WeTried Translations
Translator/Editor: ZERO_SUGAR
Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried
◈ Surviving as a Genius on Borrowed Time ◈
Episode 113: Radiant Wheel Technique
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But it lasted only an instant. Just as it had appeared without warning, the upper dantian’s precognition suddenly vanished.
The images that had flashed through his mind scattered like dust.
‘What was that?’
Jeong Yeon-shin quickly regained his composure. The spirituality of the Baihui acupoint, which had whispered the words Divine Technique, withdrew from his mind.
That was not important right now. What mattered was the scene of Demon Wings he had witnessed. He could not tell whether it was the present or the future.
‘It’s hard to tell.’
The upper dantian’s abilities had always been like this.
Transcendent senses such as precognition and wide-area observation never came when he wanted them to, nor did they show him what he wished to see.
More often than not, they showed him useless things, as though the laws of heaven were toying with him.
Sway.
His body briefly staggered. The lingering sensation beneath the crown of his head felt like a burn.
It was growing worse with time. Was the upper dantian becoming stronger? If so, that meant death was drawing closer in equal measure.
It drove home the reality once again. He had only a little over three years left.
‘I know.’
He repeated the words inwardly. It felt as though his mind were rapidly drying out.
“Squad Leader? Is something wrong?”
Perhaps Namgung Hwa-shin had sensed it. The question came at once, and Jeong Yeon-shin answered aloud.
“It’s nothing. But I think we should hurry.”
“It seems we have entered the domain of a sorcery formation. This darkness is unnatural. I cannot see ahead even with an eye technique.”
Namgung Hwa-shin was right. Every direction was black, as though they had entered an abyss.
Jeong Yeon-shin raised an arm and looked down. He could see nothing.
Even his own nearby hand was swallowed by pitch darkness.
The air weighing on his shoulders was heavy. Something was definitely there. It was dark to an unnatural degree.
‘We found the right place.’
The boy recalled the Blood Flame Sect’s formation without thinking.
The Two-Flame Blood Spirit Formation.
It used sorcery to create a strange harmony, separating the Blood Flame Sect’s main headquarters from the outside world.
The darkness brushing against his skin carried that same mystery.
“Sinister.”
Languid Flame Dragon’s voice rang out nearby. His usually listless tone held a hint of interest.
“Founding Master, when visibility is poor, it is best to spread out your inner energy.”
Red Noon Sword moved closer as though to guard Jeong Yeon-shin’s back.
It was advice born of a seasoned martial artist’s experience. Though no one could see it, Jeong Yeon-shin nodded.
“Everyone, release your aura.”
He infused qi into the brief command and sent it far and wide.
At once, waves of inner energy from the Returning Wings Squad martial artists spread out in every direction.
The wind of qi brushing against their skin allowed them to recognize one another. They regained some sense of the space around them.
That was the strength of a group of masters.
Whatever the situation, they could adapt with ease. Not one martial artist panicked simply because they had lost their sight.
The Beggars’ Sect was no exception. Everyone here was an elite from a major faction.
“Does anyone have a night pearl?”
Successor Beggar cut in at Languid Flame Dragon’s words.
“They say carrying one shortens your life.”
“Looks like Beggars’ Sect beggars only ever see cheap goods. A stone that stores sunlight and releases it again is harmless.”
“You must be pleased to be the fallen Young Family Head of a once-wealthy family.”
The Tang Sect siblings followed Jeong Yeon-shin’s instruction as well.
Hazy, heat-shimmer-like auras stretched from the boy and girl’s bodies.
Their method of circulating qi clearly revealed their training in poison arts.
“This feels oddly familiar.”
“I’ve heard faint sounds from here a few times, but I never thought there would truly be a place like this...”
Poison Dragon Tang Yeo-hwa and Poison Phoenix Tang Ryeo-ryeo spoke.
“Why didn’t you come down to investigate?”
At Jeong Yeon-shin’s question, there was a brief rustle of cloth. Tang Ryeo-ryeo seemed to have turned toward him.
“Because traces of our father were here. The martial artists guarding us are Grandfather’s men, and Grandfather hates our father for abandoning the family. Tang Sect law is strict, and blood relatives who break its rules are not forgiven. We...”
“We were afraid Grandfather would find Father and kill him. When we trained Myriad Flowers Rain above, we sent the guards back. As long as we pretended not to notice, it was fine.”
Tang Yeo-hwa clearly finished his younger sister’s faltering explanation.
His childlike way of speaking made the matter easier to understand.
“I see.”
Jeong Yeon-shin gave a short nod. The unusual rumbling had not begun only when the Returning Wings Squad arrived.
The siblings’ explanation made sense as well.
“As expected of the Tang Sect. What a bloodthirsty family.”
“You, I heard from Successor Beggar that you are the Huangbo Family’s Young Family Head. Do you really have any right to say that?”
Jeong Yeon-shin ignored Languid Flame Dragon’s amused voice.
