WE TRIED TRANSLATIONS x FLAME NOVELS

Translator/Editor: Chen

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◈ The Former Supreme ◈

Chapter 49: Ban Yunsaeng (2)

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Once they decided to attempt the Complete Transformation Method, the two became busy.

"My master found a secret manual left behind by a deceased predecessor concerning complete transformation and spent a lifetime researching it. That research was passed down to me."

The person who had left the original secret manual was a Poison Master. The research had begun from a Poison Master's perspective, which was why poison lay at the heart of the method.

That was also why it required a highly poisonous herb like the Everlasting Poison-Forgetting Grass rather than another spiritual herb.

First, they had to buy the tools and materials required for the method.

Fortunately, Ban Yunsaeng had buried the important materials deep near the cave. Ban Yunsaeng had always kept the method in mind, no matter when the chance to use it might come.

Now, they only needed to buy the items that could be easily obtained.

Ban Yunsaeng visited nearby villages with Baek Socheon and acquired everything they needed. They threw away all the unnecessary items in the cave. The method was all that mattered.

New items for the method filled the empty space. They bought a bed for the procedure, two large tubs, and several containers for medicine.

Three days later, Baek Socheon and Ban Yunsaeng had prepared all the materials.

"Now, only the most important task remains."

"What is it?"

"The White-Horned Golden-Line Snake must inject its venom into the Everlasting Poison-Forgetting Grass so that it bears fruit. If it doesn't inject its venom, or if the plant doesn't bear fruit, we'll have to wait three years."

Baek Socheon gave a self-mocking laugh at the mention of three years. A war would surely break out before then, and he would be dead.

Ban Yunsaeng took him to where the Everlasting Poison-Forgetting Grass grew. They watched from a distance so as not to provoke the White-Horned Golden-Line Snake.

One day passed, then two, yet the White-Horned Golden-Line Snake did not move.

As they watched the Everlasting Poison-Forgetting Grass together, Ban Yunsaeng told him many stories, mostly about poisonous herbs and venomous creatures.

Though Baek Socheon possessed the Myriad-Poison-Immunity Body, he realized anew that he knew surprisingly little about poisonous herbs and venomous creatures. Since he believed poison could not affect him anyway, he had neglected the subject.

Ban Yunsaeng freely told him which mountains had abundant medicinal herbs and what venomous creatures lived in each part of them. They had only just met here, but perhaps because the method lay ahead of them, Ban Yunsaeng spoke openly about many things.

"What do you plan to do if the method succeeds?"

"I intend to prevent the war from breaking out."

"And after that?"

"I haven't thought about it."

"Shouldn't you be thinking about yourself first?"

"......"

Baek Socheon recalled what the Black Heaven Alliance Leader had said to him, that he had fastened the first button wrong. Of course, the same metaphor had been used in a different context, but a thought suddenly came to him.

At eighteen, when he knew nothing, he had joined the Alliance with only one dream: to protect good people. Then he had spent his life running forward without pause.

He had not known that the martial arts passed down to him through a chance encounter included such an extraordinary sword art. Nor had he known he had such talent for battle that people would call him the War God.

He had run ahead without even having time to take care of himself.

After the war began, he had even less time to think of himself. Not that he was the only one. Every martial artist in the Murim Alliance had been the same.

Even after the war ended, he could not care for himself because he had lost his internal energy and because of everything involving the Alliance Leader.

That was why he had not been able to find an answer when Gain told him to quit the Murim Alliance and do something else. He had never learned how to live for himself. He had never experienced what kind of life would make him happy.

Ban Yunsaeng looked at Baek Socheon.

"Don't live a life that is nothing but fighting. When you look back, life will have passed by in the blink of an eye."

"Yes."

Perhaps deciding that was enough lecturing, Ban Yunsaeng looked at the distant White-Horned Golden-Line Snake.

"Everything depends on that little thing."

The fate of two people, and even the fate of the martial world, depended on a single snake.

Whoever it was, at least one of those three seemed to be lucky.

Two days later, the White-Horned Golden-Line Snake injected venom into the Everlasting Poison-Forgetting Grass and died. The Everlasting Poison-Forgetting Grass bore fruit.

Ban Yunsaeng carefully picked the fruit and carried it back to the cave.

All preparations were now complete.

Every medicine needed for the method had been prepared, and Baek Socheon took all the medicine he needed before it began. He took precise doses over several rounds.

With only the final fruit of the Everlasting Poison-Forgetting Grass remaining, Ban Yunsaeng asked, "Well, how do you feel?"

