WeTried Translations
Translator/Editor: ZERO_SUGAR
Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried
◈ Surviving as a Genius on Borrowed Time ◈
Episode 196: Sword Thunder Flash Ridge Form (4)
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The fingertips of Seom-ye, the Leader of Demon Wings, moved with graceful fluidity.
Just before six sword force waves could tear through his robes, Jeong Yeon-shin's gesture unleashed a rain of steel flowers.
His five fingers repeatedly covered and revealed his palm, guiding force waves of attraction and release. Gleaming sword fragments drifted left and right like a dream.
Pupupup!
Dull impacts rang out. Blood burst from the fingertips that moved as beautifully as though playing a qin.
The six Profound Heaven Squad experts' bodies jerked. They froze in the very stances from which they had thrust their swords.
"Khk."
"Mmm..."
Each staggered with bloodshot eyes.
None had been killed outright. They were not weaklings who could be swept away in a single move by a wide-range secret art.
Though they practiced orthodox martial arts, their family's practical nature had led them to wrap their entire bodies in exceptionally sturdy Protective Qi Technique.
The hastily unleashed Myriad Flowers Rain did not possess enough force to kill them.
To the martial artists of the Assembly, however, the sight before them was astonishing.
Startled breaths escaped the onlookers who had boldly entered the Jegal Family's grounds after Jegal Cheong-a.
For the Leader of Demon Wings, it was only natural. Thanks to Ak Su-rim, he had stopped their true ultimate technique before they could use it.
They were not fighters who could display martial strength on the level of the Divine Sword Squad through their own martial arts alone. Since he knew how to counter them, he could break through.
"Considering the gravity of the matter."
Jeong Yeon-shin slowly lowered his right hand and addressed them.
"I have no choice but to place the intelligence I received today above all else. If my judgment is wrong, I will formally apologize to your family. So stop blocking my path. I am showing restraint for the Immortal Dragon's sake."
He spoke while recalling Jegal Hyeon, who had trained his fan art to a remarkable degree. Then Jeong Yeon-shin stepped forward again.
Jegal Cheong-a, who had been following in small, hurried steps, cautiously opened her mouth.
Behind them, the Jegal Family martial artists who could not even keep their balance stared blankly at her and Seom-ye.
"Their condition..."
"They wrapped even their blood vessels in Protective Qi Technique. They're properly trained martial artists. There's nothing to worry about."
"Ah."
A dazed sound escaped her at his indifferent answer. Jegal Cheong-a could not properly grasp martial arts beyond her understanding.
It was different from estimating his strength from wounds. The Leader of Demon Wings stood in an entirely different realm.
'The Profound Heaven Squad is a force comparable to Demon Wings.'
Jeong Yeon-shin thought.
That was what the elites of a major faction were like.
The way they displayed their martial strength differed by martial lineage, but martial arts built up alongside a family's history were fundamentally sturdier than those of some among the Thirteen Heavens.
Had they fully deployed their sword formation, they might have been able to handle Jeong Yeon-shin. Ak Su-rim's advice as his senior had played a great part in this.
He was worried about time.
He looked at the martial artists lined up ahead. They were the ones who had rushed in behind those struck by True Barrier and Myriad Flowers Rain.
Six people. They stood still while honing their sword forms, as though they had changed their formation.
Jeong Yeon-shin paid them no mind.
Bang!
The Sihwa Boundless Hand in both hands shattered several weapons. He continued charging forward.
Phantom Wing Step was the Profound Heaven Squad's natural counter. With a supreme expert already holding the advantage in compatibility, the Jegal Family's elites could not possibly display their full ability.
The unusual nature of the Assembly also played a part. Even if the Martial Alliance was an important location, they would not have brought the full strength of their main house here.
The abilities of old factions, especially those who had cultivated sorcery arts, were maximized at the strongholds where they had built their power.
For a moment, he thought of the Clear Qilin waiting at the end of this path. He also recalled the less than three years left in his own life.
Disillusionment rose within him.
A fundamental question etched itself into his mind.
Was he truly angry for Namgung Se-jin's sake right now?
Only half of it was true. The other half was for merit.
The Black Uniform realm was vaster than ever.
