WeTried Translations

Translator/Editor: ZERO_SUGAR

Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried

◈ Surviving as a Genius on Borrowed Time ◈

Episode 300: Lotus (19)

──────

* * *

Beneath a sky where a spiritual beast drifted on white wings between the current Leader of Demon Wings and Jegal Cheong-a of the Deep Still Eye stood a manor made up of well over ten pavilions.

The Gongya Family.

A name once held in high esteem had fallen from the social circles of Shanxi's martial nobility.

The wandering martial artist Geom Un-bi was Desolate Fortress's Leader of Demon Wings.

For receiving him as an honored guest, the Gongya Family had become a target of condemnation among their martial-world peers.

The Gongya Family Head, once revered as an eminent figure, was no longer invited to sect leaders' banquets. The eldest daughter, who had earned both the epithets Chivalrous Dragon and Sword Phoenix at the Shanxi Dragon-Phoenix Gathering, was scorned by the younger generation.

A family that had turned its back on the martial world.

Traitors who had brought Desolate Fortress into their midst.

Claiming ignorance would not excuse them. Those with discernment had known the truth from the beginning.

They had merely needed a pretext to diminish the Gongya Family's influence.

With powerful sects carving up Shanxi as great landowners, the fertile land held by the Gongya Family Head was an object of immense greed.

In the end, they had been given a place only for the sake of appearances.

The Gongya Family Manor served as the base for a martial arts tournament that would continue for a long while. They had to be satisfied with even that.

If the Gongya Family withdrew completely from the gatherings where powerful martial families formed ties, they would go from being part of the wolf pack to becoming a single lump of meat in an instant.

"You should be grateful! We still let you join us after your betrayal!"

Step.

A huge man holding a liquor flask shouted with a flushed face. He stalked through the broad alleys with a heavy, outward-turned gait.

Dead drunk, he staggered about the Gongya Family Manor as though it were his own home.

"This liquor tastes foul! Is it because traitors brewed it? Their hands must be stained with filth!"

Whenever he shouted, the shrubs growing through the winter chill trembled. Even the dust piled atop the walls sometimes scattered in hazy clouds.

"What a voice. Blood will tell, I suppose. That one has the makings of a general."

"Wasn't his father that Gwi Family Head? They say he fled the front lines with all his wealth when he was a great general."

"He must've eaten spiritual medicine like meals."

"At least his inner energy has finally found its proper use. What a pleasing sight."

None of the noble guests passing through the manor stopped Gwi Il-tae.

They either watched from afar with interest or passed by without a word.

The Gongya Family was a honey-filled hive. Why stop a fatherless wastrel from tearing apart the shell they worked so hard to preserve?

"Leader of Demon Wings, protected by that dog bastard the Slayer Hero! Come out, Leader of Demon Wings! Gongya Family, you who hid the Leader of Demon Wings, do not ignore this young master's command! Bring out the lowborn wretches of the Owol Grand Slaughter Sect! Leader of Demon Wings! The Leader of Demon Wings is the key!"

Drunkenness seeped through the chain of debts and grudges.

There was his certainty that the Leader of Demon Wings could not show himself here, where the Zhuge Family Head might appear at any moment. There was the fear inspired by the Leader of Demon Wings' identity and martial strength, along with anger at a terror unbefitting martial nobility. All of it mingled pointlessly, like liquor poured into a furnace.

The Gongya Family could not stop Gwi Il-tae's rampage.

Whenever someone lost patience and tried to intervene, the noble guests restrained them with soft but imperious words.

"That man lost his father. If we don't let him vent his rage, who knows what he might do to common households later?"

"You know his origins, don't you?"

It was the same day, repeated for several days on end.

Sect leaders of standing comparable to the Gongya Family Head had gathered around the Gongya Family Head.

Even rare experts could die to a combined attack. There was no way a family infiltrated by martial nobility could function properly.

Hoo.

On the roof of a pavilion, where Gwi Il-tae's drunken tirade could be seen clearly below, a greatsword-wielding swordswoman let out a thin breath.

Her blade-sharp eyes suited her scarlet silk martial robes well, but only blue veins stood out on the hand gripping her sword hilt. In the end, she could not draw her sword.

Rather than fearing the attention of the crowd, she now wanted to enter the martial arts tournament and draw her blade.

By the martial world's law of the strong devouring the weak, the Gongya Family was gradually ceasing to belong to its own clan.

Young Family Head Gongya Jeong.

Jegal Cheong-a glanced at her and swept her long, lusterless hair behind her neck.

