WeTried Translations
Translator/Editor: ZERO_SUGAR
Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried
◈ Surviving as a Genius on Borrowed Time ◈
Episode 294: Lotus (13)
──────
* * *
Blood dripped from midair.
The ground, alternating between white snow and yellow-brown earth, turned dark crimson with a crunch.
Step.
“Urgh.”
Blood Guard Squad Leader Jin Myeong-jo staggered, tapping his thigh with his index finger.
A large portion of his thigh had been gouged away, leaving a cavity where red vapor and an auspicious current rose at once and collided.
The regenerative power inherited through his bloodline battled the remnants of sorcery arts.
[Divine Blood Extreme Demon. I know your secret art is linked to the Divine Sword Squad Leader. Do you think I would let you bring it out so easily? Circulate your qi once more. I will show you the Eight Scorching Hells worthy of your clan.]
The voice carried a mocking note. It sounded utterly human.
The grass beneath their feet and the branches all around them trembled.
It was as if the speaker were flaunting a realm that affected all of nature. A mystic Six Directions Voice Transmission continued at an unhurried pace.
[This is my domain. Not even the Sword Star can oppose me on this land. None of you will leave here whole.]
“What a joke. Those ink-stained fools have mastered the art of exaggeration. You can block a few strikes from old man Hyeon, and now you’re full of yourself.”
Ak Su-rim slammed the tip of her spear into the ground.
A clear laugh drifted down from the sky.
[Desolate Divine Spear of the Ak Family, you know your words are wrong. You attained Rejuvenation, only for your mind to regress to that of a child as well. More importantly, I can see through your little scheme.]
“What scheme?”
She tilted her head as she spat out the words.
[You are looking for me. The waves of your aura are terribly urgent. Yet they fall short. Like your legs, they are too short to come anywhere near me.]
“You bastard!”
[I am not here because I fear facing you. I sensed you from afar while traveling. Since you walked onto deadly ground of your own accord, your deaths should be enough to shake Desolate Fortress.]
“Listen to the way he talks. Does this bastard think he’s become the Heavenly Sovereign? With that old Sword Star gone, he thinks the world belongs to him.”
[Speaking with you makes me feel younger. Still, you guessed right. I, situated in Shanxi, am a heavenly god. And one day, I will be the Yama who takes the World Tree from your Lord of Desolate Fortress.]
“You lunatic!”
A world-shaking aura rose from Ak Su-rim’s entire body.
Boom!
That alone produced a thunderous roar, and the conifers blocking the sky toppled in every direction.
The snow-covered ground was gouged into broad concentric circles, opening the sky wide above them.
“You cowardly bastard. Your true martial arts are barely any better than mine!”
[Fool, this too is martial strength. If you face me, you will find it even harder to endure.]
“Shut up. How long do you think you can keep hiding? You’re dealing with a Black Uniform of Desolate Fortress.”
[Either the Fist Exemplar comes to me, or you die first. Those are the only two outcomes awaiting you.]
“Eon Hwa-ryeon can’t beat our youngest. She’ll be dead before sunset. We’ll start by cutting off your arms and legs.”
[Child of the Ak Family, you are foolish.]
High in the distant sky.
A scholar standing upon the clouds opened a fan and hid their face behind it.
Beneath a pitch-black gat and translucent veil, the Zhuge Family Head’s lips curved smoothly upward.
[What is mine cannot be broken without my permission. Why do you think this family sought me out despite knowing it was at a disadvantage in strength? Was it merely to prevent martial arts from leaking? No. The reason the Eight Families are called the Eight Great Families lies with me. She will not lose under the protection of Zhuge Wuhou.]
Ak Su-rim’s delicate lashes rose.
“A dharma treasure...?! You handed a family heirloom to an outsider?”
[I am complete in myself. Naturally, I must tend to tools that are not.]
The Zhuge Family Head’s White Crane Fan swayed gracefully. At the gesture of a peerless master, clouds unfurled like cloth.
[That is enough. Further conversation is pointless. You have both stored enough strength, and so have I.]
Saaaaa...
Without warning.
Colorless radiance bloomed, swallowing clouds and swelling in size.
It was a colorless thundercloud. The attack came in an instant.
A thick pillar, a line joining heaven and earth, was etched into the air at an incomparably swift speed.
Jin Myeong-jo twisted at the last moment but failed to evade it completely.
This time was different. There were two beams.
Wheeeeeeeng!
One pillar pierced straight through his upper body.
* * *
In a single exchange, the youngest-ever Black Uniform displayed true caliber.
The Leader of Demon Wings’ hands were now almost like cannons.
Numerous Shanxi magnates watched the dueling platform from beneath awnings with the gleaming eyes of gamblers. Each of Jeong Yeon-shin’s strikes kicked up dust around their silk robes.
Though they knew this was the First Fist of the Eon Family’s revenge match, none of them expected her defeat.
They knew the Fist Exemplar’s martial prowess, accomplishments, and talent, all long renowned throughout the Eight Great Families.
Jeong Yeon-shin had no time to concern himself with that.
“Urgh!”
