Surviving as a Genius on Borrowed Time - Chapter 86

WeTried Translations

Translator/Editor: ZERO_SUGAR

◈ Surviving as a Genius on Borrowed Time ◈

Episode 86: Battle for Supremacy (5)

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When Jeong Yeon-shin spotted Namgung Mi, the Changnyeong Flower Lord, in the distance, he told Namgung Hwa-shin he needed ten seconds.

Even though Yeon-shin's opponent was the Namgung Young Family Head, he had already gauged a clash with Namgung Mi. They had met before.

He wondered whether he could break her spirit first.

The situation had changed.

Just as he was about to carry out the martial contest as originally assigned, Namgung Mi had branded even the Wise Teacher Sect's servants as members of the unorthodox sects and built her reputation.

She had turned the situation to her advantage and won Wuchang's goodwill.

It had become difficult to rashly cut her down in a life-and-death duel between Desolate Fortress and the Namgung Family.

Desolate Fortress martial artists needed to hold the common people's support at all times.

That was why Yeon-shin took out the Pure Blood Robe and mentioned the mask. He silently watched Namgung Hwa-shin.

"Mercy in one's moves..."

Namgung Hwa-shin trailed off, seemingly lost in thought for a moment.

"...But the order is reversed."

He raised his head. Sunlight streaming in from afar played across his handsome features.

The title White Qilin suited that face, while the eyes fixed on Yeon-shin remained firm.

His expression held nothing but sincere concern for a comrade.

"Namgung Mi is a direct-line junior. Judging by her aura, she appears to have recently consumed a peerless spiritual medicine. The claim that she's the foremost among the younger generation is likely no exaggeration. Yin-cold qi, frost qi... There are many names for it, but inner energy based on yin qi is extremely troublesome."

Namgung Hwa-shin continued.

"Its aura freezes the meridians first. It rapidly impedes the movement of qi through the acupoints. The speed at which inner energy can be brought forth slows markedly, while explosive physical strength plummets. The longer you exchange moves, the more sluggish your body becomes. Qi specialized in the qualities of yin, yang, and the Five Elements possesses truly frightening power."

His tone was as grave as his expression. This was a matter of compatibility even before martial skill entered the question.

Yeon-shin nodded.

"To create such inner energy using spiritual medicine... If a family has that degree of influence, I can understand the main fortress's scheme. They intend to use the Namgung Family, after removing only its leadership, against the unorthodox sects."

"They must have obtained a cultivation method suitable for dissolving the spiritual medicine given to the Changnyeong Flower Lord. Or perhaps they invited a trustworthy internal-energy expert. They're a family with the power to do either."

Influence, wealth, or martial strength. They must have used every means to raise the Namgung Family's only two direct-line descendants.

"Skipping the qi storage process with spiritual medicine..."

Yeon-shin murmured.

Qi storage. Accumulating energy. The martial world was filled with people who spent years gathering qi through Static Training methods such as qi-circulation and breathing techniques.

It was common to hear of a jiazi, sixty years of training.

When martial artists said they had gained insight into Static Training, it meant they had found an intent better suited to absorbing energy than before.

‘Qi storage is always lacking.’

It remained true even after he consumed the supposedly high-grade elixir pill issued to him.

Namgung Hwa-shin, standing before him, already possessed deeper inner energy than he did. It was a gap created by the limits of his birth.

That was why Yeon-shin was striving to create a Static Training method that could accelerate his qi storage.

"It doesn't merely skip the process. It grants even greater power."

Namgung Hwa-shin turned his face slightly away, looking bitter.

He continued.

"That is the strength of a family that exists solely for its direct line. It's different from Desolate Fortress. The peerless spiritual medicines passing through the main fortress can only go to the imperial family, after all, though it would be done in utmost secrecy."

"...The elixir pill I received was no small gift either."

"It would be greater than that. Naturally."

Perhaps Namgung Hwa-shin was thinking of confronting his half-sister. His lips trembled again.

‘This mission carries many meanings.’

Yeon-shin thought.

Desolate Fortress's main fortress had set this mission in motion to govern the martial world. Yeon-shin, whose life was on the line, had volunteered to earn merit. Namgung Hwa-shin, who had been scorned, had come to cast off the years behind him and avenge his mother.

