WeTried Translations
Translator/Editor: ZERO_SUGAR
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◈ Surviving as a Genius on Borrowed Time ◈
Episode 204: Demon Wings (5)
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Huuuh...
A lament escaped Xiahou Wi-jin's lips. It almost sounded like a sigh.
His massive torso arched backward.
The master of the Heaven-Treading Forest Squad paid no attention to the book Jeong Yeon-shin had brought out. Still kneeling on one knee, he kept his raised gaze fixed solely on the Lord of Desolate Fortress.
As if the curve of her lips were a peerless sight rarely seen beneath heaven.
“...?”
Ak Su-rim, standing beside him, raised an eyebrow slightly. Her pitch-black eyes shifted downward, then to the side.
Her gaze moved between the Lord of Desolate Fortress and the Comprehensive Guide to Breaking the Orthodox Sects. With those sharp, intelligent eyes, she seemed to be gauging the Lord's mood and the meaning behind the book's title.
The two Black Uniform masters could not hide their surprise.
Jeong Yeon-shin, quietly holding the book, found it strange. Just how rare was the Lord of Desolate Fortress's smile?
‘She smiled at me often from the first time we met.’
The new Leader of Demon Wings soon set the question aside. There had to be another reason.
He stopped paying attention to his Black Uniform seniors and simply raised the Comprehensive Guide to Breaking the Orthodox Sects in his hand slightly.
At the same time, the book rose on its own.
It was a mysterious sight. They called it Remote Object Manipulation, a realm where one could touch all things without laying a hand on them.
Having mastered the Record of the Dharma Light Wheel, Jeong Yeon-shin could now sense a special aura.
The inner energy that flowed from the Lord of Desolate Fortress like a spring breeze had wrapped around the book and grasped it.
It felt remarkably clear. Its nature differed from the finesse of Myriad Flowers Rain. It was far more natural, qi that moved as freely as one's own hands and feet.
Something akin to Jeong Yeon-shin's whole-body Force Projection had manifested within the realm of inner energy. Her command of qi was on an entirely different level.
He had seen this move many times, yet it struck him anew like a shiver.
It was as though no distinction existed between the acupoints in her body.
Had she refined her entire body into a single dantian? Even her art of controlling qi beyond her body was unfathomable.
It was as mysterious as a tree imbued with spirituality moving its own branches.
Perhaps she could wield abilities like Myriad Flowers Rain or qi sword control without a special mnemonic formula.
‘The further I advance, the higher and farther I can see.’
Jeong Yeon-shin thought as he watched the Lord of Desolate Fortress scan only the title written on the book.
When he had been White Uniform, she had seemed like a stern and absolute sovereign. Now, she seemed like a peerless master worthy of praise.
It was likely because his perspective had risen that much as the Leader of Demon Wings.
Aware of his tremendous growth, he waited for the words that would come from her lips. Jeong Yeon-shin felt the light wheel throb in time with his heart.
Expectation and unease mixed within him. Perhaps sensing that, the corner of the Lord of Desolate Fortress's mouth lifted a little further.
“Comprehensive Guide to Breaking the Orthodox Sects.”
She parted her lips.
“It is plainspoken, yet arrogant.”
Jeong Yeon-shin silently lowered his eyes.
For the first time, he regretted the name he had chosen carelessly. His thoughts scattered like dandelion seeds swept up by a gentle breeze.
Was it because his thoughts increased along with his steadily growing limbs? That could not be all. It was because the other person was the Lord of Desolate Fortress.
His lifeline.
His salvation.
The person before whom he had to make the best impression in all the world.
He had never expected the day would come when he would hear someone's opinion of a name he had chosen. He had called it Breaking the Orthodox Sects because it was a counterform against orthodox martial arts.
Which part was arrogant? The name meant exactly what it said.
‘Is there something strange about “comprehensive guide”?’
Jeong Yeon-shin thought. There was nothing strange about it.
In that brief instant, he considered it. It was Breaking the Orthodox Sects because it was a counterform to orthodox martial arts, and it was a comprehensive guide because he had gathered his insights into the martial arts of many sects in one place.
He might have named it carelessly, but it was not arrogant enough to deserve that comment.
His thoughts were about to sink deeper when she spoke.
“I understand your achievement. I can infer it without reading closely. And your words that you would not choose a reward...”
The Lord of Desolate Fortress quietly moved her lips.
“They are reasonable.”
She spoke while keeping the Comprehensive Guide to Breaking the Orthodox Sects floating above Jeong Yeon-shin's head. The book bobbing in the air felt almost unreal.
The Lord of Desolate Fortress did not bother to ask what it was.
She did not even turn a page.
She likely understood the new Leader of Demon Wings' qualities more deeply than anyone in the world.
She only smiled faintly. It seemed she had inferred its contents and everything that had happened from its name alone.
Nor did she show any doubt about the document's quality.
“I will inform the Grand Chief Steward. You are worthy of receiving much.”
“What about that...?”
Jeong Yeon-shin asked carefully.
He meant the World Tree fruit.
The fragment the Lord of Desolate Fortress had given him before could not be consumed. She had said it was because his attainment was too low.
