WeTried Translations

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◈ Surviving as a Genius on Borrowed Time ◈

Episode 318: Xuanyuan (13)

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A cool twilight settled over the mountain wilderness.

They were near Taiyuan in Shanxi Province. A problem had arisen as Jeong Yeon-shin, Master Won Jeok, Gwi Yun-rin, and Jeon Baek surrounded one of the Heart Martial Union's Martial Venerables.

It concerned what to do with the Winged Blood Venerable.

Master Won Jeok first asked the Leader of Demon Wings for an opinion.

"May this humble monk spare this man's life?"

Jeong Yeon-shin considered it.

An opponent who showed killing intent first. Someone who committed obvious atrocities.

Yeon-shin had always used lethal moves only against such people.

The sole exception had been Clear Qilin, Namgung Se-jin. Perhaps that was why Yeon-shin sometimes had bad dreams.

It felt as though Yeon-shin could manifest the Imperial Sword Art with a mere thought.

"I do not mean to treat him. I simply mean not to kill him. This foolish monk is hypocritical by nature, so it will be enough to leave him breathing on the ground and move on."

Master Won Jeok spoke.

Shaolin had a precept against killing. Though it was a martial sect, it did not permit murder.

It was a Buddhist temple.

The moment a monk killed someone, that monk became one who had broken the precepts.

They said this was why Shaolin had developed fist and leg arts, staff techniques, and other defensive methods.

It had remained an absolute principle even when the Yuan Dynasty invaded these lands.

Mount Song was the birthplace of martial arts across the continent. It could be called the martial world itself. Shaolin's stance was a doctrine passed down through the ages.

Even Namgung First Sword, famous for eccentricity, had never forced a Shaolin monk to kill.

Not while Namgung First Sword remained with the Namgung Family, nor after leaving the family register and joining the Martial Dragon Society of the Thirteen Heavens.

Jeong Yeon-shin slowly spoke. Below Yeon-shin, the Winged Blood Venerable was covered in livid bruises as he glared fiercely up at him.

"It will be painful for him to live as a commoner."

The ordination scars on Master Won Jeok's forehead lifted slightly.

"As a commoner, you say?"

"His dantian and the tendons and meridians in all four limbs should be destroyed. There must be no future trouble."

Hah...

A sigh escaped the elven monk.

Having casually passed judgment as the Leader of Demon Wings, Jeong Yeon-shin flinched inwardly. The prestige of Buddhism was higher than ever these days.

No one in the world would want to fall out of favor with a Shaolin high monk.

That would be even truer for someone from Henan who had grown up admiring Hundred-Step Divine Fist games as a child.

'Am I too cold and cruel?'

It was the same as when Yeon-shin dealt with niece Hye-ah. Just as Yeon-shin began to reflect...

"How profoundly merciful!"

"Pardon?"

"People may well call you the incarnation of Nezha. You truly value the lives of the people."

Master Won Jeok laughed heartily.

There was a sweet, doting quality in the monk's gaze, as though he were stroking Jeong Yeon-shin's head with his eyes.

"Considering what this man did in the martial world to earn the name Winged Blood Venerable... we should do at least that much. This humble monk failed to think of it. Even a common method becomes a brilliant idea when used in the right situation."

"I see."

Jeong Yeon-shin straightened.

Gwi Yun-rin, who had been staring blankly at the two of them, spoke in alarm.

"Wait, wait a moment. You're leaving this bastard alive?"

"He's utterly vile! His venom reaches the heavens! We do not know what methods he will use to grow strong again...!"

Jeon Baek squeezed out his voice behind her.

They had endured the Winged Blood Venerable longer than anyone.

They must have witnessed his aptitude, temperament, and all the achievements he had accumulated while rising to become one of the Heart Martial Union's Three Martial Venerables. It was only natural for their unease to weigh heavily on them.

The corners of the Winged Blood Venerable's lips twitched upward.

"Desolate Fortress. Shaolin. How... merciful. One day, I will learn upper-dantian sword arts... and repay you. Our young lady as well."

His voice was icy and sharp, like a blade.

His sword talent had made his name known across the world. A Grandmaster who had brought together the Heart Martial Union's higher martial arts into dual swordsmanship, his boast about swordsmanship did not sound empty.

Light flickered through Gwi Yun-rin's eyes as she bit her lower lip helplessly among such powerful figures.

Then it happened.

A blurred ocher line flashed through the air five times, followed by a dull sound a moment later. It was the sound of skin bursting.

The Winged Blood Venerable's groan followed a breath later.

"Aaaargh!"

His limbs shook violently.

Livid bruises began to spread over both arms and legs. A faint breeze flowed from his sunken lower abdomen.

It was the power fluctuation pouring from his exploded lower dantian. The inner energy he had stored was so deep that even the surrounding brush trembled without pause.

Master Won Jeok wielded his wooden staff like an iron rod and drove it vertically into the ground.

Thud!

It was the punishment Shaolin gave to expelled disciples.

A staff strike infused with an internal heavy-hand technique had landed.

The heavy force wave pulverized the tendons and meridians in his limbs, then shattered even his dantian. It had happened in an instant.

