Surviving as the Terminally Ill Young Lady of the North Sea Ice Palace - Chapter 88

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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 88
I am a martial artist of honor, one who keeps her promises.
Since Paeng Jin Chul had provided useful information, I fully intended to spare the bottom ten as agreed.
But if I simply took the information and let him go just like that—
wouldn’t he dash straight to the others and tell them to flee?
“Stay with me until tonight.”
“Gladly!”
I decided to keep Paeng Jin Chul close until after I attacked the fourteen-person party he’d betrayed and located for me.
“Look there—just the two of them! Why not take them on?”
“Good idea.”
He said it didn’t matter if he simply tagged along beside me.
But he actively helped as I hunted the other cadets.
“Ugh!”
“Why are you and Paeng together…?”
“Ha—you weren’t careful enough!”
“Thanks for letting me borrow your token.”
I wanted to let the stronger competitors slip past for now, hoping to profit from their conflicts instead.
But whenever a cadet I felt certain I could beat moved alone or in pairs, I struck with Paeng Jin Chul at my side.
Unlike the Cheonmyeong Hall cadets, who moved in groups,
most of the disciples from the Nine Schools and One Faction who’d enrolled at Jijeong Hall
tended to keep quiet, as befitted their monastic traditions, and during the Hunting Competition many wandered alone.
“There—eighty points now.”
“Congratulations!”
As the tokens tied to my waist multiplied, Paeng Jin Chul took my victories as his own joy.
Surely there were one or two other cadets actively hunting besides me?
It seemed he figured the first ten eliminations would be filled soon enough.
“Though carrying so many tokens does make a bit of noise when you move.”
“Right. Tonight’s my last real chance for an ambush.”
Until now I’d managed to space the tokens out, but if I gained even two or three more, they’d inevitably clink against each other.
So I’d need to take as many tokens as possible tonight.
I waited quietly until the hour of the Rat.
Eight Cheonmu Academy cadets against one of me.
Even if they were the timid sort who shrank from combat, I couldn’t guarantee absolute victory.
If they were weaklings like the bandits I’d faced on Bokwu Mountain, any number of them would pose no problem.
But they were children these families had sent to the Academy—at minimum, they had some martial standing.
“Only one sentry.”
“Let me take care of him!”
“No—I’ll do it.”
Paeng Jin Chul was eager to get two more eliminations for himself, volunteering to strike down the sentry personally.
But I didn’t fully trust him yet, so I advised him to hold back.
“You stay here. If anyone tries to escape, catch them.”
“Understood!”
Paeng Jin Chul and I exchanged a nod.
Then I attacked the sentry.
“Gasp!”
Clash!
I’d hoped to silence him cleanly, keeping his mouth shut if possible.
But the sentry proved more competent than that.
He was the one who’d been running with Poong Seung—Sim Yang O, if I recalled correctly.
He’d been alert and properly blocked my sudden sword strike.
Clang! Clash!
Though it was only three exchanges.
Whoosh! Thump!
When I pushed hard with my Internal Energy infused into my blade, he lost his balance and fell.
Still, the way he kept his grip on his sword until the end suggested he was a notch above the ones I’d faced during the day.
“Ungh…!”
“Bad luck that I came when you drew sentry duty. But I’ll be taking your token.”
I mounted Sim Yang O and tore the token from his waist.
Whoosh!
Then I slipped into the cave and ambushed the children sleeping inside.
Snap! Snap!
The moment a tag falls from someone’s belt, they’re eliminated.
I went straight to work, cutting the strings that bound the tags to the cadets’ belts.
How in the world could they sleep so soundly?
I honestly couldn’t fathom choosing sleep for a mere three-day event.
Apparently they’d placed their faith in Paeng Jin Chul and his group—who’d promised to eliminate ten rivals first—and in the sentries posted outside.
“Wake up!”
“The tag—the tag’s been cut!”
I hadn’t expected to handle all of them quietly.
The moment I claimed three tags, the children sleeping deeper in the cave stirred awake and scrambled into defensive positions.
“Damn it—we won’t go down without a fight!”
“You think you can toy with us? We’ll make you regret it!”
Though I’d never said anything about toying with them.
Whether it was a cadet from a branch line of the Jeongal Family leading the effort, the four of them had managed to assemble what looked like a proper formation.
“The Bing Gong is a defensive art—if we leave no openings, they can’t break through!”
“We’ll use the Three-Level Formation we set up yesterday—!”
But what good would that do?
Every word that came out of Poong Seung’s mouth in front was pure nonsense.
There’s a saying: “Know thy enemy, know thyself—in a hundred battles, never defeated.” Yet they knew nothing about me.
How could any strategy succeed when built on false intelligence?
Clang!
I cut straight through the center of their formation and attacked.
Of course, I didn’t know the sword techniques of the Moyong or Jeongal families inside and out.
But as Je Gal In had said in class, formations and such techniques are tools the weak use against the strong.
When I’d sparred with Namgoong Min before, I’d been short on Internal Energy and fighting defensively to learn her techniques.
Now, after a month of cultivating my Internal Energy through Zheng Qi Gong and having consumed a So Cheon Pill, things were different.
By channeling my Internal Energy in a sharp spike the instant my blade made contact, I could hold my own without being pushed back.
“Ugh!”
“Over here! Close ranks—tighter!”
“Nngh!”
As I felled two more with ease, the children quickly descended into chaos.
“Where are you going!”
