WeTried Translations
Translator/Editor: Alyo
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◈ Memoir of a Regressor ◈
Chapter 51: The Plan Moved Up - It's Paid From Here On
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The new Branch Leader of the Three Phoenix Branch.
Cruel Demonic Blade Yi Do.
There was no one in Three Phoenix County who did not know Yi Do's name.
It was true that people had been frightened when they first heard he was coming to serve as Branch Leader. Setting aside the character of the previous Branch Leader, the two branch members who had been there had caused so much trouble that the Asura Sword Sect's reputation in Three Phoenix County had nearly hit rock bottom.
To be completely honest, ordinary people who were not martial artists saw all martial artists as the same.
They beat people, took what they wanted, and killed.
Those with power could only be figures of terror to the weak.
And they even had the Asura Sword Sect behind them.
No matter how much people hated them or how terrible their reputation became, they had no choice but to bow their heads. If they resisted, fists would fly. If they leveled a sword, their head would fly.
From their perspective, there was no one better than Yi Do.
As long as no one provoked him, he did not provoke them either.
That was true of every martial artist, but there was one difference.
He was fair and just.
It sounded like complete nonsense, but he truly was fair and just.
He had brutally killed members of his own branch who had engaged in extortion and turned them into a spectacle for Three Phoenix County.
More than several hundred people had witnessed the way they died. They cried, screamed, fouled themselves, and caused a terrible commotion.
What had those two done in Three Phoenix County?
They had extorted people.
They had harassed ordinary people dozens of times. Violence was routine, and so was rape.
They were tyrants. Madmen.
The Asura Sword Sect had looked the other way. Whether the matter had been covered up so it never reached those above, or whether they had deliberately ignored it, no one could deny they deserved to be branded followers of the Demonic Way.
Yi Do had cleaned up all of it.
More importantly, he had repaid every bit of money Wang Mu-tan and Jin Geon had borrowed or taken by force.
Where else could one find a martial artist like that?
No one knew whether he had intended to earn that reaction, but there had certainly never been a martial artist like him before.
He was more of a magistrate than the magistrate himself.
At that very moment, Yi Do was cultivating in the underground chambers of the Three Phoenix Branch.
He slowly opened his eyes.
His body brimmed with Properly Aligned Qi, and every wound across his body had healed.
He was in peak condition.
Yi Do then rose, sword in hand.
As he practiced the sword arts he used most often, he stimulated every muscle in his body as much as possible.
He awakened not only muscles that had gone unused, but his nerves as well.
Yi Do trained like this every day.
Of course he would reclaim the martial might he had possessed in his previous life.
In his previous life, Yi Do had reached the Creation Realm.
But while he had been called a Creation Realm martial artist, the strength he had actually wielded was at least at the level of the Divine Transformation Realm.
The Asura Heaven-Breaking Five Arts was not a martial art without flaws.
It was a martial art that required Properly Aligned Qi, and Properly Aligned Qi collided head-on with Natural Qi.
They were never the same kind of energy.
Yi Do had reached the Creation Realm only after his master died.
He had wandered the martial world for twenty years, yet his cultivation had remained at the Creation Realm.
Now, he was at an ambiguous stage called Heavenly Flowers Scattering rather than Three Flowers Gather at the Crown. It was similar to how things had been then.
At that time, Yi Do was in the Creation Realm, but he had completely opened his upper dantian as though he were in the Divine Entrance Realm. Yet he had been unable to fully call upon Natural Qi.
He had been in an incomplete Divine Entrance Realm, unable to advance to a complete one, so he had broadly described himself as being in the Creation Realm.
With the Properly Aligned Qi he had accumulated and the Hwandap Art, he had overwhelmed martial artists of the Divine Transformation Realm.
Of course, he had not even entered the Four Realms of Heaven and Earth yet, so it was an early concern. Still, he needed to prepare from now on.
