I Prayed for a Murim Reincarnation, But I Was Born as the Youngest Imperial Prince - Chapter 4

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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 4
While Seonwu merely thought they would provide him with a tutor to teach him about the world, the Imperial Court was swiftly engaged in a fierce, under-the-surface battle of wits over a single vacant seat.
“Did your faction not take the position of the Water Dragon King’s childhood master! How dare you try to hog it again this time?”
“Haha, I simply wished to sincerely recommend the talent who would be of the greatest help to His Fifth Highness. Is it not your side that views this matter as some sort of factional dispute?”
“What a shameless lie. Even if you are greedy, you should exercise some moderation!”
Deep within the secretive chambers of high-end taverns.
Inside the private rooms of teahouses.
Sometimes within the mansions of high-ranking ministers.
They raised their voices to criticize one another, digging up the weaknesses of rival candidates and clashing spark-for-spark to seize this position.
The four factions constantly split and merged, continuing their disputes and transactions over the candidates.
However, it was a single word from the Emperor that brought a halt to all those tactical maneuvers.
“There has been quite a lot of talk lately regarding the position of my youngest son’s master.”
As the deep and heavy voice of the Emperor settled over the Imperial Court, the ministers all prostrated themselves flat.
It was the dignity of an absolute ruler, completely different from the way he simply laughed heartily in front of Seonwu.
Before that overwhelming majesty, no one dared to utter a single word.
For their very power was a position allowed to them by the Emperor’s grace in the end.
“The one to teach my youngest must be upright and free of ulterior motives. Grand Scholar Jin Hoye would be ideal. I appoint him as the master of the Fifth Prince.”
Once the Emperor had made his decision, the command could only be obeyed.
If there was any solace for each faction, it was that Jin Hoye was a neutral figure who belonged to no faction at all.
‘He is not from our faction, but the worst has been avoided.’
‘Since the imperial mind is set, we have no choice but to obey.’
With that, all debates came to an end.
* * *
From that day forward, Jin Hoye became Seonwu’s master.
The various duties he originally managed were pushed down the priority list and distributed among other officials, while going to see Seonwu became his very first priority.
Seonwu looked at the elderly scholar who prostrated himself deeply to greet him.
“Did you say you are Grand Scholar Jin Hoye?”
Hoye was his courtesy name rather than his given name, and Seonwu was well aware of that level of etiquette.
“I heard you will teach me many things. I have high expectations.”
Because there was so much he wanted to know about this world.
“Should I call you master?”
“Though Your Highness’s words are overwhelming, you are the most noble dragon descendant in this country after His Imperial Majesty. For you to use honorifics for a mere subject does not conform to etiquette, so please simply call me Grand Scholar Jin.”
“Is that so?”
Seonwu nodded his head.
‘I guess that’s just how the etiquette of this country is.’
He knew that in some places, even royalty would call their tutor ‘master.’
However, such things varied by culture.
‘But that means the authority of the imperial family surpasses the authority of a master.’
“Furthermore, while it is an extreme honor that you speak to me with formal respect, this too does not conform to etiquette. Please speak casually.”
“Is… Is that so?”
A lecture on etiquette had begun right from the start, but Seonwu did not find it unpleasant.
He was merely surprised.
‘Still, he’s much older than me, and he’s practically acting as my teacher?’
Since he was an elder and a master, wasn’t it normal to speak politely to him?
Even for royalty, was their authority really this high?
‘This is even greater than I thought.’
Even for a king, using a semi-polite tone with a high-ranking elderly minister was the common custom Seonwu knew.
Yet it was proper etiquette for his five-year-old self to drop honorifics completely.
Even if they elevated the imperial family, to elevate them to this extent?
The authority of the imperial family was truly beyond imagination.
Still, since they said that was correct, he had to adapt to it.
“Ahem, I understand. But before we get to those studies, I have a few things I’m curious about.”
In truth, he simply wanted to ask about the Spiritual Medicine.
He was curious about the right time to consume Spiritual Medicine, the right time to receive grand techniques, and the right time to start learning Martial Arts in earnest.
But somehow, an elderly Grand Scholar had suddenly come to be his dedicated master.
‘If he’s a Grand Scholar, isn’t that a Senior Third Rank position in this country?’
Frankly, it would be understandable if he were older and studying academics in earnest, but a mere five-year-old just wanted to know a bit about the world, and they sent a great scholar worthy of being appointed to the Senior Third Rank.
‘Uh, isn’t Imperial Father being a bit excessive?’
But what could he do about it.
Since things had turned out this way, he would just have to learn a lot from now on.
“Please ask, Your Highness.”
