WeTried Translations
Translator: ZERO_SUGAR
Editor: Abstract
Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried
Chapter 117: Dongha Sword Saint (2)
──────
‘!?’
Silence hung over the holding cell.
What Mumu had just said was enough to leave everyone dumbfounded.
Academy Director Do Jeong-myeong and Vice-Master Dan Pil-hu were especially stunned. Their thoughts froze for a moment, leaving them unable to find the words they needed to say.
They both knew about Mumu's monstrous strength.
At times, they had even thought that Mumu might one day reach a height close to that of the Four Immortal Masters.
But not now.
‘Y-you...’
Vice-Master Dan Pil-hu felt as if his mind had overloaded.
The person before them was none other than one of the Four Immortal Masters, said to stand at the pinnacle of the present martial world.
Shin Ui-gyeom, the Eastern River Sword Sage.
The world called him the greatest swordsman under heaven.
Was it something a sane person would say, that they would stop the foremost master of the sword, whom every swordsman revered?
‘Don't do it, you fool.’
Provoking Shin Ui-gyeom was no different from suicide.
He was a monster on an entirely different level.
Academy Director Do Jeong-myeong hurriedly stepped forward. Cupping his fist in his palm, Do Jeong-myeong earnestly pleaded with Shin Ui-gyeom.
“Great Hero. This child lived deep in the mountains with his father for a long time, and he is a new academy cadet still learning about the martial world. He acted that way because he knows nothing. Please forgive him with your generous heart.”
Vice-Master Dan Pil-hu also stepped in to help.
Yet Dan Pil-hu did not address Shin Ui-gyeom. He rebuked Mumu instead.
“Mumu! How dare you behave so rudely toward Great Hero Shin, a revered senior of the martial world? Step back at once!”
Then he again cupped his fist in his palm toward Shin Ui-gyeom.
“Great Hero, I apologize. I understand that this child's insolent words may have offended you, but he is truly kind by nature. He tried to clear Hong Hye-ryeong's name, and he was also the one who found and captured the true culprit who harmed your disciple, Cadet Young Chun. Please clear away this misunderstanding.”
Dan Pil-hu had rebuked Mumu to soothe Shin Ui-gyeom's displeasure.
At those words, Shin Ui-gyeom silently looked at Mumu.
‘This child captured the true culprit?’
As he wondered about that, his eldest disciple, Yeong Ga-dong, the Martial March Battle Sword, stepped forward as well.
“Master. As the Vice-Master said, it is true that the child contributed to capturing the true culprit. The child also stopped me from making a serious mistake. Would it not be best to forgive him this once?”
Yeong Ga-dong looked at Mumu and shook his head.
It meant Mumu should not commit any more disrespect.
‘This is the only time I will help you.’
In truth, Yeong Ga-dong did not particularly like Mumu.
Still, if Mumu had not stopped him then, he and his master would have been manipulated by the true culprit's scheme and become enemies with the Southern Blade Imperial Uncle.
He was only helping defend Mumu to repay that debt.
“I do not know what conversation you had with him, but stop this foolishness and step back. From now on, this matter concerns the Eastern River Sword School.”
Yeong Ga-dong spoke to Mumu.
It was a stern warning that, if Mumu continued, the Eastern River Sword School would become his enemy.
Everyone had defended him this much, so they thought he would not do anything foolish again...
“Um... I'm sorry, but I can't do that.”
‘!?’
Academy Director Do Jeong-myeong, Vice-Master Dan Pil-hu, and Yeong Ga-dong all stiffened.
Mumu had destroyed their efforts in an instant.
The situation had only just begun to settle down. Why would he do this now?
As they stood there in shock, Shin Ui-gyeom opened his mouth.
“Everyone says you captured this child. If you quietly step back even now, I will pretend I did not hear what you said earlier.”
‘Ah!’
Contrary to expectations, Shin Ui-gyeom was offering mercy.
Vice-Master Dan Pil-hu hurried toward Mumu, intending to lead him out.
“Enough. Great Hero Shin is one of the Four Immortal Masters. He is one of the four strongest people in the present martial world. So please, this time, listen to what I...”
“I'm sorry.”