As the siblings, unable to contain their anger, finally began arguing with him, the boy silently closed his eyes.
He had to concentrate.
“Quiet.”
Namgung Hwa-shin’s clear voice rang out.
Namgung Hwa-shin had sensed the movement of Jeong Yeon-shin’s eyelids.
It showed that Namgung Hwa-shin’s sharply honed aura sense was focused on the Returning Wings Squad Leader and the surrounding area.
If Languid Flame Dragon was an uncontrollable flame, Namgung Hwa-shin was like a dark sky, settled and seamless.
At times like this, there was no one more dependable.
Jeong Yeon-shin altered his qi circulation path. Not to the Jeong Family Youth Technique, but to a supreme breathing method unlike any other in the world.
‘Moon Spirit Harmonization Formula.’
He activated the inner-energy technique bestowed by the Lord of Desolate Fortress. The inner energy throughout his body began to feel cool and transparent.
Because he had not cultivated it as his main discipline, he could not fully draw out the technique’s effects.
Still, Jeong Yeon-shin’s control over his inner energy brought out as much of the Moon Spirit Harmonization Formula’s power as he needed.
Hummm.
Energy gathered at the Tongziliao acupoints outside the corners of both eyes. It was the Moon Spirit Harmonization Formula’s yin qi.
They said the dark night was the time of yin qi, stripped of yang energy.
The energy established within his body through inner cultivation colored his eyes with a luminous glow.
“The nature of your aura has changed. Our Founding Master can cultivate yin qi as well?”
Languid Flame Dragon’s voice reached him. It sounded playful, but a trace of surprise lay beneath it.
Slash!
Blue light flashed through Jeong Yeon-shin’s vision. His sight cleared, if only faintly.
The rough cliff faces stretching in every direction came into view without obstruction.
“Follow me.”
The boy spoke.
Step.
He had just examined the hollow carved underground with his upper dantian. He moved to find the entrance.
Seeming to grasp the situation from Languid Flame Dragon’s words, all the martial artists, including the Returning Wings Squad, followed Jeong Yeon-shin’s aura and moved after him.
‘I need to use both my eyes and my aura.’
Jeong Yeon-shin scanned the surroundings as he continuously released energy. He imbued the qi he projected outward with mental intent.
It was a method for expanding his aura sense.
By feeling the aura rebound after striking the walls, he intended to find the entrance hidden within them.
Meanwhile.
‘He cultivated a martial art of yin qi?’
Successor Beggar raised an imaginary brush in thought.
The Squad Leaders of the martial units under the Divine Sword Squad were figures who contended for the highest rank. All seventeen Squad Leaders were supreme masters.
Seom-ye was the eighteenth, even if only temporarily. He was even leading White Qilin and Languid Flame Dragon.
Though Seom-ye belonged only to the younger generation, even the smallest detail about him was now worth treating as intelligence.
‘If Languid Flame Dragon didn’t know, then yin qi martial arts cannot be his main discipline.’
Successor Beggar silently moved the imaginary brush through those thoughts.
‘He doesn’t seem to have learned hidden-weapon techniques, yet he stopped one strike from the Twin Dragons and Phoenixes of Poison. Exceptional senses. This deserves a separate note. No one could defeat him in a contest of technique against an equal. He carries two swords, so his swordsmanship cannot be shallow either. His movement art resembles that of the elven race.’
Information was recorded piece by piece.
This was how the Beggars’ Sect’s vast information network, said to encompass the world, had been built.
Whenever there was a task worth personally undertaking, Successor Beggar took the lead. This was one such moment.
‘Seom-ye of Desolate Fortress. Many still do not even know his face, but he can already be called the pinnacle of the martial world’s younger generation. This is neither something to leave to the aged elders nor something for my dying master to handle personally. I must do it.’
The Beggars’ Sect heir was evaluating Jeong Yeon-shin’s worth in real time.
Then it happened.
“Here. This is the entrance.”
The boy’s calm voice echoed.
At the front of the group, Jeong Yeon-shin slowly extended an arm.
He poured powerful qi into his right arm and pulled away the boulder concealing the rock face.
Boom!
A cave was revealed with a heavy sound.
* * *
“There’s nothing here.”
Languid Flame Dragon’s voice echoed through the passage.
A full two-hour period had passed. The group had entered the cave without hesitation.
It was only wide enough for five people to stand shoulder to shoulder.
Jeong Yeon-shin led the way, while Languid Flame Dragon and Namgung Hwa-shin guarded his back.
Behind them stood the Tang Sect siblings, with the Returning Wings Squad’s Blue Uniform masters lined up farther back.
“This passage extends this far and this deep. That alone makes it far from ordinary.”
Namgung Hwa-shin replied.
“That is true, but...”
Red Noon Sword added to Languid Flame Dragon’s languid words.
“We should remain cautious. If fighting breaks out, assume you must constantly release your aura. We need to sense the terrain. The Founding Master already seems accustomed to it, but the White Uniforms are the concern.”
“We’re fine.”
