WeTried Translations
Translator/Editor: ZERO_SUGAR
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◈ Surviving as a Genius on Borrowed Time ◈
Episode 106: Seom-ye Lineage (6)
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“What... Did he cultivate Wudang Sect’s Static Training or something?”
Ma Se-in muttered in bewilderment. The elders lined up nearby were equally shaken.
Several had gone pale. They no longer looked so imposing.
They seemed ready to speak at any moment.
“It’s closer to Shaolin than Wudang. Still, even they probably don’t compress it so tightly for qi storage.”
Languid Flame Dragon murmured to himself.
“So you are Languid Flame Dragon. ‘They do not’? You are wrong. The proper word is ‘cannot.’ Qi storage requires talent as well.”
Only Ma Yeon-jeok nodded with a smile.
Then a chilling voice rang out.
“Did you invoke your rights and demands of your own accord?”
Ju Yeon-jeong spoke in a cold, severe tone. Unlike Ma Se-in, her son, she did not lose her composure.
Only her eyes flickered once.
Her gaze upon Jeong Yeon-shin remained steady and intense.
Even with a supreme Purple Uniform master beside her, she showed no sign of shrinking back.
She must have known how much Ma Yeon-jeok cared for Jeong Yeon-shin.
Sure enough, Ma Yeon-jeok’s furious rebuke fell.
“Who do you think you are interrogating? Step back.”
“Seom-ye, that child spoke of the family and invoked rights and demands. This is a matter of the Ma family. Are you prepared to give everything you have to a Blue Uniform master of Demon Wings, bound by private feelings?”
“What did you just say?”
“Family Head, please do not be angered. I ask for your understanding.”
An argument began between Ma Yeon-jeok and Ju Yeon-jeong. Ju Yeon-jeong did not so much as twitch an eyebrow.
Only Ma Yeon-jeok’s face reddened with anger.
Ju Yeon-jeong’s standing appeared stronger than Jeong Yeon-shin had expected.
The elders’ solemn silence made that clear.
A great martial family’s inner workings were said to be no different from the politics of Beijing’s Forbidden City, but it was difficult to understand given Ma Yeon-jeok’s position.
Even if his martial attainment had declined, he was still the former Divine Sword Squad Leader.
“Did your mother reveal the family martial arts or something? This is an impossible sight.”
Jeong Yeon-shin openly sent a sound transmission to his collateral relative. A reply came at once.
“You are quite perceptive.”
Ma Se-in answered with a bitter expression. Complicated feelings showed through the response.
The Ma family’s martial arts were not orthodox cultivation.
Recently, the decline in Ma Yeon-jeok’s skill, the only Purple Uniform master in the Desolate Ma family, had become noticeable.
The Desolate Ma family had begun reconsidering its family martial arts.
The rise and fall of prestigious martial families were always directly tied to the quality and nature of their martial arts.
Then Ju Yeon-jeong brought in the imperial Golden Immortal Eight Methods.
Once Ma Se-in had been named heir, she used her remarkable skill to obtain the imperial family’s permission and reveal part of its formulas.
That won the favor of the Ma family retainers and strengthened Ma Se-in’s base of support.
His position would no longer be shaken by Ma Yeon-jeok’s personal whims.
“I see.”
Jeong Yeon-shin nodded inwardly.
Ju Yeon-jeong had once called him over after leaving Ma Yeon-jeok behind. It had seemed strange then, but he finally understood everything.
The Desolate Ma family was a martial house.
The power of a prestigious family came from martial arts and reputation.
Once someone gained control of the martial arts that formed the family’s foundation, the family could not help but waver.
“That isn’t my concern right now.”
The one facing a life-or-death crisis in Sichuan’s martial world was this family’s legitimate son.
Jeong Yeon-shin had obtained the raw intelligence from the Chief Steward’s Office faster than anyone. He spoke at once.
“Ma Jin, Leader of Demon Wings.”
He spoke without paying any attention to Ma Yeon-jeok and Ju Yeon-jeong’s argument.
He had just shown everyone how he vaporized the Spirit-Treasured Jade before their eyes.
His voice carried a clear presence as he inserted himself into the gathering.
“My Uncle Ma’s whereabouts are unknown. The same goes for Demon Wings. The Chief Steward’s Office said they must be considered out of action.”
“What...?”
An elder of the Desolate Ma family spoke first. It seemed an instinctive question, but Jeong Yeon-shin continued.
