Chapter 02
A soft breath escaped her.
“Huuh!”
Hongseol forced herself to inhale deeply, barely suppressing the urge to run away immediately.
‘If I remember correctly, that old man definitely asked why I need the inner core.’
Nervous, she swallowed hard and waited.
Soon, Namgung Ho approached and asked in a dignified voice,
“Child, why do you need this creature’s inner core?”
“Mom!”
Startled, Hongseol instinctively dashed behind the tree again. Her hand gripping the trunk trembled violently.
‘I came back… to before I died! What should I do now?’
This time, she might be able to avoid falling off the cliff.
‘But I have nowhere to go anymore…’
Her only home.
Her mother was there—and she wished for her death.
Hongseol’s small nose turned red in an instant.
Everything she had done felt meaningless.
Her frozen, cracked hands climbing all the way to the icy peak of Mount Daechok… enduring fear to ask the giant snake for the inner core…
Tears welled in her eyes as she looked toward Namgung Ho.
Meanwhile, Namgung Ho was speaking to the snake.
“Dang I-mu, what on earth are you doing with such a young child?”
— Long time no see, Namgung Ho.
Sword King Namgung Ho.
The former head of the Namgung Clan, and even after passing down his position, still called the “Number One of Namgung.” A martial artist said to be among the top ten in the world of Jianghu, a master of the Transformation Realm (Hwagyeong). A figure most people would never even hope to see.
But Dang I-mu greeted him as casually as if he were a roadside stone.
— What brings you here?
“I came to have a drink with you after a long time.”
At that, Dang I-mu murmured,
— Ah… come to think of it, today is Lady Wi’s death anniversary.
As expected of an old friend—quick-witted. Namgung Ho changed the subject to hide his bitterness.
“By the way, who is that child?”
At that question, the massive white snake let out a low sound that almost resembled laughter.
— I’ve never seen her before. The tiny thing is trembling quite adorably, don’t you think?
“Nonsense. You’re frightening a child for no reason like an uncivilized elder.”
— Hah, it seems that little one is more afraid of you than of me, Namgung Ho.
Hearing this, Namgung Ho turned toward Hongseol. The ragged child was trembling all over in a pitiful state.
A sight anyone would feel sympathy for.
Yet his expression remained as stern as a rock.
He stared at her trembling shoulders and asked again.
“Tell me. Who told you to bring the inner core of this snake?”
“Hic!”
Hongseol hiccuped instead of answering.
Dang I-mu chimed in,
— If you stare at her like that, even I wouldn’t be able to answer.
But Namgung Ho ignored him completely and asked again,
“I won’t harm you. So tell me—who told you to bring it?”
Hesitating, Hongseol finally spoke.
“M-m-mom…”
“…What?”
Namgung Ho’s expression instantly darkened.
Even Dang I-mu, who usually mocked everything, fell silent. He too was angered.
‘W-what did I say wrong?’
Reading the heavy atmosphere, Hongseol hurriedly added,
“I-It’s my fault! She said I could call her ‘Mom’ if I brought the inner core…”
The trembling voice left the two adults speechless for a long time.
After a while, Dang I-mu steadied himself and sent a voice transmission to Namgung Ho.
— What a heartless mother! She sent the child here expecting her to die.
“Hmm.”
Furrowing his brow deeply, Namgung Ho asked Hongseol,
“Where is your home?”
Don’t tell them!
Terrified, Hongseol shut her mouth and shook her head hard.
She didn’t want them to know she was a cat beast-kin.
And she had her reasons.
‘He looks scary, but… that Namgung grandfather is probably a good person.’
He had covered her dying body with his robe… even closed her eyes gently.
‘Maybe… he’ll take me in?’
Lowering her gaze, she fidgeted with her numb fingers.
Even if she had to endure winter without warmth, without kindness or laughter, it didn’t matter.
As long as she had somewhere to stay.
Even if it was a place full of “dog beast-kin” like the Namgung Clan, she didn’t care.
‘They’re much richer than Myogajang…’
A vast estate with countless servants in both inner and outer courts.
Surely they would need more laborers.
‘I don’t have many skills… but if I offer to wash robes every day, maybe they’ll let me stay in a small room…’
But she had to hide the fact that she was a cat beast-kin.
Even if the old man was kind, he would never accept a cat servant in a house full of dog beast-kin.
Just then—
“Where is your home, I said!”
“Hi-ic!”
As he pressed her again, Namgung Ho suddenly stopped.
