Woong woong-
In my mind, a volume's worth of mystical runes floated gently.
I examined these runes, gradually understanding their content.
The name of the method was Hidden Consciousness Technique (隱識術), a mystic art that allows one to conceal one's divine consciousness to appear at a lower realm. It could be executed solely through the manipulation of consciousness, without the need for spiritual power..
The basic principle of Hidden Consciousness Technique involved compressing one's consciousness and pushing it into the upper dantian. This temporarily reduces the size of the consciousness but increases its density and clarity for a period, potentially accelerating the practice of cultivation methods.
'Due to dealing with intent, it has some commonalities with Record of Transcending Cultivation and Exhausting Martial Arts and Record of Surpassing Cultivation and Martial Arts .'
I carefully read through all the mystical runes left by the hunched old man.
At the very end of these runes, I found a message left by him.
[As a martial artist who has reached the realm of Five Energies Converging to the Origin, your consciousness is larger than that of other cultivators. However, don't be arrogant just because you have mediocre Five Elements Spiritual Roots. Just conceal your superiority and focus on your practice. Showing off an ambiguous talent will only attract jealousy from those who lack even that.]
"Thank you for your valuable gift."I quietly expressed my gratitude to the hunchback old man and placed Kim Young-hoon aside for a moment.
Then, I recalled a bandit group nearby.
'They were called the Tuho Gang.'
I had a particular memory involving them.
Before experiencing regression.
In my first life.
When famine struck the village I lived in, the Tuho Gang raided and looted everything from our impoverished village.
Bang, bang!
I kicked off the ground and rushed towards their base near Lianshan City. I was more familiar with the geography around Lianshan City than any other place in Yanguo.
Arriving at the cave where the Tuho Gang is based, I let out a wry laugh at the familiar stench.
The smell of alcohol, rotten vegetables, dried semen, rusty weapons, sweat and dirt.
Yes, the collective scent of poverty, ignorance, and violence.
I was all too familiar with these scents.
Memories of my first life came flooding back.
"Come out, everyone."
I spoke softly, yet clearly, into the depth of the cave where the Tuho Gang resided.
Hiccup, hiccup..
A drunken member of the Tuho Gang, his face flushed from daytime drinking, stumbled towards me with a flexible sword in hand.
"What the hell are you, fuck..."
"Hahaha..."
His stupid and pathetic appearance only made me laugh.
When I was in the early peak in the 4th cycle,
I annihilated the Chicken Waterway Fort within a moment, and even they were more organized and skilled than these fools.
Truly, lowly and pathetic robbers.
That was the Tuho Gang.
I had memories of bowing down at their feet, offering everything I had, begging for my life.
"You, you little shit, you dare come to our great Tuho Gang..."
"Life must have been hard, right?"
"What...?"
"In your next life, may you have better chances."
Thud!
No need for a sword, not even a hand technique.
I didn't even need to make a fist. I simply extended my finger and flicked the drunken Tuho gangster's forehead.
Using a simple technique to send a shockwave through his brain, he immediately fell over, foam bubbling from his mouth.
There would have been no pain.
Entering the foul-smelling cave, I reminisced about my first life.
The Tuho Gang was vicious.
But ironically, most of them were originally peasants.
Driven to desperation with land taken by landlords, they left their homes and became bandits.
Perhaps I would have been among them if I had been a bit weaker.
They were another possibility of my miserable first life.
Thud, thud!
I touched the heads of each person I encountered, shaking their brains and instantly killing them.
They were pitiable.
But they were definitely criminals.
Going deeper into the cave, I found kidnapped people and women lying around, half-naked.
I pressed their sleep acupoints and quietly killed the Tuho gangsters.
After walking through the cave for a while, I reached its deepest area.
There, a bearded giant was guzzling liquor.
He was the leader of the Tuho Gang.
"...For what reason caused you to operate such a bandit group?"
"Uh..."
The giant, blowing on a liquor bottle, looked at me with dull eyes.
He was someone I knew.
In my first life, he was the one who led the attack and burned down my village.
But now, seeing him, he was at best a second-rate martial artist.
"…Is there usually a special reason? Life is painful, so I thought maybe stealing happiness from others would make it better."
"So, did life get any better for you?"
"Haha, can't you see? Do I look happy to you? Life is nothing but pain."
"Why is life painful?"
"That is... um. It’s painful because it’s painful. Is any more explanation needed?"
Life is indeed painful.
Somehow, I felt I could relate to those words.
Clearly, this person and I were in different positions, under different circumstances.
Yet, somehow, I could see my past self in him.
The weak and insignificant me who was burdened with pain from life, unable to even find the reason for my suffering.
Through the eyes of another vulnerable person, I was able to reflect on my past years.
