Survival Guide for the Reincarnated

“Thank you.”

“Not at all. I’m the one who should be grateful.”

“But what if I truly dye the martial world in blood?”

At the unexpected words, Chief Seong hesitated for a moment.

Then he thought it over carefully. He swallowed hard.

“......You won’t, will you?”

Unhwi chuckled, and Chief Seong laughed as well.

Then, as if suddenly remembering something, Chief Seong said,

“Ah, inside the secret realm, we fought a group dressed in Mount Hua Sect attire.”

Unhwi’s brow twitched.

“Mount Hua?”

“Yes.”

“Sim Munryong will be pleased.”

He did not mean that Sim Munryong would truly be pleased. It was a roundabout way of saying he would certainly go mad and run wild.

“I do not know his name, but a man using the alias First Man used the Storm-Thunder Blade Art.”

“Storm-Thunder Blade Art?”

Unhwi’s eyes narrowed.

“That is a martial art of the northern Storm-Thunder Sect.”

“You know it?”

“How could I not? Among the northern sects, it is one of the most prominent.”

After pondering for a moment, Unhwi asked,

“What happened to them?”

“We killed them all.”

Chief Seong’s voice was calm. In truth, they could have let it pass without fighting. They had given them a chance. They had even yielded.

But blinded by treasure, they had taken up weapons in the end.

The result of a choice was something one had to bear for oneself.

“We killed nine out of the ten. One escaped.”

“Did you use the Heavenly Sun Boundless Art?”

“......Yes.”

“And the one who escaped saw it?”

“......Yes...... But this is.......”

Chief Seong trailed off. Unhwi smiled faintly.

“Are you worried your identity will be exposed?”

Chief Seong silently scratched the side of his head.

“Do not worry.”

“......Really?”

“Even if they know your identity, what can they do?”

“.......”

“If they wish to demand responsibility, the Storm-Thunder Sect will first have to explain why they touched my people, and they will have to pay the price first. They cannot be that foolish.”

“......I suppose so?”

If they were in the north, then all the more so, they would know Unhwi’s reputation. There was no need to think too hard about what would happen afterward.

That was his judgment.

To put it bluntly, they were not a sect that posed that much of a threat either.

“But did that one person perhaps have all the treasures from the secret realm?”

“......I did not search the corpses, but he was extremely quick on his feet. His judgment was quick as well. Outside might be another matter, but inside a secret realm, one would naturally entrust the burden to someone like that.......”

“So you mean he must have taken everything.”

“......Yes.”

“The demonic arts.”

“That’s right.”

“And atrocious demonic arts at that.”

Chief Seong swallowed hard. Just as Unhwi had read him, Chief Seong also read Unhwi.

Moreover, was the Storm-Thunder Sect not a sect based in the north?

A sect in the region where Ten-Thousand-Year Snow Palace stood had obtained several atrocious demonic arts? This matter was greater than it seemed if they simply let it pass.

“......Shall I go and retrieve them?”

Unhwi chuckled.

“It takes more than a month just to get from here to the north. When would you go all the way there to fetch them? Just leave it be.”

“It sounds as if you are scolding me.”

“Not at all.”

Unhwi toyed with the medicine bottle in his hand.

A gentle smile rested at the corner of his mouth.

Of course, he could not simply let it pass.

And there was one person who would personally roll up his sleeves and step forward for this matter, was there not?

“Chief Seong.”

“Yes, Young Master.”

“Would you send a letter to Sim Munryong?”

Chief Seong’s eyes gleamed.

“If we write down what happened inside the secret realm and send it to him.”

“I think Sim Munryong will be very pleased.”

“I imagine so.”

The two men smiled meaningfully.

***

Fifteen days later.

Blood Heaven Sect.

The cult leader’s palace.

It was deep.

Not the building. The space itself was deep.

