I Prayed for a Murim Reincarnation, But I Was Born as the Youngest Imperial Prince - Chapter 2

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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Chapter 2
Does martial arts truly exist? Or does it not?
This was a matter of utmost gravity.
The problem was that Seonwu, being a mere infant, could not maintain a proper train of thought.
Perhaps an adult’s ego was too heavy a burden for a baby’s brain, for even when he managed to string a few thoughts together, his consciousness would soon cut out.
* * *
The sun changed its position five times, and Seonwu finally turned five years old.
Though his actual birthday was still a month away by the solar calendar, by this point, he was finally able to sustain proper thoughts again.
It was as if the ego and memories of his past life had finally awakened once more.
‘It feels kind of like when the sedative goes in during an endoscopy, and when you snap out of it a few seconds later, a chunk of time has just flown by.’
To think that after realizing his background, he was already five when his mind fully returned.
A few fragmented, faint memories of spending the last five years as a child did come to mind, but there was nothing special about them.
However, he could now think with a clear mind.
He could even understand the words spoken around him.
Perhaps his consciousness from his past life had closed off as a sort of defense mechanism, only to wake up again just now?
And as he observed the palace maids managing the household affairs, he was able to confirm that this world truly was one where martial arts existed.
A palace maid emitted heat from her hands to warm up food.
Another palace maid emitted cold air to create ice treats.
Someone else lightly moved a massive table with a single hand.
They worked effortlessly with nimble, graceful movements.
‘There was a reason eunuchs weren’t necessary. Women who have learned martial arts can exert power just as well as men.’
The amazing thing was that despite possessing such incredible strength, not a single bit of flab or bulky muscle attached to their bodies.
In terms of pure strength, they could easily give weightlifters a run for their money.
Which meant, in other words…
‘Martial arts really exists! This world is a real Wulin! I actually succeeded in reincarnating into the martial world!’
Once he gained that absolute certainty, various words suddenly linked together in his mind, and comprehension washed over him all at once.
It was as though the linguistic ability already stored inside him had its padlock shattered by a single catalyst, pouring out in abundance.
A succession of terms from this world related to martial arts became instantly comprehensible.
Contrasting them with the concepts he originally knew from Earth, he instantly figured out and understood what the corresponding words were in this Dragon Empire.
‘Wow, is the head on this newborn body just exceptionally smart? I’m only five, but my brain is spinning like a top.’
Come to think of it, he had asked for martial arts talent as his wish.
And when it comes to martial arts talent, while the body is important, the so-called Comprehension Savvy is also crucial.
‘Being smart can also be considered a type of martial arts talent.’
Was that why the language regarding martial arts became understandable in a single flash like this?
He wasn’t entirely certain, but Seonwu felt that was likely the case.
With things having turned out this way, he was now truly starved for information.
Now that he knew martial arts existed, he wanted to know everything—what kinds of martial arts there were, how they worked, and what the Wulin was like.
For the time being, he had only acquired the language related to martial arts, but possessed no information on what the actual Wulin of this world was like.
* * *
Seonwu’s ultimate backing that ensured his success.
The pinnacle of this nation, His Imperial Majesty the Emperor.
In other words, his father spoke.
“Oh, my youngest. You are adorable today as well.”
Was it because it was difficult for a dragon to conceive children with a human?
For an Emperor who commanded many concubines, his offspring consisted of only five Imperial Princes, including Seonwu. There wasn’t a single princess.
‘Father doesn’t exactly look like a dragon either.’
Just by looking, he was merely a handsome, solemn, and dignified middle-aged man.
Seonwu found it puzzling why people called his father the Great Dragon Emperor and referred to himself as a descendant of the dragon.
Was it just a symbolic way of referring to the Emperor as a dragon?
The important part was that even if the Empire’s Emperor wasn’t a dragon, he was a living god upon the earth, and that very god doted on him.
“Hehe, Daddy.”
According to standard etiquette, he was supposed to call him Imperial Father, but when the Emperor himself told him to try calling him Daddy, who would dare object?
Seonwu confidently called him Daddy and beamed.
He was currently five years old, so what did it matter?
And while he did have the memories of being 40 years old (39 by international age), his sensibilities were… well…
They had grown young again.
His past memories were like photographs in an album—if he tried hard enough, fragmented thoughts would surface, but his actual emotions and reasoning had reverted to that of a 5-year-old who was just slightly precocious.
