WeTried Translations
Translator/Editor: ZERO_SUGAR
Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried
◈ Surviving as a Genius on Borrowed Time ◈
Episode 95: Divine Sword Unit
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When Clear Qilin Namgung Se-jin was struck by Seom-ye Jeong Yeon-shin’s palm strike, the Namgung Family stirred violently, and Desolate Fortress’s Divine Sword Squad stepped forward as well.
The Namgung Family’s experts had stopped, but not simply because Clear Qilin shouted at them. Their opponents were a martial unit directly under the Divine Sword Squad Leader.
The Divine Sword Squad.
It was the first of the seventeen martial units under the Divine Sword Unit.
It had been the first to be founded, as well as the strongest. It was truly known as Desolate Fortress’s greatest force.
“He won from that distance.”
“His sense for judging distance is exquisite, isn’t it? He moves about as he pleases within the sword domain. That is innate talent.”
“Does anyone know what that palm technique is? I think I heard that Seom-ye only uses unique martial arts.”
“Unless one possesses a fairly strong Protective Qi Technique, they would die the instant they were struck. Would Shaolin’s Hundred-Step Divine Fist look like that if it were condensed into close-range strikes?”
“It feels as though it takes quite a while to prepare. It is not particularly refined, either. The recoil is tremendous. It is a martial art that relies entirely on the practitioner’s senses.”
“Even if Sword Uncle disparages it... its power alone is worthy of being called a divine art. Such things are never common.”
The twenty members were a varied group. There were men and women of every age, including middle-aged people and young adults, as well as a boy and a girl, at least by appearance.
A girl in a pitch-black long robe, with a spear slung across her back, sneered.
“Look at them. Flinching and retreating.”
“Granny Ak’s aura is strong, certainly. But it is probably not because of us. They are the Namgung Family, after all.”
A handsome middle-aged man called the girl Granny and even spoke in a youthful tone.
No one found it strange.
There were countless eccentrics and extraordinary martial artists in the martial world. The Divine Sword Squad’s experts were particularly famous for it.
“Please restrain yourself. There are many eyes watching.”
“Leave her be. Since when did our squad care about formalities?”
The atmosphere was exceptionally relaxed. Words and actions of every weight blended together naturally.
It was because they traveled the martial world together almost year-round.
They constantly carried out Desolate Fortress missions. By temperament, they were closer to wanderers.
Their martial prowess was another matter. Apart from the Black Uniform master who served as deputy leader, every one of them was a Blue Uniform expert.
Moreover, their commander was a Purple Uniform absolute master who served as both the Divine Sword Squad Leader and the leader of the Divine Sword Squad. Bound by camaraderie, none of them cared about the crowd’s attention.
“Still... the Young Family Head’s inner power seems less impressive than the rumors. Did something happen before the match?”
“What does it matter? He is going down anyway.”
Clear Qilin Namgung Se-jin slowly collapsed.
At that moment, silence fell even among the Divine Sword Squad’s experts.
The death of an outstanding talent always invited silence. Clear Qilin had also remained composed until the end.
A comet of the martial world, possessing martial arts, spirit, and chivalry, had gone out. A new era in the martial world faded before it could even take root.
“...He is someone worth mourning.”
“What a waste. Such a terrible waste.”
“More importantly, does that Seom-ye fellow not look as though he intends to continue?”
A youthful man gestured toward Jeong Yeon-shin with his chin.
The boy still held the Desolate Sword. He had not sheathed it.
He blankly watched as the Namgung Family’s experts collected Namgung Se-jin’s body.
The girl in the Black Uniform long robe clicked her tongue.
“That is not fighting spirit. He is simply lost in thought. He cannot think. It seems killing his opponent has left him rather lost in melancholy. That is common at his age.”
“Granny Ak should bring him over. If he truly is in a state of selflessness, even an ordinary Blue Uniform expert would find it difficult to approach him carelessly.”
The young man called So-ha watched Seom-ye with an uneasy expression.
“So-ha, you are right.”
The girl grinned and cupped both hands around her lips. Her exaggerated gesture lasted only a moment before an enormous aura erupted.
[Child! Come here...!]
A sound no less powerful than Radiant River of the Sihwa Boundless Hand exploded.
The crowd was already noisy as people scattered in every direction.
The thunderous roar echoed through the valley once more, shaking even the air.
Jeong Yeon-shin abruptly raised his head. The girl in the Black Uniform long robe, a vexing smile on her face, shouted aloud.
