WeTried Translations
Translator/Editor: ZERO_SUGAR
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◈ Surviving as a Genius on Borrowed Time ◈
Episode 289: Lotus (8)
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First Fist of the Eon Family, Fist Exemplar Eon Hwa-ryeon.
At the Martial Alliance Assembly's grand founding ceremony, she had been the strongest opponent after Cheon Ju-jin of Mount Hua.
It was said that the Zhuge Family had investigated Clear Qilin's corpse, uncovered traces of Seom-ye's martial arts, and passed that counterform to the Fist Exemplar, the Zhuge Family Head's lover.
At the time, the Leader of Demon Wings had struggled greatly in their spar. Even Radiant River had been effortlessly countered.
Now, Jeong Yeon-shin could face that troublesome opponent with composure.
Only a few months had passed, yet to him, it had been almost several decades.
That was true of both the time he perceived and his martial attainments.
“......”
Eon Hwa-ryeon did not answer. After knocking the eldest young master of the Shanxi Noble Family unconscious, she appeared calm, as if she had never flown into a rage.
A clear mirror and still water. The composure of a supreme master.
Her gaze was deep.
Sunlight vanished into her pupils. Her eyes were pitch-black.
She had activated the Jinju Eon Family's eye technique with an immense amount of qi.
The maturity of her inner energy alone seemed to surpass Yeon-shin's. Her evenly cultivated power filled her entire body, leaving her ready to unleash a powerful technique at any moment.
Yet the eyes studying Yeon-shin held unease.
Had this supreme fist master, who had opened her upper dantian, sensed an unprecedented ultimate technique?
“Your martial arts have improved...?”
She repeated the Leader of Demon Wings' words.
She did not look displeased as she raised her long brows. It was as though she had suddenly realized something important.
Rather than hostility, she seemed to be searching through an old memory.
Whoooosh.
Two supreme masters faced each other. The winter sunlight shone brighter in the wind sweeping across the clear winter lake.
The power they possessed was far denser than nature's energy.
The young nobles seated in the pavilion whispered among themselves.
“The Shanxi Noble Family's Heaven-Rending Mad Saber was taken down in one move... Wasn't that a wine bottle just now? They say a supreme master can cut down a hundred men with a reed leaf.”
“Truly, he lives up to his reputation. But who is that man...?”
“I hear he is a guest of the Gongya Family. Supposedly, he made a great contribution when the blood demons were slaughtered some time ago.”
“I know that. I mean, that esteemed figure of the Eon Family... Hmm.”
Fist Exemplar Eon Hwa-ryeon's words and actions were certainly strange.
She appeared to know Geom Un-bi, the Huangcheon Sect Leader. Yet it was exceedingly rare for a revered noble of the Eight Great Families to be acquainted with a wandering martial artist.
They lived in different worlds.
Then Eon Hwa-ryeon spoke again.
“The way you speak is strange. Do you think that because you put my arm in that state once, you will win every battle? You are like a child who has known nothing but victory at your age. You have earned the right to be proud, but know that it will be nothing more than bravado before supreme masters who can strike at your weaknesses.”
“You don't listen to what people say. I was praising the weaker fighter.”
Yeon-shin feigned ease as he brushed a hand over the hilt at his waist.
Even as eldest daughter Gongya Jeong drew a sharp breath behind him and Second Young Master Gongya Su fearlessly exclaimed, he spread his aura sense wide and swept the surroundings.
‘The First Fist of the Eon Family knows my level.’
She had said she would found a new sect with the Zhuge Family Head.
His sudden appearance at a gathering intended to assess and recruit talented people must have made him a major variable.
Still, he could not carelessly use Ultimate Thunder. He had only a few breaths in which he could maintain a state fit to exchange blows with Ak Su-rim.
When facing the Zhuge Family Head, he needed to activate it at the ideal moment.
‘I can't waste it on the First Fist of the Eon Family.’
It was a serious problem.
Desolate Fortress had never had enough people, but lately, there had been so little leeway that even Ak Su-rim, who had guarded the main fortress, had been sent out on missions.
They said the movements of the Thirteen Heavens and Eight Great Families were unusual.
The Purple Uniforms had departed on missions of their own.
There was no trace of his maternal grandfather anywhere, and after the Divine Sword Squad Leader recovered from internal injuries, Yeon-shin could only hear of him through ever-changing rumors.
There would be no support. Mission success was directly tied to survival.
“Come.”
Yeon-shin spoke. They were already locked in a confrontation. For now, he had no choice but to press hard.
