WeTried Translations

Translator: ZERO_SUGAR

Editor: Abstract

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Chapter 68: The Great Scheme (1)

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The Great Scheme (1)

[If Master Dan Baek-yeon's internal energy is deep enough, she should be able to endure the poison miasma without much trouble, but as you know, the toxic air in a sealed building spreads with terrible strength. Today is too soon. You will need to go in with Master Jang Geun-su, who teaches Poison Art.]

Dan Baek-yeon had agonized over the decision before finally asking the vice-director for permission to enter the sealed Old Teaching Hall. But permission to enter right away had been denied, and she walked back with her shoulders slumped.

'There's no guarantee the seed is even still alive anyway.'

It had been left in the Old Teaching Hall for far too long. There was no reason to rush, but she couldn't shake the unease all the same.

"Hah."

Work hours had long since ended, but she practically lived in her research office, so her feet carried her there out of habit.

'Hm?'

Arriving at the door, she frowned. The lock she'd hung on it had been crushed and broken apart.

'Who did this?'

Someone seemed to have broken into her research office. Her eyes sharpened. Drawing up her life energy, she opened the door slowly, her face full of wariness.

Creak!

She opened the door, meaning to check whether the intruder was still inside, then frowned. The room was filled with the scent of flowers. A scent far too familiar to her.

'!?'

Her eyes shook. Hadn't the single Golden Fragrance Snow Blossom she'd had frozen and shattered? The flower scent tickled her nose, and Dan Baek-yeon lit the lamp in her office with trembling hands, sparking a flame with her life energy.

Whoosh!

The moment the lamp lit, Dan Baek-yeon went blank. A profusion of red petals filled the space near the window. Every single one was a Golden Fragrance Snow Blossom.

'How?'

She couldn't hide her astonishment. It almost felt like stepping into the rear garden of the Northern Seas Ice Palace from over a decade ago. Her eyes grew moist before she knew it, tears welling up. And against that, a smile bloomed on lips that had always been cold as ice.

* * *

On the way back to the Northern Heaven Residence dormitory. Jin-hyeok spoke to Mumu, sounding a little puzzled.

"You left the flowers there but you didn't even leave a sign it was you. Why'd you just walk off?" "Huh?"

Mumu had gone to the trouble of gathering the Golden Fragrance Snow Blossoms with his friends and setting them in Master Dan Baek-yeon's office, then left without a trace, no note, nothing. Jin-hyeok couldn't understand it, since Mumu had supposedly done all this to lift her spirits. It wasn't Mumu who answered Jin-hyeok's question, but Hae Ryang.

"Heh. Young master Jin-hyeok. Young master Mumu's judgment was correct on this one." "What do you mean by that?" "If we'd left a sign that it was us, even a good deed like this could've gotten us scolded or docked demerits for breaking academy rules. Looked at that way, young master Mumu's judgment was the right call." "Ah..."

Jin-hyeok nodded, apparently convinced. Watching them, Mo Il-hwa clicked her tongue and said, sounding thoroughly unimpressed.

"Idiots. You two should learn something from Mumu." "Huh?" "What's that supposed to mean?" "What Hae Ryang said is true, but the only ones who even know the flower's seed was in the sealed Old Teaching Hall are Master Dan Baek-yeon and Mumu." "Well, sure, but..." "Ugh. Jin-hyeok, you really need to study up on women a little more." "......" "Master Dan Baek-yeon is a woman too, you know. She's putting flowers there to make up for a mistake, and if someone comes out and says right to her face, hey, that was me, doesn't that just water the whole thing down?" "It's not like we were trying to move her to tears or anything..." "Thoughtfulness that looks careless. You don't get it? Oh, I just happened to pick this up on the way. Stuff like that makes girls' hearts flutter like crazy." "...Is that so?" "Tsk, tsk. With that kind of sensibility you'll never land a girlfriend. And here I am, your noona, handing you the textbook answer."

Jin-hyeok simply couldn't follow her logic at all. Watching him stay so hopelessly literal-minded, Mo Il-hwa clicked her tongue over and over, clearly exasperated. If she ever had to live with a man like this, there'd be so much to teach him...

'Huh?'

Mo Il-hwa caught herself, startled by what she'd just imagined. Flustered, she shook her head hard. There was only ever Yu Jin-sung for her. Wasn't that exactly why she'd enrolled at the academy and kept herself from growing too close to Jin-hyeok and Mumu?

'Jin-sung oppa! I'm sorry!'

Even having thought such a thing in her imagination felt like a sin to her.

"Miss. Are you feeling unwell somewhere?"

