I followed Young Palace Lord Maeng from behind.
He was heading exactly where I wanted him to go.
“Actually, the place we’re going isn’t somewhere outsiders are allowed to see.”
I asked as though I had no idea.
“Is that so?”
“So you must never tell anyone you entered that place.”
“Understood. I’ll keep that in mind.”
Before long, we arrived.
The place was enclosed by high walls, probably to keep others from wandering too close.
“Please wait a moment.”
He went inside, then came back out and said to me,
“You may enter now.”
“Yes.”
Young Lord Hae decided to keep watch outside.
Creeeak.
When I opened the door and stepped in, a broad courtyard came into view.
The surrounding buildings were decorated with jade-green metamorphic stone quarried from Cangshan in Dali, Yunnan, and the sight was truly beautiful.
That alone was enough to tell me.
This was a fairly important building.
“Looks like you keep something important here.”
“This is where Zhurong Palace’s treasures are stored.”
“So that’s why outsiders aren’t allowed inside.”
“It also holds books recording Zhurong Palace’s history, as well as important documents.”
Then I came to the right place.
But seriously, this guy…
He has the same name as that kid Maeng Hyeon, the one brewing liquor with Master Brewer Gu-jin, so why is he this stupid?
Is it really going to be fine if someone like him becomes the next Palace Lord?
Even if both of us are outside forces, and even if we’re in the middle of ceasefire talks, North Sea Ice Palace is still Zhurong Palace’s enemy.
There was no telling when we might become enemies again and clash, yet he not only let me in here, he even explained everything to me…
If the Palace Lord finds out about this, Young Palace Lord Maeng is going to get beaten half to death.
Not that I’m responsible for that.
Even if I suggested coming here, there wouldn’t have been a problem if he’d simply refused me outright.
To be honest, I did prod him a little, but I hadn’t expected him to fall for it this easily.
Even I was a little taken aback.
Maybe in my previous life, the reason Zhurong Palace’s influence declined so sharply was because Young Palace Lord Maeng became Palace Lord and ruined the whole place.
Shing.
He drew his sword.
“Draw your sword.”
I did not refuse and drew mine.
Then I made a suggestion.
“It’d be ugly if we both ended up bleeding, so let’s settle victory another way.”
“What way?”
I held out the plate I had prepared in advance and said,
“Tie this plate to your body. Whoever’s plate breaks loses.”
“Fine.”
We each tied a plate to the front of our chests.
Then we took our starting stances.
I quietly gauged Young Palace Lord Maeng’s realm.
At this level, he’s just stepped into Peak, hasn’t he?
From what I’d heard, Young Palace Lord Maeng was one year older than me.
In truth, reaching Peak at twenty-four was enough to be called at least gifted anywhere, maybe even a genius.
Young Palace Lord Bing Hae-rin and I were the unusual ones.
In any case, that level of ability was probably why he’d confidently barged into the Palace Lord’s office yesterday.
And why he wasn’t backing down from a duel with me now.
Taht!
At that moment, Young Palace Lord Maeng charged at me first and swung his sword.
Fwoosh!
Flames bloomed from the blade.
Using Blazing Fire Art right from the start! He is taking this seriously in his own way.
I avoided the attack with a simple sidestep.
In truth, this wasn’t my first time facing a warrior who used Fire Art.
In my previous life, there had been some Unorthodox Sect bastards who used Fire Art.
Warrior Jin Yeong’s martial art was also a Fire Art.
However, compared to Zhurong Palace’s Blazing Fire Art, every other Fire Art was nothing more than a candle before a bonfire.
Fwoooosh! Fwoosh!
The way he freely commanded fire made him look almost like a god of flame.
Just like Young Palace Lord Maeng standing before me now.
An ordinary warrior might have been thrown off just by the sight, but I remained calm.
The gap between our skills was vast, and my martial art was rooted in North Sea’s cold Qi.
I poured internal power into my sword and unfolded my sword art.
The eighth form of the True Snow Twelve Form Sword. One-Point Black Ice.
A killing move meant to end everything in a single strike.
Fire arts were flashy, which meant they could be seen from far away on a dark night like this.
In other words, we would be discovered soon.
If I wanted to buy myself time to search this place, I had to end this in one blow.
I raised my sword and focused every nerve on him.
Shaaaaaak!
“Hup!”
He tried to raise his sword to defend, panic flashing across his face.
Sorry, but you’re already too late.
From the start, this was the difference between the Profound realm and someone at the very beginning of Peak.
There was no way he could block an attack I had thrown my full strength into.
