WeTried Translations

Translator/Editor: ZERO_SUGAR

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◈ Surviving as a Genius on Borrowed Time ◈

Episode 297: Lotus (16)

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Baek Seo-gun stood atop a pure white sword blade and turned her head. She had just swept her gaze over the commoners in the vast crowd who had agreed with the Slayer Hero's words.

There was an auspicious air about her that made even those ignorant of the martial world lower their heads at once.

To common folk, sword control was an art of Sword Immortal Lu Dongbin, passed down through Daoist legends.

"A dharma treasure?"

As she performed the miracle of sword flight in midair, her clear gaze fell upon the Slayer Hero. He calmly met a look that most powerful martial artists would struggle to face.

As if he had dealt with supreme masters such as the Fist Exemplar, the Leader of Demon Wings, and the Spirit Sky Sword Ghost many times before.

"Yes. It is an item for the Leader of Demon Wings, who brought about the First Fist of the Eon Family's death, to dispose of. There are no eccentric figures here who shared a deep personal bond with her, after all."

The Slayer Hero brushed the black cloth covering his mouth as if tidying it, the gesture slightly brazen.

He seemed to be weighing the relationship between Desolate Fortress's Leader of Demon Wings and the Heart Martial Union's Sword Venerable. His disposition was both orderly and inscrutable.

"Who are you?"

The Spirit Sky Sword Ghost, Baek Seo-gun, asked him.

She said nothing further about the dharma treasure.

The moment her gaze turned downward, an odd breeze arose and swept coldly past the hems of the Shanxi clan experts surrounding him below.

The presence of power emanating from her pitch-black eyes was overwhelming.

She seemed to have grasped the rough outline of the situation simply by glancing at the pebble by the Slayer Hero's feet.

The clansmen and commoners reacted in their own ways. More and more people stirred after witnessing sword flight, a sight too unreal to readily accept.

"Henan's Sword Ghost... What is she doing in Shanxi?"

"That technique truly existed? I thought it was only a rumor..."

"A celestial maiden, no, a divine general has descended...!"

Only the Slayer Hero, standing upright beneath her and tilting his black bamboo hat slightly upward, remained wholly composed.

"Please forgive me for being unable to give my true name. I have entanglements of gratitude and enmity with wicked people... In any case, people in Shanxi have undeservedly given me the name Slayer Hero."

Swish.

The Slayer Hero laughed and raised his clasped hands in an exaggerated salute.

As his jet-black sleeve slipped down slightly, lean cords of muscle showed on his arm. It was the body of one who had honed an ultimate fast sword.

Baek Seo-gun looked down at him without expression.

"I do not know you."

"Naturally. Compared to the Sword Venerable, whose name resounds throughout this vast nation, I am only a lowly assassin. Only the name of my ragged sect is somewhat known. The Owol Grand Slaughter Sect."

"The Owol Grand Slaughter Sect...?"

A flicker of interest crossed Baek Seo-gun's face as she repeated the name of his sect. At the same moment, a colorless gleam flashed from her eye technique.

Seeing that expression, the Slayer Hero paused as he lowered his hand. Unconcerned, she continued.

"I can guess where your roots lie. Remarkable that you survived... Still, I have no reason to concern myself with you."

Swish.

The moment Baek Seo-gun extended her hand, a faint ray of light rose from beside the Slayer Hero's feet and was drawn in. It was the lingering trace of the dharma treasure.

She had recovered it through the mysteries of sword control, not with a suction mnemonic formula.

There was almost no ripple of power, and the surrounding clansmen wore uneasy expressions. The pebble, drawn beneath her wrist, wrapped itself in her long ash-gray sleeve.

It did not touch her skin. Anyone could see that she was mindful of the direction its owner had gone.

"Sword Venerable of the Heart Martial Union! The Shanxi clans were in the middle of mediating this matter!"

"Would you come down for a moment?"

The Shanxi clansmen, who had surrounded the Slayer Hero below, each raised their voices courteously.

Their restrained presences were honed like blades, yet not one of them showed any sign of making a move.

Whether they could subdue the Spirit Sky Sword Ghost by force was not even the main issue. The Heart Martial Union's army of martial artists behind her was the problem.

It was the major faction with the greatest numbers after the Blood Flame Sect.

Unlike ordinary blood demons, many of its members were elite martial artists.

Its current leader was even openly called the Martial Emperor of the Prince of Commandery.

It was the epithet of one of the Thirteen Heavens' supreme figures. Even with the imperial court and Desolate Fortress watching, the words king and emperor had spread throughout the martial world.

The Heart Martial Union, located in northwestern Henan, was also very close to Shanxi.

And the Heart Martial Union's second-in-command was floating above their heads. Anyone would have hesitated.

