.
A notorious toxic mushroom.
A mere brush would poison and slowly kill.
The longer the contact, the quicker the death.
Melting veins, blood pouring from every orifice.
"Kaaaargh!"
The herbalist's hand touched the mushroom.
And stayed there.
The poison seeped into his body.
Soon his skin turned red.
Blood flowed from every hole and pore.
And so he died.
"Tch. Dead from this much."
The old man, unperturbed, plucked the mushroom and popped it into his mouth.
Crunch. Crunch.
"Pathetic wretch. Finally, something decent to eat."
The warmth of sunlight on his skin.
He looked up at the sky.
"How much time has passed, I wonder. Heh heh. Wait for me, Thousand Poisons Valley. And the Central Plains."
The old man's milky eyes gleamed wildly.