Survival Guide for the Reincarnated

"If we get out of the hidden realm, you should take it, Chief Seong."

"Me?"

"It will help a great deal, so put it away for now."

"...Young master..."

Deeply moved, Chief Seong began to lead the way.

"All right. Let's go."

The third trap was a Seven-Star Big Dipper Formation.

Seven stones were embedded in the floor in the shape of the Big Dipper, and different star-light flowed from each one.

"Celestial Pivot, Celestial Rotator, Celestial Secret, Celestial Balance, Jade Measure, Opening Yang, Shimmering Light."

Unhwi pressed the stones one by one in the Big Dipper's order. But nothing happened.

"In reverse order?"

This time he started from Shimmering Light and pressed down to Celestial Pivot. There was still no response.

He thought for a moment.

In the night sky, the Big Dipper's position changes with the season and time. If so, did he need to rearrange the constellation's positions with the current time in mind?

It was already past the hour of the tiger.

As soon as he rearranged the constellation's positions to match the time, the formation released.

"...Did you read a record that listed information on every single trap?"

Unhwi shook his head. The record Unhwi had read did contain things about this hidden realm, but it was not that extensive.

It said there were two passages, and that Ya Suyeong and Mujin, who went ahead, had disarmed every formation and trap, but it was not detailed. Because it was not a record written by those two.

Even so, what made Unhwi judge it would become annoying was what came afterward in the record.

This hidden realm consisted of a total of two checkpoints.

The first checkpoint was everything about this passage, and when one reached the end, the second checkpoint would appear there.

That was what was truly annoying and complicated.

"Let's keep moving."

Chief Seong, scratching his head, was looking at Unhwi as if he were something incredible. It made sense.

Unhwi said these formations were low-level, but to Chief Seong they were not low-level at all.

To be blunt, if Chief Seong had entered alone, he would have struggled badly.

"Don't forget to collect the rewards, too."

Chief Seong, who had almost forgotten, lowered his gaze.

This time, two jade bottles came out.

A Clear-Spirit Pill and a Blood-Nourishing Pill.

After that, Unhwi began dismantling the remaining traps at a breathtaking speed, as if he already knew them.

A Four-Symbols Formation, a Six-Harmonies Formation, a Nine-Palaces Formation, a Heavenly-Stems Earthly-Branches Formation.

Each time he dismantled one, a spirit medicine or spirit pill came out.

The most complex was the eighth trap.

"An Eight-Trigrams Linked-Ring Formation."

Complex patterns were carved into the floor and walls, and the eight trigrams - Qian, Kun, Kan, Li, Zhen, Xun, Gen, and Dui - kept swapping positions without end.

Unhwi sat down and began to focus.

He had to grasp the trigrams' generating and restraining relations, and analyze the linked-ring principle.

Qian, Kun, Kan, and Li symbolized heaven, earth, water, and fire, while Zhen, Xun, Gen, and Dui meant thunder, wind, mountain, and lake.

He had to consider each trigram's nature and direction, and all changes that came with the flow of time.

"Qian is heaven, Kun is earth, Kan is water, Li is fire..."

The others had been released quickly, but this Eight-Trigrams Linked-Ring Formation took a full half of a watch before it was completely released.

This time, three jade bottles came out.

"A Wisdom Pill, a Tongue-Root Pill, and..."

Chief Seong examined the last jade bottle and opened his eyes wide.

"A Mysterious-Spirit Pill."

The Mysterious-Spirit Pill was a top-grade spirit pill that was useful even to a Celestial Being martial artist.

It did not raise inner power or anything like that, but it had an overwhelming efficacy: it greatly enhanced mental strength and removed every bit of internal residue.

No joke, the Mysterious-Spirit Pill was the kind of thing where you named the price.

Because no martial artist could ever be free from inner demons.

"Chief Seong."

"Yes, young master."

Unhwi looked around for a moment.

He did not know how many traps lay ahead.

For the wide passage, the record said there were more than forty formations and traps, but no one had gone down this passage.

Even so, it would not exceed twenty at most.

"Isn't it about time you climbed?"

"...Pardon?"

"Celestial Being. It seems the chance to step into that realm is now."

Chief Seong was thrown into a panic.

"Young master... I do not want to be impatient either, but is it that easy... I am not a genius like you."

"Even if you are not, haven't you built experience and realizations up to this point?"

"..."

"As the one in charge said, Chief Seong's aptitude is not the kind that stops at Divine Manifestation. A Mysterious-Spirit Pill is also a spirit pill °• N 𝑜 v 𝑒 l i g h t •° that represented Cheongseong Sect, and in the Central Plains, there are so few who possess it that aside from the emperor of the Red Kingdom and the Heavenly Daoist, there is virtually no one. I think this is an opportunity."

"..."

"I cannot be certain whether you will manage to step up or not, but if you place the meaning on removing the inner demon that has been tormenting you, and the hesitation born from it, then it does not seem bad."

What Unhwi meant was simple.

Take the Mysterious-Spirit Pill right now and circulate your energy.

Chief Seong let out a sigh and crossed his legs into meditation posture on the spot.

"I am the kind of man who would not refuse even to be buried alive for young master."

