WeTried Translations
Translator/Editor: Alyo
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◈ Memoir of a Regressor ◈
Chapter 58: Total Annihilation
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It felt as though time had stopped.
Yi Do's sword severed one man's neck. He grabbed the head of another man beyond him and slammed it into the ground. A dull Thud. rang out, but everyone's attention was elsewhere.
When Yi Do thrust out his foot.
That thing they had seen then.
It created a phenomenon that was difficult to put into words.
All the energies around him followed the trajectory of his kick, then erupted at once. No wind was blowing, yet crimson energy swirled around Yi Do's body. His eyes had turned completely red, and even the skin across his body bore a faint crimson hue.
That form.
That appearance.
There was no way the people here could fail to recognize it.
“Th... the martial arts of the Thousand-Year Demonic God!”
The strongest person under heaven.
Jeok So-ryeon, the Martial World's Public Enemy.
That bitch's signature martial art was the Asura Heaven-Breaking Five Arts.
When Jeok So-ryeon used that martial art, anyone struck by her attacks would explode. If they blocked with a sword, the sword would explode. The moment they thought they had dodged, their whole body would explode.
No matter what, something would explode. That was the characteristic of the art. Crimson.
And the form of crimson energy billowing thickly like clouds.
Good heavens.
“Is... is he Jeok So-ryeon's disciple...?”
Only then did they understand. Why that bastard had been so excessively brutal.
It was no wonder he had gone mad after learning such vile demonic arts.
“R... Run!”
People began to flee. They had certainly come to settle their debts and grudges. Everyone here was an operative of the Assassin Fortress.
But things had changed now.
Jeok So-ryeon.
That bitch's disciple.
Yi Do was the disciple of the strongest person under heaven.
This was beyond having picked the wrong target. This was suicide.
They had joined the Heaven-Breaking Fist Sect to survive, but now the Heaven-Breaking Fist Sect was facing destruction.
Jeok So-ryeon was more than capable of doing such a thing.
They had to spread this information somehow.
The moment they thought that.
Yi Do vanished.
Crimson mist scattered through the air.
They had lost Yi Do.
BOOOOM!
The sound came from behind them.
Yi Do had grabbed the back of a fleeing assassin's head and smashed it into a tree across from him. The tree collapsed at once. Yi Do kicked off again. The heads of two fleeing assassins soared into the sky.
Yi Do's feet touched the ground. He turned his head. There were still people who intended to fight.
Neung Seung-ji, Chu Ho-gwang, Dong Mun-yeon, and Seo Wi.
They were the Assassin Fortress's Four Protectors. A throwing knife shot toward Yi Do's face. It was a knife Neung Seung-ji, who had reached Three Flowers Gather at the Crown, had thrown with all his strength.
Yi Do had lost his balance. Neung Seung-ji had found an opening and did not let it pass.
They could land a blow somehow. The moment Neung Seung-ji thought so, their world turned upside down.
The ground was in the sky, and the sky was on the ground.
Neung Seung-ji tried to move, but could not. Their throwing knife slashed through empty air, while Yi Do's Cloud Dragon Sword severed Neung Seung-ji's neck.
That was all.
Even while off balance, Yi Do could execute a perfect sword strike. How much experience had he accumulated over the years?
Yi Do looked around. Crimson light swept through the area from his eyes. Three to the north, five to the east, five to the south, and two to the southwest.
Fleeing assassins.
Fifteen in total.
He lowered his sword at his side.
His grip tightened. The Cloud Dragon Sword turned crimson.
Then he swung it wide.
Asura Dragon-Form Sword.
What took shape was a massive crimson dragon. It surged forward, devoured the three assassins fleeing north, then immediately changed direction to swallow the five assassins in the east, followed by the five assassins in the south.
The dragon's form dispersed. The people there collapsed to the ground.
The two assassins fleeing southwest were no different. Unable to believe what they had just witnessed, they had dropped heavily to the ground when a shadow fell across their faces.
Slash!
One man's head split in half.
Then.
Slash!
