Surviving as a Genius on Borrowed Time - Chapter 134

WeTried Translations

Translator/Editor: ZERO_SUGAR

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◈ Surviving as a Genius on Borrowed Time ◈

Episode 134: Azure Flame (7)

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Tang Family Fort fell silent for a moment.

“...”

What Jeong Yeon-shin had said was true. There was no sight more futile than this.

The last Black Uniform-level expert the Ten Perfect Sect had brought forth had died.

Without avenging her sworn nephew, So Jin-rang, or her beloved, Dokgo Gwang.

Swish.

The boy slowly released his grip.

Leaving the Desolate Sword where it had fallen, he used both hands to lay Yeo Ju-ha’s body down.

Jeong Yeon-shin was her enemy, but she had committed no other evil against him.

She had challenged him as a martial artist, so he wished to show her the same respect.

He picked up her spear and placed it beside her. He held neither favor nor grievance toward her.

Yeo Ju-ha’s face looked peaceful with her eyes closed.

Jeong Yeon-shin had used qi to relax the muscles in her face, which had been twisted by shock.

Tap!

Someone ran out from the Ten Perfect Sect’s side. It was a young man with a firm presence.

He looked around ten years older than Jeong Yeon-shin. He wore robes similar to Yeo Ju-ha’s, though his were blue.

“Senior Sister... Senior Sister...”

He muttered with a vacant expression.

He appeared to be a disciple under the same master. The way he treated his senior sister was deeply respectful.

Even in his grief, the sharp glare he cast at Jeong Yeon-shin was unmistakable.

He looked as though he wanted to tear the boy apart at once. Jeong Yeon-shin endured that gaze in silence.

Anyone would have reacted the same way. It was not simply the conduct of a martial artist from the Demonic Sect.

‘If I lost Senior Cheong Myeong or Senior Baek...’

Jeong Yeon-shin thought that if he were in the young man’s place, he would have charged in immediately.

With that thought, he calmly extended his hand downward.

The Desolate Sword rose on its own and settled in his grasp. It was the suction mnemonic formula of Myriad Flowers Rain.

Warmth lingered on the hilt in his palm. It was the heat from the force waves he had unleashed during the brief but fierce battle.

“Hk...!”

The young man, who had been lifting Yeo Ju-ha’s body with both hands, flinched.

Perhaps he had mistaken it for the legendary art of qi sword control. His face flushed as he turned away and departed.

Jeong Yeon-shin silently sheathed the Desolate Sword.

“Benefactor!”

The Tang siblings approached at the same time. They had used the Body Movement Scripture, moving at tremendous speed.

Holding pieces of blue silk that seemed to attest to their wealth, they tried to wipe Yeo Ju-ha’s blood, which had splattered onto Jeong Yeon-shin’s robe.

‘What are they doing?’

Their willingness to take on unpleasant work like servants burdened him. Jeong Yeon-shin pushed the siblings back by their shoulders.

The eyes of the Poison Dragon and Poison Phoenix, who yielded without resistance, looked strange.

They reminded him of the white cat that used to eat leftovers at the wealthy Jeong Family Manor.

‘No. That white cat was a little arrogant.’

It was an idle thought. The boy put the name, which was also the sobriquet of his junior Shin So-bin, out of his mind.

That was when he pushed the siblings away and raised his head.

“Your fist and leg forms were impressive. You studied counterforms against this sect’s martial arts. The signs of malicious, repeated refinement are obvious.”

A deep voice accompanied slow footsteps approaching from directly ahead.

The steps of a middle-aged man wearing pure white light armor rang heavily.

Jeong Yeon-shin knew at once that the armor was not meant for protection.

It was ceremonial dress, a symbol of authority that showed the sect master himself had stepped forward.

“...”

Still, not a trace of aura could be felt.

The Ten Perfect Sect Master stopped ten paces before Jeong Yeon-shin. He possessed a remarkably imposing build.

