My Cultivation System Runs on Karma

CHAPTER 7: Existence Fading

[Existence Erasure commencing in 60 seconds.]

[59…]

The cold did not come from the rain or the wind. It bloomed from the marrow of my bones, a terrifying, absolute zero that tasted like metallic ash. I looked down at my hands. The edges of my fingers were blurring. The cracked stone tiles of the courtyard were becoming visible straight through my flesh, as if I were a reflection in a disturbed puddle.

I was being unmade. 

[54…]

"Look at you," Jang Mu-Rak sneered. He stood ten paces away, the severed head of the Black Dog boss leaking dark blood onto the weeds. "You’re shaking. The great Number Seven, shivering like a wet dog in the mud. What’s wrong? Did the sight of a little blood ruin your new righteous stomach?" 

He didn't see the glowing crimson numbers hovering in my vision. He didn't know I was actively dissolving into the void. To him, I was just a weakened, pathetic ghost of my former self. 

I tried to pull Qi into my legs, to force my body to move, but there was nothing there. My dantian was a hollow cavern. 

[48…]

I needed Karma. I needed a good deed, right this second, or my soul would be scrubbed from reality. I frantically scanned the courtyard. There were only three of us. Mu-Rak, who was currently trying to kill me, and Baek Jin-Woo, the Wandering Sword Genius, who sat on the teahouse roof watching me with mild amusement. I couldn't save either of them. 

[41…]

Mu-Rak didn't wait for my answer. He lunged. 

He crossed the ten paces in a single, fluid slide, his boots making zero sound against the wet stones. His jagged, poisoned dagger aimed perfectly for the soft tissue beneath my ribcage. 

I forced my fading body to step back. My left leg felt like it belonged to a corpse. It lagged a fraction of a second behind my command. The delay was almost fatal. Mu-Rak’s blade sliced through the fabric of my soaked hanbok, leaving a shallow, burning scratch across my stomach. 

I stumbled backward, my boots slipping on the slick stones. 

[34…]

"You’re slow," Mu-Rak laughed, flipping the dagger in his grip for a reverse strike. "Whatever game you’re playing, it made you weak. I’m going to carve you apart piece by piece."

Creak.

The sound of sliding wood broke the tension. Behind me, the back door of the dilapidated teahouse slowly slid open. The hinges whined, loud and grating in the morning mist. 

A young girl stepped out onto the porch. She wore a simple, flour-stained servant’s apron. In her trembling hand, she held a dim paper lantern. Im Hye-Won. I recognized the uniform style of the local merchants. She must have been prepping the kitchen for the morning rush and heard the commotion. 

She raised the lantern. The yellow light washed over the courtyard, illuminating the severed head resting in the weeds just a few feet away from her. 

Hye-Won dropped the lantern. It hit the wet wood, the candle inside immediately sputtering out. She opened her mouth to scream.

"Annoying," Mu-Rak clicked his tongue. He didn't even turn his head. He simply flicked his left wrist. 

Three dull metallic clicks cut through the rain. Throwing needles. Coated in the same nightshade extract as his dagger. They flew in a tight, triangular formation, aimed directly at the girl's throat and chest. 

[28…]

Instinct. That was the only thing I had left. For forty years, my instinct had been to use bystanders as human shields, to sacrifice the weak to secure my own survival. The thought crossed my mind with crystal clarity: Let her die. Use the distraction to run.

But the glowing red numbers in my vision were merciless. 

[25…]

If I let her die, I died. The system had backed me into an absolute corner. My survival was chained to her pulse. 

With a guttural roar that tore my bruised throat, I pushed off my back foot. I didn't try to block the needles. I had no weapon, and my hands were turning into mist. I threw my entire body backward, launching myself directly at the terrified girl. 

I hit her right shoulder, knocking us both violently back into the teahouse. We crashed onto the hard wooden floorboards, splintering the doorframe. 

A sharp, searing agony bit into the center of my back. One. Two. Three. 

The needles sank deep into my flesh, right between my shoulder blades. The poison hit my bloodstream instantly. It didn't feel like cold steel; it felt like a swarm of angry wasps burrowing into my spine. My vision flashed a brilliant, blinding white. 

I gasped, my spine arching as the nightshade forced my muscles to seize. 

A melodic, chiming sound echoed in my skull, infinitely louder than the rain.

[Good Deed Detected: Sacrificial Protection]

[Host has taken a lethal strike to protect an innocent mortal.]

[Karma +50]

[Current Balance: 50. Existence Stability restored to 80%.]

[Erasure Cancelled.]

The terrifying numbness in my limbs vanished. My hands solidified, the opaque color of bruised flesh returning. Reality slammed back into me with the weight of an anvil. I was alive. I was whole. 

But I was poisoned. 

I coughed, a thick splatter of black blood painting the floorboards next to the girl's face. Hye-Won scrambled away from me, pressing her back against the kitchen wall, her hands clamped over her mouth to muffle her sobs. 

"Playing the meat shield now?" Mu-Rak's voice drifted through the shattered doorway. He walked up to the porch, his boots thudding heavily against the wood. "I don't know what kind of brain damage you suffered, Seven, but it's pathetic. Die in the dirt like the dog you are."

He raised his dagger to finish me.