By Zephyria 
HF 67
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“There is no need to prepare for departure. You came with nothing but your own skin, after all.”
Ho-yeon was stunned by the situation, as if he were being kicked out this very instant. Do-gyeon was equally bewildered.
To send him back to the Ice Palace instead of punishing him for overstepping his bounds? However, Do-gyeon did not dare to object, assuming the Cult Leader had some hidden intention.
Mu-gyeong rose from his seat and gazed down at the dazed Ho-yeon.
“……Really?”
Having forgotten the honorifics he used before, Ho-yeon returned to his usual self and tried to get a final confirmation from Mu-gyeong. However, Mu-gyeong did not grant Ho-yeon’s wish.
“We are going to the Heavenly Demon Hall.”
After telling Do-gyeon to follow him, he simply left the Shadowless Pavilion. Ho-yeon stared at Mu-gyeong’s retreating back and Do-gyeon following behind for a long while. Once they vanished from sight, Abok approached. Watching Abok take away the seven-stringed zither, Ho-yeon asked as if possessed.
“Am I… really free?”
“Young Master, I shall prepare for your return to the Ice Palace.”
Perhaps because Abok had hoped he would become a member of the Divine Cult, he didn’t seem particularly happy.
* * *
Ho-yeon suspected that the promise to send him back to the Ice Palace might be another lie, but he was indeed allowed to pack. Though, the only thing to pack was his blue oiled-paper umbrella.
“You will head back to the Ice Palace through the lands of the ethnic minorities, just as you came.”
Han Hee-ryeong, the financial manager of the Demon Sect and the mistress of the Demonic Shadow Martial House, visited the Shadowless Pavilion.
“Since you must travel in secret, the person with the greatest martial prowess in the Divine Cult will escort you, Young Master.”
Ho-yeon felt considerably relieved. If Mu-gyeong had told him to find his own way back to the Ice Palace, the journey would have seemed insurmountable. Ho-yeon expressed his gratitude sincerely. He no longer doubted his return to the Ice Palace. Two days had passed since Cheon Mu-gyeong’s cold treatment and the order for his departure.
Ho-yeon continued to stay at the Shadowless Pavilion, but Mu-gyeong never returned. He only heard Abok’s admiring praise about how the Demon Sect had discovered another Blood Demon Valley in the meantime, and how the Cult Leader had personally stepped in to wipe out the Blood Cult bastards.
Ho-yeon’s heart was filled with mixed emotions before his departure.
Still, shouldn’t he see Cheon Mu-gyeong’s face at least once before leaving? Once he was gone, Mu-gyeong would be seized by that terrible fire energy again. How could the only person capable of calming the fire demon let him go so easily? Could he be planning to assassinate him while pretending to send him back to the Ice Palace…? He eventually spiraled into such wild thoughts.
If he wanted to kill him, he would have done it right in front of him. Ho-yeon wanted to ask Mu-gyeong directly what change of heart had led him to let him go. But since the man didn’t appear, he had no choice but to ask Han Hee-ryeong instead.
“The Cult Leader… would the Manager happen to know why he is sending me back to the Ice Palace?”
“How could I possibly fathom His intentions?”
Han Hee-ryeong smiled faintly and handed Ho-yeon a pouch full of gold coins.
“This is…….”
Ho-yeon’s shoulders flinched in surprise. As he moved, his low-tied hair swayed slightly.
Ho-yeon hesitated, unable to easily accept the large sum of money thrust before him. It was true that he had agonized over leaving without a single penny, so it was hard to refuse immediately.
“Do not feel burdened; use it usefully when you need it.”
Han Hee-ryeong insisted on pressing the pouch into Ho-yeon’s hand.
“Thank you very much. Once I arrive safely at the Ice Palace, I will certainly return it through my escort.”
Since the escort would return to the Demon Sect upon his safe arrival, Ho-yeon felt more at ease mentioning it.
“You will travel on a Gwangcheon Black Horse until you leave the Hundred Thousand Great Mountains, and after that, the escort will accompany Young Master Wi on foot.”
A Gwangcheon Black Horse. What a grand name. It seemed that despite the cold treatment, they were providing a magnificent steed as a final gesture.
Han Hee-ryeong rose from the chair across the table, suggesting they head outside. Before leaving, Ho-yeon took one last look around his quarters in the Shadowless Pavilion. Though he hadn’t stayed long, he felt a bit of attachment, casting his gaze over the familiar lanterns and the bed.
“By any chance, is the Cult Leader…….”
“He is very preoccupied with affairs regarding the Blood Cult.”
Han Hee-ryeong felt secretly amused seeing Ho-yeon’s troubled expression. She had wondered if he would be dancing for joy at the prospect of returning to the Ice Palace, but surprisingly, it seemed he had grown quite fond of the Cult Leader.
