WeTried Translations
Translator/Editor: ZERO_SUGAR
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◈ Surviving as a Genius on Borrowed Time ◈
Episode 347: Enemies in the Same Boat (3)
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“Desolate Fortress is a faction of chivalrous martial artists.”
The Young Sect Master spoke with one corner of his mouth tilted up beneath his silver mask.
“But in the eyes of martial artists, there are no greater fools. With martial arts like yours, what else is it but idiocy to charge into a place that is clearly a deathtrap? Even a Blue Uniform could lord it over an entire regional martial world.”
Any village would do.
He continued, strands of pitch-black flame draped over his entire body like curtains.
It was a mythical sight. The Black Flame billowing brilliantly around him contrasted with his all-white attire, making it resemble ceremonial robes worn for an important occasion.
“Using such formidable martial arts for chivalrous deeds while earning only a few taels of silver each month? You even clash with major factions regularly. That gets plenty of people killed.”
“I don't know what you're getting at.”
A colorless lotus bloomed beneath Jeong Yeon-shin's feet as he gripped the upper end of the Meteor Sword's scabbard at his waist. He had already assumed a battle stance.
He had chosen Ultimate Thunder over Dragon Fan Treading Flowers, so he needed to seize the advantage before the technique ended.
Fortunately, the energy of Ultimate Thunder, racing through his acupoints as though it would tear them apart, no longer burdened him as it once had.
Marrow Cleansing and Bone Reforging, which he had conceived alongside the Lord of Desolate Fortress in his mindscape, had greatly extended Ultimate Thunder's duration.
But.
'I can't read anything.'
That was why he could not readily make the first move.
It was an extraordinarily unfamiliar situation.
He had lived in a world where he could always anticipate the paths leading toward an opponent's vital acupoints, the inner-energy breathing that dictated their combat, and the direction of their footwork. Yet as he faced Yalu Jin, the whole world was silent.
The Ming Cult's Young Sect Master understood precisely what his own aura, breath, and even the faintest habits revealed.
By controlling everything thoroughly, he gave away no information. His innate perception and command of inner energy were truly extraordinary.
'If I rush in carelessly, I'll be caught by a counter move.'
Yet the Young Sect Master seemed to sense something similar from Jeong Yeon-shin.
The dark blue pupils visible through the eyeholes of his silver mask swept over Jeong Yeon-shin's entire body, betraying the faintest trace of bewilderment.
“...In any case, unless someone is as strange as the Namgung First Sword, a Desolate Fortress martial artist who encounters a peerless master in the martial world has little hope of surviving. Even he only managed it because he gained the martial insight to develop the Imperial Sword Art from the Blue-Eyed Demon Sword's sword wind... Before that, the Namgung Family Head's Imperial Sword was said to have surpassed his brothers and been the finest in Southern Zhili.”
In contrast, he looked remarkably relaxed as he slowly clenched and unclenched his hand wrapped in black currents.
“I'm saying it's better to focus on matters within sight than on hopeless endeavors. If even Desolate Fortress Squad Leaders with dependable subordinates cannot return on their own, it can only be a deathtrap for anyone. Why do you think the Blue-Eyed Demon Sword's tale is so widely known? Because things like that are exceedingly rare.”
Even as he spoke at length, the ceremonial attire of pitch-black fire around the Young Sect Master's body remained fierce and dazzling.
Jeong Yeon-shin slowly ran his thumb up the Meteor Sword's scabbard.
'He won't take the first move.'
Pressure cut across the back of his neck like ice water. The other man felt what he felt.
He had never expected such a seemingly minor fact to feel so terrifying.
'I need to strike before I self-destruct.'
If nothing was visible, then he would extend his sword even if he could read nothing. He spun the Light Wheel in his heart with greater force.
The colorless lotus beneath his feet began to shake violently.
“Huh?”
It was the Young Sect Master's immediate reaction.
Yalu Jin raised the inky flames even higher, and a chilling dark blue gleam flashed in his eyes.
His gaze had been trembling like lightning from the moment he sensed the dharma power of Light Wheel qi.
“That's why the two of us, the only ones in the world, should have other matters to set our sights on. First, we could tear into a wild boar or something...”
His tone held solemn dignity, entirely at odds with the words coming from his lips. That was separate from the mystery behind the phrase, “the only two in the world.”
'Is he provoking me?'
Jeong Yeon-shin ignored him and stepped with True Step.
He was a martial artist.
There was no surer way to seize control of a conversation than to compare the heights of their martial arts.
His martial world had always been that way. All the more so when the safety of his fellow Squad Leaders was at stake.
Thud!
The moment his right foot struck the ground, the Seventh Apostle beside him retreated a step. She seemed to have no intention of launching a combined attack either.
Whether it was because of her obsession with martial arts or because she was considering the Grand Preceptor's dignity, he did not know. Whatever the reason, it was what Jeong Yeon-shin wanted as well.
'Thunderclap Flash-Ridge Sword Art.'
He drew the Meteor Sword and thrust it straight ahead. As always, the first form was Judging the Qilin.
