WeTried Translations
Translator/Editor: ZERO_SUGAR
Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried
Chapter 154: The Rear Waves of the Yangtze Push the Front Waves (28)
──────
Thud!
Fifth Rank, General of Martial Achievement
Command of Firm Might
Yuezhou Prefectural Inspector General
Shin Gilrip died.
His heavy armored body toppled over, and the red iron plates like dragon scales grew damp in the thick fog.
Yeon Sowol quietly looked down at Shin Gilrip's corpse.
'If only I were stronger...'
He felt guilty.
Guilty for killing him with the Heaven-Killing Star's power.
What had ended Shin Gilrip's life in that final moment had not been some fierce collision of power, conviction clashing against conviction.
It had only been a tiny, utterly insignificant strand of sword qi.
A feeble strand of sword qi that could barely leave a scratch on the skin.
The instant it touched him, Shin Gilrip's world must have gone dark.
Before he could reflect on his concerns, his convictions, any of it, everything must have suddenly been cut short.
He had been cast out of the world before he even had the chance to give his all.
And the blade that pierced his heart afterward...
Even if it had been a trick to conceal the Heaven-Killing Star's power, had it not ultimately been a desecration of the dead?
'If only I were stronger...'
Then at least he would not have needed to use the Heaven-Killing Star's power.
He could have looked Shin Gilrip in the eye and treated his final moments with more respect.
No.
If he were stronger.
If he were much, much stronger.
'Maybe I wouldn't have had to kill General Shin Gilrip...'
Would it have been possible if he had mastered a more profound supreme-grade martial art?
Could he do it if he learned something like Wudang's Cotton Palm Art?
Yeon Sowol clenched and unclenched his hand.
A worthless hand.
'Even with the Heaven-Killing Star's power, this is all I can do...'
The Heaven-Killing Star's power only activated once it reached its target. When an opponent's qi poured forth endlessly like a waterfall, it could not reach beyond it.
It took the briefest instant to recognize a target and sever the thread.
Once he severed one and erased the rushing qi, new qi immediately poured forth, fluttering a new thread. He could not advance, trapped in an eternal instant of cutting and cutting again.
So...
'That was all my skill amounted to. That's why...'
He could not save Shin Gilrip.
He could not even honor his final moments.
Yeon Sowol lowered his head and stood still.
Then the sounds of fighting stopped.
The government soldiers trying to break through.
The White-Robed League desperately holding them back.
Both sides widened the distance between them, panting as they glared at one another.
Ragged breaths.
The clatter of weapons and armor as bodies heaved.
Then one of the generals shouted.
“Has the General... been defeated?”
Everyone turned toward Yeon Sowol.
He slowly raised his head.
He bit his lip once before answering.
“He has.”
“How was he defeated?”
“I stabbed him through the heart.”
“...”
A long silence followed.
Sighs.
The sound of boots kicking the ground.
Angry breathing.
The army spirit swelled again.
A thousand soldiers were enraged. It made clear what kind of commander Shin Gilrip had been to them.
'...Do I have to fight again?'
Although he had slain Shin Gilrip, the thousand-man army remained an elite force.
It would not be as difficult as when Shin Gilrip had held the line, but getting through without losses would still require a brutal fight.
'I'm... tired.'
But this was the resolve he had made.
The path he had chosen.
Sliiing! Click!
Yeon Sowol wiped the blood from Clear Mirror and sheathed it. He tightly bound the scabbard with its cord, preparing to fight.
Then a general's voice rang out again.
This time, it was directed not at Yeon Sowol, but at the thousand soldiers.
“All units!”
The general shouted.
“Retreat!”
!!!
Yeon Sowol's eyes widened.
He was not the only one surprised.
The army spirit wavered, as though the soldiers could not understand the order they had just heard.
Boom!
Yet the drumbeat signaling retreat had already begun.
Boom! Boom! Boom!
The soldiers began retreating as they had been trained to do. While keeping the White-Robed League in check, they cautiously stepped backward.
It was an instinctive movement ingrained in their bodies.
Even so, their movements were slow, and their eyes constantly darted back and forth. Their expressions asked whether this was truly right.
Then the general's voice rang out again.
“Retreat! It was the General's order! Retreat without delay!”
Shin Gilrip had ordered them to withdraw if he died.
When the general relayed it, the soldiers gritted their teeth.
Only then did their retreat quicken.
Even after his death, Shin Gilrip's order remained the force that moved his soldiers.
“This...”
Yeon Sowol stood blankly, unable to understand what was happening before his eyes.
Then he heard voice transmission beside his ear.
