WeTried Translations

Translator/Editor: ZERO_SUGAR

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◈ Surviving as a Genius on Borrowed Time ◈

Episode 220: Flash (7)

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It was a truly shocking manifestation.

The six Squad Leaders had gathered for the assembly. There had been no concern for their safety.

For a brief moment, their total strength had come close to the absolute. No one could deny the sense of security that gave them.

Even in these chaotic times, when the strong devoured the weak, they could speak of safety.

They said that even three Black Uniform martial artists gathered together were enough to speak of invincibility. It was not entirely baseless. Gossipmongers might exaggerate, but there was still truth in it.

Yet.

Shaaah.

Not a speck of dust clung to the clothes of the man who had driven the Heaven-Treading Forest Squad Leader's head into the floor.

Hazy dust spread through the hall, yet his vivid pink robes remained pristine. Protective Qi Technique covered even the hems of his clothes.

It meant the power surrounding his entire body was so tightly sealed that not even water could slip through.

He knelt on one knee, pressing Xiahou Wi-jin's head against the floor.

It did not feel real. Even with his head slightly bowed toward the Heaven-Treading Forest Squad Leader, he remained imposing.

Unrestrained aura flowed from his entire body. The colorless waves surging around him were immensely powerful and free.

"Didn't I ask you, you truly insignificant thing?"

His voice rumbled like a lion's growl.

Xiahou Wi-jin could not answer.

The mouth that had been shouting at his new junior was crushed against the floor. His lips had driven into and crushed the marble.

What would have happened if he had not been constantly maintaining inner-energy armor?

The blow was powerful enough to shatter the mouth of a Black Uniform martial artist, whose body was filled with inner energy even within.

"I listened and listened, and what a spectacle it was. I should have come down sooner."

The man spoke as though talking to himself.

No one answered at once.

Wonpyeong One Sword Hall was a place spoken of only in rumors throughout the martial world.

There was no other place where so many of Desolate Fortress's Black Uniform martial artists gathered. It should have been the most dangerous place in the world.

Until just before the ceiling collapsed, no one had reacted in advance.

Such a thing was nearly impossible. It was practically a disaster.

It made no sense unless the intruder's inner cultivation had reached Return to Simplicity.

It was a realm where one had surpassed the extreme and could instead appear ordinary.

"..."

Silence fell for a moment.

Cheon So-so, the Lord of the Immortal Wood Spirit, opened her blue eyes wide.

She watched the man quietly, gathering her aura within the stillness unique to ice arts.

The energy holding the principle of movement within stillness was cold and immense.

Un So-yu had drawn her sword the moment the ceiling cracked, and now she pointed it at the man.

Even as the storm raged, her long black hair remained still. She had trained her clan's abilities alongside her swordsmanship.

She was a supreme master who handled the wind with mystifying skill.

Shaaah.

Sharp energy gathered in the hand of Divine Blood Extreme Demon Jin Myeong-jo, who stood with his arms folded. Even before this astonishing sight, his expression did not change.

He stood with an elegant bearing, surrounded by aura that spread thickly and irregularly. It was the distinctive dignity of the Blood Guard Squad Leader.

Though the Squad Leaders were accustomed to immediate combat, none of them struck at once.

They had to assess their opponent first.

There was no mistake in the aura sense of Desolate Fortress's Squad Leaders. Thousand Fists, Dragon-Powered Divine Official Xiahou Wi-jin had been subdued with ease.

A surprise attack offered a great advantage, but this was no time to underestimate their opponent.

"Coordinate with me."

Jin Myeong-jo spoke briefly.

The words themselves were a feint. The effectiveness of a combined attack depended on the compatibility of the martial arts involved. The combination of the Blood Guard Squad Leader and the elven Squad Leaders was the worst possible.

He did not mean they should coordinate with him. He meant that if they attacked first, he would find an opening himself.

Cheon So-so and Un So-yu did not answer.

It had nothing to do with their usual contempt for Jin Myeong-jo's bloodline.

The uninvited guest had deceived the aura sense of the Black Uniform supreme masters. He had completely concealed his power.

