WeTried Translations
Translator/Editor: ZERO_SUGAR
Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried
Chapter 25: In the Jianghu, One Cannot Control One's Fate (14)
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Five out of a hundred children had survived.
Eun-yeong was the fifth.
“If you want to move quietly, you must avoid both the five senses and qi sense. Qi sense is measured by three standards. Is it broad, is it fast, and is it sharp? You must make your qi sense broad, fast, and sharp. Only then can you read another person's qi sense before they read yours.”
The adults wore masks.
The masked adults had no names.
Those who failed to obey were beaten, starved, or killed.
The children obeyed the masked adults without question.
“Making it sharp is difficult. Making it broad and fast is easier. Cultivate the superficial collaterals and the skin. That can make it fairly sharp too.”
When Eun-yeong had first learned the method of bodily cultivation, fifty children were still alive.
The children trained desperately for three years until they could breathe smoke from their mouths.
“Do as you were taught. Begin.”
Their bodily cultivation to develop qi sense began.
Forty died within a week.
Their skin blackened and burned, oozing fluid beneath layers of blisters.
Eun-yeong survived.
At the time, she had been first among ten.
“You were born with qi sense, weren't you?”
The world seen through qi sense was completely different from the one she had known.
Eun-yeong became able to move while avoiding people's eyes and ears, even their instincts.
Conversely, she could sense those approaching her while slipping past others' notice and intuition.
There was one problem with Eun-yeong.
“It isn't acrid. The power isn't explosive.”
Eun-yeong's Breathing Smoke into Clouds was clearer than anyone else's, with barely any smell of burning.
It was because of her genius-level qi sense and powerful survival instinct. Though nobody had taught her, she instinctively tried to preserve her essence-blood, and her unconscious mind carried on a delicate stage of maturity however it pleased.
No matter how much the masked adults bullied and threatened her, that part could not be corrected.
Instinct, unconsciousness, and inborn talent had mixed into a deeply rooted disposition.
When only five children remained alive,
she became fifth.
-----
<No. 5>
Innate qi sense.
However, internal energy circulation is too pure. Cannot be corrected.
Unsuitable for implanting a gu parasite.
Designated expendable.
-----
Even a treasure of the world will be marred, broken, and ruined if it falls into the hands of an inadequate artisan.
* * *
“You're really good.”
Eun-yeong said.
“Am I?”
“Yeah. Better than me.”
What Yeon Sowol learned from Eun-yeong was how to broaden his qi sense and use it well.
To do that, he learned how to temper and cultivate his superficial collaterals and skin.
The superficial collaterals were the outermost meridians.
The Fifteen Collaterals branched off from the Twelve Regular Meridians.
The netlike collateral vessels branched off from the Fifteen Collaterals.
Fine collaterals branched off from the netlike collateral vessels.
Only then did superficial collaterals branch off from the fine collaterals.
They were called superficial collaterals because they were netlike collateral vessels floating near the skin. They lay closest to the outer layer and had a thin, minute, dense structure, like a sponge.
‘They seem kind of like capillaries.’
Yeon Sowol approached it with a twenty-first-century image in mind.
‘If they're like capillaries, I can't force kindling the inner fire into them.’
If he did, the superficial collaterals would all burst like ruptured capillaries, and his skin would cook.
‘Keep the temperature as low as possible. Keep the pressure as low as possible too. Make it as faint and gentle as possible.’
「When empty, it fills itself.」
‘Don't push. Gently sweep through all the superficial collaterals, as if lowering the pressure a little.’
If he gently emptied the energy within the superficial collaterals, only that much flame would be drawn in. He would not have to precisely control every single one. The pressure across them would simply ease.
「Through emptiness, let the fire grow hidden.」
‘The more fire flows, the gentler it becomes. Don't let it stop. Keep it flowing.’
If he kept gently clearing the way ahead of the superficial collateral channels in sequence and let it continue flowing, the fire's temperature would naturally become faint.
That was how Yeon Sowol learned to temper and cultivate his superficial collaterals.
He went further and cultivated his skin.
‘This is seriously strange.’
At first, when Eun-yeong told him to cultivate his skin, Yeon Sowol had thought, ‘Huh?’
