By Zephyria 
HF 52
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It was just as he was vowing revenge against Cheon Mu-gyeong. In an instant, his energy fluctuated wildly, as if blue flames were erupting from his touch.
“Child who harbors the Demon God, I have become greatly indebted to you for saving my child.”
Ho-yeon covered his tingling temples with his hand as a voice echoed, muffling his ears.
“Yin and yang, yang and yin—they are originally one and the same. I hope that you, too, shall be saved by the arrangements I have left behind.”
This voice, devoid of any inflection, belonged to the ice dragon he had sent away long ago. Ho-yeon gasped, instantly withdrawing the energy that had lingered in his hands. The white breath that had been scattering from his lips vanished, leaving only an invisible respiration.
The words were completely incomprehensible and existed nowhere in his memory. Since Ho-yeon occasionally encountered the ice dragon’s voice in this manner, he could only guess that it was some sort of lingering thought. Perhaps it was an aftereffect of the seal on his dantian being broken.
Gathering his energy inward, Ho-yeon entered the thatched cottage and blew on the brazier to revive the embers. After lighting some gathered twigs, he lit the lantern and reached for a fasting pill. The fasting pills, which he had eaten until he was sick of them, tasted equally tasteless whether in the demon sect or the North Sea. Still, he chewed them crunchily to fill his empty stomach.
The nourishing meals he had to eat at every meal while staying at the shadowless pavilion flickered before his eyes, but even if they were here, he likely wouldn’t be able to eat much. Was that stingy cult leader planning revenge with fasting pills, claiming that he wouldn’t eat properly even if given food?
‘Surely… he isn’t planning to stay away until I’ve eaten all of these?’
Sucking the yang energy out of Cheon Mu-gyeong was only possible if the man was by his side. The small jar was packed with fasting pills that looked like they would last at least two months. As if sensing Ho-yeon’s foreboding, the light from the lantern flickered uneasily.
* * *
At a deep hour when even the mountain birds were asleep, Mu-gyeong returned to the thatched cottage on the peak, leaving no trace of his presence. Not even the black robes he wore made a sound of friction; he was nearly one with the darkness itself. Only the vicious blazing fire suppressed in his right arm signaled his existence here.
Ho-yeon, rolled up in a blanket, lay on the bed fast asleep. Given Wi Ho-yeon’s gentle nature, Mu-gyeong didn’t think he would fly into a rage or smash the cottage, but he was indescribably oblivious. It was as if he were possessed by the grudge of a ghost who couldn’t sleep; he seemed to sleep at least five shijin(1) a day.
Conversely, Mu-gyeong often went several days without sleep, and even when he did fall asleep, it was for a mere shijin(2) at most. Having escaped his heart demon, Mu-gyeong’s mind remained completely stable even without sleep, and his qi and blood circulated on their own just by breathing, recovering his physical body.
“…What are you doing there?”
Ho-yeon, who had opened his eyes at some point, whispered, “Come here,” and opened the blanket for him. Without a moment’s hesitation, Mu-gyeong stepped into the embrace of the pure white eternal snow. Judging by his hazy gaze, Ho-yeon still didn’t seem to know who the person before him was. His sleepwalking had acted up again.
Ho-yeon, who had lifted the blanket, blinked slowly, and Mu-gyeong embraced Wi Ho-yeon’s body along with the blanket. He seemed to find it stifling, a small crease forming on his smooth forehead, but he soon surrendered himself quietly to Mu-gyeong as if craving warmth.
The right forearm of Mu-gyeong, who held Ho-yeon, pulsed violently, but as always, it soon found stability. Ho-yeon’s white cheeks, which had been like tofu, gradually regained their color.
“I… I don’t usually get hard, you know?”
“Are you saying you’ve become a eunuch?”
“No! I’m not a eunuch, and I am healthy, it’s just that I’m a bit old…”
Ho-yeon’s face, flustered and speaking hurriedly as if making an excuse, came vividly to mind. It was because Ho-yeon had been wriggling and groaning inside the blanket. He had been rubbing his lower body in particular, trying to thrust his hips as if he, too, were a man.
Mu-gyeong had wondered if he could even perform the duties of a man given how strong his yin energy was, but since he had seen several concubines, he must have shared intimacy with his wife. Come to think of it, because the focus had been on the fact that he wasn’t the Palace Master’s child, there were only questions regarding Wi Ho-yeon’s personal history.
However, since Wi Ho-yeon has never practiced ice art, I suspect someone who looked similar enough to deceive others into thinking he was of the Palace Master’s bloodline was found and offered to the divine cult.
Because the ice palace is so closed off and wary of our merchant guild, I recruited servants to investigate Wi Ho-yeon, but the consensus was consistent: he suddenly appeared one day and began residing in the ice palace.
There are rumors that he might be the Palace Master’s illegitimate child, but since the Palace Master is known to be devoted to his wife, the probability is considered low.
“I… I’m not the Palace Master’s child, but we are of the same bloodline…!”
Since the Palace Master would never let someone of uncertain status into the palace, Ho-yeon’s words were likely true. But whether Wi Ho-yeon was of the Palace Master’s bloodline or not, what did it matter? He was already his, held in his hands.
