Survival Guide for the Reincarnated - Chapter 268

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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 268
After resting for about one tea time, I emerged from the Secret Realm.
My face was haggard, yet my cold, piercing gaze remained unchanged.
It couldn’t be otherwise.
Jang I-cheong had clearly employed some scheme, but I couldn’t determine what it was with certainty.
Therefore, it was prudent to maintain vigilance until I could confidently judge that the situation had concluded.
If Jang I-cheong had orchestrated this anticipating his own death, someone would be waiting.
It could be an assassin or a martial artist from the Ihwageomseonchong. Whoever it was, they would certainly not reach the level of a Heaven-Human Realm like Jang I-cheong.
Given that my body was not in normal condition, if a fight erupted, I would need to make it as short as possible.
Only one technique came to mind.
Flesh Cut Bone Sever.
I would sacrifice a portion of flesh to claim the head.
Then I saw the scene before me and froze momentarily.
My vigilance wavered.
My mind then spun frantically.
What on earth was happening?
Why.
Was that person here?
It had been about two months since we met at Yang-ryeong’s residence, but I never expected to see him like this.
The White-Haired Elder.
Cheon Do-ja, the Martial World Supreme bearing the alias Blood Heavenly Honored One, was alone at a Go Board, placing white and black stones.
Across from him lay a severed head.
It was an eerie sight, as though he were playing a great match with the dead.
I approached quietly.
My footsteps were deliberately audible.
Approaching stealthily before the Martial World Supreme would have been disrespectful.
Cheon Do-ja did not turn his head even as I arrived, continuing to place stones.
Black stone, white stone, black stone again, white stone.
The pattern repeated.
Then he spoke in a quiet voice.
“You must have witnessed something interesting in the Secret Realm.”
“Did you foresee this?”
“Foresee… is that the right word for such a thing?”
Cheon Do-ja picked up a black stone but did not place it immediately.
“There are things in this world already determined. Like this Go Board.”
“Then was my arrival here also predetermined?”
“Perhaps. It could be predetermined, or it could not be.”
To be frank, Cheon Do-ja’s manner and demeanor were different from when we had met at Yang-ryeong’s residence.
I understood this.
Cheon Do-ja was an extraordinarily enigmatic figure.
He displays such an expression precisely when he should be infinitely serious.
I have witnessed Cheon Do-ja in this state exactly twice before.
One of those occasions was when he resolved to unify the Central Plains—could this moment carry the same weight?
Could this meeting, and my entry into this Secret Realm, be a matter requiring such gravitas?
I too became serious in response.
Cheon Do-ja finally placed a Black Stone—precisely at the center of the Go Board, the Heaven-Human Point.
“Come closer, would you? Why does a Go genius like yourself keep such distance while observing?”
I stepped closer. Only then did the full picture of the Go Board become visible.
It was extraordinary.
Black Stones and White Stones were intricately entangled, yet it was impossible to discern which side held the advantage. It resembled an equilibrium that would continue eternally.
“Can a game played alone become this complex?”
Cheon Do-ja chuckled softly.
“There is an opponent. Simply invisible.”
My gaze shifted to the severed head placed across from the Go Board.
“Is that the opponent?”
“It could be, or it could not be.”
Another such ambiguous answer.
“I do not know who that person was, but I can be certain they were not someone capable of facing Elder Cheon Do-ja.”
“Heheheh… that much is true.”
Cheon Do-ja picked up a White Stone as he spoke.
“I am curious what the being you met in the Secret Realm told you.”
My eyes shifted.
“You know, then. What existed in that Secret Realm.”
“Know? It is somewhat awkward to say from my own lips, but consider who I am.”
“The Martial World Supreme.”
“Having secured a place in the heavens, how could I remain ignorant of what transpires below?”
“I believe the circumstances are somewhat different.”
Cheon Do-ja placed a White Stone as he spoke.
“What do you believe is different?”
“Before I answer that question, I dare ask: how far does Elder Cheon Do-ja truly see?”
Without a word, Cheon Do-ja resumed playing Go.
It was a signal to continue, and I spoke at once.
“It was Elder Cheon Do-ja who led me to the Heavenly Righteousness Alliance. And it was surely you who killed the Alliance Leader.”
“Hehehehe….”
“Vice Sect Leader Yu Cheong of the Original Blood Sect prepares the reconstruction of the Thousand Year Demon Cult, and you surely knew of all the organizations he established—Muk Se-hoe, Cheon Rim, and others I do not know of. It would be strange not to know from the start. After all, Elder Cheon Do-ja, you are one who dwells in the heavens.”
“….”
“Did you know I would target Yu Cheong?”
Only then did Cheon Do-ja laugh quietly.
“Yang Seol-jin was a pawn planted by Yu Cheong, yet he died before completing his objective. But what truly matters here is that he disturbed Snow Mountain.”
“That is correct.”
“And that will was not merely Yang Seol-jin’s own—it was Yu Cheong’s will that sent him there. You know that… and now you will point a sword at Yu Cheong’s throat.”
“Precisely.”
“Yet Yu Cheong remains unaware of this. Remarkable, truly. You’ve clouded Yu Cheong’s vision through an information network and a man named Seo Hyo, strengthened ties with Yeom Wang—a core figure of the Muk Se-hoe—by connecting his daughter to your subordinates… it exceeded my expectations. However.”
Cheon Do-ja set down his stone and looked up at Seol Woon-hwi as he continued.