“No. Why are you insisting on such nonsensical stu...”
Before Dan Pil-hu could finish,
“You are a stubborn child.”
-Shk!
Shin Ui-gyeom made a light gesture with his hand.
In that instant, Mumu's body flew backward and slammed into the iron wall.
-Kwaang!
“G-Great Hero!”
Mumu's body sank into the holding cell wall, which was made of thick black iron.
Vice-Master Dan Pil-hu and everyone else could not hide their shock.
How profound was Shin Ui-gyeom's life energy, to use Ki telekinesis to fling someone into a black iron holding-cell wall like that?
‘...Unbelievable Force of ki.’
‘He has become so much stronger that he cannot even be compared to how he was seventeen years ago.’
Academy Director Do Jeong-myeong and Vice-Master Dan Pil-hu, who had witnessed him in the past, could only click their tongues.
He had done that to Mumu, who possessed such monstrous strength, using life energy alone.
He truly deserved to be called one of the peaks of this era.
Then Mumu, embedded in the black iron wall, twitched and moved.
A glint appeared in Shin Ui-gyeom's eyes.
‘Hmm.’
He had not intended to kill Mumu, so he had held back. Even so, it should have been enough to leave even Expert-level masters unable to move.
This was quite an impressive child.
The internal energy he sensed was clearly only around the second-rate level.
Yet being able to move under such life-energy pressure meant...
‘Physical strength?’
Shin Ui-gyeom examined Mumu's body and immediately recognized that Mumu's physical strength was extraordinary.
Even the muscles visible on the surface appeared so dense that ordinary martial artists could not hope to compare.
‘What an unusual body.’
Shin Ui-gyeom thought Mumu's body and physical strength were remarkable.
But that was all.
‘This may hurt a little.’
If Mumu had stayed still, he had intended to end it there. Yet Mumu's body was tougher than expected, so it seemed he would need to use a little more force to ensure the child could not move.
Shin Ui-gyeom extended the hand he had slightly raised toward Mumu.
At that moment,
-Kugugugugu! Jjeojeojeojeok!
Mumu's body sank even deeper into the black iron wall. The wall bent, then cracked.
Along with it, Mumu's body was driven into the ground below.
-Kwakwakwakwang!
“M-Mumu!”
Vice-Master Dan Pil-hu rushed toward Mumu in alarm, but...
“Leave him. He will not die.”
Shin Ui-gyeom stopped him.
“B-but...”
“It is fine.”
He had pushed Mumu with enough life energy to bend and crack the black iron wall.
Even then, Mumu had not coughed up blood or shown the slightest expression of pain.
Shin Ui-gyeom was certain that Mumu might lose consciousness, but would not be seriously injured.
“Then shall we speak again?”
Shin Ui-gyeom turned and walked toward Kang Mu-i.
‘...A monster.’
Kang Mu-i felt fear as he watched Shin Ui-gyeom.
One of the Four Immortal Masters who had defeated his father, the Overlord of Blood and Slaughter, once called the strongest man under heaven.
Since the four had joined forces, someone might assume they had not individually reached that level. But after witnessing this power, that was clearly a mistake.
The present Eastern River Sword Sage seemed capable of facing the Overlord of Blood and Slaughter alone.
‘Damn it...’
That must have been why the House of the Eight Villains had tried, by any means necessary, to sow discord among them.
Unlike the others, Kang Mu-i was seeing this monster for the first time.
No path to victory formed in his mind.
‘...Even if I use that, can I really escape this monster's grasp?’
He had a trump card.
Among the six artifacts with wills, one was called the strangest of all.
Most of the Six Great Artifacts were like that, but no one had ever properly handled this bizarre artifact.
Kang Mu-i, however, had made it his own.
His innate intellect and that strange artifact had become one, elevating him to a point where he could contend with its master, that monster with endless internal energy.
‘Do I have to use the Three Spirit Beasts?’
Even so, doubt kept lingering in his mind. Could he truly face this monster properly?
But he had no choice.
Every last scrap of hope had been crushed...
-Kkiririk!
A sound rang through the ears of everyone in the holding cell.
All eyes turned toward one place.
