As I stood there, a memory of white hair immediately brought to mind the unique hair color of the Namgung family—bluish-white, a result of the transformation from their profound cultivation.

But the hair of the man before me was whiter than that, far whiter.

It wasn’t the white of old age.

The man appeared to be somewhere between thirty and forty years old, but his hair carried a weight beyond its years.

His pale eyes met mine.

'What is this...?'

Though I was sure he was looking directly at me, there was a faint disconnect, as if I wasn’t fully …