WeTried Translations

Translator/Editor: ZERO_SUGAR

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Chapter 40: In April, All the Flowers of the World Have Faded (11)

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The courtesan was drenched in sweat.

She had run so hard that she could not stop gasping for breath.

"What? The Head of Windflow Martial Academy isn't here?"

"He went to see the county magistrate. I think he said they were going hunting together..."

"Why did it have to be today..."

"What's happened?"

"Young Master Yeon..."

The inner disciple's face changed.

"Young Master Yeon Sowol? Why? What happened?"

"He... killed Seo Muryang."

"What?"

"He's at the Golden Powder Gang right now."

"Crazy bastard..."

His robes fluttered as he spun around.

Drawing up even his true qi, he shouted at the top of his lungs.

"Everyone, grab your weapons! Emergency! Emergency! Semin, your lightness art is the fastest, so go to the Academy Head right now! Jango, go to the Severing Sword Sect and ask for help! Everyone else, follow me!"

The once-peaceful Windflow Martial Academy erupted into action.

The exact opposite happened throughout the streets.

"Fuck. I heard Brother Muryang is dead?"

"Hey, you crazy bastard. There are jokes you can make and jokes you can't. Brother Muryang..."

"No, really. The Golden Powder Gang was in an uproar, so I went and checked myself."

"...Does that even make sense?"

"They say Yeon Sowol killed him. He even brought in an assassin."

"What? Fuck. Then was Yi Yubaek behind it?"

"Probably."

"Crazy. How much of a joke does that bastard Yi Yubaek, always pretending to be some scholar, think we are...?"

"Those dog bastards. How could they do that to Brother Muryang... Killing someone like that in broad daylight..."

"We can't let this slide. At the very least, we have to tear Yeon Sowol and that assassin to pieces. Where's that bastard?"

"I heard he's still holding out at the Golden Powder Gang."

"What about Yi Yubaek?"

"He's not there yet."

"Let's go now."

"I'll call more people."

"Call everyone. Even if Yi Yubaek shows up halfway through, he won't be able to do a thing."

In the market streets.

In the back alleys.

At gambling dens.

In brothels and taverns.

In suspicious buildings reeking of strange smells.

The story spread.

Every Black Path fighter in Shinheung County began gathering at the Golden Powder Gang, each with a weapon clenched in hand.

At least to them, Seo Muryang had been a good brother.

He paid for drinks without hesitation and handed out large sums of money for even small errands.

They did not care where that money came from or how he got it.

"I really can't take this."

"We'll tear those two apart and avenge Brother Muryang."

If Yi Yubaek had been there, it would have been another matter.

But if only Yeon Sowol was there, they had to catch and kill him.

Killing intent grew thicker over the streets.

The residents of Shinheung County saw gleaming swords, sabers, axes, and spears, then trembled as they barred their doors.

* * *

Most of those called the Black Path of Shinheung County were third-rate.

Teachings with history and structure were scarce among the Black Path to begin with, so their quality tended to be poor.

Even taking that into account, however, Shinheung County's Black Path was especially weak.

The truly dangerous Black Path fighters had already been dealt with by Yi Yubaek long ago.

It would not have been wrong to call the ones left behind small fry.

Still, there were enough of them that fighting them was no simple matter.

Claaang!

A martial force wave burst from Yeon Sowol's swinging sword.

"Urgh!"

The third-rate Black Path fighter dropped his saber, but could not withstand the force. He spun through the air and rolled across the ground.

"Aaagh!"

The saber that flew from his hand buried itself in another Black Path fighter's chest.

Yeon Sowol did not stop.

He raised the Demon-Severing Sword and aligned the strength of his internal and external cultivation.

Crunch!

Another Black Path fighter's body split vertically beneath the descending blade.

Slash!

Above the sweeping sword, a Black Path fighter's head shot more than twelve meters into the air.

Mere third-rates could not withstand the martial force carried by his sword.

Even second-rates who had not awakened martial force did not dare cross blades with him.

The difference between those who had awakened martial force and those who had not.

Yeon Sowol was like a lion thrown among a flock of sheep.

One Black Path fighter who had charged in boldly flew through the air with his body twisted like a rope.

Before he even saw the flash of the swinging saber, the stench of blood burst sharply against his nose.

Liquid.

Slick and sticky.

Red liquid.

Had people always been this wet?

Before even a quarter-gak had passed, Yeon Sowol had cut down more than ten Golden Powder Gang members.

He had deliberately used martial force to kill them cruelly.

To display overwhelming strength.

But...

'These bastards... Their will to fight hasn't broken at all.'

People were being split in two before their eyes. Heads flew through the air. Blood spray seeped into their nostrils.

Yet not one of them retreated.

If anything, they ground their teeth harder and fed their killing intent. Some even looked more desperate than before.

"You dog bastard from the Yeon family. Did our brother ever harm you even once? Huh? What grudge did you have that made you kill him so brutally?"

