Survival Guide for the Reincarnated - Chapter 353

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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 353
“Once we leave the Secret Realm, have Manager Seong consume it.”
“Me, sir?”
“It will be of great benefit. Let’s keep it for now.”
“…Young Master….”
Manager Seong, deeply moved by the gesture, took the lead.
“Come, let us proceed.”
The third trap was the Seven Stars Big Dipper Formation.
Seven stones were embedded in the ground in the shape of the Big Dipper constellation, each emanating a different stellar radiance.
“Heavenly Pivot, Heavenly Rotating Axis, Heavenly Wanderer, Heavenly Authority, Jade Balance, Opening Yang, Shaking Light.”
Seol Woon-hwi pressed the stones in sequence according to the Big Dipper’s order. Yet nothing happened.
“Perhaps in reverse.”
This time he pressed them in reverse order, starting from Shaking Light and ending at Heavenly Pivot. Again, there was no response.
He paused to think.
The Big Dipper in the night sky shifts its position with the seasons and time. If that were the case, shouldn’t he reconfigure the constellation’s position according to the current time?
The current time was past the Insi hour.
He immediately reconfigured the constellation’s position to match the time, and the Formation Technique deactivated.
“…Did you perhaps read records containing information about all the traps?”
Seol Woon-hwi shook his head. The records he had read did contain information about this Secret Realm, but not in great detail.
It had mentioned there were two passages, and that Ya Su-yeong and Mu-jin, who came before, had deactivated all the Formation Techniques and traps. However, the descriptions lacked specificity, as they were not written by those two individuals themselves.
What made Seol Woon-hwi judge that things would become tedious was what came after in the records.
This Secret Realm consisted of two gates in total.
The first gate pertained to this passage, and when reaching its end, the second gate would appear there.
That was truly tedious and complicated.
“Let us continue our journey.”
Manager Seong, scratching his head, gazed at Seol Woon-hwi with wonder. It was understandable.
Though Seol Woon-hwi had said these Formation Techniques were of low level, to Manager Seong they seemed anything but.
Had Manager Seong entered alone, he would surely have struggled greatly.
“Do not forget to collect the rewards.”
Manager Seong, nearly forgetting, lowered his gaze.
This time, two jade bottles emerged.
They were Spirit Clarification Pills and Blood Nourishing Pills.
For the subsequent traps, Seol Woon-hwi began deactivating them with remarkable speed, as if he had known of them beforehand.
Four Symbols Formation, Six Harmonies Formation, Nine Palaces Formation, Heavenly Stems and Earthly Branches Formation.
Each time he deactivated them, Spirit Medicine or Spirit Pills emerged.
The most complex was the eighth trap.
“The Eight Trigrams Linked Ring Formation.”
Complex patterns were carved into the floor and walls, and the eight trigrams—Creative, Receptive, Abysmal, Clinging, Arousing, Gentle, Keeping Still, and Joyful—continuously shifted their positions.
Seol Woon-hwi sat on the ground and began to concentrate.
He needed to discern the relationships of mutual generation and restraint among the eight trigrams, and analyze the principle of the linked rings.
The Eight Trigrams—Qian, Kun, Kan, and Li, symbolizing Heaven, Earth, Water, and Fire—combined with Zhen, Xun, Gen, and Dui, representing Thunder, Wind, Mountain, and Lake.
Every attribute of each trigram, their directional correspondences, and the transformations that unfolded across time had to be accounted for.
“Qian represents Heaven, Kun represents Earth, Kan represents Water, Li represents Fire….”
The others had been disarmed quickly, but this Eight Trigrams Linked Formation took a full half shichen before the Formation Technique was completely neutralized.
This time, three jade bottles emerged.
“Wisdom Elixir, Tongue Root Elixir, and….”
Manager Seong examined the final jade bottle, his eyes widening.
“A Mysterious Spirit Elixir.”
The Mysterious Spirit Elixir was a supreme-grade Spirit Pills even useful to Heaven-Human Realm martial artists.
While it offered no increase to internal energy or similar effects, it possessed overwhelming efficacy in dramatically enhancing mental fortitude and completely purging all impurities from within.
No exaggeration—this Mysterious Spirit Elixir alone was worth whatever price one asked for it.
No martial artist could ever be free from Heart Demons, after all.
“Manager Seong.”
“Yes, Young Master.”
Seol Woon-hwi glanced briefly around the surroundings.
There was no way to know how many more traps lay ahead.
In the case of large passages, it was said there were roughly over forty Formation Techniques and traps, but no one had ever traversed this passage.
Still, there likely wouldn’t be more than twenty at most.
“Don’t you think it’s time we ascended?”
“…Pardon?”
“The Heaven-Human Realm. It seems like now is the opportunity to reach that stage.”
Manager Seong was greatly taken aback.
“Young Master… I don’t wish to be hasty either, but is it truly that simple… I am no genius like you.”
“Yet you possess the experience and enlightenment you’ve accumulated thus far, do you not?”
“….”
“As Juche said, your aptitude is not one meant to stop at the Divine Transformation Realm. As for the Mysterious Spirit Elixir, it was once representative of the Cheongseong Sect, and in the Central Plains, only the Emperor of the Jeokna Kingdom and Cheon Do-ja possess one. I believe this is an opportunity.”
“….”
“I cannot guarantee whether you will succeed or not, but if we consider the value in purging the Heart Demon that has been tormenting you and the hesitation it has caused, it seems worthwhile.”
The meaning behind Seol Woon-hwi’s words was simple.
Consume the Mysterious Spirit Elixir now and begin Energy Circulation.
Manager Seong let out a sigh and crossed his legs in the Lotus Position where he stood.
