Chapter 12: 3rd Cycle's First Day

Blink.

I awoke and stood up.

"Another regression, it seems."

Maybe there won't be any more regressions.

That's what I thought.

"Is it an endless cycle of regressions after all..."

But the more I regress, the more I lean towards the idea that my ability is not a single or finite regression, but an endless cycle of regressions.

"Damn it."

I shook my head and looked around.

Whoosh!

Section Chief Jeon's hand flew towards me.

I swiftly dodged his hand and moved mine.

Papapap!

With a speed too fast to see, I struck Section Chief Jeon's pressure points.

"Wh-what..."

I quickly shut his mouth as it was annoying, striking another pressure point to silence him.

Due to the rapidity of my movements, not only Section Chief Jeon but also the onlookers were clueless about what just happened.

"What's going on? Section Chief Jeon..."

"Why is he like that?"

I casually touched Jeon Myeong-hoon's shoulder and said,

"He seems to be paralyzed."

"Oh no, what a situation! We should quickly massage his body."

"Oh, I know a herb that's good for paralysis. I studied herbal medicine."

I pulled up a sleeping herb with its roots and brought it to Jeon Myeong-hoon.

"Section Chief Jeon, you are paralyzed right now. In such a situation, if you keep being paralyzed, it could be really serious. You must take this immediately. If you stay paralyzed, you might become permanently disabled."

I approached Jeon Myeong-hoon, discreetly releasing the pressure point to enable him to move his mouth.

"Wait a moment! Get the dirt off it!"

"No! This herb is most effective in this state, and if you don't take it now, the efficacy will drop. I'll shake off some dirt, but you must take it quickly! Otherwise, you could end up permanently disabled!"

I emphasized the risk of permanent disability while bringing the dirt-covered herb to his mouth.

Jeon Myeong-hoon, although grimacing, eventually had to chew and swallow the herb along with the dirt.

Crunch, crunch, crunch...

The sound of chewing dirt was oddly satisfying.

'Take it as an honor, it's quite good for vitality after all.'

Of course, it had no effect on paralysis.

It's good for vitality and has a sedative effect.

Soon after, Jeon Myeong-hoon fell asleep.

I released the pressure point that had paralyzed him.

"What a day. Weird things keep happening, and now Section Chief Jeon is like this..."

"His body must have been tense because of the strange occurrences."

I made up some conversation, then looked around and said,

"It's strange, though. I know quite a bit about trees, and all the trees around here are species that are hard to find in Korea."

"Hmm, is that so? Anyway, where did our company car fall..."

"We're stranded."

I said the trees were not Korean, gradually intending to imprint that this world is not our world.

"It seems we are stranded, so I'll go see if there's a village or a road nearby."

"Hmm, how will you do that?"

I shrugged and quickly climbed the tallest tree nearby.

'I have no internal energy, but...'

Climbing a tree is possible with physical strength and agility.

Especially since I developed the ability to climb high places while learning infiltration skills in my past life.

Whoosh!

I quickly climbed to the top of the tree, pretended to look around a few times, then swiftly descended.

"You, how did you..."

"What did you do before?"

"Wow, Deputy Manager Seo, that's amazing."

"Did you do some kind of sport?"

"That's incredible..."

Director Kim Young-hoon, Chief Oh, Deputy Manager Kang, Deputy Manager Oh, and Manager Kim admired my athletic prowess in turn.

"Oh, I used to climb trees a lot as a kid."

"Still, your athletic sense seems very good."

"It's nothing. But I did see from up the tree. There are no villages or roads in sight."

"Heavens, you're not joking, are you?"

"Yes, I don't want to spend the night outdoors either. There's really just forest around here."

At my words, the others sighed in disappointment.

"It seems we're stranded. It's about to get dark, so let's divide into teams to look for the car and a place to stay nearby."

"Alright, let's do that."

Knowing they would insist on finding the SUV, I divided the teams and sent some to search for the car.

I went with a few others to the cave I stayed in before.

"Let's stay in the cave."

"Oh my, there's a perfect cave."

"What a relief..."

I took Deputy Manager Oh and Manager Kim with me to build a windbreak to block the entrance of the cave.

Then, I started a bonfire and roasted fruits and mushrooms.

As evening fell and night came, the others saw the light of our bonfire and joined us.

"Wow, did you three make all this?"

"No, we didn't do anything. Deputy Manager Seo did it all so swiftly!"

"Yes, it was like we had a Boy Scout with us."

"Deputy Manager Seo, I didn't know you were so capable."

I chuckled and handed them the roasted fruits and mushrooms.

"I learned a lot of things when I was younger. Please try these."

"It feels like we're on a camping trip. If only we hadn't gotten stranded, we would've been camping at our intended destination."

"Ah, there was so much meat and food in the SUV. Such a pity."

"But these mushrooms are really tasty, aren't they?"

My roasted mushrooms were a hit, and the company employees soon fell asleep after eating them.

Crackle, crackle...

After laying the sleeping employees down properly, I sat in front of the bonfire and took out some yellow bamboo roots I had dug up earlier.

Crunch, crunch...

I had already activated my Dantian with the Cheonji Heart Method.

I vividly remembered the Dragon Vein Qi Method, which had been ingrained in my meridians for 50 years in my previous life.

