WeTried Translations

Translator: ZERO_SUGAR

Editor: Abstract

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Chapter 53: Ma Yeon-hwa (1)

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Ma Yeon-hwa (1)

He'd held on even with the dial lowered to three.

A flicker of surprise crossed Mumu's eyes too. Judging Elder Hang Yeon to be strong from the sheer pressure he exerted on his surroundings without even trying, Mumu had turned the adjustment screw down one more notch than he had against Master Hwang Won, one of the Six Stars of Heaven. And yet, though pushed back, the elder had held his ground without a scratch.

'This old man really is strong.'

It seemed like he'd need to release every adjustment screw on both wrists and ankles to actually fight him properly. But there was no real reason to. Mumu spoke to Elder Hang Yeon, who was staring back at him with startled eyes.

"Did that prove it, then?"

At the question, Elder Hang Yeon, arms still crossed, clicked his tongue in disbelief. Was that the shockwave from a single punch, meant just to prove a point? It had certainly proven something. But that only raised a different suspicion.

'This old man is practically retired now, but there was a time they called me one of the Twelve Masters of the Central Plains. And even I feel threatened by this power.'

Someone with strength like that had come in as a new cadet. Suspicion was unavoidable. Elder Hang Yeon's expression only grew graver as he spoke to Mumu.

"That strength of yours... it runs on a completely different track from internal energy. There's no way muscle alone could produce power like that."

'Well, that's true, I guess.'

Lim Jeong silently agreed with that. No matter how much muscle training someone did, this went beyond common sense. Even that shockwave that had torn straight through a layer of air a moment ago was itself something beyond reason. That was when Mumu spoke up.

"It's possible." "What?" "Anyone can do it if they train their muscles hard enough." "......"

Elder Hang Yeon found himself at a loss for words for a moment. The boy said it like it was nothing, but who in the world could produce power like this through muscle training alone? Seeing Elder Hang Yeon's reaction, Mumu shrugged and said,

"Honestly, I think internal energy is the weirder thing." "What do you mean?" "It's pretty amazing that you can produce the same kind of power as me just by gathering energy through breathing, without training your muscles at all."

'......What kind of twisted logic is that?'

Lim Jeong stared at Mumu, utterly unable to make sense of him. The boy talked like he was living in some other world entirely. His sense of common sense seemed to run a little differently. Elder Hang Yeon's eyes narrowed.

'Does this kid really believe he got this kind of power just from muscle training alone?'

However he looked at it, that couldn't be it. It went far beyond anything muscle training could produce. Even gathering the natural energy drifting through the air into the dantian through long cultivation only slowly increased over years of practice. And yet a boy of barely seventeen could push back someone once counted among the top ten masters with a mere shockwave, using nothing but muscle training? This wasn't a matter of denying reality. The boy's power itself was denying reality.

'Could it be...'

Elder Hang Yeon's gaze burned red, drifting toward the boy's right wrist, where white vapor was rising. Something about that bracelet bothered him.

'Could it be an artifact?'

An artifact. No one knew its origin. Some said immortals or Taoist masters had crafted them, others said old objects gained strange energy over time and became something else. But one thing was certain—an artifact held power that defied human common sense. Elder Hang Yeon glanced at the gold gauntlet studded with five-colored jewels sitting in the display case.

'It looks like nothing more than a gilded gauntlet, but that thing turned half the residents of six counties in southwestern Yunnan to ash.'

If the Eastern River Sword Sage, one of the Four Immortal Masters, and his disciples hadn't suppressed it in time, the disaster would have grown far worse. That was how far beyond human common sense an artifact's power could reach. Those bracelets on Mumu's wrists seemed suspicious indeed.

Hissss!

Just then Mumu frowned. The Ki-Restraining Bracelets had begun giving off heat again.

'Not this again.'

The lower he turned the adjustment screw, the more pressure it seemed to apply, almost as if urging him to hurry and turn it back. The heat was still weak enough to bear for now, but it would only grow worse with time.

'I proved my strength, so I should turn it back.'

Mumu casually laced his hands behind his head as if stretching, and brought them to the adjustment screw.

Click!

He turned the screw from three back to eight. His reddened skin returned to normal at once, and his swollen muscles settled back down. Watching this, Elder Hang Yeon's eyes sharpened.

'That sound again.'