Jin-hyeok leaned his face in close, asking if she was okay. At that, Mo Il-hwa's face flushed strawberry red in an instant. Flustered, she shoved him away and said,

"Hey. You. Walk over there, away from me." "Huh?" "I said walk further away."

Baffled by her unpredictable behavior, Jin-hyeok let out a sigh and ended up walking more than ten paces behind, unable to make sense of any of it. Mumu sidled up next to him and said in a low voice.

"Hey. Jin-hyeok." "Why are you whispering like that?" "Earlier, So So said that senior named Kang Mu-i learned Maoshan Sect's arts by copying them out on the first floor of the underground archive, right?" "I guess she did say that..." "But something's kind of strange." "Strange how?" "That Golden Fragrance Snow Blossom blooming underground. Didn't she say it only blooms in winter, when it's cold?" "...Sure, but isn't that because the area around the flower froze over, making it cold enough for the flower to bloom?" "That's true, but that frozen part feels like Master Dan Baek-yeon's Icy Heart Sutra." "What?"

At Mumu's words, Jin-hyeok frowned.

"What are you even saying right now? Are you saying Master Dan Baek-yeon went into the Old Teaching Hall and froze the place herself? If that were true, there'd be no reason for her to cry over the mess you caused..." "No, I'm not saying Master Dan Baek-yeon did it. I mean it feels like that senior, Kang Mu-i, learned the Icy Heart Sutra and did it himself." "What do you mean, learned it?" "It's similar to the feeling Master Dan Baek-yeon showed us, but a little different too."

At that, Jin-hyeok stopped in his tracks, startled. Similar feeling, he said. Was Mumu trying to say the ki felt similar?

'No way.'

Every form of internal energy carried its own distinct signature. The grain of the life energy differed depending on the Martial Arts behind it. And how one cultivated it split that grain into countless different textures. The key point was that no one short of a genuine master could ever tell the difference.

"...What's your basis for saying that?" "Basis?" "Unless you have exceptional Ki sense as a master, there's no way to tell the distinct signature carried in someone's life energy."

That was something Jin-hyeok had learned both from the in-depth introduction to internal energy studies and from the Kangxi Three Heroes masters. Even sharpening one's Ki sense to a fine edge left the distinction uncertain at best, so how could Mumu, who hadn't even formed a dantian yet, possibly tell it apart? At Jin-hyeok's words, Mumu scratched his head and answered.

"I just feel it." "You just feel it? You haven't even formed a dantian yet, how could you possibly... wait a second."

Jin-hyeok hurriedly pressed his palm against Mumu's stomach. Then he pushed his life energy in. He couldn't control the flow of life energy smoothly the way the masters could, but he could at least confirm whether a dantian existed or not.

'!?'

Jin-hyeok's eyes went wide as he pushed his life energy in.

"What's wrong?" "You... how?"

Having checked below Mumu's stomach, Jin-hyeok couldn't hide his shock. It had only been two days since Mumu had formally begun ki circulation. And yet the dantian was already showing signs of forming, leaving Jin-hyeok too stunned to find words.

'What in the world is this guy?'

Was this even possible? The speed defied all common sense, and Jin-hyeok couldn't wrap his head around it. Once Mumu adjusted to the Three breathing techniques and his ki circulation grew smooth, Jin-hyeok had planned to switch him over to the cultivation technique of the Four Divine Origin Fist, which Mumu himself had wanted to learn, and let the dantian form from there.

'I figured that alone would take at least another month.'

Jin-hyeok had assumed that starting ki circulation at such a late age, with the stagnant energy hardened throughout every meridian, would slow things down even further. But this went beyond merely fast. Forming internal energy in just two days with nothing but the basic Three breathing techniques...

'...Don't tell me this guy is actually the legendary Heavenly Martial Body?'

There was no other way to explain such speed. While Jin-hyeok stood there in shock, Mo Il-hwa, walking ahead of them, turned her head back and said,

"Hey! What are you two doing? Yu Jin-hyeok. Don't tell me you're sulking because I told you to walk further away."

At her words, Jin-hyeok settled his still-racing heart and said to Mumu,

"Roll call's about to start, so let's talk about this back in the room."

Late in the Hour of the Boar's Second Half. Roll call would begin soon, right after the meeting.

* * *

In front of the main gate of Northern Heaven Residence, one of the Four Immortal Residences. Do Yang-woon, dorm head of Northern Heaven Residence, stood guarding the front gate with his hands clasped behind his back, his face tight with impatience. Roll call had finished on every floor already, except for one. That was the sixth floor, the one under Mumu's charge as floor leader.

'Still haven't caught him, huh.'

