WeTried Translations
Translator/Editor: ZERO_SUGAR
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◈ Surviving as a Genius on Borrowed Time ◈
Episode 293: Lotus (12)
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“Whoosh!”
Two black-clad figures tore through the air. Force waves from the Body Movement Scripture scattered in succession across the high, blue sky.
A petulant voice rang out from above.
“I was so dumbfounded that I let it slide, but what was that about calling me Grandma? The more I think about it, the angrier I get! Is that what you thought of me?”
“That is correct... No, it isn’t.”
“I barely stopped myself from smacking him on the head! He looked so downcast!”
“Downcast? His eyes looked like they had rolled back.”
“Don’t be ridiculous. Our Seom-ye is so kind and tender. He didn’t inherit even a speck of old man Ma’s blood.”
“Mm.”
“Don’t look at me like that. I’ll tell you everything later, all right?”
For a moment, Jin Myeong-jo’s black robe, which had been fluttering elegantly through the air, became disheveled.
“My apologies.”
“That’s more like it.”
Their conversation in midair was possible because of their supreme mastery of the Body Movement Scripture.
Jin Myeong-jo swallowed dryly, his face expressionless, then spoke again.
“...Will the two of us be enough? I mean the Zhuge Family Head. Seom-ye is a great asset.”
“We came expecting the First Fist of the Eon Family from the start. The youngest will handle her, and we’ll put Zhuge Hound’s head on display.”
“Zhuge Hound?”
“Isn’t that one like a dog? How could that thing be human? No. Even dogs cherish their own children.”
Ak Su-rim was chattering in disgust when a languid, smooth voice shook the surroundings.
[One thing is true. This body has now surpassed humanity.]
Was this how a young Jade Emperor would sound?
The clouds scattered, and beasts hibernating underground were driven from their dens. The Six Directions Voice Transmission was almost divine.
“A dog is barking. Looks like we blocked their route properly.”
“I’ll draw the Dark Night Blood-Glinting Demon Sword. Give me ten breaths, and...”
Step.
Ak Su-rim and Jin Myeong-jo came to stand atop two cypress trees.
Above their heads, a mysterious aura billowed in every direction, like the Six Directions Voice Transmission.
It did not have the robust feeling of inner energy. It was auspicious, as if an exceedingly thin, smooth veil had been draped across the sky.
Then pale currents gathered like clouds, scattering the sunlight into colorless rays.
Whooooom!
A straight pillar was etched from the heavens to the ground.
* * *
Hanzhong Martial Alliance Assembly.
Alliance Leader's Hall.
Click.
A treasured sword was placed on a reddish weapon rack carved from red sandalwood.
A large hand lightly touched the sword hilt before slowly lowering.
The movement was heavy with fatigue. The long sleeves that fell over the dark sword hilt tied at the man’s waist were stained with dust and blood.
“My body aches in my old age. I took a seat I had no business taking.”
The handsome middle-aged man curled his lips into a self-mocking smile.
“You should rest. They’ll come again tomorrow.”
The voice came from some distance behind him.
When the man turned, a middle-aged man with especially dark, sword-shaped eyebrows was adjusting his clothes.
Wind-Water Mystic Master Jegal Cheon.
He had originally served as acting Chief Strategist of the Alliance Assembly. When the Zhuge Family Head left both the Assembly and the family, he remained behind rather than following the Family Head.
He had thus naturally assumed the position he had previously held in an acting capacity.
Though the Family Head had departed in disgrace, the Zhuge Family’s accumulated prestige had not been greatly shaken.
‘A bat-like fellow.’
Sword Star Hyeon So-baek inwardly shook his head.
Many families had already withdrawn. The current Martial Alliance was in no position to reject even the talents of a man like that.
Two of the Thirteen Heavens had joined forces to drive the Hanzhong Martial Alliance Assembly out. Even keeping those two Lords of the Thirteen Heavens in check was difficult enough for Sword Star.
Hyeon So-baek had been born with the perfect body of a peerless swordsman.
His limbs were long. So were the fingers that had always gripped a sword hilt without the slightest tremor.
“I miss the freedom to move as I please. Back when I was a wandering martial artist, I dreamed of lying in a grand hall like this. People’s hearts are truly fickle.”
Now, those long fingers only clenched and unclenched in the empty air.
Ssssh.
White steam rose around his hand each time. The natural circulation of his inner energy produced tremendous heat.
After a fierce life-and-death duel, Sword Star resembled an exhausted tiger.
“Alliance Leader.”
Jegal Cheon, who had been silently watching him, spoke.
“They said Jegal Hyeon’s body has been preserved. Since the Zhuge Family Head is preoccupied with a martial arts tournament, it should be possible to retrieve it intact. I gathered those proficient in the Body Movement Scripture and sent them...”
“You’re telling this old man to stay here obediently and serve as a turret on the city wall?”
“My apologies.”
“Wouldn’t it be enough to quickly cut off that Zhuge bastard’s head and return?”
