전생검신 98권 10화

After chatting for a while, we headed towards the heavenly desolate desert much further north in Gansu Province. This was a desert I had often passed through before because it was close to the north of the White Lotus Sect, and I nearly always crossed it when going outside into the new realms.

This desert was also a hub for many trade routes with the west, and while it wasn’t completely uninhabited, there were many minor kingdoms and ethnic groups living here. As someone who had been the Deputy Sect Leader of the White Lotus Sect, it felt oddly familiar.

‘Feels like I’ve been here countless times… so Long Nara lives here?’

But since the Thief Gang said this was indeed Long Nara’s usual hideout, I decided to take them at their word. The Thief Gang was relatively close to Long Nara compared to the other Eight Parts of the Divine, so I trusted their credibility. Both the Thief Gang and Asura transformed into human forms and rescued a camel that was at the edge of the desert, leaving me perplexed.

“Can’t we just run through the desert? You guys can do it, right?”

The desert, even for beings as powerful as demon kings, posed no real limitations. Asura then clicked his tongue while mounted on the camel.

“Stop talking nonsense and get on a camel too. If we show up charging in like the doubtful Long Nara, he’ll be on guard and hide himself.”

“Oh.”

“I’ve known him for a long time, and he’s smart, which makes him quite suspicious. We must be as cautious as possible until we can actually talk to him.”

Got it…!

I realized Asura had a point and managed to find a camel nearby to ride. This was a base village for entering the desert, where most travelers or merchant caravans resupplied food, water, and camels before venturing in.

Suddenly

At that moment, I sensed something unusual among those getting mounted after securing horses.

‘…What’s that?!’

There were experts with significant internal power hiding their auras. Furthermore, I could faintly feel flickering flames within them, each of different colors.

‘Red… Blue… Teal?’

I could feel three flickering flames of different colors near each person’s dantian. For some reason, it was vividly visible in my sight, and Asura seemed puzzled by my reaction.

“What’s wrong?”

“Hey Asura, can’t you see those flames?”

“…What are you talking about?”

Asura couldn’t see them. If the peak expert like Asura couldn’t see them, then this was definitely not a simple phenomenon of qi.

“I need you to help me with something.”

I didn’t want to investigate further, so I asked for cooperation with Asura and the Thief Gang, and the Thief Gang agreed to help. A moment later, I walked with the Thief Gang toward those individuals, and when they noticed us gazing at them while preparing for the trade, the Thief Gang performed a greeting.

“Greetings. I am Geol-seon of the Open Sect. It’s an honor to meet the eastern friends of Jianghu.”

“Hmm!”

“Geol-seon?”

They seemed rather surprised by Geol-seon’s appearance. After exchanging glances, the one among them who appeared to be the highest in both martial arts and rank dismounted from his camel and returned the greeting.

“It’s an honor to meet the renowned Geol-seon, a revered figure among the Open Sect and one of the Three Greats.”

“Haha, it’s nice to be believed straight away.”

“Not sure if you remember, but I’ve seen you from a distance during your visit to the True Heaven Alliance. It feels wonderful to see you again.”

“Oh? What took you to the True Heaven Alliance?”

That middle-aged man’s eyes shone with curiosity.

“I shall introduce myself properly. I am Gwak Do-byeong, Nak Hon Il-gyeom, one of the elders of the Fire Spirit Techniques of the White Lotus Sect. I was there as a diplomatic envoy to the True Heaven Alliance in the past.”

“I see… I also think I remember hearing your name passing through this Gansu area. You were definitely the top master of the fiery sword, weren’t you?”

“Haha, this Nak Hon Il-gyeom is overwhelmed by your compliments.”

They continued to chat, and from their conversation, I could be certain.

‘As expected… they are from the White Lotus Sect.’

The White Lotus Sect often traded through this desert, and the type of qi they radiated felt familiar to me; it was just as I suspected.

