Tread Lightly on Thawing Ice

*Clang!*

The mask split in half, revealing a face so extraordinary it seemed almost otherworldly. Skin as pale as if it would smudge with the slightest touch, a sharp and elegant nose, perfectly shaped lips. Every feature was as refined as if sculpted by a master artisan, untouched by the passage of time.

Once jet-black like the night, the hair had turned as white as the snow-capped mountains of the northern lands. It was still beautiful, but a fragile, ethereal quality had been added, as if the figure might scatter and dissolve into the air at any moment.

As the mask fell away, revealing eyes beneath fluttering, slow-blinking lashes, they shone like polished black onyx—noble and luminous. It was a visage so close to a work of art that it seemed a pity only Ye Kang-oh and the sun bore witness to it.

However, in the presence of this breathtakingly handsome man, Ye Kang-oh’s expression began to crumble. There was no way he couldn’t recognize that face. Not because it was a beauty that could rival even Song-ok or Ban-ak, but because it belonged to someone who had once been Kang-oh’s protector.

\"Is it you?\"

Ye Kang-oh, the youngest disciple of the Black Sky Lord, stood before the man he had once revered and adored.

Dan Woo-hyo, the Lord of White Virtue Palace, whom the martial world believed to be missing, was there.

\"Has it really been you all along?\"

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I am NOT the author. I\'m just translating this novel.