Master Villainess the Invincible!

Chapter 8

“What do you mean?” I asked.

“Normal people may not notice it, but those who have trained themselves will. We are able to stop to give you a chance to calm your energy through controlled breathing...”

“What?”

And what’s that?

After noticing my completely clueless expression, it was Bangshik Yang’s turn to ask me a question.

“Do you not know how to do controlled breathing to moderate your energy flow?”

I could recall a fragment of a memory from Haewon Tang about learning how to do that. I also thought I read about it at some point.

But could I really say that I knew how to do that or what it even is? I answered with all of my confidence removed. “I do know how... I’ve just never done it before...”

“Oh dear, oh dear.” Bangshik Yang immediately made a sound of a frail old man.

His perception of me must have changed from “a distant but beloved daughter of the clan head” to something closer to “our ridiculous lady.”

Of course, having the captain of the guard detail for the Sichuan Tang Clan Head finding me easy to approach is a good thing.

But still, it felt like he was trying to treat me like a three-year-old troublemaker, so I gave him a stern glare of my own.

“You have a very arrogant expression aimed towards me. You forget yourself.”

“Forget myself nothing, we can’t go to the Qinzhou Yan Clan like this. With the energy coming from you, they’ll think you’re there to demolish the clan, not rest with it.”

Obviously what I’d said went into one of Bangshik Yang’s ears and out the other.

“What?”

“Did you think that the Thousand-Year-Old Ginseng was just some normal root? It’s inner chi is equal to 120 years worth of training!”

Oh dear, oh dear. Bangshik Yang continued to sound like he was growing more ill each second.

“To put it in simple terms, you essentially have unmatched amounts of muscle even though you’re unable to pick up a sword, let alone practice swordsmanship. Do you understand?”

Oh dear, oh dear.

After holding his head in his hands, he disappeared.

“What? Where did he go?”

Right as I was looking around for him, he reappeared.

“I found a cave nearby that could be used for some training. We’re headed over there now.”

“What?”

Before I could make a response, he put an arm around my waist to carry me under his arm and leapt into the sky.

I’m flying! I’m floating in the sky!

I was reminded once more that despite his joking personality and his origins as a commoner, he was still a skilled enough warrior to lead the clan head’s guard.

He finally let me down in a small cave that was located in the middle of a valley with a waterfall.

“Not counting the time needed to reach Qinzhou, we have about four days we can spend here. If we are delayed any further than that, the Qinzhou Yan Clan will assume something happened to you and will send word to the clan head, who will no doubt lose his temper thinking you got hurt. All in all, it’d be a complicated mess.”

He shook his head again, his expression still serious.

“We will be guarding you nearby, so please don’t have any concern for your safety while you bring your energy flow back under control.”

He pointed at the top of my head, my solar plexus, and the center of the bottom of my foot.

“Try to think that you’re cycling your energy through those three points and then collecting them at one point.”

“Will you not teach me how to breathe properly?”

“We don’t have enough time. Once you can gather your energy into a single point, I will take care of hiding it. I can teach you the rest once we are with the Qinzhou Yan Clan.”

I nodded my head almost by reflex.

“And we will keep the matter about the Thousand-Year-Old Ginseng between us. Even if you have an overwhelming amount of inner chi, unless you are capable of putting that to use, letting others know that you ingested it won’t be any good.”

Bangshik Yang turned around to leave, still getting straight to the point.

“I will return in three days. I hope you can keep your energy flow under control by then.”

“What will you tell the others if I’m to be here alone?”

“I’ll come up with something, so you don’t have much to worry about.”

It looked like he was going to jump down from the cave, like this was the last time he would see me.

“Wait, what about food?!”

I clung to one of his pants legs before he had a chance to leave.

For a brief moment, he had a confused look like he was wondering what I was talking about.

“Have you ever heard of a warrior who ate while training their own inner strength?”

“But I am not a warrior!”

“Indeed, not until yesterday. So you will be treated as one nonetheless.”