Perhaps if he rose from Heavenly Flowers Scattering to a complete Five Qis Return to Origin, he might find the key.
Without rushing.
As slowly as possible. Yet with certainty.
He swung his sword fiercely and drew in heavy breaths.
His entire body was soaked in sweat.
A man hurried over to him and handed him a towel.
It was Un Do-hyeon, a branch member of the Three Phoenix Branch.
“Thank you.”
“It is nothing. More importantly... you are in remarkably fine form.”
Yi Do let out a soft laugh at the sudden remark.
After roughly wiping away the sweat on his forehead, he asked, “Has the sect sent any message?”
“No, it has not.”
The distance between the Asura Sword Sect's main headquarters and Three Phoenix County was considerable, so it would take some time for word of what had happened here to reach the sect. The same was true when something was sent from there to here.
After thinking for a moment, Yi Do headed toward a small room in the corner of the underground training hall. The underground chambers of the Three Phoenix Branch were not merely used as a training ground.
Surprisingly, there was a bathhouse.
Yi Do entered, removed his clothes, and lowered himself into the bath. Un Do-hyeon naturally stood with his back to the door and rested a hand on the hilt of his sword.
It was a perfect guard's stance. Yi Do said nothing.
As Yi Do warmed himself in the bath, Un Do-hyeon spoke.
“I used Un Clan Manor's resources to look into the Assassin Fortress.”
Yi Do let out a soft laugh.
“You did something unnecessary.”
“Yes. I did. Still, would you hear me out?”
Yi Do did not answer, but Un Do-hyeon knew that meant yes.
“All Assassin Fortress branches in Jeok Nation have reportedly withdrawn.”
“Withdrew?”
“Yes. I heard their assassins have moved out in large numbers.”
Where they had gone was obvious. Yi Do was not a fool.
“They must have gone to the Heaven-Breaking Fist Sect.”
“...How did you know?”
“Is it not obvious? I joined the Asura Sword Sect, and they are not powerful enough to face the Asura Sword Sect. Their only option is to attach themselves to a sect powerful enough to stand against it. That leaves only one possibility, the Heaven-Breaking Fist Sect. There is a high chance they made a deal with them.”
“...I will look into the details of that deal.”
“No. That is enough.”
Yi Do slowly closed his eyes in the bath.
No further.
If Un Do-hyeon dug any deeper, he could become a target of the Assassin Fortress as well.
“Un Do-hyeon.”
“Yes, Branch Leader.”
“My debts and grudges with the Assassin Fortress have nothing to do with the Asura Sword Sect. They are solely my own.”
“I know.”
“If you know that, then do not involve yourself further. This is something I must bear and settle alone.”
Staring straight ahead, Un Do-hyeon replied, “I know that as well. I was not curious about the Assassin Fortress as a branch member. I was merely curious as Un Do-hyeon, the Young Clan Head of Un Clan Manor.”
“Is that so?”
“Yes. So please do not concern yourself with it.”
Time passed in silence.
Yi Do, who had remained silent, spoke again.
“If I tell you not to do something, will you obey?”
“...If it is an order, I must.”
“It is an order. Stop investigating the Assassin Fortress.”
“...Understood.”
“Instead, may I ask another favor?”
“Please give me any order.”
“I am curious about Jangnyeong County's current situation. Can you find out?”
Un Do-hyeon tilted his head slightly.
Jangnyeong County?
The very person who had turned that place upside down was suddenly asking about it?
His doubt lasted only a moment. He intended to do whatever Yi Do told him to do.
Un Do-hyeon had already decided to serve Yi Do. He did not merely want to be Yi Do's subordinate. He wanted to serve him as his master.
“I will learn everything that has happened from the time you left Jangnyeong County until now.”
“Good. I leave it to you.”
Silence settled over them again.
Un Do-hyeon silently stared ahead, while Yi Do quietly closed his eyes in the bath. Once more, Yi Do was the one to break the silence.