It was Eon Hwa-ryeon’s groan.
It rang out from very close by. Her breath grated over clenched teeth as it brushed past Jeong Yeon-shin’s shoulder, then rapidly drew away.
Hoo.
Having opened the distance, she smiled.
Then she took something from her robes and casually tossed it behind her.
Tap.
An odd pebble lay on the ground.
Ancient characters, nearly like pictographs, had been carved into it. Faint radiance gathered in every stroke, giving it a sacred air. It was clearly no ordinary object.
Perhaps because it had landed outside the dueling platform, the magnates who had been watching with conflicted expressions turned their attention toward it. It had fallen quite close to them.
It was an object held by someone of exceptional standing among the Eight Great Families. Doubt and greed began to show in their gathering gazes.
Jeong Yeon-shin tipped his chin toward it.
“What is that?”
“It proves just how cunning I am... but now it’s only getting in the way. Don’t worry about it.”
Eon Hwa-ryeon spoke with an indifferent expression despite the pain that must have been in her fist.
‘It looks like one of those sorcery artifacts I’ve only heard about.’
Jeong Yeon-shin nearly said something, then stopped. Her expression gave no sign that she knew anything.
From the instant their bodies made contact, Jeong Yeon-shin had felt something strange.
The streams of inner energy flowing through her body, the will driving her martial power with astonishing speed.
It resembled the time Jeong Yeon-shin had eaten a fragment of the World Tree fruit given by the Lord of Desolate Fortress. In flashes, Jeong Yeon-shin felt as if they had become the Fist Exemplar herself.
That was why Jeong Yeon-shin could read her more quickly and anticipate her movements a step ahead.
It was an exceedingly strange sensation.
‘Still... I need to finish this quickly.’
Jeong Yeon-shin’s eyes sharpened.
Whoosh!
The Eon Family martial lineage’s supremely swift Body Movement Scripture unfolded again.
Eon Hwa-ryeon’s side locks whipped violently, filling Jeong Yeon-shin’s vision. Rotating force waves from the Spinning Thread Force rose beneath her feet.
She had spun once and closed in like a gale. It was the movement of someone from the Eight Great Families, terrifyingly stable footwork.
‘That only grazed her. Her Protective Qi Technique is exceptional too.’
Crack!
Her hand returned, seizing beneath Jeong Yeon-shin’s right armpit.
“Hup!”
Jeong Yeon-shin’s Zhongfu acupoint beneath the shoulder was sealed in an instant, draining strength. The Protective Qi Technique around the arm shattered under a single Radiant River strike, and Jeong Yeon-shin felt her callused hand directly against the skin.
The Eon Family Fist’s power surged within that hard grip. Her stance was utterly combative.
‘She knew it would be the right hand after the left?’
By then, the edge of Jeong Yeon-shin’s left palm rested against Eon Hwa-ryeon’s back.
Four gathered fingers distorted even her clothing. It was the sign of a powerful strike rarely seen in the world.
Radiant River was maintained continuously.
This was how strange the battles of the Jianghu’s supreme masters could be.
Kwooooom!
Another monstrous shockwave exploded.
It was the pinnacle of a devastating strike.
A translucent, colorless wave rolled in, crushing the cloth over Jeong Yeon-shin’s chest. Eon Hwa-ryeon, who had been throwing a follow-up blow, widened her eyes and spat blood.
Several magnates who had sat with feigned dignity stepped down from their luxurious red sandalwood chairs. Each struggled to hide an unhinged expression.
“What was that?”
“Isn’t that a martial art that defies all reason? How can he use it again? It has barely been any time since he used it...”
“Demonic arts! Are you saying that was demonic arts?”
“Stop saying such idiotic things. You need to properly sense the aura before you speak if you want your words to carry weight.”
“I heard of it. They call it Radiant River... The one that sent Clear Qilin of the Namgung Family to the Sanzu River...”
“I understand Sect Leader Gwan’s shock. But how can he unleash another strike of such strength...?”
The men and women in luxurious silk martial robes spoke in grave voices.
They were beginning to sense that this battle would greatly affect the Shanxi martial world.
But that was the world beyond the dueling platform.
‘One strike won’t be fatal.’
Jeong Yeon-shin’s thoughts split into countless streams like rainwater.
Jeong Yeon-shin saw through the structure of the opponent’s martial power, calculated the paths she would take next, and checked the precise condition of every minor meridian and muscle throughout the body.
There was no time to care about disheveled clothes.
The First Fist of the Eon Family was a different person from the one at the Martial Alliance’s grand founding ceremony.
‘All it can accomplish is dismantling her Protective Qi Technique, even though the Record of the Dharma Light Wheel has grown stronger than before.’
They said the protective cultivation of skilled fist artists made swords and spears seem laughable. The inner-energy barrier of one of the Jinju Eon Family’s foremost masters went without saying.
Jeong Yeon-shin only had to look at her fist, which had taken Radiant River head-on without losing its shape.
Then Eon Hwa-ryeon’s lips twisted.
Kwooooom!
Colorless waves wrapped around her entire body and surged upward. In less time than a blink, her right arm and back lit up.