Ho-yeon groaned again, subtly moving his hips. It was amusing to see him standing erect after greedily drinking the yang energy that had flowed from Mu-gyeong. As the blanket was pulled away, the sensation of the member became even more distinct.
Through the thin sleeping robe, Ho-yeon pressed his protruding lower body firmly against Mu-gyeong’s thigh. Mu-gyeong let out a hollow laugh.
He must have moved his hips this miserably with his wife as well.
Thanks to Wi Ho-yeon, he was able to bring back the sensation of imagination, which he had thought long gone. Imagination is the driving force that keeps a human life moving, but for Mu-gyeong, who possessed no expectations or hope, it had long been excised.
From the moment Mu-gyeong decided that the possibilities in his life had been exhausted, he had simply stood by and observed all things. But how about now?
He wondered what Wi Ho-yeon’s true identity was, wondered if such a child-like thing could truly become a father, and had injected his true qi several times to find the depth of the yin energy hidden in that dantian. Even though Ho-yeon could have lost his life or become crippled in the process. Yet, Wi Ho-yeon remained a mystery.
Cheon Mu-gyeong looked down at his own lower body and smirked.
“This is troublesome.”
Even at Ho-yeon’s clumsy movements, which were agonizingly inept, he became aroused. Press, press—Ho-yeon continued to move his hips as if Mu-gyeong’s hard thigh were the entrance to some secret place. Mu-gyeong gripped Ho-yeon’s member firmly through the sleeping robe.
A flushed sound, “Ah…,” scattered from Ho-yeon’s lips. He let out repeated pleasurable moans at the pressure and hot heat provided by the large hand.
Mu-gyeong stared intently at Ho-yeon. The two dots beneath his parted lips were erotic. Suddenly, Mu-gyeong laid Ho-yeon flat on his back and climbed on top of him. His hair embroidered the bed like the Milky Way, but rather than being holy, his flushed cheeks were utterly lewd.
Moving his gaze slowly from the rounded forehead, past the chin, Mu-gyeong slid open the loosely tied string of the lower garment. Then, beneath Ho-yeon’s sunken navel, he saw a hairless mound and the member standing erect and revealing itself above it.
Since Ho-yeon stripped easily whenever he bathed, Mu-gyeong had seen his naked body quite often, but this was the first time it wasn’t soft.
Feeling the cool energy emanating from Ho-yeon, Mu-gyeong gripped the bare member with his right hand. The tactile sensation of the skin clinging to his palm almost made him apply too much strength, and Ho-yeon groaned in pain.
Beneath a furrowed brow, blue-gray eyes fluttered open. If he had regained his senses, he would have hurriedly risen and pushed him away, but now, they were filled only with questions.
Meeting Ho-yeon’s blurred gaze, Mu-gyeong rubbed the moist glans with his thumb. When he pressed the opening in the center, Ho-yeon’s thighs trembled.
“It’s warm, I like it…” Closing his eyes again, Ho-yeon reached out and dug his hands into Mu-gyeong’s forearms. He seemed to want to embrace him, but Mu-gyeong was far too large for that. While he toyed with Ho-yeon’s cock, pre-cum dripped from Mu-gyeong’s own member encased in black robes.
Since even his imagination had been castrated, there should have been no sexual desire left, but looking at Wi Ho-yeon moaning beneath him, it felt as if senses that had been asleep for a long time were being awakened. “Hng…,” Ho-yeon let out a pained moan from the continuous friction, stiffened his body, and ejaculated. Semen stained Ho-yeon’s thin abdominal skin and Mu-gyeong’s hand.
Mu-gyeong stared blankly at his right hand. Would it feel like this if one dipped their hand in ice water on a sweltering midsummer day? Unlike ordinary people, the semen wetting his hand was filled with a nature so cold it was hard to believe it had come from inside a body.
“Finally, on the hundredth time.”
Unconsciously curling the corner of his mouth, Mu-gyeong gripped Ho-yeon’s face firmly. Unaware that he was being soiled by the semen, Ho-yeon rubbed his cheek against him, seeking warmth.
Mu-gyeng pressed his fully aroused member against Ho-yeon and brought his face close.
“…Warm.”
Ho-yeon stretched out both arms and finally hugged Mu-gyeong’s back. It was irritating to see him craving a single bit of body heat, unaware of who he was or what had happened to him. While looking at Ho-yeon’s satisfied, slack lips, he suddenly licked one of the dots. Under the beast-like tongue, the two dots vanished at once and then reappeared.
It was a highly impulsive action, but he could have stopped it if he wanted to. However, knowing that the desires he thought had regressed were reacting to the being before him, Mu-gyeong did not control himself.
“Stingy…” Ho-yeon mumbled, perhaps dreaming of something. A refreshing energy, like the mint scent of snow-fragrance wood, continuously seeped into his dantian. In particular, the right hand covered in Ho-yeon’s semen had become far more docile than usual.
Mu-gyeong brought his wet hand to his face.
It seemed he would have to pay the ice palace for the cost of the ice.
==
Approximately 10 hours.
Approximately 2 hours.