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“How do I create the ultimate Mind Control Technique?”

I asked the Sword Demon, who just smirked like he had a secret. “That’s something no one can just tell you. It’s a conclusion you have to draw by reflecting on your own life.”

“Hmm…”

“It’s the hardest step. If you hastily set your own limitations, you’ll just weaken yourself, right? But if you try to reach for too vast an imagination, the technique could backfire and blow your Qi all to pieces.”

“Isn’t that dangerous?”

Blowing up your Qi? That sounded fatal to me! As a physician, I knew that would be a death sentence. And it’s extremely rare for someone’s Qi to burst like that. The Sword Demon scratched his head and said, “Mind Control isn’t that convenient a tool. If you’re seeking power beyond your means, the backlash could destroy both your Qi and body!”

“Hmm!”

“Who wouldn’t want the world’s best martial arts? But it’s just not feasible. You have to find a reasonable balance between ideals and reality to maximize your capabilities.”

“I see.”

So, the Mind Control Technique is about manifesting the strongest form, but it has to align completely with your abilities. You also need to stay true to your heart. Achieving an exceptional technique that meets those prerequisites is a grueling training process in itself. As I pondered, the Sword Demon offered some advice.

“First off, keep meditating and reflect on your life. Think about what you love, what you want to do, what you have to do, and your dreams. You’ll be able to find a path eventually.”

“Got it!”

According to the Sword Demon’s advice, creating a Mind Control Technique was about proving your own life. It couldn’t be a rash decision made overnight. It required a cautious and delicate approach, like sculpting a piece of art.

‘This will be the process of solidifying my own martial arts.’

I plunged deeper into meditation. Until now, it had been just dull training on manipulating the threads of intention, but contemplating who I am turned out to be unexpectedly tough.

‘What am I? Who am I?’

In Zen practice, those might be simple questions, but for me, they were essential. I had to understand myself! I needed to answer what it meant to be a person named ‘Baek Woong’!

“……”

However, after days of racking my brain, I really had no profound insights beyond revisiting my past memories. I had been rushing through 16 rounds so thoughtlessly that I didn’t have the time to contemplate such lofty questions.

‘What am I really doing here?’

It’s really hard. I might as well be sweating it out in physical training. Digging into simply who I am felt like it was conjuring a heart demon inside me.

And so, another seven days passed. I still continued presenting the Wudang Sect’s techniques to the Sword Demon every day. The Sword Demon seemed to rapidly evolve in his martial arts while I was trapped inside my own mind.

Eventually, I reached an absurd conclusion.

‘Damn it, I give up! Let’s just stuff my memories into an obsidian!’

Right, while everyone else might not get it, I surely could view my own memories in the most objective way possible!

As soon as the thought hit me, I pulled out a large chunk of obsidian from my wooden armor during bedtime. I had picked it up during a visit to the obsidian mine with Miho. This chunk was big enough to capture not just my past life but also detailed emotions!

“Alright.”

I placed both hands on the obsidian and took a deep breath. I was going to store all my past life memories and review them again! Going through that process, I thought I would finally see Baek Woong from a third-person perspective.

Buzzing!!

After storing the memories, I dove back into reviewing them. From the moment I got hit by an arrow in the first life to the horrendous last moments of the 15th life, and all the hard work I put into martial arts until recently, everything flashed before my eyes.

Looking back at my memories didn’t feel great.

‘Geez… I really had it tough.’

Now I understood why Mangnyang had suddenly grown friendlier after absorbing the energy of the obsidian. I wasn’t just being melodramatic—Baek Woong had been rolling with madness ever since he got that Heavenly Secret! Watching the hardships unfold made my throat feel tight, and I could almost cry.

After reviewing my memories, I stumbled upon two strange points.

“Huh? Why isn’t that guy showing up anymore?”

Back in the tenth life, when I first met Miho, there was a warrior guarding the first floor of the building she was in. His face was hidden under a mask. He was pretty useless, losing miserably to Ja Ryun, one of the Twelve Joules, before running away. But when he saw me, he suddenly attacked and ended up losing his head.