The violent wind born of Force Projection throughout his body shoved the pack slung beneath his shoulder, heavily driving against his back. The white arc of the blade, beginning at his waist, tore apart the air as it shot forward.
The sword strike reached the Young Sect Master's solar plexus in a straight line. Only then did the thunderous roar of the draw arrive behind the blade.
Boom!
The Meteor Sword collided with the back of the Young Sect Master's raised hand.
At the same time, Jeong Yeon-shin clearly saw the Black Flame surrounding the Young Sect Master's hand like an abyss tear apart in every direction.
Kwoooong!
Jeong Yeon-shin's body was knocked upward by nearly half a jang.
His sword, protected by inner energy, had nearly shattered after only a single exchange.
Fragments of pitch-black flame burrowed into the blade, causing brutal vibrations. The recoil that built up in his forearm was immense.
'So it was true.'
The recent news that the Ming Cult's Young Sect Master had single-handedly slain the master of the Pure Demon Alliance, one of the Thirteen Heavens, was no empty rumor. Jeong Yeon-shin was certain after that one exchange.
Suspended briefly in the air, he struck down with the Meteor Sword again without showing his surprise.
He had just unraveled the force that sent his body soaring through muscles finely controlled in an instant.
Thunderclap Flash-Ridge Sword Art, Nine Verdants Form a River.
In an instant, the force radiating from the sword with a hum swept through the surrounding trees like a storm and shattered them.
Had he not expected a chained attack? The Young Sect Master widened his eyes at the Meteor Sword descending on his crown and sent an intent resembling sound transmission through his upper dantian.
“You've created absurd inner power.”
Then he thrust the sleeve of his thick cape forward.
Time slowed to its limit as their upper dantians resonated like a tremor, splitting a desperate instant into fragments.
Thump.
The Young Sect Master's hand gave off a translucent pulse like a heartbeat.
A streak of blue light suddenly appeared before his palm. It moved with a hiss as though it would burn the air, drawing a large circle. Symbols that appeared ancient and strange patterns filled its interior in an instant.
The speed at which he drew the sorcery formation was abnormal.
The moment inner energy manifested from his palm, he completed some kind of art. It felt as if he had simply pulled a prepared sheet of paper from thin air.
The casting was faster than any attack. It shattered the limitations of sorcery arts that idle spectators so often discussed.
'The pinnacle of Three Flowers Gather at the Crown? That's true, but there's more.'
Jeong Yeon-shin, immersed in the same swamp of time as the Young Sect Master, brought his sword down hard as he thought.
Just as his own martial arts possessed an independent system, that had to be a strength unique to the Young Sect Master's personal martial arts.
Kiiiiiing.
It took only an instant for the symbols and patterns arranged within the blue sorcery formation to rotate, following one another in a chain.
The strands of Black Flame that had hidden behind it were sucked into the sorcery formation and collided with one another. From the gaps, azure lightning rose in thick bolts and surged beyond the formation.
Crackle!
Jeong Yeon-shin's eyelashes lifted slightly. He, too, could think like a ray of light within a fraction of a second.
'That method...'
That was not the energy of demonic or unorthodox paths, which dharma power could break apart. It was lightning itself. The Young Sect Master had operated the demonic qi unique to the Heavenly Demon's martial lineage in his own way and transformed it into natural qi.
He had done it immediately after exchanging a single move with Jeong Yeon-shin. He was truly a genius unparalleled under heaven. The blue lightning drawing up toward the Meteor Sword in countless streams was terrifying.
White light flashed through Jeong Yeon-shin's eyes.
He was still suspended in the air, maintaining the posture of striking down with his sword.
The Heaven-Displaying Eye Technique, which he had activated before they exchanged moves, began to dissect every property of the lightning and relay the information to his mind.
'It's possible.'
Light Wheel qi raced through his Baihui acupoint faster than his blood, creating a spring of analysis and reverse calculation in his mind.
An instinctive insight arose amid the roar of light that only he could hear.
What would he have to do to receive that blue lightning without difficulty?
'Its repelling nature, the extremely minute differences in its properties...'
He measured the properties and structure of the lightning, now close enough to blind him, through sensation alone. Then he fitted that raw insight into the hundreds of lines of mnemonic formulas he had created.
At the same time, Light Wheel qi ran along the formulas of Ten Miles of Deep Light and Phantom Wing Fifth Step to the Yongquan acupoints in his soles, forming a thin aura barrier over his leather shoes.
It moved in a strange flow that even Jeong Yeon-shin struggled to comprehend rationally.
Irregular crackling friction sounds rang out beneath his feet.
'This will do.'
The next moment, Jeong Yeon-shin crossed the air by stepping on the lightning split into hundreds of streams. Slowed time returned to its normal speed.
The lightning that had surged upward without restraint was crushed beneath his feet, bursting into blue light with a hum.
He walked upon lightning.
It was not even Void-Stepping. Sharp intakes of breath came from all around. They belonged to Ming Cult experts lying in ambush with Concealment Art.
Jeong Yeon-shin stepped down behind the Young Sect Master after suppressing the ascending bolts of lightning in two steps. The Young Sect Master glanced back at him and twisted up the corner of his mouth.