His senses, honed to the level of a Grandmaster, were far keener than an ordinary person's. If there had been ambient noise, he might have missed it, but in the quiet of the cavern there was no way he'd fail to notice a sound like that. He'd also noticed something else in common with before. Every time that sound came, Mumu clasped his hands together. Just like now.

'An artifact after all?'

If the power really did depend on an artifact, then that unreasonable strength would make sense. His suspicion growing stronger, Elder Hang Yeon decided he needed to confirm it.

"You..."

Shhhhhhk!

Just then he sensed someone approaching fast from somewhere.

'Who's coming here?'

"Stop right there!!!!"

A voice rang out through the cavern, loud enough to shake the walls. A figure came rushing in using a movement skill, and it was none other than Vice-Master Dan Pil-hu.

"Oh? It's the Vice-Master."

Mumu recognized him too. His sudden appearance made Elder Hang Yeon's brow furrow. The Special Emergency Protocol hadn't been triggered, and no formal report had gone to the main building either. So why had he suddenly shown up here?

Thump!

Elder Hang Yeon asked the Vice-Master, who had come to a stop before him,

"Vice-Master. What brings you to the third underground floor of the archive? By regulation, this place..." "Do you not know that when an unforeseen accident concerning a cadet's safety occurs within the academy, special regulations take precedence over the general ones?"

At his words, one of Elder Hang Yeon's eyebrows lifted. From what he'd observed of Vice-Master Dan Pil-hu over the years, the man was driven by self-interest and had an empty hunger for meaningless prestige. Elder Hang Yeon had always assumed he cared for nothing but the Academy Director's seat, so this sudden talk of a cadet's safety struck him as deeply suspicious.

"So that's why you came all the way here?" "That's right. And so I'll be taking custody of this cadet."

At that request, Elder Hang Yeon sighed and said,

"......Hah. Understood. But give this old man a moment. Given that the Infernal Formation of Thousand Calamities and Myriad Transformations was partly damaged in this incident, and that it's connected to the injury of Master Hwang Won, one of the Six Stars of Heaven, I'll finish my discussion with the boy regarding that before handing him over to you, Vice-Master."

At this, Dan Pil-hu's brow creased. He'd rushed over the moment he heard a report that Mumu might have gone into the underground archive, and sure enough, the boy had caused trouble. Just looking at the wrecked surroundings and the unconscious Master Hwang Won, one of the Six Stars of Heaven, painted the whole picture clearly enough.

'Ugh, my head. I told him so many times.'

Did this kid catch some kind of illness if he went even a moment without causing trouble? The way he kept collecting star marks had already been nagging at him, and now here it was, confirmed, enough to leave him speechless. Still, he couldn't just stand back and do nothing.

'Looks like this old fright knows about the kid's hidden strength and means to grill him over it as suspicious. Can't let this scary old man run him out of the academy.'

Former inspector of the martial world's alliance that he was, his ability to read a situation from fragments of information and his surroundings alone was frighteningly sharp. Vice-Master Dan Pil-hu spoke to Elder Hang Yeon in a firm voice.

"That won't do. Under the special regulations for accidents within the academy, I, as the main building's second-in-command, am formally requesting custody. Head Manager of the archive, please hand this child over to me."

* * *

Elder Hang Yeon climbed up out of the underground archive and stepped outside. The gentle expression he usually wore had vanished, replaced by a hard, forbidding look. Vice-Master Dan Pil-hu's high-handed invocation of the special regulations to take the boy Mumu away had left him thoroughly displeased. What an ambush, if ever there was one. Just as he'd been about to uncover the source of that boy's strange, reason-defying power, he'd been thoroughly interrupted.

'......Could that idiot Vice-Master be involved in this somehow?'

Going to such lengths to take the boy away suggested he knew something. Or perhaps he was connected to it in some way. However Elder Hang Yeon looked at it, the man seemed suspicious through and through.

'Hmm.'

Should he really just let this go? His agreement with "him" had only ever been to manage the archive for ten years. That term was nearly up now. Matters within the academy outside the archive weren't strictly his concern or his jurisdiction. And though the mechanism device and the Infernal Formation of Thousand Calamities and Myriad Transformations had suffered some damage from the incident, the treasures on the third underground floor remained safe. He'd checked, suspicious as he was, and not a single thing had been touched. If it had been disturbed, the boy would have been caught by the mechanism devices and poison hidden within the display cases.

'......It's certain he wasn't after the treasures on the third floor.'

