Book 26 Chapter 20

Open your eyes!

-Chains binding the phoenix's wings

'Mother…….'

Sitting upright in her bed, Na Yerin slowly opened her eyes. Her porcelain-white forehead and slender body were drenched in a cold sweat. A phenomenon that could not have occurred during a normal Yun Qi breakfast. Another failure.

"Also no……."

Na Yerin had no idea where she was trapped. She was still in the coffin. All she knew was that it was underground, not above ground. Aside from a small window with bars, there was only a small vent in the ceiling, and the cold, dank air that flowed through it had the smell and feel of the earth. However, for a prison, it was well furnished and didn't feel desolate.

But I didn't like that everything was silk with a reddish tint. It was like a palace. But now Na Yerin couldn't tell if this was the Great Hall, or the Temple of Heaven, or something else entirely. She had no clue. She didn't know where this place was, but she could be sure of this one thing.

This was hell on earth.

Dread and fear threatened to gnaw at her psyche with every passing second.

Her body was utterly helpless as the inner qi she had cultivated through her bone-cutting training had been completely sealed off. And the man who had imprisoned her in this hell was the devil she feared most. The mere thought of his presence sent chills down her spine and made her heart flutter with anxiety. He would want her to struggle with fear and anxiety. The more she struggled, the more she despaired of her situation, the more her soul would wear down. Such a phenomenon would be very gratifying to him.

But she didn't give up. Her will was not yet broken. No, it could not be broken. If she broke, there would be no turning back. She was aware of that. If her heart broke, she would be completely defeated by him.

Never again will she be able to escape the nightmares that have torn at her psyche in the past.

"We must get out of here!

In order to do so, she must first do something about her body, which is unnecessarily bound. Yes, she had a more urgent problem to solve than anything else: she couldn't get her qi to turn. She had been sitting for more than an hour (two hours) for qigong breakfast with no results.

I tried dozens of times, but no luck. I tried to recover by eating an unhealthy breakfast, but it didn't work. It was as if all my energy was gone. At first, I was worried that he had destroyed it. However, it didn't seem like that was the case, so I thought I'd look into acupuncture. She was familiar with a number of "bloodletting" techniques, but none of them worked. When she used the lancet, she didn't detect any blood, so it wasn't a lancet.

If so, all that's left is……

'禁制 …….'

It was obviously a very high level of restraint, as she could not feel its presence at all. Various bindings and shackles were restraining her freedom.

'What do I do? What should I do…….'

I tried several times, but it was impossible to move the pendulum. I was amazed at how perfect the pulmonary vein ablation was.

This was not the same as acupuncture. It was the ultimate shackle, one that would last forever, never to be loosened by the passage of time. Exhausted from her battle with the spirits, Na Yerin's strength after being banned was only that of an ordinary girl. If he did anything to her in this state, it would be impossible for her to resist.

'That's when you have to bite your tongue before it turns to blood.

There was no other option. The situation was hopeless, to say the least. Even if the iron gates were wide open, escape was impossible in his current state. Even if I had a sword in my hand, I'd be overpowered by a lowly samurai. All that awaited him was humiliation.

'Is there really no way out of this hell…….'

Then, just as Na Yerin's heart was about to break, her mind flashed to the face of a man who was always smiling confidently.

"Don't give up, it's never too late to give up after you've tried everything, and if you fail, just laugh at yourself and that's it. Even if you've run out of steam, you can still do it if you have a strong will."

The thought of his face made her feel strangely calm in a chest that felt like it was about to burst. She pressed her white, slender fingers to her firm breasts, which rose and fell irregularly. Something that had been pressing down as heavy as a stone was slipping out.

"Yeah, I haven't finished any of them yet.

She was still here, still alive, and outside, Bi Ryuyeon was moving for her. Somehow, Na Yerin could not have been more certain of that fact.

"If he won't give up, I can't give up first."

A starry light sparkled in the depths of her eyes, as deep and beautiful as the night sky. It was still too early to give up all hope. She had only tried one thing. There were still a few more things she could try.

"My jinqi may be blocked, but my will is not!"

He hadn't even managed to restrain her mind.

Na Yerin leaned back and closed her eyes in silence. Then she began to focus again. On another power she possessed, a power she was born with regardless of her training. To manifest the power of the Dragon's Eye even more strongly.

It was the only thing she could do now, to sharpen the power of her Long'an even further.

She closed her eyes and slipped inside herself.

Whether hope or despair awaited at the end of this action was yet to be seen. One option was to stay here, skeptical that this would help, and the other was to wait, hopelessly, for someone to help him. Hoping that someone would drop a saving grace from the heavens.

"I'm tired of that. What's the point of waiting around for someone to help me? My heart is already broken, and I can't make him happy anymore.

She was determined not to give up while there was still hope. If she let go of the thread of hope herself, all she would have at that moment would be a bottomless pit of despair, so she would hold on to it as long as she could.

Her spirit had been strengthened, bit by bit, since her encounter with this one man. The time spent with him had sustained her spirit.

