WeTried Translations
Translator/Editor: ZERO_SUGAR
Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried
Chapter 108: When Young, I Knew Not Sorrow's Taste (13)
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At the center of Dongting Lake.
So Hye and Won Huiseung watched the jiangshi standing on a small island.
“Why did a military official become a jiangshi? Could it be... Are the Demonic Path people Moyong Ha mentioned connected to the authorities?”
“We can't be certain yet.”
So Hye shook her head.
“The Demonic Path could have killed a military official and turned them into a jiangshi. Or they might have dug up the body of a military official who happened to die and made them into one.”
“Mm. That's true. Still, something about it feels wrong.”
“I feel the same way.”
As So Hye stared thoughtfully at the jiangshi, Won Huiseung asked, “In any case, it doesn't sit right with me to see the dead unable to rest, standing there like that. Is there no way to put it to rest?”
Though he phrased it as a question, heat haze already rose fiercely from his body. He looked ready to cut it down in a single stroke if that was what it took to let it rest.
“It doesn't sit right with me either. They say jiangshi are made by mixing the intense desire to return home... with evil energy. It's sad when you think of it that way. What kind of feelings could make someone stand there, struggling even after death...? But...”
So Hye bit her lip.
“I think we should go back for now.”
“Why?”
“According to a book I read, jiangshi are monsters that swords and sabers can't harm. Some say they carry terrible corpse poison. We don't have enough information, and we're not prepared. It's too dangerous. I feel awful about it, but for now, we should retreat...”
“So what you're saying is...”
Won Huiseung took another step toward the bow of the ferry.
“That you're not worried about leaving traces for the Demonic Path people who might be behind that thing, or anything like that.”
“Huh? Ah, yes. Well, if leaving a few traces means we can capture the jiangshi, that would be better. We'd be gaining a decisive clue in exchange for something so minor.”
“I see.”
“No, why do you keep moving forward? I said we should go back! It's dangerous! If the corpse poison is as awful as the book said, I won't be able to detoxify you!”
“Lady So Hye, did you know?”
Won Huiseung grinned.
“I like dragons.”
“Is there anyone who doesn't know that?”
“Dragons aren't born dragons from the start. They say an imugi waits in the water for a thousand years, then ascends to the heavens in one leap and becomes a dragon.”
“Yes, yes, I get it. Please step back already!”
“They say that if it fails its ascension, it can never become a dragon. Though some say it must wait another thousand years.”
“So...!”
“That story has always troubled me. Whether my time will ever come, whether I'll succeed in ascending when it does, and what will happen if I fail.”
Creak!
Won Huiseung twisted his grip around the sword hilt. Thick veins stood out on the back of his hand.
“I like dragons that succeeded in ascending, but I don't mock imugi that failed. If becoming a dragon were easy, dragons wouldn't be so special. Even if it ends in failure, I believe a life devoted to chasing that dream is worthwhile.”
“Hey, hey. Your sword! Put it away! I'm telling you, jiangshi are really dangerous!”
“But what is that thing?”
Won Huiseung's voice turned cold.
“I don't know whether its life was a success or a failure, but it must have endured long years of waiting and patience. It passed the civil service examination in life, after all.”
Shing-
At last, his sword left its sheath.
“What is that state supposed to be? Isn't it an insult to the fierce life it lived? Isn't it a mockery, exploitation, and humiliation of a lifetime of waiting and endurance?”
Crunch!
His teeth ground together.
“Live as a dragon, or die as an imugi! What is that thing, neither alive nor dead?”
Thud-
Won Huiseung shook off So Hye's hand as she tried to hold him back. She had gripped him with all her strength, but the difference in their cultivation meant she couldn't stop him.
“I'll put an end to this.”
Boom!
The ferry rocked.
Won Huiseung flew through the air and landed behind the jiangshi in an instant.
So Hye clenched her teeth and shouted, “Hold your breath! Don't let its nails touch you! That's the bare minimum precaution against corpse poison!”
As if in answer,
Flap, flap, flap!
Won Huiseung's robes billowed and snapped in the wind.
* * *
The Thirty-Six Swords Under Heaven was rooted in the Thirty-Six Heavenly Spirits.
It embodied the order of heaven, represented by thirty-six attributes, through the human body.
Heavenly Swiftness Star.
