He Walked Alone

Jun distanced himself from the others, took a torch, and simply kept walking forward until he could no longer see the entrance where everyone else was gathered.

He wondered where his parents were. What had happened to them? He only remembered some silhouettes, but for some reason, just seeing those silhouettes made his heart tighten.

"I'm sorry for forgetting you..."

He wanted to cry, but the tears wouldn't come. It was only now that he realized he couldn't cry.

The trauma from that dark room might have left more scars than he thought. Without even noticing, he arrived at a large wall with a symbol etched on it.

"Haiyue Clan..."

Were the people who brought him here from the Haiyue Clan?

He didn't know much, but for some reason, he knew that it meant Black Moon, a clan of assassins composed solely of men, something he had learned long ago.

But how did he know that last piece of information?

Well, they were all boys, no girls, and he didn't believe in inclusivity in an era where women were the best assassins for infiltrating the high ranks of a kingdom.

This meant these assassins were all men, and although this information didn't seem useful, Jun discovered more things he hadn't noticed before.

"The Chi is within all of us; it just needs to be moved." Jun moved his torch and discovered drawings of people sitting, breathing slowly, holding their breath, and then moving an internal energy throughout their bodies.

Was he in a story of immortals and gods?

It couldn't be. Jun knew there were no gods here since everyone fought with swords.

The drawings held swords, danced with the wind, and executed different slashes in ways that a normal human body couldn't achieve, even with ten years of training.

If something like Chi, the famous inner force of all people, didn't exist—something they manipulated either unconsciously or consciously—he was sure it would be impossible to imitate the movements on the wall.

"Even someone as famous as Bruce Lee in my time mentioned Qi, which was exactly the same—Chi, the energy stored within all living beings."

He wasn't an expert in this; he even found it amusing to try. But in his moments of meditation in that confined space, he had felt similar things traveling through his body.

Jun meditated for hours to avoid going crazy; he believed it was the only way to stay centered, calm, and keep his agitated mind at bay.

That's what he did after training. Does anyone think of better things after being awake for more than fifteen hours?

"Well, I can try..." Jun sat down, planted the torch in the ground, and observed the breathing patterns.

Once he memorized everything, he closed his eyes and began to breathe as the instructions dictated.

Once...

No response.

The second time...

Still, nothing happened. He really didn't know what was supposed to occur.

But when he held his breath, focusing only on his body and visualizing his inner self, something white coursed through his body, and a feeling of tranquility overwhelmed him.

He wasn't breathing; he stayed like that for a long time before feeling anything, and only then did he realize that the gathered amount of white light was his Chi, the light that was slowly being tainted by a black light.

His thoughts or traumas?

Whatever it was, Jun was mastering Chi and could manipulate it.

All of this excited him a little; he knew that if he improved in this, he could become stronger.

He was so focused that he didn't realize this was all perfectly designed for him to find. He wouldn't have been so lucky if it weren't for someone's intervention.

Someone was in the darkness, watching Jun, who was illuminated by the torch, completely absorbed in his task.

"He has a great amount of internal energy for his age, the only one to achieve this in such a short time, considering the history of the Haiyue Clan... I must teach him personally; I must prepare him for the great change." The man dressed in black murmured before disappearing into the shadows.

When Jun opened his eyes, he looked at the wall again, this time with a glint of determination in his eyes. Grabbing a wooden stick, he began to imitate the movements depicted on the wall.

Clang! Clang! Clang!

The wind howled fiercely each time he swung the wooden stick, simulating it as a sword. Only after remembering he needed to breathe did he collapse to the ground, clutching his throat.

Cough! Cough! Cough!

"I thought I was going to die..." Jun murmured before taking the torch and leaving the place so he wouldn't be discovered by someone else.

Only after Jun left did several figures throw paint onto the stone wall, erasing everything that had been written.

This was exclusively for Jun, the only survivor of the section of hell within the cells, a place where no one had survived for more than nine hundred years.