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Translator/Editor: Dionysus

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◈ Xianxia Cultivation with a Dragon Heart ◈

Chapter 33: An Attack on Reality

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On the outskirts of Beijing, China, in the northwestern part of Shunyi District, numerous upscale villas stood amid beautiful natural surroundings.

A man in his forties entered one particularly large and magnificent villa. His rounded jawline gave him a gentle impression, and he looked as though he might break into a smile at any moment, perhaps because he smiled so often.

Casually returning the greetings of the Ministry of Public Security guards, he crossed the carefully tended garden and entered the villa. He walked down the corridor as though familiar with it, stopping before an elaborately designed door.

After a polite knock, a faint reply came from within only several dozen seconds later.

"Come in."

The man caught a fishy, unpleasant smell the instant he entered, but did not show it. Nor did he spare a glance for the naked women sprawled across a large bed in one corner of the lavish room.

He focused solely on the old man seated on the sofa in the center of the room, wearing a robe, and lowered his head.

"I looked into what you asked about. The Korean investigative authorities did not learn of it first and probe into it."

"Hah..."

The old man gave a short, incredulous laugh.

"Then how did that civilian informant catch wind of it?"

"We could not determine that at all. However, he does seem to have some connection to the Special Ability Management Bureau."

The man then briefly explained what he had learned. The information had been brief by necessity.

Yet merely acquiring information that had not been made public was proof of their intelligence network.

"Strange... It feels strange..."

The old man fell silent for quite some time, deep in thought. Then he looked at his chief secretary.

"What do you think?"

"Isn't it most likely a coincidence? There are a few other coincidental details concerning that person as well."

"Could he be of a similar kind to us?"

"There were no particular clues."

After another brief silence, the old man sighed.

"I'd like to verify it. What do you think?"

The old man dropped the half-polite register he had been using and spoke more casually. It showed that their relationship was far closer than usual.

The man started to say something, then glanced at the women on the bed.

"Do not concern yourself. None of them are in their right minds."

"Best not to stir up trouble, especially in another country."

It roughly meant not to create trouble where there was none.

"Still, careful sailing makes a ship last ten thousand years."

It roughly meant that only by being cautious in all things could one achieve great success.

"Ten-year black ghosts... No, two century-old black ghosts should be enough."

"Apostle..."

"You know I have this much discretion. You also know that my circumstances are not so comfortable, and that I have little time."

Once the old man had said that much, even as his chief secretary, the man could no longer stop him. Most of the power he held, equivalent to at least a vice-minister's position in Korea, originated from the other man.

And it was not merely a matter of power. It would not be an exaggeration to say they were bound by an absolute shared fate, one that extended even to their lives.

"I will select suitable handlers."

"Do not choose anyone too capable. We may need to deal with them ourselves later."

The man lowered his head in acknowledgment before turning and leaving the room. The old man sighed again, then rose and headed toward the bed.

* * *

Han Yujin had unexpectedly gained a massive amount of Karma and advanced to the Dharma Soul Stage far earlier than expected. As a result, he needed to make several changes to his original plans.

However, rather than immediately focus on that, he spent about two days resting properly and attending only the preliminary classes for the Hunter vocational school night program.

His method of resting involved seeking out all kinds of food, including ramen and kimchi, despite no longer needing meals. He watched MyTube Shorts for hours at a time and met Park Huiwon again to chat about nothing in particular.

Playing with Muyong was part of his daily routine and hardly needed mentioning, but all of it was meant to restore his sense of reality. After spending more than five years focused solely on cultivation in a primeval forest, the feeling of being detached from everything had not faded easily.

'This is my hometown and my home base.'

No matter how much time he spent in other worlds through his awakening ability, or how he spent it, he could not forget that this was where he began and where he would return. Moreover, Karma could only be earned here, in reality.

Fortunately, it did not take long to regain his sense of reality.

On the morning of the third day after his return, he organized his thoughts and plans using a computer memo app and other tools.

'Honestly, up until now, my mindset was just to get stronger first.'

It was not an approach that could really be called a problem. It had been the most important thing during that period.

But now, it was time to establish more specific and grander goals. Namely, what he intended to achieve after becoming so strong.

First of all, though he had not told anyone yet, he had undeniably become an S-Rank Hunter. In this world, if not in another, that meant he was a top-tier powerhouse no one could deny.

'So is that all? Should I just work as an S-Rank Hunter, build up Karma, release some knowledge to earn more Karma, live extravagantly on the money I make, find a partner, and do whatever I feel like at the time?'

That would not be so bad if Earth were guaranteed to remain peaceful. But the doubts surrounding Earth After the Apocalypse still remained unresolved.

He needed to make solving that mystery his primary objective and push himself harder.

As he did, he would naturally grow stronger and eventually far surpass even S-Rank Hunters. By then, ordinary Hunter work alone would clearly feel insufficient in various ways, whether for accumulating Karma or finding personal fulfillment.

'I'll make this place... this Earth, my territory.'

It was an idea that had suddenly occurred to him, but nothing else suited him better.

Earth was his hometown, his home base, and his only source of Karma. If he could not settle in another world with his physical body, then whether he liked it or not, he had to continuously achieve and develop something here.

