WeTried Translations

Translator/Editor: ZERO_SUGAR

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Chapter 41: In April, All the Flowers of the World Have Faded (12)

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Crack!

Yeon Sowol's Demon-Severing Sword took a Black Path fighter's head clean off, while his outstretched Sword Fingers shattered another's sword.

"Ugh!"

"Kh!"

Amid the flustered Black Path fighters, Yeon Sowol's Sword Fingers and Demon-Severing Sword danced.

Thud! Crack!

Thump!

After bringing down three men in an instant, Yeon Sowol kicked off the ground again.

Harder and faster than before.

His body slipped between the Golden Powder Gang members as they stumbled about in confusion.

They could no longer widen the distance and evade him.

Whenever he thrust his sword, a head flew through the air.

Whenever he struck with Sword Fingers, someone crumpled like a puppet with its strings cut.

"Ha!"

It was a brutal fight.

Yet a smile spread across Yeon Sowol's lips.

His arms and legs moved as he wished.

The Black Path fighters fell just as he wanted.

Martial force extended through his sword and stamped down through his feet.

Strong at times.

Gentle at others.

With every step, his martial force manifested differently. Like willow leaves floating in the wind, endless transformations blossomed forth.

The thrill of it was indescribable.

‘I’m light! I feel so free right now...!’

"Get. A hold. Of yourself."

Thunk!

Eun-yeong's fist landed on the back of Yeon Sowol's head just as he was about to launch himself in again with Willow Leaf Steps. He had no idea when she had caught up to him.

"Ah."

"Get. A hold. Of yourself."

Only then was Yeon Sowol able to look back on what state he had been in.

'Just now... did I feel free? Like I could do anything...?'

⌜Five. Do Not Become Intoxicated⌟

⌜There will be times when you feel as though you could become lighter, freer. That is when you must be most careful. It is not freedom you are sensing, but the feeling of heading toward dissolution.⌟

Remembering the caution Yi Yubaek had taught him sent a chill down his spine.

'Th-that was close.'

Eun-yeong spoke to Yeon Sowol as cold sweat dampened his back.

"Try. The difficult way. Again."

"...Yes."

During that brief pause, the Golden Powder Gang members had reformed their ranks and ground their teeth.

'Get a grip. Don't get carried away. My goal is to break through them and escape with Miss Eun-yeong.'

White breath spilled from Yeon Sowol's lips as he stepped into Willow Leaf Steps once more.

Lightly at first. He kicked hard when changing direction, then at the end, he put only the faintest touch of martial force into the blade's tip rather than his toes.

Throughout it all, he kept his Sword Fingers straight, refusing to become intoxicated as he remained calm.

Crack-crack-crack!

Like leaves fluttering in the wind, he walked among the Golden Powder Gang's Black Path fighters.

Whenever Yeon Sowol passed by, swords broke, people collapsed limply, and severed heads flew into the sky.

"Get. A hold. Of yourself."

"Yes!"

Whenever Yeon Sowol's vision narrowed and he became drunk on his sword, Eun-yeong drove her fist into the back of his head with a thunk.

Thanks to that, Yeon Sowol regained his senses each time and calmly stepped through his footwork.

He once again wielded martial force with the mindset of a beginner.

As he repeated it, his movements gradually became more skillful.

Yeon Sowol's movements grew ever more elusive and stealthy.

It was as though he had accomplished a year's worth of training in a single day.

All through the crucible of fierce real combat.

The Golden Powder Gang members could not catch him at all.

"Ghk!"

"Urk!"

Those pierced by the Demon-Severing Sword rolled across the ground with dull thuds.

Those brushed by Sword Fingers slumped down like puppets with their strings cut.

But...

'I can't break through the encirclement...'

No matter how many he killed, more Black Path fighters kept coming.

For every Golden Powder Gang member he killed, more Black Path fighters from the streets arrived after hearing the rumors.

Yeon Sowol bit the inside of his lip and steadied his breathing so he would not show his exhaustion.

Still, Yeon Sowol was not the only one thrown into confusion.

"What is that...?"

"That's insane..."

"He hasn't even trained in martial arts for a year... and he's that kind of monster?"

The Golden Powder Gang members.

The Black Path fighters who had rushed over after hearing the news.

They too were speechless.

The corpses scattered at Yeon Sowol's feet had already passed forty.

Some had been third-rate, but quite a few had been experts who had awakened martial force.

Yet all of them had died equally and lay upon the ground.

