Surviving as the Terminally Ill Young Lady of the North Sea Ice Palace - Chapter 10

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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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Chapter 10
Just inside the main gate of Cheonmu Academy stretched the Practice Grounds where the entrance examination had been held.
Outside the inner gate, the only buildings were Baekam Building, which handled admissions, and Heukam Building, which served as the waiting area.
This far was a space where outside visitors could move freely when visiting the academy.
I’d wondered what they meant by “if you want to fight, either bring it inside the academy or take it outside the city walls”—
but after spending a few days here and hearing the locals talk, I learned that in Luoyang, when martial artists quarreled at an inn, they settled it at those grounds.
And beyond the inner gate, hidden from outside view—
that intimate space could only be entered by instructors, teachers, students, and workers.
Since all public events like the Cheonmu Festival or the Warrior Selection were held on the outer Practice Grounds where outsiders could watch, none of Luoyang’s merchants knew anything of what happened inside.
“You’re heading straight back to Beihai Binggong?”
“Yes.”
“Travel safely!”
“Yes, and you take care too…… um, stay well.”
“I’m not sure if I’ll have time to visit during the break. I’ll write to you.”
After exchanging farewells with Baek Ung Daejoo at the academy gate,
I went to Baekam Building, where I’d stopped before, and exchanged my Admission Badge for a Name Plaque.
Unlike the Admission Badge, which was ornate enough to use as decoration, the Name Plaque was merely a small wooden tablet with my name carved into it.
“Welcome to the academy!”
The senior I’d seen before grinned widely and opened the inner gate for us.
“Wow!”
Sprawling before me as far as the eye could see were countless buildings.
Each one flew a banner bearing its name, and large Practice Grounds were spaced out behind them at intervals.
How vast was this place?
Since the academy had been built against a mountainside, buildings were layered across various levels of the slope as well.
‘Do I really have to go back and forth up there?’
I was suddenly reminded of a university semester when I’d chosen courses poorly and had to sprint from the flatlands to the mountain peak during breaks.
Of course, with Qinggong at my disposal, travel would be much faster, but given just how extensive the academy was, I’d need to be careful.
“Aren’t the senior students entering the academy with us today?”
I asked, puzzled that the only guides were a handful of the students who’d been at Baekam Building.
“Ah, yes! The existing students will join us ten days from now.”
The senior who was closing the gate answered after hearing my muttering.
I tried to express my gratitude,
but he smiled meaningfully and ushered us through.
All of us new students entering together followed the main path down the center and proceeded inward.

My jaw dropped.
Three large dining tables were arranged in an open, banquet-hall-like space,
and atop them lay what could only be called a feast of delicacies.
It seemed we were to hold our Initiation Ceremony outdoors while dining.
“Whoa, tangerines…… and strawberries too……!”
There were dishes I recognized and dishes I didn’t,
but I was completely captivated by the fresh fruits I’d been searching for ever since arriving in the Central Plains.
“Do you like fruit, Su Ryeo?”
Maeng Ryeong-ji, who had arrived early and claimed a seat, rested her chin on her shoulder.
Having met several times before the Initiation Ceremony, I sat down readily beside her.
“Well…… I suppose I do. It was hard to come by in Beihai.”
In my previous life, I hadn’t particularly sought them out,
but by current standards, it seemed I did like them.
“Is that so? When you visit Yasugung later, I’ll treat you to as much as you want!”
That they would go to such trouble preparing food for the new students—was such warmth really possible?
When I’d entered, I’d been half-recalling stories about places like demonic sect palaces, worrying they might assign us labor immediately without some welcome.
Seeing the food, my tension melted completely.
“Eat your fill, all of you. The servants prepared this with great care for the new students.”
A few of the instructors I’d seen during the examination came by casually, encouraging us to eat.
Paeng Jung-geol was there, and there was also a nameless instructor who had judged Eun-hyeon’s match—they seemed to be in charge of the new students.
“Thank you for the meal!”
I ate fruit first to refresh my palate, then helped myself to every dish in sight.
Whether they’d gathered food from across the entire Central Plains, there were dishes blazingly hot on one end and astringent flavors on the other that I couldn’t quite identify.
