Dropped into Murim with an Instant-Kill Skill - Chapter 61

WeTried Translations

Translator/Editor: ZERO_SUGAR

Chapter 61: When Water Is Too Clear, There Are No Fish (9)

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Once the hot wine ran down his throat, nothing remained in his mouth and nose but its fragrance.

Like the scent that rose in a rush when cold water was splashed over earth in the blazing summer, an unfamiliar fragrance of memory spread behind the hot aroma of wine, creating a world he did not know.

It was a breathtaking sight Yeon Sowol had never seen. A river flowed proudly beneath sheer cliffs, while several boats moved along, their long poles probing the riverbed.

Creak. Creak.

Listening to the boats cut through the current, Yeon Sowol blinked.

Sunlight filled his nose. The scent of grass. The smell of water.

His body and mind were clearer than they had ever been. No, he was light and free, as though he no longer had a body at all.

It felt as if his soul had slipped free and was walking through the world alone.

Creak. Creak.

No one told him what to do.

He never grew hungry.

It was a world that seemed to repeat one instant forever.

Before he knew it, an age had passed there. Seven days and nights, a month, a year, he could not tell. Time simply went on without end.

As he blankly took in the magnificent scenery, he naturally forgot himself and immersed himself in something.

Sometimes, Yeon Sowol practiced swordsmanship. Other times, he trained his Movement Art.

It did not feel difficult in the slightest.

Nothing bored him. Nothing was hard.

After spending what felt like endless time that way, he suddenly opened his eyes.

The second time, Yeon Sowol was gradually losing track of where dreams ended and reality began.

When he fell asleep after swinging his sword for a while, was he dreaming of drinking with the three elders? Or while drinking with the three elders, was he dreaming of using his lightness skill to his heart's content?

The elders smiled when they looked at Yeon Sowol. They no longer tried to speak to him.

They only treated him like an entertaining spectacle and filled his cup whenever the time came.

They seemed more focused on talking among themselves than on him.

“The Three Gorges of the Yangtze... Yes. We went there too. Seon-a, Seon-a. You spent all those long years savoring every single one of our memories... You put all of them into this wine...”

The old beggar let out a mournful sigh.

He rolled the empty wine bottle around after they had shared it all, muttering to himself.

“We should have visited more often while Seon-a was still alive. We should not have left Seon-a to brew wine alone in such loneliness. No. If only we had done more together when we were young...”

The grandly dressed elder cut him off.

“Beggar, that was the right choice back then. Only now has it become a memory. Back then, it was all anxiety and youthful affection.”

He grabbed another wine bottle.

“Look at those youngsters' eyes. They must have entered the same memories we did, breathed the same air, felt the same emotions, but they are not looking at them like memories. To them, it is only scenery. Even in there, they are finding what they each need to do and doing it. With every cup they drink, their bearing grows clearer and more composed. That is youth. They look ahead instead of looking back. We were young then.”

Trickle.

When the elder filled Yeon Sowol's cup to the brim, Yeon Sowol swallowed the new wine with unfocused eyes.

A wave of heat passed through him.

This time, the scent of white snow stung the tip of his nose. The air was so thin and crisp it felt as though it might shatter.

Yeon Sowol looked around. A single large tree stood in an endless snowfield. The world was boundlessly white, yet his breath felt strangely hot.

‘Is this place part of the elders' memories too?’

He briefly recalled the conversation he had heard as if in a dream, then forgot it again.

With his heart strangely pounding, he drew his sword and swung it.

He refined his martial force through the harmony of qi. Then he linked it to his footwork, and linked that footwork to his lightness skill.

It did not matter at all if his movements were clumsy or failed to work properly.

Until they became natural.

Until they became utterly natural.

He swung his sword and stirred his qi.

Then, whenever he opened his eyes, the three elders were talking again.

“It is a pity. Such a pity. A little more. If only we had done that back then.”

“I do not regret a thing. Are we the only ones? Seon-a was the same. If they had wanted to, they could have visited us whenever they pleased. They could have settled down beside us for good. But they did not, did they? Seon-a was the one who wandered the world without a fixed home, healing people while being called the Immortal Physician. That was the life Seon-a chose. We chose our own lives too. We all chose as we wished, so what is there to regret?”

As the grandly dressed elder lectured him, the old beggar snorted.

“As expected. A fellow who got rejected after proposing marriage thinks differently, does he not?”

“...”

“If it was all just everyone's choice, why are you sitting here after ten years, sharing memories and wallowing in misery?”

“This is part of its completion too, you foolish beggar.”

“Oh, listen to him.”

This time, the old Daoist who had been quiet filled Yeon Sowol's cup. As he did, he muttered to himself.

“Is this fellow already on his fourth cup? He drinks well. His cultivation of the heart must run deeper than I thought.”

That time repeated itself.

He was drawn into the time of unfamiliar memories and became drunk on their fragrance.

Then he came back to himself, and the three elders were talking.

