Reincarnation Sword God

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Dark Heaven Village

After Mangnyang returned, he handed the White Feather Fan to Zhuge Sa. The fan was a treasure obtained from the corpse of Zhuge Bu.
“I don’t think I can practice sorcery or other things for a while.”
“Right. Things are going to get busier. For now, I’ll analyze the situation with this.”
“Please do.”
Indeed, Mangnyang needed to reorganize the Bancheon Alliance, strengthen the fight against the Imperial Palace, and solidify connections with the Zheng faction. Furthermore, to engage in power struggles amidst the three major factions, various trivial tasks would flood in. Thinking of Mangnyang’s hardships made my heart heavy.
‘In reality, Mangnyang would want to practice sorcery…’
Mangnyang was originally exceptionally bright and had become a master of Qimen Dunjia at a young age. However, due to his low innate power, he could hardly use sorcery. Even though an opportunity had arisen for him to greatly achieve sorcery, he couldn’t because he was working for me. In a way, Mangnyang was sacrificing his own chance for my sake.
Zhuge Sa unfolded the White Feather Fan and said,
“First, I want to lightly predict the future with this… but before that, you should try it.”
“Try it?”
“I mean to see if the White Feather Fan helps in practicing your Yin Qi.”
“Ah!”
Now that I thought about it, the White Feather Fan had the effect of permanently charging the user’s energy. It was a suggestion that leveraging its automatic recovery effect could significantly accelerate my Yin Qi training. I promptly took the White Feather Fan and began my training that very day.
However, the next day, when Cheon Woo-jin reviewed my energy conditions and assessed my training achievements, he shook his head.
“Useless as expected.”
“Does it have no effect?”
“The White Feather Fan is only for restoring a set amount of energy. It has no particular use for increasing one’s maximum power. If that were possible, Zhuge Bu’s sorcery would have already reached Dragon King level.”
Cheon Woo-jin continued,
“There are a few ways to see progress in Yin Qi or Taiyin Qi in a short time, but for now, focus on practicing sorcery.”
“Why?”
“You’ve become too accustomed to relying on fortuitous encounters. Sorcery is more complicated than martial arts, and without a solid foundation, you can’t use it properly. Even if a method exists to dramatically increase your overall strength right now, it would only be toxic for you.”
“Umm… Got it.”
That day, I spent the entire day with Cheon Woo-jin, reviewing the basics of sorcery theory. Unlike the lessons from Mangnyang and others, it was more focused on practical skills. I inwardly complained, saying it was certainly a genius’s training method, but surprisingly, Cheon Woo-jin’s instructions were quite easy to comprehend.
After that day’s training, when I reported the results to Zhuge Sa, he frowned in thought.
“I see.”
“Zhuge Sa, what should I do now? Am I supposed to train in sorcery for the next two years?”
“… It seems so.”
Zhuge Sa hesitated, holding up the White Feather Fan. Then he shouted.
“O White Feather Fan, show us the results of Baek Woong, who has diligently learned sorcery under Cheon Woo-jin for the next two years!”
“Wait…?!”
Is it really going to be shown to multiple people?!
Before I had the chance to be surprised, the scenery before me abruptly shifted.
Sssss–
I found myself sitting on the Jangryeong Valley cliff two years later.
‘Is this from my perspective?’
It seemed I had been meditating there all night. After a moment, as I opened my eyes and briefly halted my refinement of lunar energy, I heard a frustrated voice behind me.
“Damn it! That idiot only learned this much in two years?!”
It appeared I had been pretending not to hear Cheon Woo-jin’s anger.
“Stop being so annoying. Today is the day of departure.”
“If I had farmed for two years instead… Ugh, my time…”
Cheon Woo-jin was fuming and pacing angrily.
Zhuge Sa, beside him, said with a bored expression,
“Still, thanks to your diligent teaching, he has certainly graduated from the basics and entered intermediate sorcery. In the world, he could sufficiently perform exorcisms now.”
“If it were my older brother, he would have already challenged the Yuyue Gate by now! I can’t believe that a divine being like me taught so earnestly and he still can’t get off the ground!”
Cheon Woo-jin glared at me with frustration, then grabbed my collar, shaking me as he shouted,
“You idiot! You’re hopeless! Hopeless!!”
Still held by the collar, I grabbed Cheon Woo-jin’s collar in turn and yelled back.
“What of it!! I have no talent! Did you add anything to that?!”
“Hey, you jerk! I’m so annoyed, let’s just hit once and be done with it.”

“What nonsense are you spouting?!”
