Abolition of the Wicked - Chapter 192

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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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#Episode 192

The Northern Sea was bitterly cold. Water spilled on the ground would scatter into ice before it could strike earth.
Yet none of the three suffered from the chill. Do Pyeong-su and Eun Bi-yeon found it natural, and Gal Ma-pyeong had cultivated sufficient martial arts to be indifferent to heat and cold alike.
Indifference to cold was one thing; the body’s necessities could not simply disappear.
For the past double hour, Gal Ma-pyeong had been scanning the surroundings. But the world around them, cut by knife-edge wind, was nothing but a white expanse of snow and ice—not a single rock in sight to offer cover.
“Master!”
Do Pyeong-su, running ahead, turned his head.
“What is it? Are you struggling? We’re moving at a steady pace.”
Do Pyeong-su had grown considerably more considerate of Gal Ma-pyeong’s circumstances these days.
“That’s not it…… I need to urinate…….”
If Do Pyeong-su were to continue on while Gal Ma-pyeong relieved himself, they would be ten li apart. So he stopped.
“Hurry up about it. There’s nothing to hide behind anyway—just go as we move if you have to.”
Still, Gal Ma-pyeong positioned himself twenty zhang back. If snow were falling, it might provide some concealment from Eun Bi-yeon, but under the clear sky only the biting winter wind howled.
The moment Gal Ma-pyeong loosened his trousers, he began his relief. Then Eun Bi-yeon’s voice reached his ears.
“For all their commotion, the Northern Ice Palace certainly doesn’t neglect their watch.”
“Indeed. Quite a number hiding about.”
When Do Pyeong-su’s voice joined hers, Gal Ma-pyeong jumped in alarm.
‘Who’s hiding?’
As he sharpened his awareness, a faint ki presence emanated from the very spot where his stream fell.
“Yikes!”
“Ugh!”
Gal Ma-pyeong was startled, and so was the figure buried in the snow. A head suddenly shot up from the white expanse, but there was no way to stop a stream already in motion.
“Splurt!”
It was a young woman. The woman who took Gal Ma-pyeong’s urine full in the face scrambled backward in horror, while he stumbled away, accidentally wetting his own garments.
“You should have warned me if someone was there!”
“You fool—you couldn’t sense even that much of a presence?”
“How was I supposed to know it was you and the lady?”
If his attention had been fully heightened and vigilant, he might have caught them, but one could not move through the world in constant tension.
After hastily composing himself, Gal Ma-pyeong finally detected five invisible presences surrounding them.
The relentless wind made their concealment all the more perfect.
“Tsk, tsk, tsk…… At your age, constantly dribbling about like that? Don’t you know the only thing a man shouldn’t shed is tears?”
All Gal Ma-pyeong could do was let out a long sigh at Do Pyeong-su’s rebuke.
“You’re already discovered—how much longer will you bury yourselves in the snow?”
Those in hiding made no move to reveal themselves despite Eun Bi-yeon’s words.
“Fine. Those who wish to hide can stay hidden as they please. They’ll show themselves when the time comes.”
So the three of them ignored those concealed and continued their Lightness Technique forward.

***

At the far edge of the tedious plain, trees finally began to appear, scattered and sparse.
A forest of towering conifers rose into foothills, then mountains. The weather was ruthlessly bitter, and the varieties of trees differed, but a mountain was a mountain.
After traveling another quarter watch, they came to rest at a pond with a waterfall.
“Nothing’s changed here.”
Eun Bi-yeon pulled forth a memory from the mist of years.
A waterfall ten zhang high that never froze, no matter the cold. A pond stretching fifty zhang across, crystal-clear and vividly blue. Around it, trees with sharp needles stood like sentries. And an ancient pavilion, blending so naturally with the surrounding landscape that it seemed part of the original creation—as if it had always been carved from stone or wood.
A hundred years hence, this imprint would not fade.
“It seems someone has finally decided to receive us.”
Behind Do Pyeong-su’s words came sounds of movement, and soon men and women appeared.
The figure at the front was a middle-aged man; the rest appeared to be in their twenties.
“This is the territory of the Northern Ice Palace.”
In other words—turn back.
