Survival Guide for the Reincarnated - Chapter 375
—————
This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
—————
Chapter 375
Cheongsu Village.
Half a day’s ride from Yang-ryeong on horseback.
It was a small hamlet, yet the number of people passing through it ranked among the highest of all the villages under Yang-ryeong’s jurisdiction.
“…What do you intend to do about those Hwan-myeong Group members?”
Manager Seong posed the question, and Seol Woon-hwi answered briefly.
“I’m not sure.”
With so much already demanding my attention, hunting them down one by one would be inefficient.
“For now, we’ll observe them.”
“Understood.”
Before long, as the two arrived at the village entrance, someone approached them.
A middle-aged man.
He appeared like an ordinary merchant, yet his gaze was sharp and piercing.
The man bowed deeply with a cupped fist salute.
“It is an honor to meet you. I am Jeon Bi, Branch Chief of the Cheonrim Cheongsu Village Branch.”
Seol Woon-hwi nodded in acknowledgment.
“Is the Black Market operating well?”
“Yes. Many nearby forces seek us out.”
Jeon Bi explained.
“We trade information and goods alike. The name of Cheon Rim carries considerable weight here.”
“That is good to hear.”
“It is all thanks to your permission, Supreme Commander.”
Having said this, Jeon Bi continued without pause.
“Seo Hyo asked me to convey his regards.”
“Is he well?”
“He is well, though quite busy, he says.”
“That would be expected.”
Seo Hyo, who holds the position of Vice Alliance Leader of the Heavenly Righteousness Alliance while overseeing the operations of Cheon Rim, certainly has his hands full.
Busy indeed.
“Can you show me what was mentioned in the letter?”
Jeon Bi’s eyes gleamed with anticipation.
“Of course. Please follow me.”
Following Jeon Bi’s guidance, they arrived at a building on the village’s outskirts that resembled an abandoned house.
“You’ve relocated the operation, I see.”
“Yes. Despite being underground, so many people pass through that we deemed it necessary to move.”
I understood his reasoning.
Shortly after, Jeon Bi approached one section of the wall.
“This place appears to be an abandoned house on the surface.”
Jeon Bi tapped against the wall.
Tap, tap-tap, tap.
With a grinding sound, the wall slid open.
A hidden door.
“Let us proceed inside.”
As I stepped naturally into the interior, a narrow passage appeared.
Stairs descending downward.
After descending for some time, a vast space opened before us.
An Underground Laboratory.
There were several chambers, and from each one emanated strange energy.
Jeon Bi explained.
“This is the laboratory.”
Seol Woon-hwi surveyed the surroundings.
Medicinal materials were stacked everywhere, and bizarre apparatus lay scattered about.
“It is over there.”
Jeon Bi pointed toward the innermost chamber.
It was sealed by an iron door.
Jeon Bi opened the door.
The door groaned open with a heavy creak.
The metal barrier swung wide with a ponderous sound.
Manager Seong’s breath caught.
Something lay upon a massive iron bed.
A person.
Or rather, what had once been a person.
The entire body had turned pitch black, and the skin appeared hard as stone.
Though the eyes remained closed, the chest rose and fell with faint movement.
It was alive.
“A Demonic Heaven Person,” Jeon Bi said.
He continued in a quiet voice.
“To be precise, a jiangshi created from a Nancheon Person.”
“A Nancheon Person…”
Seol Woon-hwi gazed upon it.
Barbarians of the Northern Region.
Beings from the Nancheon Region.
They had transformed it into a jiangshi.
“How was it obtained?”
“We procured it from the Snow Palace.”
“Explain in detail.”
“We acquired the corpse of a dead Nancheon Person from the Northern Region through the White Command Guard.”
It was no coincidence that Cheon Rim had been mentioned so frequently.
Jeon Bi continued his explanation.
“Nancheon People naturally harbor twisted Heaven and Earth Spiritual Energy within them. By utilizing that energy, even in death, they can be made to move again.”
“A Jiangshi.”
“Yes. A Jiangshi. But I cannot control it completely.”
Jeon Bi’s expression grew troubled.
“Even when I give orders, it does not obey properly, and sometimes it goes berserk.”
“Berserk?”
“Yes. That is why it is currently dormant.”
Jeon Bi pointed to the Demonic Heaven Person.
“In this state, it cannot be used. It must be controllable perfectly….”
Jeon Bi sighed.
“Seo Hyo has also attempted various methods, but has not yet succeeded.”
“So that is why you said it was nearly complete.”
“Yes. If control is achieved, then it is complete. But….”
Jeon Bi’s words trailed off.
