Chapter 2: Reading a Book a Hundred Times Reveals Its Meaning (1)
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 2: Reading a Book a Hundred Times Reveals Its Meaning (1)
A man was dead.
And it had only taken a single touch.
Is this… the Heavenly Killing Star?
It was an absurd, terrifying power.
As the cold reality of what he’d done washed over him, Yeon So-wol emptied his stomach onto the dirt. It wasn’t so much guilt as it was a raw, physiological revulsion that twisted his insides into knots.
“Hoo… hoo.”
Even after the heaving stopped, he struggled to soothe his churning gut. His mind raced.
“...Don’t tell me. Do I really have to get used to this? Here?”
According to the common knowledge left behind by the spirits lingering in his mind, the answer was a resounding yes.
This world, the ‘Jianghu,’ was a place where…
You would see corpses.
You could become a corpse.
And you would make corpses.
It was a world where such horrors were a daily occurrence. This was the reality Yeon So-wol had to inhabit from now on.
“What kind of madness is this…”
It was horrifying. Utterly horrifying.
But the most terrifying realization of all…
…was that he still wanted to live.
He wanted to see what else life had to offer. This time, he didn’t want to be screwed over by fate. This time, he wanted his efforts to mean something. He just wanted to live one normal, sensible life.
The thought made his chest tighten with a painful ache.
“This is driving me crazy…”
Yeon So-wol looked down at his trembling hand.
“This power… will I have to keep using it?”
The Jianghu didn’t seem like the kind of place that allowed for peace. To survive, to avoid being wronged, he might have to keep killing. He might have to discard human lives as if they were mere ragdolls.
Just like I did just now.
Swallowing back a fresh wave of nausea, Yeon So-wol forced himself to look around.
The Skeleton Old Man.
The Old Monk with a Broken Neck.
Two corpses lay before him. Instinctively, he recalled what he had to do next.
“Crazy…”
The thought made him feel disgusted with himself.
“Hah. Still, what must be done, must be done.”
He steeled his heart. Slowly, he approached the bodies and began to search their clothes.
“Ugh.”
The body, not yet stiff with rigor mortis, felt disturbingly soft beneath his touch. He gagged several times but stubbornly pressed on.
Just do it. Get it over with. You want to live, don’t you?
He searched the Old Monk first. There wasn't much. He took a change of clothes and shoes from the monk’s travel pack and swapped them for his own. His modern attire was far too conspicuous for this world.
Next, he turned to the Skeleton Old Man. The man’s lower half was soaked in waste, so Yeon So-wol searched carefully, avoiding the mess.
The Skeleton Old Man yielded a significant haul.
“...This is gold, and this is silver, I assume. And this… a jewel?”
From a pouch tied to the man’s waist, he pulled out gold ingots, silver ingots, and a fingernail-sized bead. The ingots were boat-shaped, one-tael lumps—about the size of a small chocolate—that fit snugly in his palm. Their flat bottoms and raised ends made them easy to stack.
Three gold ingots.
Seven silver ingots.
Three red beads.
Yeon So-wol dredged up the fragments of memory left by the spirits. Just the gold and silver alone were a fortune, enough for a common farmer to live comfortably for years without working. He had no idea what the beads were worth, but their deep luster suggested they were incredibly valuable.
He took the entire pouch and tied it securely to the inside of his waistband, hidden from sight. The heavy weight against his skin was a constant, tense reminder.
“It’s good to have money, but… I have to be careful.”
In a lawless place like the Jianghu, this kind of wealth was a magnet for disaster.
Yeon So-wol swallowed hard and continued his search. As he felt around the Skeleton Old Man’s chest, his fingers brushed against a wooden box.
“This is…”
The object triggered a specific memory.
‘Finally, Shaolin’s Great Restoration Pill is in my hands.’
That was what the Skeleton Old Man had hissed after crushing the Old Monk’s neck.
“What is this thing that… Ugh!”
As he spoke, jagged shards of memory stabbed into his brain—remnants of the spirits that had vanished into his body.
「It’s an elixir. It must only be consumed when one is in peak condition.」
「A treasure of the highest order.」
「If only I had a legendary elixir like the Great Restoration Pill…」
「Hand it over!」
「My martial arts are superior! If only I had the internal energy to back it up!」
「Aaaaargh!」
Within the static-filled memories, voices filled with greed, the flash of blades, and dying screams flickered past his eyes.
“Ugh.”
Yeon So-wol bit his lip against the roiling sensation in his chest. He had nothing left to throw up.
“Hoo. Right. So, this is an unparalleled treasure for these ‘martial artists.’ Something that can make you powerful in an instant.”
Click.
He opened the wooden box.
Inside lay a perfectly ordinary-looking round pill. It belied its grand reputation; if he hadn't known better, he would have mistaken it for a common herbal remedy.
“...It’s probably better to learn some martial arts and prepare my body before eating it, rather than just swallowing it now.”
Yeon So-wol looked up at the sky. The rift he had fallen through was gone, replaced by a smooth, flawless blue, as if the heavens had never been torn open.
“I won’t be able to go home.”
