“What I want to say is….”
Not only Han Seol, but Geom Mugeuk was also curious about what Lee Ahn’s answer would be.
Her stepping forward had not been part of the plan.
Lee Ahn calmly conveyed her sincere thoughts.
“I’m asking you to try trusting our Young Cult Master, just once.”
Surprise flickered across Han Seol’s usually emotionless face.
She had never expected a subordinate of the Young Cult Master to say such a thing.
“I know this is a situation where it’s difficult to trust one another.”
“Then why did you say such a thing?”
To Han Seol’s cold question, Lee Ahn replied softly.
“Because in this world, something that transcends all of that can exist.”
From beginning to end, it was an answer that defied Han Seol’s expectations.
Han Seol’s gaze shifted to Geom Mugeuk.
“Are you saying the Young Cult Master is that transcendent being?”
“That’s right. Though to the Young Palace Master, it may sound like the words of a madwoman.”
Han Seol, who had been looking at Lee Ahn, now looked at Geom Mugeuk.
Her eyes seemed to say, "Alright, you explain this madwoman."
Of course, Geom Mugeuk was not one to meekly follow her intentions.
“This is how much respect I receive from my subordinates.”
Han Seol stared at Geom Mugeuk as if to pierce him through.
She had never believed the myths in the rumors about Geom Mugeuk.
But after hearing Lee Ahn’s words, that suspicion had now become a certainty.
‘Perhaps it really was all fabricated.’
Otherwise, a subordinate would not say to trust their leader because he is a ‘transcendent being.’ They were either brainwashed, ordered, or truly a madwoman.
Whatever the case, it did not befit a hero who was changing the landscape of the martial world.
“The beginning is always difficult, but doesn’t everything become easier with familiarity? So, Young Palace Master, just go ahead and do it!”
Geom Mugeuk’s gaze turned to Lee Ahn.
“Just like this child here.”
Lee Ahn bowed her head deeply.
It was because he was the kind of person who would say such things no matter what she did that she could be so reckless.
Lee Ahn mustered her courage and spoke once more.
“Please believe in the Young Cult Master. You will never regret it.”
Han Seol let out a cold scoff, then turned to bid Geom Mugeuk farewell.
“I will contact you again.”
After she left, Lee Ahn sighed.
“I’ve ruined everything, haven’t I?”
“‘Transcendent’ was a bit much.”
“The words just came out without me realizing. I don’t know why I wanted to help that cold person.”
Weren’t you the one who came all this way after getting a cup of water?
Geom Mugeuk already knew the answer.
Lee Ahn found the answer in the surrounding scenery.
While dealing with the Northern Blood Sect, she hadn’t seen any of her surroundings, but after meeting Geom Mugeuk, she had started to notice the landscape.
“I think it’s because the snowy scenery was so beautiful, something I haven’t seen in a long time.”
*
“The Young Cult Master has made a new proposal.”
Han Seol’s actions were different from what she had told Geom Mugeuk.
“He asked to stay at our Palace for a while in exchange for handing over the disciples of the Northern Blood Sect. And I have accepted his proposal.”
She had told Geom Mugeuk she would discuss it with the Ice Palace Master, but she spoke to her mother as if informing her that it was already accepted.
This was not because of Lee Ahn’s words to trust Geom Mugeuk.
She was curious about her mother’s reaction.
How would she react when she made a decision on her own?
She had expected her to be angry or react coldly, but surprisingly, the Ice Palace Master was calm.
Han Seol answered the question in the Ice Palace Master’s eyes.
“Because rescuing the disciples of the Northern Blood Sect is the priority.”
“No, tell me the real reason you accepted. That is not the primary reason, is it?”
She was right.
The one who had made the secret pact with the Northern Blood Sect Master was her mother.
There was a reason that came before the lives of those captured.
“I wanted to confirm something.”
“What?”
How my mother would react to my independent decision.
But she gave a different reason.
“The Young Cult Master I saw with my own eyes was different from the rumors. So I wanted to see him up close and confirm if he really is such an amazing person. And…”
Besides the reason that false rumors wouldn’t work, there was another.
“If the brewer was really murdered as they think, aren’t you curious? Who killed that person?”
The Ice Palace Master stared at her daughter without a word.
It would have been natural for her to comment on her daughter’s unusual behavior.
“You handle this matter.”
“Thank you, Palace Master.”
Han Seol bowed politely and left the Palace Master’s Hall.
The Ice Palace Master walked to the window and looked outside.
The snow-covered scenery of the Ice Palace was the same as yesterday, but today she looked at it with a different heart.
*
Yang Il, who had been pressing his ear against the iron door, let out a sigh.
The person in the cell across from him had been taken away and had not returned.
The man named Im who had been with him had also been taken away several days ago and had not come back.
It was also unlikely they were resting in a clean and comfortable place.
If that were the case, they would not have been locked up in this damp, prison-like place to begin with.
“Hyun-ah, Min-ah.”
Tears welled in Yang Il’s eyes.
He, who had never shed a tear in his life.
He missed his children so much.
