WeTried Translations
Translator: ZERO_SUGAR
Editor: Abstract
Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried
Chapter 116: Dongha Sword Saint (1)
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"What?"
Academy Director Do Jeong-myeong shot to his feet.
He could not hide his alarm at the urgent report. He had already received word from someone sent by Vice-Master Dan Pil-hu that the Eastern River Sword Sage, Shin Ui-gyeom, was waiting ten li outside Changcheon Martial Academy.
Yet it had barely been any time since that news arrived. What sort of disaster was this?
"Academy Director, what should we do?"
"Where is he?"
"Well, he said he wished to see the place where the deceased cadet Young Chun and the detained cadet Hong Hye-ryeong had their martial match, so we guided him there first."
"He wanted to see the site of their martial match?"
Academy Director Do Jeong-myeong frowned at the academy guard's report, then forced himself to calm down.
Shin Ui-gyeom's sudden arrival at the academy had taken him by surprise, but the worst had not happened yet. If the Eastern River Sword Sage had been unable to restrain his fury and gone straight to Hong Hye-ryeong, there would have been no salvaging the situation.
"Let us go there first."
"Yes, sir."
* * *
The training hall complex stood northeast of the dormitory grounds.
That was where the Special-grade training hall was located, the place where Young Chun and Hong Hye-ryeong had held their unofficial martial match.
The warriors guarding the Special-grade training hall could not hide their tension when the Eastern River Sword Sage, Shin Ui-gyeom, suddenly appeared.
'W-what is going on?'
'Damn it. Is something really going to happen today?'
The inevitable had finally come.
Tense, they watched Shin Ui-gyeom's back. The training hall where the incident had occurred was sealed off with no-entry signs, long stakes, and ropes to keep anyone from entering.
The Eastern River Sword Sage entered with his hands clasped behind his back.
"Hm."
Once inside, Shin Ui-gyeom surveyed the area. Finding the room dark, he lightly raised a hand toward the ceiling.
Crack!
Sunlight immediately flooded the room.
'!?'
The warrior who had guided Shin Ui-gyeom and those guarding the place alike were stunned.
He had blown away the ceiling in an instant. The dust drifting through the air was all that remained of it.
'He did that to the ceiling without even drawing a sword.'
His Martial Arts were beyond imagination.
They had heard countless tales of the Four Immortal Masters and their fame, but seeing such an astonishing divine feat with their own eyes left their mouths hanging open.
Unconcerned by their reactions, Shin Ui-gyeom examined the traces around him.
'...'
The first thing he noticed was the floor stained with blood.
A sitting mark remained there. It was likely where his youngest disciple had drawn his last breath.
Shin Ui-gyeom's eyes darkened like pitch.
'Chun.'
A deep sigh escaped him.
It felt like only yesterday that he had taken the child in. Young Chun had yet to bloom, yet had left the world like this. It tore at his heart.
After steadying himself, Shin Ui-gyeom slowly looked around.
The room was covered in countless blade marks and sword marks. His eyes narrowed.
'Why is he not going inside to inspect it more closely?'
'Can he truly see anything from there?'
The warriors did not know it, but Shin Ui-gyeom's eyes were already seeing the blade marks and sword marks take human form, fiercely clashing before him.
A glimmer appeared in his gaze.
'...Brother Hong. You taught your successor well.'
He had wondered whether Hong Hwa-yun's daughter could truly wield the Flame Shadow Great Rift Blade properly.
Yet the blade marks left behind showed otherwise. She had handled it without hesitation. Her physical strength seemed extraordinary.
'Did she start using the Flame Shadow Great Rift Blade's power in the latter half of the fight?'
Scorch marks were mixed among the blade marks.
It seemed she had drawn upon the power of the Flame Shadow Great Rift Blade, known as the Avatar of Flames. If she had even used a divine artifact, then even if Young Chun had used the Eastern River Sword School's secret art, he would have had a hard time winning.
After all, the child could only wield Sword Three.
Shin Ui-gyeom inspected the place for some time, then his gaze drifted to the area soaked in blood.
'...Hm.'
After examining it for a long while, Shin Ui-gyeom stepped inside for the first time.
He closely inspected the traces on the bloodstained floor.