The sky he fell from was impossibly distant. This wasn’t just medieval China; it was an entirely different world. A world where ghosts were real and where ‘martial arts’—the ability to transcend human limits by cultivating Qi—was a tangible reality.
A sudden, sharp fear gripped him. He felt as though he were standing alone on the edge of a celestial cliff.
Yeon So-wol shivered. He clutched the Great Restoration Pill tightly. He forced his voice out, making a vow to the empty air.
“Then… I’ll become… a martial artist.”
They were also called the people of the Jianghu. They possessed power that surpassed ordinary humans, allowing them to walk freely even in this dangerous world. In other words, they were the ones who could live without being stepped on.
It won’t be easy, though.
Yeon So-wol was already nineteen. Even back on Earth, elite athletes started their training in elementary school. It was safe to assume that martial arts, which dealt with mystical energies, required an even earlier start.
It’s like a high school senior suddenly deciding he’s going to be a pro soccer player…
But, as if by fate, the Great Restoration Pill was in his hands. A legendary elixir that could overhaul one’s constitution and grant immense power—provided one had the martial foundation to handle it.
And I have the power of the Heavenly Killing Star.
The power that had instantly felled a monstrously strong old man. Of course, its limits were clear: he had to make physical contact to kill. Considering people died from a blade's touch anyway, it might not seem like much in a world of supernatural martial arts.
But.
If I combine this power with martial arts…
Couldn’t he live with his head held high, even in a world where might made right?
“Let’s do it. There’s no other way. The situation is practically begging for it.”
A life as a martial artist. It was the most rational, sensible decision he could make.
“Yes. Let’s do that.”
Having chosen his path, Yeon So-wol hesitated.
Is this really it? Can I really never go back?
A thousand lingering thoughts tugged at his heels. But in this unfamiliar world, where no one could help him, he couldn't afford to waste time on sentimentality.
Yeon So-wol forced his legs to move. He bit his lip, looked up at the sky one last time, and brought his hands to his forehead in a final bow.
“Stay healthy…”
He knew now that he would never see his family again.
Mom. Dad. Be well. I’ll find a way to survive here.
“...I’ll definitely… live a good life.”
At nineteen years old, the second act of his life had begun. He was so choked with emotion he almost wept, but he swallowed the tears and turned away.
After climbing a short distance up the mountain, the view opened up. A small city, nestled in the embrace of rolling hills, came into view.
Guangdong Province, at the southern tip of the Central Plains.
The mountain city of Xinxing County.
* * *
Climbing a mountain was no small feat for a high school senior with zero fitness. By the time he reached the bottom, his new clothes were already dusted with dirt.
I’m finally here!
Perhaps because of the ordeal it took to arrive, Yeon So-wol felt his tension ease as he passed through the gates of Xinxing County. He even felt a spark of excitement.
It was incredible. The walls were built of ancient stone and brick. Tiled roofs featured elegant, sweeping eaves. Cows and horses moved through the streets amidst the boisterous clamor of the city.
He felt a sliver of joy, as if he had stepped into a Wuxia game.
This might actually be… a little fun.
He’d never even been on a proper vacation because he was always buried in books. Was this what travel felt like? The exotic scenery, the thrill of a new beginning.
Right. I might have been dropped here after all that crap I went through, but I shouldn't be so negative. At least I’m alive. If I work hard, I can make a decent life for myself.
People were people, no matter where you went. How different could a Wuxia world really be? If he lived sensibly and worked hard, he should be able to live a respectable life.
Yeon So-wol held onto that hope—until a man walking past him exhaled a foul gust of halitosis directly into his face.
“Ugh!”
It was a stench so potent it could only come from something rotting deep within the man’s gullet.
Feeling as if he’d been punched, Yeon So-wol’s romanticized delusions shattered. He blinked and took a much closer look at the streets of Xinxing County.
“…”
The first thing he noticed was the “Beijing bikini”—a fashion choice where pot-bellied men rolled up their shirts to expose their grotesque, sweaty stomachs.
“…”
He turned his head, only to make eye contact with a woman relieving herself in a dark alley.
“…”
He looked away again, seeing people haggling with street vendors, screaming at each other so fiercely it looked like a brawl was about to break out. Their high-pitched, tonal shouting grated on his ears.
He frowned and looked down, only for his eyes to land on the grimy, unhygienic runoff trickling over a street vendor’s food stall.
Thwack!
Someone slammed hard into his shoulder.
“Hey!”
Startled by the impact—which felt more like a deliberate strike—he turned to see one of the belly-baring men glaring at him.
“What’re you lookin’ at? Standing in the middle of the road like a damn idiot. Hooock, ptooey!”
As the man hawked up a thick wad of phlegm and spat it near his feet, Yeon So-wol quickly looked away. As the saying went, you don’t mess with crazy.
But inside, he was trembling with a different kind of shock.
This is insane…
It was a reality that a sensible person from the 21st century was utterly unprepared for.
Wait a minute.
It was then that the terrible truth finally dawned on him.
This is a Wuxia world, right?
Which meant…
In other words…
This was a parallel world of ancient ‘China.’
Yeon So-wol decided, right then and there, that he hated this world.