Chapter 65

Chun Shik, Kang Seok, and Black Ho nodded gravely after hearing the entire story of what was happening in the Ice Palace. Meanwhile, Black Ho was listening to a group of martial artists who had crossed over from the Middle Kingdom.
Now that he knew that someone from the Zhongyuan Clan had intervened, he realized that this was no longer just a matter within the Bing Palace.
“……This is bad.”
It turns out that the vast majority of the Bing Palace’s current martial artists are working with Han Han, and most of those who followed the former palace lord Han Tae-moon are imprisoned.
Meanwhile.
“Kang-seok, how did you get here?”
“By taking Chun-sik with me.”
“I see. We should be about three hundred li away, so how did you…….”
Guan Kai’s words made Kangxi pause, then look at Black Lake.
“He’s the one who brought us this far.”
“……Till here?”
Guan Guo, Mr. Zhao, and the Simurghi all shifted their gazes to Black Ho. He coughed lightly at the gathered gaze.
“I’m Black Lake from Zhongyuan.”
“……Zhongyuan!”
Guan Guo and Mr. Zhao’s expressions turned angry. They were already thinking about who they should go outside to borrow help from, but now they were facing each other so soon.
“I wonder if you’ve heard about the situation in the North Sea…….”
Mr. Zhao’s hopeful words crushed Eunuch’s expectations in an instant. He shook his head and said it wasn’t true.
As Mr. Zhao’s shoulders sagged and the Simmanys’ shoulders drooped, Black Ho turned and smiled.
“That’s true, but we’ll help you.”
At that, they all looked up and looked at Black Ho.
“You seem to think that the affairs of ……the Beihai are no one else’s business. This is the Confucius I serve.”
“Ho, you mean you’re not here alone.”
“I have a group of people with me. I had hoped to observe the situation here at the Bing Palace, but now that I’ve heard your story, I’d like to meet with them as soon as possible to relay the news.”
“That’s right, can you do that?”
Mr. Zhao’s face lit up, and it was as if the hardships of the past had melted away like snow. At that sight, Sim Mani and Guan Guo unwittingly shed hot tears, and Kang Seok and Chun Shik also gritted their teeth and told him that they had suffered, and that they were sorry.
As they shared a brief moment together, the pupils of Black Lake’s eyes widened dramatically.
He could feel the heat.
“Shh……!”
With that, Black Ho crouched down with Kang Seok and Chun Shik, and at the same time, Guan Xue covered the swaddling bag that was lying next to him.
At that moment.
“……What are you guys doing.”
“We were just talking about the night work we have to do tomorrow.”
“Why are we discussing tomorrow’s work now?”
The Binggung warrior took a step in front of Guan Kai, who was making excuses with cold eyes. It was none other than Mr. Zhao who stepped in front of Guan Guo, who was sweating profusely.
“My lord, I’m going to give them a good scolding. As you know, I’ve been talking to them a lot lately.”
“……Hmm, you must be Mr. Zhao.”
“Yeah, yeah. That’s right.”
“That’s right, Cancer. If it’s Mr. Cho, you can trust me…….”
Seeing the Bing Palace martial artist about to turn around, Guan Guo and Mr. Zhao sighed. They patted their chests, feeling that they had narrowly averted a crisis.
Boom!
A sword hissed out from the scabbard in his hand, and the shining tip of the sword stabbed towards the mysterious bag behind Guan Shou.
“Ah, no!”
“Argh!”
With a scream, the samurai’s sword tip pierced the swaddling bag.
Whirr, whirr, whirr!
The sword wrapper flew into the air and immediately wrapped around the sword, pulling the Ice Bowman right into it. At the same time, a shadowy figure leapt out, and a knee slammed into the panicked martial artist, stunning him.
It was a black tiger.
“……Whoop, whoop.”
Although Black Tiger was able to survive with his instinctive senses, the Simurghi who had never seen such an outstanding martial artist before were all stunned.
All of the outstanding martial artists they knew were from the Ice Palace, and they had always believed that the people of the Ice Palace were the strongest. But he hadn’t just defeated them, he had stunned them.
“I, the king…….”
“I’m not Nari, so you don’t have to call me that. Anyway.”
Black Lake frowned as he looked at the Ice Bowman.
“You’ll be found out soon enough.”
“What?”
“Since you can’t fill this person’s position, they’ll probably suspect someone.”
“……aah.”
“They’ll find out I’m here soon enough.”
At Black Lake’s serious expression, Guan Guo, Mr. Zhao, and Sima Mani shook their heads and smiled.
“You should go to …… first.”
“What?”
“Even if you disappear, you won’t be able to do anything to us, even if you suspect us over and over again, you won’t be able to do anything to us.”
“What’s that…….”
“Because we’re the only ones who can find what they’re looking for.”
“And even if they don’t, they’ll still do something to the rest of us…….”