“Was Red Noon Sword not a White Uniform until recently as well?”
Assurances came from behind. They were the Returning Wings Squad’s White Uniform martial artists.
‘There are so many of them.’
Jeong Yeon-shin became newly aware of the long line of people behind him.
It felt strange to realize he had come to lead so many.
It had not even been two years since he took the Desolate Exam under the watchful eyes of his White Uniform seniors.
‘They are a dependable force, but...’
He also had to minimize the Returning Wings Squad’s casualties. They were the people he had brought here.
The responsibility he felt toward the companions who called him Founding Master weighed on his shoulders.
It was far heavier than the black air sliding over his body.
Then it happened.
“Huh?”
“Over there.”
Tang Yeo-hwa and Tang Ryeo-ryeo spoke.
Their reactions were as swift as their reputation suggested, but they were slower than Jeong Yeon-shin.
The boy was already sprinting through the darkness, his Blue Uniform robes streaming behind him.
Whoosh!
No formation had been laid within the cave. The masters’ eye techniques worked well enough.
Jeong Yeon-shin was still circulating the Moon Spirit Harmonization Formula’s yin qi.
That meant he could see the terrain as clearly as broad daylight.
Tap!
He detonated the qi at the Yongquan acupoint in the sole of his foot. A figure entered his clear field of vision.
It flinched as it hid between the walls, and it was extremely small.
‘A member of the dwarven race!’
He closed the distance with certainty. The other side seemed to realize it was too late to evade. A rough shout burst forth.
“You trai, traitors! Are you from the Thirteen Heavens again?! Or are you from the sect of those shameless scoundrels who call themselves the Middle Way, a faction between orthodox and unorthodox, and stabbed the Desolate Fortress people in the back?!”
The voice sounded frightened, yet it was full of spirit.
Jeong Yeon-shin immediately suppressed his presence. The owner of the small frame continued shouting.
“No matter how much you covet our clan’s city, I will not allow any more vicious bandits inside! The treasure plaque has already been stolen, so even if you cut open my belly, you will not get in!”
“I am Jeong Yeon-shin of the Desolate Fortress Returning Wings Squad.”
Whoosh!
A strong gust lifted his sleeves as it passed.
Jeong Yeon-shin lightly stepped onto the ground and stopped directly before the stranger.
He looked down.
A man whose height reached about Jeong Yeon-shin’s waist leaned his upper body back. For a moment, he seemed frightened.
His thick beard and short limbs resembled those of the dwarven race in Desolate Fortress.
So did the arm muscles developed as though boulders had been fused together.
Only his extremely shabby clothes were different. They did not suit a clan said to be immensely wealthy, though he had been born with peerless manual skill.
“Desolate Fortress...?”
The man of the dwarven race slowly repeated the name. He seemed to have learned inner-energy arts as well, for his eyes flashed with energy as he looked Jeong Yeon-shin over.
The boy slightly turned his shoulder, revealing the character hwang, meaning “desolate.”
With the hand tucked into his robes, he pulled out a golden identity plaque. It was the Desolate Fortress token he had not displayed in a long time.
The vivid golden tree pattern flickered in the darkness.
“...This is not the work of Han Chinese.”
The man muttered.
It was an arrogant certainty, befitting the dwarven race.
They had founded the Ming dynasty alongside the elven race. Their clan received treatment unlike that given to the Semu people of the Western Regions.
The imperial court was said to supervise them strictly, yet Jeong Yeon-shin had never expected their city to be in a place like this.
‘I found a clue.’
Jeong Yeon-shin did not concern himself with the man’s attitude. He spoke at once.
“You mentioned Desolate Fortress. Are they inside?”
The man did not answer immediately. The way he pressed his lips tightly together looked stubborn.
‘That’s fine.’
Jeong Yeon-shin had already heard much.
The dwarven race’s underground city, the Thirteen Heavens, a Middle Way sect, betrayal, Demon Wings...
Too many parties were tangled together, like the energies latent within his own body.
The scene he had witnessed through the upper dantian suddenly came to mind.
His seniors’ backs had been slashed to ribbons. Baek Mir-yeo and Cheong Myeong were badly injured as well.
Hummm!
With the beat of his heart, the energies within his body churned.
The pure qi of the Jeong Family Youth Technique stirred in his lower dantian alongside the dharma power of the Demon-Slaying Azure River Hand.
The yin qi left by the Moon Spirit Harmonization Formula coiled around his body and rose beyond his skin.
Even the remnants of the Mara Roaring Blood Art spread as an eerie aura.
‘No.’
Jeong Yeon-shin took a deep breath and calmed his energy. He had sensed the danger of qi deviation.
He did not know how his qi might become entangled.
Then it happened.
“What was that just now...?”
Tang Ryeo-ryeo’s voice was bewildered.
The Twin Dragons and Phoenixes of Poison, who had arrived with Languid Flame Dragon and Namgung Hwa-shin, stared blankly at Jeong Yeon-shin.
Footnotes:
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