Moreover, from my observation, this elder of the Fire Spirit Techniques, Nak Hon Il-gyeom Gwak Do-byeong, appeared to be a top peak expert, likely ranking within at least the top 60 of all martial artists on the Central Plains outside the Absolute Realm. While he did lag behind the top tier figures like Myung Yong-ja, the Sword Demon, and the Master of Shadowless Sword, such a proficient master was definitely not one to be encountered casually, proving he was indeed a worthy elder of the Fire Spirit Techniques.

‘Hmm. If I pay closer attention, I feel like I’ve seen that face during my time with the White Lotus Sect…’

As I was staring at him, trying to recall that face, the elder, Nak Hon Il-gyeom, continued.

“Anyway, what brings the renowned Geol-seon to our trade?”

“Nothing special. Just the fact that a master of your caliber is accompanying a mere trade sparked my interest.”

“Haha, as you know, this desert is quite a treacherous place. Bandit groups with martial skills roam about, and mysterious demon beasts occasionally appear. It’s a shame we couldn’t bring more White Lotus members with us.”

At his words, the Thief Gang glanced over the group of over ten masters standing by in the background.

“After all, those are indeed the proud White Lotus members. As I heard, they are astonishingly skilled, even at their young ages.”

Indeed, those masters were the White Lotus members! Each one was a youthful figure in their teens or twenties, but the power radiating from them exceeded that of ordinary middle-ranking peak experts. That was precisely the result of the Sacred Lotus nurturing their immense internal power at a young age.

I sent a secret transmission to the Thief Gang.

[It’s done. I’ve confirmed everything I needed.]

Then, the Thief Gang casually wrapped up their conversation with Nak Hon Il-gyeom, bidding farewell. As we began riding our camels into the desert, Asura finally spoke.

“Baek Woong. So why did you want us to talk to those White Lotus folks?”

“I saw flames in their dantian. I wanted to confirm where they’re from.”

“Flames?”

I nodded and continued.

“I wasn’t quite sure what it was before, but I now know. Red corresponds to the Fire Spirit sect, blue to the Su Shin sect, and teal to the Wind Spirit sect.”

Asura’s eyes lit up with intrigue.

“Oh… does this mean the nature of their internal power is visible as colors? That’s an unusual ability I’ve never heard of before.”

“No, it’s more like… the color of the soul.”

“What? The color of the soul? You can see that?”

“…”

Asura was astonished, but I couldn’t easily explain it to him, so I remained silent.

‘Those who have mastered the Four Great Families of the White Lotus Sect might be capable of perceiving the pure essence in different hues… but it somehow felt like the qi flourishing within the dantian was alive and moving independently.’

Thus, while it seemed like a property of internal power, I felt the energy was more of a separate entity, like a soul in itself. However, many complexities had intertwined to bring me here which made simplifying it even more of a challenge. The conclusion was straightforward, but arriving at it required all the martial arts theories I had learned! I tried hard to think through it, but my attempts were in vain, and I let out a deep sigh.

“Damn… it just is what it is.”

“…If I take your word for it, why can you suddenly see all this now?”

“Who knows… maybe it’s because I’ve been tapping into power more often.”

Indeed, every time I employed the power of the Thunder Soul, I felt a bizarre sensation within me, like something was trying to break free from a shell. So with every slight crack, it seemed like an odd new ability was somehow added. I realized that thought and felt a shiver run down my spine.

‘Am I unknowingly… growing stronger?’

What on earth is the Thunder Soul?

As I went quiet, the Thief Gang next to me spoke up.

“If you keep heading straight for about 170 li, you’ll come across the Hangryong River. Long Nara disguises himself as a manager of the freshwater source in the desert right there.”

At his words, Asura, who had traveled through these lands often, revealed his knowledge.

“Hm. I thought we’d head to the famous Moon Blade River in Dunhuang, but it seems not.”

“He can’t just rely on a well-known spot while keeping his identity concealed.”

“That makes sense.”

“Even as we enter the Hangryong River, don’t give away any hints that you recognize Long Nara. I’ll secure a meeting point.”

“Understood.”

