WeTried Translations

Translator/Editor: ZERO_SUGAR

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◈ Surviving as a Genius on Borrowed Time ◈

Episode 299: Lotus (18)

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Ak Su-rim's voice was strange.

She sounded half-asleep, yet there was a clear purpose behind it.

Even in that drowsy state, she seemed capable of fighting at full strength. It was the bearing expected of the second strongest among the Divine Sword Corps' Seventeen Squads.

She was a supreme master who had undergone Rejuvenation. Her appearance was no measure of her skill.

'She noticed right away. Just how far does her aura sense reach?'

Jeong Yeon-shin rolled the pebble Baek Seo-gun had given him in his palm.

He had heard it was a dharma treasure. Though he could faintly sense a mystical energy within it, it did not seem particularly special for now.

It was impossible to tell whether it belonged to the Eon Family or the Zhuge Family.

Having recovered Eon Hwa-ryeon's secret manual, he had ties to both sides. He could return it without issue, regardless of who owned it.

"The person outside is..."

Just as he opened his mouth, the girl let out a huge yawn.

Yaaawn.

Her eyes began to gleam.

Inner energy powerful enough to make her a candidate for the next Divine Sword Squad Leader had risen to her eyes, flashing with colorless light.

It shone far more intensely than the sacred campfire lighting her face.

"Your martial bearing has been cultivated in a tyrannical manner. The martial art itself clearly carries the qualities of the elven race, but... you're not a swordsman. You're a sword ghost."

Tap.

A spear that had been lying carelessly on the ground caught against Ak Su-rim's instep.

The instant she flexed her ankle, the spear shaft rose as though drawn upward on its own and settled firmly into her small hand.

The surrounding bushes shuddered from the aftershock.

"We've never met, but the Chief Steward's Office has mountains of reports on her. They say she appeared in Shaanxi too? The second-in-command of that crowd of Heart Martial Union martial artists. I also heard she helped you for no apparent reason. I was grateful for that."

Ak Su-rim spoke after grasping her emblematic divine spear and spreading an aura barrier.

Rather than immediately showing Desolate Fortress's aggressive nature, she first treated him as a fellow Black Uniform. It meant she would hear him out.

It was respect from the Divine Sword Squad Deputy Leader, whose name was known across the realm.

The boy who had been the burden of Jeong Family Manor only two years ago slowly opened his mouth.

Warmth filled his chest alongside a sense that an age had passed. Grandma Ak would remember him too.

"She was someone connected to my bloodline."

Ak Su-rim extended her index finger and tapped the spear shaft. A transparent but light force wave spread out, playful yet threatening.

"Hmm... the martial world is tiresomely vast, yet sometimes it feels small. Can you tell me more?"

"She was someone who shared my father's childhood..."

"Then she's a bastard!"

She abruptly cut him off, her small brow tightly furrowed.

As aura surged from her, the hair by her ears swept down over her neck. The fingers gripping the spear repeatedly clenched and loosened.

"She hunted a wild boar during a winter famine. She's someone I owe gratitude to. Even with the upper dantian's ability, I couldn't sense any malice."

Yeon-shin answered briefly, tilting his head inwardly.

He did not know how much Senior Ak knew about his family history. Had the Chief Steward's Office investigated it separately?

'The people of Xinye County still live there.'

Several unpleasant faces crossed Yeon-shin's mind. They were all villagers.

Each had a distinct personality and an innocent-looking face. They believed in superstition and despised him...

'I hope I don't get any missions toward Henan.'

Just as Yeon-shin put the brief thought aside.

"So, you think she's trustworthy...? According to our youngest Squad Leader's comprehension."

Rustle.

Ak Su-rim suddenly moved close, plopped down beside him, and studied him intently.

"..."

Her gaze brought silence.

Only the campfire crackled. The intense light in the Desolate Divine Spear's eyes vanished, making her unusually clear, jet-black eyes stand out.

The wild spark usually present in her gaze had disappeared.

"Sometimes, I sense something extremely mystical from you."

Ak Su-rim wore a strange expression, one Yeon-shin had never seen before. Ordinary distrust and peculiar relief showed in it at once.

It was reflected alongside the front of her clothing, stained darker than usual. It was likely the trace of clotted blood she had coughed up while performing qi circulation and breath regulation after confronting the Zhuge Family Head.

Soon, the corner of her lips lifted slightly.

"Well, the Sword Venerable of those Thirteen Heavens bastards is something like your nanny. And she's here right now."

"A grown adult having a nanny is a little..."

Yeon-shin's thick eyebrows rose as he turned his gaze away.

Ak Su-rim's lips twitched for a moment. Then she finally parted them, unable to hold back her laughter.

"Ahaha!"

She laughed brightly.

The immediate aura unique to Three Flowers Gather at the Crown burst forth, tossing her jet-black hair wildly as she rocked with laughter and patted Yeon-shin's shoulder with one hand.

"A grown adult, he says!"

She casually ignored the youngest's chilly glare and cleared her throat.

