The Sect Leader's Granddaughter
Moyong Hye.
Two days later, the guests Cheongryu had mentioned arrived at Yeonun Pavilion.
"Mistress, the Sect Leader is here to see you."
I had been spending time with Cheongryu in the garden when Hongryeon's voice drifted in from where she stood waiting beyond its gates.
"Bid her enter."
From the garden's entrance, a woman and a girl walked in together.
"Martial senior sister Cheong, it's been a while. I'd love to see you more often, but sect matters keep me terribly busy, you see."
The Sect Leader was a woman of elegant bearing. Her eyes were narrowed into thin slits that hid their irises almost entirely, but her gently down-turned lashes gave her a soft, approachable air.
"If you had nothing to ask of me, you wouldn't have come at all. Spare me the pleasantries."
"It wounds me that you see me as such a mercenary. You're the one who insists on saying exactly what she thinks to everyone's face — is it any wonder you're all alone here in the Okeum Sect? In any case, allow me to introduce the granddaughter I mentioned last time."
After their brief sparring match of words, the girl who had been standing half a step behind the Sect Leader stepped up beside her and bowed her head in greeting.
"I pay my respects to the Pavilion Master of Yeonun Pavilion. This humble girl is called Moyong Hye."
She was a girl about my age, and between her expressionless face, her straight, level eyes, and her stiff manner of speaking, she gave off an almost mechanical impression.
Yet something about her was odd. Her hands trembled continuously, her skin was deathly pale, and her lips had taken on a faint purplish tinge — she looked as though she were in pain.
"This is the first time I've seen you introduce a descendant yourself."
"Fufu, that's how talented she is. She possesses a Water-attribute Heavenly Spiritual Root, no less. I'd wager she has the finest talent in the entire Okeum Sect."
"Pfft! Ah — forgive me. Something struck me as funny for a moment there."
"…? And what, exactly, was funny about what I just said?"
The Sect Leader seemed to place enormous hopes in Moyong Hye — which was no doubt why Cheongryu had burst out laughing at the words "finest talent."
"Your disciple is so exceptional, I suppose, that anything I say sounds like a joke by comparison. This child could ascend to the Qi Condensation stage at any moment. We've merely delayed it due to a certain problem — but once that is resolved, she will rewrite the history of our sect."
The Sect Leader frowned and snapped at Cheongryu, clearly stung.
Incidentally, judging from their exchange, the two of them did not seem to get along at all.
"I simply recalled something amusing, that is all — so calm yourself. Now, sit and let us talk. Let us share a cup of tea in the garden I tended with my own two hands."
The two of them made their way to a pavilion set up in the garden and took their seats there.
Moyong Hye and I followed behind them.
Seated in the pavilion, the Sect Leader lifted the tea Hongryeon had brought and was about to say something to Cheongryu when she noticed me standing behind and asked, "By the way, who is that maid behind you? Her face is covered entirely."
"A new maid. Her face is frightful, so she keeps it veiled. Pay her no mind."
"I hadn't realized you'd take in a child with such a flaw. Weren't you the one forever going on about beauty this, beauty that?"
The Sect Leader let her gaze rest on me for a moment, then lost interest. She clearly considered me of no consequence whatsoever.
And so the two of them sipped their tea and exchanged idle small talk, until the atmosphere soon turned serious.
"You're well aware of Hye's condition, aren't you, martial senior sister?"
"Of course — I've been examining her ever since she arrived. Though her condition looks quite poor, indeed."
"I was reluctant to ask this of you, but now that it's come out that she can be treated at all, you're the only one within the sect who can do it…."
Treatment? She certainly looked unwell, but had she contracted some grave illness, then?
The two of them continued to converse for some time after that.
Once a fair stretch of time had passed and they seemed ready to part, Cheongryu spoke up. "It seems this treatment should begin sooner rather than later, so be on your way. You're busy too, aren't you?"
"Haa… In any case, I leave her in your care. And if you try anything strange, I won't stand for it — you'll treat her and send her home. Nothing more."
"You worry over everything, don't you? Do I look like you, to me?"
Cheongryu and the Sect Leader exchanged a few more words before bidding each other farewell.
And so the Sect Leader departed, leaving only Moyong Hye behind.
"Follow me."
"Yes."
Cheongryu instructed Moyong Hye to come with her.
Moyong Hye answered briefly and fell in step behind her, and I trailed after the two of them.
Cheongryu led us to her private chamber.
Moyong Hye looked even worse after that short walk — her whole body shaking, she moved like someone standing in a freezing place.
"Come closer, then. Shhh… there, good girl."
Once Moyong Hye had drawn near, Cheongryu placed a hand atop her head. Then she began whispering something into her ear.
At once the tension in Moyong Hye's eyes melted away, and her lips parted slightly.
"Jihwa, come here."
I approached at Cheongryu's summons without delay.
"Let me tell you about the problem this child suffers from. She is learning the Okeum Binggyeol just as you did — but though you practice the same technique, unlike you, she is suffering its side effects."
This girl was learning the Okeum Binggyeol too? But I've never had symptoms like that.
"The Okeum Binggyeol is a technique created by the first Sect Leader to suit her own constitution, and those who learn it develop a tendency that drives the yang qi out of the body. But ordinary cultivators must maintain a balance of yin and yang — so unless one possesses a Frost Spiritual Root or another spiritual body suited to yin qi, problems are bound to arise."
"Moyong Hye has only an ordinary Water-attribute spiritual root, which is why this has happened. My martial junior sister the Sect Leader suffered the same side effects in her day, but she resolved it through dual cultivation to acquire yang qi, while Moyong Hye has apparently been suppressing it with pills."
