Surviving as the Terminally Ill Young Lady of the North Sea Ice Palace - Chapter 31

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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 31
A gleaming Golden Trophy.
What a beautiful pairing of words.
The adjective and noun flowed together so naturally, without a hint of discord.
Because gold, after all, shines by its very nature.
‘And the instruction manual… well, it’s quite likely someone was playing a prank.’
With that thought, everything fell into place.
Fewer than a hundred new students entered each year, so it was unlikely the academy had printed instruction manuals just for them.
More probably, the academy had assigned senior students some kind of chore credit and tasked them with hand-copying the warnings.
When you spend hours copying the same text dozens of times over, an impulse creeps in to have a bit of fun with it—to embellish a caution and give your juniors a laugh.
As for the Kyomudang itself, the instructors never bothered to check whether the cleaning was being done properly.
No one ever verified the condition.
So they wouldn’t have been thorough in inspecting the copied warnings either.
‘What did it say again? Something like, even if you see something shining, it’s not a test—don’t look back, just escape?’
Before that phrase even surfaced in my mind, I’d already scanned my surroundings in every direction, but nothing unusual had occurred.
The manual was just a prank by whoever had hand-copied it last year.
And this object—wasn’t it more likely that senior students had placed it in the Stone Cave ages ago as a prize for some courage test, then simply forgotten to retrieve it?
Given the state of the cave interior, it looked as though no one had entered for years at least, so the trophy’s original owner had probably graduated long ago.
I’d finished my reasoning and was reaching out to grab the trophy when—
……
A chill ran down my spine.
Like that moment in my past life, when I’d realized the truck was right in front of me.
Back then, the belated sense of danger had only brought a massive impact.
This time, my unease came one step ahead.
I froze before even touching it.
‘No matter how you look at it… does gold really shine this brightly?’
Something was definitely off.
I tried to recall what gold looked like in darkness.
The Beihai Ice Palace had no habit of strewing gold ornaments about its rooms and corridors carelessly.
But going further back to my university days, some of my classmates used to wear gold necklaces or gold watches.
I didn’t think gold necklaces or watches had glimmered this intensely in the dark…….
Then, in that instant.
Whoosh.
The trophy… moved?
I was clearly standing with my hand outstretched and frozen, yet it had moved of its own accord and touched my palm.
“What, what is this?”
I didn’t even touch it.
“Wait, it really did move on its own? What! I was clearly about to leave it behind and turn back!”
I wasn’t about to deny the fact that I’d almost made a foolish choice out of greed for a single moment.
But I’d definitely come to my senses at the last second, hadn’t I?
I’d recognized something was wrong!
I really was planning to leave it and walk away!
— Screeeech…….
But before I could even process my indignation,
a chilling, nail-on-chalkboard sound echoed from somewhere distant.
‘Is… is it a beast?’
It had to be, right? Logically, it had to be a beast.
A cave bear, or a wolf, or a leopard.
But my instinct, contrary to reason, screamed that this was no ordinary animal.
Just moments ago, there’d been no presence in the cave besides myself.
Now something threatening was closing the distance at incredible speed.
And it was fast—impossibly fast.
Craaaash!
My body moved before my mind could reach any conclusion.
In the instant before collision with this unknown entity, I drew my blade and brought it down in one fluid motion.
“Ugh!”
Despite unleashing considerable Internal Power,
I collided with something overwhelmingly strong and was sent tumbling backward.
The moment I regained my footing and took a defensive stance, the attacker’s form came into view.
“A… a ghost?”
What exactly am I looking at right now?
I clamped my mouth shut, afraid that speaking the words aloud would make them real.
“Ah, no, of course not, elder?”
I couldn’t believe what my eyes were showing me.
The uncanniness of the gleaming Golden Trophy was nothing—absolutely nothing—compared to this.
Because the man was half-transparent.
“A ghost?!”
Unlike the horror-film phantoms with wild hair and blood streaming down their faces.
There was no spark of life whatsoever in the old man’s eyes.
Instead, in their place sat something like ash—as if a flame had burned itself out and died black.
He wore clothes that belonged to no era, tattered and ancient.
“I—elder? Master, is that you? I’m so sorry for barging in like this. I’ll leave right away…….”
I desperately didn’t want to believe what I was seeing—the stone wall shining through that half-transparent form.
I blinked hard, rapid and repeated.
Had my eyes gone strange ever since I thought the Golden Trophy was shining?
‘…….’
My gaze fell to the trophy in my hand as that thought struck me.
But the object no longer gleamed with that brilliant light from moments before.
It was merely the dull color of gold, barely distinguishable in the darkness.
Whoom—!
Instead of answering my question, the old man swung his sword.
An enormous oppressive force born of tremendous Internal Power flooded the Stone Cave.
“Ugh!”
I dropped low and slipped past the blade.
The stone wall behind where my upper body had been shattered, scattering rough fragments.
“Hey, why are you suddenly attacking?!”
It was impossible not to realize this old man wasn’t the Master.
