Radiant Dragon’s Otherworldly Reincarnation

Prologue: Dammit, to think I died there (1)

Corpses and more corpses.

The foul stench of blood, so thick it pierced deep into the lungs with every breath, filled the valley.

Falling Phoenix Sect.

The ominous valley where Pang Tong, a close aide and brilliant strategist to Emperor Shōretsu Liu Bei, met his unfortunate end.

On this very land, countless people were shedding blood once again.

All because of a single man guarding the valley.

“What a monster.”

“He’s not even human.”

“How can a bastard like that be a Great Master. Killing Ghost would suit him better.”

The number of bodies lying strewn across the ground appeared to be over three hundred, at a conservative estimate.

Every single one of them was someone who would be called a first-rate master wherever they went.

All of them had lost their lives to one man.

A man, covered in blood from head to toe, holding a pair of swords in his hands.

Radiant Dragon Great Master Jin Cheon.

He was the one who had created this hellscape.

Of course, he wasn’t in pristine condition either.

Most of the blood drenching his body belonged to his enemies, but the blood that flowed enough to form puddles on the ground was his own.

The corners of his mouth crept up into a smirk, despite having sustained injuries so severe he should have already been dead long ago.

And he opened his mouth to the masters of the Unorthodox Factions who were staring at him as if he were a demon.

“You bastards….”

“……”

“What are you doing?”

“……”

He raised his hand and beckoned with his fingers.

“Bring it on.”

In that instant, goosebumps erupted all over the bodies of the Unorthodox Alliance masters who had formed the encirclement.

He was so grievously injured that the very fact he was alive and breathing was incomprehensible.

He was in such a precarious state that forget a man of Martial world, even a third-rate ruffian from the back alleys could knock him over with a slight push.

And yet….

‘…Why?’

‘How….’

‘I can’t move.’

It was as if someone had driven a stake through their feet; they couldn't budge.

I have to attack now.

I have to go forward right now.

But I couldn't.

For a martial artist of the Unorthodox Faction, wasn't the greatest prize ultimately taking the head of a big shot from the Orthodox Murim?

If I could just step forward now, I could take the head of that Radiant Dragon Great Master.

An opportunity more valuable than a thousand pieces of gold was right before my eyes.

My head clearly understood that, but….

‘Dammit….’

‘I can’t move forward.’

Not a single one of them could step forward.

Watching the members of the Unorthodox Faction, Jin Cheon spoke nonchalantly.

“You boring bastards.”

“……”

“If you won’t come….”

As he spoke, Jin Cheon’s knees bent slightly.

At the same time, the Unorthodox Faction members in front of him flinched in surprise and took a step back without realizing it.

Watching them, Jin Cheon licked his lips and then spoke.

“I’ll go to you.”

With those words, the Radiant Dragon’s figure, true to his alias, became a streak of light and plunged into the Unorthodox Alliance masters.

“Ugh…. Uaaaaah.”

“Dieeee!”

Only then did the masters of the Unorthodox Alliance also brandish their weapons as if in a last-ditch struggle.

And so, a storm of blood raged through the valley once more.

Every time a flash of light sparked, the heads of the Unorthodox masters fell.

In the midst of it all, the weapons swung with desperate tenacity left scars on Radiant Dragon Great Master Jin Cheon’s body.

Large and small wounds kept piling up, pushing him ever closer to death.

But even as the very end approached, his swords never stopped.

Every time his figure, flashing like lightning, and his two swords, drawing streaks of light, moved, the heads of the Unorthodox masters were certain to fall and their bodies to be split apart.

“Uaaaaaaah!”

“Die! Just die, please!”

“Kuaaaak!”

A scene of carnage unfolded, a veritable pandemonium as if hell had been brought to the mortal world.

Here, there was neither the orthodox nor the unorthodox.

There were only those struggling to survive.

On this day, at Falling Phoenix Sect, the Orthodox Murim master, Radiant Dragon Great Master Jin Cheon, breathed his last.

He had charged in alone to save his comrades who were trapped in the Unorthodox Faction's inescapable net and on the verge of death, breaking through the encirclement to let his allies escape.

Afterward, he single-handedly blocked the valley pass and fought to a mutual demise against three thousand elite masters of the Unorthodox Alliance.

A giant of the Orthodox Faction who, since his debut in the Martial world, had written a legend of invincibility with a hundred wins in a hundred duels, and was spoken of as the future World's Best.

His end was a legendary death that would be remembered for ages in the history of Murim.

In the Murim, that is.

* * *

-You punk. How long are you going to live so childishly, like a beast? A person must know propriety and walk the righteous path.

‘Such a nag….’