"Kill us all. Go on, kill us all if you can! Do we look like worms to you? Fine. Kill us all, then!"

"He's tired! That bastard's tired! If we press him now, we can kill him! This is it! It's over now!"

There was no reasoning with them.

Even if he told them Seo Muryang had tried to kill him first.

Even if he told them he did not see them as worms.

Even if he told them he was not especially tired.

It did not matter.

They all believed what they wanted.

They held onto their pride until death.

They were filled with an incomprehensible certainty.

Jianghu people.

People of the Jianghu who had risked their lives to overcome their fates and learned martial arts.

Just as Yeon Sowol had raised his sword because he believed himself to be right.

They were doing the same.

It was a little dizzying.

'I used more strength on purpose to scare them...'

Had he only wasted strength for nothing?

The Black Path fighters grew more cautious and began fighting in crafty ways.

They pretended to charge, then withdrew. Two or three rushed in at once without warning. They pretended to be overpowered, then threw flying knives.

They kept attacking and retreating, trying to wear Yeon Sowol down.

'This won't work.'

Yeon Sowol changed tactics.

'I'll conserve my strength.'

He only had to hold on until Yi Yubaek arrived. There was no need to stay on the offensive.

'I'll use the power of the Heaven-Killing Star too.'

Though the Black Path fighters were generally weak, the Golden Powder Gang members were on an entirely different level from the Mad Dog group Yeon Sowol had fought before.

Dozens of such people had surrounded him and were taking turns attacking. There was no way he could endure without using the Heaven-Killing Star's power.

It was kill or be killed.

If he died, there was no point in hiding it.

If he killed them, it did not matter if they saw.

"Huuuh..."

White vapor billowed from Yeon Sowol as he steadied himself and faced the enemy.

Fifteen minutes passed.

Then another fifteen minutes passed.

More than twenty Golden Powder Gang members' corpses had already piled up around Yeon Sowol.

But Yi Yubaek had not come.

The sounds of fierce fighting rang out beyond the wall, but he could not tell what was happening over there.

Yeon Sowol gradually began to feel the limits of his stamina.

Clang!

An enemy's saber snapped in two against his Sword Fingers.

"Fuck, that hand!"

"Watch out!"

Everyone had realized by now that something terrible happened whenever they came within Yeon Sowol's reach.

Yeon Sowol pursued the enemy who had thrown aside the broken saber and hurriedly retreated.

It would be easier if he reduced their numbers whenever an opportunity came.

Before the enemy could get any farther, he quickly closed in and sent the Demon-Severing Sword cutting out. The tip barely reached him.

But...

Claaang!

A saber that cut in from the side knocked Yeon Sowol's Demon-Severing Sword away.

A sword strike carrying martial force.

"Ugh...!"

Yeon Sowol could not control the sudden impact and staggered.

His joints twisted all over his body with cracking sounds.

"Hup...!"

Forcing himself back into position, Yeon Sowol put more strength into the hand forming Sword Fingers.

Whenever one used martial force, one had to keep a corner of the mind awake.

One had to judge one's own martial force against the opponent's and receive only as much as one could handle, in a manner one could handle.

That was the theory.

The problem was that Yeon Sowol's stage of maturity had not reached that point yet.

When his body and mind were both fresh, he had managed to match it well enough. But as exhaustion set in, it became rapidly more difficult.

The hand forming Sword Fingers drooped, and his field of vision narrowed further and further.

They avoided getting within reach of his hand, so he had to extend his sword. But the moment he did, swords came flying at him from all directions to knock it away.

If he simply received the swords with his body and broke them, flying knives followed. Then two or three swords and spears charged in after that.

If his concentration broke for even a moment and he missed his chance, his body would be punctured full of holes.

Yeon Sowol thought,

'Is this... dangerous?'

He had an instinctive feeling that he might die here.

'Then should I withdraw now?'

If he escaped while he still had strength left, trusting in the Windflow School's superior lightness art...

'Yes. I'll get out.'

Yeon Sowol made up his mind. He could fight for Eun-yeong, but he could not die for her.

That was what he thought.

But then...

'Why can't I move my feet...?'

It was strange.

His mind had clearly reached the conclusion that he needed to escape.

Yet his feet would not move.

His heart would not budge.

He only stood firm in front of Eun-yeong.

"Haa..."

Yeon Sowol's breath scattered, and his body swayed slightly.

"He's tired! He's really tired this time! It's real! Now! This is the moment!"

The Golden Powder Gang's Black Path fighters cheered and closed in.

Yeon Sowol bit his lip, trying desperately to hold onto his senses.

"Get a hold of yourself."

A cool, detached voice came with a gust of wind.

"Ghk...?"

"Ugh...?"

Swoooosh!

Dumbfounded cries rose as blood spurted like fountains from the necks, wrists, and thighs of the approaching Black Path fighters.

Swordsmanship that had cut through only their arteries with perfect precision.

"Uh... Uh...?"

Horrified by the tremendous blood pouring from their own bodies, their strength simply drained away. The Black Path fighters stared wide-eyed and collapsed.