Part of one ear had been severed as though by a sword, but rather than looking ugly, he carried the air of an undefeated commander.

Without revealing his inner energy, he carved a terrifying presence into the air.

His eyes, by contrast, looked gentle. Only his pupils, like those of a bull, held a pitch-black gleam.

It was chilling. His presence reminded Jeong Yeon-shin of the Tyrant Sword Sect Master he had first seen during the bloodshed at Jeong Family Manor.

The Ten Perfect Sect Master slowly opened his mouth.

“Your counterform... If you developed it alone, you truly are a genius sent by heaven.”

An expert of his sect had died, yet his tone was calm. So was his expression.

What sort of martial artist was he? The air of a peerless master gave rise to that question.

He was a man whose words revealed none of his feelings. Jeong Yeon-shin could not read him at all.

‘Still... It doesn’t seem like he knows about my heavenly affliction.’

He did not appear to have seen through Jeong Yeon-shin’s constitution.

So far, only three people had perceived him at a glance.

The Lord of Desolate Fortress, the Sword Immortal of Zhongnan, and the Divine Sword Squad Leader... Perhaps it was a difference in martial attainment. Or perhaps it depended on the lineage and nature of the cultivation method one practiced.

‘Either way, he’s a Purple Uniform-level expert. The very idea of letting my guard down is laughable.’

Just as Jeong Yeon-shin gripped the Desolate Sword’s hilt again, the Ten Perfect Sect Master suddenly grinned and shouted past the boy’s shoulder.

“Dang Un-hwang! You’ve fallen far indeed! Is hiding behind the back of a boy who looks no more than fifteen the best you can manage?”

“You call that a provocation?”

Jeong Yeon-shin spoke from within the steel petals that had risen around him.

A few steps behind him, Dang Un-hwang had extended a hand, unleashing a secret ultimate art to shield his family’s teacher.

Whoooong!

“...”

A heavy silence passed. Only the vortex of force waves released by Dang Un-hwang battered the air.

The Ten Perfect Sect Master’s smile deepened as his eyes widened slightly. He looked ready to burst into roaring laughter.

“Myriad Flowers Rain!”

After laughing heartily for a moment, he continued.

“Yes, I had already heard the rumors. They said an unbelievable event took place on Qizhou’s main road. The stories were so absurd that I believed that part had to be true. You truly restored the Tang Sect’s secret art. And they say it happened at the fingertips of a young expert raised by the imperial court’s lapdogs.”

“I thought you were a man of few words.”

Jeong Yeon-shin spoke as he assumed the opening stance of a sword art.

He lowered his body and rested a hand on the hilt.

The Ten Perfect Sect Master did not answer. He simply continued saying what he wished.

“Enough. There is something more important. To think the matter at the City of Master Craftsmen ended in such failure. Were you the ones who took Bodhidharma’s treasured artifact?”

“The Blood Flame Sect took it.”

The boy lied without hesitation, imagining himself borrowing Hyeon Won-chang’s and the Languid Flame Dragon’s brazen faces. It was easier than he had expected.

The Ten Perfect Sect Master did not seem to believe him. Perhaps it was the experience he had gained in the martial world over many years.

“Enough. Whether it is the Tang Sect or a Desolate Fortress branch, I can search them myself. Remember this. I will kill every last thing that stands in my way.”

“We should get out of here.”

The Languid Flame Dragon suddenly stepped beside him and whispered. Jeong Yeon-shin did not even respond.

He silently drew the Desolate Sword and raised it into a middle guard.

The wind brushing past the blade seemed to split in two.

Thanks to killing Yeo Ju-ha with ease, he was still in perfect condition.

The Ten Perfect Sect Master approached without even drawing a sword. The corners of his mouth were stretched into a long smile.

His gentle-looking eyes made his face all the more frightening.

