Every time the serpent's massive body moved, the ground turned over, and a cold blizzard raged, freezing everything around it white.
Had the Spirit Beast, having absorbed such vast Natural Qi, ultimately come to resemble nature itself?
At the sight of the Azure-White Flood Dragon—a living, moving natural disaster—everyone in the room held their breath.
No, I could tell without even looking. Surely those watching the creature from elsewhere were thinking the same thing.
When faced with something overwhelming that humans cannot touch, people feel both fear and awe.
Most of the Martial Artists who had decided to remain at the North Sea Ice Palace had likely steeled themselves with firm resolve at first, but that resolve had not held until now.
But at this moment, there were two more beings in this place worthy of awe.
Cheon Hwi and Seomun Hwa-rin were exactly that.
Every time a white Sword Force crossed the air, everything it touched—and even what it did not touch—was sliced apart along its trajectory.
Not just buildings and shattered debris, but the raging snowstorm, the massive serpent's scales, and the thick ice that protected them.
Everything Cheon Hwi's sword touched… or more precisely, everything his Intent reached, was being severed.
It was an unreal scene, like someone hacking apart a beautifully painted picture with reckless abandon.
Seomun Hwa-rin was not much different.
Perhaps it was because of her Rejuvenated body. Her clenched fist, even wrapped in Aura, was still small—but the power contained within it was anything but.
It was a force that shook heaven and moved the earth, wielded through Seomun Hwa-rin's small fist.
With every surge of the dark-red Aura, an ear-splitting Loud Noise erupted, and even the Fist Strikes that missed their mark carved massive craters into the ground.
In a battlefield already filled with one incomprehensible spectacle after another, the one person wreaking destruction that was easy to understand was none other than Seomun Hwa-rin.
That was what an absolute master of the Harmony Realm was like. Beings who wore the guise of humans, yet possessed abilities that were anything but human.
And yet, even with the combined Exchange of two Harmony Realm Martial Artists—Cheon Hwi and Seomun Hwa-rin—they were still unable to easily bring down the Azure-White Flood Dragon.
Cheon Hwi's sword, which cut down everything it touched, could slice through the Azure-White Flood Dragon's body as much as it wanted, but… the creature's body, with ice layered over its scales, was far too thick.
Even sword strikes sharp enough to send a chill down one's spine just by looking at them struggled to completely cleave through that massive frame.
And even then, unless he cut it periodically, the relentless blizzard that surged forward and froze everything in its path kept interfering time and again.
Seomun Hwa-rin's fists were undeniably powerful. They could shatter the Azure-White Flood Dragon's thick scales and the ice layered on top of them in a single blow.
A single clean hit was enough to send the massive serpent's body reeling.
That alone, however, was not enough to cut off the Azure-White Flood Dragon's breath.
Unlike humans, snakes are creatures whose lifeline is stubborn beyond measure. How much more so when it has become a Spirit Beast?
Even if its scales shattered and its bones cracked, that did not lead to the Azure-White Flood Dragon's death.
After all, with a body that size, most wounds were nothing more than trivialities.
The Azure-White Flood Dragon showed a brutish tenacity, counterattacking even as it took blows, and those strikes were equally threatening to Cheon Hwi and Seomun Hwa-rin, who shielded themselves with Protective Qi.
And so, a battle where each side posed a threat to the other, yet neither would easily allow a decisive blow, dragged on for a long time.
It was a fight like a quagmire, where victory and defeat could not be foreseen.
Seol Ri-hyang, who had been watching all of this, bit her lip. There was nothing else she could do.
"…"
She still remembered the day she first met Cheon Hwi. He had torn apart one of Haomun's branches and even engaged in a chase through the night to help her.
'I made a vow that day. To become someone who could one day repay the favor I owe Cheon Hwi. So that next time, I could be the one to help him.'
It was with that single-minded resolve that she threw herself into training. Though she was said to have natural talent, the fact that Seol Ri-hyang, who had started learning martial arts at a relatively late age, had reached her current level owed much to that determination and fierce drive.
But no matter how hard she trained, and despite recently receiving all sorts of support from the North Sea Ice Palace, the very birthplace of Yin-Cold Energy Cultivation—
The distance between her and Cheon Hwi had only grown wider, never closer.
'It's not just today. I've always been the one being protected.'
