Survival Guide for the Reincarnated

Chapter 466

“The head of the Jin family over there seems to be having some trouble grasping the situation.”Unhwi gave a faint laugh.

“I didn’t think that would be the case. But now I see Chief Seong was right.”

He turned his head.

He looked at Jin Muhang.

“The Jin family still doesn’t understand the situation. Unfortunately.”

Jin Muhang drew a sharp breath.

He tried to say something.

Then—

Unhwi threw the head in his hand.

Indifferently.

As though discarding something he no longer needed.

The head flew through the air.

Fell to the ground.

Rolled over and over.

Then stopped at Jin Muhang’s feet.

Seok Junseo’s face stared upward.

His eyes were closed.

His expression was more peaceful than expected.

But that was not what mattered.

A Harmony realm master.

And not just any master, but Tyrant Heaven Blade Supreme Seok Junseo, who had burned with the desire for revenge—

had died at the hands of that young man barely past twenty.

Jin Muhang stared down at Seok Junseo’s head for a long time.

“It is a gift.”

At Unhwi’s calm words, Jin Muhang lifted his head.

He looked at Unhwi.

He was covered in blood.

Covered in wounds.

One arm hung unnaturally at his side.

He was a wreck.

But his eyes were intact.

No.

More than intact.

They were clear.

Transparent.

They were not the eyes of someone who had just killed a Harmony realm master.

And something...

...was strange.

Usually, a martial artist who had gained “enlightenment” changed in some way.

And that change normally lasted several days.

To Jin Muhang’s eyes, Unhwi’s current state looked exactly like that of a martial artist who had gained enlightenment.

This was not only Jin Muhang’s impression.

Chief Seong beside him thought the same.

So did the two women.

Unhwi slowly continued.

“There was a knot I had to untie with Senior Seok.”

“...And?”

“I untied it.”

Unhwi jerked his chin toward the head at Jin Muhang’s feet.

“As you can see.”

“...”

“Likewise, there is a knot between us that must be untied as well, is there not?”

Jin Muhang closed his mouth.

Unhwi took one step closer.

“I will give you a choice.”

“...”

“First. Apologize as I demanded in the letter I sent, and never come near Yellow Sand Pass again.”

“...What is the second?”

“Your family will be destroyed.”

Unhwi’s answer came without the slightest hesitation.

All of Yellow Sand Pass fell silent.

Jin Muhang’s body trembled.

He nearly kicked off the ground.

Barely, he held on to the last thread of reason.

“You bastard... just because you have a mouth, you dare run it so recklessly—”

“If you think I cannot do it.”

Unhwi cut him off.

“Then that is a grave mistake.”

His gaze turned cold.

“How the Tyrant Blade Sect was destroyed, and how Senior Seok’s head came to be here—after seeing both with your own eyes, do you still think it a mistake?”

Jin Muhang ground his teeth.

“...No matter how strong you are, the Jin family has two hundred years of history—”

“There are many sects in the martial world with two hundred years of history.”

“...”

“And destruction can happen overnight. In fact, many sects have disappeared that way. You could call it a kind of cycle.”

Jin Muhang’s fists clenched.

“I do not know the details, but the Tyrant Blade Sect... likely had four hundred years of history.”

“...”

“Unfortunately, it was destroyed in less than a day. And now its bloodline has dried up.”

They were plain facts.

When Jin Muhang said nothing, Unhwi tossed out a question.

“Will you ask Alliance Leader Gun Mugeol for help?”

“...”

“Please do. Ask him for help.”

“...”

“However, there is one thing you should know.”

Unhwi raised a finger.

“This matter was ordered by Gun Mugeol.”

Jin Muhang’s face hardened.

“Pressure Red Spirit Court. Cut off the trade route at Yellow Sand Pass. That was Gun Mugeol’s order.”

Again, Jin Muhang did not answer.

If he answered here that this was true, then he would become the center of the entire incident, and that itself would become a justification.

A justification for what?

War between the Blood Heaven Sect and the Murim Alliance.

Even if it did not actually happen, once the situation existed to raise that justification, countless large and small incidents would break out around it.

As the man leading the Jin family, Jin Muhang did not wish to step that far into the center of things.

“I understand your silence. But it seems you and I are thinking a little differently.”

“...What?”

“If what I say is true, then will Gun Mugeol truly protect the Jin family?”

“...What do you mean?”

“I mean exactly what I said.”

Unhwi drew the True Fire Heavenly Spirit Sword and planted it in the ground.

“In my view, the Jin family is a Go stone placed on the front line.”

“...”

“And once its use is finished, it will be discarded.”

“...What use?”

“Senior Jin, you probably do not know what Gun Mugeol truly wants.”

There were reasons anyone could think of.

Establishing justification.

Preserving face.

Things like that.

But at the voice transmission that came immediately after, Jin Muhang swallowed hard.

—Gun Mugeol owes me a debt.

“...”

—I raised him to the pinnacle, and I have yet to receive the price for it. An ordinary man would repay that grace. But Gun Mugeol is not ordinary.

Jin Muhang glared at Unhwi.

He knew.

He knew Gun Mugeol had recently reached the pinnacle.

And Unhwi had been there as well.

That same day, the Tyrant Blade Sect had been destroyed.

So much had happened that a man would have to be blind not to know of it.

And how had Unhwi been evaluated by the world before now?

Now he was called Blood Heaven Arbiter, the practical second-in-command of the Blood Heaven Sect, and so on.

But before that, he had been something else.

A genius of Go.

An unprecedented monster who could raise an opponent’s realm simply by playing Go with them.

As Jin Muhang thought that, Unhwi’s voice transmission reached his ear again.

