WeTried Translations
Translator/Editor: ZERO_SUGAR
Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried
◈ Surviving as a Genius on Borrowed Time ◈
Chapter 24: Middle Dantian (4)
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The Mantis Sect Leader’s fallen body brought silence.
The reckless strike seemed to have been more than effective enough.
The foul smiles of the surrounding Mantis Sect disciples vanished without a trace.
“......”
The Mantis Sect Leader’s body bore the marks of an overwhelming sword strike.
The powerful scent of blood rising from it made the unreal death feel tangible.
Yeon-shin turned away from the wretchedly sprawled figure and spoke.
He held the Desolate Sword low, blood dripping from its blade.
“Today, I will smash the Mantis Sect’s plaque.”
“Wh-What?”
“C-Crazy......!”
The stunned Mantis Sect disciples finally spoke, recoiling in alarm.
Amid groans, remarks about sword force unlike anything they had ever seen or heard reached his ears.
To those living in the confined martial world of the county, Yeon-shin’s sword held that meaning.
He had seized the momentum. He gave his enemies no time to think further.
His qi was not whole from using the Sihwa Boundless Fist, but with the sensations he had gained here, he could handle opponents of this level.
Step.
When he took a step forward, many cowards retreated in unison. The loyalty of martial artists of unorthodox sects differed from the faithfulness of chivalrous heroes.
They were people who bought and sold martial arts. They said lives could change hands over a single coin.
As could be seen now, those who were not like that were few.
“Kill him! Let’s kill him!”
“You crazy bastard. You go!”
“He’s an unbeatable monster!”
“D-Divine Sword......!”
A monster and a Divine Sword. At that moment, Yeon-shin realized that the martial world was not the same everywhere under heaven.
They were words he would never have heard in Desolate Fortress.
‘There’s nothing more to gain here.’
Yeon-shin began striking again. They were no longer the same as when he had first faced them.
He forced his way through the disciples’ loosened sword net, their momentum broken, and unleashed swift attacks.
It was swordsmanship the Mantis Sect disciples could not endure. At last, some began to flee.
“Argh!”
“We’re finished! The sect is finished!”
“C-Call the Blood Master! Call the Blood Master!”
The cry of one disciple made everyone present hesitate. Yeon-shin was no exception.
If it was a Blood Master whom the unorthodox sects would call upon with faith, it could only be the Blood Master of the Blood Flame Sect.
“Answer me. Was the Blood Flame Sect behind this? Were the people you captured offered to them as well?”
He seized one disciple’s arm in a joint lock and twisted it, holding a blue blade before their throat.
The disciple shouted through cold sweat.
“Y-Yes! Yes! They should be sleeping in the annex now! It has always been that way!”
“You know nothing about masters.”
There was no way a master could have failed to sense a battle of this level.
“Spare me......!”
He faced a life-and-death duel. Any compassion had been cast from his mind.
The Desolate Sword swept across the disciple’s neck without emotion before Yeon-shin raised it.
His qi, faster than before, contained the principles of the Ultimate Realm.
Layered qi filled the acupoints of his right arm, waist, and lower body, forming an opening stance like an ancient tree standing firmly upon the earth.
Clang!
A sudden sword strike struck the Desolate Sword. There had not even been the sound of air being torn.
At the same time, only dark crimson hair brushed past Yeon-shin’s forehead.
The vibration spreading through his grip was more intense than anything he had felt from the Mantis Sect.
“Blood Master.”
“You blocked that? Then this devastation is your doing.”
“Devastation? That is not a word the Blood Flame Sect should utter.”
Yeon-shin answered calmly as he looked ahead.
The figure was the same as the one he had seen in Jinpyeong County.
The Blood Master had mixed black-and-red hair and wore a bright crimson martial uniform. Blood heavily stained the corners of their mouth.
The Blood Master held an iron sword, and an eerie aura emanated from their entire body.
Yeon-shin recalled Ma Jin’s comment when Ma Jin had been discussing Yeon-shin’s merits.
If Yeon-shin cut down around five Blood Masters, he would be recognized as a Blue Uniform warrior regardless of age. Naturally, Ma Jin had said it jokingly.
The Blood Flame Sect was not a group one could easily encounter.
“You’re lucky.”
“What?”
“Three remain.”
“......”
In the past, this was one of those who would have charged at Yeon-shin regardless of what he said.
Now, it was different. The Blood Master cautiously sidestepped, wary of the aura Yeon-shin displayed.
It was true that Blood Masters were uncommon masters. Unlike the Mantis Sect disciples, this one could sense Yeon-shin’s presence.
Yeon-shin did not wait.
“Hup!”
Power gathered in his legs as he kicked off the ground. His second step was True Step.
