Surviving as the Terminally Ill Young Lady of the North Sea Ice Palace - Chapter 1

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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 1
Until just a few months ago, my new life was perfect.
“Icy Radiance Divine Palm!”
“Excellent! Yes, that’s it!”
“My lord, where are you…… playing with the young lady again?”
“Hush! She’s finally taking an interest in martial arts!”
I was born as the only daughter of the Northern Sea Ice Palace’s master, and I grew up showered in affection.
My father was known to be cold to others, but toward his daughter he was infinitely tender.
He praised me for the smallest things—even picking up a spoon—and granted whatever I wished for, a father who could deny me nothing.
“My, how could our young lady be so beautiful?”
A graceful appearance to match the name Seol Su-ryeo.
Wealth beyond measure. Boundless love.
Things I had never possessed in my previous life.
Had I been reborn into this fortunate place as repayment for my early death?
I entertained such thoughts when I was very young.
I had passed the civil service exam in my past life, yet never even reported for a single day of work before I died.
When the truck approached, and even for a time after I became aware of my reincarnation, I felt bitter—but I chose to think kindly of it.
Living as an ordinary civil servant in South Korea would have been pleasant enough, I suppose.
But the things I was born with in this new life were far from few.
‘Wuxia novels…… not bad. No, I actually like it. There must be so many handsome long-haired men.’
Even the palace attendants who had cared for me since childhood were all beautiful and handsome.
Well, they were family—but I looked forward to the day I could roam freely through the Martial World and meet all manner of beautiful men with flowing hair.
The arrogant heir of the Namgung Clan, unable to control his irritable temperament?
The wild young master of the Sacheon Tang Clan, slightly broken from growing up poisoned, yet helpless before love?
The scholarly and gentle Jegal Clan noble—material for a supporting male lead!
“Starting today, you will learn the Qi Circulation Technique.”
“Yes! Finally!”
But first, there was something I absolutely had to do before venturing into that harsh world.
It was to cultivate sufficient strength.
‘In the Martial World where law does not reach, only strength can be trusted!’
I devoted fourteen hours a day to training, just as I had once studied for the civil service exam.
“Already practicing Qi Accumulation?”
Fortunately, I discovered I had a decent talent for it.
I had thought the Qi Circulation and Breathing Method I’d only read about in novels would be difficult to grasp, but I picked up the knack faster than expected.
Following the incantations I’d learned, I visualized the prescribed mental images and focused my breathing on certain acupoints, and before long I could actually sense Qi flowing within me.
“Am I doing this correctly?”
“…… Yes. How…… how are you…!”
Something accumulated in my Dantian.
After repeating this for several days, I felt an overflow of power.
Even though it was tedious and exhausting, I steeled myself to persevere for the sake of my future.
But as clear results appeared with every effort, I actually found myself enjoying it.
“The young lady possesses natural martial talent!”
Yes, I agreed with that assessment.
Was it thanks to the bloodline of my father, who was said to be a supremely skilled master?
This newly born body was unnaturally healthy, and superior in every respect—strength, agility, endurance, everything.
‘Surely people in my past life weren’t all this fit?’
In my previous life, I would need to catch my breath for an hour just from running five minutes from a subway station to university.
With this body, I could practice martial forms for ten hours without rest and feel barely taxed.
‘It must be something else.’
I must have been born with somewhat exceptional talent.
Among the palace attendants my age who trained alongside me, none could keep up with my pace.
“Young lady Su-ryeo, how did you perform that technique just now? Did the master teach you separately?”
“Hm? It’s not a taught form—I just tried adding a movement that seemed like it would flow naturally into the next one.”
“……!”
As endless praise poured in, my ambitions grew ever larger.
“Wait, a bear appeared near the village? Where?”
“Young lady Su-ryeo took care of it!”
“What did you say?!”
“The Palace Master said he’d raise it at the Ice Palace, and took it there a moment ago.”
“Good heavens, young lady!”
Looking at how she mastered the basics and handily defeated children several years her senior,
even accounting for the favoritism she received as the Palace Master’s daughter, she clearly possessed considerable talent.
“…… The internal power you’ve accumulated is comparable to what I built during my early adulthood, consuming Spirit Medicine all the while. And yet you harbor such pure Yin-Cold Qi. Su-ryeo, you shall become the greatest talent our Ice Palace has ever known!”
I built my internal cultivation through the Qi Circulation and Breathing Method, and refined my external techniques through relentless practice, every step proceeding smoothly.
With each passing year, I grew increasingly attached to martial arts, to the Northern Sea Ice Palace, and to this new life.
Of course, there were minor inconveniences—the Northern Sea’s climate was so brutally cold that certain foods were nearly impossible to obtain,
and I had never known my mother’s face, as she entered seclusion for meditation before my first birthday had even passed.
