WeTried Translations
Translator/Editor: ZERO_SUGAR
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◈ Surviving as a Genius on Borrowed Time ◈
Episode 287: Lotus (6)
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The broad road outside the manor thrummed with excitement.
It was an age where the strong devoured the weak. The lives of ordinary people varied according to which powerful figures rose during a famine.
The reach of martial artists, those superhumans who had learned martial arts, was monstrously great. The scale of their exploitation was different.
Among martial artists whose feint-and-strike tactics could span absurd distances, who would emerge as the foremost figure?
The martial arts tournament spanning the vast Shanxi Province carried immense significance. All the more so within the manor.
Countless people came and went.
An enormous dining table had been arranged in a square in the sunlit banquet grounds.
“The Iron-Soul Divine Saber of the Gwi Family is unmatched.”
“The Gongya Family is the foundation of Pingyang Prefecture’s martial lineage. Do you know how beautiful the eldest daughter and the Second Young Master are? You would never see faces like theirs in the marketplace. Their martial arts must be the same.”
“You would discuss Shanxi’s young martial artists without mentioning the Slayer Hero? Don’t make me laugh. How many villains have died beneath the Five Moon Sword Art? He recites poetry over corpses. There is no Yama more refined than him.”
“The young masters and young ladies of the Goga Sword Gate, Water-Moon Sect, and Azure Sky Gang are no pushovers either. Are there only one or two people in Shanxi who have honed their practical martial arts to the limit?”
Sects recognized as prestigious names had gathered, whether their auras were clear or unruly.
Their martial uniforms came in many colors.
They chatted with well-maintained weapons at their sides, carrying the ease unique to those who ruled as the powerful in a famine-stricken world.
“What does it matter how the tournament turns out? This may not be the time to leisurely consider its outcome. I hear blood demons nearby have begun appearing like wild boars fleeing a forest fire.”
“They are not Blood Masters. The rabble poses little threat. I cut down one myself. He did not even seem to have the presence of mind for essence absorption or plunder. He was terrified.”
“Was your sword qi really that exceptional?”
“Well...”
The atmosphere resembled a feast at a great household. Since a martial family was hosting the banquet, it truly was one.
The expansive manor grounds were filled with people. Only renowned sects and martial artists had been admitted, yet there were still this many. The world was vast.
“Gongya Jeong.”
“...Gwi Il-tae.”
The open space was shaded by colorful canopies.
Gongya Jeong touched the red sash around her waist. More precisely, her fingertips brushed the sword sheath wrapped within it.
Someone whose presence unconsciously urged her to draw her sword had entered close range. Gwi Il-tae of the Shanxi Noble Family.
“You’re as imposing as ever. I might believe you’ve cultivated Invisible Sword Qi.”
The scar across his nose twitched as he spoke. His manner of speech was crude.
His appearance was not.
He wore a loose yellow fur coat. Despite Gongya Jeong’s considerable height, he looked down at her.
His body was large and lean, honed as a saber wielder. His flushed face was highly expressive, and he carried himself like nothing in the world could restrain him.
It made sense. He was said to have inherited the complete legacy of the Green Forest martial lineage.
The Shanxi Noble Family had been founded by bandits who learned martial arts and wished to operate openly.
Few in Shanxi did not know Gwi Il-tae, the Heaven-Rending Mad Saber, whether for his arrogant nature or his merciless methods.
Gwi Il-tae, who had been looking down on Gongya Jeong, smiled.
“I heard you threw out the matchmaker. Isn’t that rude conduct for a prestigious family? A household that has invited writing tutors for generations to teach its children their letters.”
“The rude ones were your family, talking about marriage to the heir of another house.”
Gongya Jeong, the eldest daughter, did not even meet his gaze.
She spoke as coldly as the winter air falling across her face. As the banquet’s host, she was busy keeping watch over her surroundings.
Gwi Il-tae touched the saber scabbard at his waist.
“How is telling you to think it over mockery? Go see a monk with strong dharma power. He’ll tell you your head is filled with demon hordes. You pretend to be noble, but you’re desperate to protect your interests. How could someone like you ever become broad-minded?”
Gongya Jeong did not answer. She recalled Sect Leader Geom’s advice.
“If you are in a position where you cannot afford to lose, you must not enter a match before you have aligned your breathing and grip and assessed your opponent. A fight is a collection of variables. Before I refined my inner-energy breathing, I could not confidently claim I would always defeat even an opium-addled fool. It would be worse among lesser martial artists.”
Gwi Il-tae had approached her without warning.
She was not at her best. She could not give him an excuse to fight.
‘Sect Leader Geom.’
She looked toward one side of a table beneath a canopy. A young man with a boyish face was drawing the attention of those around him.
His appearance was so unreal it made reality seem distant at first sight. He cast curious glances at the young martial artists around him, openly displaying innocent fascination.
