Free Web NovelThe island where the Northern Sea Ice Palace stood was like a volcano’s crater.
Cliffs veiled the island so that, seen from afar, it looked like a black lotus.
Someone had bored a hole in the rock wall encircling the island and made a gate, and that gate led to the Northern Sea Ice Palace.
Unlike the impregnable fortress nature had provided, the wall around the Ice Palace was low. It was only about as high as a grown man, so one could fairly call it a fence.
If one entered through the cliffs, there was a road that led straight to the Ice Palace’s entrance.
Once, it had been a road only the Northern Sea Seven Seats could walk.
The people of the Northern Sea called it the Seven Paths.
There were not that many days when the Seven Paths were used.
The palace opened only when the Northern Sea Seven Seats had found their masters, and if even one seat stood vacant, they carried on endless training to find its master.
The Northern Sea Seven Seats yielded their entire lives until one appeared who perfected the Five Peerless Arts.
This was why there were so many wild tales about the Northern Sea Ice Palace. Because the periods of closure were longer than the days of opening, rumors close to legend clung to it.
What was curious was that even though the Ice Palace’s master lived with the gate shut, the island had never once been invaded by outsiders until the Blood Demon appeared.
When the island grew dangerous, the Ice Palace people who lived outside the palace went up the mountain and hung a red cloth, and then the Ice Palace’s gate would open and the Seven Seats killed the intruders who had entered the Northern Sea.
The Seven Paths fulfilled their use in such cases.
At the most perilous moment, the blood kin who stepped forth was the strongest First Seat, and he was the pride of the Ice Palace.
So when the three houses who had lived under the Ice Palace’s protection opened the gate with their own hands and surrendered the palace lord’s blood kin to the Blood Demon, the shock and betrayal the Ice Palace people suffered were beyond reckoning.
The houses of the North Sea knew that anger very well.
Thus, they feared more than the Blood Cult the return of the Ice Palace blood kin who had escaped the cult back to the island.
An old man in silk, as if he had not slept a wink, asked with bloodshot eyes,
"...So you are saying you did not find a single boat?"
The middle-aged man bowing his head before him wore a similar style of dress to the old man.
The embroidery on the silk bore the same pattern, and their features were similar as well.
Sweating profusely, the man kept his head lowered.
"Yes, Father. It seems all of them sank."
Unable to compose himself, the old man bit his nails. The sound of grinding teeth alone filled the secret chamber.
Unable to endure the tense air, the son opened his mouth.
"Please do not worry too much. As soon as it grows light tomorrow, we will ask the Han family and the Dong family for support and inspect the shore."
"Foolish talk!"
The old man snatched up the water cup on the table and hurled it.
Clang. freewebnøvel.com
Rare porcelain brought from the Central Plains turned to trash.
The son realized his father was not as usual and shut his mouth meekly.
"You say so because you do not know! If the Seven Seats have appeared, even if we gather all the forces on the island, we cannot face them! We will not last even half a day."
The Eom Family Head muttered curses under his breath.
‘There he goes again with the Seven Seats.’
His father feared the Seven Seats more than anyone in the world. When he spoke the name of the Seven Seats, he would nearly foam white at the mouth.
‘The Seven Seats are not some house dog’s name—how could they be made in a snap? It must be those Ice Palace bastards, unable to bear their hunger, running amok.’
While the son found his father’s jitters contemptible, the old man sprang to his feet.
"T-this will not do. We must quickly fetch the Red Blood Hall Lord! At first light tomorrow we will gather men and find a way to send word to Geumeunsan..."
Startled by the old man’s words, the son spoke again.
"Father! They say the seats are not filled so easily—how can you speak so without certainty? You worry far too much. If we send word to the Red Blood Hall Lord over something like this and o-offend the Hall Lord’s temper, what will we do?"
The Red Blood Hall Lord being away had let them breathe easier, but now he was saying to bring the Hall Lord back, and the Family Head was sweating like rain.
When the Red Blood Hall Lord once flew into a rage, it took three days just to clear the corpses.
It was not as if he did not know that, yet the father muttered like one gone senile.
"You do not know; you speak because you do not know. The Ice Palace never lets a subordinate move first. If the Ice Palace moved first, it means the Seven Seats stepped out. And if the Seven Seats have shown themselves..."
The old man’s bloodshot pupils shook wildly.
"It means the seats of the Seven Seats have all been filled."
The son swallowed a sigh.
He had never seen the Northern Sea Seven Seats.
But he had seen the Northern Sea Ice Palace’s blood kin.
He had seen ones the Blood Cult bastards led around, and before they were sent to the Central Plains, he would leave them at the hot spring the Eom family operated to tidy up their bodies.
Boys just past ten were unimpressive. When the Blood Cult bastards struck them, they simply took the blows; when cursed, they listened; when toyed with, they quietly submitted.
The Ice Palace blood kin he had seen were as lethargic and paltry as dogs raised roughly.
So he found it hard to sympathize with his father trembling like that.
Muttering to himself, the old man seemed to recall something and jumped up from his seat.
"H-how many double-hours has it been since the boats put out?!"
