With an extremely depraved smirk, Ja Sun pushed in the 128th needle.
His body trembled violently and finally, blood gushed out of his ears.
"Help me heal a little," Ja Sun's eyes snapped open. He was short on time now.
Surprised that Ja Sun could even speak, Ah Yin hurriedly nodded while observing his completely drenched robe and the thin pool of blood under him.
"The damage to your body is too great. It will take a little time to heal," Ah Yin frowned as she continued to fill Ja Sun with pure physical energy.
"Just continue this for thirty more seconds," Ja Sun spoke relatively calmly but his body kept shuddering. His vision was blurry... not, it was dark. Presently, he already couldn't see anything and he could only hear Ah Yin because his ears took the most recent damage and healed the quickest.
'The technique will consider breaking into Level 5 the moment my pool of mental energy evolves and grow in quality. It took a dozen minutes in the fourth level so I hope it at least takes 10% more this time around,' Ja Sun's body continued to shudder in pain. His mind would feel woozy because of his own upgrading mental energy. This alongside the core of the Blue Silver Emperor healing and patching his mental foundation made him feel nauseous.
He had also lost a lot of blood. But the moment he felt strength in his legs, he tried to move.
"I'll help," Ah Yin pursed her lips and easily pulled him up. Revealing her martial soul, she wrapped Ja Sun's waist with a vine but didn't dare be too rash about it. His injuries weren't just limited to his head. His entire body was extremely weak at this moment.
"Can you heal while walking?" Ja Sun inquired. He could feel her vines wrapped around him and heard her voice.
"It won't be difficult but I will remove my domain when we get close to the exit. I hope you're at least regain your vision."
"How does it look like?" Ja Sun inquired with a dull tone. He willingly gave his everything to achieve the S-rank mission and this time, if it wasn't for Ah Yin, he would have died.
'I've already inquired multiple S-rank missions but their difficulty varies greatly within themselves...' Ja Sun felt like a whole new world was opened for him.
A world of pain and reward.
"Well... generally put, your eyes are ruined. You'd be lucky if this is a temporary situation..."
Ah Yin frowned and then looked towards the wrapped vines.
She loosened them extremely slightly and with the way the two spirit masters were struggling, it would take another hour for them to escape.
"Can you at least see the blur of light? It's already morning," Ah Yin inquired as Ja Sun tried to focus. His vision felt blurry and his mind instantly ached further.
"Well, it does hurt. So, there's definitely hope. Can you focus whatever you're doing over at my eyes? Oh, and also cover them temporarily. Do you have any clothing?"
"Not anything else other than my own clothes... which you have ruined," Ah Yin gazed at her dress already bloodied from one side as she supported Ja Sun in walking alongside a vine on his waist.
"My clothes are drenched so they wouldn't work... hmm, this area is a marsh, right? If you see any arm-sized leaves with blue veins and an orchid scent, pluck it and cover my eyes with it."
"You mean Bodhi Leaves?" Ah Yin inquired.
"You know about herbs?" Ja Sun inquired. His eyes were closed. But he could still feel Ah Yin's contempt.
"Of course, I know," Ah Yin scoffed and after a few moments of silence, Ja Sun suddenly felt her eyes being covered by something cool.
'Did she really find the leaves already?'
"Say, if you knew about herbs, why didn't you think about it?" Ja Sun inquired.
"Not my eyes, not my problem," Ah Yin snorted, "And you had that stupid smile so I thought you knew what you were doing. Turns out, you're the crazy one. Did you fall on your head and accidentally forget the importance of eyes?"
"Well..." Ja Sun felt the warmth disappearing and heard Ah Yin's whisper, "Hush, we are close to the exit. Act like you're unconscious."
"I probably don't need to act," Ja Sun stated weakly. His senses were extremely dull at the moment and he was drenched in blood. He was practically born for the role at this moment.
"If you know that, then stop talking," Ah Yin's voice turned slightly cold, and then Ja Sun heard a slightly gruff voice.
"Is this your partner?"
"Yes."
"What happened?"
"Get out of my way. I need to bring him to rest immediately!" Ah Yin suddenly screamed and Ja Sun heard the man in armor stumbling back due to surprise. Suddenly, he felt power bursting out of Ah Yin's body, "Stop wasting my time! If he dies, I'll rip you in two!"
