WeTried Translations
Translator/Editor: ZERO_SUGAR
Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried
◈ Got a Gallery in the Wild ◈
Chapter 160: Real-Life Fight (4)
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‘Th-this can’t be...!’
Geumjang couldn’t believe what was happening.
A bloodstained palm, blocked effortlessly by a single finger.
A slender finger that looked like it would snap if squeezed had casually stopped his palm strike.
That was impossible unless the gap in their martial arts was overwhelming.
Which meant the difference between that woman and Geumjang was as vast as heaven and earth.
“...Haa!”
Still, Geumjang didn’t give up. Denying reality, he attacked again.
It was said that masters could gauge the gap between them without even crossing blades.
Yet Geumjang felt nothing from this woman. She seemed like an ordinary civilian.
Geumjang had reached the Transformation Realm. Not merely the entry level, either, but the middle stage.
Having undergone Body Reforging, Geumjang could perfectly control the Internal Energy that had once run wild like an untamed horse.
And what was the current state of the Martial World? Hadn’t Blood Demon’s bloody rampage lowered the overall standard?
The fight against the martial artists just now had proven that wasn’t just a rumor.
That was why Geumjang had no choice but to deny this situation, which made no sense either emotionally or rationally.
Otherwise, he would have to admit that the woman before him was stronger.
Whoooosh!
The bloodstained palm flew toward the woman’s face again.
It was so fast that the sound of tearing wind rang out clearly.
Yet the woman kept smiling beneath her gat and moved her hand.
Tap.
Just like before, she placed her index finger against the bloodstained palm.
But she didn’t stop there. She lightly moved her finger to the side.
To emphasize it again, she only moved it lightly. At least, by her standards.
Swoosh!
Geumjang’s hand swept past the woman’s face. That wasn’t all.
Perhaps he couldn’t overcome the force of his own strike, or perhaps the woman had done something.
Thud!
Geumjang fell. In the most pathetic way possible.
He had gone beyond kneeling, with both hands braced against the ground.
As Geumjang fell into confusion over this unbelievable reality, the woman silently looked down at him and spoke.
“I told you to kneel, not crawl around like a dog.”
“...”
“Rise again. Then kneel with proper reverence toward the heavens...”
Whoosh!
The woman’s command was cut short as Geumjang, still prone, used a spinning back kick.
There was no furious roar this time. Instead, his expression was cold.
Perhaps even the woman hadn’t expected the sudden attack, as she barely avoided it by drawing her head slightly back.
In that instant, Geumjang sprang back and retreated from her.
“You’re arrogant. But it seems you have a reason to be.”
Geumjang’s voice was calmer than before. The woman tilted her head slightly, as though surprised by his response.
Her expression was hidden beneath the gat, but the corner of her lips had twisted slightly.
“There are those who believe the depth of one’s martial arts is everything. That will be your downfall.”
Geumjang had survived the War of Righteousness and Evil, where countless absolute masters had died.
There was only one reason he had survived it. Objectivity.
If an opponent’s martial arts surpassed his own? Geumjang admitted it immediately.
A monster called Blood Demon stood above him, so swallowing his pride was nothing.
Geumjang’s specialty was using that exceptional objectivity to find any possible way to defeat an opponent, regardless of the means.
Since ancient times, it was not the strong who survived, but the survivors who were strong.
Geumjang, a survivor of the War of Righteousness and Evil, was the perfect embodiment of that principle.
“You do love to talk. First...”
Swish.
The woman raised her slender hand. Tension appeared on Geumjang’s face at the movement.
Then she took one step forward.
Literally, just one step.
Whoosh!
“...!!!”
Geumjang’s eyes widened. Despite taking only one step, the woman was suddenly right in front of him.
Overwhelming martial prowess, as though she had completely ignored the limits of space.
‘S-shrinking the Earth into an Inch?!’
As Geumjang stared in shock, the woman slowly extended her raised hand.
“I ought to pull out that tongue of yours first.”
Geumjang snapped back to attention and reacted.
A cornered rat could bite a cat to death.
Without even realizing he had begun thinking of himself as a rat, Geumjang swept out a leg like a whip.
The plan was to throw the woman off balance first, then look for an opening.
Swoooosh!
His leg swept toward the woman’s ankle with the speed of an arrow.
Until the very moment it was about to strike, the woman took no action.
Just as Geumjang inwardly rejoiced, thinking he had caught her.
Tap.
The woman somehow lifted her foot slightly and blocked it with ease.
At the same time, she thrust her raised hand toward Geumjang’s mouth.
Geumjang hadn’t failed to consider such a possibility, so he retreated.
Swoosh!
The moment he stepped back, Geumjang swept a leg upward and kicked up a cloud of dust.
The thick dust cloud obscured the view.
Cowardly? What cowardice could there be in a fight with life and death at stake?
Just as there was fair play, there was foul play.
The strong didn’t survive. The survivors were strong.
Kwooooom!!!
