WeTried Translations
Translator/Editor: ZERO_SUGAR
Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried
Chapter 136: The Rear Waves of the Yangtze Push the Front Waves (10)
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Yeon Sowol sat cross-legged in the middle of the inn.
His eyes were closed, and Clear Mirror, his cherished sword, rested across his knees as he stroked it with one hand.
A faint smile played on his lips, making him look utterly calm.
For some reason, though, the atmosphere inside the inn was far from calm.
Whoooosh-
Though not a single window was open, wind rose from somewhere and swayed through the room.
The lamps lighting the inn were shoved this way and that by the wind, their flames flattening and sputtering.
The occasional breeze tickled the hair and cheeks of the friends standing guard over him.
Unsteady qi meant an unsteady heart.
‘Sowol. His heart is wavering.’
‘When you perform bodily cultivation on the Eight Extraordinary Vessels... all kinds of distracting thoughts and doubts rise up... Master used to scold me terribly over it too...’
Everyone noticed that Yeon Sowol was having a difficult time circulating his qi.
Still, no one turned to look at him.
It was rude to watch someone from another sect train. They were here as Yeon Sowol’s friends, standing guard over him.
They simply watched their assigned directions.
Yet though they looked calm on the outside, a few of them had busy thoughts.
「Hey. Pervert.」
「...」
When Hwangbo Hwi did not respond, Namgung Ujin sent another voice transmission.
「Can’t you hear me? Pervert!」
「...What? Want to fight?」
「No, that’s not it. Aren’t you nervous?」
「...? Yeon Sowol’s the one circulating qi. Why are you nervous?」
「After he’s done. Then we’ll really start digging into the Yuezhou provincial governor, won’t we? Jin Geol already went out to look for information.」
「That’s true.」
「Will Yeon Sowol handle this properly?」
「Hmm...」
Hwangbo Hwi’s expression darkened.
He understood Namgung Ujin’s anxiety.
Strictly speaking, neither of them was Yeon Sowol’s friend.
They had grown closer while preparing for the martial arts tournament, but they had not built enough shared memories or history to call themselves friends.
There was only one reason they were with Yeon Sowol now.
Moyong Ha.
Yeon Sowol had been closer to Moyong Ha than anyone, so he had a powerful reason to avenge her.
He had also proven his abilities through the martial arts tournament.
For those two reasons, Namgung Ujin and Hwangbo Hwi had chosen to acknowledge and trust Yeon Sowol.
They would rally around him and try to avenge Moyong Ha.
Still, they could not be entirely free of unease.
They had not known Yeon Sowol for long. Would he truly see the revenge through to the end? Did he have the ability? What if something went wrong?
All kinds of worries and doubts were bound to rise.
But...
「I’m worried too, but do we have another choice?」
「Um...」
「We don’t. It’s not something we can do by ourselves.」
「...That’s true.」
「Then we have to trust him. If we decided to trust him, we trust him. That’s what a man does, Ujin. You can’t do that, which is why women don’t like you.」
「You perverted bastard!」
Veins rose at Namgung Ujin’s temples.
Hwangbo Hwi ignored him and continued.
「I’d rather ask you, Namgung Ujin.」
「Ask what?」
「Are you really prepared to see this revenge through to the end? Our opponent is the Yuezhou provincial governor appointed by His Majesty. If this goes wrong, it won’t end with us. Our families could suffer too.」
「...」
「Answer me. Are you prepared? You said you weren’t interested in Lady Moyong, didn’t you? You said love among great families could not be taken lightly.」
「...Hey.」
「What?」
「I memorized all of Li Shangyin’s poems.」
Hwangbo Hwi glanced at Namgung Ujin.
His jaw muscles bulged as he clenched his teeth.
Hwangbo Hwi gave a quiet snort and smiled.
「So did I.」
* * *
So Hye’s spiritual elixir was incredibly effective.
Azure Void Stone Milk.
Milk, not oil.
It was like milk contained within stone.
Perhaps because of that, its power to seep into the body and restore it was exceptional.
The ragged Hand Three Yin Meridians and Hand Three Yang Meridians around his shoulders had regained their vitality and healed in an instant.
‘Not even a full drop. She only used one-twelfth of a drop, and it did this much?’
