Surviving as the Terminally Ill Young Lady of the North Sea Ice Palace - Chapter 32

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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 32
“What do you mean, you could speak all along……?”
I asked carefully.
“One without qualification cannot presume to exchange words with this old man.”
I kept my guard raised, wary he might resume his attack.
Yet from Hwa Muyang—the old man—I sensed no further killing intent.
“Child of the Northern Sea, your martial skill is crude beyond measure compared to the flames that once set the world ablaze, and yet…… you have indeed passed the trial.”
“That was a trial just now?”
Only moments before, Hwa Muyang had charged at me radiating murderous intent.
I had fought for my life dodging his blade.
And now he spoke of a trial.
“Mmh…… yes. Originally, I intended to acknowledge any swordmaster who could receive all my techniques as my direct disciple, but…… how could the murky Yin energy of a drifting phantom compare to the true essence of the Northern Sea? Had I still been alive, such a thing would be unthinkable, yet this too is fate.”
“A direct disciple? You attacked me to test whether I was worthy of being taught the sword?”
“Precisely. One cannot transmit the Crimson Dust Soul Yang Technique to just anyone, can one?”
Unlike before, when he would not speak no matter how I called out, Hwa Muyang now answered my questions properly.
“So the formation was all for the trial, and you were a spirit designed to test…….”
“An arrangement to preserve a great martial art for the world, and I am a remnant spirit bound by duty.”
With this explanation, I began to grasp what had happened.
Hidden secret techniques in caves, coupled with procedures to test one’s qualifications—these were common tropes in martial fiction novels.
“Yet you lost helplessly to my Ice Technique.”
“Had I been alive, you would have turned to ash in an instant!”
“So now you’ll teach me that technique since I passed. What would have happened if I hadn’t?”
“You would have scattered as dust. A predictable answer, I know.”
……Then if I hadn’t used the Ice Technique just then, or if it hadn’t been me who entered here, I really would have died, wouldn’t I?
The old man’s killing intent had been genuine.
And yet he now claimed he would transmit his martial art to me!
When reading novels, I supposed such a development always benefited the protagonist, but facing actual mortal danger brought every emotion to a roiling boil.
Naturally, my anger was first directed at Hwa Muyang for devising such a trap.
But the Head of the Academy, who had left that cryptic warning, was equally infuriating.
If there was a formation so dangerous, the least he could have done was warn new students plainly that they must never enter.
What was the point of handing out such vague instructions?
‘Especially when I never even touched the Gold Statue!’
That part frustrated me most of all.
At least if I’d touched it, I could understand being rebuked for laying hands on something I wasn’t qualified for.
But that cursed statue moved on its own and struck my hand!
“Disrespectful, perhaps, yet your talent shows promise.”
“Yes…….”
“In my Late Flourishing Period, I too shone brightly. Blades that would trample sprouts and break talent early because it came not from a great house or noble family could never touch me. Transcendent genius blooms of its own accord and illuminates the world—how could a mere palm ever obscure the sun?”
Separate from my resentment toward the Head of the Academy and the martial instructors, the old man launched into his own story unbidden.
At first I thought he was assessing the talent of one he might teach, but it amounted to little more than bragging and autobiography.
“Had devils not deceived me and sought to steal my techniques, I would have never strayed from the Path of Righteousness my whole life. Though I am now but a dim spirit trapped in damp stone, not for a single moment have I forgotten the chivalry of my youth.”
How to describe it.
It was like the moment after a boss fight in a game, when the villain’s tragic backstory is suddenly revealed to show he wasn’t truly evil.
“…….”
This was perhaps the story the old man had wanted to leave behind when he crafted this formation and departed his remnant spirit.
But trapped in his flowery speech that still dwelt in his Late Flourishing Period, listening to him finish would take more than a day.
“Yes, I understand your circumstances.”
I cut off Hwa Muyang’s words.
When playing games, I’d always skipped unnecessary exposition.
I had no loyalty to sit through the life story of a man who’d just tried to kill me.
“I can learn the martial art at the academy. Is there no other reward? I’d prefer Dark Jade Herb or Wall Jade Herb if possible.”
I folded my arms and tilted my chin up.
Hwa Muyang seemed utterly unprepared for my reaction, but I felt no regret whatsoever.
“A martial technique from centuries ago—how remarkable could it really be? These days the academy gathers and researches extensively.”
I never even asked to be taught this Crimson Dust Soul Yang Technique or whatever it was.
Though I’d managed to survive, channeling the Ice Technique had drawn out a tremendous amount of Yin energy.
From the real-world experience, it seemed the amount of Cold Yin Energy I possessed had increased slightly.
Which meant my lifespan had shortened!
“……What did you say?”
Hwa Muyang’s form rippled.
“What, what are you talking about? Don’t you know how great the Crimson Dust Soul Yang Technique is?”
How would I know?
I’ve genuinely never heard of it before in my life.
The Celestial Demon Divine Technique, the Boundless Spear and Sword Technique—I know those, at least by name. But the Crimson Dust Soul Yang Technique? Completely new to me, both in my past life and this one.
“In life, even the Sect Master of Huashan came to seek my instruction, and the Master of the Evil Sect coveted my technique so much he sent hundreds of his dark followers to their deaths!”