“Even if you do not stop me, I will kill you. This sect declined because of you lot. Now that it is time to discuss rebuilding it, I intend to collect a proper price in blood.”

Crack!

The boy did not listen any further. He could not yield the initiative to a Purple Uniform-level expert.

Dang Un-hwang’s Myriad Flowers Rain behind him reacted swiftly.

The instant Jeong Yeon-shin’s sword strike released a dim light, clusters of hidden weapons surged forward beside him, guarding the boy.

“Good. Very good!”

The Ten Perfect Sect Master shouted boldly. His broad strides carried the air of an absolute master.

The air around them rang as if an earthquake had struck.

He had already watched the hand technique Seom-ye had unleashed.

Even among divine, ultimate arts, its power stood out. It required him to half-close his eyes and focus his aura sense completely.

That hand technique and Myriad Flowers Rain made an exceptional combination.

If someone were struck by the palm art amid that storm of hidden weapons, even a master of the Thirteen Heavens would struggle to emerge unscathed.

The Ten Perfect Sect Master’s eyes focused solely on Jeong Yeon-shin and Myriad Flowers Rain.

That was when it happened.

Crunch!

A pale face appeared over the Ten Perfect Sect Master’s shoulder, as though their battle had already ended.

He was a breathtakingly beautiful man.

In the instant his glossy white hair scattered through the air, the Blood Flame Sect Master’s fangs unleashed a monstrous aura.

It happened in the blink of an eye. The moment a ripple of aura emerged, his teeth sank into the Ten Perfect Sect Master’s nape.

“Aaaah!”

A peerless master’s scream burst forth. It was an unbelievable sight.

The Blood Flame Sect Master, biting the Ten Perfect Sect Master’s nape, flashed crimson eyes.

The terrifying blood-red glow steadily deepened.

Blood Arts. Essence absorption.

Though they stood in the same peerless realm, he had completely exploited an opening. He looked less like a person than a monster.

The speed of the essence absorption flowing through his teeth was tremendous. The Ten Perfect Sect Master’s aura was visibly fading.

Heh heh heh.

A sinister laugh slipped through the Blood Flame Sect Master’s teeth. It seemed to echo from the abyss.

The air around them stiffened.

It was a moment that could only leave anyone dumbstruck.

The Blood Flame Sect Master did not miss that opening.

Still biting the Ten Perfect Sect Master’s nape, he released an enormous aura beneath his feet.

Boom!

The inner energy erupting from the Yongquan acupoints on the soles of his feet was immense.

Holding the Ten Perfect Sect Master from behind, he shot upward like an arrow, as though he were flying.

The steel flower rain of Myriad Flowers Rain was swept up in the aura and scattered in all directions.

Dang Un-hwang’s startled groan rang out behind them.

‘The Blood Flame Sect Master. He’s buying time to absorb his energy.’

Jeong Yeon-shin quickly realized that something terrible would happen if he left the situation unchecked.

The muscles throughout his body tightened. The qi of the Dharma Light Wheel raced through him.

The moment he stimulated the Chengfu acupoint beneath his buttocks, the Yinmen acupoint on the back of his thigh below it, and then the Yongquan acupoint in his sole, the boy borrowed Cheong Myeong’s movement.

“Stop him!”

“Block him with your bodies!”

At the same time, red figures rushed at Jeong Yeon-shin. There were far more than one or two.

They had arrived cautiously, exploiting the chaotic battle in which he had to focus his aura sense completely.

Ten Blood Masters suddenly charged in, seemingly trying to buy time for their sect master.

A white gleam flashed in the boy’s eyes before he could leap upward.

‘Radiant Sword Flow...!’

The Desolate Sword flashed. He gave it everything for an instant. Gripping the hilt, he drew a half-moon with the pure white blade.

The qi that had contracted powerfully in his triceps and biceps exploded outward.

The broadly sweeping sword strike felt as though it crushed bones and chewed all flesh to pieces.

Fwoosh!

“Do not get any closer!”

