Survival Guide for the Reincarnated - Chapter 367

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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 367
“Ugh….”
Pain surged through me. My entire body felt as though it were freezing solid.
‘At this rate… I’ll truly die!’
Yeo Mu-baek drew upon his final resort.
He retrieved another talisman from his robes. This one was crimson in color, emanating an aura similar to Blood Energy.
Explosive Qi Talisman.
A forbidden talisman that temporarily doubled all of one’s martial prowess. The price, however, was the inability to use mystical techniques for an entire month afterward.
But now, he had no choice.
He placed the talisman in his mouth.
In that instant, a crimson aura erupted explosively from Yeo Mu-baek’s body.
Whoooosh.
The speed at which he drew Heaven and Earth Spiritual Energy doubled. His wounds began closing rapidly.
Yeo Mu-baek cried out.
“Five Elements Grand Circulation!”
He brought both palms together.
The essences of metal, wood, water, fire, and earth converged simultaneously. Five colors of light began rotating in the center of his palms.
Golden radiance, emerald luminescence, azure brilliance, crimson glow, and ochre shimmer.
The five lights intertwined and blended, growing ever larger.
The light expanded continuously, already the size of a human head and still swelling.
Tremendous energy condensed within it. Stones around them lifted of their own accord. The ground fractured.
Seol Woon-hwi observed the spectacle.
Five Elements Grand Circulation.
I knew it well.
As with all techniques, nothing in this world is perfect.
This was no exception.
The Five Elements Grand Circulation had weaknesses—two of them, in fact.
First, the five essences must achieve perfect balance. If even one falters, the technique spirals into chaos.
Second is an inherent flaw within the technique itself.
Ultimately, drawing upon five attributes simultaneously and then harmonizing their energies creates an inevitable gap.
No matter how formidable a martial artist, when dealing not with one attribute but five, there will always be affinities and incompatibilities.
Balancing them? It is far from simple.
Though practitioners of Heaven Gate techniques train rigorously to account for this during their cultivation, the flaw never entirely disappears.
That is the truth.
A fleeting gap that inevitably emerges during the process of harmonizing the attributes.
If one could seize that moment, victory could be completely reversed the instant the technique unfolds.
Just as now.
Seol Woon-hwi hurled the Jinwha Cheonryeong Geom aside and immediately extended his hands.
Heo Hyeon Energy drawn to its absolute limit transformed into Ice Snow Energy. All of my power concentrated in both palms.
Twelve Palms of Frost and Snow.
The Extreme of Ice, Melting Snow Palm.
A gentle palm force flowed from my hands—a warm and soft energy, like spring snow melting away.
The moment the Melting Snow Palm touched the Five Elements Great Circulation, Yeo Mu-baek’s eyes widened in shock.
“…What?!”
Water Energy began to be sucked away.
The Melting Snow Palm is a palm technique that absorbs the opponent’s energy. It draws in Internal Energy and Heaven and Earth Spiritual Energy alike without distinction.
And the Five Elements Great Circulation requires five types of energy to be in perfect balance.
If even one is missing.
“No… No! This can’t be!”
Yeo Mu-baek screamed in despair.
As Water Energy drained away, the balance of the remaining four energies collapsed. Metal Energy and Fire Energy clashed. Wood Energy and Earth Energy tangled together.
The Five Elements began to run wild.
“Stop!!”
Yeo Mu-baek desperately tried to seize control of his energy. But it was already too late.
Boom!
An explosion erupted.
But it was not directed at Seol Woon-hwi—it was an explosion turned inward upon Yeo Mu-baek himself.
Five types of energy detonated simultaneously. Metal Energy slashed his arm. Fire Energy scorched his chest. Wood Energy coiled around his legs. Water Energy froze his insides. Earth Energy crushed his entire body.
“Aaaahhhhh!”
Yeo Mu-baek’s scream pierced the heavens.
The smoke cleared.
Yeo Mu-baek knelt with his entire body ravaged and broken. His left arm was gone. His chest bore deep black burns. His legs were twisted like gnarled tree roots.
“Hah… hah….”
He gasped for breath. Blood continued to pour from his mouth.
Seol Woon-hwi approached slowly.
“Heaven Gate’s techniques are formidable.”
The sword’s point turned toward Yeo Mu-baek.
“But not relying on Internal Energy—that’s a double-edged blade.”
“Please… wait….”
Yeo Mu-baek raised a trembling hand.
“Spare… me… I am of the Cheonmun Sipju… If you kill me, Heaven Gate will not let this stand….”
“So?”
Seol Woon-hwi’s gaze turned glacial.
“I told you not to enter. I warned you. I even offered gold as incentive.”
I raised the sword high.
“Yet you came anyway.”
“I was… wrong… truly… please….”
“Too late.”
Seol Woon-hwi swung the sword.
Shing—!
The blade sliced cleanly through Yeo Mu-baek’s abdomen. Horizontally.
His body folded in half.
Terror consumed my mind. Even a martial artist who had achieved Heaven-Human Unity was not invincible under heaven.
It was certain. Death.
“No… this can’t…”
Despite Yeo Mu-baek’s words of despair, I did not stop.
I raised the sword upward.
And brought it down vertically.
Crack—!
His head split cleanly in two. A straight line from forehead to jaw.
* * *
Manager Seong approached me as I caught my breath and asked.
“I will try to secure a carriage. Would it not be wise to relocate to the Lower Village?”
“Do I look that exhausted?”
“Your words? You appear to be on the very brink of death itself.”
