Reincarnated Swordmaster

Chapter Title: Heavenly Realm

Even though I'd become a body immune to all poisons, it didn't stir much emotion in me.

'Have I ever been in real trouble because of poison up until now...?'

At most, I'd only heard mentions to be careful of the Poison Demon among the Eight Demonic Lords. That was why it didn't feel real. Mangnyang chuckled and said,

"There are plenty of sects in the martial world that use poison techniques besides the Sichuan Tang Clan. Officially, using poison is seen as cowardly, but put another way, there are few methods as convenient for subduing an opponent as poison."

"Hmm..."

"You've gained resistance by consuming the spirit pill of that great yokai, so ordinary poisons won't affect you anymore. It's fine to call it a body immune to all poisons."

Mangnyang looked greatly pleased. That meant my current achievement was something truly good. I nodded and said,

"Now I'm confident I can definitely beat Lee Gwang."

Mangnyang looked at me and said,

"Even so, there are still plenty of monsters in the martial world. You're not yet at the level of a Dharma Protector Lion, so please be careful."

"I know."

The Dharma Protector Lion's Heavenly Spirit Pill!

It was a terrifying power that made one view the Lion not as a mere martial artist, but as a war god of destruction. Being able to endlessly expend infinite internal energy meant that no matter how much you used yours like water, their recovery rate was far higher. To face the owner of a Heavenly Spirit Pill, you needed extremely high enlightenment in the martial realm or one of your own.

'I must obtain a Heavenly Spirit Pill in this reincarnation.'

If the three of us earned them by completing the Cult Leader's mission, everything would change from then on. Plus, just uncovering the secret of the Heavenly Spirit Pill would mean we wouldn't have to rely on the White Lotus Cult from the next reincarnation onward.

As I was lost in such thoughts, Mangnyang said,

"Then let's go for now."

"Got it. To Jinrang Valley, then..."

"No. Let's go to the Southern Continent where Hwayo is."

"Huh? Alright."

The Southern Continent out of nowhere—I didn't quite get it, but I decided to follow Mangnyang's lead anyway.

Flash!

Upon arriving on the Southern Continent, Mangnyang said,

"Find a native, subdue one, and bring them here."

"Hmm... Got it. I'll look."

I heightened my senses and searched the vast land for places where natives might be. Fortunately, it was near a native village I'd visited before, so it didn't take long. I found one separated from the group, sealed their acupoints, and brought them before Mangnyang. The native could only roll their eyes in terror.

Whooo...

Mangnyang slowly placed his hand on the native's forehead and focused his mind. Soon after, a faint milky energy began to flow from the native's forehead. It emerged very slowly, and Mangnyang was sweating beads on his forehead as he concentrated.

After about half a shichen passed like that? The milky energy fully detached from the forehead and was absorbed into Mangnyang's palm. Mangnyang let out a sigh and said,

"Now let them go."

Following his words, I knocked the native out again and returned them to their original spot. When I came back, Mangnyang said to me,

"What I just did was extracting the po soul, as per the essentials of the Soul Separation Great Law."

"Hmm!"

I was startled.

"Already at the application stage?"

Mangnyang and I had begun training in the Soul Separation Great Law at the same time. But I was still only doing basic training, while he had already grasped the knack and was using advanced methods. Mangnyang said matter-of-factly,

"With Great Immortal Mangnyang's spells and experience, this much is simple."

"......"

I had that too—why couldn't I get it?

As I grumbled inwardly, Mangnyang continued,

"The reason for repeatedly extracting the po soul in the beginner stage of the Soul Separation Great Law is that it's both the beginning and the end of the art. Knowing the principle speeds up achievement, so I came all the way here to explain it to you, Baek Woong."

"Ah!"

Mangnyang was focused on accelerating my progress even a little. That's why he'd mastered the Soul Separation Great Law faster himself and come to teach me. After all, asking Zhuge Sa for a detailed explanation would be pointless—Zhuge Sa, who hated fools, would never explain as kindly as Mangnyang.

