WE TRIED TRANSLATIONS x FLAME NOVELS

Translator/Editor: Chen

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◈ The Former Supreme ◈

Chapter 31: Another Greatest Secret Manual of All Time (1)

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An old man was tending a field beneath the blazing sun.

It was hot enough to leave anyone drenched in sweat just standing still, yet the old man diligently pulled weeds as though he did not feel the heat at all.

Though he looked to be over seventy, his back was still strong. He bent and straightened with smooth, easy movements, and he was not even sweating much.

Then someone spoke to him.

"Isn't it hot?"

The person walking down the narrow path beside the field was Baek Socheon.

Still bent over, the old man answered, "What farmer stops working just because it's hot?"

"Real farmers probably wouldn't work under a sun like this."

The old man's hands paused for a moment, then started moving again.

"You noticed. I'm still a novice farmer."

"What did you do before this?"

"Young people these days don't take an interest in other people's business. You seem awfully curious about mine."

"We aren't strangers."

The old man's sickle stopped.

Only then did he straighten up and look at Baek Socheon.

"Have we met before?"

"This is our first meeting. But we know a great deal about each other. Radiant Assassin."

This old man was the Radiant Assassin Baek Socheon had asked Cheon Geuk to arrange a meeting with.

Radiant Assassin had once been a highly successful assassin. His skills were exceptional, and his instincts for assassination were so sharp that he had succeeded even in jobs beyond his capabilities.

Yet he was valued among assassins for more than his skill.

He was an assassin who had survived and retired safely. Radiant Assassin had gathered younger assassins and even held a Golden Basin Handwashing ceremony, making him a historic figure among assassins.

Afterward, he left the martial world and went into seclusion somewhere no one knew. Only the Alliance Leader of the Assassin Alliance knew where he was.

"Who are you?"

"Baek Socheon."

Radiant Assassin tilted his head.

"Baek Socheon? There must be hundreds, thousands of Baek Socheons in the martial world..."

The next moment, he flinched.

There were certainly countless people named Baek Socheon, but one particularly famous Baek Socheon came to mind.

"The War God?"

"That's right. Me."

"You can't be this young. Did you regain your youth?"

"I just look young."

Radiant Assassin found that difficult to believe, and his grip on the sickle tightened.

"Who told you I was here?"

Cheon Geuk suddenly appeared behind Baek Socheon.

"I did."

"Alliance Leader?"

"Elder, it's been a long time."

Cheon Geuk greeted him respectfully.

Radiant Assassin had retired before Cheon Geuk became Alliance Leader.

As the successor of the previous Assassin Alliance Leader, Radiant Assassin had cherished her like his own granddaughter.

After retiring, he learned of the previous Assassin Alliance Leader's death and that Cheon Geuk had become the new Alliance Leader. Since he had not liked the previous leader very much, he had not broken his seclusion. If Cheon Geuk had died, however, he would have emerged to avenge her.

"I'm sorry. Something personal came up, and I had no choice but to tell him."

"It's all right."

"Please treat me as you used to."

"Now that you've become Alliance Leader, I cannot do that."

Radiant Assassin turned his gaze back to Baek Socheon.

"Then you must be the Fight God."

He recalled the past.

"If I hadn't retired, I would've sought you out as well."

The Black Heaven Alliance's three-million-nyang assassination commission had been placed after he retired.

"If that had happened, this field would be overgrown with weeds."

Radiant Assassin gave a cold laugh.

"Making a living by the blade really is frightening. It's been over ten years since I retired, yet I still feel my competitive spirit stir. Fine. Why did you come looking for me?"

"I came to retrieve something you stole."

Radiant Assassin flinched.

"Something I stole? What are you talking about?"

"Did you steal more than one thing? As far as I know, there was only one."

Radiant Assassin's expression hardened.

"I do not steal while carrying out assassinations."

"With one exception."

Radiant Assassin might have been an extraordinary assassin, but he was not skilled at lying. His agitation was already plain to see.

He glanced at Cheon Geuk beside Baek Socheon.

"This is the first I've heard of it."

In truth, she was flustered as well. She had never imagined Baek Socheon would seek out Radiant Assassin and accuse him of theft.

Radiant Assassin sighed.

"How did you find out?"

He did not want Cheon Geuk to see him lie.

