WeTried Translations

Translator/Editor: ZERO_SUGAR

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◈ Surviving as a Genius on Borrowed Time ◈

Episode 129: Azure Flame (2)

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“Face me with forms alone, without using inner energy. I’ll show you that the subtleties of our martial arts are no inferior to Desolate Fortress’s.”

When So Jin-rang requested a spar with Jeong Yeon-shin, Yeon-shin readily accepted.

It was a decision made with Fierce Sword Gal Sa-ryang in mind.

An exceptional master capable of facing a Desolate Fortress Black Uniform.

They said the Ten Perfect Sect’s Myriad Essences Unified Origin Art did not possess the distinct nature of the Demonic Sect.

Was it because he could not guarantee victory with only the initial stage of the Record of the Dharma Light Wheel?

His upper dantian and the Light Wheel warned him at once, pricking at him.

Not So Jin-rang. Deal with that bastard.

That was when it happened.

“That confidence. So you truly were born with inhuman talent. I suppose you never had reason to envy the bloodlines of prominent families.”

Step.

So Jin-rang moved forward. His expression remained indifferent, but the air around his whole body was different.

His calm, honed presence approached like a blade. Even the gleam in his eyes seemed to attest to the height of his skill.

“I can see why you wear the Black Uniform at such an age. No matter what martial art you cultivated, it would come naturally to you.”

He continued speaking as he approached, one step at a time.

Since they had agreed not to use inner energy, he did not perform the qi-powered leap that would take him into True Step.

Yeon-shin stood still and waited for him. He did not listen to the other man’s chatter.

Extreme Moon Sword So Jin-rang advanced without a care.

“Desolate Fortress raised people into weapons. How much spiritual medicine have you consumed? How many divine techniques and peerless arts were passed down to you? You must have studied all seventeen martial arts of the Divine Sword Squad’s Seventeen Squads.”

“...”

Yeon-shin watched his lower body. So Jin-rang’s footwork pressed heavily against the ground.

It seemed to be a habit formed from constantly holding condensed strength in the Yongquan acupoints beneath his feet. Even as he merely drew the sword at his waist, he carried tremendous weight.

Shing.

His sword draw seemed steeped in the passage of years.

With a crescent-bladed halberd strapped to his back, So Jin-rang drew his sword and smiled faintly.

“I may lose to you even in a contest of forms. Still, I will make you fear the depth built through a great sect’s accumulated effort. That alone is enough. You are an enemy this sect will one day clash with in earnest.”

He had no trouble saying such embarrassing things. The boy quietly raised his sword.

“People from prominent families.”

Yeon-shin slowly parted his lips as he stepped forward.

“They talk too much.”

His grip tightened around the hilt of the Desolate Sword already in his hand.

Even to himself, the strength in his hand felt solid.

It was physical strength cultivated through the Jeong Family Youth Technique.

Even without qi, he achieved unity of sword and self, a unity of sword and body.

His hand and sword hilt had become one.

Thud!

One light step was enough. The ground firmly supported the sole of his foot.

Even a True Step without inner energy created a heavy resonance within his body.

In an instant, he twisted his waist with the Desolate Sword.

At the same time, he swung the sword sideways. The rotation drove the sword strike ahead.

The air tore apart with a sharp sound. The force of True Step surged into the strike in a helix.

Clang!

He produced Force Projection without inner energy. It was Charged Strike, a technique he had not used in some time.

His sword struck So Jin-rang’s descending slash. So Jin-rang’s eyes widened.

Hup!

The Desolate Sword pushed him back mercilessly. The strength in So Jin-rang’s two hands traveled clearly through his blade.

Yet he did not resist. He bent his arms and retreated half a step.

His footwork traced a diagonal line backward. With the flat of his sword pushed close enough to touch his nose, he spun outward.

Their fluttering hems brushed softly as the boy’s shoulder passed So Jin-rang’s.

‘Harmonizing Force, an art like flowing water. He redirected it precisely without even using inner energy.’

Yeon-shin thought that this man, too, was a swordsman who would not be hindered by thunderclap bombs.

He had felt it in the instant their swords clashed. So Jin-rang had properly honed his swordsmanship. Unlike Yeon-shin.

These were arts refined through effort over a long period. Talent and diligence had both been melted into that single sword.

Flutter!

At the end of a rotation like interlocking wheels, they clashed once more.

The Desolate Sword and the Ten Perfect Sect’s unknown treasured sword let out a clear ring.

Vibrations ran up through both locked blades.

‘This...’

Yeon-shin narrowed his eyes.

It was because of So Jin-rang’s defensive sword form. He had received the blow with the flat of his blade, not its edge.

The Desolate Sword, swung down without hesitation, stopped at So Jin-rang’s shoulder. He used the flat of his sword like a shield.

Extreme Moon Sword.

Those three characters were a spear, an axe, and a blade. His epithet was made entirely of weapons.

The heir of the Ten Perfect Sect. They said it was a sect that wove inner energy into the eighteen martial arts and elevated them into divine techniques.