Seol Ri-hyang bitterly resented her own weakness.
It had always been this way.
Her gaze, cold and heavy, fixed on the battle outside the window.
The fight was moving too fast for her eyes to track properly—there was little she could truly follow.
But for all that, she was one of the people who had watched Cheon Hwi's battles the longest, from the closest distance.
She could sense it instinctively. He might be fine for now, but if time continued to flow, Cheon Hwi could be in danger.
It was a judgment closer to intuition than logic. And yet, it was the truth.
It was true that Cheon Hwi had reached the Harmony Realm, and that he now handled his Aura with considerable skill, but…
Seomun Hwa-rin was a martial artist who had long since reached the Harmony Realm and could perfectly control her own power.
The Azure-White Flood Dragon, having fought the previous Ice Palace Lord, must have possessed its current strength for at least a decade or more.
But Cheon Hwi was different. He handled his Sword Force skillfully enough to often confuse others, but it had been less than a year since he reached the Harmony Realm.
He might be fine for now. But if a little more time passed, the other two might be alright—Cheon Hwi was another story.
In the first place, the way Cheon Hwi currently wielded his sword was a makeshift method devised to face an alien existence like the Azure-White Flood Dragon.
It might work for the moment, but in the long run, it wasn't good at all.
If that delicate balance collapsed, the one in the most danger would be Cheon Hwi, who had been pressing the attack most fiercely.
Seol Ri-hyang stared silently out the window, organizing her thoughts. Perhaps her expression seemed unusually grave.
Bing Yerin patted Seol Ri-hyang's shoulder, trying to reassure her.
"Don't worry too much, Miss Seol. I don't know how the Azure-White Flood Dragon grew so strong, but it doesn't seem to be in a normal state. If you keep stalling like this, you'll win without a problem."
"…No. Before that, Cheon Hwi is going to be in danger. Sister Tang, what do you think?"
"I think the same. If only I could spread a bit more poison, it might work out somehow, but…"
"What's the problem?"
"It's that blizzard, isn't it. Young hero Cheon cuts it away periodically, but… its essence is only under minimal control—it's practically rampaging cold energy itself."
Refining internal energy into poison through her own cultivation was the greatest hallmark of Tang So-wol's poison art.
Though it had been interrupted midway thanks to Cheon Hwi, piercing through that blizzard—where pure energy itself ran wild—to apply poison was no easy task.
Seol Ri-hyang quietly nodded at Tang So-wol's words.
"Then we just need to deal with that cold energy?"
"That's right for now. The fierce wind is still a problem, but I've spent the past few days brewing a concentrated Killing Net Poison to handle it. …Do you have any ideas?"
"I'll find out from here on."
Seol Ri-hyang's eyes still gleamed sharply as she gave a light shrug of her shoulders.
She cleared her throat briefly, then opened her mouth toward the Azure-White Flood Dragon, which was busy facing off against Cheon Hwi and Seomun Hwa-rin in the distance.
"A—!"
A resounding song. The cold energy within it, peculiarly, began to resonate with the surrounding cold. Following that, her internal energy swelled rapidly.
Her song carried her Yin Art outward, spreading through the air around her. The Glacier True Energy, specialized in wielding vast cold, combined with the North Sea environment—still filled with cold, if not as much as before.
And the martial arts of the North Sea Ice Palace, which she was properly mastering for the first time.
Everything Seol Ri-hyang had built up over the years became a single nameless melody, ringing out into the world.
"————!"
The cold energy that extended through her voice as a medium was not enough on its own—it drew in the surrounding Natural Qi, swelling in size.
The resonance phenomenon that had once startled even Bing Yerin, and every martial artist of the North Sea Ice Palace who had experienced it firsthand, was now being deliberately amplified.
Her innate internal energy, joined by Natural Qi, swelled exponentially.
This was the way to strengthen the very essence of one's energy.
Just as a fist brimming with concentrated internal energy grows firm, and steps infused with internal energy become light.
Seol Ri-hyang's voice, carrying the maximum energy she could wield, was clearer than usual… and reached much farther.
And then, the moment her Yin Art touched the snowstorm surrounding the Azure-White Flood Dragon.
Thwack!
"Kyaaaah!"
Perhaps it was because the energy, forcibly built up by devouring the swarm of Azure-White Cold Serpents and driven into a frenzy through Qi Deviation until even its master could barely control it.
