The Vessel of Pure Yin
Nine Yin Severed Meridians.
A constitution so rare that one might appear only once in a thousand years—born with pure yin energy flooding every meridian of the body.
To think I would see Nine Yin Severed Meridians… here, of all places.
Ha-wol’s voice held pure, unfiltered awe.
What is that?
Exactly as the name implies. The nine major acupoints are blocked by frigid yin energy, so the circulation of qi never runs smooth. Because of that, the child is frail from the start and is fated to die before her twentieth year.
“…….”
Hmm. Looking at this girl, the symptoms haven’t been showing for long. In the old world she could have scraped by, I suppose—just a little weaker than the other children.
What do you mean?
The world has changed, hasn’t it? When that Tower of Despair rises, the very quality of the energy flowing through the air transforms. The yin inside her has grown far denser and colder than before.
Hyun Si-woon nodded at Ha-wol’s explanation. He had already half-guessed as much. With monsters appearing and the Tower piercing the sky, the air itself could never have remained the same. The fact that he and his members could learn martial arts at all rested on the same principle.
Is there a cure?
There is one… but you might as well call it impossible.
Why?
You would need a spiritual medicine of extreme yang—the inner core of a Ten-Thousand-Year Fire Carp, or the tears of a Vermilion Bird. Those are divine treasures Rankers hunt with bloodshot eyes.
Her tone stayed calm, yet Si-woon felt something else stirring beneath that composure.
That’s it? No other way?
The question lit the fuse. Ha-wol’s voice changed in an instant.
Another way? Heh-heh-heh… another way, you say…!
She laughed—softly at first, then with rising excitement he could feel through the bond.
Why would there be no way? For that child there is a path far more perfect than any spiritual medicine!
……?
Si-woon’s brow furrowed. He had never heard her sound like this.
What’s gotten into her?
In a time long past, before Ha-wol was ever called the Sword God, her master—the previous lord of Wol-ryeong, the Moon Immortal—had often said the same thing.
“Ha-wol, you possess a martial talent unmatched under heaven. Yet even your gift has a clear limit.”
“What do you mean by that, Master?”
Young Ha-wol bristled. Confusion and irrepressible pride shone together in her clear eyes.
“I reached the ranks of Moon Gang at only sixteen! In Wol-ryeong’s thousands of years of history, no one but the founding sect master ever achieved that, and you yourself praised me for it! How can you say I have a limit?”
Her protest was not wrong. Moon Gang—the stage where one no longer merely coats the blade with solidified qi, but wraps the entire body in a thin protective film of it. To enter the ranks of absolute masters at sixteen was a true feat. The Moon Immortal only met her childish pride with a quiet smile.
“If—just if—you ever meet a child born with the Heavenly Yin Body, bring her into Wol-ryeong by any means necessary. That child alone can complete our sword.”
Heavenly Yin Body. The world called it Nine Yin Severed Meridians—a cursed constitution in which every scrap of yang is extinguished, leaving only pure yin. Yet the secret manuals passed down through Wol-ryeong told a different story.
Nine Yin Severed Meridians was no curse. It was a blessing from heaven, the one and only vessel capable of holding pure yin energy. Those born with the Heavenly Yin Body were natural geniuses of the martial path; their constitution meshed perfectly with the Moon Spirit Divine Art and was regarded as the sole gateway to its final stage—Moon God.
The problem was that the constitution itself was vanishingly rare, and even when it appeared, the child usually died young without ever knowing what she carried. That was why the Moon Immortal, after years spent searching for a true successor, had settled for Ha-wol as the next best thing.
Hah… I scoured mountains and rivers and never saw so much as a shadow, yet the moon was floating in the well all along.
To think I would find so easily the legendary talent Master spent her whole life seeking!
You brat!
Huh?
Take that child as your disciple this instant.
Disciple?
That pure vessel of yin. Leaving a child like her to rot in a corner is a sin against heaven itself.
Si-woon was briefly speechless. He looked again at Yoon Seo-a, lying on the bed and struggling for every breath. Twelve years old—an age for running wild and dreaming. And this child was supposed to climb the blood-soaked Tower of Despair?
Listen, you punk. If there is a true heir to Wol-ryeong, it is neither this lady nor you. It is that child.
“……?”
What do you think will happen when your monstrous instincts combine with her genius? Wol-ryeong will not merely reclaim its former glory—it will write a myth never before seen in the history of the Tower!
“Um…”
Yoon Tae-shik’s trembling voice cut in then. Si-woon had been staring at Seo-a for so long that the man had sensed something.
“Do you… know of a cure?”
Si-woon fell silent. Which path was right? Was it right to force that terrible road upon a child who knew nothing? When Ha-wol told him to take a disciple, the word carried a weight different from anything in the old world. It meant accepting Seo-a as family and taking responsibility for her entire life.
