Reincarnated Swordmaster

Chapter Title: Heavenly Realm

What the hell is this madman babbling about?

I was momentarilly flustered and at a loss for words, but a hollow laugh escaped me as I looked down at him scornfully.

“Why would I serve them? Are you insane? I have no idea why you’re even asking—”

[Your life is riddled with contradictions right now.]

Zhuge suddenly cut me off and continued calmly.

[You gather power and collect the Seven Essentials because you don’t want to suffer under the tyrants’ oppression for eons... Fine. If you look at the big picture, it’s a great life goal. Gaining strength while saving the world as a bonus—how could that not be good? But do you realize how strange this really is?]

“What’s so strange about it?”

[The truth is, you’re loved by the [Old Rulers], and they’ve never directly harmed you. From where things stand now, it looks like you’re the only one flailing against this world’s principles, fighting shadows on the wall.]

I tried to rebut Zhuge immediately, but the words wouldn’t come. He had pierced straight through the contradiction I’d been nursing in my heart all along. Still, I gritted my teeth and fired back.

“Loved? Bullshit! Gods see humans as nothing but playthings. Insects they can exploit and tear apart whenever they feel like it. You want me to live in endless anxiety, not knowing when my reincarnations will end, all in their clutches? I’d go mad from fear and despair if I lived like that.”

[Ho, that’s a fair point. A valid thought, yet to my eyes...]

I could feel Zhuge smirking.

[...it looks like you’ve already gone mad.]

“What?”

[Hyeon-i’s pretty far gone too. Is his madness resonating with yours?]

Zhuge kept spouting nonsense I couldn’t make sense of before continuing.

[Looking back on your past lives, the ones where you followed my advice yielded the best results, didn’t they? You borrowed the gods’ power to wipe out the imperial palace, and you never even had to clash with the [Old Rulers] from the Demon Subduing Hall. If you’d just listened to me, wouldn’t you have lived a happy life and ended it there?]

“Urk... That’s...”

I faltered.

He was right. Setting aside personal feelings, purely by results, the lives where I’d followed Zhuge’s advice had turned out best. Sure, there was the downside of the [Old Ruler] descending out of nowhere and causing chaos, but that was my choice too. If I’d just stuck to his words, it might have ended well. Zhuge chuckled deeply and went on.

[You’re thinking wrong. For a human to oppose gods, to overthrow them—it’s impossible. Even if gathering all Seven Essentials gives you a sliver of a chance, that’s an impossible feat for a human. By the time you’ve collected them all, you’ll have become a divine being so powerful you won’t need them anymore. In other words, you’ll have abandoned your humanity. It’ll just be god fighting god.]

“……”

[And even if you do gather all Seven Essentials, there’s no guarantee you can defeat the [Old Rulers]. Have you ever imagined the power of an absolute being who roams the cosmos as if it were their backyard, as master of the constellations? The force that crushed the White Lotus Leader might be a mere speck in comparison.]

“But not trying is just compromise!”

Zhuge’s words rang true, but I couldn’t just accept them. I slammed my fist against the empty conference hall’s wall and shouted fiercely.

“I’ve lived dozens of years deciding it was realistically impossible! And I died a pathetic death as a lowly third-rate escort. If I’d tried to make reality just a little better, things might have improved even slightly. I wouldn’t have lived such a miserable life. I’ve felt that dozens, hundreds of times through my reincarnations!”

[......]

“Effort makes things better, even if just a little, even a speck! So striving for the best—is that wrong?!”

The inner frustrations I’d never even confessed to Mang-ryang poured out. It was because Zhuge wasn’t just a companion—he was probing and pressuring my deepest thoughts. He responded to my outburst.

[Effooort~ How impressive. The gold-diggers will love that line.]

“What?”

[Nothing. Just testing.]

Zhuge’s mocking cackle turned harsh.

[You’ve reincarnated nineteen times and gained a lot. But look at your situation now. Have you caught even a hair’s breadth of the gods’ power? I guarantee you, with your current approach, you won’t reach your goal even after dying fifty times, let alone twenty.]

Irritated, I growled.

“What bullshit! I’ve already tracked down four of the Seven Essentials, and I can get the Moon Essential anytime I want. The Fire Essential just needs a bit more time—not that long.”

[Of course. You’re progressing while grabbing everything you can, right? One slip-up and sudden death is your daily routine.]

“……”

[Even for a reincarnator, few die as spectacularly as you.]

I had nothing to say to “sudden death.” Zhuge spoke leisurely.

[Of course, it’s not all bad. Discovering the Heavenly Spirit Pill isn’t purely good was a big gain. If you’d focused only on it and gotten it first, you might never have learned about those side effects. But I think you should focus more on one thing.]

“Focus...?”

[Seven Essentials if it’s the Seven Essentials, martial arts if it’s martial arts. Discard what you must. That’s how you maximize your faction’s expansion.]

Madness crept into Zhuge’s voice.

[Why do you keep allying with the Thunder God School? Since things went well, use this chance to wipe them out! You’ve gotten everything you can—time to cut them loose, no? Kill Lee Gwang, kill Jin So-cheong, exterminate the whole Thunder God School! Swear loyalty to the White Lotus Cult and expand your stage to the world. While you’re at it, conquer the world with the White Lotus Cult, then uncover the Absolute’s true intent. That’s the best path.]

“……”

My ears perked up for a moment. I’d often considered ditching the Thunder God School myself. I’d held off only because Jin So-cheong sharing the black obsidian made it awkward loyalty-wise. And as he said, hadn’t I already squeezed everything useful from them?

But I shook my head.