The final words Yeon Sowol heard were murmured by the refined old Daoist.

“Whether we loved, dreamed, or regretted, it has all passed. Heaven may endure, but people are so brief and fleeting. Even if one lived a thousand years, how could the heart ever be satisfied? It is enough to remember it fondly like this. It was enough that we had a good bond, one we could look back on and savor for a long, long time.”

Thud!

At last, Yeon Sowol's head dropped onto the table.

Jin Geol was already sprawled beside him after his third cup.

“Huh.”

The old beggar let out an impressed sound.

“That young man drank nearly ten cups, did he not?”

“Yes. He finished more than a bottle on his own. Hey, Horse Nose. At that level, he does not seem like an ordinary talent. His internal energy seems to have already reached Faint Fragrance Unfading, and if his heart has been cultivated so deeply as well...”

“...Even among all the people I have seen in my life, it would be hard to find anyone like him.”

The grandly dressed elder nudged the old Daoist in the side with his elbow.

“How about taking him in? He drank ten cups of wine brewed by the Immortal Physician, whose name once rang through the Jianghu. His qi sense will have become as clear as a mirror, and the martial arts he possesses will cling to his body as though he had trained for ten years. He is a remarkable young man. Enough to make even me want him.”

The old beggar agreed.

“Yes. He seems to have good character too. Would he not make a fine disciple?”

The old Daoist stared down at Yeon Sowol for a long moment, then shook his head.

“A bond from a drinking table should end at the drinking table. If it is a true bond, we will meet again someday.”

“Ugh, you Horse Nose bastard. You are saying that because the youngster does not seem all that young, are you not? Daoists are always so full of greed.”

“Hmph. I suppose a worldly man like you finds the word bond difficult to understand.”

“What did you call me?”

The three elders bickered as they drank all the wine that remained.

Thanks to the two young men who had drunk so much, they were finally able to finish it all.

Thus ended ten years of remembrance.

They would never come here again.

* * *

Chirp. Chirp chirp.

Morning came, and noon drew near.

Yeon Sowol and Jin Geol opened their eyes beside the Jipseong River, which ran through the heart of Shinheung County.

More precisely, they awoke in a small pavilion built by the river.

“Ugh... My head.”

“Ghh...”

The moment they got up, both clutched their heads from their hangovers.

They were both first-rate masters who had ignited True Flame. Even after burning away the drunkenness with their True Flame, an awful hangover still shook the world around them.

Having opened their eyes at roughly the same time, they sat there blankly with their heads in their hands. Then they abruptly looked up and faced each other.

“Jin Geol.”

“Sowol.”

“Was that a dream?”

“Did I have a dream?”

After asking each other the same question, they hurriedly examined themselves.

No, they went beyond examining themselves. They drew their swords and moved as though dancing in soft, rolling waves.

A hazy light flowed from the tip of Yeon Sowol's sword, while Jin Geol's blade danced with a nimbleness it had lacked before.

“Huh.”

“Huh...”

They both let out sighs at once.

“Jin Geol, I don't think it was a dream. The flow of my true qi feels incredibly natural, as if I had been swinging a sword for ten years.”

“Sowol, it's the same for me. Problems that had left me struggling felt completely clear in there. I solved them easily. I trained to my heart's content.”

Both of them were stunned.

They looked around.

There was no sign of the three elders. Only a faint scent of wine lingered, mingling with the smell of the Jipseong River on a morning breeze.

It felt as though they had met immortals, or been possessed by ghosts.

Either way, one thing was certain. It had not been a dream.

And they had encountered an extraordinary stroke of fortune.

The two looked at each other and laughed foolishly before staggering away with their backs to the Jipseong River.

They needed to go home, wash up, and change clothes before they could sort out what had happened.

But before they could even take a few steps...

“Is that not Young Hero Jin?”

A familiar voice stopped them.

“Hero Seong?”

Seong Anjin, a first-rate martial artist from Bulsan, glared fiercely at Jin Geol.

“This is perfect. We made a promise that day, did we not? You said you would let me witness that magnificent Soaring Wing Sword of yours. It seems we can settle that right now.”

Seong Anjin's words were phrased as a question, but his actions were not.

Shing!

As though exchanging moves were already a foregone conclusion, he drew his sword first.

Flap. Flap.

Seong Anjin's robes swelled, and a burning haze rose from his back and shoulders.

‘Fierce Flame Pierces the Heavens!’

Yeon Sowol tensed.

Seong Anjin was targeting Jin Geol.

But as far as Yeon Sowol knew, Jin Geol's cultivation was at Brave Flame Soars, one stage below Fierce Flame Pierces the Heavens.

‘Jin Geol drank the wine too, so he has probably mastered the Soaring Wing Sword. But even if he has, if there is a gap in their fundamental cultivation...’

Then...

“Well, all right. I will show you the Soaring Wing Sword today.”

Jin Geol drew his sword without hesitation, and his own robes began to billow.

As Yeon Sowol's eyes widened, Jin Geol's voice transmission reached him.

