WeTried Translations

Translator/Editor: ZERO_SUGAR

Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried

◈ Surviving as a Genius on Borrowed Time ◈

Chapter 2: Calamity of Clan Destruction

──────

The boy repeatedly squatted and rose with a massive timber beam on his back.

The muscles across his back stood out clearly. At times, he remained lowered in a horse stance.

It was Jeong Yeon-shin, the fifteen-year-old third son of Henan's Jeong Family Manor.

"Young Master! It is time for dinner!"

A servant called from afar near the entrance to the Training Hall. The boy with thick eyebrows did not answer.

'I should finish this first.'

Only after ten more repetitions did he lower the timber beam and casually pick up the shirt he had taken off.

He was not particularly large.

Yet the muscles covering his entire body were so firm that, even without flexing, they brought diamonds to mind.

An abnormal physique. Not only did his body not look like the body of someone his age, it looked strange enough to seem like an entirely different species from commoners. Even he thought so.

'Jeong Family Dynamic Training... It has completely settled in.'

His martial art differed from the usual practice of sitting cross-legged and regulating one's breathing to draw in the energy of nature.

He had discarded his family's Static Training, which merely told him to sit and breathe meaninglessly.

He had deconstructed its mnemonic formula. Static Training had been recreated as Dynamic Training, which accumulated energy through movement.

This was because he had been able to handle energy with ease from childhood, and because the acupoints throughout his body, through which inner energy flowed, possessed durability and elasticity far beyond those of ordinary humans.

He had once believed there was affection among his half-siblings. He had gone around suggesting that they learn it as well.

Their replies had been entirely reasonable.

"You created a martial art?"

"What if we suffer qi deviation while learning it? Will you take responsibility if we die?"

"Do you think you have the qualities of a Grandmaster?"

Seeing the genuine scorn in their mockery, he gave up. The boy stopped creating mnemonic formulas for martial arts.

It was a day on which he was hurt, first by the indifferent Family Head and then by his siblings. It hurt all the more because they were right.

'Grandmaster...'

The meaning of Grandmaster in the martial world differed from the ordinary one. It referred to the creator of martial arts capable of founding a sect.

Aside from figures who had been Grandmasters in both religion and martial arts, such as Zhang Sanfeng of Wudang Sect and Shaolin's Batuo, Bodhidharma, and Huike, there was no one in the martial world who did not call the patriarchs who had created the orthodox martial arts of the other Nine Great Sects Grandmasters.

It was a grandiose notion.

Jeong Yeon-shin had never even considered becoming a Grandmaster, nor did he place much meaning in creating martial arts.

He had merely wanted them all to become healthier together.

He alone steadily cultivated the Jeong Family Youth Technique. Perhaps he had wanted to show them.

Its effects were clear. The areas stimulated while practicing swordsmanship or conditioning his body grew stronger.

His cultivation power nourished his muscles and compressed them into greater solidity. The result was his current body.

'I have attained full mastery. Just now.'

He was certain.

The effects of the martial art he had casually named the Jeong family's Dynamic Training had reached their limit.

Through training, he had realized that his body could grow no stronger.

Unless they were martial monks of Shaolin, exalted as the heavens, people with bodies like his would be rare even in Henan.

That was, unless he was merely a frog in a well looking up at Henan's sky.

"Young Masterrr!"

"I'm coming."

Jeong Yeon-shin answered the servant's urgent call casually. He knew why the servant was so anxious.

The Family Head of Jeong Family Manor was a stern and patriarchal man, while his mother, the third wife, had passed away after a difficult childbirth.

It was an age in which superstition ran rampant. Such beliefs were especially severe in a rural place like this.

He was a child whose birth had killed his mother. No one in the family viewed him favorably, not even the Family Head.

'As long as the food is good, that is enough.'

Jeong Yeon-shin walked on without concern.

Since there were no blood relatives here who cared for him, he had naturally devoted himself solely to martial arts.

He had no lofty ambitions of gaining fame in the martial world or making a name for himself through wandering it. He simply enjoyed studying martial arts.

As he passed the quarters of the family's guests, he heard their children reciting texts.

"Recite Main Section, Chapter 1, Verse 4 of the Grand Compendium of Ming."

"The long-eared and short-statured brethren returned from the gates of heaven, destroyed the wicked Yuan, and founded the Great Ming alongside the Founding Emperor."

"Main Section, Chapter 1, Verse 8."

"A great demon pursued the brethren, but they shut the gates in time and annihilated the demon."

The lines were familiar to Jeong Yeon-shin as well. He passed by with a faint chuckle.

