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Life number 20 had just begun.

“Huff… huff…”

My sweat and tears were pouring down.

‘It would have been better if it hadn’t started at all…’

At that moment, the feeling that the Old Ruler would erase my very soul took over my heart. Rage against the despair I couldn’t fight against was consuming me, and at the same time, the fierce helplessness accelerated that rage, making my life seem insignificant.

But I opened my eyes. The burning pain of the chaotic abyss ended more quickly than I expected, and I fainted. Slowly, I rose from the barn, muttering bitterly.

“… It’s become clear.”

What had become clear?

That the rebirth of the Heavenly Secret couldn’t be obstructed even by the powers of the Old Ruler. Ordinarily, I should have become a slave to the ruler at the end of my 19th life and suffered endlessly. But I died right there and went to the next life. That could only be attributed to the power of the Heavenly Secret.

If it were the old days, I would have been defeated and given up here. My 19th life had made me realize more than ever the chasm between gods and humans. Although the power of the Master of the White Lotus Sect had grown stronger than ever, I was still far from surpassing the gods, and I only repeated the fact that no matter how hard humans try, they are subordinated to divine power.

Yet, I couldn’t suppress the bubbling rage inside me.

‘I absolutely refuse to give up!’

Until now, my motivation to oppose the Old Ruler had been weak. Honestly, I lived for the fun of clearing threats from my path and finding new divine treasures and secrets. If I died along the way, I thought, “Oh well,” and reincarnated again, without much hatred for the Old Ruler itself.

But now, my thinking had changed drastically. Following the movements of the Master of the White Lotus Sect, I learned that the leaders of the various factions were working hard for the salvation of humanity, and through Zhuge Sha, I realized how soft I had been living all this time. I felt deeply how this world was unbelievably mad and how the existence of the Old Ruler treated humans like cattle or toys.

Intense hatred made me stand up.

It seemed there was no way to proceed like this, but I wasn’t discouraged. Because I had the Rebirth Ability, which even the Old Ruler couldn’t block. I gazed at the barn wall and contemplated.

What would be the most efficient way to move from here?

“……”

After thinking for a long time, I finally devised a plan with a casual attitude.

“The Four Great Spirits.”

I called out the Four Great Spirits with my thoughts like before, but nothing appeared.

‘I see. If I don’t perform the Offering Ceremony, my ability to ride on the Four Great Spirits will fade away.’

Calmly, I confirmed a fact. If I wanted to ride the Four Great Spirits, I had no choice but to conduct the Offering Ceremony separately and receive divine blessings from Tai Gong-mang. After that, I immediately moved to retrieve the Heavenly Secret, and as soon as I obtained it, I dashed straight to Shandong.

Once in Shandong, I entered the hidden cargo warehouse of Boom and retrieved the Boom itself before activating it immediately.

Pa-at!

Shh…

“Hmm.”

Standing in a dark crimson valley with nothing around, I murmured. This was no longer the real world, but rather the Otherworldly Realm adjacent to illusion. There were no signs of any living beings.

‘This must be the Blood Realm.’

When I learned the Soul Exchange Technique and Evil Arts from Zhuge Sha, I had heard explanations about realms like this. Based on that, this place was likely to be the Blood Realm. A perpetual fog like blood coated the surroundings, and strange blood shadows wandered around.

‘Then hitting the Wind Spirit Sect’s Slave Market directly and rescuing the slaves would be impossible.’

The location I had intended to move to just now was the site of the Wind Spirit Sect’s Slave Market. Having been there once under the sect leader’s orders during my last life, I explored the possibility of rescuing slaves from there again this time.

But this place seemed to have been rendered meaningless without connecting to the real world through some special arts. It seemed that the Demon Sorcerer, the Old Existence, who was hosting the slave market, employed some special arts to connect the Blood Realm only when opening the slave market.

Not having much to gain from the Blood Realm, I decided to return to the real world and headed straight to the Great Thunder Valley, where General Hwang Yeon and his party were trapped. As I faced the giant Tentacle Toad in the Great Thunder Valley, I thought.

‘So this is the Beast of the Moon.’

It was the formal name I heard from Zhuge Sha. They were a race that lived behind the moon, invisible from Earth, and it was said that the beasts of the moon also held a prominent place in Dark Heaven Village while enslaving others. Anyway, since that creature belonged to the High-level Otherworldly Race, it possessed mental abilities and summoning capabilities that were difficult for humans to contend against. It’s no wonder that Lee Cheong-un and Jin So-cheong, as peak experts, became incapacitated after just one summoning.

According to Zhuge Sha, when defeating the beasts of the moon, it’s standard to have a Demon Sorcerer prepare opposing sorcery or magic and then reflect the summoning ability rather than just going in for a brute force kill. The reason it was possible to kill so blindly was that the martial arts of the martial artists themselves were also powerful techniques.

