I tilted my head slightly at his words.
"Supreme Ruler?"
The cold I had been feeling faded momentarily.
The statement was that surprising.
Had he just called someone the Supreme Ruler of Zhongyuan?
"What does that even mean?"
I stood there, dumbfounded by his words.
"The Supreme Ruler (è³å°)?"
The Supreme Ruler of Zhongyuan.
No faces came to mind upon hearing those words.
The term referred to the one hailed as the greatest under heaven.
"But no one in Zhongyuan holds such a title right now."
Currently, there wasnât a martial artist in Zhongyuan who fit that role.
The Three Supremes at the edge of Cheonoecheon were just thatâthree individuals.
The Wudang Sword Saint, as the Alliance Leader, stood beneath even them.
The heads of the three great familiesâor rather, the current three great familiesâwere merely in their physical primes as martial artists.
They were far from being called the strongest.
So who could this person be referring to as the Supreme Ruler?
"Could it be the Sword Sovereign?"
The former Alliance Leader and one of the Three Supremes who led the Alliance during its golden age.
While not the supreme under heaven,
he was renowned as the Greatest Sword Under Heaven (天ä¸ç¬¬ä¸å). Could he mean the Sword Sovereign?
It wouldnât be strange.
With Cheonma absent, the Sword Sovereign was often brought up as a contender for the title of the greatest.
Moreoverâ
"This man might have ties to the Sword Sovereign."
The man before me could have a connection to him.
He might have met him in person.
Or simply heard of him.
I wasnât certain.
So I decided to ask directly.
âAre you referring to the Sword Sovereign?â
[Hmm�]
When I mentioned the Sword Sovereign, the manâs eyes flickered.
Watching him, my brow furrowed slightly.
Those eyes were unsettling.
His breath, his gazeâeverything about him was irritating.
[The Sword Sovereign, yes⦠there was someone like that.]
From his words, it seemed the Sword Sovereign wasnât who he was referring to.
Then who was it?
"I donât know, and nowâs not the time to care about this."
Supreme Ruler or not, what difference did it make?
What mattered wasâ
ââ¦Are you the Lord of the Ice Palace?â
Who was this person in front of me?
In truth, there wasnât much to deliberate on.
I already knew who had summoned me.
And just from the aura emanating from him, I could guess his identity.
Shiver.
My fingertips trembled.
The cold pierced through my internal heat and dug into my skin.
The pressure from his aura bore down heavily on my shoulders.
He was powerful.
Far stronger than the Black Lion or White Lion who guarded the door earlier.
"So, this is the ruler of the North Sea."