WeTried Translations
Translator/Editor: ZERO_SUGAR
Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried
◈ Surviving as a Genius on Borrowed Time ◈
Episode 177: Sword of Autumn (5)
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Among Desolate Fortress’s martial artists, one person had remained alone at the Martial Alliance’s main headquarters.
White Qilin Namgung Hwa-shin.
He was the focus of attention. The Clear and White Twin Qilins had long been known as the finest brothers in the martial world, both in character and martial arts.
Anyone could see that Namgung Hwa-shin was an imposing martial artist. He was also known as the next Leader of the Swift Heaven Wing Squad.
A few envied him, but far more regarded him favorably.
Once Jeong Yeon-shin left, messages seeking Namgung Hwa-shin increased sharply.
Many had avoided him because of the infamous reputation Ma Jin had built as Leader of Demon Wings.
Namgung Hwa-shin had to endure all sorts of situations.
Whenever he received a letter requesting a spar and arrived at the appointed place, words sharpened like blades would greet him.
“To be honest, I have admired you for a long time, Young Master Namgung. Since the Dragon-Phoenix Gathering.”
“...”
“Once the grand founding ceremony is over, it will be difficult to see you again, so I gathered my courage to tell you. Please do not answer me right now.”
He had heard that from a fist master of the Eon Family beneath moonlight veiled in thick mist.
Some secretly handed him love letters, while others confessed their feelings directly. Such was how relationships between men and women in the martial world came to be.
It was nothing new. He had received countless confessions even before entering Desolate Fortress.
It had begun when he first attended the Dragon-Phoenix Gathering holding the hands of Namgung Se-jin and Namgung Mi.
He simply had not expected it to happen at the Martial Alliance Assembly as well. He rejected them without exception.
“I am grateful for your feelings. But I cannot marry into your family as a son-in-law.”
“...!”
Not everyone who approached him did so with pure intentions. Some clearly wished to lure away a martial artist whose future was certain to shine.
They said more than a hundred sects had signed the Martial Alliance Assembly’s joint petition.
Since ancient times, it had not been unusual for people to send members of the opposite sex after outstanding young men and women.
Namgung Hwa-shin turned away bitterly.
There had once been someone he loved.
She was the daughter of a minor merchant guild leader who traded tea leaves in Southern Zhili. Namgung Mi had ordered her poisoned to death.
At the time, Namgung Hwa-shin had been raised as his family’s hidden sword. A family’s killing sword could not form ties with outsiders.
He had buried the woman he loved in his heart. After that, no other woman caught his eye.
“I know you have not inherited the Imperial Sword Art. From the beginning, this Jang only wished to witness your Boundless Firmament Sword, young hero.”
“When Clear Qilin was alive, he once gave me some instruction...”
Competitive spirits and wariness ran rampant. Yet that much was tolerable.
The truly unpleasant ones were those who used marriage as a tool and those who pried into the temporary Squad Leader.
The former was bearable. The latter was the problem.
“I am not asking about Desolate Fortress’s organization. I am simply curious...”
“Go on.”
“I mean the Leader of Demon Wings. How much standing does that young Black Uniform Squad Leader have in Desolate Fortress? Is it not strange for the leader of a combat squad counted among the world’s foremost to be under twenty? Is he truly worthy of being followed so sincerely by the White Qilin, renowned throughout the land...?”
“...”
“It was said to be a fair spar, but was he not the one who pierced Clear Qilin’s body? He killed your brother. I am deeply curious what sort of person he is and how exceptional he must be. There are many rumors that he is terribly arrogant.”
“...He is straightforward. He does what needs to be done, worries when there is cause for concern, and gets angry when anger is warranted. His manner of expression may only seem haughty. If you want to know more, come to Fragrant Rhyme Residence. This Namgung will explain it with his sword.”
“With a sword? I thought you were a gentle man...”
No one actually came to Fragrant Rhyme Residence.
People with shallow schemes were usually shallow in martial arts as well. Without considerable resolve, no one could cross swords with White Qilin.
“Young Hero Namgung, a letter has arrived from the Beggars’ Sect.”
A servant waiting at Fragrant Rhyme Residence handed him the document.
It came from the Successor Beggar.
It was an invitation. He was invited to a meeting of the Martial Alliance’s leadership as Desolate Fortress’s representative.
Since the Leader of Demon Wings, head of the delegation, was absent, Namgung Hwa-shin was to speak in his stead as a Blue Uniform master.
He immediately set out.
He entered the meeting hall and took his place among masters whose names shone like stars. Only two were of his generation.
