These days, I often see Seol Ri-hyang acting playful, pouting, or teasing without a care in the world…
But before the regression, Seol Ri-hyang was so fierce that she earned the alias "Ghost Sound Witch." She was only ever gentle with me and Seomun Hwa-rin.
Even now, deep within Seol Ri-hyang's heart, the same ruthless nature from before the regression likely lies dormant.
In fact, during the fight against the Blood Flame Fist Demon, I felt a gwigi from Seol Ri-hyang similar to what I had seen before the regression, as she tried to surpass her own limits to help me.
Actually, in a way, it's only natural. Seol Ri-hyang's temperament wasn't formed by chance—it stems from her past.
Seol Ri-hyang was once raised to be devoured.
Because she was born with a Pure Yin Constitution, because she was born the daughter of a courtesan, and because… she had no power to resist, she was treated no better than livestock.
Seol Ri-hyang's fierce pride—that way of thinking where, rather than feeling grateful for someone's help, she first considers how to repay it—surely took root during that time.
In this life, I managed to pull her out a little earlier, and she has shown a much brighter side because of it.
But she could never forget what happened in the past, the misery of those days.
For someone like Seol Ri-hyang, the existence of the shrine maidens—who, unable to do otherwise, devote their very lives to maintaining the power of the Ice Crystal—
And the position of Ice Palace Lord, which requires taking the Ice Crystal that is sustained by the shrine maidens' sacrifice—neither could have felt very pleasant to her.
There is a difference between accepting one's own death and not, but… in the end, living for the sake of dying is the same.
That was why she said what she did.
"…I don't like it."
Seol Ri-hyang's expression hardened at the sight of Bing Yerin's half-enlightened smile.
Not expecting such a strong reaction, Bing Yerin blinked rapidly and opened her mouth.
"I-I'm fine. I knew everything from the start and volunteered… and families that produce a Divine Maiden receive enormous rewards. Ah! Of course, I'll also live comfortably for the rest of my life!"
"Cows and pigs are also well cared for while they're alive."
"Cows and pigs? I'm…"
"Bing Yerin. You said you volunteered, but was that truly your own choice, made with a sound mind?"
"O-Of course…!"
"Not just anyone can become a Divine Maiden. You have to offer enough energy to restore the Ice Crystal's power, so it must be someone with talent in martial arts."
That was true. In the North Sea Ice Palace, where Transcendent Peak martial artists were considered the absolute peak, Bing Yerin had reached the mid-Peak Realm before even turning thirty.
It felt unremarkable only because our group's average martial prowess was so high… but in truth, this was an extraordinary feat.
Only direct descendants of the Five Great Families, or prodigies of the Nine Great Sects and One Gang, could hope to achieve something comparable.
The fact that she had accomplished this in the declining North Sea Ice Palace was proof that Bing Yerin possessed remarkable talent and had trained her martial arts with genuine dedication.
But in the end, she became a Divine Maiden. Or rather, she was pushed until she had no choice but to become one.
All the sweat she had shed, the joy of her achievements, the pleasure of martial arts—all of it was reduced to nothing more than an offering for the Ice Crystal.
Seol Ri-hyang must have found that intolerable.
"…Bing Yerin, this is your business, so I won't say anything more. But I doubt I'll ever be able to like the very concept of a Divine Maiden, or the structure of the North Sea Ice Palace that not only permits it but elevates it."
"…"
With those words, Seol Ri-hyang turned and headed toward where Tang So-wol and Seomun Hwa-rin stood.
I was about to follow her back to the group when Bing Yerin, who had been staring at Seol Ri-hyang's retreating back without a word, finally managed to speak.
"Blood Flower Sword Demon."
"Hm?"
"Would you be willing to help me?"
"…Do you really think I would accept that?"
"The Blood Flower Sword Demon holds the Young Palace Mistress in special regard, does he not?"
"That is true, I suppose."
"Then you will find yourself willing to help. After all, this is a matter that will benefit the Young Palace Mistress."
Her voice trembled. But Bing Yerin's gaze did not waver as she continued.
"The Young Palace Mistress must have seen through the confusion within me. The shrine maidens are chosen from among those who volunteer, but…"
"So on the surface it looks like volunteering, but behind the scenes it was something else. A common story."
"That is correct. With such immense benefits and honor granted to the family, it was unavoidable. After all, how many people would volunteer for a life with a time limit purely of their own will? Especially since I was only twelve years old at the time."