It was the power to hasten things.
A star that hurried the appointed moment and destiny forward, arriving one step ahead.
Whoosh!
Won Huiseung's aura changed.
He became one step faster, reaching one span sooner.
Clang! Clang! Clang!
In a single breath, he struck three times with a sword glowing blue with sword qi.
The jiangshi's neck.
Its wrist.
Its waist.
Yet the blade bounced away uselessly. Even sword force capable of splitting stone could not pierce that bluish corpse flesh.
Boom!
The jiangshi stomped the ground. Its stiff, hardened body creaked as it kicked off the earth, leaned forward, and charged.
Black nails shot toward Won Huiseung like shadows.
“...!”
Holding his breath, Won Huiseung spun away from the attack. With the power of the Heavenly Swiftness Star drawn out, he could nimbly evade even the jiangshi's reckless attacks.
Clang! Clang! Clang!
He didn't only dodge. He swung his sword as well.
The jiangshi took every strike with its body as it rushed in, flailing both hands. Won Huiseung evaded each attack from inches away and continued driving his sword forward.
Clang! Clang! Clang!
It looked like a dance.
Won Huiseung changed direction with the speed of a bird skimming water, scattering sword strikes. The jiangshi crushed the earth beneath its stiff joints as it lunged endlessly, and the two spun around and around.
Watching them, So Hye clasped both hands tightly and chewed her lip.
Won Huiseung's face was turning red. Moving that quickly without taking even a single breath meant he would run out of air in no time.
‘He has to come back now...!’
So Hye wanted to call for him to return, but she couldn't. What if she broke his concentration and put him at an even greater disadvantage?
Then Won Huiseung's sword changed.
Heavenly Courage Star.
The star of courage.
Won Huiseung, who had rushed ahead to bring about the result quickly, now surged forward with fierce, unhesitating resolve.
He no longer simply evaded.
He struck first.
Rather than retreat, he knocked away the jiangshi's black nails with his sword and closed the distance even further.
Whenever gray corpse poison rising from the jiangshi's body tried to invade his skin, he raised waves of true qi like heat haze and burned it away, then took another step forward.
Clang, clang, clang!
It was no longer a dance.
It became something closer to a brawl.
At close range, each hunted the other as they twisted and turned. The jiangshi, knocked away by Won Huiseung's sword, stretched out its stiff limbs and leaped again, and again.
Won Huiseung's momentum was clearly crushing the jiangshi.
But...
‘Still... His sword won't sink in.’
It was exactly as the book So Hye had read described. Swords and sabers could not penetrate a jiangshi's body after treatment with special reagents.
Meanwhile, the dark corpse poison rising around the jiangshi grew ever more potent.
Won Huiseung had held his breath from the beginning, and his face was now burning red.
“Young Hero Won!”
So Hye couldn't hold back any longer.
Forget breaking his concentration. At this rate, Won Huiseung really looked like he would die.
But then...
“Ah...?”
So Hye suddenly saw something.
The corner of Won Huiseung's mouth curled upward.
His face had gone beyond red and was turning dark from holding his breath for so long.
Creak!
Won Huiseung gripped his sword hilt fiercely. Blood vessels bulged across his whole body.
He thought,
‘Thank you, Yeon Sowol.’
Come to think of it, this was the first time he had fought at full strength since fighting Yeon Sowol.
Won Huiseung had spent that time agonizing over martial arts in his own way.
‘Why didn't you dodge?’
It was a strange thing to say.
Yeon Sowol had been the one to hit him, so why ask why Won Huiseung had not dodged?
But the more he thought about it, the more profound those words became.
‘Did I truly want to dodge?’
No.
‘Did I even have the will to win?’
Looking back on that fight, he hadn't.
He had no desire to win.
‘I was only desperate to use the power of the Heavenly Spirit Star with all I had.’
Since he had never intended to win, he hadn't thought to evade. That was why he had helplessly allowed the attack to hit him.
Won Huiseung found enlightenment in that.
‘Flow. I need to see the flow.’
Do not decide on the outcome you want and force everything into it. Instead, move in the most suitable way according to the flow of each moment.
That was not only the essence of martial arts, but also the essence of the Thirty-Six Swords Under Heaven.
That was why he chose the Heavenly Swiftness Star.
