Chapter 14

Chapter 14. Galactic Martial God Chronicle - Reincarnation (5)

When the Beggar Sect also began invading Hao Gate’s domains, such as hotels and trade, Hao Gate, in turn, began attacking the internet as well.

The Beggar Sect had the internet firmly in its grasp, and unless there was a fairly major problem or inconvenience, customers did not go through the trouble of switching from the service they primarily used.

The Beggar Sect had abandoned its roots as beggars, but for that very reason, it focused even more on “justice,” its reason for existence.

Righteousness was the Beggar Sect’s greatest shield, and also its fatal weakness.

Just as Murim was divided into righteous sects and unorthodox factions, the black path and the white path, the internet also had its light and its shadow.

The dark web.

Hao Gate began attacking the darkness of the internet, mainly used by criminals.

Hao Gate’s attempt was successful.

Having occupied the area the Beggar Sect could not bring itself to touch, Hao Gate escaped its trapped-on-all-sides situation and began a contest of strength with the Beggar Sect.

The two great sects, each having their boundaries violated, waged an invisible information war online and offline, in both the light and the shadows.

Around the time the power struggle between the Beggar Sect and Hao Gate was intensifying, the period of peace was also beginning to end in international affairs.

Global warming and natural disasters worsened due to reckless development and environmental pollution, and competition between nations over global hegemony grew active.

Even if the period of peace was ending, they could not enter an age of great wars like the previous era, so the countries vying for global hegemony kept wars at a localized level and devoted themselves to an invisible war of intelligence.

It was the beginning of the frozen intelligence war of the 22nd century’s new Cold War, to the point that the 20th century’s Cold War seemed not merely warm, but hot.

Naturally, an intelligence war was an information war, so the ones who played the greatest role in this era were, without question, the Beggar Sect and Hao Gate.

The documentary only explained a few famous anecdotes and moved on, but even those few anecdotes were enough to show how serious the situation had been at the time.

What ended the intelligence war of the new Cold War was the beginning of full-fledged space expansion in the late 22nd century.

The new Cold War spread into a space development race, just as the old Cold War had, and since it received support from various nations to that extent, humanity’s advance into space proceeded smoothly.

Terraforming the Moon and Mars.

Technologies for constructing colonies at Lagrange points were created, and naturally, the testing ground for those technologies was Earth.

Through terraforming technology, Earth succeeded in slowing the momentum of global warming.

Once terraforming technology had been established to a certain degree, humanity’s advance into space began gaining momentum.

Of course, even after terraforming technology was established, the environment of space was harsh, unlike Earth.

What drew attention then was the overwhelming vitality of martial artists.

Vitality that would not die even from shell explosions and poison gas attacks.

Based on that vitality, developing martial arts so that one could survive even in space was not impossible.

And so, martial artists overflowing with vitality stood at the vanguard of space expansion, and the movement of martial artists meant that the great sects also moved.

In that way, humanity advanced into space, and Episode 4 of the documentary ended.

From Episodes 5 to 7, the main subject was the Murim Alliance, the predecessor of the Galactic Murim Alliance.

To briefly summarize, amid competition between nations over hegemony on the Moon and Mars, the great sects began breaking free of the yoke of nations.

The reason the great sects could break free of the yoke of nations was that, in the harsh environment of space, terraforming and colony development were not easy unless martial artists were involved.

Since they gained authority proportional to their hardship, the great sects grew before anyone knew it, to the point that it became difficult for nations to control martial artists.

In that process, a representative who could speak on equal footing with various nations became necessary, and the Murim Alliance and its Alliance Leader took that position.

That was because, if power became concentrated in a particular sect and the balance of power between sects collapsed, the sects could once again fall under state control.

Eventually, when warp navigation technology that could take them beyond the solar system was developed, the great sects spread across the galaxy and began a development race, as if they had become adventurers searching for a land of gold.

Whoever discovered and claimed a star system first became its owner, so they moved quickly.