Nonetheless, I intended to stick to my brute-force tactics. I glared at the Beast of the Moon residing in the Great Thunder Valley and charged right at it.

KABOOM!

‘Three Treasure Technique… Three Treasure Technique…!!’

As in my last life, I engaged the fight against the Beast of the Moon while immersing myself in the practice of the Three Treasure Technique. The hell training with Lee Cheong-un had indeed paid off, and I now felt competent enough to use the Three Treasure Technique properly. But there were still some primitive aspects to it, so I wanted to grow through battling formidable opponents.

Rumble

I managed to bring down the Beast of the Moon relatively easily. Unlike before, wasteful movement was reduced, and I felt like every attack I threw hit its mark. It was quite a contrast when I recalled the past when I was prepared to risk my life against the Thunder God experts just to capture this one creature.

After obtaining the Wooden Armor, Nine Stars Main Capital, and Twin Swords, I proceeded to the Great Blade Group’s base without any fuss, stuffing every single prisoner into the Wooden Armor.

“Ugh?!”

Normally, at least a minimal explanation would be given, but I was in a hurry. After cramming all the prisoners inside the Wooden Armor, I moved directly to the Pirate Blood Blade Group base. I unleashed Sword Strength and mercilessly slaughtered the pirates while rescuing the pirate prisoners and collecting treasure.

I examined the treasures found on the Pirate Island one by one.

‘A Muramasa blade, precious metals and treasures hidden away by the Pirate Chief, gunpowder and explosives?’

Compared to the divine treasures like Seven Luminaries, they seemed meager, but from the perspective of an average martial artist, they were still incredibly valuable treasures. I pondered how to utilize these as I swept the pirate prisoners into the Wooden Armor.

Then I went to Dongyoung and extracted Obsidian. After that, I activated Teleportation to travel to the residence of Sasaki Kojiro, who was pretending to be Miyamoto Musashi.

Upon my sudden appearance, Kojiro glared at me fiercely.

“Who the hell are you?”

“Sasaki Kojiro. Did you know that Miyamoto Musashi has become a special investigator of the Twelve Joules?”

“……!!”

He immediately recognized my identity and was taken aback upon hearing the unexpected news. For a moment, it seemed he was about to deny it, his lips quivering, but he quickly recalibrated himself, softening his killing intent as he replied.

“I don’t know who you are, but thanks for the information. How did you come to know that?”

As he subtly interrogated me while building up his murderous aura, I coldly sneered at Kojiro.

“Put down your sword. Killing you would be a piece of cake.”

“What…?”

“Can’t you at least listen when someone talks?”

BOOM!

The next moment, my full power pressed against Kojiro’s body. Faced with my significantly amplified power, he seemed to freeze in shock. After realizing he couldn’t defeat me, he began to shake, his teeth chattering as he stuttered.

“Who… who are you…”

“That’s none of your business. Tell me everything you know about the Lunar Kill Technique, and I won’t put your life in danger.”

“The Lunar Kill Technique!”

Kojiro flinched, his expression tightening with wariness as he looked at me.

“How do you know that name…?”

“Don’t worry, I’m not after your Grimoire. I’m only chasing Miyamoto Musashi.

Then I lied, saying I was the elder of the Thunder God Lineage, had undergone a Half-Transition Master, and was tracking Miyamoto Musashi. Kojiro seemed to believe me without a hint of suspicion. Realistically, since my fist was close enough, he probably had no choice but to accept it, but nonetheless, it seemed he was willing to cooperate with me.

Kojiro spoke cautiously.

“That was the technique Musashi wanted the most. He called it his own, but it wasn’t actually his…”

“He wanted it the most?”

Something felt off. Didn’t Musashi boast about being Two Heavens One Style and having mastered the Lunar Kill Technique right in front of the Master of the White Lotus Sect? But as Kojiro continued speaking, I realized that a complex situation was unfolding here.

“One of his goals on the continent is to confirm the power of the Lunar Kill Technique that he restored through the Grimoire.”

“What do you mean? Restored it?”

“I’m not sure, but it seems Musashi’s martial arts have a distinct lineage. When I asked what it was called, he said it was the Lunar Kill Technique.

“……”

That was an unexpected fact.

‘Then… does the Two Heavens One Style that Musashi wields itself derive from the Grimoire and the Lunar Kill Technique? ‘

That would be ridiculous. I could immediately feel the tremendous genius of Musashi reaching another level. It wasn’t that Two Heavens One Style was separate; rather, it was directly derived from the Lunar Kill Technique!

‘Right… Musashi must have seen the genuine Lunar Kill Technique somewhere. This means he might not be the authentic successor.’

Feeling as though I had unraveled another riddle, I sighed and said.

“Got it. Now hand over the Grimoire.

At that moment, Kojiro’s expression changed completely.

