Reincarnated Martial God
Surprisingly, even though I had returned to the body of Ami, the internal energy I had cultivated over the past 50 years through the "Three Calamities and Ten Methods" remained intact. Of course, the effects of a foundational cultivation technique don't simply vanish, but even so, I was confident this would be a great help in my new life. I knew better than anyone the vast difference between having internal energy and not having it.
"Cough, cough! Damn… those sons of bitches."
I coughed and spat on the ground.
The ones I cursed were, of course, the village chief and his rotten family.
They claimed to have taken in and raised a poor, homeless child like me out of kindness, but in truth, I was just dumped at the chief's house and treated like a servant until I left on my own three years later. The bullying from the village kids was relentless, and I constantly got beaten up wherever I went. Even worse, the chief's son would just laugh when I was in pain instead of helping.
My current situation was just more of the same. My job was to take care of three cows, clean up their manure, and feed them. The place I ate and slept wasn't even a proper house, but a modified barn that reeked of cow dung, and I had to sleep on a pile of straw. Sometimes, I found it strange that I hadn't gone insane living like this.
Sigh… Damn it. I'm glad to be alive again, and I don't mind being sent to the past, but why does it have to be this point in time…?
Once again, I had stepped into the pit of life.
I felt bitter.
My life had only started to take a turn for the better when I joined an escort agency at age 15 as a general helper. By the time I was 18, I had properly learned martial arts and became a low-tier escort warrior. From now, I'd have to endure at least five more years of this hellish life. Just the thought of it made me so angry and scared that my hands trembled.
I sat in silence for a while, reflecting on my life.
Now that I thought about it, there hadn't been many good times. Things became tolerable only after I became a low-rank escort at around eighteen. But being an escort warrior wasn't easy. I almost died fighting bandits, and once, a noble son from a prominent clan slapped me across the face while insulting me. On top of that, the job was physically demanding — most nights I collapsed after numbing my tired body with a single drink.
Why am I angry about my current situation? Because this miserable childhood was even worse than the grueling life of a low-rank escort! The idea of having to live through this crap again was more unbearable than death. Even if escort life was physically hard, at least I had the freedom to spend my own money. That life was far better than this.
What should I do now?
I thought for a long time.
And then, I made up my mind.
"Even if it's just for one day… I need to confirm whether this really is the past."
The next day, about three hours later, I woke up from sleep and first checked the stable.
The cows hadn't been exposed to much cold wind, and none of them seemed to be in poor health.
Though it had been decades since I last worked in a barn and I was clumsy at first, my body seemed to remember everything, and I quickly became proficient again.
I brushed the rump of the biggest bull among them.
"Your name was Hwanggeum, right? I remember you."
Come to think of it, when I lived in the barn, I spent most of my time with the cows as my only companions.
Among them, I gave this big bull the name Hwanggeum ("Golden") and took especially good care of him.
Cows were naturally gentle and docile animals.
Hwanggeum looked at me with sparkling eyes as if he understood my words and leaned his head against my hand.
That simple gesture made me feel a bit emotional.
"Better than humans."
After living for over 50 years, I had grown tired of human nature.
Living a life without family or friends, I had seen my share of the kind of people who are cruel and merciless to the weak.
Even close companions would betray you without a second thought if it benefited them.
It felt perfectly natural to think that animals who couldn't even speak were better than humans.
Just then—
"Incoming!"
I swiftly turned half a step and dodged.
SPLASH!
"…Huh?"
A confused voice rang out.
That must've been from the person who had just tried to drench me with water, only to miss.
They were clearly taken aback that I had evaded it so easily.
Even if my Three Calamities Cultivation Technique wasn't at full strength, after accumulating internal energy for decades, my senses and reflexes were far more developed than those of an ordinary person.
Even in Ami's young body, dodging a bucket of water was nothing to me.
I looked straight at the one who had tried to splash me.
The moment I saw him, anger surged through me uncontrollably, flooding every vessel in my body with fury.
Without realizing it, I clenched my fist tightly, grinding my teeth to hold back the rage.
"What's the matter, young master?"
Despite the fury I felt, the voice that came out of my mouth was calm and composed.
The "young master" stood there with a smug expression, then cleared his throat and answered:
"Hmm! Ahem! I was just going to sprinkle some water in front of the barn and slipped."
"Yes, sir."
Even though I was listening to this bullshit excuse, I simply nodded.
I wanted to leap at him right then and beat the crap out of the little bastard, but I decided to hold back.
Because I had endured countless hardships in my life in organized circles, I had long since mastered the skill of suppressing rage boiling up from within.
