Chapter 7: Trapped in the Mirror

Yeonjeok stretched out his hand to the outside, but it was blocked by the mirror and could not go any further.

"You monster! Don't touch my things!"

Yeonjeok thought he had been tricked by the monster.

The monster trapped in the mirror had switched places with him!

However, the monster paid no attention to his words and happily ran around the warehouse.

Yeonjeok, trapped inside the mirror, gnashed his teeth but found no way out.

'Ugh! To be tricked by a monster!'

Enraged, he pulled at his hair and kicked out.

Thud.

A primary school book flew to one side when his foot caught it.

Strangely, the world inside the mirror seemed no different from the inside of the warehouse.

Yeonjeok grumbled as he walked around inside the mirror.

He soon realized that he could only move as far as the size of the warehouse.

"Damn brat..."

Curses slipped out of his mouth.

To deceive me and confine me in this small space!

Furious and indignant, he kicked the mirror, but only his toes hurt.

Thus, the life of Yeonjeok inside the mirror began, five years after being locked in the warehouse.

***

All Yeonjeok did inside the mirror was watch the monster all day.

The monster repeated the actions he had done before.

It received food through a small hole, used a jar for its bodily functions, and loafed around.

There was only one difference from his usual self: the monster always smiled, as if amused by something.

At first, he was angry, but over time, the monster's antics seemed pitiful.

Isn't it just like a pig or a dog!

Yeonjeok cursed the monster, calling it a "stupid kid!"

One day, as he watched the child tear apart his flower cake, he flew into a rage.

"Stop eating it! It's mine!"

While pacing back and forth inside the mirror, Yeonjeok noticed a basket of flower cakes.

Naturally, there was also a basket of flower cakes inside the mirror.

Though not hungry, he approached the basket out of curiosity.

The flower cakes in the basket were dried and twisted.

What would the flower cakes inside the mirror taste like?

Suddenly, his mouth watered.

When he put a hard flower cake in his mouth, it melted and slid down his throat. The sweet and soft taste was incomparable to anything he had ever tasted.

In one go, he devoured three flower cakes and looked around.

He saw a water jug.

If the dried flower cakes were like this, what would the water taste like?

Yeonjeok scooped some water from the jug with a gourd.

The water inside the mirror should have had a musty smell, but it was different. Just by smelling it, he felt a refreshing sensation in his chest.

With a thrilling heart, he tasted a little of the water.

The refreshing and sweet taste made his heart throb. From then on, he drank greedily.

When his stomach was full and he couldn't drink any more, Yeonjeok retreated with a satisfied look. Except for being inside the mirror, it seemed better than the outside.

***

Inside the mirror, there was no way to tell the passage of time.

Yeonjeok missed the fresh breeze that came through the small window.

He desperately wanted to see the trees and the lush weeds visible through the food hole.

There was no wind inside the mirror, and even if he tilted his head, he couldn't see outside the cracks.

One day, while aimlessly passing time, Yeonjeok suddenly realized that he was doing nothing but eating, defecating, and loafing around, just like the monster outside the mirror.

Thinking he needed to do something, he picked up a stick.

The monster outside the mirror looked like him but wasn't him.

This meant that the movements he had learned through the monster were not just his imagination.

The Nine Heavens Posture Technique and the nine movements were vividly recalled.

Yeonjeok, who had risen from his seat, repeated the movements he had learned.

Suddenly, a strange feeling came over him, and he turned his head.

Amusingly, the monster outside the mirror was glancing at him.

The monster seemed to be interested in what was happening inside the mirror, just like his past self.

A brilliant idea flashed through his mind.

The monster not only looked like him but also seemed to have a strong curiosity, just like him.

What if he could make the monster come closer?

And if he did what the monster had done to him, could he get out of the mirror? Somehow, he felt he could grab the monster's head.

Yeonjeok carefully recalled the movements the monster had done.

He performed the Nine Heavens Posture Technique and the newly learned nine movements without stopping.

However, the monster only glanced at him and didn't come closer.

Angry, Yeonjeok hit the mirror with the stick and shouted loudly.

"Hey! You monster! Show some interest!"

Yeonjeok was startled by his own voice.

It was the first time he had shouted at someone.

A mix of anxiety and excitement washed over him.

This thrilling feeling must be why his brothers cursed so much.

"You damn brat!"

"You lowlife!"

"You lacking kid! Come here!"

Thinking no one was watching, he used all the curses he had heard from his brothers.

It felt like his pent-up frustration was somewhat relieved.

After a bout of cursing, Yeonjeok returned to his original position.

To get out of the mirror, he needed to attract the monster's curiosity.

There were only a few things he could do in this small mirror.

He repeated the long movements the monster had done until he was tired and worn out.

One day, Yeonjeok realized that there was a similarity in the eighteen movements.

The Nine Heavens Posture Technique had nine movements.

But what about the nine that followed?

The eighteen movements flowed naturally, as if they were originally one sword technique.

How did the monster know the nine movements his father didn't know?

Yeonjeok suddenly thought, "Maybe the monster is a distant ancestor of the Yeon family."

Then, they might look similar.

'Is an ancestor's ghost trapped in the mirror?'

