WeTried Translations

Translator/Editor: ZERO_SUGAR

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◈ Surviving as a Genius on Borrowed Time ◈

Episode 124: Samadhi True Fire (4)

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Jeong Family Youth Technique.

It was a booklet slightly larger than an adult’s palm. Its worn pages turned one by one.

Before long, Ma Jin set the manual back on the tea table. He had not even finished reading it.

The pages trembled for a moment, but Ma Yeon-jeok did not blame his son. He remained still.

He could not tell whether it was he or his son trembling faintly. Nor did he wish to know.

“……It is the martial art Sang-ah created.”

The short name rasped against his tongue. It was his daughter’s childhood name, rolling awkwardly from his lips after so long.

Ma Yeon-sang.

His daughter’s name.

The face he had tried so hard to forget over the years surfaced in his mind.

She had possessed large, clear eyes since childhood, and she had passed them on to her son, Jeong Yeon-shin.

Perhaps it was because he had been too occupied with cutting down the many martial artists who committed atrocities wherever they went.

As the Divine Sword Squad Leader, Ma Yeon-jeok had been busy racing across the vast Central Plains. He had thought his daughter was nothing but gentle.

He had only worried, from time to time, about her life after becoming the mistress of a household.

It had been a pointless concern.

The daughter who had grown up beyond his sight was bold.

She had fallen for a layabout who enjoyed the finer things in life through flashy displays.

She had fallen so deeply for him that she refused the political marriage passed down through the family.

Ma Yeon-jeok had been horrified.

He reprimanded the senior members of the family who had allowed his daughter to travel as far as Henan, then ordered them to summon that layabout who called himself the head of Jeong Family Manor at once.

He could not believe it. The treasured daughter of the Desolate Ma family had fallen for such a layabout?

“My name is Jeong Ban-ak.”

When they met, only his appearance seemed worthy of her.

He was exceptionally handsome. He also carried the relaxed air unique to a country bumpkin who knew nothing of the world.

Even the sobriquet he proudly displayed was Ban-ak. According to reports gathered through the family’s covert network, the Beggars’ Sect, and the Hao Clan, he was skilled at seducing women.

As the heir to a great landowner in Xinye County, he had supposedly carried nicknames such as Refined Young Master and Playboy.

“You wretch!”

Even after being cursed as someone who would not recognize his own parents, he simply lowered his head in silence. It was contemptible.

Ma Yeon-jeok had wanted to kill him with a single palm strike. His palm had truly been on the verge of unleashing Force Projection.

“Father……!”

Only after seeing his daughter’s tearful expression did he barely manage to calm his qi.

That day.

He sank into worries as deep as a mire. As the Family Head. As a father.

Ma Yeon-jeok remembered it clearly. His lips trembled as he muttered.

“There is only one destiny granted to the Ma family by Heaven.”

“To serve the Lord of Desolate Fortress and raise the banner of order for the people under heaven…… It has been drilled into my head since childhood. It is clearer than the mnemonic formulas of our family martial arts.”

Ma Jin responded to his father’s regret.

Ma Yeon-jeok nodded.

He had upheld that honorable and noble mandate like a treasured sword. He had done so all his life.

The people of the martial world drew blades wherever they pleased.

They accumulated power that ordinary people could not resist, wielded their meager convictions through sword strikes, then dressed it up as martial arts and chivalry.

Uncontrollable martial power was poisonous vermin that could bring a nation to ruin.

It should have been suppressed. Yet the world was vast, and they were numerous and powerful. Political marriages among the martial families of Desolate Fortress were inevitable.

He had tried to persuade his daughter for a long time.

“His physique is abysmal. His comprehension does not look impressive either. He even has the stubbornness unique to ignorant people who know nothing of the world. How could we bring such a man into this family? Sang-ah, must it truly be him?”

Ma Yeon-sang said yes.

It was an answer that invited severing ties.

A blood relative of a prestigious martial family like the Ma family could not marry just anyone.

Those with proven martial talent had to marry one another, so the next generation could keep the martial world in check.

That was the greater cause one was bound to follow if one ate at the main fortress. It was meant to steadily raise masters who could protect the common people.

Ma Yeon-jeok made his decision, swallowing his sorrow and disappointment.

“Leave. Go, and never return. The family’s traditions are inviolable. A single crooked stone can bring down a sturdy fortress, so the only way I can wish you happiness is by severing our ties. The food, clothes, halls, and bedchambers you enjoyed as a member of the Ma family were compensation and a stipend granted to protect the people under heaven. Now that you have abandoned your duty, how can I treat you as family before the ancestral tablets?”

“Father…….”

The nobility of a prestigious family came from upholding its duties and rewards.

Ma Yeon-sang’s affection was a deviation that could not be tolerated.

He could not bring himself to kill the man his daughter had given her heart to. Forcing her away from him would have been cruel as well.

So he sent her away. He severed every tie.

If she remained connected to the Ma family name, she would become an exception to the law and destroy the family discipline built over more than a hundred years.

