WeTried Translations
Translator: ZERO_SUGAR
Editor: Abstract
Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried
Episode 39: The Grandmaster's Title (2)
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Vice-Master Dan Pil-hu wanted to follow at once and see how the duel would end.
Mumu's opponent was the Eastern River Sword Sage, one of the Four Immortal Masters said to stand at the peak of the current martial world.
A man called the finest swordsman alive.
At first, Dan Pil-hu had naturally been certain of Mumu's defeat.
No matter how monstrous Mumu was, there had to be a gap between a monster still growing and one that had already reached completion.
Yet after seeing Mumu's changed appearance earlier, it had become difficult to tell who would win.
'That sword the Eastern River Sword Sage showed at the end...'
It had yet to take shape, but the ki honed to a sharp edge was anything but ordinary.
It was likely the culmination of the Eastern River Sword Sage's enlightenment.
More than anyone, Dan Pil-hu wanted to know who would emerge victorious, the changed Mumu or the Eastern River Sword Sage fighting with all his strength.
Still, Dan Pil-hu could not neglect the chaos here.
-Murmur! Murmur!
"Vice-Master! Please let us go outside and watch!"
"I said no."
"Are you truly not going to allow it?"
"Hah. I said no. Masters, hurry and lead the cadets away!"
At Vice-Master Dan Pil-hu's urging, the academy masters reluctantly stepped forward.
Yet they looked awkward, as though they too wanted to leave the city and witness the duel's outcome alongside the cadets.
'What a mess.'
If left alone, they all looked ready to rush out.
That was why neither Academy Director Do Jeong-myeong nor Dan Pil-hu could follow after Mumu and Shin Ui-gyeom.
Besides...
'...The fact that he deliberately moved elsewhere may mean the boy himself believed it was the right thing to do.'
Dan Pil-hu guessed the aftermath of this battle would be too immense otherwise.
In any case, the two of them came to that conclusion and controlled the gathered spectators.
Then Dan Pil-hu suddenly remembered something.
'Ah!'
The artifacts Mumu had been wearing.
For some reason, they seemed to have suddenly come off.
He should collect them for Mumu before they were lost.
As he turned to head over there...
'!?'
Dan Pil-hu doubted his eyes.
Something white and hazy had flashed past in an instant, and Mumu's iron rings, which had been lying on the ground, were gone.
'How could this be?'
* * *
"Grrrrrr..."
Shin Ui-gyeom's right arm bones had been completely shattered.
His forehead had nearly caved in, and he was already injured. Now that his arm was like this as well, not even the firm mental strength he had gained through reaching such a high level could keep his mind clear.
Even so, Shin Ui-gyeom sighed inwardly.
'Did he notice?'
Mumu had truly reduced Shin Ui-gyeom's right arm to a crippled state.
The bones were utterly crushed and the muscles torn apart. He would never again be able to hold a sword in his right hand.
Shin Ui-gyeom had not expected Mumu to carry out precisely what he had said.
Watching Mumu grip Shin Ui-gyeom's left arm, Shin Ui-gyeom was taken aback.
'He's more ruthless than he looks.'
With his right arm already ruined, his martial prowess could no longer be what it had been.
That meant a combined attack by the Four Immortal Masters was already out of the question.
If he lost his remaining left arm, he would only become a hindrance.
That was why Shin Ui-gyeom thought Mumu was doing this because Mumu had seen through the hidden move Shin Ui-gyeom had prepared.
"Haa... Haa..."
'Is this karma coming back to me?'
If Mumu had noticed, Shin Ui-gyeom had no excuse.
As an elder and senior, he had feared the power this child possessed and, because a part of him still wanted to live, had once again plotted a combined attack.
For a moment, Shin Ui-gyeom felt ashamed of himself.
'This is my retribution. All of it...'
Once that thought crossed his mind, he accepted it without resistance.
He was destined to die at Mumu's hands anyway.
Even if both his arms became useless, nothing would truly change.
-Clench!
Mumu tightened his grip on Shin Ui-gyeom's left arm.
"Ghk!"
Shin Ui-gyeom's face flushed as though it would burst again.
Mumu asked, "There's something I'd like to ask you."
"S-speak."
"I've heard a lot about my birth father from my friends."
Mumu had heard many stories about the Overlord of Blood and Slaughter, the man he could call his birth father, from Jin-hyeok, Mo Il-hwa, and others.
The Overlord of Blood and Slaughter Mumu had heard about was not someone he could like, even if he wanted to.
To seize hegemony over the Central Plains, he had killed not only martial artists of the force of justice but countless innocent people without mercy.
After hearing that, Mumu's feelings had changed for the first time.
'...I wish I hadn't known.'
That was his honest feeling.