'류연…….'

With those warm and precious memories, she couldn't give up just yet.

Dragon eyes!

It's an ability she's had since, well, since day one.

It was the ability to read people's minds and emotions as if they were tangible.

But it wasn't a self-controlled ability. I couldn't consciously shut it off when I didn't want to read someone's mind, when I didn't want to be in contact with its ugliness. The human mind is not immaculate. No, nothing is more prone to corruption than the human mind. Only a few strong-willed individuals can escape its taint. For a young girl, reading the hidden ugliness of the human mind was too much to bear.

Her young mind couldn't handle the ugly maelstrom of emotions pouring in around her, and she became increasingly closed off and distant from people.

In addition, the constitution that she was born with, which could only be described as stirring up dark instincts in the minds of those who saw her, was a deadly poison to her, and her powers meant nothing to her except pain. Furthermore, her ability to naturally stir up the dark desires of men and manipulate them was the worst kind of constitution for a woman with the ability to read human minds.

She would rather not know, to remain ignorant. Most people turn away from that dark part of their psyche, or lie to themselves about it. But the abilities etched into her body made that impossible, and at one point she even cursed these eyes. Along with this foul constitution.

So she tried to protect her heart by building a wall around it and then freezing it. Until she met the one person who could melt the ice. So she couldn't give up in a place like this.

Just to see him once again.

She closed her eyes and quietly began to delve into the depths of her mind. To find out what this ability was that was latent within her. The only thing she could rely on now was her longsword, and for the first time, she began to face the truth about this ability she had been born with.

After a moment's silence, Na Yerin reviewed her dragon's readings, many of which went beyond the realm of mere mind-reading, especially when it came to predicting her opponent's attacks. She hadn't actually read her opponent's mind and dodged them, but she knew the trajectory of the sword. Many times she had read and dodged attacks she had never seen before.

"So what have I been reading?

Na Yerin opened her eyes slowly. A starry glow sparkled in the depths of her pupils, as deep as the pitch-black night sky. She began to see things other than people.

Tohok!

Water drops from the ceiling.

Toot, toot, toot, toot, toot, toot, toot!

Moisture from the stone ceiling condenses into droplets and falls to the floor.

It was a very strange sensation. The more she concentrated, the more she realized what she was capable of. This wasn't just a solitary ability to read other people's minds. Her eyes were reflecting something more than that. It just hadn't meant anything to her until now because she hadn't recognized it.

"All seven places.

Only after reading that did Na Yerin notice something strange. There were no droplets of water anywhere in the room she was trapped in. Everything she'd noticed earlier was happening outside the door.

Na Yerin began to concentrate a bit more, and the flow of nature became clearer. The thick iron gates and stone walls made it impossible to see, but the information she'd read in the dragon's eye was reconstructed in her mind and projected as if she could see it with her own eyes.

Pow!

A drop of water in a puddle on the floor ripples and spreads in all directions. The echoes knock on the walls in all directions. The sound bounces off the walls and travels back in different directions.

Shhhhhhhh!

The wind blows through the narrow passage. Water drips, and I hear the faint sound of human footsteps in the distance. I can hear their heartbeats clearly in my ears. They must be quite skilled. Apparently, they didn't leave their watch to just anyone.

Only two people kept it. Adepts, but not as many as she'd expected, a testament to their trust. They were quite a distance from her room now.

'If I could only recover the inner ball…….'

A couple of guards seemed to be able to do something about it.

Now she was unconsciously reading the flow of the world. It was an almost precognitive power. It was the ability to see through all phenomena.

The eye that reads omens, it was not limited to the human mind, but could read the omens of the world. Through the signs that appear before a great phenomenon occurs, she can even understand what is to come. By reading the flow of nature, the change of yin and yang, and the symbiosis of the five elements, she was able to see clearly even the invisible.

The true opening of Yong'an's eyes was beginning.

"First, we need to know what restrictions have been imposed.

She began to slowly scan her body with the power of her reformed dragon eye, not feeling much of a foreign object as it was, so the restriction on her body must have been very fine. Perhaps even smaller than dust, but for now, she had to find it first, or she could do nothing.

Only when you can observe something can you affect it. It was impossible to remove it without knowing what had been done to his body.

Na Yerin focused her consciousness and began to examine herself, feeling as if she were dismantling herself piece by piece. No matter how small it was, it was a foreign object from outside her body that did not belong to her in the first place. Taking that as a clue, she looked inside herself. She began to feel the flow of bones, muscles, and blood. She observed the muscles that could move of their own volition and those that moved without. She observes her heart pulsating, sending blood throughout her body. The blood flows from her heart to her limbs. The life force moves in that blood. Her lungs take in fresh air and exhale stale air again. She observes, and understands, what breathing is. She doesn't know what to call this phenomenon, but she realizes that it happens in every human being's body. This was a different process than the cultivation of chi. This was the pulsation of life.

Her consciousness travels through her blood, roaming every inch of her body. It gathers, spreads, and then gathers again.