Wouldn't cultivating the skin make it disappear?
Once he listened to her explanation, though, it made a strange kind of sense.
‘So I don't cultivate all my skin, only the sweat pores and hair follicles?’
He half understood and half did not.
‘Sweat pores and hair follicles are holes to begin with, so maybe they don't change much even when matter becomes essence qi?’
‘Maybe essence qi doesn't evaporate either, and gathers inside those holes...?’
Eun-yeong's explanation skipped all the detailed principles, so he could not be sure.
Still, Yeon Sowol accepted it for now.
Someday, he would learn more about it. He tucked away his lingering regret.
Once he cultivated his skin and superficial collaterals even a little, awakening his senses, he saw a world he had never seen before.
“Ah.”
Within those unfamiliar senses, Eun-yeong's voice reached him.
“The world. Shakes. Read it. Find places. Where nobody. Is paying attention.”
The world was full of energy.
When a person's mind felt its way across that world, the world's energy trembled ever so slightly.
Read that trembling, and one could tell where a person's attention rested.
One could suddenly step into the place where people focused their attention and draw notice to oneself.
One could quietly slip into a place no one was paying attention to and hide oneself.
One could even stir somewhere else, so that people could not focus their attention here.
“Ah...”
It trembled.
It was taut.
Warp and weft threads connecting the entire world.
The sound of sand crumbling.
The sound of blood rushing through every vessel in the body.
The sound of air pushed into and out of lungs.
Warmth and chill brushing against cloth.
The crossing of light and darkness as everything was illuminated, then cast into shadow again.
The scent of sweat and oil evaporating, of things burning and drying.
Flowing through all of it,
was trembling.
Something invisible that felt its way across everything.
The wondrous workings of the spirit.
“Ah.”
At his third exclamation, Yeon Sowol suddenly felt that the world was flat.
As though he were looking down at a picture on paper from above.
Everything entered his sight at once, clear as day.
Threads drifted across it.
Only then did Yeon Sowol realize.
‘Was this qi sense too?’
At first, he had assumed he could feel qi sharply because he came from a world without qi.
That probably was part of it.
What mattered more, though, was the fact that Yeon Sowol himself had crossed dimensions.
He had crossed a boundary where the principles of heaven and earth, and everything within them, flattened and lost all meaning. He had fallen into another world where entirely new principles and all new things existed.
It was no different from taking the overwhelming thing called the universe apart piece by piece, seeing its blueprint once, then watching it be assembled anew.
Yeon Sowol's qi sense could feel out the essence of the world more deeply and sharply than anyone else's.
So deeply that the thick, rich world appeared flat.
Until now, though, he had only handled it unconsciously.
Without knowing what he possessed.
Without even a single clue how it worked.
‘I've been blind, naked, and wildly swinging a cane around this whole time.’
Only now had he draped a scrap of cloth over himself.
Only now could he barely feel out his surroundings.
While Yeon Sowol was lost in that realization, Choran scolded Eun-yeong. She had come along to watch whether Eun-yeong taught Yeon Sowol properly and made no mistakes.
“Eun-yeong, how can you explain it like that? Go into more detail.”
“I don't know. I was. Made this way.”
“Again! I told you people aren't made. Honestly... You make me sad.”
“Ugh...”
After thinking for a moment, Eun-yeong decided to demonstrate herself.
Whoosh!
She moved.
Avoiding Yeon Sowol's qi sense.
No matter how broad and sharp qi sense was, nobody could focus their attention everywhere at once. There would always be a gap.
Eun-yeong leaped into it.
Into the place Yeon Sowol's attention did not reach.
But then,
Swish!
Yeon Sowol swiftly shifted his feet and avoided Eun-yeong's approach.
His qi sense was no longer narrow and sluggish as it had been. It had broadened greatly, leaving fewer gaps, and it moved nimbly enough to close even those gaps quickly. Like an eagle looking down upon the ground from the sky.
Eun-yeong glanced at Choran and said,
“See. He learned it all. It won't be easy. Now.”
Choran sighed.
“Eun-yeong, how can you suddenly charge at him like that again? You scared the young master.”
“It's fine.”
