WeTried Translations
Translator/Editor: ZERO_SUGAR
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◈ Surviving as a Genius on Borrowed Time ◈
Episode 365: Perfect Completeness (6)
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Silence spread for a moment.
There was no sound of impact.
Flames whirled in countless streams in every direction, warping the air until it seemed drained of color.
Tremendous pressure deafened his ears, while silken streams of inner energy flowed around Jeong Yeon-shin's entire body. They gave off a faint glow as they withstood the endless flames.
Protective Qi Technique, True Radiant Starry Heaven.
Wooooong!
The breath exhaled by the flood dragon's shadow could not spread outward.
Writhing bolts of flame were forcibly drawn into a cluster of spinning stars like rays of light, releasing savage shockwaves.
‘Faster...!’
Jeong Yeon-shin's eyes sharpened.
His head was hot.
It was heat pouring from the upper dantian.
The principles and mental image of the peerless divine art born in that moment intertwined into a single strand, meshing together at a furious pace.
The temporary dissolution of the Light Wheel, Force Projection through his entire body, the Absorption Formula of Myriad Flowers Rain, the years shown to him by the Guimyeong Overlord, and the siblings standing beneath the hazy night mist.
Kwoooooong!
The flames were shredded by the faint radiance. It was a defensive form of the Protective Qi Technique, meant to withstand a wide-area technique.
Not even a single spark reached the siblings behind him.
The surroundings shook violently. Even the ground gradually sank with heavy rumbles.
The hundreds of people behind Jeong Yeon-shin faltered.
"Th-that?!"
"The Leader of Demon Wings...!"
Former martial-world veterans, a short-statured clan of smiths, and commoners gripped by panic vanished one after another as they were swallowed by the life gate of an unseen formation.
For a brief moment, many witnessed Jeong Yeon-shin's Protective Qi Technique.
It was as if an ancient legend from the Classic of Mountains and Seas had manifested in the present day. Everyone who saw it looked as though they could scarcely believe it.
A life-saving debt.
Some tried to express their gratitude even through their shock. Most raised both hands as if to offer a fist-and-palm salute, opened their mouths, and disappeared on the spot.
Only the Divine Beast Benevolent King gave a faint laugh and left a final remark.
"I'll repay you when we meet outside."
He used lip-speech with astonishing speed, then vanished from where he stood like the others.
He had safely entrusted himself to the formation's power.
"You...?"
At that moment, the very person who had completed the extraordinary sorcery formation flickered, then stopped in place. Their body shimmered half-transparently like a ghost.
The Ming Cult's Young Sect Master.
Laughing Heaven Unrivaled's white cloak and neckerchief whipped harshly in the aftermath of the flaming thunderbolts.
‘Heavenly Demon Divine Armor...?’
The Young Sect Master raised their brows beneath the silver mask. As the Ming Cult's direct successor, who had cultivated its divine art to the utmost level, they sensed something similar.
There was a faint resemblance in the form of its qi circulation.
The weave of its hems looked rough at a glance, yet left no opening. The Protective Qi Technique's vibrations required terrifying command over inner energy. Higher-level principles lived and breathed within the flow of inner energy as though they had always been one...
Its composition and mental image had to be fundamentally different.
Its outward appearance was different to begin with, and even the loneliness sensed through the upper dantian was far removed from the Heavenly Demon Divine Armor.
Only the arrogance carried by the spirituality unique to divine arts was alike.
‘There is much worth asking about.’
The Young Sect Master's eyes curved like crescent moons behind the silver mask.
The Young Sect Master murmured inwardly. Jeong Yeon-shin did not look well either. They could not allow him to die the moment he got out.
Wooooong.
The Young Sect Master turned while tracing a strange pattern with long fingers, then vanished without a trace with the fluttering end of the white neckerchief.
"Seom-ye, that divine art...!"
"Are you all right?"
Around then, Xiahou Wi-jin and Cheon So-so, who had landed on either side of Jeong Yeon-shin, also began to fade.
Even the commoners lined up behind them had already vanished completely. It was the Ming Cult Young Sect Master's ability. They had fully opened the life gate within the formation created by the flood dragon before leaving.
Kwoooooong!
The flood dragon's karmic flames still blocked his view, their chilling tongues licking through the air, but Jeong Yeon-shin spoke without turning around.
"It is time to go."
He sensed heavy nods behind him.
Xiahou Wi-jin and Cheon So-so had been resisting the sorcery formation's power with the enormous qi-storage capacity unique to supreme masters of the elven race. His seniors had always been dependable.
"All right. See you outside."
"If we get separated, we'll meet at the Tang Sect."
Both presences vanished at once. The waves of inner power they had been releasing disappeared completely in an instant.
A strong wind soon swept in and filled the space they had left behind. It was one of the martial world's mysteries, and by now it felt familiar.
Jeong Yeon-shin slowly turned and bent over.
Swish.
