The mont they stepped inside, the first thing that caught Yeon’s eye was an enormous emblem carved deep into the wall. It was identical to the one she’d seen at the bottom of the bathhouse. In front of it, Irkin stood with his eyes closed, his expression reverent.
So it really is a religious symbol.
Unlike Irkin, who had his eyes shut in silent prayer, Karaot remained still and watchful, offering a quiet explanation.
“The circle in the center represents water. You see the smaller shapes layered around it? Each one is different.”
“Yes.”
She’d thought they were just small circles before, but up close, they were clearly all unique. That must’ve been because she’d seen them from under the water’s surface in the bathhouse.
“These shapes symbolize water’s potential. Water, by nature, has no fixed form—it can beco anything. But for it to take on shape...”
“It ⊛ Nоvеlιght ⊛ (Read the full story) has to freeze?”
“Exactly. The outermost ring is a circle again, showing that frozen water can lt and return to its original state. In the end, it represents a cycle. As with many religions, the idea of eternal return is central to their belief.”
Yeon gave a half-hearted nod. Just then, liquid began trickling from the central circle. Thick and viscous, it rolled slowly downward, collecting in a small basin that resembled a well. Drop by drop, the quantity grew surprisingly substantial.
“...Don’t tell that’s...”
“Yes. That’s what we’ve been drinking. It’s taken directly from here.”
“...What is that, exactly?”
“I can’t say for sure. No one knows the exact composition. But the people here believe it’s sacred water produced by the Ice Crystals. It wasn’t originally intended for consumption. But, well... there’s not much else to eat.”
“So the Ice Crystals do exist, then.”
The mont the word “Ice Crystals” appeared, Yeon’s interest was visibly piqued. Karaot simply nodded, though there was sothing resigned in his expression.
“I’ve been aning to ask you sothing.”
“Yes?”
“Do you follow a different religion than the Ice Palace people?”
The white headscarf Karaot always wore made him look like an ascetic of so sort. But unlike the rest of the Ice Palace residents, he never joined in prayer—and he certainly wasn’t mimicking Irkin’s behavior now.
“I do.”
“Then why...”
Just then, Irkin’s eyes snapped open.
“We’re going down. Beneath.”
He ran his hand over the floor, finding an indentation and fitting sothing into it. With a heavy creak, a wooden hatch they hadn’t even noticed opened upward, revealing a passage descending into darkness.
Irkin went first, stepping onto the stairs, and Karaot turned to Yeon.
“I’ll explain as we go.”
The spiral staircase of cold stone seed to stretch endlessly into the depths. The gloom was lit only by the faint glow of the Ice Palace’s signature luminescent stones.
As Irkin descended ahead of them, already far out of sight, Karaot spoke up.
“Shall we take our ti?”
“Sure.”
Today, Karaot seed more open than ever, as if ready to speak about anything. Yeon figured that was for the best and followed behind him. The underground air was cool, almost bracing.
“You asked earlier—yes, I follow a different faith.”
“Then why stay here?”
Karaot, walking ahead, hesitated. She couldn’t see his face, but sohow Yeon sensed he was smiling bitterly.
“It just... ended up this way. I suppose...”
His words ca slowly, unhurried.
He had originally left his holand as a missionary, traveling across vast grasslands. But sowhere along the way, he got lost and wandered into the Ice Palace. Dehydrated and half-starved, he collapsed nearby. The Ice Palace residents found him and took him in. Back then, the palace wasn’t nearly as closed off as it was now, he added.
Having crossed the grasslands herself, Yeon found it all plausible. That region had no proper maps, after all. It had been a miracle they’d made it using nothing but Myoeun’s mories and the stars.
“I planned to leave as soon as I recovered. But I couldn’t get them out of my head—the people here. Things were... bad. Far worse than you’d think.”
“How bad?”
“When I arrived, the Ice Palace Lord was practically absent. So Irkin was left caring for everyone. What you’re seeing now is already a massive improvent. Honestly, even a child raising another child wouldn’t have been as ssy.”
Talking about the past, Karaot seed almost fired up. Maybe he’d never had anyone to tell this story to before.
