Southward
A quiet turmoil had descended upon the Northern Ice Palace.
It wasn’t as if people had taken up arms or farming tools to seek revenge, yet the atmosphere was so tense it felt like something could explode or collapse at any moment.
The tension was so heavy that the chaos caused by the demonic martial artists, who had killed people and set homes ablaze, seemed trivial in comparison.
If there was any silver lining, it was that the demonic martial artists had ceased their attacks on the Northern Ice Palace, having lost their target.
After days of being stifled by the oppressive mood, Namgung Myung grumbled.
“I feel like I need to blow off some steam.”
Dang Moo-jin shot him a sidelong glance.
“Get a grip. I know it’s frustrating, but causing trouble here won’t help.”
“I’m not actually going to do anything. You know that.”
“Sure, sure.”
Though he chided Namgung Myung, Dang Moo-jin felt just as stifled by the situation.
In fact, his frustration was even greater. The master of the Northern Ice Palace had been killed by ice arts, so no one believed that Dang Moo-jin and his group, who hadn’t mastered such skills, were responsible.
However, the fact that Baek Hyang-ah had returned to the north with them was problematic.
It was only natural for suspicions to arise that they might be connected to the master’s death, even if they hadn’t directly killed him.
In a closed society, outsiders are often seen as a single entity, which only fueled the suspicions.
Many remembered that bringing Baek Hyang-ah was Seol-hwa’s mission and that Dang Moo-jin’s group had arrived at the palace under her guidance.
Yet, the atmosphere was so grim that no one dared to defend them openly. It’s hard to voice dissent when the air is thick with hostility.
Fortunately, there was a silver lining. The people within the Northern Ice Palace were less hostile towards Dang Moo-jin’s group.
This was partly because many had formed personal connections with them, but more so because of Hyun-gong’s dire state.
The Hyun-gong they remembered was a young martial artist, serious yet cheerful, who played with children and clumsily learned the northern dialect to converse with the locals.
A man who looked at Seol-hwa with unmistakable love.
Everyone knew Hyun-gong and Seol-hwa were deeply in love.
So much so that the news of Baek Hyang-ah’s return was overshadowed by the anticipation of their upcoming wedding, even though the couple had never spoken of it themselves.
But now, the once lively young man was a shell of his former self.
Hyun-gong had stopped eating and drinking, sitting blankly and staring outside. He couldn’t swallow food or drink properly.
In the first few days, he cried until his eyes were swollen, but eventually, even the tears stopped.
His pitiful state was so heart-wrenching that those who had come to uncover the truth behind the master’s death quietly turned away.
Even if they suspected Dang Moo-jin’s group, or even if they found them guilty, it wouldn’t change much.
Recently, Dang Moo-jin’s group had demonstrated their prowess in a battle against the demonic martial artists.
Every martial artist in the north knew that none of them could match Dang Moo-jin’s group.
With the master of the Northern Ice Palace gone and the demonic martial artists no longer a threat, if Dang Moo-jin’s group decided to, they could easily annihilate the palace’s people.
It was more rational to keep suspicions to oneself than to provoke a disaster.
Thus, the suspicions against Dang Moo-jin’s group gradually faded.
An uneasy balance of incomplete trust and incomplete doubt. That was the relationship between Dang Moo-jin’s group and the northern people.
As Dang Moo-jin and Namgung Myung watched Hyun-gong from a distance, Hong Geol-gae approached them.
“Is Hyun-gong going to die like that?”
”…Not yet. Not yet.”
Dang Moo-jin didn’t believe that lovesickness could kill a person. He thought it was something out of old tales.
But now, he was genuinely worried for Hyun-gong’s life. If Hyun-gong continued like this for a few more days, he might truly be in danger.
As he had done for the past few days, Dang Moo-jin scooped a bowl of cold snow, sprinkled it with herbal water and a pinch of salt.
He sat beside Hyun-gong and handed him the bowl.
