WeTried Translations
Translator/Editor: ZERO_SUGAR
Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried
Chapter 130: The Rear Waves of the Yangtze Push the Front Waves (4)
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Yeon Sowol versus Shin Gilrip.
Late first-rate versus the peak realm.
There had already been several upsets.
Yeon Sowol had secured Stopless Sword’s concession.
Ha Jeop had defeated Bubulbu.
There was no rule saying a late first-rate genius could not defeat a mature peak-realm martial artist. Everyone knew that by now.
Still, this time was different.
At least, that was what everyone thought.
‘No way.’
‘Even if Hero Yeon is remarkable, Prefectural Inspector General Shin...’
‘They’re in completely different leagues.’
‘Even if the general is fighting bare-handed, without armor techniques or weapons...’
Such was the prestige of Shin Gilrip, head of Yuezhou’s Prefectural Inspectors.
‘No matter how extraordinary Jianghu martial artists may be, they can’t compare to a general...’
It was only natural to think so.
After all, it was not martial artists who roamed about as they pleased who governed and protected the common people of this land. It was the generals standing tall atop the city walls.
To the common people, generals were invincible. They had to be.
The Emperor’s rule rested upon that belief.
At first, everyone had privately wondered:
‘Why challenge the Prefectural Inspector General?’
‘Huh. There’s nothing to gain and everything to lose, isn’t there?’
Yeon Sowol had remained undefeated until now.
The man who had organized this tremendous martial arts tournament was an undefeated master, no less.
How could they not praise him?
If he had simply stayed put, his name would have been celebrated and remembered in Yuezhou, across Hunan, perhaps even throughout the realm.
‘If he gets beaten that badly, won’t it tarnish his image?’
‘What a shame. What a shame.’
As they watched Yeon Sowol get thoroughly overwhelmed by Prefectural Inspector General Shin Gilrip, everyone had thought much the same thing.
Why had Yeon Sowol taken such an unreasonable risk?
They had wanted him to remain flawless, nothing but brilliant.
Yet Yeon Sowol kept crashing into him.
As if he could not care less about anyone’s expectations.
Bang!
Clang!
The air shuddered and dust burst from the ground. For an instant, the compressed air turned to vapor, and white shockwaves erupted behind their bodies.
Even so,
he did not fall.
He charged in again.
Teeth bared.
“Ugh...”
“Mm...”
At first, many frowned and turned away.
They could not bear to watch.
Just seeing it made their teeth ache and their hearts sink. It pained them to watch the hero of this martial arts tournament be brutally battered apart.
But then...
Thud!
Boooom!
The fight did not end.
Crack!
Thuuud!
It simply would not end.
Instead, it grew fiercer.
Every collision had once sent Yeon Sowol flying back, yet now he clung closer and closer to Shin Gilrip.
He struck back.
For every four blows he took, he managed one counterattack. Yet he was undeniably counterattacking. Shin Gilrip’s expression was no longer relaxed, either.
“...”
“...”
The people’s expressions changed.
They could no longer look away.
For some reason, watching Yeon Sowol press forward without ever retreating, even as he was reduced to a wreck, made their hearts burn hotter.
Who had not had such a moment?
A moment when they had wanted to challenge something to the bitter end, even if it left them in ruins.
Yet they could not, and had no choice but to swallow their bitter tears of resentment.
Clench!
Fists tightened.
The old.
The young.
Women.
Men.
“I hope he wins...”
Someone murmured.
Then...
Thuuud!
Crack!
Yeon Sowol pushed forward, little by little.
He countered once for every three blows.
Then once for every two.
At last...
Thud!
Bang!
Crunch!
Clang!
They traded blows one for one.
A clear shockwave burst behind Shin Gilrip’s back as well.
Yeon Sowol’s hair had come completely loose as he bared his teeth and charged in. Sweat glittered in the sunlight behind him.
* * *
‘Is this even possible?’
Shin Gilrip did not know what this feeling inside him was.
It boiled too fiercely to be admiration.
It was too chilling to be annoyance.
It burned too hot to be fear.
He simply could not understand it.
‘He’s clearly late first-rate.’
The peak realm was special.
In numerical terms, it was the realm where one had refined more than ninety percent of essence into qi.
In conceptual terms, it was the realm where one completed one’s own qi and could produce extraordinary harmonies as naturally as breathing.
Yeon Sowol had not reached that point.
There was a limit to the harmonies he could create. Qi had to pass ninety percent before such harmony could arise on its own.
Besides, he had not yet completed his own qi.
To put it another way, Shin Gilrip could comfortably mill grain that had already been sorted. Yeon Sowol had to begin by sorting it himself, then raise a pestle and pound it while dripping with sweat.
There was no need to say who held the advantage.
Yet.
Why?
‘How is he gradually catching up?’
Shin Gilrip’s strikes were increasingly being swallowed by Yeon Sowol’s protective qi art.
Yeon Sowol’s strikes were increasingly piercing through Shin Gilrip’s protective qi art.
Shin Gilrip met Yeon Sowol’s eyes.