If the First Fist of the Eon Family had the Zhuge Family Head behind her, he needed to make her think that reinforcements might already have arrived from Desolate Fortress's Divine Sword Corps.
Whoosh!
Eon Hwa-ryeon's figure blurred, then suddenly appeared before him. A violent tremor burst from beneath the ground she had stepped on and spread to Yeon-shin's feet.
She was incredibly fast. It was the Body Movement Scripture characteristic of fist fighters, who staked their lives on closing the distance.
At the same time, Yeon-shin's hand cut through the air.
With a deep hum, the power of the ultimate technique he had entered into constant activation distorted the air.
He could now bring a single-strike martial art to the same state as Three Flowers Gather at the Crown. Eon Hwa-ryeon's hand braced his forearm from below as shock filled her face.
Radiant River.
Boom!
It exploded over her shoulder. Terrifying palm force shook her sturdy body, and her disheveled hair streamed wildly in the opposite direction.
‘Just as before. Her paths of attack are short, and her arm strength is powerful.’
Yeon-shin calmly considered his next move. A hard grip had coiled around the area above his elbow.
Eon Hwa-ryeon's callused hand had slid obliquely up his forearm and countered Radiant River.
Her experience in piercing through his breathing and aura in a single exchange was worthy of the Jinju Eon Family's First Fist.
The formless Protective Qi Technique, encased beneath her armor-like calluses, had also become tougher.
It was fine. A few more strikes would shatter it. The Radiant River loaded in his other hand still churned at the Laogong acupoint in his palm.
Swoosh.
As Yeon-shin casually seized Eon Hwa-ryeon's wrist with his left hand, she spoke.
“...It gives me chills. But if you are not fully prepared, you should not exchange any more blows with me. It will draw his attention.”
The woman who had once been the Jinju Eon Family's heir apparent spoke in an old-fashioned tone. Their eyes met at close range.
‘What?’
He suddenly sensed that Eon Hwa-ryeon's disposition had changed. For some reason, she looked detached from the world. She no longer looked at Yeon-shin.
She simply opened and closed her other hand. Her firm bearing carried the temperament of a fist master walking the martial path.
Was this the person she had been before colluding with the Zhuge Family Head?
Come to think of it, she must have noticed that Yeon-shin was concealing his identity. Yet she had said nothing about it.
She had accepted wine from the Shanxi nobles with a displeased expression, then only turned serious after hearing that his martial arts had improved.
There was no telling what had happened between her and the Zhuge Family Head.
She said, “I do not wish to fight you. It is still too early. Yes, I have not left anything behind yet...”
“Cross the Sanzu River before you start talking nonsense.”
Yeon-shin tightened his grip around her wrist.
Thoom!
A second Radiant River let out a heavy roar. It was on the verge of tearing apart the Jinju Eon Family's Protective Qi Technique. It was a chain of powerful strikes.
It was a wondrous art that would have shocked anyone. The detachment that had filled Eon Hwa-ryeon's eyes for some unknown reason turned to admiration.
Then.
Yeon-shin suddenly released her.
Whoooosh.
Colorless fragments of the force wave brushed over the back of his hand and scattered.
The mere signs of activation had shredded the Protective Qi Technique around Eon Hwa-ryeon's wrist, and the Shanxi nobles who had been staring at them were badly startled.
It was not something the Leader of Demon Wings needed to care about.
He could feel an enormous gaze. The hairs across his body stood on end.
‘The Zhuge Family Head, Crouching Dragon Rebirth.’
The gaze of an absolute master holding a fan.
It was still beyond his field of vision. Only a fragment of that gaze had reached him. Yet even that presence made it feel as though a massive fortress wall were collapsing upon him.
It was a truly transcendent presence. The claim that the Zhuge Family Head rivaled a Purple Uniform suddenly felt believable.
“Release me for now. We shall settle it later. Soon.”
Eon Hwa-ryeon said.
Step.
Under the shocked gazes around him, Yeon-shin slowly turned away.
The Gongya siblings, who had stood frozen, glanced at the First Fist of the Eon Family before following him.
* * *
Some Shanxi nobles gathered regularly.
The group centered around Gwi Il-tae, the Heaven-Rending Mad Saber.
As a master strongly favored to win the martial arts tournament and the acting Family Head of the Shanxi Noble Family, he naturally became the center of the group.
His dignity had not suffered because of what happened with the First Fist of the Eon Family.
After getting back up, he had been able to offer her a cup of wine while she praised his toughness. Being knocked unconscious by the hands of a supreme master from the Eight Great Families was not something to be ashamed of.
