Reincarnated Swordmaster

Chapter Title: Dark Heaven Village

Faced with Zhuge Bu, I felt no great tension, unlike before. Previously, with my skills lacking, I had been constantly overwhelmed by Zhuge Bu's martial arts and sorcery, the signs of defeat heavy in the air. But now was different. Having reincarnated more than ten times since then and built up my power, I was confident I could win handily.

"That guy has mastered transcendent martial arts and top-tier sorcery."

A super genius who, at a young age, had attained mastery in both martial arts and sorcery—realms that ordinary people could scarcely achieve in a single field over an entire lifetime! That was why Zhuge Bu was hailed as the Guardian of the Central Plains, an object of reverence, and indisputably the greatest of the later-generation experts in the Central Plains. For the likes of me, who would normally have been scraping by as an exect warrior, daring to face him would have been nothing more than pathetic flailing. Even after earning instructor qualifications in the Thunder God Style, it would have been absurd.

But—I already knew that guy's weakness. I smirked and leveled my sword at him.

"Shall I yield the first strike? Or do you want me to go first?"

"Hmph!"

Zhuge Bu's expression sharpened for a moment before he cast Five Elements Sorcery from his fingertips, sending it floating into the air. The five elemental forces hummed as they coalesced into spheres, then shot toward me at high speed.

Tatatang!

I wielded sword energy to bat away the Five Elements Sorcery attacks, but the impact in my fingers felt heavy. Despite their size—barely as big as a finger joint—each one contained condensed natural energy potent enough to kill a human outright.

Whirlic.

I figured he might follow up with a barrage, but in the next instant, Zhuge Bu used the Shrinking Earth Technique to pull away across the arena. He had instantly widened the gap because he was far more adept at long-range magic than close-quarters combat. At the same time, he began his defense by weaving a barrier of Protective Spirit Sorcery around his body.

"Heh heh... just as I thought."

Under normal circumstances, I would have been awestruck by Zhuge Bu's proficiency at unleashing mid-to-high-grade sorcery without incantations. But I was no longer at a level to be impressed. Having spotted the subtle flaw lurking behind his flashy techniques, I kept my composure and spoke to him.

"What's this? No intention of clashing with me using martial arts?"

"Hah! This is a duel I can't afford to lose. Why take the risk? You'll end up dancing to my sorcery and getting crushed."

Even as he spoke, Zhuge Bu was preparing more sorcery without incantations. It looked like he was about to unleash a dazzling sorcery barrage.

"Hmm, I see..."

I trailed off, then abruptly triggered Thunder Roar and exploded forward with Soul Extinguishing Step, charging straight at Zhuge Bu.

Benda!

Pak!

Only when his barrier shattered under my sword aura and a layer of his flesh was sliced did Zhuge Bu finally react to my attack. My instantaneous speed had been too much—even for a top-tier martial world expert like Zhuge Bu, he had noticed too late.

Shock plain on his face, he hurriedly circulated protective aura to counter.

Asura Heavenly Light Great Law!

As a transcendent expert well-versed in the asura realm, he limited the damage from my ambush, forcing me to fall back for the moment. The moment the Asura Heavenly Light Great Law's defensive ultimate technique formed a circle around Zhuge Bu's upper body, I straightened my sword and thrust at his brow.

Pyut!

Kwagwang!!

"Kuhk!"

Even piercing the technique's strongest point, Zhuge Bu let out a scream as his hand and wrist became drenched in blood, sending him flying backward. He must have pushed the Asura Heavenly Light Great Law and his internal energy to their limits, yet he couldn't block a single energy thrust.

It wasn't even some grand technique—just a basic thrust from the Thunder God Style—and Zhuge Bu had failed to stop it.

Clear proof that my skill outclassed his by several levels.

I gave a cold smile and jeered at Zhuge Bu.

"Your martial prowess is about on par with an elder from the White Lotus Cult's Four Great Martial Styles."

"What?"

"Sorry, but I'm done going easy. Take this!"

My sword blazed fiercely for a moment, soon brimming with thunder energy as a majestic aura filled the air. I aimed the tip at him and pushed my focus to its peak.

Sword Thunder.

The same kind of ambush probably wouldn't work twice. With Sword Thunder ramping my attack power to the maximum, I recalled the Shadowless Soul Severing Swordsmanship among all the sword techniques I had learned so far. Yeo Doughty's Thousand Dull Swordsmanship prototype would have worked too, but my proficiency in Shadowless Soul Severing was far higher.

