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00438 Dark Heaven Village ————————————————————————=

The 21st life has begun.

“Graaah…”

It feels like smoke is bursting from my mouth. A hallucination tickled the back of my throat.

My head throbbed from the momentary pain of my entire body being charred. But after barely regaining my mental strength with breath that soothed the pain, I took a deep breath. Once I calmed down somewhat, I clenched my fist.

“Alright! I made it to where the Flame Elemental Sword is!”

I finally decided to use the ultimate secret technique – Great Luck Overlap!

I could stack my luck to burst through my concerns all at once. In reality, with this absurd luck, I pierced through the long-blocked ruins of the Flame Elemental Sword, taking down the guardian Gong Gong effortlessly, and arrived right in front of the Flame Elemental Sword’s essence. Though I didn’t anticipate that the essence contained an immense amount of flame energy accumulated over thousands of years, it was still a huge benefit for me.

The reason I hadn’t used such a great method until now was simple. Regardless, the maintenance time of the Great Luck Overlap is very short, and the recoil from the luck would inevitably plunge me into extreme misfortune and death. No matter how good the outcome was, it would be meaningless if I died.

Until then, I also had a fear of death; I had many endeavors or martial arts training and sorcery practice that could proceed with other treasures, so I hadn’t necessarily resorted to using the Great Luck Overlap. For similar reasons, I refrained from receiving the blessings of Xiang Yu, which are one of the best blessings.

However, my mindset slightly changed in my 19th life. Realizing the reality and terrifying power and malice of the being I had vaguely referred to as ‘God,’ I felt it was not the time to hesitate. Simply raising my martial arts and sorcery levels wouldn’t allow me to reach even a speck of divine power, so I concluded that I had to gather the Seven Luminaries as quickly as possible. Hence, even at the cost of death, I was determined to break through the Flame Elemental Sword first.

The result is very good. I can now retrieve the Flame Elemental Sword from its essence. There’s just one problem.

‘The flame…’

Feeling that terrifying flame energy from the Flame Elemental Sword sent shivers down my spine. It felt as if the flames from the Mythological Age were condensed within it; no matter how much I tried to raise my internal power to resist, all I could do was painfully die. If I were to directly touch it, destruction would be unavoidable, making it impossible to transfer the Flame Elemental Sword to my wooden armor, and fighting with the Flame Elemental Sword was beyond the realm of dreams.

‘Hmm… then I just shouldn’t touch it directly!’

I quickly reached a simple conclusion. Standing up, I began to move immediately. This time, instead of using the troublesome and inevitably deadly method like Great Luck Overlap, I decided to verify the thoughts that came to mind.

First, I grabbed the Heavenly Secret and raced towards Shandong. While racing to Shandong, I noticed the surrounding scenery felt so familiar, even though it spanned thousands of li in the area where I lived. It struck me as odd, and I tilted my head for a moment.

“Ah!”

After running to Shandong so many times, I unconsciously found myself following the optimized shortest route along the familiar mountain path. My body had grown accustomed to the path, which is why I naturally felt a sense of déjà vu.

Thud.

The death of Zhuge Sa flashed through my mind for a brief moment. I clenched my fist tightly.

“I’m sure this path will get tiresome in the future.”

Upon reaching Shandong, I obtained the Golden Lamp. Then I immediately used the Golden Lamp to teleport to the internal altar of Uluru, where the Flame Elemental Sword was. Among those, I aimed to transfer to the secret space of the Flame Elemental Sword, which opens up after defeating the guardian.

‘Having been there once…’

Thwooong!

I felt a strong pressure wrap around my body as I was flung back.

“……?!”

In the next moment, I realized my body was floating in the radiant sky above. I was soaring freely several hundreds of feet above the ground. As I began to fall according to the laws of nature, I looked around in bewilderment.

The sky was clear and blue. And the sea was clear too. Distant land was visible.

A few seagulls brushed past me.

Splash!

‘No way?’

To confirm my thoughts, I employed the Light Body Technique and intentionally plunged into the water without landing on the surface.

“Puhah!”

Emerging with my head above the water, I inspected the color of the sea.

‘Incredibly clear and transparent… this isn’t the sea of the Central Plains.’

