North Sea Martial Arts Warrior - Chapter 20

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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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20. A Devil’s Bargain

Several days into Airak’s stay in Seolri Village, the morning at Cheongeommun—the heart of the Central Plains—was burning with a heat entirely foreign to the Northern Sea.

The training grounds behind Cheongeommun.
A lone figure stood in the center of the martial arena, ringed round by towering stone formations like a folding screen.
Cheok Un-hwi—hailed as the finest swordsman of the Central Plains, the greatest master under heaven.
The blade in his hand still lay sheathed, yet the air around him thrummed with tension, as though the world itself held its breath.
“Master.”
From the edge of the arena, his senior disciple spoke with measured care.
“Will you train with Cheongang Stone again today?”
“Bring it.”
“Yes, Master.”
The disciples hauled forth an enormous slab of Cheongang Stone—towering five feet high, weighing over a thousand pounds. An ore that ordinary blades could not so much as scratch.
“This one is larger than the last you brought, sir.”
“It needs to be.”
Cheok Un-hwi spoke without inflection.
“There’s no satisfaction in cutting something small.”
“Of course, Master.”
The disciples exchanged glances.
Only the Master of Cheongeommun in all the world would call a thousand-pound stone “small.”
“Fall back.”
“Yes, Master!”
The disciples scrambled backward.
Cheok Un-hwi took hold of his sword hilt with deliberate slowness.
With each finger tightening around the grip, the air around him fractured into sharp, crystalline planes.
Whish—!
No sound of the blade leaving its sheath. Only a single, incandescent flash cut vertically through the stillness.
No cry, no report of displaced air.
The stone parted in silence.
The cut surface gleamed mirror-smooth, and where the severed edge lay, a faint luminescence lingered—as though light itself had been cleaved in two.
……!
The disciples held their breath.
“Magnificent, Master!”
“To sever the Cheongang Stone without a sound…….”
“That wasn’t a cut—he split the very light itself!”
“To master such a technique, one would need a hundred years of practice.”
“A hundred years? Ah, but if a hundred years of training could bring us even close to such heights, I would die content.”
In the disciples’ eyes mingled awe and despair. An insurmountable wall. That was what the greatest master under heaven was.
“Is this the pinnacle of the Jeolhwi Ilgeom?”
Cheok Un-hwi did not answer. Where satisfaction should have dwelt, dissatisfaction lingered in his gaze.
“There was hesitation in the blade tip.”
“Hesitation, Master?”
His senior disciple asked, bewildered.
“It seemed flawless.”
“Perhaps to your eyes.”
Cheok Un-hwi sheathed his sword.
“But my blade has not yet reached completion.”
“What hesitation could there possibly be, Master?”
……
“Master?”
“A blade carries the heart within it.”
Cheok Un-hwi spoke, gazing at his sword.
“When the mind wavers, so does the blade. Today, stray thoughts clouded my strike.”
“What manner of stray thoughts, Master……?”
“You need not know.”
Cheok Un-hwi slipped out of the training hall.
The disciples watched his retreating figure and tilted their heads in confusion.
“What could be troubling the Master?”
“Who knows. He’s the finest warrior in all the land—what reason would he have to hesitate?”
“Isn’t it because of the person in the separate quarters?”
“Hush! Don’t speak of that. It’s forbidden.”
They did not know that even in the eyes of one who commanded the realm, a shadow lingered that could not be erased.
After training, Cheok Un-hwi made his way to the separate quarters located behind the Master’s Hall.
A place perpetually suffused with the scent of incense and the bitter odor of medicinal herbs—the Cheongeommun Forbidden Zone, where none but the Master were permitted entry.
“Master, I’ve brought the medicine.”
A servant girl approached, carrying a tray.
“How is the patient today?”
“There was no coughing last night.”
……
A faint ease crossed Cheok Un-hwi’s expression.
“The complexion?”
“Much improved. The Seryeonkwa appears to be taking effect.”
“…Good to hear. Leave it and go.”
“Yes.”
Cheok Un-hwi straightened his robes at the door and stepped carefully inside.
Behind a heavy curtain lay a bed, and upon it, someone rested.
The curtain obscured the face from view, yet the breathing was far steadier than before.
……
Cheok Un-hwi knelt beside the bed.
“It’s working.”
His voice bore no trace of the coldness that dominated the training hall.
“Just hold on a little longer. Soon… you’ll be completely well.”
……
There was no answer. The figure seemed lost in deep sleep.
Cheok Un-hwi took the hand resting on the bed. He felt the warmth, grown stronger than before.
‘It’s working.’
The Seryeonkwa—a precious elixir brought from the Bingong Ice Palace.
What he had done to obtain it, no one knew.
As Cheok Un-hwi left the chamber, a trusted aide approached and pressed a sealed letter into his hand.
“Master, a messenger has arrived from the Northern Sea.”
“What is it?”
“A warrior from the Northern Sea by the name of Airak has begun to move.”
Cheok Un-hwi’s brow twitched.
“Airak?”
“Yes. He killed two of the Hanbing Samsu and drove the third away.”
“The Hanbing Samsu?”
Cheok Un-hwi’s eyes sharpened.
“Aren’t the Hanbing Samsu among the finest masters in the Northern Sea?”
“Yes. Yet he overwhelmed all three of them decisively.”
……
“There are also reports that he killed Dongtoh Bingho with a single finger.”
“With a single finger?”
“Yes. Multiple witnesses have testified to it.”
A faint smile crossed Cheok Un-hwi’s lips.
“Intriguing.”
“He is said to be moving southward.”
“Southward?”
“Yes. Toward the Central Plains.”
Cheok Un-hwi crumpled the letter in his grip. The paper disintegrated into powder and scattered.
“What is his purpose?”
“It is not yet clear. However……”
The aide hesitated.
“However?”
“There is speculation that it may be connected to the death of the Ice Palace Master. It appears he may have uncovered some clue from somewhere.”
……
Cheok Un-hwi’s eyes darkened.
Back in his study, he gazed out the window and remembered three years ago.
When his daughter collapsed. He had summoned every renowned physician in the Central Plains. Descendants of Hua Tuo, successors of Bian Que, even hermit divine healers.
All of them shook their heads.
“It is the Sickness of Extreme Cold and Heat.”
“A condition where Yin and Yang collide in their extremes. There is no cure.”
“And even if there were… not in the Central Plains.”
Despair engulfed him. The title of the world’s greatest master rang hollow. He was nothing but a helpless father, unable to save even his own daughter.
“Father….”
His daughter called to him, her face ashen.
“Please don’t worry yourself on my account.”
“What are you saying? Your father will make you well again, I promise you.”
“It’s all right. Just being by your side is enough for me.”
“Don’t say such things!”
Cheok Un-hwi’s voice cracked like a whip.
His daughter flinched.
“I’m… sorry. Your father lost his temper.”
“It’s fine, Father.”
She smiled. That smile tore at his heart all the more.
It was then that one of the physicians, before departing, left behind a single remark.

