Surviving as the Terminally Ill Young Lady of the North Sea Ice Palace - Chapter 71

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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 71
At the man’s question, Gu Won, who had been hanging back somewhere, leaped down from the tree.
“I’ve got no grudge against you. You were blocking the road, so I had no choice but to come back.”
“There was another one…… A road? What are you talking about?”
“I had business over in the No Gun Mountain direction, but because you lot kidnapped the villagers, there’s no one to repair the bridge, so I’m in quite a bind.”
While I kept the Maeknuri on, he spoke in my place since I’d chosen the Silent Meditation Practice approach.
“Hah, playing at being a petty chivalrous wanderer, were we?”
But for some reason, Chae Ju lowered his tone the moment Gu Won finished explaining his business.
He even grew annoyed enough to draw his Great Sword and brandish it menacingly through the air.
“A chivalrous wanderer game? Haven’t you heard the name of the Bloodthirsty Old Man yet?”
…….
Hey, wait a minute.
I told you to reassure the villagers, not introduce your epithet.
“……Bloodthirsty Old Man?”
“Ma Gang, ever heard of it?”
“No, sir. I haven’t, Chae Ju.”
Before I could even react, the four members of Nok Rim looked at one another and took a moment to determine whether they knew the epithet.
Naturally, none of them knew anything about the Bloodthirsty Old Man.
Defeating the Hei Ryeong Sword had happened only a few days ago, and rumors had spread at most around the Naksang area.
How would bandits who’d been holed up on Bok Woo Mountain have heard of that incident?
“Hmph, sounds like some old geezer from a backwoods village who’s been walking around with his chin held high.”
Now that he’d confirmed this was a person he didn’t know,
Seok Doo’s shoulders grew taut with strength, in contrast to how he’d been flustered when I first struck down his thirty-odd subordinates.
“Speaking as Seok Doo, the Iron-Horned Black Ox, who has formally joined the Black Ox Faction of the Nok Rim 72 Faction, there’s not a soul from eight hundred ri beyond Bok Woo Mountain to the No Gun Mountain ridge who doesn’t know the two characters of my name if they’ve got any real power!”
Still, in a way, I felt some of my shame diminish thanks to this fool introducing his epithet alongside mine.
Moreover, a name like Seok Doo? Stone Head?
With a name like that, if someone really did hear it once, they likely wouldn’t forget it easily—so maybe his boasting wasn’t all bluster.
I’d probably remember it for quite a long time too.
“The guy from the Black Wind Faction got his collar grabbed by this hand and rolled down a ravine—that was four years ago. And that show-off with the Twin Blades from the Han Cheong Escort Bureau knelt before me too. That bastard had to crawl down the mountain for three days!”
However, unlike Seok Doo himself, the names of the martial artists he boasted about defeating made no impression whatsoever.
“Is that so? Our Bloodthirsty Old Man broke the Hei Ryeong Sword in a single move.”
…… Ah, right up until Seok Doo said that so triumphantly just now, things were actually going fine.
The moment Gu Won let those words slip out, I was seized by mortifying shame.
This was it.
This was like when gangsters get into an argument at a restaurant and start establishing hierarchy with “You know who my boss is?”
Warriors—especially those of evil sects—are fundamentally not so different from that, or so it’s said.
But actually living through this situation, I wanted nothing more than to hide somewhere.
In a way, I’m grateful I don’t have to speak for myself and that I’m concealing my face with the Maeknuri.
“Wh-what? The Hei Ryeong Sword?”
“If it’s the Hei Ryeong Sword, then in all of Ha Nam…….”
“I heard he went into seclusion for a while.”
Surprisingly, even the Black Ox Faction, stuck in this isolated valley, had heard of the Hei Ryeong Sword.
“Pah, it’s probably all bluster.”
“Right! Why would such a master come here and fight with our boys?”
Yet they didn’t immediately bow their heads.
They grumbled with their cronies that they couldn’t verify the truth, but by that logic, wasn’t Chae Ju’s own glittering record equally unverifiable?
“I already told you why I came. Release all the villagers right now and restore the bridge by tomorrow.”
Gu Won stated once more the reason we’d come to fight here,
“Ha! That’s rich.”
“Just because our boys—who’ve barely started learning martial arts—got roughed up, you think you can strut around? I operate on a completely different level from these young punks!”
Seok Doo, predictably, didn’t accept the terms of negotiation.
“If you hand over everything you’ve got and leave, I’ll let you crawl out of here!”
“Hmm, then I suppose there’s no choice. We’ll have to knock you all down and rescue them ourselves.”
I too, as a pacifist, prefer dialogue in most cases.
But I’d already anticipated this wouldn’t work from the start.
Shing.
I drew Excalibur and gestured for them to come at me.
I’m a bit petty to let them have three exchanges of blows first,
but since I’m playing the role of an old woman, it’s only natural courtesy to concede the first strike.
“Come on then, you brat!”
Seok Doo raised his sword high, drawing his Internal Energy to its peak.
I lowered my center of gravity slightly, adopting a stance that could meet his attack.
Hmm, is that his maximum Internal Energy?
At that level, he’d be somewhere in the range of those thugs who used to harass So Un—what was their epithet again? Five Swords or Six Swords or something like that.