"Hmm. If you wish to escape the North Sea Ice Palace, do not do it now. Wait until later, when I and Seol Ri-hyang return to the Central Plains."
"No. That is not it."
Bing Yerin shook her head firmly, then continued her answer slowly but clearly, as if choosing her words with care.
"I became the shrine maiden without even properly knowing what the position entailed. There were times I trained hard in martial arts, hoping to escape this fate. …But now, things are a little different."
"Different how?"
"My own death has always been something I fear, but now, more than that, I wish for the North Sea Ice Palace and the countless people living within it to continue on unharmed."
"That sounds as if someone is targeting the North Sea Ice Palace."
The North Sea Ice Palace was located in a cold, inhospitable region—but precisely because of that, it was also a place free of external enemies.
If no Harmony Realm martial artist emerged, it was only natural for the North Sea Ice Palace to slowly decline… but that should not have been enough to lead to the Clan Extermination of the palace.
In fact, before the regression, he had never once heard news of the North Sea Ice Palace being destroyed—not even up to the moment he died at the hands of the Heavenly Demon.
Even so, she carried herself as if it would be a disaster if a proper Ice Palace Lord did not emerge. Sensing my confusion, I asked again, and Bing Yerin gave a small nod.
"So someone is targeting it. That's not wrong."
"…Let me hear the details first. What do you want me to help with?"
"A great monster has lived in the North Sea for a long time. …And the North Sea Ice Palace was formed by those who banded together to oppose it and survive."
What followed was a secret history of the North Sea Ice Palace—one I had never heard in my previous life, and one that was little known even in the Central Plains.
***
In the distant past, the ancestors of the North Sea Ice Palace loved their land, but they could not bring themselves to love the terrible cold.
And so they set out to find the source of the cold, whether it existed or not…
What they found at the end of that search was a massive serpent of azure and white, one that belched forth tremendous cold.
In this day and age, even small spirit beasts are hard to come by, but in the past such beings were fairly common, and among them—rare though they were—there were spirit beasts whose power stood on a different level entirely, like an absolute master of the Harmony Realm.
The azure-white serpent discovered by the ancestors of the North Sea Ice Palace was exactly such a creature.
Its body was larger than a house, the size of a small hill. Seeing its ability to whip up blizzards and turn the entire surrounding area into blocks of ice, they thought:
That spirit beast must be the very source of the cold.
And so, for a long time, the ancestors of the North Sea Ice Palace struggled to bring down the serpent spirit beast, and it was the first Ice Palace Lord—who had created the Glacier True Energy—who finally succeeded in slaying it.
The massive corpse became the cornerstone upon which the North Sea Ice Palace was built, and its inner core, which continued to emit dense cold even in death, came to be called the Ice Crystal, used to augment the power of successive Ice Palace Lords.
The people of the North Sea Ice Palace celebrated their victory and began to look forward to the warm days that would someday come.
"But that day never came."
The cold persisted all the same. The only difference was that they no longer feared it.
Through their long struggle against the massive serpent spirit beast they had named the Azure-White Cold Serpents, they had naturally come to master martial arts that wielded the chill.
By the time they finally brought down the Azure-White Cold Serpents, their Yin Cold Arts had reached a level where overcoming the cold came naturally.
Even a simple martial art, when backed by proper Yin Cold Arts, made enduring the cold far easier.
It did not take long for the ancestors of the North Sea Ice Palace to conclude that remaining in that frozen land and developing their martial arts there was actually the better path.
"As time passed and they learned of the Central Plains, slowly building ties through exchange, this conviction never wavered."
The impression of the North Sea Ice Palace that spread across the Central Plains—that they were martial artists who wielded rare Yin Cold Arts, each one formidable, with attitudes as cold as ice—was said to have been born during this very era.
At the time, the martial arts of the North Sea Ice Palace had several side effects—men who practiced them would become effeminate, and facial expressions would drastically diminish, to name the most representative examples.
But progress comes from exchange. Most of these side effects were said to have been resolved in the process of learning new martial arts through interaction with the Central Plains.
And so, reducing this and that side effect while maximizing the strengths, the Ice White Divine Skill was born.
Created by the Ice Palace Lord several generations ago, it became a secret art that only the Ice Palace Lord could learn, a peerless divine skill of the ages.
"…Perhaps that was the problem."
"You mean the Ice White Divine Skill?"