Whether it was the sea of Shandong or the sea of the South, it wouldn’t be this clear. With a whoosh, I kicked off from the surface of the water and began rushing towards the land visible in the distance using the blessed techniques of the water element. After spending quite a bit of internal power, upon reaching the coastline, I realized my expectations were correct.

“It’s the southern continent…”

This was the coastline of the southern continent based on my past exploration experiences. I could tell immediately from the types of trees and the shapes of nearby plants. As I was attempting to directly enter the interior essence of the Flame Elemental Sword using the Golden Lamp, I pondered why I was flung back.

I quickly arrived at a conclusion.

“There’s a barrier preventing the entry of demon artifacts into the essence of the Flame Elemental Sword.”

I expected this, but it was indeed as I thought. The Golden Lamp was a convenient demon artifact that allowed teleportation to anywhere I had been before, but it could never bypass places blocked by special barriers or sorcery. Likely, the area around the Flame Elemental Sword’s essence, Yulala Uluru, was indeed warded against the power of artifacts like the Golden Lamp, and that barrier seemed to open during solar eclipses.

As I tried to set a coordinate to teleport inward, the barrier deflected me, naturally bouncing me back out of the continent.

‘This is a strong possibility.’

If I don’t use a trick like Great Luck Overlap, then I have no choice but to wait for the exact time of the solar eclipse and break through head-on, right?

“……”

As I contemplated, I realized that wouldn’t work either.

“The Four Great Spirits!”

The spirit beast, the Four Great Spirits, has a special ability to breach any barrier or dimension exactly once a day! It should surely be possible for the Four Great Spirits to penetrate the barrier to reach the Flame Elemental Sword.

“Alright, let’s perform the Seven Luminaries offering ceremony and head to the Flame Elemental Sword!”

This time, I’m going to indirectly move the Flame Elemental Sword into my wooden armor!

With a somewhat brightened spirit, I began to move again. While it felt like I was forgetting something, I decided to focus on gathering as many treasures as possible. I used the Golden Lamp to head straight to the underground of Great Thunder Valley, and this time, I combined it with practicing the Three Treasure Technique to battle the Moon Beasts.

Boom!

After defeating the Moon Beasts and acquiring the wooden armor, twin broadswords, and Nine Stars Main Capital, I rescued Hwang Yeon and stored her in my wooden armor, then set off to annihilate the Blood Blade Group.

“Uwaaaah.”

“Save me!”

Amidst the chaos, as I sliced through the necks of the Blood Blade Group members with my sword strength, I had a sudden thought.

‘Now I’ll remember their faces…’

Having killed so many members of the Blood Blade Group, I could roughly distinguish who was who based on their faces. It’s surprising how I could easily tell apart the faces of the ugly bastards with dirt dripping down them. Feeling a flicker of sympathy for them for a brief moment, I quelled the thought and continued to slice them down, recalling that these guys were despicable scoundrels who massacred innocent people, plundered, and assaulted women.

Was it a slight change in my feelings?

“Hmm.”

After massacring hundreds of pirates, when I faced the Blood Blade leader who had transformed into a fishman, it struck me that I could kill him in just one second, yet I gazed at him with only a mildly uninterested expression. Realizing the gap in power between us, he trembled while holding his Bloodline.

“Who… are you…?”

In that moment, I thought about finding another possibility even in this situation. So I asked the leader of the Blood Blade Group.

“Hey. I’m curious about something.”

“What… what is it!”

“You said you offer tributes to the Sea God every time, right?”

At this, the Blood Blade leader’s fish-like head widened in surprise.

“How… how do you know that?”

“Because you look like a fish.”

“…….”

“Anyway, that city of fishmen is under the sea nearby, right?”

The Blood Blade leader nodded frantically.

“Correct! Is there anything else? I’m useful! Please save me.”

“I’m curious, but in the underwater city, humans can’t breathe, so they die if you take them, right? Are you killing them to bring their corpses?”

He shook his head.

“No! The Sea God likes live offerings, so we take them alive.”

“Oh, so you’re taking them before they drown?”

“No, it’s not that. Uhm…”

As he glanced around at the corpses scattered around, he approached a relatively intact pirate corpse. Stretching out his-scaled hand, he placed it atop the head.