He was a peerless master. It was possible to imitate even a fraction of the aura of the Lord of Desolate Fortress, who resembled nature itself.

They had to prepare for death and examine their opponent with a meticulous eye technique.

Ak Su-rim, who had already drawn the spear from her back, furrowed her brow slightly.

"What is this?"

She held the black spear low in one hand. Her opening stance, surrounded by a transparent haze, was anything but ordinary.

Enormous power surged through the shaft rising behind her slender back.

It was the Ak Family Spear Art, the most renowned long-weapon martial art in the world.

It had once been considered one of the world's two great spear arts alongside the Yang Family Spear, but in her hands, that had become an old saying.

The might of the Desolate Divine Spear far surpassed the martial prowess of Yang Family Spear masters.

"This aura feels familiar, yet unfamiliar. It is deeply unpleasant. Is this a Lord of the Thirteen Heavens I have not seen? Otherwise, there is no way the main fortress could have been breached like this..."

Ak Su-rim muttered as she watched the man pressing Xiahou Wi-jin's head into the floor.

The intruder's face could not be seen. He had bowed toward the Heaven-Treading Forest Squad Leader as though lecturing him.

Slowly, she moved her lips.

"Seom-ye, you need to look properly."

Her voice carried concern. Her handsome junior was turning away from the uninvited guest.

"Ah."

The new Leader of Demon Wings responded flatly. His thick brows did not move.

His breath flowed out in long, thin streams beneath his handsome nose.

His qigong breathing had become astonishingly deep, yet he looked dazed, like someone his age. It was an extremely rare sight.

The Desolate Divine Spear had a broad field of vision. Without turning her gaze, she could see Seom-ye's state. She could not help asking worriedly.

"Are you all right?"

"Senior Ak."

Her junior began to speak, his head tilted slightly downward.

"Why? Go on."

Ak Su-rim urged him gently. Her manner remained warm despite the powerful enemy before them.

She was a truly considerate senior.

"Well..."

At that moment, Jeong Yeon-shin felt completely isolated. At least, that was how he felt inside. The expressionless face he struggled to maintain revealed his immense shame.

It was an emotion only he knew. Strange, aimless embarrassment gathered over him like clouds, accompanied by immense regret.

He should have come with him instead.

'Ah...'

Still, he had to speak.

It seemed his maternal grandfather had no intention of revealing his identity himself. He remained focused on pressing Xiahou Wi-jin's head into the floor.

He was acting like some old master from a faction between orthodox and unorthodox, too stubborn to see beyond what was directly before him.

Had his fury grown so great that he no longer had the presence of mind to look around? Even so, the supreme aura that barred anyone from approaching was astonishing.

The Black Uniform seniors could not be allowed to strike first.

A Purple Uniform peerless master clashing with four Black Uniform supreme masters? They were all people who could pierce steel with a single strike.

Regardless of who won, the outcome would not be pretty.

Yeon-shin could stop his maternal grandfather. Before that, though, he could not prevent the Tyrant Hero's split-second attack.

If this escalated further, he would find it difficult to attend Wonpyeong One Sword Hall in the future. He would not be able to show his face.

'No.'

With great effort, he pushed past his shame.

Just as he opened his mouth.

-Please wait a moment.

It was the Grand Chief Steward's sound transmission.

Yeon-shin turned his gaze and immediately spotted the Grand Chief Steward. He was smiling.

The curve of his lips beneath his thick beard carried an oddly cheerful air. It was difficult to understand.

The Grand Chief Steward continued.

-After returning from the imperial summons, the Tyrant Hero must live for a while as the main fortress's hidden sword. It does not suit his temperament. He must have built up much resentment. I cannot dare stop what commonly happens in Wonpyeong One Sword Hall. Besides... the clash you fear may not happen. None among our Black Uniform martial artists are ordinary...

Then.

Terrifying auras rose from all around the shattered round table. The Squad Leaders had finished preparing to strike.

Having reached a silent agreement, they circulated energy through their entire bodies in an instant. It was the realm where essence, qi, and spirit became one.

