Surviving as a Genius on Borrowed Time - Chapter 171

WeTried Translations

Translator/Editor: ZERO_SUGAR

◈ Surviving as a Genius on Borrowed Time ◈

Episode 171: Embodiment (7)

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“Hmm?”

Jegal Hyeon suddenly let out a questioning sound. A glint passed through his eyes as he stared at the Heart Martial Union camp.

“The tents are all empty. Judging by the fasting pills and jerky they left behind, it doesn’t seem they’ve gone for good. Should I call it the confidence of a Demonic Sect from the Thirteen Heavens? They only left guards behind. About five of them.”

“And I can smell liquor. Looks like they were drinking, too,” Jeong Yeon-shin said.

Jeong Yeon-shin lightly touched his sword hilt.

At a glance, the information Jegal Hyeon had given could be seen and felt through ordinary sight and aura sense as well.

An eye technique generally improved dynamic vision. What he needed for actual combat was to alter and refine his swordsmanship.

‘If I were to create a new eye technique, I’d have to devise it in the realm of divine arts and ultimate techniques, like the Record of the Dharma Light Wheel.’

No inspiration came to him yet. It was nothing like swordsmanship, which already had the foundations of the Radiant Sword Flow and the Sword Star.

Eye techniques were far more secretive and mysterious martial arts.

He had not yet reached the stage where he could conceive spirituality on his own and imbue it into a martial art. At least, not yet.

‘Boring. I’ve never felt lacking in my senses...’

Martial arts held special meaning for Jeong Yeon-shin.

They were both entertainment to drive away loneliness and a means of extending his life.

His was a desperate life. He could not cling to something that would not work. His interest scattered, and his irritation soon seeped into his voice.

“Let’s go wait there.”

His voice was indifferent. Jegal Hyeon and Ak Ye-rim quickly turned to him.

“Squad Leader, what did you just...?”

“You mean we should go wait there?”

Jegal Hyeon seemed to be confirming what he had heard, but Ak Ye-rim’s question was sharp. Anyone would have reacted the same way.

This was where a major faction of the Thirteen Heavens had established a temporary base. It was not somewhere one casually mentioned as though suggesting a destination for a stroll.

Jeong Yeon-shin, Leader of Demon Wings.

At his age, his youth stood out even more than his black robe.

Those who had never traveled the martial world with him had little to go on.

Distrust immediately appeared on Spear Phoenix Ak Ye-rim’s face. She plainly suspected that he lacked experience and had a reckless nature.

Step.

By then, the boy had already started walking. From the young Leader of Demon Wings’ perspective, Ak Ye-rim was the one trapped at the bottom of a well.

A flower raised in a prestigious Shandong family could not possibly know.

The insight he had gained while racing through the martial world had granted even the seventeen-year-old boy perception beyond his years.

‘More than a hundred experts made camp here,’ the boy thought.

Masters of the martial world generally disliked crowds. Even when they formed groups, they treasured the romance of standing alone in the martial world.

Martial artists affiliated with the Thirteen Heavens, in particular, would not travel together merely to plunder commoners.

It made no sense in terms of either efficiency or temperament.

Leaving in a group and returning in a group? That was what conscripted soldiers with shallow martial arts did.

Jeong Yeon-shin slowly opened his mouth. He could sense Ak Ye-rim standing behind him, unable to make up her mind.

“The rookie knows nothing about the martial world.”

“What did you say...?”

A boy far younger than her had called her a rookie. Ak Ye-rim’s eyebrows shot up.

Jeong Yeon-shin continued without caring.

“The problem will come when they return one by one. Were you thinking of waiting until then to fight? I didn’t expect you to be so timid. You said you trained in the Ak Family spear arts. Senior Ak of the Divine Sword Squad wasn’t like you.”

If anything, she had been so bold it was hard to keep up. The boy swallowed the rest.

He was speaking of Ak Su-rim, the Desolate Divine Spear. Ak Ye-rim’s brow twitched. She looked dumbfounded.

“At your age, you sound like one of the elders of my family...”

Her words trailed off.

They did not reach the ears of the old soul who had become the embodiment of youthful recklessness.

“This mission was always like striking a boulder with an egg. It happened because of the Martial Alliance’s worthless political maneuvering. It makes no sense to send this number of people against the martial force of the Thirteen Heavens in the first place.”

The boy thought he had spoken unusually much. It was trivial talk, not even about martial arts.

“You bastards! Stop right there!”

The group was discovered in the meantime. Martial artists in leather armor charged at them from ten zhang away.

They ran incredibly fast.

Their Body Movement Scripture made it sound as though horse hooves were striking the ground. Thick dust rose behind the five men.

“Don’t kill them by accident.”

The Desolate Fortress Squad Leader ordered the Martial Alliance martial artists. He did not wait for an answer.

Thump.

The young Leader of Demon Wings stepped forward and turned the light wheel in his heart.

