Survival Guide for the Reincarnated - Chapter 181
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This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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Chapter 181
Hyeon Sim’s judgment was understandable enough.
“I would like to ask you one question, General.”
“…I will listen.”
“Let’s assume the Palace Lord is in a very critical condition. There is only one way to treat him. For that one method, a price must be paid, and that price is your life, General.”
Hyeon Sim’s brow twitched.
“If you take your own life, General, the Palace Lord can live. But you won’t know whether the Palace Lord truly lived or died. What would you do in such a situation?”
There was not even a moment’s hesitation.
“I would take my own life.”
“It’s the same thing.”
“…”
“Seo Hyo’s dream is a dream he holds as a man, and his lifelong wish. I will not ignore the resolve of someone who doesn’t want to live as a servant forever. Nor do I want to.”
“…Hyeon Seol-rin sir…”
“You are a man who knows loyalty, General. Seo Hyo is also a man who knows loyalty. The only difference is that your loyalty is directed toward the Palace Lord, while Seo Hyo’s loyalty is directed toward his own dream. General.”
“Please speak.”
“Do you trust me?”
“I trust you.”
“Then please trust me until the end.”
Hyeon Sim, who had been sighing deeply, asked in a small voice.
“…Is it true that the Vice Palace Lord is a person of Cheon Lim while also being a person of the Original Blood Sect?”
“To be precise, it’s different. Yang Seol-jin is a person of Cheon Lim while being a person of ‘Yu Cheong’.”
“…So he’s trying to overturn the Snow Palace.”
“Yes.”
“What on earth is the reason for that?”
Hyeon Sim must have judged that I would know the reason well enough. That’s why he asked such a question.
That’s right.
I know the reason.
And.
I briefly looked around.
The peak of Snow Mountain.
I never thought I would come to this place like this, but if not now, I don’t know when the next opportunity will be.
This place has truly treacherous terrain, impossible to climb unless one is a martial artist who has reached the Four Stages of Heaven and Earth.
Father stopped searching for treasure in this place exactly three months ago.
The Eminent Monk’s words also bothered me, and I was curious about the reason for my ‘regression’.
Though I’m not certain, since I’m already here, I intend to search for it at least once.
“Would you like to search together once?”
“Search for what?”
“For the reason.”
“…”
My gaze turned downward.
The main palace of the Ten Thousand Year Snow Palace, viewed from Snow Mountain where the boundary with the sky was blurred, didn’t feel particularly small.
Roughly… about that much.
I cut the Ten Thousand Year Snow Mountain from about that position.
* * *
Woon-hwi, who had been thinking deeply about something for a moment, spoke briefly.
“Please withdraw your energy.”
“…I understand.”
Though I didn’t know what it was, I could tell that Woon-hwi was going to do something.
So I followed.
As Hyeon Sim withdrew his Heaven and Earth Spiritual Energy again, a blizzard began that made it difficult to see even an inch ahead.
They soon enveloped the bodies of Hyeon Sim and Woon-hwi.
Hyeon Sim’s eyes were once again colored with worry.
Because no matter how he looked at it, Woon-hwi’s body didn’t seem normal.
Especially the wound on his right hand was considerable.
He naturally sent energy to protect the arm.
Even in that moment, Woon-hwi’s eyes were clearly examining the surroundings.
He would look somewhere, tilt his head in puzzlement, then look at another place.
After about the time it takes for Han Da-gyeong to pass, Hyeon Sim spoke as if it wouldn’t do.
“Hyeon Seol-rin sir, I don’t know well what you’re trying to do, but this place is dangerous. It’s hard to stay here long, so how about we go down the mountain first and then talk?”
Instead of answering, Woon-hwi slowly looked around. Nothing could be seen except ice sheets, snow piles, and bone-cutting wind.
Could he not hear?
So just as he was about to speak again.
“General, isn’t it strange?”
“What do you mean?”
“The Palace Lord has been searching through this Snow Mountain for over ten years. Yang Seol-jin too.”
Hyeon Sim silently nodded his head.
There was no way Hyeon Sim, of all people, wouldn’t know that Seol Jung-cheon had wandered searching for the legend.
“But he probably couldn’t even guess, let alone find it.”
“…Yes. That’s correct. The Palace Lord spent more than three time periods a day on this mountain. Sometimes ten time periods, and sometimes entire days.”
That meant.
“It can’t be found by ordinary methods.”
“…That’s right.”
At the tone of Hyeon Sim’s voice, Woon-hwi turned his head.
“You think the Palace Lord wasted his time, General.”
“…Do you sense that from my voice?”
“Yes. I can sense it. And you probably think Yang Seol-jin and Yu Cheong are also doing futile things. Am I right?”
“…Yes.”
It’s right for ordinary people to think like Hyeon Sim.
If even a master of Great Void Formless couldn’t find it despite searching, it would be right to assume it doesn’t exist in the first place.
Honestly, it’s common.
Oral traditions passed down to each sect exist in some form, and most of them are stories meant to give enlightenment, with cases actually connecting to reality being extremely rare.
Even if the Ten Thousand Year Snow Palace is the predecessor of the North Sea Ice Palace, what doesn’t exist doesn’t exist.
Woon-hwi doesn’t blame Hyeon Sim for this. He could understand.
What’s important is that Woon-hwi knows that legend is real.
If the Ten Thousand Year Snow Mountain was cut in half, and a ‘treasure’ poured out from the avalanche that started here.
He stroked his chin.
Something was strange.
Should I say the direction doesn’t match?
Snow Mountain was cut according to the ‘trajectory’ of the sword Woon-hwi wielded.