He felt calm. Baek Socheon thought he would not have much to regret even if he lost his life during the method.

At thirty-eight, a martial artist had lived long enough. What was more, he had lived as a hero who saved the martial world. After living such a life, what would there be to regret even if he died today?

Beon Saeng had said it himself. If he died, no one would be heartbroken beyond measure. Would Baek Socheon be much different?

A few people would grieve deeply, but would anyone be so devastated that their heart truly broke? That was why he could answer brightly.

"I feel good."

"Good. Then let's begin. Here, take the fruit of the Everlasting Poison-Forgetting Grass."

Without hesitation, Baek Socheon bit into the fruit of the Everlasting Poison-Forgetting Grass and chewed it. Perhaps because of the White-Horned Golden-Line Snake's venom, it was bitter enough to make his tongue feel as though it would melt.

The method began at that moment.

"Ughhhhh."

As the medicinal effects spread through his entire body, Baek Socheon groaned. Rather than using internal energy to send the medicine through his meridians, the medicine Ban Yunsaeng had given him forcibly spread it throughout them. That made the pain even worse.

Baek Socheon's skin began to darken.

Ban Yunsaeng pushed him into a tub filled with medicinal liquid.

Splash.

Baek Socheon sank into the tub.

Once submerged, his entire body went limp and the pain vanished. Drowsiness rushed over him, making his eyelids heavy.

Ban Yunsaeng watched Baek Socheon sink with a tense expression.

By the time Baek Socheon had sunk to the bottom of the tub, he had already fallen into a deep sleep.

* * *

The day everyone's fate changed.

"Huff, huff, huff, huff."

Baek Socheon was gasping for breath.

There was not a single part of his body that did not hurt. He felt as though he would shatter into pieces if touched.

The sword in his hand felt as heavy as a thousand pounds. Still, he gripped the hilt more tightly. He had to believe. If he was struggling, then his opponent was struggling too. No, his opponent had to be struggling even more.

Sure enough, Yeom Hwasin, the Black Heaven Alliance Leader, stood before him bent forward at the waist, breathing even more heavily than Baek Socheon. Their mountain-like body rose and fell.

This attack was his final chance to kill Yeom Hwasin. Yeom Hwasin's condition did not matter. Once Baek Socheon unleashed this final move, his internal energy would be exhausted.

'I have to do it this time.'

Yeom Hwasin raised their head and looked at Baek Socheon.

Baek Socheon saw an emotion in Yeom Hwasin's eyes that he had never witnessed before.

Fear.

At that moment, Baek Socheon launched himself toward them.

He bet everything on this one move. Drawing up every last shred of his internal energy, he poured it into his sword.

Yeom Hwasin sprang forward as well. Perhaps exhausted, their reaction was slower than before.

Swoooosh!

Their figures merged into one.

Until now, they had repeatedly clashed and separated. They had dodged, blocked, and counterattacked with lightning speed. This time was different.

A single sound announced the end of the battle.

Thud!

The moment his sword pierced his opponent's body, Baek Socheon was certain of victory.

'I won!'

His beloved Ghost Shadow Sword had pierced Yeom Hwasin's heart precisely.

Yet the moment he saw joy and opportunity in Yeom Hwasin's eyes, which should have been filled with despair as life drained from them, he realized something was wrong.

Bang!

Though pierced through by the sword, Yeom Hwasin's fist struck Baek Socheon in the chest.

The body-protecting qi sustained by his weak internal energy shattered, and a heavy impact spread through his entire body. He tried to raise internal energy and block it somehow, but the impact spread through him like ice cracking out of control.

"Urgh."

Baek Socheon vomited blood.

He could not move even a finger, but Yeom Hwasin still had strength left.

Baek Socheon felt internal energy gathering at Yeom Hwasin's fingertips.

The moment he realized that hand was headed for his dantian.

'No!'

Thud!

An impact that seemed to tear apart his entire body struck him.

Riiip!

His flesh tore, and he felt as if the place where his dantian had been was ripped away completely.

"Arrrgh!"

The loudest and most agonized scream Baek Socheon had given since fighting Yeom Hwasin burst from his mouth.

Blood dripped from Baek Socheon's abdomen.

Holding Baek Socheon's limp body in one hand, Yeom Hwasin spoke coldly.

"It was not I who killed you. It was your Alliance Leader."

"......Don't talk bullshit."

"If that isn't true, why are you here? Shouldn't your Alliance Leader be the one here?"

A chaotic battle had broken out, and in the frenzy of fighting Yeom Hwasin, the two of them had ended up here alone. The Alliance Leader must have been fighting enemies somewhere.