While Peng Zhong-gyeol had clearly shown forbearance when dealing with students, this elder wielded a Killing Sword with casual, careless lethality.
I couldn’t even fathom his intent in attacking me.
And somehow, his Consciousness seemed muddled, unclear.
Yet the power he unleashed was absolutely overwhelming.
Every second, I had to stay on high alert, blocking and evading his strikes at maximum intensity.
‘Damn it! What good is a Limited Lifespan Judgment? He looks like he’ll kill me on the spot!’
Each time the old man traced some kind of Technique Form with his sword, a crimson dust-wind rose.
The hot, eerie aura made breathing nearly impossible.
Though I managed to block what came, it was abundantly clear I couldn’t win in a direct confrontation.
‘I have to run.’
What, show my back to an enemy and lose face?
I don’t possess a shred of such pride.
I want to live one more day, one more hour!
Swoooosh!
I poured every ounce of my Internal Power into a sudden offensive rush at him.
Perhaps it was my sudden aggression after so much passive defense.
The old man chose to dodge rather than meet me head-on.
And that was exactly what I wanted.
The moment a gap opened, I planned to unleash my Lightweight Skill and flee with all my might.
‘……?’
But the old man wasn’t the only thing defying common sense.
The instant I spun around, I froze before the sole passage out.
The tunnel was wider than when I’d entered, and the stone wall was smooth as if freshly hewn.
Had I simply rushed in without thinking, I might never have noticed.
But because I’d carefully scanned left and right searching for the Dark Jade Herb, I could see the clear difference.
‘An Array! When on earth did he set this?!’
There was no time to dwell on it.
The moment I hesitated, afraid to go further, the old man closed the distance once more, his blade at my very face.
‘There’s no other way…….’
Of course, that didn’t mean I was ready to surrender.
The Martial World has a saying: always hide at least a third of your strength.
I drew out a hidden ace I’d kept in reserve.
Minghae Donggyeol.
The seventh technique form of the Bingbaek Divine Sword—a grandiose name meaning it freezes even the rivers of the underworld.
They say that true Yin-Cold Energy at its apex shatters the world’s harmony, freezing even time and space itself.
But really, it’s just the Ice Technique.
Before I received the Limited Lifespan Judgment, I’d trained this martial art—the Bingbaek Divine Sword—tens of thousands of times, if not more.
And the Yin-Cold Energy accumulated in my dantian, enough to threaten my very life, was perfectly optimized for the Ice Technique.
Crack-crack-crack-crack-crack.
All moisture in the Stone Cave crystallized, white mist blooming forth.
The biting cold overwhelmed the specter’s eerie chill, flooding the cavern completely.
‘……Truth be told, this is about all I can manage.’
I’d deployed it as though it were something extraordinary, but.
Ha—how could one reasonably freeze time itself?
My ancestors really did exaggerate in their martial technique manuals.
Still, with my constitution harboring such pure and concentrated Yin-Cold Energy.
Before I had to restrain the Ice Technique for the sake of my body, any opponent in a match would hesitate, if only for a moment.
This alone should buy me time enough to escape.
‘…….’
As I thought this, I quickly surveyed the situation.
The technique form seemed to have landed more cleanly than I’d expected.
I’d secretly worried it might get blocked halfway through.
But the old man didn’t merely hesitate—he showed no reaction at all.
The technique form unfolded perfectly, to its conclusion.
And in my hand remained the sensation of having cut through flesh.
“Did I finish him?”
I found myself muttering aloud.
The old man’s killing intent vanished instantly, utterly.
There was no trace of him at all.
My vision was hazy, so I cleared away the mist born from the collision of my Internal Power and the Ice Technique.
Even with my eyes, it was the same.
The translucent form I’d never stopped doubting—it was gone now.
Looking around, even the stone wall that had felt strange earlier had returned to its rough, natural state.
“Aahhh!”
But when I turned my body around and looked back at the dead end.
I let out a cry of shock.
The old man was sitting on the rock where the Golden Trophy had first been placed.
The difference was that his translucence seemed far dimmer than when he’d come charging at me.
‘I shouldn’t have spoken the magic words aloud!’
Cursing my own foolishness, I braced myself for phase two and gripped my sword anew.
“Huh…….”
But what emerged from the old man’s lips was something I hadn’t anticipated at all.
“……Impressive. To pass the trial of Hwa Muyang, the Radiant Sword Sage.”
Surviving as the Ill-Fated Young Lady of Beihai Ice Palace (Serialized)
Author │ Sachyang Noru
Publisher │ Kim Ju-hyeong
Published by │ J Plus Media Co., Ltd.
Marketing │ Han Jae-hyeok
Address │ 401, Ace Techno Tower 8th, 11 Digital-ro 33-gil, Guro-gu, Seoul (Guro-dong)
Email │ [email protected]
Website │ www.jayplemedia.com
ⓒ Sachyang Noru 2026
※This work is published by J Plus Media Co., Ltd. under contract with the copyright holder and cannot be reproduced in any form or by any means without permission from the company and author.
Violation of this restriction may result in criminal and civil legal 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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