Survival Guide for the Reincarnated Chapter 69

There was already soone standing at the end of the path.

A man whose appearance was so plain, it was almost unnatural. And yet, the words he spoke were anything but ordinary.

“I thought you'd co alone.”

Ju Soa turned her head slightly to glance at Jeong Muheun.

His expression hadn't changed.

That twisted face, carved by murderous intent—and the unmistakable tremble of surprise he couldn’t quite suppress.

Why was he so shaken?

Why was he seething with killing intent?

She couldn’t make sense of it.

From the swirling vortex of demonic energy, Naless gazed at Jeong Muheun with unsettling calm and asked:

“So aside from the Heavenly Compass, there’s another way to know exactly when a secret realm from the Primordial Age will appear, is there?”

“...Who are you?”

“Who I am doesn’t matter—not right now. What does matter...”

A faint smile played across Naless’s lips.

“...is that you, Jeong Muheun, are soone who wants to restore the Millennium Demonic Sect.”

Ju Soa gasped in horror. Jeong Muheun’s brow instantly furrowed.

“...I didn’t expect the last one to enter the realm to reach this point so fast.”

“It’s not that I was fast. You were just slow.”

Ju Soa swallowed hard.

She knew instinctively—this wasn’t her place to speak.

This wasn’t sothing she should interrupt.

So she trusted her gut—and slowly backed away from Jeong Muheun.

But he didn’t even glance at her.

From her point of view, that seed like arrogance.

The kind that says: I can kill you anyti I want. Silence you whenever I please.

Naless gave a short, amused laugh.

“We’ve t before, haven’t we?”

“...”

“So we have. You killed everyone else who ca into this realm, yet you left her alive until now... Ah. I think I understand. You must have known exactly what this final chamber was.”

“...”

“I’ve been wondering who went to such lengths to hide this realm. Now that question’s been answered, I find myself curious about sothing else. The Soul-Seizing Black Demon Array—it's a formation designed for one specific person. If you threw her into it, the demonic energy sealed inside would attack her instantly. And in that opening...”

Naless trailed off, lifting the manual in his hand.

“...you planned to steal this.”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

“I suspected you from the beginning.”

That was no lie.

Why hadn’t Naless entered the realm the mont it opened?

Was it because his cultivation was lacking? Because it was dangerous? Because he wasn’t sure who else might be there?

No. None of those reasons applied.

In his previous life, the existence of this realm had been buried—erased with surgical precision.

But that required certain preconditions to be in place.

This wasn’t about those conditions. It was about what ca before them.

Who had entered the realm?

Who knew of its existence?

To learn that, there was only one viable strategy:

Enter last.

“When the Iron Rhythm Sword Sect chose to retreat, you stayed behind, watching .”

Of course he did.

No one knew who Naless really was.

It wasn’t a real na—it was a mask.

Just like how Wang Daesan, an elder of the Iron Rhythm Sword Sect, had sensed sothing from Naless, Jeong Muheun—an expert of the Mythic Realm—must have felt it too.

That’s why he hadn’t acted.

Who knew when the realm might seal itself again?

Drawing his sword then and there would’ve been foolish.

More than anything, there would be plenty of chances to kill soone inside the realm. But if he attacked prematurely—right there in the open—would the warriors of the Iron Rhythm Sword Sect really just stand by?

So would flee. Others would fight.

Even for soone at the Mythic Realm, he couldn’t guarantee the realm wouldn’t close in that brief chaos.

Jeong Muheun had made the right call.

“You must’ve followed in. You knew the sect was leaving, and you rembered the faces of everyone present. No reason to act before then.”

“...”

“If you’d managed to steal this manual, you would’ve gone straight to the Iron Rhythm Sword Sect after escaping. Or perhaps t with demonic cultivators elsewhere.”

A flicker of killing intent shimred in Jeong Muheun’s eyes.

And yet Naless smiled.

He couldn’t help it.

“You don’t even realize what I’ve co to understand today.”

Jeong Muheun.

He may look like a child now, but in the distant future, he becos a withered old man.

One known to all the world as the Heavenly Ghost God, the vice ★ 𝐍𝐨𝐯𝐞𝐥𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭 ★ lord of the Heavenly Demon Palace.

No one knew his true na.

He was only ever called the Heavenly Ghost God.

His appearance had changed over the years—enough that Naless had almost been fooled.

But now that he looked closely... there was no doubt.

Jeong Muheun’s voice was quiet, but it carried unmistakable threat.

“...Hand over the manual. I’ll let you live.”

Demonic energy surged around him, natural essence coiling at his fingertips, ready to strike at any mont.

Naless didn’t flinch.

He had another question—one far more important.

The vice lord of the Central Blood Sect...

“Is Yu Cheong still alive?”

****

Yu Cheong.

The Zen Master of the Demonic Path.

In Naless’s mory, he had always been a strange man.

He was the vice lord of the Central Blood Sect, yet he never ddled in sect affairs. He never overstepped.

He simply carried the weight of his title with quiet dignity—making the authority of the sect all the more imposing by contrast.

That didn’t an he was absent or negligent.

He handled the practical affairs. Managed day-to-day operations. Always busy.

But his uniqueness wasn’t in what he did.

It was in who he was.

