WeTried Translations
Translator/Editor: Haruto
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◈ The Martial Alliance Rulebook Archives ◈
Chapter 4: Soul-Severing Mountain Villa (4)
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Feeling the emptiness of my energy core, I drew up my internal energy.
Naturally, there was no response.
It was like searching for water at the bottom of a dried-up well. No matter how much I scraped at the earth, no water would emerge.
Ordinarily, that was how it worked.
But if one surpassed the limits imposed by martial arts, digging beyond the bottom of the well and delving so deeply that one overturned the ground around it, moisture would eventually gather.
It was not proper well water. It was closer to the blood that flowed from crushed hands and feet.
A single drop of moisture obtained by burning away one's life. That was the only weapon I could use now.
My control over internal energy, forced beyond its limits, wrung every acupoint in my body. The fine meridians throughout my body twisted, vomiting up essence blood that should never have surfaced.
It was a sign that the frame of my Essence had collapsed. Every drop of blood bursting forth from my marrow was infused with Innate True Qi.
Following the principle that all things which flourish must decline, I forcibly drew out the Innate True Qi that should have naturally flourished and naturally faded.
Pain so sharp that even a scream could not escape swept over me.
Heat rapidly spread through my body. Tiny blood vessels burst, staining my vision red. Within that blurred sight, everything seemed to move more slowly.
My body, having accepted more qi than it could normally bear, surpassed its original limits.
I looked at the shadow again. It slowly took the opening stance of Crouching Tiger Fist and aimed both hands at me like blades.
That was it.
I had drawn up True Origin Qi, but I had no way to use it effectively.
Most martial arts I had trained in up to Second-rate involved handling weapons. At best, movement arts and footwork were the only martial arts I could use comfortably while unarmed.
I only knew proper unarmed techniques such as Crouching Tiger Fist in theory.
But right before me was the perfect teaching aid for using my body to its fullest.
I copied the shadow's movements, like a shadow following another shadow.
The shadow and I came to resemble each other as though reflected in a mirror. I could see its every movement. The pulse of muscles tightening and relaxing foretold its next motion.
Krrr-haaang─!
A roar truly like a tiger's erupted. I had no time to tell whether it was my voice or the shadow's.
I was copying every movement of its body, down to every strand of muscle.
My left hand took the shape of a claw, sharp as a beast's talon. My right hand formed a tightly clenched fist.
I drove the muscles in both legs to their limit and charged. Though we stood at opposite ends of the room, we collided in less than a breath.
In this fierce technique that shot forward in a straight line, my left hand had only one role.
It would clear a path for my right straight punch. A shield sacrificed to break through the opponent's counterattack and defense.
Two red hands tangled together. The shadow's hands had been red from the beginning, while mine were stained with blood.
I ignored the pain burning through my shoulder like a brand. The agony of burning essence blood was too overwhelming for any other pain to intrude.
Our left hands collided as we tried to sweep aside each other's defenses.
For the first time, my attack overwhelmed its attack. The refinement of our techniques was identical. No, perhaps the shadow's technique was still more precise.
But the power behind it, the momentum, was different.
This time, my victory came from burning my life.
The shadow's balance faltered as its left arm was knocked aside. I drove forward the fist in my right hand. It was clearly the same strike the shadow had intended to deliver.
It thrust out its right arm a moment later, but it was too late.
My straight punch pierced the shadow's chest. Crack. Its collarbone broke.
“Aaaaaah!”
With a roar, I twisted my waist. I grabbed something pounding violently in my hand and gripped it as if to crush it.
I tore apart the flesh-covered drum thudding against my fingertips.
The moment I became certain that something crucial had burst, my consciousness cut out.
* * *
“…hear me?”
My head felt foggy, like waking at dawn without having slept properly.
“Can you hear me?”
The voice sounded distant, as though my ears were full of water.
“If you can hear me, blink your eyes.”
“Where am I...?”
My voice came out cracked. My vision was still blurred. I could only vaguely tell that it was bright and warm.
A figure suddenly entered my bright field of vision. A hand rose before my eyes, seemingly checking my pupils.
“Rest easy. This is the Martial Alliance's Medical Hall. We used Wound-Healing Medicine and performed emergency acupuncture. You lost so much blood that you nearly died.”
“I can't feel my body at all... What happened?”
“Hm? There's no way you can't feel anything. Wait a moment.”
The figure before me took out something thin and long. With hands as quick as the wind, he thrust it into my left shoulder.
“Argh!”
“Ah, everything is normal!”
The sudden pain jolted me awake. My vision snapped into focus.
An old man with a beard and the bearing of an immortal stood before me. I knew who he was.
He was a famous figure in the Martial Alliance.
“The White-Robed Miracle Physician...?!”
