Survival Guide for the Reincarnated - Chapter 328

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

Chapter 328
Chapter 4
The board had been set entirely for Shin Gang.
The new cooperative framework between the Heavenly Righteousness Alliance and Ihwa Geom Cheon Jong would be formalized only after Ihwa Geom Cheon Jong’s internal affairs were completely settled, at which point Shin Gang would visit the Heavenly Righteousness Alliance in person to establish the agreement.
Naturally, there was no longer any reason for me to remain.
So I quietly descended the mountain.
An old man wearing a mask followed alongside me.
It was Hwa Mu-nyeom.
“In the past, I was angry with you.”
I stopped in my tracks and quietly observed Hwa Mu-nyeom as he spoke.
“Now the situation has reversed. Very well, let us speak of it. What is your reason?”
“Do you not understand? The reason?”
….
“You seem to have some suspicion, but I believe your direction is slightly off.”
“Direction?”
“It was not merely because you nearly ruined the matter that I spoke harshly.”
I was momentarily taken aback.
I had thought that was the reason, but it wasn’t?
“Of course, I was displeased about that aspect. After all, your actions nearly caused everything to fall apart.”
“I do not deny it.”
“For a martial artist who has reached the Five Realms of Martial God, clashing with an opponent of equal standing is rare. Moreover, through such exchanges, there are often opportunities to gain enlightenment—truly a precious chance. Yet opportunities always come again. To be consumed by passion in a moment when one must remain steadfast? I shall speak frankly.”
My gaze was resolute.
“Had you not been the next Alliance Leader of the Heavenly Righteousness Alliance, and had you not been the man leading the Silent World Society, I would not have interfered. What right would I have to stop a martial artist from fighting with martial honor, even unto death? But have you not already once withdrawn from the martial world?”
….
“Even if you return to activity in the Murim, there are things you set down when you withdrew back then.”
“You speak of gratitude and grudges?”
“No. That is not what I mean. I speak of attachment.”
Hwa Mu-nyeom’s eyes widened.
“You abandoned your attachment as a martial artist and chose a new life for the reconstruction of the Thousand Year Demon Cult. That is a new path you vowed to pursue as a ‘human.’ Yet what I witnessed just now was neither the latter nor the former.”
….
“You were merely a phantom consumed by desire. Without a single thought to what consequences might unfold, you were wholly absorbed in that singular moment. I ask this out of genuine curiosity—do you believe the reconstruction of the Thousand Year Demon Cult will be easy?”
“…It cannot be.”
“No. Not at the level of difficulty you are currently imagining. Reconstructing the Thousand Year Demon Cult is tantamount to making enemies of the entire Murim, and most critically, you must either persuade or make an enemy of the strongest, most dangerous, and most unprecedented genius in history.”
….
“Regain your clarity. While others may waver, you must not.”
Hwa Mu-nyeom fell silent for a long while.
I too said nothing.
Just then, rain began to fall from the sky.
The pattering drops of rain broke the silence.
I asked a question.
“Does my words displease you?”
“It displeases me, but since every word rings true, I cannot voice my discontent.”
Hwa Mu-nyeom was a man without lingering attachments, and I was a man without lingering attachments.
If either of us harbored displeasure toward the other, we would settle it on the spot, such was our nature.
I moved straight to the heart of the matter.
“I will create a situation where you need not abandon either.”
“…What?”
“In this grand game I am orchestrating, I will create a stage where you can dedicate everything without worrying about consequences, focusing solely on victory as a martial artist.”
“…When will that be?”
“Not long from now. And it will not end with just once. Will that suffice?”
“Yes, it will.”
I exhaled softly and looked up at the sky.
“Do you know what is necessary to rebuild the Thousand Year Demon Cult?”
“You’re speaking of something more concrete than what you just said.”
“Yes. More precisely, I’m speaking of the core essence compressed into one.”
“I want to hear it from your own lips.”
I answered immediately.
“Dominion.”
“Dominion?”
“The hierarchy must be clear. We must not create order through strength after rebuilding the Thousand Year Demon Cult. Rather, we must create order first, then rebuild the Thousand Year Demon Cult.”
“….”
“Whether through strength or otherwise, there are countless beings in this Murim who fear and resent the organization called the Thousand Year Demon Cult. We must subjugate them all. If we cannot subjugate everyone, we must at least become a contender for supremacy in Murim, capable of exercising overwhelming dominion.”
In my previous life, how did Yu Cheong manage to rebuild the Thousand Year Demon Cult?
It was simple.
Because I created every board for him.
It was not his intention. He merely silenced and killed.
I moved of my own free will, acting for the Origin Blood Sect again and again.
As a result, all forces in Murim submitted to the Origin Blood Sect and bowed their heads. Factions weakened, and every master fell one by one.
In that moment when all organizations in Murim fell silent, I moved.
Naturally, I created a stage where only the Origin Blood Sect could be made an enemy.
Yu Cheong was one who waited, and I was one who created.
That was the difference, and in this life, I had no intention of stopping.
With countless enemies I had already created, I could not stop even if I wanted to.
After observing Hwa Mu-nyeom for a moment, I spoke casually.
“Would you like to raise your realm?”
Hwa Mu-nyeom blinked as if to ask why such an obvious question needed asking.