Still, thanks to him, a little demon like me who was rotting in the back alleys managed to become a decent human being.

If it weren't for Master, at best, I would have ended up pretending to be a big shot in the Unorthodox Faction, sucking the blood of the common people.

-Doing good is not something you do in hopes of a reward. You do it simply because it is the right thing to do.

‘For a Sect Leader of a third-rate sect in some backwater countryside, he's better at spouting righteous words than the leaders of the prestigious Orthodox sects. That’s why he never gets ahead.’

I really ran around everywhere, stirring up trouble left and right, just trying to make this frustrating Master of mine successful.

Thanks to that, I made a few friends.

Though I made a hundred times more enemies.

-It's fine. That is your achievement, not mine. I am fine, so you take it.

‘Master…. Master…. You are the most frustrating person in the world….’

If someone gives you something, can't you just take it?

If I don't look out for you, who's going to give you spiritual medicine, Master?

Helping the poor, yet he doesn't even have enough money in his own pocket to buy a single ginseng root….

Anyway, why is he like that?

Normally, if he had a disciple like me, he would have gleefully used me to secure a position in the Murim Alliance and live a life of influence.

Even when ignored, he'd just chuckle.

Even when insulted, he'd just laugh it off.

Well, I later beat bastards like that to an inch of their lives, but still….

‘There's a limit to being a good-natured pushover. Master…. What are you really going to do without me?’

Whenever Jin Cheon worried, his Master would say with a smile.

-Why? Do you plan on dying before me? A person must follow their path. It wouldn't do for you to die before I do, would it?

Of course not.

My good-natured Master.

Without me, he's just a weak, gullible fool.

How could I die before a Master like that?

I have to live.

I have to live to let my Master enjoy a life of luxury, and make our Twin Dragon Sect the best sect in the world….

And also…. well, anyway, I'll do everything good for him.

‘I have to repay the grace of him making me a person.’

Right.

This is no time to be like this.

I don't know where I am right now, but this situation—dark, stuffy, with nothing but some strange, unidentifiable noise—is not good.

I have to get out.

I have to get out, go back, be a good son to my Master, make those weakling junior brothers of mine strong, and completely fold in half those bastards from the prestigious Orthodox sects who treat our Twin Dragon Sect like a third-rate sect.

I can do it.

I can do it.

Because I am Radiant Dragon Great Master Jin Cheon.

‘Eeeeeek….’

Jin Cheon struggled with all his might to escape from this dark and stuffy place.

He did his best, using all his strength, to move toward the direction where a faint light was shining.

And finally….

‘I’m ouuuut!’

Jin Cheon shouted at the top of his lungs.

Well, I mean….

He tried.

“Waaah! Waaah! Waaah!”

It’s just that the result didn't quite follow.

“## ### ###.”

“#### ## #### ##.”

“##….”

The noisy surroundings were filled with unintelligible sounds.

A loud baby's cry was coming from his own mouth.

Jin Cheon realized.

‘Uh…. This isn’t right.’

That the situation was quite serious.

* * *

Three years later.

The small kingdom of Atronia, in the eastern part of the continent.

Among its territories, the small fiefdom of Baron Schneider, located at the very frontier.

This was a pioneer's fiefdom, situated right next to a vast forest teeming with monsters and barren land.

Most people considered this place a backwater, unfit for human habitation.

But the actual residents of this fiefdom said that their land was quite a livable place.

The reason for this was the Baron Schneider family who ruled over this fiefdom.

Baron Schneider was a rare case among nobles, a pushover—no, a noble who governed with benevolence.

Although the land was barren and harsh, the fact that the lord who ruled it was a kind and good person was a great advantage.

In a world where life could become hell if the lord was tyrannical, even if the land was fertile and abundant, a good noble like Baron Schneider was certainly a rarity.

The only problem for the Baron Schneider family was that they had been without an heir for a long time.

But that too was resolved a few years ago when his wife gave birth to a son.

It would have been difficult for the Baroness, with her frail constitution, to give birth multiple times, but thankfully, the first child was a boy.

With this, the future of the Baron Schneider family was secured, and the fief's residents could also feel at ease.

And the being born amidst everyone's blessings was Patrick Schneider.

The little kid who was now sitting in the manor's garden with the most world-weary expression on his face, blankly staring up at the sky.

“The young master is at it again.”

“Do you think he's okay?”

The maids and servants working in the baronial household looked at Patrick with expressions of concern.

In their eyes, their young master couldn't help but seem a little, no, to be frank, extremely strange.

Seeing him spend most of his time sitting blankly like that, mumbling incomprehensible words, then suddenly getting angry and suddenly becoming sad, over and over again….