He had definitely recognized me.

Such an impressionable event stuck in my mind. However, if he was the one who sought out Miho for ‘power,’ then why didn’t he show up after she joined as a companion? I thought maybe the causal relationships change from one rebirth to the next, but something about it felt off.

I toyed with the idea of letting it go.

‘Hmm… Given his skill, I doubt he’s important.’

But it was a crucial time for me to concentrate on obtaining my Mind Control Technique, so I quickly put it out of my head. At that time, if he just barely made it to first-class level, he wouldn’t stand a chance against me now. He was probably just some low-tier guy hanging around Miho.

I had another annoying thought.

‘Why hasn’t anyone noticed the reincarnation ability of the Heavenly Secret?’

It was good for me, but no one I had encountered so far had caught on to the fact that the Heavenly Secret could reverse time. Not even the Great Sorcerer, and certainly not the Old Ruler, seemed aware of the reverse flowing ability.

… Why didn’t they notice?

Despite being a divine being, it seemed odd that none could detect the sorcery ability of a grimoire. I should have questioned this much sooner, but I was too caught up in achieving my goals to notice. After some serious thought, I reached a conclusion.

‘Right. The Heavenly Secret is a grimoire… so it’s likely someone from the Otherworldly Race crafted it with some weird sorcery.’

With my current lack of knowledge in sorcery, this was the only explanation I could come up with.

I wanted to show the Heavenly Secret to the prophet of Astana, but if I displayed it carelessly, I feared he might suddenly bolt or escape through time and space. The reaction of the Great Sorcerer at the Imperial Palace when he escaped through time after seeing the Heavenly Secret had sent chills down my spine.

As I reflected on my life, my heart felt lighter.

Solutions to the current issues seemed to come naturally.

“Alright. Should I pay a visit to the Wudang Sect later?”

First, I needed to fully teach the Sword Demon the Wudang techniques and then share the spoils with him. After that, I thought I could sweet-talk the now-confident Sword Demon into meeting the Sword Master to gain something valuable from that encounter.

And then about a year flew by.

Should I say time flowed like clouds? I was so busy training and sparring with the Sword Demon that I barely realized a year had passed. The Sword Demon insisted that sparring was the best form of training, and every chance he got, he would engage me in sparring, from which I learned the Shadowless Soul-Removing Sword and the essence of swordplay, even while getting thrashed.

One day, after finishing a sparring session, the Sword Demon spoke to me with a serious tone.

“We’ve got a big problem, White Dharma Guardian.”

“What’s the matter?”

With a gloomy look, the Sword Demon stared at the sky.

“The Dharma Guardian will be visiting the Shadowless Gate tomorrow, as notified this morning.”

“……!!”

It was something I had feared, but hearing it straight up threw me off balance. I cautiously said, “Is it because I missed the last Assembly of the Eight Demons?”

“That would be my guess.”

“If the Dharma Guardian attacks the Shadowless Gate, we won’t be able to hold up.”

I sincerely meant it. Among the three current Dharma Guardians, each possessed martial arts that were terrifying, often beyond the level of the Great Immortal. While the Sword Demon was formidable in his own right, he couldn’t be compared to the level of the Dharma Guardian. The Heavenly Spirit Pill had boundless internal power, so even a slight long-term engagement would put the Heavenly Spirit Pill at an overwhelming advantage over anyone without it.

The Sword Demon nodded. “I think the same. My options are either to resist or escape and negotiate.”

“What do you plan to do?”

“I already had a meeting with my close aides at dawn to discuss opinions. After hearing your thoughts, I will decide my course of action.”

Currently, my position in the Shadowless Gate was extremely ambiguous. Officially, I was the Dharma Guardian, but technically, the position of Dharma Guardian didn’t even exist in the Shadowless Gate. Outstanding warriors who had followed the ideals of the Shadowless Gate since the previous generation trained in its martial arts, being called either the Sword Master or Sword Wolf.