“You know that would be reckless. The Tyrant Sword Sect Master and the Lord of Yeoryeong are problems in themselves, but the Zhuge Family Head has completed their domain with the First Fist of the Eon Family at their side. They can be called invincible. Even the dharma treasure most precious to the family is in Eon Hwa-ryeon’s possession. For you, Alliance Leader, to defeat those two alone...”
Sword Star waved a hand, cutting him off.
“That Eon child.”
His voice was troubled.
“What does she see in that pale layabout that she turned her back on her family? To the point of dishonoring Clear Qilin Namgung Se-jin’s body.”
The Eon Family Fist was nearly synonymous with the martial lineage of Ming fist arts.
The martial strength of the current First Fist of the Eon Family ranked at the very top among the fist artists of the Eight Great Families. Since she excelled in close combat, she had also been born with exceptionally keen eyes.
When the Alliance Assembly was founded, many had expected that she would easily secure counterforms for hostile sects’ martial arts.
“The Fist Exemplar did not look.”
“What?”
“Even when she was told to examine Seom-ye’s traces on the body, she did not look. The moment she received the book containing the countermethods, she burned it on the spot with Samadhi True Fire. As a result, the method for countering the Seom-ye Martial Lineage was never completed, and she fell out of the Family Head’s favor... Still, the Fist Exemplar could not cast aside her long-standing romantic feelings. That is why she followed them.”
Jegal Cheon’s voice was blunt. Sword Star gave a bitter smile.
“...It’s difficult to measure romantic feelings with reason. That unfilial Zhuge wretch is fortunate beyond their station. Given her nature, the Eon child must be unable to do anything about where her heart has gone.”
“As long as she remains beside Crouching Dragon Rebirth, and as long as Crouching Dragon Rebirth can freely operate the sorcery formation without watching your reaction as when they were in the Assembly... It is difficult to make a move. Please give up.”
In that instant, the Sword Star vanished from Hyeon So-baek’s face. A wandering martial artist appeared instead, frowning deeply.
“What’s with all these obstacles to butchering a dog? I’ll die of frustration, you bastard.”
“...That is fine. It is better than having your head taken by another supreme master and damaging the Alliance’s honor. Since it would be difficult for anyone, it is almost fortunate.”
“No, you madman. Whoever does it, this old man will reward them handsomely. Even if I have to climb Shaolin again and obtain another Great Revitalization Pill...”
“Please reconsider.”
Jegal Cheon slowly lowered his head.
Hyeon So-baek ignored him, moving his lips soundlessly for a moment before letting out a long sigh.
“Hyeon, Immortal Dragon. You said you were coming to serve as strategist for the Alliance. Why did you leave like that...?”
* * *
“Waaaaaah!”
The gathering where Shanxi’s powerful clans had come to display their martial prowess and raise their reputations had changed completely.
No one showed disappointment.
Quite the opposite.
A duel that no one present had ever imagined had been arranged. At that moment, all expectations for Shanxi’s young masters had been forgotten.
“They said Hero Eon’s martial arts had grown stronger than the rumors claimed... But isn’t it natural for the orthodox martial arts of a great family to rapidly elevate a practitioner’s skill at that age? My eyes will be opened today.”
“Can someone grow even stronger than that? At twenty, she destroyed the river bandit strongholds along the Yangtze alone. They say she was called the Fist Dragon throughout the land even when she belonged to the younger generation. Isn’t this a contest of fortune between those who have reached Martial Extreme?”
“That person is the Leader of Demon Wings? Really?”
“His appearance didn’t make him look entirely like a wandering martial artist, but...”
The Leader of Demon Wings and the First Fist of the Eon Family.
They stood at the highest level of the martial world.
They were figures who proved the world-shaking strength of Desolate Fortress and the Eight Great Families. No one could deny it.
The crowd buzzed.
Whispers spread that he was the most esteemed person present and that Gwi Il-tae could only be full of regret now.
“Is he truly a Black Uniform of Desolate Fortress? This is insane. I have to get out! Move! Move aside!”
“I wonder if he’s falsely claiming to be from Desolate Fortress... We’ll know soon enough.”
“There are many details that match Seom-ye, the famed Leader of Demon Wings. His appearance, his age, even that arrogant bearing. I vaguely remember the head of the Ghost Valley Merchant Group from Shaanxi mentioning him while drunk. Nothing about him feels real. He truly is a strange man.”
“I thought all he had was youth and martial strength...”
“Who did the eldest young master of the Shanxi Noble Family speak so harshly to?”
At the center of the dueling platform, silence reigned.
The two supreme masters slowly released their energy, raising dust beneath their feet.
As a faint breeze spread out, the surrounding clamor gradually died down.
‘She has grown stronger.’
Jeong Yeon-shin faced a supreme fist artist.
Crackle.
The instant their gazes met, their tangled auras scraped against one another, sparks flying along an invisible line.
The presence surrounding Eon Hwa-ryeon felt the same as before.
