WeTried Translations
Translator/Editor: ZERO_SUGAR
Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried
Chapter 22: In the Jianghu, One Cannot Control One's Fate (11)
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When Yeon Sowol opened his eyes that morning, still drunk on a dream, he mumbled,
“At last, I’m getting out of prison...”
The words sounded strange once he had said them.
“Hm?”
Getting out of prison?
Had he been locked up somewhere?
The dream from the night before was already evaporating from his mind. Without knowing why he had said such a thing, Yeon Sowol started to sit up.
“Ah.”
Then he realized.
“I feel... light?”
As though he had been freed from shackles. As though he had taken off a suit of armor that had been squeezing him tight.
As though he had only now reclaimed his own body.
“Even my senses...”
What he saw. What he heard.
It was as if he had escaped a narrow prison.
As though he could see the souls dwelling in all things. As though he could touch them.
The world was vast. Sharp.
Even replacing his monitor and speakers with high-end equipment worth hundreds of millions of won would not have felt like this.
‘What on earth...’
What had he been seeing and feeling all this time?
With a body so unbearably dull.
“Crazy.”
Goosebumps rose across his skin.
Spirit Cultivation
Once his body had been refined,
he saw himself anew.
He had not even begun circulating the Willow Serenity Art, yet his Twelve Regular Meridians, now transformed in quality, were already warming his entire body.
Still overwhelmed, Yeon Sowol practiced the Willow Serenity Art and washed himself.
The feel of water against his skin startled him all over again.
“Water! Water! This is water! Ah...”
He relived Helen Keller’s revelation in a world other than Earth.
“Hm. This fragrance had a slightly stuffy afterscent.”
Clearly sensing a lingering note he had never noticed before, he headed outside to pay his morning respects.
“No morning greetings today.”
Kang Muhyeok, the eldest of the Windflow Three Young Lords, spoke in front of the residence.
“Why not?”
“Master is resting.”
“...Is he very unwell?”
Yi Yubaek’s pale face from the previous day came to mind.
“Don’t worry. I saw him too, and I think he’ll recover completely before long if he rests and recuperates. That’s all he’s doing.”
“That’s a relief.”
Still, Yeon Sowol’s heart felt oddly heavy.
Yesterday, he had felt plenty of disbelief, but after a day had passed, what remained clearer than anything was Yi Yubaek’s resolve.
The lighter Yeon Sowol’s body became, the more heavily that feeling weighed on him.
“Are you going out today?”
“Yes. I need to buy some new fragrances. I was also thinking of having spring clothes made in advance.”
“Right. It’ll be April soon.”
Kang Muhyeok nodded and clasped his hands behind his back.
“Little brother, may I see your Windborne Drift?”
“Windborne Drift?”
“Yes.”
Tap.
Kang Muhyeok kicked off the ground.
Whoosh!
Dragging one foot across the dirt, he moved with the speed of someone gliding over ice, drawing a circle roughly three meters in radius.
“Jump as high as you can. I’ll attack you while you’re in the air. Don’t dodge, block it. And don’t step outside this circle.”
Out of nowhere?
Yeon Sowol found it a little strange, but he did not ask.
Small acts of consideration were how one built a good reputation and earned favor.
“Yes.”
“Good. Jump. As high as possible.”
“Yes.”
Fwooooo...
As he deepened his stage of maturity, white vapor poured from him and his entire body quickly heated up. A rich, savory fragrance spread through the air. It was even more fragrant than before.
The Twelve Regular Meridians transformed through spirit cultivation were completely different from before.
Deepening his stage of maturity had become incomparably easier, and his bones, positioned especially close to the Twelve Regular Meridians, had been tempered to an absurd degree of lightness.
Tap!
He kicked off the ground.
His body was light.
As light as it had been when Yi Yubaek had forcibly tempered him and thrown him around in the past.
Whoosh!
He had only kicked off the ground.
Yet he flew upward.
Past the pillars, past the roof brackets piled atop them, higher even than the black-tiled roof.
“As expected. You’re at fourth-stage mastery. Good. Then let’s see.”
Whoosh!
Kang Muhyeok leaped after Yeon Sowol.
Catching up in an instant, he casually moved a palm and shoved him.
Tap! Tap tap!
The attack was not especially fast, so blocking it was no problem. The problem was that he had blocked it in midair. His body was pushed this way and that, throwing off his center of gravity.
“Uh. Uhh.”
Yeon Sowol tried his best to endure.