Once the door opened and one stepped inside, the sounds from outside were cut off. The wind, birdsong, the footsteps of people. Everything was severed at the boundary of a single door.

Silence.

Within it, one person sat.

The Heavenly Wayfarer.

The cult leader of the Blood Heaven Sect.

Outwardly, he looked to be in his seventies, but no one knew whether that was truly his real age.

There were wrinkles on his face, but they were not deep. His hair was white, but his energy had not declined. His eyes were half closed, but he was not asleep.

Just by sitting there, the room sank.

His very existence was weight.

One who had reached the extreme of Void.

To have no form meant that one had transcended form. No energy could be felt from him. No killing intent, no pressure, no aura. Nothing at all. Yet that “nothingness” was instead overwhelming.

No one.

Not even Unhwi from his previous life had known this old man’s “end.”

That was the most terrifying existence under heaven.

Before him lay a Go board.

Perhaps he had been playing alone, for half of it was filled.

Black and white were tangled together. At a glance, the position looked chaotic, but on closer inspection, a strange balance had settled over it.

Neither side had the advantage. Neither side was at a disadvantage. Perfect balance.

He placed both black and white by himself while maintaining the balance.

That was what this man was.

The door opened.

Footsteps sounded.

One person.

It was Unhwi.

He had changed from fifteen days earlier. Color had returned to his face. His wounds were nowhere to be seen, and even his internal injuries had completely healed.

Unhwi closed the door.

The sounds outside were cut off.

Silence descended.

Unhwi stood before the Heavenly Wayfarer.

He bowed at the waist.

“Cult Leader. Seol Unhwi, Blood Heaven Arbiter, has returned.”

The Heavenly Wayfarer’s half-closed eyes opened.

They were clear.

Strangely clear. They were not the eyes of an old man. They were like a child’s eyes. As if seeing the world for the first time, yet also as if they had already seen everything in it.

“Will you sit?”

His voice was the same.

Neither high nor low. Neither loud nor soft. Simply natural. Like flowing water, like blowing wind.

Unhwi sat across from the Go board.

The Heavenly Wayfarer looked down at the board.

“Will you play a game?”

“Yes.”

Unhwi placed his hand into the bowl of Go stones.

White.

The Heavenly Wayfarer picked up black.

The existing position had already been cleared away. He did not know when it had been removed. It had disappeared while Unhwi was sitting.

An empty Go board.

The Heavenly Wayfarer placed the first move.

Tap.

The upper-right star point.

Unhwi responded.

Tap.

The lower-left small point.

A few moves passed.

In silence.

Go stones were placed one by one on the board.

The opening developed.

The Heavenly Wayfarer’s opening was loose. Broad. Each move was far apart from the next. It seemed without desire. An opening that seemed to seize nothing.

But Unhwi knew.

It was not loose.

He was leaving space empty.

He was making the opponent enter the empty places.

Unhwi’s opening was different. Firm. With few openings. It took profit while not losing sight of the outside.

On the twenty-sixth move.

The Heavenly Wayfarer opened his mouth.

“I hear wind blew in the desert.”

Unhwi placed a stone.

Tap.

“Yes. Wind blew.”

“Sand must have flown in the wind.”

“It did.”

“Was anything buried in the ✧ NоvеIight ✧ (Original source) sand?”

“There were bones.”

The Heavenly Wayfarer nodded.

He placed a stone.

Tap.

“Did you pick up bones, or did you make them?”

“I dug out bones that were already there.”

“Dug them out.”

The Heavenly Wayfarer chuckled.

It was too faint to call a smile. Only the corners of his mouth rose by the slightest degree. But it was unmistakably a laugh.

“Bones beneath the sand are something the sand has been holding. If you dig them out, the sand is left empty.”

“New things will be buried in empty sand.”

“I hope they are seeds, not bones.”

Unhwi placed a stone.

Tap.

“I intend to plant seeds.”

“Do you have water?”

“I do.”

“In the desert, water is precious.”

