Chapter 26 : Ice Crystal
“This is…….”
It was an Ice Jade.
Seol Ye-rin flinched upon seeing the pure white sparkling gem.
“Does it hold an energy similar to the Ice Crystal?”
“I was actually going to ask you about that. Miss Seol, you said you lived close to the Ice Crystal, right?”
“That is correct. The Ice Crystal, which is practically the sacred treasure of the Ice Palace, is designated as an item that successive Palace Heads must protect, so Father must be keeping it.”
“How did you end up living close to the Ice Crystal?”
“Well, that is because I frequently went to access the Ice Crystal under the pretext of learning Ice Arts.”
Thinking that there would be no problem since she had an Extreme Yin Body was a mistake.
Although Seol Ye-rin became stronger the closer she got to the Ice Crystal, she became unable to control her Extreme Yin Qi.
The result.
Her Extreme Yin Qi began to rampage and it is said that she went into seclusion in the Young Palace Head’s Hall along with numerous victims.
‘From what I heard from the Martial Gods… I heard that the Ice Crystal of the North Sea goes on a rampage every one hundred years.’
If that rampage were to actually happen, it seemed that not only the Ice Palace Head but the Ice Palace itself could be in significant danger.
‘If I want to make the Ice Palace my base, I must first prevent the Ice Palace from falling to ruin.’
After wiping out the horse bandits and solving the financial difficulties, the problem regarding the Ice Crystal remained.
‘If possible, I think I need to quickly find the legacies of the other two Martial Gods as well.’
No matter if I had an Extreme Yang Body, it was still unknown whether I could control the Extreme Yin Qi that the Ice Crystal itself possessed.
‘I should meet the Ice Palace Head.’
Although I had gained the authority to visit anywhere in the Ice Palace last time.
I felt I had to ask if that included the place where the Ice Crystal was located.
“By the way, where do you intend to use this Ice Jade?”
The Ice Jade that the Demon Queen had stockpiled was a gem harboring Extreme Yin Qi.
The ways to utilize that were endless.
“I could sell it, I could use it, I intend to utilize it in various ways.”
“Would it be alright if I took just one?”
“What do you intend to use it for?”
“I intend to use it to pour Extreme Yin Qi into it.”
At Seol Ye-rin’s words, I looked at Seol Ye-rin.
Come to think of it, after experiencing emptying once, Seol Ye-rin’s Extreme Yin Qi seemed a bit stable.
-It certainly seems more stable than the last time.
The Cold Snow Demon Queen, Jang So-ryeong, was making a satisfied expression.
-Certainly, if she intends to go through the process of consuming Extreme Yin Qi every day, pushing the Extreme Yin Qi to the limit into an Ice Jade like this could also be a method.
Since the Demon Queen said it was a preferred method, I nodded my head.
“I didn't know I would end up delivering a gift in this manner.”
When I held out the brilliant Ice Jade contained in a jade box to Seol Ye-rin, Seol Ye-rin’s expression stiffened.
“To call something you picked up by chance a gift, you have no conscience.”
“Where I came from, we used to say we picked up things like this on the way.”
“…Are you saying that is the Demonic Cult’s way of giving gifts?”
I thought about it for a moment.
Recalling the words the demonic practitioners of the Demonic Cult used when giving gifts to women.
“Ahem, it is safe to view it that way.”
Realized the fact that most men were similar.
“Thank you. I will use it well.”
Seol Ye-rin, who accepted the Ice Jade as if it were precious and smiled, was very beautiful.
“I must go meet my father-in-law.”
“Pardon?”
“I mean I must ask when would be a good time for the marriage.”
“Third Young Master!”
Half of it was sincere.
***
“You came at the perfect time.”
-Pant, pant.
While the Ice Palace Head, Seol Baek-ho, was speaking with a heavy atmosphere, Tamya was wagging his tail furiously in my embrace.
It seemed that since I had sent Seol Ye-rin back to her quarters, he was coveting the Extreme Yin Qi felt from Seol Baek-ho.
“What is that fellow?”
“I obtained one from the Ice Wolf Squad.”
The North Sea Ice Palace Head, Seol Baek-ho, expressed doubt upon seeing me, who had brought a Snow Wolf with me.
Because it was the fact that the Ice Wolf Squad Captain let a guy who wasn't even part of the Ice Wolf Squad carry a Snow Wolf around.
“Raising one will not be easy.”
“I will try raising it diligently. Am I not an Ice Palace person now as well?”
“Not yet.”
Zap- Zap-
To Seol Baek-ho’s guarded appearance, I replied with a smile.