“Here.”
Hyun-gong took the bowl and held the snow in his mouth. Unable to swallow food or water properly, this was how he managed to survive.
“Is it hard?”
”…It’ll get better, eventually.”
But his voice and lips were cracked and dry.
Dang Moo-jin sighed deeply. There wasn’t much he could say that wouldn’t sound hollow.
“Well, that’s something, at least.”
Silence settled among the four friends.
The northern night was quiet. There were no sounds of insects or birds.
Finally, Dang Moo-jin asked.
“You must be thinking about something. What goes through your mind all day?”
“Just… thinking about Seol-hwa. And how things ended up like this.”
“Do you really need to think about how it happened? It’s all because of the master.”
“No matter what the master did, if I had handled it better, things might have turned out differently.”
Hyun-gong seemed to believe he had mishandled the situation.
Dang Moo-jin and the others listened intently to what Hyun-gong had to say.
“I told you I was watching the fight between the master and Baek Hyang-ah.”
“Yeah.”
Hyun-gong and Dang Moo-jin had already recounted the events of that day to Hong Geol-gae and Namgung Myung. There were few secrets among the four of them.
“If it were you guys, you would have jumped into the fight without hesitation. If I had joined in earlier and helped take down the master, things might have been different.”
“Probably.”
“But instead, I threw myself in front of Seol-hwa without thinking. I fell for the master’s trick. If I hadn’t, Seol-hwa might still be alive.”
Dang Moo-jin, Namgung Myung, and Hong Geol-gae all remained silent. They had no intention of agreeing with Hyun-gong’s self-reproach.
Hyun-gong wasn’t looking for affirmation.
“Acting indecisively led to the worst outcome. I can’t help but think that if I had been either completely cowardly or entirely brave, things might have turned out better.”
“What will you do now?”
“I’ve thought about it a lot. But now, I’m a bit more at peace. Whatever conclusion I come to here, I can’t abandon the way I’ve lived my life. It was never a problem that needed solving.”
It’s not easy for someone who acts without thinking to develop the habit of thinking first, just as it’s difficult for someone who overthinks to act without hesitation.
If you’ve lived a certain way for thirty years, it’s hard to change course.
Hyun-gong swallowed the melted snow water with difficulty. He looked like he might vomit, but he forced it down.
In the past, he couldn’t even swallow like this. He would just hold it in his mouth, waiting for it to trickle down his throat.
But over time, he had improved a little.
Hong Geol-gae spoke up.
“In the end, it’ll become a bittersweet memory, won’t it?”
“Even if I don’t want it to, it will.”
“Are you going back to Mount Wudang now?”
“Yes.”
Hyun-gong nodded.
It was a given that the time when the four of them roamed together had come to an end.
Dang Moo-jin thought back to when he first met Hyun-gong.
Five years. A long time, or a short one, depending on how you looked at it.
The brash twenty-five-year-old was now thirty.
It was time for Hyun-gong to follow his own path.
Dang Moo-jin spoke in a deliberately cheerful voice.
“When you return to Mount Wudang, will Elder Yeongbo pass the leadership to you?”
“Probably.”
“Master Hyun-gong of the Wudang Sect. Next time we meet, should I bow down to you?”
Hyun-gong smiled quietly.
“Being a master is nice. But I won’t stop there.”
“Then what?”
“I need to vent my anger.”
“At whom?”
“The demonic cult.”
Hyun-gong’s heart was still filled with grief and anger. He would never forget Seol-hwa, and so these feelings would never fade.
But to ease his pain, even a little, he needed to vent his anger on someone.
Yet, there was no one to blame.
The leaders who had forced Baek Hyang-ah and Seol-hwa out of the Northern Ice Palace were dead. The master of the palace was dead.
He couldn’t take it out on the people of the Northern Ice Palace, whom Seol-hwa had loved.
And taking it out on his friends was out of the question.
