Chapter 004 : Father-in-law
The Young Palace Head of the Ice Palace, Seol Ye-rin, gazed at the door that began to open.
Cold frost was endlessly pouring out from her body.
She thought it would not be different this time.
She knew better than anyone that she should no longer have hope.
However,
“Hmm, it is a bit cold.”
Thud thud.
Acting as if this level of cold was nothing, I, the man from the Demonic Cult, approached her while emitting steam from my entire body.
Suddenly, the thought of her hideous appearance crossed her mind.
Clang!
As Seol Ye-rin waved her hand, a wall made of ice soared up in front of her.
“Mm? Can I not see your face if you do this?”
“If you come any closer, you will end up frozen.”
“That is for me to judge.”
I reached out my hand toward the wall without fear.
Then,
Whoosh!
Flames soared upon the ice wall.
Seeing the melting ice wall, Seol Ye-rin made a flustered expression.
There had been no man who showed such an appearance until now.
“…Did you learn Fire Arts?”
“No, it is a constitutional characteristic like the Young Palace Head.”
“Ah.”
She heard it was the Extreme Yang Body.
Seol Ye-rin came to see my appearance, possessing a constitution opposite to hers, for the first time.
The physique itself looked slender.
Perhaps because I did not learn martial arts properly, my temples did not bulge out, and I looked like I had no muscles.
However,
‘That gaze.’
Just the gaze alone was emitting a clear light.
‘The gaze of a person who has waded through countless hardships.’
I was showing a gaze she had never seen before.
“…It is hideous, right?”
She ended up showing the ice crystals covering her face to me.
No, it is not just the face.
These lumps of ice coiling around her entire body were confining Seol Ye-rin herself in the Young Palace Head’s Hall.
“Mm, no. You are a beauty. To the extent that I want to melt the ice and look closely.”
“…Pardon?”
There were also those who overcame the cold with Inner Qi and approached.
But there was no person who spat out such words first even once.
Because most men frowned upon seeing her appearance.
However, I was different.
“Let us try melting it.”
“You might die.”
“Then let us make a bet.”
“Pardon?”
“If I freeze, it is the Young Palace Head’s victory, and if I melt the Young Palace Head’s ice, it is my victory. How about the loser grants the winner’s wish?”
I was a cheerful person.
Even so, the Young Palace Head could not laugh.
All those who approached her confidently like this.
Their end was eventually becoming an ice statue.
“Fine.”
Seol Ye-rin herself knew better than anyone that the opponent was approaching her risking his life.
“Let us start with introductions first. I will introduce myself again. I am Hyeokryeon Yeom from the Heavenly Demon Divine Cult.”
“…I am Seol Ye-rin.”
Thud thud.
Slowly, carefully.
I approached Seol Ye-rin so she would not be flustered.
“You are even more beautiful now that I see you up close.”
“…They said you were a man with a loose tongue, and it must have been true.”
“Do you think it is a lie?”
I looked serious.
However,
“There is no way you would think a woman with this appearance is pretty.”
“You have low self-esteem.”
“…You are speaking informally, though.”
“I am probably older.”
Seol Ye-rin does not know my age.
But seeing that my informal speech was very natural, I did seem older.
Was there a man who treated her, the Young Palace Head of the Ice Palace, like this?
Seol Ye-rin shook her head side to side.
After all, he is a person who will soon become an ice statue.
“If you can melt this ice… I will tolerate the informal speech.”
“You are really thinking that I might freeze, aren't you?”
I had a relaxed expression consistently.
“Because all men who wanted to meet me until now were like that.”
“Hmm, then you could think like that… but I will be a bit different. Here.”
I carefully reached out my hand.
“What does this mean?”
“Is holding hands from the first meeting a bit too much after all? I had no other intentions and reached out wondering if I could warm the Young Palace Head’s hand.”
“…Since it will be the first and the last time, it is fine.”
Seol Ye-rin reached out her hand toward the hand I held out.
“You will end up holding it often from now on.”