‘During the contest, he wanted to defeat me and fight the Young Family Head. Does he also have a score to settle with Clear Qilin?’

The youth quietly watched Namgung Hwa-shin.

After looking at him for a while, he slowly opened his mouth.

"I can't raise your spirits, Namgung Young Hero."

"Haha, I wasn't expecting that from you, Young Hero Jeong."

After Namgung Hwa-shin's soft laugh, Yeon-shin continued.

"But I think I can bring Namgung Mi down."

* * *

The fair-skinned woman slowly bit into a peach.

The grand preceptor's chair in which she sat was adorned with luxurious tiger hide. The way she let one hand dangle over its armrest suited her like a sovereign.

Her small mouth moved leisurely before she spoke.

"Do it."

Namgung Mi's command fell. For someone, it was a sentence of ruin.

The people remaining at Wuchang's Wise Teacher Sect trembled with uncontrollable terror.

The servants had already been crippled. The attendants were next.

Martial artists of the Namgung Family's Changnyeong Flower approached. Aura gathered around their bare hands.

Their eyes, fixed on the attendants, were utterly indifferent. They did not look at them as equals.

"Please, spare us!"

"I was dragged here against my will!"

Ming law did not permit private torture.

In Great Ming, commoners were the Emperor's property. No one was permitted to defy that.

But the Central Plains were vast, too immense for the imperial court to watch over every corner.

At this moment, Namgung Mi's command stood above the Great Ming Code. It was even more so near the Namgung Family.

"I won't kill you."

She smiled faintly. Even that smile carried an air of elegance.

"I'll only destroy your dantians. You learned the vicious inner-energy methods of the unorthodox sects, didn't you? Since you acted as the loyal dogs of that wretched Wise Teacher Sect, who knows what cruelties you might inflict on commoners outside after leaving your fallen sect behind?"

"I've never learned martial arts... Aaargh!"

The Changnyeong Flower martial artists moved their hands, and screams erupted everywhere.

The pain of a destroyed dantian was no small thing. It meant tearing apart the Qihai acupoint in the lower abdomen with an internal heavy-hand method.

How could anyone endure the feeling of their blood vessels being severed all at once? They could never be whole again.

More than ten attendants rolled across the ground. They bled from below and coughed up blood at the same time.

Bloodstains began spreading across the floor of the Wise Teacher Sect's central hall.

Some of the Wise Teacher Sect's workers were fortunate enough to be selected as Namgung Mi's servants.

They stood off to one side without daring to make a sound. Their faces were rigid, and they could barely breathe.

"Clear this away and summon the people. Use the wealth of this insignificant unorthodox sect to hold a feast."

Namgung Mi spoke.

They said that within the Namgung Family, her orders stood above the Great Ming Code. The moment she gave an order, it was carried out.

It was dusk. The early summer sun stretched the orange light of dusk and the people's shadows long.

Under the watch of a single Changnyeong Flower martial artist, the attendants dared not act rashly. Before long, the Wise Teacher Sect's Training Hall became a banquet hall for the people of Wuchang.

The Namgung Family's experts had wiped out the Wise Teacher Sect. It was no ordinary news.

Even without invitations, local notables gathered of their own accord.

"What a relief!"

"Those Wise Teacher Sect bastards got what they deserved!"

"The Snow Mountain Fairy has descended in Namgung's name. Look at that jade-like skin. She isn't like us."

"She possesses such exceptional martial arts as well. We're truly fortunate."

The table dragged out from inside the Wise Teacher Sect was enormous. Dozens of people sat around it, eating and drinking.

Most were owners of merchant groups, escort agencies, and martial academies based in Wuchang.

Even the head of the prefectural academy that taught scholarship in Wuchang stroked their beard with dignity.

"Then, does this mean a branch of the Namgung Family will be established here?"

A bald middle-aged person asked. Although they were said to be the chief of a respectable escort agency, their words and bearing were those of someone before a superior.

Namgung Mi slowly nodded.

"You have seen the Wise Teacher Sect's horrific conduct. Though I may be lacking, I wish to oversee the security of Wuchang's martial world..."

The corners of her lips curled gently upward.

"I hope this will not burden any of you."

"Not at all."

"We should be grateful, if anything."