“Family Head! Does this make any sense? You intend to turn away the matchmaker sent by the Shin Family like this?”

A marriage had originally been arranged for her. Ma Yeon-jeok gave his daughter freedom and endured the Elder Council’s reproach.

It was fine, he had thought. As a father, he believed he had given her one last thing.

That was the end of it. He never sought out his daughter again.

They said one must first cultivate oneself and put one’s family in order before bringing peace to the world.

For the Divine Sword Squad Leader, putting his family in order in this matter meant severing ties with his daughter.

That was what governing a household meant to the martial artist Ma Yeon-jeok.

The elderly master in Purple Uniform slowly spoke.

“I spent my entire life alongside masters of the elven race, an ancient clan of noble blood and abundant talent. Talent usually comes from one’s bloodline. Could one stake a family’s fate on a thread-thin exception? If someone wishes to break convention, it is only right to cut ties with the family. I needed to set that example.”

That was also why he had never tried to find his grandson. He could not leave behind a precedent.

Yet, ironically, by this day, it had become a meaningless and hollow decision.

Anyone who knew Jeong Yeon-shin would think so.

“People only speak after seeing the result. They will regard this family as a gathering of fools.”

Ma Jin spoke with self-mockery in his voice.

In the end, he too had accepted Ma Yeon-jeok’s decision. He had believed it was for his sister and for the family’s banner.

“Yes. Sixteen years have come back as karmic retribution.”

Ma Yeon-jeok’s lips quivered. The trembling worsened with every page turned in the Jeong Family Youth Technique.

The opening of the manual was a blade that pierced the heart of a peerless master.

In the end, matters of the martial world were as elusive as they were fleeting.

Like the thin wisps of steam scattering above the teacups surrounding the Jeong Family Youth Technique.

The father and son of the Ma family were masters who had reached the realm where inner energy assimilated with intent.

The auras spreading from their hearts warped the white steam above the teacups.

Rare masters of the world read through the words of the Jeong Family Youth Technique. Their eyes gleamed gravely.

Rustle.

The hand turning the pages was careful. This time, it was Ma Yeon-jeok.

His gaze remained fixed on the manual’s mnemonic formula. The regret lingering at his fingertips was deep.

At last.

The two finished reading the Jeong Family Youth Technique. A silence different from the one that had followed its opening passed between them.

The room was heavy with utter astonishment.

“This is……”

The old man slowly opened his mouth.

“It truly is a divine art.”

“……Anyone could tell just by reading the mnemonic formula.”

“This is not a martial art whose bestowal one should even consider. Even if we cultivate it after receiving such boundless grace from Yeon-shin, it is far too precious to spread widely. It is a divine art that must never be treated that way.”

Ma Yeon-jeok slowly rose.

In the most luxurious room of the Desolate Fortress Qizhou Branch, he staggered forward without regard for the antique carvings around him.

Night had already fallen.

Moonlight streamed softly through the window, tracing a gentle curve over his wrinkled lips. It was a self-deprecating smile.

“I never thought I would attain enlightenment from reading a martial arts manual.”

His tone was unusually calm. Only faint remnants of surprise and sorrow remained now.

He smiled with the air of someone who had realized something and risen beyond it.

* * *

Time passed. Fifteen days had gone by since they left the City of Master Craftsmen.

Ma Yeon-jeok’s bearing changed day by day. His complexion seemed renewed with each passing day.

His already powerful aura surged even more fiercely.

Jeong Yeon-shin felt it clearly as he had the honor of instructing Purple Uniform and Black Uniform masters.

At times, he even had the illusion that the space around Ma Yeon-jeok’s body blazed like the heat of summer.

It was said that he had entered a realm where he could discuss martial arts with the sect leaders of the Nine Sects. All streams returned to one.

Did those who reached the realm of peerless masters learn even the profound truths of unfamiliar martial arts so quickly? For the first time, the youth was astonished by another’s achievement.

Ma Yeon-jeok, on the other hand, only marveled that this was a more intuitive and faster training technique than Shaolin’s Muscle-Tendon Change Scripture.

“Uncle’s progress is terribly lacking.”

Jeong Yeon-shin teased him. Ma Jin smiled faintly and patted his nephew’s shoulder.

His left sleeve was still empty.

Behind the massive gates of the Desolate Fortress Qizhou Branch, a wistful breeze brushed against Jeong Yeon-shin’s blue long robe.

Its hem reached the backs of his knees. When he had been promoted to Blue Uniform, it had covered his ankles.

“I hope this ends quickly.”

The youth muttered.

Perhaps because it fully contained the pure aura of the Record of the Dharma Light Wheel, the Blue Uniform long robe flowing down from his shoulders seemed to speak of his complete readiness.

It did so despite the scars and bloodstains scattered across it.

The Desolate Sword and Northern Light Sword hung together at his waist. Anyone could see that he was heading into battle.

“Can you truly handle this alone?”