“So, what brings you here?”
“I came to ask because there is a place I wish to enter… but seeing the situation, it seems you intend to request something from me again this time?”
I asked while looking at the General Manager, Seol Su-hyeok, standing next to Seol Baek-ho.
“Quick-witted as well. General Manager.”
“Yes, Palace Head.”
At Seol Baek-ho’s instruction, Seol Su-hyeok stepped forward.
“Captain Hyeokryeon.”
“……?”
The title had changed.
The Ice Palace’s General Manager, Seol Su-hyeok, took a clasped hands greeting me.
“I am truly grateful that you resolved the financial crisis. Thanks to you, we are now able to trade with the Central Plains. So about that… this might be a shameless request, but could you perhaps take charge of escorting the merchant guild that will be visiting the North Sea from the Central Plains?”
At the word Central Plains, I began to search my memories.
Did the Ice Palace ever advance into the Central Plains?
The Outer Region forces began their activities in the Central Plains starting from when the Demonic Cult began invading the Central Plains.
‘Did they not engage in Central Plains activities before that?’
I don't know that.
However.
‘If it was Hyeokryeon Geuk, he would have tried to control the Outer Regions first.’
In other words, in the past, regardless of whether it was horse bandits or other Outer Region forces, the fact was that the Ice Palace advancing into the Central Plains was a much later event.
“Are you saying a merchant guild from the Central Plains is visiting the North Sea?”
“That is so. Since they must have heard the news that we were trading with the Moyong Clan merchant guild and that the horse bandits were wiped out, they will be coming to visit the North Sea soon.”
“From where should I escort them?”
“From the entrance of the North Sea to the Ice Palace.”
He was telling me to go out and greet them.
“I understand, I will take responsibility and bring them safely to the Ice Palace. Instead, I also have a condition.”
“A condition?”
I thought of the Ice Palace’s main military units, the Snow Tiger Squad and the Ice Wolf Squad.
There was a need to talk about what the Ice Wolf Squad Captain had done.
‘Trying to kill a fellow Ice Palace person for the sake of a personal grudge.’
There was a high possibility that Seol Baek-ho did not know about the matter with the Ice Wolf Squad.
‘Is the rumor that he is a Palace Head who abandoned the Ice Palace to save his daughter true?’
That would not be the case.
What did the martial artists of the Ice Palace think of Seol Baek-ho, who was known as an Ice Palace Head who only cared about the Young Palace Head, Seol Ye-rin?
The General Manager Seol Su-hyeok, as a person of the Seol family, would have sided with the Ice Palace Head.
So he would have raided the Ice Palace’s treasury until the financial crisis came.
‘Naturally, there will be forces who do not like this…….’
In other words, it meant that now was the time when it was easiest to plot treason.
‘If the Young Palace Head dies young, and only the Ice Palace Head is broken, usurping the Palace Head position would have been nothing.’
There will be some.
Those who wish for the North Sea Ice Palace Head, Seol Baek-ho, and the Seol family to self-destruct.
The problem was.
It was me.
Many things changed as I came to the Ice Palace as a live-in son-in-law.
The Young Palace Head recovered and the Ice Palace which was collapsing was wriggling again.
The Ice Palace Head also began to pay attention to commanding the Ice Palace again.
From the perspective of those who wished for the Ice Palace to self-destruct, it would be a very annoying matter.
‘I should weed out the traitors one after another while performing the merchant guild task.’
If trade activities with the Central Plains restart, the position of the Ice Palace Head will become solid again.
Those guys won't want that.
Since I didn't sense such signs in the Snow Tiger Squad or the Ice Wolf Squad.
Now only one place remains.
‘The Council of Elders.’
Under the assumption that there was a high probability of a traitor being among the Elders, the condition I would put forward was.
“I wish to check the Ice Crystal once.”
“You want to… the Ice Crystal?”
I brought up the story about the possibility of the Ice Crystal rampaging to Seol Baek-ho.
Even if it wasn't through the Martial Gods, there must be content regarding the Ice Crystal passed down to the Palace Head.
It was certain that Seol Baek-ho knew the fact that the Ice Crystal could rampage.
“I cannot show the Ice Crystal to just anyone.”
“I am aware of that. However, am I not someone who is not just anyone, as I am scheduled to obtain the Martial God’s legacy and become a live-in son-in-law?”
“The person giving the rice cake isn't even thinking about it, yet you sure run your mouth well.”
“Thank you for the compliment.”
So are you going to show me, or not?