I focused my mind and perked up my ears to his words. Mangnyang said,

"Right now, I've extracted that native's po soul and absorbed it into my body, where I'm controlling it. That means once I learn to manipulate this po soul, I can monitor that native's mind and spirit."

"I see."

"Extracting the po is the beginner stage, manipulating the po is intermediate, and the final stage is using the po to move the hun soul."

I tilted my head at that.

"Using the po to move the hun? What's that supposed to mean?"

"Hmm... Have you heard this? In the Yijing Gyeong-gyeon, it says the hun qi returns to heaven, and the corporeal po returns to earth (魂氣歸于天, 形魄歸于地). In other words, when a human dies, the hun ascends as the essence, while the po is absorbed into the earth."

Mangnyang's eyes gleamed.

"The driving force that assists the hun—that's the po."

"Hmm..."

I suddenly felt something off and said,

"Wait. You called it a driving force, and you just extracted and absorbed that native's po, right? Doesn't that put the native's life in danger?"

"That's the interesting part. Extracting the hun would deal massive damage to the life form, but not the po. No matter how much po you extract, a certain amount always regenerates to envelop the hun."

"......!!"

"It's a bit different from vitality."

After explaining that, Mangnyang continued,

"I've absorbed the native's po but lack the skill to control it yet, so I can't dominate their mind and spirit. But Zhuge Sa could extract it quickly and monitor their mind and spirit using the po."

"I see."

"And at the advanced stage, moving the po to handle the hun..."

Mangnyang drew two circles on the ground with a stick. He drew a large one overlapping a small one, then pointed to the small one and said,

"In truth, if the opponent's hun doesn't respond, no human spell can move the hun itself, no matter what."

"What?"

"There are tens of thousands of spells and secret arts in Daoism, but it's the same. Pulling the hun requires absurdly powerful spell power. Even spirit possession just clears a path and lets the spirit come rolling in—it's not about attraction. Doing it without consent is even more impossible."

"Hmm..."

"That's why the Soul Separation Great Law doesn't move the hun directly but moves the po enveloping it. Because when the driving force po moves, the hun follows."

"I think I get it."

Mangnyang nodded and said,

"When qi disperses, the hun and po correspond accordingly. That's the essential principle of the Soul Separation Great Law."

"......?"

In that moment, I felt a strange sense of déjà vu. And soon after, I realized where I'd felt it before.

[Baek Woong, what do you think qi is?]

[In the midst of countless teachings to reach the Martial Ultimate, I realized one thing. It was that the Primordial Spirit Body I'd achieved didn't originate from the Divine Void—that is, the Great Void.]

[The Great Void refers to qi. Great Void is qi itself; the dispersed form of qi is the Great Void.]

"......!!"

I realized.

'The White Lotus Cult Leader's words are similar!'

Inconceivably, the principles and essentials of the Soul Separation Great Law that Mangnyang taught aligned with the Cult Leader's discourse on the martial dao. Especially the part about the dispersed form of qi felt eerily matching.

How could this be? One was an absolute master of the martial arts pinnacle, the other a heretical spell from a cult. Yet they shared common ground.

Baek Woong asked, looking puzzled.

"Baek Woong, what's wrong?"

"Mangnyang! The White Lotus Cult Leader said something like this."

I immediately recounted my conversation with the Cult Leader. More precisely, I just relayed the Cult Leader's discourse on the martial dao to Mangnyang again. Mangnyang listened with a serious expression and then said,

"That's strange... The concept of Great Void as qi was first mentioned by Zhang Zai, the great Neo-Confucian scholar of the Northern Song. But that's a Confucian dao utterly unrelated to martial arts. Also, the mention of Great Void as qi resembles Wang Yangming's ideas more."

"Wang Yangming?"

