Chapter 1 - The Third-Rate Warrior Who Remembers Everything

Amidst a mountain range soaring through the clouds, at the edge of a sharp, sheer cliff, a small man sat hunched over.

The man was looking wistfully at the silently drifting white clouds.

"... Huh?"

Then, the man's eyebrows raised, and the words that left his mouth lingered in the air.

"Yong Soah... No, should I call you the Supreme Clarity Divine Sword now? To think such a noble personage came all the way here."

As soon as the man's words ended, a man in a spotless, pure white martial robe appeared before him from thin air using an elusive movement technique.

TAP.

The man called the Supreme Clarity Divine Sword asked the man in a deep voice that matched his dignified appearance.

"Are you Jin Sowoon, Captain of the Minor Orthodox Unit?"

"Captain, Captain, huh..."

The man called Jin Sowoon asked while still looking at the clouds.

"... Did everyone in the Minor Orthodox Unit die?"

"..."

"Then I suppose I am the Captain. If not, then I'm not."

"... I asked if you are Jin Sowoon."

"You must have sought me out knowing who I am, so why bother asking?"

At Jin Sowoon's words, the Supreme Clarity Divine Sword drew his sword.

"I came because there is something I must take back."

"..."

"..."

Jin Sowoon, who had raised his head to look at the Supreme Clarity Divine Sword, shifted his gaze back to the clouds floating before his eyes.

Despite the obvious killing intent, Jin Sowoon's voice could not have been more relaxed.

"Didn't I restore all the lost records of the Murim Alliance?"

"There are many records you should not possess."

"Most of what I restored for you should be useless records and data, though?"

"I know that you remember the data from the Simhyeon Pavilion."

"..."

Simhyeon Pavilion.

The archive where all the highest-grade secrets of the Murim Alliance were gathered.

The deepest part of the Murim Alliance, which only the Murim Alliance Leader, the Chief Strategist, and a designated few could look into.

It was the driving force that made the Supreme Clarity Divine Sword, the current Murim Alliance Leader, move all the way here.

Jin Sowoon spoke in a dejected voice.

"Fucking bastards, I told them I wouldn't look at it. I knew I would meet my end like this."

"..."

"Right... Did you come all the way here from the North Sea just to kill a single third-rate warrior? Avoiding the eyes of the Demonic Cult bastards?"

"For the justice of Jianghu, because it is a matter that must be dealt with more definitively than anything else."

Jin Sowoon chuckled bitterly and nodded.

"What happened to the guys in our Minor Orthodox Unit?"

"I do not know."

"Heh. I suppose so. From the very beginning, useless runts like us were nothing more than tools to you."

"It was all for the greater good..."

The fucking greater good.

That empty greater good, which drove us into the land of death.

Jin Sowoon's voice was filled with thick sarcasm.

"Did you prosper in the North Sea with that precious greater good of yours?"

The tip of the Supreme Clarity Divine Sword's blade trembled.

The master of Jianghu changed, and the Murim Alliance perished.

The key figures of the Murim Alliance fled to the North Sea and were barely maintaining their existence.

COUGH.

As Sowoon's small body heaved and leaned toward the Supreme Clarity Divine Sword, the Supreme Clarity Divine Sword stepped aside slightly.

The hem of his spotless, pure white martial robe retreated as well.

Jin Sowoon looked at the Supreme Clarity Divine Sword and sneered.

"Right, you must have failed in the end."

"The Murim Alliance will establish a base in Murim once again."

"Even though I belonged to the Murim Alliance, I pray such a terrible world never comes."

"... You have been tainted by the Demonic Cult."

In the instant the Supreme Clarity Divine Sword tried to sever his neck with a single strike.

FLINCH!

As if feeling the presence of a ghost behind his back, the Supreme Clarity Divine Sword shuddered and whipped his head around like lightning.

It was the appearance of a figure he never imagined would show up here.

"... How is he here!"

The Supreme Clarity Divine Sword glared back at Jin Sowoon.

"Had you already been colluding with the Demonic Cult?"

Jin Sowoon leisurely turned his head and stared at a single spot.

