Surviving as the Terminally Ill Young Lady of the North Sea Ice Palace - Chapter 37

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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 37
“I… forgive me, but I’m not entirely clear—is this class about creating Mechanism Formations, or passing through them?”
So-un opened his mouth carefully.
“Ah! An excellent question! At first, you’ll experience the Mechanism Formations I’ve created and appreciate their beauty, and by graduation, making your own masterwork is perfectly sufficient!”
Speaking freely about whatever he wanted to say.
Which really meant it would be terribly tedious and require enormous effort.
“But the Mechanism Formation you took us to last time—that was a mechanical device, wasn’t it? It looked like an ordinary forest on the surface, but people kept returning to the same spot, or frightened figures would appear… Can you make formations like that too?”
“Hmm?”
So-un hadn’t sensed any danger in the first answer and pressed on with his question.
“Well, reading the Heavenly Mechanism and twisting the Earth Veins—even the Jegal Clan considers this fairly secret knowledge….”
“Oh, I apologize.”
“If you wish to learn, there’s no reason I couldn’t teach you! In truth, the Maze Soul Formation isn’t so difficult if you simply use repeating terrain and toxins well.”
“Really?”
“Of course, the Soul Binding Formation that actually traps a person’s soul and spirit—that’s an entirely different matter. But it doesn’t seem you’re expecting to reach that level.”
“Not at all. I was simply curious about what Mechanism Formations are, that’s why I asked.”
At So-un’s words, Jegal In broke into a smile as if he were the happiest man in the world.
“Splendid curiosity! You possess abundant talent for studying Mechanism Formations—exactly the kind of student I’ve been waiting for! Register for my lectures at Kyongmu Hall first thing tomorrow morning!”
“Yes? But I don’t know anything….”
“In any case, unless you’re from our clan, everyone will know nothing. Indeed, even within our own clan there are plenty who fail to appreciate the beauty of Mechanism Formations!”
“My martial skills are still inadequate….”
“All the more reason to study Mechanism Formations. Even skilled masters who swagger about with shoulders squared find themselves helpless once trapped in a formation, you know?”
So-un looked at me desperately, seeking help.
But from what I could see, he’d already fallen into Jegal In’s trap.
“Why not give it a try?”
Yes, it’s not my problem!
I spoke to So-un with a benevolent smile.
“…Pardon?”
So-un’s eyes wavered uncertainly.
And in stark contrast to his bewildered gaze, Jegal In’s eyes bore into So-un with an intensity that gave me goosebumps.
“What do you say?”
“Well… yes, thank you. I’ll think about it.”
“You’re most welcome!”
Yes, I suppose the moment he raised his hand, his future was already decided.
“Are there any other students interested? In any case, you must take ten elective courses before graduation. If you study Mechanism Formations with me for five years, by the time you leave, you’ll be a talented individual sought after by the Martial Alliance for thrice-repeated invitations!”
Jegal In eagerly sought out sacrificial lambs beyond So-un.
But the other students who had witnessed So-un’s kidnapping by a madman held back from raising their hands too hastily.
And I was certain that even those students who might have developed interest after seeing the mechanisms last time would have been frightened away by what he’d just said.
Taking the class only this semester was one thing, but devoting all the elective credits required for graduation to Mechanism Formations alone?
It was like visiting a martial arts academy and having the engineering department pitch their graduate program.
Hmm, if only I hadn’t been born as the beloved Terminally Ill Young Lady of Beihai Frost Palace.
If I’d been born a lowly daughter of a martial family, healthy but despised….
I might have seriously considered mastering that technique and settling into a position as a bureaucrat in the Martial Alliance.
But since none of that applied, it was best to keep my distance.
“Mechanism Formation design is the creation of one’s own world….”
Having finished the class early, Jegal In filled the remaining time with his own ravings, completely wasting the opportunity to end on time.
* * *
The moment class ended, I cornered Eun-hyeon and asked if she’d heard anything about the elective courses.
It seemed far more convenient to ask another student than to search for Muk Jin-ha’s whereabouts.
“Starting tomorrow, they’ll be posting the lecture list at Kyongmu Hall for five days. Registration is also done there, and apparently if there are too many applicants or certain prerequisites are required, they conduct separate selections.”
From what I gathered, since each department head has to put up at least one lecture, various options would be available.
If there were no applicants, the course would be cancelled, but if you requested it, the system allowed them to open new lectures.
In the case of Heo-gong, the dormitory director of Jidong Dormitory, he apparently opens lectures on advanced Inner Energy and Soft Sword every year.
For some reason, I had a suspicion that Mechanism Formations had been cancelled multiple times.
“How do they select students?”
“At each department head’s discretion.”
Right, they couldn’t do it on a first-come, first-served basis.
Some lectures tested aptitude, while others apparently were decided simply by drawing lots.
Given what I’d experienced during the Entry Ceremony, I’d imagined an event where students clashed with one another in a mad scramble to arrive at Kyongmu Hall first.