Taking advantage of the obstructed view, Geumjang unleashed a palm strike. This time, it wasn’t a direct attack, but an outpouring of Internal Energy.
A huge palm-shaped force rushed toward where the woman had been standing.
Fitting the name Blood Hand, even that palm was dyed crimson like blood.
Krrrrack!
The palm, packed with powerful energy, passed through where the woman had stood and destroyed every structure behind her.
Like the gorilla presumed to be Blood Demon’s successor had done, Geumjang had created a new path.
But whether the woman had survived mattered most to Geumjang. As he watched the ruined area closely...
“Are you finished?”
“!!!”
The woman’s voice came from behind him. Startled out of his wits, Geumjang instinctively attacked behind him.
Swoosh!
“Ghk?!”
But it was too late. Something had forced its way into Geumjang’s mouth before he could even attack.
At the same time, his tongue was firmly caught. Geumjang looked ahead in panic.
Perhaps the gat had been blown away in the aftermath of the attack, because the woman’s face was now fully revealed.
Geumjang had guessed she was beautiful from her lower face alone, but her fully revealed beauty far exceeded his expectations.
A peerless beauty. A beautiful flower blooming in the highest heavens.
Geumjang was entranced by her beauty and nobility for only a moment before belatedly noticing the state of his body.
‘M-my Internal Energy...!’
No acupoints had been sealed, yet he couldn’t use Internal Energy.
His tongue had merely been caught. Geumjang was bewildered.
“You seem surprised. I suppose that’s understandable. You can no longer use Internal Energy.”
“Ughk...”
“Now then. I shall tell you the only path by which you may live.”
The woman, Heavenly Demon, gave her command once more.
“Kneel.”
“...”
“If you kneel, I shall at least spare your life.”
Geumjang’s answer was already decided. Being unable to use Internal Energy was no problem.
His dantian was still intact. There was a secret art Geumjang had saved for the very last moment.
It didn’t matter whether his acupoints were sealed, either. The secret art was unrelated to that.
“Khuhuhuhu...”
“Hm. It seems you have something to say.”
Hearing Geumjang laugh, Heavenly Demon casually let go of his tongue.
With his tongue free, Geumjang smiled wickedly and spoke.
“You remain arrogant. This is why cats get bitten to death by rats.”
“...”
“Blood Cult! Remember this day! I shall scatter the Exalted One’s blood here!”
Geumjang shouted solemnly and gathered every bit of energy into his dantian.
He would use all his Internal Energy as gunpowder and his dantian as a trigger.
Under normal circumstances, more than half of Shaanxi would have been caught in a massive explosion.
Yes. Under normal circumstances.
“...?”
Geumjang was puzzled. Why wasn’t the secret art activating?
He had clearly gathered energy in his dantian for this. Yet he could no longer feel it.
“Is this your dantian? It is red as blood. No, is it because it truly is blood?”
“...Ah?”
Instead, unbearable pain surged through Geumjang’s lower abdomen.
Geumjang stared blankly at her left hand.
He had never personally seen someone’s dantian before.
A dantian was, by nature, a formless gathering of energy.
Yet Heavenly Demon held a crimson mass of energy in her hand.
And what of Geumjang’s lower abdomen? Looking down through the terrible pain, he found a hole in it.
Crunch!
Heavenly Demon lightly crushed the dantian by closing her hand.
The moment Geumjang saw it, his face went pale.
Geumjang’s greatest strength and weakness was objectivity. And so, he accepted the entire situation.
He knew that no attack, defense, or desperate struggle would work. She stood above even the heavens.
“Did you call yourself a rat? I do not think so.”
Heavenly Demon smiled faintly. To Geumjang, that smile resembled the Grim Reaper’s.
Then she grabbed Geumjang by the neck and said,
“You are nothing but a pitiful insect.”
“...”
“I have no interest in insects that bite people.”
Heavenly Demon, Yu Sowol, declared.
“I simply exterminate them.”
Crack!
Geumjang’s neck bent into an L-shape.
Yu Sowol casually threw aside Geumjang’s corpse after toying with him to death.
With a wet slap, Geumjang’s body rolled across the bloodstained ground.
She looked around. Realizing the situation was over, the people who had been hiding slowly crept out.
Their eyes held all kinds of emotions. Fear. Terror. Reverence.
“...”
Yu Sowol said nothing and turned her back on them.
Then, as though nothing had happened, she vanished from the spot in an instant.
Leaving behind only the gat she had dropped on the ground.
Once Yu Sowol had disappeared, the remaining people spoke in trembling voices.
“W-what... what did I just see...?”
“I-I don’t know either.”
The situation had been so chaotic that everyone was busy asking what had happened.
Normally, they would have shared their thoughts, but...
“A-a post went up on the Gallery! It looks like someone recorded a video!”
“R-really?”
“Yes! Hurry and look!”
This was a world where the Gallery existed.