"He's old now, but an outstanding scholar."

After thinking a moment, Mangnyang said,

"Wang Yangming is the founder of Yangming School, a branch of Confucianism emphasizing subjective practical philosophy. He's at the forefront criticizing current Zhu Xi Neo-Confucianism, with his main thesis on mind is principle."

"Mind is principle?"

"It's complicated, so I'll explain later. Only scholars who've studied Confucianism for years can grasp it."

Cutting it short, Mangnyang tilted his head.

"But the li-qi in Yangming or Zhu Xi schools are more about perspectives in Cheng-Zhu Neo-Confucianism for new national and social visions than principles of martial spells. Zhang Zai's Great Void as qi from the Northern Song isn't much different. For the White Lotus Cult Leader to mention it is quite odd."

"Confucian qi is something else?"

"A bit different. If it were the same, all Confucian scholars would be martial experts."

Pondering deeply, Mangnyang said,

"I think the key is the term Great Void rather than qi."

"Great Void?"

"It's said to be the dispersed form of qi. Perhaps in cultivating profound martial realms, the Cult Leader realized the Great Void might not be an abstract concept but a reality... and conveyed that idea to you through metaphor."

"Hmm... But why?"

I couldn't comprehend at all and said,

"Why would he suddenly tell such an advanced concept to someone talentless like me?"

"......"

Mangnyang stared piercingly at me and said,

"...The Cult Leader might have sensed something in you. Beyond that, I can't say."

"Hmm..."

The White Lotus Cult Leader was truly enigmatic. I couldn't read his intentions from a single word. Mangnyang shook his head vigorously and said,

"Tell Jin So-cheong about that martial discourse when we get back to Jinrang Valley. He might research it and achieve results."

"Got it."

Flash!

We returned to Jinrang Valley and told Jin So-cheong the story. He mulled over the Cult Leader's words carefully and said,

"What catches my attention is something else."

"Something else?"

"The Four Kalpas."

Jin So-cheong interlaced his fingers and continued,

"In Buddhism's worldview, the Trichiliocosm endlessly cycles through the four periods: formation kalpa, abiding kalpa, destruction kalpa, and emptiness kalpa. A kalpa is an unimaginably vast span of time. I've heard before of the idea that Buddhas save humans during the universe's cycles."

"Hmm, that sounds similar to the four seasons of the cosmos in the Heavenly Scripture spells..."

"I'm not sure, but whether Buddhism or Daoism, the view of the world cycling might be the same."

Muttering that, Jin So-cheong continued,

"Understanding that Great Void means reaching the Four Kalpas—that sticks in my mind. His martial arts have a religious bent no matter how you look at it, and the White Lotus Cult shares roots with Buddhism. I think his Four Kalpas carries great meaning."

"What meaning?"

"Who knows. One thing's clear: you can only know the Four Kalpas after understanding the Great Void."

"......"

Great Void!

The sudden concept gave me a strange feeling. A thought flashed through my mind.

'The Cult Leader said he gained strength transcending humanity by interpreting the Sermon of the Deathless Mother. Could that sermon contain something about the Great Void?'

While I was at it, I asked Mangnyang,

"Mangnyang. Do you think the Sermon of the Deathless Mother is a demonic dao book too?"

"Hmm... I don't think so."

Mangnyang answered calmly.

"Demonic dao books are mostly forbidden knowledge about the [Ancient Rulers] written by other races. The true authors of demonic dao books aren't the [Ancient Rulers] but their followers or priests. That's why items like the Nameless Sacrificial Text we can find carry demonic qi but are still handleable by humans.

But if the Deathless Mother is who I think she is, then her sermon would be too exalted to call a demonic dao book. Because the author is a god."

"......"

"A secret art text one step above demonic dao books... That sermon could be called a divine scripture."

Mangnyang sighed and said,

"Let's end this talk here. For now, it's faster to train and wait for Lee Gwang's return."

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