Preparing for the Next Life
"Is it true what they say, that you remember your past lives?"
Song Ja-mun couldn't hold the question back.
"That's..."
In the small room, with nothing but a simple drinking table between them, the man across from him merely tipped back his cup.
The conversation stalled, and silence rushed in to fill the gap. Song Ja-mun watched the man sink into thought, as though carefully choosing his words.
His talent was nothing remarkable. A flick of a finger could have scattered him into dust. Yet Song Ja-mun couldn't do that. Part of it was that the figure before him was only a projection, a near-perfect illusion mirroring its true body in real time. But more precisely, it was because no harm could come to this man.
A power that had spread across the entire Qingyu Continent in the guise of bookshops, the master of Nangseo Pavilion. That was exactly who sat before him. Pyo Rip.
Even Song Ja-mun, the foremost talent of his own sect, standing at no low realm himself, was shielded like an iron fortress. So imagine how it must be for a Pavilion Master of a far lower cultivation. Harm him, and the branch masters and librarians of Nangseo Pavilion across the whole continent would rise up as one.
That was, of course, assuming anyone could even find where the main Pavilion was hidden.
And above all else. The former Lord of Nangseo Pavilion, who had since become a True Immortal and ascended to the Upper Realm. The books and jade slips he had collected over tens of thousands of years before his ascension were enough to make Nangseo Pavilion a force no one could afford to ignore. Promise a single lost ancient cultivation manual from the Pavilion's sealed archives, and powers eager to take its side would overflow.
"The former Lord of Nangseo Pavilion stood right at the threshold of becoming a True Immortal, yet spent long ages stalled because of an inner demon. He was already in the Tribulation Transcendence realm before the Grand Patriarch of our Yin-Yang Sect was even born."
Tribulation Transcendence. The supreme realm, the highest one could climb in this lower world that was the Qingyu Continent.
"The branch masters told me something. That the decisive figure who resolved the former Lord's inner demon was you."
That was the reason a man of such modest cultivation as Pyo Rip had inherited Nangseo Pavilion.
"Does it have something to do with the fact that you remember your past lives?"
At the question, Pyo Rip looked at Song Ja-mun.
"Senior."
The common term for those who had reached a higher realm before you. Calling Song Ja-mun by it, Pyo Rip nodded.
"What you've heard is true."
Then he smiled, a touch bitterly.
"But it's not exactly a good thing."
With that, Pyo Rip gazed off into empty air. There was something lonely in his eyes, Song Ja-mun thought.
Through a law technique Song Ja-mun had mastered, fragments of the thoughts drifting through Pyo Rip's mind brushed against his own consciousness, almost like illusions. A black, rectangular pane of glass, its purpose unknown. A withered rose. A cracked crystal ball. A banner bearing a lion crest. Bits of clutter like that.
Before long, Pyo Rip let out a low chuckle.
"Senior, have you ever found yourself overcome by a strange feeling while watching a cockroach?"
"...?"
It was an out-of-nowhere question, but a moment later Song Ja-mun's face twisted in dismay.
"Ah, surely you don't mean..."
"I have."
What in the world are you talking about, junior...
Song Ja-mun squeezed his eyes shut.
"There's a thing called a Triceratops, a lizard the size of a house. They're extinct now, so at least there's no need to lay eyes on them anymore. Small mercy, that."
"...Forgive me. It seems I've dredged up unpleasant memories."
"Heh, not at all. It was just a joke."
Song Ja-mun watched the smiling Pyo Rip and shook his head.
"Spare me jokes like that. It's ghastly."
"Senior."
And then, Pyo Rip's light air turned suddenly grave.
"I intend to prepare for my next life."
"Y-yes?"
Wondering if this was another joke, Song Ja-mun tilted his head.
"Senior, with talent as meager as mine, there isn't much time. The lifespan I have left is fifty years at the very most."
"...A shame, but yes, that would be so. Unless some grand fortune raised your realm, of course."
"Exactly. Which is why I want to tell you. The plan I've drawn up with the branch masters of Nangseo Pavilion."
A man who remembers his past lives prepares for the next one. It sounded grand, but when you thought it through, there wasn't much one could actually do. Beyond drilling good cultivation formulas into memory, what was there?
But if that were all, Pyo Rip wouldn't have raised the matter at all. Song Ja-mun couldn't even guess what sort of preparation he meant, yet he didn't dwell on it.
"Very well. But however close we may be, I won't lend a hand for free."
"Ha, of course not."
At Song Ja-mun's ready acceptance, Pyo Rip smiled with genuine pleasure.
"Then start with that tale of your past life. I can't bear the curiosity any longer."
"It isn't a particularly pleasant story, I'm afraid..."
The night of drinking wore on, deep into the small hours.
And so, some fifty years later.
Deep within a mountain brimming with spiritual energy, Song Ja-mun suddenly looked up at the sky and read the heavens.
"He's gone."
Well done, junior. In your next life, may you ascend.
Song Ja-mun quietly prayed for his junior's peace.