What would happen if he drank a whole portion of Azure Void Stone Milk?
It was no exaggeration to call it a legendary elixir ranked above even the Greater Rejuvenation Pill.
‘Then, while I have this momentum, I’ll perform bodily cultivation on the Eight Extraordinary Vessels too...’
The beginning was easy.
He started by guiding the gentle medicinal energy into the Qiao Vessels deep within his shoulders.
Of the two Qiao Vessels, he began with the Yang Qiao Vessel.
Using the medicine’s “clear” energy, as So Hye had stressed, he filtered the innate true qi inside it.
Sliiide.
Sliiide-
There was no way he could actually hear it, yet Yeon Sowol felt as though he could.
‘That feels good...’
Like a fine comb, the medicinal energy smoothly scraped through and filtered the tangled, chaotically mixed innate true qi.
Fire gathered with fire to form a current.
Water with water, wood with wood, metal and earth as well, all separated and aligned according to their natures.
He filtered out stray energies that belonged to none of the Five Elements and set them aside at the edges. Essence that had yet to become qi was filtered from the water and left to settle as sediment.
The Eight Extraordinary Vessels, once cloudy and disorderly, rapidly cleared.
‘This is strange.’
Yeon Sowol tensed.
‘It’s too easy.’
Martial arts could not possibly be easy.
Afraid that his focus might waver, he sharpened his mind even further and continued bodily cultivation on the Yang Qiao Vessel slowly and carefully.
Twitch. Twitch.
As he separated the currents and settled the thickly mixed essence, the flow of innate true qi within the Yang Qiao Vessel began to change.
The chaos that had churned, surged, and stagnated organized itself into a mighty current. Driven by that force, the Yang Qiao Vessel began to stretch straight.
Like floodwaters reshaping a river’s terrain, the flow of innate true qi began to affect the shape of the Yang Qiao Vessel itself.
“Mm...”
The problem was that the Eight Extraordinary Vessels were connected to the mind.
As the Yang Qiao Vessel shifted into a new flow, ripples spread through Yeon Sowol’s spirit.
- Who do you think you are?
A voice suddenly lodged itself vividly in his ears.
It was Yeon Sowol’s own voice.
Perhaps it was the doubts and fears buried deep within his unconscious, rising like murky water.
- What are you, anyway? Why are you sticking your neck out?
- Do you have the authority to investigate? Don’t you know taking justice into your own hands is illegal here too?
- How do you think you’ll take on a fourth-rank official, the Yuezhou provincial governor? Who do you think you are? Just leave it to the Moyong Family.
Nonsense.
Yeon Sowol tried to ignore the noise rising in his heart.
But...
Gurgle. Rumble.
Was there anything less likely to go as one wished than the heart?
Yeon Sowol thought he had ignored it, but his Eight Extraordinary Vessels were shaking.
The Yang Qiao Vessel, which had been filtered and cleared by the medicinal energy, convulsed.
What had been stretching straight twisted this way and that, while its floor deepened, then rose, then sank again.
The aligned current tangled once more.
The settled sediment clouded the water again.
Even so, Yeon Sowol did not waver.
With a small smile on his lips, he stroked Clear Mirror across his knees with one hand and continued bodily cultivation on the Yang Qiao Vessel.
Composure.
Perhaps that was the first thing he had learned from Yi Yubaek.
There was no point panicking or feeling wronged when fists and kicks suddenly came flying at him without explanation or context.
First, he had to dodge them.
Even if getting hit hurt, he still had to find a way to avoid the next attack.
He simply did what he could.
It tangled again? Then untangle it.
It became cloudy again? Then settle it again.
Just as So Hye had said, he proceeded slowly and carefully without growing impatient.
Yet the voices continued.
No, they did more than continue. They grew steadily worse.
- Can you bear the consequences? If this goes wrong, the Martial Alliance in Guangdong will fall too.
- Mo Cheong, Seon Jehun, Kang Muhyeok, all those senior and junior brothers of yours will be hanged. Yi Yubaek will have his head cut off and displayed.
Yeon Sowol’s brow twitched.
The Yang Qiao Vessel began to knot even more tightly.
His breathing did not change.