No aura could be felt.

With such adaptability and finesse without inner energy, So Jin-rang had enough grounds to shamelessly challenge Yeon-shin.

“How easy has your life been?”

So Jin-rang whispered. He endured the Desolate Sword pressing against his shoulder with the flat of his blade.

The way he stood straight despite his trembling lower body carried the spirit of an unorthodox swordsman.

“Seom-ye Jeong Yeon-shin.”

“...”

“The martial path of a rising talent whom even the Tang Family Head calls master can only be absurdly shallow and easy. It is a flimsy cultivation, like a character in some delusional heroic tale. You gain things easily and discard them just as easily. Do you think you’ll keep rising forever? I think you’ll stop at the threshold, unable even to open the realm of the peerless. Someone exceptional in only one respect like you will never unite essence, qi, and spirit.”

He spat venom.

The middle dantian near his heart pulsed. His muttering brimmed with envy.

So Jin-rang looked into the eyes of the boy who had drawn close while their swords remained locked. They were calm.

It had no effect, So Jin-rang thought. These words were meaningless.

They were little more than the curses thugs habitually hurled in fights where their lives were on the line.

So Jin-rang did not care. It was enough to vent his boiling emotions.

The boy before him was a powerful man who had cut down the Pure Demon Alliance’s Saber Fist Demon.

He had just received that exceptional master’s sword forms quite well. He had preserved his dignity enough.

A sweetness like a candied fruit melting on his tongue seemed to soak through his mind. He had been raised as the treasured jewel of the unorthodox sects.

Even if Seom-ye grew furious and cut off his head, he had to say what he needed to say.

If he could crush him with his tongue, that was enough.

“They say that when a sword strike polished steadily over decades gains spirituality, it advances into a sword art of divine technique and peerless skill. All divine techniques of the Nine Sects are like that. That is the accumulated effort I spoke of. You, you do not know the value of time. You never will.”

He hurled plausible abuse at an exceptional master he could not handle.

Feeling a strange sense of fulfillment, So Jin-rang closed and opened his eyes once.

He had relieved some of his dreadful inferiority complex. Whether this bastard chose to cut off his head now was up to him.

“...”

Their gazes met. So Jin-rang was suddenly startled, as much as when the Saber Fist Demon had been killed.

The boy’s gaze, which had remained calm throughout as though he had mastered Shaolin Buddhist martial arts, had changed in a strange way.

He saw the blazing light in those eyes.

Had the inner energy remaining in the minor meridians of his eyes stirred? His gaze was colorless.

A fragment of madness showed through the face that had maintained calm as though wearing a mask.

Something pretending to be calm, lurking deep within.

Impatience, unease, fear, hatred, fury.

It was the inner-energy rigidity and expression of someone hounded by an irresistible force.

It must have been immediately after he spoke of the value of time.

It came upon him like a flash of light along with the vibration of their swords, then passed.

As a swordsman who had reached a high realm, So Jin-rang sensed his opponent’s emotions.

With his sharpened senses, he confirmed the boy’s agitation.

Not a single one of those emotions was directed at the enemy whose sword he faced.

They carried the isolated feeling unique to emotions borne alone.

That was why the sword trembled by itself, along with the light in his eyes.

‘Did I sense that correctly?’

So Jin-rang asked himself without thinking. Interest rose within him, but inwardly he shook his head.

He was a young Black Uniform master. It would be fair to say he possessed the whole world. It had to be a misconception.

That was when it happened.

“...!”

The Desolate Sword, which had been pressing down on the flat of So Jin-rang’s blade against his shoulder, tilted flat as well.

It moved as though pulsing in exact rhythm with the slight rise and fall of So Jin-rang’s upper body as he breathed.

It happened in an instant. The change in sword-gripping method was shocking.

The flats of their swords met. If Yeon-shin swung upward to the side, So Jin-rang’s head would fly.

Having allowed the sword posture to shift, he could not resist. That was the position he was in.

Normally, changing one’s sword-gripping method in the middle of a sword clash was impossible.

Strength dispersed while rotating the sword hilt in one’s grasp. It made no sense.

Unless it was a divine technique that rode the slightest trace of force by following the inner-energy rhythm engraved in an enemy’s breath.

‘I’ll die.’

So Jin-rang thought that no matter how he responded, he was too late. Without using inner energy, he could not escape.

Dignity or life. Standing at the crossroads, he made his choice as the young sect master of a major Demonic Sect faction.

He had spoken impressively to the boy, but his life came first.

The strength he had built through spiritual medicine stirred.

Before he could even think, inner energy scattered throughout his body raced through the minor meridians of his entire body.

Tremendous force filled him.

Thump!

A heavy impact sank into his abdomen. Jeong Yeon-shin had kicked him. The strength at the tip of his foot was tremendous.

Hurk. So Jin-rang’s upper body bent slightly as his breath escaped.

Even then, he did not take his eyes off the boy’s face. He saw his expression.

‘This bastard.’

