WeTried Translations
Translator/Editor: ZERO_SUGAR
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◈ Surviving as a Genius on Borrowed Time ◈
Episode 396: Carpet (5)
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The chirping from afar did not stop after a single call.
Once, then again... followed by several more overlapping calls.
There were at least two.
The Elder Council Head faltered.
“...”
Even the debate among the main fortress leadership, who had been discussing the legitimate authority to replace the Divine Sword Squad Leader and appoint a successor, came to a halt.
Those long cries could mean only one thing.
Spiritual swallows raised by the Desolate Xiahou Family through secret clan arts. They were symbols of high-ranking figures within the Divine Sword Corps. No one beneath the rank of Black Uniform could dare own one.
The Xiahou Family Head's large ears rose like blades. They were a rare eccentric of the martial world, someone familiar with every spiritual beast in Desolate Fortress.
As everyone's attention turned to them, the Xiahou Family Head slowly spoke with half-lidded eyes.
“The Blood Guard Squad Leader's Black Swallow. And it isn't alone. The Heaven-Treading Dragon Squad Leader's Vault Swallow and the Divine Sword Squad Deputy Leader's Thunderclap Swallow are coming as well. Two of the next Three Strongest Black Uniforms are nearly the youngest among them, so it makes sense for them to handle the news. But why would that old Divine Spear woman...?”
“She is seasoned. She must have been worried the letters would go missing.”
“It must be an important matter, then. Since the muster order was issued in Sichuan, there should be news of the Leader of Demon Wings as well. Didn't the Leader of Demon Wings take on the greatest task of late?”
“The Black Uniforms have gathered. It must have been settled somehow.”
“At last...”
Expectation and unease passed through the room.
Ma Jin raised his metallic blue-black hand. It was an inner-power prosthetic arm crafted by the dwarven race of Sichuan's City of Master Craftsmen.
Its five fingers, said to be harder to control than any divine weapons and rare artifacts without exceptional attainment in inner energy, spread wide.
Translucent energy surged from his palm.
KWA-A-A-ANG!
The very center of the ceiling shattered.
Large and small fragments drifted down.
Above the leaders, each of whom had spread a broad aura barrier, three swallows descended against the blue sky. They slipped through the hole without the slightest alarm, as befitted spiritual beasts.
Grand Chief Steward Im Jin-myeong gestured to a White Uniform martial artist beside him.
“Let the master smiths know. Tell them it's about the roof, and they'll understand.”
Then he reached into the air.
A sky-blue swallow landed on his forearm with a chirp. It was the Thunderclap Swallow of Ak Su-rim, the Desolate Divine Spear. A tube larger than its body was tied to one leg.
The Grand Chief Steward immediately removed and unfolded the scroll inside.
It was crammed with writing.
The cursive script was nearly a scrawl, as though the writer had poured the flow of her mindscape straight onto the page.
He shook his head.
“Shin Family Head, let us switch.”
Shin Seol-ha, standing to one side, nodded. She had just received a letter from the Xiahou Family Head, a document from the Blood Guard Squad Leader.
The document carried by the Heaven-Treading Dragon Squad Leader's white swallow lay between the Xiahou Family Head and the Ma Family Head.
At the head of the table, the Elder Council Head folded his arms.
At some point, the Elder Council Head had returned to their seat, glaring sharply at the younger figures.
The only elder in the Chief Steward's Office meeting hall ranked above the Grand Chief Steward said nothing, urging them on with their eyes alone.
“I will report at once.”
Grand Chief Steward Im Jin-myeong opened the Blood Guard Squad Leader's report.
The letter was filled with elegant running script, its strokes flowing freely at their ends. At a glance, it appeared to contain only what was necessary.
The Grand Chief Steward's eyes swept over the text.
“...Swift Heaven Wing Squad Leader Ha Do-un died during a mission inside the Golden-Wing Sect Master's formation. The killer was... Ghost-Cry Tyrant King Peng Yeo-ran.”
His voice did not waver, befitting a supreme master famed for literary and martial prowess as well as an iron-blooded nature.
The others were different. Groans rose from all around.
No one there was unfamiliar with the former Peng Family Head. The reason no outburst of grief and fury followed such terrible news was that the name of a peerless master weighed upon them all.
With even the immortals of the Nine Sects keeping their distance from Desolate Fortress, the Divine Sword Squad Leader's disappearance only added to the misfortunes sweeping the land.
Even the leaders of the main fortress felt as though they could not breathe. Someone murmured as if groaning.
“Sichuan was a demon's den.”