But all in all, I rather enjoyed living as Seol Su-ryeo, daughter of Seol Baek-yeong, Master of the Northern Sea Ice Palace.
Yes, that was true—right up until a few months ago.
* * *
“Father, don’t you…… find it rather cold?”
“Hmm? Have you caught a chill?”
One day, while I was practicing with enthusiasm, illness struck without warning.
At first, I thought it was merely a passing chill.
“That must be it. How strange.”
“Rest today. Pushing yourself when you’re unwell only prolongs the sickness.”
It was common knowledge that martial artists rarely fell victim to trivial ailments like colds.
Even before I had begun training in martial arts, I had been robustly healthy, yet oddly, from some point onward, I felt a deep, bone-aching cold as though I were coming down with the flu.
After five days of ample rest, my condition worsened with each passing day,
and since it showed no signs of improving on its own, I sought examination from the Palace’s physician.
“The fever is far too severe. Even heavy doses of Heat-Clearing Medicine won’t bring it down.”
Following his prescriptions, I consumed various medicinal broths for ten days, yet my condition only deteriorated further.
‘Surely I’ll recover from this eventually…… ?’
After all, I had been healthy until now, so it should be fine, shouldn’t it?
With that thought, I focused on my recovery.
I sat quietly and attempted to expel pathogenic qi through the Qi Circulation and Breathing Method, and I slept for ten hours beneath thick quilts.
“Is it truly not cold for everyone else?”
“The weather is warming. Even those who haven’t trained in martial arts are taking off their furs.”
“How strange…….”
Attempting to shield my body with internal power proved useless.
When I tried to draw upon my reserves, I felt an unease—as though something terrible might go catastrophically wrong.
Cold. So cold. Unbearably cold.
My appetite gradually vanished, and my body withered away.
“Father, this could be an epidemic. Please quarantine those who’ve come into contact with me.”
Only after a month had passed did I finally accept that this mysterious illness would not resolve itself.
The physician couldn’t identify it, my father couldn’t, and even I—with medical knowledge from the twenty-first century—remained baffled.
My father, grasping the gravity of the situation, acceded to my request.
He permitted no one to enter my chamber except himself, whose realm of cultivation had elevated him beyond the reach of any illness.
He tended to me personally, his worry compounding day by day.
“Baek-ung Dae-ju has descended to the Central Plain. He is searching for renowned physicians, so hold on just a little longer.”
After another month had elapsed, several physicians arrived from the Central Plain.
I hoped they might identify the illness, but upon taking my pulse, they shook their heads.
My pulse beat forcefully and regularly—typical of a healthy martial artist’s body.
“For now, we shall prescribe medicine suited to your symptoms.”
At first, the medication seemed to provide some relief,
but as days passed, it became useless.
My heart? My dantian? A terrible, inexplicable cold flowed from somewhere far deeper within.
In all twenty-two years of my previous life and eight years of this one—thirty years in total—I had never encountered such an affliction.
It was as though a monster within my body was devouring all of me, and everything was agony.
I tried not to let it show, aware of my father’s concern,
yet the cold was so unbearable that I began to wonder if I might actually die.
“Su-ryeo…… Hold on just a little longer, just a little more. I swear to you, I will save your life.”
My father did not shed tears, yet I could plainly see how deeply he was suffering.
I, too, had no wish to die in such a manner.
If I died again, would I be reborn once more?
I had not truly lived in either my previous life or this one.
I had not yet become an extraordinary master, had not visited the Central Plain, had not met a handsome man with long hair…….
While I struggled to muster whatever strength I could, my father searched tirelessly for physicians from every quarter,
“The Baek-ui Jin-in has arrived!”
Just over a hundred days into my illness, the Baek-ui Jin-in—one of the Three Greatest Physicians under Heaven—visited the Northern Sea Ice Palace.
“Ah, you’re younger than I expected, Miss.”
He was an elderly man of considerable years.
A physician dressed in spotless white garments like his calling, and a martial artist with a sword at his hip.
“Thank you with all my heart for traveling so far. Please, I beg you—save my daughter.”
Her father spoke to Baek-ui Jin-in with desperate pleading.
By now, I could barely move my limbs, could scarcely even draw breath.
“Miss, may I check your pulse?”
I managed a slight nod.
Perhaps he had already heard an account of my symptoms, for Baek-ui Jin-in wasted no time settling beside me and taking my pulse.
Other skilled physicians from the Central Plain had visited before, but I could not help but place my hopes on this man alone.
Surely one of the Three Greatest Physicians under Heaven would be different?
If he were also a formidable martial artist, might he not discern the nature of this surging force within me?
