By Zephyria 
Jangun hurriedly deployed his lightfoot technique, following the Cult Leader, whose form was barely visible. He was riddled with questions: where on earth had Young Master Wi gone? Had he lost his life, swept away by the landslide, or had he been separated from the Cult Leader because of it?
However, even if one of those two predictions were correct, there was no reason for the Cult Leader to head toward the Ice Palace. His current movements were incomprehensible.
Beneath the feet of Mu-gyeong, who radiated thick demonic energy without restraint, not a single footprint remained. Not long after following the Cult Leader, who exhibited Snow-Treading Tracelessness, Jangun arrived at the Ice Palace, which was plunged into chaos.
The Ice Palace had also fallen under the influence of the Eternal Snow Mountain landslide. A massive wall of snow, piled high as if to crush the fortress walls, surrounded the palace.
Crossing the snowy hill and stepping straight into the Ice Palace, Mu-gyeong headed for the Palace Lord’s Hall without delay. Due to the aftermath of the landslide and earthquake, numerous pavilions were twisted or collapsed, and the ground was riddled with countless cracks.
Had it not been for the pouring demonic energy, the interior of the Ice Palace would have been so preoccupied with disaster recovery that they might have ignored him. Members of the Snow Shadow Guard swarmed to surround Mu-gyeong, but they were frequently pushed back several yards, unable to even approach the tyrannical demonic energy. Wi Yeon-gang, who had stepped outside the main hall to assess the damage from the sudden landslide, swallowed hard at the killing intent suddenly directed toward him.
The chilling sensation on the nape of his neck was so intense that he instinctively raised a hand to check if his head was still attached. A mere instant after sensing the killing intent, a man with black hair fluttering wildly and loosely unbound had already arrived right before his eyes.
The demonic energy became a black mist that covered the entire area, and the killing intent emitted by Mu-gyeong became a giant storm, seizing the throats of the Snow Shadow Guard and the Ice Palace experts. Even those at the peak of their martial arts clutched their chests and fell to their knees on the ground.
How could such cultivation power emanate from a human?
Wi Yeon-gang could clearly feel that Cheon Mu-gyeong had held back when they clashed with palm power at Eumbyeol Hall. He had scoffed at the Demon Sect bastards who worshipped the Heavenly Demon as a god, but facing him now, he had no choice but to admit it. Cheon Mu-gyeong was a calamity.
Wi Yeon-gang instinctively felt that the Ice Palace could be razed to the ground by the strength of this man alone. And what was this overwhelming terror, making his legs feel as if they would give way, as if he had already experienced such a calamity before?
“Find Wi Ho-yeon.”
Mu-gyeong’s voice was dreadfully heavy. One moment he was telling them to save him, and now he was telling them to find him. Wi Yeon-gang, whose head was already throbbing from the sudden landslide, felt as if he were about to explode with frustration.
“Would he not be at Eumbyeol Hall?”
Wi Yeon-gang grit his teeth. His pride was wounded that he dared not even speak informally to a man far younger than himself, but he did not want to provoke the Cult Leader. He even had the absurd thought that perhaps this landslide and earthquake were caused by Cheon Mu-gyeong.
“Is there a way out of the underground cavern where the human elixirs are made?”
The tip of Cheon Mu-gyeong’s sword pointed toward the ground, but Wi Yeon-gang felt the threat looming over his own neck. More than that, he was puzzled by the abrupt question.
Could it be that Wi Ho-yeon had revealed their shameful secrets to this man?
Wi Yeon-gang almost felt anger toward Ho-yeon, but he knew his temperament better than anyone. Despite possessing such power, he was a man who stayed holed up in Eumbyeol Hall, caring only for the children.
He had never seen Ho-yeon open his mouth to anyone regarding the human elixirs or the underground cavern. Wi Ho-yeon had resented the previous Palace Lord’s faction, but despite everything he had endured, he cherished the North Sea where he was born and raised.
“There is no escape route there. There are many ears that hear and eyes that see. If the Cult Leader appears like this, how can we prevent the word from reaching the Murim Alliance?”
“Palace Lord. Do you fear the Alliance?”
Despite Wi Yeon-gang’s telepathic transmission, Mu-gyeong spoke aloud.
“…I do. It is not the Murim Alliance I fear, but that a wind of blood may blow over my North Sea.”
Cheon Mu-gyeong himself wondered why he was even bothering to converse with the Palace Lord.
Whether Wi Ho-yeon’s disappearance was voluntary or forced, the original version of himself would have simply turned the Ice Palace into a wasteland. If he had hidden of his own accord, he would eventually crawl out; if forced, he would simply catch the bastard who played the trick.
