A/N: I missed this chapter yesterday, so I'm releasing it today. Enjoy!
Five Years Ago (As seen from the view of the body Ruiki is currently in):
"Fucking trash!"
Who was the one on the floor getting beat up whilst being called that name?
Yep, that's me!
'What do you mean?'
I'm fucking trash, of course...
Nah, I'm just kidding.
If the above was actually true, then the above event would have been so generic and boring, I probably would have ripped my own eyes out reading about it.
I mean, any author who wrote scenes like that were just unoriginal dumbasses that couldn't think of something new.
It was the authors that were the true trash, not the character.
(A/N: Those of you in the know, yeah, you know, I'm literally just making fun of myself at this point.)
'Wait, why am I even thinking about these things? Wasn't I supposed to be having a flashback?'
Anyways, back to the story.
This kid that I had transmigrated in, after having received his memories for the second time, and after having lived in the body for over 500 years in the last run through, I could confidently say that I was very well versed in the ins and outs of this body.
First, this body's history.
Honestly, this kid had been a total sociopath at one point.
Growing up as an orphan on the streets of the murim world, instead of using his strength, as it was nonexistent with this lanky form combined with the fact that he had no dao beast, he had used the other children, specifically, their emotions, against themselves.
Manipulating them all, he eventually became the "King of the Rats" in the city he grew up in, all until the moment that his gang had offended a small sect of cultivators.
Well, it's kinda obvious what happened next.
In less than a day, his entire gang that he had built from the ground up had been wiped out, and he had been barely able to escape with his life.
And that was now he ended up on that hill, as he schemed about moving onto the next town and starting to manipulate people there.
Unfortunately for him, I had possessed his body.
In the last run through, I had used this body to follow the righteous faction, becoming one of the mobs in the Murim Alliance's Army.
But, this time, I would grab as many opportunities as possible, as I now knew from my previous failures that the only way to actually achieve my goal was to become the most powerful in this world.
That would be the only way possible for me to save the Villain.
So now, back to the opportunity.
Swimming all the way down to the bottom of the lake, one second, I was deep underwater, and the next second, I suddenly found myself in a half flooded shrine, a blood moon shining overhead, casting an eerie glow over the entirety of the setting.
And there, standing in front of me, was the special opportunity that I could get from this shrine.
But then, something that I had never expected appeared.
'A different route.'
Of course, as my information about this hidden opportunity had come from mouth-to-mouth communication during my past run through, not everything was accurate.
So now, I was faced with a crossroads.
The first option was the opportunity that the original finder of this secret opportunity had chosen, and that was the "easy" route.
'The "Starry Soul Pill", a heavenly treasure that split a person's soul into 3 parts whilst strengthening each part into a soul stronger than most immortals.'
Note, if you were wondering why the original finder hadn't become a top tier expert, it was all due to the fact that he had died before he was fully able to make use of this opportunity.
All the more reason for me to steal it actually. It would have just been a waste in his hands.
But now, back to the topic, the second choice I could make.
'According to the description inscribed on the stone, this is the "49 Trigrams Hongsalmun", an arch that strengthens one's soul every time they pass through it.'
(A/N: The name of the arch like gate thing that marks the entrance to a sacred place in Korea, kinda like the arch thing that marks the entrance to a Japanese shrine.)
'Of course, there is the side effect of immense pain, but it's not like I'm a stranger to immense pain.'
After all, now, with my memories of my previous run through in this murim world, I was a lot more resistant to pain, so much so that the pain from getting memories injected into my brain would probably feel like nothing now.
So, without any hesitation, I chose the second option, as it was obviously many times better than the first one, even if the description was vague.
'Oftentimes, vagueness is a gift left unappreciated.'
Keeping this in mind, instinctively feeling that this was the right choice, I stepped through the 49 Trigrams Hongsalmun for the first time.
"ARGHHHHHHH!!!!!"
'Shit! Was I too hasty in my decision?'
Collapsing on the other side of the hongsalmun with a splash, I took in ragged breaths as water dripped from my now drenched hair.
'No! I've chosen this path, I won't back away now!'
Looking back at the hongsalmun with a face full of determination, I struggled to pick myself back up before throwing myself through the arc for the second pass.
"AAAAAARRRRRRGGGGGHHHHHHH!!!!!"
An even greater pain than before assaulted me, but still, I didn't give up.
It goes without saying that this was one of the longest moments in my life.
...
What Felt Like An Eternity Later:
'I guess that's the farthest I can go.'
Looking down at my fully naked body, I nodded approvingly before walking over and picking up my neatly folded clothes.
I mean, seeing the effects that passing through the Hongsalmun was having on my body and mind, I had decided to take off all my clothes after the third pass through.
Placing them on the rock with the vague inscription, I had trudged back through the thin, murky water covering the surface of the shrine, walking back through the Hongsalmun.
Anyways, that was the reason I had taken off my clothes, it was NOT because I was an exhibitionist or something.
Well, as of this moment, I had fully reaped every single benefit possible from the Hongsalmun.
My soul had been strengthened to the extremes, with it's confines being able to hold even a highest level immortal stage dao beast, and it had also been split into seven different souls.
This meant that, if I was to use the full potential of this reformed soul, no, souls of mine, I would, in the future, be able to use seven different highest rank dao beasts at the same time.
Translation, I would be invincible basically.
But, right now, I was still a weakling that couldn't even embark on the cultivation path yet as I didn't have a single dao beast contracted to my soul.
So, standing up, I majestically walked through the exit of this space.
And, finding myself back in the real world, I looked up at the starry sky containing the two full moons, now completely different under their gazes.
You see, all that time I had spent in the "hidden realm" had amounted to only a few seconds in the real world.
Taking this into account, I calculated my next move.
It was about time that I found a dao beast and a fighting technique for myself.