Would it be different this time? Now that he had mastered the Record of the Dharma Light Wheel, could he perhaps manage it?
Suppressing his anticipation, he met her gaze.
He did not notice the beauty that testified to her peerless martial prowess. He only stared into her eyes, as though gems had been carved from leaves.
He needed no other reward. His maternal grandfather now had a Great Revitalization Pill, and his uncle would receive a prosthetic arm.
If he were to receive a reward for himself alone, the fruit she guarded could only come to mind first.
‘Even one fragment.’
He needed to compose himself, yet he could not. Even with the light wheel within it, his heart beat fiercely.
The Lord of Desolate Fortress would know everything. Her small smile gradually faded.
“You now breathe through a Divine Technique, so you understand.”
The Lord of Desolate Fortress spoke in a gentle tone.
“You must cultivate essence, qi, and spirit evenly. I came to know that through what happened between us before.”
She spoke of the realm of Three Flowers Gather at the Crown.
It meant one could only begin consuming the fruit after unifying essence, qi, and spirit.
It was a realm Jeong Yeon-shin had come to understand after reaching Black Uniform. At this moment, her words made him grasp it instinctively.
The World Tree's sacred fruit affected the body, qi, and soul as one.
It meant a practitioner whose balance was uneven could not accept its effects.
Jeong Yeon-shin understood.
He was not deeply disappointed. The attitude of suppressing his expectations so he would not be hurt was, in terms of martial arts, a realm of great mastery.
He had been like that since his days at Jeong Family Manor. The Leader of Demon Wings inwardly murmured as though it were nothing.
‘I see.’
‘I can overcome it through training.’
He accepted it as part of the process. It was a crossing on the path leading toward the fruit. The unification of essence, qi, and spirit was such a thing.
It was a state he had to attain if he wished to continue accumulating achievements. He would have to pass through it on his way to wearing a Purple Uniform long robe.
“Do not be discouraged. You will reach it someday.”
The Lord of Desolate Fortress spoke slowly.
Her voice carried a strange transcendence. Her robe brushed against the trunk of the tree rooted at the summit of the world.
It flowed down in a soft pale green.
Rustle.
“My praise is late.”
The Lord of Desolate Fortress extended her bare white feet and slowly stepped down. She bent at the waist toward the Leader of Demon Wings, who knelt on his left knee.
Sunlight scattered around her clear face.
A grass-like hue shimmered in her flowing hair, and the exhale of her unfathomable Divine Technique scattered across Jeong Yeon-shin's forehead.
“You did well.”
Her brief words came with a crystalline resonance.
Then.
Swoosh.
A warm touch settled on Jeong Yeon-shin's forehead. It was a hand slowly brushing through his hair, lifting it strand by strand.
Even the motion of her hand lowering again was gentle and careful. It was strange. It was not a long moment, yet that rising and falling touch felt eternal.
The Lord of Desolate Fortress was stroking the new Leader of Demon Wings' head.
As Ak Su-rim and Xiahou Wi-jin raised their eyebrows, Jeong Yeon-shin closed his eyes without thinking. A dreamlike sensation flowed down from the crown of his head.
This had never happened before. By the time the warmth that had begun in his head reached his heart, it had become peace.
The fatigue he had not even realized he carried seemed to melt away. In an instant, he felt at ease.
The human heart was strange. At times, it possessed abilities more mysterious than martial arts.
“If you continue to advance, you will surely reach that realm. There is no need to grieve.”
“...Yes, my Lord.”
* * *
The Comprehensive Guide to Breaking the Orthodox Sects entered the Lord of Desolate Fortress's possession. She said it would be kept in the highest place within Desolate Fortress's Gold-Piercing Martial Treasury.
She added that Purple Uniform and Black Uniform martial artists would be granted viewing rights first.
“There will be an internal announcement.”
Those had been the Lord of Desolate Fortress's words.
The Divine Sword Squad Deputy Leader, the Heaven-Treading Forest Squad Leader, and the Leader of Demon Wings silently left through the main gate. Ak Su-rim and Xiahou Wi-jin did not ask about the Comprehensive Guide to Breaking the Orthodox Sects.
It was the bearing of Squad Leaders. Since the Lord herself had spoken, they knew that announcement would be made faster than anything else.
They could reasonably expect it as soon as tomorrow.
That was fortunate for Jeong Yeon-shin. He could savor the warmth lingering in his mind a little longer.
‘The reward will come through the Chief Steward's Office, but... it feels as though I've already received everything.’
The Leader of Demon Wings' lips twitched faintly.
“Congratulations on your safe return.”
“Respect to the Squad Leaders.”
The guards offered clasped-hands salutes toward the Squad Leaders. Jeong Yeon-shin was the only one who returned the gesture in kind.
Ak Su-rim and Xiahou Wi-jin merely nodded. They seemed lost in thought.
By then, sunset had settled over one side of the inner fortress.
The shadows of the walls and the people were wrapped in orange twilight.
Figures of martial artists moved with disciplined precision through the serene silence. It was an old and familiar sight. Evenings in Desolate Fortress were always like this.
“Someone came from the Chief Steward's Office. They said I should follow the Leader of Demon Wings...”
