Murim Recurve

It felt like she had set her hands on fire, the burning sensation pervaded her arm, making her wish she had been careful from the start. Re'Kha began to cry at the pain, trying her best to persist with her effort.

She knew that it was the only way she could survive from this scenario. She clenched her left hand into a fist, exerting strength through it as she craned it to her left, gritting her teeth in hesitation for a moment before slamming it on her stomach.

"Guh," The force made her legs go numb as she kneeled on the floor, coughing a couple of times before she gagged, vomiting out all the food she had eaten. It was a gooey black, rotting substance that she vomited. The moment it came in contact with the rainwater, it vaporised.

Re'Kha pressed her stomach with her left hand, applying pressure before vomiting once again. She barely managed to get up before limping towards the room she had been sleeping, quickly picking up the bag her master had given.

She grabbed it with her right hand, feeling a prickling sensation as she exited the room, limping towards the room in the north. The moment she arrived, she stood rooted to the spot in shock, gazing at the figure of an individual of large stature on the other side of the leaking rain.

Her Wind Qi perception only had a space of blankness in the middle of the room, the place where she had broken the ceiling. In the remaining places, the ceiling was intact and the rainwater hadn't leaked in yet, so she could perceive the individual.

"You are injured, Lady Re'Kha. You mustn't get up," It was the voice of Ju'Tha, the tone feeling colder for some reason.

Re'Kha noticed the space of blankness in the middle of the room thin in width. She watched the ceiling in grey sand reclaim the lost portion slowly. The ceiling was closing in the gap on its own. Moreover, Re'Kha noticed the space of blankness on the floor slowly thin out, partly repopulated with the grey sand.

'Oh no, this is dangerous.' Re'Kha became solemn, deactivating her Wind Qi perception before condensing blue radiance in her right hand once again. But this time, the radiance was a notch brighter, condensing a thick layer over her hand.

She craned her hand backward, punching forward once. A blue projection of her fist flew in response to her punching action, travelling to a distance twice her height. She didn't feel any resistance, making her hand take the pose of a hand blade, and swung it horizontally around her once.

The blue projection of her hand maintained the same position and pose as her hand, moving in sync. Adding onto the distance that acted as the radius in the motion, it amplified its arc length, multiplying the destructing nature in her attack.

Every place on the wall it swiped at had a large cut, similar to a sword's but wider. The sounds of the rain filled the area as Re'Kha clenched her hand into a fist, craning it backward. The blue projection returned, overlaying her hand just like when it was formed.

She then punched towards the ceiling, sensing her blue hand projection travel in the same motion, but covered the distance twice her height, breaking a large portion of the ceiling. Rain fell on her body, causing the burning sensation once again.

She gritted her teeth, unwilling to waste the hand projection she had conjured, creating four more punching motions at the ceiling, aiming at its four corners. The remainder of the ceiling fell, causing the water on the floor to splash around.

The broken ceiling covered the floor around her. Re'Kha felt her entire body burn as something from within her was being washed away. She opened her mouth, feeling the rainwater enter her mouth, immediately causing the insides of her stomach to burn.

A gas of sorts flowed out of her mouth in return, like hot air that burned her throat and nasal passage while gushing out. Despite the burning sensation, Re'Kha felt a relief of sorts. She then probed around with her hand, climbing above the fallen roof.

The moment she climbed above it, she collapsed in exhaustion, gritting her teeth in pain. Her left hand clenched the bag tightly, a mental pillar she relied on in the precarious situation.

"The rain is cold, and the night is long. You'll die if you stay in it for too long. Come inside and we can have hot soup together." Re'Kha heard the voice of Ju'Tha, calm, but filled with concern. It was as if Ju'Tha was genuinely concerned about her health.

The sound of footsteps resounded around her, numbering more than what a pair of legs could create.

Re'Kha dared not reply, enduring the pain as she drank another mouthful of the rain. She felt the rainwater wash over her body, burning everywhere it touched. The rain was cold to the touch, but it caused her body to burn the moment it touched her. The burning was a sensation she experienced and not an actuality her body suffered from.

She experienced the feeling of both burning hot and freezing cold at the same time. Re'Kha felt her consciousness slip away, her weary body unable to endure any longer. She was already injured before, and the travel on the three-headed beast further worsened her injuries.

Now, the healing substances she had consumed were worse than any poison, causing her to inflict self-harm in order to vomit them out. The bandage wrapped around her body, the dress she had been changed into, and the fur coat she wore, Re'Kha removed them all.

The moment she did so, an intense scent of blood wafted out, not from her, but from the fabric she cast aside. Moreover, the stench of blood didn't feel fresh but felt like something that had rotted out from poison, like pus.

"Come in, take shelter from the rain." A cacophony of voices resounded, all uttering the same line in unison, causing her skin to crawl from fear. Just based on the number of voices she heard, Re'Kha lost all hope of making it out alive, not in her current state.