Since his first closed-door seclusion, when he had failed to sleep properly for more than ten days, Yeon Sowol’s breathing had never once faltered.
The voice grew more cunning.
- Do you think what you’re doing is justice? It’s only another crime.
- Do you even have evidence? Don’t you know the principle of presumed innocence?
- Did being dropped into this barbaric land make you decide to become a barbarian too?
- And even if you get revenge, what changes? Will you suddenly become happy? Will Moyong Ha come back alive?
- Get a grip, Yeon Sowol. Stop being ruled by emotion and act rationally.
It was vicious.
That vivid voice in his ears was his own.
Because the doubt and fear had risen from within him, it was not easy to turn away from them.
He could shake off another person’s coercion and deception.
His own voice was far harder to cast aside.
Sometimes it coaxed him, sometimes it threatened him, and sometimes it tried to persuade him with reason.
Everything he intended to do was wrong.
He should not avenge Moyong Ha.
One step forward, one step back.
Yeon Sowol tried to continue bodily cultivation without wavering, but his restless heart made it difficult.
His Yang Qiao Vessel repeatedly cleared and clouded, surged forward and descended into disorder.
In the end, Yeon Sowol realized there was only one way.
Ignoring it would not work.
He had to face it.
- Answer me. Are you going to get all the people who treated you so well killed?
- Think back to high school. Since when did you ever stick your neck out like this?
- Just take care of yourself. Leave the Moyong Family’s affairs to the Moyong Family. You can observe her death anniversary.
- Who do you think you are? Did you marry Moyong Ha? Were you even dating her?
- Just live quietly and be happy on your own. That’s what you wanted, wasn’t it?
- You have no right.
- There’s nothing you can do.
- You must not do it.
The voices grew louder and louder.
After listening in silence all this time, Yeon Sowol finally opened his mouth.
He muttered under his breath.
“So what?”
He answered.
He would do it.
Whether he had the right or not.
No matter what hardships or dangers came.
He would avenge Moyong Ha.
I...
“...became a person of the Jianghu for that.”
So he would not be bound by the fate and rules imposed by others.
So he would not be dragged along however this absurd, barbaric world pleased.
He had risked his life until now.
He had soaked his clothes in blood.
He had stepped into the Jianghu.
Though savage tiger packs rage across the mountains and plains beyond the window,
a young man’s heart dreams of his own rivers and lakes.
No more voices could be heard.
Yeon Sowol’s heart settled quietly.
It became sharp as a blade.
He would not lose sight of the path he needed to take.
He would not hesitate when it was time to cut.
“...Hm?”
“Hm.”
The friends standing guard straightened their shoulders.
The wind whipping through the inn faded away.
The flames that had swayed, sputtered, and bent in every direction rose straight.
Yeon Sowol’s hand, which had been stroking Clear Mirror, slowly lowered.
Without the slightest movement.
He filtered the Yang Qiao Vessel.
Then he filtered the Yin Qiao Vessel.
He refined the energies he had organized, weaving and shaping them according to the principles of the universe he had understood so far.
The current became mighty.
The settled sediment turned to gravel and sand, pushed aside to either bank of the waterway, then woven together to build a riverbank.
“Huuuu...”
Tiny shades of five colors shimmered in Yeon Sowol’s exhaled breath before scattering.
* * *
“Brother.”
It was morning when Yeon Sowol opened his eyes.
Sunlight shone hazily through the paper-covered window, and birds chirped outside.
“How did it go? Did it work?”
The first person he saw was So Hye.
Perhaps she had expected him to finish training soon, because she had apparently been sitting across from him, waiting.
She was not the only one.
All his friends had gathered around Yeon Sowol.
Not just those who had stood guard, but even Jin Geol, who had gone out to gather information.
He did not know how much time had passed, but exhaustion was plain on all their faces.
Yeon Sowol looked at So Hye before him.
“Mm. It’s much clearer now.”
“Then have you reached Gradual Clarity?”
“First, I separated all the energy in both Qiao Vessels, then wove it into a single current so it wouldn’t clash. I filtered out the essence and piled it up like a channel to create a better flow. Like building riverbanks.”
“...What?”
So Hye flinched in surprise.
The friends around them reacted the same way.
