Surviving as a Genius on Borrowed Time - Chapter 168

WeTried Translations

Translator/Editor: ZERO_SUGAR

◈ Surviving as a Genius on Borrowed Time ◈

Episode 168: Embodiment (4)

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They traveled without pause for an entire day.

They did not ride fine horses, relying instead on lightness skill. Taking down the Heart Martial Union was no matter to take lightly.

They had to risk their lives, conceal their presence, and approach with care.

Namgung Hwa-shin had been left with the main group in case something happened to Jeong Yeon-shin.

At least one envoy of Desolate Fortress had to remain with the Martial Alliance.

Only someone in Blue Uniform could temporarily fill the role of a Black Uniform expert.

Namgung Hwa-shin ranked directly beneath Yeon-shin and was also Yeon-shin’s most dependable companion.

‘Namgung Hwa-shin will keep a close watch on what happens within the Martial Alliance Assembly.’

The boy thought highly of the White Qilin’s martial skill, adaptability, character, and reputation.

The Heart Martial Union was a formidable enemy. Its experts belonged to a major faction against whom victory could not be guaranteed.

They had to account for the possibility that the group would be wiped out or delayed. That was why Namgung Hwa-shin had stayed behind.

“Couldn’t we simply not go? Clashing with one of the Thirteen Heavens isn’t some ordinary matter.”

Languid Flame Dragon said as he patted his chest. At some point, he had moved beside Yeon-shin.

A bundle of opium poppies he had hurriedly bought two days ago was tucked into his robes. Yeon-shin shook his head.

Namgung Hwa-shin’s absence felt especially significant now. Namgung Hwa-shin’s presence had been reassuring.

“If I don’t want to disgrace myself, I have to go through this. Unless I forge a sword art through real battle, I won’t be able to withstand the Sword Star’s sword forms. At this rate, the prestige of Desolate Fortress’s Black Uniform will suffer.”

The boy spoke, and Languid Flame Dragon bit off a poppy stem.

“Is losing to the Sword Star shameful? It’s not as though he’s some mediocre master.”

“It would be the same even if he were the Alliance Leader. If I show myself being defeated without resistance... that alone would mean the mission failed. I came to establish my standing, yet I would leave looking as though I had received a lesson instead.”

“The Assembly, wary of the Squad Leader, must have devised a scheme. Even after handing over the grand founding ceremony, they can preserve their own dignity.”

Hyeon Won-chang spoke while standing ramrod straight.

The Martial Alliance martial artists walked ahead as befitted hostages. Hyeon Won-chang glared at them for no reason while speaking, yet lightly gripped the cloth near Yeon-shin’s shoulder with one hand.

Hyeon Won-chang ran their mouth boldly while using the young Squad Leader as a shield. The boy silently shook his arm free.

Languid Flame Dragon curled his lips.

“Well, refusing a ‘lesson’ would look strange too. The Sword Star says he’ll teach a move to the master who conquered the grand founding ceremony...”

“Radiant Sword Flow can’t withstand even a single move from the Sword Star. Its flow was broken even by the Law Enforcement Squad Leader’s sword strike.”

“Then Sihwa Boundless Hand won’t be enough either, will it? Even Radiant River.”

Languid Flame Dragon asked. Yeon-shin stared at him for a moment.

The man who was bored by everything seemed to have a firm grasp of Yeon-shin’s personal martial arts.

He had babbled about martial talent when they first met, yet he was unusually sharp when it came to martial arts.

The boy slowly nodded.

“The distance is the problem. The instant I close in with Hand Arts, my arm will be cut off. Protective Qi Technique will struggle to withstand the Sword Star’s sword strikes.”

“So it seems you must ultimately rely on swordsmanship and technique. The Huangbo Family has a sword art worth using too. It’s called the Southern Florescence Sword Command Form. After my great-grandfather perfected it, he was praised as Shandong’s greatest swordsman of the decade. There’s a famous story of the spears of more than ten Ak Family masters being scattered before a single sword.”

“What nonsense!”