Having attained Three Flowers Gather at the Crown, they stood on the verge of unleashing their ultimate arts.

No questions asked.

A clash had already occurred. Xiahou Wi-jin still lived, but the attack had clearly been hostile.

When Desolate Fortress Squad Leaders entered a state of battle, they did not speak with the enemy. It was a pattern of behavior hardened through long tradition.

It existed so they would not be swayed by the words of powerful officials.

That was why Ak Su-rim worried about Jeong Yeon-shin but did not address the intruder.

'That Protective Qi Technique won't yield to Hand Arts.'

Divine Blood Extreme Demon Jin Myeong-jo thought.

His aura sense, strengthened by the yin qi he had been born with, did not fall behind that of the elven race. He immediately perceived the garment of inner energy surrounding his opponent.

It was woven as firmly as armor made of qi. The blunt impact points of Hand Arts would have difficulty overcoming it. He had no choice but to use Flash Blood Claw Art.

'It would be better if that bastard weren't here...!'

Jin Myeong-jo's ruby-like eyes flashed as he glanced at the new Leader of Demon Wings, his enemy without equal.

The aura surrounding the bastard's body was exceptionally sacred. They said he had created a dharma power martial art while still a White Uniform, but now he seemed to circulate energy with dharma power itself.

Even from a distance, Jin Myeong-jo felt as though his life were under threat. Goosebumps rose on his smooth skin.

He did not know if he could properly unleash his ultimate technique.

'The Tyrant Sword Sect Master is a monster of Shaanxi? Does that matter? Damn it.'

A monster of Desolate Fortress was right here.

At every assembly, he had to face the person he most wanted to avoid.

The unknown intruder, who had not killed the Heaven-Treading Forest Squad Leader in one blow, was less threatening than the Leader of Demon Wings, whose very existence pressured him.

It was psychological as well. Whenever he recalled the two Blue Uniform subordinates he himself had handed over to that lowly bastard like tribute, his heart tightened. It drove him mad with regret.

Pung-ran, Na Il-cheon. My loyal hands and feet.

'A combined attack? A combined attack with the Leader of Demon Wings?'

Jin Myeong-jo's eyes widened without thinking.

Then he flinched and lowered his lashes. His junior had mastered a divine art of dharma power.

If he earned the man's dislike, the Squad Leader Assembly would become unbearable. Wouldn't I have a fit even just sitting beside him? Damn it.

'Ah...'

Yeon-shin interpreted the crimson gaze differently.

It was conduct of a dual nature, desperate yet noble.

Like the taciturn senior he was, Jin Myeong-jo had spoken with his eyes. I will take responsibility for the vanguard, so you take the rear.

'He is as dependable as Senior Ak.'

The shame caused by his maternal grandfather and the guilt his seniors made him feel weighed on him.

Even so, he could not strike his grandfather. As Jeong Yeon-shin swallowed his distress, a voice filled with fury rang out.

"You lot, are you trying to commit insubordination?"

At last.

The man in the pink long robe lifted his head. Xiahou Wi-jin, whose nape vital point had been seized in the sudden ambush, had finally fainted.

A face with strong features was revealed, though it held almost no flesh.

He looked astonishingly young.

Though he was not of the elven race, vitality seemed to overflow from his entire body. His expression looked violent enough to be frightening.

He was like the ruler of lions racing across the wilderness.

"To strike now..."

Jin Myeong-jo, the Blood Guard Squad Leader, who had sharpened all five fingernails, slowly trailed off.

He had just cast aside the dignity demanded of a Black Uniform martial artist. He had intended to propose a combined attack. Anyone with experience would have done so.

Yet he could not finish speaking.

"You bastards?"

Jin Myeong-jo furrowed his brow. Ak Su-rim, Cheon So-so, and Un So-yu had frozen in place. All three stood rigid, as though turned to ice.

It was as if they had witnessed something they should not have seen. Even their powerfully rising auras faded.

They were all Squad Leaders of considerable age.