“A dispatch only just arrived at the Chief Steward’s Office. I heard it directly. We need a force capable of finding every member of Demon Wings and bringing them back.”
“...”
After a brief silence, someone reacted. An aura surged violently.
The owner of the purple robes that rose like a stormy sea was Ma Yeon-jeok.
“Do you know that the martial world has been in turmoil lately? The famine has lasted too long. Countless people are rising up across the land, and now it is hard to distinguish martial artists from common people. Too many pieces of trash learn a few moves and act like kings throughout the Central Plains. The main fortress has no reserves. Demon Wings must prove its continued survival through its own strength.”
His expression and words did not match. Though anger showed on his face, he remained sharply rational.
Even before the maternal grandson he found difficult to face, he separated public duty from private feeling.
The former Divine Sword Squad Leader’s character was cold. Those values had been hardened over decades.
For a moment, Ma Yeon-jeok no longer seemed human to Jeong Yeon-shin.
Had he worn that same expression when he abandoned his mother?
The sword of Desolate Fortress moved his wrinkled lips as he addressed the boy.
“The Chief Steward’s Office must have said the same thing as this grandfather. Am I right?”
“...Yes. That is why I thought I might borrow the Ma family’s strength.”
Jeong Yeon-shin answered.
“Our family’s forces are also deployed throughout the land, relieving the people’s suffering. The Lord of Desolate Fortress gave the order. The Eight Great Families and the Thirteen Heavens are each running rampant, while the main fortress has fewer than several dozen combat units.”
“Could you not go out personally, Grandfather?”
He finally voiced the words that had been circling in his mind.
Ju Yeon-jeong answered. Her red lips twisted strangely.
“A Purple Uniform master without a post must remain on constant standby. That is the main fortress law.”
They all spoke of the law. Everyone was bound by it.
A sudden impulse rose in Jeong Yeon-shin. He wanted to shatter that invisible restraint.
“What should I do?”
He needed to find a force capable of handling Sichuan’s martial world, and he did not have much time.
Demon Wings’ whereabouts were already unknown.
The longer he delayed, the more seriously he had to consider the possibility that they might not even recover the bodies.
“Should I accept the Ma family’s martial arts and refine them, even if it takes time?”
No. That would not work.
The formulas accumulated over generations had to be vast. It was not something that could be completed in a short time.
It would take less time to reject the Ma family’s orthodox line and create a new one.
But who here would accept that?
“Ah...”
It felt as if his heart were being squeezed.
There was no way past this limit.
For the first time since learning how long he had left to live, Jeong Yeon-shin felt truly at a loss.
It was worse because he had not faced the situation in Sichuan himself.
“I have a force that I raised privately. If you promise me one thing, I will willingly provide it.”
Jeong Yeon-shin took in Ju Yeon-jeong’s chilly words without responding. She was a collateral member of the imperial family.
There was no knowing what demand she might make.
If he could not secure a force before tonight was over, he would reconsider her offer then.
“Hang in there.”
He set off with Languid Flame Dragon, whose attempt at comfort was awkward.
The members of the Desolate Ma family saw them off in silence.
Many wore hard expressions, as though trying to compose themselves.
It was something they could do nothing about. That was what they all seemed to be saying.
Thud.
Jeong Yeon-shin had not given up yet.
“Whatever it takes.”
He had already selected the first members of the force. Himself and Languid Flame Dragon came first, and he intended to ask Namgung Hwa-shin as well.
“Let’s begin by securing three Blue Uniform masters.”
Once they entered Sichuan, they would need to search and gather information at once. They lacked hands.
Even White Uniform martial artists could overpower most wandering martial artists, but he had no way to gather forces immediately.
As he calculated alone, the boy suddenly stopped and lifted his head.
He sensed presences gathered some distance away. Beyond the main gate of the Desolate Ma family, he could feel the quiet fluctuations of qi.
There were not just one or two.
There were auras from those who had not received an official Desolate Fortress rank, as well as those whose swordsmanship could easily reach the Blue Uniform realm.
“They say guests have come looking for you, Yeon-shin.”
Ma Yeon-jeok seemed to have sensed them first. His tone was strange.
Rumble!
Those outside appeared to have noticed Jeong Yeon-shin’s presence as well. The massive gates slowly opened.
A group approached.
They were coming directly toward Jeong Yeon-shin.
“They all belong to different units...?”
Ma Se-in spoke in bewilderment. As the Desolate Ma family heir, he had spent a long time at the main fortress.
