Reincarnation Sword God

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Heavenly Realm

Afterward, the Sword Demon decided to imprison Namgung Hwan and erase his traces from the Jianghu for a while, while Mo Yong-yeon would also be under the Sword Demon‘s protection. We then headed toward Jinrang Valley to reach Mangnyang’s residence.

Mangnyang spoke up as I gathered with him and Jin So-cheong.

“I think we still have time, so we need more training.”

“What do you mean?”

“I’ve shared a rough plan at the Shadowless Gate, but there’s really no need to act on it immediately. In fact, we should deliberately postpone it. Our current strength is still too weak.”

I understood what he meant and nodded.

“So you’re saying we should level up a bit before diving in.”

“Exactly. Up until now, Baek Woong, you’ve done various things, but you haven’t directly provoked the Imperial Palace yet. However, once you come into contact with Han Baek-ryeong, the law enforcer of the White Lotus Sect, you will surely get entangled in something significant. Therefore, I believe it’s better to wait before contacting Han Baek-ryeong.”

Mangnyang appeared very cautious at that moment. Then Jin So-cheong firmly interjected.

“I disagree.”

“What do you mean?”

“Even as we speak, innocent women are likely being sexually abused in the Namgung Clan’s Brain Prison. To rescue them, we must negotiate with Han Baek-ryeong as soon as possible.”

What Jin So-cheong said was true. According to Namgung Hwan, he had information that he tossed aside the women he grew bored with to his subordinates. The longer we delayed the rescue, the more suffering those women would endure.

Mangnyang forced a smile.

“That makes sense. But I don’t want to taste failure anymore.”

As Jin So-cheong stared at him silently, Mangnyang continued,

“There have already been many failures. Each time, I came up with the best plans I could manage. But even then, I failed. The fundamental reason for those failures was always a lack of power. No matter how righteous the plan might be, if the strength is lacking, it will inevitably be a bad tactic.”

“I understand what you mean.”

Both Jin So-cheong and I nodded in deep agreement. Everyone here shared those memories of past agonizing failures up to 17th cycle, so we were all aware of them. Mangnyang’s words rang true, making it impossible for me to deny Jin So-cheong’s point.

I suddenly came up with an idea.

“How about this? I’ll sneak into the Namgung Clan’s Brain Prison and rescue the women myself.”

Mangnyang sighed deeply.

“That would be ideal if it were possible. But it’s not.”

“Why?”

“The Namgung Clan is a martial family that ranks among the top five clans when using force. Their elders are all peak masters, and the current clan leader Namgung Myeong is said to have achieved the Sword of Heaven… Truly an exceptional martial artist. Evading their attention just to reach the Brain Prison would be nearly impossible.”

Jin So-cheong chimed in,

“Indeed. My master often said that Namgung Myeong is the strongest among the leaders of the five great families. He’s a transcendent master recognized within the Orthodox Martial World.”

“Is it that serious?”

I couldn’t help but murmur.

Sword of Heaven!

I remembered that level from my days training under Bright Dragon and the Sword Demon, hearing about the Sword of Heaven back then.

[What is Sword of Heaven?]

[It’s a stage where you infuse your will into your techniques, turning mental expressions into overwhelming techniques.]

[Ah, I see.]

[It goes beyond that stage and embodies abstract imagination into reality. It’s the stage where you attain techniques worthy of being called deadly moves.]

I had reached the stage of Sword of Heaven now. With the skills I gained from mastering the Hulk Sword and Sky Chakra Sword, assimilating their techniques led to an elevated understanding of Sword Qi equal to unleashing my ultimate techniques with my thoughts. Still, reaching this stage took me nearly a century of hardship and destined encounters, making it a remarkable level by any common martial artist’s standards.

If Namgung Myeong, the clan leader, had achieved the Sword of Heaven, there was no certainty that I could easily defeat him.

‘He might not be stronger than Lee Guang, but he could be of equal rank.’

Being considered the strongest among the top five clan leaders likely meant he was formidable. Although I could potentially suppress him using my inner resolve and mental clarity, he still wouldn’t be an opponent I could easily win against in a short battle. Sneaking into the Namgung Clan’s Brain Prison was no simple feat.

‘Once I infiltrate, I could easily extract them afterward.’

As I pondered, Jin So-cheong spoke up.

“Baek Woong. This is my idea, so please allow me to handle it myself.”

Mangnyang and I glanced at him. Jin So-cheong spoke with a serious expression.

“In a month! During that time, I will increase my martial prowess and break through the Namgung Clan’s Brain Prison to rescue them.”

Caught off guard by his sudden proposal, I waved my hands.