“That control is far too difficult.”
Seol Woon-hwi approached the Demonic Heaven Person and examined it closely.
A faint black aura flowed from its entire body.
Twisted Heaven and Earth Spiritual Energy.
The unique aura of a Nancheon native.
Seeing it in person made it all the more peculiar.
‘To control this….’
Seol Woon-hwi pondered deeply.
In my previous life, the Demonic Heaven Person appeared ten years later, then vanished from the world after concealing its form completely.
This meant two possibilities.
Either control had been perfected, or another problem had arisen.
In the distant future, Yu Cheong confidently rebuilt the Thousand Year Demon Cult.
I did not know every detail of that entire process, but I knew that Yu Cheong had numerous collaborators.
The Cheonlim Sect was one, and the Silent World Society was another.
And those two organizations could not be all.
By my intuition, Yu Cheong surely possessed a unit composed of Demonic Heaven Persons.
Thinking about it, Yu Cheong had used Yang Seol-jin to seize control of the Ten Thousand Year Snow Palace.
At first, I had thought he did so because of the Heavenly Spiritual Energy hidden within the Ten Thousand Year Snow Palace, but comparing the Yu Cheong who concealed much in my previous life with the Yu Cheong revealing everything in this life, I could clearly feel the discrepancy between the two.
Yu Cheong, no matter what happens, does not proceed with actions that yield only one benefit.
He moves only when there are at least two advantages to be gained.
Then what else could Yu Cheong gain besides the Heavenly Spiritual Energy?
The geographical advantage of the Ten Thousand Year Snow Palace as a sect?
No.
It was the Nancheon Region.
In the end, creating Demonic Heaven Persons from Nancheon natives was his true objective.
Yu Cheong had sought to eliminate Seo Hyo.
Why had he sought to eliminate him?
It was because he harbored a dream.
I had intended to kill him because he projected his own desires onto the dream Yu Cheong sought to achieve and showed signs of coveting that position.
But a Demonic Heaven Person is different.
Demonic Heaven Persons of the Heaven Earth Four Realms rank who obey only commands, and those of the Martial God Five Realms rank.
Everything connected.
In my previous life, Seol Woon-hwi knew nothing of the Nancheon Region. That region had already been completely settled.
All hundreds and thousands of Nancheon people, as well as the Nancheon King, had been dealt with, and the gate through which they appeared had been sealed.
Why had it been sealed?
To monopolize it? Or because it had to be?
And was Seo Hyo’s death truly only because he harbored a dream?
I shook my head.
If these Demonic Heaven Persons were Yu Cheong’s core, he would have wanted to hide that fact as much as possible.
If he was someone who moved to obtain at least two or more things, then viewed differently, it could mean that to kill someone requires at least two reasons.
It is not a leap. The situation demands it.
In my previous life, Cheon Do-ja must have tacitly approved of all this.
Why had he approved?
I rested my chin on my hand.
Questions breed further questions in succession.
Some receive clear answers, while others end in mere speculation.
It was complex, but my mind was already made.
Once I finished dealing with Gun Mu-gyeol and the matters I had postponed, I intended to go to the Nancheon Region.
“…Sir… Supreme Commander?”
I looked at Jeon Bi.
“Are you alright?”
“I am.”
Having said so, I gazed at the Demonic Heaven Person’s forehead.
A small talisman was affixed there.
“That talisman?”
“It is a control talisman, sir.”
“You attempted to control it with a talisman?”
“Yes. There was no other method….”
I shook my head.
“Talismans will not work.”
“…Sir?”
“Though I have only now seen Nancheon people for the first time, their qi is twisted Heaven and Earth Spiritual Energy. Mere ‘ordinary talismans’ cannot control them.”
“…I see.”
“Talismans are tools for handling normal Heaven and Earth Spiritual Energy. If such talismans had worked, that would have been far stranger.”
“…You said ordinary talismans, but then you mean special talismans would work?”
I nodded.
This was certainly no easy task whatsoever.
The beings known as Nancheon creatures were inherently devoid of reason, and the Qi they wielded was profoundly distorted as well.
Conventional methods would not suffice.
However, the mystical techniques of Heaven Gate held possibilities that could not be dismissed entirely.
Their talismans were specialized in Heaven and Earth Spiritual Energy above all else, so it might be possible to exert some control over the distorted Heaven and Earth Spiritual Energy and manipulate the irrational jiangshi.
The problem was that such a feat would require someone of at least Gate Master rank from Heaven Gate.
This was… a path far too difficult to pursue with even the slightest consideration.
—————
This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
—————