After quite a while, we finally reached the Hangryong River. It was one of the rare water sources in the desert where travelers usually took a break. And from a distance, I spotted a figure cooking food, the plump manager bustling about, causing me to flinch internally.

‘Long Nara!’

No doubt, this was the human form of Long Nara that I had seen countless times before!

Is he really living here in human form?!

If I hadn’t heard from the Thief Gang in advance and hadn’t encountered that author’s human form during my reincarnation, I would never have suspected him as the Demon King!

While I was in shock, the Thief Gang sneaked up to him and exchanged a few words. Later, while we were taking a break, eating at the Hangryong River, the Thief Gang gestured at us, and we entered a spacious inner room in a large building there.

Inside stood Long Nara, who wore a white headscarf and had just finished bringing in food. He looked at us with curious eyes and spoke.

“What’s going on? Thief Gang and Asura, I didn’t know you were so close.”

At his words, Asura crossed his arms and responded gruffly.

“This guy came to request my help to deal with the southern Tianzhu forces. I agreed, but since they are formidable opponents, I’ve come to seek your wisdom.”

“Oh… that’s unexpected. I figured with your personality, you’d find this quite troublesome, yet you even came to me for a specific op.”

“So, will you tell me or not?”

“Hm.”

Long Nara pondered for a moment and then spoke.

“While the Brahman Sect is ostensibly led by Parvati, she’s merely the wife of the Destroyer God Shiva and a moderate deity. The real problem is the avatar of Vishnu supporting her, Krishna, and the absolute realm master Jin Guk-jun, the strongest of the Southern Barbarians. Killing Krishna or Jin Guk-jun would deal significant damage to the Brahman Sect, but the latter wields far greater power, so I’d recommend assassinating Krishna.”

“Krishna?”

“Exactly. As long as you don’t bring out the battle avatar Arjuna, Asura can handle it easily. Krishna’s current position is in the underground barrier of the central royal palace in Ahmedabad, Gujarat, if you want, I can open a dimension door right there.”

“…”

We three could only be momentarily stunned by Long Nara’s overly detailed plan. In particular, I was shocked by Long Nara’s knowledge.

‘W-what?! The secrets of the Tianzhu forces that I learned from hitting the ground for 30 rounds… this guy seems to have already figured it all out by himself?!’

He was reading the situation with such precision that I had no words!

I wasn’t the only one shocked; Asura looked puzzled as he asked.

“How do you know Krishna’s current location so precisely?”

“If you hadn’t shown up, I’d have planned to summon the Eight Parts of the Divine soon to create an assassination team. He’s the most crucial figure in the enemy forces, a strategist who needs to be captured.”

“…”

“Therefore, Asura. Are you motivated? If you are, I’ll join you in assassinating Krishna. The three of us should be enough to thwart his escape and ensure his death.”

Asura glanced at me. I recognized it as a gesture to seek my opinion and paused in thought. Then I sent a secret message to Asura.

After hearing my intent, Asura nodded.

“Let’s go kill Krishna right now.”

“Alright. Let’s move!”

Bam!

A moment later, Long Nara opened a dimension door leading us into the underground palace barrier in Ahmedabad, Gujarat, and we followed him. Then, as he transformed into his true body, he glanced at me and said.

[Speaking of which, who is this guy? You brought him here, so it seems his identity is guaranteed… but…]

Asura chimed in.

“He’s my new disciple. Looks like this, but he has considerable strength.”

[Oh… so he’s at least a Half-Transition Master? I expect great things.]

With that, Long Nara gazed through the darkness of the shadowy barrier, resembling a man-faced bird.

[Let’s go ahead and dismantle Krishna’s sorcery traps first. Keep up at a slow pace.]

Woosh

As I stared after Long Nara’s figure flying ahead for a while, I mumbled.

“Assassinating Krishna.”

I was caught off guard yet intrigued.

Should I kill Krishna this life, or should I spare him?

Truth is, I also wanted a chance to meet Krishna and chat, so I hadn’t pressured Long Nara just yet.