Her voice still held laughter as it emerged with a hint of mischief.

"That's a relief. I would've felt uneasy if I had to leave our youngest alone."

Ak Su-rim snickered with the face of a girl. The expression of a senior preparing herself for death vanished behind it.

"Pardon?"

"The Zhuge Hound was incredibly strong. And this is your first time truly facing a peerless master."

"...That's true."

"You need to stake your life on devising a response. The attack patterns of prepared sorcery martial arts are incredibly flexible and complex. One moment of carelessness, and your stomach could be pierced like Bohyeol's was. We don't have the ability to regenerate either."

Ak Su-rim exaggeratedly shrugged her small shoulders.

Yet the black long robe she wore did not feel as light as it looked.

"If even one of the three of us becomes unable to fight, the other two run immediately. Understood?"

"No."

She smiled at Yeon-shin's immediate answer.

"Well, how could you turn your back on such a lovely older sister? Fine. If it comes to that, I'll trigger qi deviation myself and leave first."

"...Is the Zhuge Family Head's martial art truly that formidable?"

"He moves together with every kind of sorcery medium. The inner energy and will contained in formations, spells, and talismans were chilling. It suits someone who gave up being human. He made a many-against-one fight feel like a one-on-one battle. He's completely insane."

"Sorcery arts martial arts..."

"His domain even expanded while he fought. It wasn't the size of an ordinary Training Hall. Not even the size of a county. Those things were woven into one enormous sorcery formation, moving with that bastard at its center."

"He's not a person. He's a disaster."

Ak Su-rim nodded.

"Whether it's a vast wilderness or a famous scenic site, all of it is his domain. Since this isn't the Martial Alliance, he can create sorcery formations without worrying about anyone's reaction. An ordinary combined attack can't beat him. He'll be harder to face than the Huangbo Family Head whom Myeolseom, Changcheon, and the eunuch killed. Everyone in the martial world knows it."

Swish.

"So, to raise our odds of winning even a little..."

Ak Su-rim suddenly stood, dusted off her back, and spoke casually.

"We need to train, even if only briefly. This older sister will teach you how to deal with peerless masters. Bohyeol and I were defeated like this. How could I bring you in without any preparation?"

"You need to treat me as an equal."

Yeon-shin did not say it as a childish complaint. He stated a fact. Even while wearing a Black Uniform, he was now looking toward a higher place.

He meant that they needed to accept his martial strength without reservation and devise their tactics accordingly.

"Well."

Ak Su-rim smiled.

"Even if you become stronger than me someday, it'll be the same. To me, you'll always be the youngest I cherish most."

Her tone was cheerful.

She stood lightly on the pure white snow. The black hem reaching down to her feet suited her more than anyone.

The undisputed strongest Black Uniform. Faint aura spread from the spear in her small hand.

"Let's begin. Let's see just how suited our Seom-ye is for real combat."

The aura barrier still spread wide around them. If the legendary Nine Heavens Mysterious Maiden descended holding a weapon, perhaps she would look like this.

Her hair fluttered strand by strand with the texture of ebony, mysterious and dark. At this moment, Ak Su-rim resembled an immortal holding a spear.

Yeon-shin slowly pushed himself up from the ground.

"I look forward to your instruction."

It was both preparation for a battle against a peerless master and an opportunity to measure the martial strength he had built so far.

* * *

Claaang!

How had the Zhuge Family Head defeated this person?

'One hundred thirty-five moves.'

The thought grew stronger with time. Each time Yeon-shin deflected Ak Su-rim's spear strikes with the Northern Light Sword, he barely endured the force behind them.

He had not activated Ultimate Thunder.

His opponent was the second strongest member of the Divine Sword Corps, someone who had cultivated for decades and undergone Rejuvenation. He could not handle her head-on.

They could not be considered Black Uniforms of the same caliber. When he had just created the Record of the Dharma Light Wheel, he might not have endured even ten moves.

'She said Senior Hahu, the Heaven-Treading Forest Squad Leader, couldn't withstand ten moves.'

Trapped within the intense silver trails, Yeon-shin felt it deeply. Even amid this, he found himself impressed by the sword force and senses that let him redirect and deflect her spear.

As the wind struck his ears relentlessly, Ak Su-rim suddenly leaped upside down above his head.

"Your blade's got bite!"

Her leg carved a curve through the air.

Then, as she twisted her waist in midair as though stepping on True Step, a fierce wind like a condensed typhoon surged from the spear point thrust straight down at the crown of his head.

She linked three changes in bodily movement with elegance, creating a terrifying trajectory like lightning.

Before Yeon-shin's exhalation could even leave his lips, an incomparably powerful and swift move was completed.

Ak Family Spear. General Calls Thunder.

Rumble!

As the pure-white spear strike came down violently like heavenly punishment, Yeon-shin's thoughts became a ray of light.

'She properly imbued the technique with Force Projection. That is a finishing move. It's at the Radiant River level or higher.'

It was an instant.

As Yeon-shin sharply turned his head, blue afterimages drew blurred lines following his eyes.

