Ice Dragon of Namgung - Chapter 1

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

Episode 1
Seol Un-gang ran across Snow Mountain with a body battered beyond recognition.
It would not have been strange if he’d collapsed long ago, but superhuman will kept him moving.
Yet it wasn’t long before his flight came to a halt.
A sheer cliff face had appeared before him.
The precipice stretched hundreds of feet high.
Below it, the North Sea—a glacier stretching endlessly—lay spread before him.
The path was blocked.
“How perfect. The little rat’s been cornered.”
At that moment, a voice dripping with contempt came from behind him.
He turned to see Seol Jin-ak, one corner of his mouth curled upward in smug satisfaction.
Behind him, the martial experts of the Beihaibing Four Houses had formed their ranks.
Breaking through them was impossible.
And he couldn’t throw himself over the cliff either.
If swept away by the violent waves of the North Sea, even the greatest master would struggle to survive.
“I never thought you’d slip through the Beihaibing Four Houses’ dragnet and make it this far. I’ll grant you that much—you have some skill.”
“I don’t need approval from the likes of you.”
Seol Un-gang ground his teeth as he spoke.
“Your tongue’s quite sharp.”
“I owe no courtesy to a treacherous son who murdered his own father.”
Seol Un-gang’s eyes flashed with pure hatred.
“It wasn’t I who killed our father—it was you.”
“What?”
Seol Un-gang’s expression turned bewildered.
“Didn’t you harm our father and steal the Ten-Thousand-Year Ice Crystal?”
“What nonsensical drivel are you spewing? It was you who conspired with the Beihaibing Four Houses to commit treason and harm our father!”
Seol Un-gang’s voice rose in fury.
“Denial is useless. It’s already been revealed that you conspired with the Seomun Clan—your mother’s family—to smuggle out the North Sea’s treasure, the Ten-Thousand-Year Ice Crystal.”
Seol Jin-ak smiled with bitter mockery.
Seol Un-gang realized that Seol Jin-ak was distorting the truth, trying to pin all the crimes on him.
“Do you think the truth can be buried with such fabrications?”
“Truth? The truth is that you harmed our father and stole the Ten-Thousand-Year Ice Crystal.”
Seol Un-gang’s expression hardened.
History is written by the victor, he thought.
If Seol Jin-ak became the Palace Lord of Beihaibing Palace, his words would become truth.
“Won’t you feel ashamed of yourself when you become the Palace Lord of Beihaibing Palace?”
“The position of Palace Lord at Beihaibing Palace was always meant to be mine. From the start, a half-breed bastard like you had no right to sit in that seat.”
Seol Jin-ak spoke with undisguised fury.
“So when force alone wouldn’t suffice, you resorted to the ultimate betrayal—murdering your own father?”
Seol Un-gang had been trying to trick Seol Jin-ak into confessing his crime, but Seol Jin-ak would not be baited.
“Further words seem pointless. Stop your prattle and hand over the Ten-Thousand-Year Ice Crystal you’ve taken.”
“Our father entrusted the Ten-Thousand-Year Ice Crystal to me. I would rather die than surrender it to you.”
“Then I’ll kill you and take it.”
Seol Jin-ak was about to signal the Beihaibing Four Houses’ martial experts behind him to attack.
At that moment, Seol Un-gang drew a transparent crystal orb from his robes.
The Ten-Thousand-Year Ice Crystal.
An artifact infused with the essence of ice, holding cold of the utmost extreme.
Merely possessing it heightened both the perfection and power of Ice arts—it was the sacred treasure of Beihaibing Palace.
Avarice blazed in Seol Jin-ak’s eyes the moment he saw the Ten-Thousand-Year Ice Crystal in Seol Un-gang’s hand.
“Kill him at once and bring me that crystal!”
The instant Seol Jin-ak gave the order, the martial experts of the Beihaibing Four Houses began to move.
Seol Un-gang extended his arm holding the Ten-Thousand-Year Ice Crystal out over the precipice.
“If even one of you moves, I’ll throw it down into the abyss.”
Seol Jin-ak cried out urgently at the sight.
“Stop! All of you, stop!”
The martial experts of the Beihaibing Four Houses fell back.
“Don’t do anything foolish now.”
“Foolish?”
“You don’t want to die here, do you? Hand over the Ten-Thousand-Year Ice Crystal peacefully, and I’ll let you live.”
Seol Un-gang stared at Seol Jin-ak in disbelief at how swiftly he had shifted tactics.
“You’ll spare my life?”
“If you can protect the Ten-Thousand-Year Ice Crystal, what’s sparing a wretch like you?”
As Seol Un-gang seemed about to yield, Seol Jin-ak spoke as if in earnest.
“Really?”
“I’m telling you. Now hand over the Ten-Thousand-Year Ice Crystal.”
Seol Jin-ak extended his hand, and Seol Un-gang laughed as if the offer were absurd.
“You think I’d believe that?”
