A Baby Cat Who Commands the Dog Clan - Chapter 228

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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Chapter 228
“Y-you insolent wretch!”
At those words, Han Poong Geom nearly stumbled backward, caught off guard.
“Palace Master, please grant me permission to sever this Central Plains dog’s head at once!”
He even pounded his flushed face against the ice floor in supplication.
“Unseemly, Han Poong Geom. Rise.”
At the Palace Master’s single word, he sprang to his feet as if by magic.
“You had a plan from the very beginning, didn’t you?”
The Palace Master’s piercing blue eyes swept across Hong Seol’s face with penetrating intensity.
Hong Seol answered without hesitation or intimidation.
“Of course I had a plan. I still do.”
The Ice Dragon’s temperament was notoriously capricious and unpredictable.
‘I never expected the Ice Dragon to simply hand over the Ten Thousand Year Ice Peak.’
Even if, by some miracle, the Ice Dragon had willingly surrendered the ice peak…
‘I had planned to throw it into the lake myself.’
Everything unfolded exactly as I had anticipated.
“Now I wish to hear what lies within your mind.”
The Palace Master’s gaze, which had been fixed upon Hong Seol, now turned toward the frozen lake.
“If you knew the Ten Thousand Year Ice Peak would fall into the lake and freeze over, surely you must also know how to retrieve it. Is that not so?”
“Of course I know. However, whether I can retrieve it depends entirely on what you say, Palace Master.”
The Palace Master’s brow twitched.
“Why do you speak in such a manner?”
“Because you, Palace Master, have not yet mentioned the most important matter.”
Hong Seol smiled with a knowing grin.
“When offering a new commission, one must provide a new reward, after all.”
“What!”
The Palace Master’s breath caught.
Those words had conjured the image of her daughter, whom she could no longer see—Bing Xiao Yue.
“Whenever you ask me to master a new technique, you must offer a new reward. Give me some candy, Mother!”
That clear, cheerful voice still echoed vividly in the Palace Master’s ears.
‘This child has black hair and black eyes. Her face bears almost no resemblance to mine, yet why do I keep seeing Xiao Yue’s image overlaid upon hers?’
Perhaps that was why.
She, who would normally have let icy winds sweep through her presence, found herself growing uncharacteristically lenient with this girl.
It was happening again now.
“…Miss Hong, speak what you desire.”
“In exchange for retrieving the Ten Thousand Year Ice Peak, please promise that you will fight alongside the Martial Arts Alliance against the Demonic Cult.”
The answer came readily.
“Very well.”
“Palace Master!”
Han Poong Geom cried out in alarm to dissuade her, but the Palace Master continued to gaze directly at Hong Seol as she spoke.
“In exchange, if you fail, I will take your head. Do you understand?”
Hong Seol laughed fearlessly.
“That is precisely what I wish for.”
* * *
The Lake was teeming with people.
It seemed as though nearly a third of all those who worked at the Northern Sea Ice Palace had gathered here.
“What on earth is happening?”
“Well, apparently that young lady is going to retrieve the Ten Thousand Year Ice Peak from within the frozen ice!”
Curious onlookers formed a circle around Hong Seol.
Hong Seol had been pacing back and forth across the thick ice since earlier.
She tapped her feet rhythmically, then traced her fingers delicately across the ice’s surface.
“What is she doing?”
“Just wasting time, isn’t she?”
“No! She’s spreading her spiritual sense to find the exact location of the Ten Thousand Year Ice Peak!”
Those words came from Seol Eung, who had drawn near.
Her cheeks flushed with excitement as she watched Hong Seol’s every movement from close by.
‘What will the young lady reveal this time?’
Seol Eung’s eyes sparkled with anticipation.
In stark contrast, a woman paced anxiously across the frozen Lake.
‘What was she thinking, making such a wager?’
It was Bing Yu Hua, her expression clouded with concern.
Bing Yu Hua herself knew that Hong Seol had achieved mastery in the Way of Fire.
But the question remained—did she possess enough yang energy to melt through such thick ice?
From what Bing Yu Hua had observed thus far, the answer was no.
‘Her palm technique, infused with yang energy, was powerful enough to melt ice as tall as a person, but that was all.’
With such power alone, she could never pierce through the ice of Beihai.
This was a Lake of unknowable depth.
The ice was surely at least three times Hong Seol’s height.
‘It is because of me.’
Hong Seol was pushing herself unnecessarily to bridge the frozen distance between herself and the Northern Sea Ice Palace.
‘I should stop her now…!’
“…Young lady!”
Bing Yu Hua reached out with trembling hands.
Hong Seol turned and smiled gently.
“Do not worry, Medicine Master.”
Her smile was reassuring, as if asking to be trusted.
‘Heavens. When did my child grow into such an adult?’
Bing Yu Hua was once again struck by the realization of her daughter’s growth.
“Hah.”
