A Baby Cat Who Commands the Dog Clan - Chapter 230

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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 230
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Roasted duck glistening with oil, crab soup, and cucumber kimchi—the very dishes Hong Seol had adored in her childhood.
Breakfast shared with the Northern Sea Ice Palace Master was nothing short of a feast fit for royalty.
“I really can’t eat anymore, Grandmother! I mean it!”
Hong Seol’s eyes widened as she waved both hands in protest.
Truth be told, her stomach was genuinely full—as if the food had risen all the way to her throat.
“If I eat even a little more, I’ll puff up round like a ball and just roll away!”
Yet the Northern Sea Ice Palace Master had no intention of letting her granddaughter eat a modest portion.
“Nonsense! You’re nothing but skin and bones—like a stick with a rag wrapped around it!”
As she spoke, she cast a dissatisfied glance at Bing Yu Hua, who sat beside her.
“How on earth does the Nam Goong Family feed a child to make her this gaunt?”
Despite the Palace Master’s reproach, Bing Yu Hua simply smiled warmly.
Now that the Palace Master had recovered the Ten Thousand Year Ice Peak, she had completely forgiven Bing Yu Hua.
The old resentment between them hadn’t vanished entirely, but it was melting away like an icicle greeting spring.
And it was all thanks to Hong Seol.
“Look here, Yu Hua! If we’re not careful, Hong Seol’s arms will snap!”
The Palace Master pointed at Hong Seol’s arms with the worried expression of an overprotective grandmother.
“G-Grandmother, that’s just how they look to your eyes.”
Hong Seol laughed awkwardly and glanced down at her own arms.
There, two crimson snowflower-shaped marks were clearly visible.
‘Mother left three marks. I’ve used one, so I can return to the past two more times… ‘
Could I perhaps use it even if I lost in a life-or-death duel?
Lost in thought, Hong Seol gently shook her head.
‘To use it, I must know the secret incantation of the Heavenly Time Reversal Method that Mother established.’
But my mother had long since passed away.
‘On the day I returned to the past at Dae Chuk Mountain, who was it that recited the incantation?’
Was it Grandfather Nam Goong Ho? Or Grandfather Poison King?
Or perhaps some stranger who happened by, by coincidence?
“Mm.”
Hong Seol let out a small groan.
She had regressed when she was only eight years old.
By now, even those memories had grown hazy.
‘Besides, what good would knowing do? I have no intention of returning to the past anymore.’
The reason was simple.
If I returned to the past, everyone I loved would forget me.
I couldn’t bear to live such a life.
“…Hong Seol.”
At the Palace Master’s call, Hong Seol suddenly lifted her head.
“Yes?”
“What are you pondering so intently?”
The Northern Sea Ice Palace Master’s voice had grown warm and gentle, like the flower-scented breezes of the southern lands, no longer the biting cold of Beihai.
“Oh, it’s nothing. Did you say something just now?”
“I said come live with me at the Northern Sea Ice Palace, Hong Seol!”
Bing Yu Hua flinched at the Northern Sea Ice Palace Master’s coaxing tone, as if he were luring a cat.
“Well, Master…”
Yet she couldn’t bring herself to openly voice her opposition.
And why should she? The Northern Sea Ice Palace Master was the first true blood relative Hong Seol had ever known.
‘If the child wishes to stay here, I must respect that desire…’
In the moment when her trembling silver eyelashes drooped weakly downward.
“That’s impossible, Grandmother!”
A clear, ringing voice cut through the air.
“I have something I absolutely must do back at the Nam Goong Family Estate.”
A chill of silence fell over the dining table.
“A man.”
At the Northern Sea Ice Palace Master’s sudden declaration, Hong Seol’s mind reeled.
“I, I beg your pardon?”
“There must be a man you’ve taken a fancy to in Anhui!”
“Is, is that true, child?”
At the Northern Sea Ice Palace Master’s confident words, Bing Yu Hua, who had been looking down, lifted her eyes and gazed at Hong Seol with a sparkle.
Hong Seol waved both hands frantically in front of her.
“No, that’s not it at all!”
But the Northern Sea Ice Palace Master was already beyond listening.
“Tsk, of all things, you had to inherit that from your mother…”
The way her lips pouted showed the Northern Sea Ice Palace Master was genuinely displeased.
Meanwhile, Seol Eung, standing at the entrance to the Inner Chamber, had her mouth agape in astonishment.
Love that made her refuse the successor’s seat of the Ice Palace across generations—what a thing!
“Indeed, the young lady is truly exceptional. Her horizons are so broad…!”
Hearing Seol Eung’s murmur, Hong Seol felt her head throb.
‘This is a disaster.’
At this rate, it would become established fact that Hong Seol was returning to Anhui because of a man.
There was only one way to handle this.
“G, Grandmother, wait!”
Divert the Northern Sea Ice Palace Master’s attention to a topic more compelling than her granddaughter’s romantic entanglements.
“Please, as you promised, allow me to train my ice techniques before the Ten Thousand Year Ice Peak!”
Just as she’d calculated, the Northern Sea Ice Palace Master nodded with satisfaction.
“I grant it. If you wish, I shall personally guide your training.”