"The problem, however, is that her yin qi has now surpassed what the pills' yang qi can suppress."
"Then why would anyone learn it, with side effects like that?"
Curious, I asked Cheongryu. From where I stood, the costs seemed to far outweigh the benefits.
Cheongryu paused, choosing her words, then spoke.
"For one thing, the Moyong family are the blood descendants of the Okeum Sect's first Sect Leader. I don't think it amounts to much myself, but my junior sister has always clung to that lineage — and she dreamed of becoming Sect Leader herself."
"And so, when I became the disciple of the Supreme Sect Master, my junior sister — who had been striving to catch the Supreme Master's eye — must have been shattered. After all, I appeared out of nowhere, possessed a spiritual body capable of learning the Okeum Binggyeol that she herself lacked, and claimed the seat of first disciple. In my estimation, that inferiority complex is the very reason she learned the technique."
"Moyong Hye, caught in the middle of all that, was apparently forced to train in the Okeum Binggyeol by her grandmother's obsession and greed."
A faintly bitter expression crossed Cheongryu's face.
So Cheongryu possessed a spiritual body too. I wanted to ask what kind, but there was too much to do right now, so I decided to save the question for later.
With my curiosities thus settled, the explanation of the treatment began.
"Your Han-eum Earth Root has, through your training in the Okeum Binggyeol, taken on the characteristics of that technique as well. And its qi is the perfect higher-grade counterpart of the qi obtainable through the Okeum Binggyeol. Therefore, if you guide the qi with your spiritual root, you will be able to absorb it from within Moyong Hye's body."
"Absorb, you say?"
Out of nowhere — absorb?
"Yes. We will use a method adapted from the dual cultivation technique. It will benefit you and Moyong Hye both, so don't worry."
Dual cultivation? Isn't that a bedroom art? But between two girls…?
"Whaaat?!"
"Fuho, it's nothing like what you're imagining, so put those strange thoughts away. We're merely borrowing the principle. My, my — so an eleven-year-old knows what dual cultivation is."
She grinned at my flushed face and sputtering reaction.
"N-no, that's…"
"In any case, so long as you do as I say, you'll reap quite a harvest yourself."
With that, Cheongryu took my hand and led me to the center of the chamber. Then she beckoned the dazed Moyong Hye over and had her sit cross-legged before me.
"I have suppressed her Cursed Earth Root, so she will not perceive your presence. I will assist with the first few circuits of qi circulation — after that, you must move her qi as well on your own."
Cheongryu had me sit behind Moyong Hye.
"Now — place one hand over this child's lower dantian. The other goes on her back, at the height of her heart."
It felt a bit like committing a sin, but this was a treatment, so I complied without protest.
Soon Cheongryu placed a hand on my back and began the circulation.
The pathway was similar to the Okeum Binggyeol. The difference was that the qi passed through both of our bodies.
And rather than flowing to each of our lower dantians separately, the qi that had passed through us both converged on mine.
As the Han-eum True Qi left my lower dantian and crossed through Moyong Hye's, it drew in her Okeum cold qi until the two became one.
That intertwined energy then made a full circuit of Moyong Hye's body, pulling out the Okeum cold qi that had seeped into every corner of her, swelling as it went.
Through the hand pressed to her back, I drew the qi into my own body, where I set it running through the Small Heavenly Circuit.
I absorbed the yin qi and cold qi into my dantian, then circulated the remaining qi once more and sent it back through the hand resting on Moyong Hye's lower dantian.
And so, savoring the strangely satisfying feeling of my qi swelling with every cycle, I devoted myself to the circulation.
"Enough."
At that point, Cheongryu intervened and brought the circulation to a halt.
"We'll stop here for today. If we go on, your own qi could become tainted — and if this child loses too much energy at once, it would be dangerous for her as well."
At her words, I turned my gaze inward, and sure enough, my Han-eum Earth Root was radiating a chill colder than usual.
Looking at Moyong Hye, she seemed to have drifted off — eyes closed, breathing out soft, ragged sighs. The drain of her qi had exhausted her.
That said, her complexion had more color in it than before; she looked better off than she had when she arrived.
"We'll do this over the course of several days, so return to your room and settle your qi. When this is over, you and this child will both have made a remarkable achievement."
Still — was it really all right for Moyong Hye to lose this much energy to me?
"She may be one thing, but isn't Moyong sojeo having her energy taken from her?"
"Of course she is. But her way of suppressing the yin qi was to ingest pills laced with yang qi — so as the yin qi drains out of her, that yang qi, no longer needing to be held down, will be absorbed into her body and do her good. There's nothing to worry about."
That was a relief, then.
"Go and rest now."
I headed for my room to make the qi my own.
Somewhere in the middle of running the Small Heavenly Circuit in my room, the next day had arrived before I knew it.
Truthfully, there wasn't much digesting to be done. I was simply splitting the condensed qi into finer and finer pieces.
Think of it as turning a liquid into vapor. Just as a person cannot live underwater but can survive in steam, my dantian and body could not yet bear high-density spiritual energy until they matured — so it had been thinned out for me.
"Whew…"
When I opened my eyes and looked inward, I found that I had reached the 8th Star of Qi Refining without noticing.
The later stages of Qi Refining centered on opening the twelve meridians, and yesterday, during the process of running high-density spiritual energy through the circuit with Moyong Hye and thinning it out, my qi had spread out into those meridians — and thanks to that, I had broken through.
"If things go well, I might even aim for the 9th Star."
I steadied my excitement and left my room.
When I made my way to Cheongryu's chamber, she greeted me warmly.
"The effects are certain, then. This much growth in a single day. Moyong Hye — I will bring that child, so prepare as you did yesterday."
And so the treatment — which was also cultivation — continued for a full week.