“You’ve asked me more than ten times.”

It was an exchange between uncle and nephew.

They had annihilated two elite groups from major factions of the Thirteen Heavens.

It was an achievement difficult to accomplish even with the combined strength of Demon Wings and the Returning Wings Squad. Naturally, the casualties had been immense.

Even Cheong Myeong and Baek Mir-yeo had suffered sword wounds. Not a single senior was unharmed.

Few were physically whole, and the masters who remained intact, such as the Languid Flame Dragon and the White Qilin, were better off guarding the halls.

Enemies from the martial world were not gentlemen who entered only through the front gate.

Clang! Clang!

The sound of vigorous hammering rang faintly from a small forge inside.

The dwarven race from the City of Master Craftsmen had gathered there. They had built a roaring fire in the furnace and struck hammers against anvils.

They were making the dwarven race’s unique divine weapons and rare artifacts, including an inner-energy prosthetic arm and an inner-energy prosthetic leg.

“Uncle cannot exactly show himself.”

“……Yes. Why would I let others see the Leader of Demon Wings missing an arm?”

“I should go now.”

Jeong Yeon-shin sensed powerful energies from afar. There were many such presences. The force of those approaching as though they would crush the city from both sides was formidable.

‘It was bound to happen.’

The youth thought.

Two elite groups sent by the Thirteen Heavens to the City of Master Craftsmen had vanished.

On the other hand, Demon Wings, from which no news had come, had returned to the Qizhou Branch.

Fifteen days was enough time for major factions such as the Ten Perfect Sect and the Pure Demon Alliance to piece together the circumstances.

The Blood Flame Sect could not be overlooked either. The Seventh Apostle had appeared in the City of Master Craftsmen.

That made three of the Thirteen Heavens.

There was also the Tang Sect. It had sent only physicians without a word of explanation, but it could not maintain that ambiguous attitude forever.

At this point, this was the center of the martial world.

From now on, every incident would be discussed by martial artists throughout the world. Those were Hyeon Won-chang’s words.

‘They’re like thorns.’

Though Ma Jin was the only one who had come to see him off, his aura sense caught far more presences, each a prickling against his skin.

They were Desolate Fortress masters who had honed their senses beyond the gates. The Languid Flame Dragon, Namgung Hwa-shin, Hyeon Won-chang, the Red Noon Sword…… They seemed ready to rush out at any moment.

They truly would.

There was another reason Jeong Yeon-shin was going alone.

It was not only because his internal injuries had fully healed.

With Ma Yeon-jeok absent after sensing a vast and sinister energy, they needed to show that Desolate Fortress remained strong.

Sichuan was that dangerous. It was like a wounded tiger raising its fur among a pack of wolves.

This was not a battle in which a sect’s destruction was at stake, but a strategy to leave room for negotiation.

To preserve Desolate Fortress’s standing before the martial world, they needed something extraordinary.

‘Showing my martial prowess will be enough.’

The youth closed his eyes once, then opened them.

“Imperial lapdogs, show yourselves!”

The inner energy carried in the booming voice was immense.

They were already close. The auras gathering beyond the gates were powerful.

Would it be the Ten Perfect Sect and the Pure Demon Alliance first? The presence gathering on both sides was like a tidal wave.

Did that make them threatening?

Jeong Yeon-shin asked himself.

He did not know. He had killed the Sword Scorpion Demon and the Pure Demon Divine Hand. It did not even seem that a Lord of the Thirteen Heavens had come in person.

He could not guess how much he could handle alone.

The pride of major-faction masters would keep them from immediately launching a combined attack, so he had to assume there would first be one-on-one contests.

Outside the encirclement, groups of people who could be found anywhere had gathered in layers.

Jeong Yeon-shin clearly heard their voices and faint movements.

“I could hardly believe it, but the major factions really are going to have a grand fight!”

“Will Desolate Fortress be forced to withdraw from Sichuan?”

“Would that be the end of it? The martial artists at the main fortress in Xiangyang will press south. That is the greater problem.”

“Either way, the Qizhou Branch has no hope.”

They were common people. There seemed to be local martial artists among them as well.

All had come to watch a battle rarely seen in the martial world. It was a world with few spectacles.

Many would set aside concern for their lives if they could witness the ultimate arts of masters with their own eyes.

To them, martial arts said to contend for supremacy under heaven were arts of the Immortal Realm.

“You now represent the main fortress.”

Ma Jin whispered from behind him. Jeong Yeon-shin suddenly felt something wrap around his shoulders.

“I’ll make sure the seniors don’t leap from their sickbeds and join the fight.”

The youth spoke calmly.

Then.

Flutter!

A jet-black long robe fell over him. Though the hem of one sleeve was torn, it retained a lofty bearing.

The Black Uniform long robe of Desolate Fortress wrapped around Jeong Yeon-shin’s shoulders.

“I’ll be back.”

When both hands emerged from the black sleeves, the youth could no longer be regarded as a mere rising junior.

Footnotes:

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