The Desolate Divine Spear had lived long through Rejuvenation, while the Lord of the Immortal Wood Spirit and the Law Enforcement Squad Leader had lived long as members of the elven race.

They differed from Jin Myeong-jo, who had entered Desolate Fortress relatively recently and hastily taken a Squad Leader's seat.

He glanced at the Leader of Demon Wings.

'What is that bastard doing now...?'

The new junior did not even look in that direction. He seemed to be deliberately avoiding it.

Then.

"No."

The lips of Ak Su-rim, the Desolate Divine Spear, trembled slightly. So did the hand gripping her black spear.

The momentum that had risen like wildfire through the Ak Family Spear Art vanished without a trace.

"No..."

She appeared the most shocked of all. She looked blank. Her lips parted slightly, and the eyes bearing the sharp gaze unique to a supreme master trembled faintly.

Her jet-black eyes moved repeatedly between Jeong Yeon-shin and the uninvited guest.

"What is this...?"

She was horrified, and not in a good way. Anyone could see it.

Swish.

Ma Yeon-jeok rose, the corner of his mouth lifting.

"This old man has long awaited this day, ever since you began calling my grandson your husband. Still, you had good eyes. Time has turned back in the hands of my grandson, whom you could never dare covet with a mere Ak Family Spear Art."

"Really, really... insane...!"

Ak Su-rim reacted fiercely. She had spent many years being worked to the bone as a subordinate of Ma Yeon-jeok, the Divine Sword Squad Leader.

Her thick lashes trembled.

Her short hair, which she always swept down behind her neck, had fallen over her ear, yet she did not raise a hand. Her eyes urgently sought her junior.

"That's a joke, right? The Elder Council Head recovered and is playing a joke on me, right? Wearing a human-skin mask and all. It's a horrible joke, so please tell me now. In my lifetime, I never thought I would see that face again..."

"My maternal grandfather has undergone Rejuvenation."

Jeong Yeon-shin spoke, unable to fully hide his embarrassment.

"It was really you? You made him look like that?"

"...Yes."

"You're my enemy now..."

Ak Su-rim muttered helplessly, devastated.

The task of cleaning up afterward fell to Grand Chief Steward Im Jin-myeong.

With the shock in the hall still unsettled, they decided to continue the assembly while everyone sat cross-legged on the floor.

Ma Yeon-jeok sat in the seat of honor. The Squad Leaders sat below him to his left and right. Ak Su-rim dragged Jeong Yeon-shin away and sat as far from him as possible.

Cheon So-so, Un So-yu, and Jin Myeong-jo still looked dazed. Only the degree of their reactions differed. They had yet to accept Ma Yeon-jeok's transformation, which could only be called drastic.

Very little time had passed. Xiahou Wi-jin, who awoke later, remained silent with clear eyes.

His tightly closed lips were unlike usual. None of his hot-tempered nature remained, and he rested both hands atop his knees as though he possessed the deep cultivation of a mirror-like, still lake.

The Tyrant Hero did not care.

"We were discussing assignment locations. Yeon-shin, where would you like to go?"

Jeong Yeon-shin shifted his gaze slightly. His worries were mountain-high. His grandfather had intruded at his workplace and used force in anger over his grandson's affairs. How could he show his face in the future?

He forced himself to look at Xiahou Wi-jin before speaking.

"My abilities are still lacking, so I cannot handle an assignment where the safety of the Swift Heaven Wing Squad is at stake. That is why I mentioned going to Shaanxi. I thought Shaanxi, where Zhongnan Sect and Mount Hua Sect are alongside the Tyrant Sword Sect and Yeoryeong, would be better. I repeat that Senior Xiahou misunderstood."

"Shaanxi? Good. The Leader of Demon Wings will go to Shaanxi."

Ma Yeon-jeok spoke. It was nearly a declaration.

"..."

The Grand Chief Steward chuckled to himself and unfolded the next document.

"And..."

The assembly moved forward with astonishing speed, faster than ever before. The agenda items of Wonpyeong One Sword Hall began flying past like flashes of light.

Footnotes:

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