"Well, why would a big shot like him move for someone like me? It must be a coincidence."

"..."

"Anyway, do you plan on staying here?"

As soon as Jin Sowoon finished speaking, the Supreme Clarity Divine Sword kicked off the ground and vanished.

However, he did not leave entirely, instead settling on a peak overlooking the cliff.

A moment later, the sound of footsteps could be heard.

STEP. STEP.

This time, a man in a black martial robe was slowly approaching Jin Sowoon.

Jin Sowoon spoke without turning around.

"Black Lion Kwak Gung."

At Jin Sowoon's call, the man named Kwak Gung could not hide his surprise.

Even though his back was clearly turned.

"How did you know?"

"There are strangely many guests today. Especially when the weather is this nice."

"I asked how you knew."

"The Blood Death Dance, the exclusive footwork of the Demonic Cult's Young Cult Master, contains a secret principle that allows one to advance in all eight directions by twisting the third step."

Kwak Gung let out a gasp of astonishment.

"Hah, have we met before?"

"There was a time when our Minor Orthodox Unit stood as a meat shield to block the Heavenly Demon Black Sword Squad. Do you remember?"

"Heh, well. Back then, everyone in the Murim Alliance was nothing but a meat shield to us. Anyway, they said you remember everything in the world, and it is indeed surprising."

"It is a useless talent for a martial artist."

Kwak Gung's gaze turned to the Supreme Clarity Divine Sword, who was standing haughtily on the peak and looking in their direction.

"So the Murim Alliance came to save you? From the North Sea all the way here?"

At Kwak Gung's question, Jin Sowoon shook his head.

"He said there was something he had to take from me."

"?"

An appearance that didn't look like he possessed even a single tael of silver, no matter how one looked at it.

"What is it?"

"This insignificant head of mine."

Kwak Gung clicked his tongue, looking at the peak as if he understood.

"Tsk, I heard the Minor Orthodox Unit tried to keep you alive until the end because you held everything about the Murim Alliance in your head?"

"That wasn't it... They said it was because I wanted to live the most."

Jin Sowoon muttered to himself, "Foolish bastards."

"What tear-jerking comradeship."

At Kwak Gung's words, a fire lit in Jin Sowoon's eyes.

"They are not people a demonic practitioner like you can speak of so lightly."

"How amusing."

Even though Jin Sowoon scattered his killing intent, Kwak Gung did not react. Instead, he seemed to be challenging him to do more if he could.

However, soon after, as if his aura had drained, Jin Sowoon withdrew his killing intent.

"... Do you desire the same thing as the Supreme Clarity Divine Sword? I could give you everything about the Murim Alliance right now while the Supreme Clarity Divine Sword is watching."

"What value does such information hold for the current Holy Cult?"

"... That is true. Then why did you go out of your way to come here?"

"I came to catch the Captain of the Minor Orthodox Unit, the most persistent enemy of our Holy Cult."

Jin Sowoon nodded a couple of times.

At Jin Sowoon's calm attitude, Kwak Gung could not hide his bewilderment.

"Are you not afraid?"

"... Would a person whose life was hell fear death?"

"You wanted to live so badly, yet your life ended up being hell?"

"You are competent, are you not. Try imagining a life where you remember everything. A life where you only remember countless deaths and defeats..."

After pausing for a moment, Kwak Gung nodded.

"Hmm. You must have lived a grueling life."

"Kuhuhu."

"What's so funny?"

"A demonic bastard I despised is pitying me, how could I not laugh?"

"You may take pride in it. You of the Minor Orthodox Unit were the most persistent enemies of the Holy Cult."

"To think third-rate warriors abandoned by the Murim Alliance would be acknowledged by the Demonic Cult; the destruction of the Murim Alliance was destined all along."

After hesitating for a moment, Jin Sowoon opened his mouth.

"But I am curious. Why did the Young Cult Master come in person to catch a single third-rate warrior? Did you know the Supreme Clarity Divine Sword was coming?"

Kwak Gung pointed at Jin Sowoon's hand, as if he had no interest in the Supreme Clarity Divine Sword, the Murim Alliance Leader, who was nearby.