After Jegal Hyeon's death, Jeong Yeon-shin had asked Cheong-a to watch over the Gongya Family, so she had remained there.

She had befriended Gongya Jeong because she saw her brother in her. All the while, she concealed her identity as the Zhuge Family's sole remaining heir.

"The distinction between orthodox, unorthodox, and demonic factions is fading."

"I do not understand what you mean."

Gongya Jeong answered politely. Though Desolate Fortress's actions had brought her to this state, she did not slight Cheong-a.

For one reason alone, that Cheong-a had learned the sword from Jeong Yeon-shin, she suppressed all her anger. It was the bearing of a steadfast martial artist.

Cheong-a spoke to her politely.

"The martial world's old divisions disappear before famine. Taking wealth through force becomes natural. I realized it after traveling the martial world with Young Master Jeong. Most martial artists are scum."

In truth, she had known since childhood. Her father had led her by the hand while she used her eye technique to examine the traces of techniques left on corpses.

Scrape.

Cheong-a rubbed the roof tiles with her leather shoes lined in white silk.

"If you act, I can help you. The Squad Leader will permit it too."

"......Only dazzling figures have gathered here. Goga Sword Gate, Water-Moon Sect, Azure Sky Gang... Sects that conduct themselves like the Eight Great Families or the Thirteen Heavens of other provinces have gathered in one place. Before drawing our swords, our family must consider death. Survival is the concern, not their lawlessness."

Gongya Jeong slowly removed her hand from her sword hilt. The long fingers distinctive of a gifted swordswoman brushed down its length.

"I know you're an expert of Demon Wings, but I can't drag you into a futile death. Goga Sword Gate and Azure Sky Gang have nearly brought all their disciples. They're serious about emptying our treasury... We don't have enough experts to match them."

"It doesn't matter what happens to me."

Cheong-a's clear gaze turned toward the distant mountains.

The mountain where her brother lay buried was bare without a blade of grass, covered only in pure white snow as it clung to the end of winter. Yet spring could not come until winter passed.

"May I ask about your Squad Leader?"

The eldest daughter spoke abruptly.

Cheong-a's small head nodded calmly.

"I'll answer only what I can."

"Do you truly intend to fight the Zhuge Family Head? Is Crouching Dragon Rebirth not counted among the supreme figures of the martial world?"

"...That's right."

"Though the Zhuge Family Head was expelled from the Martial Alliance Assembly, did he not leave the gathering unharmed? It was formed under the banner of destroying Desolate Fortress, yet an expert of Desolate Fortress exposed his shame. Even if those whose weaknesses he seized became his shield... it is difficult to understand by common sense. Expelled disciples must be dealt with severely. Why is that?"

"Because he is transcendentally powerful. Powerful enough to benefit greatly from that shield."

"Precisely. No matter how powerful the Leader of Demon Wings may be, there can be no chance of victory now... I understand he is around my younger brother's age. His opponent is the head of one of the Eight Great Families."

If the Zhuge Family Head truly died, the Gongya Family's circumstances would have no choice but to change drastically.

Desolate Fortress's influence would spread throughout Shanxi, a land nearly barren of major factions.

They would not even need to station martial artists there. The death of an absolute master alone would make it so. Such was the order and ecology of the martial world.

When that happened, the Gongya Family would rise greatly as well. They were suffering this humiliation precisely because of their friendship with the Leader of Demon Wings.

"......"

Cheong-a said nothing for a while. She merely pressed harder with the foot rubbing the roof tile, then suddenly raised a hand and pointed far below.

"You were speaking of your younger brother."

"Hm?"

"That's him, right?"

The manors of powerful martial families were built like palaces.

Beside a wall extending straight toward the banquet hall, a young nobleman with eyes as sharp as the eldest daughter's blocked Gwi Il-tae's path. He was Second Young Master Gongya Su.

"Stop using the Leader of Demon Wings and the Slayer Hero as excuses to run wild. It's ugly, and you look pathetic. We weren't the ones who brought down the Gwi Family Head!"

The Second Young Master's red martial robes stirred with fury as Gongya Su continued heatedly.

"You're nothing but a wastrel who wouldn't dare make a sound before the Leader of Demon Wings!"

Hahahahaha!

Gwi Il-tae laughed loudly.

"Gongya Su, you brat! I never knew your guts had grown this much!"

His deep voice boomed. It spread as though his stomach were a cave, full of hearty bravado.

He had already drawn the guests' attention, but now spectators hoping to see a fight sprang over the walls with nimble Body Movement Scripture techniques or stood atop the walls.