Seol Un-gang hurled the Ten-Thousand-Year Ice Crystal he’d been holding into the North Sea.
“No! Stop!”
Seol Jin-ak cried out urgently, but the Ten-Thousand-Year Ice Crystal had already fallen past the cliff’s edge and plunged into the waters of the North Sea.
Fury rose in Seol Jin-ak until it reached the crown of his head.
“Do you understand what you’ve just done?”
Seol Jin-ak’s body trembled with rage.
“It seemed better to destroy it than to let it fall into your hands.”
“You filthy wretch! I’ll tear you limb from limb!”
Seol Jin-ak, unable to contain his fury, launched himself toward Seol Un-gang.
It was exactly what Seol Un-gang had wanted.
He knew there was no possibility he would survive.
But he would not die without taking action.
If death came, then Seol Jin-ak would die with him.
‘End it with one stroke!’
Seol Un-gang poured all his remaining strength into his blade.
A snowstorm rose thickly from his sword and engulfed Seol Jin-ak.
Snowstorm Fills Heaven.
The ultimate technique of the Icewhite Snow Wind Sword.
Each flake of the Snowstorm Fills Heaven blizzard was pure Force.
Even a master would find it no simple matter to evade the Force of the snowstorm assailing from all sides.
An attack of absolute conviction—one that Seol Jin-ak’s abilities could never block.
Seol Un-gang was certain he would kill Seol Jin-ak with this strike.
Then Seol Jin-ak’s eyes flickered with a cold light.
And from his body, a blood-red aura began to surge forth violently.
‘That aura!’
Seol Un-gang’s eyes widened.
It was not the martial art of the North Sea.
Moreover, from the blood-red aura emanated a thick, sickly Demonic Aura.
Demon Art.
And it was of the highest order.
Where on earth had Seol Jin-ak learned such vile Demon Art?
But there was no time to ponder further.
Seol Jin-ak, having condensed the blood-red aura, thrust his right palm toward the Force of the snowstorm.
A flash of light!
A blood-red palm strike scattered crimson light as it drove through the Force of the snowstorm.
Crash and thunder!
The Force of the snowstorm shattered and scattered where the crimson light touched it.
The blood-red palm strike, having pierced clean through the snowstorm’s Force, struck Seol Un-gang’s chest with full might.
“Ugh!”
Seol Un-gang flew through the air with a cry.
Hurled beyond the cliff’s edge, his body plummeted helplessly into the abyss below.
Seol Un-gang fell rapidly downward without even attempting to stabilize his body.
His consciousness was on the verge of shattering from the impact that had crushed his chest.
‘I cannot die like this…….’
The hunger for vengeance against Seol Jin-ak and the Beihaibing Four Houses clung to his fading consciousness.
Splash!
But the moment he fell into the North Sea, his consciousness cut out entirely.
The impact of falling from hundreds of feet shattered his entire body.
Unconscious, Seol Un-gang sank endlessly into the cold waters of the North Sea.
Then it happened.
A flash of brilliance!
Suddenly, an intense light surged upward from the depths of the North Sea.
The light gathered toward Seol Un-gang, then drew inward through the space between his brows.
The brilliant light persisted for a long time before fading, and Seol Un-gang’s body, having absorbed every trace of it, scattered and vanished entirely.
* * *
Burning. Searing heat.
It felt as though a ball of fire were raging through his body.
A cry tore from his throat unbidden, the agony beyond words.
‘Ugh. But what’s happening to me?’
Even through the pain, confusion arose.
He had surely died in the cold waters of the North Sea.
So how had he awakened again?
And what was this terrible suffering?
Had he fallen into the scorching hells after death?
No. That couldn’t be.
What sins could he have committed to deserve such a fate?
Besides, he was unmistakably alive.
Every sense screamed this truth.
Then a woman’s voice reached him.
“Doctor Jang! Geom is suffering. Do something—anything!”
“The Extreme Yang Fire Qi within his body is too powerful. The Fever-Reducing Pill won’t work.”
A man who appeared to be a physician answered with evident frustration.
“So you’re telling me we just watch him endure this agony?”
“For now, we have no choice but to wait for the Extreme Yang Fire Qi to subside.”
“Is that truly what a physician should say?”
The woman’s voice cracked with desperation.
“If I act rashly and provoke the Extreme Yang Fire Qi, it will only worsen the young master’s suffering. Surely you don’t wish for that?”
At the physician’s words, the woman fell silent.
As Seol Un-gang listened to their exchange, confusion deepened within him.
Somehow, their words seemed to be about him.
The Extreme Yang Fire Qi—it must be the raging heat that was tearing through his body now.
But when had such Qi appeared in him?
And who was this Geom they spoke of?
The reference to him as “the young master” made no sense either.
No one called a man past thirty such a thing.
And now that he thought of it, his body felt… wrong.
‘Surely not…’
The thought struck him like lightning. Seol Un-gang examined his own body.
It was not his body.
