WeTried Translations

Translator/Editor: Alyo

Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried

◈ Memoir of a Regressor ◈

Chapter 40: I Covet It

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Tsk.

I clicked my tongue and counted.

There had been sixty-one people, including General Steward Sang Cheol-jin.

Sang Cheol-jin had croaked, leaving sixty.

I brought the Cloud Dragon Sword down hard.

Slash!

The Circulation Realm martial artist charging from the front split cleanly in two.

Fifty-nine.

As I ducked, I drew up my Properly Aligned Qi.

My legs pushed off the ground. In an instant, I slipped between the five martial artists before me, spun, and swung the Cloud Dragon Sword.

Great Purity Dragon-Form Sword.

A distinct dragon-shaped aura tore the five martial artists apart.

Fifty-four.

My senses sharpened.

Strong killing intent came from the right.

I thrust out my left arm.

Thud.

A sword landed in my grasp. I drove the Cloud Dragon Sword toward its owner.

Stab.

It buried itself in a martial artist's throat.

Fifty-three.

I kicked the corpse away and put distance between us. Five swords slammed down where I had just stood.

I grabbed a nearby table and hurled it.

Five martial artists went down with it.

I used the Heavenly Mechanism Divine Steps. I leaned my head to the left, immediately regained my balance, twisted my entire body to the right, then rolled forward.

More than ten swords and spears shot toward me, missing in staggered succession.

As I rose, I grabbed the hair of the martial artist standing right in front of me.

“Let... Let go...!”

With a blade at his throat, I moved behind him. Fifty-two martial artists glared at me with murderous eyes.

A smile touched my lips.

Let's see.

Killing every one of them here wouldn't be difficult.

But the Assassin Fortress had prepared this so thoroughly. These couldn't be all of them.

There were surely more outside.

I had to conserve my strength.

Without hesitation, I slit the throat of the martial artist I was holding hostage. Blood sprayed in every direction.

That was when a familiar man rushed over.

It was Cheol Baek, the Calculating Saber, whom I had been speaking with just moments ago.

“Hahahaha! You're quite something!”

His saber rose high into the air before coming down with fierce momentum.

I twisted to the side. It grazed past me.

Thunder energy gathered in the Cloud Dragon Sword.

Rumble.

Heaven-Transcending Thunder Sword Formula.

I slashed.

Slash!

Cheol Baek's head fell to the ground. I kicked it as it dropped.

Boom!!

The head exploded, drawing the attention of the martial artists in front of me.

I immediately rushed forward and thrust my sword through the spray of blood.

Stab!!

Three martial artists had their heads pierced in succession, like meat skewered on a spit. I pulled the sword free and swung it hard to the side.

Two heads shot into the air.

I caught the sword thrust at me with my left hand, severed its owner's arm, then cut off his head. As I turned around, I stretched out my left hand.

A flying wine cup landed in my palm. The person who had thrown it stared wide-eyed.

I filled it with internal energy and hurled it back.

Crunch!

His head burst, and he collapsed backward.

I turned my head. A sword grazed my cheek. I reached out and caught a woman's throat.

Crack.

I crushed it.

My gaze remained fixed on the martial artist charging from the front. He flinched mid-run. I saw him take a step back.

I charged straight at him.

Footwork? There was no need for it.

Rumble!

The Cloud Dragon Sword came down, splitting him helplessly in two.

I straightened.

No martial artists charged at me anymore. They stood there trembling as though nailed in place...

I didn't know how many were left.

I brushed my hair back.

I could see their desire to end this fight here.

But.

“I clearly gave you a chance.”

A martial artist had to keep their word.

I had given them an opportunity, and they had refused it.

Either I would die here, or every one of them would.

Only one of those two outcomes would come to pass.

Silence fell.

I rushed at the martial artist directly in front of me. Startled, he turned to flee, but it was pointless.

Crack.

The Cloud Dragon Sword split him in half.

As I turned my head, someone's palm struck my solar plexus.

It was undoubtedly Yu Su-gyeom, the Azure Sea Palm, whom Cheol Baek had mentioned earlier. He must have had some skill. His movements were quite good.

