WeTried Translations

Translator/Editor: Haruto

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◈ The Martial Alliance Rulebook Archives ◈

Chapter 17: Autopsy (2)

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‘The Nine Yin White Bone Claw I saw in the novel had a sinister air to it, but it wasn't such a full-fledged ice art...’

Martial arts varied according to their creator's imagination. How many reinterpretations had there been under the name Heavenly Demon Divine Art alone?

Perhaps the Nine Yin White Bone Claw took this form in this world. I examined the corpse more closely.

“Is it conical?”

I analyzed the traces of the puncture wound in the head again.

If a human finger had pierced straight through, the remaining wound would be closer to a cylindrical tunnel, with barely any variation in width.

But the marks here were different. The hole widened toward the outside and narrowed inward. It was a cone rather than a cylinder.

“Come to think of it, the cerebrospinal fluid and blood had frozen without flowing...”

That meant something cold enough to shatter bone had come into direct contact with the brain.

Had the killer used ice qi like a glove around their fingers?

I imagined the killer's blue-glowing hand. Long claws of ice extending from it, as though imitating an animal's talons.

They could be described as icicles beginning at the fingers. They pierced the head in one blow while spreading cold throughout it.

It was a lethal method. Even if someone avoided a fatal wound by not taking the attack head-on, once cold qi invaded the brain, it would only take an instant for them to become crippled.

I took out my notebook and wrote down my deductions so far. In battle, the killer likely concentrated cold qi at their fingertips to create an icicle-like weapon.

“Brother Yeok!”

Peng Juhyeok called out to me.

“What is it?”

“Jade Scale sent a reply. She says there's a rulebook for someone like that.”

“Let's see it!”

I snatched the booklet from Peng Juhyeok. Its previously blank first page was already densely filled with writing, and letters were appearing on the next page in real time.

『Response Rulebook for Soul-Piercing Demon Hand Cheong Baekgo』

“Hmm, but there's a problem.”

“What problem?”

“That demonic villain Cheong Baekgo was captured and killed by a Martial Alliance subjugation force long ago.”

Cheong Baekgo was not someone who could be causing a bloodbath here now. It wasn't surprising. The Martial Alliance worked tirelessly to maintain peace in the martial world, and eradicating demonic practitioners was at the forefront of that duty.

Wasn't the reason I had joined the Anomaly Records Office because I had been trapped by Soul-Severing Mountain Villa during an operation to subjugate demonic practitioners?

“I expected that.”

“What?”

“We just saw signs of a corpse kicking its way out of a grave, didn't we?”

“That we did...”

If the killer responsible for the bloodbath in Azurewater Village was truly Muun, a woman resurrected from death, there would be no rulebook on her in the Anomaly Records Office.

According to the government office's investigation records, Muun had been born in Azurewater Village and spent her entire life there.

“Tsk. Then isn't this rulebook useless?”

“No. Soul-Piercing Demon Hand used martial arts similar to the current killer's methods, so isn't that why Jade Scale sent it as reference material? It should also be useful as a model for the rulebook we'll write.”

That was what I said, but my instinct pointed to something else.

Perhaps Soul-Piercing Demon Hand's claw technique and Muun's were not merely similar martial arts.

* * *

Just as expected.

The Soul-Piercing Demon Hand response rulebook contained several passages that seemed to describe the current situation.

『Act differently according to the condition of the corpse you have witnessed.

One. If the corpse's temperature is similar to its surroundings and blood is flowing from its head.

Leave the scene as quickly as possible, then proceed to a Martial Alliance branch and report it.

It is all right if the responsible Martial Alliance member does not understand your report. The Anomaly Records Office will provide you with appropriate compensation.

Two. If the corpse's temperature is markedly lower than its surroundings, and there is a puncture wound in the head but no bleeding.

Hold your breath and conceal your presence. It is even better if you can hide your vitality with a technique such as the Breath-Hiding Grand Method.

Under no circumstances should you light a fire to drive away the cold. If you have an item such as a Cold-Repelling Pearl, discard it. Soul-Piercing Demon Hand tracks people by temperature.

Three. If the frozen corpse moves.

My condolences.

Exercise your right as a martial artist.』

The passage describing the victim's corpse was far too similar to the current situation.

It was difficult to explain with some sort of convergent-evolution logic, where two claw techniques that were both demonic arts had simply produced similar results.

Not every demonic art handled yin-cold qi. A demonic art that used blood as a sacrifice could possess a powerful yang nature because of blood's warmth while still remaining wicked.

Soul-Piercing Demon Hand's claw technique and Muun's claw technique had to be the same martial art.

Peng Juhyeok's expression hardened as he read the booklet with me.

“This really is... strange. How could the martial art of a demonic villain from a generation ago resemble so closely the martial art of someone who has just risen from a grave?”

I thought I knew the answer.

There had to be something that taught martial arts.

An unidentified Anomaly that sowed demonic arts throughout this world.