“It’s our fight. We’ve survived so far, what have we to fear, so.”
Mr. Zhao stepped forward and clasped Black Lake’s hands, hot tears welling in his eyes.
“……Please save our Beihai.”
Desperate, desperate, desperate.
The backs of his hands and body showed how much he had suffered. Black Ho gritted his teeth at the sight.
It was Kang-seok and Chun-sik who were in urgent need. If it were just him, he wouldn’t have any trouble getting out, but it was different for the two of them. If he made a mistake, they might lose their lives here.
“Wait a little longer. I’ll be back.”
With that thought in mind, Black Ho began to lead Kang Seok and Chun Shik out of the ice cave.
“I’m sure we’ll be able to escape, right?”
“Don’t worry. We were there at the beginning of the Ice Palace.”
“……Yes. My lord.”
A large citadel, even an ice palace, had a lot to worry about given the coldness of the ice palace and the special nature of the ice road, but it didn’t matter to Black Lake. Even without Kang Seok and Chun Shik’s guidance, Black Ho had no problem leading them to the entrance of the Ice Palace.
And at that moment, as they stood there, his expression brightened.
“The rats are hiding after all.”
When the two people who thought they were Kang Woo-moon and Donghui turned around, they saw the uninhabited people of the North Sea blowing their breath out of the corners of their mouths.
One by one, those who had been hiding in the snow stood up. There were more than thirty of them.
“It’s Zhongyuan’s people. Rats. You can come in at will, but not when you leave.”
Bing Tian Sword Master Yuan Yilong smiled bitterly.
* * *
“I was sent here by the palace lord.”
He was the only one of the many inanimate objects in the cage who still retained his sanity.
“It’s the same man named Bu Feng.”
It was Bupyeong the Bing Tian Sword. At first glance, he was nothing out of the ordinary. Although he didn’t have the same profound aura as Han Tae-moon, one could tell that he had practiced a great deal as a martial artist from his well-trained body, dense muscles, and shining eyes.
The fact that he was the only one wearing the heavy shackles showed how wary Han Han was of Bupyeong.
“……What is the condition of the monarch?”
“He’s barely keeping his wits about him with a handful of inner ball, but the man next to him, Han Yu-san, looks worse.”
“So, you mean the archer?!”
Han Yu-san was the archery master.
“But why does Han Yu-san have such a grudge against the archer? He looks so young, and if time had passed, he would have taken his place.”
“It’s …… entitlement, and he ate himself.”
Inferiority complex and entitlement.
The two monsters were eating Han Il-sang.
“The Taoists came and scratched that itch.”
“That’s right, they’ve been after him from the beginning, because he’ll give them what they want.”
“So you’re in favor of …….”
I clicked my tongue and quickly cracked the bars. After the Spearbow Sword reached a mature state, the power at the tip of the sword sliced through the bars like a tofu, and for the first time, Bu Ping’s expression changed.
“You look young, but it seems like you’ve already reached the peak of your cultivation.”
“Not yet ……, by the way, I can move right away.”
We had to move quickly before they got here. I had to rejoin Black Lake, and I had to move quickly to save Han Tae-moon and Han Yu-sang.
As the cages cracked open, breaking the handcuffs and shackles of countless warriors, Bu Ping’s parched lips opened as he stretched his stiff muscles.
“We need at least three shijin. They’re all weak. We haven’t eaten a proper blood porridge, so if we fight, we’ll lose.”
At those words, I and the old man shook our heads. There were more than fifty of them, but each one of them was too skinny to hold a sword properly.
“We must meet with Black Lake and get them out of here as soon as possible.”
“You and I will go rescue the Han courtiers.”
They had to get them out quickly. Even if it meant saving Han Tie-moon and Han Yu-san with their uncle.
“You have no sense.”
“What’s the point of being so craven?”
I looked at Bupyeong, who had been tortured beyond belief, his muscles scarred with bullet holes and gaping wounds. Not just wounds, but festering wounds from not being able to eat enough to keep him alive.
Being tortured for nearly a year would make a person crazy.
To a man like him, it didn’t matter. All he had to say was.
“Thank you.”
Heavier than a thousand, no, ten thousand pounds.
Deeper than a lake in the North Sea with deep roots.
It was a man’s word.
I smiled and told him not to worry.
And then.
“A very tearful reunion of the creepy crawlies.”
I heard a voice, harsh and unpleasant to hear. The words seemed to come from far away, even from this prison cell.
“I can’t believe a rat has found its way into this fortress I’ve built, Nanny.”
“Yes, the death penalty.”
“It’s about time you felt the fruits of your labor.”
“Whoo-hoo-hoo, death penalty. I’ll clean up.”
I looked at my aunt, who was shaking her head in disbelief.
“It’s them.”
It was them. Yeogon, and his priest, Sang-taek, two mad taoists.