He looked as though he found the heroes participating in the tournament remarkable.
To Gongya Jeong, Geom Un-bi was the more mysterious one.
‘It’s like he’s from another world.’
As a martial artist, she admired the Huangcheon Sect Leader. She would find it difficult to forget the strange regret, tenderness, and solitude that had radiated from his sword dance beneath the moonlight.
There was also his magnanimity in teaching her secret arts meant for ten years of training without hesitation. Was it because of his appearance? He felt like a noble spiritual beast.
Even with the difference in status between the heir of a martial family and a wandering martial artist, he was difficult to approach.
“What are you looking at? Hm?”
A deep voice broke through her thoughts.
Gwi Il-tae, the Heaven-Rending Mad Saber. A rival of the same generation, different from the Slayer Hero.
Shanxi’s shortages had grown worse because of people like Gwi Il-tae.
At public gatherings like this, they acted as disciples of prestigious sects. Outside, they used the Body Movement Scripture to its fullest and stole the precious food of ordinary people.
Their unpredictable lightness skills made identifying them difficult. Since firm proof was hard to obtain, only those in the know kept quiet among themselves.
The martial world was gradually becoming more barbaric.
As the eldest young master of the Shanxi Noble Family, which had inherited the Green Forest’s secret legacy, he must have felt the world was made for him.
He possessed the status to be arrogant anywhere, a violent temperament, and powerful martial arts. He was the sort who believed himself the center of the world.
Noticing the young man in the distance, with black hair falling to his shoulders and an ethereal bearing, he curled his thick lips.
“What a strange fellow. No wonder he caught the Gongya eldest daughter’s eye. Is he your plaything?”
Step.
The large fur coat passed through Gongya Jeong’s right field of vision.
She did not stop him.
She wanted Geom Un-bi to become acquainted with Shanxi’s notable figures. He was too valuable to die away from home as a wandering martial artist.
He was closer to a benefactor. If the Shanxi Noble Family tried to pressure Sect Leader Geom through influence, she intended to support him.
“Bring Shao Xing wine over there.”
Gongya Jeong ordered the attendant standing behind her, pointing toward Huangcheon Sect Leader Geom Un-bi.
* * *
Rustle.
A dark sleeve brushed the table. The sound of cloth scraping drew nearby eyes.
Many here possessed keen hearing. It was not easy to remain composed among martial artists who had mastered Sensory Training.
‘What’s there to look at?’
Jeong Yeon-shin silently held his cup.
Many people had approached out of interest. Most stared at his face. He had never experienced this while wearing clothes marked with the harsh character for desolation.
After concealing his status and apparent prowess, the world had proven harsher than he expected. What would he have been doing if he had never entered the Desolate Fortress?
The Pure Blood Robe buried within his pack underground suddenly came to mind. So did the smoothly smiling Seventh Apostle.
He dismissed the thought. That was far from his nature. Far too distant.
‘Would I have become the Sword Dragon Hero’s disciple? At the Zhongnan Sect?’
Jeong Yeon-shin touched his wine cup and focused on sensing the presences around him.
‘The man constantly picking at meat on the right is the Goga Sword Gate’s First Sword. The woman drinking to the front left is the Water-Moon Sect’s young sect leader. The one said to be a rising talent of the Azure Sky Gang... that person surnamed Geum is stroking their sword hilt near the rear side gate. The large man approaching from afar is someone named Gwi from the Shanxi Noble Family. And then...’
He confirmed his targets one by one. It felt as if he had become an assassin.
He had investigated them through Gongya Jeong beforehand. They were said to exploit civilian homes by every possible method.
Regularly stealing harvested grain was commonplace. They also secretly took food the common people had prepared as tribute, forcing them to pay taxes twice.
Yet it was only circumstantial evidence. Martial artists who had trained the Body Movement Scripture never left traces.
Even the Gongya Family could only infer the culprits from the testimony of powerless commoners.
An age that grew honest about power. That was the reality of the martial world during a famine.
“I heard the One Hundred Eight Arhat Formation was deployed again at Mount Song. It was an overcast day, but they say a great hole opened in the clouds. The incense pilgrims of Dengfeng County all prostrated themselves on the spot, so it must be true. They said they saw the Buddha’s palm.”
“Has His Majesty descended once more?”
“Who knows? The world is unsettled. Perhaps some supernatural phenomenon was defeated by Shaolin monks.”
“Have you heard the rumor that the Divine Sword Squad Leader wiped out ten archery firing platforms of the Dark Night Hall?”
“What stories of another world. I acquired a painting of immortals by a portrait painter named Tang Yin the other day. When I hung it on the wall, the air became refreshing... It truly was the work of a master. In terms of martial arts, it was a painting left behind by a peerless master of the Heart Sword.”