“You, you’ll personally guide my training?”
Hong Seol was quite startled, having not expected such generosity.
The Northern Sea Ice Palace Master himself—the pinnacle of ice techniques—would personally oversee her training!
Then it would certainly be of great help in perfecting the Yin-Yang Divine Art.
After all, there was no one in the world who understood the subtleties of ice cultivation more deeply than the Northern Sea Ice Palace Master.
‘Since he wouldn’t be directly transmitting the Northern Sea Ice Palace’s martial techniques, there would be no misfortune of my dantian sealing the moment I left the palace.’
My gratitude was short-lived, however, as worry quickly took its place.
“But you might be a little disappointed. The truth is, I’ve been struggling quite a bit to master ice cultivation.”
“There’s no need to worry about that.”
The Palace Master smiled gently, like freshly fallen snow piling softly upon itself.
“A child who carries the bloodline of the Northern Sea Ice Palace could never fail to master ice cultivation.”
* * *
A month passed from that day.
Crowds of people gathered like clouds before the Main Gate of the Northern Sea Ice Palace.
They had come to see off Hong Seol’s party as they returned to the Central Plains.
“Miss Miao! Thank you so much. Please stay healthy!”
Seol Eung, fluttering a blue ribbon in her hair and bowing repeatedly.
“…Thank you for finding the Ten Thousand Year Ice Peak.”
Han Poong Geom, whose manner of speech had somehow become gentler ever since learning that Hong Seol was the daughter of the Young Palace Master Bing Xiao Yue.
“Once you leave, I wonder when we shall see each other’s faces again.”
Even the Northern Sea Ice Palace Master, his voice laden with reluctance.
I sent warm glances to all the people of Beihai I had grown fond of in such a short time.
“As soon as my affairs are settled, I’ll definitely come back!”
“Yes, and then let us see how much progress you’ve made with your ice cultivation.”
“Yes, sir!”
My response came with surprising vigor and determination.
After exchanging farewells with me, the Palace Master urged and re-urged Bing Yu Hua like a meticulous mother-in-law.
“Yu Hua, you must take very good care of feeding Hong Seol.”
“…Yes, sir!”
Bing Yu Hua’s response followed with equally forceful determination.
“We shall depart!”
Only after repeated farewells did the carriage finally begin to move.
‘What a terrifying grandmother…!’
I finally leaned back against the carriage seat and released a sigh of relief.
‘At last, I’m finally freed from training.’
During the month I spent at the Northern Sea Ice Palace.
I underwent ‘special training’ under the Palace Master without a moment’s rest.
“A child who carries the bloodline of the Northern Sea Ice Palace could never fail to master ice cultivation.”
Thinking back, I should have been cautious from the moment I heard those words.
‘It wasn’t an outright lie, but that statement needed a slight modification.’
‘A child trained by me could never fail to master ice cultivation…!’
‘If one endured such grueling training, who in this world could fail to master ice cultivation?’
Throughout the past month, I had to live with large needles called ‘Ice Jade Needles’ embedded in the meridians of all four limbs.
It was to cultivate a body more receptive to yin energy.
‘And that was just the beginning. What about those ice water baths!’
I regulated my breathing to the slowest possible pace while submerged up to my neck in frigid water, losing consciousness multiple times.
I couldn’t even sleep peacefully.
I had to meditate in lotus position before the Ten Thousand Year Ice Peak.
Whenever I dreamed, a woman who resembled a pure white snowstorm would appear and torment me relentlessly.
“Aaah!”
“You’re awake? Then submerge yourself in the ice water again.”
Each time I opened my eyes, the Northern Sea Ice Palace Master’s cold voice would herald another hellish day.
‘It was torture beyond compare.’
During that ordeal, I nearly revealed secrets I didn’t even know I possessed.
The only moment the Palace Master granted me rest was during meals.
Even then, training continued in a different form.
“You’ll turn into a thorn at this rate, Hong Seol! Eat more, quickly!”
Days filled with reproach for eating too little, even as food was crammed into my mouth until my belly nearly burst.
I gently touched my stomach, recalling everything that had happened over these past few days.
‘Heuk Elder Brother and Jeok will probably tease me about my belly getting rounder.’
But I couldn’t have gained weight.
Every meal was burned away through the agonizing hours of training that followed.
‘Still, I owe the completion of the Yin-Yang Divine Art entirely to Grandmother.’
I silently expressed my gratitude and closed my eyes, circulating my energy through my body.
‘It works, it’s working!’
Left side and right side.
Yin energy and yang energy each followed their own paths, rushing to their proper places.
It felt like riding a swift horse down a great road. Nothing could stop me.
In an instant, I completed the full circulation—the Microcosmic Orbit—as my energy made one complete circuit through my body.
‘Ha!’
With a light shout, my sleeves billowed as energy gathered in both palms.
The left burned hot enough to ignite a flame instantly, while the right froze cold enough to crystallize bone.
‘I did it!’
As I steadied my breathing, my sleeves gradually settled.
‘Now I just need to return safely to Anhui and retrieve the Golden Dragon Jade Blood Pellet.’
Then I can heal Baek Elder Brother’s body.
Completely.

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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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