“On my birthday, the Nine Sects and One Gang and the Five Great Noble Families presented various Spiritual Pills. But I was told it isn’t time to consume them yet.”
It felt just like having the allowance money he received on New Year’s Day confiscated by his mother.
“Don’t children born into Wulin families consume those Spiritual Medicines and Spiritual Pills around my age, and build their bodies by undergoing Bealmo Seusu or other grand techniques? Am I wrong?”
It was actually a probing question based on a hunch.
But in most martial arts novels, characters usually built up their bodies at this age.
“Your Highness’s words are correct. However, that is the story of ordinary mortals. Since Your Highness is a dragon possessing a Yeouiju, how could it be the same?”
“Mmm, if it’s a Yeouiju, do you mean this bead in my chest?”
“That is correct.”
No matter how he looked at it, the elderly scholar’s manner of answering was entirely serious.
Of course, it was a first for Seonwu too to have a bead embedded in his chest and remain perfectly fine.
If it were an ordinary bead, the surrounding flesh would have festered, so it should have been removed immediately.
‘Everyone seriously believes that this is a real Yeouiju and that real dragon blood flows through me.’
At this point, shouldn’t this be considered the truth?
Of course, there was a time when almost everyone believed in the geocentric theory, but it wasn’t actually true.
However, even that theory managed to calculate and predict many astronomical phenomena with small margins of error back then.
Whether this was a real Yeouiju or just something similar, it had to be viewed as an extraordinary bead.
“Is the power of this Yeouiju special?”
“Of course. Even His current Imperial Majesty and your four older brothers, the four Kings, are stabilizing the world with the Longshen Zhili rooted in their Yeouiju, so how could it not be special?”
It seemed the statement that eating it now might actually be bad for him was true after all.
“Then when do I start consuming Spiritual Medicine?”
“Once you turn seven and your Yeouiju awakens, you will begin to choose and consume things that have good compatibility with Your Highness’s Yeouiju. Please put your mind at ease and do not rush.”
Seven years old.
He had to wait two more years.
Still, they wouldn’t skimp on Spiritual Medicine for him since he was a prince.
He decided to consume the Lesser Rejuvenating Pill two years later.
Seonwu resolved to be patient for now.
But Longshen Zhili.
Just how strong and special was that power?
It was hard to gauge.
So Seonwu decided to ask a different question.
“Who would be the strongest person in the world today?”
“That is, of course, His Imperial Majesty who rules over the world.”
“Not in terms of political power or the troops under his command, but in terms of his personal martial prowess.”
“Naturally, that is also His Imperial Majesty.”
Oh.
Really?
“His Majesty is an absolute powerhouse who has reached the one and only Tianzi Realm of this generation. With that power, he drove away the remnants of the previous dynasty, Yuan, which had fallen into demonic ways, and established the Great Long Empire upon this land, so no one dares to compare to him.”
So my father, the Emperor, is the absolute strongest not just in political power, but in martial power as well?
Is this a case where power comes from the barrel of a gun—no, from Martial Arts?
“You said Imperial Father is in the unique realm of the Tianzi Realm?”
“That is correct.”
The first thing he needed to know here was how this world divided its realms.
Because the names of the realms varied so much depending on the martial arts novel, Seonwu had no way of knowing unless he asked.
“How are the realms of Martial Arts divided? Even if the realms aren’t perfectly precise, there must be a generally accepted standard. Setting aside the detailed criteria, I want to know their names first.”
“Yes, Your Highness. Since Martial Arts is the foundation for ruling the world, it has been established since ancient times by discussing the realms that various sages achieved.”
Huh?
Martial Arts is the foundation?
Even while listening casually, Seonwu felt a piece of common sense about this era shatter.
He thought a Grand Scholar would say that Confucianism, loyalty, or filial piety was the foundation, but to say Martial Arts was the foundation.
‘Wow, this really is a martial arts world.’
Anyway, so what about the realms?
“Starting with the Third-Class, where one has barely tasted martial arts, the Second-Class and First-Class are placed above it. Anything above that is referred to as high-tier, and those who reach it are called experts.”
“So they are high-tier experts.”
“That is correct. Above that is called the Peak Realm, and it is also the end of the realm that outstanding geniuses can stably reach when they obtain a good master and sufficient Spiritual Medicine.”
“So that’s why it’s the Peak Realm.”
The Peak Realm.
One can ascend no further.
The mountaintop where things end.
When it was called by such a name, it meant there was a massive wall making it difficult to advance further.
“The next is called the Transcendence Realm, which is a realm that only some of the Peak Realm experts can cross after gaining enlightenment.”
“How many people in the Wulin are roughly in the Transcendence Realm?”
