Chapter 4
The girl’s fingernails were short but sharp enough to tear the paper door.
Cold moonlight streamed through the ripped opening.
Shrrrk… rip—
Through that slit, a pair of bright yellow eyes appeared—
so feral and vicious that no one would believe they belonged to a child.
They glowed like the eyes of a beast in the dark.
“W-Who… Who are you?!”
Family head Namgung Huicheon sprang up, drawing the sword at his waist.
A martial artist never leaves his blade far from his hand.
He believed someone dangerous was disguising themselves and approaching.
Whether it was Sa-yeol or someone else didn’t matter—
He intended to cut them down immediately.
After all, this had all been caused by his son’s foolish mistake.
“Show your true, wicked form!”
As his thunderous shout shook the room and the blade gleamed threateningly,
The scratching at the door suddenly stopped.
“Ah.”
A childlike voice sounded—
as if she had just realized something.
A small hand grasped the edge of the torn door.
Slide—
The door opened at last, revealing—
“I guess… I don’t need permission to enter anymore.”
Sa-yeol’s red hair and crescent-shaped smile appeared.
Red hair?
Huicheon and Hyeonwon froze.
Sa-yeol stepped into the room with one wet, sticky foot.
Squelch… squelch…
Her shoes dripped as she walked, leaving red footprints behind.
Even with the moon behind her, her yellow beast-eyes glowed eerily.
Her eyes rolled smoothly side to side as she looked at Huicheon and Hyeonwon.
She tilted her head with an unnatural smile.
Clotted blood glued her pale white hair together.
“Father.”
She whispered the word.
“Father…”
Then—
She began murmuring:
“Father. Father. Father. Father. Father. Father. Father. Father. Father.
Father. Father. Father. Father. Father. Father. Father. Father. Father. Father.—”
The word repeated endlessly—
hundreds of times—
pouring from her mouth like a curse.
Her lips moved slowly.
but the whispering sounded directly beside their ears—
and at the same time inside their skulls.
Her voice filled the entire room.
Namgung Huicheon, trembling with rage and fear, shouted:
“What are you all doing?!
Kill that abomination at once!”
His treasured sword, the Sky-Clear Blade, shone fiercely and carved countless arcs through the air.
His sword aura wrapped around the white blade, flickering like cold fire.
But the red-eyed Sa-yeol only stared blankly, unfocused—
as if she were both there and not there at the same time.
Like a ghost.
Huicheon closed the distance instantly and swung, intending to cut her down—
“Lord, wait—!”
Hyeonwon cried out.
CLANG!
Before the blade reached her, a massive icicle erupted upward from the floor.
It clashed with the sword, ringing loudly.
“That vile creature—!”
Huicheon roared.
Frost formed along his sword.
Crack… crack.
The freezing sound grew sharper as cold Qi climbed up the blade toward his hand.
“You think you’re something special just because you inherited the Ice Palace’s cursed blood?!
That evil sect is long gone—there is no path for you to grow stronger!”
He shouted as if lecturing her.
But Sa-yeol only stared at him with her blood-stained face and glowing yellow eyes —
without any hint of surprise.
Even though no one had ever told her about her mother.
“So the Northern Sea Ice Palace has vanished, has it?”
Her voice came out slow—
like the speech of an ancient elder speaking down to a junior.
Huicheon’s face flushed with fury.
“You speak as if you were the greatest under heaven!”
He shook the ice off his sword and vanished in an instant.
WHOOSH!
He reappeared behind her.
The sword moved like a bird soaring unpredictably—aimed straight for her back.
Sky-Vault Infinite Sword Technique
Those born to the Namgung bloodline could learn it.
but the family head’s mastery was incomparable.
The air whirred around him, robes whipping violently as his sword drew in the atmosphere.
Flowing like water.
Soaring like a bird.
That was the Namgung sword.
But—
“I asked you a question.”
Her ghostly voice dragged like a cold shadow.
Huicheon’s sword was swift—
But somehow that single sentence seemed to snare his movement.
“When did the Northern Sea Ice Palace fall?”
CHAAAAANG!
His blade, moments away from tearing her apart, slammed into a wall of ice.
In the same instant, massive icicles shot toward his vital points like stingers.
CRACK—! CLANG!
Huicheon retreated rapidly, deflecting the attacks with difficulty.
Huge icicles burst from the floor, chasing him like hunting beasts as he glided back with slippery, water-flow footwork.
Even as he cut them down, his face twisted.
For the first time in decades—
Namgung Huicheon was being pushed back.