Finally, as we bickered while clutching each other’s collars, we ended up sparring, employing both martial and sorcery techniques. I deployed the Three Treasure Technique and martial arts against Cheon Woo-jin’s sorcery, but before long, perhaps because he had become stronger due to the Divine Fever, he sent me flying off the cliff with a single incantation.
“Rapid Release of Energy!”
Boom!
“Uwaaaah.”
As I plummeted from the cliff, I tried to use the Void Treading Technique to escape, but Cheon Woo-jin enhanced the gravity, accelerating my fall.
Bang!
When I crashed into the ground, Zhuge Sa approached, clearly annoyed, and made a remark.
“Hmm… Cheon Woo-jin is gone. But I suppose he didn’t kill you out of the affection from two years of teaching. Is this the blessing of the Great Immortal?”
“My… My arm is broken. My leg too…”
As I groaned, Zhuge Sa sighed.
“Hopeless…”
Paaah!
The future shown by the White Feather Fan ended. I sat in silence with Zhuge Sa.
“……”
“……”
Unlike what I had seen before, this was a close-range future, and with almost no variables, it was a realistic glimpse. No, if things continued this way, it would undoubtedly turn out like that. Zhuge Sa pressed his finger to his temple, seeming to have a headache.
“Surely with those dismal talents, two years is not enough, was it? I wish Master Mangnyang had lent Cheon Woo-jin for a bit longer.”
“Damn… If hard work yields such results, what’s the point?”
I lamented with a sense of despair. The problem with this foresight was that it resulted from the assumption that ‘I practiced diligently.’ In other words, if I ignored this foresight and practiced diligently anyway, the outcome would hardly differ. Then Zhuge Sa smirked wryly.
“You’ve fallen into the trap of the White Feather Fan.”
“What? A trap? Are you saying the future I just saw was a lie?”
“No. The future shown by the White Feather Fan has a very high potential to be true. However, the reason this foresight ultimately holds no use is because of the property that ‘it changes the moment it is observed.'”
Zhuge Sa elaborated leisurely.
“Since you saw this foresight, you will likely change your actions. The moment you decide to do that, the foresight is altered. Even if you acted exactly the same, the outcomes would change.”
“What? Is that really true?”
“Yes. Therefore, the Zhuge clan and Zhuge Bu, who originally possessed the White Feather Fan, wouldn’t be able to predict our actions. Even if they introduce variables, the moment they observe, that future changes… It ends up being just an amusing toy.”
“……”
“The reason this treasure is so useless is precisely because it lacks the power to alter the Law of Cause and Effect. Reading the branches of the future without the power to change the Law of Cause and Effect is meaningless.”
I asked in confusion,
“Why did Zhuge Muhou create a treasure with such a useless function?”
“Everyone has a desire to predict and read the future. Moreover, Zhuge Muhou knew that if he died soon, Shu Han would perish, so he probably hoped that the advisor succeeding him would refine strategies using the White Feather Fan. In reality, the true function of this White Feather Fan is not future prediction, but closer to warnings and summarizing insights.”
“Hm…”
“Anyway, it turned out to be useful this time. You’ve gained direction to change your actions.”
With that, Zhuge Sa stated,
“Alright. Unlike predicting the future, let’s act. Since it’s come to this, let’s first seek a fortuitous encounter to enhance our Taiyin power.”
“What?! Won’t that hinder my growth?” Cheon Woo-jin said…
“That’s mistaken; the answer was just shown by the White Feather Fan, right? Don’t you understand? Avoid the wrong answers.”
“Ah…”
Zhuge Sa’s eyes sparkled.
“The blessing of Zhongli Quan may not last long. You realized it this time, right? Even that blessing couldn’t prevent the meeting of the three factions. Once swept up in the great currents of the world, that blessing becomes meaningless. So let’s gather as much fortuitous encounter as possible.”
“Understood.”
I relayed Zhuge Sa’s words to Cheon Woo-jin. He nodded as if understanding.
“Phew, what a relief. I could avoid teaching that idiot for two whole years…”
A surge of frustration rose within me, but I barely held it back, saying,
“Don’t fan the flames in a burning house, just teach me how to enhance my Yin Qi.”
“Sure.”
Cheon Woo-jin pointed beyond the horizon with his finger.
“First, you should capture a monster with Yin Qi somewhere. Absorb its power and grow stronger.”
“Ooh!”
“You already know where such a monster is, right?”
“Eh? Where’s such a monster?”
“There are all kinds of monsters in the world, but Yin Qi belongs to the Three Sovereigns and Zhuge Wook’s domain. Only his direct subordinates or bloodline will possess it.”
“……”
My complexion turned pale.
“M… Ten Thousand Ghosts Palace.”