Instinctively, he adjusted his stage of maturity through each part of his swaying body.
He made the areas being pushed heavier and the areas that were not lighter, doing whatever he could to maintain his balance.
Tap!
He landed.
Outside the circle.
“Again.”
They started over.
Tap!
Again, he landed outside the circle.
“Again.”
After repeating it around ten times, Yeon Sowol finally managed to adjust his stage of maturity by section and land without being pushed out of the circle.
“So this works.”
Kang Muhyeok was not someone who openly exaggerated his emotions, but his eyes shook now.
“If you can do this, you’re already past the midpoint between the fourth and fifth stages of Windborne Drift. You’ve got one foot in the fifth stage.”
At fourth-stage mastery, the body became lighter.
At fifth-stage mastery, it stopped being unstable.
It was the stage where one found stability in midair by adjusting the weight of each part of the body to match the wind.
Kang Muhyeok had only tried the test because he was half doubtful, but he had not expected Yeon Sowol to do so well.
“To accomplish this through instinct alone... Your extraordinary qi sense seems to shine especially brightly in lightness skills.”
“...I still have a long way to go. I can’t even begin to understand how you moved when you drew that circle earlier, hyung.”
Feeling a little embarrassed, Yeon Sowol downplayed himself.
“You can do that once you learn footwork. After learning to adjust your weight with a lightness skill, footwork teaches you how to use your body in earnest.”
“Ah.”
“But at your current level, those three dog bastards won’t be able to catch you. Even if you can’t fight them head-on.”
“Is that so...? I heard they all started learning martial arts at least ten years before I did.”
Remembering what had happened before, Yeon Sowol shuddered.
In only seven months, how many times had he nearly died?
When he thought about people who had been doing this for ten years, he could not help growing tense.
Not to mention Kang Muhyeok standing before him, even Mo Cheong, the youngest of the Windflow Three Young Lords, was faster and stronger than him.
Even though they were all second-rate, the difference between them was enormous.
Kang Muhyeok muttered,
“...I think you’ve misunderstood something. Well, you’ll see when you meet them.”
He put his hands behind his back.
“Master asked me to pass on a message.”
“Yes.”
For some reason, Yeon Sowol happily straightened his posture.
Pleased by his seriousness, Kang Muhyeok relayed Yi Yubaek’s words.
Sowol.
Do not be ashamed to run away.
There are many times in this Jianghu when you do not need to win.
What is truly shameful
is being too scared to say what needs to be said.
That is not good.
So.
Say what needs saying.
And do not let them beat you around.
“Ah.”
The words did not quite fit together, yet they strangely struck deep in his chest.
“The Shinheung Three Dogs are probably sharpening their knives for you. Still, seeing how much you’ve accomplished puts me at ease. Go out with your shoulders straight.”
Pat. Pat.
Kang Muhyeok patted Yeon Sowol’s shoulder and walked past.
* * *
Weak Severing Sword.
That was a sore spot for Resentful Dog, Jeon Taegwang.
Weak Severing Sword, just because he alone was particularly weak among the four direct disciples of the Severing Sword Sect...
“Do you take Resentful Dog for a joke? Have you all forgotten? That Black Path bastard who came to swagger around from the big city of Danzhou last year? Didn’t Resentful Dog crush him by himself?”
“That’s right. Some of the local Black Path guys, the ones people called second-rate, got beaten by him, but Resentful Dog smashed that guy like it was nothing.”
“That’s what I’m saying. The Windflow Three Young Lords and the Three Severing Swords are just far too strong for Shinheung County’s standards. Resentful Dog isn’t weak.”
“That’s true.”
“But what good is that? He uses that strength to beat people up and smash the grave markers in other people’s family cemeteries...”
“Ah, the grave markers. That was too much. Just because he was angry, he had to disgrace someone’s dead parents too?”
“The one it happened to was my friend. Even now, he can’t sleep unless he drinks. He beats his chest and cries every night.”
That was why the people of Shinheung County adored Yeon Sowol while worrying for him at the same time.
“I heard that Annam woodcutter humiliated Mad Dog last time?”
“What do you mean, Annam woodcutter? He’s Great Hero Yi Yubaek’s foster son. If you won’t call him Young Master Yeon, then at least call him Yeon Sowol.”
“Ahem. Right, Yeon Sowol. Anyway, I heard Mad Dog came at him foaming at the mouth, but he lightly dodged him. He treated Resentful Dog and Laughing Dog with courtesy, but he stared Mad Dog down to the very end. Ah, it felt so satisfying.”