The Record of the Dharma Light Wheel spread through every minor meridian in his limbs, wrapping around his entire body like wind.

The hem of his black robe fluttered faintly. It was Force Projection through his entire body, unleashed without even attacking.

“Ghk...!”

The enemies recoiled before they even collided. Their allies did the same.

Jegal Hyeon drew in a small breath as though recalling some fan play, while Ak Ye-rim stopped as if she had seen some bizarre spiritual beast. Leaving them behind, Jeong Yeon-shin kicked off the ground.

Whoosh!

Wind Body left a black afterimage. Jeong Yeon-shin deliberately drew his sword.

He immediately operated the mnemonic formula of the Radiant Sword Flow. He wanted to observe his swordsmanship in real combat against martial artists from a major faction.

A faint halo of light formed along the blade of the divine sword Northern Light. He swung it sideways.

Swish!

His Body Movement Scripture footwork was flawless.

The weight of True Step fully settled into the sword strike, and a flash flickered from the right arm of the enemy at the front.

He had clearly cut him. Yet there was no resistance in the hand gripping Northern Light’s hilt.

The man’s sword and arm fell together from the end of the faint light. It was a limp fall.

“It’s the Leader of Demon Wings!”

The man shouted as he retreated. He was quick-witted.

He rapidly put together the situation, the rumors, and his opponent’s appearance.

Perhaps that was one reason the Thirteen Heavens were called a major faction. It was worth remembering.

“Subdue them.”

The boy spoke to Ak Ye-rim and Jegal Hyeon, who had followed close behind.

Jeong Yeon-shin did not stop walking. Four enemies remained.

Heart Martial Union.

They called it a martial force.

If their numbers were that large, the quality of their masters was bound to decline. By Desolate Fortress standards, they seemed to be around White Uniform rank.

At a mercenary market, they might have passed as undefeated martial artists.

If more than a hundred gathered, they would make for tremendous fighting strength.

At this moment, though, they were few in number, and they had to face the Desolate Fortress’s Leader of Demon Wings.

Hummm!

The sword light of the Northern Light Sword accompanied the wind brushing past their sleeves. Another man’s arm fell.

The tendons in two others’ legs were cut. It all happened within a single breath. His martial prowess was overwhelming, and his hand was decisive.

Jegal Hyeon and Ak Ye-rim only had to strike the paralysis acupoints of the men who could no longer resist. The martial artists’ limbs were paralyzed in an instant.

Even so.

The remaining man’s response was different. He redirected Northern Light and evaded it. A white trail drew a semicircle.

The pure white blade swept past the tip of the man’s nose as he threw his head back, then returned.

Jeong Yeon-shin had followed Hyeon Won-chang’s advice and held back seven-tenths of his strength, but it was still surprising.

“I’ve seen someone use a sword art similar to this.”

The man spoke in a rough voice.

His hair hung loose and disheveled. He seemed to be referring to a martial artist of Seom-ye’s Lineage who had refined the Radiant Sword Flow.

Desolate Fortress warriors traveled throughout the Central Plains to carry out their missions.

For martial artists of the Thirteen Heavens, such encounters were said not to be uncommon.

“There must be quite a few people like you.”

The boy spoke as an unknown martial artist recognized the Leader of Demon Wings’ swordsmanship.

Even a martial artist from a major faction was no different from a wanderer before a Desolate Fortress Black Uniform.

Had those who experienced the same sword art put their heads together and studied it? It was hard to think otherwise.

Such encounters were said not to be uncommon.

The martial arts of famous schools were always targets for counters. The more exquisite they were, the more enemies they had.

Famous martial arts usually sought countermeasures through a different approach than Jeong Yeon-shin’s. They had varied forms and thick manuals.

The common method was to answer them with dozens of different techniques.

Clang!

Jeong Yeon-shin exchanged swords with the man as he thought.

‘A prestigious family’s ultimate skill is said to be a martial art with profound principles and many choices of attack.’

Masters of newly emerged martial lineages did not have such things. That was why the many major factions had defended their positions for so long.

They perceived and shattered their opponents’ martial arts, then added another page of useful derivative techniques to their own martial arts manuals.

He was seeing something the martial artists of Seom-ye’s Lineage would encounter from time to time.

It was also what the Martial Alliance was doing to Jeong Yeon-shin.

Having it done to him, he was extremely pleased. This opponent was more thorough than the Law Enforcement Squad Leader. That was because her martial arts were stronger.

Rather than grasping the shape of the Radiant Sword Flow, all she had needed to do was sever its joints.

This Heart Martial Union martial artist did not do that, which satisfied him.

‘I need to build a new form based on the mnemonic formula of the Radiant Sword Flow.’

He had created it when he was still an immature White Uniform.

It was swordsmanship greatly inspired by the sword marks carved into the cliffs of Mount Zhongnan, but he had not made many changes to it afterward.

There had to be plenty of room for improvement.

