Reincarnated Swordmaster

Chapter Title: Heavenly Realm

Upon arriving in Luoyang with the Cult Leader, he headed off to meet the Emperor.

"You've arrived."

Emperor Ju Jae-hu, seated upon the throne, lit up with joy at the sight of the Cult Leader and rushed out to the rear garden to greet him. Even in this secluded spot where no one else was present, the Emperor had no guards or attendants by his side. His face was also noticeably gaunt, a clear sign that the palace was far from normal.

The Cult Leader spoke to the Emperor, his voice heavy with fatigue.

[Emperor. I require a place to stay within the palace for the time being.]

"Wi... within the palace?"

[You can manage that, can't you?]

The Cult Leader's words seemed gentle, but they carried the weight of an unbreakable command. After pondering for a moment, Ju Jae-hu replied.

[My thanks.]

"And what of the Taiping Dao...?"

[Those fools will rampage no longer.]

Ju Jae-hu brightened and bowed deeply to the Cult Leader.

"I am deeply grateful."

[No time for formalities. Prepare a place for me to rest.]

"Understood."

Though Ju Jae-hu had only recently ascended the throne, preparations moved swiftly. In less than half a shichen, the Chenggian Palace was spotless, its palace servants reassigned. We entered by carriage and settled into the finest private chamber for rest.

I asked the Cult Leader.

"What shall we do with those in the wooden box?"

[Release them now...]

Moments later, the Dharma Protectors and elders emerged from the wooden box. Upon seeing the Cult Leader seated on the luxurious bed, they immediately prostrated themselves. He gazed down at them silently before speaking.

[The Great Luo Immortals of the Heavenly Realm have all been repelled.]

[Oh...!!]

[However, I must recuperate for a time, so I'll remain in the palace for now.]

With that, the Cult Leader glanced toward Dokgo Jun.

[Jun. While I'm away, you will handle the cult's affairs. I appoint you Acting Cult Leader.]

Acting Cult Leader!

A temporary position, but it meant ascending to the pinnacle of the world's greatest faction, the White Lotus Cult. Yet Dokgo Jun showed no joy—only confusion—as he replied.

[Cult Leader. What is this? Have you been injured in the battle with them?]

[No injury. I've simply overexerted my Primordial Spirit and need rest.]

[Ugh...!!]

[Ask no more. I trust in your abilities.]

Dokgo Jun fell silent, then clasped his fists in salute.

[As you command.]

Soon after, Dokgo Jun and the other White Lotus Cult executives left the room. I tilted my head, utterly baffled by the Cult Leader's actions.

"Why?"

It made sense that overusing his Primordial Spirit required rest. The chaotic form I'd witnessed was terrifying beyond mortal limits—clearly his ultimate trump card hidden within the Primordial Spirit.

But if he needed rest, why not return to the White Lotus Cult headquarters, protected by dozens of Elder Council experts? Even recuperating within the Immortal Peach Grove would have been wiser. No matter the Cult Leader's influence over the palace, this was still foreign ground, hardly ideal for relaxation.

Sensing my confusion, the Cult Leader crossed his arms while seated on the golden bed and spoke.

[You're wondering why I've come here.]

"Yes. Honestly, this isn't a place for rest..."

[Indeed. I'm not here to rest. I came to meet someone.]

"......?"

Meet who? I had no guess and pressed.

"Who might that be? Is there some eccentric in the palace?"

The Cult Leader replied with uncharacteristic uncertainty.

[Truth be told... I don't know myself.]

"You don't know?"

Dumbfounded, I echoed him, and he explained.

[I sense that I can only meet him now. Once my enlightenment settles further, I'll summon him. Leave me for today.]

"Understood."

Who could it be?

Leaving the Cult Leader's room, I racked my brain in vain. Why refuse return to headquarters and insist on occupying an entire Eastern Six Palace wing? There must be someone in the palace he desperately needed to meet.

I finally consulted Zhuge Sa.

[Hey. I can't figure it out. Who is the Cult Leader trying to meet?]