“Wait a minute, wait a minute. Isn’t that a bit hasty? Wouldn’t it be better if we all went together? We could leverage Mangnyang’s techniques to help…”

“No. I believe I can do it. Please trust me just this once.”

“Umm.”

I looked to Mangnyang, but he seemed to want me to make the final decision. That made sense since I was the one practically guiding our party. I had no choice but to fall deep into thought about Jin So-cheong’s proposal.

‘Why is Jin So-cheong so eager?’

Perhaps it was because Sword Demon was not favorably inclined toward him, and he was trying to gain recognition quickly. There might be reasons hidden within that.

‘But that’s not all.’

However, I had observed Jin So-cheong for a long time and could tell he wasn’t that shallow. He would refrain from action unless he felt absolutely certain he could accomplish it. Essentially, he believed he could elevate himself enough within a month to break into the Namgung Clan’s Brain Prison.

But was that really possible?

‘If it works out, we could efficiently catch two rabbits in a short time…’

Previously, I spent weeks sharing every scrap of martial knowledge I had with Jin So-cheong. Surely, he now had confidence based on those memories. Still, I had no idea how much growth he’d achieve in a month.

I contemplated for a while before finally responding.

“… Alright! I’ll trust you just this once, Jin So-cheong.”

“Thank you.”

Mangnyang burst into a hearty laugh.

“Haha! Following your past life is quite amusing. You always head in ways that are hard to predict.”

“I just want to finish this quickly…”

“Such is life. If that is the case, we should postpone the strategy of approaching Han Baek-ryeong for a month…”

Amending the plan in his head, Mangnyang mumbled and said,

“Hmm. Then I will take Cheon Woo-jin to meet Zhege this time. Let’s meet again in a month.”

“Understood.”

Swish!

After bowing to us, Mangnyang vanished using his teleportation technique. After obtaining his Three Phoenix Inner Gate, it seemed his magical abilities had surged dramatically.

‘Mangnyang will manage fine on his own.’

Now, I only needed to train Jin So-cheong, so I looked at him and said,

“Though I usually don’t do this since it’s inefficient, let’s gather some Obsidian.”

“Hmm! Got it.”

“First, take the Black and White Lotus and the Thousand-Year Snow Ginseng.”

As I casually displayed the elixirs, Jin So-cheong appeared dumbfounded.

“… I get that you have them, but it’s still impressive. There might be many gifted individuals in this world, but you’re the only one carrying so many elixirs around.”

“Is that so? I don’t really have any other use for them.”

“Anyway, I appreciate it.”

“Keep training until I return.”

Woosh!

I channeled and headed toward the Obsidian mine in Dong Yong. I intended to find as large a piece of Obsidian as possible, so I rummaged until I finally located a gemstone several times larger than a human body. Extracting it all at once was a challenge, making me feel like my entire body was smeared in soot. Although Obsidian itself doesn’t leave soot, surrounding debris made it feel suffocating.

Hack!

Coughing due to the dust, I grimaced.

‘This is why I dislike this. Extracting something this huge won’t allow me to store all my past life memories into it. It’s too inefficient.’

If only I could encapsulate all the memories and training from my 17 lives into the Obsidian, it would be so much easier! To achieve that, I’d need an absurdly large piece of Obsidian though. Currently, even selecting the memories of my martial training required at least a size 4-5, which felt way too inefficient.

Given that I had no prior need for transferring martial arts to another, I hadn’t bothered to do so until now. Just directly teaching was much better for me.

However, this time, I resolved to help Jin So-cheong grow as quickly as possible over the next month at his request. Thus, I was making an effort to extract Obsidian. I found an astonishing size-5 piece but hesitated because extracting it could cause the entire mine to collapse.

‘Hmm. I’ll need to chip away at it and install supports to avoid collapse…’

I could have removed it all at once, but that would make the mine crumble entirely. I chopped down some trees from a nearby forest to create temporary supports. Then, while extracting the giant Obsidian, I propped them up to ensure no collapse would occur. It was my first time doing this, so I was sweating like crazy, feeling annoyed, yet determined to pull it off.

“Hey?! Who are you…?”

Maybe due to my clamor, I was discovered by five workers. After swiftly overpowering the miners who caught sight of me, I divided a piece of gold ore into five and gave it to them. Even in a state where they had been knocked out, the workers looked bewildered, and I quietly said,

“Keep what I’m doing a secret, and bring me what I want from the mine. Then I’ll give you one more piece.”

Once I released their blood flow, the compromised workers cheered up and replied,

“Of course!”