Sizzle-!
Our hands touched.
***
Honestly speaking, I could only marvel.
The Young Palace Head of the Ice Palace was beautiful.
Although it was a face concealed by ice crystals, I know.
Just how beautiful Seol Ye-rin’s appearance will be when those ice crystals all melt away and she truly reveals her form.
‘I heard that beautiful flowers have thorns.’
A flower is a living thing that one wants to possess even if they get hurt by those thorns and bleed.
‘Can I melt it?’
It will be possible.
Since it is the Extreme Yang Body.
‘Burn.’
The moment I held Seol Ye-rin’s hand,
I raised the Extreme Yang Qi.
The Extreme Yin Qi pouring out from Seol Ye-rin began to mix with the Extreme Yang Qi.
At the same time,
‘Melt it.’
Crackle.
The freezing energy penetrated into my body riding up the hand that began to freeze in an instant.
Terrible pain was felt.
However,
‘With just this level of pain… it is not enough.’
Enduring pain is something I am used to.
Inside the immense pain, the Yang Qi of the Extreme Yang Body begins to resist Seol Ye-rin’s Yin Qi.
Sizzle-
Then the hand starts to burn.
It is not hot.
Seol Ye-rin also probably won’t feel hot.
Seol Ye-rin might be feeling this heat itself for the first time.
‘It is a cold hand.’
The ice crystals began to melt and my hand touched Seol Ye-rin’s skin.
Flinch.
As she felt the warmth conveyed from hand to hand, I could see Seol Ye-rin’s eyes changing.
‘Raise the firepower.’
Flare.
The flame that began to burn in the qi center is conveyed to the hand riding the acupoints.
As the Yang Qi moved from my fingertips to Seol Ye-rin’s fingertips,
“Ugh.”
“Endure it. If the Extreme Yin and Extreme Yang achieve balance, you will be able to maintain a normal appearance.”
Extreme Yang and Extreme Yin.
The harmony of the two is the source of all energy.
It was the core of the theory of harmony I heard from the Magic Tower Master in my past life.
‘And that was the same for martial arts too.’
-It is regrettable, disciple. To think you have such talent, but a body with energy skewed to the extreme. If only you could obtain the conflicting energy, it would be good.
The Magic Tower Master always felt regret.
The absence of the existence of Extreme Yin to control the Extreme Yang.
Back then, it was a body that could not handle it, but,
‘Now is different from then.’
To melt Seol Ye-rin’s body full of Yin Qi, I continuously injected Yang Qi.
“Melt.”
Soon,
Sizzle!
It began to melt the ice crystals covering the entire body of the North Sea Ice Palace’s Young Palace Head, Seol Ye-rin.
Steam rises and the Young Palace Head, Seol Ye-rin’s bare face, is revealed.
Rippling sky-blue hair flutters.
Her skin is also snow-white, giving the feeling that a celestial fairy from the heavens has descended.
No, this isn't the time to be drunk on beauty.
“It seems I won the bet.”
I did not freeze, and Seol Ye-rin’s ice melted down.
‘However, it is not perfect yet.’
Then,
Woo-woo-woong.
‘Huh?’
The Yin Qi conveyed through the joined hands began to coil around my qi center.
***
‘The Yin Qi surrounded the qi center.’
Then it feels like the Yang Qi is spreading with balance.
Leaving aside the fact that I almost froze, to think Yin Qi and Yang Qi are achieving harmony?
Although the pain was severe, if harmony can be achieved simply by holding hands, I wanted to hold hands a bit longer.
While I was making such a dumbfounded expression,
“Until when are you going to keep holding it?”
“My apologies.”
I let go of Seol Ye-rin’s hand.
Then,
Slither.
‘The balance is distorting?’
It means I could not completely absorb Seol Ye-rin’s Yin Qi.
I stared at Seol Ye-rin with an expression full of regret.
“…I hope you do not do this kind of thing ever again in the future.”
“This kind of thing?”
“If it went wrong, you could have frozen.”