“That’s complete nonsense…”
Isn’t he embellishing rather a lot about ancient history we can’t even verify?
In truth, until just now I hadn’t thought the Crimson Dust Soul Yang Technique was actually so mediocre.
Even if it had no disciples and hadn’t made a name for itself until now, the fact that countless people of that era risked their lives for it suggested it must have been something remarkable.
But Hwa Muyang’s excessive boasting only deepened my suspicion.
“You could just verify it! Even if those rotten villains of the Evil Sect wouldn’t keep records, the Huashan Sect surely maintains historical records?”
Even if they do, I doubt they’d bother recording such shameful history.
“Look, I don’t know. I just came in here looking for medicinal herbs and got dragged into this mess. Besides, shouldn’t it have been designed from the start so you could confirm whether your technique was what was wanted, and whether someone was willing to stake their life on it?”
“That, well, it’s just that formations aren’t as simple as saying…”
“If you couldn’t make it properly, you shouldn’t have made it at all! So much for justice while you let decent people freeze to death!”
In any case, the martial world has changed since Hwa Muyang’s time.
Back then, to learn a great technique you might have had to placate him and follow him around like a lapdog, or kill him and steal it.
The Great Demon Cleansing War ended the age of brutality.
Thanks to the Head of the Academy, now anyone who passes a reasonable examination can learn verified Orthodox Martial Techniques at Cheonmu Academy.
I snapped at Hwa Muyang in anger and turned to leave without hesitation.
“Wait, wait just a moment!”
Then Hwa Muyang grabbed me with a desperate expression.
“What is it?”
“It’s just… over the past few hundred years, you’re the only one to pass the trial, and… because you destroyed the formation, it won’t work again…”
In other words, if I don’t learn it, all of this becomes useless.
And no one will ever master that great technique he keeps going on about?
Why should I care?
For me, finding Dark Jade Herbs to build my merit and healing the Nine Yin Severed Meridian is far more important.
A ghost dead for centuries can deal with his own regrets.
‘Hmm?’
As I thought this and moved to leave without another word—
I suddenly realized this situation wasn’t merely that we had nothing to ask of each other.
I held all the cards here.
“…Well then.”
I caught my lips just as they began to curve upward.
“Shouldn’t you be asking me respectfully?”
I asked with an innocent expression, and Hwa Muyang quickly grasped the situation.
He stared at me in disbelief, his mouth falling open, his hands beginning to tremble.
“I, well… it won’t be easy to master quickly, but since things have come to this, wouldn’t learning be worthwhile…?”
“I’ll go ahead.”
“I’ll give you the secret manual right away. Please, bring the name of Crimson Dust into the world!”
To be honest, it was hard to call his tone respectful.
But at least his manner had risen by a notch or so.
Of course, it was woefully inadequate to make up for his previous rudeness and threats.
Still, accepting it wasn’t an impossibly difficult thing.
I graciously decided to accept the secret manual he offered.
“Gold?”
But to my surprise, the manual had a gold weight attached to it.
“This fool—you see nothing but gold before the secret manual of the Crimson Dust Soul Yang Technique…!”
“What? Should I leave it here?”
At my words, Hwa Muyang immediately reverted to stammering and hesitation instead of anger.
This manual really did seem to have been made long ago.
Modern books are bound by threading through holes punched in one side of paper pages.
But the Crimson Dust Soul Yang Technique’s manual was in the old scroll form, with rollers at both ends.
“No, that’s right… I used gold for the rollers. Keep it safe…”
The library of the Northern Sea Ice Palace has its share of ancient scrolls as well.
As far as I know, the rollers for scrolls are typically made of wood, occasionally jade.
But true to his reputation—whether it was the Brilliant Golden Tiger or the Brilliant Golden Sword or whatever his epithet was—he’d clearly always favored expensive, glittering things even in life.
“Thank you. I felt that a Yang-based technique would be needed someday, and I’ll do my best to master it well.”

Seeing the gold ingot, his spirits lifted considerably.
Once he opened his mind to it, he realized there was no harm in possessing it.
Even if it didn’t match the Ultimate Yang’s Supreme Technique.
After treating the Nine Yin Severed Meridian, he could experiment with all manner of things.
“Heh, heh. Yes… yes….”
Hwa Muyang muttered as though possessed, then squeezed his eyes shut.
“So I can really go now, can’t I?”
“No, wait. Hold on a moment.”
What now?
Surviving as the Limited-Lifespan Young Lady of Northern Sea Ice Palace (Serialization)
Author │ Sacheung Noru
Publisher │ Kim Ju-hyung
Published by │ J Plus Media Co., Ltd.
Marketing │ Han Jae-hyuk
Address │ 401, 11 Digital-ro 33-gil, Guro-gu, Seoul (Guro-dong, Ace Techno Tower 8th)
Email │ [email protected]
Website │ www.jayplemedia.com
ⓒ Sacheung Noru 2026
※This work has been published by J Plus Media Co., Ltd. in accordance with a contract with the copyright holder, and no content may be reproduced in any form or by any means without permission from the company and author.
Violation of this is subject to 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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