"You are late, foolish boy."

Upon reaching the banquet hall, his eldest half-brother greeted him warmly.

Jeong Yeon-shin's pectoral muscles throbbed at the sight of those narrow eyes glancing at him.

"It has been a while, Elder Brother."

"If you are late, sit down quickly."

Jeong Nam-san, the eldest son of Jeong Family Manor, spoke with a snort.

Jeong Yeon-shin gave a slight nod and sat at the end of the long table, surveying the room.

The Family Head sat in the seat of honor, with the First Madam and Second Madam at either side. Below them sat Jeong Nam-san and his wife, their daughter, and the siblings down to Yeon-shin's fifth sister.

It was unreasonable for him to sit at the lowest seat while younger siblings were present, but due to the Family Head's indifference and the First Madam and Second Madam's insistence, he had long been a direct descendant in name alone.

'That made things comfortable.'

Since he bore no important responsibilities within the family, he had no duties or obligations. The meals were still good, so he could devote himself to training.

'He must be delighted.'

The Family Head's smiling gaze rested on the square-jawed second son.

This was a farewell banquet held in advance for the second son, who would soon leave to learn Zhongnan Sect martial arts.

Shaanxi Province was comparable in size to a small kingdom, and Zhongnan Sect contended for the top position there.

Now, as one of the Nine Sects, it was a prestigious great sect that stood alongside Mount Hua Sect in competing for the honor of Shaanxi's foremost sect.

To be admitted as a registered disciple of one of the Nine Great Sects, the Nine Sects, was an immense honor.

So immense that this banquet was extravagantly lavish even while the continent rotted under famine.

When the Family Head raised his cup, the household followed suit.

"Since my late father, who had been a disciple of Zhongnan Sect's Immortal Swordsman, founded this family, I have devoted my entire life to restoring our house. Had I wished to spread my name throughout the world, I too could have inherited Zhongnan's consummate techniques! But how could I abandon the family business? I am simply overjoyed that my son will now climb Zhongnan Mountain in my late father's footsteps."

"It is a fine day."

"My sincere congratulations, Elder Brother."

The Family Head claimed that, had he wished, he could have become a Zhongnan Sect disciple.

The household flattered both the Family Head and the second son.

For a satisfying life in the martial world, it was better to be the head of a snake than the tail of a dragon.

Jeong Family Manor was responsible for maintaining order in the county and was a major landowner.

Within Xinye County, it was a martial family whose influence rivaled that of the county magistrate.

Locally, there was no need to envy the Nine Sects.

'Even if he enters Zhongnan Sect, he will probably start by polishing the memorial tablets of the Elders.'

Jeong Yeon-shin simply ate to his heart's content.

"With Zhongnan Sect as it is now, could it not be considered half a step above Mount Hua Sect?"

"Outstanding young masters have descended the mountain."

"Looking at the Shaanxi Great Battle, that certainly seems true. They say Cloud Sword Dragon slew the leader of an unorthodox band that had run rampant in Guanzhong. The Plum Blossom Swordsmen may be formidable, but they cannot match Sword Dragon, the eldest senior brother."

The second son called Zhongnan Sect's rising prodigy his eldest senior brother, as though he were already a Zhongnan Sect disciple.

Jeong Yeon-shin let out a quiet laugh and reached for a pancake, only to pause.

The Family Head was looking at him with displeasure.

'Should I have joined the line of flatterers?'

The Family Head slowly opened his mouth.

"I hear you spend all day in the Training Hall. How is your progress with the Jeong Style Divine Sword?"

"The principles of the family martial art are difficult for me to grasp, so it is hard for me to attain initial mastery. I am ashamed."

Jeong Yeon-shin straightened his posture and answered respectfully.

The Jeong Style Divine Sword was the Jeong family's unique martial art.

As was often the case, its name was grandiose, but in reality, it was a sword art cobbled together by degrading the forms from the first half of Zhongnan Sect's Thirty-Six Swords through shallow understanding.

This was generally how secular disciples of Taoist sects such as Zhongnan Sect and Mount Hua Sect established their own families.

Judged by the rules, it was the grave crime of betraying one's master and forebears.

Reality was different, however. As long as they regularly offered suitable donations to the main mountain, the sects usually turned a blind eye.

The main mountain received wealth and grain, while the secular sect received protection under the main mountain's name.

Both sides benefited.

'I deliberately focused more on Dynamic Training because of the Jeong Style Divine Sword.'

There was simply too much to fix.

Even at a glance, flawed sword paths that made no sense filled his vision. What else could he do?