One was a handsome beggar, the other a woman with both eyes covered by white cloth. The woman drew more attention by appearance alone.
Her smooth jawline and high nose suggested beauty capable of toppling a kingdom, but she also possessed an exceptionally strange presence.
Even her smallest movements stole the gazes of everyone around her, men and women alike.
They said she represented the Ye Clan. The clan had poured immense wealth into establishing the Martial Alliance.
‘Someone to watch.’
Namgung Hwa-shin was committing her and the Beggars’ Sect’s Successor Beggar to memory when someone spoke.
“This concerns the schedule for the grand founding ceremony.”
It was a middle-aged man in a green long robe.
Wind-Water Mystic Master Jegal Cheon, the alliance’s Acting Chief Strategist, had jet-black, sword-shaped eyebrows. Namgung Hwa-shin’s eyes turned cold.
They said this was the man who had played tricks on the Squad Leader with a formation. He had a bad feeling.
“Many have suggested moving the founding ceremony forward. With the world on the verge of falling into chaos, should we not announce the alliance’s establishment sooner and swiftly embrace the hearts of the martial world? It is a petition with considerable merit...”
Namgung Hwa-shin’s eyes widened.
It was an utterly blatant attempt to restrain them. They meant to exclude the Leader of Demon Wings from the grand founding ceremony.
They were willing to bear the rumors that they had resorted to such measures because they feared Desolate Fortress’s master.
They seemed to wish to prevent the Leader of Demon Wings, whose martial prowess vastly exceeded his years, from making the alliance’s masters into laughingstocks.
‘How has the orthodox martial world become so petty?’
Few people looked displeased. Only the Taoists of the Mount Hua Sect and the martial artists of the Tang Sect did.
The Nine Sects other than Mount Hua were not attending this gathering, while the great families had never been worth expecting much from.
Sword Star, the alliance leader, was nowhere to be seen. It seemed the rumors that he was a figurehead were true.
Acting Chief Strategist Jegal Cheon had presented an agenda that was practically decided already.
Namgung Hwa-shin thought to himself.
‘I have to stop this.’
The rough, resolute swordsman raised his hand at once. Every master in the meeting hall had expected it.
Members of the great families wore faint sneers. The Acting Chief Strategist smiled politely as well.
“Delegates have no voting rights, but... I will hear Young Hero Namgung’s opinion. Take a breath and speak.”
Then it happened.
Jegal Cheon’s smile faded slightly. Another arm rose in the meeting hall.
It was a delicate, jade-white hand.
The young lady of the Ye Clan playfully twisted it this way and that.
* * *
Sevenfold Gorge.
Invisible waves of inner power filled the hill. They came from the newly appointed Leader of Demon Wings, who held his sword high.
They swept forward like a cutting wind. It was as though the powerful winds blowing through the gorge had become translucent waves.
Even from that sign alone, one could tell it was an advanced technique.
Baek Seo-gun had already seen this sword form once. It was the move they had exchanged when the Leader of Demon Wings answered the Spirit Sky Sword Ghost’s challenge over whether he was entitled to address her informally.
Feeling her hair brush against the back of her neck anew, she spoke.
“You were in a hurry then. I was curious what would happen if you used it properly.”
She spoke while facing the sword wind head-on.
Baek Seo-gun’s arm swept through the air. Her short gray hair fluttered boldly as her sword drifted through the air according to the principles of the Hand-Guided Sword.
The blade carried a powerful force wave. Qi flowing from every acupoint and the Eight Extraordinary Meridians throughout her body transformed into freely surging force.
The inner power of the Eight Illusions Divine Art, crossing the air and enveloping the blade, clearly defied common sense.
It was the power of a divine art of the elven race.
It arrested the practitioner’s aging and bestowed majestic qi sword control.
She had attained the level of sword control contained in the Eight Illusions Divine Art and broken free of the Go Ten Precepts.
The principles of Go that Jeong Ban-ak had taught her as a pastime no longer helped Baek Seo-gun live her life.
“Do ‘sacrifice stones to seize initiative’ and ‘do not seek victory greedily’ not conflict with each other? You say to discard stones and take the initiative, yet also say not to become greedy too quickly.”
“You fool. Why would those conflict? It means you should take the initiative without tensing your shoulders. Even if you discard a few stones, do not grow impatient.”
The words of the noble young master she had served were wrong. For a supreme master who had entered the realm of qi sword control, sacrifice stones to seize initiative and do not seek victory greedily were useless.
Baek Seo-gun had lived arrogantly. She kept her shoulders tense and her chest held high. She accepted no loss.
She was the kind of person who could live that way.
She did so until all things became empty.