A tremendous amount of internal energy surged from his palm.

I immediately launched myself backward and spun through the air. It resembled a movement Cheon Yeo-bi had once shown me. After rotating roughly three times in the air, I landed.

The internal energy rushing toward me scattered through the air as though dissolving into nothingness.

It was quite a sight.

His level was extremely high.

He was far stronger than Cheol Baek, clearly at the upper end of Five Dragons Honoring the Sage and on the verge of Three Flowers Gather at the Crown.

He charged at me.

Then I did something he didn't expect.

I threw the Cloud Dragon Sword.

Startled, he turned his head to the side. The Cloud Dragon Sword grazed his cheek and embedded itself in the wall.

When he turned back, I had completely vanished from his sight.

He turned his head in the opposite direction.

Despair filled his eyes.

He had realized far too late that I had entered his blind spot.

Boom!!

Yu Su-gyeom's head exploded beneath my fist.

Another martial artist rushed at me. He threw a punch.

I kicked out.

Boom!

With a deafening crash, his hand bent in a direction the human body was never meant to bend.

“I... I heard you were one of Five Dragons Honoring the Sage...”

I grabbed his bewildered head with my left hand.

Crunch.

Then I burst it.

I immediately spun and swung my leg. A flying sword was knocked away. My foot touched the ground, and I drove forward at once.

My shoulder struck a martial artist's solar plexus.

Thud.

His balance crumbled. I held my fingers straight and struck down.

Crack!

His corpse collapsed with the sound of his neck bones shattering. I reached out and seized a swinging sword.

I threw a punch.

Boom.

Another head burst.

I rushed at the man beside him and swung again and again.

Heads burst. Arms burst. Legs burst.

Blood and flesh flew everywhere, and screams rang through the entire inn.

I killed.

Killed, and killed again.

Picking up a sword from the floor, I threw it at a martial artist preparing to flee across from me.

He was pinned to the wall with the sword.

I raised my head.

The Cloud Dragon Sword I had thrown earlier was embedded in the wall before me. I grasped its hilt and pulled it free.

Not many remained now.

Six martial artists and two General Stewards.

“P-Please spare us.”

All six martial artists had fallen to their knees and were begging.

Among them was Jo Yu-chang, the Shadowless Sword, one of Five Dragons Honoring the Sage.

He was a capable man who would distinguish himself in the future Great Righteous-Demonic War and join the Azure Dragon Corps.

But he had already broken.

One by one, I cut off the six martial artists' heads. Those whose will to fight had crumbled were easy to kill.

I turned my head.

In the corner, I saw the two General Stewards staring blankly.

The fool who had been shouting so confidently earlier sat on the floor, his trousers soaked around the waist.

He had clearly wet himself.

I walked over without a word.

I pointed the blood-dripping Cloud Dragon Sword at his throat.

“I thought I'd underestimated the Assassin Fortress's intelligence network... but after thinking it over, I don't believe that's the case.”

“...”

“Who was it? Who sold you information about me?”

“...I don't know...”

“You don't know?”

“Yes... A man with long, narrow eyes told us your location... We acted on that information.”

It wasn't as though there were only one or two men in the world with long, narrow eyes.

I had to look at the whole picture.

This carried a strong warning.

Someone had given them information about me.

Then who could have reason to warn me? In my previous life, there would have been countless people, but not in this life.

There were few candidates, and I had been given enough clues.

Where had I gone while using the alias Yi Sin? Wi County.

What had I done there? I bought something.

Who had that item been meant for?

And operating a black market meant they possessed considerable intelligence capabilities.

Everything pointed to one target.

Heavenly Forest.

There was no one else.

I had paid a fair price. Yet it seemed they hadn't liked that.

I would tear them apart.

I would kill them.

I raised my head.

“Was it Heavenly Forest?”

“...I... I don't know...”

Without hesitation, I thrust my sword into his throat.

Stab.

He collapsed.

I turned to the side.

“Name.”

“Y-Yun-seong.”