I could not deny it.
“Still, you can now handle martial artists of the Heaven-Human Unity realm quite smoothly. Truly remarkable.”
I shook my head at those words.
The reason I could kill Yeo Mu-baek without drawing upon the Blood Demon Soaring Heaven Art was due to the nature of the mystical technique.
And one other reason I could not possibly deny.
My memories from my previous life were so vivid that I could prevail.
Had he been someone of the caliber of the Ten Pillars of Heaven Gate, perhaps the fight would have been more difficult.
I might have had to be prepared to lose an arm, but fortunately that was not the case.
“Manager Seong, may I ask one favor?”
“Speak freely, Young Master.”
“I want to burn all the corpses here.”
Manager Seong nodded and began incinerating all the corpses with his Samadhi Flame.
The flames of fire enveloped the Stone Chamber.
Afterward, I withdrew the secret manual of the Primordial Innate Mental Technique from my robes.
I asked Manager Seong, who was staring at it intently.
“Would you like to learn it?”
Manager Seong pondered for a moment, then slowly shook his head.
As the saying goes, excess is not enough.
Learning what I was already studying and organizing what was in my mind was already overwhelming, and this martial art clearly appeared to be no ordinary technique.
No was no.
At Manager Seong’s refusal, I lightly tossed the secret manual toward the flames.
With a whoosh, the manual caught fire and burned.
Manager Seong watched this entire sequence in a daze.
What was that.
“…What… did you just do?”
“I burned it.”
“…Why?”
Seol Woon-hwi let out a soft chuckle.
“Because it’s in my head.”
“…Ah….”
“If you wish to learn it, tell me anytime. I’ll modify it to suit Manager Seong and teach you.”
Manager Seong’s doubt did not dissipate.
Given what he knew of Seol Woon-hwi’s nature, burning a Secret Manual seemed far too strange.
If he could give it to someone, he would have; otherwise, it was the kind of thing he’d store in a Storage Bag. But suddenly burning it?
It could appear as though he intended to keep it to himself so it wouldn’t leak outside, yet Seol Woon-hwi doing such a thing?
It was far too peculiar.
And that doubt was soon resolved.
Or rather, it would be more accurate to say it deepened.
The moment the Secret Manual was completely consumed by flame.
Crack—!
The fire flickered in an unnatural manner.
White smoke rose into the air, and that smoke began forming characters in mid-air.
Manager Seong stumbled backward in shock.
“…What is that?”
This was truly a bizarre phenomenon.
It was as if someone invisible were writing in the empty air with an unseen hand.
Manager Seong was astonished, but Seol Woon-hwi remained composed.
It had been the same in my previous life.
Though it’s strange to say, in my previous life I had burned the Secret Manual by “accident.”
I wasn’t at the same cultivation level then, nor was my qi circulation particularly remarkable.
Above all, the temperature in this Stone Chamber was not high.
Cold had enveloped me, and I lit a fire.
Yet I did not release the Secret Manual and continued reading.
As warmth began to spread, drowsiness overtook me, and I accidentally burned the edge of the Secret Manual.
White smoke flowed from that spot, and in that moment, I sensed it. There was something here.
The me of my previous life, lost in contemplation, threw the Secret Manual into the flames. It was a decision of sorts, but unfortunately, I was far too young.
I could not comprehend the meaning of the characters.
But now it is different.
The characters formed from smoke were completed.
天機已扭 道路已斷 — The Heavenly Mechanism has already twisted; the path has already been severed.
The Heavenly Mechanism has already twisted, and the path has already been severed.
欲解其縛 需明三問 — To seek liberation from that bondage, one must illuminate three questions.
To seek liberation from that bondage, one must illuminate three questions.
Manager Seong’s eyes grew grave, and mine grew grave as well.
Beneath those characters, new ones began to appear.
First Question
Why is Heaven closed? Why is Earth sealed?
Why is the sky shut, and why is the earth sealed?
Second Question
Where does the Way reside? Where does the Path lead?
Where is the Way, and where does the Path point?
Third Question
Who am I? Who are you?
Who am I, and who are you?
The characters began to scatter slowly.
And finally, one more sentence appeared.
If the Three Questions are illuminated, the Gate shall open of itself.
If the three questions are answered, the gate will open by itself.
The answer lies not in the mouth, but in the heart.
The answer does not rest upon the lips, but within the heart.
The smoke dissipated completely.
The Stone Chamber fell silent once more.
“…What does it mean?”
Manager Seong asked with a bewildered expression.
Seol Woon-hwi did not answer.
I searched through the memories of my previous life.
I had seen this riddle then as well, but could not grasp its meaning.
At that time, my martial arts were shallow and my understanding of the world was lacking.
But now it was different.
Two lives lived.
I had felt much in my first life and much in my second as well.
I could not boast of understanding the principles of the world better than anyone, yet I possessed my own conviction—a firm standard regarding the path I myself walked.
I thought quietly.
‘Heaven closed, Earth sealed….’
Why is the sky shut, and why is the earth sealed?
Since the meaning of the context was ambiguous, I chose to understand it literally.
If Heaven were to close, what would close it? If Earth were to be sealed, what would seal it?
Not of events that had already occurred, but of events yet to come—I possessed my own answer.
I slowly opened my mouth.
“Heaven is closed by obsession.”
I paused briefly.
“Earth is sealed by delusion.”
In that instant.
Rumble—!
The Stone Chamber trembled faintly.
Manager Seong glanced around in surprise, but Seol Woon-hwi paid it no mind.

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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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