Chapter 124

The Divine Physician of Life and Death (1)

"The person the Divine Physician of Life and Death asked you to kill was the Alliance Leader?"

Baek So-cheon was genuinely stunned. He had never imagined that Ak So-gun’s name would be mentioned.

"That’s right. The man he asked me to kill was Ak So-gun."

What kind of grudge could have driven him to ask for the Alliance Leader’s death?

"Do you know why?"

"I don’t. I didn’t bother asking. It was probably for some trivial reason anyway. In any case, Ak So-gun was someone I already intended to kill, so I was secretly delighted."

Baek So-cheon could tell that Yeom Hwasin was telling the truth.

"If you’re that curious about the reason, ask him while you’re receiving treatment."

"If he is the Alliance Leader’s enemy, will he really treat me?"

"Aren’t you the friend of the man who will kill Ak So-gun for him?"

"We aren’t friends."

"Even if we aren’t, you should pretend that we are. That way, you’ll receive treatment."

"To go that far..."

Yeom Hwasin cut him off firmly.

"You need the treatment."

Their gazes met in the air.

"Very well. Since we’ve come this far, let’s find some way to get me treated."

"Good. That’s more like you."

They emptied their cups and refilled each other’s. With one unexpected secret after another being revealed, Baek So-cheon found himself drinking without restraint.

"Then how can the Absolute Prohibition be lifted?"

"There are two methods: an easy method and a difficult one."

"What is the easy method?"

"Eliminate everyone who opposes lifting it. We send those trapped by the laws of the dead to join the ancestors they love so much."

"That certainly sounds like your kind of solution. Why haven’t you used it?"

Baek So-cheon believed Yeom Hwasin was entirely capable of killing them all. He could not allow the friendliness Yeom Hwasin showed him to make him forget the man’s true nature. If necessary, Yeom Hwasin was someone who could eradicate every last blade of grass in the Ice Palace.

"Unfortunately, that would only make me feel better. It wouldn’t actually lift the restriction."

"What do you mean?"

Instead of answering, Yeom Hwasin asked a new question.

"Do you know why the experts of the Northern Sea Ice Palace have been unable to enter the Central Plains?"

When Baek So-cheon shook his head, Yeom Hwasin revealed another hidden truth.

"Because a restriction was placed upon them that allows their internal energy to function properly only in cold environments."

"Ah!"

It was a secret of the martial world that Baek So-cheon had never heard before.

"Then how can the restriction be lifted?"

"One must enter the forbidden grounds of the Ice Palace and retrieve a secret treasure capable of lifting it. I’ve heard that with the treasure, the restriction can be removed permanently, allowing them to use their internal energy even outside cold regions."

"Naturally, that must be difficult."

"They say that not a single person has ever succeeded."

"What happens if someone fails?"

"I don’t know. No one who failed ever emerged from that place. Unless they decided to settle down and start a family inside, they probably all died."

"So you intend to enter and retrieve the treasure?"

Yeom Hwasin did not answer.

When he merely stared at Baek So-cheon with a peculiar smile, Baek So-cheon immediately realized what he was plotting.

"Surely you aren’t planning to send me inside."

"Why wouldn’t I?"

"You...truly are unbelievable!"

"Once your internal energy is restored, I believe you’ll be better suited to handling it than I am. To be honest, breaking through forbidden grounds like that isn’t easy for a man my age. My judgment isn’t what it used to be, and my mind no longer works as quickly."

"Is that really the only reason?"

"If you insist on another reason, haven’t I already told you? If you encounter a fortuitous opportunity or gain enlightenment while lifting the Absolute Prohibition, you will become even stronger than you are now."

"You plan to fight a stronger version of me and use that battle to reach the next realm?"

"That’s right."

"What will you do if I become stronger than you?"

"Then I’ll die."

"And you’re all right with that?"

"If I remain trapped at my current level for the rest of my life, I will live a life worse than death. Can you understand that feeling?"

"...I can."

Baek So-cheon truly understood him.

He would have felt the same way in Yeom Hwasin’s position.

At present, Baek So-cheon’s heart was entirely focused on leaving the Murim Alliance and living freely. But what if all that desire had instead been focused on martial arts? What if the next stage seemed almost within reach, yet he remained unable to cross the threshold?