“I felt satisfied just hearing about it.”
“But I don’t know. It may feel satisfying, but I’m worried. Do you think those dog bastards will leave Yeon Sowol alone now?”
“Oh dear. Our Elegant Young Lord...”
“Elegant Young Lord? Is that the ‘elegant’ in the name? What kind of...”
“You’ll understand when you see him. Our Elegant Young Lord is so impressive.”
“Well, well.”
“But that isn’t wrong. When you see him in person, his looks, his scent, everything about him feels almost immortal... He gives off a feeling that makes him hard to approach.”
“Would you look at that.”
Those rumors spread and eventually reached the ears of the Shinheung Three Dogs.
“...Elegant Young Lord? They’re calling him Elegant Young Lord? There are still people who call him that?”
Resentful Dog, Jeon Taegwang, known as Weak Severing Sword, seethed.
“Hah? Hahaha? Hah? I was humiliated? Me? By him?”
Mad Dog laughed like he had lost half his mind.
“He’s too scared of getting beaten by us to even come outside the martial academy. That scared bastard, what...”
Just as Mad Dog was about to foam at the mouth in rage, Laughing Dog raised a finger.
“Huh? Hehe. He’s over there?”
“What is?”
“Yeon Sowol.”
!!!
It was true.
In the crowded market street, Yeon Sowol was examining bolts of cloth.
“...!”
Resentful Dog moved first, throwing himself from the second floor of the inn.
Using his lightness skill, he lightly leaped into the bustling market. White vapor rose from his mouth with a sharp, burnt smell.
“Stupid bastard. He actually crawled out here.”
Mad Dog bared his white teeth and launched himself after Resentful Dog, accompanied by the acrid scent of burning.
Laughing Dog followed behind them with a grin.
“Urk!”
“Argh!”
“Ghk! What was that?”
“Eek!”
Before long, chaos erupted in the crowded marketplace.
* * *
‘...Those trashy bastards.’
Yeon Sowol had been looking over cloth for spring clothes.
He clicked his tongue when he saw the Shinheung Three Dogs running toward him through the busy market, stepping on people’s heads and shoulders as they came.
“Ghk!”
“Argh!”
“Ugh!”
Making one’s body lighter with a lightness skill did not mean one became weightless.
It was horrifying when a dirty shoe suddenly stomped on someone’s head or shoulder while they were simply walking along.
But the three dog bastards of Shinheung gave no thought to anyone else’s feelings. They kicked off wherever they pleased and landed in front of Yeon Sowol.
“Hey.”
Resentful Dog called out to him.
Yeon Sowol first maintained his manners and clasped his hands in greeting.
“We meet again, senior.”
“Come with us for a moment. I think we have something to discuss.”
Yeon Sowol blinked before answering.
“Did we?”
“...Look at this bastard.”
Resentful Dog’s cheek twitched.
“You’ve got no manners. You only just entered martial arts, yet you’re dressing up in robes with a fragrance pouch. Shouldn’t you be focusing on training right now? Are you insane? Does the Windflow School know you’re walking around like this?”
The speech was long, but it basically meant that he intended to pick a fight and beat Yeon Sowol up.
All under the excuse of correcting a junior’s behavior.
Since he had already heard about it, Yeon Sowol was not flustered.
“Yes, they do. But does the Severing Sword Sect know?”
“...What?”
“That you use your lightness skill to stomp on people’s heads. You couldn’t have worked so hard to learn such a difficult lightness skill just to feel that tiny bit of superiority.”
Resentful Dog changed his mind.
‘Even if Master scolds me, I’ll grind a few of his bones to pieces.’
Fwooooo-
White vapor rose from his mouth along with a sharp, burnt smell.
Then Yeon Sowol said,
“Ah, but I’m genuinely curious about this.”
“...?”
“Why is your stage of maturity like that, senior?”
Caught off guard by a question he had never imagined, Resentful Dog furrowed his brow and asked,
“What do you mean?”
“Your stage of maturity. It’s just...”
Yeon Sowol tilted his head.
He sniffed.
That sharp, burnt smell.
“It seems kind of... very simple. And even that seems a little crude.”
“...?”
At first, Resentful Dog did not understand what he was hearing.
Then it hit him.
Every hair on his body stood on end.
“You...!”
“Stage of maturity. You’re not supposed to do it like that, are you?”
“You little!”
Boom!
Stomping down on the ground, Resentful Dog lunged like a beast.
Footnotes:
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