This world was terrifying.
It was a world filled with things beyond comprehension, and that’s what made it so frightening.
That’s why Jinari was a timid, lonely girl.
A chick-like girl who might chirp all alone and die trembling from the cold—fragile and helpless.
And again, this world was terrifying.
A world where soone like Jinari had no chance of survival.
“Nanny. Everyone. Stop for a mont.”
The nanny and children picked up the shattered pieces of the jar.
Each shard was brimming with a malice so intense, just looking at them hurt her eyes.
How many lives had been sacrificed to that jar?
What even is truth?
What even is enlightennt?
Indeed, this world was terrifying.
The nanny and children began to charge at her.
Jinari should have ford a seal and fought back—
But she hesitated.
She had known them since she was young.
And now she was supposed to kill them?
But the nanny and children showed no hesitation.
Slashed and stabbed, bombarded by the curses and lantations embedded within the jar shards,
Jinari closed her eyes and cried.
What kind of command from the clan makes children obey even when told to die?
Why did the nanny stab her with such a sorrowful expression?
It was a world full of things she couldn’t understand.
That’s why it was terrifying.
That’s why this world needed enlightennt.
If she could understand what she couldn’t before, maybe it wouldn’t be so frightening.
If she could understand what she couldn’t before, maybe she wouldn’t feel so alone.
To do that—she had to awaken.
If she awakened, if she found the truth, would she no longer be afraid?
No longer be lonely?
If she could cast off the 尸 (shi), the corpse—
Maybe then…
“I’ll throw it all away... Burn it all…!!!”
And the Phoenix opened its eyes and spread its wings.
It ford a seal and chanted softly.
“Spiritual Manifestation.”
The Phoenix felt what it had received from humans:
The mory of secretly cuddling up to the nanny for comfort.
The pride from showing off her knowledge in front of the younger kids.
That one ti she accidentally chirped like a chick in front of the other noble kids and soone chirped back for her to save face.
The mory of the nanny staying up all night to care for her fever.
Only by abandoning all of this could she truly beco the Phoenix.
So the Phoenix burned its own denial—
To leave behind only pure essence.
“Spiritual Manifestation, Full Deploynt.”
The Phoenix smirked arrogantly as it watched its denials consud by fla.
“Aarghhh!!!”
“Guhh, Aaaagh!!”
Her companions and the nanny.
No—the corpses—were burning.
And the Phoenix laughed.
But what aning could the tears streaming down the girl’s cheeks hold?
Even that aning would need to be discarded soon.
As she wiped away those tears and longed for enlightennt—
He appeared from beyond the door.
****
And then, all of a sudden, he tried to take her clothes off.
“Take off your clothes! I need to check sothing!!!”
“Wha-Wh-What are you saying?!”
If he just wanted to kill her, he could’ve burned her alive.
So why did she blush and act like a bashful maiden?
Enlightennt should be everything.
Truth should be everything.
So why was this man appearing in her thoughts?
She had discarded the 尸 (shi), thrown away everything precious.
And yet, did she still cling to her feelings for this man?
Before she could even trace the root of her thoughts—
He lunged.
“Your belly button—I need to see your belly button!”
He rushed at her shouting about her belly button.
Startled, the Phoenix had no choice but to form seals.
She drew the flas in the room into a spear and hurled them toward him—
But not a single fla touched the man.
He’s strong?! What is this guy?!
Why would soone that powerful want to see her belly button?
Was he a pervert?
Who the hell was he?!
The more she thought about it, the more her chest tightened—
Tears welled up in her eyes.
Could she really have shared such a deep connection with such a pervert?
“Stop—Stop that right now!!!”
The Phoenix tried to strike a threatening pose.
More precisely—she spread her wings wide.
The wings of the Phoenix, said to shake the yang energy of the world just by unfolding.
Anyone who could feel energy would surely freeze in place from tension the mont those wings opened.
All the yang energy in the room was now under her command.
As the man finally stopped moving, Jinari wore a smug, arrogant smile.
“Could it be that you’ve finally realized the difference in our power?”
But the man only tilted his head.
Now she’s flapping her arms like a bird... What the hell?
Naturally, in Yoo Hajin’s eyes, there were no mystical, reality-warping wings.
All he saw was Jinari flapping her arms like a child on a kiddie TV show doing a cute little dance.
Of course, the Phoenix had no idea.
She thought her display had worked—
And laughed triumphantly.
But that laughter didn’t last long.
“You know... you’re kinda cute.”
“Wh-What?! How dare you say that to the Phoenix?!”
And yet, he did call her cute.
The great Phoenix—cute?!
The feeling was strange. It made her furious… and oddly happy.
‘No, I’m not happy at all. Not even a little!’
* * *
Jinari, the Phoenix, steadied her heart.
This was mockery. An affront to her dignity.
If so, there was only one answer: retaliation.
“You... a re human dares.”
The Phoenix beat her wings again—
But this ti, they moved with real force, the kind seen only in battle. Far faster than before.
“Full deploynt—!”
It was her strongest wingbeat yet.
Not only the yang energy in the room, but even the spiritual energy of the spirit realm bowed under her wings.
