WeTried Translations
Translator/Editor: ZERO_SUGAR
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◈ Surviving as a Genius on Borrowed Time ◈
Episode 337: Tyrant's Way (2)
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A battle unfolded amid rocks, thickets, a stream, and corpses.
Seated on a fine horse, Gun Yu-cheon looked down at the Seventh Apostle and the young man and doubted his own eyes.
The scent of blood mingled with the sound of flowing water had long since faded from his nose, erased by the close-quarters struggle that had robbed the scene of all reality.
‘What is that man?’
Gun Yu-cheon sat upright, every inch the imposing figure, yet he was utterly confused.
He was the eldest young master of the Heart Martial Union. To command a martial army with consummate ease, he had mastered the supreme Divine Technique known as Majestic Prosperity Manifestation.
It was an eye technique personally passed down by his father, so he had devoted himself to its training day and night. Thanks to his exceptional natural talent, he had attained a profound level of mastery.
The strikes exchanged by the supreme masters before him.
They were so swift that every trajectory appeared pale and blurred. Yet he could clearly sense that they contained the principles of superior martial arts.
The Seventh Apostle's movements, her Pure Blood Robe fluttering around her, differed from how she had fought the martial army.
Her force waves were weaker than before, her strength depleted, yet an inexplicably gentle refinement flowed from her pale fingertips. It was powerful and beautiful enough to captivate.
He had watched blankly, nearly letting his expression slip.
The young man's martial prowess even surpassed that of the Seventh Apostle, who had fallen into qi deviation.
The movement technique he had displayed while subduing her was close to the pinnacle of Harmonizing Force. It had brought Wudang Sect to mind for an instant.
There had been a reason the Light Blade Venerable had stopped him.
―Eldest Young Master.
A sound transmission rang out with the soft tread of footsteps.
A weighty presence appeared beside the head of Gun Yu-cheon's white horse.
It was the aura of a supreme master who would ordinarily be unlikely to be present here. The Heart Martial Union's Light Blade Venerable had approached to speak to him.
―I believe you should proceed with caution.
―What do you mean?
He asked.
―Do not judge that man rashly. Judging by his aura, he appears to have cultivated Blood Arts, but I have never heard rumors of an Apostle like him in the Blood Flame Sect.
Gun Yu-cheon did not answer. He merely glanced at her.
The Light Blade Venerable, Geum Min.
Her hair was elegantly tied back in a single braid, while the great saber across her back radiated pressure.
Like all Three Martial Venerables of the Heart Martial Union, her appearance did not match the height of her martial arts.
Her cool beauty easily won the favor of high officials and nobles regardless of gender.
Much like Biyik Blood Venerable, who had moved through Beijing's noble houses until dying to the combined attack of the Four Vajra and the Leader of Demon Wings.
Gun Yu-cheon, however, did not treat the Blade Venerable warmly.
Other than the Sword Venerable, who had been confined by the Heart Martial Union Leader for ignoring orders to return, Geum Min was the only supreme master who could greatly influence the succession struggle.
That was because she had taught his younger sister, Gwi Yun-rin. In the martial world, the bond between master and disciple took precedence over all else.
Geum Min's temperament was as steadfast as a northern general's, and she had repeatedly humiliated Gun Yu-cheon by rejecting his attempts to win her over.
‘Proceed with caution? I know that without being told.’
The absence left by Biyik Blood Venerable was immense. That person had been the only one among the Three Martial Venerables to support Gun Yu-cheon.
How bitter had the news been that the Venerable had died with the sinews and meridians of all four limbs, along with the dantian, destroyed?
Once he returned to the Union, he would have to somehow win over even the Sword Venerable. The Seventh Apostle, young, powerful, and exceptionally gifted, could not help catching his eye.
Gun Yu-cheon raised qi to his throat.
―If we cannot take that woman away with us from here, I will have nothing to say to the Alliance Leader. Our army has fallen from a thousand to nine hundred, and we are to let even the Seventh Apostle, who was practically already ours, escape? Even the Blade Venerable will not be free from the Alliance Leader's wrath.
The Light Blade Venerable's brow tightened.