He captured Ak Su-rim's spear trajectory in the light of his eye technique and analyzed it through countless concepts.

Ak Su-rim's hand, where the powerful strike began, the destination and timing of the exquisitely precise spear technique's path, the flow of power joining the Force Projection, and the qi structure of the force wave rising from the spear point to its shaft were engraved in his eyes.

'The power fluctuation was amplified five times in succession. The trajectory is a perfectly straight vertical line...!'

Ak Su-rim had said she would recreate the Zhuge Family Head's attack.

At that moment, Yeon-shin's hand raising the Northern Light Sword twitched three times. The upper dantian's senses had fully awakened.

Slaaash!

The swift sword move of Judging the Qilin tore through the storm of Force Projection surging from the spear strike.

The strands of force wave descending like lightning were severed one by one through impossibly subtle movements. Then the change that arose in that instant swallowed Ak Su-rim's strike whole.

Booooom!

Violent vibrations raced across the hemispherical aura barrier.

A biting wind swept through with the substance of blades. The piled snow shot into the air, scattering white flurries.

'Kgh.'

Yeon-shin lightly clenched his teeth. Fragments of force that sliced across his upper body brought burning pain.

They were only minor cuts, but he had clearly lost in the exchange.

His senior had cast off the monkey's hide through the rebirth of body and bone that came with Rejuvenation. She was practically the Great Sage Equal to Heaven.

Crunch.

Soon, footsteps sounded in the snow.

"I know you're hiding an enormously powerful move, so I feel uneasy. And you ended up getting hurt. Our Seom-ye's body and face are both treasures."

Ak Su-rim approached through the snowfall, black hair and robes fluttering around her. She wore a strange expression.

"You really succeeded in breaking it? How many moves ahead are your senses? If you could deploy and withdraw your power as quickly as I can, you could try fighting the Zhuge Family Head alone."

"I'm not jealous of Three Flowers Gather at the Crown."

Yeon-shin forced himself to speak calmly. The corner of Ak Su-rim's lips rose as though she were looking at a puppy.

"I told you the Zhuge Hound's attacking move is about thirty percent stronger than this, right? That he drives it down from above as if he were the Jade Emperor himself."

"Yes."

"It seems you've prepared enough. You can train on your own now. I wonder where Bohyeol went to slack off."

"Since they are a martial artist of perfect excellence, they must be preparing defenses in another area."

"Yes, right. That must be it."

Ak Su-rim smiled, then suddenly furrowed her brow.

"Still, that Zhuge Family Head bastard hasn't made a move for far too long. How many days has it been? Winter will be over soon. He must have heard about the Fist Exemplar, yet he's staying quiet."

As Yeon-shin fell silent, thinking of Eon Hwa-ryeon, Ak Su-rim lightly stroked her chin with a thin index finger.

"I don't like this. You can't give sorcery practitioners too much time..."

* * *

"The young Black Uniform of Desolate Fortress has touched a peerless master's reverse scale. The supreme figure descended from Zhuge Wuhou's bloodline has become enraged and intends to wipe out every trace of Desolate Fortress in Shanxi Province."

It was a rumor that could not remain within even vast Shanxi.

Rumors of a peerless master traveled a thousand li. The martial strength of one such person rivaled a northern army corps.

The martial worlds of Shaanxi and Henan surrounding that vast land responded, as did even the nobles of Northern Zhili, where the imperial court stood.

Those counted among the most distinguished in the realm began to gather from every direction.

"The identity of the bastard called the Slayer Hero, who came to prominence because of Eon Hwa-ryeon, bothers me. Confirm it this time. I think I understand why the face of that Imperial Hero I saw at the grand founding ceremony seemed familiar. Put more effort into killing those two than the Leader of Demon Wings."

Meanwhile, someone who had inherited both the Moyong Family's legacy and the Heavenly Demon's true teachings opened their eyes.

"Abbot, please permit me to descend the mountain. I will examine the difference between the Demon-Slaying Azure River Hand and the Guanyin Azure River Hand, and bring benefit to all dragon-phoenix worthies. Martial Nephew Gak Jeong, calling himself the Young Divine Monk in the secular world, says that the current Leader of Demon Wings enjoys splitting blood demons' skulls and offering them to the Buddha..."

Clear Buddhist chants rang from the Great Hero Hall atop Mount Song.

"Purple Cloud Pellet? Now, among those my age, I'm second only to Yeon-shin, but isn't it a little dangerous for me to go alone... Ah, I'll go! Stop scattering sword fragrance with your fingers! You need to rest and recuperate!"

At Mount Hua's Jade Maiden Peak, where flowers were difficult to find, the fragrance of plum blossoms drifted faintly.

"It doesn't matter if they're late. This old one's grandchild is of a different breed from such trifles, so your concern is needless. What? A hidden sword? You spout utter nonsense."

At the coast of Hainan, near the southern edge of Ming, where both distance and climate felt like another world, a Water Dragon ascended to the heavens.

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