His bloodshot eyes.
The corners of his mouth, stained with blood from his split lips and nose, curled into a grin.
It sent a chill through Shin Gilrip.
Made him shiver.
Made something surge in his chest.
Filled him with an indescribable joy.
Shin Gilrip’s lips slowly parted as well.
His teeth showed.
It was impossible to tell whether he was growling or smiling.
Bang!
Boooom!
Their fists and feet collided.
Shin Gilrip’s qi was Vast Righteous Qi.
It was the force created at the peak realm by an official’s martial arts, rooted in Nature Learning.
Obstruction.
It was enormous, as though it filled his entire view and blocked the way.
Majesty.
It was awe-inspiring, making one unable to move carelessly.
Directness.
It drove straight ahead and pierced through weakness.
Hardness.
It neither bent nor broke.
At first, Yeon Sowol had been completely unable to contend with it.
The realization he was building resembled the universe, but it remained incomplete.
He scattered before that impenetrable obstruction, wavered before that terrifying majesty, was pierced by that straight force, and shattered against that unyielding hardness.
They were on entirely different levels.
Stopless Sword Na Seok’s earth qi had not overwhelmed Yeon Sowol like this...
Yet Yeon Sowol only burned hotter.
From the moment he had held Moyong Ha’s cold body in his arms, a flame had blazed within him. It had not gone out for even an instant. It only grew.
He was not afraid.
It did not feel impossible.
He had to fight.
He had to do this.
For his friend.
To atone for his own stupidity.
Whether it was possible or impossible.
Whether it was dangerous or difficult.
He did not weigh such things.
He simply did it.
With all his body and all his heart.
With everything he had.
Digging into what he could do until the very end.
Striding past even what he could not.
“Uaaaaah!”
His qi was incomplete?
Then he would sort through the different energies and imitate it.
He would force the realization called the universe into being.
His qi was insufficient?
Then he would squeeze out more.
Until he had enough to embody the realization called the universe.
Cold sweat streamed from his entire body, and blood ran from his nose as his body and mind were pushed far beyond their limits. Even then, he bared his teeth and drove strength into his toes.
Thuuud!
He received the martial force contained in Shin Gilrip’s fist with qi as boundless and vast as the universe.
It was a protective qi art.
He had never formally learned one, yet after throwing himself into battle over and over, he had managed a rough imitation.
Something vast enough to cover heaven and earth?
Something straight and unyielding?
Nothing could surpass the universe.
When Shin Gilrip’s martial force wave dissolved into Yeon Sowol’s protective qi art without even an echo, it became Yeon Sowol’s turn to counterattack.
Boooom!
With force like countless energies gathering and exploding, like a massive star blazing to life, Yeon Sowol lashed a kick into Shin Gilrip’s thigh.
What came back was a horrifying rebound. A shudder raced through his entire body.
Shin Gilrip immediately swung his elbow.
Crack!
Yeon Sowol’s universe-imitating protective qi art tore before that elbow. It had driven straight into an underdeveloped part of the protective qi art.
The bones in Yeon Sowol’s left arm creaked as he barely blocked it.
Pain flared through his bones.
Still, he clenched his teeth.
Instead, he took another step forward.
As if pain itself were firewood, Yeon Sowol’s heart only burned hotter.
Whoosh!
Yeon Sowol reached out, trying to seize Prefectural Inspector General Shin Gilrip by the shoulder.
Tap!
Shin Gilrip knocked his hand aside and threw himself backward.
“Huh?”
It was the first time.
The two had clashed while advancing without yielding even an inch, but Shin Gilrip retreated for the first time.
He had not been pushed back.
He had stepped back.
Yeon Sowol was caught off guard when Shin Gilrip spoke.
“So that’s what it was. Your spirit has flared up. Well, with your friend ending up like that, your heart must be in turmoil. In any case, I believe this match has gone far enough.”
Complex emotions filled Shin Gilrip’s eyes as he looked at Yeon Sowol.
They seemed like pity.
They seemed like admiration.
They seemed like concern.
They seemed like pride...
“Lie low. That is what the provincial governor ordered. As Prefectural Inspector General, I convey that order. But as a martial artist...”
He cupped his fist toward Yeon Sowol.
“I can only wish you fortune on your martial path.”
He turned his back.
Without looking back at Yeon Sowol, he shouted, “I, Shin Gilrip, Prefectural Inspector General of Yuezhou, acknowledge Yeon Sowol of Shinheung County with admiration. Give him five points!”
The moment he finished speaking,
“Ah!”
“Ahh...”
The people cried out as if waking from a dream.
“That’s right. This was a test, wasn’t it?”
“Exactly. They didn’t need to decide a winner, did they?”
Those had been Yeon Sowol’s rules from the start.
A match against a martial official was not about winning or losing. It was about whether one earned recognition.
Yeon Sowol had earned five points by gaining the acknowledgment of Shin Gilrip, a fifth-rank general.
“But then, who won?”
“General Shin Gilrip, obviously. Didn’t he let him off because he was worried continuing would be too much for him?”