“Treat the Grand Preceptor as the equal of an Apostle!”

Three Blood Master corpses collapsed from a single sword form. The aftermath of the slash was even greater.

Those wounded by the sword strike’s force wave clutched their abdomens and retreated in disarray.

Blood spilled everywhere amid groans from all directions.

Jeong Yeon-shin clutched the left side of his chest and tried to leap again.

His heart had been strained from spinning the Dharma Light Wheel so violently in that instant. His chest felt as though it were being torn apart.

At the same time.

Ahahahahaha!

Mad laughter echoed out. The Blood Flame Sect Master’s exhilaration seemed to stain all eight directions.

The aura rolling through his voice was enormous.

Had he gathered the Ten Perfect Sect Master’s qi as his own in an instant?

It was an unbelievable level of inner-energy control, even for the leader of the Demonic Sect.

Standing atop the roof of a hall, the Blood Flame Sect Master threw the Ten Perfect Sect Master’s body aside.

He did not even look at the figure falling helplessly.

A Grandmaster of Blood Arts. The master of the Blood Flame Sect.

The smile on his slender face brimmed with demonic charm.

He stood with his feet together and looked around with a dignified motion of his head.

There was grace in his bearing, like a noble of Beijing.

‘He used the gathering of Desolate Fortress, the Tang Sect, and the Ten Perfect Sect as an altar to advance his martial cultivation.’

The presence of Supreme Family Head Tang Tae-dok had made him sense the Blood Flame Sect Master’s appearance, but Jeong Yeon-shin had not expected such a dramatic intrusion.

Now he understood why peerless masters were called natural disasters.

The Blood Flame Sect Master had swept in and immediately removed Jeong Yeon-shin’s opponent.

It was a sight that showed him the vastness of the martial path. The Ten Perfect Sect Master had also been the master of one of the Thirteen Heavens.

‘The peerless realm. Five Qi Return to Origin?’

Jeong Yeon-shin knew at once. He was too late.

That was when a gust of wind brushed his cheek, as if it had been waiting for this very moment.

A purple robe fluttered before his eyes, blocking his view.

When had he arrived? A warm voice called the boy by name.

“Yeon-shin.”

“Grandfather...?”

Jeong Yeon-shin’s eyes widened slightly. A broad-shouldered old man stood with his back to him.

Unlike the Blood Flame Sect Master’s hair, the white hair stirring in the wind was rough and dull.

“Only now have I realized that your time and this old man’s are different.”

His voice was heavy and sorrowful.

The words astonished Jeong Yeon-shin. His maternal grandfather had noticed his constitution.

“I wished to speak with you for a long time, but the time granted to us does not align. As I pursued the Blood Flame Sect Master and comprehended the Jeong Family Youth Technique, this is what came to pass.”

“...!”

“Yeon-shin. This first meeting will also be our last. I am ashamed.”

Ma Yeon-jeok’s voice rang quietly.

“Engrave this old grandfather’s teachings in your eyes. You must eat the World Tree fruit, must you not? I will show you in full the realm you must reach. You will surely attain it someday.”

“Ma Yeon-jeok, you ridiculous old man. Still, you are worthy of being called my archenemy. I threw you off once, yet you managed to follow me.”

The Blood Flame Sect Master looked down at them with a smile.

The intrusion of the two peerless masters seemed to be the result of a long pursuit.

What twists and turns had occurred between them?

For the first time, the situation had slipped beyond Jeong Yeon-shin’s control.

All he could do was stare silently at his grandfather’s back.

Hummm.

Ma Yeon-jeok lowered one hand at an angle.

A treasured sword that had appeared like an illusion was already in his right hand.

It differed from the current Divine Sword Squad Leader’s mysterious and resplendent Formless Sword.

The straight, pure white blade was unmistakably Bowol, Ma Yeon-jeok’s famed treasured sword.

Yet it gave him the same feeling.