"Right. Life is indeed painful."
"Hmph, yeah... life really is..."
"But..."
I looked at the leader of the Tuho Gang with pity.
"From my experience, pain is not the end."
Swoosh
I gently pushed the Tuho Gang’s leader.
The energy I inserted with the tip of my finger caused his brain to burst, and he breathed his last.
He must have gone peacefully.
I gathered a few silver coins and money from the gang’s residence and left.
Stepping out, I bathed in the sunlight outside the cave, freeing myself from the nightmare that tormented me in my earlier life.
With the silver coins, I went to Lianshan City, made identity plaques for myself and Kim Young-hoon, and bought clothes.
Then, I raided the unorthodox factions within the city and took them all down.
Selling the gold and properties I acquired from them, I bought a decent manor and devoted myself to educating Kim Young-hoon.
Around a month later.
Kim Young-hoon, following my teachings, easily reached the state of Three Flowers Gather at the Summit.
Whoosh-
Three Qi flowers blossomed in the air and then entered back into Kim Young-hoon.
Shortly after, his eyes shone with enlightenment, and he experimented with his new senses, trying out various techniques.
Then, his intent connected with my consciousness.
"...! Wait, hold on. By the way, Seo Eun-hyun... That consciousness of yours... what is it exactly..."
He gazed at me, fascinated by the domain of consciousness surrounding me.
I smiled and drew a saber in the training ground, adopting a primary saber stance.
Rapidly, I demonstrated the Severing Vein Saber Method.
Severing Vein Saber Method, First Move, Mountain Force.
Holding the saber, I struck both upper and lower positions simultaneously.
Severing Vein Saber Method, Second Move, Mountain Spirit.
Spinning and slashing in all directions, I created a defense that no one could penetrate.
Severing Vein Saber Method, Third Move, Mountain Presence.
I unleashed continuous saber energy, mimicking the overlapping mountains.
Severing Vein Saber Method, Fourth Move, Mountain Wind.
With invisible speed, I disrupted the opposite's flow with my thrust.
Severing Vein Saber Method, Fifth Move, Mountain Unfolding.
More ferocious than the basic moves, the saber danced wildly in all directions.
Severing Vein Saber Method, Sixth Move, Mountain Bird
With light footwork, I swung the saber so fast it was invisible, making my movements unstoppable.
Severing Vein Saber Method, Seventh Move, Mountain Echo
The sound of the saber resonated, vibrating rapidly to crush everything it touched.
Severing Vein Saber Method, Eighth Move, Mountain Scream
The energy from the saber burst forth like waves, similar to Mountain Echo.
Severing Vein Saber Method, Ninth Move, Middle Mountain.
The saber energy dug into the ground, leaving a powerful mark affecting its surroundings.
Severing Vein Saber Method, Tenth Move, Dragon’s Mound.
Like a dragon ascending from a hill, the saber's tip thrashed wildly.
Severing Vein Saber Method, Eleventh Move, White Peak.
The ascended dragon's head glowed white, piercing through clouds. I grasped the saber and split it into ten paths.
Severing Vein Saber Method, Twelfth Move, Great Trunk.
The ten paths of saber energy merged into one, transforming into a powerful strike capable of slicing through millennium-old rocks.
Severing Vein Saber Method, Thirteenth Move, Surpassing Mountains.
Similar to Transcending Peaks but several times faster, it sliced through the air.
Severing Vein Saber Method, Fourteenth Move, Returning Home.
Beyond the slash, I released dozens of saber energies, dividing the attack.
Severing Vein Saber Method, Fifteenth Move, Saber Tomb
I poured all techniques from first to fourteenth moves into a single strike.
Severing Vein Saber Method, Sixteenth Move, Endless Mountains Beyond Mountains.
Finally, the seventeenth move...
Boom!
I unleashed all seventeen moves of Severing Vein Saber Method.
The sixteenth and seventeenth moves of Severing Vein were identical to the twenty-third and twenty-fourth moves of Severing Mountain.
Moreover, the Seveing Vein Saber Method was fundamentally quite similar to the Severing Mountain Swordsmanship.
Since they originated from the same root, there was nothing strange about it.
I handed my saber to Kim Young-hoon, who was staring blankly at it, and said,
"You saw it just now, didn’t you?"
"...Yes, I did."
What I had just demonstrated was not a mere saber method.
I mixed in the enlightenment of Five Energies Converging to the Origin, showing thousands of threads of intent within the saber method.
Perhaps, if he continues to explore the essence of the Severing Vein Saber Method he just witnessed, he would eventually reach the realm of Five Energies.
"You are truly... a genius. How can you master such a high level of martial arts..."
He exclaimed in admiration, and I gave a bitter smile.
A genius.