“You need to recognize your position! Are you not now a rising young talent who defeated the Namgung Young Family Head? Look at those Namgung bastards over there! Their eyes have gone black with rage, as though they will start cutting people down at any moment!”
“You could have just brought him over. Did you really have to draw attention and provoke them too...?”
So-ha shook his head.
“Ah...”
Jeong Yeon-shin’s lips parted slightly in the distance.
While the Divine Sword Squad’s experts behaved as amusingly as Peking opera performers, the boy finally came to his senses.
He was also surprised. Even within the Divine Sword Unit, they were figures beyond the clouds. Their reputations pierced the heavens.
‘That person is...’
He guessed the identity of the girl who had called him.
Desolate Divine Spear Ak Su-rim.
She was an old master whose special Static Training had reached a state of consummate mastery, reversing the years of her body.
Consummate mastery referred to the ultimate level of skill. Among Desolate Fortress’s Black Uniform experts, it meant she was exceptional.
Martial artists were not free from hierarchy.
They had a world of their own. Martial arts, sect affiliation, character, and reputation served as status.
Appearance was no exception. The epithets of rising young talents, names such as dragon and phoenix, proved as much.
Rejuvenation.
A realm that reversed the passage of time in the human body. High martial arts alone could not achieve it. One needed special enlightenment, a fortuitous opportunity, and an extraordinary divine art.
Ak Su-rim possessed all of it. Her fame rivaled even that of the Divine Sword Squad Leader.
The Divine Sword Squad’s deputy leader, made young through martial arts, had personally called for Jeong Yeon-shin. It meant Seom-ye possessed at least the minimum standing.
Yet the boy was not particularly moved.
‘What a nuisance.’
The thought came to him without meaning to.
He wanted to savor the realization Namgung Se-jin had granted him.
How should one live as a person of the martial world? Even if he put his own lifespan first, was it truly right to walk the martial path for that alone?
He had been Clear Qilin’s final opponent.
Step.
Jeong Yeon-shin turned his back on the Divine Sword Squad’s experts.
“Next...”
His lips moved slowly.
“Next. Please come forward.”
He spoke while looking at the Namgung Family.
Whether they were established experts or rising young talents, their formation seemed to swirl with killing intent.
They looked as though they would kill him at once. Their gathered aura felt like a massive evil spirit bearing down on him.
Jeong Yeon-shin did not care.
He had long anticipated Namgung Mi’s petty scheme, devised with surrender in mind.
Protect his life and honor by relying on the difference in seniority? He did not want to follow it. It was the scheme of a dead man.
The boy stood upright where he was.
It was a decision brought about by Namgung Se-jin’s death. The qi lingering within the corpse could not have fully dispersed yet. He did not want to show a shameful sight.
“Is that spirit, or reckless courage...?”
Ak Su-rim muttered in bewilderment.
“Good! I gladly accept the challenge of such an outstanding junior!”
With a booming shout, a middle-aged man in a Blue Uniform leaped forward.
Bang!
He arrived before Jeong Yeon-shin in an instant. The boy slightly furrowed his brow. The grains of sand and aura that violently rebounded and struck his face were truly fierce.
‘The leader of the Namgung Family’s Celestial Firmament Sword Corps.’
The man had eyes that rose sharply like blades.
Facing him made the man’s immense aura clear once again. The flow of qi surging throughout his body was overwhelming.
‘The Lord of Desolate Fortress killed their deputy leader, did he not?’
The deputy leader of the Celestial Firmament Sword Corps had also been one of Southern Zhili’s foremost swordsmen.
Yet the deputy leader had become a wandering ghost at the Lord of Desolate Fortress’s hands. Jeong Yeon-shin had heard that Hyeon Won-chang witnessed it personally. It had taken a single strike.
Was it because that incident had been compounded by the deaths of the direct-line members?
The aura flowing from the Celestial Firmament Sword Corps Leader gradually gathered like sword blades. Its sharpness was enough to be difficult for Jeong Yeon-shin to endure.
He did not show it.
He could not disgrace Namgung Se-jin.
‘I only need to drive Radiant River into him.’
He recalled the killing move of the Sihwa Boundless Hand, the technique Namgung Se-jin had named for him.
Its power had been proven. If he could land it somehow, it could inflict a fatal wound even on a Black Uniform high master.
Then it happened.
“That is far enough.”
A clear voice rang out.
The Celestial Firmament Sword Corps Leader reacted faster than Jeong Yeon-shin. The middle-aged man’s eyes immediately widened.