The Blood Sect’s lord, Cheondoja, was the sovereign of the martial world—a man who gripped the sect in an iron fist. And even he had warned Naless, then the Heaven’s Judgnt, to leave Yu Cheong alone. To let him be.

Not that Yu Cheong had ever gotten in his way.

Not once had he interfered.

On the contrary—he’d helped.

But even back then, Naless had felt sothing... off.

Sothing he couldn’t na.

What had Cheondoja truly thought of Yu Cheong?

He hadn’t feared him—that much was clear.

Naless was certain of it.

Cheondoja had never known fear. He wasn’t built for it.

But he had been wary.

And now, looking back... that wariness made perfect sense.

Even Naless—then the chief enforcer of the sect—had been left in the dark.

Yu Cheong must’ve had a way to track when the Millennium Demonic Sect’s secret realm would open.

A way to understand its structure and layout.

And with that information, he had acquired the sect’s ancient techniques while deceiving the entire world.

Wasn’t it incredible?

So absurd, Naless couldn’t help but laugh.

“...You laugh too easily.”

To that, Naless shook his head.

That was a misunderstanding.

A big one.

“I’m not soone who laughs all that much.”

“Apologies,” Naless added with a half-smile, “but I really have no idea what you’re talking about.”

“You don’t?”

“That’s right. But one thing is obvious—that manual in my hand holds trendous value. Hand it over. I may spare your life.”

Naless shook his head once again.

“Still haven’t figured out who’s really desperate here, have you?”

There was one thing Naless knew for certain—Yu Cheong’s personality.

“If you don’t deliver this manual to Yu Cheong, you’re dead. And yet, you’re still bluffing like you have the upper hand.”

Jeong Muheun remained silent.

“It seems you’re struggling to understand the situation. Let make it simple for you: I want answers, and you want the manual in my hand. So let’s make a deal.”

“...A deal?”

“Be honest. What’s the point in hiding anything at this stage?”

“...”

“Answer my questions truthfully, and the manual is yours.”

“...You think I trust you? Your face isn’t even real.”

“And?”

“....”

“Still don’t know who holds the advantage here? Forget about my mask—start worrying about the one you’re wearing.”

Jeong Muheun ran a hand through his hair, eyes narrowing as if weighing his options. When he finally spoke, his voice dripped with killing intent.

“What do you want to know?”

“There are a few things. Let’s start with what I asked earlier.”

“....”

“You don’t have to answer. I can just burn the manual.”

At that, Jeong Muheun clenched his jaw—and slowly, reluctantly, began to speak.

“...You were right. I entered this realm because I was ordered to do so. By him.”

“You an Yu Cheong?”

“Yes.”

“What was your goal inside the realm?”

“...To kill everyone.”

“To wipe out the Iron Rhythm Sword Sect?”

“Not just them. Everyone who entered this realm—and everyone who might investigate their disappearance. All of them were marked for death.”

“You couldn’t do that alone. But Yu Cheong wouldn’t act directly, either. So who’s helping you?”

There was a pause. Jeong Muheun let out a long breath and answered:

“Tianlin.”

Tianlin.

A rchant guild operating across the Central Plains. Known for controlling black markets and wielding influence in the underworld.

They had even once reached their hands into Seolap.

Naless stared at him for a mont, then calmly asked:

“How did you get information about this realm?”

“...He told .”

“Did he use a divine item?”

“...I’m not sure of the specifics. But I believe it’s a divine artifact with limited uses.”

That was enough. More than enough. A massive breakthrough.

But there was one more thing.

“What about her?” Naless asked, nodding toward Ju Soa. “Why did you bring her?”

Jeong Muheun glanced at her and replied without emotion.

“As you said earlier, I intended to throw her into the Soul-Seizing Black Demon Array—to draw attention away.”

“And in that mont, you’d seize the manual.”

“Exactly.”

“So she was never ant to leave this place alive.”

Jeong Muheun answered with a face like ice.

“No outsider with knowledge of this realm can be allowed to live. Not a single exception.”

Ju Soa’s eyes widened in horror.

Her legs nearly buckled—clearly, the shock hit her hard.

Naless didn’t care.

“Why are you helping Yu Cheong?”

“...To reclaim the life I lost.”

A soft laugh escaped Naless’s lips.

Living forever in the body of a child—it would be maddening. No matter how strong you are, no one takes you seriously. You’re constantly dismissed. Dragged into one ss after another.

He understood.

Jeong Muheun stared at him, dead serious.

“Now hand it over.”

Naless kept his word.

He tossed the manual lightly to the side.

But in that instant, the massive flood of demonic energy wrapped around Naless surged toward the manual—no longer under his control—and began to devour it.

“No—!!”

Jeong Muheun cried out and lunged, desperately snatching up the torn fragnts of the manual.

That was his first mistake.

He had stepped into the formation.

And inside this formation, every last shred of demonic energy was under Naless’s control.

Cultivation level ant nothing here.

The Soul-Seizing Black Demon Array was that kind of formation.

The previous “owner” of the array was the manual itself. But the mont Naless took possession of it, he beca the master of the array.

Jeong Muheun could only stare in stunned disbelief as the manual disintegrated into dust.

Then he lifted his gaze and glared at Naless.