The servant girl of Jeong Family Manor, now the Sword Venerable of Henan, reached out. Her sword flew like a kite, becoming a flash of lightning.
The crimson sunlight warped across its blade. The sword shot forward.
It pierced through every stream of wind spreading from the young Leader of Demon Wings’ sword.
The boy stood still with his sword in a high guard stance.
He tracked Baek Seo-gun’s sword control only with his eyes. When its tip came within three paces, he struck down with his divine sword.
Boom!
A monstrous shock wave shook the ground. It was a hard sword rarely seen under heaven.
The Leader of Demon Wings did not stop moving. He pressed back the sword he had struck down with his divine sword, then took a step forward.
That single step was impossibly fast. It was a realm where the force waves of sword strikes were used in movement. A fierce gale surged.
The boy planted his next step four zhang ahead.
Boom!
The earth groaned and sank. It was a terrifying True Step.
Crack!
The instant Jeong Yeon-shin took one step, he moved forward again. He used the force wave released by True Step as propulsion. His entire body seemed to have become a thunderclap bomb.
He paid no attention to the controlled sword streaking back toward him from behind. It was the stance of sacrifice stones to seize initiative.
He did not spare his body to create an opening for an attacking form. Without looking, he extended his sword behind him.
Clang!
The controlled sword was deflected. The heavy impact traveled down to his thigh. An immense burden fell upon his lower body.
He had not completely shaken off the qi sword control. Baek Seo-gun’s sword spun with a hum, then passed the boy while slicing across his side.
Pain spread as though he had suffered a long, straight cut. It burned intensely.
He did not care. He was now ten paces away. Baek Seo-gun, who had seized her controlled sword, widened her eyes slightly.
Though unable to properly steady his body, he had stepped into a supreme master’s sword domain. It was only natural that she reacted that way.
Thanks to the power of qi sword control, she assumed an opening stance at tremendous speed. It was a middle guard stance aimed at her opponent’s heart.
Her sword moved on its own according to the stance she wanted.
‘I've got it.’
Jeong Yeon-shin thought as he raced forward with his lightness skill.
Aura sense rose in his upper dantian at the crown of his head. The sword domain held by the Spirit Sky Sword Ghost flowed into his mind.
From her opening stance with her left foot forward, the pattern of her inner-power waves, her faint breathing, and the movement of the brachialis muscle beneath the cloth below her shoulder, he calculated her sword form.
An extraordinarily precise and swift sword strike was about to manifest.
The boy activated the mnemonic formula of the Jeong Family Youth Technique.
He recited its core true formula in his heart.
‘Mother.’
His muscles responded. His right arm tightened by the slightest degree. It was a contraction.
From the lateral head beside his shoulder, it ran down the brachialis muscle of his upper arm. Nothing showed outwardly.
The qi of the Hand Yangming Large Intestine meridian wrapped around the side of his right arm simply snapped upward with tremendous elasticity.
Rumble!
The second form of the nameless sword art.
The ground beneath his lowered sword exploded. Violent tremors spread through it. He drew in every force wave that had accumulated through countless collisions.
It was the secret principle of chained forms. Even the strength stored in the Yinmen acupoint behind his thigh whirled invisibly and transferred into his sword.
A gale rose in an instant. Dust scattered in every direction.
The rushing wind split into dozens of streams.
Yet the sword traced only one path.
It advanced as though ignoring the sword Baek Seo-gun extended.
As the black-robed boy passed her, he swung the Northern Light Sword horizontally. A long silver flash flickered.
Clang!
He struck it away cleanly. The sensation in his grip was heavy. Baek Seo-gun’s sword flew upward.
Sunlight gathered on the blade danced wildly in the air, accompanied by silence.
“...”
A somewhat dazed gaze swept over the boy’s back. The Leader of Demon Wings lowered his sword and slowly turned around.
The sound of his footsteps carried a strange pressure.
The aura flowing from the Heart Martial Union’s martial forces surrounding them came to a halt.
They had stopped breathing for an instant. It was the reaction of lesser martial artists before the might of a supreme master.
“...You packed full-body Force Projection into a single sword. With overwhelming intensity.”
Baek Seo-gun muttered blankly and reached into the air.
The sword floating down slowly flew into her hand.
It was a peerless principle of sword control, yet she felt no particular emotion at her own technique. It was not because she was accustomed to it.
Only the boy’s sword path remained clear in her vision. It was a sword form with a completely different nature from hers, where she had simply waved her hand with graceful ease.