His birth father, the Overlord of Blood and Slaughter, was the complete opposite of the honorable gentleman and upright person his adoptive father, Yu Yeop-kyung, had taught him to be.
The more Mumu learned about his birth father, the more disappointed he became.
It had made him wonder again and again.
Was it truly right to seek revenge for the father who had given him life?
For filial piety, it was right to avenge his deceased father. Yet everyone in the Central Plains had feared the Overlord of Blood and Slaughter and wanted him dead.
'I don't know.'
Even if he sought revenge, it felt as though nothing would remain in the end.
Jin-hyeok and Mo Il-hwa had said they would support him, whatever choice he made.
But because of his decision, they too might have to turn against everyone else, and everyone other than them might come to hate him.
'...Would that really be right?'
After considering it deeply, Mumu finally made a decision.
He would meet them himself and judge for himself.
He would hold them accountable for killing his birth father, but whether he would truly kill them was something he should decide after meeting them in person.
'He doesn't seem like such a bad person.'
That was the judgment Mumu had formed after dealing with the Eastern River Sword Sage, Shin Ui-gyeom.
Even now, though Shin Ui-gyeom was in pain, he did not look at Mumu with even a trace of resentment.
That made Mumu hesitate all the more.
He had only accepted Shin Ui-gyeom's proposal because he thought it would allow him to meet the rest of the Four Immortal Masters all at once.
Still, there was something else he wanted to ask.
"You said you and the rest of the Four Immortal Masters went to the Mighty Conqueror Council's base and killed everyone there yourselves. Did you happen to see someone who looked like me? Um... someone who might have been my mother?"
It was about the existence of his mother.
He had heard enough to make his ears hurt about his birth father.
But since he had half-siblings, he had no way of knowing who might know anything about his mother.
That was the entire reason he wanted to meet Mu Il, who was at the Imperial Palace.
Yet Shin Ui-gyeom and the rest of the Four Immortal Masters were the ones who had killed both his birth parents, so Mumu wondered whether they might know something.
At that question, Shin Ui-gyeom stared intently at Mumu's face.
'...'
Anyone could see that Mumu had the face of a handsome young man.
If a woman had given birth to a child with such outstanding looks, she must have been beautiful herself.
But there had been far too many beautiful women there.
There was also one truth that might shock Mumu somewhat if he heard it.
"...Do you want to know who your mother was?"
"Yes. She's the person who gave birth to me."
"..."
Shin Ui-gyeom's expression darkened at Mumu's answer.
To prevent future trouble, he and the rest of the Four Immortal Masters had gone to the Mighty Conqueror Council's base to erase everyone connected to the Overlord of Blood and Slaughter.
During that process, they had experienced something they still could not erase from their memories.
"Don't you remember anyone?"
"...There were many women there."
"Many women?"
"Yes."
"Then was there no one among them who looked like me?"
"When we went to the base, we fought the remaining members of the Mighty Conqueror Council. In the process, we pursued and killed a boy named Mu Sam, whom they had tried to protect to the end and help escape. We believed he was the Overlord of Blood and Slaughter's heir."
'Ah...'
Mu Sam was being mentioned here.
It was exactly as Ja Muk-hyun had said: Mu Sam had died in the war.
Shin Ui-gyeom continued.
"After dealing with the remnants, we entered the fortress that served as the Mighty Conqueror Council's base..."
He hesitated for a moment, then continued.
"...We killed everyone there."
-Clench!
"Ghk!"
At those words, Mumu involuntarily tightened his grip slightly on Shin Ui-gyeom's left arm.
Seeing Shin Ui-gyeom writhe in pain, Mumu seemed to realize what he had done and loosened his grip.
Then Shin Ui-gyeom groaned.
"W-we... searched every inch of the Mighty Conqueror Council's base for blood relatives of that man. Then we found several rooms where women were kept."
"Several rooms?"
"Yes. Those rooms held countless women, along with several children with deformities and other children."
"...Children with deformities?"
"We were certain those children with deformities and the other children were the Overlord of Blood and Slaughter's children. When we tried to kill them, the women clung to us and begged us to spare them."
Mumu shut his mouth, his face rigid.
The thought that his mother might have been among them made it impossible not to become emotionally invested.
He restrained himself as much as possible so he would not tighten his grip.
"So you just killed them?"
"We did. But they all said things we could not understand."
"...What did they say?"
"They begged us, saying they had been abandoned by the Overlord of Blood and Slaughter, and that these children were nothing but failures, so there was no point in killing them."
"Failures?"
"Looking at the children with deformities and the poor bone structure of the others, we came to one conclusion."
"...What was it?"
"Those women were not the Overlord of Blood and Slaughter's women. They were no more than wombs meant to bear children with the bone structure and martial talent he desired."