He didn’t realize it when they were together, but the thought that he might never see them again made their faces constantly appear in his mind.
His already worried wife was probably sleepless by now.
They had been brought here with smiles, but they were not even allowed to send a single letter saying they had arrived safely.
The reason he came here was because a famed doctor was testing a newly developed medicine.
They had gathered people at the largest clinic in the village and conducted various tests.
Just undergoing the tests paid several days' wages, so many people had gathered.
And in the village, only he and Mr. Im had the constitution they were looking for.
They said if he participated in the experiment for just two or three months, he would be paid a large sum of money.
It was an amount that would take him years of work to earn at his current job.
His wife had warned him it was dangerous.
His body could be harmed, and the offer of so much money was suspicious.
Besides, they were outsiders.
But after much thought, Yang Il decided to go.
There were others who wanted to go but couldn’t because their constitution didn’t match.
Moreover, the people who examined his body were very polite and gentle.
They had honestly told him that depending on the case, his health could be harmed.
That actually made him trust them more.
Even though he and his wife worked hard, they couldn't save much money.
Just when they thought they had saved some, something would come up.
Just when they thought they had scrimped and saved, something else would come up.
He planned to open a small shop if he received the lump sum.
He had lived a life of all sorts of rough work, but he didn’t want his children to live such a life.
Could his children endure the hardships he had faced? His wife told him to trust the children, but Yang Il couldn’t.
No, he just didn’t want to make them suffer like this.
Just a small shop to feed our family of four! Please!
But after leaving his hometown, he sensed something was wrong.
It wasn't the people from the clinic who were taking them, but martial artists with swords who were escorting them.
They had come all the way to the Northern Sea, not to the place they were supposed to go, and they were confined not in a medical hall but in a secret mountain villa.
Not only were they not allowed to go out, but they were not even permitted to step outside their door.
Then, a few days ago, they were moved to this place, which was furnished just like a prison.
‘I should have listened to my wife.’
Just then, a martial artist opened the iron door and came in.
“Let’s go.”
Yang Il’s heart sank.
His turn had finally come.
His heart began to pound like crazy.
‘Am I going to die now? I can’t die like this.’
Should he ambush this martial artist in front of him and escape? Maybe by headbutting him?
But that would be difficult even for an ordinary person, and his opponent was a martial artist.
No matter how much his body had been strengthened by construction work, he couldn't face a martial artist.
Yang Il was dragged out.
As he walked down the corridor, he felt no gazes on him.
Originally, there had been people in the cell across, the cell next to his, and the cell next to that one.
But those who were taken away never returned.
‘I’m the last one!’
The place he was taken to was filled with all sorts of unidentifiable objects.
There was a strange medicinal smell he had never smelled in his life.
And in the middle of the room was a bed made of jade.
The martial artist who brought him spoke to Yang Il.
“Take off your clothes and lie on the bed. Take everything off.”
When Yang Il hesitated, the martial artist glared at him coldly, as if he wouldn’t say it twice.
Yang Il took off his clothes under the fierce pressure.
Attack him now, subdue the bastard, and run! His instincts screamed, but his body, which had never fought anyone in his life, failed to obey.
Building houses, paving roads, building dikes.
He had lived his whole life doing rough and hard work, but he was a gentle soul who had never once hit a person.
Yang Il lay on the bed.
The bed was much colder than he had expected.
The martial artist used leather straps connected to the bed to tie Yang Il’s arms and legs so he couldn’t move.
When he was ready, the door opened and four people entered.
There was a middle-aged man in blue robes and three martial artists escorting him.
One of the martial artists wore a mask, and his gaze was even more intense than that of the middle-aged man in blue.
The middle-aged man approached and looked down at Yang Il.
His gaze was colder than the chill of the bed he felt on his back.
Yang Il begged earnestly.
He didn't know what kind of test they were conducting, but he prayed that he would be a suitable person.
‘Please, just let me live!’
He didn’t need money anymore.
If only he could return alive.
If only he could see his wife and children again.
The middle-aged man began the test in earnest.
When he manipulated something beneath the bed, the bed began to grow even colder.
“Ughhhhhh!”
It was so cold that a groan escaped his lips.
At this rate, he felt like he would freeze to death.
“Please save me!”
To Yang Il’s plea, the man said coldly.
“Among a thousand people born with an Ice Cold Body, there is one with an Extreme Cold Body. If you are that one, you will survive.”
Yang Il despaired.
Did that mean if he wasn't that one in a thousand, he would die?
It was at that very moment.
The middle-aged man in the room sniffed the air.
“But what is this smell?”
A smell was wafting in through a small hole in the iron door.
“It’s the smell of wine.”
The middle-aged man’s expression immediately hardened.
“Who in the world is drinking in broad daylight?”
One of the three standing martial artists went outside.
“I will check.”
The martial artist opened the door and went out.
When he checked the corridor, he was startled.
The corridor up ahead looked as if it were shrouded in fog.
‘What is this?’
There was no reason for such a fog to form indoors.
Sensing an unknown danger, the martial artist drew his sword.
In an instant, the fog rushed in.
The smell of wine was coming from this fog.