Anyone capable of perceiving energy would have prostrated before the resurrection of a divine beast.
But sadly, Yoo Harin couldn’t see any of that.
All he could see was a pretty girl panting and flapping her arms as hard as she could.
“She’s adorable... but she’s still going on about ‘re humans,’ huh?”
Yoo Harin walked toward her.
The closer he got, the faster Jinari flapped her wings—but he didn’t stop.
And before long, he was standing right in front of her.
“P-Peep...”
Sweating from all her frantic flapping, Jinari looked up at him.
“Let see your belly button.”
“P-Peep?!”
And thus began the Life Science lecture of the Mad Heavenly Demon Scientist, Yoo Harin.
He suddenly grabbed her and pulled up her hanbok top.
“You’re the Phoenix, right? That makes you avian, yeah?”
“W-Wait a sec!”
Her crimson hanbok lifted, revealing a pale stomach—
And, of course, a tiny, delicate belly button.
With no hesitation, the sadistic demon placed a finger on her navel.
“Hyaaack!”
Jinari squird violently in his grip.
“D-Don’t stick your finger in my belly button!”
“Hmph. No—see? You do know it’s a belly button.”
Then he asked her,
“Do you know what the belly button is a remnant of?”
“I-I don’t know?”
“You don’t?! That ends your career as a gifted one right here!”
Squish—
Yoo Harin relentlessly kneaded her soft, pale belly.
“Hyaak! Eeek! S-Stop that!”
“Tell what the belly button’s a remnant of!”
Squish—squish—
Though she was on the slender side, there were definitely soft parts.
The mystery of the human body.
Yoo Harin was fascinated—and addicted.
“The belly button is... it’s...”
Before long, Jinari began to tear up.
But a sadist is heartless, and a mad heavenly demon is even worse.
So Yoo Harin pressed on, violating her plush stomach with extra fervor.
“It’s the trace of the umbilical cord...!”
“Exactly. And who were you connected to through it?”
Sniffling, Jinari answered:
“My mother... It’s a mark from my mother.”
“Right. You weren’t born from an egg.”
As her sniffles turned to sobs, even the demon—Yoo Harin—had to stop poking her soft belly.
Still, he continued gently:
“You were born from a person. That ans... you’re a person too.”
“No. No, I’m not.”
Jinari cried.
“I don’t want to live as a person.”
“Why not?”
“Because it’s scary. Because living as a human is painful.”
She went on,
“When this world feels too terrifying... I have no choice but to beco sothing terrifying too.
So I thought—if I give up everything I hold dear... if I beco a divine being, or even a monster... I could escape it.”
Her pink eyes, now glistening with tears, looked up at Yoo Harin.
“But... I couldn’t throw you away.”
And then the girl collapsed.
And the boy—still not fully free of his youthful heart—stood frozen, unable to move in the face of this
Confession-that-wasn’t-quite-a-confession.
****
Outside Deungseon Cave, a river known as the Ido River flowed.
Ido River was a tributary of the greater Samdo River, and during certain tis of the year, it dried up—revealing its riverbed.
Only during that period could one enter Deungseon Cave.
Once the period ended, it was impossible to leave.
Because death, in the shape of a river, would surge in and flood the cave completely.
“Why aren’t they coming out...?”
Disciples who had been tricked by Yoo Hajin’s “prank” and fled now stood anxiously, staring at the entrance of Deungseon Cave.
Many people still hadn’t escaped.
“Should we... maybe go back in on our own?”
“Go back in? Into that place?”
But none of them dared re-enter to save their comrades.
Because sothing incomprehensible by the laws of the spirit realm was currently residing within Deungseon Cave.
If they hesitated too long, that thing might greet them with—
“You ca to save ? Heh. That ans you’re next.”
“Nope, I got caught too.”
Situations like that.
So the cultivators could do nothing but hover there, helplessly staring at the cave’s entrance.
Just then, a man erged—carrying several unconscious people on his back and shoulders.
“Wait, that uniform... He’s from our sect!”
“Sister, look! That man just brought back one of our Five Peaks Sect disciples!”
The clothing of those he rescued varied.
Which ant he wasn’t saving just his own people—
He had saved everyone he could, regardless of faction or affiliation.
Grateful cultivators bowed to the man who had retrieved their sect’s disciples.
“Thank you for saving our disciple. We’ll never forget this debt—”
“Knew you’d say that. Just wait a bit longer.”
The man grinned and turned back toward the levee.
What was he doing now?
Was there sothing beneath the embanknt?
The man only said one thing:
“I’ll bring all of them back.”
None of the gathered cultivators believed he would actually re-enter Deungseon Cave.
A tide of death was already approaching from the distance.
If they had any sense, they should’ve been fleeing right now.
But this man—this stranger—was going back in.
For people he didn’t even know?
The cultivators, who had just monts ago been keeping each other in check, suddenly turned to look at him.
And quietly, they began to pray for his safe return.
Of course, the man entering the cave—Yoo Harin—wasn’t thinking anything that noble.
‘If I rescue more people, I’ll rack up more favors, right?’
He simply smiled, calculating how much he stood to gain.
– – The End of The Chapter – –
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