novelraw Chapter 223 : Ice White Demon Lord Seori (2)
Chapter 223 : Ice White Demon Lord Seori (2)
Chapter 223: Ice White Demon Lord Seori (2)
The physicians and female physicians nearby were also whispering among themselves as they examined Seori.
On the surface, she looked like nothing more than a fragile woman, yet even to their eyes, there were many points that raised questions.
“……But who exactly is that person the martial warriors went through such hardship to bring here?”
“Judging from that silver-like hair and skin as white as snow…… she doesn’t seem to be from the Central Plains.”
“That’s what I’m saying. It’s not just that her skin is pale. It’s so cold, like it was sculpted from ice…….”
As if they had touched a corpse, the sensation of her cold skin left them flustered.
They wondered if she had learned a Yin-Cold Art that opposed Yang-Heat Arts, but even after checking her pulse, although there were traces that Seori had learned martial arts, she did not look like a master at all, so no clear answer emerged.
Serin and Hayoung felt the same doubts.
‘The place Sohye was urgently dispatched to was Shanxi, where the war between the Moyong Clan and the Ice Palace broke out.’
‘……If that’s the case, then this mysterious woman is certainly connected to the Ice Palace.’
Why, then, had the three who went to help the Moyong Clan attempted an escape while bringing along this mysterious “enemy”?
Just as those two were also looking at Seori with complicated feelings—
Swoosh.
“……!”
“Clan Head.”
Sewoon stepped up to Seori’s side and swallowed hard.
Having reached a decision, Sewoon, like the others, was about to treat her.
‘I still wonder if killing her immediately would be the right thing to do, but…….’
He decided not to.
It was not because he, as a physician, could not ignore a dying patient.
Nor was it because Seori had turned over a new leaf compared to before the regression.
After all, this was their first meeting—how could he know whether she had changed?
Rather—
‘Unlike before the regression, Seori had her Ice Palace taken by someone else. Who the traitor that sided with the Blood Cult is, and whatever information about the Blood Cult she might possess—I need to extract it all.’
It was to gather even a fragment of information about the Blood Cult’s plans, which were now unfolding in a completely different direction from before the regression.
‘First, wake her up and learn everything. And if her murderous nature and madness remain the same…….’
Kill her.
At the moment Sewoon’s fingertips slowly touched Seori’s Mingmen Acupoint, he made that resolve.
A faint pulse could be felt beneath his fingers.
Her breathing was like a candle flickering in the wind. Her vital energy had weakened far too much.
A strange light appeared in Sewoon’s eyes.
‘How could her body temperature have dropped this much? This isn’t because of the Ice Palace’s martial arts.’
From her chilled skin, an absurdly extreme Yin aura was slowly seeping out.
None of the martial arts of the North Sea Ice Palace that he knew possessed such a horrifying power.
‘I don’t know what she swallowed, but there’s something formless inside her, emitting cold like a virulent poison.’
In truth, Seori was practically already dead.
Not only her skin, but her insides as well were frozen solid, like crystallized ice.
“Hoo.”
Sewoon let out a short breath.
With ordinary treatment methods, no recovery could be expected.
In that case, there was only one method.
Ssssshh!
From Sewoon’s fingertips, black needles formed from the Heavenly Net surged forth.
Tap! Tap-tap!
Without even a hint of hesitation, Sewoon began inserting the needles one by one into precise locations.
“Ooh……!!”
“T-that is the Black Crow Divine Needles……!”
The surrounding physicians exclaimed in awe at the sight.
The black needles that were practically Sewoon’s symbol were called the Black Crow Divine Needles and were spoken of as proof of a Divine Physician.
Pat! Pat-pat!
First came the Xuehai Acupoint, followed by Feishu, Xinshu, and Zhongwan.
Along the corresponding acupoints, he placed the needles at exquisite angles, as if breathing life into them.
Ssssshh!
Then, as though sunlight had fallen upon a frozen sheet of ice in midwinter, wondrous changes began to stir within Seori’s body.
“Ooh! The patient’s complexion……!”
“The Yin-Cold Qi is subsiding!”
At first, a single trace of red brushed past her pale lips, and soon a faint flush of vitality began spreading across her cheeks.
Even by appearance alone, warmth was spreading throughout Seori’s entire body.
The tangled, blocked, and frozen energies finally awakened and began to move.
Standing beside him, Hayoung stopped her own treatment and stared at Sewoon with eyes full of awe.
It was then—
‘Now.’
After placing all the needles, Sewoon slowly set one hand over the Shenque Acupoint, near the Dantian.
Then he immediately and discreetly circulated Divine Poison Qi.
Ssssshh!
At a terrifying speed, the extreme Yin energy inside Seori was being completely sucked into Sewoon.
‘Treatment is treatment. But what I can take, I’ll take.’
Sewoon was meticulously collecting his treatment fee.
This unknown Yin energy was a lethal poison to Seori, but to Sewoon, it was nothing less than the finest spiritual medicine.
Seori, without understanding what was happening, was having her energy torn away. Even if she wished to resist, she lacked consciousness and could do nothing.
And then, at the moment the very last fragment of Yin energy was completely absorbed into Sewoon’s body—
Kwarurur!
Crack—!
‘!!’
An overwhelming cold, enough to startle even Sewoon, suddenly surged back at him in reverse.
Ssssshh!
He hurriedly pushed his Divine Poison Qi to its limit, struggling to suppress the absorbed energy.
As an even greater chill poured out from Sewoon, Serin and Hayoung turned pale and rushed forward, blocking the three members of the Jecheon Unit and the physicians.
“Everyone, step back—!”
“Get back, all of you!”
“Y-yes, yes!”
“Hiiik!”