Zhuge Sa replied curtly.

[I haven't a clue.]

[What? You don't know either?]

[With what we know, it's all guesswork and fantasy.]

If even Zhuge Sa couldn't speculate, it had to be something only the Cult Leader perceived. Sitting in my room, deep in thought, I ventured again.

[Could it be Sima Hyeok?]

[The Cult Leader wouldn't linger here for someone like Sima Hyeok. He could just send you or a Dharma Protector to fetch him.]

[Hmm... Someone only meetable in the palace...]

A headache. Who could make the White Lotus Cult Leader—who toyed with emperors and tore Great Luo Immortals apart—yearn to meet so badly? If Zhuge Sa was stumped, logical deduction was impossible now. He added.

[Enough. Just relax today. How often does one get to live in the palace?]

[True enough.]

It was an experience ordinary folk could never dream of. Since the Cult Leader wouldn't speak, I set aside my worries, practiced the Three Treasures Absolute Art and Separation of Yin and Yang Great Law, then slept comfortably on the silken golden bed.

The next day, I visited the Cult Leader's room.

Hummmmm...

He floated in midair, legs crossed in meditation, utterly still. Feeling heat radiating from his body like fire, I recoiled. At the same time, eerie, unintelligible chants poured from his lips.

"He must be too absorbed to notice me."

What was that sound?

I listened long but understood nothing. Zhuge Sa, who'd been listening too, spoke.

[It's 梵語—Sanskrit.]

[Sanskrit? You know it?]

[Naturally. Most ancient texts on the [Elder Dominators] are translated into it—essential stuff. What he's chanting seems like a Sanskrit sutra.]

[Which one?]

[No idea. The tone's too low and bizarre—not human.]

Zhuge Sa was right. Listening closely, the voice splintered into dozens of pitches, unlike any human throat could produce, sometimes whispering eerily in my ear. I waited patiently for his meditation to end. After about an incense stick's time, he released his focus and slowly descended.

[I kept you waiting.]

"Feeling better?"

[No great change in my power yesterday or today. I simply needed time to gather the whirlwind of sudden enlightenment in my mind.]

Silence hung heavy. I'd come to check on him, but what to say? Anything would feel awkward—he was immersed in his own realization.

I cleared my throat.

"Ahem... If it's alright, may I ask about yesterday?"

[What intrigues you?]

"You transformed into that bizarre form—is that a power of the Primordial Spirit?"

[Yes. Infinite inner energy alone would be no different from the Heavenly Spirit Pill.]

His eyes flashed.

[Do you know what sets the Primordial Spirit apart from the Heavenly Spirit Pill?]

[The Origin Spirit freely manipulates the inner microcosm, manifesting not just Taiji but even the properties of the Five Elements and Four Images at will—as you told me before.]

While teaching me martial arts, the White Lotus Cult Leader had shared some about his Primordial Spirit. Recalling that, he continued.

[That alone wouldn't differ much from the Heavenly Spirit Pill in power. The true strength of the Primordial Spirit lies in channeling chaos as a medium to draw out potential to its limits. Chaos transcends Taiji, enabling such miracles.]

"......!!"

[The awakening of latent potential—that is the Primordial Spirit's true ability.]

I let out a groan.

"So that's it."

The Primordial Spirit borrowed power from the formless void. While the Heavenly Spirit Pill scraped a speck from the chaotic throne of the Elder Gods, the Primordial Spirit temporarily borrowed chaos itself, stimulating human ego to awaken.

Pondering, I asked.

"Does that power have weaknesses?"

The White Lotus Cult Leader laughed heartily.

[Hahaha... You dare ask its weaknesses. Would you reveal yours, Baek Woong?]

"Just curious."

Smacking my lips, I got a capricious response.

[I'll say only this: It can't be used often.]

That figured. If he could wield Great Luo Immortal-shattering power freely, he would. Constraints limited it to desperate moments.

Even against the Demon Subduing Hall's master before, he'd used Infinite Demon Heaven instead of this form. Though I fled without seeing the end, he'd likely held back against a god, opting for persuasion first, saving the transformation for true peril.