The Tang siblings stood with their eyes closed. He placed a hand on each of their shoulders. A chill met his fingertips.
The flood dragon's Nascent Soul Spirit poured out breath hard enough to throw him backward, but he could still endure it.
Only the heat, which had begun to cut at his skin, was growing a little too hot.
Jeong Yeon-shin's lips moved slowly, forming a silent promise.
I'll take you home.
Then...
"Stop following me, you damned Daoist! Where did the Lord of the Immortal Wood Spirit go?! Hand over the sapling before you leave!"
A frivolous yet aged voice rang out.
Jeong Yeon-shin raised his gaze slightly and saw an old beggar rushing toward him with a lightness skill.
At first, the beggar had been no more than a small dot, but he grew larger in an instant.
Their eyes met.
Ghost Lord Man Hugye, one of the Two Kings and Three Lords.
He was famous for stealing and fleeing with the secret manuals of the Dog-Beating Staff Art and Drunken Eight Immortals Step, arts said to be passed down only to the Beggars' Sect Leader and the Successor Beggar.
He was still dressed in rags, but his face was twisted like that of a vicious ghost.
"I can't leave until I figure out how to break the Golden-Wing Sect Master's Dragon-Slaying Scale-Treading Body Art! Hand over the sapling... Oh ho!"
Man Hugye's wrinkled lips suddenly curved upward as he rushed closer.
His gaze had fallen upon the Tang siblings' unscorched corpses.
"Excellent!"
Man Hugye gave a sly smile and accelerated.
His eyes repeatedly swept between Jeong Yeon-shin, who was enduring the fierce flaming thunderbolts alone, and the siblings. The old beggar's smile gradually deepened.
"That Lord of the Immortal Wood Spirit seems to cherish you dearly just because she's your senior! If I capture you alive, you'll be worth more than the sapling!"
His emotions were laid bare. The madness of a cornered man, obstinacy that the years might have forged, and extreme fear of the Beggars' Sect Leader and the Golden-Wing Sect Master.
With the formation's collapse imminent, Man Hugye had stopped caring about consequences. Earlier, after witnessing Jeong Yeon-shin's martial prowess, he had turned away out of fear of mutual destruction. Now, he had been driven into a corner.
There was trouble on every side.
To entrust himself to the sorcery formation, Jeong Yeon-shin would have to let the power of the Record of the Dharma Light Wheel fade. Yet if he lowered his inner power before an expert like the Ghost Lord, nothing good would come of it.
‘I can kill him.’
Jeong Yeon-shin thought so.
No matter what kind of fight followed, though, the Tang siblings' corpses would inevitably be damaged.
Man Hugye charged recklessly, as if he had no thought for timing or exchanges. His expression was vicious.
He seemed ready to pressure Jeong Yeon-shin by any means necessary. It was as if he had completely lost his mind.
Boom!
Man Hugye kicked off the ground and flew in with his staff. Translucent waves of qi burst noisily around him.
He truly intended to fight.
Why was he like this? How much desperation had he carried through his life?
"You're asking to die."
Jeong Yeon-shin's eyes turned cold.
"Daoist friend, you may leave."
The words were archaic.
A fluttering Daoist robe suddenly filled Jeong Yeon-shin's vision.
It was Walking Upon Empty Space, as natural as swimming through water. Cloud Dragon Eight Steps, a technique of the Kunlun Sect, once renowned as one of the Nine Sects before its destruction.
It was the Dark Lord, Immortal Master Void Emptiness.
"I entered to observe the flood dragon's movements. This poor Daoist's duty will not change, whatever becomes of the formation. Even if this place vanishes."
The old Daoist's voice carried spirituality, yet not the slightest trace of wickedness.
Jeong Yeon-shin furrowed his brow.
"I can kill him in one move. Come with me."
"Spiritual beasts that have failed to ascend harbor savagery in their hearts. One cannot know when one will emerge into the world and inflict terrible harm. I must observe it in advance and report it. That was the heavenly mandate granted to this poor Daoist when I crossed the Kunlun Sect's mountain gate while holding my master's hand."
The bearing of a Nine Sects immortal.
Jeong Yeon-shin recalled the sword immortal of the Zhongnan Sect whom he had met in the past. They were astonishingly similar.
Perhaps the elders of the Nine Great Sects controlled the chaos of the world in this manner, having come through the Gate of Heaven said to have opened at the founding of Ming.
Craaaack!
A violent shockwave spread from beyond the old Daoist's shoulder as he stood with his back to Jeong Yeon-shin.
It seemed he had clashed with Ghost Lord Man Hugye. The old beggar was spitting out curses too garbled to understand.
"Leader of Demon Wings, you will soon speak of the affairs of the world."
Amid it all, Immortal Master Void Emptiness's voice remained lofty.
"I have a request for the peerless master of Desolate Fortress. Please remember one thing."
"What is it?"
"One day, you may have to cut down the base of the World Tree. Perhaps you will not have to, but..."