Everyone hurriedly accessed the Gallery to see Heavenly Demon’s martial prowess.
“Good heavens... Such martial prowess...!”
“Was that beauty truly the one called Heavenly Demon?”
“Was registered user Heavenly Demon really the actual Heavenly Demon?”
“Don’t say ridiculous things! She probably came to catch an impersonator!”
A massive bombshell had been dropped in the Gallery.
* * *
Yu Sowol had accepted Wi Seorak’s advice for this real-life fight. The advice went roughly like this.
Yu Sowol should go there not as registered user Heavenly Demon, but as the real Heavenly Demon.
Go there and find whoever was sullying Heavenly Demon’s name.
It would be fine if they didn’t come, and fine if they did.
It didn’t matter whether the opponent came or not. She had the justification of coming to punish someone who had sullied Heavenly Demon’s name.
Still, Wi Seorak advised that things would become easier if an opponent came, especially if it was a genuine remnant of the Blood Cult.
Yu Sowol could personally deal with the Blood Cult remnant and proudly make her declaration.
Then what would happen to registered user Heavenly Demon?
Wi Seorak hadn’t told her.
It was unavoidable. Whoever had dared to sully Heavenly Demon’s name could live or die for all Wi Seorak cared.
Yu Sowol agreed with that too, so she said nothing more.
‘It didn’t seem like they even suspected the two were the same person.’
Unlike Yu Sowol, the sharp-witted Wi Seorak knew everything.
Knowing it all, Wi Seorak had offered no advice on that point.
After giving it some thought, Yu Sowol came up with her own solution.
So this situation was like a performance staged by Yu Sowol and Wi Seorak.
The problem was that the opponent wasn’t an actor in that performance...
‘It doesn’t matter.’
Especially not someone who treated human lives like insects.
She called herself Heavenly Demon and had an arrogant disposition, but she was at least a ruler who valued life.
Even when people mocked her on the Gallery for her martial-arts-boomer remarks, she let it slide generously.
As someone once said, she was only a little starved for “attention.” Her natural disposition leaned toward kindness.
[Post title] Title) Is registered user Heavenly Demon the real Heavenly Demon?
[Post] (Video of Yu Sowol toying with Geumjang)
[Post] Is registered user Heavenly Demon the same person as the real Heavenly Demon? For real?
└ Don’t lie. How could that be real?
└ If the real Heavenly Demon used the Gallery, the Demonic Cult people would all lose their minds;;
└ Wow, but she’s seriously pretty lol
└ Pretty isn’t even the point, she’s fucking strong;; Look at her toy with him like a dog.
└ Won’t this get taken down? It’s a little brutal.
└ It does, but Anonymous Users keep reposting it.
└ Damn lol Blood Cult bastards got shut down by Heavenly Demon alone!
└ Is Heavenly Demon a god? Is Heavenly Demon a god?
[Post title] Title) Registered user Heavenly Demon isn’t the real Heavenly Demon.
[Post] I heard what that Heavenly Demon said. She said she came to catch whoever was tarnishing Heavenly Demon’s name.
└ Are you close with that Heavenly Demon?
└ Not close, but I’m in the Demonic Cult, so I heard the rumors. She said she was going to catch whoever was tarnishing Heavenly Demon’s name.
└ Makes sense the Demonic Cult people would feel that way. They probably never expected her to really show up lol
└ Does Heavenly Demon have a good reputation in the Demonic Cult?
└ It’s pretty good. She doesn’t mess with people much, and it’s a decent place to live.
[Post title] Title) Assistant moderator, explain yourself.
[Post] What were you doing while the real Heavenly Demon was coming here? Were you just sitting around in the back?
└ They summoned Heavenly Demon and did nothing else lol
└ Heavenly Demon Summoning Technique holy shit
└ Heavenly Demon Summoning Technique lmao
└ Isn’t that even more impressive? lol
More than anything, there was this attention. Look at this topic setting the Gallery ablaze.
Both as Heavenly Demon Yu Sowol and as the person Yu Sowol, she couldn’t have been more satisfied.
Normally, she should have explained herself, but... why bother?
All she had to do was sit back and watch. While she was at it, she could delete posts too.
She could say her explanation was late because she had been carrying out her duties as an assistant moderator.
└ [Wild Grylls]: That person isn’t Heavenly Demon. She isn’t even using the sword I gave her.
└ Is that sword that noticeable?
└ [Wild Grylls]: Yeah, it stands out like crazy.
└ She beat him senseless with bare hands. Would she need a sword?
└ [Wild Grylls]: Is that so? Still, she’s a sword user, and she had nothing.
And Grylls had unexpectedly provided supporting fire.
Yu Sowol liked every part of this.
‘This is truly satisfying.’
Of course.
“Doesn’t this person seem like the real Heavenly Demon? Is she really bored? She looks younger than I expected. That must be because of her realm too, right?”
Having gone through a more advanced internet culture, Grylls had somewhat caught on.
Footnotes:
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