“I've never seen anyone like me before. There really was another one.”
“...”
Jeong Yeon-shin did not answer.
The founding masters of the Nine Sects in ancient times had often created martial arts by observing the principles of all creation or the forms of nature.
Taoist martial arts such as the Taiji Wisdom Sword, Purple Haze Divine Technique, Azure Cloud Crimson Haze Sword, and Cloud Dragon Eight Steps.
More importantly, the Young Sect Master still seemed relaxed.
The Ming Cult's Young Sect Master had likely been doing this far longer than the current Leader of Demon Wings.
Twisting the principles of martial arts, twisting them again, calculating them in reverse, then creating formulas fatal to an enemy's martial arts.
If Jeong Yeon-shin tried to walk upon lightning once more, the Young Sect Master would add a fatal variation to that method.
In the end, it was repetition.
Whose skill was superior?
He still did not know. The current Leader of Demon Wings decided not to judge the Young Sect Master, who was likely at least three years older than him, too rashly.
The method that had drawn natural qi from demonic qi in a brief moment was that shocking.
He slowly opened his lips.
“I felt the intent from your upper dantian. It was strongly connected. If you intend to deceive me, you'd better be extremely careful.”
“That's what I'm saying.”
The Young Sect Master snorted. It was a strangely self-mocking smile.
“Now that we've had our little bout, shall we get to the point? I don't know what the Desolate Fortress Squad Leaders who came here are doing, or where they're lying. But...”
“Speak.”
“It may be connected to what the Golden-Wing Sect is doing. If your companions were not killed by a peerless master they encountered on the road, they may be trapped in a world where a flood dragon resides.”
“A flood dragon's world?”
“A kind of sorcery formation. Dragons are spiritual beasts that spread formations throughout the world and hide their bodies in a separate world. To draw such supernatural phenomena down to our lower realm, they must offer practitioners who have cultivated exceptional energy as human sacrifices...”
The Young Sect Master slowly jerked his chin toward Jeong Yeon-shin.
“Desolate Fortress is the faction with the most people like that. As I said before, there are no consequences these days.”
“...”
“Did you know the Golden-Wing Sect was originally an alliance? It is a damned enormous faction. There's a good chance the Ten Perfect Sect is involved as well. The Ten Perfect Sect Master was struck down by the Blood Flame Sect Master, but as one of the Lords of the Thirteen Heavens, he did not die. A flood dragon's wish-granting pearl or inner core would be more than enough to restore him.”
In an antiquated manner, the Young Sect Master said that even now, the Ten Perfect Sect Master would have more than enough strength to suppress at least one of Desolate Fortress's Black Uniforms. Then he spread both arms dramatically.
“Won't you seek the truth with me? I've even made a fairly decent plan. If the time comes when you decide otherwise, you're welcome to point your sword at me.”
Several days passed like that.
Jeong Yeon-shin arrived in Chengdu, Sichuan, with the Seventh Apostle at his side and the Ming Cult's Young Sect Master nearby.
The main road inside the city, which should have been packed with a chaotic crowd, was quiet.
An enormous rumor had spread.
The Sichuan Tang Clan.
The Golden-Wing Sect.
The Ten Perfect Sect.
“They say Full Heaven Flower Rain couldn't do anything. It couldn't keep up with the Golden-Wing Sect Master's Dragon-Slaying Scale-Treading Body Art...”
“Keep your voice down. Do you think the Tang Sect is just a toothless beast?”
“Facts are facts. It's not like we'd understand anything even if we saw it ourselves.”
“For a while, Sichuan's unorthodox factions will be on the rise... I wonder if things are more livable in Huguang.”
“I feel sorry for the Tang Family twins.”
“Why don't you worry about your own granary?”
The three major factions had gathered before a host of martial artists, and the Tang Family Head, Poison Commander Dang Un-hwang, had reportedly suffered a crushing defeat at the hands of the Golden-Wing Sect Master.
It was a topic that shook the martial world.
The gathering currently being held at Phoenix-Resting Hall, the finest inn in Sichuan, was said to be meant to force support from the Tang Sect before they went to hunt the flood dragon.
“Where are you going? We should settle into an inn first...”
Jeong Yeon-shin ignored the Young Sect Master's words and silently continued forward.
Sichuan's unorthodox factions.
Who had they offered as sacrifices to manifest an ancient flood dragon? Were those people already dead?
Step.
Dust beneath his feet scattered bleakly in every direction.
The invisible pressure unique to a peerless master began to gather with every step. An immensely dense, intangible presence blossomed to a size befitting his body.
Ever since he increased his food intake at his maternal grandfather's advice, the incomplete state of Unity of essence, qi, and spirit had remained within him. It was now on the verge of finding a diamond-like stability.
“Uh...?”
“What is it?”
“Look, look over there.”
Passersby sensed that sharp presence and flinched as they turned. They looked at Jeong Yeon-shin and began whispering among themselves.
He paid them no mind and put strength into his legs.
He was headed straight for Phoenix-Resting Hall. He had no intention of waiting.
Footnotes:
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