WeTried Translations
Translator/Editor: ZERO_SUGAR
Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried
◈ Surviving as a Genius on Borrowed Time ◈
Episode 348: Enemies in the Same Boat (4)
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Behind Jeong Yeon-shin.
The Young Sect Master let out a long sigh and caught up in broad strides. At the same time, the hem of the cloak hanging heavily to the Young Sect Master's feet fluttered once, gently settling the dust Jeong Yeon-shin had stirred up.
The inner energy control of the Ming Cult's most exalted figure was so refined it seemed second nature.
“My friend.”
The Young Sect Master came up beside him and placed a hand near Jeong Yeon-shin's shoulder.
“Isn't that different from what you said? Those bastards who strut about thinking they're the greatest under heaven, I want to overturn their lavish feast just as much as you do.”
Pale, eerily smooth fingers gripped the cloth concealing the character for “Desolation.”
They bore the mark of someone who had cultivated the Bare-Hand Demon Art to its limit. To anyone unaware of the Young Sect Master's identity, they would have looked like delicate hands. Jeong Yeon-shin knew better.
“Let go.”
“Let go.”
A smooth voice overlapped his. The Seventh Apostle spoke coldly.
Her gaze swept down the Young Sect Master's body, sharp as a blade.
The Young Sect Master shrugged the shoulders hidden beneath the cloak and lowered the hand.
“Madam, I beg your understanding. Thanks to the elven race, sayings like ‘husband sings and wife follows’ became meaningless relics long ago, but there is something I must discuss closely with your husband...”
With a rustle of robes, the Seventh Apostle took a step back. She turned slightly and lowered her slender lashes.
She had lost interest in an instant. Her breathing soon deepened, and the subtle movements of her toes made it seem as if she had immersed herself in footwork training.
Her temperament remained difficult to grasp. At times, she showed mad obsession and devotion. At others, she revealed the aloofness and pride unique to Blood Flame Sect nobility.
Jeong Yeon-shin could hardly guess the course of her thoughts. They were harder to fathom than any mnemonic formula he possessed.
‘This isn't some Peking opera.’
His anger faded. Feeling a faint and strange emptiness, Jeong Yeon-shin glanced at the Seventh Apostle's profile before turning his gaze to the Young Sect Master.
He could make out the expression beneath the silver mask. Just as when they had first met, the corner of the mouth was raised crookedly, yet even Jeong Yeon-shin, with his keen eye, could not read its meaning.
“Before I get to the point, let me offer some advice as a senior of the martial world.”
“...?”
“The most precious thing Heaven grants lowly humans is time. That goes double for people like us. How many years you have left... I can't see that clearly.”
The Young Sect Master smiled faintly, as if saying, You somehow achieved Three Flowers Gather at the Crown, then continued slowly.
“Enjoy your life. Don't leave regrets behind.”
It was a strange tone. The words carried many complicated emotions.
Despite the Young Sect Master's slanted posture, there was little attempt to hide those feelings.
Jeong Yeon-shin did not lose himself in sentiment. He had too many precious bonds now to pity the circumstances of his birth.
Instead, he focused on something else.
A peerless master who had defeated even the Pure Demon Alliance Leader could not read his lifespan.
‘The Young Sect Master mentioned Three Flowers Gather at the Crown.’
It seemed the state of Unity of essence, qi, and spirit concealed the condition of his body from transcendent sight.
He had already been burdened by the eyes of the peerless masters he would soon face as enemies, but that concern now seemed needless.
“A Ming Cult brat talks about Heaven's permission.”
Jeong Yeon-shin spoke.
The Young Sect Master raised only one corner of the mouth, as if to say, What's it to you?
Then the Young Sect Master pointed elsewhere with an indifferent gesture.
“Look at that village youth leaving the butcher's shop. They're pretending otherwise, but slowly making their way over here. If I'm not to seize and kill them, you and I have no choice but to speak through sound transmission.”
Eyes and ears were everywhere. Sichuan's martial world was in great disorder these days.
The Ten Perfect Sect, the Pure Demon Alliance, and the Golden-Wing Sect.
The Tang Family, Ami Sect, and Qingcheng Sect.
This was the land with the most major sects under heaven.
Even though the Pure Demon Alliance Leader had been burned to death by the Ming Cult's Young Sect Master, that was the full extent of the losses suffered by Sichuan's Lords of the Thirteen Heavens.
The Ten Perfect Sect Master, whose essence had been absorbed by the Blood Flame Sect Master long ago, still carried on as an absolute master.
The orthodox sects were different.
A year ago, the Qingcheng Sect leader died in defeat against the Tyrant Sword Sect Master.