“And you are?”
When Eun Bi-yeon, fresh as jade, spoke to him without honorific deference, the middle-aged man’s brow twitched.
“I am Seo Deok, commander of the External Guard Company, overseeing security for the Northern Ice Palace’s External Security Division. Who do you claim to be?”
“Someone who departed the Northern Ice Palace long ago. The dead Palace Master was…… my younger brother.”
Seo Deok, who had been blinking as if unable to grasp what she meant, suddenly wore a startled expression.
“You’re Eun Bi-yeon?”
“It’s tedious to explain at length, so I’ll keep it brief. I performed the Bamnoh Hwandong, and hearing that my sister had died, I came to find out why.”
“The greatest traitor in the history of the Northern Ice Palace performed the Bamnoh Hwandong and came looking for you? You expect me to believe that?”
If Seo Deok believed so easily, he would be the easiest mark for swindlers in the world. Eun Bi-yeon drew a box from her robes.
“You’ll believe once you see this.”
She cracked open the box’s lid just slightly. Yet even so, a chill poured forth that made the freezing cold of the Northern Sea seem mild by comparison.
Seo Deok’s short beard froze solid in the sudden cold, and he stumbled backward with a shout.
“Get back! It’s an Ice Crystal!”
Even those trained in the Ice Technique could not withstand the intensity of the Ice Crystal’s cold.
As the four men scrambled back, Eun Bi-yeon closed the box. Those who knew the history of Eun Bi-yeon would understand that only one person in all the world could possess an Ice Crystal.
“Y-you really are Eun Bi-yeon.”
“Tell my niece that I’ve come.”
Even as her identity was confirmed, Seo Deok shook his head stubbornly.
“Leave this place. There is no room for you within the Northern Ice Palace.”
“So much time has passed, hasn’t it?”
“No matter how much time passes, the wounds you left upon the Northern Ice Palace will never fade. That the Northern Ice Palace does not attack you is only because of the years that have gone by.”
“I wish to hear about my niece. At least tell her that I’ve come.”
“There’s no need to tell her. If you do not leave at once, the slumbering wrath of the Northern Ice Palace will awaken and turn its fury upon you.”
Unable to bear it any longer, Do Pyeong-su stepped forward.
“What an infuriatingly stubborn fool! Do you think we lack the ability to see the Palace Master? For heaven’s sake, just deliver the message while she’s being civil!”
Gal Ma-pyeong, alarmed by Do Pyeong-su’s ferocious bearing, hurried to intervene.
“Master, please calm yourself.”
“Calm myself? How can I calm myself now!”
“If you cause another incident here, Master Hang will be extremely displeased.”
“How would Hang know what happens here?”
“Of course he would.”
“How?”
Gal Ma-pyeong pointed to his own mouth.
“You’ll tell him?”
“You ordered me to report anything that happens.”
“So you’re taking your elder’s side over your own master, is that it?”
“I can’t break a promise I’ve already made, can I?”
“This is your master’s affair!”
“But it’s your elder who gave the order.”
“I ought to sew your mouth shut right now——!”
“You’re creating a disturbance, so be quiet!”
Eun Bi-yeon let out a sharp shout.
Do Pyeong-su, muttering under his breath that she was needlessly irritable, fell silent.
“Having come all this way, I should at least see my niece’s face.”
“You cannot set foot within the Northern Ice Palace, not even once.”
Throughout the long journey, Eun Bi-yeon had shown little emotion, but now that she had arrived at the Northern Ice Palace, something akin to desperation flickered across her features.
To Do Pyeong-su, the way Seo Deok coldly turned her away was unbearable to witness.
Holding back in the face of someone he despised was not in Do Pyeong-su’s nature.
“This bastard won’t listen to reason!”
Do Pyeong-su unleashed a Palm Force at Seo Deok. It wouldn’t kill him, of course, but if things went badly, it could break a bone or two.
Bang!
But the Palm Force was blocked before it could reach its target.
The one who had stopped his attack was Eun Bi-yeon.
“What are you doing?”
“Were you trying to hurt someone from the Northern Ice Palace?”
“That’s right! I was going to break that stubborn fool’s bones!”