The assassin beside him had his head sent flying into the sky. Yi Do turned his head. An assassin was rushing toward him.
He kicked up the dirt beneath his feet. Patter, patter. It covered the assassin's face. Yi Do pulled his sword back, then drove it straight forward.
Stab.
Yi Do turned his head. The remaining three of the Four Protectors stumbled backward. How many assassins were left alive now?
Fewer than ten.
Aside from the three masters at Three Flowers Gather at the Crown, there were two others.
Only five people remained alive.
It was absurd. Was this even possible?
Yi Do vanished once more.
What kind of movement technique was that, for him to move so quickly?
How could they both be at Three Flowers Gather at the Crown, yet differ so greatly?
Stab!
The Cloud Dragon Sword pierced Chu Ho-gwang's head.
Dong Mun-yeon, who had been retreating, threw a knife with all his strength. Yet Yi Do instantly pulled the Cloud Dragon Sword from Chu Ho-gwang's head and struck the knife aside. Ridiculously enough, the deflected knife embedded itself in the head of an assassin hiding in the corner.
Yi Do walked slowly forward.
The two remaining Protectors.
Dong Mun-yeon and Seo Wi had the same thought at the same time. They dropped to their knees.
“P... Please spare us!”
“...I'm sorry. We will never speak of what happened here.”
Yi Do stared at the two before picking up two throwing knives that had fallen on the ground.
He slipped the knives between his fingers and threw them. Both knives passed Dong Mun-yeon and Seo Wi, piercing the heads of the two assassins behind them who had been preparing to flee.
Thud.
The sound rang like thunder. Dong Mun-yeon and Seo Wi flattened themselves against the ground.
“Forgive us...!”
Dong Mun-yeon could not finish speaking. Stab. The Cloud Dragon Sword lodged in their head. Seo Wi recoiled in horror. They kept backing away, flailing helplessly. Yi Do pulled the sword from Dong Mun-yeon's head and walked toward Seo Wi.
Seo Wi begged.
They promised never to point a sword at Yi Do again. If Yi Do spared them, they would wash their hands of the martial world and return to the world of ordinary people.
However.
Why should Yi Do trust him? More than that, Yi Do had never once said he would spare him.
They were enemies. They had drawn weapons against one another and even laid a trap for him.
No matter how thoroughly Seo Wi cast aside his pride, no matter how desperately he begged to live, it did not change what had happened or Yi Do's resolve. Once he had made up his mind, he had to see it through to the end.
Yi Do smiled softly.
Then he brought the Cloud Dragon Sword down without mercy.
Crack!
Seo Wi's body split in two.
Yi Do looked around.
There were no survivors.
However.
Yi Do continued reciting the formula of the Asura Heaven-Breaking Five Arts.
It was classified as a fist art, but strictly speaking, it was closer to a divine art.
A divine art that could maximize Properly Aligned Qi while becoming Properly Aligned Qi itself.
The forms of the Asura Heaven-Breaking Five Arts were merely several attack forms that used that Properly Aligned Qi.
At its root.
Was the Asura Heaven-Breaking Art itself, the foundation of the Asura Heaven-Breaking Five Arts.
If he released the divine art, everything maintaining even a faint semblance of the Asura Incarnation would be undone.
There was a reason he had not released it yet. Yi Do walked silently onward.
There were ten carts.
He moved among them. When he reached the last cart, Yi Do's eyes flashed.
He immediately thrust out the Cloud Dragon Sword. At the same time, a sword shot out from inside the cart.
Stab!
The sword from the cart lodged in Yi Do's shoulder, while Yi Do's sword pierced the neck of the assassin inside.
He pulled out his sword, then lifted the cloth covering the cart.
It was a man with long hair.
Yi Do had sensed him for some time now.
His realm lay somewhere between Three Flowers Gather at the Crown and Five Qis Return to Origin.
Yi Do did not know who he was, but he was surely an assassin of high standing within the Assassin Fortress.
Yi Do had killed Deputy Fortress Lord Jang Min before, so perhaps this was the assassin who had taken that position.