Thinking it might be an ancestor of the Yeon family, he felt guilty for cursing it.

But upon further thought, it didn't seem right.

Because the monster wasn't always like this.

The first time he saw it, it looked exactly like him at six years old.

An ancestor's ghost wouldn't age like him!

"Ahh, what is it?"

Yeonjeok, pulling at his hair, turned his gaze to the outside of the mirror.

Suddenly, his eyes met the monster's.

Upon closer inspection, the monster's face was similar to his but different.

Its face was bright.

It looked as if it had never experienced sadness.

He had never had such a face, not even for a moment.

Now, he was sure.

It's neither an ancestor's spirit nor himself.

'This is just the mischief of some nameless monster.'

Feeling foolish for once mistaking it for himself and even thinking it was an ancestor's spirit, Yeonjeok put aside his fear and anger.

He decided to treat it as a mountain he had to overcome and an enemy he had to defeat.

'I need to change my approach.'

The Nine Heavens Posture Technique didn't attract the monster's interest.

Suddenly, the book the monster had read caught his eye.

The monster had even pointed to its body and tapped its head while reading it.

'It's definitely the primary school book...'

Yeonjeok picked up the book, thinking he might as well try.

Sure enough, the title on the cover read "Primary School Book."

'Damn it.'

Thinking he had been tricked by the monster, he gritted his teeth.

"Bad kid!"

He flipped through the pages roughly, cursing.

Flip, flip.

The Xuan Nü Jing (Mystical Female Scripture).

'Huh?'

The subtitle inside the primary school book read "Xuan Nü Jing."

The elders of the Yeon family always said, "Our ancestors lost the Xuan Nü Jing."

'Why is it in the mirror?'

If the Yeon family found out, they would be shocked.

"Hmph! Stupid!"

The people of the Yeon family, from children to the elderly, had cursed and tormented him.

The son of a slave brought by his great-aunt from a hundred households?

They blamed his mother and him for his father leaving the martial world.

Now, he knew why his father left the martial world.

His father knew he was going to die soon and wanted to spend his remaining years with his mother.

After his mother and father died, the Yeon family locked him in the warehouse.

Yeonjeok, clutching the Xuan Nü Jing, shouted.

"I will not associate with the Yeon family, or I am not human!"

He wanted to discard the Yeon surname because it was dirty, but he decided to keep it for his father's sake.

Instead, he planned never to interact with the Yeon family again.

What about the Xuan Nü Jing?

Of course, he wouldn't teach it to anyone.

If asked, he would say he had enlightened himself while locked in the warehouse.

Just thinking about it made him feel good.

To do that, he first needed to master the Xuan Nü Jing and get out of this stifling mirror.

The monster had struggled quite a bit with the Xuan Nü Jing.

It meant the monster hadn't fully mastered it.

If he showed the monster new secrets of sword techniques and the Xuan Nü Jing, it would surely be curious.

Yeonjeok started reading the Xuan Nü Jing, just like the monster had.

At first, it was an introduction to the immortal Xuan Nü.

As he continued reading, a strange breathing technique called "Jiutian Ruyi Zhenjing" appeared. It was said that Xuan Nü created it, and practicing it would transform a fish into a giant bird.

That wasn't all.

From the middle, it described the eighteen movements he had learned. The familiar nine movements were indeed the "Nine Heavens Posture Technique."

The names of the nine movements he learned from the monster followed.

"Jiutianjiujian" (Nine Heavens Ultimate Sword).

A sword technique that reaches the heavens beyond the sky?

Now he understood that the Yeon family had only learned the nine movements of the "Nine Heavens Posture Technique" and called it the "Nine Heavens Sword."

Yeonjeok memorized all 900 characters of the Jiutian Ruyi Zhenjing.

Then, he repeated the breathing technique as described in the Jiutian Ruyi Zhenjing.

An indeterminate amount of time passed.

When the 900 characters of the Jiutian Ruyi Zhenjing were deeply etched in his bones, a grain of yuanjing (primordial essence) the size of a grain of rice finally formed in his dantian (lower abdomen).

Inside the mirror, Yeonjeok was unaware of hunger, sleep, or the passage of time.

When the grain grew to the size of an acorn, the baihui point (crown of the head) opened, and a small amount of xiantian qi (primordial energy) began to accumulate.

Yeonjeok, experiencing the bliss of qigong for the first time, kept his eyes closed.

After a hundred days, the xiantian qi in the baihui point overflowed and finally gathered in the dantian.

When the yuanjing and xiantian qi met in the dantian, they fused like the Taiji, becoming one.

Finally, the Jiutian Qi (Nine Heavens Energy) described in the Jiutian Ruyi Zhenjing was created.

Unbeknownst to him, this was the same as the mirror boy sitting motionless for a long time, only breathing.

Once the Jiutian Qi was formed in his dantian, Yeonjeok's eyes snapped open.

He had been focusing on nothing in particular when he obtained the Jiutian Qi. Even though he had only obtained the seed of Jiutian Qi, his body felt different.

Yeonjeok muttered with a puzzled look.

"The Jiutian Qi comes from emptiness, so one must wait with an empty heart..."

The problem was that he didn't understand what emptiness or an empty heart meant.