“Because it is precious, I am conserving it.”

The Heavenly Wayfarer nodded.

On the thirty-eighth move.

They entered the middle game.

The Heavenly Wayfarer’s black stones were forming a loose shape in the center. It was too open to call territory.

But if one tried to cut it, it would not be cut. The connection could not be seen, yet it was connected.

Unhwi’s white stones controlled the sides and corners. He was ahead in profit. But the center was unstable. If the Heavenly Wayfarer’s black stones occupied the center, the balance of power could overturn.

Unhwi placed a move in the center.

Tap.

He had gone in to cut.

The Heavenly Wayfarer looked at that move.

“A blade has entered.”

“What must be cut must be cut.”

“Who decides whether something must be cut or joined?”

“The one holding it decides.”

“Is the one holding it the one holding a blade, or the one holding thread?”

Unhwi paused briefly.

He thought.

“Both.”

The Heavenly Wayfarer placed a stone.

Tap.

He did not cut Unhwi’s white stone. He placed it beside it. Side by side.

“One who holds blade and thread at the same time usually cannot use either properly.”

“Is that so?”

“Or.”

The Heavenly Wayfarer tilted his head.

“He might twist the two into one and create something new.”

“Do you believe that is possible?”

“Whether it is possible or impossible is not important. Only the one who tries will know.”

Unhwi paused briefly.

Naturally, the Heavenly Wayfarer also stopped.

When the Heavenly Wayfarer lifted his head and looked at Unhwi, Unhwi opened his mouth as if he had been waiting.

“There is a farmer.”

The Heavenly Wayfarer tilted his head.

“That farmer was greedy.”

“Mm.”

“He wanted to expand his fields. But he begrudged the cost of hiring people, so he did all the work alone.”

Unhwi looked down at the Go board.

“At first, it was one small field. It was enough for him to manage alone.”

“It would have been.”

“But then he grew greedy. He expanded to two fields.”

The Heavenly Wayfarer quietly listened to Unhwi’s story.

“Tending two fields alone was difficult, but he somehow managed it.”

“He must have been quite capable.”

“Yes. He was capable. Trusting in that ability, the next year he expanded to three.”

Unhwi’s voice lowered.

“After that, five. Then ten.”

“.......”

“The farmer remained alone. Because hiring people would cost money.”

The Heavenly Wayfarer’s hand stopped.

“What do you think happened in the end?”

“Who knows.”

“Weeds grew. Everywhere the farmer failed to tend.”

Unhwi picked up a stone.

“Weeds grow quickly. Far faster than crops.”

“They do.”

“While the farmer was pulling weeds in one field, the other nine fields became overgrown.”

The Heavenly Wayfarer nodded.

“And?”

“One day, the farmer realized.”

Unhwi placed the stone with a tap.

“That his fields had already become fields of weeds.”

Silence flowed.

The Heavenly Wayfarer opened his mouth with a meaningful smile.

“What should that farmer do?”

“There are two paths.”

Unhwi raised a finger.

“First, burn everything down and start over.”

“And the second?”

“Learn to live with the weeds.”

The Heavenly Wayfarer thought for a moment.

“In the eyes of our Blood Heaven Arbiter, which seems wiser?”

“That.”

Unhwi chuckled.

“Depends on whether the weeds are poisonous or merely grass.”

“If they are poisonous?”

“They must be burned. Poisonous weeds spread strongly. If left as they are, they will eventually kill even the crops.”

The Heavenly Wayfarer nodded.

“But burning is not easy either.”

“Why not?”

“Because fire does not burn only poisonous weeds. It burns the crops with them.”

Unhwi looked down at the Go board.

“Then what do you believe should be done, Elder Cheon?”

“Before setting the fire, the crops must be taken out separately.”

The Heavenly Wayfarer added,

“The good seeds.”

Unhwi continued,

“But what if the farmer neglected them for too long?”