The Golden Powder Gang had already suffered devastating losses.

The number of Black Path fighters had risen because so many had flooded in from the streets, but in terms of martial ability, they were weaker than before.

But even knowing that inwardly, the Black Path fighters did not lose heart.

Instead, their eyes grew bloodshot.

They were truly furious, and they truly felt wronged.

The Black Path fighters of Shinheung County rebuked Yeon Sowol with rage.

"Yeon Sowol! You killed Brother Muryang for no reason, and now you're causing another bloodbath?"

"What did we ever do to you?"

"How can you be this cruel?"

Every time Yeon Sowol heard such words, his mouth turned bitter.

That was not what had happened.

There had been debts and grudges between him and Seo Muryang.

Seo Muryang had been the one to harm innocent Eun-yeong and him first.

No matter how much he said it, he would only look ridiculous.

The tangled bonds between people were simply burning hot in the flames of favor and resentment.

Words were empty before that.

So he had no choice but to kill.

No choice but to kill.

"Breathe."

A cold palm slapped Yeon Sowol's shoulder as he panted.

As though waking from a dream, Yeon Sowol pulled himself together again.

'Endure. Until the end.'

It was strange.

He had fought this much.

Yi Yubaek still had not come.

Even so, he could not bring himself to flee alone.

No, the thought had crossed his mind more than a hundred times, but his feet still would not take him that way.

If anything...

For some reason.

This moment.

Felt complete.

His life hung by a thread, yet life itself seemed clearer than ever.

Simply...

'Even if I fought like this forever...'

It was different from a state of complete absorption.

It almost felt as though he had become a third observer, watching himself.

Yeon Sowol put more strength into his trembling arm.

As he raised the blade's tip and spread his shaking fingers to barely form Sword Fingers,

Thump.

A man descended in front of Yeon Sowol, the long hem of his robe billowing behind him.

The man reached back, gripped the flat of the Demon-Severing Sword, and gently pressed it down.

Yeon Sowol felt as though his breath had caught in his throat.

"...Father."

Yi Yubaek glanced back at Yeon Sowol.

"I was late."

A complicated expression crossed his face before he solemnly turned away.

Heat haze rose from his entire body as he silently watched the Black Path fighters.

"Yi Yubaek?"

"It's Yi Yubaek..."

"So Yi Yubaek came after all..."

"Fuck. Yi Yubaek or not, we can't let this go. Kill them. Let's kill and be killed today."

The Black Path fighters flinched at first, but their vicious resentment soon burned darker still.

They were too aggrieved to retreat.

Their pride had been deeply wounded.

At least, that was how they saw it.

Before that ominous atmosphere,

"Hmph."

Yi Yubaek snorted.

"A whole nest of vermin. You lot were the hardest to gather in one place."

At that moment, the Black Path fighters felt a strange sense of wrongness.

No.

It was instinctive fear.

Fight?

Fight him?

'That?'

The instant that thought occurred to them,

Flap-flap-flap!

There was no wind, but Yi Yubaek's robes swelled. The heat haze over his body thickened as though flames were rising from him, and a faint pale-green light settled upon the blade he had somehow drawn.

Whoosh!

Yi Yubaek vanished from where he stood.

He reappeared in the middle of the Black Path fighters.

His sword danced.

Pale-green sword light scattered like willow branches.

They fell.

Clutching their necks.

Clutching their arms.

Blood spurted from the right and left, painting crimson rainbows through the air before falling.

By then, Yi Yubaek had already taken his next step.

Sway.

Like leaves fluttering in the wind, the pale-green sword light swept this way and that among the Black Path fighters.

The Black Path fighters of Shinheung County collapsed, blood pouring through the gaps in their clutching hands.

It was not a fight.

It was slaughter.

That was the difference between a properly trained first-rate expert and second-rate or third-rate fighters trained in the ways of the unorthodox schools.

"Fuck! Run!"

At last, someone screamed.

"Yi Yubaek, you bastard! I'll never forget this day!"

The Black Path fighters abandoned the hopeless battle and fled in every direction, grinding their teeth.

But.

Screeeech!

"Ghk!"

Thud!

"Urk!"

Arrows and thrown spears flew from the rooftops, piercing the fleeing Black Path fighters and pinning them to the ground.

"Where do you think you're going, you bandits!"

Sub-ninth-rank County Inspector Jang Wisan leaped down from a rooftop while swinging his spear. He pursued the Black Path fighters and stabbed them in the back one after another, nailing them to the ground.