He recognized the faces of the Divine Sword Squad’s combat units.
“They are all formally ranked warriors at the front.”
Jeong Yeon-shin thought there were around thirty of them. Behind them stood a great many unranked disciples as well.
The boy’s eyes swept over them. Their bodies gave off a familiar feeling.
He could see in others’ bodies what he had only ever sensed through his own.
They bore the traces of tireless training.
The shape of their muscles, their gait, the faint aura of techniques they had cultivated.
“Seom-ye? He is younger than I heard...”
“If you are judging by appearance, look at that body first.”
“It is an incredibly well-tempered body. The journey here was worth it.”
“Worth it? Should we not first repay what we owe? He bestowed an unbelievable gift on us. We must repay him first.”
They approached from the right. Most seemed to have trained in Hand Arts.
The muscles running down from their shoulders formed elegant curves. The lines were familiar to him.
Those were the physical changes that stood out in the early stages of training the Sihwa Boundless Fist. Cultivating it with qi shaped the body that way.
“Was Shin So-bin telling the truth?”
He could even tell which forms they had focused on.
Four had properly trained the First Form, Helix. Three had trained the Second Form, True Barrier, while the remaining five had properly trained the Third Form, Fist Flower.
Every martial artist in Desolate Fortress was a talent of the martial world. He had often heard that from his seniors in Demon Wings.
They were people called geniuses in their own hometowns.
If they chose a single form and trained it for a short time, they were capable of achieving clear results.
“And...”
Jeong Yeon-shin’s gaze turned.
“...”
Those walking from the opposite side of the Hand Arts martial artists were silent.
They were swordsmen. He could tell simply from the Desolate Swords hanging at their waists.
The men and women all had long limbs, and their bodies gave off familiar qualities.
They carried a sharpness like rays of sunlight. They seemed to have trained several sword forms from the Radiant Sword Flow.
“That is not all.”
A few even carried the vigorous presence unique to the Ultimate Realm.
Had they truly entered an art that required the delicate sense of layering qi?
Some had the principles of Phantom Wing Step woven into their footwork.
His vision filled with his own unique martial arts.
They were living, breathing formulas of martial arts.
Jeong Yeon-shin stood there blankly for a moment.
“What is the matter? You were as sharp as a blade during your rank advancement.”
A heavy voice rang out. An aura like that of a veteran Northern Army general rushed toward him.
It came from the martial artist at the front of those approaching.
The face of the scarred middle-aged martial artist was familiar.
But not the robes. When they had first met, the martial artist had worn White Uniform. Now, they wore a blue martial outfit.
Red Noon Sword of Desolate Fortress’s Annihilation Squad.
Red Noon Sword had crossed swords with Jeong Yeon-shin during the Blue Uniform rank advancement examination.
It seemed Red Noon Sword had ultimately risen to Blue Uniform as well.
“After returning, I kept a close watch on your movements. Then today, I heard that you finally left the Demon Wings pavilion.”
Red Noon Sword stopped around ten paces before Jeong Yeon-shin.
Despite the terrible scars carved across the face, the expression was gentle.
“I have searched for you for quite some time.”
The manner of speaking had changed. Red Noon Sword no longer spoke down to Seom-ye as before, when Seom-ye had been a White Uniform warrior.
The martial artists who had approached with Red Noon Sword all stopped as well.
Those who pursued martial arts in Desolate Fortress set their eyes upon one boy.
“They are unfamiliar, yet familiar.”
Jeong Yeon-shin thought so.
They were not strangers.
People of the martial world were like that. Techniques created lineages, and martial arts connected people.
That was how martial sects were born.
The martial of martial arts. The vein of a lineage.
At this very moment, a martial lineage was being formed here as well.
The bestowal of martial arts. What he had done only to earn merit had returned to him in an astonishing way.
“Let us pay our respects.”
Red Noon Sword spoke.
At once, every martial artist brought both hands together before their chests. It was a disciplined clasped-fist salute.
Anyone could see that the gesture came from their hearts.
It carried the deepest respect.
The feeling was strange. Ju Yeon-jeong and the Ma family members faded from Jeong Yeon-shin’s thoughts.
Even though they were all watching this scene.
“Practitioners of one lineage.”
As if they had rehearsed it, Red Noon Sword opened with those words. The martial artists lined up behind spoke at once.
“We respectfully greet the founding master.”
It was a greeting that broke the stillness of Desolate Fortress’s night.
Footnotes:
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