A clear voice cut in.

“The truth was different! It was an incident where he shamelessly used his power against younger martial artists! There’s no way someone called the Young Family Head didn’t know that!”

It was Ak Ye-rim, dressed elegantly in a pure white martial uniform. A long spear hung across her back.

The spear shaft swayed with every step alongside her long braided hair. The Ak Family Spear Art she had trained in was the martial art of the Shandong Ak Family.

The Ak Family.

It had competed for renown with Languid Flame Dragon’s family, which had also settled in Jinan, Shandong Province.

Until three Desolate Fortress martial units swept across Jinan, the Ak Family had been at a disadvantage. The destruction of the Huangbo Family had greatly benefited them.

The Shandong Ak Family had originally been counted among the Eight Great Families only north of the Yangtze River. With the formation of the Martial Alliance Assembly, they had come to Hanzhong in hopes of gaining recognition throughout the land.

The current Ak Family could scarcely spare even one expert.

The reason was that Divine Spear Ak Su-rim, the elder sister of the Ak Family Head, had joined Desolate Fortress.

A great loss of fighting strength had occurred decades ago. The story of Ak Su-rim casting aside the right to inherit the Family Head position for unknown reasons was well known.

Languid Flame Dragon snorted.

“And did you act that way because you know shame? From what I saw, you were quite the spectacle.”

“What?”

“Our Squad Leader is nearly ten years younger than you, yet you tried to hold him responsible for a fair sparring match at a banquet. Your intentions were obvious. Everyone knows how much you loved Se-jin. If I ever dreamed of behaving like that, I’d bite my tongue and kill myself the moment I woke up.”

“You...!”

Ak Ye-rim narrowed her eyes sharply, then suddenly shut her mouth.

Her gaze shifted. Complicated emotions filled her eyes as she glanced toward Yeon-shin.

Languid Flame Dragon had brought up a sensitive subject without restraint in front of many young martial artists.

No one could have expected the boy to defend the Clear Qilin that day.

His words that they would be equals even after he became a Purple Uniform had remained a topic of discussion among them for quite some time.

‘Was he sincere?’

That alone did not erase Ak Ye-rim’s hatred. Unlike the White Qilin, she was not inhumanly impartial.

Nor was she an eccentric like her elder paternal aunt Ak Su-rim, who had abandoned even her family for the common people.

She belonged to an honorable martial family, but she was still an ordinary person.

‘The Leader of Demon Wings, the White Qilin.’

She was confused. Unlike Namgung Mi, Namgung Se-jin had been a good older brother to the White Qilin.

Why did the White Qilin travel the martial world with the person who had killed the White Qilin’s own older brother?

She did not see Desolate Fortress as a chivalrous sect. She saw it as the military of the martial world.

There was only one reason Desolate Fortress protected the common people.

To stabilize the tribute flowing into the imperial court.

Ak Ye-rim had originally intended to meet the White Qilin alone. She wanted to face the White Qilin and ask.

Were the Leader of Demon Wings and Desolate Fortress any different from the White Qilin’s family? Did the White Qilin take them for a sect that pursued chivalry without a speck of stain?

She truly would have done so if Desolate Fortress martial artists had not suddenly barged in and presented the Alliance Leader’s order.

“So where are we going?”

She asked, though not Languid Flame Dragon.

To address a Desolate Fortress Squad Leader, she would have to speak formally. Ak Ye-rim chose to ask the Huangbo Young Family Head instead.

Yet Languid Flame Dragon was mischievous. He kept his mouth shut and gave no answer.

He had seen straight through the impudent Ak Family martial artist’s thoughts. Instead, he watched the two boys talking.

The youngster from the Gongsun Family had approached the young Squad Leader.

“My betrothed is interested in you. I am too. We were at Clear Night Valley before, when Desolate Fortress and the Namgung Family sparred.”

The boy spoke with a sharp light in his eyes. He was about the same height as Yeon-shin.

Gongsun Min.

