By Zephyria 
HF 78
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* * *
Ho-yeon had never formally learned martial arts, but there was one thing—his mastery of the ghost breath method—that was extraordinary. It would be no exaggeration to say he could claim to be the most proficient in both the Central Plains and the outer murim.
It was a skill he had acquired during the time he spent in the underground caves of the eternal snow mountains. Back then, to safely receive the energy of the ice dragon, Ho-yeon had lowered his breathing and heartbeat to an extreme, spending long periods in a state akin to hibernation.
At the time, he didn’t even know it was the ghost breath method. Because he had unintentionally focused on a single path, he had reached a staggering level of mastery.
When Cheon Mu-gyeong recklessly plundered the energy from his lower dantian, it was accompanied by a pain that felt as if his entire body were being wrung out like laundry. On top of that, it was followed by a sensation like a hole being bored into his abdomen and a hand stirring inside; it was a moment so horrific he never wished to experience it again.
Ho-yeon regained consciousness atop a swaying horse, his lower dantian left empty by Cheon Mu-gyeong’s heaven-defying demonic art. He could feel Cheon Mu-gyeong’s body heat supporting him from behind. Though he wanted to jump off right then and there, his body remained deeply submerged, contrary to his mind.
He was a complete fool. Who else could possess such heat besides Cheon Mu-gyeong? He had been dull to find it fascinating when Howi had also mentioned having a high body temperature. However, there wasn’t a single part of Howi’s face or body that reminded him of Cheon Mu-gyeong.
What was the point of regretting it now? It was all because of his own inadequacy. Shaking off the bitterness, Ho-yeon used every sense except sight to gauge the situation from the arms of Cheon Mu-gyeong, who was for some reason riding the horse slowly.
In truth, while he had fainted from the immense pain, he had not intentionally deployed the ghost breath method. When he woke up, he found he was already in that state.
Perhaps… his subconscious had blocked it, or perhaps it was the ice dragon’s arrangement. In exchange for granting him grace, the ice dragon did not want that power to pass into the hands of another.
“However, you must never reveal that the origin of your power is me. If you do, you will truly become a human elixir. You are the only child I have chosen, so I do not wish for this to fall into another’s hands. That is my final and only request.”
If he set his mind to it, releasing the ghost breath method was not difficult. However, Ho-yeon did not want to see Cheon Mu-gyeong.
If he had known Cheon Mu-gyeong was Howi, he would never have chosen to go to the ice palace with him in the first place. Cheon Mu-gyeong likely knew this, which is why he deceived him. Why on earth did he decide to follow him?
While he couldn’t be certain, he had a few guesses. Since Cheon Mu-gyeong possessed a body of a burning nature, he might have suspected there was a solution within the ice palace. He probably used Ho-yeon because he didn’t know what kind of friction would occur if he visited the ice palace while revealing his true form.
Yet, for someone trying to deceive, he hadn’t put much effort into it. Though he had changed his appearance, his behavior was no different from the usual Cheon Mu-gyeong. What an arrogant man!
Before he knew it, Cheon Mu-gyeong had dismounted and laid Ho-yeon down somewhere, handling his body like a piece of luggage. He no longer had the emotional energy to feel resentful at the rough touch. That was only possible when one still had expectations.
Cheon Mu-gyeong was the leader of the heavenly demon divine cult, a man without blood or tears.
Thinking he had been brought to a place to rest, Ho-yeon fully intended to release the ghost breath method and flee once the man fell asleep. However, far from sleeping, Cheon Mu-gyeong began feeling around his body and eventually attempted to open the meridians of his dantian.
As the true qi collided with the dantian blocked by the ghost breath method, Ho-yeon felt as if his internal organs were about to burst and vanish. He had to scream just to disperse the pain. Otherwise, it was a distant, overwhelming agony that felt as though it would drive him insane.
Deciding he couldn’t take it anymore, he tried to release the ghost breath method, but for some reason, his body would not move according to his will. With a surge, blood from his damaged internals rose, choking his airway. Since the opening of the meridians had failed, Mu-gyeong’s true qi surged backward through him, and his blood paths were already torn apart.
This was… qi deviation.
Damn it.
He thought he heard Cheon Mu-gyeong curse, but despite having suffered with a clear mind, Ho-yeon’s consciousness gradually drifted away.
If he willed it, the ghost breath method could go beyond slowing the body’s metabolism and stop all functions entirely. Of course, pushing it to such an extreme would consume a significant amount of cultivation power. Furthermore, he had never attempted it before as there had been no need. But now was different.
Ho-yeon knew only one way to suppress qi deviation: to sleep as if dead until his body returned to its normal trajectory.
But did Cheon Mu-gyeong truly not care if he died? There was no way he wouldn’t know that failing to open the meridians would lead to qi deviation and death…
In his fading consciousness, Ho-yeon felt a hand brush against the nape of his neck. He wondered if he was being strangled to ensure his death, but there was no strength behind the touch.