He pointed at my body once again.

“The energy from the Thousand-Year-Old Ginseng is breathing in your stomach as we speak.”

After saying some nonsense about how food can disrupt one’s energy control and that eating the Thousand-Year-Old Ginseng meant I didn’t have to eat food for another year or two, he left.

I could see the shape of his black clothing moving further and further away through the veil of falling water.

“Damn it...”

How did things end up like this?

If I had known this was going to happen, I would have ignored the plant, baby crying and all.

I approached the entrance of the cave Bangshik Yang had jumped down from.

I was greeted by the sight of a sheer cliff and a long way to the ground.

“He must have put me here to make sure that I can’t run away.”

I ground my teeth together.

On top of everything, I was hungry. Inside of the cave wasn’t dark thanks to sunlight, but it was still just a cave. There was nothing I could eat; not even a blade of grass or any flowers.

“What do I do now?”

I started by entering the lotus position and sat down.

The cold rock floor seemed to pierce all the way into my bones, so I took my outer clothes off to use as a cushion.

That made things a bit better.

“Top of the head, solar plexus, tip of feet... and lower abdomen...”

The energy inside my body was indeed going in different directions.

It refused to do as I said and continued to spread out in all directions randomly.

In what felt like less than five minutes, my body was already covered in sweat.

“I’m thirsty... And hungry...”

I sighed.

I needed to get my energy under control before we got to the Qinzhou Yan Clan, but I wasn't sure if I could.

* * *

Night descended eventually.

I flinched as I could hear the scops owl cry in the dark of night. I was cold, hungry, and sleepy.

“Man that hurts...”

Sitting down in a single posture for hours made my legs feel so stiff that even the slightest movement caused me pain.

After being unable to control my own energy flow, let alone my breathing, my body was drenched in sweat.

Still the energy from the Thousand-Year-Old Ginseng didn’t listen to me.

“I can’t do this any more. Just kill me at this point.”

I lay down on the cave floor, my body still wet from sweat.

The annoying cries of the scops owl died down after a while. It was just quiet.

When I poked my head out of the cave, the numerous glittering stars covered the night sky greeted me.

“How pretty…”

It was something different from the polluted skies of my time. I could do nothing but stare into the sky with my mouth open for some time. Then a question ran through my head.

What am I doing here?

Questions that I had repressed in order to survive started to pop up as I became truly alone.

Why did I end up here?

Who sent me here?

Will I be able to survive?

And…

Will I ever be able to go back home?

“I knew I shouldn’t have moved genres... I should have stuck to my guns... Why did I even think of jumping to martial arts stories?”

I had plenty of regrets, but by now it was far too late.

“I was already washed up. Even if I kept writing in a new genre, I wouldn’t have seen success.”

The predetermined defeat really hit me where it hurt.

“So even if I moved to the martial arts genre, it wouldn’t have worked out. I was already done for. I was most likely just going to live life one day at a time.”

I quickly wiped away the tears flowing down my cheek, but it was already too late.

“I would have just written an average story, made average money, and lived an average life.”

My voice trembled pathetically.

“I was always like this. So why would I be any different now? I won’t make it. How am I supposed to hide my energy in four days? It’s impossible. No matter what I would have failed...”

I stopped.

My failure was because of my deep rooted sense of defeat.

This was the kind of person I ended up becoming. The kind of person who just assumed things wouldn’t work out, without putting in the time or effort to see if I could prove otherwise.

I didn’t want to keep doing that.

Something in my mind whispered at me.

I want to break this cycle.

I didn’t want to keep living in defeat, feeling like I couldn’t do anything in life.

I wanted to change.

“I can change.”

I could feel the energy viscerally flowing through my body.

“I can start to put in the effort to change.”

I stood up from the floor and then sat back down.

The energy that was inside of me was aching to break out of my body. I could feel sweat dripping down my back.

This time, it’ll be different.

Under the night sky of falling stars, I will be reborn as Haewon Tang, unafraid of the fate in front of me.