Now that I had returned to the past, I needed to stay calm and assess the situation. I couldn't let myself be baited by a half-hearted provocation.
The young master: a pudgy little kid with a red, pockmarked face and bloated cheeks.
That bastard was the "village chief's son."
His name was Geum Man-jae .
A name that sounded overly grand for someone so utterly talentless — in other words, a guy just like me.
He was also the same age as me.
Yet despite that, he was full of arrogance and vanity. He bullied me like I was his personal plaything.
I'd heard that after reaching adulthood, he spent his days indulging in wine and women, eventually squandering all the wealth his father had accumulated.
"Hmm~"
Geum Man-jae began strutting around the stable as if trying to find something to nitpick.
When he didn't see anything obvious to complain about, he suddenly barked at me.
"You. Before I come back from studying at the hakshuk (private academy), clean up all the dung in the barn."
"…What?"
"I said do it! Or are you saying you won't?"
It was a completely senseless power trip.
I was so suddenly overwhelmed by a surge of rage that I momentarily forgot what I was going to say.
"You little son of a bitch…"
I wanted nothing more than to beat Geum Man-jae to a bloody pulp right then and there, then head into the kitchen, grab a butcher's knife, and slaughter the entire village chief's family.
The scary thing was that I could actually do it — and my hands trembled from the sheer intensity of the urge.
But I reminded myself that this sort of petty tyranny was just everyday life back then, and I took a deep breath to calm down before replying calmly:
"Don't worry. I'll get it all done."
"…?"
Geum Man-jae paused, seemingly caught off guard by how composed I sounded.
But maybe because he was a fool, he didn't think too deeply about it. Instead, he just let out a loud, obnoxious fart and disappeared somewhere.
Once he was out of sight, I spat on the ground.
"You bastard… Just wait."
If I ever gained power, I planned to repay the humiliation of those three years — and this incident too — in full.
Whether it meant slaughtering the entire village chief's family or turning Geum Man-jae into a limbless cripple, just imagining it gave me a thrill.
That said, now was not the time.
I sat down and thought deeply.
And I reached the conclusion that, for the time being, I had to keep living under the village chief's roof.
Sure, running away from all this would feel liberating — but I had no way to make a living out there.
For now, it was better to at least have food and a place to sleep.
However, I resolved that I would not blindly enter a pyo-guk (escort agency) again like I did in my previous life.
"I can't live as an escort warrior again."
Even if I did join an escort agency, all they'd teach was the Six Harmonies Sword Technique and the Three Calamities and Ten Methods — nothing beyond the basics.
If I was going to live this life again, it was better to learn more advanced martial arts and find a smarter path to success.
Of course, I had thought the same thing in my past life too.
But back then, I was so desperate to escape the village chief's house — and had so little ability — that I gave up.
Honestly, even getting hired as a low-tier escort warrior back then had been pure luck.
But now, things are different.
I possess 50 years' worth of internal energy from cultivating the Three Calamities Method in my past life, and I'm also quite skilled with a blade — at least to the level of a trained swordsman. Even if I were to grab a kitchen knife right now, taking down an average adult wouldn't be difficult for me.
Sure, I'd be instantly killed if I ran into a top-tier martial artist, but even so, my current martial prowess was already above the level of your average third-rate wandering mercenary.
"If I show this level of skill to real martial artists, won't they take me in as a disciple?"
Becoming the disciple of a renowned martial arts master!
That would not only solve my basic needs for survival but also give me the chance to live the life of a master — the life I'd always dreamed of.
Realizing this was likely the best possible route in my current circumstances, I couldn't help but smile in satisfaction.
At the same time, I recognized the need to escape this dung-stinking barn life as soon as possible and start gathering information — even just a little.
Without first knowing where martial artists live or how they move around, I couldn't even begin to put my plan into motion.
"Damn it… I guess I need to start by cleaning the cow dung."
Grumbling, I picked up a rake and shovel and stepped into the barn.
The floor was caked with piles of cow dung, emitting a foul stench.
Since the cows relieved themselves wherever they pleased, it wasn't practical to clean every day — usually, it was done once every four days.
But that damned Geum Man-jae had made me do it again even though it wasn't time yet.
Of course, cleaning up dung is good for the cows' health, but in this case, it was clearly just another power trip.
And in the end, I'd be the one doing all the work, while Geum Man-jae would get the credit from the village chief.
"Ugh…"
As I continued to clean, the smell of cow dung soaked into my clothes.
I eventually felt dizzy from the stench and staggered out toward the tree stump nearby to throw up.
I hadn't eaten anything, but the bile still burned my nose.
I sat down on the stump to rest and looked up at the blue sky.
"…!!"