My father-in-law pondered for a moment before rising from his seat.
“Let’s go.”
“Palace Head!”
General Manager Seol Su-hyeok showed a startled appearance at that sight.
“If he sees the Ice Crystal, he might be able to treat Ye-rin a little faster, don't you think?”
At those words, Seol Su-hyeok shut his mouth.
Because Seol Su-hyeok knew all too well that if Seol Ye-rin was involved, Seol Baek-ho would not listen no matter how much Seol Su-hyeok tried to dissuade him.
“I did not know there would be a space like this underground.”
My father-in-law took me and headed to the basement of the Palace Lord’s Hall.
“From here on, only you and I shall go.”
“General Manager, please take care of this fellow.”
Drag, drag-
Seeing Tamya drooling, it seemed certain that the Ice Crystal was inside there.
I left him with General Manager Seol Su-hyeok because it would be troublesome if I took him inside for no reason and he tried to eat the Ice Crystal’s Extreme Yin Qi.
“Yes, I understand. Please have a safe trip.”
Rumble.
As Seol Su-hyeok took Tamya out, I began to go deeper inside together with Seol Baek-ho.
“Is it because you have an Extreme Yang Body? I see you can withstand this chill.”
Certainly, the deeper we went inside, the stronger the chill became.
“Hmm, perhaps because I experienced the Extreme Yin Qi that the Young Palace Head possessed once, it does not seem to be a big problem.”
“It is the first time I am showing the Ice Crystal to an outsider.”
“Is that so?”
-Kulkul, it is not a matter to pass over so indifferently. The Ice Crystal is the Ice Palace’s sacred treasure; even if the Ice Palace Head looks like that, it seems he has opened his heart quite a lot to you.
At that moment, the Sword Venerable spoke to me.
-He is the guy who took us out when we couldn't be found for hundreds of years. The master should just admit it too. The fact that he can handle the Snow Wind to this extent means you have to see that he has talent.
The Demon Queen continued the Sword Venerable’s words.
At the unexpected praise from the two Martial Gods, I gazed at the Ice Palace Head’s back.
I was unconsciously comparing the strongest person in the Ice Palace and the highest authority holder, the North Sea Ice Palace Head Seol Baek-ho, with my father, Hyeokryeon Hwi.
Comparatively, my father-in-law’s back looked smaller than my father’s back.
“Father-in-law.”
“Who is your father-in-law?”
“If, hypothetically, there was someone aiming for Father-in-law’s position, what would you do?”
Stop.
The Ice Palace Head, Seol Baek-ho, who was walking toward the Ice Crystal, stopped his steps.
“I have heard and know the fact that you are poking around the Snow Tiger Squad and the Ice Wolf Squad. Did you sense something?”
“It is not like that.”
“Even if you did sense something. That is my problem.”
Recently, Seol Baek-ho was feeling it too.
That he had not been managing the Ice Palace properly all this while.
He had only now realized that all his nerves were focused on his daughter, Seol Ye-rin.
“So you do not need to mind it.”
How could I not mind it?
The Ice Palace was now practically a second hometown to me as well.
Even to oppose Hyeokryeon Geuk, the Ice Palace must not fall.
“If you happen to need help, I hope you will please tell me. I wish to tell you the story that you benefited from your son-in-law.”
“I actually sent a gift to the Heavenly Demon saying thank you.”
“……Pardon?”
The mighty Ice Palace Head sent a gift to the Cult Leader of the Demonic Cult?
And saying thank you at that?
This was a bit baffling.
“You probably do not know how much the things you did after coming to the Ice Palace right now have helped me and Ye-rin. That is probably why I am showing you the Ice Crystal, the sacred treasure of the Ice Palace, like this.”
-Did you see? Did I not say he views you more favorably than you thought?
-This is what a father-in-law and son-in-law are.
-He is still a prospective son-in-law.
“I have already received a lot. I do not know what you want for helping me and Ye-rin. However, if you need something, speak. This family has that much power.”
We passed the underground passage and arrived in front of a stone door.
It seemed we had arrived at the place where the Ice Crystal was while we were talking.
Rumble.
The stone door began to open.
“…Thank you.”
I did not think that my father-in-law would be thinking of me to this extent.
It feels like I was acknowledged as a son-in-law.
“Now, take a look. How the rampage of this Ice Crystal can be stopped.”
Whoosh-!
As the stone door opened, Extreme Yang Qi began to soar from my whole body against the Extreme Yin Qi that was spewing out.
The North Sea Ice Palace’s Martial God-level Live-in Son-in-law