Crack–!
My sword touched his chest, and the plate shattered.
“I… I lost…”
But that wasn’t all I wanted.
I battered him with my fist dozens of times.
Bababababak!
“Kugh!”
My internal power shook him from the inside, and he fainted.
Thud.
Hah, now I finally feel a little better.
I walked over to him and shook his body.
“Excuse me, are you all right? Hello?”
But his body did not move in the slightest.
He was definitely unconscious.
Then I’d better hurry up and check the records.
I quickly sensed the Qi in the area, just in case anyone was standing guard.
There was still no one nearby.
It was thanks to Young Palace Lord Maeng sending away everyone who had been here earlier.
He’d probably done it so no one would catch him letting me inside, but it worked out in my favor.
I swiftly moved and entered the hall.
The documents were stored on the shelves on the second floor.
I went up to the second floor and quickly scanned the bookshelves.
Found it.
Records from about twenty years ago.
I took out the book and flipped through its pages.
It was a kind of journal recorded daily by the Palace Lord of that era.
I skimmed through it quickly, then stopped at one place.
[The people of North Sea Ice Palace arrived at our palace for the Ice-Fire Conference.
However, the people of Snow Wind Palace were nowhere to be seen.
When I asked about it, all they gave me was the tragic news that Snow Wind Palace had been annihilated by someone.
Young Palace Lord Jin was deeply saddened by this.
For losing one’s only worthy rival is an exceedingly sorrowful thing.
I began to wonder who on earth had destroyed Snow Wind Palace, and I started an investigation.
Because if a force beyond the border could be annihilated, it meant we, too, could become a target.]
What?
According to this record, the current Palace Lord was acquainted with Master?
Was that why he treated me so warmly?
And these people weren’t the culprits who destroyed Snow Wind Palace?
I turned the pages again.
There was a chance the previous Zhurong Palace Lord had discovered who caused the calamity that befell Snow Wind Palace.
As I quickly turned the pages, my gaze stopped on one record.
[I heard of the strange phenomena occurring on No-Exit Mountain. I headed to No-Exit Mountain with Hwa-sik.
There, I saw a sword being guarded by a mad warrior.
The sword embedded in the boulder was unmistakably the Silver Mist Sword, the sacred object of Snow Wind Palace’s Palace Lord.
I tried to retrieve the Silver Mist Sword, but I could not.
Because there was a Spirit Beast guarding it.
A Spirit Beast known as Ice Guardian Beast.
Because that Spirit Beast would not permit it, we ultimately had no choice but to leave the Silver Mist Sword where it was.]
Ah, so this is the record of the day Geumryeong mentioned, when Hwa-sik tried to take the Silver Mist Sword.
According to this record, they hadn’t tried to steal the sword. They had tried to recover it.
And Geumryeong misunderstood that as them trying to take it away.
[However, I felt something familiar from that mad warrior.
I did not notice it at first, but the more I thought about it, the more his appearance matched the traits seen in descendants of Doyeon Sect.]
Doyeon Sect?
Where is that?
I had never heard of it even in my previous life.
If someone of Zhurong Palace Lord’s standing was this certain, then that mad warrior must have been Doyeon Sect’s bloodline.
Hah, at least it seems certain Zhurong Palace isn’t the culprit.
A weight lifted from my heart.
If Zhurong Palace had been the culprit, escaping this place safely would have been a problem all on its own.
And on top of that, I even found a lead.
If I investigated Doyeon Sect, I should be able to learn something about the culprit.
I put the book back in its place, then returned to the area where the duel had taken place.
But then… someone was approaching this place at great speed.
Damn! This Qi is…!
Creeeeak.
The door opened, and the owner of that Qi revealed himself.
The Palace Lord of Zhurong Palace looked at Young Palace Lord Maeng lying on the floor, then turned his head toward me, who stood there awkwardly.
“Explain what happened.”
Behind the Palace Lord of Zhurong Palace, Young Lord Hae was practically wringing his hands in panic.
There was only one thing I could do.
Explain the situation as calmly as possible, exactly as it happened.
“In truth, Young Palace Lord Maeng seemed to have something he wished to say to me.”
Not that I told him everything Young Palace Lord Maeng had tried to do.
I wasn’t petty enough to go that far.
And besides, things like that were more useful when kept as leverage.
“Young Palace Lord Maeng told me not to interfere in matters between him and Young Palace Lord Bing Hae-rin, then proposed a duel. He said he wished to duel somewhere quiet, so he guided me here.”
I continued.