What if that continued for the rest of his life?

"It would be truly agonizing."

"Ordinary people would say that martial arts of such a level should already be enough. They would say that excessive ambition only brings misery. Because that is the reality we live in, you are my one and only true confidant."

So that was it.

That was why Yeom Hwasin had allowed him to live.

Baek So-cheon understood that feeling better than anyone.

He raised his cup first.

"Let’s drink."

Yeom Hwasin drank with him.

"Very well. Let’s assume I agree to enter. Earlier, the opposition to lifting the Absolute Prohibition seemed intense. The elderly expert beside the Palace Master appeared especially furious."

"That old woman is Shim Nahu. She is the Grand Elder of the Ice Palace and holds its real authority."

"Will Elder Shim simply allow me to enter? No, before that, I doubt she’ll even allow them to treat my dantian."

Yeom Hwasin then revealed another fact.

"I received my treatment here at the Ice Palace. Stabilizing my extreme yang internal energy required the Ice Palace’s Yin-Cold Ice Bed."

The Yin-Cold Ice Bed was an artifact of the Northern Sea Ice Palace that radiated a freezing chill. It was said that someone practicing extreme yin internal energy could gain far more power than usual by sitting upon it and circulating their energy.

It served a similar function to the Dragon Spring within the Murim Alliance’s Heavenly Dragon Secret Grounds.

"Ah, so that is how you came to know the Palace Master."

"That’s right."

"Then why do they treat you so poorly?"

"Near the end of my treatment, I accidentally broke the Yin-Cold Ice Bed."

"Good heavens! No wonder they’re angry!"

"However, they couldn’t hold me directly responsible. I hadn’t broken it intentionally."

Yeom Hwasin had probably experienced changes in his body while unconscious. Even if that had not been the case, they would have been unable to punish him because of his connection to the Divine Physician of Life and Death, who had saved the previous Palace Master’s life.

The moment Baek So-cheon heard that, a thought suddenly occurred to him.

"Did you attain the Indestructible Vajra Body here?"

"That’s right. Around the time my treatment was completed, the extreme yin and extreme yang energies collided, causing a tremendous transformation in my body. The Yin-Cold Ice Bed shattered during the process through which I attained the Indestructible Vajra Body."

While Baek So-cheon had been wandering in despair after losing his internal energy, unimaginable events had been taking place here.

"In any case, while I was receiving treatment, I had several opportunities to speak with Palace Master Seo. That was when I learned that she desperately wished to lift the Absolute Prohibition. Shim Nahu and the other elderly experts want to preserve it, while the younger experts wish to abolish it. Palace Master Seo only treated me coldly at first because she was mindful of them. In truth, she desperately hopes I’ll lift the Absolute Prohibition."

"Is an outsider permitted to lift it?"

"I asked Palace Master Seo the same question last time. She told me that if the people of the Ice Palace had failed to lift it for so long, perhaps it had always been meant for an outsider to overcome. She said that believing an Ice Palace martial artist had to be the one to lift it was itself an outdated way of thinking. I told her she was clever."

Baek So-cheon chuckled.

In a sense, Seo Bingbing had also been drawn into Yeom Hwasin’s plans.

"Until now, they couldn’t accept outsiders because of those old people. Outsiders weren’t even allowed to enter this place in the first place."

"But that rule was broken because of you."

"Change is necessary for progress."

Baek So-cheon finally had a rough understanding of the situation.

What would happen if the Northern Sea Ice Palace lifted its restriction and entered the Central Plains?

What role would it play in the Central Plains’ martial world?

Baek So-cheon asked honestly,

"If their restriction is lifted and they enter the Central Plains, wouldn’t that disadvantage your side?"

"Why do you think it would?"

"Isn’t the Northern Sea Ice Palace closer to an orthodox faction?"

"That’s your misconception. Don’t assume people are righteous simply because they wear white clothes and smile. They are an organization that cares only about its own interests."

Baek So-cheon thought he had a point.

The people of the Ice Palace had been bound by the restriction for generations. Once it was lifted, they were hardly likely to submit themselves to a different form of restraint.

"The situation in the Murim will become even more complicated."

Yeom Hwasin smiled and emptied his cup.

"That benefits us. Don’t you orthodox factions always make mistakes whenever circumstances become complicated?"