Still, letting it go entirely left an uneasy feeling. If that boy's reason-defying strength really did come from an artifact, it needed to be confiscated while he remained enrolled at the academy. Otherwise, incidents like this might keep happening. And an artifact capable of producing power on that scale was bound to come with a heavy price of its own.

'Perhaps it really is better to check for myself.'

He was still turning it over in his mind when a voice called out.

"Sir."

A man stood beneath a shaded tree nearby, holding a wrapped bundle. Seeing him, Elder Hang Yeon's face brightened.

"Ahh. There you are. Sorry for leaving in the middle of our drinking session earlier." "It's fine. You left behind the Kongfu Jiajiu and the twenty-year-aged Jiannanchun you meant to bring me, so I brought them along." "Ohh. Is that so. As expected, only you would think of that."

The bundle held the liquor bottles left over from their drinking session. Elder Hang Yeon's sour mood seemed to ease at the sight, and he laughed heartily. The man asked him carefully,

"Seems like there was some trouble. Did it get sorted out all right?" "Ahh. That matter."

At the man's words, Elder Hang Yeon stroked his beard, his face troubled. Then he studied the man carefully.

'Right.'

Hadn't he agreed with "him" not to get involved in academy affairs? If so, there was no need for someone about to retire to step in himself.

"Ahem. Sorry to ask, but might I trouble you with a favor?" "Why would you say something so hurtful? Ask me anything. I'll help however I can." "Heh heh heh. Must be why we get along so well as drinking friends, that open-hearted nature of yours."

With that, Elder Hang Yeon leaned in and whispered something to the man. After he made his quiet request and left, the man standing in the tree's shadow let the corner of his mouth curl into a thin, sly smile.

'So that power really did come from an artifact.'

He'd only brought the leftover bottles to curry favor, but he'd stumbled onto some unexpectedly interesting information.

* * *

"Ughhh."

Mumu shuffled out of the main building, thoroughly worn down. Dragged out of the Changcheon Martial Archive, he'd spent nearly a full hour listening to Vice-Master Dan Pil-hu lecture him. Why hadn't he mentioned getting a star mark from Master Dan Baek-yeon, how was he supposed to keep covering for him if he kept causing trouble like this, on and on it went. By the end of it, Mumu was completely drained.

'I wonder if the others already went back.'

He remembered Jin-hyeok and Mo Il-hwa shaking their heads at him as he got dragged off by the Vice-Master. It was late, so they'd probably headed back to the dorm.

'Man, I need some sleep.'

He should catch some rest before roll call. Turning the Ki-Restraining Bracelets' adjustment screws so many times in one day had worn him out physically too. He was just about to head toward the dorm when,

"Wait a second."

Someone called out to Mumu. Looking over, he saw a beautiful girl, maybe nineteen, with bangs cut just above her eyebrows. Judging by looks alone, she could easily rival Dan Baek-yeon or Hong Hye-ryeong. Except for the slight upward tilt of her eyes, which gave her a fox-like look.

'Ah!'

The girl froze for a moment when her eyes met Mumu's. She'd been caught off guard by his unexpectedly pretty-boy face.

"Who are you?"

At Mumu's question, the girl seemed to catch herself and composed her expression before speaking.

"I'm a third-year cadet. Ma Yeon-hwa."

Third-year cadet Ma Yeon-hwa. She was ranked third in the official standings among Changcheon Martial Academy's third-years. Along with second-year Gu Yang Seo-rin, she was one of the so-called Four Blossoms of Heaven, popular for her stunning looks and martial skill, though Mumu had no idea about any of that.

"Ah. A senior, then?" "That's right." "So what's up?" "I've been waiting here for you."

Mumu tilted his head and asked,

"Why?" "I need to talk to you. It's awkward here, let's go over there."

She pointed toward a dark alley, out of sight and without any torchlight. Mumu spoke with half-lidded eyes.

"I'm pretty tired today, so can we just talk here?" "It can't be overheard by others, that's why." "I think if we keep it quiet enough, no one would hear anyway." "Just in case. Let's go." "Let's just talk here." "......"

At Mumu's clearly bothered attitude, Ma Yeon-hwa's cheek twitched.

'Ugh.'

Most men at least pretended to listen when she asked for something like this. Why was this one being so difficult about it? And on top of that, he was a junior, being rude like this. Who did he think he was, keeping up this uncooperative act like this,

'It's making me want to beg.'

Ma Yeon-hwa clicked her pinky finger and bit down on it.

Footnotes:

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