"You, you!"
Tianhui frowned at Duanmu Zhengang's voice, which pierced his ears like needles.
"Do you know why Lin's condition is like this!"
"It's the Taiyin Foundation Physique, isn't it?"
"T-That's right. What is that?"
"Pardon? You don't know that... Ah!"
He paused mid-sentence.
'Ah! It makes sense that he wouldn't know. Even I would have dismissed it as an illness if I hadn't read the Number One Medical Book Under Heaven.'
It was only natural.
Living perfectly fine and then suddenly, out of nowhere, one's internal energy disappears?
Who would think it was a problem with the physical body?
Most people would think they had contracted an unidentified illness, just like those two.
The physicians must have thought the same.
Feeling anxious at seeing Tianhui suddenly close his mouth, Duanmu Zhengang spoke hastily, pressing for an answer before even hearing one.
"C-Could you tell me about that Taiyin Foundation Physique? It is a matter tied to Lin's life..."
Just as the voice of Duanmu Zhengang—who had remained steadfast no matter what—grew louder.
Snatch—
Two fingers of the emaciated Duanmu Lin tugged at his sleeve.
"Uncle, please calm down."
Duanmu Lin stopped the agitated Duanmu Zhengang. Afterward, she slightly raised her chin and stared directly at Tianhui.
"Young Hero. So you're saying my condition isn't an illness, but a problem with my constitution?"
Perhaps unable to hide her excitement, her voice was faintly trembling.
"If we're being precise, yes."
In an instant, the pitch-black veil fluttered close.
Her dense veil, which had been far away, shook right in front of his nose, and hot breath leaked through the gaps.
As Tianhui scanned beyond the veil, which felt as if it were looking at him, her voice flowed out.
"Can you... tell me more about the Taiyin Foundation Physique?"
Her desperately pleading voice was cracked like drought-stricken earth.
"Was that what you were trying to ask just now?"
"That's not it, but..."
"Well, fine."
"Really?"
Tianhui nodded.
'I still have a few things I'm curious about, too.'
His gaze headed toward the girl's abdomen, namely her lower dantian.
"The Taiyin Foundation Physique is a constitution that gathers Yin Qi just by breathing."
"……!"
Duanmu Lin's eyes widened.
Just as he said, she had accumulated Yin Qi simply by breathing since the past.
"Thanks to that, you must have possessed an outstanding sense of Qi since childhood, and because of that, when you cultivate Neigong mental methods, you must have accumulated internal energy at a faster rate than others, right?"
"T-That's right."
She answered with a bewildered expression at the words that were as accurate as if he knew her.
"But because of that very advantage, a problem arises."
"……A problem?"
Watching her flinch, Tianhui gazed at her lower dantian and opened his mouth.
"As you accumulate internal energy, the Yin Qi grows stronger accordingly. And that Yin Qi slowly freezes your meridians and takes your life; the person involved probably knows that change best."
Duanmu Lin's veil shook violently.
'So that's why.'
Hearing it that way, everything fell into place.
Her outstanding sense of Qi, her rapid progress that was incomparable to other disciples.
And the identity of the cold energy that the physicians said was freezing her body.
"Then, Young Hero, do you know a way to cure this bodily problem?"
Duanmu Zhengang, who had been watching, asked Tianhui with the feeling of grasping at straws.
"Originally, the proper method for the Taiyin Foundation Physique is to learn Neigong mental methods only after the growing bones and meridians have completely settled... But from what I see, it's already too late."
"Y-You mean by learning mental methods?"
"Because the Yin Qi has accumulated to an uncontrollable degree."
"Ah..."
Duanmu Zhengang looked at Duanmu Lin with a devastated expression as if the sky had fallen, then dropped his head powerlessly.
"I'm sorry. It's all my fault. If only I hadn't insisted that you learn martial arts even a year earlier..."
Duanmu Zhengang sank into despair.
'I made a mistake.'
He was the one who had recognized Duanmu Lin's outstanding talent and told the family head that she must learn martial arts from a young age.
"No, Uncle."
Duanmu Lin grabbed Duanmu Zhengang's hand.
"I also said I wanted to learn martial arts."
She consoled Duanmu Zhengang.
Soon, she looked at Tianhui and asked.
"……Is there no other way?"
"I'm not sure, but it would be fine if all the Yin Qi that has infiltrated your body is completely removed."
Tianhui did not say it with certainty.
He only knew about the Taiyin Foundation Physique, not how to treat it.
'Since the Strange Doctor of Life and Death did not write it for the purpose of treating it.'
"Just the Yin Qi?"
"……That's impossible."
The two showed skeptical reactions.
Touching only the Yin Qi that had infiltrated the body was an absurd notion.
It was a task that was nearly impossible without internal energy manipulation reaching the realm of a god.
However, the two did not know.
That the person capable of such a thing was right in front of them.
Crackle, crackle.
The sound of the campfire burning spread.
As day retreated and night arrived, the group made camp in a quiet plain.
Five bedrolls in the clearing.
But one bedroll was empty.
Around the time everyone fell asleep, Tianhui walked off to find a nearby clearing.
Thud— Thud—
He took steps accompanied by the sound of insects coming from all directions.
The world spread out under the faint moonlight was full of a unique vitality and vigor completely different from midday.
"Is there no suitable spot?"
Finding a clearing where grass grew sparsely, Tianhui sat down with a plop.
"Huu."
He slowly regulated his breathing.
Breathing in the quiet clearing where only the sound of insects could be heard, the cold night air cooled his lungs.
'Good.'
Along with that, his eyes slowly closed.