And if I do that…
It also meant accepting the guild master of Owl—Yoon Tae-shik himself. He was her father, after all. Thoughts chased one another in endless circles. And if he turned away? The child would die. From Ha-wol’s words, the spiritual medicines that could save her almost certainly did not exist inside the Tower.
A long, short moment. Tens of thousands of thoughts collided inside his skull. Then, as if the decision had settled, he met Yoon Tae-shik’s eyes squarely.
Fine.
This world was already hell. Looking away in hell only meant dying together. They were still alive, and living things possessed the instinct to survive.
I’m climbing the Tower to live, too, aren’t I?
“Yes,” Si-woon answered. “There is a way.”
“Th-that… is it true?”
Yoon Tae-shik’s eyes widened with shock and wild joy. After the world turned upside down he had never once heard those words—not from any doctor, not from any ancient text. The slender thread of possibility had come from the young leader standing before him.
“I’ll do anything! Everything I own, everything the guild owns—I’ll offer it all! Please… please save Seo-a!”
Thud. Yoon Tae-shik dropped to his knees again. Before his daughter’s life, pride meant nothing. This time Si-woon did not help him up.
“But nothing in this world is free.”
“Y-yes, of course.”
“That isn’t what I mean. Your daughter was born with a special constitution. The only way to master it is for her to grow strong herself.”
Yoon Tae-shik’s gaze wavered. He half-understood what the words implied.
“She will have to climb the Tower. Under me—as my disciple—learning my techniques.”
Thud. Yoon Tae-shik’s heart plummeted. His own daughter… climbing that monstrous Tower? Walking into that hell of her own free will? Was that truly “living”? Would it not be kinder, as a father, to let her close her eyes in peace?
Countless thoughts tore through his mind.
“Cough! Ghk—huff, hah…!”
At that moment Yoon Seo-a’s body arched like a bow on the bed and she coughed violently. Her thin frame convulsed as she gasped for air—hyperventilation.
“Seo-a! Seo-a!”
“Doctor! Quickly!”
Yoon Tae-shik rushed to his daughter, face ashen, while the waiting physician scrambled to check her. But her breathing only grew rougher; there was no sign of improvement.
Now, you punk.
Huh?
Your Moon Spirit Divine Art is pure yin. Channel the faintest thread of energy into her body. It should stabilize the rampaging yin for a little while.
Si-woon did not hesitate. He strode forward and gently laid a hand on Yoon Seo-a’s forehead.
“W-wait! What are you—!”
The doctor tried to stop him, but Yoon Tae-shik raised a hand. He was grasping at straws.
A cool, clear energy flowed from Si-woon’s fingertips. The power of the Moon Spirit Divine Art seeped gently along the child’s meridians.
Then a miracle happened.
“Ahh…”
The frantic, death-throes breathing of moments before eased as if by a lie. The convulsions stopped. A faint color returned to the face that had been pale to the point of blue.
“Th-this can’t be…”
The doctor’s mouth fell open. Fits that no drug had been able to quell had stopped with nothing more than a hand on the forehead. Medicine had no explanation for it.
Slowly, Yoon Seo-a opened her eyes. Unfocused pupils found her father.
“……Dad.”
“S-Seo-a! Are you with us? Are you all right?”
Yoon Tae-shik’s voice shook with emotion. How long had it been since he heard his daughter speak so clearly?
“Yeah… my body feels a little lighter.”
Life had returned to her voice.
“It’s been so long… breathing this easy. It doesn’t hurt at all, Dad. It feels so good.”
The child managed a smile—faint but unmistakable, the peaceful smile of someone waking from a long nightmare. The moment Yoon Tae-shik saw it, every doubt vanished. He turned to face Hyun Si-woon. No trace of hesitation remained in his eyes—only absolute faith and hope.
“I beg you.”
He pressed his forehead to the floor.
“My daughter—no, everything I am—I offer it all. From this moment Owl will be your eyes and ears, your shadow, and we will give you our absolute loyalty. Please… take Seo-a in.”
Yoon Tae-shik swore it with all his heart: he would trust the young man who had worked this miracle. He would stake his soul to help him.
In the end…
Si-woon felt there was no other choice.
All right. Let’s look at the bright side.
Climbing the Tower would force his force to grow whether he liked it or not. No one reached the summit alone. If he was going to take a hand, there was no cleaner card than this—an information guild bound by absolute loyalty, and the legendary talent Ha-wol praised so highly. All of it had fallen into his grasp.
He met the eyes of Yoon Seo-a, who looked up at him from the bed. The child was no longer afraid. A faint expectation even seemed to glimmer there.
I don’t know what the future holds…
He made his decision. He would take this child’s hand and cross hell together.