From this point on, great sects began to take on the nature of quasi-state organizations beyond mere groups of martial artists.

Surprisingly, from Episodes 8 to 12, the main subject was the Cheon Family, the family I had been born into.

To be precise, the main subject was Cheon Yu, the Martial God, an unparalleled genius born into the Cheon Family, which at the time had only barely managed to occupy a place among the great sects.

In order to claim the galaxy’s various star systems, a craze for terraforming planets swept across the entire Galactic Murim, regardless of righteous sects, unorthodox factions, or the Demon Cult, and wars large and small broke out throughout the galaxy.

There were countless star systems in the galaxy, but by the technological standards of the time, there were few planets or satellites that could be terraformed like Mars or the Moon, and the wars were fought to claim those planets and satellites.

In order to claim planets, bloody winds blew without regard for the distinctions between the righteous, unorthodox, and demonic factions, and in that situation, those called the Demon Cult often crossed the line.

During hundreds of years of war, around the 28th century CE, Cheon Yu, the Martial God born into the Cheon Family, became the greatest person in the galaxy in one leap at the young age of not even three hundred, opening up a realm beyond the Nature Realm, which had been called the limit of martial artists.

The mention of three hundred years old made me wonder for a moment whether this was not a wuxia world but a xianxia world, but no, it wasn’t.

Having reached a realm no one had even imagined, Martial God Cheon Yu began exerting influence over the entire galaxy as if he were directing traffic.

Cheon Yu’s first move was to reorganize the Murim Alliance, which had become a name only after the activity range of sects had expanded too far, into the Galactic Murim Alliance with the Cheon Family as its pillar, thereby uniting the righteous sect alliance.

Then he personally took the vanguard and began subjugating great sects of the unorthodox factions that were committing atrocities and the Demon Cult, which had crossed the line by far.

As the saying goes, one hand cannot block ten hands, so Martial God Cheon Yu could not appear on every battlefield.

However, the battlefields he appeared on were mainly the Old Heavenly Mountain Star System and the Old Hundred Thousand Mountains Star System, which had been strongholds of the Demon Cult, as well as the Old Conqueror Star System, the Old Tyrant Star System, and the Old Second Tyrant Star System, which had been strongholds of the Tyrant Hegemony Alliance, an alliance of great unorthodox sects.

The reason the word “Old” was attached in front of those star system names was that the planets terraformed by the Demon Cult and the Tyrant Hegemony Alliance had been completely smashed apart by Martial God Cheon Yu’s attacks.

Just as I was about to wonder what kind of person smashed planets apart, the documentary showed footage of planets that were still hells of fire because their crusts had been overturned and their mantles exposed, as well as actual footage from the time of a planet being split in half.

Honestly, looking at the footage, it seemed more like a xianxia world than a wuxia world, but no, it wasn’t.

In that way, the Demon Cult was believed to have been annihilated before Martial God Cheon Yu entered seclusion, and the domain of the unorthodox factions shrank endlessly.

Of course, after Martial God Cheon Yu entered seclusion, they slowly and steadily increased their power again, but the main ruler of the current Galactic Murim was the Galactic Murim Alliance, which belonged to the righteous sects.

To be precise, the galaxy was occupied at a ratio of roughly sixty percent righteous sects, twenty-four percent unorthodox factions, fifteen percent Demon Cult, and one percent other.

In any case, Martial God Cheon Yu had gone into seclusion, but he was confirmed to still be alive, and the Cheon Family, the driving force behind the founding of the Galactic Murim Alliance, was enjoying the reputation of being the greatest family in the galaxy, surpassing the other great sects.

“Si-woo.”

After finishing the documentary, I called Si-woo, and Si-woo, who had been cleaning, put down the vacuum cleaner and approached me.

“Yes, young master.”

A 50th-century vacuum cleaner makes no noise at all. That’s amazing.

Is this future technology?

“What’s your wealm?”

