Surviving as a Genius on Borrowed Time - Chapter 4

WeTried Translations

Translator/Editor: ZERO_SUGAR

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◈ Surviving as a Genius on Borrowed Time ◈

Chapter 4: Destruction of the Family (3)

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This time, he did not go to the Training Hall.

Instead, he entered his room, a place no one else entered, and sat cross-legged.

It was different from when he trained in the Jeong Family Youth Technique.

Static Training, in which one sat still and absorbed energy, had to be performed somewhere free from outside influence.

‘If someone disturbs me and my qi and blood pathways become twisted, I’ll die.’

Qi deviation. He thought of the retainers, who were endlessly careless when it came to him.

It was a valid concern.

He did not want to die young with his energy and blood pathways tangled together.

He erased the unpleasant thought that had briefly arisen with his breathing.

Jeong Yeon-shin slowly emptied his mind and began to sink inward.

He had already comprehended the principles of Static Training for circulating qi within the body, including the Small Heavenly Cycle and major circulation.

‘Let’s activate the power of the Jeong Family Youth Technique within my qi.’

First, he had to refine the natural energy drawn in with each breath through a breathing method.

Jeong Family Manor, as well as most martial lineages including the Zhongnan Sect, made natural energy their own through circulation.

The power that fully adapted to and settled within a practitioner’s body was called inner energy or qi.

Jeong Yeon-shin intended to strengthen qi with qi.

Just as his body had become stronger by accepting inner energy.

The training that began in the morning continued until the sun vanished beyond the mountains.

“...Huh? This is strange.”

Jeong Yeon-shin muttered blankly. He lightly unfolded his cross-legged posture as if he had only just sat down.

‘Why is my Baihui acupoint opened so wide?’

At first, he had intended to explore what power denser qi might wield. It had not worked.

The qi accumulated in his dantian did not permit any overlap, as if it were already complete in itself.

He wondered whether his thinking had been wrong, but that could not explain Great Elder Ye Yil-sin’s powerful aura.

Yet all that training had now become secondary.

‘I spent a year tempering only my body with the Jeong Family Youth Technique.’

Having obsessively devoted himself to a single form of training, he had not observed himself for an entire year.

In that time, the amount of energy passing through his head had grown even more immense.

‘I knew mine alone was growing larger.’

Jeong Yeon-shin muttered blankly.

“Am I going to die like this?”

The Baihui acupoint was an energy pathway that led directly to the dantian in the head. The upper dantian’s energy could only be vigorous to a reasonable degree.

He feared becoming an idiot and later being found as a corpse.

Comparing the difference, it seemed there were not even five years left before he lost consciousness.

The sudden realization of his lifespan felt strangely unreal.

‘Die? Me?’

He rose to his feet and grasped the doorknob with trembling hands.

Perhaps breathing fresh air would give him a clue to a solution.

Rattle.

His body stopped the moment he opened the door.

For a while, Jeong Yeon-shin could not move. The scent of blood came rushing in with the fresh air.

He grabbed his sword first. He had once watched hunters slaughter and butcher animals.

The smell was similar to that. Yet even after leaving his room and passing through the Training Hall, he saw no corpses.

Unless it was the Blood Arts of the Demonic Sect, it was impossible.

“......”

Silence wrapped around the night sky. The household was unnaturally quiet.

Jeong Yeon-shin walked slowly.

An intuition that something had already happened surrounded his mind.

It felt as though he were walking into a pitch-black swamp.

‘Ah.’

When he reached the garden of the main house, he saw it.

Carnage.

The common saying in the martial world that bright-red blood formed rivers was an exaggeration.

The earth swallowed the blood, or it dripped from the thresholds of the detached buildings.

Retainers lay limply all around.

Identical sword marks were carved into their chests, as if someone had practiced swordsmanship on them.

They all lay still, as if they had never been alive.

Whether Jeong Yeon-shin had fallen into a trance and failed to notice even the great commotion, or whether their resistance had been feeble because the assailants’ martial prowess was overwhelming, he could not tell.

Thud!

Only then did a loud noise echo from outside the manor.

It seemed terrifying masters were clashing beyond the main gate.

Amid sword cries infused with inner energy and the sounds of impacts, Jeong Yeon-shin walked toward the main house.