Clang!
The moment I thought, “This is manageable.”
Our blades collided.
The sword bore genuine force behind it, and the speed was vastly different from the foot soldiers in the tent.
The weapon itself was decent too—probably plundered from some wealthy martial artist or blacksmith’s forge.
His strength was fairly formidable, at least by ordinary standards.
Of course, in a fight between Internal Energy users, it hardly mattered at this level.
“Ugh! What kind of strength is—!”
“Chae Ju!”
Whoosh!
When I’d fought Nam Goong Min or Jin Young Hu at the Academy, I’d had to hold back my Internal Energy.
But now, with the Mixed Yin-Yang Energy that Hwa Mu Yang had given me, I could unleash it freely.
I chose to embrace the test of raw force.
“I’ll assist you!”
“No—step back. This is my fight.”
I’d expected other martial artists might intervene mid-battle, but Seok Doo lived up to his reputation.
His proud words barely finished before my superior strength sent him stumbling backward.
Thrust! Thrust!
As he lost his footing and fell, I struck his ribs twice in quick succession.
It wasn’t so much exploiting an opening—rather, as Chae Ju’s balance shattered from the overwhelming force, his entire defense crumbled with him.
“Ahhhhh!”
Interesting. I’d only used the piercing technique twice in a row, yet the cascading explosion effect triggered?
I’d learned something new.
Thanks to the tremendous Yang Qi that erupted from the second technique.
“Brother!”
“This… this is impossible…”
Because Seok Doo had taken the full blow himself rather than let his pride be hurt by assistance, even those who hadn’t been directly cut retreated in horror.
“…”
I was wary that the nearby martial artists might rush in while my blade was bound, or that Seok Doo might attempt some other grappling technique even as he fell, so I quickly pulled back.
But his men didn’t attack at all.
Instead:
Thud!
Seok Doo hit the ground hard, his stone-like head striking the earth with a heavy crack.
“Hgh… cough…”
Well, that was anticlimactic.
Did he just lose consciousness?
My knowledge of human anatomy extends only to basic Korean middle-school education.
I’d aimed for the ribs rather than the center of the abdomen, so I thought I’d avoided vital points.
But the visual—red dust cascading down, the very spot where my blade touched crumbling away—must have been quite shocking.
‘Gu Won didn’t need to step in. I barely got to use Red Dust Turbid Yang Gong at all.’
What about the rest of them?
After confirming that Chae Ju was completely unconscious, I extended my blood-stained blade toward one of his three remaining subordinates.
Pointing.
‘Next.’
This time, should I put more effort into my martial arts?
Whoosh! Whoosh!
I demonstrated the techniques of Red Dust Turbid Yang Gong in the empty air, just as I’d shown Gu Won earlier.
With Seok Doo, I’d exchanged names as our greeting, but perhaps these men deserved at least a demonstration stance.
“Ugh… hah… eek… ow!”
“Please… spare us, Great Hero!”
But unexpectedly, the remaining three martial artists surrendered without even fighting back.
Or rather, did all three rush at me simultaneously?
They’d learned some martial arts, but in terms of coordination, they were no different from the foot soldiers in the tent.
“I… I was never a bandit. I was an Escort Warrior with the Sinlim Escort Bureau, and I was being held captive here. Great Hero, please spare me!”
The one among them whose appearance was the cleanest even threw down his sword and knelt.
This fortress’s positioning had been too clever for there not to be someone thinking clearly among them.
“What? This bastard Ma Gang!”
“Great Master! Please……!”
Escort bureaus are like the martial world’s armed security and courier services combined, and escort warriors are the martial artists employed there to provide protection.
Perhaps there was a grain of truth to his background as an escort warrior, but looking at it objectively, he was absolutely not being held captive—that much was clear.
Seok Doo wasn’t even that extraordinarily strong, and he didn’t seem like the type to maintain meticulous vigilance either.
If he’d known martial arts, he could have escaped easily enough—killing wasn’t the only option.
He’d simply gotten comfortable playing the strategic advisor, since the man found him convenient to manipulate.
Crack!
I struck his head with the flat of my blade without so much as acknowledging his surrender.
“Haha, Elder! This Ma Gang fellow…….”
No, I’m not interested.
I’m more curious why you’re still standing.
Thwack! Crack!
I swept the legs out from under the remaining two men, dropping them to their knees.
“Wow, you truly are the Bloodthirsty Old Man, Elder!”
Once I’d laid out every last bandit, Gu Won clapped her hands with a radiant smile.
Ah, I suppose I did tell her not to interfere—but her enthusiasm was somehow irksome.

Surviving as the Terminally Ill Young Lady of Buk Hae Bing Palace (Serialized)
Author │ Sasang Noru
Publisher │ Kim Ju Hyung
Published by │ J Plus Media Co., Ltd.
Marketing │ Han Jae Hyuk
Address │ 401, Ace Techno Tower 8, 11 Digital-ro 33-gil, Guro-gu, Seoul (Guro-dong)
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Website │ www.jayplemedia.com
ⓒ Sasang Noru 2026
※ This work is published by J Plus Media Co., Ltd. under contract with the copyright holder, and its contents may not be reproduced in any form or by any means without permission from the publisher and author.
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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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