'...'
Then he rose.
His eyes narrowed further. As though he had seen all he needed to see, Shin Ui-gyeom turned away.
"S-Sir?"
"Where is the child's body?"
The warriors swallowed hard at Shin Ui-gyeom's question.
* * *
'He was barely there. Did he inspect everything already?'
Academy Director Do Jeong-myeong hurried toward the academy Morgue using a movement skill.
By the time he reached the Special-grade training hall where Hong Hye-ryeong and Young Chun had fought, he was already too late.
Shin Ui-gyeom had moved far too quickly.
If the Eastern River Sword Sage saw his youngest disciple Young Chun's body and reached a conclusion, the worst possible disaster would occur, one that no one could stop.
Before that happened, Do Jeong-myeong needed to persuade him somehow and buy time for Kang Mu-i to confess.
When he arrived at the Morgue building, Do Jeong-myeong spotted three people entering through the entrance, and his eyes widened.
"Vice-Master."
"Academy Director?"
One of them was Vice-Master Dan Pil-hu.
The other two who had come with him were...
"Are those not Martial March Battle Sword and Howling Sword?"
They were the Eastern River Sword Sage's disciples, Martial March Battle Sword Yeong Ga-dong and Howling Sword Yeong Chu-seo.
Their master, the Eastern River Sword Sage Shin Ui-gyeom, had headed to Changcheon Martial Academy ahead of them. They had hurried here with Vice-Master Dan Pil-hu.
"Academy Director Do."
"It has been a long time."
The three exchanged awkward fist-and-palm salutes.
This was not a happy reunion, so none of them could greet one another with smiles.
After looking at each other briefly, they followed the Academy Director's gesture and entered the Morgue building.
Inside the underground chamber, they found Shin Ui-gyeom, who had arrived first.
He was staring fixedly at the body of his dead disciple, Young Chun.
"...Chun."
Howling Sword Yeong Chu-seo's eyes reddened at the sight.
After hearing that his youngest martial brother had died, he had wept all day and believed he had no tears left. Yet the instant he saw the body, he could not hold them back.
"Chun... Chun... How could you leave us like this..."
Howling Sword Yeong Chu-seo collapsed onto the floor and repeatedly called his youngest martial brother's name as though mourning at a funeral.
Yeong Ga-dong bit down hard on his lip.
He had calmed down somewhat after hearing Hong Hye-ryeong and her friends explain themselves, but seeing his youngest martial brother like this again made the grief almost unbearable.
'To be gathered like this...'
Heaven truly seemed cruel.
It had taken this young child away before the child could ever properly bloom.
The atmosphere had grown so heavy that neither Academy Director Do Jeong-myeong nor Vice-Master Dan Pil-hu could bring themselves to speak.
Then Howling Sword Yeong Chu-seo sprang to his feet. He immediately spoke to his master, the Eastern River Sword Sage Shin Ui-gyeom.
"Master! This is not something you need to handle. I will cut off Hong Hwa-yun's daughter's head at once and console Young Chun's vengeful spirit."
"Howling Sword, please calm down!"
Academy Director Do Jeong-myeong hurriedly stepped in front of him.
Howling Sword Yeong Chu-seo placed a hand on top of the wooden case strapped to his back and warned him in a voice sharp enough to cut.
"If you stop me, I will fight my way there if I must!"
"Chu-seo! How dare you behave so rudely before Master and our youngest martial brother!"
Martial March Battle Sword Yeong Ga-dong rebuked him.
Howling Sword Yeong Chu-seo pointed at Young Chun's body and shouted.
"Can you still say that after looking at him? Aren't those blade marks on the body from Rising Flame Shadow Strike, the fourth technique of the Flame Shadow Great Rift Blade Art?"
Yeong Ga-dong had no answer.
He had wondered the same thing.
The Four Immortal Masters had studied one another's Martial Arts, so their disciples also knew something of each other's arts.
But those were undeniably traces of the Flame Shadow Great Rift Blade and the Flame Shadow Great Rift Blade Art.
When Yeong Ga-dong fell silent, Howling Sword Yeong Chu-seo once again sought his master's permission.
"Master, allow me to go after Hong Hwa-yun's daugh..."
