Abolition of the Wicked - Chapter 209

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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 209

The sparring match would take place in the Front Courtyard and Training Grounds of the Northern Ice Palace. Though it was early morning, many had already gathered.
Save for the minimum security detail required, the palace’s entire force had assembled in the training grounds, where the air hung cold—far colder than the Northern winter itself.
It was not merely the tension of two people’s clash, but antagonism born of opposing loyalties.
The Northern Ice Palace had now split into two factions: one supporting Eun Yi-seol, the other backing Baek Gang—a division plain to see in how the palace members had arranged themselves.
Boom! Boom! Boom!
Three beats of the war drum announced the sparring was to begin.
At that signal, Baek Gang emerged. Behind her—a woman with a face as stern as any man’s, her build larger still—stood not members of the Northern Ice Palace, but outsiders from Sae-oe: Ya Wang Moon Master and his retinue.
At the sight of this, Hong Yeong’s voice burst out in fury.
“Now you’re brazenly parading outsiders straight into the Northern Ice Palace!”
Baek Gang glared at Hong Yeong with savage intensity. “The Junior Palace Master brought outsiders too.”
“These are not outsiders—they are guests of the Junior Palace Master’s betrothed!”
Behind Eun Yi-seol stood Geom U-bin, the Hyeolpung Saja, Eun Bi-yeon, and Gal Ma-pyeong.
“Those are guests of the betrothed, not outsiders!”
Baek Gang let out a contemptuous laugh.
“That’s like covering your eyes and pretending blindness. And that woman over there—she’s a traitor to the Northern Ice Palace, isn’t she?”
Baek Gang’s index finger pointed squarely at Eun Bi-yeon.
“Such insolence! I should snap that finger clean off!”
Do Pyeong-su looked ready to burst forward, but Eun Bi-yeon stopped him and stepped ahead herself.
“It’s true I’m a traitor. But why do you just stand there looking at me?”
“After I win this sparring match and become Palace Master, I’ll punish you.”
“You will? You?”
Crack!
White ice force suddenly bloomed from Eun Bi-yeon’s feet, spreading across the ground toward Baek Gang.
To project Cold Qi more than ten paces without even raising a hand—only Eun Bi-yeon could accomplish such a realm. No one else could even imitate it.
Startled, Baek Gang summoned her own martial force to counter the advancing chill.
Clash!
Where the two currents of Cold Qi collided, a blue flagstone shattered into ice. Yet Eun Bi-yeon’s relentless assault did not pause.
Eun Bi-yeon stood with her arms crossed, utterly composed, while Baek Gang’s face twisted as she struggled to repel the cold encroaching to her very feet.
The gap in their martial prowess lay painfully bare. Baek Gang’s contorted expression mirrored the darkening mood of Ya Wang Moon Master.
This was supposed to be an easy victory. If Baek Gang won the sparring and claimed the Northern Ice Palace, Ya Wang Moon Master would become the true hegemon of not just the North, but all of Sae-oe.
But from the very first move, the plan had fractured. Samgongja—who had promised to attend—had not appeared.
There had been no word, no message; he’d vanished without a trace. Worse still, even the Ga-ju of the Mo Yong Clan had gone missing.
Ya Wang Moon Master had come to the sparring as promised, but an ill omen clung to him like a shadow.
And Eun Bi-yeon was that ill omen made flesh.
‘She’s no relic of the past—she’s an absolute master of the present!’
If Baek Gang couldn’t handle Ice Force unleashed from ten paces away, that meant Eun Bi-yeon was a far greater expert than Ya Wang Moon Master himself.
“Senior,” Geom U-bin said quietly, “the one who should be fighting is waiting.”
At his words, Eun Bi-yeon’s aura dissolved like mist. Only then did Baek Gang release a long, trembling breath.
“I see. I may have gotten a bit carried away.”
Yeon Geum-hong gave Eun Bi-yeon a reproachful look.
“That temper of yours—kill it. Haven’t you been exactly the same since the old days?”
“And you, sister? What about you?”
“People don’t change. If they do, they die.”
Ya Wang Moon Master was straining to make sense of the figures arrayed behind Eun Yi-seol.
‘Who are they? The one giving orders to Eun Bi-yeon, the one Eun Bi-yeon calls sister—and those beside her seem her equal too?’