"At the time... there was nothing I didn't know."

"Why do you need it?"

"I'm going to learn it."

Cheon Geuk, who had been listening, grew curious.

'Learn it? Then it's a martial arts manual. What sort of manual did Elder Radiant Assassin steal?'

After pondering for a while, Radiant Assassin went into his house.

"Wait a moment."

"Very well."

Radiant Assassin returned with a single martial arts manual.

Heaven-Turning Nine Fists.

It was the unique martial art of Yi Suhyeon, the Fist King who had swept across the Central Plains three hundred years ago.

At the time, it had been so remarkable that it was called the Greatest Fist Art of All Time.

Unfortunately, its glory did not survive into later generations. No one after Yi Suhyeon had achieved mastery of Heaven-Turning Nine Fists, and it had eventually been lost.

Many stories circulated about it. Some said only a genius could learn it. Others claimed that an incomplete manual had been passed down...

In all his years of assassination, Radiant Assassin had taken the belongings of someone he killed only once.

That was when he had taken Heaven-Turning Nine Fists.

"How did you know?"

"I learned it by chance."

The truth was that the Previous Assassin King, whom Baek Socheon had killed, had told him.

Before dying, the Previous Assassin King had begged for his life and revealed that Radiant Assassin possessed Heaven-Turning Nine Fists. Baek Socheon did not know how he had learned that fact, but to save his own life, the Previous Assassin King had sold out a senior assassin who had already retired.

Baek Socheon did not bother to tell them that.

Cheon Geuk had been that person's disciple, and Radiant Assassin had been his senior. There was no need to reveal something that would only disappoint and torment those still alive.

"Why would someone without internal energy need this manual?"

"Heaven-Turning Nine Fists focuses on techniques that use or return an opponent's strength."

"Even so, it will be difficult without internal energy."

"I'll figure that out myself."

"You're serious!"

Baek Socheon nodded with a solemn expression.

He did not want to learn Heaven-Turning Nine Fists simply to become stronger through fist arts.

He wanted to gain a new understanding of martial principles through the process of learning and mastering a martial art praised as the Greatest Martial Art of All Time.

"Then why did you come looking for me only now?"

"I didn't need it then..."

When he killed the Assassin King, the war was still raging, and Baek Socheon had been the strongest person under heaven. Other martial arts, especially fist arts rather than swordsmanship, had never interested him.

"I need it now."

The manual Baek Socheon normally studied was also an internal cultivation manual bearing the title of Greatest Martial Art of All Time.

Immovable Wisdom King Heart Method.

He had obtained it during his days as the strongest person under heaven. He had read it in hopes of somehow repairing his dantian and recovering his internal energy, but so far it had had no effect.

Then he met Cheon Geuk again and remembered that Heaven-Turning Nine Fists was in Radiant Assassin's possession.

He had joked that he no longer used a sword, and when he eliminated Black Hand, he had also joked about how satisfying it was to use his fists.

Meeting Cheon Geuk again had reminded him of Radiant Assassin as well.

It might have been a chain of coincidences, but he decided to think of it as fate. No matter what, his desire to grow stronger had not changed.

He could not expect to wake up one day having undergone a complete transformation, so he intended to stake his hopes on martial arts called the Greatest Martial Art of All Time. As he explored the paths of the Greatest Martial Arts of All Time, who knew? He might find a way to restore his dantian.

"You want me to give you this?"

"That's right."

"Why should I?"

Baek Socheon looked at Cheon Geuk.

"Do it for your Alliance Leader here, if not for me."

Cheon Geuk cried out, flustered.

"Why are you dragging me into this?"

"Who else should I drag into it?"

"What?"

"You're the only one I can rely on right now. Please do it for this woman."

Cheon Geuk was about to protest again when Radiant Assassin spoke.

"Fine. I'll give it to you."

"Thank you."

Cheon Geuk cried out in surprise.

"No! Don't give it to him because of me."

But the manual had already been passed into Baek Socheon's hands.

There were four martial arts in the current age called the Greatest Martial Art of All Time. Three existed as manuals, while the fourth was being practiced by a living person.

He had obtained two of those manuals and knew where the remaining two were. They would not be easy to acquire, but he intended to make the effort.