"More precisely, it might be the excessive absorption of the Ice Crystal's power in order to train the Ice White Divine Skill."
The power of the Ice Crystal, which had already been gradually weakening, was now being depleted so rapidly that it could barely be maintained without the periodic sacrifice of a shrine maiden.
Then, for some reason, the cold energy of the entire North Sea began to gradually diminish.
Naturally, the North Sea Ice Palace was thrown into chaos, and after expending effort in every direction to find the cause…
"Grandfather. In other words, the previous Ice Palace Lord, the Ice Heaven Lord, succeeded in discovering the cause."
"What was it?"
"…They are the descendants of the Azure-White Cold Serpents that were defeated in the past."
"Oh?"
"It's true. Though they are small in size, dozens of Spirit Beasts resembling the Azure-White Cold Serpents from the records were absorbing all the surrounding cold energy."
"What the…"
For a moment, I could hardly believe what I was hearing.
Just because a creature is the offspring of a Spirit Beast does not mean it will inevitably become one itself. In this day and age, for reasons unknown, the number of Spirit Beasts had also noticeably dwindled.
But a long time had passed since the Azure-White Cold Serpents had been brought down, and given the unique environment of the North Sea, it wasn't entirely impossible.
Moreover, unlike humans who learned proper Mental Cultivation Methods to efficiently absorb Natural Qi, Spirit Beasts tended to recklessly devour whatever energy surrounded them.
No matter how abundant the land was in cold energy, the North Sea Ice Palace—where everyone except newborn infants had trained in martial arts to some degree—could not withstand dozens of Spirit Beasts absorbing the energy and facing them head-on.
However…
"I was under the impression that the Ice Heaven Lord was a martial artist of the Harmony Realm. Dozens of Spirit Beasts are dangerous, but a master of that caliber should have been able to deal with them easily enough."
"Yes, that would be true if they were ordinary Spirit Beasts. But what guards that serpent den… is a Spirit Beast so powerful that it calls to mind the Azure-White Cold Serpents our ancestors brought down."
It is said that the Ice Heaven Lord led the masters of the North Sea Ice Palace in an attempt to subjugate them, but ultimately failed.
Though they succeeded in killing a few of the lesser ones, they could not deal with the most important leader and had no choice but to retreat.
"Before my grandfather passed away, he said that they were building their strength to avenge their ancestors."
"You mean the ones the founder of the North Sea Ice Palace brought down."
"Yes. He said that if the Ice Crystal's power were to be completely exhausted, and the North Sea Ice Palace could no longer sense the aura of a Harmony Realm martial artist on par with their leader himself… then they would attack."
"…Surely you don't expect me to fight the Azure-White Cold Serpents. If that's what you want, I'll refuse right now. I'd recommend abandoning this land and settling elsewhere instead."
"Heh heh. I'm not so shameless as to ask that. What I wished to request was… if the Young Palace Mistress continues to refuse to become the Palace Mistress, then sooner or later, we will face Clan Extermination regardless."
Bing Yerin let out a short sigh and looked at him with a serious tone.
"Shouldn't we at least flail before things come to that? If the Young Palace Mistress leaves, I intend to take the Ice Crystal itself, not its power. What I wish to ask of you is to serve as my Cultivation Guardian while I absorb the Ice Crystal."
"And the price?"
"While you remain here, I will grant you access to all the martial arts of the North Sea Ice Palace. Even the secret arts that are not permitted to outsiders."
The North Sea Ice Palace would surely never allow Bing Yerin to absorb the Ice Crystal.
So asking me to stand guard wasn't merely a request to assist with the absorption—it was essentially asking me to hold back the North Sea Ice Palace's opposition in the meantime.
Still, the secret arts of the North Sea Ice Palace were undeniably a tempting reward.
After a brief moment of deliberation, I opened my mouth.
"…I'll decide after asking Seol Ri-hyang first."
"Yes, I will wait."
Leaving Bing Yerin, who bowed her head, behind, I finally turned toward my companions.
***
I explained to Seol Ri-hyang what I had just heard.
"The North Sea Ice Palace was on the verge of Clan Extermination, fighting a Harmony Realm Spirit Beast and dozens of other Spirit Beasts that, while not quite reaching that level, were still formidable…"
"What the hell are you talking about?"
And before I could even finish, I was cut off.
Seol Ri-hyang tilted her head and glared at me.
…Hmm. Honestly, if you heard it out of the blue like that, it's not exactly something you'd believe.