“Right. You should capture the spirits of the Ten Thousand Ghosts Palace. Or perhaps the divine beings associated with it…”
“You’ve got to be kidding! How would I catch that?!”
I screamed out loud.
Of course, I knew where the Ten Thousand Ghosts Palace was and how to get there. However, the spirits of the Ten Thousand Ghosts Palace were on a different level from ordinary spirits, with each one being a Great Immortal level existence. Let alone, the one managing those spirits, like Peng Zuo, was an entity of the same caliber. Catching them was impossible, and even if I did, Zhuge Wook would surely become enraged and hunt me down.
Cheon Woo-jin shrugged.
“Did I tell you to practice for nothing? Naturally, it was because it was an unrealistic method that I didn’t mention it. Anyway, I just said it regardless of its feasibility.”
“Ugh… What’s the second method?”
“The second method is to acquire treasures or artifacts that contain Yin Qi.”
I thought for a moment after hearing Cheon Woo-jin’s statement before replying.
“That would also be related to Zhuge Wook, right?”
“Well, it can’t be helped. It would at least have to be an artifact from the Mythological Age, or a case where someone summoned Zhuge Wook in history and directly received treasures from him.”
“Hm… That would be the ‘demand,’ right?”
Cheon Woo-jin shook his head.
“It’s in an unreleased state. When you showed me the demand last time, we already confirmed whether it can extract Yin Qi. In an unreleased state, it’s like putting a lock on the door; no matter how much the demand is a product of Zhuge Wook, you can’t extract the powers only from it.”
“I see… Uh…”
Wait? While demand might be out of the question, I feel like I’m missing something?
I tilted my head in contemplation, but Cheon Woo-jin continued.
“The third method is to change your training location to one that will give you the energy of the Taiyin.”
“Huh? What do you mean?”
“Where is this place?”
“Jangryeong Valley.”
Cheon Woo-jin nodded.
“Jangryeong Valley is a place with very low energy concentration. Comparatively, the Celestial Realm is extremely high in spiritual energy, with dense energies in the air.”
“Are you suggesting I train in the Celestial Realm?”
“Of course. In the past, your older brother once ascended above the Earth Immortal realm. During that time, he built up spiritual energy under the protection of the Heavenly Mysterious Woman while in the Celestial Realm. The effect can be considered dozens, if not hundreds of times greater than training on the ground.”
I frowned.
“… You mean I should pass the Yuyue Gate.”
“That’s right.”
Cheon Woo-jin responded, chuckling for some reason.
“Hehe… But to pass through the Yuyue Gate, you’d need to be among the top sorcerers of the Central Plains—a task that’s quite daunting for someone still fumbling with the basics.”
“……”
He wasn’t wrong. After all, the Yuyue Gate was the largest gateway in the sorcery realm, where sorcerers risk their honor as rogue path practitioners to challenge it. I had been so often faced with Great Immortals that I hadn’t fully realized its significance; passing through the Yuyue Gate to become Earth Immortal would ultimately make someone a powerful spiritual being that humans could hardly look up to.
It was impossible with my current skills. As I strained my mind, I spoke up.
“Do I really need to pass through the Yuyue Gate? I just need to enter the Celestial Realm, right?”
Then Cheon Woo-jin responded despondently.
“I see you’re still making ridiculous plans. If you want to die, go ahead. The attention of the Celestial Realm will mean even the Master of the White Lotus Sect wouldn’t survive an invasion.”
“Damn it.”
“So what will you do? Now that I’ve witnessed the future shown by the White Feather Fan, I’ve lost all desire to teach you.”
“Wait.”
There has to be a way.
There has to be something I can do…
With burning impatience, I racked my brain. All the adjustments that were suggested were absurdly difficult and if this continues, I’d really have to commit to 250 years of training. Even with my nearly infinite reincarnations, I couldn’t live like that.
Then suddenly, something popped into my head.
“Ah! Wait a minute!”
I frantically rummaged through the wooden armor. Then I pulled out a single item and held it out to Cheon Woo-jin.
“What about this?!”
“……!!”
Cheon Woo-jin took the item and examined it, looking amazed.
“This… I hadn’t thought of this!”
“Using this, I can gain Yin Qi, right?”
Cheon Woo-jin opened his Spirit Eye to sense the energy and replied.
“Yeah. It should be enough. I just don’t know how much energy remains…”
I grinned.
“Ha-ha!”
The item in Cheon Woo-jin’s hand was none other than the statue of Zhuge Wook.
‘In the first place, it was of sufficient value to exchange for Great Immortals!’
The demand’s ruins, particularly the most profound of them, was the statue of Zhuge Wook! My prediction that this ancient statue created in the past would surely contain Yin Qi was proving to be true.