In the Murim, martial prowess speaks all truths. If they stood with Eun Bi-yeon, they possessed comparable skill.
‘This is not good. The plan may not proceed as calculated.’
Samgongja’s absence alone was proof the calculations had already gone awry.
All that remained was faith that Baek Gang would win and become Palace Master of the Northern Ice Palace.
Even if excommunicated, Eun Bi-yeon would not dare openly defy the Palace Master.
A heavy drum sounded five times. One quarter-hour remained before the sparring would begin.
The crowd began to withdraw and take their positions. The palace members, divided into two factions, settled themselves in the north and south respectively.
Without even counting, Baek Gang’s faction outnumbered Eun Yi-seol’s by nearly three to one.
Standing with the stronger side was human nature.
Eun Yi-seol and Baek Gang walked toward the center of the Training Grounds. Do Pyeong-su turned to Gal Ma-pyeong with a question.
“What’s your assessment?”
“I’m not sure about Baek Gang’s martial arts, but Yi-seol will win.”
“Yi-seol?”
“Yes.”
“Yi-seol?”
“Yes. Why?”
“Yi-seol?”
Ah!
Gal Ma-pyeong hastily covered his mouth, but even someone as oblivious as Do Pyeong-su could infer the meaning from that familiar tone of address.
“So I told you to play the role of a fake betrothed, and instead you taught him things besides martial arts.”
“No… well… it’s not that I taught him only other things.”
Yeon Geum-hong leaned her body to the side and whispered.
“So you taught him other things as well.”
When Gal Ma-pyeong couldn’t respond, Eun Bi-yeon spoke.
“If you taught him only other things and Yi-seol loses today, you alone will die in the Northern Ice Palace today.”
While she believed Yi-seol would win, every match was a mystery until the final moment.
Baek Gang, having received outside support, might possess martial arts far stronger than anticipated.
As Gal Ma-pyeong pressed his hands to his chest, silently pleading a hundred times over, the ten beats of the drum finally announced the beginning of the sparring.
Whoosh!
Eun Yi-seol and Baek Gang drew their swords simultaneously. Do Pyeong-su’s question cut through Gal Ma-pyeong’s desperation.
“You told him to keep Baek Gang alive, didn’t you?”
“No. You said if Baek Gang remained alive, the Northern Ice Palace divided into two factions couldn’t be unified, so I was told to kill him.”
“That’s not the reason I had in mind, but you did well.”
“What reason were you thinking of, then?”
“He pointed his finger at Bi-yeon.”
“But that just happened now!”
“Regardless.”
As they spoke, the first clash erupted. The initial metallic ring was swiftly drowned out by the successive clang of steel.
Eun Yi-seol and Baek Gang collided with full force from the outset. The intense cold radiating from their clash froze the surrounding air, sending ice particles swirling around both fighters.
‘Was the Junior Palace Master’s martial arts truly at that level?’
That was the Ya Wang Moon Master’s thought, while Geom U-bin and others found Baek Gang’s martial arts unexpected.
In her last sparring with Gal Ma-pyeong, Eun Yi-seol had endured for a full hundred twenty seconds. While Gal Ma-pyeong hadn’t employed lethal techniques, he had channeled ten full power reserves—hardly something to dismiss lightly.
Yet against Eun Yi-seol, Baek Gang displayed nearly equal skill.
When the clash between them exceeded thirty seconds, Yeon Geum-hong spoke.
“He’s learned Demonic Force.”
“You felt it too?”
If even Seo Seok-san agreed, there was no doubt.
“It’s buried beneath the Cold Qi, but the Demonic Force is unmistakable. Nothing surprising about that.”
Mo Yong Seol-yeong had already mastered it, and the traces of the Demonic Cult were visible across many places—Baek Gang had not escaped them either.
Yet the Demonic Cult’s martial arts were not invincible since ancient times. Two hundred years ago, no single force could match them, but now things were different.
Over those two centuries, martial arts had evolved, and what Baek Gang had learned was not the quintessence of the Demonic Cult.
Though the time was short, Jang Man-dok had administered Spirit Medicine alongside an antidote, and Eun Yi-seol, having absorbed the efficacy of Ice Crystals as well, displayed progress so remarkable that “rapid advancement” seemed inadequate.