Since his heart would soon stop, the man might assume he was dead and abandon him anywhere. In the worst-case scenario, he might take the sealed dantian entirely. If that happened, he wouldn’t just be pretending to be dead via the ghost breath method; he would actually die.
Warning signals blared in his mind, but Ho-yeon could no longer maintain his thoughts. If he delayed any further with his completely twisted qi and blood, he could not guarantee his own safety.
He had never expected much from Cheon Mu-gyeong. He had simply hoped that since they were in a mutually beneficial relationship, they might get along well.
But even in a situation where Ho-yeon’s life was at stake, the man acted only according to his own will. Forcing his way in, and when Ho-yeon sealed it to avoid him, he tried to force the gate open again. It seemed Ho-yeon’s life meant nothing to him.
Ho-yeon had always tried to understand Cheon Mu-gyeong, but it was difficult to maintain an altruistic heart toward someone who treated him this way. How grandiose a wish it had been, to hope for a bond with someone with whom no empathy could be formed.
Now, he wanted nothing. He only hoped that Cheon Mu-gyeong would deem him useless and leave him behind.
* * *
Having crossed the lands of the foreign tribes, Cheon Mu-gyeong carried Ho-yeon, whose heart was not beating, over his shoulder. Ho-yeon’s body was as cold as the winds of the North Sea, which felt like flying blades of ice. Even Cheon Mu-gyeong’s body heat could not bring him back.
He had been certain that he could save Wi Ho-yeon even if he fell into qi deviation. He had never failed to achieve what he set out to do. However, Ho-yeon’s body, which had stubbornly rejected him, had chosen instead to succumb to qi deviation and drift toward death.
He had believed that Wi Ho-yeon could not possibly possess the strength to reject him, yet the internal power he had failed to read seemed no less than that of himself, having lived a hundred lives.
Once, he had headed toward the North Sea with the intent to conquer the ice palace. But this time, he had ridden for days without rest to save the person on his shoulder.
If demonic arts were a hegemonistic form of martial arts, ice arts possessed a static, frost-like attribute. Thus, the methods for recovering from qi deviation differed. Masters of ice arts would put their own bodies into hibernation to stabilize twisted qi and blood, but there had never been a case where the heart stopped beating like Wi Ho-yeon’s.
Yet, Cheon Mu-gyeong did not stop. He knew it was a vain hope that the ice palace might have a way, but his mind was focused solely on the palace.
A guard standing on the watchtower of the ice palace hall spotted someone approaching so fast their form was barely visible and hurriedly sounded the alarm. In the instant the horn’s blast echoed throughout the ice palace hall, Cheon Mu-gyeong reached the main gate.
The main gate, closed like an impregnable fortress, was shattered by a burst of demonic energy, and the excessive recoil of his ascending lightfoot technique was like a typhoon sweeping through the ice palace. Dozens of Snow Shadow Guards who rushed to block the intruder could not even approach through the fierce storm laden with demonic energy.
Beneath the man who came to a halt, the eternal stone was not just dented but cracked in all directions. Haa, only then did a white breath scatter from the man’s lips.
The Snow Shadow Guards who drew their swords predicted that he was a master beyond reach. This was because simply standing on two legs was the most they could manage against the dark red demonic energy the man emitted.
The man, with red eyes and loose hair, turned his gaze. As if he knew the layout of the ice palace, he headed straight for the Palace Lord’s hall without hesitation. The ice palace inhabitants followed his form as soon as they were free from the demonic energy, but none could close the distance.
At the continuous sound of the horns, Palace Lord Wi Yeon-gang also rushed out of the Palace Lord’s hall. He already had a sword in hand, for he had felt a powerful energy approaching fiercely from afar.
Wi Yeon-gang stood firm with his entire body, facing the violent wind. It was a typhoon brought by the man of crimson light. Leaving the Palace Lord’s hall behind, Wi Yeon-gang stared with wide eyes at the one who had arrived before him.
The dark red demonic energy emanating from the man’s entire body was like an endless, dark night sky, yet it was devoid of the typical cloying nature of demonic energy, filled only with purity. The once-blue sky of the ice palace was being consumed by the dark demonic energy the man released. It felt as if a perfect night, without a single impurity, was descending.
He could not even begin to fathom how immense the power was. He felt an infinite internal energy emanating from that man, one that no human body should be able to contain. Was it even possible for such a person to exist in the world?
Wi Yeon-gang felt as if he were witnessing an overwhelming existence that transcended humanity, like the heavenly ice polar dragon. However, in the blowing gale, he felt not the frost of the North Sea, but the heat of a volcano.
In that moment, Wi Yeon-gang intuited it.
An existence of transcending demonicity that had surpassed humanity.
That man was the leader of the heavenly demon divine cult, Cheon Mu-gyeong.