Do Yang-woon pressed a hand to his forehead, looking like his head ached. Things had improved a great deal since Mumu took charge of the sixth floor, but there was still one troublemaker nobody could control. Ki Ma-jin, a third-year cadet on the sixth floor. Word was he'd escaped again, and someone had gone to catch him, but it was already taking longer than last time, which suggested Ki Ma-jin was playing a serious game of hide-and-seek.

'If this adds to his demerit count, he's headed straight for expulsion.'

Was he really not the least bit afraid of getting kicked out of the dorm? Either way, this could make them late. Do Yang-woon pulled out a neatly folded piece of paper from inside his robes. The appointed meeting time was almost here, and waiting around like this was starting to fray his nerves. Just then, fifth-floor leader Kang Seo-ryang came up behind him.

"Still no word?" "None." "Even Mumu's got his limits with that one, huh." "When someone's set on hiding, finding them in a place practically the size of a small province is like plucking a star from the sky." "That sounds a bit exaggerated. He won't have strayed far from the Special Grade training hall, anyway."

Ki Ma-jin never changed. He never strayed from Cho Na-yeon's side. Even after taking an arrow through the backside last time. Watching Do Yang-woon's obvious impatience, Kang Seo-ryang smirked and said,

"Just go ahead and leave." "Hm?" "Aside from Ki Ma-jin, no one else is unaccounted for anyway, so I'll bring the final report to the dorm parent on duty myself." "...Hmph. You'd do that for me?" "It's not like this is the first time I've stood in as your proxy. No need to make it sound so special."

Kang Seo-ryang was practically Do Yang-woon's right hand. With that, Do Yang-woon handed over the status board to him. Taking it, Kang Seo-ryang said,

"In exchange, you'd better win this sparring match."

At those words, Do Yang-woon knocked his fists together, stoking his fighting spirit.

"Goes without saying. Though I do feel bad that everyone's skipping muscle training just for my sake. If I lose muscle mass over this..." "...You think you'll lose muscle over skipping one day? Don't worry about it, just go." "Then I'll leave it to you." "Sure."

Do Yang-woon took off with a burst of movement skill, practically giddy, heading off somewhere. Watching his figure shrink into a distant dot, Kang Seo-ryang cheered inwardly. He'd get to skip that damned muscle training for a whole day, after all. Just then, Jin-hyeok, walking out toward the entrance, asked.

"Where's the dorm head off to in such a hurry?"

He hadn't caught what they'd been talking about, but the dorm head's face had looked awfully thrilled. To Jin-hyeok's curious question, Kang Seo-ryang raised the corner of his mouth and said, sounding full of meaning.

"You'll want to go watch, once you know." "Huh?" "It's a match between descendants of great men whose blood runs in their veins."

* * *

The training hall northeast of the dormitory grounds. The training hall alone spanned some forty-odd buildings, that was how vast the place was. Behind one of those training hall buildings, in the rear garden. A boy with a mop of shaggy hair clung to a tree buried in thick brush, both hands clamped over his own mouth. It was none other than Ki Ma-jin, cadet of Northern Heaven Residence.

'Damn it.'

He'd come today, same as ever, to watch Cho Na-yeon's training, but somehow he'd ended up in a chase, dodging someone the whole way.

'What in the world is this bastard?'

He'd heard that the sixth-floor leader, monstrous strength aside, hadn't actually learned any Martial Arts, so he'd figured all he had to do was kill his presence and hide, and he'd made a break for it again. But this guy had tracked down his hiding spots like some kind of ghost, no matter where he went. Thanks to that, he'd been on the run the whole time.

'Please, just give up already.'

Because of that bastard, he'd barely gotten to watch Cho Na-yeon train for even a quarter hour. Worse, he'd been dragged far away from the Special Grade training hall where she'd been. At this rate he'd end up running until her training was over.

'I came all the way to the far end, so this time he won't find me... gasp!'

Ki Ma-jin held his breath. Someone walked up right beneath the tree he was perched in. It was Mumu, the sixth-floor leader.

'No, wait, how did this bastard get all the way out here?'

Ki Ma-jin felt like he could scream. He hadn't learned any Martial Arts, so had he learned some kind of tracking technique instead? While he wondered, Mumu opened his mouth.

"Senior~ Where are you? A dorm room suits you way better, senior."

Shudder!

Just hearing that sent chills down his spine. The back of his neck ached. While he braced himself, Mumu, looking around, suddenly lowered his body toward the ground and started sniffing at the air.

'What?'

Was he seriously smelling for him right now?

'No, this lunatic thinks he's some kind of tracking dog, sniffing around like he can actually find someone that way...'

Shff!

Just then, Mumu, still sniffing, looked up at the tree with gleaming eyes and said.

"Found you."

'!!!!'

Footnotes:

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