"Why? That was life-or-death..."

Cautiously, I asked.

"By the way, what sudden enlightenment did you gain? From the Primordial Spirit too?"

[No. Yesterday's enlightenment had nothing to do with it.]

He stated firmly.

[It was realization of the Great Void.]

"Great Void?"

Then I recalled: he'd suddenly grasped the badge's essence, overjoyed, conversing with Namgung Woson—who'd mentioned "concepts." Racking my brain, I recited.

"The qi of heaven and earth gathers and scatters in a hundred ways, but Great Harmony clashes, intertwining, bending, and stretching without limit..."

[Indeed.]

"What does that mean?"

He continued.

[Great Harmony is what we call the Dao. It encompasses the nature of rise-fall, ascent-descent, movement-stillness in mutual resonance. Yet a more fundamental exists: the Great Void—formless, the essence of qi.]

Hearing this, I recalled his past-life explanation and quoted it.

"The Great Void is qi itself. Thus, Great Void is qi; its scattered form is the Great Void, no?"

[......!!]

He looked genuinely shocked, motionless for a moment before replying.

[Heh... You possess some martial talent even I lack. Well done.]

"Haha..."

I nearly grinned, pleased, but Zhuge Sa sniped internally.

[Idiot. You understood nothing yet pretended—pathetic!]

[Kuh... What's wrong with faking it?]

[Don't you know that's the dumbest thing for learning? Anyway...]

As my face twisted, the Cult Leader pressed on.

[Remember this well, Baek Woong.]

"Yes."

He spoke carefully, choosing each word.

[Qi gathers and scatters in the Great Void like ice freezing and melting in water. Thus, knowing Great Void is qigong mastered as non-thing (無物). This is the Buddhist no-no-mind (無無明), and also no-exhaustion-of-no-mind (亦無無明盡).]

"......"

[Grasping this, one sees how man may surpass gods.]

So Great Void is qi? Did I mishear?

Tilting my head, realization dawned.

Ah... I get none of it.

Noticing, he turned away.

[Hard to grasp easily. It's this world's truth, tied to mankind's privilege... Anyway, yesterday I deepened this insight and needed quiet to organize it.]

"I see."

[And this dawn, I finished.]

With that, the White Lotus Cult Leader rose grandly.

[Now, let's go.]

"Where to?"

[Follow me.]

He strode purposefully. Though master of supreme lightness skill, he insisted on walking—signaling a profound shift in his state of mind.

He arrived at Chenggian Palace's main gate. Guards saluted the masked stranger without flinching. Ignoring them, he stared ahead and spoke.

[Who are you?]

I looked where he gazed: empty air.

"Embroidered?"

I heightened my senses to detect an ant leagues away—nothing. Guards eyed him curiously too.

"Nothing there?"

Truly nothing. No one.

What did he see?

Softly, he continued.

[If you won't show, I must fight...]

Rummmble

He surged with full power. Guards screamed.

"Gah!!"

"Eek!"

Pure aura floored them unconscious—no killing intent, yet overwhelming. Heart attacks. I rushed, infusing qi to revive them. He ignored, glaring at empty air.

Then... the impossible.

"Since coming to the Central Plains."

He was there.

No warning—a shabby robed man with a single saber at his waist, stepping forth.

I hadn't sensed his presence. His movement transcended my perception. Cold sweat poured as I realized.

Different.

This one was different!

"You are the second to discern the Full Moon Heavenly Slayer Art."

His speech was clumsy, like a foreigner mangling Central Plains tongue. But terror drowned that—overwhelming pressure from the saber-wielder.

The Cult Leader's eyes blazed as he spoke slowly.

[Have you been watching me?]

"Yes."

[Your name?]

He seemed bored with all. His stance full of openings, yet I found none.

"Twelve Tones Special Seat."

It proclaimed his realm absolute—beyond my reach, an unimaginable supreme being.

"Two Heavens Style. Miyamoto Musashi."

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