"...?"
"Go now. It was a pleasure. After all, I had the fortune of seeing a junior's outstanding divine art..."
Fwaaaaaash!
The old Daoist's voice quickly faded away.
Jeong Yeon-shin's vision went black. Upon hearing the words about the World Tree, he had unconsciously released the Light Wheel's power.
Bang!
Man Hugye, whose staff had been blocked by Immortal Master Void Emptiness's palm, screamed.
"Kid, stop! I'll give you the Drunken Eight Immortals Step, so bring the Lord of the Immortal Wood Spirit here! Can you hear me? You bastard, I'll hack you to pieces...!"
"Your luck has held, old man."
Jeong Yeon-shin spoke calmly.
"What?"
"If you die there, I'll leave your corpse behind."
If Man Hugye had reached him in the end, preserving his corpse would have been difficult.
Man Hugye's aura suddenly cut off. A violent coughing fit followed.
Perhaps because Jeong Yeon-shin had simply stated the truth, the old master seemed to be taking a brief moment for self-reflection.
‘A few words, and there is no need to use my hands.’
Jeong Yeon-shin unexpectedly realized the path of a gentleman.
It was thanks to the Tang siblings. He had gained much from the flood dragon's formation.
Even at a desperate moment, he preserved the dignity of a high-ranking figure of Desolate Fortress, then completely entrusted himself to the sorcery formation's power.
Boom!
A great roar sounded within his head. He even felt pressure lightly pressing down on his entire body, but it could not reach Jeong Yeon-shin's skin beneath the True Radiant Starry Heaven. It only hummed around him.
He passed through the life gate.
He gripped Tang Yeo-hwa and Tang Ryeo-ryeo's shoulders tightly. He could never let go.
‘This is different from when I entered.’
It was extremely violent. His whole body felt as if it were being thrown about within the stomach of some enormous creature.
Immensely dense spirituality burst into all kinds of waves outside his body, chilling Jeong Yeon-shin's upper dantian.
In the darkness where he could see nothing, a span of time like eternity flowed down his spine with tremendous weight.
How long had it been?
Saaa...
A cool breeze began to brush his face.
Even the natural qi carried by the air was different. It felt thin and unhurried.
‘I made it out.’
He had finally returned.
Something chirped at his feet. The sound of insects.
When he opened his eyes, an entirely different landscape lay before him.
Blue mountains stretched behind a veil of mist.
Long, dense thickets swayed beneath the sunlight, while the sound of a waterfall breaking through thin ice and pouring freely drifted through the clear air.
It was not the Golden-Wing Sect after all. How much time had passed?
He recalled what the Young Sect Master had said while clicking their tongue as he meditated.
"The Golden-Wing Sect isn't the only one that can open the flood dragon's formation, so there's a strong chance you'll be dropped somewhere completely different. There isn't just one entrance in the first place, so each exit is different too. Don't worry. I'll avoid the Golden-Wing Sect as best I can."
Jeong Yeon-shin looked around while lightly supporting the Tang siblings' shoulders.
It was a broad mountain path. Grass grew sparsely over the ground, and the terrain was flat enough that it was close to an official road.
‘A lot of people must pass through here.’
He would need to head down to a nearby city. He had no idea how the martial world's situation had changed.
First, though, there was something he had to do.
He could not continue carrying the siblings' corpses like this. He needed to make at least a coffin.
Jeong Yeon-shin spoke slowly.
"Come out."
The surroundings were quiet. People were scarce here to begin with.
Still, he glanced at his own shadow and spoke again.
"How long do you think the Young Sect Master's sorcery will last?"
"..."
Then, a group came into view, kicking up clouds of dust as they ran over the hill.
There were five of them, wielding oversized swords, sabers, and whatever weapons they could get their hands on. Their ragged inner-energy breathing seemed insufficient for the strength in their legs.
"That guy! Catch him!"
"Huff, huff... He looks like he knows how to swing a blade. Look at the way he's standing."
"Shut up!"
"Boss, I have an eye for people..."
"Idiot! Would you rather get skewered to death by those Qingcheng Daoists?"
"No, just looking at him, he's clearly a martial artist too... Huh? The character for ‘desolation’! The character for ‘desolation’! A Black Uniform!"
"What did you say?"
"Boss, you crazy bastard! Let's turn back!"
Jeong Yeon-shin quietly watched these low-ranking martial-world figures, unlike any he had encountered before, then carefully laid the siblings on the ground.
Step.
He slowly took a step forward.
Two powerful auras were rushing toward him from afar. Behind them, he could also sense the youthful inner power unique to the promising younger generation of orthodox sects.
Only the two at the front were worth dealing with, but when Jeong Yeon-shin spread his aura sense fully, he realized this was not happening in just one or two places.
The whole vicinity was in turmoil. The once-clear air was now mixed with the fishy scent of blood.
These were chaotic times.
Footnotes:
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