Re-exploring the Five Elements Sect Ruins Translator: Xzy ***
At the entrance of a certain mountain range, filled with a sense of utter desolation.
The only things visible were withered trees, and it was impossible to tell if they were dead or alive.
Naturally, there were no other insects or animals to be seen either.
The sky, despite having no particular clouds, was a gloomy ash-gray. The ground, as if it had suffered a long drought, was cracked all over and seemed beyond recovery.
'Ugh…'
This was the Yeongryeon Continent after the End of Dharma, which he had revisited after becoming an Entry Stage cultivator.
He shuddered at the immense sense of emptiness and desiccation that he hadn't been able to perceive when he was an ordinary person.
Even in reality, which he had been in just a moment ago, he had felt it was very barren because the Spiritual Energy concentration was at a level that barely exceeded ten percent of the primeval forest's.
But compared to this place now, reality was a paradise.
Truly, not even a single wisp of Spiritual Energy could be felt.
At this rate, no matter how much his Dharma Soul could generate its own Spiritual Energy, subsequent recovery was impossible.
To make an analogy, it was like using up stamina by moving your body and expending strength, but having no water or food at all to recover that stamina!
'And there really is no water or food, either.'
All the food that had originally existed must have failed to thrive any longer and slowly died out.
The difference between Spiritual Energy being extremely sparse and being completely nonexistent was a story of a completely different dimension.
This was because while Spiritual Energy could be contained in very small amounts in the soul, a very important component of life, it could not be completely absent from its composition.
And one had to recall that the source of the Spiritual Energy that filled the world was the flow of a universal power, the Primordial Chaos Realm.
A phenomenon like this could only be created when a world had completely broken away from the flow of the Primordial Chaos Realm, which in turn meant that it had been thrown into one of the most barren environments in the entire universe.
And yet, if a being could survive and thrive in such a place, it would have to be a universally powerful existence already.
While thinking, he was already climbing the mountain path towards the Five Elements Sect ruins.
He didn't use any Dharma spells like the Wind Cloud Spell at all. He simply expended only the physical strength he had gained by becoming a cultivator.
He didn't know when he might need his Spiritual Energy, so he couldn't afford to waste it recklessly for a moment's convenience.
A short while later.
Having arrived at the Five Elements Sect ruins sooner because he had not rested even once, he felt only slightly tired as he retraced his memories and began his exploration.
And so, he found the same library pavilion he had first discovered before.
He was about to pass by it, as his memory of having already looked through it was vivid, but he stopped when he noticed that its door was closed.
'…Did I close the door when I left that time?'
No matter how much he thought about it, he had no such memory.
Thus, without any further thought, he unhesitatingly opened the completely rotten and tattered door and went inside.
The moment he entered and took a few steps forward, the door, having reached the end of its durability, fell off and clattered to the ground.
'I opened it very carefully back then.'
He had been just an ordinary human at the time, and especially right after suffering so terribly in the world of the demon followers, he had been cautious in everything he did.
Therefore, it was even more unlikely that he would have bothered to close a door that was so old and unstable.
After looking around the interior once, he could finally be certain.
'There are no traces of my visit at all.'
Since it was impossible that someone had cleaned up, it could only mean that this place was in a time before his visit.
"Ha."
He didn't hold back the laugh that came out reflexively.
Even while thinking it was impossible, for some reason he had felt it might be possible, and his awakened ability truly could let him choose a specific time period of a desired world to visit!
'And it even means I can visit again like this any number of times, doesn't it?'
It became clear that he could reunite with that useless little beast.
Most importantly, if something he didn't like happened in the future, he could always undo it and try again.
The ability felt so cheat-like that it was almost worrying.
What in the world was he that he had awakened such an incredible ability? Did reincarnation really exist, and had he saved the world back then? Or was it just simple luck?
'I can't know.'
He had pondered similar questions before, but the conclusion was always the same. He knew too little information to draw a proper conclusion.
For now, since there were no downsides, he just had to make good use of it.
The option of not using it out of consideration for some unknown risk was not worth even a single second of thought.
'Come to think of it, I could also restore rewards.'
He hadn't known that information before, so he hadn't even properly looked at the severely damaged books, but it seemed he would have to examine each and every one this time.
'But before that…'
It was good to examine everything, but he had to consider the fact that the amount of Spiritual Energy he could use was limited, and thus the time he could survive was also limited.
It was only right that he should look at the more important places, where results were certain, first.
He immediately left the library pavilion and headed for the Inner Sect area.
As he did, he observed the ruins of the Five Elements Sect with a new perspective, different from before.
Thinking about how many cultivators must have come and gone in this place when it was intact and clean in the distant past, he suddenly felt an impulse to revisit this world at that point in time.
What was the prestige of the Five Elements Sect like? How outstanding were the cultivators who lived and breathed here?
'If I really were to visit that era…'
As he was momentarily lost in his fantasy, it didn't take long to arrive at the Inner Sect area.
Just from the physical stamina of moving his body, he was once again made aware of how much stronger he had become compared to when he was an ordinary person.
Without much deep thought, he headed for the gorge where the cultivation caves of the Inner Sect members were located.
Upon arriving, he simply scanned the surrounding scenery once and immediately moved to a nearby cave.
When he had visited before, he couldn't see through the darkness and had to examine only the area around the entrance, but not anymore.