"They went out around the Rabbit hour, so in two double-hours a day will have passed."
"What? Then you’re saying the surface has frozen?"
"Yes, that is so, but it is all right. If anything, even without boats we can send an armed unit to inspect the shore..."
"Y-you, you madman!"
The old man swept up and hurled the implements on the table at random.
"Ugh! Father! I was wrong! At first light tomorrow I will tell the Dong family and the Han family and beg them to lend us ice-breaking boats! All our boats have sunk, so we cannot put out to sea now."
The son fell to his knees and pleaded.
The three houses of the Northern Sea divided the year into thirds and, in turn, broke the ice. freewebnσvel.cѳm
In truth, they could have borrowed boats from another house by day, but they felt too ashamed to ask.
Not long ago, when the Han family said it was strange that a bow had been broken and suggested that an intruder had entered the island and they should search it, he had ignored them.
Frankly, the Eom Family Head had not thought the situation serious.
His stomach hurt if he fasted even one day, and yet for months already he had cut off food rations along the water’s edge.
He believed the Northern Sea Ice Palace’s blood kin, unable to endure hunger, were struggling to enter the island.
He also hoped that one or two would come walking in of their own accord.
‘If they come, all the better. If we catch them and hand them over to the Red Blood Hall, we could live in peace for a while.’
Of course, his father thought differently.
The Grand Family Head came all the way down the stairs.
"Out of the way. I will go to the Han family right now and tell them to launch boats!"
"F-father, the timing is not good right now."
When the old man hefted a flower vase from the corridor, the son covered his head with his arms. He had not even been struck by the vase yet, but forgetting all dignity, he screamed first.
"Aaah! They say people are coming from the Central Plains right now!"
Feeling no pain, the son cracked his eyes open.
The old man had good strength, too. Father had halted with the flower vase raised to head height.
The son quickly explained the situation.
"T-the men who brought grain from the Central Plains this time said so. They said the Martial Alliance sent people to the Northern Sea Branch. The Central Plains cannot obtain Binggeukjicho right now and it is a mess, so they say they sent the Four-Directions Hall to try to procure an elixir imbued with yin energy."
"...You mean the Martial Alliance is coming here now?"
"Y-yes. They should be almost here. As soon as the Han family heard that, they set the Ice Palace in order and placed house servants to imitate Central Plainsers. S-still, as you say, time is urgent, so tomorrow I will go borrow boats."
"Why of all people are those Han family bastards playing at being masters of the Ice Palace?"
Setting down the flower vase, the old man showed his displeasure.
He feared the Ice Palace blood kin, and yet he seemed to covet the Ice Palace.
The son, who thought the Ice Palace paltry, found the elder’s greed contemptible.
"However you look at it, the Han bastards speak the Central Plains tongue the best, don’t they? They trade a lot with Hubei too, so when it comes to the Martial Alliance’s culture, the Han bastards naturally..."
"I told you every time to learn the Central Plains tongue properly! How could you yield that place to the Han bastards!"
"I am sorry."
They had been forced to learn the Central Plains tongue to curry favor with the Blood Cult. One had to prove one’s usefulness to them to keep the family’s rank.
Knowing how those of the Martial Alliance who surrendered the Central Plains’ culture and language had died, he strove always to prove his usefulness to the Blood Cult.
The Central Plains was where the Blood Demon was applying his efforts.
The Outland was already in his hands, so it was only natural he took an interest in the next region to be conquered.
His father, it seemed, feared the Blood Demon more than the Northern Sea Seven Seats, for he calmed quickly. He straightened his clothes and let out a long breath.
"Let us go to the Ice Palace."
"...Right now?"
"If they are coming from Martial Alliance headquarters, we can get a great deal of good information. We cannot let the Han bastards monopolize that."
"You do not mean we should be the ones to imitate Central Plainsers, do you?"
Because his father always barked at him to speak the Central Plains tongue, the son had been using it diligently, but there were quite a few awkward parts.
The father clicked his tongue and shook his head.
"I expect nothing of you!"
"I am sorry."
"The Ice Palace is not suited for outsiders to stay. I intend to say that guests should be received at our Eom family. I will go to the Ice Palace, so you put the hot spring in order and prepare to receive the guests."
The hot spring pavilion was luxurious, but it was not an inn—it was a courtesan house.
"Uh, Father—the Four-Directions Hall Administrator is said to be a woman."
The old man let out a long sigh as if the son were hopeless.
"Then what should we do?"
"Mm, is that to say we should place male house servants of decent looks?"
The old man’s face twisted.
"You wretch...! Must I teach you every last thing!"
The Grand Family Head, who had raised his hand, muttered curses and went outside.
The Grand Family Head’s words had not meant to prepare prostitutes. He meant to find what Central Plainsers might like and prepare it, but the Family Head did not properly understand.
"Are you there outside?"
"Yes, Family Head."
"Find and bring about twenty good-looking house servants. If there are none, bring them in from outside. We will send them to the hot spring, so hurry."
"Yes, I will prepare it at once."
While the Eom Family Head made trouble, the ice of the Northern Sea froze all the harder.