Fortunately, the academy director’s creativity didn’t extend quite that far.
If things proceeded this way, it seemed I could take my time looking over tomorrow’s lecture list and schedule before deciding.
“Thanks for showing me!”
“……I’m glad it was helpful.”
The corners of Eun-hyeon’s mouth lifted ever so slightly.
Her face remained largely expressionless overall, yet something in her bearing suggested a trace of embarrassment.
Well, there’s a certain satisfaction to lending a textbook to a friend from another class for the first time.
I thanked Eun-hyeon and shared what I’d learned about the elective courses with the other students in our dormitory.
I’d expected martial artists to be louder, more outgoing.
But it seemed many were rather introverted, so few had made friends outside their own residence.
“Ah, thank you so much, So-un!”
“We were running behind on information……”
“Things should improve once the senior disciples arrive, yes?”
The students in Inbon Dormitory expressed their gratitude earnestly.
“Do you think I could follow along with the Mechanism Formation course? I can barely read the characters……”
“Hmm? You do have an interest in it?”
“I’m interested, but how would I ever manage it?”
“There’s no reason you couldn’t.”
So-un seemed bewildered, but if he wasn’t being dragged along against his will, it might actually work out reasonably well.
Jumping straight into sword technique electives would put him at a disadvantage.
Maeng Ryeong-ji mentioned her brother had recommended the Axe Technique and Body Strengthening courses.
I told her I’d decide on everything else after seeing the full list, besides attending Gwak Do-cheon’s Fast Sword class.
“I do hope you’ll take Master Paeng’s lectures with us!”
She was trying to persuade me to take Paeng Jung-geol’s class together.
Unfortunately, my natural physical constitution seemed poorly suited for that particular art.
“Go on ahead. I’m going to stop by the Library first.”
If the body is lacking, the mind must make up for it.
I took a Grain Abstinence Pill for supper and went to the Library to borrow some books.
I had reviewing to do, and there was the copying work I’d been assigned at Geunhaeng Pavilion earlier that day.
But my main errand was to borrow texts I needed to read the secret manual on the Red Dust Mixed Yang Art.
“A Concordance of Ancient Words? What business does a new cadet have with such a book?”
Since it wasn’t a martial arts text, the Library didn’t ask for any special credentials.
I sat down at a desk and quickly finished my copying work.
Then, flipping through the concordance, I read through the secret manual once more.
Now that I understood several Sino-Korean words whose characters resembled each other but carried different meanings, and archaic phrases no longer in common use, the content sank into my mind far more easily than it had the day before.
‘If the Nine Yang Divine Art is the sun, then the Red Dust Mixed Yang Art is the scorching heat and sandstorm of the desert.’
Hmm……. This must be a secret manual written by Hwa Mu-yang himself.
I thought the desert heat ultimately comes from the sun anyway, but you’re not supposed to analyze things that way when reading martial arts manuals.
Generally speaking, while the Frost White Divine Art refines high-purity Yin Energy through accumulation, ordinary Yang Energy Arts extract pure Yang Energy.
I understood the Red Dust Mixed Yang Art as unrefined, turbulent Yang Energy that churns chaotically.
‘It’s not that Yin and Yang are mixed—that sinister feeling was the debuff from a curse.’
When I fought Hwa Mu-yang, I’d sensed something both scorching and sinister.
But from what the manual described, it was purely “supreme extreme Yang” martial art.
Reading the instructions made it sound like some kind of two-stage chain explosion spell.
Ten parts of turbid Yang Energy falls short of ten parts pure Yang Energy.
But when spark meets dust, it can produce a hundred times the explosive firepower.
Whether this was genuinely possible or mere boasting—whether it wasn’t just a dust explosion—I couldn’t tell.
If it were true, it would fall completely into the category of Demonic Art, wouldn’t it?
‘Wherever the Red Dust passes, explosive heat rises and billows……’
Sitting alone in the Library, I chewed over the phrase countless times.
Then I bolted from my seat.
‘I’ve got a feeling.’
My mind hadn’t fully grasped it yet.
But I had a strong premonition that I could do this.
Besides, Frost Art doesn’t really make scientific sense either.
At some point, a vague sense-image forms—’if I do it like this, it should work’—and
when I actually try it, it generally succeeds.
I should avoid casually mixing energies.
Energy accumulation through Energy Circulation is too different from Frost Art or Pure Energy Art, so I’d do well to be cautious there.
But channeling into my blade the power Hwa Mu-yang transferred through the Physical Transfer Art shouldn’t be particularly dangerous.
I left the Library and found the nearby Training Ground.
Surviving as the Terminally Ill Young Lady of Beihai Frost Palace (Serialized)
Author │ Saxiang 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
ⓒ Saxiang Noru 2026
※ This work is published by J Plus Media Co., Ltd. in accordance with a contract with the copyright holder, and the contents may not be used in any form or by any means without permission from the company and author.
Violation of this 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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