"Waahhh!"

Government troops and military officers roared.

Having seized the rooftops and blocked every route, they began hunting the Black Path fighters with bows and spears.

"Cr-crazy! Why are the government troops here?"

"F-fuck!"

"It's a trap! It's a trap!"

The terrified Black Path fighters began forcing a path through, prepared to die.

But.

"Kill them! Do not let a single one escape!"

At the booming voice of Shin Jae-eon, Leader of the Severing Sword Sect, Severing Sword Sect disciples sprang out from all directions.

They blocked the fleeing Black Path fighters once again.

"It's time to vent our resentment! Don't let a single one go!"

The bloodied inner disciples of Windflow Martial Academy vaulted over the walls and joined the battle.

Before them stood the Windflow Three Young Lords, their expressions grim.

The Windflow Three Young Lords and the inner disciples displayed their clearly superior lightness art.

Like hawks snatching prey, they raced over the rooftops and swooped down to hunt the Black Path fighters.

Yang Ikseon, the eighth-rank Commandant who held Shinheung County's military authority, silently watched it all before raising his voice.

"Pursue every last bandit! They colluded with Heavenly Road Mountain, so leave none alive!"

Of course, not every Black Path fighter had colluded with Heavenly Road Mountain. Yang Ikseon knew that well.

The Black Path fighters of Shinheung County were bad people, but they did not leave much evidence behind. They knew how to stay just within the line and avoid a campaign of extermination.

If one followed the law of the land blindly, they were too ambiguous a group to be lawfully rounded up and slaughtered like this.

But Yang Ikseon's gaze lingered briefly on Yi Yubaek.

More precisely, on the Governor-General of Liangguang's commander tally hanging from Yi Yubaek's waist.

Commandant Yang Ikseon shouted again.

"Don't let the Jianghu men take all the military merit!"

The Black Path fighters fell apart.

Their mistake had been gathering as though they were holding a festival just to capture Yeon Sowol.

With the government troops' organized encirclement and blocked routes, combined with the Severing Sword Sect and Windflow Martial Academy's swift lightness art, very few could evade them all and escape.

In particular, there were no exceptions among those who had entered the Golden Powder Gang's compound and directly confronted Yeon Sowol.

They had all died.

It would not be wrong to say that the Black Path forces of Shinheung County had been uprooted today.

"...Thankfully. You held on."

When it became clear that the situation had been roughly settled, Yi Yubaek let out a long sigh and turned to Yeon Sowol and Eun-yeong.

His eyes slowly swept over Yeon Sowol.

"You truly are Yeon Seonhong now."

Originally, scarlet had referred to someone who stood out more than anyone else. Now it referred to how Yeon Sowol was drenched in bright-red blood from head to toe.

"You did well. I'm so grateful. And I'm truly. Furious."

After staring at Yeon Sowol with a deeply conflicted expression, Yi Yubaek slowly turned his gaze toward Eun-yeong.

His eyes now held pity.

"Miss Eun-yeong. You have been of great help. Thanks to you, I was able to kill Seo Muryang and wipe out the Black Path fighters of Shinheung County. It is the best outcome I could have wished for in my dreams."

"..."

Eun-yeong did not answer.

One hand rested on Yeon Sowol's shoulder as she leaned against him slightly, saying nothing as she stared blankly ahead.

A devastated look crossed Yi Yubaek's face.

"...Thank you. You may rest now. Since when. Have you been like this?"

Only then did Eun-yeong's eyes slowly turn toward Yi Yubaek.

Her lips parted faintly.

"...I protected him."

"...You did."

Yeon Sowol felt something strange about that exchange.

"Miss Eun-yeong?"

When he turned to look, blood was dripping from Eun-yeong's lips.

Black, dead blood.

The hand she had been using to support herself on Yeon Sowol's shoulder lost its strength, and her knees buckled.

"Miss!"

Yeon Sowol hurriedly caught Eun-yeong.

She was light.

Terrifyingly light.

"Miss!"

Eun-yeong's black eyes stared unmoving at Yeon Sowol's face before slowly closing beneath her eyelids.

"Complicated..."

She left behind only that small, incomprehensible whisper, like a sigh.

"Miss...?"

She was twenty-two years old when she died.

She did not know it.

Footnotes:

“Yeon Seonhong” is a wordplay on Yeon Sowol's name and the phrase for vivid scarlet, here referring to his blood-soaked appearance.

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