“Divine Sword Squad Leader...!”
It was a name that lodged in one’s mind the instant it was heard.
The voice came from behind Jeong Yeon-shin. A presence so distinct that it chilled his aura sense emerged.
An overwhelming force rose like a tidal wave. Even with an enemy before him, the boy turned his head.
It was a tall man.
He looked like a scholar. Even his clothing was scholarly, except that his scholar’s robe was purple.
His bearing was different.
It was nothing like when he completely concealed his inner power.
The impression Jeong Yeon-shin had failed to etch into his mind while lost in thought now became terrifyingly clear. The man seemed transcendent.
The Divine Sword Squad Leader slowly opened his mouth.
“Sword Corps Leader. That is enough.”
“What? How can you be so shameless...!”
“You are the one who does not know shame. Trying to do something to a boy so much younger than you.”
He finished with a faint smile. Even his words and conduct were unconventional.
Step.
He walked forward slowly, and no one could stop him.
From a distance, the Namgung Family Head only glared in silence.
The Family Head stroked the sword hilt as if ready to step in at any moment, but had only taken a few steps so far.
The Divine Sword Squad Leader approached with light steps.
He looked as though he was free from the eyes of everyone in the world. Stopping one step before Jeong Yeon-shin, he quietly studied the boy.
“You said your name was Seom-ye?”
“I greet the Squad Leader.”
Jeong Yeon-shin calmly raised a fist-and-palm salute. The Divine Sword Squad Leader’s lips curved upward.
“I thought you were blind. On your way here, you treated your own Squad Leader as though I did not exist. It was a novel experience. To think a boy’s state of selflessness could run so deep.”
“...My apologies.”
“It was an idle joke. In any case, I would like you to withdraw now. You have already fought two life-and-death duels, and your seniority is far below theirs. You have more than enough justification. But...”
The Divine Sword Squad Leader spoke with a small smile.
“Your resolve appears firm. It will be hard to persuade you without offering something in return.”
“I...”
“I heard from the Grand Chief Steward that I should pass on a portion of my martial arts to you. Let me add one more thing. I will help you forge a connection in the martial world that may become a source of strength.”
Jeong Yeon-shin closed his mouth for a moment. A connection personally offered by the Divine Sword Squad Leader would not be an ordinary relationship.
Yet it was not a decision he could easily bargain away. How could he do that after facing Namgung Se-jin?
Then the Divine Sword Squad Leader deliberately furrowed his brow and made a mournful face.
“You have already done more than enough to save face. It seems it is time for you to consider your superior.”
Jeong Yeon-shin silently thought that he had not known his Squad Leader was such an eccentric.
The Divine Sword Squad.
It was an incomprehensible group.
“I will take that as agreement. I am deeply grateful.”
The Divine Sword Squad Leader smiled and gently pushed Jeong Yeon-shin aside by the shoulder.
The moment he took a step forward, the Celestial Firmament Sword Corps Leader’s aura vanished as if swept away by a current. It was completely washed away.
“From this moment onward.”
The Divine Sword Squad Leader parted his lips.
“I personally will step forward in every match against the Namgung Family.”
“Absurd!”
An elder from the Namgung Family’s side shouted from behind. The Divine Sword Squad Leader tilted his head slightly.
“Did we not begin with the younger ones? I believe that was your proposal. Our former Squad Leader and Elder Council Head are elderly people.”
“White Qilin is...”
At that moment, Desolate Divine Spear Ak Su-rim abruptly moved beside Namgung Hwa-shin. Her movement technique was extraordinarily fast.
Before Namgung Hwa-shin could fully form a puzzled expression, Ak Su-rim’s left hand transformed into a hand blade and blurred. Its speed belonged to another realm.
Thud!
A dull sound rang out. The instant her strike, swift as a ray of light, hit Namgung Hwa-shin’s nape, Namgung Hwa-shin’s balance collapsed.
Namgung Hwa-shin seemed to lose consciousness immediately.
The Divine Sword Squad Leader smiled as if to praise her.
“Let us finish quickly and go. There is much to teach Seom-ye.”
“...”
It was truly outrageous behavior, yet none of the Divine Sword Squad’s experts appeared surprised.
They all calmly watched Jeong Yeon-shin and the Divine Sword Squad Leader.
“White Qilin Namgung Hwa-shin is not in a condition to participate in a match. Let us consider this round our loss.”
The Divine Sword Squad Leader’s lips curved smoothly.
“Next is me.”
Footnotes:
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