WeTried Translations

Translator/Editor: ZERO_SUGAR

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◈ Surviving as a Genius on Borrowed Time ◈

Episode 354: Breakneck Rush (3)

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Gasp!

The village gate captain finally drew a ragged breath.

Before the eyes of a man who had been driven to the brink of death stood an incomparably handsome young man draped in an exceedingly faint mist.

It was something no martial artist could easily imagine.

The Protective Qi Technique was an inner-energy art fused with a martial artist's body. It was not some article of clothing.

Even its wielder would find it difficult to place it over another person. The very notion that it could be stolen was meaningless.

Unless one had been born with the senses to scrutinize every detail of another's inner-power flow and an indescribable command of inner energy.

"You... who are you?"

Wanyang held a position of considerable standing even within the immense Golden-Wing Sect.

The Molten-Spirit Divine Fist could only be astonished. His first move had been disrupted, so it was natural that he froze rather than immediately unleashing a second.

Jeong Yeon-shin did not answer. He merely furrowed his brow slightly.

He was using his own energy like thread to mend the garment of inner energy draped around his body, the framework of a Protective Qi Technique that still sought to scatter without pause.

It was an extremely important task.

This was how he examined the weaknesses of a low-grade Protective Qi Technique.

Its qi structure focused on maximizing the impact of an attack rather than absorbing blows. Though its outer layer was packed quite solidly, the energy filling the Protective Qi Technique's interior moved about vigorously.

‘It writhes around needlessly.’

Wanyang's inner power was strange. He had learned dragon-slaying arts, and his qi itself possessed an expansive nature.

Using the natural qi dwelling in this mystic place as fuel, Wanyang's qi sought to spread without end. Its nature was fundamentally different from the inner energy of the Tang siblings, as though this inner cultivation art had originally been devised for an environment like this.

‘Either way, it’ll be hard to use again.’

Jeong Yeon-shin thought.

The art of stripping away and wearing an opponent's Protective Qi Technique.

If he attempted it in a life-and-death duel against peerless masters, where Transcendent Martial Arts flew freely, he would likely be struck by a counterattack and die on the spot. Unless his opponent was a witless monkey, it would be difficult to use twice.

"You freak... How could this...!"

Wanyang's eyes trembled faintly as he faced him at close range.

They stood within striking distance.

Had Jeong Yeon-shin attacked again at once, Wanyang would have suffered a fatal wound before he could resist. Humiliation showed in his twitching eyes.

At the same time, Wanyang seemed to have reached a certain conclusion.

"Are you truly Dang Man-yeon? I have never heard of such irregular teachings being passed down through the Tang Family martial lineage."

Jeong Yeon-shin might not see them that way, but those who reached the ranks of supreme masters were without exception geniuses of the world.

Pride, temperament, personal circumstances, and environment could often cloud their comprehension, but their discernment was sharp by nature.

Wanyang was no different.

“Come to think of it, what the Sect Master said about your Full Heaven Flower Rain...”

He muttered to himself.

The Golden-Wing Sect's protector had seen through the heart of the Seom-ye Martial Lineage.

Rather than trusting one's martial arts to overcome danger in any situation, it was an aptitude and temperament that unconsciously adapted one's martial arts to the situation itself. It could not help but seem alien to any martial artist.

Jeong Yeon-shin felt bitter. The Golden-Wing Sect Master had already pointed out the depth of his Full Heaven Flower Rain.

Yet he did not show it. He had always been like that at Jeong Family Manor as a child.

It was Wanyang who wore an expression of furious rage. He seemed to feel as much anger as shock at Jeong Yeon-shin's control of inner energy.

From the start, he had admired the Golden-Wing Sect Master so deeply that he even acted as the master's attendant. Rather than judging the broader situation, he was faithful to the emotions before his eyes.

"So you dared deceive the Sect Master. Now that I think of it, after the Grand Method began... the fact that only you three remained with me was no ordinary circumstance. That must have been your doing as well, wasn't it?"

His muttering turned into a demand. Wanyang straightened and glared into Jeong Yeon-shin's eyes.

“Who are you? Why did you pose as a member of the Tang bloodline? Judging by your bizarre aptitude, the Full Heaven Flower Rain you displayed then was not an orthodox mnemonic formula of the Tang Sect, but nothing more than some miscellaneous trick of your own.”

"Does it matter?"

Jeong Yeon-shin answered the enraged Wanyang quietly. Before the Molten-Spirit Divine Fist, who had brought overwhelming fear to the clans of this mystic place, his indifferent expression and words were almost a provocation.

The gate guards standing awkwardly around the two men held their breath.

"You insolent bastard! You gained an advantage with one move and think you're some ancient Tang Family Head..."

"The Golden-Wing Sect should be the one answering."