Brrrrr

In the next moment, a transparent water sphere formed around the neck of the corpse, expanding greatly with bubbles. This water sphere, big enough to encompass just the head, quickly stabilized, appearing squishy. The pirate’s head apparently remained dry.

“With this ability, you can breathe even underwater.”

“Ohhh…!!”

I was somewhat surprised. That guy seemed to have merged with the sea god race, utilizing such a special ability. It truly was a quite useful ability, so I continued questioning him in detail.

“Is there anyone else in the Blood Blade Group who can use that ability?”

“No… Those without the blessing of the Sea God can’t use it.”

“That makes sense. Then, how long is the duration?”

“About half a moment.”

“Are the genuine sea god race able to use that ability more powerfully?”

“Of course… Those individuals can use larger water spheres to protect themselves or trap enemies. They sometimes catch whales using that ability.”

“Hmm!”

Unexpected information. I had learned about the combat methods and supernatural abilities of the sea god race that served the Sea God. I thought I could leverage this information later.

At the same time, I felt troubled.

‘Should I perhaps visit the altar for human sacrifice dedicated to the Sea God?’

But I quickly realized the risk was too high. If that guy were to lead me into a trap, fighting underwater would be exceedingly dangerous, and if a high-level otherworldly being or the Sea God showed up, there’d be no way out. I could attempt it forcibly, but since the purpose of this life isn’t to excavate the Sea God, I decided to set it aside for now.

“Understood.”

“Will you let me go?”

I quietly unleashed my sword strength.

“You were curious, but I never said I’d spare you.”

“Hey, you…”

Shunk!

I immediately severed the Blood Blade leader’s neck and proceeded to sweep up all the treasures of Pirate Island, rescuing the hostages and storing them in my wooden armor. It felt somewhat cowardly to execute the Blood Blade leader, but being a despicable bastard, I felt no guilt whatsoever.

‘If he’s a scoundrel who commits human sacrifice, massacre, plunder, and rape, he deserves to die.’

Having passed through numerous lives, my belief that evildoers are justified in dying remained unchanged.

I casually moved on and used the Golden Lamp to head towards the secret room of the Namgung Clan, where the ritual of the Seven Luminaries’ offering was conducted. This time, I didn’t visit Sasaki Kojiro; since there was nothing in particular to gain from him, I could always visit later to obtain the Book of Five Relationships. While placing the Suspicious Fishhook into my wooden armor, another thought struck me.

“Wait… could this be…?”

Shwink!

A moment later, I pulled out a sufficient amount of explosives and bombs from my wooden armor and headed toward the main capital of the Namgung Clan. At the main capital, the Sword King Namgung Myeong was gathered with the Eight Swords of Namgung. I looked around and didn’t see many people; probably the high-ranking officials were in a confidential meeting.

The Sword King Namgung Myeong looked at me suspiciously.

“Young man. Who are you…”

“Catch you later, you bastards!”

Whoosh!

I said a brief word and hurled the pre-lit bombs and gunpowder violently forward. With my internal power infused in the throw, the speed was incredibly fast. Perhaps for that reason, two of the Eight Swords of Namgung were struck in the stomach by the bombs.

“Gah…”

Before their expressions turned to shock, I immediately activated the Soul Removal Technique and dashed outside.

Boom! Boom boom!

The amount of explosives prepared by the pirates was enough to contend with regular naval forces, instantly blowing up the main capital of the Namgung Clan. I barely evaded the inferno approaching from behind with the Soul Removal Technique and landed atop the roof of the building.

‘If the ultimate Soul Removal Technique I evaded by preemptively predicting its arrival is barely dodged, then the Eight Swords of Namgung can’t escape instant death with their martial arts.’

Rumble!

‘With this, the Eight Swords of Namgung are probably annihilated, and Namgung Myeong must be gravely injured.’

Seemingly, I didn’t need to bother delivering the Three Treasure Technique to Jin So-cheong or summon the Master of Shadowless Sword for a therapy session at the Namgung Clan, having stumbled upon an effective way to take my revenge on them. No matter how skilled the martial arts families are, how can they withstand an unexpected bomb blast?