―...That young man. His attire is closer to that of a wandering martial artist, but his energy and bearing are no different from a Blood Flame Sect noble. Perhaps another True Blood Physique survived in the main order that was wiped out. I will speak with him first. Men like him rarely see those weaker than themselves as people.
She walked away without looking back. Gun Yu-cheon clenched his fist so hard that veins stood out, but she did not even acknowledge him.
It was how one treated an incompetent fool. It had continued from the day word spread that the eldest young master had sent a love letter to the Sword Venerable, Baek Seo-gun, until now.
The Light Blade Venerable soon faced the man and woman who had fought.
‘Those limbs... I must be wary of the first exchange.’
She thought.
The young man's limbs were plainly visible beneath his short garments, and their muscles were truly extraordinary.
He did not seem to be exerting much strength, yet his energy and physical power felt as though they were surging. His arms and legs were not particularly thick, but the pressure he gave off rivaled that of Shaolin's divine monk said to have mastered the Muscle-Tendon Change Scripture.
“I am Geum Min of the Heart Martial Union.”
After taking in his body at a glance, the Light Blade Venerable spoke slowly.
They stood ten paces apart.
The Seventh Apostle appeared to have had her sleep acupoint struck. She let out unsteady breaths while the young man supported her jaw and upper body against one shoulder and quietly watched the Light Blade Venerable.
“......”
No one moved as the silence stretched on.
It was an exceedingly arrogant silence. The Light Blade Venerable was known even within the Heart Martial Union for wielding the swiftest and most destructive saber techniques, yet the young man did not seem to feel any need to remove the Seventh Apostle from his embrace.
“Heart Martial Union.”
He quietly repeated her words, then spoke again.
“Are you on a long journey?”
“...That is so.”
“Your purpose is military provisions for the north, then.”
“You know much.”
“Any other purpose?”
The young man asked calmly. His voice was low enough to be swallowed at once by the stream.
Yet the Light Blade Venerable heard him clearly and did not answer for some time.
The journeys through the martial world taken by martial nobility never ended with a single purpose.
She and the eldest young master were no exception. When they encountered hostile forces, they fought life-and-death duels. When they found useful talent, they tried by every means to recruit it.
Capturing a Blood Flame Sect Apostle who had become a wandering martial artist was no different. To begin with, no one in the martial world would condemn them for how they treated a supreme master of the Demonic Sect.
The young man must have known that as well.
His question was therefore akin to forcing the vast martial army to make a choice. Withdraw now, or fight.
It was absurd.
‘Today... I thought my saber felt unusually light.’
The Light Blade Venerable's right hand twitched faintly. Learning the other party's identity should have come first, but the muscles in her arm would not move easily.
Her aura sense was better than ever. The hand gripping her weapon felt remarkably light as well.
It was a day when her condition as a martial artist was near its best. The saber technique she displayed today would be half a beat faster than that of her old friend, the Sword Venerable.
‘Though Seo-gun would deny it.’
As the rumors said, the Light Blade Venerable's saber forms were unrestrained. Her innate senses and eye technique allowed her to read the paths of attack beforehand.
So she slowly opened her mouth.
“...The Heart Martial Union is this land's loyal military power. We have no other purpose.”
Her answer came amid the loud snorts of the fine horses surrounding the village.
Something unbelievable happened.
Very few could collide head-on with a martial army of nearly a thousand and live.
Even the Seventh Apostle could only repeatedly hold them at bay through flight and harassment until qi deviation took hold, despite mastering the Blood Flame Sect's Graceful Body Method, said to rank among the five greatest Body Movement Scriptures under heaven.
Yet the young man did not seem particularly impressed by the army's size.
The Light Blade Venerable understood. With the Body Movement Scripture he had revealed when he broke in, with footsteps that seemed to mark the stars, he could take the commanders' heads and escape unharmed. At the very least, the eldest young master's death would be certain.
Then the young man tilted his head toward the space beyond her shoulder.
“Loyal military power? That one doesn't seem to think so.”
Without turning around, the Light Blade Venerable knew. The eldest young master's furious face appeared vividly in her mind.
She thought, Damn lecher.