—If I die, Gun Mugeol will be freed from his martial artist’s debt of grudges and ties. If you believe Seok Junseo’s arrival was a coincidence, and that the Jin family pressuring Yellow Sand Pass is also all coincidence, then remain a Go stone and be destroyed.

“...”

—In the end, there is only one choice.

Jin Muhang squeezed his eyes shut.

Things he had not seen before began to come into view.

Why Gun Mugeol still called the Five Great Families the Five Great Families after the Tyrant Blade Sect had vanished.

What intention Gun Mugeol held.

—To be honest, I do not wish to let this affair become so tiresome either.

Unhwi’s eyes gleamed.

—Anyone who knows even a little of Gun Mugeol’s hidden side may be useful to me later.

—...Is that so?

—Yes. But the advantage must be made clear. It is a very unfortunate fact for you, Senior Jin, but I now stand in a position where I have no choice but to keep my word. When I said I would destroy your family, it was absolutely not a bluff.

—...

—If I must do it, I will.

—...You bastard...

—Even if my words sound offensive to you, the situation does not change. That is why I am creating a way out for you now.

—...

—Today, preserve my face.

Jin Muhang closed his mouth.

The conversation through voice transmission struck him as a considerable shock.

The situation had already been created.

The question was how he would act here.

Jin Muhang drew a breath.

Then he opened his mouth.

His voice was low.

“Blood Heaven Arbiter Seol Unhwi. It is true that our Jin family pressured Yellow Sand Pass, but this was solely the will of the Jin family.”

“Is that so?”

“It had nothing to do with Alliance Leader Gun. We have already paid the price for what we attempted.”

“You lost a Manifestation of the Boundless master.”

“Under such circumstances, must I go so far as to kneel?”

Unhwi spoke firmly.

“Kneeling is a humiliation. I acknowledge that.”

“...”

“But destruction is the end.”

Unhwi’s eyes turned cold.

“Humiliation can be washed away. But the end cannot be undone.”

“...”

“Do you want the Jin family, with its two hundred years of history, to end here?”

Jin Muhang trembled.

“Would it not be better to kneel once and protect the Jin family’s future?”

“...”

“If you are the family head, protecting the family comes first.”

Unhwi spoke one final time.

“Pride comes after.”

Silence descended.

It was long.

The wind blew.

Sand swept across the pass.

Jin Muhang looked down at Seok Junseo’s head at his feet.

Jin Muhang was an early-stage Harmony realm master.

Could he defeat an opponent that late-stage Seok Junseo had failed to overcome?

No.

And behind Unhwi was the Blood Heaven Sect.

The Heaven’s Will Alliance.

The Soul-Killing Gate of the Great Desert.

Could the Jin family face all of them?

No.

And Gun Mugeol.

Even if Jin Muhang asked for help, nothing would come back to him.

Seol Unhwi was right.

Whether this side lost or that side lost, Gun Mugeol would smile.

The Jin family was alone.

A Go stone.

A disposable piece.

They had been used.

Jin Muhang closed his eyes.

Two hundred years.

Two hundred years of history.

That weight crushed down on his shoulders.

But that very weight was what forced his knees to bend.

To protect two hundred years of history.

As the family head.

Slowly.

Jin Muhang knelt.

Thud.

On the sand of Yellow Sand Pass.

A stir ran through the surroundings.

The Jin family martial artists were horrified.

“F-Family Head...!”

Jin Muhang lowered his head.

“...I apologize.”

His voice was low.

It trembled.

But it was clear.

“The Jin family... will never come near Yellow Sand Pass again.”

“...”

“Is that... sufficient?”

Looking down at Jin Muhang, Unhwi said,

“It is sufficient. Please rise.”

Jin Muhang slowly stood.

Sand clung to his knees.

The sand of Yellow Sand Pass.

Once it clung, it did not come off easily.

Chief Seong saw it.

He said nothing.

He did not laugh either.

This was not an atmosphere where laughter belonged.

Unhwi spoke briefly.

“Leave.”

—You preserved my face. Later, I will give aid to the Jin family.

At the voice transmission that reached him at the same time, Jin Muhang lifted his head.

He had knelt.

He had protected his family, avoided Gun Mugeol’s petty trick, and received a promise of aid from a man named Unhwi.

In that case...

It was absolutely not a loss.

Of course, he understood the intention.

Just as Gun Mugeol had used the Jin family as a Go stone, Unhwi intended to use them as a Go stone as well.

But this was poisoned wine he had no choice but to drink.

If he did not drink, he would die.

Without saying anything, Jin Muhang turned around.

He walked toward the Jin family martial artists.

“...Withdraw.”

It was a brief order.

The martial artists stirred.

But it was the order of the family head.

In an instant, they finished organizing themselves.

The Jin family party began to move.

Westward.

Back the way they had come.

Dust rose.

They grew farther and farther away.

Then disappeared.

Silence settled over Yellow Sand Pass.

Unhwi remained standing there.

“Cough...!”

He vomited blood.

His knees buckled.

Chief Seong caught him before he could collapse.

“Young Master!”

“...I’m fine.”

“You are not fine!”

To Chief Seong, who was left speechless, Unhwi whispered,

“Somewhere without watching eyes.”

Chief Seong nodded and led Unhwi toward the command tent.

As he walked, Unhwi murmured,

“Chief Seong.”

“...Yes, Young Master.”

“Did you see the sand on his knees?”

“...Yes. I saw it.”

“I heard it doesn’t come off easily.”

“...Yes. It does not come off easily.”

Unhwi laughed faintly.

Chief Seong laughed too.

Both of them drenched in blood.