“If we limit it to the Wulin, there are around one hundred people. Thus, in the Wulin, reaching the Transcendence Realm grants one a seat among the top one hundred experts, and this remains true whether the number exceeds one hundred or falls short of it depending on the era.”
Oh.
The top one hundred experts.
Seonwu’s eyes shined.
Compared to the top ten experts, it sounded a bit common, but in truth, even that alone was incredible.
‘Think about being among the top one hundred richest people in the Republic of Korea. Even if you’re not at the very top of a mega-corporation, you’re still the owner of a mid-sized conglomerate.’
There are over eight hundred companies listed on the KOSPI.
Being a top one hundred expert meant being a wealthy individual carefully selected even among KOSPI-listed company owners.
Recalling terms from his past life, Seonwu understood it in his own way.
“So if one is not in the Transcendence Realm, they aren’t counted among the top one hundred experts, and conversely, if they are in the Transcendence Realm, they are considered one of the top one hundred experts even if there are more than one hundred of them. I suppose it would be awkward to call them the top ninety experts or top one hundred and ten experts to match the fluctuating numbers.”
“You are brilliant, Your Highness.”
So the Transcendence Realm was at that level.
“That must mean even the prestigious sects of the Wulin, represented by the Nine Sects and One Gang and the Five Great Noble Families, don’t have many Transcendence Realm experts?”
“Yes, excluding places like Shaolin and Wudang, there are only about two or three individuals per faction.”
“Do Shaolin and Wudang have more?”
“Wudang currently has five, and Shaolin does indeed have ten.”
Oh.
That’s actually a lot.
There are plenty of martial arts worldviews where Shaolin and Wudang are nothing special, but that wasn’t the case here where he was born.
At this level, Shaolin was truly Mount Tai and the Big Dipper of the Wulin.
And Wudang was well-suited to shine above other sects as the runner-up.
“What is above the Transcendence Realm?”
“There is the Realm of Creation. In both the Wulin and the Imperial Court, the top experts of this realm are accurately selected to match its number, so there are currently ten great experts of the Wulin and ten great experts of the Imperial Court.”
“Are there ten experts of the Realm of Creation in the Imperial Court as well?”
“Yes, the Eight Grand Generals and the Two Admirals are of the Realm of Creation.”
Even the ten great experts of the Wulin would be scattered across different sects.
Yet within the single unified power of the Imperial Court, there was an equal number of Realm of Creation experts!
With this, individual sects had no choice but to walk on eggshells around the Imperial Court.
Seonwu understood why they had swarmed in to present tribute on his birthday.
But then, does that mean the ten great experts of the Imperial Court, who are on par with the ten great experts of the Wulin, rank below me?
To be precise, they were below his father, the Emperor, but either way, benefiting from one’s parents is part of one’s own power, right?
That’s awesome.
“Then when the number of people in the Realm of Creation isn’t ten…”
“When there are eight, they are called the eight great experts, and when there are twelve, they are called the twelve great experts, because those who have reached the Realm of Creation are truly experts who tower over the world. Their numbers must be counted precisely.”
“It’s different from the Transcendence Realm, which is loosely lumped into the top one hundred.”
The Realm of Creation.
So this was the realm reached by the greatest experts of the present day.
“But above the Realm of Creation is the Tianzi Realm, and that is the realm achieved by Imperial Father.”
“That is so. Looking back at past dynasties, whenever an emperor achieved the Tianzi Realm, order was established in the world and imperial power grew strong. On the other hand, when an emperor merely remained in the Realm of Creation, imperial power became unstable, powerful ministers ran rampant, and local regions ignored the central government. This is ultimately the logic where one prospers with power and declines without it.”
‘This is different from the history of my past life, where a country could be ruled by legitimacy alone.’
Then again, being a general commanding an army was different from being an absolute expert by oneself.
In the case of the former, even if I were to stage a rebellion, I would be powerless if the officer class and soldiers refused to listen and remained loyal to the state.
But in the case of the latter, immense martial force would directly follow the moment one simply made up their mind.
Right now, even a Grand Scholar was stating that the foundation of ruling the country was Martial Arts rather than Confucianism or filial piety.
Suddenly, the words of that fellow Jun came to mind.
[Would a world where strength defines everything really establish laws, ethics, and justice better than Korea? Would a world where you can only rely on the personal chivalry of individual martial heroes be better than Korea? Don’t you think it would end up like Mexico over there?]
Shoo.
Begone, demon in my head.
How dare you slander a martial arts world where righteousness and chivalry breathe; this is complete heresy.
But what if, by some small chance, the world really was as Jun described? What should he do then?

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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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