I explained to Seol Ri-hyang what Bing Yerin had told me.
"What kind of nonsense is that?"
She cut me off before I could even finish.
Seol Ri-hyang glared at me, her head tilted at an angle. Her pouting lips and half-lidded eyes betrayed a mix of bewilderment and exasperation.
…Hmm. To be fair, if someone heard all this out of the blue, it would be hard to believe.
While I was mulling over where to even begin explaining, Tang So-wol—who had bundled up in thick clothes since she hadn't yet reached the stage where cold couldn't touch her—timidly raised her hand.
"Um. Young hero Cheon?"
"What's the matter?"
"I understand what you're saying, but… is that even possible in the first place?"
"Right, right! What Sister Tang said. How could the temperature change just because a Spirit Beast sucked up some of the surrounding energy?"
Seol Ri-hyang swung her arms around, pressing the point as if seizing the perfect moment. However, this time, before I could even answer, Seomun Hwa-rin stepped forward first.
"To put it plainly, it is not an impossibility."
"…Huh?"
Seomun Hwa-rin continued her explanation toward a startled Seol Ri-hyang.
"When I was young, I heard from my grandfather that powerful Spirit Beasts could even alter the weather around them. He also said he had actually caught one himself in his younger days."
"Hmm… Sister Seomun, how old are you now…? And your grandfather was young back then…"
Seol Ri-hyang's eyes flew wide open as she counted on her fingers, folding them one by one.
"Two hundred years ago…!"
"Hey! It wasn't that long ago! At most, a hundred years!"
Smack!
Seomun Hwa-rin smacked Seol Ri-hyang on the back and huffed. But honestly, even a hundred years was no small thing—it was still an incredibly long time ago.
I thought as much, but both I and Tang So-wol knew better than to ruin the mood.
Just as I barely managed to hold back my itching tongue, Seomun Hwa-rin began gently stroking the back of a sulking Seol Ri-hyang and continued speaking.
"Ahem, well, in the old days, when Spirit Beasts were still relatively common, this sort of thing happened from time to time. I've heard a few tales of Sun Fire Sparrows relocating and heating up a river so much that fish died en masse, or of caves where Millennium Snow Ginseng grew turning as cold as ice and drawing in animals that had never been seen in the area before."
"Still, you're saying it could warm the entire North Sea?"
"Not the entire North Sea—just the North Sea Ice Palace and its surroundings would be more than enough. And besides…"
Seomun Hwa-rin glanced toward Bing Yerin and the martial artists of the North Sea Ice Palace, then nodded.
"I've heard that the people of the North Sea Ice Palace, achievements aside, all learn martial arts without exception. If both Spirit Beasts and people stay in one place for a long time, absorbing Natural Qi, then what I said a moment ago doesn't seem impossible."
Natural Qi inherently tends to keep flowing, always striving to balance its concentration across the whole.
But if it truly worked as perfectly as that, why would the ancient sects have built their halls in mountain valleys?
Natural Qi keeps flowing, yes… but among it, there are places where this energy gathers unusually well, and conversely, places where it disperses unusually easily.
Considering that so-called auspicious sites are usually found in remote, sparsely populated places, it stands to reason that people living in one place for a long time would inevitably affect the surrounding energy.
Under normal circumstances, the difference would only grow gradually over an extremely long period of time…
But in the case of the North Sea Ice Palace, the sheer number of Spirit Beasts in the vicinity, combined with the custom of everyone—men and women, young and old—learning martial arts to some degree, must have accelerated the process.
Or perhaps, having mastered a martial art that specifically targets the cold within Natural Qi, they had become sensitive to even the slightest changes.
"Hmph. This one does not believe the North Sea Ice Palace's shrine maiden spoke falsely."
"…I see. Then what if I told you everything and asked for your help? What would you do?"
"That is for you to decide, Seol Ri-hyang."
"Huh?"
"After all, there isn't much for us to gain from this trip to the North Sea Ice Palace. But for you, Seol Ri-hyang, it's different."
The martial arts of the North Sea Ice Palace, which specialize in the Yin Cold Arts rarely seen in the Central Plains.
An environment so filled with cold energy that it's hard to believe it's ever warmed up.
And perhaps even the position of master of the North Sea Ice Palace itself.
Seol Ri-hyang could, if she so desired, seize all of this in her hands, or pick and choose only what suited her fancy.
"So I'm saying your choice matters most. After all, the help Bing Yerin mentioned was spoken under the assumption that we'd simply leave for the Central Plains."
"My choice matters… so you're saying, Cheon Hwi, that if I decided to stay at the North Sea Ice Palace, you'd just leave me behind?"
Seol Ri-hyang stared at me with wide eyes. At the faint note of hurt in her voice, I let out a dry laugh and shook my head.
"Then we won't just leave."
"Then what?"
"First, I'll ask her to reconsider."
"Hmm. Not bad. But what if she still refuses?"
"Well, there's not much else to do. I'll just have to cling to her pant leg and not let go."
"Oh… I'd like to see that. You know, what will you do if she still says no?"
Seol Ri-hyang, her mood now completely lifted, asked with a hint of anticipation in her voice.
I shrugged and answered in a tone that made it seem like no big deal.
"There's no helping it. I'll just have to respect your choice, Seol Ri-hyang."
"…"
"That said, I can't exactly kidnap someone who doesn't want to come."
"…You could, though."
"Hm?"
"Just kidnap me. If I keep being stubborn, that's what you'll do. Got it?"
"Heh."
I'd said it half-jokingly, but I never expected an answer like that. I nodded and opened my mouth.