“That is only the noble spirit commonly found in a young man of his age. He is immature and lacking in virtue, so he is poor at distinguishing where he ought to draw his saber... Pay him no mind.”
“He needs humility more than martial arts. Otherwise, he may die far from home.”
“That is correct. I will tell him to engrave it in his mind.”
The young man only nodded, offering no reply.
The Seventh Apostle's ebony side locks brushed his cheek. He turned his chin slightly from side to side until the Light Blade Venerable cautiously stepped back and eventually returned to her formation.
Jeong Yeon-shin paid no attention to the distant cries of that insignificant fellow.
He also stopped caring about the sight of nearly nine hundred riders kicking up thick clouds of dust beneath pounding hooves.
At this moment, the Seventh Apostle's heartbeat concerned him more. It seemed to whisper strange words against his chest.
‘Qi deviation... Her blood is rushing. Her qi is unstable too.’
He began considering an energy-circulating meditation method that could restore the person he both loved and hated.
Something else seemed necessary within the major circulation route of the Mara True Blood Art. The Seventh Apostle's aura was strangely different from True Blood Art.
* * *
A vast wilderness spread beneath Gojin Village.
The ranks of riders stretched far into the distance. The dust cloud following the rear of the procession was thick and spectacular.
“Blade Venerable, does this make any sense?!”
“Why wouldn't it? I saved your life. What use would it be to pour the entire army into killing that man if you, the heir, died? That young man was that powerful.”
The Light Blade Venerable answered as she rode beside the eldest young master.
Gun Yu-cheon snorted in disbelief atop his white horse, its hooves stamping marks into the earth. His hand tightened around the reins.
He could think of nothing to say to his father. The hundred soldiers lost to the Seventh Apostle could not be compared even to an ordinary small or mid-sized martial sect.
With no meaningful achievement to show for it, he could no longer avoid the Martial Emperor of the Prince of Commandery's fury.
“Were we not originally on our way to strike the Leader of Demon Wings? Rumors said that bastard evaded Dark Night Hall's Ten Miles One Kill. If what you say is true, we should have changed course long ago. I would have had difficulty handling his Body Movement Scripture.”
“That man is not simply a Desolate Fortress Squad Leader. His bearing told me so.”
“The Blade Venerable of all people cannot even act properly? Is the position of one of the Three Martial Venerables so insignificant?”
“Restrain yourself. There is a limit to what I will tolerate.”
“I find this deeply suspicious. Are you planning to let Yun-rin inherit instead?”
“As I have said repeatedly, to capture that man intact, we would need not an army but a peerless master, or a small number of supreme masters...”
“I cannot agree, so let us see for ourselves! Once we examine the Leader of Demon Wings' corpse, we will know that the Blade Venerable was overcautious!”
[Whose corpse did you say you would examine?]
A voice that pressed down on all eight directions fell upon the earth.
It was Six Directions Voice Transmission. An old, seasoned quality lingered in the overbearing voice.
KWA-AAAAANG!
The Light Blade Venerable flinched. The instant Gun Yu-cheon lifted his head toward the sky, an overwhelming thunderclap rushed in as if it would burst their eardrums.
In an instant, all nine hundred riders were terrified out of their wits and turned their heads in every direction. It was as though the sky itself were collapsing.
“What...!”
By the time he understood, it was already too late.
Gun Yu-hyeon's eyes instantly filled with dark pink, and his two arms tore away in a spray of blood with a cracking, tearing sound.
A ghastly rainbow formed over the jets of blood that shot upward in an instant.
“KRAAAAGH!”
As his miserable scream filled the wilderness, three boar carcasses suddenly fell from above and rolled across the ground with heavy thuds.
* * *
After the Heart Martial Union's mounted masters departed, a hazy dusk filled Gojin Village.
Jeong Yeon-shin leaned against a tree trunk with one knee raised.
From time to time, he looked between the reddening edge of the sunset fading in the distance and the Seventh Apostle, lying to one side wrapped in her scarlet Pure Blood Robe like a sleeping bag.
“You.”
He slowly opened his mouth.
“You're conscious again, aren't you?”
“......”
Footnotes:
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