Survival Guide for the Reincarnated - Chapter 398

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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 398
Ju So-ah also preferred not to intervene if she could help it.
From her perspective, this was clearly a problem that couldn’t be resolved at their level.
“About half a year ago, some arrogant bastards from the Sichuan Sect came and stirred up trouble.”
“And?”
“Back then, I stayed silent. I paid the price for it too.”
Dong Bang-jin chuckled.
“Then stay silent this time as well.”
She shook her head.
“The circumstances are a bit different. I’m fully aware of that—I know I should stay silent about this, but honestly, it’s starting to irritate me.”
Ju So-ah drew her sword.
Dong Bang-jin smirked.
“Do you have a death wish? Drawing your blade?”
“It’s not that I want to die—I want to kill.”
….
“Five days ago, I beat up a few of the Yangryeong Unit brats. Three days ago, I took down two more. And today they sent me on another errand.”
….
“There were three ringleaders. Those bastards are lying around half-crippled right now.”
Dong Bang-jin’s brow furrowed sharply.
“…You crazy woman… You’ve touched the Cheon Seol Sip Sam Dae.”
“You started it first. I endured it then, and I’ve endured it now, but today I simply couldn’t hold back anymore.”
Dong Bang-jin drew his sword as well. His blade gleamed in the sunlight.
“You dare challenge someone at the Divine Transformation Realm while you’re stuck at the Harmony Realm?”
Dong Bang-jin sneered.
“Fine. Let me teach you how absolute the difference in cultivation realms truly is.”
….
“Don’t worry. I won’t kill you. Just… I’ll take one of your arms. After that, you can figure out how to live on your own….”
Before his words could continue, Ju So-ah’s eyes blazed with intensity.
Heavenly Flower Myriad Light Sword Technique.
A martial art created by Seol Woon-hwi.
A supreme-grade Martial God Level sword technique.
During the time Seol Woon-hwi was away, Ju So-ah had trained this technique obsessively.
A streak of light extended toward Dong Bang-jin’s face.
He turned his head desperately to evade, but the sword light that grazed past him sliced open his cheek.
“Ugh!”
Blood spilled forth.
“You wench…!”
Dong Bang-jin’s sword thrust toward Ju So-ah.
Clang—!
Ju So-ah raised her blade to block.
With a sharp crack, Ju So-ah’s legs pressed firmly against the ground.
It was a difference in power.
No matter. I strengthened my legs. My body slid sideways like water, and Dong Bang-jin’s second sword strike that followed cut through empty air.
Dong Bang-jin flinched.
Ju So-ah.
I understood she had ascended to the Harmony Realm roughly half a year ago, yet she was faster than expected.
My body slid sideways once more in a fluid motion.
The Flowing Water Step.
Footwork that flowed like water itself.
My body burrowed into Dong Bang-jin’s flank.
The sword swept through the air.
Clang—!
Dong Bang-jin hastily raised his sword to block. Immediately, I twisted my blade. Swish—!
The sword tip grazed Dong Bang-jin’s shoulder.
Blood sprayed once more.
Impressive. Truly impressive.
Dong Bang-jin detonated his internal energy.
Boom—!
The internal energy of a martial artist at the perfected Divine Transformation Realm.
The air around us rippled.
I, who had been about to swing my sword again, immediately assumed a defensive stance.
Crash—!!
With a thunderous sound, my body was pushed backward in a skid.
‘…It’s heavy.’
The difference in realm was unmistakable.
Yet in this world, nothing is absolute. At least, that is what I believed.
Before, I was no different from ordinary people.
Those at the Harmony Realm cannot match those at the Body Establishment Boundary, and those at the Body Establishment Boundary cannot match those at the Divine Transformation Realm—the difference in realm is absolute and cannot be reversed. It was the law of absolute realm.
This was one of the common truths supporting the Murim, but after observing the existence called Seol Woon-hwi by my side, I came to think differently.