However, Cheon Mu-gyeong was seized by an instinctive intuition that it might be neither. It was certainly not the case that Wi Ho-yeon had received help from someone else to escape. If someone other than themselves had been in the cavern, there was no way Cheon Mu-gyeong wouldn’t have known. Then, was it the work of the Ice Dragon?
According to Wi Ho-yeon, the Ice Dragon did not exist. But was that a fact he could trust? What if Wi Ho-yeon had played a trick because he feared Mu-gyeong might harm the Ice Dragon?
“Cult Leader.”
As the demonic energy surged once more from Mu-gyeong’s entire body, Wi Yeon-gang groaned. In the main hall, ruined by the landslide, many were coughing up blood. Among them were numerous servants who had not properly mastered ice art.
“Wi Ho-yeon disappeared from the underground cavern. He must have had some method. You lot would know that method better than anyone.”
Wi Yeon-gang’s eyes widened. Did that mean Cheon Mu-gyeong and Wi Ho-yeon had been trapped in the underground cavern together? Perhaps he had been swept there by the landslide.
“Are you saying that Ho-yeon suddenly disappeared inside the cavern?”
Mu-gyeong said nothing, but Wi Yeon-gang guessed it was an affirmation.
“Come to think of it… he was able to find his way here back then because he escaped the underground cavern alone.”
Wi Yeon-gang muttered, recalling the day Ho-yeon had mistaken him for the previous Palace Lord and tried to kill him. But to Cheon Mu-gyeong, that was an irrelevant story.
“Find out by what method Wi Ho-yeon escaped.”
“He never answered when I asked him before,”
“Four days. Do not expect any more mercy from this seat.”
Cutting Wi Yeon-gang off, Mu-gyeong vanished from sight as instantaneously as he had appeared. Thus, they did not even know where his next destination was. Only the lingering, oppressive demonic energy swirled in the air where he had stood.
The Hall Masters, who had practically collapsed on the ground, finally pushed themselves up while gripping their weapons. They coughed, spitting out blood. Every single one of them had suffered internal injuries from the demonic energy.
“Those who are unharmed, take the injured to the physician.”
Wi Yeon-gang spoke while staring anxiously at the void where the remnants of the demonic energy remained. The Hall Masters and the Snow Shadow Guard looked not angry, but utterly hollow, beyond mere frustration.
Among them were those with bellicose tendencies who were notoriously difficult to handle. However, their aggressiveness meant nothing in the face of Cheon Mu-gyeong.
“Listen! Just because a mountain is a mountain, does that mean all mountains are the same? If there is a Great Mountain, there are small hills and mounds.”
The martial prowess of Cheon Mu-gyeong that they had witnessed mocked and destroyed the logic of the martial arts they had built their entire lives. If their hearts became filled with black inferiority, like the demonic energy left behind here, they would easily fall into a heart demon. It was a situation where the Ice Palace inhabitants he cherished could all fall into qi deviation.
“It is more important to realize what I possess than to gaze up at the Great Mountain. Everyone has a beginning.”
It was nothing more than platitudes, but surely Cheon Mu-gyeong had a beginning as well. He could not have been born as the Demon God.
Jangun, who had hidden his body in the shadows using the Shadow Concealment Technique, followed Mu-gyeong’s energy while scoffing at the Palace Lord and his entourage. The sight of those fools, dazed by Mu-gyeong’s realm, was quite amusing.
If the Cult Leader set his mind to it, the North Sea could be turned into a handful of ash in a single day. Moreover, he was currently in a state where he had expended 300 years of internal power to save Wi Ho-yeon from qi deviation.
In his heart, Jangun felt a surge of loyalty, wanting to immediately teach those ignorant North Sea dwellers the doctrines of the Divine Cult. However, it seemed the correct order would be to find Wi Ho-yeon first. For it was clear that the Cult Leader was searching for him.
The place Mu-gyeong headed to was Eumbyeol Hall. There was no way Eumbyeol Hall would be safe from the earthquake caused by the Eternal Snow Mountain. The plaque that Ho-yeon had put so much effort into writing had fallen and was rolling around carelessly on the ground, and half of the tiled roof had collapsed, exposing its bare frame.
Inside Eumbyeol Hall, the children were gathered together, shivering in the cold. As soon as the children saw a man large enough to cover the fallen door, they were wary, but soon their faces brightened.
“Sir!”
Hee-un, the girl with the largest head, ran out in surprise, and Soho, the boy next in age, also shouted, “Sir!” Then, the two young ones followed suit, surrounding Mu-gyeong.
“Where is Uncle? Where is Uncle?”
Hee-un repeatedly glanced behind Mu-gyeong, but the person she desperately sought was nowhere to be seen. Only a bleak wind blew through the door that had been torn away by the earthquake.
Cheon Mu-gyeong was finally certain. Wi Ho-yeon had not fled of his own accord. He would never leave the children he cherished so much more than himself in such a state.