Woong...

After eating the yellow bamboo roots, I started to circulate my internal energy.

Soon, a volcanic surge of energy started bubbling in my Dantian.

I managed the surging energy of the ginseng using the path of the Dragon Vein Qi Method.

"Phew..."

I felt a surge of strength throughout my body.

I took one of the branches I had gathered and infused it with my internal energy, beginning to carve it with my bare hands.

Crack, crack...

As I carved the wood with my energy covered hand, the branch quickly transformed into a clean wooden sword.

Buzz, buzz!

I swung the wooden sword in the air.

It wasn't perfect, but not bad for practice.

"Phew..."

In my last life.

I died while swinging a sword at the peak of the first-rate.

'I thought I would gain some special enlightenment at the moment of death.'

It seemed too fictional to gain enlightenment at the brink of life and death.

I didn't gain any enlightenment, and my realm was still just at the high end of first-rate.

'100 years of wielding a sword...'

Yet, I still hadn't reached the Pinnacle Realm.

'So far.'

Not just the cultivators,

But even the minimum condition to become a cultivator, the Five Energies Converging to the Origin, was far away.

The Record of Gazing Cultivation and Exceeding Martial Arts, which could take me to the Five Energies realm, was beyond my comprehension as I hadn't reached the required Three Flowers Gather at the Summit realm.

Three Flowers was still far off, and the Pinnacle Realm, which could bring me there, was even more distant.

'How much more training do I need?'

Every peak master I met said the same thing.

From the Pinnacle Realm, it's a different world from the first-rate.

In fact, a first-rate master could never defeat a peak master in a one-on-one martial arts battle.

They literally lived in different worlds.

'Can I enter that different world?'

It took me 50 years to reach the second-rate from being ignorant of martial arts.

Another 50 years took me from second-rate to the top of first-rate.

'The Pinnacle Realm, can I reach it in this lifetime?'

All kinds of thoughts swirled in my head.

Everything I did seemed futile.

I felt a profound sense of powerlessness.

And when I felt powerless.

I stood up.

"It won't disappear anyway."

No matter how much I ponder, the fact that I am powerless won't change.

Nor will the fact that I am a talentless dullard, a waste.

But.

If I'm going to be useless whether I worry or not,

Let's be a hardworking waste.

Step by step,

I stepped out of the cave.

The night wind was cold, but the heat surged as I circulated the Dragon Vein Qi Method.

Buzz, buzz!

I shook off my distractions and unfolded the Severing Mountain Swordsmanship.

The sword technique was refined by my Young-hoon Hyung-nim in the previous life, adding 12 more moves to the original 12.

I unfolded all the derived moves and auxiliary techniques from the 24 techniques of Severing Mountain Swordsmanship.

Sharp sounds of slicing air echoed in front of the cave.

Swish!

My wooden sword sliced through a falling leaf.

Suddenly, as I watched the scene, a surge of determination rose in me, and I approached the floating leaf, swinging my sword again.

Because I didn't infuse my internal energy into the sword, the leaf simply flew upward upon being struck by the wooden sword.

"More, more...!"

I cleared my mind of distractions.

Chasing the leaf, I continued to execute my swordsmanship.

The 24 moves of Severing Mountain Swordsmanship.

86 derivative techniques.

Combination moves, variations.

Numerous strokes extended from my hands.

At some point, I realized I was constantly swinging my sword at a single leaf, enraptured in ecstasy.

"Just a bit more, just a little more..."

It felt like my body was being absorbed into the martial art.

"Is this... enlightenment?"

Buzz, buzz!

Seemingly within reach, yet elusive.

Just like how I couldn't catch that leaf without internal energy.

For how long did I swing my sword mindlessly?

Suddenly, I realized dawn was breaking.

I had been up all night.

"Just a little more, just a bit more...!"

One more step was all it took!

Dawn breaks.

Slash!

Swoosh!

My plain wooden sword cleanly sliced through the hovering leaf.

Not a withered leaf, but a fresh green one.

"I'm almost there, almost...!"

Then, suddenly, I felt my left arm trembling.

"This is..."

Ignoring the trembling and continuing with the sword dance, or stopping for a moment.

"No, it can't be. Enlightenment is just around the corner...!"

My eyes became bloodshot.

But my arm trembled too much.

"Damn it...!"

Eventually, I had to put down the sword.

"Gasp... Huff...!"

And then, I understood why my arm trembled.

Because I'm a regressor.

At this time, at this moment.

Knowing what's about to happen.

I had involuntarily anticipated the pain of the fox soon to bite my arm and trembled in advance.

"Damn it!"

I picked up the sword again and resumed the sword dance.

However...

Enlightenment did not come.

As if it had run away the moment I dropped the sword.

"Damn it!!!"

What was I afraid of?

What exactly?!

The path to the peak was right in front of me!

I bit my lip hard enough to bleed.

"If I see the the Way (Dao) in the morning, dying in the evening is of no concern (朝聞道夕死可矣)!"

I felt aggrieved.

A once-in-a-lifetime enlightenment, carelessly lost due to needless fear.

"Aaaaaah!"

I screamed and deeply resolved in my heart.

From today onward, even if I die in the evening, I will not give up the Way I could attain in the morning.

Holding the sword, I made this vow.