"Your Alliance Leader is nothing but a hypocrite who has kept their position by sucking the blood of people like you!"

"Don't try to sow discord. You don't know the Alliance Leader."

"Fool."

"Three years will be enough. By then, you'll know that my words were true."

Yeom Hwasin threw Baek Socheon to the ground.

Then they pulled the sword from their own heart and tossed it aside.

Baek Socheon vomited another mouthful of blood and watched Yeom Hwasin stagger away.

Not long after Yeom Hwasin disappeared, Baek Socheon heard someone calling his name as they ran toward him.

"Socheon! Socheon!"

It was Alliance Leader Ak Sogun's voice.

'Alliance Leader.'

He needed to open his eyes, but he could not.

"Hey. Pull yourself together. We won. They've all retreated. Wake up!"

Ak Sogun's excited voice.

Baek Socheon used the last of his strength to open his eyes.

Through his blurred vision, he saw Ak Sogun's face. Ak Sogun was looking down at him with concern.

At that very moment, Baek Socheon saw it.

A red dot appeared at the center of Ak Sogun's black pupils, then vanished.

Yet he could not tell whether it was blood running down his own face, blood running from Ak Sogun's forehead, or whether he had mistaken reflected light for something else. It had happened too quickly.

"......Alliance Leader."

After uttering those quiet words, he lost consciousness.

Splash.

When Ban Yunsaeng operated the pulley mechanism, the bottom of the tub rose and Baek Socheon emerged from the medicinal liquid.

Ban Yunsaeng removed Baek Socheon from the liquid and laid him on the bed.

After forcing medicine into his mouth, Ban Yunsaeng began inserting needles.

Every needle was placed with utmost care. Ban Yunsaeng could perform acupuncture with closed eyes, but perhaps because it had been so long, their hands trembled.

'Stay calm.'

One needle at a time, Ban Yunsaeng carefully inserted needles into every one of Baek Socheon's acupoints.

As if he were dreaming, Baek Socheon's eyes moved restlessly beneath his closed eyelids.

"You mustn't open your eyes yet."

* * *

Baek Socheon opened his eyes.

The person watching over him was Ban Wollyang, the Murim Alliance's Divine Physician.

"Are you awake now?"

"Where am I?"

"At headquarters. The Orthodox-Demonic War is over."

At the news that the war was over, a single tear ran down Baek Socheon's face.

He had not shed a tear even once since joining the Murim Alliance. He had bid farewell to countless comrades-in-arms, yet he had not cried. He knew that if he began to cry, he would never be able to end the war.

Now, as though every tear he had held back was about to pour out, they continued streaming down his face.

After crying silently for a long time, Baek Socheon asked, "Is the Alliance Leader all right?"

"Fortunately, the Alliance Leader is unharmed."

He remembered seeing the Alliance Leader before he lost consciousness.

"Is there truly nothing wrong?"

"The Alliance Leader is fine thanks to you."

"How long was I unconscious?"

"Twenty days."

"I was unconscious for twenty days?"

He tried to rise, but his body would not move.

"Your internal injuries are too severe. You can't move."

Without realizing it, he instinctively tried to circulate internal energy and tend to his injuries.

At that moment, tremendous pain surged from his dantian.

"Urgh!"

Ban Wollyang hurriedly spoke to Baek Socheon, who was in pain.

"You mustn't use internal energy!"

"Until when?"

Ban Wollyang could not bring themself to say the word forever. That troubled expression brought back a memory.

Riiip!

The horrible memory of his dantian being torn away.

Baek Socheon squeezed his eyes shut. The instant he thought about having no internal energy in his body, an unknowable terror overwhelmed him.

"If I'd been lying here for twenty days, the Alliance Leader must have come by for nothing every time."

"......"

"How many times did the Alliance Leader come and go while I was unconscious?"

"The Alliance Leader hasn't come yet."

"......!"

"The Alliance Leader must have told everyone to focus on treating you. The Alliance Leader is busy as well."

Splash!

Ban Yunsaeng submerged Baek Socheon in the liquid again. Then Ban Yunsaeng mixed in another medicine.

Bubbles rose with a gurgle. The method was now racing toward its final stage.

Ban Yunsaeng stood before the tub, looking at Baek Socheon.

Amid the bubbles, Baek Socheon was sinking once more.

Was he dreaming? Baek Socheon seemed to frown.

Ban Yunsaeng silently urged him on.

'Come on! Stay strong!'

Footnotes:

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