Only then did Yi Do relax.
He let out a breath.
He pulled the sword from his shoulder. Blood spurted out, but it was fine.
It was neither a fatal wound nor a serious injury.
No bones were broken. Only flesh and muscle had been torn.
Yi Do searched the corpse's clothing in the empty cart and found a martial arts manual and a pouch of Silver Taels. He took both.
He searched the Four Protectors as well. He found one martial arts manual and four pouches.
That made two martial arts manuals and four pouches in total.
He had consumed quite a bit of Properly Aligned Qi, and pain ran through his entire body, but it was fine.
He took three Asura Pills from his robes and swallowed them, then immediately burned the surroundings with Samadhi True Fire. He had to erase the traces.
After finishing what he needed to do, he left.
* * *
It was a miracle.
No other word could explain it.
Earlier, the crimson dragon had slaughtered every assassin beside him.
He had watched the grisly sight of bodies being torn apart and blood bursting forth from right in front of him. If he had not tripped over a stone at his feet, he would likely have died the same way.
Fortunately, there had been bushes there, so he held his breath as much as possible.
He used everything he had accumulated throughout all his years as an assassin. That was how he had survived.
While Yi Do fought the three Protectors, the man carefully moved away and soon escaped the area.
He had to report this.
Yi Do, the Cruel Demonic Blade.
His master was Jeok So-ryeon, the Martial World's Public Enemy.
If this became known, he could overturn the entire situation.
It did not matter that they had failed to kill the bastard. This information carried that much weight.
It was a perfect opportunity to subdue not only Yi Do, but the Asura Sword Sect itself.
Or perhaps the Heaven-Breaking Fist Sect and the Asura Sword Sect could achieve a dramatic reconciliation. The Asura Sword Sect might even cast Yi Do out.
The value of this information was beyond imagination.
The possibilities were endless.
He could not let it slip away.
He did not care if people called him a coward for running. He had survived. Now he held the key that could turn everything upside down. Once he opened his mouth, everything would change.
Jangam County lay ahead of him. He smiled. I survived.
Not only the Assassin Fortress, but the Heaven-Breaking Fist Sect would give him an enormous reward. He could not stop smiling. Just as he was about to leap forward.
His body stopped abruptly. It could not have done otherwise. His neck felt cold. He felt a sharp, icy edge.
“I wondered how far you'd go, but this is all?”
Goosebumps rose across his body. He slowly turned his head. He nearly fell backward.
It was Yi Do.
“It seems you really don't know where Mun Hu-do is.”
“...P... Please spare me.”
“What do I gain from sparing you?”
“...I'll give you all the Assassin Fortress's information. What deal the Heaven-Breaking Fist Sect and the Assassin Fortress made, what the Fortress Master is doing now.”
“The latter interests me a little.”
“...I will tell you. The Fortress Master... no, Mun Hu-do, is currently undergoing closed-door cultivation at the Heaven-Breaking Fist Sect's main headquarters.”
Yi Do's eyebrow twitched.
“Closed-door cultivation?”
“...Yes. He suddenly gained enlightenment...”
“Then this attack was not Mun Hu-do's order?”
“...No.”
“Whose order was it?”
“...It was the order of Black Hand Man Do-wi, the Assassin Fortress's new Deputy Fortress Lord.”
“He acted alone?”
“...Yes. The Assassin Fortress entered the Heaven-Breaking Fist Sect’s service, and your currently known realm is Three Flowers Gather at the Crown. Mun Hu-do is a martial artist who has reached the Creation Realm. Why would Mun Hu-do personally go to kill you? There is dignity to consider.”
It made sense. More than enough.
“Deputy Fortress Lord Man Do-wi must have judged that if Mun Hu-do handled this matter himself, it would lower the Assassin Fortress's value.”
“That is correct.”
“My question has been answered.”
The assassin's expression brightened.
“Then you will spare me...?”
A smile appeared on Yi Do's lips.
“Of course not.”
Slash!
He cut the assassin's throat.
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