Murim Recurve

It was a silent, narrow street, winding past a wider road. The houses here formed a large complex and acted as a closed community. People didn't even use cycles within the community and only commuted by foot.

There was a shared parking space on one side where cycles were placed. Currently in the silence of the night emerged a shadow, moving past the cycles as it seeped into the first house on the right.

A faint chill accompanied it, making the warm night colder along its wake. The shadow was spherical in shape, possessing two large arms that were sturdy. The shadow was like a fluid as it flowed from one limb to another as the entity moved.

It was hovering above the ground with nothing to prop itself up. Embedded along its spherical body, facing all the sides were numerous pairs of eyes, numbering around 40 by now. All of them were closed, save for one pair of eyes situated at the bottom that it used to look around.

The Blinded Ghost!

The place it was attached to determined the importance the Blinded Ghost placed on the pair of eyes. The places easily defendable by its pair of arms were the eyes of Harmonisers it had stolen. And, judging by the condition of the eyes, the owners seemed to be either weak ones—like the guards who at most possessed a unit of Elemental Qi or were retired Harmonisers who were nearing the end of their lifespan.

Some eyes seemed to have been taken from Harmonisers in the prime of their life. These eyes were closely guarded, as the pair of arms were constantly hovering above them to prevent them from being harmed.

And, among such eyes was one that it guarded the most. Even its body had altered its shape a little, creating a tough pair of eyelids that guarded the pair of eyes. And, out of all, the presence exhibited by this pair of eyes was the most.

As it moved around, a thin tinge of Ghost Qi seeped into the pair of eyes, trying to strengthen their connection while refining the eyes into something different.

At the same time, in the eye hollow of Re'Kha, the Ghost Qi present within squirmed, gently moving forth to generate some Fear Qi that was later seeped into the head.

"…Almost…done…" The Blinded Ghost muttered as it moved forward, entering a room as it looked at a child that was sleeping beside her mother. After a glance, it floated away, judging that the target was unsuitable.

It then moved to the next room, finding an old lady that was sleeping peacefully. Her face was wrinkled while her skin was dishevelled, making it apparent she was the one who had been working the hardest to uphold the livelihood of her family.

And, after accumulating some wealth, she was relaxing the rest of her life, judging by her toned body but one that was beginning to soften, a sign of relaxation. As the Blinded Ghost closed in on her, the room turned colder.

A thin stream of ice flowed like water and moved up the body of the old lady, forming a thin layer over her before inching towards her face. The Blinded Ghost didn't do anything and watched the formation of ice, noticing how the breathing of the old lady became laboured.

It then focused on her forehead, noticing the Tikka jewellery, peering under it to see how her third eye twitched from time to time. The moment it noticed it, the Blinded Ghost stopped its actions, quickly retracting the forming ice as it exited the room.

"Great…target…but…too…early…" It softly muttered as the eyes it used to see began to bleed, gentle at the start. It didn't bleed blood, but rather seemed to be the shadowy fluid that made up its body. The bleeding was akin to the pair of eyes crying. And, it was getting damaged in the process.

But upon noticing it, the Blinded Ghost paused, muttering, "This eye…inferior…quality…"

"Only…lasted…a day…" It then entered the next room, finding the figures of a couple, a man and woman in their fifties. It first focused on the woman before directing its sights on the man, noticing that his eyes were suitable, quality-wise.

It then began to freeze up the two. But, unlike the old lady, they quickly noticed the temperature change, waking up immediately when they realised their bodies were numb, slow in reacting.

The cold caused them to rub their hands, after all, the darkness prevented them from noticing the figure of the Blinded Ghost before them.

"Why is it so cold?"

"This is the Fire Season. It shouldn't be this cold."

As they muttered, their expressions froze, because their bodies suddenly turned numb from fear. After all, they were able to see a figure in the dark now, but one that faintly radiated with white light, bright enough for them to make out its figure.

Moreover, they saw tens of eyes shoot open on it, frightening them to the limit. But, when they screamed in reflex, they realised to their horror that their voices failed to come out. Moreover, they were no longer able to move their bodies.

The fear they experienced generated a torrent of Fear Qi that seeped into the Blinded Ghost, swiftly getting converted into Ghost Qi that seeped into the pair of eyes in the centre, the one it guarded the most. The Blinded Ghost seemed to be doing something to them, refining it into something beyond.

The steady influx of Ghost Qi healed some of the injuries sustained on its body, recovering its condition to a certain extent as its pair of arms thickened, slowly moving towards the man as they rested on his eyes.

It then retracted its hands, holding an eyeball in each, gently placing them on its body, watching them take root and become one with it. The man was aghast after he was no longer able to see. He didn't feel any pain though, thanks to the Ghost Qi lodged in his eye sockets, nor did any medical complication arise because of it.

As his wife saw the scene of his eyes being taken out, fear overwhelmed her as she fainted.