“I’m the kind of man who wouldn’t hesitate to follow you even unto death, Young Master.”
“So?”
“But your body condition is not normal right now, is it?”
Manager Seong’s perceptiveness was remarkable.
He had already long since noticed that Seol Woon-hwi’s left arm was not in its normal state.
“If those two from before come rushing this way intending to harm you….”
Seol Woon-hwi chuckled softly.
“Do not worry.”
“Young Master….”
“Even Sung Jang refuses, so you don’t trust me?”
“That’s not it. Sung Jang truly doesn’t refuse, but at the very least, this place cannot become a tomb, can it?”
“That won’t happen.”
Even now, Manager Seong clearly carried afflictions within him.
I had to cast them away.
Seol Woon-hwi handed over the Profound Spirit Pill.
“Time continues to flow even now. Consume it quickly, and take the Marrow-Building Pill I gave you earlier as well.”
At Seol Woon-hwi’s resolve, Manager Seong became resolute as well.
After nodding, he tossed both the Marrow-Building Pill and the Profound Spirit Pill into his mouth.
In an instant, Manager Seong fell into the Selfless State.
Left alone, Seol Woon-hwi drew the Jinwha Cheonryeong Geom from the Storage Bag and planted it in the ground.
Standing as a Dharma Protector was not something he was particularly accustomed to, but for his people, he was willing to do far more than that.
Seol Woon-hwi was that kind of man.
* * *
The moment the Profound Spirit Pill and Marrow-Building Pill dissolved in his mouth, Manager Seong felt the world transform completely.
As the elixir’s potency flowed through his entire body, the meridians that had been blocked began opening one by one.
The efficacy of the Profound Spirit Pill was nothing short of divine.
Like clear nectar purifying a murky pond, all the scattered thoughts and heart demons that had accumulated deep within his mind were being washed away.
‘Is this… the power of the Profound Spirit Pill?’
Manager Seong sank into deep meditation. Sitting in the lotus position and steadying his breath, he began to examine his inner self.
Only now did it become clear what had been tormenting him all this time.
Ever since learning that Seol Woon-hwi was a reincarnate, worry had followed him constantly.
At first, it was simple.
I had been concerned that Seol Woon-hwi, with an adult soul in a young body, might overexert himself, or that problems might arise from the discord between body and spirit.
Even as he pushed himself relentlessly without regard for his own well-being,
such worries dominated until he reached the Divine Transformation Realm.
Though resolving those concerns allowed him to ascend to the Divine Transformation Realm, what came after was an even greater problem.
Seol Woon-hwi had founded the Three Profound Realms—an unprecedented cultivation stage.
He was single-handedly pioneering a path that existed between the Four Stages of Heaven and Earth and the Five Realms of Martial God, a path no one had ever walked before.
‘A genius… no, even the word genius falls short.’
The founding of the Three Profound Realms.
Manager Seong understood better than anyone how extraordinary this was. Martial cultivation realms were paths carved by countless predecessors through blood and sweat. Yet Seol Woon-hwi had created an entirely new path.
The term “Founder of an Era” was not used lightly, yet even that phrase was insufficient to describe Seol Woon-hwi.
He was an existence that demanded the creation of an entirely new word beyond that.
At the side of such a man,
was there a place for me?
I could perhaps cling to him through affection.
But that would ultimately mean my own value was nothing but a burden.
‘I am merely an ordinary martial artist.’
In the Murim, Manager Seong’s standing was sufficient to earn respect anywhere, yet I could never become the kind of person worthy of standing beside Seol Woon-hwi, wielding a sword together or someone he could trust to watch his back.
That was my greatest concern, and it was the heart demon boiling up from within Manager Seong’s inner self.
It had been gnawing away at Manager Seong’s mind without his full awareness, creating exhaustion, and these accumulated burdens had shackled his feet.
Those toxins spreading through me were gradually being swept away.
What did Manager Seong truly desire?
Before the path of a martial artist, it was protecting Seol Woon-hwi.
The value of a man like Seol Woon-hwi transcended imagination, and Manager Seong could stand beside such a man and take the blade meant for him.
If I could only block one wound—whether severe or fatal—Seol Woon-hwi could win in any circumstance.
I need only focus on that single purpose.
Hesitation.
Worry.
Such things held no meaning.
This was the Secret Realm I had entered alongside Seol Woon-hwi, who bore the name Mu Myeong.
Seol Woon-hwi would enter many Secret Realms in the future, and though not always, I would be at his side.
That was precisely my role.
And Seol Woon-hwi’s trust in me.
Being the only person who knew the secret.
What more could I ask for?
I need only live up to his expectations.
As the Spirit Pills cleansed the mental clutter from my consciousness, Manager Seong’s mind grew increasingly clear.
Even if I had to turn the entire world into an enemy.
Even when facing all manner of dangers.
I would be there beside him.
‘This is my path.’
Manager Seong’s consciousness sank deeper still.
I felt the transformations occurring in my Upper Dantian throughout my entire being.
When I reached the Divine Transformation Realm, I had completely understood and accepted the qi of nature.
Now.
I sensed the fundamental qi of Heaven and Earth itself—something on an entirely different dimension from natural qi.
Like gazing at a beautiful landscape through a glass window, I could perceive the Heaven and Earth Spiritual Energy but could not directly manipulate it.
That was acceptable.
Even if this remained merely ‘perception,’ that was what mattered.
Only by achieving this could I ascend to the Heaven-Human Realm, the gateway to entering the Five Realms of Martial God.
Through this process, Manager Seong began to attain an enlightenment unlike any before.
‘What is a martial artist?’

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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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