It was the artificially formed tunnel left behind where the black iron wall had been pierced.
-Kkiriririk!
Kang Mu-i's eyes narrowed at the sound.
‘That sound...’
It was unmistakably the sound of it turning.
The artifact that person wore.
Mumu had not lost consciousness?
Then a voice came from inside.
“...How strange. So this thing called ki can be used like this too?”
‘!?’
At Mumu's voice, the disciples of Shin Ui-gyeom widened their eyes.
‘No?’
He had not lost consciousness even after enduring that overwhelming pressure of life energy?
No, the force had been powerful enough to kill most masters, yet Mumu's voice sounded perfectly normal.
‘...He possesses an alien kind of power.’
Shin Ui-gyeom let out a quiet breath and turned around.
It seemed he had underestimated the child called Mumu.
To think Mumu had endured that life energy.
-Kkiriririk! Kwaduk! Kwadududuk!
-Suuuuuu!
Shin Ui-gyeom narrowed his eyes as he looked toward the tunnel.
What was that sound coming from within?
-Flinch!
Then Shin Ui-gyeom's narrowed eyes widened, and his expression became serious.
The intense pressure flowing out from the tunnel was fundamentally different from ordinary ki.
It was closer to something raw.
This energy, which stimulated all five senses, was a phenomenon that could only arise when something reached its utmost limit.
It was a power Shin Ui-gyeom himself had learned of when he crossed beyond a wall.
‘W-what is this...’
‘What kind of pressure is this...’
They were not the only ones to sense it.
Most of those inside the holding cell were among the Ten Great Masters of the Force of Justice, or at least comparable to them.
Naturally, they could sense this intense pressure.
-Step. Step.
Footsteps sounded from inside the tunnel.
Shin Ui-gyeom once again thrust his hand toward it.
-Pak! Paaaaaa!
Unlike before, an immense blast of wind erupted and swept through the holding cell as a tremendous surge of life energy rushed toward the tunnel.
It was invisible, yet everyone could feel it clearly.
‘S-such power?’
‘Does he really intend to kill him?’
‘Master?’
No one could hide their shock.
Not a single person there was confident they could withstand it.
Yet then...
-Kwaduk! Kwaduk!
A sound came from within the pressure of life energy.
‘That is...?’
‘Surely not?’
They were rough, but unmistakably footsteps.
No one else could see it, but Shin Ui-gyeom's eyes pierced the darkness and saw a figure walking forward, ignoring the pressure of life energy.
With every step, the ground was gouged deeply.
‘...What incredible physical strength.’
It was enough to make him click his tongue inwardly.
Amid that immense pressure of life energy, someone finally emerged from the tunnel.
-Suuuuuu!
A figure whose entire body had turned black with heat, steam pouring from every inch of it.
It was Mumu.
It was the first time anyone had seen Mumu in this state, and their eyes widened.
‘!?’
What was that bizarre appearance?
The pressure coming from Mumu was more than enough to overwhelm everyone around him.
It was as though they were looking at something other than a human being.
‘...He had not used his full strength back then?’
Yeong Ga-dong, the Martial March Battle Sword, was stunned by Mumu's appearance.
He had been shocked before by Mumu's strength when Mumu caught the Flame Shadow Great Rift Blade and sword ki manifestation with bare hands.
Yet even that strength had apparently not been Mumu's full power.
Strength so great that the pressure alone made one's flesh tremble.
Then Mumu spoke.
“If I ask you to stop touching Kang Mu-i now, you won't stop, will you?”
At those words, Shin Ui-gyeom silently lowered his extended hand. He brought his index and middle fingers together into a sword-finger seal and spoke.
Sharp ki weapon rose from Shin Ui-gyeom's fingers.
‘Sword and Body as One!’
Having reached the highest realm of the sword, Shin Ui-gyeom had no need for a sword.
He himself was no different from one.
Shin Ui-gyeom aimed his sword-finger seal at Mumu and said,
“So your claim that you would stop me was not empty bravado.”
“Mister, I think you're the strongest person I've ever seen.”
The immense, dazzling mass of light radiating from Shin Ui-gyeom's body was difficult to compare to anyone else's.
It was enough to cover nearly ten jang in every direction.