If he formally began learning the sword art, it was obvious that he would not be able to endure without correcting it.

Wounds from childhood sometimes shape a person's behavior in youth.

Jeong Yeon-shin was like that.

His siblings' mockery had driven the boy, irrationally, to focus solely on the Jeong Family Youth Technique.

The Family Head clicked his tongue.

"Your first and second brothers are already approaching full mastery. Your efforts are commendable, so I will ask no further, but you should reflect on whether you are truly working hard in the Training Hall."

"I will heed your advice."

After clasping both hands and offering a martial salute, Jeong Yeon-shin waited until the Family Head's gaze moved away. He did not care how the siblings around him viewed him.

'Even if they take an interest, I will only be hurt.'

Jeong Yeon-shin turned back to the banquet.

As he placed a properly fried chicken leg in his mouth, he half-listened to the conversations around him.

"The matter of the unorthodox sects in Guanzhong aside, the situation is unsettling, Chief Steward."

"Yes, Family Head."

"Is the information network being established properly? I do not expect it to reach the Beggars' Sect or Hao Clan, but should it not at least follow in the footsteps of the major sects' covert networks?"

"At least within Xinye County, it seems it can be managed."

"Good. Very good."

It was then.

"Experts from Zhongnan Sect have arrived!"

It was the voice of Mr. Jang, the gatekeeper. The banquet hall instantly descended into chaos.

They had received word that Zhongnan Sect would come to collect the second son, but they did not know when the visitors would arrive.

"Hurry, hurry and receive them! No, I will go myself!"

The Family Head's dignified bearing vanished as he hurriedly rose to prepare to welcome the honored guests.

Everyone present did the same.

'I'm curious.'

Jeong Yeon-shin disliked commotion. Ordinarily, he would have slipped away to the Training Hall.

But Zhongnan Sect was one of the Nine Great Sects, the Nine Sects. If they were Zhongnan Sect experts, it was a different matter.

When else would he have the chance to see the renowned martial artists of a great sect whose fame reached throughout the world?

"What distinguished person could have come?"

"It is not Cloud Sword Dragon, is it? Or perhaps someone of an Elder's generation?"

His siblings, filled with anticipation, looked like children for once.

Jeong Yeon-shin blended into the crowd as inconspicuously as possible and headed to the main gate with them.

The Family Head, who had rushed out first using lightness arts, was bowing with clasped hands before three people.

"I am Jeong Dae-myung, Family Head of this humble household. I do not know how to repay the honor of your personal visit."

The three returned the salute with clasped hands, and the woman at their head possessed an extraordinary appearance.

Her hair was gold like molten metal, and her ears were long like leaves.

The second extraordinary aspect was her beautiful yet otherworldly features, as though a celestial maiden had descended to earth.

"Elven race...!"

Jeong Nam-san, the eldest brother, muttered as if groaning. When Jeong Yeon-shin glanced back, he saw Nam-san staring openly without a shred of decorum. Yeon-shin clicked his tongue inwardly.

'So the elven race really does look as the books describe. How fascinating.'

Xinye County was known as a hub of trade and transportation, but after battles between strange beings changed the terrain at the end of the Yuan dynasty, it had remained a small rural village.

It was not easy for villagers to encounter the elven race.

It was said that the "brethren of the Central Plains," who descended from heaven and founded the Ming alongside the Founding Emperor, could only be seen in Beijing, military camps, the Nine Sects, or prestigious martial families.

'They said an elven physician visited the manor when I was born.'

He did not know the details.

He could not ask the master of the manor, and all the servants who might have known avoided Jeong Yeon-shin.

"I am deeply grateful for your welcome. I am Ye Yil-sin, an Elder of Zhongnan Sect."

The elven Elder of Zhongnan Sect smiled. Her smile was so beautiful it felt refreshing to behold, yet no one here with even a little discernment could smile.

'An elven Elder of the Nine Sects?'

Then Ye Yil-sin was a founding contributor to the Ming Empire. It was said that the elven race did not age.

Ye Yil-sin must have greatly aided in driving out the Yuan alongside Zhongnan Sect's grand patriarch.

"I... I failed to recognize an immortal!"

It was not only the Family Head.

The household members behind them, as well as the guests who had come to watch, clasped their hands and bowed. Some even prostrated themselves.

'Isn't that excessive?'

Jeong Yeon-shin offered a martial salute and bowed moderately. When he slightly raised his head, his eyes met Ye Yil-sin's as the Elder gazed at him strangely.

Footnotes:

Join our discord at https://dsc.gg/wetried