‘I guess the mind follows the physical body.’
“Yes, my cute youngest. You are five years old now. Is there any gift you wish to receive for your upcoming birthday?”
Having called him Daddy while waiting for these exact words, Seonwu smiled even brighter.
“Hehe, Daddy. I heard that out there in the Wulin, they have things like spiritual medicines and miraculous elixirs?”
“Oh, did you hear that from the palace maids? However, even if they are called the miraculous elixirs of the Wulin, they cannot compare to those of the Imperial Court. If you want a miraculous elixir, I shall grant you the Imperial Court’s Tianlong Pill, the greatest spiritual medicine under heaven.”
Seonwu shook his head side to side.
The Tianlong Pill?
It was his first time hearing of it.
Of course, since it belonged to the Imperial Court of this Dragon Empire, its actual medicinal efficacy would undoubtedly be tremendous.
But that wasn’t the gift a wuxia enthusiast wanted to receive.
“Setting the medicinal efficacy aside, I want to collect items from the Wulin.”
“Is that so? Hmm, if my youngest wants it, then he must have it. I shall issue an order immediately, starting with Shaolin’s Great Rejuvenating Pill…”
‘The! Shaolin! Great! Rejuvenating! Pill!’
Seonwu’s eyes sparkled.
Although it was his first time hearing the nation’s name, this was indeed the martial world he knew in many ways.
The geography of the Central Plains was also identical to the Earth he used to live on.
Mount Song was in Henan Province, Shaolin was on Mount Song, and within Shaolin lay the Great Rejuvenating Pill.
Ah.
‘You aren’t a wuxia enthusiast if you don’t know the name of the Great Rejuvenating Pill.’
He wanted it.
The Great Rejuvenating Pill.
However, speaking from the perspective of someone who had read countless martial arts novels, this Great Rejuvenating Pill was something that existed in a decent quantity in some stories, but in others, it was a priceless treasure that could never be recreated.
No matter how much it was an imperial decree, extorting something so precious pricked his conscience.
Wasn’t that precisely the tyranny of the powerful that he used to curse at?
“But Daddy, isn’t the Great Rejuvenating Pill precious even to Shaolin?”
“Commander, does Shaolin have any Great Rejuvenating Pills remaining?”
The commander, who was escorting the Emperor by his side, bowed his head and replied.
“They crafted three pills ten years ago, and there should be one pill remaining currently.”
“You heard him, right? Since one pill remains, there is a share for you. If there weren’t any, I would have made them craft it, though. Hahaha.”
At the laughter of his father, the Emperor, Seonwu flinched slightly.
‘If those ingredients are rare, wouldn’t Shaolin have no way to make it even with an imperial decree?’
To barely manage to craft three pills in ten years and have only one left…
‘Even if it’s not on the level of making one pill every hundred years, it’s still plenty rare as a treasure.’
Snatching that away made him feel rather uncomfortable instead.
Let’s just settle for going to Shaolin for a visit to sightsee the Great Rejuvenating Pill when he grew up.
“Daddy, the Great Rejuvenating Pill is too precious even for Shaolin, so it would feel wrong to receive it as a gift. I think I’ll be fine with just something like a Lesser Rejuvenating Pill.”
“Aha, will a mere Lesser Rejuvenating Pill truly suffice?”
“Yes, the thought is what counts for a gift! I think a gift that we can give and receive happily without placing a burden on each other would be just perfect.”
Something like a Lesser Rejuvenating Pill should be fine, right?
Surely Shaolin wouldn’t go bankrupt because they lacked a single Lesser Rejuvenating Pill.
“For our youngest to already possess such consideration for others, he truly has the qualities of a ruler. Is it not so, Commander?”
“It is truly a great blessing for the nation, Your Majesty.”
The commander bowed his head, and the gift for Seonwu’s fifth birthday was decided.
* * *
Mount Song in Henan Province.
Mount Tai and the Big Dipper.
The pinnacle of the Nine Sects.
A thousand-year tradition.
The Seventy-Two Supreme Arts.
The invincible One Hundred and Eight Arhat Formation.
The Shaolin Temple, which possessed numerous such modifiers, allowed anyone to freely enter and exit the areas designated for pilgrims to offer Buddhist prayers, but the areas where martial arts were trained could not be entered by just anyone.
Even the most notorious Great Archdevils in the Wulin did not dare to ascend this place.