Since the Shadowless Gate was so elite, there were fewer than twenty of them, maybe around thirteen or so. Yet, they proudly claimed to be the strongest in the Heretical Sect. That was because each of them had reached at least a peak first-class level or higher. As a result, the pride of the Shadowless Gate warriors was sky-high.

However, even those elite warriors didn’t treat me carelessly and usually approached me with a sense of restraint. They all knew I was the life-saver of the Young Master, Seo Mun-hye, and that the Sword Demon, Seo Mun-dae-ryong, was mentoring me like a direct disciple. Because of this, they seemed to feel a wall when interacting with me and had rarely conversed with me properly.

I couldn’t help but ponder.

‘What would Mangnyang say in this situation?’

Whenever a big, important problem arose, I always turned to Mangnyang for advice first. After all, Mangnyang’s thoughts were often the most accurate. But in this life, I hadn’t disclosed my connection with Mangnyang, and I had to make all judgments and decisions completely on my own. Breathing deep, I recalled the mindset I had when adventuring alone in the past.

After a moment, I spoke up. “Don’t worry. Just talk to the Dharma Guardian for now.”

“What makes you think that?”

I grinned and showed him my wooden armor and the Golden Eagle.

“No matter what happens, we can escape.”

“……?”

“This is my wooden armor, and this here is the Golden Eagle.”

After a moment, I demonstrated the powers of the wooden armor and the Golden Eagle directly to the Sword Demon. After seeing the teleportation ability of the Golden Eagle and the storage abilities of the wooden armor, the Sword Demon wore a shocked expression. With a trembling voice, he exclaimed, “S-Sweet heavens! I’ve never seen treasures like this in my life.”

He seemed to have known about the existence of the wooden armor from Seo Mun-hye’s mention. But it was clear he had never heard of the Golden Eagle before.

And it made sense because ever since joining the Shadowless Gate, I hadn’t mentioned that I owned such treasures. I had kept my mouth shut, worried that the Sword Demon might get greedy and cause trouble over non-training-related matters. But now, with the risk of losing training time looming, I had no choice but to reveal it.

“In the unlikely event that things go wrong, everyone can safely retreat.”

“That’s great! Very good indeed!”

The Sword Demon nodded and continued to speak.

“So when we meet the Dharma Guardian tomorrow, it will just be you and me. The rest of the warriors will be stored inside the wooden armor.”

“That works.”

“I trust you.”

I thought the Sword Demon was very bold. Admittedly, that approach was indeed the best method to ensure the safety of the Shadowless Gate. However, he was placing the lives of his valuable disciples in the hands of my wooden armor, and still trusted me. That included the life of the Young Master, Seo Mun-hye!

‘He really has faith in me.’

In this life, I would not betray the Sword Demon. Even if I disappointed him, I would speak openly and accept the consequences. It was a moment I promised myself again.

The next day, following the plan, I stored all the Shadowless Gate warriors inside the wooden armor. The Sword Demon and I loitered by the main entrance of the Shadowless Gate, which was empty, waiting for the Dharma Guardian to arrive. Since no one was around, we had to act as gatekeepers ourselves to meet the Dharma Guardian promptly.

As noon approached, suddenly, a massive rain cloud drifted towards the Shadowless Gate.

Boom!

From the rain cloud, a storm surged in, and shortly after, raindrops mixed with fog blurred my vision. It felt like a dragon had just spat out a cloud, enveloping everything in a dense mist. When the rain finally stopped and only a silence hung in the air, the sound of the Six Harmonies Assembly echoed through the fog.

[ Long time no see, Sword Demon.]

With a rustling sound, a figure appeared before us.

He bore the emblematic golden dragon mask of the Dharma Guardian. He looked like a slender man in his twenties. The moment I saw him, I couldn’t help but let out a single breath, while the Sword Demon adopted a serious expression.

Facing him, the Sword Demon respectfully performed a martial salute. “Thank you for coming a long way, Dokgo Jun.”

Indeed. The mystical figure that emerged with the mist was the Dharma Guardian of the White Lotus Sect’s Su Shin Sect, Dokgo Jun! He was the Dharma Guardian of the Su Shin Flow, renowned as the strongest among the Four Great Families!

 

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