Sword Control!

Pababat.

The condensed thunder sword left my hand and hurtled toward Zhuge Bu at astonishing speed, following the mysteries of Shadowless Soul Severing Sword Control. Several times faster than before, it looked like the end for him this time—but he wasn't caught off guard, deploying defensive sorcery to block my sword thunder.

Kikiking.

"Kuh... ugh..."

Even the barrier conjured by Protective Spirit had its limits against the sword thunder's piercing force—sweat beaded on Zhuge Bu's forehead. While he focused on blocking the sword control, I filled both hands to the brim with internal energy and seized that power in an explosive surge.

"Hap."

Kugugugu.

Tangible aura erupted from my arms like blazing flames, taking the shape of a giant's limbs, and Zhuge Bu's face drained of color. He cried out in scream-like disbelief.

"No way!! Using sword control and other techniques at the same time..."

His shock stemmed from the internal energy drain. Sword control alone was a pinnacle martial technique that devoured immense stamina and energy, so the common wisdom was that sword controllers couldn't multitask while manipulating it. For most, trying something like this would burn through their energy too quickly, withering their meridians and vital essence in the process.

But not me. I had already attained world-shaking internal energy reserves capable of matching—even surpassing—guardian lions in short bursts. I could feel it draining at a ferocious rate, but it was still well within my tolerance.

Eyes gleaming, I shouted.

"Eat this!"

Thunder God Style.

Thunder God Fist.

Ultimate Technique.

Thunder Heaven Explosion.

Kwa kwang!!

The instant I swung the Thunder God's arm at him with Thunder Heaven Explosion, Zhuge Bu gave up on defense and tried to teleport away on the spot. But at the same moment, the sword thunder pierced his shoulder acupoint, and the Thunder Heaven Explosion aura soon grazed his flank.

Pububuk.

"Uwaaak..."

His side erupted in blood like a firework amid the asura's blast. Zhuge Bu screamed incoherently, clearly badly wounded. But I had failed to finish him—only blood remained on the arena floor as he fled even farther.

I flew through the air and recovered the sword control returning to my hand, muttering to myself.

"So you're going with that, huh."

I had a rough idea of the strategy he would take next. Sure enough, moments later, dozens—hundreds—of talismans that seemed to float on their own began drifting through the arena around me, as if forming an array. I knew exactly what his final desperate move would be in this cornered state.

Falling Soul Separate Palace!

A horrifying protective spirit sorcery where a massive number of talismans surrounded the target, each unleashing soul-falling power! According to Mangyang, the Falling Soul Separate Palace was one of the pinnacles of talisman sorcery, and at full power, it was nearly impossible to avoid instant death with physical protective arts alone. Even surviving a graze would drain an immense amount of mental energy.

In the past, I had been utterly helpless against the Falling Soul Separate Palace and could only flee. Normally, deploying it required substantial sorcery power, so one could wait for exhaustion—but Zhuge Bu had the White Feather Thread, which provided effectively infinite power. With that equipped, Zhuge Bu wielding the Falling Soul Separate Palace was nothing short of a calamity.

But I had anticipated this situation.

"Good..."

Pabat!

I poured everything into my lightness skill once more, using Soul Extinguishing Step to evade the protective spirit's range. Then, a panicked shout from Zhuge Bu echoed from somewhere in the space.

"[What?!]"

In the blink of an eye, I covered over a hundred zhang with Soul Extinguishing Step, and far behind me, the flash of the Falling Soul Separate Palace erupted massively. I patted myself down to check—no graze from the soulfall talismans. I smirked.

"Heh heh. Gotta use it in a fixed range, so it's tough to land, huh."

Even so, without a monstrously fast lightness skill like mine, no one could dodge it the way I did. The Falling Soul Separate Palace's range was unpredictable and variable, activated instantly, and its minimum span exceeded fifty zhang by far—making escape impossible with ordinary lightness skills.

But to me right now, the Falling Soul Separate Palace was nothing more than an easy-to-evade attack sorcery. Why? Because I could casually cover over fifty zhang in a split second.

Feeling pumped, I immediately unleashed the secret art.

Soul Extinguishing Step.

Heavenly Light.

Papapapap.

I couldn't wield it with the same familiarity as an extreme expert yet, but I had all the secrets down to the details. As I used Soul Extinguishing Step Heavenly Light to span light distances and weave freely through space, Zhuge Bu floundered, unable to pinpoint where to set up his Falling Soul Separate Palace.

