By Zephyria 
HF 51
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At Ho-yeon’s shout, Il Gang-gun and Ji Hyeok-gyeong were simultaneously struck with shock. Since they had not seen the letter sent to the Cult Leader beforehand, the truth coming from Ho-yeon’s mouth was all the more surprising. However, what was even more shocking was the Cult Leader’s reaction.
Mu-gyeong knelt down in front of Ho-yeon. As no one could stand above the Cult Leader under the heavens, the two guardians pressed themselves flat against the floor.
“But the fact that you deceived me remains unchanged.”
Blazing fire surged from Mu-gyeong, attempting to overwhelm Ho-yeon, but the two energies merely clashed in a tense stalemate. Struggling against the heat alone was taxing enough, but having to fend off demonic energy as well, Ho-yeon pressed his hand firmly against his solar plexus. As if applying pressure would make the pain more bearable.
“The Palace Master’s child is… still very young.”
It was uncertain whether such a young body could endure the grueling journey from the North Sea to the Hundred Thousand Great Mountains.
“And an extreme yin constitution truly does not exist in the Ice Palace.”
Pain was etched across Ho-yeon’s face as he squeezed the words out. Mu-gyeong reached out and lifted the chin of Ho-yeon, who was panting and dropping his head.
“You know it too. That I am… better.”
If it were anyone else, they wouldn’t have been able to suppress your heat. Ho-yeon did not utter the words, but he spoke them with his eyes.
The two guardians did not hide their fury, feeling that Wi Ho-yeon, who dared to speak so informally to the Cult Leader, should be executed immediately. However, since the Cult Leader remained indifferent, neither of them dared to step forward.
“We’re both the same anyway. Since you deceived me too….”
Pale breath escaped his lips, and Ho-yeon’s voice sounded faint, as if it were freezing over.
“How dare you!”
Unable to endure Ho-yeon’s arrogant speech any longer, Ji Hyeok-gyeong raised his voice. Ji Hyeok-gyeong’s head, which had been lifted while prostrate, was slammed back down into the floor. The thud was so loud it nearly shook the Heavenly Demon Great Hall. Ho-yeon could tell that it was Mu-gyeong’s internal power that had crushed Ji Hyeok-gyeong’s head down.
I told you to stay still like me. Il Gang-gun slightly turned his head while lying flat and glared at Ji Hyeok-gyeong. Ji Hyeok-gyeong tried to repeatedly slam his forehead against the floor as if apologizing for his rashness, but Il Gang-gun stopped him with his fan. A silent look that said, You clueless bastard, seriously! accompanied the gesture.
Meanwhile, Ho-yeon was gradually collapsing toward the floor. It was as if the yin energy surrounding Ho-yeon was being crushed by Mu-gyeong’s energy. Gasping for white breath, Ho-yeon curled his body tightly. Now, lacking even the strength to beat his chest, he simply locked eyes with Mu-gyeong, who was looking down at him.
Reaching out, Mu-gyeong gently brushed away the white hair covering Ho-yeon’s face.
“Then where on earth did Wi Ho-yeon come from?”
Ho-yeon let out a feverish breath. He panted like someone suffering from a high fever, yet in reality, he was filled only with frost energy.
“…I came from the North Sea.”
Ho-yeon barely managed to say something so obvious and then let his head drop. At that moment, the ice art energy enveloping his entire body vanished, and the demonic energy that had been waiting for any chance to invade pounced. However, as soon as Mu-gyeong scooped Ho-yeon up in his arms, the demonic energy was entirely absorbed into Mu-gyeong’s own body.
“Ji Hyeok-gyeong.”
“For the crime of acting rashly before the Cult Leader, with my life.”
“Send word to the Ice Palace once more.”
Mu-gyeong, consciously controlling and suppressing his fire energy, carried Ho-yeon’s slender waist—which seemed to weigh barely a handful—over his shoulder.
“This seat will write the letter personally.”
Several streaks of blood flowed from the forehead of Ji Hyeok-gyeong, who had snapped his head up, and Il Gang-gun gripped his fan tightly with both hands. If the intention were to attack the Ice Palace, a letter would not have been necessary. Looking at Ho-yeon precariously perched on Mu-gyeong’s shoulder, Il Gang-gun could not even guess how things would unfold.
As Mu-gyeong exited the Heavenly Demon Great Hall while controlling his demonic energy, the shouts of “As you command!” from the two guardians followed behind him.
* * *
This is crazy…
Ho-yeon stood where a chilly wind blew and looked down. His long hair fluttered wildly in the wind. The place where Ho-yeon currently stood was too narrow and steep to be called a mountain. It felt as if he were standing atop a giant stone pillar soaring toward the sky.
I said it’s crazy…
No matter where he looked, there was no path to go down; only trees and moss grew lushly between the sheer, steep cliffs. Even looking around from the summit, the area was filled with similar-looking isolated peaks, as if stone pillars had been driven into the earth.
In the center of the numerous peaks that had sprouted like bamboo shoots after a rain, there was the thatched cottage where Ho-yeon had woken up.