"Quiet."
The Eastern River Sword Sage Shin Ui-gyeom reproved him in a low voice.
"Master, how could you..."
"I said be quiet."
The weight in his second command finally silenced Howling Sword Yeong Chu-seo, who had been unable to contain his grief and anger.
He knew Shin Ui-gyeom too well.
His master had never told someone to be quiet more than three times. He could not provoke him any further.
When Howling Sword Yeong Chu-seo fell silent, the Eastern River Sword Sage, who had not taken his eyes from Young Chun's body, slowly turned his head and asked,
"Did Hong Hwa-yun's daughter see this child's body as well?"
"...She did. But..."
Swish!
Shin Ui-gyeom raised a hand, making clear that he did not wish to hear more.
His eyes narrowed as though he were deep in thought, then he spoke again.
"Where is Hong Hwa-yun's daughter?"
Academy Director Do Jeong-myeong's face darkened at the question.
Was a disaster truly about to unfold?
If the Eastern River Sword Sage could not restrain his rage and killed the Southern Blade Imperial Uncle's daughter here, they would cross a river from which there was no return.
"Sir... Could you please calm down a little? The truth of this matter will soon be revealed..."
"Academy Director. I will not ask twice."
A chill ran through Do Jeong-myeong.
At that moment, his whole body stiffened beneath the razor-sharp ki weapon that enveloped him. It felt as if even the slightest movement would slice him to pieces.
* * *
Gulp.
Hong Hye-ryeong could barely swallow.
Her face was pale as she looked at the Eastern River Sword Sage Shin Ui-gyeom, standing before her with his hands behind his back.
His cold eyes were like a sharp sword that could cut her down at any moment.
She knew why he was looking at her that way.
He believed she was the true culprit who had killed his precious youngest disciple. He had come to take revenge.
"Give it to her."
"Yes."
At Shin Ui-gyeom's words, Howling Sword Yeong Chu-seo answered in an equally icy voice and tossed the large blade he held before Hong Hye-ryeong.
Clang!
It was the divine artifact, Flame Shadow Great Rift Blade.
Hong Hye-ryeong's eyes grew infinitely heavy as she looked at the Flame Shadow Great Rift Blade lying on the floor.
"Uncle Shin..."
"Draw the blade."
"...Uncle Shin. It is only natural that you misunderstand, but I truly..."
"I will not say it twice. Draw it."
Hong Hye-ryeong's eyes reddened under Shin Ui-gyeom's sharp voice.
There was nothing else she could do now.
Her opponent was Shin Ui-gyeom, one of the Four Immortal Masters. Unless her father, the Southern Blade Imperial Uncle Hong Hwa-yun, came himself, no one could stop him.
"I cannot draw it..."
"Must I place it in your hand myself?"
Boom!
Shin Ui-gyeom lightly stamped the ground.
At that instant, the Flame Shadow Great Rift Blade, which had been lying on the floor, bounced up into the air.
At Shin Ui-gyeom's gesture, the blade of the Flame Shadow Great Rift Blade emerged from its scabbard as it floated in the air.
Shing!
'Ah!'
Hong Hye-ryeong gasped inwardly.
His Force of ki was unimaginably profound. He had drawn the blade with life energy alone, without even touching it.
'Ki telekinesis!'
She instinctively recognized it as Ki telekinesis.
But then...
Fwoooooosh!
Wrenched from its scabbard by someone other than its master, the Flame Shadow Great Rift Blade spewed flames and revealed its majesty as if enraged.
That was because the Flame Shadow Great Rift Blade was an artifact with a will of its own.
"Hmph."
Even Howling Sword Yeong Chu-seo, standing nearby, took several steps back in surprise at the fierce flames.
Yet even those flames meant nothing before the Eastern River Sword Sage.
Shin Ui-gyeom stood with his hands behind his back, and the flames erupting from the Flame Shadow Great Rift Blade instead spread away to either side of him.
His sharp ki weapon overwhelmed the flames.
'He is... too strong.'
The difference between them was simply too great.
As Hong Hye-ryeong's face darkened further, Shin Ui-gyeom pressed her.
"Take hold of the blade. Will you accept death without doing anything?"
"..."