The Tang Family Head, who had suffered severe internal injuries long ago because of family affairs, remained at that fallen level and was overwhelmingly defeated in an exchange with the Golden-Wing Sect Master.
Only the Ami Sect remained whole.
The balance of Sichuan's martial world had tipped greatly toward the Thirteen Heavens. Just as the Young Sect Master said, they needed to be wary on all sides.
“Sound transmission?”
The Seventh Apostle tilted her head slightly, her eyes still closed.
At the same time, Jeong Yeon-shin sensed an invisible aura barrier enclosing the area in a hemisphere. The irregular aura unique to the Mara True Blood Art. Outside noise vanished at once.
The Young Sect Master's eyes narrowed into crescents.
“Well... in any case, Leader of Demon Wings, you must serve as a human sacrifice, as I briefly told you. You can't handle the situation by marching straight into the meeting hall.”
“The three of us balance their martial strength, no matter how many masters the Golden-Wing Sect and Ten Perfect Sect have brought.”
“Do you think that mad Golden-Wing Sect Master will obediently hand over the sacrifice or take us along to the flood dragon?”
“We can at least negotiate as equals.”
“I doubt it. There's a good chance the Golden-Wing Sect Master has an enormous supreme formation spread across the body. One that restricts an enemy's movement and strengthens their own martial arts...”
The Golden-Wing Sect's formation.
Though even its name was unknown, it was famous. It could be moved freely, and it was a supreme art that bolstered the energy of martial artists who had learned certain mnemonic formulas.
Originally designed for many martial artists to hunt enormous spiritual beasts, it was said to display terrifying power even in sect wars.
“Can't you dismantle the formation there or make it yours? I have.”
Jeong Yeon-shin spoke in a slightly disappointed tone. In the past, he had spent several days working on the Two-Flame Blood Spirit Formation at the Blood Flame Sect's main headquarters, then blown it up.
Anyone who had learned sorcery-based martial arts should have been able to do so in an instant, not days.
“Hmm.”
The Young Sect Master's head tilted slightly. Had my enemies felt this way too?
“...The problem is the owner of the formation there. The Golden-Wing Sect Master has mastered both sorcery arts and martial arts. I heard the Golden-Wing Sect Master once withstood the Ten Brocades Palm displayed by Wudang Sect's High Sword, then wrapped one hand in a sorcery formation while releasing martial force waves from the other. They said the Golden-Wing Sect Master looked every bit a master of the Two Principles Mind Art. An unorthodox sect leader who has likely never even touched Wudang Sect's secret teachings.”
The Young Sect Master's lips moved as if to add, I can do that much too, but the Golden-Wing Sect Master is no pushover.
Jeong Yeon-shin's reaction was lukewarm.
“Excuses.”
“You should give up on facing the Golden-Wing Sect Master head-on from the start. The Golden-Wing Sect Master's martial art is a natural counter to yours.”
“Explain.”
“The Golden-Wing Sect Master's martial art contains the principle for hunting and killing the most auspicious spiritual beasts under heaven. It is called the Heaven-Governing Dragon-Slaying Art. It tramples beneath its feet the inner power of every Daoist and Buddhist school in the world... Your astonishing dharma power will be especially vulnerable to it.”
“Heaven-Governing Dragon-Slaying Art...”
Jeong Yeon-shin repeated quietly. The resonance of the name lingered in his mouth.
It was something he had never experienced before. He had often held the advantage over opponents, but he had never faced energy that naturally countered his own.
The Young Sect Master stared directly at him with dark blue eyes and finished in a gentle voice.
“You'd be better off standing behind me and sending out sword wind. Well, you may be able to alter the structure of your inner power just as I can, but wouldn't the side whose martial art is not at a natural disadvantage respond more quickly? This side also has deeper knowledge of sorcery-based martial arts. I'd like you to follow my words as the natural course of things.”
Raw facts were spoken softly.
Jeong Yeon-shin felt as though he were looking into a cracked mirror. It was not pleasant.
* * *
Chengdu, Sichuan.
A manor whose walls stood as high as a fortress.
The plaque over its main gate bore the words Golden-Wing Sect in stiff, straight strokes. It was said to be the work of the Golden-Wing Sect Master, who disliked the flamboyant calligraphy praised as dragons and snakes in flight.
Yet the manor gates were packed with people admiring the strange lettering.
Several hundred people stood in line, filling the air with noisy voices, dust, and the sound of blades being sharpened.
“Fellow aspirants here for the test, come this way! This way!”
“I'm first today!”
“Grip this stone and crush it with nothing but your hand strength. That's all. There is no second test.”
“That... is the test?”