Between the isolated peaks, cloud-like mists blocked the way, and below lay a precipice with its mouth wide open, promising death to anyone who fell.
Ho-yeon instinctively took a step back. If his level of lightfoot technique were high, he could escape such a cliff without difficulty, but Ho-yeon had never properly learned a lightfoot technique.
“I told you I wasn’t trying to run away…!”
Ho-yeon shouted loudly, but his voice only echoed emptily without any answer. How on earth was a thatched cottage built on the top of such a peak? It seemed quite far from the main sect, as no civilian houses were in sight. It was a place where only nature and Ho-yeon existed.
Even if it wasn’t an escape, the fact that it was revealed he wasn’t the Palace Master’s child was a grave crime to the Demon Sect. Moreover, having deceived the god-like Cult Leader, it would be considered a miracle that his life was spared.
Ho-yeon tangled his fingers in his white hair and grit his teeth. At this rate, the path to escape would be eternally distant.
Leaving the cliff where the bleak wind blew behind him, Ho-yeon rushed into the cottage. Inside, he saw the blanket he had kicked off, an extinguished brazier, and… fasting pills.
The moment he saw the fasting pills he had eaten until he was sick while underground in the Eternal Snow Mountains, he felt nauseous. The fact that they had been placed there clearly meant there was an intention to keep him locked here for quite a while. Cheon Mu-gyeong did not bind Wi Ho-yeon with chains. However, the place where Ho-yeon was was no different from a prison.
Ho-yeon went back outside and shouted among the isolated peaks where only the hollow wind blew.
“Cheon Mu-gyeong!”
Gyeong, gyeong, gyeong, Ho-yeon’s voice echoed. Crack! At that moment, Ho-yeon looked down at his feet. Incredibly, thin ice was spreading out from where he stood. Had his dantian not been sealed again? If not, there was no way he could use ice arts.
Ho-yeon closed his eyes, took a breath, and focused on his body. A single stream of qi was flowing through his body from the dantian that had always been sealed like ice.
Opening his eyes wide, Ho-yeon felt various parts of his body with his hands. However, there were no side effects such as pain or a throbbing solar plexus. No trace of the demonic energy that had tormented him remained.
What on earth…
Ho-yeon held out his palm toward the sky. As he concentrated internal power in his hand, a bluish energy wavered along the edge of his palm. The stage where energy could be seen and felt had manifested without any hindrance.
After standing with his mouth agape for a while, Ho-yeon flopped down on the spot to immediately begin meditative breathing. He couldn’t perform meditative breathing just anywhere due to the risk of qi deviation, but since the only person who could come here was Cheon Mu-gyeong, who had locked him up, it didn’t matter.
Even if Cheon Mu-gyeong came, there would be nothing good about disturbing him during meditative breathing. To him, Ho-yeon would be the only piece of ice floating in lava.
To understand his body’s condition in more detail, Ho-yeon crossed his legs in a lotus position and immediately proceeded with meditative breathing. His concentration was incomparable to before.
Starting from the lower dantian and circulating qi along the blood paths of his entire body, Ho-yeon realized there was not a single blockage. While the sealed dantian wasn’t completely open, at least twenty to thirty percent seemed to have opened.
Ho-yeon slowly opened his eyes and consciously cast energy onto the edge of his palm again. Scanning his hand back and forth, Ho-yeon furrowed his brow deeply.
Until now, no matter what method he used, the side effects of pain and fainting followed whenever the seal on his dantian was loosened. Ho-yeon calmly waited to see if he would faint, but he remained perfectly fine until the sun set.
What could it be? Ho-yeon racked his brain to find what was different from before. Even when he stayed at the Demon Sect, he always fainted after Cheon Mu-gyeong sucked out his yin energy.
If there was any other difference, it was when he went to the Heavenly Demon Great Hall. To block the demonic energy that had penetrated his body, the sealed dantian had opened, and at the same time, it clashed with Mu-gyeong’s fire energy.
No, thinking more carefully, whenever he shared a bed with Mu-gyeong, the cold energy that often tormented him would find stability. To put it bluntly, although his frost energy was sucked away, he also gained warmth as Mu-gyeong cooled his heat, maintaining a peaceful state.
Just as an extreme yin constitution is needed for the nine yang severed meridian, perhaps Mu-gyeong’s terrible blazing fire and his own extreme frost energy were canceling each other out. If his dantian was finding stability through him, then…
Ho-yeon gathered blue energy in both hands simultaneously.
The more he absorbed Cheon Mu-gyeong’s fire energy, wouldn’t his dantian open further?
Ho-yeon clenched his fists.
All the energy left by the ice dragon was within him. No matter how much of a heaven beyond heavens Cheon Mu-gyeong was, he could not compare to the ice dragon. If he could utilize the ice dragon’s energy without difficulty, he would no longer fear the threat of the Ice Palace.
“Just wait, Cheon Mu-gyeong.”
Ho-yeon filled his blue-gray eyes with grand ambition.
This time, I’m going to eat my fill of you.