Because cat ears had popped up from the frightened girl’s head.
Hongseol, too inexperienced to maintain her transformation properly, didn’t even notice and kept shaking her head desperately.
‘This child… she’s a cat beast-kin.’
Dang I-mu and Namgung Ho exchanged a glance.
— There is only one cat beast-kin clan nearby. She must be from Myogajang.
Myogajang.
The clan of cat beast-kin bearing the surname “Myo.”
Not as powerful as the Namgung Clan dominating Anhui, but still a notable martial family in the region.
Rumors of the eldest daughter of Myogajang—the unwanted, powerless one who couldn’t use internal energy—had even reached Namgung Ho’s ears.
Thinking of this, his expression hardened.
‘Even so… to send your own child into such danger.’
This was something only cruel demonic sects would do.
Looking down at the trembling girl, Namgung Ho fell into thought.
‘What should I do with her?’
If left like this, she would freeze to death before the night ended.
Even if he returned her, nothing guaranteed the same thing wouldn’t happen again.
Silence stretched on.
Hongseol, sensing the adults’ gazes, lowered her eyes. Her cold hands were clasped tightly against her chest.
“I… I have nowhere to go anymore…”
Drip.
As if she had barely managed to speak it aloud, hot tears fell onto her hands.
Her skin, exposed beneath her sleeves, was cracked and bleeding from the cold.
Seeing this, Namgung Ho let out a sigh.
“Hmm…”
Perhaps because it was his wife’s death anniversary, his mind drifted back to what she had once said.
“If you meet young and pitiful children… please treat them a little more kindly, for my sake.”
Kindly toward the young and pitiful…
‘Yes. Perhaps this child is a connection my wife left behind.’
Resolving himself, he asked,
“Little one, what is your name?”
This time, she answered immediately.
“H-Hongseol.”
Hong (red) and Seol (snow).
A fitting name for her delicate appearance.
Even while speaking, she avoided revealing her surname, careful not to expose her clan.
“Alright, Hongseol. It seems your mother does not want you to return. So… would you like to come with me instead?”
— Hey, Namgung Ho!
Startled, Dang I-mu slapped the lake’s surface with his tail.
— Are you planning to bring a cat beast-kin into the Namgung Clan?!
But Namgung Ho didn’t react at all. He only looked at the child.
He didn’t care what stubborn elders might say. If the child agreed, he would give her a new life—even as an unknown servant in the Namgung Clan.
But Hongseol did not answer.
“…What?”
He leaned closer and froze.
The child’s small body was swaying unsteadily.
And Hongseol herself was confused.
‘What’s happening to me?’
She tried to steady herself, but her body no longer obeyed.
Too hot… then suddenly freezing cold.
Her hands and feet wouldn’t move.
Her vision slowly turned yellow.
‘I… I’m dizzy…’
And then—
Thud.
Her small body collapsed.
“Child!”
Namgung Ho rushed forward and caught her just before she hit the ground.
Seeing this, Dang I-mu struck the lake in anger.
— You idiot! Did your words shock her unconscious?!
“…Hmm.”
But Namgung Ho’s response was slow, unlike his usual sternness.
Something was wrong.
— Namgung Ho, what is it?
He checked her pulse.
The child’s body was strange.
“Her meridians… are severely abnormal.”
Her internal energy pathways were shattered everywhere.
Like a mountain road after a storm—blocked, broken, chaotic.
— Isn’t that expected if she can’t use internal energy?
“It’s not that simple. Let me look closer.”
He gathered his energy. A faint blue aura rippled around him like heat haze.
Carefully, he sent it into the child’s body and closed his eyes.
Then he stiffened.
‘Why… do both yin and yang energies exist in her body at the same time?’
Normally, yin and yang would balance each other.
But in Hongseol’s body, they clashed violently, like storms tearing through a fragile frame.
Her body was utterly ruined.
Then there was only one answer.
After a long silence, Namgung Ho finally spoke.
“This child… has Yin-Yang Severed Meridians.”
At that, even Dang I-mu’s already pale face turned even whiter.
— Then she could die at any moment!
“Yes. But… if it can be healed, she could learn the Yin-Yang Divine Art.”
Yin-Yang Divine Art.
A martial art that allows one body to wield both ice and fire energy.
There were countless warriors who trained in either ice or fire arts—but none who mastered Yin-Yang Divine Art.
Because it could only be learned by those born with such a constitution.