'That was...!'

Yeon Sowol's gaze was drawn to the elegant move Eun-yeong had just shown.

Swift and stealthy footwork that brought her in like the wind, slashed through them, and carried her past before her opponents even noticed.

'She used martial force... in her footwork!'

Thinking about it, why did martial force have to be placed only in a sword?

If he used martial force in his footwork, his movements would become far more agile.

Tap.

Eun-yeong returned with a bloodstained dagger in hand and lightly leaned against Yeon Sowol's shoulder.

He thought she felt strangely hot.

A faint haze seemed to rise from her body.

Amid the thick smell of blood was the acrid scent of something burning.

"Martial force. Keep it steady. Every time. Same strength. Same breath. Then you won't slip. Less tiring."

Her words came out in clipped fragments, but Yeon Sowol understood.

"Are you saying I should use martial force in only one fixed way?"

Eun-yeong nodded.

That was how she had learned martial force.

Set a fixed method for exerting it.

Always use martial force only within that formula.

Then most of martial force's side effects could be resolved.

If one always took the same action with the same strength, one would no longer be crushed by one's own power. One had done the same thing countless times, after all.

The stage of maturity worked the same way. If one did it as one always had, there was less worry of losing control of the heat and causing over-tempering.

Leaving proper rests between uses of martial force to cool the heated body made it even more stable.

It reduced the danger of losing control of martial force.

Since one always made predictable movements, it also reduced the drain on stamina.

That was how assassins, no, the unorthodox schools controlled martial force.

Yeon Sowol thought,

'It's kind of like a skill in a game...?'

Using power in a consistent way at a consistent level felt like that.

There was even something like a cooldown.

It was an interesting method.

But it did not appeal to him.

Yeon Sowol realized something.

'So this is how the martial arts of the unorthodox schools and the orthodox schools differ.'

The unorthodox method was extremely efficient. It standardized every movement that exerted martial force like a game.

But Yi Yubaek had not taught him that easy method.

Instead, he had taught Yeon Sowol the absurdly difficult method of always keeping a corner of his mind awake.

'...There must be a reason. Maybe only by doing that can I properly handle the martial arts of our Windflow School.'

There had to be a reason to use martial force in a different way each time, with different amounts of strength each time.

Suddenly, Yeon Sowol felt as if his mind had brightened.

"I was an idiot."

Only then did he realize it.

'I learned martial force the hard way, then when I actually used it, I just mindlessly poured in power through one fixed method.'

Was that not the same as the unorthodox method?

"Thank you, Miss Eun-yeong. You helped clear my head. In a different way from what you meant."

"A different way?"

Eun-yeong tilted her head.

Then Yeon Sowol's attention went to the various wounds across her body.

"But, Miss... Your body..."

Her arms. Her legs. Her side.

Her clothes were soaked through with blood and stuck to her body at every cut.

He had no idea how she could move in that condition.

Yet Eun-yeong stood there perfectly fine and answered in a calm voice.

"I'm fine."

Her face even seemed to have more color than before.

Yeon Sowol felt something unsettling, but since she said she was fine for now, he could only frown.

"...Please don't push yourself."

"Okay. I'll be behind you."

The answer was oddly half-hearted.

Yeon Sowol grew a little anxious.

'...We can't keep fighting here like this. I'm worried about Miss Eun-yeong's condition too.'

For some reason, Yi Yubaek was still not coming.

He did not know whether someone had come to save him or what, but the sounds of fighting beyond the wall were not getting any closer either.

'...Should I break through the encirclement more aggressively?'

Yeon Sowol drew up his true qi.

He stared at the Golden Powder Gang members, whose fighting spirit remained unbroken.

He recalled the insight that had passed through his mind earlier.

'If I vary the martial force I use with every step of my footwork...!'

He kicked softly off the ground.

Whoom!

A martial force wave ran through the ground.

He placed martial force not in his sword, but at the tips of his feet.

Just as Eun-yeong had shown him.

But that was not all.

'Once lightly. Once heavily. Changing the martial force I place in my feet every time.'

The reason Yi Yubaek had not taught him the unorthodox method was because the Windflow School's martial arts would only show their true worth when he could release martial force differently every time.

Yeon Sowol had not yet reached a stage where he should have been able to do that.

But with his life on the line, to save himself and Eun-yeong, he willingly stepped beyond his limits.

Sway.

Like a willow leaf trembling in the wind, Yeon Sowol's body tilted and swayed as it glided forward, almost flying, until he reached the Golden Powder Gang members.

"Huh?"

"You...!"

The Golden Powder Gang members could not react at once to the endlessly shifting movements.

Yeon Sowol bared his teeth.

"Got you."

At last.

He had reached a distance where he could touch them with his hands.

And with his sword.

As easily as taking silver coins from his pocket,

freely and at will.

Slash!

Yeon Sowol's sword swept out like a ray of light, cutting through a Golden Powder Gang member's neck.

Footnotes:

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