When he stepped outside, Abok was bowing before a large, black horse.
“Manager, is that horse the Gwangcheon… Black Horse?”
With bloodshot eyes that looked half-crazed, the horse looked exactly like Tae-pyeong regardless of how one viewed it.
“Yes, the Cult Leader provided it.”
In front of the Gwangcheon Black Horse stood a man dressed in black light armor with a sword at his hip. He seemed to be the escort Han Hee-ryeong had mentioned. Ho-yeon intended to approach and greet the man who would accompany him on the long journey.
The moment their eyes met, Ho-yeon’s drooping eyes widened. The man of ordinary appearance was taller and broader than he was, but he looked strangely familiar. After a moment of thought, Ho-yeon remembered where he had seen this man.
He was the man he had seen twice at the Jade Pavilion, the one who had even paid gold coins for the price of a zither. It was a memory far too distinct to forget.
“If you don’t mind, could you tell me the name of the person who gave me those gold coins?”
“What is certain is that, as far as I know, he is the wealthiest man in the Demon Sect. No, perhaps the wealthiest man in the Central Plains. Hehe.”
Ho-yeon recalled the conversation he had with Do-gyeon after the man had given the gold and left that day. The phrase “wealthiest man in the world” remained vivid. That must be why he had handed over the gold so readily. At the time, he wondered if he was the son of some great merchant, but seeing him now, he was unmistakably a martial artist.
“We’ve met before, haven’t we?”
Ho-yeon greeted him with a bright smile. The man, whose face lacked any distinct expression, neither denied nor affirmed it. When Han Hee-ryeong cleared her throat behind them, Ho-yeon naturally turned to her.
“Have you two met?”
“Yes, he is someone I encountered while I was working at the Jade Pavilion. I saw Elder Do-gyeon with him at the time as well.”
Since he wasn’t a complete stranger, Ho-yeon’s body, which had been stiff with tension before the long journey, relaxed slightly. However, Han Hee-ryeong looked at the escort with wide eyes and then immediately shifted her gaze back to Ho-yeon.
“I… see. A connection.”
Despite Han Hee-ryeong’s slightly bewildered reaction, Ho-yeon beamed, confirming that it was indeed so.
“It is a long journey ahead, so may I ask for your name, Escort? I am Wi Ho-yeon from the North Sea Ice Palace.”
The man—Mu-gyeong, who was wearing a human-skin mask and had reduced his physique with the bone-shrinking technique—felt something twist in his gut as he looked at the beaming Wi Ho-yeon.
It seemed the boy was quite thrilled to be returning to the Ice Palace, but Mu-gyeong had no intention of letting Ho-yeon go back quietly from the start.
While listening to the contents of the letter sent from the Ice Palace, Ho-yeon had shown visible agitation at the mention of a new child being brought into the Eumbyeol Hall. Ho-yeon had been bowing his head at the time, but since Mu-gyeong’s energy perception transcended human senses, it was harder not to notice.
Wi Ho-yeon was definitely hiding something. Despite not even having mastered sound-based attacks, the internal energy contained within his body was considerable. Mu-gyeong had tried to gauge its depth with his own internal power, but it was impossible to read, as if a waterfall had suddenly been blocked.
While Wi Ho-yeon chattered incessantly, he clamped his mouth shut whenever asked about his personal history. It was similar to how he vaguely brushed off the fact that he wasn’t the Palace Master’s child, claiming they were of the same bloodline.
To Cheon Mu-gyeong, Wi Ho-yeon was a variable. To uncover a variable, one must go to where the variable originated.
Having lived through countless repeated lives, he no longer had what one would call a “plan.” That meant he could be entirely impulsive. Thus, he had decided to personally head to the Ice Palace, bringing that white eternal snow with him. With the time remaining until the designated point dwindling, he didn’t hesitate for a second.
To suppress the curse of the fire dragon, he needed the inner core of an ice dragon, which possessed the opposite affinity. However, despite driving the Ice Palace to the brink of destruction several times across his repeated lives, he had never discovered an ice dragon. Neither in the Ice Palace, nor in the Central Plains, nor anywhere in the outer regions.
Therefore, Cheon Mu-gyeong was convinced that ice dragons did not exist. But was not a variable that shouldn’t exist standing right before his eyes? Now, such convictions were shattered.
This time, he might actually obtain the inner core of the ice dragon.
“May I also ask how old you are? I am thirty. If you are older than me, you may comfortably call me Ho-yeon. I was truly grateful for the gold you gave me back then. I used it to borrow a zither due to certain circumstances, so it was a great help.”
But just look at that smiling face. To Mu-gyeong, Wi Ho-yeon’s chattering didn’t even register. He was curious if the boy could still smile like that once he took off the human-skin mask and revealed his true self.