It was the body of a child—no more than fifteen years old.
‘What on earth is this…?’
The situation made no sense at all.
He had died, and awakened in a child’s body.
Then, suddenly, memories not his own came flooding into his consciousness.
Seol Un-gang understood they were memories left within this body.
And through them, he learned who this body belonged to.
Namgung Geom.
The eldest grandson of the Namgung Clan.
‘So I’ve become Namgung Geom, the eldest grandson of the Namgung Clan.’
It was beyond comprehension anyway.
Seol Un-gang—or rather, Namgung Geom now—accepted it without question.
‘I’ll puzzle over this later. First, this Extreme Yang Fire Qi.’
The fire raging through his body had reached an unbearable crescendo.
It was agony even Namgung Geom’s young frame could barely withstand.
He needed to address the pain first.
Nothing countered Extreme Yang Fire Qi like Extreme Yin Cold Qi.
The Icewhite Divine Art.
The secret transmission of Beihaibing Palace.
As the core incantations from his past life came to mind, the meditation formula of the Icewhite Divine Art began to flow naturally.
But his Dantian was empty.
The Internal Cultivation he had spent a lifetime building was gone.
Yet there was Qi that responded to the Icewhite Divine Art.
Scattered throughout his Qi Meridians lay remnants of Extreme Yin Cold Qi.
It seemed some of the medicinal essence Namgung Geom had consumed over the months lingered in his Qi Meridians.
The amount was not insignificant.
‘I’m not done yet.’
Namgung Geom activated the Icewhite Divine Art, drawing the scattered Extreme Yin Cold Qi throughout his body toward his Dantian.
At first, it didn’t budge.
But the Icewhite Divine Art was the supreme ice meditation technique.
No Qi bearing the nature of cold could dare resist it.
Namgung Geom did not cease his cultivation.
Running the Icewhite Divine Art while enduring the agony of Extreme Yang Fire Qi was no simple task.
Yet in his past life, Namgung Geom had faced circumstances far more extreme, countless times.
This was nothing he could not bear.
Namgung Geom clenched his teeth and drove the Icewhite Divine Art forward.
Throb!
At last, the Extreme Yin Cold Qi that would not move finally responded to the Icewhite Divine Art, flooding toward his Dantian.
Namgung Geom refined the Extreme Yin Cold Qi in his Dantian through his own essence, transmuting it into the Internal Cultivation of the Icewhite Divine Art.
This was possible only because of the enlightenment from his past life.
Namgung Geom moved the Icewhite Qi he had refined through his essence.
The Icewhite Qi surged against the Extreme Yang Fire Qi that raged throughout his body.
The Extreme Yang Fire Qi could not respond properly to this sudden appearance of Icewhite Qi.
The Icewhite Qi pressed the Extreme Yang Fire Qi back fiercely.
But the Extreme Yang Fire Qi was no easy opponent.
The Extreme Yang Fire Qi that had been forced back regrouped and began to resist.
The Icewhite Qi and Extreme Yang Fire Qi clashed against each other as if to devour one another.
Crash!
A violent shockwave erupted inside Namgung Geom’s body.
Beneath the intense agony, his vision turned white.
Namgung Geom clenched his teeth.
If he faltered here, it was over.
He had to drive back the Extreme Yang Fire Qi by any means.
Namgung Geom gritted his teeth and pushed the Icewhite Divine Art to its limit.
The Icewhite Qi and Extreme Yang Fire Qi waged a battle with neither side yielding an inch.
The struggle between the two forces lasted longer than an hour.
To Namgung Geom, that hour felt like an entire watch of the night.
‘Ugh. I can’t hold much longer.’
Namgung Geom had reached his limit.
As his consciousness wavered, the Icewhite Qi seemed ready to scatter at any moment.
‘No! I cannot break here!’
Namgung Geom bit his tongue to sharpen his awareness.
He seized the fragmenting Icewhite Qi and stubbornly held his ground against the Extreme Yang Fire Qi.
Then, the furious Extreme Yang Fire Qi that had been rushing at him suddenly weakened and was driven back.
The Extreme Yang Fire Qi retreated into nine Qi Meridians, stiffening there like stone.
At the same moment, the burning heat that had roiled within his body vanished.
‘I’m exhausted.’
Drained of all strength, Namgung Geom lost consciousness and slipped into sleep.
Namgung Bing-yong
Author |
Baek Wol-geom
Publisher |
(주) Samyang C&C
Editorial Director |
Editorial Department
Published by |
(주) Samyang C&C – DreamBooks
Address |
7F Gwangsung Building, 28 Bongeunsa-ro 114-gil, Gangnam-gu, Seoul, Republic of Korea
UCI |
G720:N+A063-20260511103
Blog |
blog.naver.com/dreambookss
Twitter (X) |
@dreambookss
Submission |
[email protected]
© Samyang C&C — The contents of this book may not be used in any form or by any means without the written permission of Dream Books.

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