Round and round and round.

In the inexorable, ever-moving pulsation of life, she understood the human body. And she began to search. A foreign body that has invaded her flesh. A heresy that has separated her from this cycle of life.

"Found it!

Finally, her consciousness detected the foreign objects outside the circle of life. She was momentarily stunned by the sheer number of them. Now that she could pinpoint their location, she focused her awareness on one of them and read that it was a golden needle as thin as a human hair. They were all of varying lengths, and they were all pressing against her vital points. They were sticking like stakes into the path of her chi, impeding its travel, but they were so thin and subtle that she felt no pain or even a foreign sensation.

"There's no way in hell this is…… shatterproof!

Na Yerin's bony neck swelled in terror.

The Six-Six Chains of Bread and Wine!

Thirty-six golden needles, each thinner than a human hair, were driven deep into the body to completely seal off the flow of qi, the ultimate forbidden practice that, once performed, could never be undone. It was reserved for those who had committed grave sins against the Murim, to permanently seal off their inner space.

'Why can't I ever get back on track again…….'

My throat is burning and my head is dizzy. Despair filled my heart. The devil seemed to whisper in my ear, "You can never go back to the past again. Suddenly, the thought of him, with his black malice, made me want to vomit.

"No! Get a grip, Na Yerin!

She calls out to herself to cheer herself up, but the words don't reach her, as if from a distance. Her heart is about to break at the cruel ordeal that lies ahead of her once again.

Only the most vicious of evildoers are imprisoned in the Martial Spirit Palace, and until now, no one has ever heard of anyone escaping the ban. It is said that no matter how strong a cultivator you are, once you perform this ritual, you will return to being an ordinary person and never regain your former strength again. It is said that many people commit suicide in despair at this realization.

'I'm now maybe good…….'

If she could only find the shackles that bound her wings, she might be able to soar again, even from this dark, cold bottom of hell. But what she found was not the chains binding her wings, but the cruel knife that had broken them.

'I can never soar again as I am…… from this pit of despair…….'

Her vision went black and her throat felt tight and she struggled to breathe. She reaches out to pull herself out of the pit, but the bottom only gets deeper, like a bottomless swamp. Reaching for the light, she grasped for nothing but empty darkness without hope.

Tears filled my eyes.

"Am I stuck here, being played by him, and my fate is no longer in my hands?

Just as she was about to sink to the bottom of her despair and drown, a voice called out to her.

-No, Yerin, never give up, for it is the human will that moves destiny!

It was the voice of the man she knew best, the voice of Bi Ryuyeon. She had just heard his voice clearly in her ears. Na Yerin looked around the room in surprise, but there was no sign of him.

'Was it a hallucination…….'

But for all that, it felt like I was right there with them.

Na Yerin had never seen Bi Ryuyeon's spirit broken before. No power, no force, no background, no custom, no convention could break him. Though he was a bit selfish and reckless, he steadfastly imposed his will on this cruel world. He didn't bat an eyelid when others didn't understand, didn't bat an eyelid when others pointed fingers. Her power seemed to be reflected in his eyes, in his very form and character.

Suddenly, I could see him clearly in front of me. I remembered his mischievous face, always smiling, as if he knew no despair. No matter how difficult the situation, no matter how many people gave up, he never gave up. In the midst of despair, he knew how to smile, and with his hands he fought against the waves of fate.

So let's fight back.

"Am I not still alive!

I still held the leash of life firmly in my hand, and I had no intention of letting go, and as he told me, to be alive is to still have a future, a possibility.

"My future is in my hands!

She glanced down at her hand, then clutched it with all her might. She could still feel life in it.

'The moment you give up is the moment you let go of all possibilities, isn't it, Ryuyeon?

Even if what remained at the end of this road was despair, Na Yerin resolved, she would not give up until she reached it.

The phoenix can soar again, even if its wings are broken. Even when reduced to ashes, the phoenix rises from the fire and soars.

"My spirit is not yet broken!

The flames of her spirit had not yet been extinguished, and as long as they were, the phoenix was not yet dead.

"I'll fight too."

Even in this hell, she was determined to fight to survive. She was tired of being weighed down by the nightmares of her past. She wanted to be free. Free from this hell, and free from her past.

Na Yerin focused her mind to increase her willpower, and then used it to consciously stimulate the muscles in her body that were normally unable to move freely.

He began to use his muscles and the pressure of the bloodstream to push them away. He continued to focus his awareness on the feeling of pulling out the thorns from his body.

The key was to recognize the exact size and location of the needle, so that he could direct his muscles and blood to act on it. Of course, the process was not easy. For one thing, she was now without the help of her inner gong. Normally, the qi that filled her body would help her move her muscle tissues more easily. But without that, she had to manipulate her body purely through the power of her will. It was very hard, tedious, and required a great deal of concentration. But she had decided from the beginning that she would never give up, and so she continued with her tedious and persistent work.

To pull out the stake embedded in her wing.