Oath of the Barrel

The Oath of the Barrel is the pact that makes Arc Yuan’s teacher while binding Yuan to oppose Manhattan and the Nuclear Path. It begins as the price of an extraordinary chance to learn, but its terms make the apprenticeship inseparable from a dangerous political and personal obligation: Yuan must pursue a goal he is not yet strong enough to achieve, and the oath can destroy the core that keeps him alive if he abandons it.

The Offer and Its Price

Arc’s decision to train Yuan came only after she considered who he might be and what his connection to Czar Zoa could mean. When she finally agreed, she raised one finger and made the offer conditional. Yuan understood that a cultivator of Arc’s stature would not share her knowledge without demanding something in return; he asked what she required, and she named Manhattan as the target.

The first terms were sweeping. Yuan would have to destroy Manhattan, any students he had taken, and his plans, whatever they might be. Yuan immediately objected that he lacked the strength to do so. Arc did not require an immediate victory: she would set no deadline and would accept a commitment that took years or decades to fulfill. But the flexibility applied to timing, not to the goal. If Yuan passed up a reasonable opportunity to destroy Manhattan or gave up the pursuit, the oath would destroy his core—and, as Arc confirmed, kill him.

Yuan had no existing grievance against Manhattan comparable to his vendetta against Slash, and the possibility of dying made Arc’s demand more alarming, not less. What made refusal difficult was the rarity of the offer. Arc was a Fifth Coil Gunsoul, a formidable warrior who had defeated an enemy capable of wiping out cities, and she followed Yuan’s own Path. Even Revolver had not reached the Fifth Coil. Yuan recognized that he might never again meet a teacher of Arc’s strength who was willing to train him.

Swearing on the Core

Yuan accepted after considering the terms, then placed a hand on his bullet-core as instructed. Arc, with her left hand on her own core, warned him that he could still turn away from the Path of the Gun. Yuan remained determined to become strong enough to take revenge, answering that humanity was overrated. Arc then stated her part of the bargain: she would teach him everything she knew, provided he swore never to be a friend to a Nuclear Path cultivator, to defeat Manhattan and those who followed his Path, to oppose their plans whenever possible, and to destroy Manhattan even if it took centuries.

Yuan repeated the vow but shaped its wording to acknowledge limits. He promised to defeat Manhattan and his followers once he had the power, to oppose their plans whenever possible or reasonable, and to destroy Manhattan in time. That qualification matters: Arc’s demand placed a severe burden on him, while Yuan’s formulation retained a measure of judgment about when opposition was possible or reasonable. The agreement was not an unqualified claim that he could act at any cost; it was a promise to keep working toward the stated end.

A Vow Made Binding

The oath’s force did not depend on Arc’s continued supervision. As soon as Yuan finished speaking, he felt an invisible grip close around his bullet-core. The force came from the Dao, which took heed of his words and fashioned them into a chain. A faint pressure remained on his soul, subtle but difficult to ignore, ensuring that the promise would not simply slip from his mind. The vow would follow him until it was fulfilled; Yuan could no longer back down without risking his life.

Arc covered her arm again and accepted the pact as binding, observing that Yuan might be a fool or might simply be determined. The exchange therefore changes their relationship in two directions at once: she becomes his teacher, promising to pass on everything she knows about cultivation, while he becomes answerable to a demand that outlasts the moment of instruction. The apprenticeship is not a free gift, nor is the vow merely a declaration of loyalty. Its supernatural consequence turns spoken commitment into a condition of survival.

The Oath’s Continuing Cost

The later course of Yuan’s training exposes the ethical danger in treating Arc’s lessons as tools detached from their consequences. Yuan used the techniques she taught him to address Fleshmarket’s ammunition shortage, hoping the warring sects would destroy one another. When Arc confronted him about that plan, he could not deny that he had armed the factions with the hope that they would slaughter each other, casualties notwithstanding. He admitted that he had not expected the outcome to become so severe. The oath had made him responsible for opposing Manhattan, but it did not absolve him of responsibility for the choices he made while pursuing strength.

Arc’s death gives the pact another weight. During the battle at Battletown, she destroyed her bullet-core in a final counterattack against Manhattan’s Authority, expending her life and strength as the world around them shattered. The oath’s origin in Arc’s demand thus becomes part of a relationship that cannot continue as ordinary teacher and student. Her instructions and the obligation they created remain consequential even after she can no longer teach Yuan in person.

The pact also sits beside a broader change in Yuan’s priorities. After witnessing Revolver struggle against the Gun’s curse and remembering that Revolver had saved him, Yuan resolved to find a way to free his ally, even if doing so delayed his revenge. That choice does not cancel the oath; it shows that Yuan’s commitments are not reducible to its target. The Oath of the Barrel sets a perilous direction for his cultivation, while the consequences of his own actions and the debts he owes others complicate what it means to follow that direction.