“Even in a duel, it would do neither of us any good to draw blood, so we agreed that whoever’s plate broke first would lose. As you can see, the result was…”
“You won.”
“Yes. However, I seem to have used too much strength, and he ended up fainting.”
Along with the several dozen punches I added in.
Still, I hit him where it wouldn’t show.
Pain and visible bruising were two separate matters, but that was none of my business.
“Is that so? But…”
He looked at me and then behind me with a strange expression before turning around.
“Follow me.”
“Yes.”
“And clean that up.”
“As you command.”
The Palace Lord of Zhurong Palace curtly ordered the warriors behind him, then left the place, and I meekly followed after him.
Rumble, rumble.
We passed through a stone door and entered his office.
“This way.”
Zhurong Palace Lord’s office was divided into an audience area and a work area.
The place he led me to was the work area.
That meant he had something private to say.
“Sit.”
I quietly sat in the seat he offered. He stared fixedly at me, then said,
“I saw your footprints.”
“Pardon?”
“You deliberately knocked that half-witted brat unconscious, then went into the hall where our palace records are stored.”
“…”
“You may not have known this, but the Palace Lord can see the footprints left there.”
I hadn’t known that.
While I was frantically trying to come up with an excuse, he asked,
“So, is Myeong-hyeon doing well?”
“…Pardon?”
“Gwak Myeong-hyeon. That bastard.”
Ah…
They had been rivals, hadn’t they?
“Your father is the Merchant Lord of the Eunhae Merchant Group. But if you became the Young Palace Lord of Snow Wind Palace, then that means your master is Myeong-hyeon. Am I wrong?”
“…You are correct.”
“That damned bastard!”
The Palace Lord of Zhurong Palace burst into anger.
“If he was alive, would it have killed him to send word that he was alive?! That son of a bitch belongs face-first in a cesspit!”
He was cursing, but I could tell he wasn’t really cursing him.
If he truly meant those curses, his eyes would not be reddening.
“Ahem, hm. Forgive me. I lost my composure.”
“It’s all right.”
“So, is that fellow living well?”
“Yes. He is healthy and doing well.”
“That’s good.”
He looked at me and asked again,
“So, why did you enter that hall?”
I briefly wondered whether I should tell the truth.
But there was only one answer.
It would be difficult to cover this up with a lie, and it was now clear he was not an enemy.
The sincerity he had just shown regarding Master, and the records I had confirmed before that.
On top of that, if I wanted to learn about Doyeon Sect, it would be better to have his cooperation.
So… let’s tell the truth.
“I apologize, but until I went there earlier, I believed Zhurong Palace was the culprit behind the calamity that befell Snow Wind Palace.”
“What?”
The Palace Lord’s face hardened fiercely.
At a glance, he looked beyond dumbfounded. Rage was visibly surging up inside him.
I quickly continued.
“There is a reason I thought so.”
“What reason?”
I took out the whetstone from my robes.
“Because of this.”
He examined the whetstone I handed him and asked,
“Why this?”
“After the calamity at Snow Wind Palace, this was the only evidence left behind about the culprit.”
“This?”
The Palace Lord’s brow furrowed. He studied it carefully, then nodded.
He noticed it. The owner of that whetstone was a martial artist who used Blazing Fire Art.
And one who lived in a hot region, too.
“I see. With this, you certainly would have reason to suspect us. But this is not a whetstone we use.”
“Are you certain?”
“Of course. I’ll explain why. As you know, the heat of our Blazing Fire Art is fearsome.”
“Yes, it is.”
“Because of that, our blades are never in good condition for long. So we use rougher whetstones than this one. We need rough stones to shape the blade edge properly.”
Ah…
“As a result, our swords don’t so much cut our opponents as tear them apart. The blade ends up becoming like a saw.”
Just as the Palace Lord said, Young Palace Lord Maeng’s sword edge had been like that as well.
“…”
“This does belong to someone who usesFire Art, but it is the kind of whetstone used by those whose sword art burns weaker than ours.”
“I see.”
He returned the whetstone to me and said,
“So you snuck into the hall to find proof of that?”
“I apologize.”
I lowered my head and cupped my fist in apology.
“If you didn’t break anything, there is no need to apologize. I understand your circumstances well enough. And the one who brought you there was my useless son.”
I felt a little awkward.
After all, I was the one who had coaxed him into it.
Still, that was his own fault. If he hadn’t bothered me, I wouldn’t have used him.
I carefully spoke.
“There is something I would like to ask you, Palace Lord.”
“What is it?”
“Do you know about Doyeon Sect?”
–TL Notes–
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