Mumu instinctively judged that he could not face Shin Ui-gyeom without releasing the first stage of the Ki-Restraining Bracelets.
And that judgment proved correct.
-Shk!
Shin Ui-gyeom extended his sword-finger seal toward Mumu.
At that moment, an invisible yet sharp ki sword flew toward Mumu.
-Chwak!
The invisible ki sword made everyone feel as if they themselves were being cut.
Then Mumu quickly flicked a finger straight ahead.
-Paaang!
Something incredible happened.
A tearing roar erupted from the space midway between Mumu and Shin Ui-gyeom.
-Kwajik! Kwakwakwakwa!
The black iron ceiling, floor, and walls buckled and cracked.
‘!!!!!!’
Everyone was left with their mouths hanging open.
The invisible ki sword Shin Ui-gyeom had displayed was one of the ultimate realms that all who practiced the sword or blade wished to attain.
‘H-he blocked an invisible sword?’
He had not simply blocked it.
He had stopped it with the wind pressure created by flicking a finger, as though flicking someone's forehead.
Even Shin Ui-gyeom no longer looked at Mumu as if he were facing an inferior opponent.
His eyes brimmed with fighting spirit, as though he had found a worthy rival.
‘...One truly lives long enough to see anything.’
He had thought there were no longer any opponents for him except the other Four Immortal Masters.
It was a sensation he had not felt in a long time, since his martial match with the Northern Heaven Fist Hero six years earlier.
The desire to win, and fighting spirit.
To feel such sensations toward a mere seventeen-year-old child.
The corner of Shin Ui-gyeom's mouth twitched.
‘Interesting.’
In an instant, all his attention focused on Mumu.
Most of the Four Immortal Masters could be called people obsessed with martial arts.
To Shin Ui-gyeom, the Eastern River Sword Sage and one of those very people, Mumu was an interesting opponent he had encountered after a long time.
“This place is too cramped.”
“Yes?”
“Ga-dong, Chu-seo... the wooden cases.”
‘!?’
Yeong Ga-dong and Yeong Chu-seo looked shocked at Shin Ui-gyeom's words.
The last time their master, Shin Ui-gyeom, had requested the wooden cases was six years ago, after his martial match with the Northern Heaven Fist Hero.
“Hurry.”
At Shin Ui-gyeom's urging, they took down the wooden cases they carried on their backs.
Then they opened the lids.
Shin Ui-gyeom brought both hands together in sword-finger seals.
-Goooooo!
In that instant, the holding cell filled with life energy.
It was so powerful that everyone's faces turned pale.
They finally realized that Shin Ui-gyeom had not even used his full strength when he launched that invisible ki sword earlier.
Then it happened.
-Sreung! Sreung! Sreung!
Radiant swords flew out from the two wooden cases.
Five swords emerged from Yeong Chu-seo's wooden case, and seven swords from Yeong Ga-dong's.
The swords floated in the air, then flew toward Shin Ui-gyeom and arranged themselves in formation.
‘Sword Kinesis!’
Academy Director Do Jeong-myeong and Vice-Master Dan Pil-hu could not hide their shock.
Sword Kinesis was a realm of the sword that allowed one to freely control swords with life energy.
The Eastern River Sword School had always aimed for its disciples to freely wield swords with life energy once they reached a certain realm. The number of swords they could control supposedly increased according to their level.
Of course, that was not the true realm of Sword Kinesis, but the sword techniques wielded through life energy were still a magnificent sight.
‘To see Master's Sword Twelve here!’
Sword Twelve.
It was Shin Ui-gyeom, the Eastern River Sword Sage's signature Sword Kinesis Art.
This sword style, which freely controlled twelve swords, could only be performed by the Eastern River Sword Sage in the martial world of the Central Plains.
That was because, unlike them, his Sword Twelve was true Sword Kinesis.
-Gulp!
Yeong Ga-dong, the Martial March Battle Sword, swallowed dryly.
‘...Master is even about to unleash Sword Twelve, his signature art. Does that mean this child called Mumu is a monster comparable to the Four Immortal Masters' domain?’
Footnotes:
Join our discord at https://dsc.gg/wetried
