Living in the martial arts world with a frail body was akin to having guilt planted in one's heart instead of a heart, and breathing with that blood. This was the case for Dan Mokryeon's not-so-long life.
The backs of the adults were always far away, and the younger sister who stood behind her eventually surpassed her over time.
However, no one could stop the martial arts world from being shaken and the family from crumbling under the resurgence of the Blood Demon Valley.
When death drew near, it was almost a relief.
The pain that felt like holes being pierced by needles all over her body, and the helplessness of watching her family suffer without being able to change anything, would all come to an end.
Finally, it was over...
It was over.
* * *
"I don't understand..."
A young girl sat on the bed with a serious expression.
Though she looked pale and frail, her eyes sparkled like stars in the night sky, reflecting different angles.
'How? How did I come back to life? And not just come back to life, but travel back in time...?'
The girl, Dan Mokryeon, clutched her shortened limbs and held her head.
She had died. The memory of her death was clear.
The pain that had tormented her all her life slowly faded as she sank into an eternal, long sleep. Then she was buried and drifted in the world for a long time.
Suddenly, she was sucked into somewhere, saw too much, and then came to her senses again.
She saw the myriad phenomena, this place and that place, the past and the future, places that didn't exist and places she knew.
'And during that time, I...'
A sigh burst from Mokryeon's lips as she pondered her hazy memories.
"Ah!"
But before she could reflect on what she had just remembered, someone came in from outside.
"Miss, you're awake?"
The person who entered was Aunt Zhang, who had taken care of Mokryeon since she was born.
Aunt Zhang always smiled when she saw her, and the corners of her eyes were soft with wrinkles.
"Ah... Aunt."
"Miss, we have some medicinal candy today. If you finish your medicine, you can have it as a reward."
Beside the white porcelain bowl filled with a nearly black medicinal soup was a piece of sugar-coated medicinal candy. But Mokryeon, who knew the taste of the medicine well, made a grimace.
"Can't I just not eat the candy and skip the medicine?"
"Don't say that."
Aunt Zhang said sternly. With that, Mokryeon had no choice but to take the bowl of medicine.
Aunt Zhang had always taken good care of her. She had never left her side for the seven years Mokryeon had been bedridden.
Knowing how much Aunt Zhang had worried and suffered, Mokryeon couldn't refuse to take the medicine.
She gulped down the medicine, forcing herself to open her tightly closed eyes. Aunt Zhang looked at her with a moved expression, almost on the verge of tears.
After she opened her eyes, everyone in the family reacted the same way.
Whenever Mokryeon tried to speak, frowned from the bitter medicine, or melted with the sweet candy, everyone seemed to be overwhelmed with emotion and tears.
It was only natural!
'She was in a coma for seven years. I've come back to this time.'
For some reason, Mokryeon's soul had been ejected from her body right after she was born.
For seven years, her body, which was just a shell, lay motionless unless someone lifted her, and she wouldn't eat unless she was force-fed. She never cried, laughed, or spoke.
The family decided to try a grand ritual called the Beech Washing to awaken her.
'My mother... even though it was uncertain whether the Beech Washing would work, she insisted on performing the expensive ritual.'
The Beech Washing is a grand ritual usually performed on newborns. It quickly establishes the dantian, purges impurities, and straightens the bones to create a body suitable for martial arts.
Though it wasn't a healing method, they tried it out of desperation, and surprisingly, it worked!
After the ritual was successfully completed, Mokryeon miraculously sat up.
The small child finally started making various expressions and speaking. How could the adults watching her not be moved?
Her mother, overwhelmed with emotion, fainted after crying over the revived Mokryeon, so Aunt Zhang was taking care of her.
Aunt Zhang, also overwhelmed, quickly wiped away her tears and placed the medicinal candy in front of Mokryeon.
"Oh, how mature you are."
Mokryeon, thinking the candy was better than the bitter medicine, nibbled on it while subtly checking Aunt Zhang's reaction.