It was a feast thrown into utter disorder by the law of the strong devouring the weak.

Gwi Il-tae looked around broadly as if welcoming them, then fixed his eyes on Gongya Su.

"So, where is that honored Leader of Demon Wings now?"

"......"

"Let me guess."

The thick lips of Gwi Il-tae, the Heaven-Rending Mad Saber, twisted. He abruptly spread both arms wide.

"I'll bet my Shao Xing wine that the current Leader of Demon Wings fled rather than face the Zhuge Family Head! He isn't some Purple Uniform absolute master, after all!"

Waaaaah!

"His eloquence is lacking, but his voice alone may be called the greatest in Shanxi!"

A bearded middle-aged man clapped from within the crowd. He was the Azure Sky Gang Leader, renowned as a powerful martial magnate.

Deep inner energy rose with his movement, sending a faint mist through the gaps between his hands. Those nearby glanced at the sight, then began clapping along.

It was then.

At the spot where the Azure Sky Gang Leader stood.

Fwaaaash!

Heaven and earth were joined by an opaque pillar.

The thick streak manifested without the slightest warning, then faded into the distance. Limbs whose bodies had vanished as though in a dream lay carelessly scattered across the ground.

"Uh...?"

"What, what happened?"

The martial artists in the manor wore blank expressions. Perhaps the sight was too difficult to accept as the result of someone's move.

Gongya Jeong and Cheong-a, who had been racing over the rooftops in the distance, stopped dead.

[Martial nobility must not be frivolous.]

Six Directions Voice Transmission rang out with divine resonance. It was a clear voice, as though drawing out a melody.

Then.

Wooooong.

He descended through the clouds.

Pure-white robes billowed widely. He looked like a noble crane beating its wings.

[Here you are. A pack of bats weighing the Wolsung Sect against Desolate Fortress.]

A man stopped in midair. His sleeves rose and fell endlessly in the wind at that lofty height, strangely suiting him.

He was a peerlessly beautiful man. His facial outline alone was enough to call him a beauty.

An otherworldly air surrounded him.

He wore a black brimmed hat, and the translucent veil falling beneath its broad brim called to mind a king's ceremonial crown.

The thin line of his jaw was worthy of being called noble.

"Walking Upon Empty Space...?"

"It's the Zhuge Family Head!"

Commotion spread through the crowd like waves.

As the crowd stirred, several people walked out beside the frozen Gwi Il-tae.

"I pay respects to Crouching Dragon Rebirth, Sect Leader of Wolsung Sect. I am the leader of Goga Sword Gate."

"Zhuge Family Head, why haven't you graced Water-Moon Sect with your presence?"

They were a middle-aged man and woman, the leaders of Goga Sword Gate and Water-Moon Sect. They stood equal to the master of this manor and could be called the leaders of Shanxi's martial nobility.

The ends of their crimson and yellow long robes swept beneath their feet, revealing their unmatched standing.

It was a sign that they carried themselves with distinction wherever they went.

Wooooong.

The aura surrounding their bodies drew countless curves as it scattered through the air.

They were waves of inner energy resisting the Zhuge Family Head's world-shaking presence.

A quiet scoff came from the Zhuge Family Head.

[Kneel.]

He spoke.

* * *

The smoke filling the winter sky was an unusually deep gray.

The Gongya Family Manor had become ruins.

Spectators had continued to pour in because of Gwi Il-tae's drunken rampage.

Martial artists who had not witnessed the Azure Sky Gang Leader's end challenged the name Crouching Dragon Rebirth.

They had just watched their masters, martial aunts, senior martial sisters, and martial brothers kneel with their heads bowed.

Martial nobility were those who carried themselves like royalty in the provinces.

They had never experienced a wider world. That was why they treated the exalted techniques occasionally displayed by wandering martial artists as heretical arts.

Many leaped toward the Zhuge Family Head. A bitter gale swept in like a colossal tidal wave, and every one of them lost their heads.

Some were split cleanly in half at the waist.

No martial artist could remain still after seeing their disciples' blood spray like crashing surf.

The leaders of Shanxi's martial families, who had knelt while suppressing the vital blood stirred by their immense martial strength, drew their weapons.

And now.

Craaaash! Kwoooom!

The Water-Moon Sect Leader, wrapped in a red long robe, was flung away after smashing through two pavilions.

The storm driven by the recoil clawed at the ground, producing an unbearably harsh roar.

Blood spewed over fragments of shattered white Protective Qi Technique.

"Kheuk! Ugh...!"