With a heavy rumble, he drove straight in and unleashed Demon's Light in its swift-sword form.
A flash of light drew a straight line and collided with the Blood Master’s sword.
Clang!
Because he had seized the initiative, Yeon-shin put his full power behind the strike. It was blocked, but he clearly drove the opponent back.
He decided to finish it here. The Blood Master was not an opponent he could defeat easily.
This was the heart of the Mantis Sect. If he prolonged the battle, his chances of victory would decrease.
In that instant, a sky-blue gleam swept across the body of the peer swordsman.
His senses, honed sharply through group battles, emitted invisible light and perceived even beyond the back of the opponent who had taken a step back.
He saw clearly even the aura gathering in the left hand as the Blood Master assumed the opening stance of a sinister palm art.
‘Here.’
It was the realm of instinct. Rather than let their martial arts collide, he chose to arrive first.
His decision, transcending that instant, became aura and wound itself layer by layer around the Desolate Sword.
He had imbued Demon's Light’s swift-sword form with the Force Projection of Helix from the Sihwa Boundless Fist.
United with the sword, he folded space.
“Shk!”
With little force, he pierced straight through the Blood Master in a single stroke.
This was the essence of the swift sword. A method for swordsmen lacking depth to survive.
The breeze caught the blood, scattering tiny droplets.
“H-Hurk......!”
The Blood Flame Sect’s peculiar sinister aura dispersed.
With a hollow gasp, the second Blood Master’s eyes widened as though they would split apart.
In a county like this, the Blood Master was a martial artist who could act as a god of death. This death must have been impossible to believe.
Yeon-shin could feel the Blood Master’s thoughts directly. The tremors transmitted through the blade told him as much.
With eyes full of resentment, the Blood Master opened their mouth.
“Y-You......”
“I do not listen to last words.”
The muscles in Yeon-shin’s arm stood out sharply. He did not even raise his internal energy.
He knocked the embedded sword mercilessly to the side and turned at the same time.
The sign of the Blood Master collapsing without even managing a groan faded behind him.
“Do not flee.”
He spoke in a low voice.
Those who had been quietly moving away as though they had learned a movement art of the elven race stopped in their tracks.
His voice, containing not a trace of qi, completely dominated the Mantis Sect.
* * *
In full view of everyone in Lianhu County, Yeon-shin smashed the Mantis Sect’s plaque.
While some rejoiced as they trampled the broken plaque, others burst into tears while holding the emaciated corpses of their families.
Over ten bodies were found in the Mantis Sect’s annex and rear courtyard.
It was like Jinpyeong County. Yeon-shin felt bitter despite gaining unexpected merit.
Carrying a large sack over his back, Yeon-shin glanced behind him.
Some had survived, but Mantis Sect disciples who had lost their right arms were being trampled by the villagers.
Though they had cultivated martial arts of unorthodox sects, Yeon-shin had shattered their dantians.
They could no longer support their own bodies, and they had even lost a limb. They were completely crippled.
“Xi’an should be Zhongnan’s territory.”
What had they been doing until now? Jang Sam, who had been wiping away tears nearby, reacted to Yeon-shin’s mutter.
Jang Sam had wrapped his daughter’s body in cloth and slung it onto his back.
“Isn’t the Zhongnan Sect at war with the Tyrant Sword Sect?”
Jang Sam’s eyes were bloodshot, and his speech had grown halting. Yeon-shin frowned.
“Zhongnan and the Tyrant Sword Sect......?”
It was a rumor he had never heard.
The conversation stopped. The images of Hye-ah, his only sibling’s child, and the Zhongnan Sect’s masters passed through his mind.
At the end of them stood the Tyrant Sword Sect Master. The person who had annihilated an entire family while displaying the energy of an absolute master.
Even now, he could not understand why.
“Since when?”
“I do not know either. I only heard that the nearby martial schools affiliated with Zhongnan were packing their belongings and heading up Mount Zhongnan......”
“......”
After that, Yeon-shin remained silent.
If the opponent was the Tyrant Sword Sect, would the Zhongnan Sect not have to stake its survival on the conflict?
If they clashed head-on, it would not end with only one or two masters dying.
There were more than enough reasons to fight.
The Tyrant Sword Sect Master had cut off Great Elder Ye Yil-sin’s ear.
Whether before or after that, they could not have clashed only once or twice. The destruction of Jeong Family Manor was another incident whose circumstances Yeon-shin still did not know.
No matter how one looked at it, it was unnatural that Zhongnan Sect masters had stayed at Jeong Family Manor at that particular time.
Hye-ah was innocent. Yeon-shin hoped his second brother, Jeong Joong-san, was protecting Hye-ah properly.
‘I need to go to Zhongnan.’