“Position?”

“I'm the deputy branch leader of the Assassin Fortress's Wi County branch...”

“Where is the branch leader?”

“You killed him earlier... Sang Cheol-jin was the branch leader of the Wi County branch.”

“I see. So it was Heavenly Forest?”

“...I don't know that... But I can tell you who gave the order!”

“Really?”

The face of the man who called himself Yun-seong brightened slightly.

“Then you'll spare me...?”

“As if.”

Slash!

I sent Yun-seong's head flying.

Who had given the order did not matter in the slightest.

I didn't want to know.

Wasn't it obvious?

It would be either the Fortress Master or the Deputy Fortress Lord.

Whether the Fortress Master or Deputy Fortress Lord had issued the order, I intended to erase the Assassin Fortress from this world completely. There was no need to know.

I looked around.

It was a sea of blood.

I searched the bodies of Cheol Baek and Jo Yu-chang.

Compared to the others, their faces were rather refined and their clothing looked expensive, so I searched them just in case. Unexpectedly, each carried a pouch of Gold Taels. There were some Silver Taels mixed in as well, but they only took up space, so I threw all the silver onto the floor.

A total of fifty Gold Taels.

Not bad.

I tucked the pouches into my clothes, opened the door, and stepped outside.

It was quiet.

It shouldn't have been this quiet, but it was.

Then a very young-looking woman ran toward me, gasping for breath.

“Warrior... sir!”

She drew closer.

“Right now... There's a strange man in our village...”

I didn't even let her finish. I swung the Cloud Dragon Sword.

Crack.

The woman's body split in half.

I walked over and lightly nudged her right arm with my foot. A hidden dagger slipped out from her sleeve.

I picked it up and threw it at the seemingly empty building across from me.

I hadn't simply thrown it. I had packed it full of Properly Aligned Qi.

Boom!!

The building collapsed at once.

Only then did the hidden assassins reveal themselves.

Five emerged from the building that had just collapsed, and quite a few more came from the neighboring buildings and bushes.

Their numbers.

I didn't know.

I couldn't even be bothered to count anymore.

There seemed to be around a hundred.

Every one of them had attained a fairly high realm.

The weakest were at the Circulation Realm, while the strongest had reached Three Flowers Gather at the Crown.

The Assassin Fortress had really ground its teeth over this.

A smile spread across my face.

“You didn't come just to look at my face, so what are you doing standing there?”

I flicked the blood off the Cloud Dragon Sword.

“Come.”

The assassins charged all at once.

* * *

The Martial Alliance's Azure Dragon Corps arrived in Yeonsu Town.

And they saw Yi Do mercilessly slaughtering the assassins.

Ju Cheon-ui, the commander of the Azure Dragon Corps and the Red Dragon Divine Lord, let out an exclamation.

“Huh... That's a newcomer to the martial world...? Impressive.”

It was sincere praise from the bottom of his heart, without a trace of pretense.

Every time Yi Do swung his sword, rumbling thunder rang out.

Whenever that sound echoed, an assassin's body was inevitably split in half.

Ju Cheon-ui narrowed his eyes.

That martial art.

He didn't know what it was, but one glance was enough to tell that it was an ultimate art among ultimate arts. The lightning itself was not the important part. What mattered was that after the lightning struck, the energy spread throughout the air was absorbed back into Yi Do's body.

Martial artists had to expend internal energy whenever they fought. The key was when that internal energy ran dry, or how much more internal energy one had left than one's opponent.

Yet every time Yi Do used internal energy, he recovered a fixed proportion of it.

That meant he could gain the upper hand against martial artists of the same level. With experience and luck, he might even defeat martial artists of a higher realm.

More than anything, his movements.

They were incredibly concise. There was not a single unnecessary motion. He read every attack, reacted, and countered.

That was innate talent.

A genius among geniuses.

Ju Cheon-ui's gaze turned toward the brightly lit inn.

Though it was quite far away, he could clearly see what had happened inside.

The pungent smell of blood that stung his nose did not come only from the assassins dying now. It clearly rose from that inn as well.