「I could not properly master the martial arts, so I was not good at controlling the stage of maturity. I was actually at Fierce Flame Pierces the Heavens long ago, but if I made it that hot, the stage of maturity became difficult to control, so I only used as much strength as Brave Flame Soars.」

Ah.

「So there is nothing to worry about.」

Jin Geol stood confidently before Seong Anjin, while Seong Anjin was full of fighting spirit, as if he intended to repay the humiliation from before.

“Hero Seong. Considering the situation during our previous contest of martial skills, the flow was that I would thrust with the Soaring Wing Sword and Hero Seong would evade with Straight-Line Step. Is that correct?”

“That is right.”

“Then I will thrust first.”

“Go ahead.”

Tap!

Jin Geol kicked off the ground and charged at Seong Anjin.

Seong Anjin twisted his lips into a smile.

“Hmph! Something like this...”

Boom!

Straight-Line Step. True to its name, it was an extremely simple movement. He only took two steps backward at an angle.

Yet it was so fast that the point of Jin Geol's attack could not help but miss.

Except...

Whoosh!

Jin Geol's feet struck the ground in swift succession. He moved like a hawk plunging from the sky.

“What...!”

Seong Anjin repeatedly used Straight-Line Step to evade, but he could not shake Jin Geol, who changed direction and accelerated with every motion as though he had wings.

At last, Seong Anjin tried to swing his sword in defense.

Swish!

Jin Geol's sword tip slipped in at an unexpected beat and lightly touched Seong Anjin's neck.

“...”

The skin pressed by the sword tip turned red.

“Hero Seong. The Soaring Wing Sword is a sword art whose principle lies in combining footwork and swordsmanship into one. Footwork like Straight-Line Step is fast, but simple in its principle, making it the finest prey for the Soaring Wing Sword. That is what I meant when I said that Straight-Line Step could not stop the Soaring Wing Sword.”

“...I... I see...”

Seong Anjin appeared deeply shaken.

He was in his mid-thirties.

Jin Geol was only twenty, exactly one year older than Yeon Sowol.

After devoting his entire life to martial arts, he had been defeated by a martial artist more than ten years younger. His thoughts could not possibly be simple.

Yeon Sowol desperately kept a calm expression.

In truth, he was astonished by Jin Geol's tremendous accomplishment overnight, but he thought showing that feeling might be rude to Seong Anjin. He did his best to keep the atmosphere subdued.

Seong Anjin suddenly looked at him.

“Ah...”

A realization flashed through his mind like lightning.

‘Young Hero Yeon was not surprised at all. He knew this would happen from the beginning.’

Then the events of their previous meeting surfaced in his mind.

The memory of his own mouth saying, ‘Today, I will let this pass only because of Young Hero Yeon's face...’

Seong Anjin sighed inwardly.

‘It was not that I spared Young Hero Yeon for his sake. Young Hero Yeon spared me for mine.’

What if he had stubbornly insisted on witnessing Jin Geol's Soaring Wing Sword to the end that day?

He would have displayed the defeat he suffered here today before all those people.

‘Young Hero Yeon knew that and deliberately intervened. To keep me from being humiliated...’

Of course, that was a misunderstanding. Jin Geol had not been able to use the Soaring Wing Sword at the time.

Still, it was only natural that Seong Anjin could not imagine a stroke of fortune that would allow someone to wield a sword art proficiently after only a few nights.

Seong Anjin bit his lip.

Then he clasped his hands in salute toward Yeon Sowol.

“Young Hero Yeon. I see now that I was the one who owed a debt.”

“Pardon?”

Yeon Sowol was puzzled, but Seong Anjin had already made up his mind.

“I will repay this debt without fail. There will be many troublesome matters concerning the expedition ahead. Whenever they arise, I will stand on Young Hero Yeon's side without question. You have my sincere gratitude.”

Having said that much, Seong Anjin did not continue the conversation.

He was the sort of man who thought that once he had incurred a debt and declared he would repay it, there was nothing more to say.

“Young Hero Jin as well. Thank you for today. Thanks to you, my understanding has broadened greatly. I apologize for stubbornly insisting while ignorant of my own lack of knowledge. Let us consider that I have lost another wager as an apology.”

Whoosh!

Seong Anjin tossed a pouch of silver coins to Jin Geol.

Jin Geol caught it, weighed it in his palm, then smiled gently.

“Hero Seong has handled this matter with such generosity that this Jin can only be grateful.”

“I should be the one saying that. Then, I will see you again.”

Seong Anjin clasped his hands once more, then strode away.

Yeon Sowol watched his back and asked almost to himself.

“Troublesome matters concerning the expedition... Will there be many?”

“There will be an enormous number. Tactics, command, even how to divide the spoils after we win.”

“Ah.”

“Just because they came with good intentions does not mean they can work for free. Blades will be crossing.”

“I suppose so. Hmm. Then would it help to gain people's support ahead of time, like this?”