“What? You went that far?”
Namgung Ujin looked stunned.
“In one go...?”
Hwangbo Hwi wore a slightly overwhelmed expression. He seemed a little deflated as well.
Not understanding why they were reacting that way, Yeon Sowol heard So Hye cry out.
“That’s not Gradual Clarity. That’s the Water Binding stage! I... I never taught you that!”
Gradual Clarity was the stage where things simply settled and cleared, while Water Binding was the stage of artificially carving out channels to create a good flow.
It was a stage of bodily cultivation difficult to reach at Yeon Sowol’s age.
“Wow, Sowol. Whenever you learn something, your progress goes crazy. What’s your secret?”
“That’s insane. Water Binding is really difficult.”
“No matter how good the medicine is, Water Binding doesn’t happen on its own. Is he really a genius...?”
Jin Geol and Won Huiseung marveled.
Hwangbo Hwi showed a trace of jealousy.
The atmosphere grew awkward, and Yeon Sowol felt a little embarrassed.
He had been a student who was very good at studying in twenty-first-century South Korea, so he knew this situation well.
‘If I brag here, everyone’s going to hate me.’
Students with good social skills knew to show their own shortcomings at times like this, encouraging sympathy and avoiding a sense of distance.
Yeon Sowol drew on that old instinct and answered.
“Ha. Not at all. I had trouble controlling my mind at first, so I wasted a lot of time. Water Binding, was it? I only copied the shape of it. If you all examined it, you’d wonder how this could even be Water Binding. It’s not impressive at all. I messed up. Completely messed up.”
“...”
“...”
But all he received in return were cold, dead stares.
‘Ah. Was that wrong?’
Yeon Sowol recognized those looks.
They were the looks he got in high school after an exam when he said, ‘Ah, I messed up too... I got two wrong... Huh? Oh, two wrong across all my subjects...’
Even a model student with good social skills made mistakes sometimes.
Yeon Sowol felt he needed to change the mood quickly.
“Oh, by the way, Sister So.”
“Yes?”
He spoke to her as her gaze turned oddly cold.
“You said before that getting revenge would not make anything better, right?”
“Ah...”
At the mention of Moyong Ha, So Hye’s playfulness vanished and her face suddenly fell.
Yeon Sowol spoke quietly.
“I thought about it, and I don’t think revenge is something you do to make things better.”
So Hye looked at Yeon Sowol.
Yeon Sowol looked at So Hye.
“You do it so things don’t get worse.”
So the resentment in one’s heart would not harm oneself.
So one would not bury it away, even if everyone told them to.
So one could put an end to endless thoughts.
So Hye’s pupils shrank.
As though his words had reached deep into her heart.
Suddenly, Namgung Ujin slapped the hilt of his sword.
“I like that.”
He looked at Yeon Sowol.
Deeply, as if trying to peer into his true feelings.
“So. Are we starting now? Your internal injury has healed, and your realm has improved. We need to start moving in earnest.”
Namgung Ujin was asking him.
“Are you resolved?”
The martial arts tournament was over. It was time to truly clash with the Yuezhou provincial governor.
Was his will strong enough? Was he truly prepared?
Now that he had suffered an internal injury.
Now that he had overcome it.
Now that his first sharp grief and anger may have faded somewhat.
Did he still feel the same as before?
Would he fight to the end and take revenge?
It was not only Namgung Ujin.
Everyone must have been wondering the same thing.
Were they all truly gathered here with the same purpose?
Before beginning a frightening fight, it was only natural to want confirmation one more time.
At that moment, a line of poetry came to Yeon Sowol’s mind.
Another verse left behind by Li Shangyin, whom Moyong Ha had loved so much.
He recited it softly.
“A fragrant heart follows spring to its end.”
Everyone blinked.
Jin Geol, Won Huiseung, So Hye, Ha Jeop, Namgung Ujin, and Hwangbo Hwi.
A different memory passed through each of their eyes.
Then the next line flowed from their lips.
“All that remains is a garment soaked through.”
Whether with tears.
Or blood.
Namgung Ujin bit down hard on his lip.
Clink.
One after another, they touched the hilts hanging at their waists.
It was answer enough.
Footnotes:
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