In the end, Hong Hye-ryeong had no choice but to grasp the Flame Shadow Great Rift Blade.
Clench!
The moment she gripped it, the Flame Shadow Great Rift Blade released even fiercer flames, as though it had been waiting for her.
* * *
"I should be able to control my strength well enough not to kill him."
'!?'
Kang Mu-i stared at Mumu in disbelief.
Where did this baseless confidence come from?
'What? He will not kill him?'
He had fought Mumu himself. He acknowledged that Mumu possessed monstrous physical strength and muscles close to an indestructible golden body.
But the opponent was someone who had reached the pinnacle of the sword.
Mumu intended to hold back against a supreme master who ranked among the five strongest in the Central Plains?
This was not confidence. It was arrogance so absurd it bordered on madness.
'He has truly lost his mind.'
If such a thing were possible, would they have devised a scheme to divide the Four Immortal Masters?
After seventeen years, each of them might be as strong as, or even stronger than, the Overlord of Blood and Slaughter had been in the past. That was why they had chosen this method.
Kang Mu-i spoke with a mocking voice.
"That much nonsense is a disease. Let me make this clear. Not only will you never hear what you wish to hear from my mouth, I will never ask you for help..."
Flinch!
His words had not even finished.
An overwhelming pressure seemed to crush Kang Mu-i from above, making him raise his head.
Mumu did the same.
'Wow.'
To Mumu's eyes, a brilliant mass of light unlike anything he had ever seen seemed to swallow everything around them.
Kang Mu-i swallowed, suddenly tense.
'T-this is...'
It was the first time he had felt such pressure even with his ki gateways sealed.
Suffocating life energy filled the area.
'Could it be?'
Kang Mu-i's eyes shook.
Only one person came to mind in this situation, someone whose pressure could be felt so clearly even from a distance.
'It cannot be...'
He had not confessed to anything.
There was no evidence either.
Why would that person suddenly come for him?
Yet breathing became increasingly difficult, and the pressure soon reached the iron door.
Kang Mu-i stared at it with trembling eyes.
At that very moment...
Slash! Slash! Boom!
The black iron door split apart in the shape of a cross, and someone appeared.
A middle-aged man in a dark blue martial uniform, standing with his hands behind his back.
It was the Eastern River Sword Sage Shin Ui-gyeom.
Behind him stood Academy Director Do Jeong-myeong, Vice-Master Dan Pil-hu, and Shin Ui-gyeom's two disciples, Yeong Ga-dong and Yeong Chu-seo.
'Why?'
Kang Mu-i looked at them with a bewildered expression.
Why had the Eastern River Sword Sage and the others come here?
By now, Shin Ui-gyeom should have gone after Hong Hye-ryeong, whom he believed was his youngest disciple's killer.
Then the Eastern River Sword Sage Shin Ui-gyeom stepped into the holding cell.
Tap!
The instant he took one step...
Clang! Bang!
"Urgh!"
Kang Mu-i's body slammed against the black iron wall and was pinned there by force.
Mumu had not yet broken the black iron chains around both his ankles, so the impact against the wall made it feel as though his ankles would snap.
"Are you the child called Kang Mu-i?"
Shin Ui-gyeom approached and asked.
Kang Mu-i could not understand the situation at all.
There could not possibly be evidence, and he had not confessed. Why was that monstrous figure approaching him with such force?
As Kang Mu-i wondered, Shin Ui-gyeom spoke.
"No matter how much a technique is refined, the marks it leaves differ ever so slightly depending on who uses it, whether that person is male or female, and the skeletal structure and physical conditions they possess."
"I do not know who you are, but what are you talking about..."
Kang Mu-i tried his best to sound frightened.
Shin Ui-gyeom fixed him with a sharp gaze.
Pain twisted through Kang Mu-i's organs, and blood flowed from his mouth.
"Urgh!"
Shin Ui-gyeom spoke to him in a low voice.
"That child is not the culprit."
"N-not the culprit? What do you mean..."
"How many times do you think I have witnessed Rising Flame Shadow Strike, the fourth technique of the Flame Shadow Great Rift Blade Art? Seventeen years ago, Brother Hong and I fought hundreds, thousands of times to face that person. I saw Rising Flame Shadow Strike countless times and fought against it myself. Yet the traces left on Young Chun's body could not have come from Hong Hye-ryeong's body."