He twisted his wrist to swing sideways again. The man responded at once. He raised his sword in the opposite direction from Jeong Yeon-shin.

The moment the boy swung Northern Light from within his guard outward, the swordsman’s hand shot toward Jeong Yeon-shin.

He slightly tilted his blade toward his own head.

The man made a slope. Force Projection flowed from the fist gripping his sword hilt.

Kaaang!

Northern Light scraped the man’s sword as it climbed over it. At the same time, the man twisted his body and escaped the sword domain.

It was a move that had seen through the Radiant Sword Flow’s straight trajectory. A faint smile formed on his lips.

Of course, he had reason to be satisfied. He was receiving the sword techniques of a Desolate Fortress Black Uniform.

Jeong Yeon-shin silently kept the man in his sight without stopping his attacks.

Now that he looked at him, the man seemed to hold a fairly high position within the camp.

“Thank you.”

The boy muttered. The man facing him flinched.

Hummm.

The light wheel technique spun within the palm gripping the hilt.

He did not draw out more qi. He changed the sword form instead. The sword path that had drawn a diagonal line curved gently.

The force wave around the blade curved with it. It passed over the sword the man had raised again.

The man’s defensive move had been mocked. It had opened a path before Jeong Yeon-shin’s sword.

‘I only changed it into a curve.’

The interest on the boy’s face vanished. What had the man been so pleased about?

“...!”

The man’s eyes widened. That was all.

Thud!

Jeong Yeon-shin ruthlessly slashed the man’s upper body. A dull sensation traveled into the hand gripping Northern Light.

The strike tore through the man’s Protective Qi Technique and dug into his ribs. He wanted to eliminate any possible future trouble.

If the man survived through some stroke of fate, the martial artists of Seom-ye’s Lineage might face a dangerous situation someday.

Splash!

Blood spurted when he pulled out his sword.

The open autumn forest road stretched out with incredible clarity, as did the fresh blood scattered at his feet.

Crimson streaks dotted the ocher earth. They were clear and vivid, like a painting by an artist who had spared no paint.

It meant no unnecessary force had been released with the sword strike. No blood had been wasted.

He had not inflicted internal injuries while they exchanged moves. He had severed only the man’s lifeline.

The man’s body collapsed at Jeong Yeon-shin’s feet. The soft sound of it hitting the ground echoed.

Swish!

The boy in black shook his sword once.

Then, holding the divine sword lowered at his side, he slightly bowed his head. Anyone would have thought he had gained martial insight and entered meditation.

His appearance with his eyes closed was strangely elegant. Long eyelashes lay across his handsome face.

He looked like a young swordsman from a landscape-and-figure painting, the kind that usually featured the elven race as its subject.

Solitary eyes. Swordsmanship that had reached the divine.

The boy possessed a strange air.

While his actions and words were unrestrained, he also carried the temperament one might sense from a peerless Daoist master.

He had the bearing of a cultivator only a few years from ascension as an immortal.

‘As though he doesn’t have long left to live...’

Ak Ye-rim, who had been staring at the Leader of Demon Wings as if entranced, suddenly came to her senses. It was an absurd thought.

She hurriedly bit her lower lip and brushed back her long braided hair. She scolded herself. This was no time to be distracted.

She forced herself to speak.

“...The Leader of Demon Wings is a cruel person. That strength, even at a glance, was not his full power. He toyed with him before killing him.”

“Cruel? It may be the opposite.”

Jegal Hyeon, who had tucked his iron fan into his belt, answered at once.

“He got to cross swords with a supreme master to his heart’s content before he died. It depends on how one sees it. I think it’s too early to judge the Leader of Demon Wings’ character.”

“...”

“Let’s extract information.”

Four enemies had been subdued without being killed.

Jegal Hyeon took the lead in interrogating the remaining men. He was especially careful not to disturb the Leader of Demon Wings’ meditation.

He asked many questions.

How many people had dispersed at a time, how often they returned, and where their leader, the Spirit Sky Sword Ghost, had gone.

He received no answer.

The mouths of those determined to remain silent were like safes without keys.

They were worthy martial artists of a major faction from the Thirteen Heavens. The man who had spoken before Jeong Yeon-shin had been an exceptional case.

“It’s fine.”

The boy said after ending his meditation.

The group settled in the middle of the enemy camp. It was the young Leader of Demon Wings’ decision. His nerve was astonishingly bold.

“Who are you? Which sect are you from!”

“Damn! Desolate Fortress...!”

The men who had gone out to plunder returned.

They appeared to have moved in groups. They came back in groups of ten and eight.

Whenever they charged in with weapons drawn, they were cut down instead.

The faint glow of sunset on Jeong Yeon-shin’s Northern Light Sword gradually turned red with blood.

He stopped Jegal Hyeon and Ak Ye-rim from joining in, then reviewed his swordsmanship alone.

The man who had revealed their movements earlier had said there were a hundred and fifty of them.

It had not been a lie.