Many of those gathered waved their hands. This was an act carried out by the Namgung Family's treasured daughter.

Even if they truly disliked it, they had to say as much.

"Mm, be grateful."

The smile on Namgung Mi's lips deepened. A young martial artist who had been staring at her blankly raised a hand.

"Lady Namgung! I heard you'll be fighting a Desolate Fortress martial artist!"

"Oh my, are you worried about me?"

When she smiled as if pleased, the young man blushed. It was a reaction that never grew tiresome.

The martial world Namgung Mi had known was like that.

The many Princes of the First Rank and princesses of the imperial family, whose blood was mixed with that of the elven race, were said to be noble. But Namgung Mi had grown up in the free martial world as a member of a powerful family nearly equal to royalty, and she did not envy them.

She believed she had the refinement to be content with what she had. She only wished to protect it.

Namgung Mi tilted her head slightly to one side. Her glossy hair flowed to the side as well. It was an intentional gesture.

"Why did Desolate Fortress leave the Wise Teacher Sect alone? So many commoners were suffering."

Those present immediately showed that they understood. Everyone could tell what she wanted them to say.

"They are desperate to tighten their grip on the martial world. How could we know their true intentions?"

"They must have allowed it because they liked it! Because of those unorthodox sect bastards, Wuchang's orthodox sects couldn't hold their heads high! Isn't Desolate Fortress a group that oppresses the martial world? Just look at what they did to the Huangbo Family..."

"They sent a life-and-death duel challenge to the Namgung Family after it fought Blood Flame Sect in a fierce battle. They are people who have trampled the principles of the martial world into the dirt."

Their condemnation was fierce. They seemed to truly believe it.

Namgung Mi silently watched them. Martial artists were no different from commoners.

They sought the favor of those stronger than themselves. There were surely people who held different opinions.

It did not matter. Her martial world had always been like that.

No one rejected life. It was a world that stretched out soft and fine like a carpet.

That was why she wanted to protect it.

That was why her family's elders had left alone the Desolate Fortress rising talent who had appeared with astonishing Sound Arts.

It would have been different if the opponent had been a junior from the Nine Sects. The strong devoured the weak.

To a powerful family that expanded its influence through the martial world's ways, Desolate Fortress was an exasperating group.

Under the pretext of protecting the people's livelihood, it meddled in every matter of the martial world.

‘I have to nip it in the bud. This time, for certain.’

She had easily won the battle of legitimacy. Wuchang's public sentiment had fallen into her grasp in an instant.

Desolate Fortress, which had called for a life-and-death duel, was bound to watch the reaction of the masses.

Even in an ordinary duel, Namgung Mi had no chance of losing. Still, as a member of one of the martial world's great factions, she had done everything within her power.

‘The careful ones are strong in this world.’

Just as she smiled prettily and reached for a peach at the edge of the table...

"Who."

Everyone's movements froze for a moment. It was not a voice one could dismiss. The force contained within it was tremendous.

"Spoke of our sect?"

A melodious boyish voice rang out, joined by the harsh crackle of qi.

It sounded as though inner energy had been infused into the Lianquan acupoint just above the vocal cords.

With the flutter of clothing, a red figure crossed the wall. It was an exceptionally profound movement technique.

Tap.

The figure landed in the banquet hall with a soft footfall. Not a speck of dust rose.

Namgung Mi swiftly employed her eye technique and lifted her gaze.

Her eyes, carrying the sky-blue radiance of the Namgung Family's secret art, the Azure Firmament Eye Technique, swept over the intruder from head to toe.

She was confident she could detect even the slightest tremor in their body.

The uninvited guest who had spoken of their sect wore a mask of an evil spirit grinning like an open-mouthed dragon.

The sleeves of the vivid red long robe draped to the wrists, while aura whirled around them like the wind. Their appearance alone was overwhelming.

"Blood... Flame Sect?"

Someone's dazed murmur reached her ears.

Namgung Mi did not look away.

The sinister fluctuations were no ordinary matter. The flow brushing against her skin like ripples spoke of extremely delicate qi control.

Their control over their power was terrifying. They did not appear to be revealing all of their true inner energy.

"You."

The evil-spirit mask worn by the red-robed figure spoke.

"Are you the Namgung wretch?"

For a moment, no one spoke. It was a truly shocking entrance.