'I'll regard the entire Earth as mine, protect it, and develop it. I'll appropriately release all kinds of knowledge from various worlds, including my knowledge of immortal cultivation.'

Who was it that said great power came with great responsibility?

Perhaps he had no choice but to set such a goal in order to earn more Karma more efficiently. And he did not particularly dislike it.

He suddenly recalled a conversation he had once had with Park Huiwon.

When Han Yujin asked what would happen if he awakened xianxia abilities in reality, Park Huiwon had laughed as though the answer were obvious and said he would simply become a god.

'A god...'

To think that he himself would become the protagonist in the emergence of an Absolute One, something the whole world had once seriously feared.

Of course, it had not happened yet, but he considered it only a matter of time with his awakening ability.

'Considering the level of force in other worlds, this could happen someday even if it isn't me.'

Humanity on Earth had only just taken its first steps in the mystical arts. And as those arts developed, it was an inevitable course of fate that individual power would grow as well.

'If it will happen someday anyway, why shouldn't I be the one at its center?'

And so, in an ordinary, old, cramped studio apartment, an incomparably grand and ambitious goal was set.

'I... will become the god of the New World.'

When the preliminary classes ended, he would reveal that he had become an S-Rank Hunter. He would hand over the knowledge he had organized by then and ask for it to be distributed faster and more broadly than originally planned.

He would surely receive an enormous amount of attention, but he had prepared himself for that from the beginning. And now that he was a Dharma Soul Stage cultivator, there was no reason to shy away from it.

The protruding stone gets chiseled? If that were true, the chisel should first have fallen on the S-Rank criminals who were acting as dictators in Africa and elsewhere while violating every kind of international law.

With those bastards doing perfectly fine, why would he, safely in South Korea, working with the government and under its protection, have any reason to be struck?

Naturally, someone might still attempt to bring the hammer down. But first, they would have to break through South Korea's shield. Then, they would have to overcome Han Yujin's own strength as a Dharma Soul Stage cultivator.

And that time could not come too late. If he had enough Karma, he could grow dramatically stronger every time he slept and woke, not in stair-step increments, but in leaps like cliffs.

Letting down his guard was forbidden, but excessively cowering was foolish as well. It was not as though he lacked confidence in his own strength.

Having reached that conclusion, Han Yujin ended his rest and immediately began acting.

First, he started separately organizing the knowledge he planned to distribute. Once he put his mind to it after reaching the Dharma Soul Stage, his efficiency was nearly seven or eight times what it had been before.

That day, he was returning after once again checking in for the Hunter preliminary classes, which had only a few days left.

'There is some useful knowledge there, too.'

The classes were now teaching a few primitive ways to use dharma patterns, or glyphs in Earth's terminology. They were very basic techniques useful in places without light or where breathing was difficult.

He was so excited to see what repercussions would arise once his knowledge began to be distributed in earnest that he could barely sit still. Separate from his plans, he was not uninterested in gaining wealth and fame.

He was picturing the beautiful future that would soon change drastically for the better as he got out of a taxi and headed toward his studio building.

Then, suddenly.

Something snagged on the sensory network of Divine Sense that a Dharma Soul Stage cultivator naturally kept spread at all times. From the moment they were detected, they were already attacking him.

His thoughts accelerated on their own, and the world seemed to slow.

Dust scattering through the night breeze nearly came to a stop in midair. It was an alley off the main road, but not one that could be called particularly secluded. He had never expected to be ambushed here.

Two humanoid monsters wrapped in pitch-black energy rushed at him fiercely, claws extended.

As Han Yujin observed them in great detail within the slowed world, his heart turned utterly cold.

'Ghosts.'

They were the very same things he had seen on Earth After the Apocalypse. Their appearance and the energy they emitted were nearly identical.

And they were not ghosts that could simply be dismissed as minor spirits. Together, they possessed enough power to easily deal with an A-Rank Hunter. Had he not reached the Dharma Soul Stage, he would have been hard-pressed merely to detect and respond to their ambush.

But unfortunately for them, he had become well over ten times stronger in a single night. He also knew exactly what they were and how to deal with them.

In the brief moment, not even a second, while they rushed at him, he raised a hand to respond. At the same time, several simulations regarding what would follow were already running through his mind.

He was even forming hypotheses about what lay behind this incident.

No matter how he thought about it, the only reason ghosts would suddenly appear and attack him was those cultists, the international drug-crime organization he had reported and helped wipe out not long ago.

'So my instincts were right.'

Those cultists were certainly connected to Wonhui the ghost. In this very moment, it became clear that their drug crimes had only been the tip of the iceberg.

'Good.'

He had been having trouble finding clues about Earth After the Apocalypse. He had been considering whether he would have no choice but to visit that world after reaching the Core Formation Stage and conduct a dangerous investigation.

But a clue had appeared on its own.

'If you wanted to catch me, you should have brought at least the ghost in the suit, if not Wonhui.'

A wall of blue lightning formed around his body as he thought. At the same time, the tip of a sword suddenly jutted out from within it, blue-white inscribed spell restrictions flashing along its blade.

A crack of thunder shook the entire silent nighttime residential street.

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