My pronunciation leaked because my teeth had not fully grown in.

“Are you asking about my realm? Or are you asking how martial artists’ realms are classified?”

“Boaf.”

“You mean both. As for me, based on my artificial external qi center and martial arts drive, I can fight on equal footing with a martial artist at the Transformation Realm, or with a slight advantage.”

Apparently, Si-woo had originally been not a nanny android, but a training sparring android for my father, who had died before I was born.

Naturally, even now that Si-woo had become my nanny, she was still an expert of the Transformation Realm.

“A martial artist’s realm is broadly divided into fifteen realms.”

Entry Realm, the stage where one perceives and absorbs the surrounding qi to create a qi center.

Third-Rate, where one consumes the qi in the qi center to strengthen the body.

Second-Rate, where one goes beyond strengthening the body and strengthens objects.

First-Rate, where one can produce sword qi over a weapon.

Peak Realm, where sword qi begins to take form and can create sword threads.

Transcendent Peak, where sword threads gather to form sword aura, a single blade.

Transformation Realm, where manifested sword aura is compressed to create a sword ring.

Profound Realm, where the body’s qi channels open, one communes with the world, and internal energy no longer dries up below a certain level.

Life and Death Realm, said to transcend life and death.

Nature Realm, said to accept nature as it is.

Stellar Self Realm, a realm where one goes beyond nature, accepts a star, and becomes a star oneself.

Stellar Transcendence Realm, said to surpass a star.

Ecstasy Realm, said to surpass the Stellar Transcendence Realm.

Ascension Realm, said to be the realm above that.

Martial God Realm, the realm only Martial God Cheon Yu was said to have reached.

After hearing the explanation, I said to Si-woo,

“Fom Lipe an Deaf Realm on, the explanashuns aw uncewtain.”

“You’re saying the explanations become uncertain from the Life and Death Realm onward?”

Si-woo somehow understood what I said.

“That’s because most of the testimonies from people who have reached the Life and Death Realm or higher are abstract and incomprehensible.”

“Aha, sho they can’t be intowpreted?”

“So they can’t be interpreted? Yes, that’s correct.”

At Si-woo’s answer, I nodded to show that I understood.

“By the way, why can the Mawtial God live sho long?”

“But why can the Martial God live so long? That is because when humans reach the Transformation Realm, they undergo rebirth and return to youth, and once they enter the Profound Realm, the higher their realm becomes, the slower they begin to age. Ah, according to records, they say one undergoes rebirth again upon reaching the Life and Death Realm and the Stellar Self Realm.”

I could not help being shocked by what Si-woo said next.

“The Family Head, your great-grandfather, is currently six hundred eighty-one years old, and the Outer Hall Head, your grandfather, is five hundred three years old.”

The Sword King Cheon Ja-su, who had become the Family Head roughly thirty years ago, was an expert of the Stellar Transcendence Realm, and my grandfather, Cheon Gyeong-ho, was known as an expert of the Nature Realm.

“My father?"

“...Your father, Cheon Ju-yu, was at the Transformation Realm. Your mother, Seo Gyeong-ae, was a martial artist at the Peak Realm.”

Si-woo answered carefully, unable to know what effect talking about my parents would have on my emotions.

“Weally? Got it.”

“You mean, ‘Really? Got it,’ correct? Please ask me anytime if there is anything else you’re curious about.”

After answering, Si-woo went back to cleaning.

Why did Cheon Ju-yu, the grandson of the Family Head, die?

If a direct blood relative close to the Family Head had died, it should have appeared in the news, but not being able to search was frustrating.

I tried fiddling with the remote control to see if I could search through the television embedded in the wall, but only movies and dramas showed up, and I could not find an internet search function.

Seeing that every movie that came up was rated fifteen or lower, it seemed they had probably blocked it so that children could not watch anything strange.

Hmm, I do have one secret technique for times like this. Is it time to use the forbidden demonic art?