Ma Jin would permit it as well. The Apostle Thirteen Heavens were a force that acted as supreme rulers in the martial world of unorthodox sects.
They would inevitably become targets for intervention by Desolate Fortress’s martial forces, and taking the heads of Tyrant Sword Sect masters would mean earning merit.
Desolate Fortress had become Yeon-shin’s backing. He also possessed martial strength capable of handling most martial artists.
‘I can gain merit as well. Now, I need to know.’
Why Jeong Family Manor had fallen.
Why the Tyrant Sword Sect and the Blood Flame Sect had joined hands. For what reason had they annihilated Jeong Family Manor?
The Zhongnan Sect would know.
“You have sent my daughter on peacefully with her grievances avenged......”
“Young Master, thank you. Thank you so much......!”
“This is Yeon-shin of the Jeong family! You must never forget his name!”
“Great Hero Jeong! It is Great Hero Jeong!”
Receiving the greetings of Jang Sam and the villagers, he turned away.
When they said they should hold a feast to treat him, he refused and told them to save their scarce famine food for the funeral.
Then, some began to mutter the three characters of Jeong Yeon-shin as though engraving them into their minds.
He lightly rested one hand on the sword hilt and gripped the end of the sack slung over his back with the other.
After quickening his pace, he reached a hill beyond Lianhu County.
“Have you found any traces of the Fighting Demon?”
Yeon-shin suddenly stopped and spoke.
The nearby brush rustled. Two people emerged.
A swordsman surrounded by a sharp presence and an extraordinary-looking young Daoist approached.
They were Cheon Ju, the Mount Hua Sword Absolute, and Yu Hyeon, the Mount Hua Sect Leader’s disciple.
“It seems it was not the Mantis Sect.”
Perhaps because Cheon Ju had seen the calamity of a sect’s annihilation, Cheon Ju’s speech and manner were far more respectful than before.
Cheon Ju was no longer treating Yeon-shin merely as a promising talent such as Yu Hyeon, but as a full-fledged martial artist of Desolate Fortress.
Yeon-shin nodded and spoke.
“I see. That is unfortunate.”
“I was deeply impressed by your martial prowess. It was as though I stood before the future Leader of Demon Wings, no, Divine Sword Squad Leader. Yu Hyeon, our sect’s future, must have broadened his horizons as well.”
Cheon Ju stroked the back of Yu Hyeon’s neck.
As the Daoist cap on Yu Hyeon’s head shook, Yu Hyeon frowned slightly and glanced at Yeon-shin.
Yu Hyeon’s previously languid expression now appeared exceptionally clear-eyed.
“It was my first defeat. Whenever I think about the claim I made to you, that I could defeat you in five moves, I feel as though I might roll out of bed.”
“Your first defeat?”
Yeon-shin tilted his head slightly. Yu Hyeon waved a hand.
“My senior brothers and senior sisters are all much older. The only ones near my age are my martial nephews, and their martial arts are too shallow.”
“Are there no disciples around your age at Mount Hua?”
“I am the only one in the sect leader’s disciple generation.”
“And?”
At his indifferent reply, Yu Hyeon lowered his eyes slightly.
“......Would you like to become friends with me? You seem interested in Mount Hua’s martial arts as well. Huguang is not far from Shaanxi.”
“I have no reason to go out of my way to visit Mount Hua.”
“Ah......”
“If you come to find me, I will not refuse. But bring a new martial art with you each time.”
Yu Hyeon seemed unaccustomed to rejection and was visibly flustered.
However, Yeon-shin’s final words brightened Yu Hyeon’s expression.
During their journey to the gathering place in Xi’an, Yeon-shin had to listen to Yu Hyeon’s chatter.
Yu Hyeon spoke as much as Hyeon Won-chang, though in a different manner.
Much of it concerned the principles of martial arts, and the Nine Sects’ orthodox martial teachings were helpful to Yeon-shin as well.
Cheon Ju occasionally added a remark, which nearly inspired Yeon-shin more than once.
‘It is helpful. I am looking forward to the Mount Hua Sect’s visit.’
After walking for a day, they arrived at the first inn Yeon-shin found in Xi’an. The pleasant time ended there.
He went up to Ma Jin’s room.
“Your presence has changed slightly again.”
“Your back looks as though it was cut. I will apply Golden Wound Medicine, so sit down.”
“Seom-ye. The mission......”
Before Cheong Myeong, Baek Mir-yeo, Ma Jin, and Hyeon Won-chang, Yeon-shin spoke of going to Zhongnan.
As Ma Jin, having heard the circumstances, opened his mouth with a troubled expression, Yeon-shin opened the sack in his hand and emptied its contents.
“Oh!”
“......!”
The Blood Master’s head and the Mantis Sect’s plaque, broken in half, spilled out.
Footnotes:
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