‘All I need to do is focus on what matters. The Zhuge Family Head stands behind the Fist Exemplar. I only need to win the martial arts tournament.’
One of the Eight Family Heads was no ordinary human, but a human god who had shed a mortal skin.
Once he gained the protection of such a person, securing the Shanxi Noble Family's interests in Shanxi would be easy.
If he was recognized as a talent with exceptional combat instincts and learned the Zhuge Family Head's sorcerous martial arts...
‘If my family enters that person's service, if we only become disciples of the newly founded Wolsung Sect...’
Gwi Il-tae was the child of a disgraced, retired grand general. He looked toward a wider world.
To reach it, he first had to weaken the Gongya Family's influence.
The need for collusion had only grown stronger after Geom Un-bi, a wandering martial artist who had recently become a guest of the Gongya Family, began to stand out.
Many people were running about in an attempt to uncover the martial lineage of the sole-successor Huangcheon Sect.
It was extremely important.
Geom Un-bi was younger than the Gongya Family's Young Family Head, yet possessed martial arts at that level. Gwi Il-tae needed to prepare for the possibility that eldest daughter Gongya Jeong would learn a clever technique and reveal it during the martial arts tournament.
It was a task like a bolt from the blue. That was especially true because he had already learned all there was to know of the Gongya Family's martial arts.
“Even my family could not uncover his origins. From his way of speaking, he seems to be from Henan, but Shaolin makes it difficult to plant a secret intelligence network there...”
“There is no point in sending people all the way to Henan Province. How many li away is it? We are not the Beggars’ Sect, Yeoryeong, or the Hao Clan.”
“There is not enough time to begin with. My apologies, Heaven-Rending Mad Saber.”
“How could that be any of your faults? Do not concern yourselves. I am in no better position.”
Gwi Il-tae and four other men and women walked through the Gongya Family's outer garden.
Their finely made leather shoes crunched over the snow beneath glossy silk robes, leaving a line of faint footprints in the snowy ground.
Step.
Their footsteps carried the confidence ingrained in them.
The bearing of nobles seeped naturally into their conduct without any effort. The Body Movement Scripture they had practiced since childhood made their steps light and spirited.
The garden, thick with green pine needles even in winter, was nearly a world of its own.
“Gongya Jeong's aura has changed somewhat. It seems she has been taught a fine technique. Something that allows her to operate her power in a way she never could before...”
“Even so, I believe this martial arts tournament will be a feast for the eldest young master of the Shanxi Noble Family. Are not wandering martial artists people who build their strength through experience and instinct rather than relying on lofty martial arts? Compared to the Gongya Family's deep martial learning, it will be like wearing clothes that do not fit.”
“There is a reason the martial lineages of renowned families endure without fading over time. Techniques picked up while rolling through the wilderness cannot withstand martial learning perfected over the years. In a prolonged battle, victory will be certain.”
“But are we certain that guest is a wandering martial artist? How could someone acquainted with Hero Eon possibly...?”
“He must be a wandering martial artist who established a lineage alone. You can tell from the way he speaks, which borders on arrogance. Hero Eon did not deny it when I asked her, either.”
Their conversation remained careful.
Confident in their comprehension and insight, they knew to mind their words and actions.
They did so even after confirming no one was around.
“If need be, I will confirm it myself. Last time, he seemed interested only in wine. Invite him to dinner and observe his table manners. I do not believe a mere wandering martial artist would have learned the customs of the nobility. He will surely eat like a slob.”
Gwi Il-tae spoke calmly.
That was when it happened.
“Ah? Senior Opium Poppy, what are you doing? We have to go around them! They're nothing! The mission! Think about the mission! We can't get involved with them here!”
A girl's strained, stifled voice rang out.
“What bastard was that...?”
The nobles' eyes sharpened like sword blades.
Powerful waves of inner energy rose from the hands wrapped around their respective weapons. As Gwi Il-tae stepped forward first, a languid voice rang out from the air.
“Say that again. I did not hear you.”
They were given no time to answer.
Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang!
Successive shockwaves overlapped, half-transparent.
Fragments of projected force exploded against the backs of the five people's heads, including Gwi Il-tae. The instant each was struck once, they collapsed facedown like frogs.
The unexpected disturbance was immense.
Step.
A man suddenly descended into their midst and stood with one leg relaxed.
“You lowborn scum.”
Snow melted beneath his feet. Pale vapor rose around his moving lips like tobacco smoke.
Footnotes:
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