Jeong Yeon-shin, who had listened silently, finally spoke.

"Did you think you could use a martial artist of Desolate Fortress as a human sacrifice and remain unharmed?"

"What?"

Confusion filled Wanyang's colorlessly gleaming eyes. Jeong Yeon-shin leaned toward his ear and whispered.

"I am the Leader of Demon Wings."

"...!"

The Molten-Spirit Divine Fist was a supreme master at Three Flowers Gather at the Crown.

His reaction was swift.

The moment Wanyang's eyes widened and he once again wrapped his entire body in the Protective Qi Technique.

Swoosh.

Jeong Yeon-shin seized the back of his hair with his left hand and forced him down. He would yield no more initiative.

The instant a pale glow flashed beneath the Yongquan acupoint in one sole, the distinctive radiance of the lightness skill Ten Miles of Deep Light, he used it as a propulsive force wave and drove his rising knee into Wanyang's face.

Bang!

The roar came after the blow landed. The sound had followed his strike too late.

The shock wave of the knee strike spread out in a translucent circle, knocking down even the nearby gate guards.

They could not rise. Shock waves continued to burst between Wanyang and Jeong Yeon-shin.

Bang! Bang! Craaash!

Wanyang could not withstand Jeong Yeon-shin's joint lock after his Marrow Cleansing and Bone Reforging.

Once, twice, three times. Whenever Wanyang's face rose from the recoil of the knee strike, it was forced down again and crushed against Jeong Yeon-shin's knee.

Craaash!

Wanyang repeatedly raised powerful force waves through his limbs to counterattack, but the forms of his dragon-slaying arts, which should have unleashed their power, failed to complete themselves and were shattered each time.

Dozens of invisible threads extending from Jeong Yeon-shin's body continuously unraveled the qi in those expanding forms.

It was the principle of the Heart Sword.

Ten more knee strikes followed.

Jeong Yeon-shin had not bothered to name it, but it too was a martial art.

A martial art born of patience endured and endured until it finally exploded upon reaching its destination. Inspiration from Eon Hwa-ryeon, the First Fist of the Eon Family whom he had slain before, had seeped into it as well.

‘Nothing but useless techniques keep increasing.’

Jeong Yeon-shin released Wanyang's hair and thought, What I need to achieve is Transcendent Martial Art.

Blood seeped around Wanyang's face as he collapsed flat onto the ground.

His Protective Qi Technique had shattered under the accumulated force waves. It was a poor-quality inner-energy barrier.

"I'm keeping you alive because I'll need you when I leave. Don't make any rash moves."

Jeong Yeon-shin glanced down at Wanyang as he spoke.

There was no answer. Only the sound of extremely faint breathing reached him.

"Great Hero, are you...?"

The leader among the gate guards asked in an exceedingly cautious tone, his expression disbelieving.

His gaze shifted between Wanyang, who could not even hold himself up, and Jeong Yeon-shin, who stood calmly beside him.

Jeong Yeon-shin had also briefly fallen into thought, reining in a temper unlike his own.

Not because of their gazes, but because his martial prowess seemed to have grown immensely stronger after his Marrow Cleansing and Bone Reforging.

He thought, Could I now glimpse the Purple Uniform rank as well?

That was when it happened.

"Dang Man-yeon, no, Leader of Demon Wings..."

Wanyang's voice came from below. Immense obsession seeped from his irregular breaths, as though his inner-energy circulation had been disrupted.

Jeong Yeon-shin could sense why the Golden-Wing Sect was called one of the Thirteen Heavens.

"Cooperate with our sect. You can do it. If you join us fully, we can surely take down the flood dragon..."

"Damn it!"

The gate captain suddenly cursed in fury.

"There is no flood dragon! That inhuman spiritual beast is no longer here! It disappeared long ago!"

"What?"

"Such supernatural phenomena do not remain in one place! A dragon is a dragon because it is an elusive existence beyond human reach. Do you think it has some habitat like an ordinary beast? Do you truly think martial artists obsessed with their own stubbornness, like you people, can capture something so insubstantial? It is an utterly absurd mistake!"

"What nonsense are you spouting? How dare you..."

"This place became hell long ago. Powerhouses from all over the world came here for the same purpose as you, kept one another in check, and spilled blood in pursuit of the inner core of a spiritual beast that has already vanished."

The gate captain suddenly glanced at Jeong Yeon-shin, then spoke clearly, as if forcing down every word.

"Only humans remain here now. Those old fools who cannot accept that fact divide and claim this narrow land, calling themselves the Two Kings and the Three Lords. Even the old Daoist of the Kunlun Sect, which the outside world believes was destroyed, and the former Family Heads of the Hebei Peng Family and Huangbo Family who entered first. They have all gone mad like you, staining this land with blood as it narrows, as though it will soon vanish after the flood dragon's departure."