“Oh dear, young master. You were startled, weren't you? Our Eun-yeong surprises people now and then, but she doesn't hurt anyone. So don't worry.”
Yeon Sowol unconsciously tilted his head.
‘She doesn't hurt people?’
Having read the Shinheung Danger-Avoidance Manual, he could not accept that.
‘Didn't Miss Eun-yeong pay a visit whenever someone mistreated courtesans or waiters?’
The thought alone gave him chills.
Eun-yeong was scarier than any ghost story.
“Right, Eun-yeong? You don't hurt people.”
“...Yeah.”
Yeon Sowol saw it.
Eun-yeong's eyes slid away, avoiding Choran's gaze.
Choran beamed.
“See? That's what I said. I think Eun-yeong hurt people sometimes when she was a little sharp at first, but she stopped after Great Hero Yi Yubaek scolded her.”
“Father did?”
“Yes. He suddenly came by one day and told her not to kill people. Ah, well, it wasn't like Eun-yeong was going around killing people... Anyway, she hasn't hurt anyone since then. Right, Eun-yeong?”
“...Sister. I don't... kill them.”
“See? I was right, wasn't I?”
“...”
Yeon Sowol thought,
‘She said she doesn't kill them, not that she doesn't hurt them.’
He did not say it aloud.
He was still afraid of Eun-yeong.
Instead, he collected the realization from earlier.
‘Now I can activate the power of Heaven-Killing Star more quickly and consciously. I can see more threads, more easily.’
The qi sense he had handled unconsciously could now be handled consciously.
‘As my martial arts improve, the power of Heaven-Killing Star will also...’
Yeon Sowol clenched his fist beneath his sleeve.
* * *
“Thank you for today. I don't know how I'll repay you. I haven't done anything for you...”
Before Cheongun Pavilion, Yeon Sowol gave a deep fist-and-palm salute.
Eun-yeong showed no interest, while Choran smiled brightly.
“Oh, it was nothing. I truly believe the young master will make Shinheung County a better place to live. Great Hero Yi Yubaek did so, and Young Hero Yeon Sowol will do even more. Much more.”
She slightly bent her knees in a bow.
“Become strong, young hero. Not the bad men. You. So that when Eun-yeong and I build a home and live together someday, we can be happier in a better Shinheung County.”
She stuck out the tip of her red tongue.
“So it's all an investment. An investment.”
Yeon Sowol gave a fist-and-palm salute and bowed.
His heart felt heavy, yet somehow he caught a lingering fragrance.
He walked toward Windflow Martial Academy. For some reason, he did not want to use his lightness skill.
He shuffled along while looking at the fingernail moon.
“...”
Then he stopped.
The energy around him was trembling.
Sharply.
It was something he had not noticed before.
Yet Yeon Sowol instinctively recognized what it was.
‘Killing intent...?’
Men poured out from the alleys and surrounded Yeon Sowol.
“Hey.”
Mad Dog swaggered forward.
“...”
When Yeon Sowol only stared at him, Mad Dog twisted his lips.
“I'm curious, so answer me.”
“...”
“Fuck. You bastard, all the way to the end. Hey. Did I ever do anything wrong to you?”
“...”
“Did I ever curse at you? Then why did you glare at me like that the first time we met? Huh? Why did you single out just me!”
“...”
“Fuck, seriously. Who are you to look down on me like I'm a joke?”
After a long silence, Yeon Sowol answered.
“Thank you.”
“What?”
Mad Dog laughed.
“Yeah. Sure. I'm thankful too. You really cleared my head up. I'm leaving this shitty Shinheung County and going to Danzhou.”
Flash.
Under faint moonlight,
a blade gleamed.
The energy in every direction trembled.
Yeon Sowol read it all in detail.
The world flattened on its own. Threads rose from the ground, the sky, people, and everything else.
Even from things where he had not been able to see the threads before.
Even from things where, though he could see them, he could not see them at once.
In an instant, he drew it out.
His qi sense swept over everything.
Screech!
A suddenly thrown flying dagger announced the start of the fight.
Yeon Sowol did not avoid it.
Instead, he rushed toward it.
The flying dagger appeared clearly in his qi sense.