The vitality that filled the surroundings created a flow and slowly swallowed him.
While Tianhui was circulating his qi.
Swish—
Duanmu Lin woke from her sleep.
What woke her from her restless sleep was the faint moonlight stroking her cheek.
'……Taiyin Foundation Physique.'
Looking at the moonlight in the sky, she rose from her spot as if possessed.
The moonlight shone on her standing figure.
Her unique hair, mixed half and half with black and white, harmonized with the pouring moonlight, exuding a mysterious atmosphere.
'To think it wasn't an unidentified illness, but because my meridians were frozen by Yin Qi...'
Her mind was deeply troubled to hear that what she thought was an illness was originally a problem with her constitution.
Around the time she clutched her chest like that.
Swish—
Instantly, her neck turned.
"That's..."
An intense energy could be felt far away.
An energy like a vast sea that seemed as if it would swallow her if she didn't concentrate.
'This is from that time...'
She hastily put back on the hat she had taken off and set aside.
Then, her shimmering black-and-white hair hid inside the veil attached to the brim, followed by covering her face.
Wearing the hat pulled down low, she quietly took steps toward the energy.
Thud— Thud—
As the energy grew stronger, her feet naturally quickened.
After a while, her steps stopped.
'Here...'
Tianhui was in the clearing.
And nearby, an amazing sight, almost like an illusion, greeted her.
'Plum blossoms?'
Her breath caught, and a shudder ran through her.
In the empty clearing where there was nothing, there were not just plum blossoms, but Mount Hua, which she had only heard of in rumors.
She stared as if bewitched at the world that seemed divided with him as the boundary.
"Ah—"
A hoarse voice flowed out.
Having entered the landscape he created, she felt as though she had escaped the Heavenly Punishment that bound her and attained freedom.
'She's not coming any closer.'
Tianhui, who was circulating his qi, opened his eyes after being wary of Duanmu Lin, who had been gradually approaching.
Swish—
He slowly uncrossed his legs and stood up.
At that moment.
"Ah."
Duanmu Lin let out a regretful sigh.
The dreamlike sweetness melted away like snow.
Regaining her senses, she blinked her eyes open.
Then, feeling Tianhui's gaze looking at her, she blushed, bowed her head deeply, and apologized.
"I'm sorry."
"It's fine."
Tianhui accepted the apology refreshingly.
As long as she didn't touch him while he was circulating his qi, it was fine.
Later, just as he was turning around to seek sleep.
"Young Hero!"
At the call, Tianhui turned his head.
She, whose small frame barely reached his shoulder, was looking up at him with her head raised.
"Please help me."
The moment her eyes met Tianhui's, the words burst out of Duanmu Lin.
The immense energy she had felt just a moment ago.
If he could wield that level of energy, it seemed he would be more than capable of removing only the Yin Qi inside her body.
Waiting for Tianhui's answer, she subtly raised her head at the ensuing silence.
'Ah...'
Seeing Tianhui's apathetic expression, which showed not a slight change even as time passed, she unconsciously gripped her sleeves tightly.
It was a desperate and instinctive gesture of someone on the verge of death clinging for dear life to the one who seemed like they could save her.
"……Please help me."
Duanmu Lin asked once again.
Her voice was so hoarse that anyone else would have frowned, but Tianhui felt the profound sorrow contained within it.
'Help you?'
But that was it.
Tianhui did not feel an ounce of sympathy for her.
Whether she was on the verge of death or whatever, what did it have to do with him?
"Why should I?"
"Ah—"
At the icy response, Duanmu Lin's frail body swayed greatly.
Tianhui looked at Duanmu Lin, who looked like she would collapse in that state, and fell into thought.
Actually, treating her wasn't difficult.
However, to treat her, he would have to draw up his internal energy and manipulate it delicately, among other things, which was quite bothersome, so he had refused.
'Hmm, she's a daughter of the Duanmu Clan, right?'
After pondering for a moment, he opened his mouth.
"Hmm, alright. I'll help you."
Instantly, Duanmu Lin jerked her head up.
"Really?"
"But not for free."
Tianhui cut off her words.
"If I treat you, what can you give me?"
At Tianhui's answer, Duanmu Lin's expression, which had been swaying in despair, brightened. However, that too was fleeting, and she fell into contemplation.
'What should I offer...'
Her eyes wavered as she thought.
The first things that came to mind were the backing of the Duanmu Clan and her own value.
But what use was that?
She had forgotten for a moment, but the other party was a Taoist of the Huashan Sect.
The Huashan Sect was one of the Nine Sects and One Gang that had forged a deep enmity with the Duanmu Clan, which belonged to the Feitian Society.
Even the name of the Duanmu Clan that she could put forward would not be so coveted from the other party's perspective.
'Even so, I can't just pay with money. For that, it would at least have to be a Ten-Thousand-Year Fire Lotus or a Ten-Thousand-Year Snow Ginseng...'
She chewed on her lip.
The Duanmu Clan's finances were currently in a poor state to acquire a Ten-Thousand-Year Fire Lotus or a Ten-Thousand-Year Snow Ginseng.
And she couldn't just pay with money, either.
Because resolving the price of a life with money would be an act that lowered her own value.
'……If only I hadn't bought the spiritual medicines.'
Late regret washed over her.
She had consumed numerous spiritual medicines and inner cores, but none remained now.
But what could she do?
It was already in the past.
In the end, all she could offer was her family's name and herself.
"The price..."
When it came time to actually open her mouth, she hesitated.
But she soon shook her head and opened her mouth with a firmly resolved expression.
"I will offer everything I have."