No matter how superior one’s realm, a blade through the neck means departure from this world all the same. Because humans are human, gaps must exist, and the training to seize those gaps—
I had pursued it with obsessive fervor.
Twisting in midair, I landed on the ground.
Bending my knees to absorb the impact, I immediately launched forward again.
Low. Very low.
Nearly crawling along the earth.
“…What in the world is this….”
Dong Bang-jin, his brow furrowed at the unconventional movement, brought his sword down in a crushing strike.
Boom—!
The earth exploded.
But I was no longer there.
Dong Bang-jin turned his head to the right, then flinched and turned it to the left. A sword came flying.
Clang—!
He blocked it.
Dong Bang-jin’s back foot shifted backward. He spun his body and swung his sword.
Screech—!!
Massive ice crystals stretched toward Ju So-ah.
A wide range, the complete Natural Energy poured forth by a Divine Transformation Realm martial artist.
There seemed to be nowhere to escape.
Qi gathered at the tip of Ju So-ah’s sword.
One. Two. Three.
Sword light bloomed.
Dong Bang-jin’s eyes widened.
Sword light poured forth. Like petals scattering in the wind.
Beautiful and deadly.
Boom—!!!
Everyone watching was astonished.
That was right. Ju So-ah’s attack had completely neutralized Dong Bang-jin’s.
Dong Bang-jin retreated two steps with a shocked expression, while Ju So-ah knelt on one knee where she stood, breathing heavily.
“Haa… haa….”
Her breathing had become ragged.
Dong Bang-jin was also breathing heavily. His entire body bore minor cuts.
Ju So-ah had not a single wound, yet her momentum had already completely waned.
“Impressive… truly impressive.”
He meant it sincerely.
Dong Bang-jin raised his sword.
His thoughts had shifted slightly.
It would be a waste to simply kill her. Both her appearance and her temperament.
She seemed like the type that would be satisfying to break in.
‘Accidentally shatter her Dantian, or sever the tendons in two of her limbs….’
Either way, disguising it as an accident would be best.
“This misunderstanding has proven difficult to resolve, so I shall knock you unconscious for now. Do not think my hand has been excessive.”
He drew up his internal energy.
The maximum internal energy a Divine Transformation Realm martial artist could unleash.
He poured it all into his sword.
“Take this—!”
A colossal sword strike came flying toward Ju So-ah.
A distance from which she could not escape. A speed from which she could not escape.
And the target was… her Dantian. Ju So-ah felt it clearly.
Her eyes wavered.
Should she retreat? Should she fall back first and look for another opportunity?
No, that’s not it.
I cast aside that weak thought of my own.
Retreat was not an option.
I had to meet it head-on.
And in this moment, a conversation I once had with Seol Woon-hwi surfaced in my mind.
—The meaning of Breaking must be something you alone must come to understand.
—Once you grasp it, you will grow not one step, but two steps further as a martial artist.
‘Breaking…’
I tightened my grip on the sword.
For more than half a year now, I had trained in the Thousand Flower Ten Thousand Light Sword Technique relentlessly, day after day. I had memorized and analyzed the incantations within it like a madwoman.
Becoming a soft blade, becoming a flexible blade.
Yet Breaking, the very heart of the Thousand Flower Ten Thousand Light Sword Technique’s incantation, remained utterly incomprehensible to me.
What exactly was being destroyed? What was being shattered?
How did it relate to the softness of the technique itself?
One thing was certain—it was not destruction, nor was it sharpness.
The sword light drew closer.
The distance narrowed.
Time flowed slowly. This was truly an unfamiliar sensation.
The moment one grasps the hidden true meaning of a sword technique is like the moment one achieves enlightenment to elevate one’s realm.
Fragmented pieces merged into one within my mind.
I understood.
Breaking is will.
An unbreakable will hidden within softness.
The determination to cut, no matter what.
That is Breaking.
I swung my sword.