"Fine. I'll do that. …Anyway, what do you plan to do about Bing Yerin's proposal?"
"What do we have to lose? I think we should accept it."
"That could work. However, there's one thing I forgot to mention."
"What is it?"
"Learning not just one or two but several secret arts of the North Sea Ice Palace means, whether you like it or not, that you're effectively becoming their Successor. Even if the North Sea Ice Palace is destroyed, someone will eventually notice traces of their martial arts in your techniques and start questioning your connection to the Palace."
"I don't care."
Seol Ri-hyang shook her head firmly and emphasized again.
"I just want to grow stronger and be of help to you, Cheon Hwi. Just like you helped me when I had nothing."
"…I understand. I'll pass that along."
When I answered with a snort, Seol Ri-hyang nodded as if satisfied.
With the important talk finished, I released the Qi Barrier I'd spread to keep our words from reaching nearby ears and we went back to idle chatter.
The mood got a bit awkward here and there, but Seol Ri-hyang and Bing Yerin managed to converse again, and when someone asked what food the North Sea Ice Palace was known for, the Palace's martial artists all hesitated before answering "alcohol," which visibly disappointed Seomun Hwa-rin.
Aside from that brief dip in atmosphere, we were walking along in much the same warm, easy mood as before.
But my own mind was elsewhere.
Suppose I did as Bing Yerin said and helped her absorb the Ice Crystal.
If it succeeded, that would naturally be for the best. At the very least, she'd reach the Transcendent Peak realm. Then whether she ousted the current Ice Palace Lord to become the new one, or bided her time and became the Young Palace Mistress—either way, wouldn't that be fine?
Of course, the next generation's Ice Palace Lord would be far weaker without the power of the Ice Crystal.
However, Bing Yerin seemed intent on fighting the Azure-White Cold Serpents to the death, win or lose, so there was no need to worry about the next generation.
Either the threat would vanish, or the clan would walk the path of extermination before the next generation even arrived.
What weighed on my mind was the possibility that Bing Yerin might fail to absorb the Ice Crystal.
In truth, this outcome was the more likely one. The Ice Crystal was an unrefined inner core, and one steeped in the blood of every successive Sacred Maiden.
When the Demonic Cult ground beasts into Blood Essence Pills and humans into Spirit Blood Pills, the Godok within was a secondary concern—it was the turbid energy that made Qi Deviation all but inevitable.
The Ice Crystal, too, might have absorbed the blood essence of the Sacred Maidens over the generations, carrying a negative influence. Hadn't it been said that, at some point, the Sacred Maidens were chosen by force and made to give their lives?
So I had to consider what would happen if Bing Yerin failed to absorb the Ice Crystal.
Bing Yerin herself—I could simply prevent her from falling into Qi Deviation, or knock her unconscious if necessary.
Even if the Ice Crystal's energy went berserk alongside her, it wouldn't be enough to stop two Harmony Realm martial artists like Seomun Hwa-rin and me.
So the real problem came after. Bing Yerin, who had swallowed the Ice Crystal on her own, defying the will of the North Sea Ice Palace, and what would happen when I stood as her Cultivation Guardian, as if shielding her.
Wasn't the whole reason I'd bothered to visit the North Sea Ice Palace in the first place to carve out one last escape route for the final moment—in case I failed to stop the Heavenly Demon?
But in a case like this, wasn't I effectively burning bridges with the North Sea Ice Palace?
No matter how desperate they were for a Successor, and no matter how perfectly Seol Ri-hyang fit the conditions… they'd already lost the Ice Crystal, and with their goodwill betrayed, there was no way they'd look kindly on us.
So, to make sure we wouldn't have to exchange red faces when we met again, I needed to bestow some favor on them from our side as well.
"An inner core has always been fine material for Spiritual Medicine."
The Azure-White Cold Serpents were said to be so powerful that even the previous Ice Palace Lord, the Ice Heaven Lord, had failed to properly subjugate them despite fighting alongside his retainers.
But didn't we have two Harmony Realm martial artists on our side? That should be more than enough to retreat if things went south. And besides.
"Tang So-wol."
"Yes? What is it, young hero Cheon?"
"I was just thinking that I feel reassured having you here."
"…?"
Tang So-wol tilted her head as if she had no idea what I was talking about. I extended my arm toward her, and she reflexively linked hers through mine.
Warmth seeped through the thick layers of clothing. A beat later, her signature scent drifted over to me.
Right. Fighting them head-on to subjugate them might be risky… but just scattering poison and running away is worth a try.
Just as the thoughts churning in my head were starting to come together, a massive palace came into view in the distance.
Gazing at the faint outline of the North Sea Ice Palace, I asked casually.
"Can you make a poison that works on snakes?"
"Huh?"
"Not just any snake—a poison that works on a snake spirit beast carrying energy somewhere between Peak and Transcendent Peak."
"…Ah?"
Tang So-wol, finally catching on to what I was getting at, broke into a bright smile.
"With my current skill, I could brew a poison that would work even on that Azure-White Cold Serpent leader at the Harmony Realm—provided it cooperates and lets me. They carry such dense cold energy, so if I turn that against them…"
Tang So-wol tapped her chin, muttering to herself. When her calculations were done, she spoke with a grave expression.
"Young hero Cheon. Young hero Cheon."
"Hm?"
"Did you know? Snake wine is supposedly excellent for a man's health."
"…"
"No hidden meaning. Just saying."
Tang So-wol curled her lips into a sly grin. Why did that look feel like a serpent coiling around its prey…?