The corner of Yeon-shin’s mouth twitched slightly. The faintly drawn line between his brows, unmarked by wrinkles, felt terrifying.

For a swordsman like the young Desolate Fortress master, one who rarely showed emotion, that had to be anger.

Clang.

So Jin-rang had been right. Yeon-shin simply let go of his sword. He feared he might kill him after all.

Many of his Demon Wings seniors had died or been wounded. He had seen his maternal uncle’s arm severed before his very eyes.

The home of his heart, which even Jeong Family Manor could not become, had just been shattered down to its pillars.

As the Baihui acupoint narrowed, fear kept rising within him. He had been forcing it into one corner of his mind, yet some bastard had come along and scratched at his heart.

Crack!

Closing into punching range, he seized So Jin-rang’s wrist.

The hand holding the sword hilt was pulled away helplessly.

The moment he sensed aura, he activated the Record of the Dharma Light Wheel in his lower body and the left side of his upper body.

He did not place inner energy into his right hand. Instead, he filled it with emotion.

The fear he had suppressed, and fury toward fate.

Thud!

He felt So Jin-rang’s abdominal muscles beneath his fist. They were hard. The boy’s mouth curled upward slightly.

Striking him barehanded, it felt like the heavens that had given him a ridiculous lifespan and then remained utterly unmoved.

Even when a qi shield formed over So Jin-rang’s abdomen, Yeon-shin did not care. He struck him again.

Crunch!

Protective qi, the thin yet solid sensation unique to inner-energy armor, scraped against his hand.

That was fine. He felt a sadistic thrill.

Still gripping the hand that held So Jin-rang’s sword, Yeon-shin kicked his shin whenever he tried to assume an opening stance.

So Jin-rang could only leave his abdomen exposed.

‘True Barrier.’

The second form of Sihwa Boundless Hand repeated over and over.

True Barrier, True Barrier, True Barrier. The fist form inspired by Ma Se-in’s powerful fist erupted without inner energy.

His inborn instincts were enough to disrupt So Jin-rang’s balance and seal off his swordsmanship.

This too was strength gained at the cost of “the value of time.”

The boy spoke to his own body.

You damned bastard.

“...”

The once-noisy street had frozen silent.

Only the sound of a fist art without stance or form battering the Ten Perfect Sect’s heir echoed through the stillness.

Clothes rustled, and So Jin-rang’s miserable groans flowed out.

The dignity of the Demonic Sect’s Thirteen Heavens was being smashed to pieces.

In a fight that excluded inner energy, the boy’s martial strength was enough to claim invincibility on the streets of Qizhou.

Fierce Sword Gal Sa-ryang, watching from behind, understood completely.

Yeon-shin’s innate senses had surpassed the realm of practice.

From the moment the rising talent and his powerful opponent had exchanged swords until now, Gal Sa-ryang had watched everything.

‘He must be killed here. If not now, there will be no chance.’

Gal Sa-ryang secretly drew up his inner energy.

As he traced the trajectory of his attack in his mind, he seized his sword like a flash of light.

He held it in a reverse grip. A flying sword. He intended to throw it as it was.

From what he could see, Desolate Fortress’s young Black Uniform master had not yet reached the realm of Three Flowers Gather at the Crown.

He was not yet at the stage where mind and inner energy had fully united, allowing power to follow intent. Instead, he displayed an exceptional master’s martial strength through the power of an absurdly strong divine technique and his inborn senses.

Then it was worth trying.

The youngest Black Uniform master? Was he not currently crushing the Ten Perfect Sect’s heir right in front of them?

With the arrogance of not even placing inner energy in one hand.

‘The sect’s honor. A sprout that will become an enemy. If I must choose, the latter.’

Yet Gal Sa-ryang had also let his attention slip.

He judged Seom-ye while thinking of Three Flowers Gather at the Crown, but this was still the act of killing a Black Uniform master.

No amount of care would be enough. He lowered his posture slightly and honed his mind to a single point.

Only the boy in a Black Uniform long robe, battering So Jin-rang, stood clearly in his sight.

‘It still feels risky. Will this work? If I cannot kill him in one move, there will be nothing afterward. I have to stake my life on it. I’ll give it everything.’

Shing!

A sharp trajectory deepened in Gal Sa-ryang’s mind. It was the path of a flying-sword technique.

The sword hilt in his hand drew in the spirit of a swordsman who had dominated Sichuan’s martial world.

He had just drawn his sword with the Quick Sword Formula and was about to throw it.

Rattle-rattle-rattle!

A swarm of silver butterflies suddenly swept in like a storm.

It was the Tang Family Head’s divine technique and peerless art. The Tang Family Head did not doubt the prowess of the Sichuan Tang Clan’s master and watched only that master’s enemies.

A flash of Myriad Flowers Rain that crossed the distance in an instant.

Fwoosh!

Blood burst from Fierce Sword Gal Sa-ryang’s entire body. Hundreds of metal fragments were embedded in him.

It was vain and dazzling. The petals of blood blooming in that moment announced the end of the Ten Perfect Sect.

Footnotes:

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