“He's not crazy, is he?”

“Shhh! You’ll get in big trouble for saying that….”

“Well, no matter how you look at it, he’s not normal, is he?”

“Shut up! You have a death wish.”

“……”

The servant who had spoken looked at his counterpart with a sullen expression that seemed to say, ‘You think so too.’

But no matter how benevolent and kind Baron Schneider was, he wouldn't just let a servant who treated his only son like a madman go.

But there was something they didn't know.

Even though they were speaking in sufficiently low voices and from a distance, Patrick heard everything they were saying.

“I wish I were crazy too, you fools.”

And then he sighed again and said.

“My lot in life has certainly improved.”

The words that came out of the boy's mouth were in the language of the Central Plains.

To the people around him, it sounded like nothing more than the mumbling of a three-year-old child with slurred pronunciation.

Radiant Dragon Great Master Jin Cheon.

His newly reborn form was the present-day Patrick Schneider.

Patrick suddenly let out a smirk and said.

“A noble is a nobleman, right? I’ve made it, I really have. In my past life, I was an orphan and a beggar.”

In his past life, Jin Cheon was an orphan who didn't even know who his parents were.

But in this world where he was reborn, he was supposedly the only son of a noble family.

Although this Baron Schneider fellow was of the lowest rank, a humble noble, but still, that's something, right?

He had his own fiefdom, even if it was the size of a booger, and the residents brought him taxes.

It meant that even if he did nothing, there was no problem with eating, sleeping, and shitting.

“Life is so easy.”

In his past life, Jin Cheon at this age already had to find his own food.

Begging was a given, and he was a street urchin in the back alleys whose eyes were always glinting, looking to snatch and steal from others.

Jin Cheon's life continued like that until he was taken in by his Master, the Sect Leader of Twin Dragon Sect, when he was over ten years old.

Compared to then, his current life was so comfortable it was absurd.

It was that comfortable, and yet….

“Haaaah….”

The face of Jin Cheon, no, Patrick, who was sighing as if the ground would collapse, was full of sorrow.

‘Dammit, to think I died there.’

To save his clueless allies trapped in an encirclement, he single-handedly broke through the inescapable net, and in the process of retreating, he defended the rear to protect his allies.

As a result, he died at Falling Phoenix Sect, single-handedly holding off three thousand elite masters of the Unorthodox Alliance.

It would be a magnificent death that would go down in the history of the Martial world Murim.

The descendants of the Martial world would probably praise the chivalry and martial arts of Radiant Dragon Great Master Jin Cheon for ages to come.

But….

“What’s the use if I’m dead? Ah, I’m really going crazy. It's obvious what will happen to my pushover Master if I die.”

Patrick tore at his hair and lamented.

His Master, the Sect Leader of a third-rate sect in a remote countryside, was an object of jealousy for the high-ranking officials of the Murim Alliance.

An incompetent figure who simply got lucky by taking in one disciple born with genius-level talent and made a name for himself.

That was what the so-called renowned masters of the Orthodox Murim whispered behind his back.

Of course, they couldn't say it to his face.

If they did….

[Is this bastard out of his goddamn mind!]

Who would dare, when there was a mad dog ready to foam at the mouth and go berserk?

Jin Cheon’s alias was Radiant Dragon Great Master, but in truth, he was more often called Radiant Dragon.

And that was among the Orthodox Factions, not the Unorthodox.

But now that Jin Cheon was gone, what about the Twin Dragon Sect?

What about his Master, who was nothing but a good person?

What about the Orthodox Murim?

‘Ah, forget the last one. Those bastards need to suffer a bit. Anyway….’

Patrick let out a deep sigh and lamented.

“Haa…. This is driving me crazy, seriously.”

Then, the lamenting Patrick looked up at the sky and yelled his lungs out.

“Ah! If you were going to reincarnate me, you could have just done it in the world I lived in, right? Why reincarnate me in some strange world I know nothing about, what the hell. Whether it's the Jade Emperor or Buddha, you're not doing your jobs right! You slackers!”

It was the moment the first human to curse the Jade Emperor and Buddha was born on the continent of Pangemonia.

The surrounding servants and maids who were watching the scene whispered among themselves that their young master was definitely crazy.

It was just another peaceful day in the household of Baron Schneider.

[ Hey everyone! It’s your Akaza this side. As y'all know, this is my first time trying a Murim / martial arts work, so there might be some mistakes here and there — especially when it comes to terms, sect structures, or fighting styles.

If you spot any errors, inconsistencies, or have suggestions for improvement, please let me know! I’d really appreciate your feedback as I explore this genre.

Thanks for reading and supporting! ]