STNPC-C22

Chapter 22

 

“But… you just said that plucking yin wasn’t martial arts.”

Faced with Seogyeom’s persistent questions, Namgung Yun fell silent for a moment.

Tang Yu, the only person among them with any real knowledge of medicine, was watching him just as intently. If Namgung Yun wanted to explain himself without raising even more suspicion, he would have to choose his words carefully.

“Young Master Dang, how much do you know about martial arts?”

“I know that you temper your body to accumulate internal energy, and that you circulate qi through your body to perform various techniques.”

Seogyeom answered casually.

As the saying went, even a dog outside a school would learn to recite poetry after three years.

After spending four years immersed in The Chronicles of the Wandering Hero, Seogyeom at least understood the fundamentals of the martial world.

“That is correct.”

Namgung Yun nodded.

“Coincidentally, among the mental arts I have learned, there is one that governs the harmony between yin and yang. That will be the method by which I save you, Young Master.”

So it really is the Art of Plucking Yin to Nourish Yang after all.

Seogyeom bit the inside of his cheek to keep himself from making a sour face.

Then again, the rules of the martial world were whatever people decided they were.

Wasn’t this the sort of world where performing the exact same technique under the exact same circumstances could be called righteousness when practiced by an Orthodox martial artist, yet branded demonic when performed by someone from an Unorthodox faction?

Perhaps this was no different. Maybe Namgung Yun had simply given the same method a different name.

As though he had somehow read Seogyeom’s thoughts, Namgung Yun gave him a faint smile.

“Strictly speaking, the technique you mentioned is a method of supplementing yang qi with yin qi. But what Young Master Gyeom’s body requires is yang qi, not yin.”

“Then…”

Seogyeom’s eyes lit up.

“The Art of Plucking Yang to Nourish Yin?”

Ah. So I had the yin and yang backward.

He nodded to himself, looking as though he had just uncovered some profound martial truth.

Namgung Yun’s brows drooped.

“You really… will say anything that comes to mind, won’t you?”

Tang Yu, who had been silently listening, finally snapped.

“I apologize, Great Hero Jo. Gyeom doesn’t truly understand what he is saying, so please be generous and overlook it.”

He had just raised his voice at Seogyeom, yet the moment he turned to Namgung Yun, he immediately bowed his head in apology.

The deep furrow between his brows made it clear just how flustered he was.

“It is fine.”

Namgung Yun shook his head.

“The Second Young Master is worried as well, so I shall speak frankly. The mental art I intend to use on Young Master Gyeom is the Great Harmony Origin-Regulating Mental Art.”

Tang Yu’s eyes widened slightly at the unexpected revelation.

After taking a short breath, Namgung Yun continued.

“It does not forcibly combine disrupted yin and yang, so it will place no strain upon Young Master Gyeom’s body. I will merely suppress the excess yin qi and reconnect the circulation of his qi and blood.”

The Tianshan Snow Lotus would reconnect the meridians that remained only as faint traces.

In other words—

Seogyeom was a piece of torn silk.

The Tianshan Snow Lotus was the thread that would stitch it back together.

And Namgung Yun was the master tailor holding the needle.

“Ahem.”

Tang Yu cleared his throat.

“It was not that I doubted you, Great Hero. It is simply that Gyeom’s body is so frail… I could not help but worry.”

The explanation was simple enough that even Seogyeom could understand it.

Tang Yu finally backed down.

For a martial artist, revealing the mental arts one had mastered was almost equivalent to exposing one’s own techniques.

Even sects that practiced the same swordsmanship could have completely different counters depending on their variations in stance.

A mental art was not a technique meant to injure an opponent, but it was the foundation upon which every other technique was built. In that sense, revealing it could be even more dangerous.

Yet Namgung Yun had revealed his without hesitation.

Tang Yu had been subtly testing him—something that would have given Namgung Yun every justification to drive him out for his insolence.

But instead, Namgung Yun had calmly explained himself.

And in Tang Yu’s heart, the image of Namgung Yun as some rough-edged ruffian was gradually being replaced by something else.

“The bond between brothers truly is something to behold.”

At those final words, the guarded sharpness in Tang Yu’s eyes disappeared completely.

He fell for it.

Completely hooked.

Watching the protagonist win over another character right before his eyes, Seogyeom clicked his tongue inwardly.

Unable to endure the sight any longer, he lightly squeezed the fingers still resting against his hand.

Can we please just get started?

Namgung Yun turned toward him.

“I understand what Brother Jo is saying.”

Seogyeom nodded confidently.

“You mean it won’t hurt.”

He reached toward the bowl Namgung Yun was holding, intending to drink down the medicine he had prepared.

“I just hope this one isn’t bitter, too.”

He had meant the joke to lighten the mood.

Instead, Seogyeom’s face immediately went rigid.

“You must not!”

Namgung Yun, who had been urging him to take the medicine only moments earlier, suddenly snatched the bowl away.

Seogyeom was so startled he didn’t even have time to blink.

Namgung Yun paused for the briefest moment before calmly explaining, as though nothing unusual had happened.

“The medicine is rather peculiar. If you touch it with your bare hands, its medicinal efficacy may disperse.”

“Then can’t I just drink it straight from the bowl?”

Seogyeom pointed toward it with his chin.

Namgung Yun’s expression grew troubled at the slight edge in his voice.

Even holding the bowl itself was problematic.

Someone at the level of the Second Young Master—or Baek Wonpyeong—could withstand techniques involving extreme cold.

But Dang Seogyeom’s body was so fragile that it seemed capable of being blown apart by a gentle breeze.