He was the Young Family Head of the Gongsun Family, one of the Eight Great Families. Did he enjoy darting around everywhere with the Body Movement Scripture?

He was overflowing with energy. His heavily stained white silk martial uniform suited him strangely well.

“Clear Night Valley?”

Yeon-shin asked. He remembered a great many spectators surrounding the gorge. Martial artists and commoners alike had gathered in large numbers.

Gongsun Min nodded enthusiastically.

“Yes. It was a huge event. To be honest, I went to watch the Divine Sword Squad Leader and the Namgung Family Head’s martial arts, but... apart from their brilliance, your life-and-death duel with the Clear Qilin was incredibly impressive.”

“What?”

“It was a life-and-death duel with much to learn from. The flow of your exchanges never broke, yet every move was unbelievably precise. And when you wrapped the Clear Qilin’s sword-strike force wave around your hand, then used it to strengthen your palm art... that was terrifying!”

He did not hide his admiration. His feelings showed clearly on his face. No one in the Martial Alliance Assembly had treated Yeon-shin that way until now.

They said more than a hundred sects had joined the Assembly. It seemed there were truly all kinds of people.

“Ridiculous...”

Yeon-shin turned his head, carefully concealing his awkwardness.

This was the time to stay tense. They had already entered a village. Fragments of wooden palisades, shriveled like firewood, crunched beneath their feet.

Smoke rose between the homes. It was bleak, as if bundles of incense had been burned to honor the dead.

‘There are no survivors.’

The grim wind testified to a massacre. Even the faint vitality that had remained in the village seemed buried alongside its roughly made graves.

It was as though they had entered another world. The stench of rotting corpses was overwhelming.

It was a sight all too familiar to martial artists during years of famine.

Those with power plundered food and held the weak by the throat.

That would never change, no matter how many ages passed. Many used the martial arts they had learned to secure their own lives.

The Heart Martial Union was no different.

If it committed such acts in Henan, where its sect was based, it would offend the Feudal Prince who supported it.

So they had come to Shaanxi. They plundered outside their sect, ate, drank, and trained in martial arts.

If they could also damage the alliance of orthodox sects, that would be even better.

That was what the Sword Star’s letter had said. Yeon-shin found it reasonable.

“There are a lot of grave mounds everywhere. Who made them?”

“Some wandering hero who passed through the village, or perhaps a villager.”

It was a conversation between Languid Flame Dragon and Hyeon Won-chang.

The boy slowly spoke.

“We will trace the Heart Martial Union’s path back. We will hunt down every one we see and cut off the head of the leader of the martial unit that led the plundering. According to the document the Sword Star gave me, that person is an elder of the Heart Martial Union. Spirit Sky Sword Ghost Baek Seo-gun.”

He spoke as the Leader of Demon Wings, dressed in black robes.

Moyong Myeong-jun, who had been silently following as though lost in thought, immediately raised his head.

“Spirit Sky Sword Ghost? Could it be the one I know?”

Though he was dressed more like a noble young master than anyone else present, worry appeared on his face.

A shadow fell over his expression, in contrast to his bright pink martial uniform.

“There are many rumors that she uses qi sword control. They say the Heart Martial Union’s Sword Ghost has a sword that swims through the sky. At the Prince of Henan’s sixtieth birthday celebration, she once faced the powerful arrows of a hundred archers with a single sword. The Prince who saw it bestowed the epithet Sword Ghost. He said it was a level beyond human reach.”

Moyong Myeong-jun spoke while keeping his eyes on Yeon-shin.

Unlike Ak Ye-rim, he treated the boy with proper respect and did not avoid him. Still, he gave the impression of hiding thoughts behind his courteous demeanor.

Yeon-shin did not answer.

“I’ve heard of it too. They say not even a swordsman from Shaolin’s lay disciples could withstand the Sword Ghost’s flying sword. Since the Heart Martial Union’s main headquarters is in Henan, experts from nearby Mount Hua Sect or Zhongnan Sect would know more. The eye techniques of mediocre small and medium sects aren’t reliable...”

Gongsun Min trailed off.