“The Lord of the Immortal Wood Spirit and the Heaven-Treading Forest Squad Leader are safe. Also...”
“What?”
The Grand Chief Steward did not answer for a moment. He looked as though he had undergone an unexpected rise and fall.
Across the table, the Xiahou Family Head, who had been reading alongside Ma Jin, widened their eyes.
“The Leader of Demon Wings defeated Peng Yeo-ran! The Leader severed that old Peng monster's head alone!”
The Xiahou Family Head's large hand repeatedly rapped against Ma Jin's prosthetic arm.
A heavy vibration ran through the room, and everyone stirred.
“That child defeated an Eight Family Head again?”
“The Peng Family's martial arts are orthodox. A living former Eight Family Head would have held at least a slight edge over the Moyong Family Head...”
As the Elder Council martial artist who had called him a child was struck directly by Ma Jin's fist wind and crashed backward, Shin Seol-ha spoke from one side, her brows drawn together.
She had been smoothly reading Ak Su-rim's letter, which was nearly a cipher.
“The decisiveness to settle debts and grudges on the spot.”
It was a strange murmur.
Her words ended there.
As if trying to ease the mood brought about by the Swift Heaven Wing Squad Leader's death, someone joked with her.
Was she not being openly too generous to a Squad Leader who had her daughter under his command?
Lingering astonishment at the Leader of Demon Wings' achievements colored the remark.
“...”
The Shin Family Head did not answer. Her lips parted slightly, and she could not hide the tremor in her eyes.
“Divine might that will establish the main fortress's prestige across the world.”
Shin Seol-ha was the head of Desolate Fortress's foremost family. She had mastered the eye technique of a distinguished house that had produced Elder Council Heads for generations.
No matter how disorderly Ak Su-rim's letter was, she could decipher it within moments.
She had already read it all.
“An achievement no one can easily match.”
As her words continued...
Swish.
The Grand Chief Steward set the Blood Guard Squad Leader's letter on the table.
Only a short moment had been given, but he had already committed every word to memory. His hand, honed through fist arts and brushwork, trembled faintly.
“Th-this...”
As the Grand Chief Steward stammered, doubt appeared on the Elder Council Head's face.
“Why have you stopped in the middle of your report? I understand that misfortune and good fortune are mixed together. I also understand how dearly the Shin Family Head cherishes her daughter's superior.”
“...”
“Yes, she is right in one sense. Seom-ye truly is the future of the main fortress. I heard he entered Desolate Fortress only the other day alongside the White Qilin, who wore a black robe.”
Leaning against the grand preceptor's chair, the Elder Council Head looked at him sternly.
“There should be more concerning the Squad Leaders' actions before they gathered. Do not dawdle. Must this old man read it himself?”
The Grand Chief Steward's pupils regained their focus.
Then he quietly dropped a thunderclap bomb.
“...He alone drove out the Ten Perfect Sect and the Pure Demon Alliance, which had stirred up trouble at the Tang Family. With the cooperation of Ami and Qingcheng, he hosted a Martial Arts Festival. He defeated the Ten Perfect Sect Master, the Pure Demon Alliance Leader, and the Golden-Wing Sect Master in succession. The Pure Demon Alliance Leader fled from the scene, while the Blood Guard Squad Leader confirmed the deaths of the Ten Perfect Sect Master and the Golden-Wing Sect Master...”
It all came out in one breath.
Their presence alone had already knocked the attendants unconscious. Those who remained were all masters with exceptional Sensory Training, so none could have misheard.
The instant the Grand Chief Steward finished, time froze in the meeting hall.
The Elder Council Head's gaze struck the letter on the table like lightning.
“...!”
The handwriting of Jin Myeong-jo, the Divine Blood Extreme Demon.
Only the part concerning the deaths of the Lords of the Thirteen Heavens differed in style. The refined running script had become straight regular script.
The four characters, Leader of Demon Wings, placed before the deaths of the Ten Perfect Sect Master and Golden-Wing Sect Master, told an indisputable truth.
They had been written by the Blood Guard Squad Leader, whose dignity and resolve were said to be unmatched in Desolate Fortress.
“...The Black Uniforms gathered there. Apart from the Squad Leaders who followed the main fortress's foremost hidden sword and the Lord of Desolate Fortress to the World Tree, thirteen others annihilated three of the Thirteen Heavens and are now heading northeast.”
The Grand Chief Steward spoke.
Yet the leaders of Desolate Fortress could no longer say a word.
The eyes of the absent Divine Sword Squad Leader seemed to consume the meeting hall.