That trajectory was definitely diagonal.
Woon-hwi crouched down and fell into deep thought.
The poem of Seol Heun, the first Palace Lord, came to mind.
(Ten thousand years Snow Mountain hides heaven’s secret).
The Ten Thousand Year Snow Mountain holds heaven’s secret.
(People seek heaven but know not the place).
People seek heaven but do not know that place.
True meaning lies within the white snow.
The true meaning originally lies within the white snow.
He pondered thought after thought.
The snow mountain held heaven’s secrets, and those who searched for them sought heaven but knew not where it was. And…
” (The true meaning originally lies within the white snow)…”
“The true meaning originally lies within the white snow…”
Hyeon Sim recited along.
For now, he paid no attention. All of Woon-hwi’s focus was on the content of the poem.
And at this moment, Woon-hwi noticed something strange.
The snow mountain held heaven’s secrets, yet what people searched for was not the secrets but heaven itself.
Why would they search for heaven?
Heaven and heaven’s secrets were clearly distinguished.
Most importantly, the last line that Hyeon Sim had recited.
The true meaning originally lies within the white snow.
Woon-hwi slowly rose from his seat and looked straight ahead. The view of the snow mountain from the high peak was, as mentioned before, more than spectacular.
“What if the perspective was different?”
At Woon-hwi’s sudden words, Hyeon Sim tilted his head.
“Perspective, you say?”
“Yes. In the poem by Seol Heun, the first Palace Lord, it mentioned ‘heaven’s secrets.’ But what if that actually meant ‘heaven’ itself?”
“Then… you mean we should think from heaven’s perspective?”
“Exactly.”
Woon-hwi slowly walked around the snow mountain, observing it from various angles. With each change of angle, the appearance of the snow mountain changed. Then suddenly, he stopped walking.
Hyeon Sim approached and asked.
“Do you see something?”
Woon-hwi shook his head.
“I don’t see it.”
Hyeon Sim, who had been secretly hopeful, scratched his head. There was something strangely captivating about this. Perhaps it was because this was the first time seeing Woon-hwi like this.
And at Woon-hwi’s following words, Hyeon Sim’s eyes lit up.
“Regarding the content of the last line, I’m getting a sense of what the true meaning is.”
“May I hear it?”
Woon-hwi spoke without hesitation.
“Do you know where Seol Heun belonged before establishing the Ten Thousand Year Snow Palace?”
“…North Sea… Ice Palace.”
“Yes. The North Sea Ice Palace. The phrase ‘the true meaning originally lies within the white snow’ ultimately refers to the North Sea Ice Palace. If that’s the case, the meaning of the previous two lines also changes.”
Woon-hwi, organizing his thoughts, slowly continued.
“Unable to find heaven… Why couldn’t they find it? Even when the North Sea Ice Palace existed, Ten Thousand Year Snow Mountain was there, but the North Sea Ice Palace was destroyed because of the Thousand Year Chaos.”
“…”
“The Thousand Year Chaos struck both the Central Plains Murim and the entire Sae-oe Murim. There are countless mountains that existed in the past but have disappeared, and places that are now land but were once seas. General.”
“…Yes. Lord Hyeon Seol-rin.”
“Was the peak of Ten Thousand Year Snow Mountain before the Thousand Year Chaos truly this place where we stand now?”
“…Ah… Lord Hyeon Seol-rin’s words are…”
Woon-hwi nodded.
“The ‘peak of the snow mountain’ we know might not be the real peak. The reason Father and Yang Seol-jin couldn’t find it might be because they were searching in the wrong place.”
Woon-hwi surveyed the surroundings again. As the blizzard briefly subsided, he could see the entire snow mountain with a broader view.
Something.
Something was missing.
Woon-hwi fell into thought for a moment. His gaze moved along the ridgeline of the snow mountain covered in white snow in the distance.
Whether it was before the Thousand Year Chaos or not, even if the location of Ten Thousand Year Snow Mountain’s peak wasn’t here, it wouldn’t change much.
That made sense.
While Seol Jung-cheon had only searched for about ten years, in the not-so-distant future, the Snow Palace would fall into Yang Seol-jin’s hands.
He had searched and searched the snow mountain for over several decades.
Not only Yang Seol-jin, but Yu Cheong would have been the same.
Yet they couldn’t find it.
When Woon-hwi cut the snow mountain, that treasure appeared – that’s what it means.
In other words, the perspective itself needs to be completely transformed.
The supreme masters of Great Void Formless and Primordial Sole Existence searched for decades but couldn’t find it, ultimately concluding it was merely a legend.
This point must be noted.
Looking at it differently.
“…They couldn’t find it because they were masters?”
He shook his head.
“…If they couldn’t find it because they were too strong…”
Suddenly, Woon-hwi stopped.
His eyes trembled violently.
“…Lord Hyeon Seol-rin? Are you alright?”
To Hyeon Sim’s worried question, Woon-hwi asked.
“General, what do you think is the essence of the snow mountain?”
“Essence… you mean?”
“Yes.”
Hyeon Sim thought for a moment.
“Cold… dangerous… a place where living beings cannot stay long… wouldn’t that be it?”
“Correct. This place is fundamentally somewhere humans cannot exist.”
Woon-hwi’s eyes gleamed.
“But how are we able to be here?”
“In Lord Hyeon Seol-rin’s case, you use internal energy to protect your body… and martial artists of the Five Realms of Martial God like myself exist by using Heaven and Earth Spiritual Energy to isolate our surroundings. Of course, we’ve trained our basic physical bodies to withstand this level of blizzard…”
Hyeon Sim, who had been speaking, slowly trailed off.
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This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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