No Nine Sects apart from Mount Hua and Jeomchang Sect had attended the Martial Alliance Assembly. Their lack of advice was regrettable.

Their mission was to kill an elder of the Thirteen Heavens who commanded a martial force. No matter how he considered it, their strength was insufficient.

There were so many factions in the Assembly. Why had they sent such a group? Gongsun Min wondered.

It seemed likely that the leaders of the main alliance had conspired to kill the Leader of Demon Wings.

“I know.”

The boy spoke in a calm voice.

Languid Flame Dragon smiled faintly, apparently satisfied by Yeon-shin’s short answer.

“Of course. This is no time to worry about flying swords. The same applies even if it truly is qi sword control. Gongsun boy, if a swordsman is famous throughout the Central Plains, that person must be more frightening when holding a sword directly. The control of inner energy is strongest when the sword hilt and palm are in direct contact, unless there is some special mnemonic formula.”

“If it is a flying sword operated through a specific mnemonic formula, then it can hardly be called the legendary qi sword control. Let us leave Spirit Sky Sword Ghost Baek Seo-gun entirely to the Squad Leader.”

Hyeon Won-chang spoke with a nod.

Around then, a question arose in the minds of the Martial Alliance martial artists.

Jegal Hyeon, Gongsun Min, Moyong Myeong-jun, and even the Little Sword Empress Chwi So-ok looked at the young Desolate Fortress Squad Leader for a moment.

Ak Ye-rim stared at him as though trying to bore a hole through him. It was as if she intended to take in every flaw and strength with her eyes.

Each harbored different thoughts.

Yet they shared one interest.

How strong was the new Leader of Demon Wings?

They were experts who would one day lead the Martial Alliance Assembly.

Their status meant they would inevitably contend with the young Squad Leader of Desolate Fortress for the rest of their lives. Yeon-shin was not the only one gathering information.

The young martial artists representing the orthodox sects had to observe the Leader of Demon Wings’ every action.

What kind of character he had.

Under what circumstances his martial arts displayed their greatest power.

Whether he had any obvious weakness.

‘Their gazes are like awls.’

Yeon-shin recognized it too. His fan trick with Jegal Hyeon would not give them a clear sense of his abilities.

He remembered his true mission. Ak Su-rim’s words.

She had told him to throw cold water on the Martial Alliance’s momentum, which had surged with the formation of the Martial Alliance Assembly.

The boy had not forgotten his original mission.

“Come out.”

He spoke suddenly. The aura sense of the Record of the Dharma Light Wheel clearly caught the inner-energy presences of Demonic Sect martial artists.

The Heart Martial Union group that had swept through the village had not left behind a single grain of rice. Instead, they had stationed a small force there.

Enemies concealed beneath the thicket more than thirty feet away and behind the roof of an intact house were merely the least of it.

One person even stood boldly on one leg atop a watchtower, looking down at them.

Yeon-shin raised his head. His eyes met those of the man on the watchtower.

It was a man in yellow robes, his legs and waist held perfectly straight. The man only grinned.

He seemed to possess considerable martial skill. The fact that he did not move at all was enough to estimate his mastery of the Body Movement Scripture.

Were they the ones assigned to cut off pursuers?

The boy said nothing more. He slightly extended his left hand downward.

Toward the sword hilt hanging at Moyong Myeong-jun’s waist across from him.

He operated different mnemonic formulas through the two acupoints in the center of his palm.

Attraction and repulsion. The principles of drawing in and releasing crossed in an instant.

Suddenly.

Moyong Myeong-jun’s sword drew itself from its sheath.

Gongsun Min and Moyong Myeong-jun’s eyes widened, as did those of the Heart Martial Union expert on the watchtower and the other martial artists.

The faint sword resonance that rang out with a soft shing brought silent shock.

A supreme master’s move followed instantly.

The young Leader of Demon Wings flicked his sleeve once. In that moment, light flashed along the blade.

His black robes billowed, and the sword that shot upward with a swish became a chilling streak of light.