At Serin’s shout and Hayoung’s cry, the physicians and female physicians turned deathly pale and fled from the hall.
As they fled in panic, only Serin and Hayoung remained inside the sickroom.
Amidst that, Sewoon was gasping for breath.
‘Ha.’
The icy energy had concealed malicious intent, lying in wait for the moment he grew careless after believing he had absorbed everything.
Only then did Sewoon realize the true nature of the energy within Seori’s body.
Within the North Sea Ice Palace, there was only one divine relic that possessed such destructive energy.
‘This is insane! Don’t tell me she swallowed the Perennial Ice Crystal!’
The Perennial Ice Crystal.
It was a divine relic beyond the mortal world that represented the North Sea Ice Palace, a treasure passed down from generation to generation to the Palace Lord.
It was known as the object that contained the most powerful Yin energy in the world.
The most famous rumor in the Central Plains regarding the Ice Crystal was that the massive fortress-like palace of the North Sea Ice Palace was maintained and restored by the power of a single Perennial Ice Crystal.
‘So it wasn’t just an empty rumor.’
Sssshhh!
At that moment, the Divine Poison Qi was now completely devouring the energy of the Perennial Ice Crystal, which it was gradually growing accustomed to.
The Ice Crystal’s energy, which had resisted fiercely, panicked for a moment before being utterly subdued.
Ssssss!
Shraaa!
At the same time, the Heavenly Net that had been wrapped around Sewoon’s two hands like gloves began changing from black to white.
‘I’ve exceeded the limit of the Yin-Cold Qi I was holding.’
Sewoon instinctively realized that his Ice Wheel Thread had risen to an even higher realm.
He wanted to display the newly gained power right then and there—
—but if he did, this entire place would turn into a snowfield.
Ssshhh.
Leaving his regret behind, Sewoon slowly calmed the newly acquired power.
The gloves that had turned white reverted back to their original pitch-black color.
Seeing Sewoon calm down in an instant, Serin and Hayoung were finally able to steady their breathing as well.
Step.
However, Sewoon did not stop there.
He had absorbed all the energy, so it was now time to finish treating Seori.
Sssh.
This time, with his other hand, he stimulated Seori’s Heart Shu Acupoint and the Foot Taiyang Bladder Meridian.
Without hesitation, Sewoon guided her Qi and blood, forcibly circulating the energy that had been dormant within Seori.
It matched perfectly with the flow of the martial arts Seori had cultivated.
And there was a reason Sewoon could know her martial arts so thoroughly.
‘After receiving the Water White Fan, she had told me nearly all of the martial arts that existed in the North Sea Ice Palace.’
Before the regression, she had clung stubbornly to him, teaching him through an almost torturous, coercive method.
The principles of the North Sea Ice Palace’s martial arts were completely opposite to those of the Central Plains.
The core of Ice Arts lay not in the Dantian, but in the spinal cord.
Sewoon slightly turned Seori’s body and moved his hand to her back.
He placed his palm near the Gaohuang Acupoint and the Dazhui Acupoint, which ran along the spine.
Sssshhh!
The energy Sewoon released flowed along Seori’s spine.
And at that moment—
Paat!
“…Hng.”
Seori’s body convulsed.
At the same time, ragged breaths spilled from her lips.
‘That’s it.’
Murmuring inwardly, Sewoon lightly pressed his index finger against the Dantian one last time.
Sss.
The flow of Qi began to circulate smoothly, and at its center, the radiance Sewoon had planted began emitting a single beam of light once more.
Seori’s expression, which had been twisted in pain, gradually became peaceful.
Witnessing that astonishing sight, a light of admiration rose in Hayoung’s eyes.
‘…Amazing. Even my Master—no, even my Grandmaster—might not have been able to treat her…’
She hastily shook her head after realizing she had just harbored a disrespectful thought toward the elders of her sect.
But it only meant that Sewoon’s medical arts were that astonishing.
Just then—
Seori’s eyelids slowly trembled.
She was regaining consciousness and waking up.
Yet neither Serin nor Hayoung could bring themselves to say a word.
Sssshhh!
An inexplicable pressure suddenly radiated from Seori.
“….”
At last, Seori opened her eyes.
“Ah.”
Without realizing it, Hayoung let out a small cry.
Eyes of a color that could not be mistaken for those of someone from the Central Plains—Azure Eyes, blue like the sea—were shining brightly.
She had gasped at a beauty so otherworldly it felt like a separate realm.
Swoosh.
Seori slowly and laboriously propped herself halfway up from the bed.
As she turned her head, her gaze met Sewoon’s, who was seated in front of her.
Her icy pupils carefully settled on his face.
Then, she slightly parted her lips.
“Husband.”
“…?”
At that single word, confusion spread across everyone’s faces, Sewoon included.
And it was only natural.
‘W-wait. What did she just call Sewoon…?’
‘…Husband?’
Husband.
It was a term most commonly used by a wife to respectfully address her husband—
—or by a woman when addressing the man she loved.
So why was this woman suddenly calling Sewoon by such a term?
Even Sewoon himself could only blink blankly, utterly dumbfounded.
Yet gazing at Sewoon with eyes filled with deep sorrow, Seori spoke in a trembling, tearful voice.
“…Why did you only come now…?”
“!!”
Thump.
Seori collapsed into Sewoon’s arms as if her strength had given out.
Instinctively, and without thinking, Sewoon caught her and held her.
Her body was no longer cold; warmth now lingered within it.
‘What in the world is this…??’
For a moment, Sewoon could not make any judgment at all.
As if all his senses had stopped, he stood frozen in place.
And then—
Crack.
The long needle held in Hayoung’s hand, as she watched everything unfold, was grotesquely bent.