"Aunt, can I go outside? Just to the garden in front."
"I'll ask the elders for permission, Miss."
Aunt Zhang said, then gently hugged and patted Mokryeon's back. The child, who had been like a doll for seven years, was too small for her age.
* * *
As soon as Aunt Zhang, who thought she was putting Mokryeon to sleep, quietly left the room, Mokryeon jumped up, grabbed a mirror, and infused it with a faint blue energy from her fingertips.
At the same time, words began to appear on the mirror. If someone had seen this mysterious spell, they would have been amazed and fainted.
[Verifying user: Dan Mokryeon]
[Display mode will be adjusted for convenience... ■■□□□]
Below, a sentence slowly appeared from right to left.
[Displaying information the user can observe.]
[Displaying in the most understandable format.]
The box indicating the display mode change gradually filled up, and eventually all five boxes were filled.
[■■■□□]
[■■■■□]
[■■■■■]
[Change complete!]
[The Immortal Mirror is now visible!]
'The most understandable format for the user...'
No matter how she looked at it, it seemed to be designed to help her quickly understand the situation, which made Mokryeon feel a bit embarrassed.
'Damn, is that all I'm capable of?'
That was... hard to deny.
"Coming back from the dead isn't so bad..."
During her time as a wandering soul, she saw and learned a lot.
To know is to understand, and to understand is to be able to recreate.
Although she had forgotten most of what her body couldn't handle when she returned to the past, just as a person can never return to a state of complete ignorance once they have learned something, Mokryeon could observe through the knowledge etched in her soul.
Only to the extent that she could, and in a way she could understand.
This was that format.
Mokryeon suppressed her embarrassment and stared firmly at the mirror. Soon, ink-like words appeared on the mirror.
It looked like this:
Dan Mokryeon
Traits: Infinite Source of Spirit Energy / Half-Known / Revered by Evil / Greenhouse Sick Flower
Harmony: 7 stars
Divine Eye: 2 stars
Purification: 1 star
Health: 3 / 100
Internal Energy: Unobtainable
External Skills: Unlearned
Talent: Measurement Error
Five Elements: Measurement Error
Spirit Energy: 76 / 100
Caution: Maintain Spirit Energy above 50. If it remains below 50 for more than two months, it will result in death.
'The mirror showing me the most I can understand...'
But knowing and having the ability are two different things. Most of her stats were quite meager. Her health was 3 out of 100, and her external skills were unlearned.
'Internal energy is unobtainable?'
Mokryeon held her head. Meanwhile, her spirit energy was soaring to the sky.
This was the biggest obstacle in her life.
In a martial arts world where one cannot reach the pinnacle without internal energy, she couldn't cultivate it.
Even if she could somehow avoid the excessive outpouring of spirit energy that caused her body to break and die, could she really survive as a martial artist?
In her previous life, she didn't even know about these things because she couldn't learn martial arts.
Her talent and five elements were listed as measurement errors, so she couldn't know, and her spirit energy was blinking in a bright red color with a caution message below it.
Caution: Maintain Spirit Energy above 50. If it remains below 50 for more than two months, it will result in death.
Yes, the most important thing now was her two months of life left.
'Maintain spirit energy above 50?'
At least the numbers were clear, which gave her some comfort amidst the confusion.
She just needed to lower it to 50 somehow. She didn't know how, but...
"What are these traits...?"
She didn't understand what 'Revered by Evil' or 'Half-Known' meant, but 'Infinite Source of Spirit Energy' and 'Greenhouse Sick Flower' made sense.
The reason she finally died before her regression! It was because her body couldn't handle the overflowing spirit energy, causing endless problems.
But not anymore.
Mokryeon clenched her fist tightly. For some reason, she had returned to the past.
She now knew why she had been sick and how to become healthy.
"I will definitely live a life free of accidents, disasters, and illness...!"