Martial Arts Ain’t That Big of a Deal

“They usually replenish the cold energy every four to five years, but since the deadline has passed, we have to hurry.”

“The deadline passed? Did something happen?”

“Yes.”

“What happened?”

“I just didn’t feel like it.”

“…I see.”

That was certainly a remarkable reason.

Seo-jun clicked his tongue and observed the floating ice crystal hovering at about waist height.

Should it be called the sacred artifact of the Ice Palace? If Baek Seol-hyang’s words were true, then its output should have diminished compared to usual. However, the cold aura radiating from the ice crystal was anything but ordinary.

‘So this is how they achieve mastery in the Ice-White Divine Art?’

Seo-jun immediately grasped the principle.

Infusing one's inner energy with a specific nature was not as simple as it sounded.

There was no way a mere third-rate martial artist, just stepping onto the path of enlightenment, could imbue their energy with the essence of nature purely through will.

That was where mental cultivation techniques played a role. The formulas and imagery contained within these techniques guided martial artists, helping them gradually adapt until they could establish their own mental imprint.

As a result, a martial artist's mental landscape was inevitably influenced by the cultivation technique they practiced.

However, in the case of the Ice-White Divine Art, which dealt with extreme cold, a mental technique alone was insufficient for refining the Ice-White Divine Qi.

That deficiency was compensated for with the Ice Crystal.

By coming into contact with the crystal’s chilling aura, the practitioner could sharpen their mental imprint to be even colder, and if that wasn’t enough, they could directly absorb its cold energy into their inner reserves to supplement their training.

Simply put, the Ice-White Divine Art was a martial technique that refined Ice-White Divine Qi itself.

Since the very nature of their inner energy was divine, martial artists of the Ice Palace could exert overwhelming power simply by releasing their inner energy.

‘That’s not all there is to it.’

Seo-jun narrowed his eyes. His keen senses penetrated the essence of the Ice Crystal.

The presence embedded within it…

If he had to guess, this was something created by a Transcendent Realm martial artist.

Even if there were other objects imbued with such intense cold, it would be nearly impossible to refine Ice-White Divine Qi with them.

Without the Ice Crystal, anyone wishing to master the Ice-White Divine Art would have to abandon all they had cultivated and start anew from the very foundation.

That was nonsense.

If someone had reached the Grandmaster Realm, their martial art—whatever it may be—would have already transcended into the realm of divine techniques. No one in their right mind would throw all of that away just to cultivate the Ice-White Divine Art from scratch.

In other words, this Ice Crystal was everything to the Ice Palace. It should not be something casually revealed to just anyone.