“It is.”
“You're judging only the level of our internal cultivation without even seeing a single form?”
“You understand correctly.”
“I have never heard of guests being received this way. Why judge a martial artist's level by inner power alone without seeing their forms as well?”
“If you lack confidence, go home. Or would you like to discuss our sect rules with the elders?”
“No...”
Many entered boldly, only to emerge without even drawing their swords.
The martial artists standing guard and conducting the tests acted as though no one else existed. No one had ever considered the Golden-Wing Sect an orthodox sect.
This was the scene on the day after Jeong Yeon-shin entered the manor as a guest.
The Golden-Wing Sect.
It was said to have been accepting wandering martial artists regularly for some time. It appeared they intended to use them for human sacrifices.
“Quite the face you've got there.”
A voice full of admiration.
They stood beside a stream near a secluded annex. Jeong Yeon-shin quietly watched the martial artist in orange martial robes before him. A Golden-Wing Sect warrior who appeared to be under thirty.
A day after sleeping in an unfamiliar guest room within the manor, Jeong Yeon-shin had been summoned with word that they had work for him.
“If you passed the test, you must have inner energy to match your nerve... and a fine talent has arrived at just the right time.”
“What do you want?”
Jeong Yeon-shin asked abruptly.
His mood was extremely foul.
It had been that way since he separated from the Seventh Apostle, who had to pretend to be blind to hide her identity, and throughout his brief stay in the Golden-Wing Sect. Jeong Yeon-shin thought, It can't be because of that woman.
The warrior's mouth curved with a quiet snort. It was a smile carrying the free-spirited nature unique to unorthodox and neutral-aligned factions.
“You have no respect in your speech... but considering the work you'll undertake, I can overlook that much. Follow me. You're going to see the Sect Master.”
The attitude was entirely that of one dealing with a wandering martial artist, though a guest originally meant someone worthy of honor.
What mattered now was something else.
“The Golden-Wing Sect Master?”
“You have been assigned as an attendant.”
Jeong Yeon-shin blinked once without answering. The warrior added, looking as though she understood.
“The Sect Master has learned Dynamic Training and never stops breath cultivation. Without inner power of some use, you'd literally find it difficult even to approach. You could say the Imperial Sword Art famous in Southern Zhili is constantly being displayed.”
“If I'm the Sect Master's attendant, shouldn't you use someone from within the sect?”
“Every martial brother and sister who has learned martial arts must devote themselves to training without exception. That is also sect law. It's why people are brought in from outside.”
The warrior answered calmly. Her orderly speech suggested she had received some education. She gestured for Jeong Yeon-shin to follow.
“It won't be difficult. Just do as the Sect Master commands.”
“I don't understand why I was chosen.”
“Your appearance.”
She glanced back at Jeong Yeon-shin.
“The Sect Master prefers beautiful things, both in martial studies and in daily life.”
Jeong Yeon-shin set the matter aside.
Then he recalled his conversation with the Young Sect Master.
“Let us say, bluntly, that our attacks work exceptionally well that day. Let us say this body, infinitely close to the Heavenly Demon, and you, far stronger than this body was at that age, sweep aside both the Ten Perfect Sect and Golden-Wing Sect. But what if they flee? If the Golden-Wing Sect Master, who has crossed a serpent dragon's scales as if they were the hills behind their own home, decides to shake us off, can we catch the Golden-Wing Sect Master? If you want to ensure your companions' safety, we must first enter the formation they open.”
“So I hide my identity and infiltrate the Golden-Wing Sect?”
“You can deceive any peerless master. Your skill in concealing your energy is remarkable. I'd believe it if you called it a branch of divine art.”
“Hmm.”
“I've never seen you smile so pleased with yourself. In any case, I'll use the Earth-Following Demon Art to connect you, me, and your wife. It is shadow sorcery. When the time comes, send your qi beneath your feet.”
Step.
Around then, Jeong Yeon-shin arrived with the warrior guiding him at a hall with reddish-gold tiles. The surrounding area was quiet as ice.
“The Tang Family's twin brother and sister will soon come to see the Sect Master. You may treat them a little rudely. Don't think of them as the young master and young lady of a great family. Even if you openly spill tea on them, the Sect Master will permit it.”
Then Six Directions Voice Transmission rang out.
[Come in.]
A woman's voice pressed down on the silence nearby.
It was the Golden-Wing Sect Master.
The voice of the absolute master said to govern the lives and deaths of myriad supernatural phenomena was exceedingly dry.
‘An attendant.’
Jeong Yeon-shin slowly stepped forward toward the strongest figure in Sichuan's martial world.
Footnotes:
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