“The Thunder God Spirit Soul remains. I’ll wait until I get it.”

Zhuge mocked me.

[Kekeke... Greedy bastard. You haven’t even mastered the Triple Palace Sword properly, and you think you can complete and claim the ultimate unfinished art from the White Lotus Cult’s strongest martial lineage over a millennium? Are you writing a novel?]

“That’s...”

[Listen well. Your grandiose big picture is a lamp in the dark—you can’t even see what’s right in front of you. It’d be fun to point out that contradiction, but I’ll stop here.]

“……”

Grandiose big picture. His words stabbed my heart like a dagger.

This was my nineteenth life already. I’d harbored countless ambitions in the past, only to die in vain many times, so I felt deep emptiness at the start of this one. I couldn’t dismiss Zhuge’s words as nonsense.

But if I were going to crumble here, I never would have made it this far. I snorted lightly and said,

“I’ll drive you out of my head somehow.”

[Keke, how?]

“I’ll master the Soul Separation Great Law and transfer your soul to another body. After that, I don’t care how you live—just get out.”

[Oh, I’d welcome that. But how will you procure a body?]

I said cautiously,

“You’ll have to cooperate.”

[Why would I? Ah, I know—you have no clue how to generate a portrait apparition from the crystal tablet with your sorcery skills. And you know the Soul Separation Great Law can’t transfer to a dead body.]

“……”

[I can teach you. It’s not hard. I need to escape this soul-only state too. But there’s one prerequisite, right?]

“What?”

Zhuge cackled.

[Think the White Religion Leader’s secret art, the Soul Separation Great Law, is easy? Even I needed over three years of bone-grinding training to achieve mastery. You think a dullard like you can pick it up in a day or two? Just extracting the soul will take you ten years.]

“Ten years? So what? I can do it. Time’s the one thing I have plenty of.”

Zhuge scoffed again at my curt reply.

[Don’t make me laugh. At your normal training speed, it’d take at least two hundred years to master the Soul Separation Great Law. I swear on the White Religion Leader’s name. You think the pinnacle secret of the White Religion, which even Daoism’s top genius sweated over, is free lunch?]

“......!!”

He kept jabbing.

[Must be nice to live long. Two hundred years of back-breaking effoort—I’m touched.]

“You son of a—”

I wanted to curse, but I hesitated. He’d sworn on the White Religion Leader’s name, not just mocking me. That meant it was likely true. Regaining my composure, I replied coolly,

“That wouldn’t be good for you either. You must have a way, that’s why you’re saying this.”

[Hm... So your reincarnation experience isn’t totally wasted. You have at least some backbone.]

Zhuge sounded almost admiring as he continued.

[Yes. If I teach you the Soul Separation Great Law, you can definitely learn it. I can’t guarantee full mastery since it needs a special process, but I can get you to seven-star level in ten years.]

“Seven stars! What’s that level of attainment?”

[Enough to separate my soul and insert it into a portrait apparition.]

“Hm...”

I felt tempted. Rightly so—training under the only living master of the Soul Separation Great Law meant even a dullard like me could make it usable. If I only knew martial arts, I might not have been drawn in, but I’d learned its power through Supreme Immortal Mang-ryang’s knowledge and my own training.

The Soul Separation Great Law was a heavenly secret art. Its practitioners transcended life and death, toying with the world at will. Zhuge himself roamed the afterlife and other dimensions freely despite his lifespan and fate ending prematurely, didn’t he? And even after the White Lotus Leader destroyed his body, he’d extended his life by transferring here. It clearly surpassed ordinary sorcery limits.

Mastering it would let me avoid sudden deaths, extend my life, and explore more possibilities. But despite the gains, I suspected and pressed Zhuge.

“What’s to stop you from deceiving me?”

[Nothing.]

“You’re so brazen it deflates me...”

[Whatever I say now, you’ll just think it’s an excuse, right? No point wasting time.]

Zhuge replied lightly, then spoke calmly.

[One thing: I’m coexisting with your soul now, but if worst comes to worst, I can self-destruct and obliterate your soul, turning you into an idiot for at least fifty years. I’d vanish, but you might end up slaving away in some beggar’s den.]

“Don’t lie.”

[Heh, is it a lie?]

Zhuge smiled ominously.

[Anyway, I don’t want a grudge with you either. All I want is a comfy retirement and immortality. Just consider my proposal positively since we both gain.]

“There’s no guarantee you won’t pretend to teach me and seize my body and soul.”

[Kekeke... Are you serious?]

“What?”

Zhuge sounded incredulous.

[Don’t you know your current position? If you did, you wouldn’t say that. You’re ridiculously clueless.]

This wasn’t just mockery—my instincts screamed it. It was too meaningful to ignore. He’d just said something crucial.

“What do you mean?”

[Ah, whatever. Just accept my proposal. I’m no fool; I won’t risk it lightly.]

“Um...”

I pondered. Should I accept this highly suspicious offer from Zhuge?

Whoosh

The wind blew in. I sat in a corner of the increasingly chilly conference hall, arms crossed, deep in thought. Then I reached a conclusion.

“I’ll talk it over with Mang-ryang and decide. It’s not too late.”

[What nonsense now? But aren’t you relying on Hyeon-i too much?]

“What nonsense now?”

[Hyeon-i isn’t a machine that just fulfills your desires. He has his own wants and dreams, obviously. You’ve reincarnated over a dozen times and treat that awfully lightly.]

“……”

[You should choose more independently.]

“Shut up.”

I shook my head and sighed.

“I’ll head back to the White Lotus Cult first and think it over.”

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