Chapter 442: Chapter 442

Sa Do-hak was dazed like a person who had received a great shock.

He barely ate his meals, and did nothing but stare blankly at the sky. Seeing him refuse to even touch alcohol, let alone his usually favored Baduk, everyone put on worried expressions.

“Will he be okay?”

Dan So-mi touched her cheek and let out a deep sigh.

She couldn’t help but feel concerned, wondering if something bad might happen if he continued like that.

It was the same for Namgung Cheon, who was usually close friends with Sa Do-hak. He had a feeling that if left alone, a big problem would occur.

“He’ll be fine.”

However, Dan Woo-hyun’s thought seemed to be completely different.

He had an unbothered expression.

Even though Sa Do-hak was in such a state and he himself felt that his behavior was unusual, he remained calm and composed, preventing anyone from thinking that something bad had happened.

It was a situation that could be considered harsh or cold-hearted in a way, but Dan Woo-hyun also seemed to have grasped Sa Do-hak’s condition in his own way.

“It’s simply because his qi and blood are tangled.”

“Then isn’t that an even bigger problem!”

Namgung Cheon shouted in surprise.

Having one’s qi and blood tangled could easily lead to a serious situation.

And yet, a laugh comes out?

Namgung Cheon put on a somewhat dumbfounded expression.

“It’s a relief that you have nothing to worry about…”

“Haha, he doesn’t look like someone who can’t even overcome this much. It’s something anyone who is a martial artist goes through at least once, so don’t mind it.”

“This old man… has never experienced it though…”

Namgung Cheon looked at Dan Woo-hyun with a strange expression.

Despite having practiced martial arts for a long time, he had never experienced such a thing even once. Sa Do-hak’s behavior looked like someone suffering from qi deviation, and that was fatal for a martial artist.

Nobody would want to experience that.

“He will return to normal soon, so you don’t have to worry.”

“Hmm…”

Dan Woo-hyun didn’t give an answer to Namgung Cheon.

He just smiled once instead of answering.

Namgung Cheon, not knowing the meaning, made a puzzled expression, but since no one could draw out the answer Dan Woo-hyun held, the question remained just a question.

“Then will he get better soon?”

“Of course.”

Dan So-mi suddenly asked.

Although her expression was full of worry and anxiety for Sa Do-hak, as if relieved by Dan Woo-hyun’s single word, she breathed a sigh, *Phew-*.

Then, she scurried over to Sa Do-hak’s side.

Before long, she flopped down next to him and held his hand.

Leaning her small head against his shoulder while humming, they looked so good together that anyone seeing them would think they were a grandfather and granddaughter.

All those watching smiled at the atmosphere and the humming.

Dan Woo-hyun’s expression also softened.

“Your expression has softened a lot.”

Just then, Namgung So-hye, who had been quietly observing Dan Woo-hyun, spoke up. Thinking back to when they first met, his current appearance felt so changed that it wouldn’t be strange to be utterly astonished.

She thought that even this kind of person could change.

“Is that so?”

Dan Woo-hyun himself, perhaps unaware of his own change, just tilted his head with an expression of surprise.

The word “change” didn’t really resonate with him.

“Dammit!”

At that moment, the door creaked open, and Jang Sam-tae came inside. Holding a large bundle in his hands, whatever had happened, he was grumbling.

“What’s with all the damn talking?”

Setting aside the things he had bought in Yueyang, Jang Sam-tae frowned. Judging by his considerably bad mood, it seemed something had indeed happened in the market streets.

“What are you muttering so much about again?”

Not liking the sight, Namgung Cheon frowned.

Having thrown cold water on those who were feeling quite peaceful while listening to Dan So-mi’s humming, nobody looked kindly on Jang Sam-tae’s behavior.

Sharp gazes pierced him from all over.

Only then did Jang Sam-tae realize the situation, and smiling sheepishly, he approached Dan Woo-hyun’s side.

“No, Manor Lord. Didn’t this Sam-tae go to Yueyang for you, Manor Lord?”

“And?”

Rather than for Dan Woo-hyun, it was just that they ran out of groceries and he had gone to buy them. Hearing him flatteringly say it was for Dan Woo-hyun or whatever, people scoffed in disbelief from here and there.

Jang Sam-tae frowned as he noticed their reactions, but perhaps unable to bring himself to shout, he cleared his throat with a ‘Keum!’.

“I went out to the market streets, and weren’t people swarming all over the place?”

“Isn’t that a common occurrence?”

“Well, yes, but… today there were even more than usual.”

It was natural for many people to gather in the market streets. Because of Dongting Lake, Yueyang naturally had a large influx of people, so it was always swarming, even more crowded than a colony of ants.

“So?”

“No, wondering what it was, I took a look, and a busybody was spouting some strange nonsense, and people were caught up in it, arguing. Thanks to that, even passersby stopped to watch, so… you don’t know how hard it was to get the groceries done…”

“Haha, was the busybody’s storytelling that good?”

Namgung Cheon’s eyes sparkled.

Things busybodies commonly talk about are often exaggerated. However, sometimes they tell the truth and teach things that people didn’t know.

Judging by how many people had gathered, it seemed quite an interesting story had come out.

“Ah, you know that place, right?”

“That place?”

“That, the North… North Sea?”

“You mean the Ice Palace?”

“Yes, yes, apparently that place was annihilated. But according to that busybody, not a single person survived, and the Ten Thousand Year Ice Crystal that the Ice Palace kept hidden for a long time disappeared, right?”

“…!”

“Hmm?”

“Huh…”

“Goodness, how are we supposed to believe that a lump of ice lived for ten thousand years… There were so many people believing and chattering about it that I had a hell of a time passing through.”

