Dan Seol-hwa waved her hand.
The bone-chilling cold around Alex vanished instantly, as if it had never existed. Warmth flooded back into his limbs. The frost on his tactical vest melted away.
He rose to his feet, steadying himself, and answered calmly, "That's my first time hearing that name."
It was a blatant lie.
In truth, he knew Baek Seung-Ho far better than he knew her. The young man had been Dan Seol-hwa's one and only direct disciple.
The very first time they met, Seung-Ho had spoken those exact words: Who cares if others don't consider me a disciple of this place? For me, I am one of them, and that's my belief. My bloodline doesn't matter.
Those words were the reason Dan Seol-hwa had taken an interest in him.
But Baek Seung-Ho carried the blood of the Baek lineage from the Blood Demon Divine Cult.
The orthodox factions had declared war to purge him. Dan Seol-hwa's own sister, who had fallen in love with the leader of the orthodox alliance, betrayed her.
That betrayal led directly to Seung-Ho's death.
That was the day the title Ice Spirit Sword gained the word Demonic in front of it.
She had gone mad.
She slaughtered everyone — friend and foe alike — until her Ice Heaven Divine Sword Art turned the entire Murim world into a frozen graveyard.
Not a single soul survived.
Alex had mentioned the name on purpose.
Not everyone in the Hall was forcibly imprisoned. Some, like Dan Seol-hwa, had entered under specific conditions.
Hers was simple: she would only serve the Hall Master if she could meet her disciple again. Since that was impossible, the acting Hall Master had promised her the next best thing — his reincarnation.
By acting like Seung-Ho, Alex was planting the first seeds of doubt.
He was using her unconditional love and care for her disciple as a resource.
Did he feel bad about it?
Yeah… he did.
But he had no other choice.
Dan Seol-hwa wasn't some weak villain trapped near the bottom of the Hall. She ranked inside the top one hundred. She was powerful, terrifyingly so, yet strangely sane and easy to control if approached the right way.
The original Alex had only met her once — and that meeting had ended with him killing her to steal her absolute mastery over the ice element.
This time, things would be different.
Dan Seol-hwa stared at him in silence, her cold blue eyes narrowing slightly.
The grand zither on her lap remained untouched.
Alex kept his head slightly bowed, heart beating steadily as he waited for her next words.
"Why have you come here?" she asked.
'Yes!' he cheered inwardly.
He raised his head, looked directly into her oceanic blue eyes, and answered, "I want to get stronger."
Dan Seol-hwa's head tilted lazily. "Who doesn't?"
She lifted her finger.
Miniature sculptures of ice in the shape of a martial artist, a butcher, a government officer, and a pig appeared on a dark ice table.
"A pig fears the butcher so it wants to be stronger than him. An officer fears the martial artist so he seeks to have more power than him."
More sculptures appeared around them and she added,
"Every person has something they wish, someone they fear, somebody they love and care for… and from them stems their motivation. However, what makes you any different than a pig when your thoughts are just as muddled?"
After a moment of silence, Alex's lips parted.
"I do not consider my emotions a weakness. They do not muddle my mind. Instead, they give me the ability to function when I cannot. Who even decides whose goal is grander?"
His eyes turned cold with an intensity he had never shown before. "What gives you the right to call my emotions insignificant?"
A small smile crossed Dan Seol-hwa's lips.
"I do not need to be anything to judge you. I simply can. You speak that your emotions fuel you, yet a single statement was all it took for you to falter… By nature, emotions aren't insignificant, but under the wrong mind they become chains that stop you from looking farther."
Alex's eyes widened. At that moment he finally understood — she wasn't trying to put him down. She was teaching him not to be trapped by his emotions. She was already showing him what it meant to be a true martial artist.
She was teaching him to keep a clear mind and to never be predictable.
He lowered his head and spoke sincerely, "I am grateful for your teachings, Palace Master."
"You don't have to be," she mumbled and pointed a finger at him.
"Are you the Hall Master?"
Alex scratched the back of his head. "That's difficult to answer."
She furrowed her pure white brows. "Hmm? What do you mean?"
"Well… I am the Hall Master, but I am too weak to actually take the role, so a person is acting as the Hall Master in my stead."
"Ah. So you defeat that person to become the true Hall Master?"
"Yes."
Dan Seol-hwa nodded. She rose from the throne and stepped down the icy steps. "From this day forward, you are a disciple of my palace."
Hearing that, Alex's lips widened into a grin and he bowed deeply. "Thank you, Palace Master."
Dan Seol-hwa turned without another word and gestured for him to follow.
They left the throne room and walked down a long, echoing corridor until they reached the training hall — a vast chamber with a dark stone floor and smooth ice walls that reflected the pale light of the glowing pearls hanging from the ceiling like endless mirrors.
She stopped in the center of the hall and raised her hand.
Ice particles swirled violently in the air before condensing into a perfect human-sized figure standing opposite Alex. Its features were blank and featureless, yet its stance was steady and trained.
"This is a third-rate martial artist," she said calmly. "Fight it."
A system screen appeared before Alex's eyes.
[You have received a minor quest.]
[Quest: First Spar — Fight and defeat the Ice Puppet (Third-Rate Martial Artist).]
[Reward: +1 Experience, +1 Dominion Point.]
'What a generous reward.' He took a deep breath, clenching his fists tightly at his sides, and dashed forward.