First, to understand the jiangshi quickly.
Then came the Heavenly Courage Star.
The natural flow from swiftness, the attribute that could naturally add momentum, was the power of courage.
And now that the flow had strengthened, what he could draw out was...
‘Heavenly Spirit Star.’
The strongest of the thirty-six stars in heaven, the star that represented power.
Hummmmm!
Won Huiseung's sword trembled. Its sword qi grew denser.
At the same time, it became clearer.
It was different from the heavy, weighty sword qi Namgung Ujin had shown. It was lively and light, yet strong and springy, as if another blue blade had grown over the edge of his sword.
It was also different from the Heavenly Spirit sword Won Huiseung had used against Yeon Sowol before. Back then, he had gathered every bit of strength he possessed, making it resemble Namgung Ujin's sword. Now, he didn't gather that much power.
‘Only exactly as much as I need. Only as much as I can.’
Neither more nor less.
Just enough.
Within the continuing flow, he drew out the third sword, Heavenly Spirit.
Clang!
A simple arc from left to right.
That arc swept through the jiangshi.
Like starlight, the sword cut across its waist before it could even pull back the two arms that had been knocked away by the Heavenly Courage Star.
Screeeech!
With the sound of metal plates being torn apart, the jiangshi's upper and lower halves slid apart.
Thud!
The severed corpse rolled across the ground.
“Ah!!!”
So Hye cried out from the ferry behind him.
Won Huiseung leaped far back, retreating beyond the range of the corpse poison. He lowered his sword toward the ground, clasped his hands, and offered a formal salute.
“Follow the Way of Heaven, and rest in peace.”
So Hye, who had watched the scene blankly from the ferry, hurriedly clasped her hands and bowed her head.
“May you find peace in the afterlife.”
* * *
Yeon Sowol was stunned by the mountain of gifts piled before him.
“Should I... send these back?”
Come to think of it, it had started with Ha Jeop of the Huashan Sect.
After Ha Jeop had suddenly approached, apologized, and left, countless people began arriving with gifts and invitations.
At first, Yeon Sowol had been pleasantly surprised.
He needed fame, and this was proof that he was building it smoothly.
But there were far too many gifts.
“I've received so many presents... but everyone is inviting me somewhere, and I can't attend them all. I should send these back after all.”
At this rate, he would look like some scoundrel who accepted gifts while ignoring invitations.
Moyong Ha laughed.
“Are you crazy? It'd be a disaster if you sent them back.”
“A disaster?”
“Yes. Returning a gift means, ‘As long as I live, I will never share a table with you.’”
“What...?”
“Just accept them.”
“But if I accept them and can't go...”
“That's better. They'll just think their gifts weren't enough, so accept them happily.”
“Mm...”
Yeon Sowol looked up at the mountain of gifts with a complicated expression.
Moyong Ha, on the other hand, looked pleased.
“This is good. I was worried the authorities might have taken a dislike to you. But if you build so much fame and so many connections, even the authorities won't dare mistreat you.”
“Then maybe...”
The troubled expression disappeared from Yeon Sowol's face, and his eyes gleamed.
“Should we investigate the authorities more directly?”
“Huh?”
“The authorities are suspicious, aren't they? We could trail military officials or soldiers ourselves. Or investigate Yuezhou's provincial governor. With this fame and these connections... couldn't we be more proactive?”
Moyong Ha considered it, then shook her head.
“Not yet... That should be a last resort. I find the authorities suspicious too, but if we poke around carelessly, it could be seen as a challenge to imperial authority. In the end, His Majesty the Emperor is the one who appoints officials.”
“Mm.”
“To act that aggressively, we'd need solid physical evidence. Only then would the risk be worth taking.”
Moyong Ha had just finished speaking.
Bang!
Won Huiseung and So Hye burst through the inn doors and rushed inside.
“Huiseung? So Hye?”
Before Sowol could ask anything, Huiseung and So Hye grabbed Yeon Sowol and Moyong Ha, then hurried upstairs.
They pushed into Yeon Sowol's room, where no one else could see them. Only then did they relax and set the bundle they had been carrying on the table.
“What is this?”
Won Huiseung answered.
“A clue.”
Wriggle!
The moment he finished speaking, the bundle on the table, a large sack about half a person's size, squirmed and flopped.
Footnotes:
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