Despite delivering such a cruel blow, Master Won Jeok did not spare the Winged Blood Venerable another glance.

The elven high monk's eyes remained fixed on the Leader of Demon Wings. Unlike when he swung his staff at the Winged Blood Venerable, they were exceedingly warm.

"You followed this humble monk earlier with wondrous steps. The Body Movement Scripture was steeped in traces of dharma power. You truly seem born with immortal bones and Buddha's potential. The Dharma Protector War God Nezha fills every part of your character."

The stiffness of a first meeting had vanished from the tone of one of Shaolin's Four Vajra. He had become remarkably gentle.

Clear light gleamed in his eyes.

"Ha."

Gwi Yun-rin, who had held her breath among those transcendent masters, took a step back with an exasperated expression. They said the high monk before her was a supernatural phenomenon who had spent a hundred years meditating before a wall.

There was no way he could be in his right mind. The clear light in that handsome monk's eyes looked bizarre, as though he had fallen under some strange infatuation.

"When Emperor Wu of Liang wished to contend with Bodhidharma, Bodhidharma crossed a river on a single reed to avoid taking life. That tale became the guiding principle of the Body Movement Scripture, Crossing the River on a Single Reed. The body-cultivation practice he devised to nurture life has been passed down as the Muscle-Tendon Change Scripture and the Marrow-Cleansing Scripture."

Master Won Jeok smiled gently.

"They say the Leader of Demon Wings, who answers every challenge, surrounds the whole body with lotus blossoms and threatens all nearby. The Body Movement Scripture you showed this humble monk may become known as Nezha's steps upon the lotus pedestal of the Western Pure Land."

It was a story about Buddhism's afterlife.

A lotus pedestal was the seat a practitioner occupied after death. Its proper name was the Nine-Grade Lotus Pedestal.

They said it was made of nine lotus flowers.

Jeong Yeon-shin's lips moved slightly, then stopped. Yeon-shin could only think, Was this really all right?

No matter what Yeon-shin said or did, the monk looked on with favor.

Yeon-shin wondered whether this was what would happen if maternal grandfather's disposition mixed with that of the Seventh Apostle, then mentally slapped themself for having such a thought about a Shaolin high monk.

'You pathetic Jeong Yeon-shin, how utterly wicked...'

That was why one of Shaolin's Four Vajra had accepted Jeong Yeon-shin's Shanxi epithet without question.

It was like having an ancient immortal of the Mount Hua Sect acknowledge a title that included plum blossoms.

"Your words are more than I deserve. I have recently come to deeply admire Bodhidharma."

Sincerity filled Jeong Yeon-shin's voice. That was how much kinship Yeon-shin felt with Shaolin's founding master.

The current Leader of Demon Wings felt as though he had finally met someone after being cast alone into a remote jungle Beyond the Pass.

"Excellent, excellent indeed!"

Master Won Jeok uttered an archaic expression of delight.

An expert who had opened the upper dantian was exceedingly sensitive to an opponent's bearing.

Such masters could distinguish truth from falsehood and gauge the depth of emotions, allowing them to intercept an enemy's attacks.

The supreme monk's mouth spread into a broad grin.

"I should make an offering to you."

"...An offering?"

"The truth is, this humble monk came down with a martial nephew, but that child's pace was terribly slow, so we became separated by quite a distance. The Myeongjeong Pill this foolish monk received from Shaolin's Medicine King Hall is with that child as well. This old monk does not like carrying things on his body."

His only luggage truly was a wooden staff. He did not even have an alms bowl or a sleeping bag to lie down in comfortably.

"Master...?"

Jeong Yeon-shin's eyes widened.

Would the internal injuries be treated before returning to Desolate Fortress?

Shaolin's Myeongjeong Pill.

It was an unparalleled medicine for internal injuries, containing the medical arts of Shaolin's Medicine King Hall and elven race secrets.

Yeon-shin had taken it before. It had been just before Demon Wings, the Annihilation Squad, and the Azure Sky Squad attacked the Huangbo Family together.

The moment Yeon-shin consumed it, the qi and blood throughout the body had recovered in an instant. Yeon-shin remembered how precious the medicinal effect flowing through the entire body had felt.

"Still, your body is not well at present... I would be reluctant to leave you alone. It will likely take quite some time to find my inadequate martial nephew."

"Compared to your kindness, Master, it will not be a long wait."

Jeong Yeon-shin answered calmly.

Once Yeon-shin thought of Hyeon Won-chang, Languid Flame Dragon, and Shin So-bin, refusing here made no sense.

The companions might scold Yeon-shin, saying the Squad Leader's body came first.

Master Won Jeok's absence would be much the same.

A Desolate Fortress Black Uniform relying on one of Shaolin's Four Vajra? It sounded absurd to anyone who heard it.

Jeong Yeon-shin did not feel a great threat from the Assassins' Sect and the Moyong Family that lay ahead.

Ever since the Zhuge Family Head had died in defeat, a strange feeling had come over Yeon-shin. A premonition that things would work out somehow.

Even now, the image of a sword flickered in Yeon-shin's mind.

The Northern Light Sword at Yeon-shin's waist whispered for Yeon-shin to go meet the companions.