“As long as I live, I won’t allow anyone to harm a person of the Northern Ice Palace.”
“So you care more about those Northern Ice Palace wretches than about me?”
“It’s not a matter of what’s more or less important. It’s that no one can hurt the people of the Northern Ice Palace.”
“No one? And who’s going to stop me?”
“I will.”
“Is that so? You’ll try to stop me? Let’s see you try!”
Do Pyeong-su’s Palm Force toward Seo Deok was incomparably more powerful than before. But this time too, Eun Bi-yeon blocked it.
With a tremendous crash, the frozen ground was torn apart, and massive trees snapped and splintered.
“I’m going to try it!”
“I told you not to!”
“Both of you, stop!”
Gal Ma-pyeong’s shout fell on deaf ears. Do Pyeong-su and Eun Bi-yeon unleashed their palm forces toward each other.
The sheer power pouring from their palms didn’t seem like something human hands could produce.
“Get back!”
Gal Ma-pyeong retreated first, followed moments later by the other four.
As the two palm forces collided, a scream erupted from the cloud of dust and earth that shot upward.
“Ahhhhh!”
The four who hadn’t evacuated in time were sent flying twenty paces backward by the shockwave of Do Pyeong-su and Eun Bi-yeon’s clashing forces.
After only three exchanges, the ground in a twenty-pace radius around them had been transformed into utter ruin.
Gal Ma-pyeong shouted with all the strength he could muster.
“If you keep fighting, I’m telling Master Geom!”
Geom U-bin’s name had always been Do Pyeong-su’s strongest sedative.
The moment Do Pyeong-su stopped, Eun Bi-yeon ceased her attack as well. The two regarded each other coldly while the four who had been sent flying slowly struggled to their feet.
They didn’t appear to be seriously wounded. When Do Pyeong-su’s gaze fell upon them, they flinched and cautiously sidled away to hide behind a rock.
“Fetch the Palace Master while I’m being reasonable.”
At Do Pyeong-su’s low voice, Seo Deok could only swallow hard and say nothing.
Refusing seemed likely to cost him his head, so it appeared he had no choice in the matter.
Fortunately, Seo Deok was spared the need to choose.
“I’m not the Palace Master yet.”
The woman who appeared with those words looked to be in her early thirties. Her beautiful, finely-featured face bore the weight of long-held sorrow.
Two elderly women carrying Dragon-Head Staffs followed behind her. With their white hair neatly bound back, the two old women kept their eyes fixed on Eun Bi-yeon from the moment they appeared.
“I’m Eun Yi-seol, serving as interim Palace Master. Are you really my aunt?”
“Yes. I’m Eun Bi-yeon.”
Her usually cold voice trembled faintly as she spoke. Eun Yi-seol looked at the two elderly women standing on either side of her.
The old woman on the left, whose ears were unusually large, spoke.
“Did you really perform the Bamnoh Hwandong?”
A faint smile crossed Eun Bi-yeon’s lips as she gazed at the old woman.
“Yes, Cheong-yeong. You’ve grown older—those ears have gotten even bigger. And you must be Hong-yeong? Has that mole on your backside shrunk at all?”
“So you really are Sister Bi-yeon.”
Eun Cheong-yeong and Eun Hong-yeong, dizygotic twins, had been disciples of the Northern Ice Palace who were as close as blood sisters when Eun Bi-yeon was there.
When their Palace Master—Eun Bi-yeon’s mother—returned from Zhongyuan, she brought the newborns with her and even gave them the surname Eun.
“You look well.”
“Sister, ‘well’ hardly seems to cover it.”
Eun Bi-yeon wanted nothing more than to rush forward and embrace the sisters right then and there.
Now that she had returned to the Northern Ice Palace and was meeting people she knew, the warm, tender nature that had always belonged to Eun Bi-yeon began to surface once more.
“However I learned of Mother’s passing, I cannot bring you into the Northern Ice Palace.”
The wound Eun Bi-yeon had inflicted upon the Northern Ice Palace ran that deep.
“Since you’ve come this far, you should pay your respects at the grave before you leave.”
After circling the pond and climbing the mountain for some distance, a space unmistakably recognizable as a cemetery appeared before them.