“You have plenty of leisure. I’ll come see it soon. Our manor has started to smell strongly of cow dung.”
“I heard you acquired a hundred cows during the famine. Do you have enough fodder to feed them?”
“More than enough.”
The men and women lost interest once they heard Huangcheon Sect Leader Geom Un-bi’s identity.
Jeong Yeon-shin was not the only one drawing attention. This was a banquet of prestigious families.
Many groups sat together in closed circles, refusing anyone’s approach. At a gathering of those who possessed much, there was no place for an ordinary guest.
It was that lavish a drinking feast.
Delicacies and fine wines from every region had been served.
There was Hangzhou’s famous beggar’s chicken, Sichuan mapo tofu, and Shanxi-style stir-fried mushrooms made with the province’s famed vinegar.
The tempting aroma of food seemed to wrap around the area like mist.
Even the sword fragrance of Mount Hua Sect immortals could not compete with such delicacies. Dozens of people laughed and talked.
Contrary to Gongya Jeong’s wishes, Jeong Yeon-shin did not want to mingle with them. It was enough to confirm their faces, builds, auras, and names.
“You’re quite shy. It’s unsightly.”
A rough voice rang out above his head. The voice itself was extremely loud.
Without changing expression, Jeong Yeon-shin raised his head. It was the person he had sensed earlier.
Someone named Gwi from the Shanxi Noble Family. A powerfully built man looked down at him, a menacing expression on his face.
“Your surname is Geom, was it? I’ve never heard of it. Your family line must be lowly. You have no roots, so you came to attach yourself to the Gongya Family. Then shouldn’t you at least work that pretty tongue of yours? The eldest daughter must expect you to receive her honored guests.”
A few people whistled.
The children of high-ranking households merely watched with inscrutable eyes. It was the sort of quarrel that naturally arose whenever martial artists gathered.
“Roots...”
Jeong Yeon-shin tilted his head slightly.
“I heard your side came from bandits.”
“...”
This time, an enormous number of eyes gathered on them.
The Heaven-Rending Mad Saber Gwi Il-tae was said to be a likely champion of the tournament, alongside the Gongya Young Family Head and the Slayer Hero.
He had cultivated the Iron-Soul Divine Saber, the culmination of Green Forest saber arts, to its utmost limit.
He was famous for cutting down more than ten mounted bandits charging at him with a single strike.
Even his downward gaze was oppressive. His eyes looked like those of a man who had rarely needed to look up at anyone.
His intent to disgrace the Gongya Family through Jeong Yeon-shin was clear.
Then.
Jeong Yeon-shin suddenly raised a hand.
He struck.
He did not draw his sword. The air bent faintly beneath the palm force carried in his outstretched hand, striking beside Gwi Il-tae.
Blood burst from the back of a blood demon that had been appearing like mist taking shape.
Fwoosh!
“Aaargh!”
The dark red hair unique to Blood Flame Sect Blood Masters flew upward.
The Blood Master’s target, a servant carefully carrying a platter of food, dropped to the ground in shock.
“A concealment art? Sharpen your aura sense!”
“The Blood Flame Sect! It’s a Blood Flame Sect attack!”
In an instant, chaos erupted. Weapons were drawn as shockwaves of martial power exploded everywhere.
Blood Flame Sect martial artists whose ambush had been exposed poured in from every direction.
Clang! Slash!
The earth trembled. The once leisurely air became stifling. Those who had mastered swift sword arts were the first to spray blood and collapse, losing their balance.
The situation became dire in the blink of an eye.
The Gongya Family had always been known for its abundance, and now it had filled the air with food scents during a famine.
Rumors that a banquet would be held for the martial arts tournament had spread everywhere.
The blood demons who had fled starving from the Shanxi branch must have targeted it.
“Right side! Block the right side!”
“A whip! That one’s trained in whip arts! Is there a master of the Protective Qi Technique?”
“Five Blood Masters...!”
While the masters immediately countered, servants and attendants screamed.
Though the blood demons included countless disorganized rabble, to ordinary people they were little different from monsters that could not be resisted.
Casualties were inevitable.
At least, they were until Jeong Yeon-shin moved.
He did not hesitate.
Step.
He took that step after sweeping the battlefield with his gaze.
The instant a faint glow rose like smoke beneath his feet, a vast constellation appeared dimly over the banquet hall.
His figure warped the air, drawing a long line that bent five times.
Craaaash!
A Blood Master who had barely blocked the first strike with their sword was sent flying.
A monstrous boom swept through the banquet hall. As if struck by an enormous cannon, the Blood Master became a lump of flesh and embedded themself in a wall.
Within the constellation faintly blooming in broad daylight.
Crunch! Fwoosh!
Bodies shattered and blood exploded. Five shockwaves connected as one.
Footnotes:
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