'She probably revealed her spirit rings...' Ja Sun thought internally and as expected, the next transition was quite simple. Ja Sun heard a few spirit masters offering their services to heal for an exorbitant price but Ah Yin only continued forward until she placed Ja Sun in the carriage and exited the city without any stop.
Lying on the seat of the carriage, Ja Sun waited for the changes in his mental pool to complete. Meanwhile, he heard Ah Yin's voice, "I will activate my domain when we are at a distance. I saw a few spirit masters eyeing us while we left so expect company."
"Ooh... we can rob them!" Ja Sun suddenly spoke up.
"What?" Ah Yin scowled while sitting outside the carriage on the driver's seat. She glanced towards inside through the small partition.
"Ah Yin... I'm not feeling well. My... pants are sticking up. You wouldn't be watching while I remove my pants, right?"
Ja Sun didn't even wait for a reply and slowly started to unwind the belt and pull his pants down. He instantly heard the partition being shut down harshly.
[Objectives: Breakthrough into the third level of mental acupuncture technique.
Optional Objectives:
1) Breakthrough to the fourth level.
2) Breakthrough to the fifth level.
Mission Rank: D-B-S
Rewards: Yin Refinement— Mind Devour— Astral Combatant.
Time Limit: 12 hours.]
[Status: Complete.]
Ja Sun felt his mind suddenly 'rising.' He felt light and a thick current of cool and refreshing energy continuously filled his head. Not only that, but Ja Sun also felt his sluggish blood flow finally returning to its original pace. The warm currents of energy generated by his body by absorbing the spirit energy started to heal him but as Ah Yin said, his injuries were too great!
Meanwhile, Ja Sun felt light objects falling on top of his chest. Once... twice... thrice...
Slowly feeling the objects on his chest, Ja Sun felt them to be books.
"Ja Sun," Ah Yin's slightly muffled voice rang since the partition between them was closed. Instantly picking up the booklets, fearing that his blood would destroy them, Ja Sun threw it over the sacs of stock of dried meat.
"Yeah?" Ja Sun groaned.
"I can see Caihong and... his mother."
"You mean Oliver and Olivia the owls?" Ja Sun shouted, straining himself slightly.
*Thud* *Thud*
The carriage suddenly trembled as if driving over large rocks. Each bump made Ja Sun cough in pain.
"Oops, I was excited to meet Caihong and ran over some thick vines!" Ah Yin shouted from outside.
"Petty bitch..." Ja Sun mumbled.
The carriage started to tremble once again.
"I stand corrected!" Ja Sun shouted.
---
"Alright, we are far away," Ah Yin's voice rang after dozens of minutes. There was even a tinge of relief in her voice.
"Are you still without pants?" Ah Yin inquired.
"Yes," Ja Sun chuckled, "And I don't know what it looks like. Lady, I don't recommend your first visual of such an important organ to be mine. It's probably a bloody sight..."
His words made Ah Yin's expression extremely ugly.
"We will change carriages after this!" She stated firmly and then sighed while stroking Caihong in her laps. Olivia, meanwhile, perched next to her and a blue shroud covered her from the sun as the two Human-tongue Owls slept peacefully.
"Alright. I will fully focus on healing you but since I can't observe your condition, your body will take the most natural root of healing. Is that fine?" Ah Yin inquired from outside and Ja Sun agreed instantly.
The Bodhi Leaf was already showing great effect. The slight numbness and pain felt from his eyes revealed that his eyes were merely injured and he wasn't blind yet.
When Ah Yin spread her domain, Ja Sun felt like had entered into a warm spring. His entire body creaked in extreme pleasure and even his eyelids twitched every now and then.
"Why would you go this far?" Ah Yin's voice suddenly rang. Her words made Ja Sun silent. If he knew why he loved risking his life to feel what the highest rank of the mission would have in store for him then he would have already stopped. In fact, those he couldn't achieve in any way possible without a random fortunate encounter were indeed dropped.
But this mission was within his grasp...
"I don't know. Sorry. I think that wasn't the answer you were expecting," Ja Sun chuckled and Ah Yin's gaze turned strange.
"You would risk your life... for what? Fun?"