He had to compete against higher-ranking supreme experts, yet even Ak Su-rim and the Annihilation Squad Leader, whose strength made it difficult for them to find worthy opponents, had yet to reach Purple Uniform.
That remained true even though every incident they stepped in to resolve was far from ordinary.
He could not even guess how much merit he would have to accumulate. Whenever he felt the expanded Baihui acupoint, the task before him seemed impossibly vast.
Jeong Yeon-shin was angry now because he needed to survive.
Guilt over using Namgung Se-jin as well drove rage into his hands and feet.
To gain additional merit by dealing a crushing blow to the Jegal Family, one of the Assembly's pillars, the youth repeated to himself.
I'm truly sorry. My heart isn't pure.
Jegal Cheong-a had said it was now or never.
He had confirmed the truth with his upper dantian. This was an opportunity. He could not let it pass.
"Check the Qian Trigram! Step on the proper directions!"
"He controls aura at will! Prepare for attacks beyond the expected level!"
"Draw your swords!"
Around a dozen men and women in green martial robes released formidable aura. Their determination not to let him pass was clear.
Some had abandoned the Cloud Soul Severing Formation altogether and honed their sword force waves instead.
By this point, even Jegal Cheong-a felt the difficulty of the situation.
It was no longer enough for the Leader of Demon Wings to defend the front, rear, left, and right. The swords of those leaping down from above gleamed.
Their Body Movement Scripture was recklessly heedless of what came afterward, as though they needed only to land a single blow.
Precious swords imbued with powerful inner energy distorted the sunlight as they hurtled toward Jeong Yeon-shin.
The momentum of the family experts, wholly focused on swordsmanship, approached like an iron wall.
Jegal Cheong-a's eyes widened. She was so shocked that the presence of the onlookers gathered behind them vanished from her aura sense.
Swish.
The youth's black long robe fluttered softly.
The moment he took a step, the Leader of Demon Wings' body blurred. It was as though his entire body had become wind. In one step, he brushed past every sword.
His reaction was one step faster than all the enemies' sword strikes.
As the Profound Heaven Squad experts' paths tangled and they collided with one another or dodged aside, Jeong Yeon-shin leaped forward once more.
Swish.
He did not even look back. He only pointed his right hand behind him.
The flaw of the fourth form of the Sihwa Boundless Hand applied only against experts of equal standing. Against weaker opponents, there was no shortage of time to invoke it.
The principles of the sorcery formation budding from his palm wove together the two streams of energy contained within the Record of the Dharma Light Wheel.
Blood Arts and dharma power collided like lightning. The explosion of Radiant River erupted at once.
Kwoooooong!
It exploded seven steps away. Dust surged from the shattered ground, and the surrounding halls shook as though they might collapse.
Those pursuing him from behind were caught in the force wave and bounced away like skipping stones.
The enormous blast tore through every alley, and its echo lingered afterward.
It was divine might, terrifyingly refined. His movement art evasion and palm attack had merged into one, creating an incredible supreme expert.
Jegal Cheong-a followed Jeong Yeon-shin with trembling eyelashes. She had originally judged their chances at seventy percent, but now she raised them to ninety.
How could someone her age be this strong? Was it related to the desperation she had felt from the Clear Qilin's wounds?
Thud.
Jeong Yeon-shin's pitch-black back advanced without concern. Whenever Jegal Family martial artists appeared, he broke through as though possessed.
With movements like the wind, he struck with hands as swift as lightning.
His martial strength forced even the onlookers to fall silent. An expert's martial arts stood out most clearly in battles against many opponents.
"There!"
Jegal Cheong-a suddenly cried out. She pointed in one direction with a pale finger.
A single modest hall stood there. Three Jegal Family martial artists were rushing toward it from the side.
They were closer to it than either of them. Their goal seemed obvious. It was as though they were racing Jeong Yeon-shin.
If they opened that door...
He would see his lifelong rival lying there like a Tang Sect test subject.
He could not let them take him. Nor could he allow the body to be damaged. Jeong Yeon-shin filled the minor meridians of his right hand with Light Wheel energy.
His palm grew hot. The mnemonic formulas of attraction and release crossed through the three acupoints running in a straight line across his palm.
"Wha?!"