The only reason Namgung Yun could touch him at all was because of the harmony mental art he had cultivated.

And he had already looked directly inside Seogyeom’s body.

He had felt the threadlike circulation of his qi and blood.

Compared to that, the young man before him looked more delicate than a butterfly drifting through spring.

“That is also not permissible.”

“Then…”

Seogyeom’s brows drew together.

“How am I supposed to take it?”

He had no idea what was going on and could only feel increasingly frustrated.

As he asked, he fidgeted with the hand Namgung Yun was still holding.

Only then did Namgung Yun belatedly loosen his grip.

Seogyeom immediately massaged the hand he had stretched out.

Namgung Yun’s expression turned grave.

He had been certain he hadn’t used enough force to hurt Seogyeom.

But given how fragile the young man’s body was, perhaps even that brief contact had felt threatening.

“I will…”

Namgung Yun hesitated.

“…feed it to you.”

Treatment came before explanations.

After gathering his thoughts in an instant, he spoke quietly.

Seogyeom misunderstood him.

Oh. He means he’ll tilt the bowl for me.

He nodded readily.

A hollow laugh escaped him.

And he was thinking that hard about something as simple as that?

“Pardon me for a moment.”

But what happened next left Seogyeom completely frozen.

Namgung Yun quietly rose to his feet and approached with the bowl.

That part was fine.

He understood why Namgung Yun needed to come closer.

The Tianshan Snow Lotus had to be fed to him, after all.

Naturally, that meant getting within arm’s reach.

Then Namgung Yun leaned his upper body toward him.

Still fine.

But—

Wait.

Feeding it to me… includes your fingers?!

Seogyeom wondered if he had suddenly fallen into a dream.

Very carefully, he nudged the object in his mouth with the tip of his tongue.

It was cold.

Smooth.

Round.

Just as one would expect from an ice-based medicinal technique, the sphere was chilled to the bone.

It had almost no discernible flavor.

If anything, it felt like eating a tiny scoop of ice cream.

After suffering through countless foul-tasting herbal decoctions, Seogyeom would have swallowed it happily if that had been the end of it.

Unfortunately, it wasn’t the medicine itself that bothered him.

It was the fingers holding it.

The cold qi had to be maintained until the medicinal efficacy had fully permeated his body.

Seogyeom, who possessed not even a trace of internal energy, couldn’t possibly withstand such extreme cold.

And no one else could make direct contact with him without mastering a harmony-based mental art.

So Namgung Yun had devised a single solution.

He would regulate the ice arts himself—

and feed the medicine directly to Seogyeom.

Which left Seogyeom with no choice but to suck on Namgung Yun’s fingers.

He decided the only way to survive the situation was to close his eyes.

“Great Hero Jo…!”

Tang Yu’s voice suddenly rang out.

“What in the world… what kind of scandalous act is this?!”

Fortunately, Seogyeom did not die from sheer embarrassment.

Just as he was desperately wishing he could disappear from existence, Tang Yu shot to his feet from across the room.

He was so shocked that he could barely string his words together.

A trembling finger pointed accusingly at Namgung Yun.

Right.

He was still here.

Seogyeom cautiously cracked open one eye.

He had completely forgotten about Tang Yu in the chaos.

One glance at the man’s expression told him everything.

Tang Yu was utterly horrified.

The corners of his mouth, usually twisted into a faint sneer, had fallen slightly open.

His normally cold eyes were trembling.

That was how far beyond common sense Namgung Yun’s actions appeared.

“As I explained earlier, the Tianshan Snow Lotus is extremely sensitive to heat.”

Namgung Yun, on the other hand, remained perfectly calm.

“Until its medicinal efficacy has completely permeated the body, its cold qi must be maintained. Young Master Gyeom’s body cannot withstand it, so I am merely acting as a bridge for the moment.”

He explained it so naturally that he sounded less like a martial artist and more like a physician calmly describing a treatment.

When he finished, he looked toward Tang Yu as though asking whether the explanation was sufficient.

“B-But did you really have to put your fingers in his mouth?”

“I attempted it when our hands first made contact, but…”

Namgung Yun paused.

“The energy did not permeate completely.”

His gaze lowered toward Seogyeom.

“Given Young Master Gyeom’s condition, passing it through the mouth is safer.”

Faced with an explanation that was, annoyingly, perfectly reasonable, Tang Yu’s weak objection faded.

Moreover, as long as Seogyeom suffered from the Mysterious Yin Heart Meridians, Namgung Yun was the only person capable of touching him.

Tang Yu stood there for a moment, lost in thought.

Then he let out a bitter sigh.

“What Great Hero Jo says is correct.”

He glanced toward Seogyeom.

“Remaining here will only interfere with the treatment, so…”

He turned toward the door.

“I shall wait outside.”

A sudden sense of crisis seized Seogyeom.

For some reason, every instinct in his body screamed that this was a terrible idea.

He hurriedly reached out toward Tang Yu.

“Hyung-n-nim!”

Because Namgung Yun’s fingers were still in his mouth, the word came out hopelessly slurred.

“Do not worry too much.”

Tang Yu smiled faintly, apparently interpreting Seogyeom’s desperate reaction as fear of the treatment.

“It will not harm your body. I will be waiting just outside.”

But none of those reassuring words reached Seogyeom.

He already knew the medicine wouldn’t harm him.

If it did, the status window wouldn’t have appeared the instant Namgung Yun put his fingers into his mouth.

No.

That wasn’t what worried him.

The problem is being left alone with Namgung Yun!