One by one, people reacted.

It was a story a bit too extreme to simply think of it as a busybody’s words. The ruin of the world-renowned North Sea Ice Palace was a statement equivalent to saying the Murim Alliance had collapsed.

If it was true, it wasn’t a story to laugh about.

“Don’t spout nonsense! There’s no way the North Sea Ice Palace would fall so easily.”

Jeok Mu-seong shouted with a dumbfounded expression.

Because even to him, it was an impossible thing. The Murim Alliance was originally located in the Central Plains. However, the North Sea Ice Palace is a land of extremes, and even Murim people from the Central Plains cannot exert proper power in that land.

Furthermore, from Jeok Mu-seong’s perspective, having directly experienced how amazing their power was, the saying that the place was annihilated sounded like nothing more than a joke.

“No… I’m telling you the busybody said it! Not me!”

Jang Sam-tae waved his hands and spoke towards Jeok Mu-seong, who was hastily getting fired up. He instinctively cowered under his momentum, looking as if he would grab him by the collar at any moment.

“Haha, but it’s not a story we can ignore…”

Namgung Cheon glanced at Dan Woo-hyun’s expression.

It wasn’t obvious, but Dan Woo-hyun seemed to be thinking about something.

Before long, Dan Woo-hyun raised his head and opened his mouth towards Jang Sam-tae.

“Sam-tae.”

“Yes, I’ll go to the Hao Sect.”

“…”

As if already guessing what Dan Woo-hyun was going to bring up, Jang Sam-tae nonchalantly turned around and disappeared with a swish.

“He’s gotten really quick-witted.”

Gwon Mu-jin clicked his tongue as he watched that Jang Sam-tae.

* * *

Gu Mu-ak was sweating bullets for the first time in a while.

Although he had come taking pride in the fact that he had already adapted to the place called the Hunan Dan Family, the moment he checked the faces present before him, his knees grew weak and his body trembled.

‘Why are those humans here, again?!’

The one who first caught his eye was none other than Mu Cheon-pung.

The one who was captured due to the confrontation with Sa Do-hak, one of the Five Emperors, and who had been locked up in the imperial prison for a long time before disappearing.

Some said he became a ghost, and some said someone took his corpse to turn him into a Jiangshi, but since he was perfectly alive right before his eyes, how great must the surprise be?

However, what was even more surprising was someone else.

The one draped in black clothes.

A pale face, and eyes still fierce.

There was a time when, while investigating the Assassination Pavilion, they unluckily offended those guys, resulting in half of the Hao Sect being blown away. He still couldn’t forget the gaze of the Slaughter Emperor, Bi Cheon-woong, which he saw at that time, and seeing him actually in front of his eyes, it was a miracle he didn’t wet his pants on the spot.

Gu Mu-ak bowed his head, trembling uncontrollably.

It felt even more like sitting on a bed of nails today.

“The r-reason you called me…?”

“Do you know the story being chattered about in the Yueyang market streets?”

“Ah, I’ve heard and know of it. You mean the story about the North Sea Ice Palace going on and on about this and that.”

Gu Mu-ak nodded.

Because of the Hunan Dan Family, he was always staying in Yueyang. Sometimes as a beggar, sometimes as a scholar, or as a Murim warrior, he went around hiding his identity.

Naturally, since he kept the stories flowing in from Yueyang in his head, he was also well aware of what the busybody was chattering about.

Only then could Gu Mu-ak realize the reason Dan Woo-hyun had called him.

“Do you know anything about that?”

At Dan Woo-hyun’s voice, the eyes of the four called the Five Emperors shone viciously. Standing next to Dan Woo-hyun, their presence alone felt like it could completely crush Mount Tai.

Gu Mu-ak swallowed his dry saliva and caught his breath.

“That… regarding that…”

“I asked if you know anything.”

“That is to say, isn’t that place… a cold place?”

“Since it’s the North Sea, it naturally would be.”

He closed his eyes tightly as he spoke with difficulty.

It truly wasn’t wrong.

The North Sea is a land of extreme cold qi. Unless one was born and raised there, it is a place where a storm of cold so severe rages that it is impossible for most people to even step foot in it.

“So… well, our kids… don’t go there.”

“…?”

“What are you talking about?”

“That… I mean… we couldn’t obtain any information about the North Sea!”

Gu Mu-ak opened his mouth, risking his life.

The fact that Hao Sect members couldn’t enter meant they couldn’t extract accurate information. Even merchants traveling there hardly enter the land where the North Sea Ice Palace is located, so there is absolutely no way to know whether the place was ruined or alive, or if something had happened.

Even normally, the North Sea Ice Palace is a place as closed off as the Demonic Cult, so verifying information is not easy. Thus, if it was annihilated and no one could speak, it was only natural not to know anything.

“So you don’t know whether the busybody’s words are a lie or the truth?”

“Yes, that’s correct. However…”

“However?”

“Recently, the Heavenly Dao Association’s side is said to be forming a dispatch team to check the status of the North Sea Ice Palace. Seeing as the unorthodox faction is also doing the same, it seems something did happen there.”

He voiced what little information he knew.

Even this, he felt anxious that Bi Cheon-woong’s sword might brush past his neck if he couldn’t answer.

Swallowing dry saliva, Gu Mu-ak quickly raised his head and looked at Dan Woo-hyun and Bi Cheon-woong.

Meeting their indifferent gazes, he subconsciously lowered his head.

‘Don’t look at me!’

Could just looking into a person’s eyes be this scary?

Gu Mu-ak had to sweat profusely for the first time in a while.

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