As Han Yu-jin entered deep into the cave, a gleaming light seemed to form in his pupils.
Casting the Spirit Eye Spell like that, completely unhindered by the darkness, he examined the interior.
It was larger than he had thought. If he had forcibly entered deep inside back then, he might have gotten lost and wandered around. If he had fallen and hit something, it probably would have hurt quite a lot.
'Should I call this a sense of how much things have changed, too?'
The structure he grasped while having such idle thoughts was roughly as follows.
First, there was a living room-like space that seemed to have been used for resting or receiving guests, and further inside was a training space with a cultivation mat that could not possibly get any more worn out.
There were also three more separate areas whose purposes didn't seem to be clearly defined.
The skeleton of the cave's owner was right on top of the central cultivation mat in that training room. It seemed he had closed his eyes for the last time in the place where he had spent the most time.
Feeling a little sorry for no reason, Han Yu-jin gave a small nod of his head and examined the skeleton and the surrounding mementos.
Perhaps because the storage pouch was already broken, he couldn't find anything particularly useful except for the Five Elements Sword.
'You can't expect to be full from the first bite.'
He left the cave and continued to explore the other caves.
Along the way, he once again came face to face with the skeleton of the cultivator who had died near the entrance and had gifted him the Five Elements Sword, the Spirit Liquid Gourd, and the storage pouch.
As it was indeed a time before his visit, the three Dharma artifacts he had chosen as rewards were still there.
Han Yu-jin looked at the Five Elements Sword and storage pouch he already possessed and confirmed new information.
'If I can keep visiting a specific time period of a certain world, I could also choose an item that exists there as a reward multiple times.'
He just had to bear the consumption of Karma. This was quite valuable information.
This time too, he offered a short moment of silence to show his respects and then resumed his exploration of the caves.
The haul after exploring all the caves was a bit mediocre.
One umbrella-shaped Dharma artifact presumed to be for defense.
One very sharp, awl-shaped offensive Dharma artifact.
One broken, rope-type Dharma artifact.
Three accessory-type Dharma artifacts like rings and bracelets whose purpose was unknown.
One box containing tools like a brush, which seemed to be for talisman crafting.
Several metal fragments whose identity and usefulness could not be guessed.
And finally, a large number of powerless stones that had once been Spirit Stones.
'I'm sure a few of these will be useful, but…'
Somehow, it didn't feel satisfying enough.
He could actually guess, to some extent, why there were only items like these.
As the catastrophe of the End of Dharma struck, all items except those for minimal self-defense would have lost their original value, so most would have been exchanged for food or consumed long ago.
'As expected, the only reward that can be obtained completely intact in this world is knowledge.'
Thinking this, he took one last look at the gorge that had been the residence of the Inner Sect members and left.
It was time to explore the places on treacherous terrain that he had to just pass by before.
<> <> <>
Whether it was good luck or because it was originally built close to the residences, he was able to quickly find the library pavilion that the Inner Sect members would have used.
It was a building built solitarily on top of a steep, sheer cliff.
When he landed in front of it using the Wind Cloud Spell, he could see that its exterior was in very good condition compared to the Outer Sect buildings. It must have been built with no ordinary materials.
The items inside the interior he entered after opening the door also looked surprisingly intact, which made him very pleased.
But a moment later, he couldn't help but pause.
'What is this…'
It was because more than half of the items on the shelves were not books.
They were small, thin, and long rectangular plates made of jade, connected to each other and rolled up.
They were items that were completely stuck and fixed in that rolled-up state and could not be opened.
It looked as if bamboo slips were made of jade instead of bamboo, then rolled up and shrunk down.
'So these are those Jade Slips.'
In a manner of speaking, they could be called books exclusively for cultivators. He had heard that they were small and light enough to be comfortably held with two fingers, yet contained a great deal of information, and the jade material used was also no ordinary thing, making them very sturdy.
But what was important right now was the fact that not just anyone could read those Jade Slips.
When a cultivator reached the Dharma Soul Stage, they gained a new, high-level spiritual sense called Divine Sense, and only through that Divine Sense could the Jade Slips be read.
'I'll have to come back again later.'
Sighing, he accepted the unavoidable fact and began to examine the remaining items that were in the form of books.
The disappointment he had felt for a moment soon melted away rapidly.
The title of the book he picked up first was the 'Five Elements Heavenly Evasion Art', which felt extraordinary from the get-go.
He opened it with great anticipation, and the contents made his eyes go wide and his heart pound.
It was the Five Elements Sect's highest-grade movement Dharma spell, a compilation that brought together the evasion arts of the five elements—Fire, Lightning, Wind, Water, and Earth. It was an incredibly outstanding and precious Dharma spell that it was an insult to even mention it in the same breath as something like the Wind Cloud Spell.
'If I learn this, I can move freely even underwater.'
And that wasn't all.
If he mastered it perfectly, no one among cultivators of the same realm would dare to be able to keep up with him, and it wasn't just fast; he could also pass through the states of all substances that the five elements signified at will.
Of course, as such, it was by no means a Dharma spell that could be learned easily.
It seemed that it would take an incredibly long time just to memorize it.
With slightly trembling hands, he placed the book made of some unknown leather back in its original place and picked up another book next to it to examine.
This one also had an extraordinary title.
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