“Days turned into months. And before I knew it, I’d stayed through the years. Even if I wanted to leave now... I don’t think I could.”
“Because of the—people outside?”
Yeon had nearly said Fla Cultists, but stopped herself. She didn’t want to unsettle him with unnecessary worries.
“They’re part of it, sure. But even without them... I’m not sure I’d be able to leave. I’ve grown too used to life here. And besides, who knows what Irkin would do if I tried? He’s... too pure-hearted.”
“You think he’d cry and cling to your leg?”
“I’m not even joking. He really might.”
Yeon pictured Irkin, that towering hulk of a man, sobbing and begging Karaot not to leave. Not exactly a scene she wanted to witness.
“So then—where were you planning to go, originally?”
“To Zhongyuan.”
“...What?”
Startled, Yeon’s voice rose. Karaot glanced back at her, a faint smile tugging at his lips.
“I visited there once. A long ti ago. Just a short trip, but it stayed with . I swore then—I’d return, and spread the faith I believe in to those lands as well.”
“Ah... so that’s why...”
That would explain why he hadn’t been surprised to see Yeon and her companions. And why he spoke their language so fluently.
Though he had little use for Zhongyuan speech here, it seed he’d continued to study it on his own. He hadn’t given up on his dream.
“That’s... impressive.”
“Is it? Ha...”
His dry laugh echoed faintly through the stone corridor. It sounded so weary, Yeon almost said sothing without thinking.
“When we leave... do you want to co with us?”
But she swallowed the words before they left her mouth. It wasn’t the right ti—and maybe it never would be.
Thankfully, Karaot shifted the topic himself.
“Enough about . Shall we talk about the Ice Palace a bit?”
“I’d like that.”
“Thank you. I’ve spent years researching this place, but never had anyone to share it with.”
Yeon listened closely as they continued down the widening stairwell. Irkin was nowhere to be seen now, far ahead of them.
“Take a guess—how old do you think this place is?”
“Hmm... Pretty old, I’d say.”
“It’s been standing for centuries.”
“Centuries?”
“Based on what I’ve found, yes. The one who ruled this region back then—let’s just call him a king—originally built this place as a kind of monastery. He even summoned people from Zhongyuan to help with the construction.”
He glanced at her, as if expecting surprise. But Yeon had already suspected as much. It would explain the architectural style, so unlike the local traditions. What she really wanted to know was why.
“Why go out of their way to summon people from Zhongyuan?”
Karaot looked faintly disappointed at Yeon’s matter-of-fact reaction—but the mont she asked that follow-up question, his voice lit up with energy.
“It seems the king who ruled these grasslands at the ti had close ties with the sovereigns of Zhongyuan. Whether there were political motives involved... I can’t say.”
“Hm...”
“Whatever the reason, it seems he wanted to build a truly exceptional monastery. Perhaps he imagined a sanctuary rising from the center of a lake. Back then, you see, this wasn’t a frozen land. There was no ice wall, no snow—only water.”
That matched exactly what Yeon had suspected when she first arrived at the Ice Palace. The terrain around here had once been a lake.
“And so, soone from Zhongyuan made the long journey out to this remote place. We don’t know who they were—no records remain. But what matters is this: during the construction of that monastery, they discovered sothing.”
“What was it?”
“The Ice Crystals.”
At last, sothing solid. For all the vague rumors and fragnts of myth, the elusive Ice Crystals finally ca within reach. Yeon leaned forward slightly, about to press him further, but Karaot continued.
“To them, the Ice Crystals were a divine revelation—or remnants left behind by a legendary being, like the Ice Dragon. That’s why they nad this place the Palace of Frozen Purity.”
Palace of Frozen Purity. She’d heard that na before, from Master Myoeun. Yeon considered saying so, but stopped herself—no need to invite one of Karaot’s smug lectures.
“But before long, the king who had commissioned the monastery... died. And the one who succeeded him—maybe a new ruler, maybe a whole new dynasty, it’s unclear—chose a different religion entirely. Which ant...”
