Volume 5
264 Deactivating the Split Symbol

"What is your story…?" I continued mumbling to myself as I touched Piercer. Apart from the warmth I felt on my fingertips, there was no other response from Piercer.

"You"re still not willing to accept me?" I asked as I looked at it.

Still nothing.

I tried to pour some of my MF into Piercer like I did in the past.

Just as I did that, a cold wind seemed to blow right through my chest. A chilling cold spread throughout my entire body as my hand began s.h.i.+vering.

I felt the MF flowing out of me and no matter how I tried to activate it, I just could not control it. It was as if the MF was rejecting my body and causing tremendous pain in the process.

Though the hole in my chest had already healed after Nie Zun took my heart away, my heart did not regenerate. I no longer felt that painful, chilling cold all over my body from when my heart was initially taken away. Although Si Luo and Du Yue had mentioned time and again how serious my condition was, I couldn"t yet grasp the situation since I haven"t used my MF since then.

It was only at this point did I realize that my MF had weakened, just like how Du Yue had said it would, and that I was also unable to activate my MF at all.

This made me restless. I focused my concentration and tried to activate my MF again.

MF was a manifestation of one"s consciousness and mental ability. Logically, as long as one had a strong mental ability, it would manifest itself in MF. I didn"t believe that I couldn"t use my MF.

A chilling pain a.s.saulted me as I attempted to activate my MF again, and I could feel my MF going haywire in my body. I could not control it as it was simply swimming around in my body with no aim.

I realized that though one could have a strong consciousness and mental ability, it had to be coupled with a proper body before one could use their MF effectively. Though the human forms in the Split Zone were maintained with MF, they were still a form of existence in this s.p.a.ce. One would not be able to control MF and use it effectively for battle if the form existed without a heart.

After trying time and again, I began to feel feverish as the uncontrollable MF in my body seemed to eat into me. It felt as if every nerve, every vessel and every hair on me were expanding in the painful heat.

I placed my palms against the floor and panted as I looked at Piercer. What should I do?

Nie Zun, is this the hatred you feel towards me? Or is this a reflection of the cold distance between us?

Weren"t you worried about how I could be in danger if I couldn"t use my MF without a heart?

I don"t believe it.

I refuse to believe that you"ve become someone like that.

What should I do? What do I do?

Du Yue had warned me earlier on this, and she even made it very clear that I shouldn"t force myself to do certain things. She didn"t mention that I would not be able to use MF at all. This probably meant that she did not expect for this to happen.

Si Luo might not have antic.i.p.ated it either.

I can"t just go and tell them that I"m totally useless now that I can"t use any MF, can I?

Should I put myself in such a disadvantageous position?

No, I shouldn"t.

Even though Jiao S was here, she looked extremely pale herself. It was as if regaining those eyes had taken a huge toll on her health as well. There was no way I could let her sacrifice herself for me.

What should I do then?

I looked down and happened to see a part of a necklace.

My splitting key hung on this very necklace.

An idea then struck me.

How about I just deactivate my split symbol since I couldn"t use MF now?

The idea came about because I recalled that the 500-meter distance restriction between Nie Zun and I had disappeared only after I had activated my split symbol. Did this mean that the restriction will reactivate itself if I deactivated my split symbol?

Though this was a wild guess, I felt excited at the mere thought of it.

If it succeeded, I would be able to see Nie Zun again.

He"s still unable to leave me even if his feelings for me had changed.

Though I still felt that there was some other reason behind his actions, there was no way I would find out if he wasn"t by my side.

If this succeeded, I could make use of the 500-meter restriction between us to find out. It was a perfect scenario.

This main hall looked like it was about 1000 meters wide. If I could reactivate the distance restriction between Nie Zun and I, he would be pulled towards me based on the difference in our MFs. This meant that he would appear in this hall.

I reached towards my neck with trembling hands as I undid the necklace.

If I deactivated my split symbol, this meant that I"ll have zero MF for the next one month. Can I really survive in enemy territory without MF for a month?

Even though this was just an attempt on my part, it was still a highly risky move. But if I don"t take the risk, I won"t be able to use MF either. How long would I then have to wait for my MF to recover?

At this point, all I was doing was creating excuses for myself. No matter how much I thought about it and struggled with the possible consequences in my head, I knew that I would definitely be deactivating my split symbol.

Because this meant that there was a chance for Nie Zun to return to my side.

After making my decision, I grabbed my splitting key and jammed it into the faintly glowing scorpion insignia on my left ankle. There was a flash of light and instead of feeling immense pain, which was what I expected, I felt a sense of warmth in my body.

The warmth spread throughout me and flooded through my nerves and blood vessels. I was wrapped in a pleasant, gentle warmth.

As the light dissipated, I pulled the splitting key out and hung it back on my neck.

I tried to activate my MF but I felt nothing. There was no trace of MF in my body whatsoever. I became just like an ordinary human being, like those in the real world.

For some reason, this made me feel extremely relaxed. It was as if I had just put down a tremendous burden. So this was how it felt to lose all your MF.

I felt human again. So it felt like this.

It"s only when we lose things do we learn how to cherish them.

I really missed the real world even though my memories might just have been lies.

Piercer did not seem to have changed in front of me. Instead of continuing to look at it, I stood up and looked around me.

Nie Zun was not here.

I guess my prediction was far from practical. Looking down in slight disappointment, I bent down to pick Piercer up. However, I sensed someone behind me before I could touch it.

I retracted my hand and stood back up straight.

There was no sound from behind.

I couldn"t stand it anymore and turned around finally.

A pair of bright, starry eyes looked back at me under black, wispy bangs.

There was a loneliness in those eyes.

He had his hands in his coat pockets and his tall figure was standing quite some distance away. He spoke in that indifferent tone of his. "How did you do that?"

I responded in mock confusion, "Do what?"

Instead of being frustrated, he explained patiently, "I was already very far away from the Palace of Cold Blood, but I felt an immense force pull at me. I ended up here before I could even find a way to resist that phantom force. Did you do something?"

I looked at him before gauging the distance between us.

Though I had zero MF, my senses were still better than that of an ordinary human being in the real world. I wouldn"t have been able to see him that clearly if we were 500 meters apart, nor would I have been able to hear whatever he had said if my senses had been like those of a normal human being.

I began stepping backwards in silence and I continued retreating for about 10 meters or so before I felt that distance restriction pull at me.

How I missed this so.

Previously, I was the one who would be pulled along by him, and it was rare for him to be pulled along by me. I still couldn"t see the logic behind this.

I stepped backwards on purpose, and Nie Zun slid a few meters towards the front.

A look of surprise flashed past those starry eyes of his. I love that look on him.

I smirked joyfully. "Surprised? That 500-meter restriction is back."

Nie Zun"s eyes seemed to s.h.i.+ne. After a moment, he asked, "So, what did you do?"

"Why do you think that it was me who did something? Why can"t this restriction come back on its own?"

Nie Zun regarded me in silence.

His eyes had already given me the answer.

The way he looked at me already revealed that he was telling me, "I know you all too well."

Fine, I"ll admit it then.

I raised my hands casually. "Nothing. I simply deactivated my split symbol."

Nie Zun"s eyes narrowed and a look of worry appeared on his face before it was gone in the next second.

I managed to catch it though. Staring at him, I asked, "Why? You"re worried about me?"