"...I am not a genius. Like our other colleagues at the company, I just awakened a slightly unusual ability. With that ability, I could immediately reach the realm of Five Energies Converging to the Origin, but beyond that is impossible."
I made sure he didn't misunderstand, but his brief remark stayed in my mind for a long time.
Genius.
A single word that summed up all my past lives.
But I couldn't deny it.
In this world, there are many who haven't even had the chance to experience my past lives’ opportunities.
Instead of arguing against being a genius, I pointed out the flaws in Kim Young-hoon's martial arts, taught him literacy and speech, and instructed him in martial arts.
Three months later, Kim Young-hoon mastered literacy and speech and was getting accustomed to martial arts
I left the Record of Surpassing Cultivation and Martial Arts in the manor and told him to read it when he reaches Five Energies Converging to the Origin, then left the manor.
In this life, I might not have a significant connection with him.
I left Kim Young-hoon and headed for Seokyung City.
Having infiltrated Seokyung City, I quickly invaded the Imperial Palace using Record of Transcending Cultivation and Exhausting Martial Arts and Surpassing Cultivation and Martial Arts..
Then.
Swoosh!
Using the Record of Transcending Cultivation and Exhausting Martial Arts, I cut through the consciousness and silently beheaded the Emperor Makli Jung.
At this time, it seems that the Shadow Guards had not been established yet, as the only people guarding Makli Jung were the Palace Guards.
Holding Makli Jung's head, I cut through invisible spells and barriers with my eyes, and safely escaped the Imperial Palace.
Having escaped, I walked for days and nights until I entered a familiar terrain.
The territory of the Jin Clan.
Woo-woong-
I had not noticed before, but now I could clearly see the energy of the barrier spread across the Jin Clan's territory.
It seems like a benefit of awakening my consciousness and being able to see the energy of heaven and earth.
The Jin Clan's barrier glowed faintly under the moonlight.
'This shouldn't be difficult.'
I easily cut through a gap in the Jin Clan's barrier and secretly entered their territory.
Although it was the Jin Clan's territory, it was mostly occupied by Qi Refining cultivators.
Most of these cultivators had no access to formation methods.
That's probably why the barrier wasn't particularly strong.
I erased my presence using the Record of Transcending Cultivation and Exhausting Martial Arts and headed to the familiar training ground.
Next to the training ground, in the group lodging.
Many breaths and intents were flowing out from there.
Thud, thud.
I slowly entered the lodging.
The smell of sweat was strong.
Suddenly.
I felt something welling up in my chest as I saw this scene.
My disciples.
No, the children who were my disciples in a past timeline.
But I knew.
These children no longer remembered me.
The children I remembered were trained by me, developed martial arts with me, and grew up with me.
Yes, even though these children are the same beings as the ones I know,
They were not the same individuals.
The disciples that only I know, I would never see again.
"...Are you suffering even in your sleep?"
I looked at the sleeping children's intents and smiled bitterly.
It seems they were having nightmares of their relatives being killed by Makli Clan cultivators.
Most of their intents were emitting dark light.
For these children, life was nothing but pain.
'These children are certainly not my disciples.'
But still...
'I can't just ignore you.'
Having lived, I knew that pain was not the end.
Gently...
I placed Makli Jung’s head in the middle of the training ground.
Then, looking back at the sleeping children, I murmured softly.
"Live."
Even if life is painful, it's not all there is to it.
Discovering something beyond suffering makes life truly valuable and worth living.
"Please... live."
After giving a final smile to my disciples, I went to the back of the Jin Clan's territory, to a warehouse.
The warehouse was enveloped in a sinister aura.
I opened the door of the warehouse.
Inside, there were hundreds of crystal beads, each containing a resentful spirit.
Sheek-
I drew my sword from its sheath.
"May you, the deceased, shed your resentment and rest in peace."
Flash!
The Sword Gang shining from my sword scattered in all directions, embedding into the crystal beads.
Hundreds of crystal beads shattered at once, and the spirits began to escape.
Pop, pop-
The spirits that escaped from the beads soon forgot their resentment and turned into bright lights, ascending to the sky.
The sight of countless spirits rising to the sky and then disappearing was both poignant and beautiful.
Watching the scene for a moment, I stepped out of the warehouse and kicked into the air.
It seemed I had touched some inner spells, as the surrounding spells were activated, but I cut through the energy knots and quickly escaped the encirclement of the formation.
I hurriedly left the Jin Clan's territory and said goodbye to my disciples in my heart.
'Farewell.'
May you live a slightly better life in this lifetime.
I headed towards the border of Yanguo.
Beyond the border, in Byeokra Country.
I planned to find the Cheongmun Clan that resides there.
Go to the Cheongmun Clan. To learn the path of cultivation.
***
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