As Juwon laid there awaiting death, his thoughts spiralled into a bitter rage. It wasn't the old scholars going through this—it was him. A young man who had only ever sought knowledge, now left to rot in some ancient death trap. He felt cheated, cursed. His broken body trembled, anger bubbling beneath the surface.

Damn it all.

His teeth clenched, a fire flickering in his bloodshot eyes. "If there is a god, it's a cruel one."

He refused to let agony define his end.

Juwon dragged himself closer to the shimmering liquid, its surface smooth and undisturbed. His fingers dipped into it, feeling the coolness against his bloodied skin.

If I'm going to die, I'd rather drown than bleed out in agony.

With one final, shaky breath, he let himself fall in. His instincts took over—anything was better than this suffering. Trembling, he pulled himself over the edge and let his broken body fall into the liquid.

At first, nothing happened. The cool substance surrounded him, muffling the pain. A sense of numbness washed over him.

His eyes almost closed.

Then, the agony returned a hundredfold.

His body convulsed violently as an unbearable heat surged through him.

"Why can't you just let me die?!" he screamed into the void, his voice raw with agony. "What have I done to deserve this?!" It was unlike any pain he had ever felt—like fire licking at his flesh, melting his nerves, twisting his very existence.

Then—a pulse of golden light.

The pendant against his chest flared violently, flooding his body with warmth. Golden Qi surged forth, spiraling into his core, wrapping around his shattered existence like a cocoon. The energy flowed with an unstoppable force, tunneling into his dantian, expanding it beyond its limits.

The golden light slithered through his meridians, scorching and soothing at once, like a thousand hands tearing him apart and piecing him back together.

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Juwon gasped. His chest tightened as the Qi pulsated wildly, expanding and contracting like a second heartbeat. The pressure within him grew unbearable. His meridians flared open, his acupuncture points ignited—it was like liquid fire coursing through his veins, an energy he could neither control nor stop.

The pain clawed at his consciousness. His vision darkened. He was going to faint.

Then, through the haze, something glinted in the dim light—a small bottle, rolling near his outstretched fingers.

The pill.

The one the old man had given him.

With what little strength remained in his trembling fingers, he clutched the bottle, his nails scraping against its surface. His body was shutting down, the surging Qi draining his last vestiges of energy. He couldn't think, couldn't breathe—but instinct took over. He popped the pill into his mouth and swallowed.

BOOM.

The moment the pill dissolved, a second surge of Qi erupted within him, crashing through his body like a tidal wave. His dantian expanded further, devouring the golden energy, pulling it deeper into his core. His veins pulsed, his muscles strained—his mind was slipping away.

His eyes fluttered shut.

No—

Suddenly, his body snapped upright.

His eyes flared open, glowing with an unnatural radiance.

Then—the agony began.

His entire being shattered—splintered beyond recognition—only to be reforged in an unrelenting cycle of destruction and rebirth.

Cell by cell, tissue by tissue, the very essence of his body was unraveled and rewoven. His flesh ripped apart, stretched beyond its limits, then stitched back together with raw, unyielding force. Muscles twisted and coiled like molten steel, reforging themselves with each agonizing pulse of energy.

Then came the bones.

A deafening crack thundered through his body as his skeleton fractured, reshaped, and reforged in a relentless, merciless rhythm. His spine arched unnaturally, his limbs convulsing as his very frame was reconstructed from the inside out. His meridians—once fragile pathways of Qi—tore open, widening, stretching, expanding to contain the raging inferno coursing through him.

It was unbearable. It was endless. It was war within his own flesh.

Juwon screamed.

It was unlike anything he had ever endured—his body consumed by fire, his nerves flayed open, his soul shattered and rebuilt over and over. It was punishment. It was rebirth.

Then—silence.

Darkness swallowed him whole.

As the final wave of agony peaked, something snapped. The pain vanished—not gradually, but all at once, as if the universe itself had decided he had suffered enough

He Fainted.

The pain was gone.

Slowly, his eyes fluttered open, the echoes of his screams fading into the void.

He was no longer at the bottom of the basin.

He was floating atop the liquid.

His body was whole but different. He clenched his restored fist—but it didn't feel like his.

The skin was too smooth, the veins too taut, the strength unnatural.

He should have felt relief, but instead, a hollow unease settled in his gut

But before he could even begin to understand what had happened, a chill ran down his spine.

The air around him thickened. A weightless pressure coiled around his chest, colder than the void he'd screamed into. His instincts screamed—he was not alone

Someone—or something—was watching him.