I paused my practice of Heavenly Light and spoke to Zhuge Bu.

"That's all you're banking on? Even if I wanted to take the hit, it's hard to land."

Taunting him like that, Zhuge Bu appeared about ten zhang away from me. Naturally, wary of my mobility, he had already produced those clones. Bewilderment plain on his face, Zhuge Bu stared at me.

"Who the hell are you? A reincarnated elder master, sure—but I've never heard of a transcendent expert like you. None of the righteous sects' hidden masters that I know even come close to your skill."

"Curious about me?"

He nodded vigorously, so I crossed my arms and shot back.

"I am the White Lotus Cult Leader!!!"

Zhuge Bu's eyes bulged.

"What...?! Impossible. Isn't the White Lotus Cult Leader named Dokgo Uncheon?"

"Hmm..."

I stroked my chin to tease him, but his face promptly paled.

"Using the alias Baek Woong...? White Lotus Cult Leader, why do this to me!"

"Huh?"

For some reason, he seemed to half-believe me. I had meant it as absurd mockery, but unexpectedly, he was taking it somewhat seriously. I couldn't quite grasp why he was buying my nonsense, but I tilted my head and replied.

"You're the ones trying human sacrifices in the imperial palace and throwing the world into chaos, aren't you? And your father, Zhuge Yulong, dares defy the heavens by joining hands with the Old Ruler. If we let that slide, some massive calamity will hit the human realm one day. So I'm nipping it in the bud."

"......"

Zhuge Bu stared at me, face ashen, lips clenched tight.

"Amazing... Truly the world's greatest White Lotus Cult Leader... you know everything."

"Something like that."

"No one but the Cult Leader could overwhelm me this thoroughly with pure martial arts..."

I sported in utter disbelief.

"Ha! You think so?"

His self-confidence was ridiculous. He had taken one look at my superior martial skill and jumped to the conclusion that I must be the Cult Leader. The basis for it was his own assessment: no one short of Cult Leader level could steamroll him this easily.

But I had roamed the world like it was my backyard, personally experiencing the might of the Nine Great Schools and Righteous Factions' hidden masters, the White Lotus Cult's Four Great Martial Styles' super experts in all their forms, guardian lions, the Cult Leader himself, Dongyoung and Goryeo's Twelve Rites eccentrics, the Twelve Rites Lords, Miyamoto Musashi, and more.

By the standards of my experience, Zhuge Bu's skill wasn't all that impressive. In terms of martial arts, he was at best comparable to an elder of the Four Great Martial Styles' Incarnation Style. Even against the council elders, he fell short. Factoring in all the hidden powerhouses of the martial world, he wouldn't crack the top thirty.

And that was his critical flaw.

He known both martial arts and sorcery well enough, but they don't mesh. He can never touch the heights of a unified, perfected strength.

My confidence in challenging him stemmed from having pinpointed that weakness. Mastering both to the transcendent realm might seem incredible at a glance, but it paled next to someone who had pushed a single realm to absolute perfection. If the Cult Leader or Miyamoto Musashi had shown up here, they would have taken Zhuge Bu's head in ten seconds flat.

On top of that, he didn't even hold any decisive edge against others at the same transcendent level in his martial arts. As I used Soul Extinguishing Step Heavenly Light to span light distances and weave freely through space, Zhuge Bu floundered, unable to pinpoint where to set up his Falling Soul Separate Palace. With martial arts useful only as long-range self-defense and offering no real support in close-quarters combat, Asura Heavenly Light Great Law was little more than window dressing against a true master.

He had probably developed those contradictions and flaws because he had never felt the need to grow stronger. He already commanded absolute power within the imperial palace, had wealth, fame, force, handsome looks—everything. The Asura Heavenly Light Great Law and top-tier sorcery left him few worthy opponents. As Inner Palace Chief, he rarely needed to fight personally. In such circumstances, the desperate training required to triumph over peers or superiors would have seemed pointless. He likely never even imagined ending up in a duel like this.

Our paths had been utterly different. I had always looked upward, racing along the demon's track to overcome those stronger than me. He had blazed through genius talent, achieving quick completion and then slacking off. Had he unified his sorcery and martial capabilities to forge a new realm, he might have matched or even surpassed the absolute realm—but he hadn't put in that effort.

