Survival Guide for the Reincarnated - Chapter 265

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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 265
“Encountering a Thought Entity within a Secret Realm, and especially one located inside the Demon Realm, is a rare experience. But the fact that this Thought Entity possesses will is quite unexpected.”
-Hehehehe, is that so?
“Yes. There are no recorded instances of a Thought Entity possessing such clear consciousness, yet I have now experienced it for the second time. Just as the first case involved no ordinary individual, you are surely no ordinary person either. Unfortunately, my knowledge does not extend quite so far.”
Seol Woon-hwi’s words carried both praise and humility, and the black crystal seemed momentarily at a loss for words.
Soon enough, it began to laugh again with that same hehehehe sound.
-What an intriguing fellow you are. When a humble martial artist shows proper respect, it is only right to acknowledge their station accordingly. Very well, I have observed you carefully. I am the Third Successor of the Daecheon Gyo, Jeok Ma Dae-gun.
My brow furrowed sharply.
Ordinarily I would conceal my expression, but this was beyond my control.
Daecheon Gyo is one of the names used to refer to the Thousand Year Demon Cult.
When the Thousand Year Demon Cult’s followers speak of their sect with reverence, they call it Daecheon Gyo, but that aside—Jeok Ma Dae-gun.
I reacted to that name.
To put it simply, the leader of the Thousand Year Demon Cult was Won Geuk-cheon.
He had held the position of Cult Leader for a staggering nine hundred years.
To be precise, approximately 960 years, which is why people commonly refer to it as a thousand years.
What this means is that throughout those 960 years, as the sect transformed into what became known as the Thousand Year Demon Cult, there was only ever one Cult Leader.
But what of his successors?
As Jang I-cheong had mentioned, during the Thousand Year Demon Cult era, there were multiple successors.
Whether they succeeded or failed, those who learned the Demon Blood Heaven Gang Art and became Heavenly Demon successors earned the title “Dae-gun” appended to their names.
It was both their alias and their true name.
Jeok Ma Dae-gun was one such figure.
I exhaled silently within myself.
-I have revealed my name. Now you reveal yours.
“I am Seol Woon-hwi.”
-…Seol?
“Yes. The character for snow.”
-…So you are of Snow Palace.
“Yes.”
-You are the descendant of that damned dog-food scrap Seol Heun?
His tone shifted instantly to hostility, but I did not bother to respond.
I understood well enough what was happening here.
To display emotion in such a place was the folly of fools.
-Why do you remain silent? I have just insulted your ancestor, and yet you abandon benevolence and righteousness?
Finally, I could not help but let out a dry laugh.
-…You laugh?
“What does responding to an insult against my ancestors have to do with benevolence and righteousness?”
-….
“I have heard of Jeok Ma Dae-gun. The tenth Demon Lord of the Thousand Year Demon Cult, one of the supreme masters who ascended to Primordial Sole Existence, and a figure who played a great role in unifying the Murim.”
-Oho? It seems you know me in greater detail than I expected. Then let us accelerate this conversation.
Smoke rose from the black crystal, and the form of a man began to materialize.
His body was large and lean, with long hair cascading down. Most striking were the crimson rays of light blazing from his two eyes.
I spoke quietly.
“I’d prefer we skip the pleasantries and get straight to the point.”
-Oho… I thought you were merely humble, but you have quite the audacity.
I ignored the comment.
“You said you would seize my body. How exactly do you intend to do it?”
Jeok Ma Dae-gun grinned wickedly.
This needed to be clear.
Normally, when a person smiles, the corners of their mouth rise. But not to the extent that Jeok Ma Dae-gun’s did.
His mouth corners stretched up nearly to his eyes—grotesque beyond measure, yet somehow wondrous.
-How will I seize it? Like this!
Jeok Ma Dae-gun’s form suddenly lunged toward me, and in that same instant, the Demonic Energy accumulated over seven hundred years from all sides of the Altar came surging forth.
BOOM—!!
With a deafening roar, my body was submerged in a sea of Demonic Energy.
The air grew heavy.
My entire body burned.
An aura that touched the very origin of humanity.
The crystallized essence of demons.
I knew better than anyone how to respond in such circumstances.
First and foremost.
I must not lose my composure.
Pain was familiar to me anyway. My life had been pain itself.
Jeok Ma Dae-gun, confronted with my mirror-like clarity, flinched momentarily and gritted his teeth.
This was an opportunity for him. One he could not afford to miss.
His consciousness immediately pierced into my mind like lightning.
It was no mere intrusion. It was an attempt to shake my entire consciousness, as if a massive boulder had been hurled into a lake.
Jeok Ma Dae-gun’s form vanished.
Only I remained, submerged in the sea of Demonic Energy.
The veins on my forehead bulged. A sensation as if my entire head were being torn apart crashed over me.
That was when it happened.
-…What in the world is this body made of?
Unlike before, this was not a voice flowing from the crystal or form. It was Jeok Ma Dae-gun’s voice resonating inside my mind.
He was genuinely perplexed.
-It seemed you had reached the Heaven Earth Four Realms, yet how can the Upper Dantian be so incomplete? As if….
Jeok Ma Dae-gun fell silent for a moment, then gasped in shock.
-You forcibly… opened the Upper Dantian? And what is this grotesque thing in between? Connected to the Jindan Field… a Lower Dantian? Oh…?
Jeok Ma Dae-gun let out a hollow laugh.
-You’ve actually realized the Three Mysteries Unity Theory, which existed only in theory.
At this, my brow furrowed.
“Three Mysteries Unity Theory? What is that?”