“I—I’m sorry! I’d rather die than swallow another dose of Mountain Empty Poison!”
The cadet who’d been on the outermost edge, unaware that ten rivals had already been eliminated, bolted away foaming at the mouth.
“No! You said we’d either all survive or die together!”
“How could you betray us like this!”
Since Paeng Jin Chul waiting outside seemed more than capable of catching him, I let the coward flee and turned my attention to finishing Poong Seung.
“Lady, Miss! If I surrender and you take the others’ tags first—couldn’t you spare me? I’ll give you ten silver currency!”
But the very cadet who’d been berating his fleeing companion moments before now attempted to bribe me.
As the winning bidder from the recent antidote auction, he was certainly one of the wealthier cadets.
“I’ve already earned enough silver.”
Besides, I’d made plenty from the auction.
And I had an arrangement with Paeng Jin Chul for payment as well.
Silver wasn’t particularly tempting to me at the moment.
“Thirty Merit Points.”
So I demanded something else instead.
“Merit Points? I don’t have nearly that many—”
“Then we have no deal.”
“Wait, wait! I know where the others are—Paeng Jin Chul, Yoo Seung, and—”
“I already know.”
Why would I want to sell information about people I’d already handled?
Clang!
I swept Poong Seung’s blade aside and reclaimed his tag.
“Gahhhhh!”
Let’s see—before I came here, I’d caught seven.
Adding Sim Yang O, who’d been the sentry, that made eight.
Three more had lost their tags while sleeping.
With all the other hunters in play, I doubted the bottom ten had been left untouched.
But Poong Seung, who’d never ventured beyond this cave and had no idea he wasn’t in the lowest-ranked ten, wept bitterly in despair.
“Miss! I’ve brought back that fleeing coward!”
By the time I finished organizing the cave, Paeng Jin Chul returned, dragging a fleeing student back inside.
Wait—I told him to wait outside.
Why did he come in here anyway?
“P-Paeng?”
“What happened to him?”
Naturally, the moment the students from Cheonmyeong Hall heard Paeng Jin Chul’s voice, they realized exactly who had exposed their hideout as a traitor.
“What—?”
And those who had their tokens stolen while asleep showed no injuries at all.
Even among those I’d fought directly, none were in a state where they couldn’t fight.
They drew their blades in a flash and rushed at Paeng Jin Chul.
“You swore to uphold Cheonmyeong Hall’s honor—how could you do this?”
“Please, help us…!”
“Well, I’ve done what I came to do.”
We’d traveled together this far, and I’d kept them from being among the first ten eliminated. That was honor enough.
I had no obligation to protect them to the end.
I smiled to myself and removed Paeng Jin Chul’s token.
The moment my business was finished, the students attacked him.
“N-no! I’m sorry!”
Of course, regardless of how this fight ended, now that I’d seized all the tokens, it was no longer my concern.
“This is my cave now, so take your fight outside.”
I went to the entrance and informed the instructors of their elimination, then drove them out to settle it.
“…Since it’s come to this, I hope you win at all costs, Miss Seo!”
Unlike Paeng’s three subordinates, who departed bitterly indignant, Poong Seung gave me his support.
I bowed in gratitude and waved my hand.
‘One hundred seventy points!’
I hung the tokens all over my waist, and draped more around my neck.
Now, no matter how I moved, the jade tokens clinked against each other with a clear, resonant sound.
In case any others were sleeping soundly elsewhere, I wandered outside for about half a shichen.
But whether they’d all heard the noise and fled, I found no more prey.
“There—I’ll suggest surrender.”
Still, I found two more.
I announced that I’d already incapacitated more than ten and offered Ju Pyeong Sam and Seon Mu Hyuk, perched in the trees, the choice: surrender their tokens or fight.
“Ah…!”
“You really haven’t abandoned us, Miss Seo!”
“You haven’t forsaken Inbon Hall…!”
They saw the jade tokens clattering at my waist, felt reassured, and handed theirs over.
They told me how confused the Inbon Hall students had been when I disappeared after we reached the island.
While the Cheonmyeong Hall cadets banded together, they hadn’t known what to do.
“Well, offense is the best defense.”
Not that I’d done it specifically for my Inbon Hall comrades.
But most of them likely avoided the Mountain Empty Poison, assuming they’d found decent hiding places.
‘One hundred ninety points’
After sending the two off peacefully, I returned to the cave and rested.
This group too had stockpiled some provisions.
After eating breakfast, I set out to hunt for more prey.
Thud-thud-thud! Crash!
But early that morning, I heard footsteps and something colliding hard.
I could feel Internal Energy clashing as well.
Wondering who was fighting, I held my breath and crept toward the sound.
There, exactly the situation I’d been hoping for unfolded before me.
“You mean to use that crude method again?”
“The Namgoong Family said they never shy from direct confrontation!”
Namgoong Min and Maeng Ryeong Ji were locked in fierce combat.
Buk Hae Ice Palace Young Mistress Survival (Serialized)
Author │ Sahyang-noru
Publisher │ Kim Ju-hyung
Published by │ J2P Media Co., Ltd.
Marketing │ Han Jae-hyuk
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Email │ [email protected]
Website │ www.jayplemedia.com
© Sachyang Noru 2026
※This work is published by Jay Plus Media Co., Ltd. in accordance with a contract with the copyright holder, and no part of its contents may be used in any form or by any means without the permission of the company and the 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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