As Baek Gang continued beyond one hundred seconds, he found himself gradually pushed backward, having initially looked down upon Eun Yi-seol.
Baek Gang, who had been confident he could sever Yi-seol’s neck within ten seconds, was left bewildered.
‘I cannot lose!’
While conviction plays an important role in victory or defeat, it was not Baek Gang’s exclusive possession.
Rather, that conviction was stronger in Eun Yi-seol, who had trained martial arts alongside Gal Ma-pyeong.
Eun Yi-seol’s confidence, as if she had undergone complete transformation, overwhelmed Baek Gang. This was laid bare in the current sparring.
The circular sparring widened as Baek Gang retreated. Though there was no official sparring ground, an unspoken agreement existed that the area where spectators gathered formed the Training Grounds’ boundary.
Baek Gang, retreating backward, was driven to a position scarcely two arm’s lengths away from where the Ya Wang Moon Master and others stood.
Knowing that defeat meant death, Baek Gang had no choice but to gamble.
‘Give flesh to take bone!’
Baek Gang deliberately created an opening at his shoulder. Just as the eye instinctively closes when something flies toward it, a warrior’s instinct is to strike when an opening appears during combat.
As expected, Yi-seol’s blade thrust toward the shoulder. Rather than dodge or parry, Baek Gang swung his sword at Yi-seol’s neck.
Losing an arm in exchange for severing Yi-seol’s head was no poor bargain.
In the moment a searing pain shot through his shoulder, Baek Gang too struck at Yi-seol’s neck.
‘I won!’
That moment of conviction lasted only an instant before something felt wrong. Though he was certain he had struck true, his sword hand registered no sensation.
Instead of the familiar feeling of cutting through flesh and bone, the pain that had flickered across his shoulder for a brief moment transferred to his neck.
“Ugh!”
Blood streamed from his throat, soaking Baek Gang’s chest. Eun Yi-seol had barely grazed his shoulder before withdrawing, and then she drew her blade across his neck with surgical precision.
He’d fallen into his own trap, but it only hastened death by moments—the outcome would have been the same regardless.
As Baek Gang staggered backward and finally went still, silence descended.
The quiet that death brings did not linger long. The cries of the Northern Ice Palace disciples who stood behind Eun Yi-seol erupted through the halls.
Eun Yi-seol drew a long breath to steady herself, her gaze shifting to the Ya Wang Moon Master standing not far away.
She raised her hand, silencing the cheers with a gesture.
“So you were behind Baek Gang.”
The Ya Wang Moon Master did not answer.
“I cannot forgive you for dividing our Northern Ice Palace.”
Eun Yi-seol’s blade pointed toward him.
“Wait—this is pointless!”
Eun Bi-yeon tried to intervene, but Eun Yi-seol spoke faster.
“Come. As Palace Master of the Northern Ice Palace, I will settle accounts with you here.”
No one had anticipated this move, and even Eun Yi-seol herself had decided on it on impulse.
“You’re challenging me to a sparring match now?”
“Yes.”
“And what profit would I gain from victory in such a match?”
The Ya Wang Moon Master was a practical man. The Samgongja had not appeared, and the head of the Mo Yong Clan remained missing.
That alone was troubling, and now Baek Gang had lost his sparring match on top of it all.
He wanted to kill Eun Yi-seol on principle, but those standing behind her were beyond his capacity to handle.
Today’s entire operation had become a worst-case scenario—success would be nothing more than escaping the Northern Ice Palace unscathed.
So when Eun Yi-seol suddenly proposed this sparring match, he couldn’t simply flee. He asked his question to buy time.
Then came her reply.
“If you win, you can proceed as planned—install someone from your side as Palace Master and make the Northern Ice Palace a puppet of the Ya Wang Moon.”
“But Junior Palace Master, you—”
“I’m Palace Master now.”
“True, you won the sparring match. I concede the point. Still, that’s merely your thinking—surely the others wouldn’t accept such an arrangement?”
“Which others are you referring to?”
The Ya Wang Moon Master gestured with his chin toward Geom U-bin and his companions in the distance.
“Those people.”
“They are merely guests of the Northern Ice Palace. The authority to decide rests with me as Palace Master.”

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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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