Reincarnated Swordmaster

Chapter Title: Dark Heaven Village

I headed with Cheon Woo-jin to the finest spiritual site nearby. As he set up a barrier beneath the waterfall and began cultivating spiritual power while deploying spells, an ominous ancient Brahmic script visualized and spread out in all directions. Once the Brahmic barrier extended over five-li or more, I looked around and asked.

"This is?"

"In case there's even a slim chance the yin god power bursts into the world and creates a new yokai, I set up the barrier."

"That can happen?"

"What do you think yin god power is? It's the power of a god. Even fragments of power from a great yokai or great rakshasa immortal can spawn yokai in this world aplenty. With yin god power, the odds of birthing a god-species great yokai are plenty high."

"Hmm... I see."

I nodded along, then suddenly realized something.

"Wait. Does that mean from my next life on, whenever I draw power from Jeonuk's statue, I need to know how to deploy a barrier like this?"

"Hmm."

Come to think of it, even Mang-ryang with barely any spell power could deploy a Nether Fortune Array. The Eight Gates Divination Formation formed the backbone of barrier arts, so with proper preparation, I could manage one too. After all, I already knew the basics of the Eight Gates Divination Formation.

"Enough chit-chat. Watch closely. See what power lies dormant here."

Muttering that, Cheon Woo-jin extended his hand forward. Then he intoned.

"Release!"

Rumble rumble rumble

Jeonuk's statue twitched, and from the crown of its head, spiritual energy surged upward like crimson lava. It wasn't a fierce dragon ascending but more like a bubbling boil. Yet the power was so dense it created the illusion of the crimson light sublimating into beams of radiance.

Watching the power's release, Cheon Woo-jin manipulated it with his hand to control the flow. As the pent-up energy gradually settled and its motion slowed, he spoke.

"As expected, this statue must have directly received Jeonuk's blessing. The aftereffects of the power engraved in ancient times remain intact."

"What now?"

"I'll teach you the true mantra of Emperor Sakra for absorbing the power."

I received the mantra and began reciting it verbatim. The statue's dormant power stirred and slowly extended toward my heart. I felt the power itself—immortal—passing through my body and being absorbed.

Ssssh

My body burned hot. But the heat was fleeting; a cold, chilling energy invaded my meridians like plunging into an ice cavern. Overwhelmed by the terrifying yin chill, I gasped and slumped down.

"Huhk."

"Cold, right? Of course. It's power bearing the attribute of Supreme Yin."

Agony like swallowing dozens of ice blocks boiled up from my lungs and guts. It was so cold my eyes teared as if ice were melting and streaming down.

"I want something hot."

"Pointless. This pain acts directly on the mental realm—it's not physical. No matter how hot or spicy the food, it won't ease this chill."

Cheon Woo-jin continued coldly.

"Truth be told, an ordinary human would've frozen solid the instant they took in this power. But you've handled yin energy for so long, and having been Jeonuk's apostle before, you already possess yin god power, giving you high resistance."

"I-is... this good?"

"It's unusual. Normally, without a great sorcerer deliberately building resistance, you'd never gain any to yin god power. Gaining resistance to extreme ice would be more realistic..."

Muttering that, Cheon Woo-jin said.

"Just endure a bit longer. Judging by the amount of yin god power you hold, the pain won't last."

He was right. After about half a gak, the lung-freezing agony vanished clean away. With the pain gone, I could coolly compare it and think even millennium snow ginseng and black-and-white lily root had hurt more. As I stood, Cheon Woo-jin picked up the statue from the ground and said.

"Now this statue can't be offered to the heavens as a tribute. You sucked up all the Jeonuk energy inside it."

"How much stronger did I get?"

"Hmm..."

Cheon Woo-jin scanned my spiritual power with his spirit eyes, then said.

"Looks like you gained about twenty years' worth of power."

"...!!!!!!"

I was thrilled with shock.

Absorbing the statue's energy alone shaved off twenty years of training? Twenty years meant daily three-shi-zhen meditations on a cliffside—headache-inducing effort. I quickly calculated in my head and shouted.