“The monastery fell into limbo.”
“Exactly! Well put.”
Karaot bead at her like a professor discovering a rare, promising student. Muttering sothing about how long it had been since he’d had a conversation like this, he launched into the next part.
“The new king seems to have disliked the presence of a monastery tied to the old faith. He ordered his n to dismantle it. And in the face of that threat, the leader of the Palace of Frozen Purity at the ti took action to protect the sanctum. So—what do you think he did?”
“Did he create the ice wall?”
“Hah! Correct again. Sharp as ever.”
Karaot turned slightly, grinning at her with genuine amusent.
“That was when the true history of the Palace of Frozen Purity began. No enemy could breach the ice wall. The power of the Ice Crystals was that imnse. And so, while the history of the grasslands changed and shifted around it, the palace endured.”
“I see...”
“You’re not bored, are you?”
“No. If anything, I’m just... fascinated. The Ice Crystals sound so unreal.”
“You don’t believe in them?”
“It’s not that. I just don’t understand how sothing like that could exist. I an, what are they? And how can they create such a massive ice wall?”
Yeon gave an awkward smile and stopped walking. Without realizing it, they had reached the bottom of the staircase. Even though she hadn’t fully believed what Karaot was saying, he didn’t show the slightest sign of offense. Instead, he gestured calmly to the corridor ahead.
“Well, you can see for yourself. We’ve arrived.”
“Oh. Already?”
Yeon followed him into a corridor cast in deep, bluish hues.
The tunnel looked like it had been carved from solid ice. Inside the translucent walls, delicate white traces stretched outward like frozen veins. Despite its appearance, the air was no longer cold. The chill had vanished.
At last, they reached the end of the corridor—and Yeon saw it.
“You’re late,” Irkin called out.
But Yeon didn’t respond. Her gaze remained fixed ahead, and slowly, she took another step forward. What lay before her was sothing so stunning, so otherworldly, it felt as though she’d stepped into a dream.
“...Ah.”
She raised a trembling hand toward the source of that shimring, srizing blue light that pulsed from beyond a sheet of eternal ice. The mont the light touched her skin, the Lightning Energy in her body stirred violently, resonating deep within her core.
The frost was dense, impenetrable, like layers of breathless winter sealed into ti itself. Yet from within, sothing pulsed—sothing alive, hidden deep in its heart like a buried organ.
She hadn’t been mistaken about the vein-like structures.
Just as blood flows through the body, so mystical energy coursed through the crystalline lattice of the ice. The pulse rippled outward, fierce and steady, as if the palace itself had a heartbeat.
“This,” Karaot said quietly, “is the Ice Crystal.”
Even his calm voice dissolved into nothingness, lost in the awe of that sacred space. And in that mont, Yeon finally understood why Myoeun had scoffed when soone called it a miracle elixir. This wasn’t so trinket of dicinal lore. It wasn’t a panacea or a secret redy.
It was an ancient relic. A monunt that defied ti.
Divine revelation? Traces of an Ice Dragon?
She’d laughed at the people who believed in that nonsense. But now that she was standing here, face-to-face with the real thing... Yeon felt like the fool. She had mocked what she couldn’t comprehend.
Who would ever imagine sothing like this could exist beneath the earth?
The energy radiating from the Ice Crystal—if one had to na it—could be called Yin Energy. But even that term felt hopelessly inadequate. The force was too vast, too primal, for human language.
As Karaot had said, it had endured for centuries. Perhaps even millennia.
And it was not a power ant for individuals. If soone tried to absorb it, their body would be torn apart—shattered from the inside out.
“In the domain of the Ice Palace,” Karaot said solemnly, “no one can defeat Irkin.”
She turned to look at him. His silver earrings and the spiked heads of his flail were glowing brighter than ever.
“The reason is simple. Irkin’s earrings and his weapon—they are conduits. Tools that channel the power of the Ice Crystal itself. Before a force like this... human martial arts are nothing.”
Yeon stared at him, stunned. And Karaot asked, his voice quiet but clear.
“Well, then... do you still wish for the Ice Crystal?”
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