Ten figures who appeared to be the assailants were sprawled about carelessly. Only when the boy came within three jang did one turn in his direction.

“Who are you?”

A dual-sword warrior with two swords crossed on his back asked. Jeong Yeon-shin answered briefly.

“The third son of this house.”

No answer came. The dual-sword warrior rose and walked over.

He did not seem to have any intention of drawing his swords.

The inner energy carried in the descending hand came straight at him.

Jeong Yeon-shin read the flow of that power, accompanied by wind, and a sky-blue flash burst in his eyes.

Pak!

He seized the wrist, slid to the back of the hand, and snapped it in one smooth, natural motion.

A joint lock he had never learned unfolded.

The power of the Jeong Family Youth Technique, which strengthened both inner energy and body while moving, filled his entire body.

No matter how much the enemy struggled, his grip remained unshakable.

He tightened it.

Crack!

A scream rang out with the sound of large bones breaking.

Those who had not even spared him a glance all turned their heads at once. Every pair of eyes widened.

“Let go!”

“You bastard!”

Now they truly looked like the rootless scum of the Demonic Sect, Jeong Yeon-shin thought.

When he readily released his hand, the dual-sword warrior glared with wide eyes.

Pain and fury mingled on his face.

It was only natural. He had been subdued by a boy barely half his size.

The warrior’s large hand clenched into a fist. His face reddened deeply before he roared and thrust out an arm.

He seemed too enraged to think of drawing a sword, but his momentum was terrifying.

It was no ordinary fist technique. In an instant, his fist seemed to grow as large as a pot lid.

Sky-blue lightning flashed through Jeong Yeon-shin’s eyes once more.

‘Head.’

The trajectory was obvious. The power of the Jeong Family Youth Technique, activated throughout his body as he used the joint lock, surged through his entire form.

At the same time, an insight he had never gained before pierced his mind.

Intent. It was intent.

When the intent that moved inner energy became powerful, the qi within the body could accomplish anything.

It obeyed completely the one who owned the energy.

Wooooong!

Jeong Yeon-shin’s intent to move qi took form. The clear mental image naturally became a phrase and seeped into his inner self.

The essence of martial arts, known as a mnemonic formula, blazed throughout his body like the sun.

Beginning. Overcoming. Scripture.

Ultimate Realm.

The name that arose without deliberation defined the martial art’s nature.

True to its name, Ultimate Realm was a qi circulation method that broke through his current limits.

The qi that had filled his right foot and left hand surged into his right hand and left foot.

The overlapping energy increased in density.

True Step in his left foot shattered the ground with unprecedented force. Following the swift-sword mnemonic formula, the iron sword was drawn in an instant, moonlight flickering along its tip.

Shwaaak!

The blade swept through the dual-sword warrior’s neck and the necks of the two enemies rushing in alongside him.

It felt as though his body was not his own. Three heads were swept away at once.

Judging by the shock on their faces, their eyes had seemingly managed to follow the sword’s speed.

What did it matter? The heads suspended in the air could glare all they wanted.

Swish!

Twisting his upper body, he spun once and plunged in like a snowflake caught in the wind.

The red-haired woman approaching from behind the headless figures drew a sharp breath.

By the time she raised the left arm holding a half-moon ring, the blue sword had already pierced her throat.

The boy pulled out his sword again without hesitation, and the corpse collapsed before him.

There was no difference in his breathing from before he had drawn his sword.

This was an extreme situation.

The shock of his first kill was naturally compartmentalized in a corner of his mind. His body, tempered by the Jeong Family Youth Technique, seemed stronger and steadier than anyone else’s here.

“This...”

The slender martial artist who had been watching grimaced.

The large man resting a hand on the martial artist’s shoulder stood.

“You’ve devoted your life to the swift sword. There is no other move, is there? You are only a young swift swordsman, well trained. Those fools were caught because they were flustered.”

The man had the build of a great beast and shrewd, foxlike eyes.

Not everything the man said was correct. However, Jeong Yeon-shin realized that his repertoire had run dry.

“Even so, it’s surprising. Truly surprising. How can someone your age be like this?”

“Blood Flame Sect?”