Hyun-gong’s heart was filled with emotions, but there was no one to unleash them upon.
In the end, he chose the demonic martial artists as his target.
If the demonic cult leader hadn’t taught Baek Hyang-ah those suspicious martial arts, Seol-hwa might have survived.
If the demonic martial artists hadn’t complicated matters, the master might not have seized the opportunity, and Seol-hwa might still be alive.
Hyun-gong knew his anger was somewhat irrational.
But anger is rarely a rational emotion.
He wasn’t interested in meticulously assigning blame or comparing the severity of sins. What mattered was that there was even a sliver of responsibility.
Hyun-gong was like a small dam, one that would inevitably burst if the water wasn’t allowed to flow. With the relentless downpour, he had to find a way to release the pressure, and the path led to the Demonic Cult.
Namgung Myung was appalled.
“Are you planning to charge into the Demonic Cult alone? Or maybe lead the Wudang sect against them? Just so you know, I can’t help with that.”
“I need to think it through. But I’m not going to limit myself to just me or the Wudang sect.”
With that, Hyun-gong slowly rose from his seat. The wound on the back of his thigh, inflicted by the Ice Palace Lord, was gradually healing. Though still a bit uncomfortable, with proper care, he could return to normal, or close to it.
“I think I might finally get a good night’s sleep tonight.”
Hyun-gong said as he retreated into his room, and for the first time in a long while, he slept deeply.
Time passed, and Hyun-gong was able to walk without much of a limp. During this period, the suspicions of the northern people towards Tang Mujin and his group had significantly eased. The lack of clear evidence against them, coupled with the prolonged inability to exact revenge, had dulled their animosity.
In such situations, people often channel their anger elsewhere rather than dwell on vengeance. Instead, they focused their fury on the demon with the white hand, the Sorceress. Rumors of sightings of Baek Hyang-a occasionally surfaced, further dissipating the resentment towards Tang Mujin’s group.
As they prepared to leave the Ice Palace, the young Ice Palace Lord saw them off with a conflicted expression. She was Seol-hwa’s younger sister by three years, a child who bore a striking resemblance to her. Yet, she seemed too young and fragile to bear the immense responsibility of being the Ice Palace Lord.
Nevertheless, Tang Mujin’s group had to depart. They believed that their absence might actually benefit the young Ice Palace Lord. Tang Mujin pondered what he could offer her and whispered softly, “Even in the coldest lands, flowers will bloom someday. And a hero will emerge.”
That was all Tang Mujin could say. The group headed south.
The four of them walked silently towards the south. The wind was colder than when they first arrived at the Ice Palace. It was only then that they remembered it had been summer when they first came.
As they walked south, Hyun-gong occasionally stopped to look back north. His face was filled with longing, as if he might burst into tears at any moment. But he never did.
Unable to watch any longer, Hong Geol-gae tried to comfort him. “Don’t be too disheartened. Let it go. Time will dull the pain, and new connections will find you.”
“New connections? They won’t come. I don’t intend to accept them.”
Hyun-gong’s response was firm, a stark contrast to his usual habit of leaving room for escape.
Hong Geol-gae nodded silently, wondering if his attempt at comfort had been too hasty.
Hyun-gong continued, “I’ve realized that romantic feelings only hinder one’s cultivation. A true practitioner doesn’t need such things.”
Yet, his words seemed oddly phrased. Instead of saying, “I don’t need new connections,” he said, “A practitioner doesn’t need new connections.” It seemed unnecessarily broad.
Seeing the skeptical looks on his friends’ faces, Hyun-gong smiled faintly.
“Do you know what I’ll do first when I become the head of the Wudang sect?”
”…No idea.”
“I’ll make a rule that all Wudang practitioners must live as celibates.”
“Haha!”
Tang Mujin, Hong Geol-gae, and Namgung Myung laughed heartily for the first time in a while. They were relieved to see Hyun-gong joking again, a sign that he was finally finding some peace.