Even when Baek Seo-gun turned her head toward the distant mountains, the voices of the Shanxi clansmen naturally grew quieter.

"Sword Venerable, you cannot resolve disputes in the martial world that way."

"This is clearly a martial arts tournament that we arranged through our own efforts...!"

Pfft.

The black silk hanging from the Slayer Hero's nose to beneath his chin quivered slightly.

"They must practice the heart sword of the Lineage of Shame. They could kill onlookers with embarrassment."

His voice carried amusement, and because he did not lower it, the words spread widely.

Still, the clansmen did not act rashly. The First Fist of the Eon Family and the Leader of Demon Wings had only just demonstrated the power of supreme masters through their terrifying life-and-death duel.

The crowd in the arena cautiously looked up at the Spirit Sky Sword Ghost, Baek Seo-gun, as though awaiting King Yama's judgment.

"......"

Yet she seemed to have completely forgotten what was happening below.

She only stared in the direction the Leader of Demon Wings had vanished, and her feet atop the sword blade wavered slightly.

Baek Seo-gun had descended like an immortal, yet now she hesitated to move forward.

'Seom-ye, Jeong Yeon-shin.'

The boy who had expressed through the sword the principles of Go taught by the head of Jeong Family Manor. The stance of sacrifice stones to seize initiative, the sword point raised above his head, still remained vivid in her mind.

It had become a great comfort to her lately.

The status she had carried for so long had made even the wealth and glory before her feel as though they were not hers.

When an insight like Jeong Ban-ak's teachings came to her in the form of a transcendent sword art, she had comforted herself that her years as an attendant at Jeong Family Manor had not been insignificant.

The inferiority that had remained deep within her even after she came to be called the Sword Venerable had been cut away. The current Leader of Demon Wings had cut it away for her.

- I did not realize it after leaving, but seeing you like this feels strange. I can see Jeong Ban-ak in your face.

- Had I not made that great choice, I would have held your hand and walked through Xinye County with you. This will do, at least. You received all the love I could not give you. Your complexion is so good... I am curious how they raised you.

- You grew up straight and true. It is fortunate that the family did its duty before it disappeared.

The words spoken in the past.

'Ah...'

Her uninhibited words and conduct throughout her life turned into iron bars that squeezed around her.

A cold sensation burrowed into her heart, leaving cracks throughout the Sword Venerable's dignified bearing. It revealed part of the foundation supporting the names Spirit Sky Sword Ghost and Sword Venerable.

Until she was around twenty, she had been an attendant who served Jeong Ban-ak.

It was something she had repeated to herself dozens of times. She had to sever it.

Crunch.

Baek Seo-gun pressed down with her foot against the blade, then slowly shook her head.

Now, she had to face it. Only then could she fully establish Baek Seo-gun the Sword Venerable within herself.

Hummm.

The pure white divine sword beneath her feet let out a hum and soared upward.

"H-hey! Hey!"

"No matter if you are the foremost of the Heart Martial Union's Three Martial Venerables, you cannot treat us like this!"

"Do you understand how much grain flows from Shanxi into Henan? Do you think there is anywhere else that can provide this much grain during a famine?!"

The clansmen's small outcry did not reach her ears. The speed of sword flight was incomparably faster than lightness skills that touched the ground.

Without even looking below, she rose into the distant sky, then rapidly blurred with a humming sound.

"Damn it!"

"Does she think she alone is highly skilled in this world?!"

The clansmen in fine silk garments spat curses.

Some retied their waist guards or tightened the straps of their leather shoes as though they would give chase at once.

"You have cultivated the heart sword of the Lineage of Shame. It may truly be called the realm of masters. I respect you greatly."

An exaggeratedly polite voice rang out.

It was the Slayer Hero.

At some point, he had lightly stepped onto the edge of the ruined tournament ground. He glanced at Hyeon Won-chang in the distance, who was staring straight at him.

As his body warped through an exquisite Body Movement Scripture employing Walking Upon Empty Space, he winked at Hyeon Won-chang's group.

Whoosh!

The Slayer Hero sped away as if vanishing. The instant Shin So-bin, standing with Hyeon Won-chang, blinked once, he was nowhere to be seen.

* * *

A pale glow carved a long, straight line through the air.

Screeeech!

The current Leader of Demon Wings was rushing forward. Torn wind constantly erupted into deafening noise behind them.

They passed straight over marshes and lakes whenever they appeared in the path ahead.

Ten Miles of Deep Light contained the principles of Flying Over Grass and Treading Duckweed, Crossing Water. It had been created from inspiration drawn from the elven race.

It was a lightness skill that was shaping Jeong Yeon-shin into an impeccable powerhouse.

Boom!