It was a strange cry of surprise. Without touching it, he pulled Jegal Cheong-a's sheathed sword free and threw it with a gesture.
Dust rose. Myriad Flowers Rain's force wave, warped upward from below, scraped across the ground.
Slaaash!
Immense Light Wheel energy rode the releasing force wave. The white scabbard shot forward like a ray of light.
With the sound of air splitting apart, it struck two men in the head in an instant and slammed into the third's back as though piercing through it.
Puuuck!
The dull impact was loud. It dealt a powerful blow to their Protective Qi Technique and shook the bodies beneath it.
A path opened through the three as they collapsed. The Jegal Family had not been able to properly guard against the supreme expert's sudden attack.
That was the majesty of a supreme expert. He could serve as a strategic weapon in a war between factions.
"Let's go."
Jeong Yeon-shin spoke in a somewhat gloomy voice.
Jegal Cheong-a pursed her lips without realizing it. Dry saliva clung to her small lips.
An unbelievable sight, and emotions swelling in her chest.
Now she could free herself from her father. She would cast aside his authoritarian oppression and change the family according to her and her brother's wishes.
Though it was a martial family, it possessed an orthodox martial lineage. A just cause was the most powerful divine sword of all.
That was what she thought.
Then the sky darkened.
Dusk fell early. Low-hanging clouds drifted closer, drawn by some unknown energy.
Was this real? The slowly fading sunlight seemed to announce the manifestation of an absolute being.
Jeong Yeon-shin suddenly turned his head to the side.
A hall with blue roof tiles rising gracefully from its rafters stood there. A man clad in a White Uniform gauze robe stood proudly atop its highest roof.
"I heard you've stepped fearlessly into a young beast's cage time and again."
He spoke while looking down at Jegal Cheong-a. He held a White Crane Fan with dark blue thread tassels in his left hand.
His snowy robes suited his pale skin perfectly, and his narrow face was framed by thick brows.
He had the air of a scholar, but he did not look weak. A strange transcendence surrounded his entire body.
From the moment he entered their sight, the world seemed filled with that man. Even the freely blowing wind suddenly felt slow.
"Family Head!"
One of the Jegal Family experts chasing after them cried out. The voice sounded like a groan, as though they feared severe punishment.
A peerless master whose martial prowess placed him among those contending for supremacy, he was their Family Head. His presence felt entirely natural.
The current Zhuge Family Head's epithet was Crouching Dragon Rebirth.
It was not because his wisdom had earned him the name of Zhuge Liang, Marquis Wu of Shu.
Rather than mysterious, brilliant strategies, he possessed extraordinary perceptiveness.
That was why he had the bearing and appearance worthy of comparison to Zhuge Marquis Wu of Shu, along with his peerless sorcery art, Commanding Wind, Calling Rain.
He had been watching Jegal Cheong-a's strange movements.
With the caution expected of a Family Head, he had taken the repercussions of the Clear Qilin's corpse seriously. Though he had important business to attend to, he had not taken his eyes off the Assembly.
That was why he had arrived here at this moment. His peerless Body Movement Scripture had caught the young people off guard.
His gaze slowly shifted toward Jeong Yeon-shin. It felt as though Mount Tai itself were moving.
"You must pay the price."
The absolute master holding the fan spoke.
"If you had accepted the Great Revitalization Pill and withdrawn, that would have been enough."
"..."
"Your greed has shortened your life."
Jeong Yeon-shin fell silent for a moment. Words did not come to him.
What would Hyeon Won-chang have said? What would the Languid Flame Dragon have said?
His upper dantian's aura sense warned him that his chances were slim. The young Leader of Demon Wings slowly parted his lips.
"...You should know shame. You call yourself the head of a family."
"That is not something I should hear from a vicious intruder."
The Zhuge Family Head's lips slowly curved.
"I will send your head to the Lord of Desolate Fortress. If she comes flying here in rare fury, the Martial Alliance will gather that much faster. My family holds the just cause. When that happens, the Assembly's strength will surpass Desolate Fortress."
The calm declaration carried a sense of certainty.
Then the fan moved.
Kwoooong!
A typhoon struck without warning. It was a blade-like wind, sharp as though it carried a divine sword. Jeong Yeon-shin could not draw his sword in time.