"Then if I absorb thirteen more like this...!!!"

"You'd probably achieve great success in yin god power. From there, you could challenge the Supreme Peace Arts with the overflowing spiritual power."

Cheon Woo-jin smirked as he replied.

"But thirteen times... when would you die?"

"..."

"Well, if you're set on eat-die, eat-die, repeat, I won't stop you."

I shut my mouth.

Sure, thirteen times sounded simple, but it was no easy feat. And dying each time just to gain yin god power didn't appeal. No matter the death method, it was brutally painful and agonizing. Doable, but far from easy.

I muttered.

"So I still have to keep training."

"Right. And with more yin god power accumulated, your spiritual power gains from training should efficiency up a bit. Bigger power means more cultivation credit per session."

"Sigh."

I'd hoped for forty or fifty years' worth this time, but the statue's remnant power fell short. Makes sense—left abandoned in Su-yo's ruins for ages, plenty must've leaked out.

Crackle!

Clatter

Suddenly the statue crumbled, Jeonuk's veiled form vanishing, replaced by a giant's shape. I stared in shock.

"What? Suddenly what..."

"Hmm, I see. So that's where the yin god power came from."

"This depicts Jeonuk's true body?"

"Exactly. It was carved to reveal the real form once all power poured out, not just the exterior."

"..."

I'd seen the giant god's form before. The colossal dark titan emanating world-overturning destruction—that was Jeonuk's true body. Looking at Cheon Woo-jin, he calmly speculated.

"Someone who witnessed Jeonuk's direct descent to the mortal world must've carved this statue. They showed it to Jeonuk, who deemed it commendable and bestowed yin god power blessing. No other explanation fits."

I was appalled at this revelation.

"What? That's... insane."

"Obviously insane. Jeonuk wields power rivaling the [Ancient Rulers]; mortals die or go mad just glimpsing the true body. Yet someone made this statue anyway. Depicting both [exterior] and [interior] means they witnessed both aspects of Jeonuk."

"Impossible for a human, right?"

Cheon Woo-jin nodded.

"Impossible for humans, yes."

"Huh?"

"Not saying a human made it."

"..."

Chill!

"Right... of course."

I'd only thought from a human perspective till now, but this statue was an ancient relic from when the Three Sovereigns and Five Emperors, and [Ancient Rulers], rampaged. Gods and demons mingled, chaos-bloodlines roamed; higher beings than humans walked the earth. The sculptor had [power] enough to survive Jeonuk's true form unscathed.

The statue's creator was undoubtedly a non-human with great rakshasa immortal-level might!

I asked suspiciously.

"Who the hell made this?"

"Ask your master or Jegal-sa. Interpreting ancient history's beyond my domain."

"Got it."

Back at Jangryeong Valley, I told Jegal-sa about the statue's info and suspicions. He pondered deeply, then said.

"Baek Woong. Fetch Cheon Woo-jin. Let's revisit Su-yo's ruins together."

"Got it."

Flash!

The three of us went to the heart of Su-yo's ruins. At the spot where I'd unearthed the statue before, Jegal-sa scrutinized it carefully, as did Cheon Woo-jin. Jegal-sa asked Cheon Woo-jin.

"Cheon Woo-jin. Can you use a spell to read past memories?"

"I know what you're thinking, but no dice. That spell only reaches about five hundred years back."

"We've overlooked something crucial till now."

Muttering that, Jegal-sa used a tree branch on the ground to write an interpretation of the statue's oracle-bone script.

[ Alas, the passageway between heaven and earth to the north has collapsed.

The divine child Ko-yang Clan returns at the Yellow Emperor's call.

To humanity's pleas, the water control arts are left in the world.

Thus, Su-yo is left as the marker. ]

Gazing calmly at the interpretation, Jegal-sa continued.

"We've focused so much on Su-yo Mo-ya that we missed this. But knowing the statue's secret allows another reading."

"What reading?"

"'The water control arts.'"

Jegal-sa's eyes gleamed.

"Far ancient times, the Great Flood. You know?"