Her shattered Protective Qi Technique had been restored. Essence, qi, and spirit became one, Three Flowers Gather at the Crown. Her inner energy responded as swiftly as thought.
This one was different. Jeong Yeon-shin realized it in that brief instant.
She properly wielded the state in which essence, qi, and spirit became one, more so than any foe Jeong Yeon-shin had slain thus far.
The First Fist of the Eon Family. She truly was one of the Eight Great Families’ foremost practitioners of the fist.
With lips clenched around blood, she seized Jeong Yeon-shin by the wrist and armpit, lifting the entire body with the combative profundity of a close-quarter fighting form.
One Hundred and Eighty Forms of the Eon Family Divine Fist. Twin Radiances Move the Mountain.
“Ha!”
A short shout burst from her lips.
In that instant of extreme speed, Jeong Yeon-shin was enduring the backlash of repeatedly using Radiant River.
The backlash ran from the hands to the shoulders, then the waist. It was separate from the ability to keep unleashing an ultimate strike.
The master of Three Flowers Gather at the Crown, who had trained the Eon Family Fist to the realm of mastery, seized that instant.
Whoosh!
Jeong Yeon-shin’s vision turned upside down. The sky lay beneath, and the white peaks of the snow-covered mountains beyond the dueling platform fell below as well.
A fierce gale swept past the ears. Jeong Yeon-shin was about to be thrown.
A streak of light ran through the mind.
Jeong Yeon-shin thought with desperate intensity. How could a proper blow be landed? What movement should come next?
Tung!
With the fingertips of the free hand, Jeong Yeon-shin flicked out the Light Wheel qi gathered there.
It had begun circulating from the moment the arm was seized. Calculations and insight were necessary when facing masters whose union of essence, qi, and spirit always outpaced Jeong Yeon-shin’s own.
Faint Finger Wind struck Eon Hwa-ryeon’s shoulder in repeated blows. Her clothes creased in lines, and the strength of her grip swiftly loosened.
Kwoooom!
At the same time, Jeong Yeon-shin crashed down on the back. An impact that seemed to seize the waist shot violently up to the cervical spine.
Even weakened, it felt as though Jeong Yeon-shin had been struck by a fire bomb. Fragments of the shattered platform shot upward past either side of the vision.
Yet in that brief moment, Jeong Yeon-shin twisted the fine muscles from the latissimus dorsi to the trapezius, producing waves of martial power through the acupoints.
‘Wind Body.’
Jeong Yeon-shin diverted a considerable portion of the impact. Dust rising faintly beneath the back was driven fiercely to either side.
Jeong Yeon-shin had reached a realm where Harmonizing Force could be used through Force Projection across the entire body.
As Eon Hwa-ryeon’s eyes widened while fixed on Jeong Yeon-shin’s chest, both feet, raised high beyond the black robe, slammed into the ground.
Boom!
Every cord of tendon in the body repeatedly contracted and relaxed. It was instinctive. Martial power and muscles moved again and again in that brief instant, completely reversing the flow of force.
As the adhesive force of Full Heaven Flower Rain took hold at the Yongquan acupoint beneath the feet, the abdominal muscles and both arms filled with the divine strength of the Record of the Dharma Light Wheel.
“...!”
Eon Hwa-ryeon was lifted upside down. Her right fist, which had been trying to follow up, struck empty air.
Jeong Yeon-shin raised the upper body without bracing. Blue light flashed through the eyes while throwing Eon Hwa-ryeon in return.
Crack.
Jeong Yeon-shin twisted down with strength in the arms, releasing a propulsive force wave through the Neiguan acupoint in the wrist. It was a new qi circulation route.
The Eon Family Fist’s close-quarter combat discipline rapidly evolved through the Leader of Demon Wings’ adaptation. Eon Hwa-ryeon’s black hair brushed past an arm as she hung suspended, flying upward violently for only an instant.
Whoooosh! Craaack!
“Guhk!”
The dueling platform split in every direction as though struck by an earthquake. Dust raced along the cracks before rising thickly. Blood sprayed from Eon Hwa-ryeon’s mouth after she was driven down.
The buffering power of her Protective Qi Technique had its limits.
Yet her body, eyes wide open, reacted swiftly again. The movements of a supreme master trained in close combat could only be like lightning.
Like Jeong Yeon-shin, she stomped both feet into the ground. Martial power surged like a beam of light through the hand Jeong Yeon-shin held, and the muscles in her arm stood out sharply.
Then, all at once, the foremost fist master of a renowned martial clan saw it:
Blue eyes flashing.
A faint aura was still twisting in spirals from both hands of the Leader of Demon Wings, who held her left arm. There was no mistaking it. Both the right and left hands.
Few ultimate techniques could press down on the skin before they were even activated.
“...!”
It was Radiant River again.
Footnotes:
The source term for Full Heaven Flower Rain has a conflicting glossary entry for Myriad Flowers Rain. Context and the Chapter 286 lock establish Full Heaven Flower Rain for this technique here.
Join our discord at https://dsc.gg/wetried