He was not fast enough. He forcibly wrapped both hands in the Record of the Dharma Light Wheel's energy, crossed them before himself, and endured the bitter wind.
There was no time to follow the Zhuge Family Head's movements. His circulation of power was terrifyingly fast.
His vision blurred, and pain flared in his forearms. Blood burst from veins in several places.
To withstand a form of a Divine Technique, even one's Protective Qi Technique would have to reach the realm of a Divine Technique.
The framework of his inner energy barrier was weak. He understood that instinctively as he received the attack.
He could not approach.
It would take two or three more Jeong Yeon-shins before he could attempt a killing move. Otherwise, he would die here.
Then...
Kwoaaak!
A sound like long cloth being torn rang out. The black-robed youth's body was flung backward.
Even so, he spun in the air and barely regained his balance. It was an astonishing sight.
What movement art had he learned? What was that sense?
The Zhuge Family Head's eyes flashed white.
"As expected."
He closed his fan with an elegant gesture.
"He cannot be allowed to live."
He had thought the same thing when he saw the Ming Cult's Young Sect Master from afar. He had not expected to feel it again now.
As someone who discussed the state of the martial world beneath heaven, that youth's talent was exceedingly dangerous. There was no telling what path his sword would carve in the future.
Why had such a child not been born into the Zhuge Family?
Limitless potential carved a sense of alarm into even a peerless expert.
Killing him here was right. Another Divine Sword Squad Leader could not be allowed to emerge.
'Another Lord of Desolate Fortress, all the more so...'
His resolve hardened. He would kill him, even if it meant making a bitter enemy of Desolate Fortress.
Swish.
The Zhuge Family Head's fan drew a transcendent afterimage.
Whoooong!
From afar.
From very far away, the air began to hum. The roar doubled with each instant.
The moment he recognized it as coming from behind, something that seemed to have shaped darkness into a long line pierced through every barrier of the sorcery formation and flew in.
It came like a shaft of light, striking the ground beside Jeong Yeon-shin.
Kwoooong!
Someone landed amid terrifying vibrations. An earthquake-like rumble spread in every direction. He could not even guess where they had leaped from.
Aura rose like a tidal wave, making black robes flutter. They did not belong to Jeong Yeon-shin, but to the girl who had just landed.
Her profile was familiar.
Her jet-black bob cut ignored etiquette and convention. Aura flashed like lightning along cheeks touched transparently by sunlight.
The bridge of her nose, sculpted like ivory, was familiar as well. Colorless inner power flowed freely through her body, as though she had worn Desolate Fortress's Black Uniform long robe from birth.
Sleeves too broad for her body billowed like a celestial maiden's robes.
Ak Su-rim, the Desolate Divine Spear.
She turned her head slightly toward Jeong Yeon-shin and smiled.
Thud! Thud! Thud!
More had come. From the side.
Kwakwakwaang!
Halls collapsed one after another. Each time a massive figure burst through a wall, the shock wave spreading outward was immensely powerful.
A huge man in black robes with pointed, leaf-like ears charged over. He smashed through entire walls, crushing them and bringing them down.
The overwhelming force beneath his feet sent smoke rising from every footprint. The violent movement of qi even generated heat.
"You lowly bastards!"
A roar erupted. Like a lion's roar, it violently shook all eight directions.
His voice was explosive, as though he had built up qi storage for years beyond counting. The power carried in his shout swept through the surroundings like a thunderclap bomb.
Even door thresholds shattered into pieces on their own.
"Bandits have invaded!"
"The Hwang character! Desolate Fortress!"
"Emergency! Defend with a sword formation!"
The shouts came faintly from afar. There were more than the girl and the man. Had those without peerless Body Movement Scripture entered through the main gate?
Even they did not seem to possess ordinary strength. Martial Alliance fighters who could act as powerful figures anywhere in the martial world were deeply flustered.
It meant their opponents could not be met with ordinary preparations.
Desolate Fortress had, from the beginning, sent out a force comparable to the strongest, solely to protect their transcendent young prodigy in case of an unexpected incident.
'Isn't this more than a small group?'
Though relieved to have escaped the crisis of death, Jeong Yeon-shin was no less bewildered. He did not show it on his face.
Were they trying to start a war?
Footnotes:
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