Unlike me, Maeng Ryeong-ji had definite tastes and stuck solely to roasted duck.
“Miss So-un!”
So-un also met us here.
When I asked whether there had been any issues at Heukam Building, she said that Neung Gwang-geom, whom we’d met at Yugajang, came by four days later to verify everything, and that was the end of it.
Since the Daejoo said we could stay there until the entrance ceremony if we wished, and to save money, she’d remained there.
“Um, um, and the person beside you is…?”
So-un was slightly startled upon seeing Maeng Ryeong-ji’s appearance.
“Oh, a new friend I made. Maeng Ryeong-ji—she’s the same age as me. I met her on the way here, and her name is So-un.”
“Where are you from?”
“Well… Yugajang… but I didn’t actually learn martial arts there…”
“Yugajang?”
A hiccup escaped Maeng Ryeong-ji’s lips.
When So-un showed no recognition of the name, Maeng Ryeong-ji’s face brightened at once.
“You’re not from Gupha Ilbang! Good—I’m Maeng Ryeong-ji of Yasugung!”
She slapped So-un’s back with cheerful enthusiasm.
I understood her wariness toward Gupha Ilbang, but truthfully, she seemed to care about sect affiliation more than anyone else.
Before even a quarter hour had passed, every seat was filled.
“Can I sit here? Is this spot free?”
“Oh, yes.”
“Where are you from? I came from Xi’an, but Luoyang seems even busier.”
The new disciples who had seen each other at the entrance ceremony exchanged greetings and grew familiar with one another.
The shy ones picked awkwardly at their food.
“Miss, pardon me. Allow me to clean your chair.”
Fellow disciples calling each other “miss”? Was this a master-servant relationship?
So-un also called me “miss,” but somehow things had simply evolved that way.
The atmosphere over there was decidedly different.
Many of the disciples who had received recommendation plaques seemed to already know one another.
Three in particular, dressed identically in blue robes, stood out conspicuously.
Though not intentional, gradually the students I’d seen at the previous exam came to sit near where Maeng Ryeong-ji and I were seated.
The remaining two tables drew together disciples who appeared to have connections to Gupha Ilbang and Odae Sega, respectively, and they grew quite loud.
Sides were being drawn so openly.
‘The disciples who entered through examination, including Eun-hyeon, number twelve… the rest must be just over forty, then?’
I kept glancing toward the martial instructors, wondering what they would say.
But they simply waited quietly, urging the waiting disciples to eat first, explaining that the Academy Master was deliberately giving them time to dine in comfort.
When more than half the food on the tables had been consumed.
“Heheheh, talented new initiates again this year, I see.”
An elderly monk in an ornate vestment appeared.
‘When did he get there?’
I flinched with surprise.
I hadn’t sensed his presence until he opened his mouth.
The moment I became aware of his Sinheung, the air around me seemed to tighten with an overwhelming presence.
“Ah!”
“Master Seon-gak!”
At someone’s cry, I recalled that the Cheonmu Academy Master was a Shaolin monk named Seon-gak Taesa.
Seon-gak Taesa, the great hero of the Demonic Confrontation.
When the Demonic Sect rose to dominance, he had led the Shaolin monks to establish front lines, and afterward, using his own fortune, he had built this academy to restore order and nurture future generations.
His appearance was unlike that of an ordinary monk.
The form was indeed that of Buddhist robes, but thick golden threads were densely embroidered throughout, giving an impression of considerable splendor at a glance.
The atmosphere was different from what I had vaguely imagined, yet one thing was certain: he was no ordinary man.
In an instant, the clamorous atmosphere shifted.
“Heh, if the disciples would call me the Academy Master rather than Master, I would be grateful.”
“Yes, Academy Master!”
The disciples answered in unison with vigor.
He wore a benevolent smile, yet all of us, having witnessed the legendary hero spoken of only in stories, regarded him with both wonder and tension.
“Have you all eaten your fill?”
“Yes!”
“Any child who hasn’t eaten should confess now.”
Seon-gak Taesa, sensing the stiffness in the air, made a jest.