Hong Seol took her stance firmly before the spot where the Ten Thousand Year Ice Peak lay buried.
I closed my eyes slowly and began to circulate my energy. The yang essence coiled tightly in my dantian suddenly swelled to fill my entire body.
Whoosh!
The blazing energy carried pure solar true qi within it.
Yet unfortunately, it was scarcely different from the momentum I had displayed when melting ice at the Nam Goong Family Estate last time.
But I had confidence.
‘I can do this. I’m more than capable!’
As my resolve hardened, the yang essence—threatening to explode at any moment—filled the Governing Vessel running along my spine, the path it was meant to traverse.
Before long, beads of sweat formed on my forehead.
And from my body, still damp from diving into the lake, wisps of steam rose steadily.
“Exhale.”
I spread both arms wide and slowly rotated them, gathering my energy.
Gradually.
Only then did I slowly extend my arms forward.
The movement was deliberate, as if time itself had stretched thin.
Yet it was by no means a light technique.
Press.
A single slender index finger made contact with the cold ice.
Bing Yu Hua, caught off guard, found herself muttering involuntarily.
“Press…?”
In that instant, silence fell over everything.
Crack-crack-crack-crack-crack!
Deep fissures began spreading across the massive ice.
“L-look at that!”
One of the Snow Wind Squad martial artists cried out in shock.
The golden essence emanating from my fingertip was piercing directly through the critical point where the Ten Thousand Year Ice Peak existed.
“That’s the One Yang Finger technique!”
“One Yang Finger?”
Seol Eung, watching from the side, tilted her head in confusion.
Then the Snow Wind Squad martial artist who had recognized my technique continued in a trembling voice.
“It’s a martial technique that gathers the yang essence circulating through one’s body into a single focal point and releases it. But how can such a young lady have achieved such a level of advanced martial arts!”
“Wow…!”
Yet Seol Eung barely had time to be properly astonished.
“Everyone, watch your footing!”
My light cry rang out.
“Three, two, one!”
As I called out, I gathered energy into both my feet and executed a true strike.
Boom!
Fortunately, most managed to leap away in time, though a few lost their balance and staggered.
Cries of alarm echoed from all directions.
“W-what’s happening to the ground!”
The frozen ground that had been solid just moments before now undulated like a raft upon the water!
Hong Seol smiled faintly at the sight.
The ice that had cracked when pierced by the Solitary Yang Finger now shattered completely under the impact of the True Horn Strike.
“Thank you for your cooperation.”
The moment Hong Seol bowed respectfully to everyone present.
A gentle rise.
Between the fractured blue waters, a single pearl gleaming with pristine white light emerged.
“It’s… the Ten Thousand Year Ice Peak!”
Hong Seol removed the robe draped over her shoulder and wrapped it around the ice pearl.
By then, the lake that had been split by the Solitary Yang Finger and True Horn Strike had already refrozen in bitter cold.
“…KYAAAAAAAA!”
Only then did a roar that seemed to shake the entire lake reach Hong Seol’s ears, arriving a moment too late.
Hong Seol approached the Palace Master and bowed her head.
The Palace Master asked, utterly astounded.
“Where on earth did you learn the technique of the Solitary Yang Finger?”
“Ah, well…”
Hong Seol squinted one eye lightly.
“I didn’t formally study it. My inner strength seemed insufficient to break the ice with my palm, so I used my fingers instead.”
Long ago, Hong Seol had seen a rock called the Arhat Stone at Shaolin.
The rock bore several holes, each no wider than an inch in diameter.
The Arhat Monks who trained in finger techniques had created those holes.
‘If one can concentrate energy into a single finger and pierce solid rock, then ice should be no different, should it?’
Hong Seol’s assumption proved spectacularly correct.
But that was not all.
“And how did you even conceive of following the Solitary Yang Finger with the True Horn Strike…?”
“Well, you know how stonemasons use chisels and wedges to break stone? I thought if I first created cracks in the ice with the finger technique, then pressed and separated it with the horn strike, it would be more efficient.”
She spoke casually, but it was far from a simple feat.
It required the balance of accumulated yang energy cultivated over long years and exceptional perception.
“This is absurd…!”
Only then did the martial artists of the Northern Sea Ice Palace realize just how formidable a junior master they were facing.
Soon after, Hong Seol presented the Ten Thousand Year Ice Peak to the Northern Sea Ice Palace Master.
“Here, I have brought the Ten Thousand Year Ice Peak as promised.”
A sudden gust.
Perhaps resonating with the Palace Master’s energy.
The ice pearl’s aura caused Hong Seol’s sleeve to billow outward, revealing her slender wrist.
In that instant, the Ten Thousand Year Ice Peak vanished completely from the Palace Master’s mind.
The Palace Master’s eyes became fixed upon Hong Seol’s wrist, unable to look away.
‘That… that crimson eye-shaped birthmark!’

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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