“Will you keep standing there?”
“Yes.”
“Did you not just finish your patrol? Go and rest.”
“This is rest for me.”
Yi Do chuckled.
“I see.”
* * *
The One Sect, One School, Three Clans of Three Phoenix County were prestigious martial houses.
They had ruled Three Phoenix County for over sixty years. To be honest, their relationships were not particularly bad either.
This was a border region where conflicts between martial artists were frequent, so their enemies were not the sects of Three Phoenix County, but the sects in neighboring Jangam County.
Among the One Sect, One School, Three Clans, the Hong Clan was currently ablaze.
Figuratively speaking.
The people of the Hong Clan stared at the corpses before them in fury and grief.
Not long ago, they had sent a caravan to Yan Kingdom. It consisted of thirty wagons of valuables, fifty martial artists to guard them, and eighty porters.
The person in overall charge was Hong Guk-beon, the Young Clan Head of the Hong Clan.
Every last one of them was dead.
The countless corpses laid out before them were theirs.
“Ah... Aaaah...!”
Hong Chik-seo, the Hong Clan Head, howled.
The missing valuables? He did not care about such things.
Even if they had been worth several thousand gold taels, it was not as shocking as losing his biological son. He did not need that money.
If he could bring his son back alive, he would pay twice that amount.
But it was all meaningless.
His son's heart had been pierced, and a great hole had been torn through his neck.
There was no possibility of revival. He could not be healed.
He must have died instantly.
His heart had been pierced, then his neck.
Hong Chik-seo screamed.
A band of bandits had supposedly appeared, killed them all, and taken the valuables. Did that make any sense?
A massive mountain called Bibong Mountain stood on the border between Three Phoenix County and Jangam County.
Its location was so perfect that caravans from every county in the surrounding area passed through it.
It could be considered a strategic point.
Bandits at such a strategic point?
What madman would turn to banditry in a place where the Asura Sword Sect and the Heaven-Breaking Fist Sect were competing for influence?
Anyone with common sense would operate elsewhere. Anyone without it would be wiped out at once.
After all, they had sent martial artists of that caliber.
A man approached the wailing Hong Chik-seo and embraced him.
It was Hong Ja-myeong, the Hong Clan's second son.
He had been close to the Young Clan Head. He had never coveted the position of Young Clan Head either. They were brothers with an unusually loyal bond.
The Young Clan Head managed the Hong Clan as a whole, while Hong Ja-myeong, the second son, oversaw its martial forces.
He had not been greedy.
Everyone knew that. The dark tear stains in Hong Ja-myeong's eyes were proof enough.
As a martial artist, he was able to quickly compose himself.
Hong Ja-myeong said, “How about we bring this matter before the Branch Leader of the Asura Sword Sect's Three Phoenix Branch?”
Hong Chik-seo raised his head.
“That... man?”
“Yes.”
This was Three Phoenix County. The Asura Sword Sect's Three Phoenix Branch was here, and it was the branch's duty to protect the local clans. In return, it received tribute from them.
Hong Ja-myeong's words made sense.
“...But that man...”
“The rumors may be exaggerated, but he is still the man who killed Wang Mu-tan and Jin Geon. He is also the man who personally repaid all the money they had borrowed.”
“...But...”
“Clan Head, no, Father, it is obvious that forces under the Heaven-Breaking Fist Sect are behind this. The Asura Sword Sect is the only power we can rely on now.”
There was no need to deliberate further. Killing intent gleamed in Hong Chik-seo's eyes. He had to take revenge.
For that, he was prepared to offer everything.
“...Yes. Let us go at once.”
“Yes.”
Thus, the Hong father and son headed to the Three Phoenix Branch.
They found Yi Do in the middle of a meal, immediately fell to their knees, and begged him.
The Young Clan Head had died, along with fifty martial artists and eighty porters.
They asked for help.
They pleaded for revenge.
Yi Do spoke.
“Fine.”
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