I watched Baek-ui Jin-in with desperate yearning.
……
A full hour passed, perhaps?
Before long, my father could not bear the uncertainty and spoke.
“Do you know what illness this is?”
“Forgive me for taking so long—I made you anxious. Her constitution is so unusual that I… had to trace her Qi multiple times to be certain.”
“An unusual constitution?”
Baek-ui Jin-in nodded.
“There is a tremendous amount of internal power accumulated in this young lady’s Dantian. For an eight-year-old child, it’s almost unbelievable—even comparing her to martial artists in early adulthood would be unreasonable.”
“Su-ryeo’s talent has always been extraordinary.”
“This exceeds what a child’s body should be able to contain. And she has learned the Ice Technique on top of it all?”
“Of course.”
“At such a tender age, no matter how brilliant, one lacks the wisdom to truly comprehend. Yet when you combine her constitution, advanced martial skills, and excellent instruction, she has accumulated far too much internal power.”
“……You mean that becomes the problem?”
My father’s face twisted.
Baek-ui Jin-in closed his eyes for a moment, then spoke quietly.
“Yes. In this state, the balance of Essence, Qi, and Spirit is shattered. An incomplete body with insufficient wisdom cannot control an overwhelming—indeed, excessive—accumulation of Qi, causing the Yin-Cold Qi to run rampant.”
“Like consuming unrefined Spirit Herbs at too shallow a level?”
“Precisely so.”
I could not fully comprehend all of what was said.
But it seemed that cold force had accumulated beyond what my body could endure.
Simply that Baek-ui Jin-in had identified the precise cause gave me hope.
“So that’s why I’ve been so cold?”
“Yes. The excessive Yin-Cold Qi you have accumulated is tormenting your body. This is what we call True Cold, False Heat—the Yin-Cold Qi pushes outward against the Yang Qi. Though you burn with fever and sweat on the surface, inside your body remains bitterly, desperately cold.”
“Can it be treated?”
My father asked urgently.
What I most wanted to know was whether I could live.
Fortunately, Baek-ui Jin-in gave a hopeful answer.
“If you consume Medicine Condensing Extreme Yang Properties and practice the Qi Circulation method I will teach you, you should first be able to restore the balance between Yin and Yang and gather your Qi properly. There are precautions to observe afterward as well, but… there is no need for you to know of such things now.”
“How is Medicine Condensing Extreme Yang Properties made? Must I gather the materials?”
My father sprang to his feet as though ready to depart at once in search of Spirit Creatures and Spirit Herbs.
“Be at ease, Lord. From the moment I heard the initial account, I suspected the nature of the ailment and brought with me all the materials I could procure from the Central Plain.”
“Ah!”
My father released a great sigh of relief.
Before Baek-ui Jin-in, whom he had met for the first time this day, tears began to fall.
He seemed ready to prostrate himself.
Baek-ui Jin-in bowed slightly to my father, then took my hand.
“Please wait just a day or two while I complete the medicine. Your life is not in danger, but the cold force will cause you great suffering. Shall I press the Sleep Acupoint for you?”
I wanted to refuse, but a child was given no choice.
He did not wait for an answer before pressing the acupoint.
Where Baek-ui Jin-in’s hand touched, warmth began to spread.
Blink. Blink.
My eyes grew heavy.
“Regarding… your constitution… I can… explain. Let us… move to another room.”
“I understand… make the medicine… how…”
My consciousness grew dim.
Baek-ui Jin-in, out of consideration for a young child, did not declare a limited lifespan to my face.
Yet I guessed what he had meant to say.
In this life, I hadn’t surrounded myself with books full of Chinese characters the way I might have, but I’d read my share of wuxia novels in my past one.
‘If it’s a special constitution… it has to be that, doesn’t it?’
An innately powerful Yin-Cold Qi congealing nine acupoints shut, the Yin-Cold Qi swelling endlessly.
A tragic fate: death before reaching twenty years of age.
The Nine Yin Severed Meridians.
Surviving as a Limited Lifespan Heiress of the Northern Sea Ice Palace (Serialized)
Author │ Sayang Noru
Publisher │ Kim Ju-hyung
Published by │ J Plus Media Co., Ltd.
Marketing │ Han Jae-hyuk
Address │ 401-ho, 11 Digital-ro 33-gil, Guro-gu, Seoul (Guro-dong, Ace Techno Tower 8th)
Email │ [email protected]
Website │ www.jayplemedia.com
ⓒ Sayang Noru 2026
※This work is published by J Plus Media Co., Ltd. under contract with the copyright holder. No part of this content may be used in any form or by any means without permission from the company and author.
Violation of this will subject the violator to criminal and civil liability.

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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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