"That bracelet you are wearing."

Jin Sowoon lowered his head and looked at the jade-colored bracelet.

A jade-colored bracelet engraved with a bizarre dragon pattern.

It did not match his shabby clothing at all.

"That is a sacred artifact of the Holy Cult."

"... Is that so?"

Jin Sowoon raised his arm and observed the bracelet closely.

His eyes were filled with longing, as if recalling something.

The countless lives that faded away, the things they achieved in exchange for their lives.

"When we caught the Guardian Dharma King..."

I thought the Murim Alliance, and the world, would change.

Truly, how foolish.

Jin Sowoon soon let out a snort, as if mocking himself.

"Do you have any last words? If you die by the hands of a member of the Holy Cult, the Demon God will grant you a wish."

"Heh, seeing that you draw faith from such nonsensical doctrine, it truly is a group of lunatics."

"Because our god is real."

"A wish, huh... Right, in my next life, I want to be born in a world without the Murim Alliance that abandoned us and the Heavenly Demon Holy Cult that killed us."

"My, you wish for something truly difficult. For the world now belongs to the Heavenly Demon Holy Cult."

Jin Sowoon's body floated into the air and was pulled right into Kwak Gung's grasp.

'Ghk.'

Soon after, Jin Sowoon felt Kwak Gung's demonic qi flowing into his entire body.

The pain of his nerves being torn to shreds and his joints being shattered to pieces.

'Ah, what a life full of regrets. I pray the karma of this life ends with this life.'

His senses slowly began to fade, and the world grew dark.

* * *

"... That definitely happened."

I definitely died.

I always had a good memory, but the memories of that day when I met my death are particularly clear, so much so that I can even remember the smell of the wind.

So, that bastard definitely showed up and killed...

My lower back itched, so I reached out my hand.

SCRATCH. SCRATCH.

A refreshing coolness, a sensation far too vivid.

"What the hell is going on here?"

To my bewilderment, having died by the hands of Black Lion Kwak Gung, I had returned to my nineteen-year-old self from a whopping thirty years ago.

Not as Jin Sowoon of the Murim Alliance's Minor Orthodox Unit.

But to the days when I was Jin Sowoon of the Taiyi Sect.

Not in the era where the Heavenly Demon Holy Cult had turned the world upside down.

But to the days when the Murim Alliance ruled Jianghu.

"Was that talk about a wish true?"

I recall the last conversation I had with Kwak Gung.

I never thought that worthless little god, no different from some cult idol, would actually grant my wish...

Did it actually work?

"But... truly fitting for a Demon God, he doesn't fucking listen properly to what people say."

I said 'I want to be born in a world without the Murim Alliance and the Heavenly Demon Holy Cult'... To think he'd send me back to before that hellish Orthodox-Demonic Great War broke out.

As expected, whether it's the Demonic Cult, demonic practitioners, or the Demon God, I shouldn't associate with anything that has the word 'demon' in it.

"Phew..."

I regained my youth, but I am not pleased at all.

The hellish reality that will unfold over the next thirty years remains vivid in my mind, and I am still just a disciple of the Taiyi Sect who will become a second-rate warrior at best.

The fact that I returned to the past like this doesn't exactly look like a signal telling me to save the world.

"If that were the case, he should have at least given me some special ability or attached the soul of Ancestor Zhang Sanfeng to me, right?"

Fucking Demon God.

In the future, the Heavenly Demon Holy Cult will return.

No, the Heavenly Demon Holy Cult has already returned. It's just that no one knows it except me.

The Murim Alliance, which absolutely believed in its own power, gets swept away like falling leaves in the autumn wind.

Those who believed in that Murim Alliance get swept away along with it.

My sect, the Taiyi Sect, also believed in the Murim Alliance.

So they got swept away together. Damn it.

"The memories alone are painful, yet I have to watch those terrible scenes again?"

Putting together everything that has happened to me up to this point, I reached a single conclusion.

So, in a word—

"I'm screwed."

For some reason, I get the feeling that the Demon God bastard is snickering at my pathetic state from somewhere.

Why? Because I would've wanted to do the same if I were in the Demon God's shoes.