Seol Ye-rin, who retorted with cold eyes, turned her back after saying that.
“Please return to the Palace Lord’s Hall. I must rest now.”
It was a clear dismissal order.
“Wait.”
Seol Ye-rin looked back at my words.
“Even though we held hands, I did not freeze, and thanks to me, even the ice crystals melted, so shouldn’t the Young Palace Head be thanking me instead?”
“That is…….”
“Forget the greeting, but since I won the bet, you will have to offer your hand whenever I want it from now on.”
The promise could not be reversed.
“…I understand.”
“Right, then rest.”
Clack.
I closed the door of the Young Palace Head’s Hall and came outside.
Then,
“Gasp!”
“He did not become an ice statue… and came outside?”
“Young Master! Are you alright?! You didn’t come out after burning the Ice Palace’s Young Palace Head, right?!”
Scuttle, I calmed down Wi Ji-yeong who came running and approached the Ice King, Seol Baek-ho, who was watching me with a stiff expression.
“How did… Ye-rin become?”
“I seem to have melted the urgent ice for now. She is probably resting comfortably by now.”
“Is that true?”
The Head Manager, Seol Su-hyeok, asked as if he could not believe it at all, and
“If you are curious, go inside and see. The Young Palace Head was quite a beauty.”
“The Young Palace Head is indeed a beauty, but…….”
Baek Mu-yong glanced to the side making an uncomfortable expression.
“My Ye-rin is indeed a beauty.”
“Palace Leader?”
“The Head Manager looks after Ye-rin, and you, follow me for a moment.”
“Yes, understood. Palace Leader.”
Leaving Wi Ji-yeong and Baek Mu-yong in the reception room, I started to follow the Ice Palace Leader, Seol Baek-ho.
‘For now, I have established merit.’
The fact that everyone who touched the Young Palace Head became an ice statue, but I did not become an ice statue.
The fact that I melted the ice crystals covering the Young Palace Head’s entire body.
Etc.
As soon as I arrived at the Ice Palace, I did many things helpful to the Young Palace Head.
With this much, I won’t be kicked out.
Arriving at the Palace Lord’s Hall, the Ice Palace Leader, Seol Baek-ho, sat on the jade throne, made me stand, and started examining me with wolf-like eyes.
“What happened inside?”
As if there was no need for pleasantries anymore, the Ice Palace Leader went straight to the main point.
“We held hands.”
Twitch-
My father-in-law’s eyebrows wiggled.
“Hands?”
“To melt the ice crystals, it seemed unavoidable contact with the Young Palace Head was necessary.”
“So?”
“We held hands, and for a moment I almost froze.”
It was painful.
Though it was a pain I could endure.
“You held hands…….”
At the Ice Palace Leader’s muttering, I thought I should answer a bit better.
“They were full of calluses. It seemed she practices the sword diligently usually.”
“Ye-rin’s swordsmanship is worth recognizing. No, rather than that, how were you able to not freeze?”
“It seems the Extreme Yang Body’s Yang Qi neutralized Miss Seol’s Yin Qi.”
It is an honest thought.
I didn’t put special effort into controlling the movement of the Yang Qi separately, but the Yang Qi blocked Seol Ye-rin’s Yin Qi.
Not only that,
‘The Yin Qi that entered the body achieved balance with the Yang Qi.’
Although, it was just for a split second.
If I held it just a little longer, I feel like I could have obtained some enlightenment.
Then I might be able to raise my stage higher than now.
For me, it was a unique opportunity.
“Then is Ye-rin completely cured now?”
“That is not the case. Since she possesses so much Yin Qi, it seems we must do the work of melting the Yin Qi periodically.”
This is the truth.
The continuously generated Yin Qi affects even life.
The Ice Palace Leader who hesitated for a moment spoke.
“I couldn’t say what I should have said first. Thank you.”
Just for this moment, not as the Lord of the North Sea Ice Palace but as a father of a child, the Ice Palace Leader was expressing gratitude to me.