Threads rose from it clearly.
He stopped it in midair with his palm.
Tap!
With the sensation of something severing,
Clang!
The shattered blade scattered across the ground in pieces.
“...What?”
They had expected him to evade the flying dagger. None of them imagined he would simply break it and continue forward.
For a moment, they lost their breath.
Their qi senses narrowed and slowed.
Yeon Sowol saw the countless gaps where their attention did not rest.
Tap.
With the lightness of Windborne Drift, he closed the distance in an instant.
He gripped the hand of a man who was still reeling.
Tap!
As the threads snapped and the man crumpled, Yeon Sowol took the sword from his hand.
Wooooong!
The Eight Extraordinary Vessels writhed.
The meridians resonated.
He raised true qi and swung the blade with brutal force.
Crunch!
Before the dead body could even collapse, Yeon Sowol struck its neck once more and sent the head flying.
“Huh?”
“Mmph!”
The men recoiled at the hot blood spraying upward.
That surprise made their qi senses grow even stiffer and more rigid.
The gaps in their attention widened.
Crunch! Rip!
A second head, then a third, flew through the air.
One man tried to raise his sword and block.
Clang!
Yeon Sowol reached out and touched the blade.
The long sword helplessly snapped in two.
“What the...!”
Mad Dog's eyes widened in horror.
The qi around them shook more violently, yet the range of their awareness grew narrower.
“Your hearts are shaken?”
Yeon Sowol whispered.
Perhaps it was because his qi sense had broadened. Perhaps he had grown calm and composed as if contemplating the world from far away.
He was so cold that he surprised himself.
“I've always felt uneasy because I couldn't kill you.”
On a dark night with only a crescent moon.
On a road in Shinheung County, where nobody watched.
“If there aren't any spectators, there is no need for WWE, right?”
Muttering words Mad Dog could not understand, Yeon Sowol kicked off the ground and flew.
Over the men's heads.
Into the gaps their attention could not reach.
* * *
When Yeon Sowol, soaked in blood, arrived at Windflow Martial Academy, Yi Yubaek stood alone outside the gate.
As though he had been waiting for him.
“Who did you kill?”
“Mad Dog and Black Path men. Not Laughing Dog or Resentful Dog.”
“Witnesses?”
“None.”
Yi Yubaek smiled.
“See? Didn't I say an opportunity would come?”
He approached and patted Yeon Sowol's bloodstained shoulder.
“If you added that method you've been hiding, even three or four would not have been a problem.”
Patting him lightly, Yi Yubaek asked,
“So. How many did you kill?”
“Thirteen.”
“...”
“...Father?”
“Ah. Right. Good job. Yes.”
Yi Yubaek stammered unlike himself.
“Still, isn't thirteen difficult no matter what?”
He narrowed his eyes.
“Your disposition has changed too. You're consciously managing your attention. That isn't something that happens overnight...”
“Ah. About that.”
Yeon Sowol told him what he had learned from Eun-yeong that day.
Yi Yubaek listened to how one cultivated the skin's hair follicles and sweat pores, then exclaimed in admiration.
“It makes sense. It does. With that method, one could consciously awaken qi sense. Is that how assassins did it? This... is worth investigating. But.”
He looked steadily at Yeon Sowol.
“You only have a knack for it. There is no proper method yet.”
“Is that so?”
“Yes. If people did it the way you learned, eight or nine out of ten would burn their skin black and die in agony. That is assuming children who have reached the stage of maturity at the right time and possess decent talent.”
For a moment, Yeon Sowol could not process what he had heard.
Yeon Sowol's shoulders jerked.
Eun-yeong's indifferent face passed through his mind.
“This is less a teaching than a way of sorting out those who are lucky and talented. It truly is an assassin's method. We must investigate it cautiously over a long time. At the very least, we must lower it to one or two out of ten...”
Yi Yubaek was fascinated.
Yeon Sowol's mind was a mess.
What was this?
She just taught him something like that?
Without a single word of warning?
‘What the...’
Yi Yubaek suddenly turned to him.
“Sowol. Your heart is suddenly shaking?”
“...No.”
Yeon Sowol thought that Jo Manseok had been right again today.
Footnotes:
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