"So?"

"But your condition is not normal right now, is it."

Chief Seong's eye for detail was at an astonishing level.

He had noticed long ago that Unhwi's left arm was not normal.

"If those two who went ahead come running this way to harm young master..."

Unhwi snorted in amusement.

"Do not worry."

"Young master..."

"You said you would not refuse even to be buried alive, yet you cannot trust me?"

"That is not it. I truly would not refuse even that, but at the very least, this place cannot be the grave, can it?"

"That will not happen."

Even now, Chief Seong clearly had worries.

He had to shake them off.

Unhwi handed him the Mysterious-Spirit Pill.

"Time is still passing. Take it quickly, and take the Marrow-Forging Pill I gave you earlier as well."

At Unhwi's firmness, Chief Seong became firm as well.

After nodding, he poured the Marrow-Forging Pill and the Mysterious-Spirit Pill into his mouth.

In an instant, Chief Seong sank into selflessness.

Left alone, Unhwi drew the Trueflame Heavenly-Spirit Sword he had kept in his dusk pouch and drove it into the ground.

Standing guard over a breakthrough was not something he was used to, but for his own people, he was willing to do far more than that.

Unhwi was that kind of man.

***

The moment the Mysterious-Spirit Pill and the Marrow-Forging Pill melted in his mouth, Chief Seong felt that the world had changed completely.

As the pill's medicinal power flowed through his body, meridians that had been clogged for so long began to open one by one.

The Mysterious-Spirit Pill's efficacy, in particular, was something that could only be called divine.

Like clear dew cleansing a muddy pond, all kinds of distracting thoughts and inner demons that had piled up deep in his heart were being washed away.

So this is... the power of the Mysterious-Spirit Pill.

Chief Seong fell into deep meditation. Sitting in meditation posture and steadying his breathing, he began to look into his inner self.

Only now did it become clear what had been tormenting him.

Since learning the fact that Unhwi was a reincarnator, what had followed him the whole time was worry.

At first, it was simple.

He feared that Unhwi, with an adult soul inside a child's body, might push himself too hard, that the mismatch between body and mind might cause problems.

And since he pushed himself too hard and did not look after his own body,

up until he reached Divine Manifestation, worries like that were the main thing.

He resolved those worries, and that was how he could step into Divine Manifestation, but after stepping in, the problem grew worse.

Unhwi created the Triple Profound Realm, an unprecedented realm.

Between the Heaven-and-Earth Fourfold Realm and the Realm of Martial Divinity, he was carving a path no one had ever walked, alone.

Genius... No, even that word is not enough.

The creation of the Triple Profound Realm.

Chief Seong knew better than anyone how tremendous that was. A martial path was a road countless predecessors had paved with blood and sweat. Yet Unhwi had created a new road entirely.

The phrase "grandmaster of an age" was not a word used lightly, but even that word was not enough to explain Unhwi.

He was the kind of existence that demanded the creation of a new word beyond that.

At the side of a man like that.

Was there a place for him?

He could cling on with affection.

But that would only mean his own value amounted to no more than dead weight.

I am only an ordinary martial artist.

In the martial world, Chief Seong would be treated with respect anywhere, but at Unhwi's side, he was not someone who could swing a sword together with him, someone Unhwi could trust with his back.

That was his greatest worry, and the inner demon boiling up from the depths of Chief Seong's core.

It had been gnawing at his mind without him realizing, creating exhaustion, and as it all piled together, it grabbed his ankle.

Those things, spread like poison, were being peeled away.

What did Chief Seong truly want?

Before any path as a martial artist, it was to protect Unhwi.

Unhwi's value as a man defied imagination, and beside him, Chief Seong could take a blade in Unhwi's stead.

If he could stop even one wound that would otherwise become a serious injury or a fatal injury, Unhwi could win, one way or another.

That was all he needed to aim for.

Hesitation.

Worry.

This kind of thing had no meaning.

This was the hidden realm he entered together with Unhwi, who was using the name No-Name.

Unhwi would enter hidden realms many times in the future, and even if not always, Chief Seong would be at his side.

That was his role.

And it was Unhwi's trust.

The fact that he was one of the only people who knew the secret.

What more was needed than that?

He only had to repay that expectation.

As the Mysterious-Spirit Pill washed away the mind's stray thoughts, Chief Seong's heart grew clearer and clearer.

Even if he turned the whole world into an enemy.

Even when he had to face all manner of danger.

He would be there at his side.

This is my path.

Chief Seong's awareness sank even deeper.

He could feel the changes rising from his upper energy center throughout his whole body.

When he reached Divine Manifestation, he completely understood and accepted the energy of nature.

Now.

He could feel a fundamental energy of heaven and earth itself, on a different dimension from nature's energy.

Like staring at a beautiful landscape through glass, he could perceive heaven-and-earth spirit energy, but he could not handle it directly.

That was fine.

Even if it stopped at merely "sensing," that was what mattered.

Only by doing that could one step into the Celestial Being realm, the realm that must be reached to enter the Realm of Martial Divinity.

In that process, Chief Seong began to gain realizations he had never known before.

What is a martial artist.