And even the highly successful sects in the secular world maintained strict courtesy here.
However, those who had burst in just now were not ‘just anyone.’
“Let Shaolin receive the imperial decree!”
Abbot Zishun, the leader of Shaolin and one of the Ten Great Masters, would absolutely never kneel without good reason.
Except when bowing to a statue of the Buddha, he would never kneel before another living human being.
That is, except when those who were exceptions to that ‘never’ arrived.
“Long live, long live, long live the Emperor. Shaolin humbly receives the imperial decree.”
In front of the Imperial Envoy who carried the command of His Imperial Majesty, the supreme sovereign, even the knees of the Shaolin Abbot were remarkably flexible.
‘An imperial decree, whatever could it be?’
Had Shaolin done anything recently that could be seized upon by the Imperial Court?
‘Did someone among the secular disciples cause trouble?’
As a practitioner of Buddhist dharma, one should not alternate between joy and grief over every single fortune or misfortune, but as the leader of a sect, he could not help but worry whether some unexpected calamity might befall his members.
‘Amitabha, hopefully it is not something unmanageable.’
Behind the Abbot, the elders exchanged messages via sound transmission.
[Even if it were Wudang, we haven’t done anything to be heavily faulted for recently, have we?]
[But it’s not an inspector coming down for an audit; an imperial decree has been handed down directly. Think carefully.]
[This is why I said that no matter how much our main temple cultivates the Buddhist dharma, we should have maintained tighter ropes with the imperial court. We need to know things in advance to prepare!]
[Junior brother, calm down. If it is an urgent imperial decree brought directly by the Imperial Envoy, our friends in the court wouldn’t have been able to inform us in advance anyway.]
“With the birthday of the Fifth Imperial Prince approaching, the tribute to be offered by Shaolin has been designated as a Lesser Rejuvenating Pill. Prepare and offer this.”
“……?”
The tense atmosphere dissipated in an instant.
[Huh? Is that seriously all?]
[Amitabha, didn’t I tell you to calm down, junior brother?]
[No, we have to listen to the imperial decree until the very end. Who knows what kind of follow-up words might be attached.]
This was surely just a light first agenda item.
The main point would appear afterward.
The Abbot lowered his head and awaited the next words.
However, the Imperial Envoy rolled the holy decree back up and cleared his throat.
“Ahem, Abbot. This is the entirety of today’s agenda, so you may put your mind at ease.”
“Are you saying that preparing a Lesser Rejuvenating Pill as a birthday tribute for the youngest Imperial Prince is truly all there is?”
The listening elders were puzzled.
‘Is this really something to issue an imperial decree over? No matter how much he dotes on his youngest.’
“That is correct. If it were a Great Rejuvenating Pill, that would be one thing, but something like a Lesser Rejuvenating Pill poses no issue, does it?”
“How many pills should we prepare?”
“It is said that all the Imperial Prince desires is to collect one single pill.”
The Abbot gasped in admiration.
“Ah, did he truly say that we only need to offer that much?”
“Although the youngest Imperial Prince is still of a tender age, he truly possesses a compassionate heart that pities the livelihoods of the people. He stated that if his own birthday tribute were too grand, those preparing it would suffer, and if that were the case, he could not be happy receiving it either. Since His Imperial Majesty has accepted this wish, this birthday tribute will not be difficult.”
“How could it be otherwise? He is truly a magnificent young master.”
The Shaolin Abbot rejoiced along with them.
‘Haha, how virtuous.’
According to the etiquette of the Great Dragon Empire, the Emperor’s consorts and concubines were not considered members of the imperial family.
The current Emperor and the five Imperial Princes.
Only these six individuals belonged to the imperial family.
And on the birthdays of these six individuals, the Nine Sects, One Gang, and Five Great Clans originally had to offer tributes to prove their loyalty.
Just as they were granted special privileges, they also had obligations to fulfill.
Yet, the Fifth Imperial Prince had shown mercy at such a young age, stating that a single Lesser Rejuvenating Pill would suffice, so how could this not be a joyous matter?
‘In the future, he will surely be generous to the common people as well.’
In any case, since the imperial decree had fallen, it had to be obeyed.
The Lesser Rejuvenating Pill had to be prepared.
Since they had inventory, it wouldn’t be difficult, but if a delivery mishap occurred, this would escalate into an incident of mocking the imperial court.