If they exchanged more moves, Baek Seo-gun would win. She had attained Three Flowers Gather at the Crown and Five Qi Return to Origin. She could simply overwhelm him with her superior ability to deploy inner power.
Other than Desolate Divine Spear, few Black Uniform martial artists in Desolate Fortress could face her. Yet their wager was to seize victory in a single move.
The Spirit Sky Sword Ghost had lost to the Leader of Demon Wings. The lesson she had gained as a servant girl of Jeong Family Manor had broken the Sword Venerable’s stance once.
The boy’s sword, which had rushed in without regard for harm to his own body, was truly frightening.
“Go Ten Precepts. Sacrifice stones to seize initiative.”
She slowly parted her lips.
“My past... was neither meaningless nor unclear.”
For a moment, she murmured as though her soul had left her body. Jeong Yeon-shin did not answer.
Soon after, Baek Seo-gun smiled faintly.
“They say that a master’s sword carries the life they have lived... Child with Ban-ak’s face who does not resemble Ban-ak, who are you?”
“The Leader of Demon Wings will confirm the Spirit Sky Sword Ghost’s promise. You said you would return to the Heart Martial Union’s main headquarters?”
The boy asked in return.
Baek Seo-gun’s smile deepened.
“Yes. I will. I have lived at ease for so long. I received something from Jeong Family Manor, so I will repay it over many years. It is thanks to what you made me realize.”
“Many years...”
Jeong Yeon-shin repeated quietly.
Baek Seo-gun silently watched the boy before her. What was he thinking?
After speaking of years, he closed his lips and said nothing more. There was more than one strange thing about him.
Then the martial forces opened a path. Languid Flame Dragon sauntered over and spoke bluntly.
“Need a hand?”
“No need.”
“Let us go.”
“Fine.”
High on the gorge’s hill.
The setting sunlight wrapped around the peaks like transparent silk gauze.
The glow of the sunset flowed down with the wind, alongside dark hems fading into the distance. The two were descending into the gorge.
Baek Seo-gun stared at the back of the younger Jeong Ban-ak.
A wistfulness that made her feel the passing of time anew, along with an indescribable emotion, rose within her at once.
“Your sword harvests fated ties.”
She murmured.
No matter how she looked at him, he had grown well. She wanted to learn every detail about the calamity that had destroyed Jeong Family Manor.
Jeong Dae-myung seemed to have raised him well, just as she had expected, but the words of the child in the hero’s headband troubled her.
To the Sword Venerable of Henan, Shaanxi and Henan were nearly within reach of each other.
She thought of the Hao Clan Master. In knowledge of the martial world’s news, the Hao Clan Master stood alongside the Beggars’ Sect Leader.
If he was the newly appointed Leader of Demon Wings in Desolate Fortress, Jeong Yeon-shin would already be marked as someone to watch. One way or another, she would learn how he had grown.
Swish.
Spirit Sky Sword Ghost Baek Seo-gun turned around. The lavish patterns embroidered across her scarlet martial uniform shifted.
At last, the sun set.
The boy descending Sevenfold Gorge and the woman judging the path from the hill.
Their shadows stretched long in opposite directions.
They were the shadows of a noble young master and a servant girl.
Even then, Jeong Yeon-shin did not consider his sword a completed sword art.
It was a creation that had begun with the Sword Star. It had to be completed with the Sword Star.
‘There are only two forms so far.’
He was silently walking with Languid Flame Dragon, reviewing his sword art, when he encountered Hyeon Won-chang watching from one side of the peak with blazing eyes.
Hyeon Won-chang had not gone down. He said he had planned to intervene if necessary. The boy smiled faintly and shook his head.
Little Sword Empress and Gongsun Min joined them in turn. Moyong Myeong-jun had truly vanished.
They did not see him even by the time they reached the Martial Alliance’s main gate.
“Hm? This is strange.”
Languid Flame Dragon, who was leading the way through the crowd, spoke. Jeong Yeon-shin had felt it as well.
An enormous cheer thundered from deep within the vast headquarters. There had to be at least several hundred people. This was no ordinary matter.
“Excuse me, what is happening inside?”
Hyeon Won-chang caught a passerby’s arm and asked. The man wore a neat green martial uniform.
He frowned and glanced over Hyeon Won-chang’s profile. The moment his eyes fell on the character for “Desolation” on Hyeon Won-chang’s shoulder, he jumped in surprise and began to stammer.
“I-it is because of the grand founding ceremony!”
“Is it something like the eve of a festival?”
“Not the eve. The founding ceremony was held three days ago! The grand founding ceremony has been underway for three days as well...!”
Hyeon Won-chang’s pleased expression froze.
Footnotes:
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