Cheon Woo-jin nodded, and I agreed.

"Yeah. During Emperor Yao's reign, floods struck; Emperor Yu controlled them. Great Yu founded the Xia Dynasty and ruled through water control."

"Right. That's the well-known history."

"There's more to it?"

Jegal-sa chuckled.

"The sequence is this: Jeonuk severed mortal and heavenly realms at the Yellow Emperor's call. Right after, floods raged, but Jeonuk left water control arts to humanity beforehand. As marker, Su-yo was designated—the human sacrifice details are recorded there, as you know."

"This statue dates to around Su-yo's era."

"In my view, the statue's creator was..."

Jegal-sa trailed off suddenly.

"But that's not important. What's key is the water control arts of Yu and Gun."

"Huh?"

Bewildered, I glanced at Cheon Woo-jin, who sat listening quietly, then blurted.

"You're talking about the Breath Soil."

"Yes. Breath Soil."

"...?"

I couldn't follow.

"Breath Soil? What's that?"

"Breath Soil means 'growing' soil. Breath Earth self-multiplies. They used it to fill river and stream sources, halting the flood."

"Ah!"

"Scholars till now dismissed it as mere drainage techniques. From the Tribute of Yu as a kingly doctrine treatise, they ignored the literal. Breath Soil sounded too fantastical. Water-earth works were just seen as founding principles for the six ministries' dynasties."

Jegal-sa cracked his knuckles.

"But if Jeonuk taught water control to Yu, Gun, and humanity, it changes everything."

"How so?"

"Breath Earth may not be metaphor—it might've actually existed."

My eyes widened.

"What? Self-growing soil was real?"

"Yes. When gods bless humanity, it's to that degree. Otherwise, with that era's population and labor, taming the massive Great Flood was impossible. Likely, Check-So-Wo-jin and Five Emperors' Jeonuk bestowed Breath Earth blessings on the human lords then."

"..."

"After severing heaven-earth links, gods couldn't intervene directly, so he left the blessings ahead. The self-growing divine soil blocked river basins, greatly reducing flood damage."

I was speechless.

To think the Three Sovereigns and Five Emperors' hands reached even such ancient history!

Jegal-sa grumbled.

"So that's why we're searching here for Breath Soil clues. If any remains, it'll be huge help ahead."

"Hmm... They probably blocked Yangtze or Yellow River with it, right? Sunk to the riverbeds there?"

"Possible, but odds favor here where Su-yo was sealed. If Breath Soil's a ritual catalyst, higher chance it was left."

"Got it. Let's search."

Jegal-sa, Cheon Woo-jin, and I combed Su-yo's ruins thoroughly for a time. But no spiritual-energy-emitting artifacts turned up. We gave up on finding Breath Soil for now and returned.

Back home, Jegal-sa said.

"Needs more research."

"What'll you do?"

"Ask an ancient history expert."

A few days later.

"I'll look into it."

"Please do!"

Mang-ryang, quitting his Half-Heaven Alliance deputy role, came to Jangryeong Valley. No matter how learned Jegal-sa or Cheon Woo-jin, Mang-ryang topped them in knowledge volume. I took him back to Su-yo's ruins once more.

"Let's climb."

Mang-ryang surveyed the ruins awhile, then ascended the spiral stairs to the pond. Hovering above it, he scanned around, then headed to a small cave.

"Ah, that's..."

"Where the millennium snow ginseng was."

Mang-ryang replied and calmly examined the surrounding ground. Much later, in the snow-covered plateau, he said to me.

"Baek Woong, I found it."

"What?"

"...Wasn't it odd that millennium snow ginseng, black-and-white lily root—priceless spiritual herbs—grew together in one spot?"

"Yeah?"

Mang-ryang laughed hollowly.

"This basin... no, all of Mount Huang is Breath Soil. That's why gentle hills ballooned into massive mountains over millennia. It's earth directly blessed by a god's power, forming this priceless paradise through Three Sovereigns and Five Emperors' grace."

Visit and read more novel to help us update chapter quickly. Thank you so much!