A physician who favored white robes. It was a remarkably straightforward epithet, but not a light one. Even among the members of the Martial Alliance's Medical Hall, he was one of the foremost in seniority.
“Hoho, your eyes are opening now, are they? It's good to meet someone who knows this old man's empty reputation.”
“No, why is Byeolui personally treating me?”
I knew the White-Robed Miracle Physician, but the White-Robed Miracle Physician should not have known me.
Only if someone of squad-captain rank in the Martial Alliance came in injured might I glimpse him even once. Why would he know an ordinary White Sword Squad member?
“Because you were the only one among the White Sword Squad sent on this operation to return alive. If we're to hear what happened, we must keep you breathing first, must we not?”
“...Is that so.”
I nodded heavily. None of the White Sword Squad members had possessed the insight needed to see through Soul-Severing Mountain Villa's Eight Trigrams and escape.
Even if they had chosen to force their way into the villa, they would still have been no match for the final shadow.
“You aren't surprised.”
“I was trapped in a place called Soul-Severing Mountain Villa...”
The White-Robed Miracle Physician waved a hand.
“No, don't tell me now. You'll have to tell that story to the Anomaly Records Office anyway. If you don't want to repeat yourself, save your breath for a moment and listen to what I have to say.”
For a moment, I wondered what the White-Robed Miracle Physician could possibly have to tell me, but I soon nodded.
I was a patient. It was only natural to hear a physician's opinion.
“You ignited True Origin Qi, even with the sinews and bones of your left hand badly damaged.”
“That is correct.”
“Count yourself lucky. You're still alive thanks to your excellent control of internal energy and your paltry cultivation method.”
“Paltry?”
“Looking at the traces in the acupoints that were especially badly damaged, I saw the marks of Threefold Nurture Art, the Martial Alliance's common cultivation method. The name sounds grand, claiming to cultivate Essence, Qi, and Spirit evenly, but it is far too simple.”
The White-Robed Miracle Physician continued with a long explanation.
The cultivation method I had learned was originally an extremely simple foundational cultivation method of the Orthodox Path, so forceful operation was nearly impossible.
Thus, even when I shattered the frame of my Essence and drew up True Origin Qi, the damage inflicted on my acupoints had been minimal.
“Even though it hurt that much?”
“If your acupoints had truly been destroyed, you would already be dead.”
A few drops of Innate True Qi had flowed from tiny cracks. Because I used them with exceptional control over internal energy, the consumption of True Qi had been kept to a minimum.
As a result...
“Congratulations. You will live for one year.”
“...What?”
“It is a great fortune that a Second-rate martial artist did not die on the spot after drawing up True Origin Qi.”
It was a sudden declaration that I had only a year to live. My lips moved as I tried to say something, but I eventually let out a sigh.
I had prepared myself from the moment I used True Origin Qi, but I had not expected to be left merely “not dead.”
“Is there no other way? A complete bodily transformation, perhaps...”
The White-Robed Miracle Physician's expression turned strange. He answered in a reluctant voice.
“If you can reach the Transformation Realm within a year.”
My mouth closed on its own. Even as I thought of remaking my body, I had known it was an unreasonable hope. As expected.
“The Essence of your body has already ruptured, so I cannot fully mend the cracks. You will slowly weaken and die.”
A hollow laugh escaped me.
“It sounds like Severed Meridians.”
“Your acupoints are ruined, so I suppose it is Severed Meridians. To think someone would create artificial Severed Meridians in their own body.”
The White-Robed Miracle Physician shook his head, then whispered in a low voice.
“That concludes my opinion as a member of the Medical Hall.”
What did that mean?
“Now, I will assess your condition as a member of the Anomaly Records Office. Follow me.”
I did not even have time to ask, “You're not even giving a freshly awakened critically ill patient a cane?”
His white robe fluttered lightly. The sight of his back as he turned and walked away made it clear he would brook no questions.
I got out of bed and hurried after him. The moment he heard my footsteps, Byeolui muttered in a voice mixed with admiration and confusion.
“Goodness. You really are moving?”
“What do you mean, really? What on earth...?”
“How could someone whose Essence has been ruined move just because I inserted a few needles? A patient like you would normally waste away in bed for a full year before dying.”
Then how was I moving?
Filled with doubt, I raised both hands. My left shoulder stung, but my condition was not bad...
No, I felt lighter than before.
“I told you that I could not mend the cracks in your body, did I not? Yet you succeeded. The material you used to fill those cracks is the problem.”
Material?
A sinister feeling ran down my spine. The sensation of bursting the shadow's heart returned to my mind.
“You swallowed the essence of an Earth-grade Ding-class Anomaly, Soul-Severing Mountain Villa.”
Footnotes:
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