The powerful waves of force that repeatedly struck his skin, the gaze that glinted so persistently it seemed capable of binding his own, and the hand that twitched irregularly in response to his breathing.
That was why it felt strange.
His martial strength had clearly risen since the Martial Alliance’s grand founding ceremony. Why, then, did the opponent he had defeated back then still feel so similar to how she had at the time?
Even if it was true that clashes between transcendent masters were contests of fortune, it was peculiar.
She had refined countermeasures through Clear Qilin Namgung Se-jin’s body and the Zhuge Family Head’s scheme.
‘There should be a great many openings. Why are there still only one or two?’
Slightly bewildered, Jeong Yeon-shin took the opening stance of the Radiant River fist art.
He placed his right foot behind him and raised only the back of his left hand slightly. For someone facing a life-and-death duel against a supreme master, the posture looked relaxed and arrogant.
Yet it revealed not the slightest opening.
Eon Hwa-ryeon smiled with satisfaction.
“Everything about you suits your position. If a person’s value is judged by talent, there can be few in the world who surpass you. I was right to come here.”
“I’m not curious about your intentions. Come.”
Jeong Yeon-shin crooked the tips of his raised fingers.
She was blocking his mission. Though she seemed disgusted with the Zhuge Family Head, she was helping them in the end.
She had come both to avenge her past defeat as a martial artist and because she could not abandon her beloved. This was a time to clash without questions.
“The world is exceedingly vast. Meeting a fated connection is difficult, and for a martial artist to find the meaning of their existence is harder still.”
The First Fist of the Eon Family, Fist Exemplar, brought both hands together and briefly raised them.
“Remember this Eon Hwa-ryeon. My sobriquet is Fist Exemplar, and my courtesy name is Mongwi. I have cultivated the one hundred and eighty forms of the Eon Family Divine Fist in the Eon clan settled in Jinju. I am not giving my all against the Leader of Demon Wings because my beloved compelled me. It is by my own will.”
Her words were as neat and formal as though she were entering an official duel between prestigious sects.
The Eight Families. The Eight Great Families.
Jeong Yeon-shin saw Clear Qilin Namgung Se-jin in her.
He also sensed the purity of Immortal Dragon Jegal Hyeon, who had challenged him upon their first meeting, yet never held back his advice on the principles of Go and life.
“Having reflected on it, your existence pleases me, Seom-ye, Leader of Demon Wings. I will leave a meaningful trace because of you. Like the Sword Patriarch who engraved sword marks upon the cliffs of Mount Zhongnan... You can bear the full weight of my accumulated effort.”
Eon Hwa-ryeon lowered her arms and swept one foot forward.
Whoosh!
The ends of her black hair, which fell to the nape of her neck, scattered. A tremendous aura had erupted from the Yongquan acupoint in her sole.
The air distorted along the lines of her body as though scorched by midsummer sunlight. It seemed as if an invisible inner-energy barrier had taken physical form and tightly wrapped around her body.
Cries of “Force Qi Technique!” rose from the surroundings.
They were accompanied by murmurs that, as the foremost fist artist of the Eight Great Families, she deserved to be called invincible.
‘She wasn’t fighting at full strength then?’
Jeong Yeon-shin’s gaze darkened.
‘Why distinguish between fighting seriously and holding back? What an idiot.’
Nothing remained of the unruly drunkard he had seen at their first meeting. Her subsequent movements were the same.
She leaned her waist slightly backward.
Kwooooom!
In an instant, her body ripped through the air and swelled enormously. It was a formidable Bending Body, Shooting Shadow. The sudden acceleration of her movement technique was tremendous.
A fist shot from behind her waist, its destructive force shaking the earth.
Several dozen overlapping waves pressed against the skin on the back of Jeong Yeon-shin’s hand with a blunt impact.
The moment he felt it, she had come close enough for him to sense the aura in her breath.
The range of close-quarters strikes. The domain of a fist artist.
He did not evade.
From the moment he stepped onto the platform, both his hands had been wrapped in Clear Qilin’s spirit.
‘A peculiar monkey. Perhaps I should make my sequence of moves a little longer.’
The instant he turned the hand in which Radiant River was constantly active slightly sideways and held it edge-on, the side of Eon Hwa-ryeon’s fist met his palm.
For an instant lasting no more than one part in several dozen of an exhale.
Tap.
She was not an opponent to underestimate. He decided that pushing her away came first.
Clear Qilin did not agree.
Kwooooom!
He struck empty air, yet the earth shook. The sky seemed to turn into a lake. Enormous, translucent concentric circles etched into the air surged like ripples.
Fragments of force qi shattered upward like glass.
“Gah!”
“Duck!”
“Primordial Heavenly Venerable!”
Kugugung!
One side of the dueling platform collapsed under the widely spreading shockwave, while many in the crowd, who had been craning their necks and thrusting their faces forward, were thrown in every direction.
Amid those who fell while covering their ears or faces, cries of alarm, shock, and terror erupted.
Footnotes:
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