A girl in a blue martial uniform greeted them. She was the eye technique master who had entered Demon Wings at a word from the Lord of Desolate Fortress.
Miss Ye was absent, and Jegal Cheong-a explained with an indifferent expression.
As an envoy of the Martial Alliance Assembly, Miss Ye had headed straight for the Chief Steward's Office. Guides from the main fortress's civil officials had accompanied her.
“I should call you Squad Leader, right?”
“Yes.”
Jeong Yeon-shin nodded vaguely and recalled a rumor he had heard often.
‘Fast.’
It concerned how swiftly the highest ranks of Desolate Fortress handled their affairs. They said the Lord of Desolate Fortress issued orders to the Grand Chief Steward from where she lay.
Her sound transmission could reach the Chief Steward's Office from the peak of the inner fortress.
Grand Chief Steward Im Jin-myeong's martial arts were impressive as well. They said he never missed the Lord of Desolate Fortress's voice.
It was a realm impossible to reach without deeply mastering Sensory Training.
Rumors abounded that his martial attainment rivaled that of a Black Uniform master. Like the other Squad Leaders, he had likely cultivated essence, qi, and spirit evenly.
‘I still have a long way to go.’
Jeong Yeon-shin thought.
There was much to do, beyond having his maternal grandfather consume the Great Revitalization Pill.
Once he returned to the Demon Wings pavilion, he had to focus on two tasks.
He needed to take the existing seniors of Demon Wings as disciples and improve their skills, while filling the shortage of Blue Uniform masters.
He would have no choice but to spar while organizing its internal affairs. How well would the Record of the Dharma Light Wheel and Thunderclap Flash-Ridge Sword Art work against Black Uniform masters?
He set a goal in his heart. Defeating about two would be enough. For now, he had to be satisfied with that.
‘How many Squad Leaders are still here?’
Desolate Fortress's Black Uniform martial artists were people who always went to the front lines to fight.
As strategic weapons in a sect war, such masters would not let their strength go to waste in the main fortress.
The Chief Steward's Office sent Black Uniform masters outside as often as possible, and it had done so even more recently. A time of chaos was approaching because of the famine.
Jeong Yeon-shin suddenly recalled what Miss Ye had said.
‘She said she understood how short-handed the main fortress was.’
Doubt rose alongside the thought.
The cryptic words she and the Lord had exchanged, Miss Ye's unconventional words and actions, her familiar bearing, and even the way she trained the Body Movement Scripture during ordinary moments.
‘Can an Apostle of the Blood Flame Sect pose as a strategist of the Martial Alliance? Even the Sword Star said nothing.’
In any case, the Lord had admitted her into the main fortress. He needed to set aside hasty suspicions.
It was enough to resolve to wait and see. They would meet again, one way or another.
Then, Xiahou Wi-jin, the Heaven-Treading Forest Squad Leader, suddenly looked down at the new Squad Leader as the four of them walked.
“The rumors were true. The Lord favors you.”
“Your words are more than I deserve.”
Jeong Yeon-shin answered calmly, thinking it was nonsense.
There had been no particular conversation until they descended the steps of the Lord's inner fortress, but Xiahou Wi-jin seemed to have considered what had happened above.
The same was true of Ak Su-rim, the Desolate Divine Spear.
“No. The big man may have put it badly, but the Lord's reaction was unusual. I'm telling you, it was affection she never showed even to the imperial disciples. Not even to Squad Leaders. When I underwent Rejuvenation, she only smiled once and that was all.”
She chattered on.
“She only said I was worthy of becoming the next Divine Sword Squad Leader... I don't know whether she meant it. Her tone was so even.”
Xiahou Wi-jin's lips pressed into a frown.
“The Divine Sword Squad Deputy Leader cannot distinguish between formal praise and sincere words.”
He continued.
“Insignificant clans would not rise to the rank of Divine Sword Squad Leader three times.”
His voice was characteristically deep. Because of his huge build, it felt as though it were crashing down from above. A hint of anger could be heard in it.
His words made Jeong Yeon-shin realize anew that even Squad Leaders competed with one another.
“The Leader of Demon Wings is the same. Do not become undisciplined just because the Lord favors you. The sight you showed at the Martial Alliance Assembly was quite spirited, but it is nowhere near enough reason for us to hand over our subordinates.”
The Heaven-Treading Forest Squad Leader continued in a growl.
“Fight and win. If you lack the skill to do that, you must make us acknowledge you somehow. Even that will not be easy. It would be quicker to force our consent through martial strength.”
He spoke firmly in an archaic tone.
He was right. Desolate Fortress's Black Uniform martial artists were supreme masters who traveled the world. That usually meant their experience and knowledge were exceptionally broad.
It would be difficult to open their hearts through ordinary means. He would have to settle it through sparring. Jeong Yeon-shin agreed.
Then, suddenly, the Leader of Demon Wings stared quietly at the Heaven-Treading Forest Squad Leader's legs.
“That looks like the footwork of the elven race.”
“Hm?”
“If you walk a little differently, you would be lighter.”
Jeong Yeon-shin said.
Footnotes:
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