“Yu Cheong’s movements are constrained. As Vice Sect Leader of the Original Blood Sect, he must remain there in some capacity. At minimum, unless I dispatch him myself, he must stay in place. If Yu Cheong ventures outside, I will notice the inconsistency. Do you have separate calculations prepared for that aspect?”
“There are a few possibilities, but they are uncertain.”
“Then… you will either die prematurely or fail prematurely. One of the two outcomes awaits you.”
“The same applies to Yu Cheong. He will either die sooner than expected, or his plan to rebuild the Thousand Year Demon Cult will fail prematurely. One of the two.”
It was truly subtle.
Cheon Do-ja did not find it strange that Seol Woon-hwi opposed Yu Cheong; rather, he seemed to consider it inevitable, and above all, he appeared confident that Seol Woon-hwi would be his match.
Seol Woon-hwi read this as well.
That is why he was curious.
“Why do you merely observe the confrontation between myself and Yu Cheong?”
“It is a fight between man and man. Why should an old ‘mad elder’ like myself interfere?”
I did not react.
It was not a joke—there was no reaction whatsoever.
Within the Secret Realm, Jeok Ma Dae-gun had referred to a man named Baek Do-cheon, who had been Vice Sect Leader of the Thousand Year Demon Cult, as a ‘mad elder.’
Clearly, this was an entity bearing an enormous secret not revealed to the world, yet how could Cheon Do-ja, who had not even entered the Secret Realm, possibly know that epithet?
And how could he be certain that Seol Woon-hwi had heard that epithet?
I did not wish to reveal my true thoughts.
Yet Cheon Do-ja had clearly read something from me.
“So you called him Jeok Ma Dae-gun. A phantom from seven hundred years ago still lingers—he possessed stronger obsession than I anticipated.”
“Can you see through my thoughts?”
“Hehehehe… I cannot see them directly, but the spiritual energy of Heaven and Earth reveals them to me so clearly that I cannot pretend ignorance.”
Cheon Do-ja placed a white stone and asked.
“Now will you answer? You said the circumstances were different—what is different about them?”
That Cheon Do-ja, positioned in the heavens, knows of the events unfolding below.
In one sense, it might seem natural, yet it did not align with the current situation at all.
“Because a clear purpose is visible.”
“A purpose, you say…”
“I have never lied before the Old Master. That I intend to kill Yu Cheong, the Vice Sect Leader of the Original Blood Sect—or rather, that I will do so—you must have anticipated long ago. Yet looking at the situation, it is truly strange. Strange indeed.”
“Strange, you say… what is?”
“Even though you must know what thoughts both I and Yu Cheong harbor, you show no sign of it and instead encourage our conflict.”
“…”
“Placing someone with the intention to rebuild the Thousand Year Demon Cult in the position of Vice Sect Leader, and your willingness to reveal ‘secrets’ about the Thousand Year Demon Cult to me—considering all of this, the conclusion is that your planning of this matter stems not from mere curiosity or interest.”
“Then what do you think I am doing this for?”
My pupils gleamed.
“You desire the rebuilding of the Thousand Year Demon Cult, Old Master.”
The hand of Cheon Do-ja, holding a go stone, froze abruptly in the empty air.
“You wish to see whether it will be accomplished by Yu Cheong’s hand or by mine. Is that not so?”
Cheon Do-ja’s hand moved once more across the board.
“Hehehehe… that’s slightly different.”
“Indeed, sir.”
“Different, yet very close.”
Only then did Cheon Do-ja, who had been focused solely on the Go Board, turn his gaze toward me.
“You truly exceed my expectations, my boy.”
“….”
“It’s peculiar enough that you inherited the same blood vessels as I did, but the Three Mysteries as One doctrine… truly… I cannot comprehend it. What exactly are you?”
“I am Seol Woon-hwi.”
“A response that answers something different entirely.”
“It depends on how one chooses to accept it.”
A gentle smile bloomed at the corners of Cheon Do-ja’s mouth.
“Hehehehe… conversing with you feels as though I’ve returned to some moment in the past.”
Some moment?
“You resemble ‘him’—someone I once knew.”
“I don’t know who that might be, but it is an honor.”
“Spare me the pretense.”
“It is not pretense.”
My expression was sincere.
The scar that had formed on my forehead.
My haggard face.
My long robe, its color altered by a considerable amount of blood.
All these circumstances combined rendered me exhausted and worn, yet my expression and the light in my eyes remained genuine.
Whether my previous life’s Cheon Do-ja thought differently, I had always revered Cheon Do-ja like a father.
Though I did not share memories with this Cheon Do-ja before me, I could not turn away from that moment preserved in my remaining memories.
That is why I have always respected Cheon Do-ja.
When I receive praise from him, I feel joy; when I receive reproach, I feel sorrow.
These are natural phenomena.
I did not wish to distort them or accept them falsely.
“Whoever that person was, they must have been someone of great importance to you, Elder Cheon. That I appear to overlap with that figure means that in this moment with me, you find peace as you wander through your past—there could be no greater honor than that.”
“…Is that so.”
Hearing these words, I retrieved something from my Storage Bag and offered it to Cheon Do-ja. That black gem-like object was a Demon Stone at least five thousand years old—the final treasure of the Secret Realm.
“Do you desire this?”
Cheon Do-ja glanced at it briefly, then laughed.
“Do I seem like someone who would be moved by such a thing?”

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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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