The savage resistance squeezed at Jeong Yeon-shin's skin. Yet Jeong Yeon-shin kept their eyes fully open. Even as they quickly scanned the surroundings with aura sense, they closely examined the landscape before them.

'It must be this way.'

Jeong Yeon-shin was following the faint traces left by the powerful qi fluctuations of the Divine Sword Squad Deputy Leader and the Blood Guard Squad Leader.

The deep, distinctive quality of their power remained behind. As Jeong Yeon-shin continuously pursued it and occasionally activated the Heaven-Displaying Eye Technique, the framework of Jeong Yeon-shin's own tracking method took shape.

At this moment, Jeong Yeon-shin did not envy the tracking skill of Jang Sun-il, the young herbalist who had received the Comprehensive Guide to Annihilating Evil Demons.

There was nothing wrong with Jeong Yeon-shin's tracking.

'But...'

The trail broke off sharply, then an intangible residual aura shifted far away as though a line had been cut and reattached elsewhere. It was beyond the woods blocked by a snow-covered hill.

This was the third time.

It meant the two seniors had been in some disconnected space. They even seemed to have kept moving.

Unless they had crossed distances with the Shrinking Earth Technique of legendary immortals, it was not a phenomenon martial artists trained solely in martial arts could create.

It was the trace of a mystical miracle. They had clashed with the Zhuge Family Head.

Crack!

Jeong Yeon-shin kicked off the ground again, their eyes narrowing. The traces of battle stretched on for too long. It meant they had been evenly matched at the very least.

"Uh..."

Jeong Yeon-shin's chest suddenly seemed to grow cold.

The Light Wheel's rotation stopped on its own. A vacant sound slipped weakly from Jeong Yeon-shin's mouth. Simply imagining another loss had done this.

Ak Su-rim and Jin Myeong-jo dying?

'No. That can't happen.'

Bang!

A ripple of power exploded beneath Jeong Yeon-shin's feet. The surrounding undergrowth bent down in every direction, and fragments of leaves pulverized by the lightness-skill aura shot into the air on the fierce wind.

"Seom-ye? It's Seom-ye!"

A girl's voice rapidly grew louder from high in the distance. At the same time, Jeong Yeon-shin snapped their head upward, eyes widening.

Flutter!

Black Uniform robes whipped violently in the wind.

From the ends of Ak Su-rim's short, jet-black hair, immensely powerful lightness-skill aura warped the air behind her in streak after streak. She seemed to be descending after one enormous leap.

"Bring some meat and blood! It's not terribly urgent, so search the area carefully!"

Ak Su-rim shouted from high in the sky.

She was barely carrying a pitch-black figure over her narrow shoulders.

* * *

Crunch.

Dry grass in an unnamed mountain crumbled beneath Jeong Yeon-shin's black leather shoes.

Jeong Yeon-shin surveyed the area. After racing in all eight directions and failing to find any sign of life, they had come back down.

Jin Myeong-jo's injuries were grave, making it difficult to head straight for a city or village. Jeong Yeon-shin wanted to sense deep into the earth instead.

Jeong Yeon-shin had come without even hearing the details. All they had been told was that escaping the Zhuge Family Head's territory came first.

Ak Su-rim immediately sat cross-legged and began circulating her qi while regulating her breath.

She was a transcendent master who had passed Three Flowers Gather at the Crown and was looking toward Five Qi Return to Origin. Since she could wield her inner energy freely, she had no need for a guardian.

'Wild beasts...'

It was a famine-stricken winter. They said the mountain animals were dying out.

Even wild boars had become exceedingly rare. They were not easily detected even by the aura sense of renowned masters. That was why plundering was rampant and the strong were so highly valued.

Hoo...

White breath rose from between Jeong Yeon-shin's lips.

Two hours had already passed.

The Black Uniform supreme master had failed to catch anything.

No one would have believed it. Was it because Jeong Yeon-shin lacked experience? Once again, Jeong Yeon-shin keenly felt the severity of the famine.

'Senior Jin needs the vital energy contained in blood...'

Jeong Yeon-shin lightly bit their lower lip.

Then something huge suddenly caught the corner of their eye, accompanied by a fishy smell.

A massive form was approaching from the distance, floating in the air and gliding forward. It was as though it were using an exquisite Body Movement Scripture that employed Walking Upon Empty Space.

It was a dead wild boar.

"...?"

It approached for a long while, as though deeply hesitant, then fell with a thud.

The huge beast rolled to a stop at Jeong Yeon-shin's feet. Its massive presence felt bleak.

It seemed someone had tossed them prey.

But these were troubled times. No one carrying a sword would accept it without question, even if it were kindness from someone who had helped them greatly.

"What is this? Acting like a wildcat."

The current Leader of Demon Wings' eyes sharpened.

Footnotes:

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