“Lord of the Sect, do you perhaps know of the Bingong Ice Palace?”
“The Bingong Ice Palace?”
“There is a rumor that a divine herb called the Seryeonkwa exists there. It is said to have been in the Palace’s possession since its founding — a sacred plant that could cure the Sickness of Extreme Cold and Heat, if it possesses any efficacy at all.”
“Does this herb have proven effect?”
“I cannot say with certainty. But there is a record in ancient medical texts that the Seryeonkwa has a specific potency against the Sickness of Extreme Cold and Heat — though I cannot vouch for the truth of it.”
“Which medical text did you see?”
“In my youth, my teacher showed it to me. A divine herb infused with the coldness of the Northern Sea can suppress the collision of Yin and Yang, or so it said. But since that text was copied more than five hundred years ago, I cannot guarantee the herb’s efficacy remains. Still, it is the only remedy that exists.”
“Are you certain?”
“I cannot give you certainty. But if there is no other path forward….”
It was the thinnest thread of hope.
Cheok Un-hwi did not let go of that thread.
He sent men to the Northern Sea. To investigate whether the Seryeonkwa could be obtained from the Ice Palace.
The answer that returned was cold.
‘The Palace Lord refused. The Seryeonkwa is one of the Bingong Sambo, a Sacred Treasure of the Palace Lord herself, and can never be given to outsiders.’
Cheok Un-hwi went himself.
He made his petition in the name of the Central Plains’ greatest master.
“I will pay any price. I will bring you every treasure of the Central Plains to replace the Seryeonkwa.”
The Palace Lord Karani shook her head.
“It is not a matter of price.”
“Then what is it?”
“This Seryeonkwa is a Sacred Treasure that symbolizes the Palace Lord. It is not something I can give to an outsider.”
“Palace Lord, my daughter is dying!”
“…I grieve for your plight, but I cannot give it to you. To ask for a Sacred Treasure is no different from asking for a sect’s most guarded secrets. I cannot give away the Sacred Treasure.”
He even resorted to veiled threats. Still Karani refused.
“This belongs to the Ice Palace. No matter what price is offered, I cannot give it.”
Her gaze was resolute. And yet… there was something sorrowful in it.
‘Eyes that were waiting for someone.’
In the end, he chose another path.
When Mukara, the Palace’s Deputy Lord, made secret contact with him, he took her hand.
‘I will give you the Seryeonkwa. On one condition…….’
‘What condition?’
‘Kill the Palace Lord for me.’
Mukara’s eyes were cold as a viper’s. But Cheok Un-hwi did not hesitate. Whether his partner was a demon or a ghost, if it meant saving his daughter, he was willing to grasp her hand.
‘One stroke of the blade — and it would all be over.’
He persuaded himself in those terms.
A pact with a demon. But he did not waver.
So long as his daughter lived. He would become a cursed spirit reviled by all under heaven and not care.
“Lord of the Sect.”
At the sound of his retainer’s voice, Cheok Un-hwi stirred from his reverie.
“This Airak… what connection does he have to the Ice Palace Master?”
“…I don’t know.”
Cheok Un-hwi replied. But he knew. He knew the name the Ice Palace Master had been crying out until the very moment of death.
‘Airak….’
The bearer of that name was heading toward the Central Plains even now.
“What will you do?”
“What is there to do?”
Cheok Un-hwi gazed out the window.
‘I left no traces. He may have realized I used the Central Plains Sword Technique, but to connect it back to me… heh! Or perhaps not? There are no secrets in this world after all… will he make it all the way to my doorstep?’
“If he comes, I’ll face him.”
It was spoken like a murmur to himself.
“You’ll face him directly, sir?”
“If necessary.”
Cheok Un-hwi’s hand caressed his sword.
“They say he killed the Hanbing Samsu with a single finger.”
“Yes.”
“Impressive. At that level, he’d be worth the trouble.”
“Surely you don’t think he could defeat the sect leader?”
“That, I’ll only know when we fight.”
Cheok Un-hwi smiled.
“But one thing is certain.”
“What is that?”
“No matter how deep the darkness of the Northern Sea, it has never conquered light.”
……
“That is an eternal and immutable truth.”
Cheok Un-hwi’s eyes gleamed with sharp intensity.
His declaration seemed to collide with Airak’s presence, lingering in Seolri Village beyond the high walls of Cheongeommun.
Light and ice.
The collision of two absolutes was already written into fate.

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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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