“This is outrageous… I’ve shared all the information I could…”

I had no intention of holding back, so I clenched my fist and growled.

“Want to take a hit, or will you just hand it over?”

“Aaaah!!!”

In the end, Kojiro lost to me after a fight and fainted from the blows. I seized the Grimoire from the unconscious Musashi’s grasp and stuffed it into the Wooden Armor. Then, I used Teleportation to head towards the secret space of the Namgung Clan where Suspicious Fishhook was located. After throwing the Suspicious Fishhook into the Wooden Armor, I muttered.

‘It’s still not time.’

Having acquired the Suspicious Fishhook, I decided to do some more groundwork instead of attacking the Namgung Clan right away. I immediately used Teleportation to head underground to the Imperial Palace, where I swiftly took out the Crystal Stele and stuffed it into the Wooden Armor.

After retrieving the Crystal Stele, I tested whether Teleportation could break through the seal of the National Seal, but it was useless. The barrier was up, blocking our entry. I clicked my tongue in disappointment.

‘I need Cheon Woo-jin or Mangnyang to come here…’

Regrettably, I couldn’t get the National Seal right after reincarnating. I directly headed to the Inner Imperial Pavilion and quickly swiped the Nameless Ritual Book, right after, I made my way to the Prophet.

[What brings you here…]

As the Prophet stared at me quietly in the Great Temple, I waved my hand.

“Hello!”

[……?]

“I have a feeling that some odd fellow is going to come by soon. Help me figure out how to deal with it.”

Based on past experiences, this sneaky tactic seemed to be the easiest way to go.

[I don’t quite understand what you’re saying…]

“I’ll be at the entrance.”

I trudged outside the building. Staying inside might make Zhuge Bu suspicious, preventing him from coming. Intentionally, I took out the Nameless Ritual Book from the Wooden Armor to lure Zhuge Bu into using tracking magic to chase after me.

Pa-at!

As expected, Zhuge Bu was furious after having the Nameless Ritual Book snatched away and appeared right in front of me using tracking magic. He glared at me and spoke. He had already been brewing his magical aura to the max, white spiritual energy pouring out of him.

“Whoever you are, I’ll kill you on the spot! How dare you touch the Nameless Ritual Book…”

“Sorry, but wouldn’t it be easier to come in here if you had some guts?”

I provoked Zhuge Bu, casting Soul Removal Technique as I entered the temple. He immediately followed me, assaulting me with talismans, but I realized I couldn’t dodge some of that magic even with the Soul Removal Technique. His magical capabilities were so formidable that mere movement skills wouldn’t suffice to respond. I consequently had no choice but to employ the Three Treasure Technique to evade the barrage of talismans.

POP!

“You arrogant fool!”

Although dodging the talismans, which could blow one’s soul away on contact, seemed perilous, it wasn’t that intimidating for me. The level of my Soul Removal Technique had been honed through dozens of real battles, and compared to the fearsome techniques of peak experts, dodging Zhuge Bu’s talismans felt like child’s play.

How long did this back-and-forth last? The Prophet, who had been idly observing my confrontation with Zhuge Bu, seemed irritated and spoke up.

[How dare a mere human cause a ruckus in my territory…!!]

Wiying!

It seemed the Prophet cast a spell as bizarre patterns emerged around Zhuge Bu.

“Whoa. A High-level Otherworldly Race…”

Trapped in patterns clearly belonging to the Otherworldly Race, Zhuge Bu wore an expression of shock and swiftly activated the Starlight Separation Technique. Moments later, an overwhelming array of spells erupted, unleashing a torrent of soul-slicing magic, but the Prophet extended his tentacles as if mocking him, potent magic pooling at the tentacle’s tip.

[Insect! You dare to resist the will of the great race’s king?!]

In a split second, Zhuge Bu must have sensed the identity of the Prophet and screamed.

“Eek! Don’t tell me the Demon Sorcerer of Zhu Rong…”

That was Zhuge Bu’s end. Overconfident in his abilities capable of killing typical members of the Otherworldly Race, he foolishly chose a direct confrontation with the Prophet. In a blast, he vanished without a trace, and as Zhuge Bu‘s remnants fell like rain, the Prophet slowly turned his gaze towards me, seemingly contemplating killing me too. I smiled and said.

“Rather than killing me, how about making a deal?”

[A deal… Do you think I would make a deal with someone who lured that insect here?…]

“You will. I can tell you the whereabouts of two Grimoires and throw in the Nameless Ritual Book as a bonus.”

As I presented the Nameless Ritual Book, the atmosphere shifted.

[Oh…]

The Prophet’s killing intent visibly diminished. Then he spoke up.

[What is it that you desire…]

Confidently, I stated.

“The exact location of the sealing of Fire Spirit! And I want to know when the total solar eclipse is going to occur.”

 

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