"Hold the gates!"The cry shattered the stillness of Mt. Hwagyeong. Firelight rolled down the mountain's slopes, painting the snow with the color of blood. Inside the Azure Cloud Sword Sect, the sound of steel filled the night as every clash echoed against the cold stone like a heartbeat refusing to die. Yeon Guhwan, Patriarch of the sect, stood in the courtyard with sword drawn while his disciples formed a broken line behind him. Their breath visible in the smoke, assassins of the Shadow Serpent Hall emerged from the darkness with their blades curved like fangs and their eyes cold with purpose."Master Yeon," one of his elders gasped, "they breached the inner wall.""Then we hold them here," Guhwan said, his voice level and steady. "The inner hall does not fall."Inside that hall, Seo Mirae cradled her newborn son. The child's eyes were open and unnervingly calm, and he did not cry. He only watched the flickering shadows that danced upon the ceiling as if listening to the world breat

"Father, Mother, I am leaving now."The boy's words dissolved into the mountain mist as snow clung stubbornly to the pines, melting beneath the first tentative light of dawn. Beneath the gnarled roots of an ancient tree, two graves lay marked only by smooth, weathered stones. Yeon Arin stood motionless before them, his hands clasped behind his back while his expression remained utterly empty of feeling. The cold morning air seemed to bend around him as though unwilling to touch his skin.A faint shimmer bloomed outward from his position, wrapping around both burial mounds like a second shadow. The air itself warped, swallowing their presence completely from both sight and sound. SEALING SCRIPT – Memory Bind. His words emerged barely above a whisper, yet they carried the weight of finality."No one will ever disturb your rest," he murmured with a voice that held no warmth, only the cold promise of protection and erasure intertwined. "Your names will vanish from the world's memory, cons

"So this is the heart of order."The words left Yeon Arin's lips like the breath of winter itself. Before him stretched the Jungwon Plains, vast and golden beneath the morning sun, appearing peaceful and serene from a distance. But as he walked closer to the city walls, that illusion crumbled quickly away. Banners of various sects fluttered above tiled roofs, their colors bright and proud while below them children in rags begged beside the gates. Merchants shouted prices for silk and steel while soldiers kicked at beggars to clear the road for passing traffic.Arin moved through the crowd without sound or notice. No one saw the quiet boy with unreadable eyes, his gaze drifting from a fruit stand to a group of armored disciples bragging about their masters' strength. Everything here was built on layers—wealth above, misery below.Peace born from hierarchy. Harmony sustained by fear.He stepped aside as a caravan rolled through, its wheels splashing muddy water onto the beggars clustere

"Go," the man in blue rasped, his voice thick with blood and breathlessness. "They're after me, not you. Run while you can."Yeon Arin tilted his head slightly as the red-robed martial artists recovered from their earlier hesitation and began circling again, their faces twisted with renewed fury. The blue-robed martial artist stumbled to his feet, sword trembling in his hand as he positioned himself in front of Arin as if shielding him."Fool," the scarred leader snarled with contempt. "You think one dying sword can stop us?"The blue-robed man raised his blade in defiance. "If I fall, I fall standing."Arin said nothing, his eyes moving once across the formation of enemies—their footwork, the minor gaps in their stance, the greed pulsing through their Ki. It was inefficient and unrefined, a slaughter disguised as a duel.So much noise for so little purpose.The red-robed martial artists lunged. Their leader's blade sliced through the air straight toward Arin's throat while the blue-r

"What exactly are you?"The question came quietly, almost hesitant, but in the still air of the inn it cut like a blade through silk. Jin Ryeo sat across the table with his hands clasped tightly as if to steady himself, his eyes searching Yeon Arin's face for something—an answer perhaps, or even a trace of ordinary humanity that might explain the impossible things he had witnessed."You look no older than ten," Jin Ryeo continued, his voice remaining low and careful. "And yet you use powers I cannot begin to understand. I only ask because I have never seen strength like that in this world."Arin's spoon stopped halfway to his lips. He set it down deliberately and looked at Jin Ryeo for a long moment, his gaze flat and colorless while the faintest glimmer of mana flickered behind his eyes. The silence stretched until it became almost suffocating, pressing down like the weight of deep water."I made it," Arin said finally.Jin Ryeo blinked, clearly uncertain whether he had heard correct