Seol Ri-hyang's sound was torn to shreds the moment it made contact, leaving only the pain of her martial art being forcibly broken.
Seol Ri-hyang, suffering internal injuries, spat out a mouthful of rising blood.
"Ptoo!"
"Hyang-a?!"
Tang So-wol was startled by the pitiful sight and tried to help the fallen Seol Ri-hyang to her feet.
"I'm fine, Tang unni."
"Eung?"
Pushing away Tang So-wol's hand, Seol Ri-hyang managed to rise on her own strength. A fierce smile hung at the corner of her mouth.
It was a smile eerily reminiscent of Cheon Hwi. The kind of expression he wore when he found a way out of danger.
"It's not that serious an internal injury. And thanks to it, I learned something, so this was a cheap price to pay."
"…Hyang-i, what exactly are you planning to do?"
"It's simple. I pour my internal energy into my voice, then use it as a focal point to draw in the surrounding cold and add it to my martial art, right?"
"Surely not."
"Yes. The Azure-White Flood Dragon's energy is ultimately cold energy too. I might not be able to seize full control of it, but I can at least manage to hinder its movements."
"Like how young hero Cheon periodically cuts through the surrounding blizzard?"
"Yes. It'll only be for a brief moment, but I can create a definite window of vulnerability. …In theory, anyway."
"So there's a problem."
"It's simple. What I just confirmed was whether my martial art could disrupt the Azure-White Flood Dragon's internal energy circulation, and I learned that it's possible… but of course, it requires a commensurate amount of internal energy to pull off."
"Ah."
Just as one drop of dye can blacken a pond, yet dyeing the sea requires a vast amount of the stuff.
The Azure-White Flood Dragon's energy was so immense that the energy needed to disrupt it would have to be equally substantial.
But with her current strength, Seol Ri-hyang couldn't muster that much internal energy. Not if she were alone.
Bing Yerin, who had been watching their exchange from the side, spoke up.
"You intend to use the Ice Crystal."
"If the North Sea Ice Palace permits it."
"Can you fully absorb the Ice Crystal's power in such a short time?"
"Of course it's impossible. I'll swallow it first and circulate it according to the Oral Formula of the Glacier True Energy, but instead of absorbing it, I'll use it as is."
"That's… possible, but dangerous. Your Meridians might not hold."
"And Cheon Hwi and Sister Seomun fighting over there aren't in danger?"
He was still holding his ground, locked in a fierce Exchange, but that wouldn't last forever.
Bing Yerin, having confirmed that Seol Ri-hyang was serious, nodded heavily.
"I'll ask the Palace Lor—"
"No. That won't be necessary."
The Ice Palace Lord, who had been tending to his wives, cut off Bing Yerin's words as he approached.
Though his cultivation was shallow, he had done his best to carry himself in a manner befitting the title of Ice Palace Lord.
But perhaps this was one moment he could not manage. With a desperate expression, the Ice Palace Lord opened the iron box containing the Ice Crystal.
Merely opening the box released a tremendous wave of cold. Even Tang So-wol, who had grown less sensitive to the chill after reaching Transcendent Peak, felt a momentary shudder.
"I have never liked the Ice Crystal. No matter how sacred an object it is said to be, I cannot stomach the fact that it is maintained by human sacrifice, nor can I bear that the one called Ice Palace Lord depends on the Crystal's power. …So if you need it, take it and use it. However."
"Even if things go wrong, I will not blame the Palace Lord."
If you only do what you can, you can only achieve what you can. If you need and desire more than that, then you must willingly throw yourself into what you cannot do.
Perhaps it was because everything she had seen and learned had been from Cheon Hwi. Having steeled her resolve, Seol Ri-hyang's way of thinking was remarkably similar to his.
Letting out a short breath, Seol Ri-hyang picked up the Ice Crystal without hesitation.
A piece resembling ice the size of two fingers. An ordinary person would have frozen to the bone just from touching it, but Seol Ri-hyang, born with a Pure Yin Constitution, was the exception.
Instead, feeling vitality surging through her body, she swallowed the Ice Crystal whole.
Crackle.
The sound of her meridians freezing, audible only to her.
For Seol Ri-hyang, it was a rather nostalgic sensation.