"That is prejudice."

Baek So-cheon answered firmly, but he could not deny it entirely.

At the very least, the word "turmoil" was generally favorable to the Cheukcheon Alliance.

"Although the Palace Master wishes to lift the prohibition, she didn’t seem able to express it openly."

"Even as Palace Master, she cannot disregard Shim Nahu and her faction."

"What do you plan to do?"

"I don’t know."

"You don’t know?"

"From now on, you’ll have to handle it yourself."

"Are you serious?"

"Of course. I can’t think of any method other than smashing everything to pieces."

"You understood the situation and still brought me here without any plan?"

"You are the plan. Hahaha!"

Yeom Hwasin heartily drank his wine, and Baek So-cheon emptied his cup alongside him.

Indeed, this was the moment when he needed to rely on his own methods instead of Yeom Hwasin’s.

"Let me confirm one thing."

"What is it?"

"Are you certain that the Divine Physician of Life and Death is here?"

"I’m certain!"

In that case, there was one method Baek So-cheon could attempt.

He did not know whether it would work.

***

The following day, Baek So-cheon and Yeom Hwasin were summoned to the Palace Master’s residence again.

The elderly experts, including Shim Nahu, stood closest to Seo Bingbing, while the experts became progressively younger the farther they stood from her.

Now that Baek So-cheon understood the palace’s internal circumstances, he realized the arrangement was less about protection and more about surveillance.

Shim Nahu stepped forward in Seo Bingbing’s place.

"You two must leave immediately."

Her tone was utterly cold.

Yeom Hwasin looked at Baek So-cheon with an expression that seemed to ask what he intended to do now.

Baek So-cheon addressed Seo Bingbing.

"There is something I must convey before we leave."

"What is it?"

"The Murim Alliance Leader said he had a message for the Divine Physician of Life and Death."

At the mention of the Murim Alliance Leader, everyone present flinched in surprise.

A smile appeared on Yeom Hwasin’s lips. He appeared to have guessed what method Baek So-cheon intended to use.

"Tell us the message. I’ll deliver it to him later."

"I must deliver it personally."

A brief silence followed.

Baek So-cheon spoke as though the matter were of no particular concern to him.

"Understood. If the Divine Physician of Life and Death isn’t here, I’ll deliver it on another occasion. We should leave."

"Let’s go."

Baek So-cheon cupped his fists in farewell and turned around without hesitation. Yeom Hwasin followed him.

They had taken a little over ten steps when a voice came from behind them.

"Stop."

Baek So-cheon turned around.

A secret door in the rear wall stood open, and an old man was standing before it.

He was Won Gyeongdan, the Divine Physician of Life and Death.

He had been hiding behind the secret door and listening to their conversation.

Won Gyeongdan loudly asked Baek So-cheon,

"What did that Ak fellow say to me?"

Ordinarily, he should have shown proper respect by referring to him as Alliance Leader Ak. However, his urgency caused his true feelings to emerge.

"Do you wish to hear the message here?"

Baek So-cheon’s question startled the Divine Physician of Life and Death. In his urgency, he had rushed outside without considering the situation.

"Let us speak privately."

Before Shim Nahu could interfere, Seo Bingbing addressed Won Gyeongdan first.

"I will immediately arrange a private meeting between you and Great Hero Baek."

"Thank you."

Seo Bingbing then turned to Baek So-cheon and Yeom Hwasin.

"Please go ahead and wait. The Divine Physician will join you shortly."

"Understood."

Following an Ice Palace warrior’s guidance, Baek So-cheon and Yeom Hwasin left the hall.

When they reached the guest reception room and were alone, Yeom Hwasin burst into laughter.

"Hahaha! That was truly an excellent method."

"It was nothing more than a petty deception."

If someone hated another person enough to want him dead, how could he not be curious about a message that person had supposedly sent?

Baek So-cheon had simply taken advantage of human nature.

"Still, you lied without so much as blinking."

"After spending time with a certain person, I’ve become like ink from staying too close to it."

"I hope the ink stains you even blacker."

Indeed, Yeom Hwasin might have started this affair, but it had now become Baek So-cheon’s concern as well.

"I’ll handle everything from this point onward. You can sit quietly beside me and eat."