‘The smell of wine in the fog? Then this is!’
It was intoxication.
It was a force so strong that even a person who could hold their liquor, let alone a weak drinker, would find it hard to stand.
It was such an intense intoxication that it felt as if a dam of wine had broken and was flooding up to his knees.
Then, without even having time to notice its approach, an arm with a clenched fist shot out from the fog.
The fist just tapped him lightly, but the martial artist was thrown against the wall and lost consciousness.
The person who emerged from the fog was none other than the Drunken Demon.
The intoxication swirled around his body like a protective energy.
Right now it was an ordinary fog, but it was in fact the Drunken Demon’s intoxication, which could change into any form.
He opened the door from where the martial artist had come and entered.
Swoosh.
Another martial artist, sensing that the situation outside was not normal, swung his sword at the Drunken Demon.
The Drunken Demon lightly dodged the incoming sword, then struck the martial artist’s neck lightly with the side of his hand.
It was just a light tap, but the fallen martial artist did not get up.
Whoosh.
The fog-like intoxication that had filled the outer corridor all gathered towards the Drunken Demon, enveloping his body and shimmering like a heat haze.
The middle-aged man in the blue robes stared at the Drunken Demon with a shocked expression.
His two subordinates were not so unskilled as to be defeated so easily.
That meant the opponent’s martial arts were truly powerful.
But he had not despaired yet.
Among the three martial artists, the real master was the masked man.
The Drunken Demon glanced at the two men, then examined Yang Il, who was lying on the bed.
He was frozen cold and looked as if he would stop breathing at any moment.
He was in a situation where the masked man could ambush him while he was distracted, but the Drunken Demon paid him no mind.
Even though the Drunken Demon had his back turned to look at Yang Il, the masked man did not dare to attack.
He felt as if the Drunken Demon's intoxication shimmering around his body was watching him.
The Drunken Demon untied the leather straps binding Yang Il and grabbed his wrist.
As a warm energy flowed into him, Yang Il breathed peacefully and regained consciousness.
Despite having confirmed the opponent's skill, the middle-aged man warned in a low voice.
“Do you know who we are? If you retreat now, you may be able to keep your life.”
At that, the Drunken Demon readily revealed his identity.
Since the Northern Sea Ice Palace already knew of the Heavenly Demon Divine Sect’s involvement in this matter, there was no reason to hide it.
“I am the Drunken Demon.”
“!”
The middle-aged man froze, his face turning pale.
The masked man’s expression also hardened.
“Why are you…?”
If it weren’t for the single move he had just shown against the subordinate, if it weren’t for a level of mastery where no opening could be found even when his back was turned, he would never have believed it.
But it was certainly the Drunken Demon.
The deep intoxication and the aroma of wine faintly wafting from him was an energy that no one but the Drunken Demon could even imitate.
No, leaving all that aside.
The man before them exuded a presence that was simply unapproachable.
Yang Il was just as surprised as they were.
This person is the famous Drunken Demon of the Demon Sect’s Eight Demon Sovereigns? Who in the world did not know of them? It was said that when children cried, people would say a Demon Sovereign would come and get them.
“Is there a man named Yang Il among those who were brought here?”
When the Drunken Demon sought him out, Yang Il was startled.
“I am Yang Il. That’s me.”
He had never been personally involved with even a third-rate martial artist in his entire life, yet a Demon Sovereign was looking for him.
How could he know my name?
“That’s a relief. My purpose was to rescue you.”
Yang Il could not understand this situation at all.
‘A Demon Sovereign came to rescue me?’
It felt as if he were dreaming.
He looked down at the bed.
‘Ah, am I dreaming right before I die?’
He thought that perhaps his real self was freezing to death on the bed, and he was having such a dream in his final moments.
But it was too vivid to be a dream or an illusion.
Even now, the bed he was sitting on was cold enough to chill his buttocks.
“You came to rescue me? Why would someone so noble rescue me?”
Yang Il’s voice trembled.
He had thought the Demon Sovereign was here for some other matter and just happened to be rescuing him.
Then, an astonishing answer came from the Drunken Demon’s lips.
It was probably the most surprising thing Yang Il had ever heard in his life.
“Your wife asked me. She asked me to bring her husband back home.”
“!”
So surprised was he that Yang Il’s eyes went wide.
How could his wife make such a request to a Demon Sovereign?
“My wife? My wife is someone who hasn’t even stepped outside the village since we were married…”
Soon, Yang Il shook his head.
This couldn’t possibly be happening.
‘Ah, I’m already dead.
Honey, thank you for saving me, even if it’s in a dream.
Raise the kids well, and live a good life.
I’m sorry I couldn’t be with you until the end.’
Even so, the dream-like reality continued.
“I haven’t had a drink, so my nerves are a bit on edge.”
The Drunken Demon had put the Ice Wine made by the brewer into his Blood Tears but had not yet drunk it.
He intended to drink that Ice Wine when he killed the one who had murdered her.
So that she could be with him at the moment of revenge.
“Am I more dangerous when I’ve been drinking? Or when I haven’t?”