Radiant Assassin had a reason for willingly giving Baek Socheon the manual.

For a very long time, he had agonized over what to do with it.

It was a manual with value beyond measure. He had stolen it in a moment of unavoidable greed, but dealing with it afterward had become a problem.

It was too late for him to learn it himself. He could receive a fortune by selling it, but then his peaceful retirement would end. The moment word spread that Radiant Assassin had sold a manual for a Greatest Martial Art of All Time, every sort of person would come looking for him.

Yet it was too precious to leave gathering dust, and he had no one to pass it down to. It had also become a stain on a lifetime of assassinations, making it a troublesome burden he could neither keep nor discard.

Then Baek Socheon appeared that day.

If Baek Socheon had come alone, Radiant Assassin would never have handed it over.

But Cheon Geuk had come with him, so he was willing to do so.

"I have two requests."

Since he said it after giving over the manual, they were requests rather than conditions.

"Go ahead."

"After you memorize the manual, burn it and destroy it."

He probably wanted to erase the one shameful act of his life.

"That's not difficult. And the second?"

"Please take good care of our Alliance Leader."

Cheon Geuk was surprised that Radiant Assassin would say such a thing, and grateful as well.

Baek Socheon nodded.

"For now, your Alliance Leader is the one looking after me. Still, I understand your request."

"Thank you. Now that the Fight God possesses this manual, I'm looking forward to the news that will spread through the martial world. Hahaha."

Radiant Assassin laughed heartily, his heart now light.

Cheon Geuk bid him farewell.

"I'm sorry, Elder."

"Not at all. I have finally shed the burden I carried my whole life."

"Please stay healthy."

"Please take care of yourself as well, Alliance Leader."

Baek Socheon and Cheon Geuk left.

On the carriage ride back, Cheon Geuk asked, "Are you really planning to learn a fist art?"

"Yes."

"I can't imagine using a fist art without internal energy. Wouldn't it be better to use a sword instead?"

"Swordsmanship alone has its limits."

He could deal with ordinary masters like Black Hand and Cheon Yangho without internal energy, but against masters at the Peak Realm and above, every fight would become a perilous battle that put his life on the line.

"Wouldn't fist arts be the same? No, their limits seem like they would be even clearer."

"Maybe."

"Then why?"

"Because I haven't tried it yet."

"...!"

It might have sounded like nothing special, but the meaning behind it was immense. For a master of Baek Socheon's level to attempt something new was significant in itself.

She could not help feeling excited.

The man who had once been the strongest person under heaven was about to learn a fist art called the Greatest Martial Art of All Time. What form would Heaven-Turning Nine Fists take in his hands?

Cheon Geuk stared out the window of the moving carriage before finally speaking the words she had held back for so long.

"From the time I became Assassin King until now, I've continued to hear news about you."

"......"

"I thought you would overcome it. I thought that, just as you treated me, you would keep your position as the Secret Pavilion Master even without internal energy."

After a brief silence, Baek Socheon replied, "What could I do?"

"Something happened to you, didn't it?"

"Nothing happened. It's just... when someone with power loses that power, everything becomes annoying and irritating."

"That's not it, is it?"

"Stop overestimating me. It puts pressure on people."

As if he did not want to speak any further, Baek Socheon began reading the manual.

Cheon Geuk, who had been about to say something, looked out the window on the other side.

'Would I overestimate just anyone? I do it because it's you.'

When the carriage reached Wencheng, Baek Socheon stepped down and handed the manual to her.

"Why?"

"Burn it with Samadhi True Fire."

She was startled.

"You've already memorized it?"

Baek Socheon nodded. No matter how good his memory was, he could not have memorized another sort of book so quickly.

But it was possible because this was a martial arts manual, much like how Go players could naturally replay an entire game after it ended.

"But how did you know I could use Samadhi True Fire?"

"I could tell from your lightness skill. Hurry up and burn it. Otherwise, I'll sell it."

Impressed by Baek Socheon's memory and sharp eye, she summoned Samadhi True Fire.

Whoooosh.

The manual blazed fiercely in her hand. Before Cheon Geuk, Baek Socheon kept his promise to Radiant Assassin.

Cheon Geuk added another reason for why she had overestimated him earlier.

'How could I not overestimate someone this smart?'

Footnotes:

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