The place where fifteen burial mounds stood gathered together was the burial ground of the Northern Ice Palace’s Palace Masters.
Eun Bi-yeon barely managed to hold back tears that threatened to spill over. It was not only because of her sister Eun Hye-yeon.
Beside Eun Hye-yeon’s grave lay another mound—the grave of her mother, Eun Hyeon-ran.
Naturally, Eun Bi-yeon had not been at Eun Hyeon-ran’s deathbed either. The person Eun Bi-yeon felt most sorry toward was Eun Hyeon-ran.
How much suffering must she have endured because of her, and how much blame must she have borne?
Eun Yi-seol held out incense to Eun Bi-yeon, who stood motionless before Eun Hyeon-ran’s tomb.
Eun Bi-yeon lit the incense with a fire-starter and placed it in the incense holder, then pressed her palms together in prayer.
It was mere gesture. She could not muster any actual prayer for her mother’s path to enlightenment—only the word “sorry” echoed back and forth between the walls of her heart like a ball.
Only when the incense had burned down completely did Eun Bi-yeon open her eyes and move to Eun Hye-yeon’s grave.
For Eun Hye-yeon too, she felt only regret, despite their closeness.
“Mother never wanted the title of Palace Master.”
In Eun Bi-yeon’s memory, Eun Hye-yeon remained only in her sweetest form.
“But a position like that cannot be avoided simply by not wanting it.”
“You must have resented me greatly.”
“Yes, greatly. But far more than that, you envied me. At least you lived the life you wanted.”
It had been the life she wanted, yet also a life full of regret. So now, Eun Bi-yeon desperately wished to atone for those regrets.
“I hear the Northern Ice Palace is facing great hardship.”
“Where did you hear news of the Northern Ice Palace? That would be difficult to learn in Zhongyuan.”
“Somehow or other, word reached my ears.”
“How much did you hear?”
“That you and Hye-yeon have been vying for power among the disciples.”
A bitter smile tugged at Eun Yi-seol’s lips.
“If only my martial arts had been stronger, Mother’s passing wouldn’t have brought such chaos. It’s my own weakness that’s to blame.”
“But you’re the Palace Master’s daughter—you should naturally become the next Palace Master.”
“Things in Sae-oe aren’t that simple anymore. If someone weak becomes Palace Master, the Northern Ice Palace could be in danger.”
“Are you saying Hye-yeon’s martial arts are stronger than yours?”
“Not even close.”
“Our family has always had exceptional talent in martial arts across generations. That talent couldn’t possibly end with you.”
Eun Bi-yeon spoke with such certainty because Eun Yi-seol’s frame was unmistakably that of someone with natural aptitude, not a dullard.
“It seems it ended with my generation.”
At her self-deprecating words, Eun Bi-yeon pressed further.
“Can I help you?”
Eun Yi-seol’s head moved from side to side.
“You’re no longer part of the Northern Ice Palace.”
“But—”
“Go back now. This is all I can do for you.”
Eun Yi-seol’s resolve was so unyielding that Eun Bi-yeon found she could say nothing more.
Eun Bi-yeon drew a box containing an Ice Crystal from her breast and handed it to Eun Yi-seol.
“This should return to its rightful owner.”
She didn’t offer thanks. Eun Yi-seol was its rightful owner, after all.
Do Pyeong-su, watching the exchange, spoke up.
“You’re really just leaving like this? We rushed all the way out to this godforsaken frozen place for nothing?”
“She refuses help, so I can’t force it on her. Besides, I have no right to help her in the first place.”
“Hell! What a waste of a trip.”
“No.”
Eun Bi-yeon gazed at the two graves, her voice soft.
“I’ve seen Mother and my brother. That’s enough.”
Her eyes turned toward Eun Yi-seol.
“Take care of yourself. If you ever find yourself in Zhongyuan, visit Oseong Jang-won in Hangju.”
Eun Bi-yeon’s parting words extended to Cheong-yeong and Hong-yeong.
“Yi-seol, please take good care of things. I’m relieved knowing you’re here.”
They said little in return, but deep in their eyes shone a light of quiet sorrow.
And so Eun Bi-yeon turned to go.

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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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