In that moment, a lightning-like realization struck my mind.
My lips trembled.
"Th-that's right! There was that!"
I was a fool.
Why was I trying to take the hard road when the easier one had been right there?
The Thousand-Year Snow Lotus (Cheonnyeon Seolsam)!
A legendary elixir said to grant enough internal energy to dominate the world — and I remembered how to obtain it.
The Thousand-Year Snow Lotus first appeared in the martial world when I was in my early thirties — about twenty years before my death.
Back then, I was steadily building my career as an escort and living a relatively peaceful, stable life.
The person who first discovered the Thousand-Year Snow Lotus was Danmok So, the young master of the Danmok Clan, a family known for their herbal expertise.
He was a young martial artist who loved traveling the mountains and rivers.
During one such journey, he stumbled across a mysterious place in Mount Hwangsan, a place where the snow never melted, not even in summer.
And it was there, in that eternally frozen spot, that he discovered and harvested the Thousand-Year Snow Lotus.
The problem started from that point on.
Danmok So hadn't discovered the Thousand-Year Snow Lotus alone.
He had been traveling with Oryong (Five Dragons), a prodigy from one of the orthodox sects of the martial world.
Oryong, an exceptional young martial artist, quickly realized the value of the lotus Danmok So had found, and a fight over ownership broke out.
A deadly struggle ensued — one that involved killing and being killed — and eventually, martial sects across the Huangshan region became entangled.
The chaos lasted for over a month.
In the end, the Thousand-Year Snow Lotus ended up in the hands of the Leader of the Righteous Heaven Alliance, and that brought the incident to a close.
As for how exactly it ended that way, I don't know the details.
Back then, I was just a lowly escort warrior barely getting by, with no power or influence to speak of.
But one thing is certain:
The Thousand-Year Snow Lotus is in Huangshan.
And I, more than anyone else, have the chance to find it first.
To discover it and seize it before anyone else — to claim it as mine!
Is there any greater, more definitive opportunity in the world?
The Thousand-Year Snow Lotus is said to grant not only eternal youth and longevity but also bestow upon the one who consumes it the internal energy equivalent to two full sexagenary cycles (120 years) in an instant.
Given that even the top-level martial masters in the greatest sects — after decades of training — rarely possess even one cycle's worth of internal energy, it's clear the Snow Lotus is more than worth risking one's life for.
Of course, just consuming a legendary elixir doesn't instantly make someone a true master.
Without the support of high-level martial arts techniques, it's meaningless.
But with the Thousand-Year Snow Lotus, becoming a true master would only be a matter of time — and I couldn't help but feel desperate for it.
"Huangshan is far. I'll need money and stamina."
From here, Huangshan would take roughly fifteen days on horseback.
But in the body of a teenage boy, I'd probably die of starvation or exhaustion before even getting close.
Even if I somehow made it, I wouldn't have the strength to search the whole mountain for the Snow Lotus.
So the answer is clear: I need to save up enough travel funds.
Only then could I afford a horse and, once at Huangshan, thoroughly search for the elixir without worrying about survival.
Drawing from my years of experience as an escort warrior, I calculated how much money I'd need — and came up with ten taels of silver.
A substantial amount.
Thinking about what I'd need to do to raise that kind of money made my head hurt.
For a low-tier escort, that kind of money took about half a year to earn.
How could I possibly gather that much in the body of a thirteen-year-old boy?
What should I do in a situation like this?
"Fine. Let's slow down and think this through."
Historically, Danmok So discovered the Thousand-Year Snow Lotus nearly twenty years from now.
Which means — if I can find it before then, I'll likely be able to claim it for myself.
The impatience I'd been feeling… I now realized it wasn't just about the elixir.
It was my desperate desire to escape this wretched life as a servant in the village chief's household.
I let out a bitter smile.
"Phew…"
Honestly, I was still confused.
Why did I survive that arrow to the chest?
Why did I come back to the past?
Sure, I was already adapting to reality and making plans — but I still had no idea what exactly had happened to me.
But one thing is certain:
I need power. And I need money.
Only then will I be able to uncover the truth behind this strange reversal of time.
Living day to day as a low-tier escort, like I did before, will never get me there.
I went back to the barn and finished cleaning up the rest of the cow dung.
It took about an hour to complete, and once I was done, I headed to the stream to wash up and then lay down to rest.
After such hard labor, I was quite hungry — but there was no way the village chief was going to feed me, so I simply closed my eyes.
"Heading straight for the Thousand-Year Snow Lotus is too much right now. First, I need to convince the village chief."
Convincing the village chief—
That meant negotiating my way out of this servant's life in his household.