‘However, we cannot actually offer just one single Lesser Rejuvenating Pill.’
Even if the Imperial Prince spoke in such a manner, those below had to interpret it wisely and serve accordingly.
In particular, if Shaolin, the pinnacle of the Nine Sects, truly offered just a single Lesser Rejuvenating Pill, there was no telling what kinds of rumors would spread later.
Hadn’t the rumors that the current Emperor doted on his late-born youngest Imperial Prince reached all the way to Mount Song?
Just look at how an imperial decree was handed down for a matter like this right now.
The Abbot could not manage Shaolin through martial arts and Buddhist dharma alone.
Political judgment in dealing with the imperial court was also necessary.
Still, to think that merely not omitting the Lesser Rejuvenating Pill from the tribute list was everything.
[Ahem, it was nothing much. For His Majesty to issue a holy decree for something like this. If he had just dropped a hint through the Provincial Governor, we would have included it in the list on our own anyway.]
[Junior brother, you must correct that impatient temper of yours.]
* * *
Wudang Mountain in Hubei Province.
Shaolin of the North, Wudang of the South.
The leader of the orthodox factions second only to Shaolin.
The pinnacle among the Daoist-affiliated sects.
On the path leading there lay the Sword Unclasping Pond, and everyone had to unbuckle their weapons, including swords, as a sign of respect toward Wudang when passing through this place.
To be precise, almost everyone.
There was a group passing right through the Sword Unclasping Pond while carrying weapons, but the Daoist priests of Wudang did not dare to stop them.
Because they were the Provincial Governor and his guards who had arrived carrying an imperial decree sent from the court.
“Long live, long live, long live the Emperor. Wudang humbly receives the imperial decree.”
If the opponent was the Provincial Governor carrying a holy decree rather than acting in a personal capacity, then even the Wudang Sect Leader and the elders had no choice but to prostrate themselves.
Even the strict laws of the Sword Unclasping Pond would briefly be suspended if the opponent was who they were.
The Wudang elders shot sound transmissions among themselves.
[As expected, did letting the Night Yaksha Blood Demon escape last time become the root of this trouble?]
[Ah, that’s why I said three transcendence-stage masters needed to go. Only two went, and we ended up losing him, so look at this mess!]
[Sigh, did only two go? We even sent the Seven Swords of Taiji. Misfortune piled upon misfortune, causing things to get twisted.]
[So does that serve as an excuse? With the imperial decree handed down right now, do you think His Majesty will say, ‘Oh, is that so?’ and retract the holy decree just because our luck was bad?]
What kind of punishment would they receive?
Daoist Xianchian, the Sect Leader of Wudang, was one of the holders of the seats among the Ten Great Masters of the Wulin who had reached the Realm of Creation, yet his chest felt tight.
[I thought the matter would end with a reprimand from the Provincial Inspector, but for an imperial decree to come down directly.]
[Could those bastards from the Zhuge Clan have pulled strings in the court to blow this out of proportion?]
[I will take those Zhuge Clan bastards…]
[Calm down, Junior Brother Xianwu. It hasn’t been confirmed to be the Zhuge Clan yet.]
“With the birthday of the Fifth Imperial Prince approaching, Wudang must ensure to prepare a Lesser Clear Pill to offer as a gift. That is all.”
“Is that truly all?”
“This is everything.”
The Wudang elders, who had been filled with anxiety, grew relaxed upon hearing the contents.
[It was nothing major?]
[Ahem, I told you that letting the Blood Demon escape was bound to end at that level.]
[It hasn’t ended, Senior Brother. Ultimately, it only ends when we finish it with our own hands; this has merely bought us some time.]
[In any case, we’ve avoided immediate disaster, haven’t we?]
“While it will not be difficult, there must be no mistakes.”
“The Provincial Governor need not worry. How could our sect ever neglect the birthday tribute for the Fifth Imperial Prince? We shall ensure that the Lesser Clear Pill is included in the tribute.”
“There must be no mistakes.”
Around the same time.
Though there were time differences depending on the distance, the entirety of the Nine Sects, One Gang, and Five Great Clans received similar holy decrees, causing quite a commotion.
Seonwu did not know.
That a single display of cute charm in front of his daddy would blow up into such a massive storm.
Shaolin fell to its knees.
Wudang trembled with anxiety.
And the Namgung Clan gasped in shock, but fortunately, the storm of the imperial decree passed by without making a single victim.

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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