⌜Search the General's robes.⌟
It was the voice of one of the generals, the same voice he had heard earlier.
The army was already disappearing into the fog.
After hesitating several times, Yeon Sowol slipped a hand beneath Shin Gilrip's armor.
He felt a sheet of paper.
When he pulled it out, it was very familiar.
[The Great Way Has No Gate]
[Where righteousness points,
Who dares erect a barrier to confine it?]
[All men are drunk,
May you alone remain awake]
[Dare to seek understanding.
Boldly judge right and wrong.]
It was the proclamation Yeon Sowol had drafted and Gaseopmyeong had polished.
Beneath those lines were words Shin Gilrip had written in red ink.
- What a magnificent piece of writing!
And beneath that,
- Perhaps Yeon Sowol may be right! If so, I have been disloyal! Have I not been a foolish minister, blind and deaf, unable even to offer counsel in time?
Yeon Sowol's fingertips trembled.
- But it is too late. There is neither time nor means to determine right from wrong, and I have already received my orders. Let ruler be ruler, minister be minister, father be father, and son be son. I shall only fulfill my duty. Even if I die. I have no regrets.
Yeon Sowol's breathing grew rough.
'Why does a man like this have to die?'
Yang Hoeam was the one in the wrong, not Shin Gilrip.
Yet he still had to die?
Even if he was used as a tool for the evil deeds of those above him, he had to willingly die?
Because that was the duty between ruler and minister?
Because that was a soldier's duty?
Yeon Sowol could not understand.
He did not want to understand.
He was already a man of the Jianghu.
Crunch!
Sparks seemed to fly from Yeon Sowol's eyes as he ground his teeth.
Even then, his hands moved carefully as he folded the proclamation and tucked it safely into his robes.
He walked forward.
Passing through the place the government soldiers had vacated, he stopped before the solitary formation node.
Rumble!
The pile of stones collapsed when he touched it.
Whoooosh!
The fog was pushed back once more.
The view had become clear enough that the other deserted islands beyond Junshan Island could now be dimly seen.
“Where do we go now?” Jin Geol asked.
Yeon Sowol closed his eyes for a moment, then opened them and answered.
“There. That deserted island.”
The energy of the shattered formation array was churning.
At its center stood a large island, barely visible through the unusually dense fog surrounding it.
Yang Hoeam would be there.
The fallen Daoists and the Demonic Path's forces would be there as well.
Jin Geol glanced over and sighed.
“As expected. Wuling Island.”
The island where widowers and widows, elderly people living alone, and orphans supposedly lived happily.
On Wuling Island.
Human sacrifices were likely underway for someone unknown.
Splash!
Without a word, Yeon Sowol jumped into Dongting Lake.
Splash! Splash!
The White-Robed League silently followed.
* * *
“What is the meaning of this!”
Yang Hoeam was furious.
“Did you not boast that it was a peerless formation where anyone who entered would lose their way and wander? Did you not say that no one could advance through it or see through it?”
Yang Hoeam sat in a high pavilion on a small mountain on Wuling Island, glaring at the waves of Dongting Lake and the scenery of Yuezhou beyond them.
Normally, he should not have been able to see the blue waters from here.
He should have been even less able to see Yuezhou beyond them.
It should have been a place hidden by fog, somewhere one could neither enter nor see nor hear.
Yet...
“What is this mess! How is the formation being broken so easily!”
The formation array was collapsing.
Only the outer layer had fallen so far, while the inner formations remained intact. Still, at this rate, it was only a matter of time.
As the outer formation crumbled, the inner formations connected to it shook as well.
The fog that should have settled as heavily as a thick awning rippled from time to time, proving it.
Then a Daoist with their eyes tightly shut, as though they were blind, answered.
“My lord. This is not our fault.”
It was the voice Yang Hoeam had always heard whenever he was alone.
This time, the speaker had revealed themself.
“It is not your fault? Then you claim it is mine?”
“Yes. Strictly speaking, it is.”
Yang Hoeam's eyebrows twitched.
The Daoist with closed eyes continued without concern.
“My lord said you had prepared the framework of the formation array long ago.”
“I did. Even with that prepared framework...!”
“It had been destroyed.”
“What?”
“Someone had dug up every stone along Dongting Lake's shore. They overturned every stone that had been placed after careful calculation and ritual offerings. There was no way to restore it in a short time. We had no choice but to create a formation with a weak foundation, and this is the result.”
The Daoist with closed eyes sharply turned their head.
As though they could see, they faced the blue waters revealed as the fog receded.
The countless stones Yeon Sowol had overturned in the past while searching for Moyong Ha's diary.