The boy asked, thinking of the red-haired woman lying at his feet.

He could not take his eyes off the man.

“No. I am from the Tyrant Sword Sect.”

“You are from the Tyrant Sword Sect? Then, was she from the Blood Flame Sect?”

“Yes.”

“What are two of the Thirteen Heavens doing in a place like Xinye County?”

“That is none of your concern.”

“Why answer me one by one?”

“Because it would be a waste. It is rare to find a martial artist as well honed as you are at your age. And it is amusing to hear a brat raised in the countryside talk as though he has experienced the center of the martial world.”

The man laughed heartily.

“A waste?”

A sneer formed on the boy’s lips.

“You must be afraid of my maternal family, you rootless Demonic Sect bastard.”

Jeong Yeon-shin gambled on the contest with an utterly arrogant expression and a violently pounding heart.

If the man tolerated that provocation, he would certainly win.

When they had first exchanged blows, he had noticed something the moment the dual-sword warrior used a hand blade instead of drawing a sword.

“...You insane brat.”

The man growled. It sounded like the roar of a wild beast rising from the deepest depths.

The savage momentum made his skin crawl, but Jeong Yeon-shin forced himself to maintain a calm expression.

“You mongrels cannot kill me. No matter what I do, it will be the same.”

Whichever side retreated would be torn apart one way or another.

Bang!

The sound came from the main gate. With a thunderous crash, the shattered gate doors flew in every direction.

A familiar man tumbled along with the fragments.

One of the Zhongnan Sect masters who had come with Ye Yil-sin.

The once-neat martial robe was torn roughly in several places, and fresh blood flowed from the corner of his mouth.

‘They said his epithet was the Shearing Cliff Sword. How did a master like that end up in such a state...?’

Thud! Thud!

The startled boy turned his head.

The sounds of tremendous powers colliding drew closer. Soon, they smashed through the wall and entered the manor.

Boom!

Ye Yil-sin and another Zhongnan Sect master came first.

They were in a far worse state than the retainers of Jeong Family Manor could have imagined. They looked no better than the Shearing Cliff Sword.

The sight of Ye Yil-sin, who had seemed beyond the mortal world, with the upper portion of the left ear cut off was truly shocking.

‘I thought they were a sword immortal playing in the heavens.’

Step.

A huge shadow approached with great strides.

It was unmistakably a human figure.

The heavy waves of energy rolling from the figure were unreal, as if the center of the world stood here.

A massive greatsword hung at their side. From its tip, energy that evoked death flowed endlessly.

Merely facing them made Jeong Yeon-shin shudder.

It was not merely because of the aura. Nor was it simply a matter of martial prowess.

They were cloaked from head to toe in something beyond the inner energy he could understand.

Jeong Yeon-shin thought of an unstoppable landslide.

‘Who are they?’

Terrifying energy writhed around the middle-aged figure.

The sword qi of an absolute master.

Then, as their gaze passed over the man facing Jeong Yeon-shin and turned toward the boy, their sword qi spread with it, eroding the space around him.

The mere realization that their gaze had turned in his direction made him dizzy.

“Sect Master!”

The man who had been speaking with Jeong Yeon-shin prostrated himself.

‘Sect Master? The Tyrant Sword Sect Master came personally?’

A figure who ruled one of the Thirteen Heavens of the unorthodox path, which could contend even with the Nine Sects.

That explained such a presence.

It explained the spirit capable of halting every movement in the surroundings, and the sight of the Zhongnan Sect’s Great Elder injured despite a joint attack.

Rather, he felt awe for the Zhongnan Sect masters who had exchanged blows with such a person for so long.

At the moment everyone stopped, Jeong Yeon-shin alone moved.

Tap, tap.

He began to run.

He drove the Jeong Family Youth Technique to its utmost limit and continued kicking off the ground.

Toward the man prostrating himself before the Tyrant Sword Sect Master, the terrifying martial artist with whom he had briefly tested courage.

“Wh-what?”

The man panicked, and every gaze in the area turned toward the boy.

The Tyrant Sword Sect Master did not move.

Were they waiting to see what he would do? Jeong Yeon-shin did not care and threw himself forward at full speed.

Saaaaa!

The air brushing past his ears was like a waterfall.