“Of course. I am a martial artist of Limitless Divine Manifestation, and I have always dreamed of a breakthrough as one pursuing the Dao Transformation Authority. No matter how many years have passed, such things are not easily abandoned. In the end, my identity is that of a martial artist.”
“That is precisely why I speak.”
“…What?”
“Do you know how to play Go?”
Hwa Mu-nyeom’s eyes widened.
“I cannot join hands with a martial artist of the Limitless Divine Manifestation, but I can combine my stagnant enlightenment with yours.”
“…You….”
“Do you dislike it?”
There had been no time for me and Hwa Mu-nyeom to sit facing each other for ‘such a long time’ recently. Of course, it shouldn’t have happened, and it shouldn’t happen again, but now I needed a public justification that I had persuaded the reclusive Hwa Mu-nyeom.
If word spread that I had persuaded him through game after game of Go.
Wasn’t that killing two birds with one stone?
Hwa Mu-nyeom laughed brightly.
“How could I dislike it?”
“Then let’s begin with your return first.”
As I tried to take a step, I stumbled, and Hwa Mu-nyeom steadied me. At close distance, I looked at Hwa Mu-nyeom. I spoke.
“…I promise you. There will be no such incident again.”
“You need not make such a promise. I will simply trust you.”
“…You are… no, never mind.”
I could not bring myself to speak.
In my current state, Hwa Mu-nyeom saw Dong Yu-seong, his only disciple from long ago.
Certainly, people’s temperament and character were different.
Certainly different, yet strangely drawn to it.
“What occupies your thoughts so deeply?”
“I was thinking of the future.”
I said nothing more, and Hwa Mu-nyeom said nothing more either.
The two men soon made their way to the carriage left at the base of the mountain and immediately drove the horse toward Cheonsu.
The coachman was Hwa Mu-nyeom.
* * *
Less than a month after Mae Wi-dong, the Alliance Leader of the Heavenly Righteousness Alliance, died, another shocking incident unfolded.
In truth, everyone had been curious.
When the Cheon Ryong Palace of the Heavenly Righteousness Alliance exploded, access to that place was clearly blocked to most people.
And most people noticed it then. Something catastrophic had occurred.
Either Alliance Leader Mae Wi-dong or Cheon Ui Jung-jeong Seol Woon-hwi—one of them had died or fallen into critical condition.
Normally, the Ihwa Geom Cheon Jong, already at war, would move with full force.
They could deliver a killing blow to the already weakened Heavenly Righteousness Alliance and potentially collapse it entirely.
Then they could absorb that foundation and expand the Ihwa Geom Cheon Jong faction itself.
Of course, the most important justification already existed.
The enemy.
That was the justification.
Everything aligned perfectly, yet the Ihwa Geom Cheon Jong remained surprisingly silent.
Later, the full story came to light.
Alliance Leader Mae Wi-dong had died in the explosion, and Seol Woon-hwi, who had tried to protect him, fell into critical condition.
After half a month, he regained consciousness, but he would not be in normal condition. Everyone clicked their tongues at the news.
The opportunity was clearly there—so why the silence?
The methods of Ihwa Geom Cheon Jong were truly incomprehensible, yet today, the truth about the tragedy that had unfolded there twenty years ago was finally revealed to the world.
Everything proceeded as though it had all been orchestrated by fate itself.
Shin Gang became the thirteenth Sect Master of Ihwa Geom Cheon Jong, and Yeon Song-baek perished.
Shin Gang confessed to every crime Yeon Song-baek had committed and proclaimed that Ihwa Geom Cheon Jong would establish a cooperative relationship or alliance with the Heavenly Righteousness Alliance for the sake of peace and stability.
In the end, Seol Woon-hwi, bearing his wounds, joined hands with Shin Gang—the hidden figure of Ihwa Geom Cheon Jong—and by avenging him, brought the war to an end.
Thus another achievement was added to Seol Woon-hwi’s name, and his already towering reputation only continued to rise.
And typically, when an alliance force reaches the scale of the Heavenly Righteousness Alliance, minor discord inevitably emerges from within.
Meanwhile, in the Mixed Path Demon Flame Palace, one of the Four Demonic Outer Sects, unusual movements were stirring.
Han Cheol-su, the Blood Flame Lord of the Mixed Path Demon Flame Palace, had been unable to sleep for days, tormented by thoughts that circled endlessly through his mind.
There was a time when Seol Woon-hwi had summoned envoys from all the sects of the O-dae Geom-jong and the Four Demonic Outer Sects.
Han Cheol-su had represented the Mixed Path Demon Flame Palace at that gathering, and it was there he had seen him.
The youngest son of Vice Palace Lord Dong Yu-seong, who had been purged from the Mixed Path Demon Flame Palace on suspicion of internal rebellion roughly a decade ago.
Dong Yu-seong and his entire family had surely perished.
Every last one of them had been captured and executed, and their corpses had even been verified—and Han Cheol-su had been present—yet no matter how much he thought about it, something felt wrong.
The man named Han Mu-rin who had stood beside Seol Woon-hwi bore a striking resemblance to Dong Mu-rin, Dong Yu-seong’s youngest son.
Truthfully, had the name not been Han Mu-rin, he would have dismissed it.
He would have simply assumed it was someone who happened to look similar and moved on.
But when there were two, three, even nearly four points of coincidence, this could not be chance. It could not possibly be chance.
And so he became certain.
The grudges of the past still lived.
Han Mu-rin was undoubtedly Dong Mu-rin, Dong Yu-seong’s youngest son.
Han Cheol-su finally hardened his resolve and sought out the Palace Lord.

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