As the White-Robed Miracle Physician had subtly told me, Heavenly-grade Anomalies affected the entire world.

Something that revived those who died with resentment as Anomalies.

Something that made them spread the seeds of the Demonic Path.

I became certain that the current situation was the shadow of a Heavenly-grade Anomaly.

There was no evidence strong enough to state this as fact. Still, something like a sixth sense that extended beyond the five senses, a sense that could smell the scent of Anomalies, whispered that my instinct was right.

“Brother Peng.”

“Hmm?”

“Do you know about Heavenly-grade Anomalies?”

I posed the question to Peng Juhyeok to confirm my deduction. The Peng Clan might be famous for their simplicity, but that did not mean they were stupid.

Stupid people couldn't master supreme martial arts in the first place. They were simply direct in temperament and quick to reach conclusions, closer to what people called simple-minded and blunt.

If I put it like this, he should understand at once.

“A Heavenly-grade Anomaly...”

Unexpectedly, Peng Juhyeok trailed off. I had expected a reaction like, “So that's what happened!” followed by an explanation that some Heavenly-grade Anomalies could perform strange feats that reversed life and death.

“I saw one once, when I went to the Hainan Sect.”

“...You encountered one in person?!”

I asked in shock. Even an Earth-grade Anomaly seemed capable of competing with a Peak realm martial artist, so I had assumed a Heavenly-grade Anomaly was at least at the Transformation Realm.

Yet Peng Juhyeok had encountered one and lived. Didn't that mean that, even if he had not killed it, he had at least succeeded in driving it away?

As if he had read my expression, Peng Juhyeok shook his head.

“I don't mean I defeated it in a fight. That thing... I don't even know whether fighting it is possible. The only time I personally encountered a Heavenly-grade Anomaly was that day when I went toward the end of the sea.”

The more I heard, the more confused I became. I had not spent much time with Peng Juhyeok, but it was easy enough to see that he was the sort of person with a martial artist's competitive spirit.

He also had a side that was a little too extreme to call mere chivalry. Otherwise, he would never have expressed admiration after seeing a master of the Jeomchang Sect commit serial murder by gouging out bandits' eyes.

A Peak realm master who possessed too much of the two qualities an orthodox martial artist needed, competitive spirit and chivalry, was afraid of an Anomaly, saying he did not know if a fight against it was even possible.

And he had still returned alive after facing it.

I wanted to ask whether his survival was due to his abilities as a martial artist or the Anomaly's whim. But Peng Juhyeok's dark expression seemed to forbid any further questions.

“...Uh. But what does the current situation have to do with a Heavenly-grade Anomaly?”

He asked with an uncomfortable expression. It seemed that simply recalling his encounter with a Heavenly-grade Anomaly had drained a considerable amount of his mental strength.

“Ah. I thought something that taught Soul-Piercing Demon Hand the claw technique might have pulled Muun from her grave and taught her the same claw technique. If something can do that, wouldn't it be classified as a Heavenly-grade Anomaly?”

Peng Juhyeok opened his mouth in shock, as though the thought had never occurred to him. Then he cried out.

“That... makes sense!”

“Then do you have any idea what kind of Anomaly gave Muun a demonic art and revived her?”

“I don't know that much. One thing is certain, though. Even if it's not a Heavenly-grade Anomaly, it is possible to revive people in distorted forms.”

Peng Juhyeok told me about a criminal from the Jinju Eon Clan whom the clan had put on its wanted list. That person had committed strange acts using jiangshi arts.

They sought out martial artists who had ambition but lacked martial talent, tempting them with promises to perform a grand technique that would give them better bodies or return them to a younger age, reducing the turbid qi in their acupoints.

The true nature of that grand technique was a kind of organ transplant.

That mad Eon Clan bastard had repeatedly experimented with removing the brains and hearts of martial artists and transplanting them into children.

“I heard the ultimate goal was to seize the body of someone with a Heavenly Martial Physique.”

“No, wasn't the Eon Clan still considered somewhere between orthodox and unorthodox, if not an orthodox sect outright?”

“That's why they declared that person a public enemy and put them on the Martial Alliance wanted posters. It was a decision they couldn't have made if they cared only about their clan's reputation.”

As I listened to Peng Juhyeok describe all the unforgivable atrocities committed by demonic practitioners, I finished examining the corpses remaining in Azurewater Village.

“As expected, I think it's safe to say the current killer's methods are virtually identical to Soul-Piercing Demon Hand's.”

“Then what will you do now?”

“Let's follow the precedent of the Soul-Piercing Demon Hand rulebook.”

“Exercise a martial artist's right?”

Peng Juhyeok asked whether I intended to track down the resurrected Muun. I shook my head in alarm.

“No, we don't have any clues right now. I meant I would return to the Martial Alliance and report this.”

“I see...”

There was a strange note of disappointment in the words he spoke with a click of his tongue.

Honestly, Peng Juhyeok standing before me was a little more chilling than Muun, who was nowhere in sight.

Footnotes:

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