They had set off a chain reaction and ruined the grand scheme.
Yang Hoeam's white beard trembled.
“So that makes it my fault?”
“At the very least, I do not believe it is ours. Still, even considering that poor foundation, it was an advanced peerless formation, expertly made. For it to be broken so easily... It seems there is a highly skilled formation master on their side as well. A little regrettable.”
“A little regrettable? You speak as if it has nothing to do with you.”
“Well. They will all die soon anyway.”
The Daoist with closed eyes sharply turned their head again.
As before, it seemed as though they could see perfectly clearly.
This time, they faced a long row of small transparent crystal bottles.
Within each bottle, tiny insects the size of little fingernails had curled up, wriggling their fuzzy legs and the little horns atop their heads.
“Have we not prepared many things here over a long period? Not only jiangshi, but martial artists we have recruited by feeding them gu parasites.”
Gu parasites were insects that came in male and female pairs.
If either the female or male died, the other would go mad and die as well. No matter how far apart they were, they always sensed the death of their mate.
When a gu parasite was fed to a person, it traveled through the blood vessels and settled in the heart or brain.
Then whoever held its mate possessed complete control over that person's life.
When necessary, they could crush the gu parasite in their possession and kill it. Its mate inside the victim would also writhe and die, tearing the heart apart and turning the brain to pulp.
Over several years, Yang Hoeam and the fallen Daoists had fed these gu parasites to martial artists.
They had to maintain their reputations in Yuezhou and Hunan, so they secretly recruited martial artists from other regions and wandering martial artists in this way.
The Daoist with closed eyes faced the more than one hundred crystal bottles of gu insects, then turned their head again.
“And even if they break through them, does my lord not have his proud army here?”
Yang Hoeam's true confidants were here.
Generals and martial officials who knew Yang Hoeam's intentions and had still chosen to follow him.
“And we are here as well.”
Behind the Daoist with closed eyes, Daoists dressed in bizarre fashions stood silently, their eyes gleaming.
“And even if all of us are defeated...”
The Daoist looked toward the fog.
Though the fog had thinned enough to reveal Dongting Lake's blue waters, they smiled at that strange, ominous place still shrouded in it.
“The Elder is here. Yeon Sowol and those irreverent martial artists will all die here.”
“Hmm.”
Yang Hoeam was displeased, but the Daoist was not wrong.
Just as he nodded in agreement,
“Huh?”
One of the Daoists examining the gu insects made a bewildered sound.
“What is it?”
“Th-this... I think you need to see this.”
“What are you making such a fuss over? Nothing has happened.”
The insects in the bottles appeared as quiet as before.
If someone had died, the insects would have thrashed and died, so it meant no fighting had begun yet.
But then,
“I-it's dead!”
“What nonsense...”
The Daoist with closed eyes rushed over to the bottles, their face twisting into a deep frown.
Then,
“Hmm?”
They brought their nose close to one bottle.
Tilting their head as though they could see something, they examined it.
They eventually grabbed the bottle and shook it.
“What is this...”
It was dead.
The gu insect inside the bottle.
The fuzzy legs that had moved until moments ago hung limp. The little horns that had wriggled were stiff.
“No. How could this... It did not even writhe...”
The Daoist hurriedly checked the other bottles.
Slump.
Sluuump.
The insects began dying one after another.
Their tiny bodies, which had been faintly wriggling, suddenly went limp.
Like waves rolling in, one after another, without stopping.
“What in the world...”
A chill crawled up the Daoist's spine.
“Divine sense! Extend your divine sense and investigate!”
At the Daoist's shout, a tall, ghostlike man who was painfully thin closed his eyes.
His spirit swayed grotesquely and stretched out, part of it slipping from the top of his head.
It stretched farther and farther, reaching out into the distance.
Down the mountain, toward the lakeshore.
Of essence, qi, and spirit, spirit was the most mysterious and fundamental.
Even martial artists could not easily sense it.
That was why someone who could extend their spirit far and wide could easily scout among martial artists without anyone noticing.
The ghostly tall Daoist broke into a wide grin.
“Found him. Yeon Sowol is over th...”
Before he could finish,
Thump.
He collapsed.
“Hmm?”
The Daoist with closed eyes rushed over and put their face beneath the man's nose.
“Dead?”
They raised their head.
At that moment, the Daoist examining the crystal bottles shook the last bottle and spoke in a trembling voice.
“Th-they are all dead...”
In more than a hundred bottles, every insect had died.
Every bottle they shook made only a clattering sound.
A chill swept through.
A cold wind stirred the fog as it passed.
Footnotes:
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