Beside her lay a corpse without its lower body. It was the Goga Sword Gate Leader, who had attacked alongside her.

[Water-Moon Sect Leader. You have been halted at the wall of unifying essence, qi, and spirit. At that level, you may be called Shanxi's foremost master. The Lord of Desolate Fortress is Huguang's foremost, and Shaolin's abbot is Henan's foremost, so your standing is most exalted.]

Mocking Six Directions Voice Transmission rang out from afar. It was contempt for Shanxi's martial world.

The voice rumbled like the murmur of an absolute heavenly god. By now, the sound itself inspired terrible fear.

"You killed my disciple and still..."

[Enter under Wolsung Sect. I will make you the vanguard of an elite group that will reclaim the martial world's freedom.]

"If you had recruited us with courtesy, I might have followed your words...!"

[Wastrels cannot become martial nobility. Neither can those without spirit. How could I show mercy to those who continued to weigh their options after hearing my great cause? We must face Desolate Fortress in the future.]

"You bastard!"

Slash!

Colorless threads suddenly sprouted and cut through the Water-Moon Sect Leader's neck. Her wrinkled lips twitched, and her eyes lost focus.

At the spot where the Water-Moon Sect Leader had stood before being flung away.

"......"

Silence descended over the clearing before the Training Hall, where Gwi Il-tae and Gongya Su had raised their voices.

It was cold, yet burning hot.

All the martial arts tournament's guests, numbering in the hundreds, had gathered and fallen silent. The honored guests who had arrived late at the Gongya Family Manor did the same.

The breeze brushing their skin carried the clear essence of winter, but the air of the ruined manor seethed with scorched stone.

It was the aftermath of an absolute move.

[I am your desire.]

Slash.

The Zhuge Family Head, standing on empty air, spread his fan wide. Behind him, the Gongya Family Head sat with bowed head, his scarlet robes shredded to tatters.

The Family Head appeared unconscious. The eldest daughter and Second Young Master, their eyes reddened, worked over their father's body with an acupoint-manipulation technique.

The crowd could not seem to find the words to speak.

With the influential regional experts gathered in one place, Shanxi's martial world had been conquered by one person.

A hemispherical barrier now faintly enclosed the vast manor, confirming it. It was the Zhuge Family Head's absolute domain.

Rustle.

"My lord. Your insignificant servant has waited with longing."

Gwi Il-tae had just prostrated himself with feigned elegance.

Step.

A black leather shoe crushed down before his bowing head. The gritty sound of dirt grinding beneath it rang sharp and cold.

When he raised his head, he saw a single character.

Desolation.

"Mad...!"

Gwi Il-tae's head was crushed beneath the foot as he spat out the curse.

Blood squelched, and his skull cracked. Yet no one looked at the corpse that had died instantly while still prostrate.

Three people had suddenly appeared.

The Zhuge Family Head's aura was forced back from three sides.

Three figures draped in pitch-black long robes cut clear silhouettes beneath the bright moon.

Beneath the face of the youth touched by moonlight, all other things seemed to lose their color.

Seom-ye, Leader of Demon Wings. Moonlight rippled across the hair swaying with his steps.

Jeong Yeon-shin's black sleeves fluttered behind him.

Shing.

Moonlight shattered along the blade drawn with fluid grace.

The eyes of those who remained widened. The Leader of Demon Wings' sword, originally pure white, was beginning to turn blue.

An auspicious ripple crept along the blade, and the Zhuge Family Head's domain shook as a whole.

Kwoooong.

The silence did not last long.

The three Squad Leaders of Desolate Fortress's Divine Sword Corps stepped forward.

Step.

Their footsteps rang clearly through the silence. Dust rose along the hems of their trousers.

The rush of inner energy warming the meridians throughout their bodies was so swift and fierce that invisible aura crushed and scattered the surrounding dirt.

[I've waited. Have you prepared enough?]

The Zhuge Family Head covered his mouth with his fan and gave a low laugh.

Saaaaa.

As the surrounding air began to stir hazily under the overwhelming auras of the Divine Sword Squad Deputy Leader, the Blood Guard Squad Leader, and the Leader of Demon Wings, more and more of those who had started to flee turned back.

The Zhuge Family Head of the Eight Great Families and Desolate Fortress's Squad Leaders.

It was a shocking confrontation. A truly momentous turn of events was at stake.

"......"

The air swiftly turned desolate. A dry wind swept past the black robes.

The martial world watched them.

Footnotes:

Join our discord at https://dsc.gg/wetried