-Don’t play dumb with me. Do you think I wouldn’t know the theory that mad fool Baek Do-cheon created? I am Jeok Ma Dae-gun.
Since leaving Snow Mountain, I’ve had quite a range of experiences, I thought.
Seol Woon-hwi clearly knows many things.
Whether it concerns the Thousand Year Demon Cult or the Thousand Year Chaos, he had been placed in a position where he couldn’t help but know things he never wished to know, so his knowledge overflowed abundantly.
But the name Baek Do-cheon was one I was hearing for the first time.
It was completely new to me, and I had only just learned that such a figure as Baek Do-cheon existed within the Thousand Year Demon Cult.
Moreover, Jeok Ma Dae-gun was speaking of how he had authored something called the Three Manifestations Unity Theory, and that the Three Manifestations Frozen Fire Art I had created was the same as it.
Though I said nothing, I was deeply flustered.
After shaking my head, I began to focus my mind, but Jeok Ma Dae-gun did not.
-I cannot believe it. That there exists a mad fool actually practicing that theory, and even succeeding at it…? Even Baek Do-cheon himself declared it mere theory, and that if anyone were to actually practice and succeed at it, such a person would soon become the Cult Leader of the Daecheon Gyo… This is strange. This makes no sense. You, a mere child, succeeded at this? That cannot be. Who are you? Who helped you….
Jeok Ma Dae-gun fell silent. It was a silence as if he had realized something.
-Could it be… that mad old fool is still alive?
I opened my mouth.
“Who exactly is this mad old fool who created the Three Manifestations Unity Theory?”
-Don’t play dumb! Baek Do-cheon, who was Vice Sect Leader of the Daecheon Gyo! Isn’t it his theory!
Mad old fool.
Vice Sect Leader of the Thousand Year Demon Cult.
Baek Do-cheon.
My mind grew complicated.
The Vice Sect Leader of the Heavenly Demon Divine Cult… thinking about it, no one had ever identified who that was.
That was how the world worked. No matter who held the position of Vice Sect Leader, all eyes ultimately fell upon the Cult Leader, and if the Vice Sect Leader accomplished something that surpassed the Cult Leader, that Vice Sect Leader would die.
Why would the character for “vice” be affixed to the front?
It was affixed because one had to serve in complete support.
“Unfortunately, I do not know of anyone named Baek Do-cheon.”
-…What?
“The Three Manifestations Unity Theory is also something I’m hearing of for the first time. The technique I created by connecting three dantians—I call it the Three Manifestations Frozen Fire Art, and I created it myself.”
-Ha, you really do take me for a fool. Even if you were a genius who would never appear twice in this world, it would be impossible at your age to create a new cultivation system. No, wait, before even creating one, operating three dantians simultaneously is impossible in itself. There’s no way a child like you could do it without enlightenment that transcends the Five Realms of Martial God. Right, it doesn’t make sense from the start.
Kwaaaang—!!
Demonic Energy began pounding throughout my entire body.
-Insolent brat, who do you think you’re trying to deceive! You did it alone? That’s ridiculous. Say no more. I need nothing else. I’ll simply seize your body and leave this place. Then I can meet Baek Do-cheon. I have much to ask him.
“…Ugh….”
-Now that I think about it, this has worked out well. If I take your body, though still incomplete, I will obtain a form that embodies the Three Manifestations Unity Theory… I can become a new Heavenly Demon. Hehehehe.
Along with grotesque laughter, Jeok Ma Dae-gun’s consciousness began to erode my mind even more forcefully.
-Hand it over. Give it to me now! That body is mine! Hahahaha!!
That was when it happened.
Suddenly, intense pain surged through my side.
“Kugh….”
The wound I had sustained in my battle with Jang I-cheong. Remnants of Demonic Energy still lingered where the blade had pierced, and Jeok Ma Dae-gun was concentrating his assault precisely on that spot.
-Hehehehe, you fool, crawling in here with such a pathetic body? Arrogant wretch, how is it that a descendant of the Thousand Year Demon Cult has not cultivated Demonic Energy! Rather, your entire body bears the marks of battle with the Cult’s followers… You must surely have mental problems.
Even as he spoke thus, Jeok Ma Dae-gun’s consciousness surged toward the wound on my body.
Seol Woon-hwi pushed his Void Manifestation Qi to its absolute limit.
He had displayed the flow of Demonic Energy in Yangnyeong’s Mysterious Realm before, but this was different.
It was Demonic Energy steeped in centuries of resentment.
There was will behind it, and the flow of qi was astonishingly fluid and graceful.
In moments like this, there was only one choice—to meet it head-on.
Seol Woon-hwi’s Void Manifestation Qi began to take on the nature of Demonic Energy, and the instant it collided with Jeok Ma Dae-gun’s, a violent resonance erupted.
Kuuuuuuung—!!
The storm of qi spreading in all directions sent the cave into a frenzy of trembling, and the Demon Eye Stones embedded in the ceiling began to rain down.
Yet Seol Woon-hwi remained unmoved, and Jeok Ma Dae-gun paid it no mind either.
Both men had something they needed to do.
It was the common trait of masters.
When there was something that must be done and the judgment came that this was an absolute moment where retreat was impossible, even if the world crumbled, they would never tear their gaze from what they were focused upon.
These two were undeniably masters.
Jeok Ma Dae-gun cried out.
—As long as you bear a wound tainted by Demonic Energy, you can never defeat me!
Seol Woon-hwi’s body began to convulse. Black blood streamed from his side.
But he did not yield.
Instead, a smile bloomed at the corners of his lips.
“Then, how about this?”
—…What?

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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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