After going through around twenty lives, it was incredible that explosives and bombs that seemed useless could be utilized in this way!

Though this time, I was lucky. I had roughly guessed where they were gathered, and it matched perfectly. But from now on, it would be better to practice pinning explosives directly onto their bellies at more precise timing. After breaking the leadership of the Namgung Clan, I headed straight to where the women were imprisoned, killed their guards, and freed them.

Soon, I dashed to the Inner Imperial Pavilion of the Imperial Palace to swiftly steal the Nameless Ritual Book and placed it into my wooden armor. Then, I put off trading with the Prophet for a bit and went hunting for water element treasures. After obtaining everything from the ruins of the water element, I headed to the White Lotus Sect’s Sacred Lotus cultivation ground and picked a few Sacred Lotus blooms. After that, I acquired the Three Sovereigns’ Inner Gate from the Shared Mountain and stored the Crystal Stele from the underground of the Imperial Palace into my wooden armor. Finally, I obtained the Silver Phoenix statue from Taekyung Village.

“Ugh… busy busy…”

I sighed a bit as I passed through this chain of processes. I had accumulated so much throughout my numerous lives, tending to each one was itself a task. But anyway, practicing to gather what I could in the shortest possible time was never excessive at this point. Perhaps there are strategies that could only be attempted if one manages to acquire treasures in the shortest time.

As I felt I had gathered enough treasures, I last went to find Mangnyang.

Pa-at!

As Mangnyang received the Obsidian from me and the memory was passed down, he wore a bewildered expression. After a while, he spoke.

“Baek Woong…”

“What’s wrong?”

“After using the Four Great Spirits to penetrate the essence and intending to indirectly place it into your wooden armor, that strategy, right?”

“Indeed! The Four Great Spirits can break the barrier.”

He replied cautiously, “I’m sorry for saying this, but… um…”

“……?”

“The dimensional breach ability can only be used once a day… so when you come back…”

“……”

I had just realized the flaw in the strategy I had established! It’s great to transfer the Flame Elemental Sword with the indirect energy technique, but that would mean I could not use the Four Great Spirits to come back! Plus, as seen from the example of the Moon Sovereign, if I accidentally touched the Seven Luminaries, the guardian would awaken even without hesitation. In that case, I would be trapped within the ruins of the Flame Elemental Sword, battling Gong Gong with slim chances of survival, leading to my reincarnation.

Suddenly, Mangnyang burst into laughter.

“Ha ha ha… But Baek Woong, your plan isn’t bad. To rephrase, if you can somehow get into that room in the first place, you can just use it once to come out, right? The burden is greatly reduced.”

“Hmm, you’re right.”

After a moment of silence, Mangnyang gazed at me.

“Baek Woong… do you feel responsible for the death of Zhuge Sa?”

Caught off guard by the sudden question, I started.

“……”

“The reason you hurriedly formulated plans this time around the 20th and 21st lives, pushing ahead at a rapid pace without any spare time for reflection… is due to Zhuge Sa’s advice: ‘Don’t rely on the strategist, think for yourself.’”

I let out a murmur.

“… Perhaps.”

Mangnyang quietly said, “Zhuge Sa’s advice is indeed correct. In your 20th life, you thought with your own head, crafted the best strategy, and executed it without fear, resulting in breaking through the ruins of the Flame Elemental Sword at once. However, strategies and approaches should flexibly adapt to the situation. Sticking rigidly to one thing can lead to mistakes, as you’ve experienced now.”

He smiled thoughtfully.

“Though I may not possess Zhuge Sa’s expertise at this moment, I will do my utmost to assist you. Let’s combine our strengths.”

“……”

I stared blankly at the sky.

Was I so conscious of Zhuge Sa’s advice?

That crazy man’s words, which always gnawed annoyingly at my mind?

The one who was always prepared to stab me in the back?

But at the same time, when the last smile of Zhuge Sa before the dominator appeared surged in my mind, I felt a weight in my chest.

Drip.

A tear unexpectedly fell.

“Ow.”

What the heck?

Not understanding why it was flowing, I hurriedly wiped it away. Seeing Mangnyang looking at me with surprise, I spoke nonchalantly.

“W-well then, let’s go!”