“What are you talking about? From where I stood, Hero Yeon was winning. Didn’t the general retreat because he thought he’d start getting pushed back?”
“Hey! Does that make any sense?”
“Why wouldn’t it?”
Arguments broke out everywhere.
At the center of it all, Yeon Sowol stepped down from the platform.
Sway!
Once he was out of sight, his knees buckled.
“Mm... As expected. The wall of the peak realm is high.”
Yeon Sowol’s hand trembled.
Shin Gilrip had been right.
The storm of his emotions had let him exceed his limits, but only briefly. If he had forced himself any further, his qi-blood might have been damaged.
“Still...”
Yeon Sowol quietly looked into the distance, toward Shin Gilrip as he headed back up the basin.
He looked as imposing as he had at the start, but Yeon Sowol could see it.
Shin Gilrip was hiding his trembling hand behind his back, keeping it from his subordinates.
‘I didn’t lose.’
Thinking that, Yeon Sowol smiled faintly.
His companions hurried over.
Namgung Ujin reached him first and smacked his shoulder.
His eyes were burning.
“...I’ve changed my opinion of you, Yeon Sowol.”
“About what?”
“Your... true feelings. Do you feel any better now?”
Yeon Sowol smiled.
Did he feel better?
Honestly, it was not as though he had felt nothing of the sort.
He wanted to hit someone as hard as he could and get hit just as hard.
Moyong Ha kept coming to mind, and he felt like he would go mad if he did not.
That was why he had wanted to fight with nothing but their fists.
“I don’t feel better.”
Yeon Sowol bared his teeth.
Namgung Ujin flinched back.
‘What is with that fighting spirit...? He was always so proper, like some refined scholar...’
Yeon Sowol looked directly into Namgung Ujin’s wavering eyes.
“It’s still not enough.”
“I see...”
Namgung Ujin’s shoulders trembled.
As though he had been deeply moved.
His eyes burned as he looked at Yeon Sowol.
Just then, Jin Geol came over and asked, “So, what did you think? Does Prefectural Inspector General Shin Gilrip seem involved?”
Namgung Ujin, who had been caught up in the moment, tilted his head.
“Hmm? Involved? The Prefectural Inspector General? In what?”
Jin Geol shoved Namgung Ujin aside as if he were a nuisance and asked Yeon Sowol, “You challenged Prefectural Inspector General Shin Gilrip for a reason, didn’t you? To sound him out. To see whether that man was connected to Lady Moyong’s death. As Prefectural Inspector General, he’s the provincial governor’s closest subordinate.”
“Th-that was why?!”
Leaving the startled Namgung Ujin behind, Yeon Sowol gave a small nod.
“I sounded him out. This is just my impression, but... surprisingly, I don’t think the Prefectural Inspector General is involved.”
“Really?”
“Yeah. He was a rather transparent, straightforward person.”
“Hm. Then perhaps someone below him is connected. Prefectural Inspector Commander Ha Taeseok, for example.”
“That could be.”
“Ha Taeseok is late first-rate, right?”
“Right.”
At the same time, Yeon Sowol and Jin Geol turned toward Namgung Ujin.
“Hmm? Mm?”
Jin Geol spoke to the flustered man.
“You heard everything and still don’t understand? Namgung, do you not know what you need to do?”
“...You’re telling me to challenge Sir Ha Taeseok?”
Jin Geol smiled.
“That’s right. This time, you should clash with him and read his character. See what attitude the man takes toward Lady Moyong’s death, toward your grief and resentment.”
“...Because if we fight fiercely, the stirrings of his heart will show?”
“Exactly. You’re not completely foolish after all, as expected of a great family.”
Namgung Ujin looked at Yeon Sowol.
His eyes wavered.
He still seemed unable to believe it.
“Sowol. Did you really challenge him for calculations like that?”
Yeon Sowol shrugged.
“Well, it served more than one purpose.”
Then he swept his gaze across the spectators, who were still excitedly talking among themselves.
“At the same time, it gave us justification. Everyone knows now how deeply hurt and fired up I am, how deeply hurt and fired up we all are.”
Namgung Ujin blinked.
“If everyone knows... they’ll be more likely to understand whatever we do later?”
“Right. And if we show them how worked up we are, our enemies may misjudge us.”
“...Huh.”
Namgung Ujin scratched his head.
“I was wondering why you intended to see this martial arts tournament through to the end... You had all those calculations worked out, even in the middle of that?”
Yeon Sowol looked at Namgung Ujin.
He suddenly recalled something he had heard somewhere as a student in South Korea.
“Let your heart burn hot. Keep your head cold.”
Namgung Ujin’s eyes widened.
Yeon Sowol calmly finished, “That’s how you get things done.”
Namgung Ujin stood rooted to the spot for a long while. Then he scratched his head and walked past Yeon Sowol.
“Damn. That’s embarrassing.”
“What’s there to be embarrassed about?”
Yeon Sowol spoke with a somber gaze, watching the martial officials gathering around Shin Gilrip above.
“This is only the beginning.”
Footnotes:
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