"You are already a complete martial artist."

The smile never left Master Won Jeok's face, smooth as a shaved head.

"This humble monk's concern was misplaced. Let us meet in Taiyuan."

Crunch.

The sound of snow beneath his feet was crisp. With those final words, the monk turned away and departed. The hem of his orange monk's robe fluttered over the snowy field.

Jeong Yeon-shin, Gwi Yun-rin, and Jeon Baek remained.

"Now it is finally tidy."

Gwi Yun-rin glanced at the Winged Blood Venerable writhing at her feet and brushed back the hair beside her ear.

"I feel at ease. I have also stopped the remnants of this union from interfering with my great undertaking. Now all that remains is to charge ahead."

"Have you truly taken control of the Heart Martial Union's martial forces?"

Jeong Yeon-shin suddenly asked.

Gwi Yun-rin snorted and shrugged her angular shoulders.

"Unless my damned father comes, nothing will happen. Only four people rank above me in the chain of command. The Heart Martial Union Leader and the Three Martial Venerables."

"What about the eldest young master?"

"He is equal to me."

Her expression turned serious.

"You really do not need to worry. The important people are too busy planning their conquest of the world to get off their asses. The Winged Blood Venerable is as far as it will go."

Flap!

Gwi Yun-rin shook out her sleeve.

She seemed to have lost all interest in the Winged Blood Venerable lying sprawled out. At least, that was how it looked.

"Khh... khuhuhu..."

Having lost everything, the swordsman let out only a groan-like laugh. He looked utterly mad.

Despair and frustration seeped from his eyes whenever he glanced at Jeong Yeon-shin.

He had spoken earlier of upper-dantian sword arts, but he could not maintain his composure after losing the dantian and the tendons and meridians of his limbs that he had cultivated all his life.

Such was the martial world.

"Let us go."

Jeong Yeon-shin turned first. Gwi Yun-rin and Jeon Baek soon followed.

The late winter sunlight was deep.

Everything around them was white. Though they had grown considerably closer, a strange distance remained between them as they walked in silence for a while.

The one-armed Jeon Baek watched Jeong Yeon-shin carefully, belying how recently they had first met.

"Excuse me. I need to visit the latrine."

"What latrine is there out here?"

"Young Lady, please understand without making me spell it out. One does not pry into private matters."

"Go and come back quickly. If you steal anything again, I will break your wrist. This union has its dignity..."

"Yes, yes."

Jeon Baek slipped away and did not return until much later, claiming with a shameless grin that his bowels had hardened in his belly.

He was a scholarly-looking martial artist who would appear quite handsome with a broad smile, but he remained deferential before Gwi Yun-rin and Jeong Yeon-shin.

Jeong Yeon-shin caught a faint fishy scent from Jeon Baek's fan.

The smell of blood that had not been there before.

It was enough to guess that the latrine was an excuse.

Jeon Baek had gone back and killed the Winged Blood Venerable.

"......"

Jeong Yeon-shin did not question him.

Only the crunch of snow beneath their feet echoed. A cold silence followed behind the three pairs of footprints pressed into the snow.

Such was the martial world.

* * *

The shadow cast beneath the cliff was immense. It was large enough to swallow several figures without showing any sign of it.

"We should have killed them from the start. How many times are we going to catch them all and let them go?"

"Are they not all disciples of distinguished families? They carry spiritual medicine energy that has yet to fully dissolve into their bodies. Of course we must treat them like sacred treasures."

"The illegitimate child of the Assassins' Sect and the Sun God Meridian are one thing. But what about the daughter of the Desolate Shin Family? Whoever she grew up watching, she has a nasty habit of provoking people. We should cut that slender neck in one stroke..."

"Do not be frivolous. There are no exceptions."

"Is that really an order from above?"

"There is much to extract from that girl as well. All heirs of families under Desolate Fortress are raised as future Black Uniforms. They do not worry about how much qi they have accumulated. They only care about how many years it takes to fully dissolve the spiritual medicine energy."

"What fortunate lives they lead. Damn it."

"The origin of the Star-Absorbing Method lies in the Heavenly Demon's martial lineage. You should be grateful that its secret art entered the main family. Who knows? One day, its benefits may reach you too."

"Mm..."

"The Huangbo brat is the bigger problem. We went through the trouble of splitting up the group, yet the losses are enormous."

"I heard. They say the Heavenly Net's southern formation was destroyed?"

"It melted away."

"What about the Corps Leader? There is no way the Moyong Family's second-ranked master could not catch him..."

"The Corps Leader captured a messenger from the Hao Clan's Shanxi Branch. They say the messenger was carrying some strange information, a code phrase sent to Hao Clan branches across the country."

"That is no ordinary matter. Can we learn it too?"

"Of course. It said to beware of the hems of pink garments..."

Crack.

The cliff's shadow swallowed a horrible sound of flesh being crushed. With that single noise, every presence in all directions lost its life.

There was not even the sound of bodies falling.

It was as though all of them had been crushed whole.

No sound was heard until the deep-pink hem of a garment faintly tinged with white swept imperiously through one side of the shade.

Footnotes:

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