Devoured and Resurrected
“It’s a real wound.” Xiaoshuai hurriedly tended to Mu Yu’s wounds.
The wood spirit went to Mu Yu’s chest and transferred death qi to him. The death qi in his body circulated to every nook and cranny on command. The black spiritual energy woke him via a pain response when it devoured the damaged parts of his body. The white spiritual energy then came in and regenerated the wounds, strengthening them as if adapting to an imposed demand. He groaned and bellowed as the process took place.
“Mu Yu, I don’t know what’s going on, but you need to stay strong. Your body is growing stronger,” Xiaoshuai instructed.
Upon his eyelids flying open, Mu Yu saw the setting sun in the west. As a consequence, Mu Yu was plunged straight back into the dark world, where Tian Budai was waiting.
Mu Yu crawled to his feet and walked over. Tian Budai had Ku Mu suspended in the air by his arms and spun the elder, fanning Mu Yu’s flames.
“Once the sun sets, your shade can’t protect you anymore.”
“You won’t bring me down. I can already see your death.”
Mu Yu’s greatest fear was dying there because dying meant he wouldn’t be able to revive Ku Mu and avenge him.
Tian Budai went for Mu Yu’s chest again. To the surprise of both, Mu Yu’s chest bones didn’t even creak. Mu Yu said through his teeth, “If you break my bones, I’ll puncture you full of halls with the fragments!”
Tian Budai closed in. “You know what the worst pain is?”
Tian Budai crushed Mu Yu’s hands in his clutch! “The worst pain is challenging the eighth hexagram, and facing your biggest fear as you will never win against it. All you’re going to see is our archenemy decimate you!” Tian Budai subsequently crushed Mu Yu’s arms.
It hurt, but it wasn’t the first time Mu Yu broke his arms. He broke an arm every time he used the power Nameless Swordsman granted him. In saying that, Tian Budai’s information startled him. “This is the eighth hexagram?”
“It is. As long as the sun doesn’t set, you won’t die even if I mince you. Once it sets, nonetheless, your fear will corrode your mind as your powerful archenemy murders you,” Tian Budai answered with a grin.
Tian Budai struck again, hitting Mu Yu with a spiritual energy breaker. “I shall destroy all of your meridians to grant you a painful death.”
Skin, muscles, bones and meridians burst, yet Mu Yu didn’t lose awareness.
“Go back to your shade. Once the sun sets, we will meet again for one last time.” Tian Budai hurled Mu Yu back into the tree’s shadow.
Mu Yu was rendered incapacitated. Xiaoshuai didn’t know what happened out there since he didn’t share the same fear as Mu Yu.
“I… will kill… Tian… Budai…”
The wood spirit began the same process the first time Tian Budai sent Mu Yu back into the shade.
***
“You’re going to die at this rate,” Ju Mang commented.
“Where exactly is Nine Heavens Demon Sealing Formation situated in my body?” Mu Yu was perfectly fine in this plane.
Absentmindedly and in a soft voice, Ju Mang replied, “Everywhere, including your consciousness. It won’t disappear even if you’re reduced to a skeleton.”
“Can you help me?”
“I can’t. You need to confront it yourself. I will say this, though. Facing your fear means confronting it, not avoiding it.”
Ju Mang was right; Mu Yu flew off the handle, but he avoided looking at Ku Mu’s misery. Hence, he asked, “How should I face it?”
“That depends how you treat your fear. Sometimes, the fear you see is just something you decide to see, isn’t it?” Ju Mang looked up and continued, “The sun has set. Your shade, therefore, is gone. Tian Budai will try to kill you. To sum up, the Tian Budai you see is the Tian Budai you know from your perspective. If you consider him strong, then he’s strong. From what I’ve heard, the eighth hexagram is a test of your mentality. Fail and you shall die.”
Leaves coiled around Mu Yu as he returned to the real world.
***
“A test of my mentality?” Mu Yu muttered.
Mu Yu had recovered and grown stronger in the span of hours. He still had to overcome his fear, though. Ku Mu rescued him from his fear when he was stuck in dark herb, so he had never truly faced his fears. What he derived from Ju Mang’s advice was, “If you want to exact your vengeance, you need to overcome your fear.” Therefore, it begged the question: what was defined as one’s true fear?
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