With the help of these workers, I continued extracting the giant Obsidian for the next two days and nights. After propping up more than ten large wooden beams, I finally managed to sneak the immense Obsidian into my storage. As I finished my task, I worried about the mine collapsing, but since I secured the supports well enough, it didn’t seem to be in danger.

“Hey. I can’t remove the supports, nor can they hold this up forever. Don’t you have any good ideas?”

“Uh… We don’t really know what to do either. What should we do…?”

“Hmm. First of all, evacuate all the workers from the mine. I’ll discuss matters with the mine owner.”

“Yes, sir.”

With the workers’ guidance, I headed to the estate of the mine’s owner, a certain Dong Yong resident. He appeared to be a high-ranking martial artist, dressed in martial attire.

“What… an intruder? How dare such a vagabond enter our Tokugawa Clan? Kill him!”

Upon entering the owner’s chamber, a flurry of martial artists began rushing at me from beside the mine owner, swords drawn.

Hyaah!

But for someone who had battled countless masters in the Central Plains, their martial skills seemed like child’s play. Without hesitation, I cut through about seventy of them in three strides. None of them could even use their techniques properly.

Slash, Slash, Slash!

“Ahhhhh!”

When they charge in, the only choice is to kill them. Regardless of numbers, guilt weighs not in this world. Having been immersed in the ruthless martial realm for over a hundred years, I carried none.

In the blink of an eye, Sword Qi painted the ground with blood, and the mine owner paled in terror.

“Hiiiii! W-who are you? How dare you kill Tokugawa Iemitsu, the rightful heir…”

I didn’t care about his self-introduction and responded bluntly,

“Isn’t it a bit late to ask? I was planning to kill you first and then consider the matter.”

“What?!”

Seeing him panic, I continued,

“I dug up a massive piece of Obsidian from your mine, which is on the brink of collapse, so I came to discuss the situation.”

“What?!”

“Everyone’s been evacuated.”

I quickly explained the current situation to the mine owner. His face turned pale as he exclaimed,

“Oh no! That’s my property!”

“I’ve already said what I needed to. Well then, farewell.”

“W-wait a minute?!”

Woosh!

Ignoring his cries, I vanished into the Central Plains. Had we just talked civilly, we could’ve figured something out together, but he sent swordsmen to attack right away, so I had no space to consider that.

While I might have done wrong, he was also quite the piece of trash himself, which made it seem fair for him to face the consequences.

‘Tokugawa Iemitsu? Be thankful that I’m not killing you.’

Back in the Central Plains, I washed off the soot and presented the massive Obsidian to Jin So-cheong. When he saw the incredible piece, he appeared stunned.

“Goodness… You really needed something this big?”

“Indeed. Memories require ample capacity, making it inefficient otherwise.”

“Is there no metal that’s more efficient than Obsidian?”

I rested my chin on my hand.

“There is, but that metal is a special acquisition only available to other races. I have no way to obtain it with my current power.”

In lands where the Prophet‘s race existed, there was a memory metal 100 times more efficient than Obsidian. However, it couldn’t be found in our Central Plains or any land above it. It was located somewhere beyond the stars.

This means that while the techniques using Obsidian were stunningly inefficient for humans, the techniques of other races wielded the most power when used by them.

“I understand.”

Jin So-cheong nodded and placed a hand on the Obsidian.

Shimmer!

Moments later, a glow emerged, causing the entire Obsidian to vanish. As the entire volume transferred, its physical properties dissipated too. Jin So-cheong savored the immense memory for a brief moment before saying,

“As expected… I understand now.”

“If you find it insufficient, I can help you get better at it.”

Jin So-cheong shook his head.

“No. I will focus on restoring parts of your past life that you missed based on this memory.”

What did that mean?

I stared at Jin So-cheong, puzzled. He then explained,

“I have elevated my martial arts several times thanks to your guidance in your past life. Each time, my skills soared, but you never reaped the benefits.”

“That’s true.”

Indeed. While striving hard to revitalize the Lightning Method, Jin So-cheong likely reached new heights, but I only knew of the prowess without benefiting from it myself. I only felt exploding jealousy in my subsequent lives.

“This time, I will repay that debt with my life.”

Taking a deep breath, Jin So-cheong wielded his spear with a serious face.

“I possess all the memories related to your martial arts. There are also records of the past observances of the ‘Jin So-cheong.’ Based on those memories, I can recreate the levels achieved by either you or Lee Guang.”

“Gasp… then…”

He declared affirmatively,

“I will restore as much as possible the techniques related to Sky God Island and Reverse Scale Island within a month.”

I apologize for the confusion caused by posting a bit earlier than intended. I thought I was done! Then I noticed it was around 11:30 and wanted to time it for noon…