The achievements of a young Squad Leader that would shake the world, and the strength of the Divine Sword Corps buried by the long years since the dynasty's founding.
An overwhelming thrill wrapped around the gathering and raced through it.
Why the Ten Perfect Sect?
Why had they been ordered to gather there?
Because it was a land constantly tossed by turmoil.
Sichuan, where six major factions vied for dominance. The midpoint for Squad Leaders who carried out missions across the Ming realm and Beyond the Pass.
Beginning with the destruction of the militant Ten Perfect Sect, the martial might of the many Squad Leaders had been displayed across that land of chaos.
It was enough to make the martial world, which had begun to view Desolate Fortress as little more than a supply depot, stop in its tracks.
It did not take long for an uproar to break out.
Ma Jin suddenly burst into loud laughter.
They had only just received news of the Swift Heaven Wing Squad Leader's death, but no one could stop him.
Veins stood out on the Elder Council Head's wrinkled hand as it gripped the table.
It was neither jealousy nor anger.
The Elder Council Head was an old elder who revered Desolate Fortress more than anyone. Strength born from an immeasurable swell of emotion crushed the table.
Crunch!
“We must go to Beijing. Family Heads, make your preparations.”
“What do you intend to do?”
The Grand Chief Steward asked.
Without even looking at him, the Elder Council Head answered.
“There is something we must prepare. Let us go see the imperial court's supernatural phenomena.”
“...I will guard the main fortress.”
The Grand Chief Steward said.
* * *
The private chamber of the Dark Night Hall Master.
Bows of every shape and length stood mounted around the room.
Jeong Yeon-shin sat facing the two sect leaders, with a small tea table between them. Steam carrying a subtle fragrance brushed his face as it rose.
None of the three touched their teacups.
They had begun discussing the past of his maternal grandfather, a past Yeon-shin had never known, and the Pact of Mount Hua.
The two sect leaders looked as though they had made a tremendous decision.
They had already told him something meaningful.
If he heard this story today, whatever Yeon-shin chose to do from now on would become much easier.
“This humble nun was young then. Seven disciples from the Nine Sects and One Gang once gathered in one place. Even then, they were called the greatest talents under heaven.”
Baekyak Satae spoke.
There was herself and Qingcheng's previous sect leader.
Wudang's Old Sword.
The master of Mount Hua Sect's Starflower Sword God.
Jeomchang Sect's Sword Empress.
Shaolin's abbot.
And the Beggars’ Sect Leader.
“There was nothing to fear. We did not even spare a glance for the Dragon-Phoenix Gathering. We went into the world to perform chivalrous deeds, gathering and parting again and again. Back then, we were not people, but dragons. At least, that was what we believed ourselves to be.”
They had been the successors to the Nine Sects.
Young immortals of the martial world, admired by all. They were also called the most promising candidates to lead the mountain sects.
They only had eyes for one another.
“That lasted until we met a handsome young man from Desolate Fortress. It was after we had killed the master of the Dragon-Slaying Alliance Leader, the man the Golden-Wing Sect Master recently murdered during the alliance's unification.”
They had slain a Lord of the Thirteen Heavens.
It was a time when pride in their martial arts had risen above their self-discipline.
Vigorous young masters had met. What followed was only natural.
“The young beggar who is now the Beggars’ Sect Leader said that the Desolate Ma family's martial arts were tyrannical arts, so there was no need to share a drink with them. It was a provocation, asking whether they were not always muddleheaded.”
“What a low move.”
Yeon-shin answered without thinking, then tilted his head inwardly.
I am hardly in a position to judge others.
“You called it a low move?”
“...When elders meet for the first time, don't they form ties over a cup of wine? I couldn't understand behavior that deliberately makes enemies.”
“Fellow Daoist, you could say that. Laozi also said that one who does not make enemies is invincible.”
The Two-Walls Sword Lord spoke from one side with a smile at the corner of his lips.
He held Yeon-shin's character in very high regard.
Baekyak Satae smiled as well, quietly drinking in the dharma power flowing from Yeon-shin's body in place of tea.
“In any case, the young man from Desolate Fortress gave a cutting reply. He said the fellow looked likely to lose even at a game of fist-snatching, so why was he spouting such damned bullshit?”
Baekyak Satae's kindly voice could not fully capture the way young Ma Yeon-jeok had spoken.
That only made Yeon-shin more ashamed.
What would have become of the Ma Family without Ma Se-in and him?
They only have me to rely on.
He forced down his shame.
Footnotes:
“Fist-snatching” recreates a deliberate wordplay that replaces the “drunken” of Drunken Fist with “taking fists.”
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