Mumu's eyes turned cold.
Did that mean his birth father, the Overlord of Blood and Slaughter, had viewed those women as nothing more than tools to bear children?
But Mumu could not believe everything Shin Ui-gyeom said.
Shin Ui-gyeom might be making it up to make Mumu view his birth father even more negatively.
Mumu barely suppressed his emotions and spoke.
"...Then my mother wasn't among them?"
"I don't know. We killed everyone there. Among them was someone who, had they grown up, would now be around your age...!?"
Shin Ui-gyeom suddenly remembered something.
Come to think of it, unlike those women, there had been one woman of considerable dignity with a baby.
She had hidden within the Mighty Conqueror Council's base to save the child at all costs, and the Four Immortal Masters found her while setting the place on fire.
[I am Hae Ha-rang, the Overlord of Blood and Slaughter's woman. I will offer you my life, so if you are heroes of the force of justice, please spare this young life.]
Even after suffering burns, she had not lost her resolve. Shin Ui-gyeom still could not forget it.
Her powerful maternal love, her determination to save her child at any cost.
She was entirely different from the other women who denied the Overlord of Blood and Slaughter.
Moved by that maternal love, the Four Immortal Masters, whose hearts had been so hardened, weakened for the first time.
Besides, unlike the other women and children they had killed, the baby had not even been weaned. None of them could readily step forward to kill the mother and child.
But they could not make an exception.
[...Who will do it?]
No one could easily step forward, but in the end, the one who took responsibility was...
[I will.]
The Southern Blade Imperial Uncle.
The woman named Hae Ha-rang and her baby had certainly died at his hands.
'Could it be?'
Shin Ui-gyeom looked at Mumu.
Then he denied it inwardly.
'No. It can't be.'
If that baby had grown up, they would now be around Mumu's age. But Hong Hwa-yun, the Southern Blade Imperial Uncle, was called the Merciless Blade and had never shown mercy to the deviant paths. He was not the kind of person who would go back on his word.
Then Mumu spoke in a cold voice.
"Why aren't you saying anything?"
"There was a baby who would now be around your age, but that baby certainly died as well. Then that woman could not have been your mother."
"So there's no way to know who among them was my mother."
"...I'm sorry. But since you alone were outside the Mighty Conqueror Council's fortress, perhaps your mother was not there as well?"
Mumu glared at Shin Ui-gyeom.
Then he sighed.
"I hope so. But I'm very angry about what you all did."
"That..."
"I suppose you wouldn't have anything to say even if your left arm became crippled too."
-Crunch!
"Aaaaaaagh!"
Shin Ui-gyeom's agonized scream echoed in every direction.
After screaming for a long while, Shin Ui-gyeom finally lost consciousness.
Mumu, who had been about to completely crush Shin Ui-gyeom's left arm, soon released his grip.
-Grit!
After hearing Shin Ui-gyeom's story, Mumu found it difficult to control his anger.
His thoughts were a mess as well.
What kind of person was his birth father, the Overlord of Blood and Slaughter?
Mu Il, Mui, Mu Sam...
Then there were children called failures who had been abandoned, unlike them.
And women who had supposedly been used to bear children.
'...Could I be one of them too?'
Mui did not know exactly who Mumu was. Neither did his birth father's retainers.
That meant he could not rule out the possibility that he too had been called a failure and abandoned.
Thinking of it made him angry.
It was becoming harder and harder to contain that anger.
-Creak! Crunch!
The muscles across Mumu's entire body twisted and convulsed viciously.
Each one surged as though alive.
-Rumble!
As his emotions grew extreme, the ground beneath Mumu cracked, and soon the earth began to shake as though an earthquake had struck.
-Rrrrrumble!
The strange phenomenon did not stop there.
Stones and fragments around him rose into the air as though floating.
-Thump!
Mumu felt a powerful beat.
At that moment, everything around him stopped.
At the same time, every visible boundary collapsed, and light and darkness began to intertwine in every direction.
'What is this?'
Mumu felt a powerful pull.
A newly formed boundary was trying to drag him into another space.
He tried to resist, but his body was gradually sucked into the boundary as though it had adhered to it.
It was then.
-Snap! Clank!
Someone stepped through the boundary and fastened something around Mumu's left wrist.
It was one of the Ki-Restraining Bracelets.
The instant the bracelet clasped around his wrist, the interweaving light and darkness vanished, and the collapsing boundaries returned to their original state.
Everything that had stopped began to move again.
-Patter, patter, patter!
The floating fragments fell to the ground.
"If I'd been even a little later, you would have undergone forced ascension."
A gentle voice rang beside his ear.
Mumu frowned and looked at the White-Browed Taoist, whose eyebrows and beard were white, standing before him.
Footnotes:
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