Even having grasped all this, I didn't spell it out. Instead, I gave him a cold smile.

"I could go easy on you."

Zhuge Bu's expression hardened.

"Speak."

"That Asura Heavenly Light Great Law you trained in—was it handed down by Zhuge Yulong?"

"......"

He hesitated briefly before answering.

"I don't know how you learned the name of my martial art... but it's an imperial pinnacle secret technique. My father didn't train in the Asura Heavenly Light Great Law much."

So he was willing to tell the truth?

In truth, I had already extracted info on the Asura Heavenly Light Great Law back when Zhuge Yulong had captured and tortured him into spilling. This was just a test to see if he was sincere about answering now. Casually, I said:

"I've heard Zhuge Yulong's swordsmanship is the world's finest. Do you know its origins?"

"You're talking about the Gongsun Swordsmanship. That sword art..."

Zhuge Bu's lips twitched as if to continue. His silence dragged on long, and suddenly it hit me.

Pa-at!

Out of nowhere, Zhuge Bu vanished, and a barrage of ambushes rained down on me. Not just any ambush—a barrage of all sorts, including Five Elements Sorcery, came flying. I dodged frantically while deploying protective aura and managed to neutralize them somehow, but Zhuge Bu had vanished again.

The bastard still had fight in him, pretending to converse while setting up an ambush. My reaction speed had let me evade, but a moment more hesitation and I'd have been in trouble. I had his strategy figured out.

"Hiding in space to wear down my strength."

It was a solid plan. If Zhuge Bu concealed himself with stealth sorcery and peppered me with opportunistic ambushes, I had no real counter. I could find him, but it would take serious focus. He planned to drain my stamina and energy that way, then win a prolonged battle.

Well, nothing to be done about it.

I'd have to play along with his game!

About thirteen days and nights passed.

Kung.

"Keho... heock..."

I drove a fist into Zhuge Bu's solar plexus, making him vomit. He was already too exhausted to muster protective aura, so even my unpowered punch had him retching uncontrollably.

Zhuge Bu sprawled on the ground, eyes glazing over as he groaned.

"Ugh... monster... how... thirteen days and nights... no food, no sleep, no rest... and you keep dodging my attacks... what kind of internal energy and stamina is that..."

I grabbed him by the hair and laughed.

"Stamina's my strong suit!"

That was right.

He had struck sporadically with ambushes, waiting for my focus or stamina to flag so he could land a decisive blow and win. But I was long accustomed to operating like a madman without food, sleep, or rest. And so, by relentlessly pursuing him for thirteen days and nights—dodging his attacks all the while—he was the first to collapse from depleted stamina and energy. He had decent endurance for an expert, but it was nothing compared to mine.

Thud thud.

I vented my frustration by smashing his head against the ground until blood flowed. Once he was fully unconscious, I shouted into the air.

"Seer, I won!"

Shushuk.

Moments later, the duel subspace faded, revealing Astaria's grand hall. The Seer gazed at me impassively and spoke.

"[Incredible stamina... Well... with that power granted solely to humans pushed to its extreme...]"

"[He's my slave now, right?]"

"[No...]"

"[What?!]"

What the hell is this guy on about now?

After our bloody game of hide-and-seek over thirteen days, I braced myself, nerves on edge, for a potential clash with the Seer.

A moment later, the Seer slowly extended a tentacle that resembled a hand.

"[Fee...]"

"......"

It was absurd, but after tangling with Zhuge Bu, I lacked the energy to argue. With no choice, I pulled out a few more stalks of Sacred Lotus and handed them over. Satisfied, the Seer declared.

"[Baek Woong is victorious in the duel. Zhuge Bu shall henceforth obey Baek Woong for life as his slave. This is acknowledged in the name of the 1, Demon Path King... This great contract between us is over thirty zhang; a clear sign he was wary of close-quarters combat. At the same time, he began his defense by weaving a barrier of Protective Spirit Sorcery around his body... Should Zhuge Bu flee or rebel, all shall lend fail aid to recapture and subdue the slave.]"

"Yeah, sure..."

It sounded like quite the proclamation, but after being fleeced by the Seer, I could barely muster a thought. Gratitude was the last thing on my mind. Someday, I'd pay every one of those damned tentacles off.

Instead, I glared at the limp Zhuge Bu—still dangling by his collar—with venomous eyes.

"I'll definitely... recoup my investment!"

I'd make him pay back every bit of trouble he caused me!

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