Return of the Martial Soul – Chapter 2: The Seal and the Sword (Extended Edition)

  The forest was silent—eerily so.

  When Kang Mujin opened his eyes, the world had changed again. Overhead, the crimson canopy of twisted trees blocked the sky, and the air felt thick with age. His body throbbed with heat, not just pain. Something ancient stirred within him.

  He rose shakily. His modern clothes were torn, damp, and out of place. In his palm, the metallic pendant—the Heaven's Seal—glowed faintly with a pulse that matched his own heartbeat.

  “I was dying… wasn't I?”

  Flashes returned in fragments. The gunshots. The voice. The lightning.

  Then—nothing. Or rather, this.

  ??? (Unryonghoe), Hidden Fortress - Inner Chamber

  Woon Gihyeon, the elder of Unryonghoe, stood watching over Mujin. Around him, glowing formations on the stone floor shimmered like water under moonlight.

  “He survived the breach,” murmured a healer. “The seal didn't reject him. It sang.”

  Woon Gihyeon nodded. “The last time the Heaven’s Seal resonated… it marked the fall of Baekje's first secret dynasty. That was over four hundred years ago.”

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  They gazed at Mujin’s unconscious form, noting how his breath followed the rhythm of an ancient flow—like a river rediscovered.

  “He’s not just a stranger,” said Woon Gihyeon. “He's a fragment of destiny returning.”

  Later...

  When Mujin awoke, it was to the scent of burning herbs and the sound of chants echoing through stone. Figures in robes moved quietly around him. Candles danced like fireflies in the semi-darkness.

  “You are awake.”

  A man with white hair, robes threaded with silver, stepped forward. His eyes glowed with a light not entirely human.

  “I am Woon Gihyeon. Elder of Unryonghoe. You arrived… not by choice, but by fate.”

  Mujin tried to speak, but his throat was dry.

  “Water,” the elder said softly. A scribe brought it, kneeling.

  After drinking, Mujin rasped, “Where am I?”

  “This is the Hidden Fortress beneath the peaks of Dangun. A place even history forgot.”

  “And... what is this?” Mujin raised the pendant.

  Woon Gihyeon’s expression turned solemn.

  “That is the Heaven’s Seal—天牌. A relic tied to the Seven Trials. And you are its bearer.”

  Mujin scoffed. “I’m a journalist. Not some chosen one.”

  “No one is chosen. The seal does not pick the strongest. It awakens where chaos brews.”

  Mujin stared into the artifact’s glow.

  “Can I go back?”

  Woon Gihyeon hesitated.

  “Some say the relics open more than doors—they bend the weave of time. But for now, you must live. Here. As you are.”

  He handed Mujin a scroll.

  “This is Cheonun Shinbeop—the Heavenly Cloud Movement. It is the first step.”

  When Mujin unrolled it, the ink shimmered like oil on water. Glyphs danced. One symbol sparked against his palm, like it recognized him.

  “Why does this feel... familiar?”

  “Because perhaps your soul has walked here before.”

  Meanwhile, beneath the royal palace...

  A cloaked figure approached a throne carved from obsidian.

  “The Heaven’s Seal has awakened,” he said.

  A whisper came from behind a curtain of jade beads.

  “Then the first Trial begins. The relic must not unite.”

  In the dark… the Seal pulsed again.

  To be continued...