'!?'
Kang Mu-i's eyes trembled faintly at those words.
He possessed a natural talent.
That was why he could remember everything he saw even once. How much effort had he put into perfectly recreating the Rising Flame Shadow Strike used by a person who had survived a battle with Hong Hwa-yun?
Yet his technique could not have come from Hong Hye-ryeong?
'What is this?'
Academy Director Do Jeong-myeong, watching Kang Mu-i's flustered reaction from behind, clicked his tongue inwardly.
'...Incredible.'
Only the Eastern River Sword Sage could have distinguished it.
Even Do Jeong-myeong had seen the traces on the body and been certain Hong Hye-ryeong was responsible.
But the Eastern River Sword Sage was different.
At the site of the martial match, he noticed the minute differences between the blade marks that Hong Hwa-yun and Hong Hye-ryeong could leave. Then he examined the body of his dead youngest disciple, Young Chun.
Right afterward, he demanded to see Hong Hye-ryeong, so Do Jeong-myeong naturally believed he was seeking revenge.
But...
"It was not you."
The Eastern River Sword Sage Shin Ui-gyeom pushed Hong Hye-ryeong far enough that she had to use Rising Flame Shadow Strike, then became certain she was not the culprit.
Do Jeong-myeong asked why he had verified the truth by threatening Hong Hye-ryeong like that.
Shin Ui-gyeom answered him this way.
"You said Hong's daughter had seen Young Chun's body. If I asked her to demonstrate the technique to verify the truth, she would have been conscious of that and might have deliberately performed it differently."
That was why Shin Ui-gyeom had pushed her into a corner.
Hong Hye-ryeong believed Shin Ui-gyeom would kill her for revenge, so she was not thinking of anything but defending herself to survive.
That was why she performed the technique according to her usual habits.
Through that, Shin Ui-gyeom had finally discovered she was not the culprit.
'There is a reason they are called the Four Immortal Masters.'
They were on a completely different level from ordinary people.
Perhaps even their insight and perspective on Martial Arts were fundamentally different.
'What a relief.'
Academy Director Do Jeong-myeong was relieved.
The worst possible outcome, a division between the Four Immortal Masters, had been avoided.
Now, if they could only extract Kang Mu-i's confession that he had killed Young Chun, they could bring this incident to a full close.
But something unexpected happened.
"H-help me!"
Kang Mu-i suddenly looked at Mumu and begged for help.
Mumu asked,
"Will you keep your promise?"
"I will."
No one else knew what they were talking about.
But Kang Mu-i and Mumu understood each other.
Kang Mu-i was desperately anxious.
He could not fully understand what the Eastern River Sword Sage Shin Ui-gyeom had said, but he knew one thing for certain.
'It failed.'
The Grand Plan they had ambitiously prepared had failed.
The moment Shin Ui-gyeom became certain that his disciple Young Chun's death had not been caused by Hong Hye-ryeong, the Grand Plan had effectively failed. If the interrogation continued, his life would soon be in danger beyond saving.
'Damn it!'
Driven to the brink, Kang Mu-i asked Mumu for help as though clutching at a straw.
He was betting on that one percent, no, that one tenth of a percent chance.
Then the Eastern River Sword Sage Shin Ui-gyeom turned to Mumu and spoke.
"A promise? Are you perhaps in league with this child?"
Mumu shook his head.
"No. I just promised to stop you, sir, in exchange for a small payment."
'!?'
At Mumu's words, the expressions of Academy Director Do Jeong-myeong and Vice-Master Dan Pil-hu, who had been pleased that things had been resolved, froze as though they had fallen into an abyss.
The Eastern River Sword Sage's disciples, on the other hand, glared at Mumu in disbelief.
Who was going to stop whom?
"You insolent..."
Swish!
Howling Sword Yeong Chu-seo could not contain his anger and started to speak, but the Eastern River Sword Sage Shin Ui-gyeom stopped him with a raised hand.
Then he asked Mumu in a low voice,
"How do you intend to stop me?"
Mumu scratched his head and answered as though it were nothing.
"With strength."
Footnotes:
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