"Woah, woah! It wasn't fun at all," Ja Sun refuted.
'It's the rewards that are fun!' Ja Sun licked his lips.
"It certainly looked like you were enjoying it," Ah Yin shard her observations while Ja Sun slowly sat up.
"Your domain is amazing," Ja Sun sighed. His body was recovering greatly. But the quick recovery was uncomfortable, too. After the initial warmth, his body began to repair and when the pace of recovery was increased, certain processes also occurred quicker than usual.
What Ja Sun found unbearable were his eyes.
'Huff... in here, I won't feel the need to scratch the dangerous itch,' Ja Sun returned to his mental space. Here, he observed that the mist surrounding the vortex had become thicker and the originally dark world was not completely illuminated as if there was nothing but the sea of fog.
Besides the visual change, the strength of his mental energy was obvious. He had paid the price for this quick of an advancement with great mental and physical burden.
But, the greatest change was that Ja Sun could actually turn his Mental Acupuncture into a fatal attack. This wasn't the realm of sneak attack anymore. He had a trump card to use when in extreme danger. Although the attack will have a low effect on the Spirit Kings with five spirit rings, the lower-tier with opponents with average mental energy and focus could only fall to his might!
"Hey, did someone show up?" Ja Sun inquired.
"Nobody showed up," Ah Yin replied.
"What if I had actually turned blind," Ja Sun smiled, "Is there a way to counter that?"
"High control of mental energy," Ah Yin replied casually.
"Can you do that?"
Ah Yin thought for a moment and then nodded, "I think I can. I have never tried it."
"When you were looking out in the Marsh, did any spirit master try getting us?" Ja Sun inquired.
"Yeah. I bound them."
"Did you loot?"
"Hmm?"
"Ah Yin, Ah Yin," Ja Sun sighed, "You say you need money, right?! At least loot your opponents! Didn't I loot your coin pouch? That's how I have money! Girl, you have so much potential. You can steal stuff from a distance using your vines... use that!"
"Like I will steal..." Ah Yin mumbled in contempt.
"Fine... do you have any other dress?"
Ah Yin fell stunned.
"Your dress was expensive... probably 4 or 5 silver... hey, now that I think about it, why don't you have another set of clothes...
You...
You're not flipping your underwear inside-out just to make them last long, right?" Ja Sun inquired with suspicion bubbling in his heart.
"Shut up!" Ah Yin shouted and Ja Sun did shut up.
The duo fell silent while until he began slightly softly.
"Ah Yin... how long has it been since you took a bath?"
"None of your concern," She replied coldly.
"Sadly, hygiene is my concern."
"You're getting on my nerves. More stupid question and I wouldn't mind killing you again!" Ah Yin's spiritual energy moved violently while Ja Sun had a sudden thought.
'If I have a mission on reviving then will I get a reward related to reincarnation?' Ja Sun frowned. He wanted to try it now but at Ah Yin's hand, reviving may not be a guaranteed thing.
Seeing that he had pushed enough of Ah Yin's buttons, Ja Sun felt pleased and began using his mental energy. By every right, his mental energy is at the same level as a spirit king. Slowly, he let out his mental energy in thin slivers to feel his surroundings. He had used mental energy to successfully communicate with spirit beasts in the past but he had never tried to visualize his surroundings using his mental energy.
Though far-fetched, Ja Sun can train this skill.
'I have been in this world for a little over two months and almost died twice... amazing! And I haven't even tried absorbing a spirit ring yet... What will happen if I try a thousand or a ten-thousand spirit ring at first try?' Ja Sun licked his lips.
Outside, Ah Yin closed her eyes and enjoyed basking in the sunlight. Her domain was spread out but she didn't dare observe the situation inside the carriage while she was also flustered by Ja Sun's words.
'I thought... I invented the technique of flipping underwear inside out...' Ah Yin felt her innovative pride slightly crushed.
Suddenly, she felt a chill and she glared towards the carriage.
"Freak..." she mumbled.
'I didn't know humans can be this much dangerous...' She gently stroked Caihong's head and sighed deeply.
***
A/N: If you like the fanfic, please leave a review stating your experience or expectations. It will also help me reach an official rating.
Oh, and Please Vote ~