Pouring all my internal energy.
Beyond my limits.
My meridians screamed, but I paid them no mind.
The blade blazed with light.
Thousand Flower Ten Thousand Light Sword Technique.
Ultimate Meaning, Ascend to Heaven.
Soft as a caress upon petals.
Yet at its end, it detonated.
Boom—!
Ten thousand streaks of sword light.
No—ten thousand rays of brilliance.
They collided with Dong Bang-jin’s sword light.
Crash—!
The earth split asunder from the colossal explosion.
The building trembled, and merchants nearby screamed and fled. Smoke billowed into the air.
“This insane… woman….”
I didn’t hear Dong Bang-jin’s voice.
The moment gentleness transformed into explosion.
The instant fluidity became destruction.
Dong Bang-jin had no choice but to raise his sword in defense.
Crash—!!
A deafening boom erupted as his body was driven backward in a violent slide.
Dong Bang-jin, who had been trying to rise, dropped to one knee instead.
The impact was far stronger than anticipated, leaving his senses disoriented.
Then, with a wet thud, blood and flesh scattered across the ground.
His right arm and shoulder that held the sword, his abdomen, chest, and ribs.
To anyone’s eyes, these were clearly severe injuries. No—injuries bordering on fatal.
It was unbelievable.
I could see Ju So-ah, kneeling on both knees and barely supporting her body with two swords.
“Hah… hah….”
Her breathing was ragged.
Blood trickled from the corners of her mouth, and her body was far from unscathed. Her clothes were torn in places, blood seeping through.
The visible wounds didn’t appear severe, but the internal injuries were the real problem.
Ju So-ah couldn’t stand.
“…What… exactly is this martial art.”
Ju So-ah didn’t answer. She had neither the thought nor the desire to.
She simply continued pouring her will into her unresponsive body.
I had to rise. I had to drive my blade through Dong Bang-jin’s throat. As the leader of the Yangryeong Unit protecting Young Master Yang Ryeong.
Regardless of what came after, I had to handle it. My subordinate had been insulted. So I had to act.
As Seol Woon-hwi had taught me, that’s what an organization is.
One must retaliate in some form.
“…I asked. What this martial art is.”
Dong Bang-jin slowly rose to his feet.
He had stopped the bleeding, but he looked as though he might collapse at any moment. Yet he didn’t. Too many eyes were watching.
If he fell here now, the pride of the Cheon Seol Sip Sam Dae would be crushed….
“Curious about the martial art?”
Before Dong Bang-jin could even turn his head at the voice suddenly coming from behind, he heard it.
A soft thud.
He looked back toward Ju So-ah.
Ju So-ah, who had been supporting herself with her swords, was falling to the side, and a man was catching her.
Black daopo, a long sword at his waist.
Cold eyes.
And ash-gray hair.
He spoke quietly.
“The Thousand Flower Radiant Sword Technique—a blade wielded with the pinnacle of gentleness, unfolding with the grace of flower petals scattering from the heavens.”
“…You… you are….”
“I ask you this: Sa Cheon-wook is hardly so foolish. Who put you up to this?”
Dong Bang-jin flinched at Seol Woon-hwi’s frigid voice.
Yet the moment he heard the name of the Gate Master he served spoken so carelessly, fury surged within him.
“You are Hyeon Seol… Ugh-!”
Manager Seong, standing behind him, drove a hidden dagger into his shoulder, cutting off his words.
“I asked. Who sent you?”
“…The Elder Council… Seol Cheon-hwa from the Elder Council….”
“What did he say?”
“…That we must seize the Young Master. That we must create trouble by any means to obtain it….”
Seol Woon-hwi shook his head.
“That is enough.”
He lifted Ju So-ah into his arms and rose slowly from his seat.
“Are you all right?”
“…I’m fine.”
Ju So-ah’s voice was weak, yet there was a quiet satisfaction in it.
She knew what Seol Woon-hwi would say next.

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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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