“...It doesn't seem to be Demonic arts.”

He could say that with certainty.

There was not the slightest trace of Demonic arts coming from Yi Do.

If anything, his energy was overwhelmingly pure and properly aligned.

Ninety-nine out of a hundred practitioners of Demonic arts became blood-crazed killers.

They lost their reason in battle and tore people apart like madmen. Beyond that, they committed rape, murder, even cannibalism, committing every atrocity imaginable.

More than anything, the martial arts they used emitted the distinctive killing intent mixed with demonic energy that Demonic arts could not hide. Yet Ju Cheon-ui could find no such sign in Yi Do.

Yi Do's eyes had remained calm throughout. Whether evading or attacking, every movement was seasoned and experienced.

Why was Ju Cheon-ui thinking this?

“...I want him.”

That was right.

Ju Cheon-ui wanted that man.

Seen in a bad light, he could seem endlessly bad. Seen in a good light, he could seem endlessly good.

Ju Cheon-ui's thoughts began to change.

Was Yi Do excessively brutal? Perhaps.

No one was unaware of the life he had lived as an illegitimate son in the Yi Clan. The General Steward and even the servants beneath him had looked down on Yi Do. Everyone had groveled after he belatedly awakened to his talent, but they eventually stabbed him in the back.

He had killed everyone involved. Ju Cheon-ui could understand that well enough.

A martial artist had to be decisive when decisiveness was needed.

Think about it.

That man was now being pursued by the martial world.

The Yi Clan had been his backing, but it had fallen.

Now he was alone.

More than anything, that man's talent was extraordinary.

From what Ju Cheon-ui could see, he had at least reached Three Flowers Gather at the Crown.

And he was seventeen.

It hadn't been long since he reached the Circulation Realm, yet he had already entered the third stage of the Four Qi-Cultivation Realms.

It made no sense.

Aside from one person, no martial artist in history had ever displayed such overwhelming growth.

Perhaps.

He was witnessing the future greatest martial artist under heaven.

Now was the right time.

If he missed this chance, there might never be another.

He had to take that man.

He had to recruit him into the Martial Alliance.

The Assassin Fortress's debts and grudges? It could be resolved within a day. He could bring Mun Hu-do, the Assassin Fortress Master, before Yi Do on his knees.

That man.

Ju Cheon-ui had to have him.

“...The Alliance Leader may have words for me, but after seeing that man's talent, he'll understand.”

The members of the Azure Dragon Corps watched Ju Cheon-ui mutter with puzzled expressions. Then his next words left them aghast.

“I will help this man, Yi Do. Do you understand?”

“...Commander! That isn't our mission!”

“Ahem. It doesn't matter. I'll take responsibility.”

“...Commander, we understand how you feel, but the Assassin Fortress isn't the only one pursuing that man. We must also consider the Jeok Nation imperial court.”

It was laughable.

The imperial court?

Why had the Nonaggression Pact between Government and Martial World been made?

Because the martial world respected the imperial court.

This time, it was the imperial court's turn to respect the martial world. Ju Cheon-ui could guarantee it.

Yi Do was valuable enough to justify making an enemy of the imperial court.

Ju Cheon-ui was about to act when he casually turned his head and froze in shock.

He could not help it.

Two men stood atop the cliff. One of them was a white-haired middle-aged man.

It was because of him.

“...Why is he... here?”

Ju Cheon-ui could not possibly fail to recognize the middle-aged man smiling broadly.

The sects that ruled the Jeok Nation martial world were the Eight Great Sects. There was a clear hierarchy among them, but curiously, every sect, whether low-ranked or high-ranked, had at least one person who seemed to have almost washed their hands of the sect's affairs.

That white-haired middle-aged man was one of them.

Myo Man-ri, the Great Elder of the Asura Sword Sect and the Flying Dragon Great Hero.

He was currently a master of the Creation Realm, a martial artist widely believed to be certain to advance to the Divine Entrance Realm before long.

“Hehehehehe.”

With his distinctive laugh, he watched the massacre unfolding below.

Footnotes:

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