Naturally, no one raised their hand.
Several disciples broke into laughter, and the atmosphere eased comfortably.
Seon-gak Taesa chuckled and strolled between the tables where the disciples sat.
For some reason, I felt as though he had bent before me and looked straight at my face, though it was likely just my imagination.
The friend sitting beside me had nearly caused trouble before we even received our Admission Badge, so I found myself on edge.
He stood in the center of the lively banquet hall with a gentle smile.
“I’ve laced your food with Sangong-dok.”
……?
He’d just greeted us and asked whether we’d eaten well.
Surely the next words should have been something about eating our fill and training diligently?
Caught off guard, I doubted my own ears—had I misheard something?
Sangong-dok was a poison known for its ability to scramble one’s Neigong.
I knew what it was, but why had he brought it up so suddenly?
There had been nothing wrong with the taste at all.
The food I’d just finished eating so happily contained poison?
“Gasp!”
Then someone cried out and coughed up blood.
Likely everyone else among the students had tried to draw up their Neigong as well.
While it remained in the Dantian, there was no sensory difference to detect it—
But the moment we tried to circulate our Qi, it scattered mysteriously.
The student who’d just vomited blood had apparently strained to pull everything from his Dantian, and I suspected the poisoned Qi-hyeol that maintained his body had become twisted.
“Ha, let me impart a lesson. To survive in the harsh Murim—not just Cheonmu Academy—you must never eat food offered by others without caution.”
And this was coming from a great hero of the Jeongpa?
The very man who had set out the meal and invited us to eat freely?
“But Cheonmu Academy, in its kindness, has prepared a chance for reckless ones like you.”
He walked past the collapsed student, chuckling softly.
“Now then, everyone flip over the Name Plaque you received earlier.”
The Master gestured with his finger toward the wooden plaques the frozen students wore at their belts.
We’d surrendered our Admission Badge and received these at the Baekam Building just before.
“Soak it in water, and writing will appear. There you’ll find the antidote.”
“……!”
“Our medicinal kitchen prepared meticulously for today’s ceremony. Heh! Even if you fail to find the antidote, don’t worry too much. Though it varies somewhat, the poison will naturally leave your body within a month at most.”
……So Cheonmu Academy hadn’t merely scattered miraculous medicines about.
Neither the Sangong-dok that could neutralize a Murim master’s power nor its antidote would be easy to produce.
All this for a mere initiation ceremony?
“But I’d recommend finding the antidote if you can. Navigating the dormitories without Neigong might prove a bit taxing.”
Seon-gak Taesa raised his hand, pointing toward the mountainside.
Flags fluttered in the wind up there—surely those weren’t the dormitories?
By the standards of Murim masters who could use Neigong, it was an unremarkable mountain.
Thinking back to who I was in my past life, I’d need at least two or three hours of desperate panting just to climb it.
“This… this is insane…”
“The Neigong really is scattered…”
“What is this!”
The students fell into chaos, panicking and stumbling about.
Even Maeng Ryeong-ji, who had been sharing all sorts of information she’d heard from her brother, hadn’t anticipated this—bewilderment was plainly written across her face.
Boom!
A thunderous sound echoed out.
As Seon-gak Taesa waved his hand, the Academy’s outer gate sealed shut.
“Then, I welcome you all to earnestly search. And I sincerely welcome your admission to Cheonmu Academy!”
Just as he had appeared without warning—
He vanished, his robes billowing with magnificent splendor.
Surviving as the Short-Lived Beloved of Beihai Binggong (Serialization)
Author │ Sa-hyang Noru
Publisher │ Kim Ju-hyung
Publishing House │ J Plus Media Co., Ltd.
Marketing │ Han Jae-hyeok
Address │ 401, Acetech Tower 8, 11 Digitalro 33-gil, Guro-gu, Seoul (Guro-dong)
Email │ [email protected]
Website │ www.jayplemedia.com
ⓒ Sa-hyang Noru 2026
※This work is published by J Plus Media Co., Ltd. pursuant to a contract with the copyright holder, and the contents may not be used in any form or by any means without permission from the publisher and author.
Violation of this restriction may result in 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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