"..."

Silence fell for a moment.

Wanyang stopped speaking entirely.

Jeong Yeon-shin did not care. He had only ever had one purpose.

"I am Jeong Yeon-shin. I came from a faction called Desolate Fortress."

He introduced himself as though speaking to an ignorant country villager.

Those who had lived for so long in a mystic place formed by a formation might not know the greatest faction under Heaven.

"Desolate Fortress?"

"Then that martial prowess makes sense..."

"Doesn't he look young? And he isn't even from a big-eared clan."

"Jeong Yeon-shin! His name is Jeong Yeon-shin! He came from Desolate Fortress!"

There was something about Jeong Yeon-shin's sunlit features that even he did not know.

The heavy atmosphere lifted the moment he stepped forward.

Whispers gradually spread and grew louder, from the gate guards on the stone wall to the dozens of villagers who had gathered beneath it without anyone noticing and looked up at them.

"Jeong Yeon-shin?"

"He's our benefactor?"

Step.

The Tang siblings, who had watched the exchange between powerful martial artists unfold in an instant, climbed onto the stone fortress.

A sky-blue gleam from the upper dantian flashed through the eyes of the Poison Phoenix and Poison Dragon. Startled as they were, neither sibling asked Jeong Yeon-shin's identity again.

"Are you truly my junior?"

The voice carried tremendous inner power. It made their ears ring.

Whoooosh!

From the center of the village to this outer edge.

A huge figure crossed a distance of at least a hundred jang with a single push of the foot. In the next instant, the figure landed atop the stone fortress with a thud.

Dust billowed up.

Was there no recoil from the landing at all?

A giant in a Black Uniform long robe looked down at Jeong Yeon-shin.

"I heard reports that outsiders had appeared throughout the area. Your energy felt familiar, so I was uncertain... but you are not the Seom-ye I know."

His voice was as thick as his body. It sounded as though there were a cave inside him.

His presence was truly overwhelming. His pointed ears and massive frame rivaled those of a pureblood clan. So did the face beneath hair roughly swept back like that of a savage, exposing a broad forehead.

The Squad Leader of the Heaven-Treading Forest Squad.

Xiahou Wi-jin, the Thousand Fists, Dragon-Powered Divine Official.

A faint curve formed on Jeong Yeon-shin's lips.

* * *

Jeong Yeon-shin revealed his Light Wheel qi.

He even briefly demonstrated the movement art he had presumptuously created after being fooled by Xiahou Wi-jin's joke that he had not used it because he did not know how, recalling that embarrassing memory.

"The meridians in our bodies are extremely mysterious. Simply coordinating qi and muscles from a distance lets the inner power that reaches the plantar fascia gain elasticity on its own. That is how the twelve regular meridians are connected. I do not know why you did not do this. If there is some particular reason in the system of martial arts you learned..."

"...Because I didn't know."

‘I really believed it because it came from a senior.’

He had realized after meeting the Blood Guard Squad Leader that many seniors had been protecting their junior's dignity. Looking back now, it was not such a bad memory.

Jeong Yeon-shin entered the village with the Tang siblings and Wanyang, who was barely alive.

The dwarven villagers welcomed him enthusiastically. Some held up lustrous chunks of silver-colored metal that were not black iron.

"Please come to this shop! The sword you are carrying will likely break before long! I can tell from the sword's hilt alone that it has endured terrifying impacts in succession!"

"Grandpa, that person is the Leader of Demon Wings!"

"Ma Yeon-jeok finally had a grandchild? With that temperament, he was destined to die young..."

"That person must be an incredible master too, right?"

"Does no one have other concerns? This cannot reach the ears of the Two Kings and Three Lords..."

The whole village was hot because there were forges in every direction.

Smoke mingled with the clamorous sound of bellows rose throughout the settlement. Sharply honed divine weapons and rare artifacts hung carelessly from every manner of rack, creating a mysterious sight.

Jeong Yeon-shin followed Xiahou Wi-jin, who hardly spoke to him, down a long dirt road and entered the village chief's pavilion.

"So."

The room was spacious enough to easily accommodate the Heaven-Treading Forest Squad Leader's massive body.

The seat of a mere village chief was a grand preceptor's chair made of gold. Xiahou Wi-jin sat in that luxurious chair, watched Jeong Yeon-shin for a long while, then slowly opened his mouth.

"Is the former Squad Leader doing well? A very long time must have passed."

"My maternal grandfather is well."

"Does he perhaps have any infirmities of old age...?"

Strange hope lingered in the question, though it sounded casual.

"Pardon?"

Jeong Yeon-shin, seated opposite him, asked in return.

Footnotes:

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