WeTried Translations

Translator/Editor: Haruto

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◈ The Martial Alliance Rulebook Archives ◈

Chapter 62: Each One's Shadow (3)

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Samadhi.

When a martial artist heard this word, the first concept that would undoubtedly come to mind was Samadhi True Fire.

Flames kindled through profound internal energy. Rather than oil or pitch, this fire was created by burning internal energy itself, and it was regarded as a symbol of a master.

But in truth, the word “samadhi” in Samadhi True Fire did not originate in martial arts.

‘Was it related to Buddhism?’

It referred to a state in which the mind was gathered into one and reached its utmost point. It was a word connected to the Buddhist principle All Is Created by the Mind, the idea that everything depends on the mind.

If something named Samadhi was the Director of the Records Office, could the Director be a figure from the Buddhist faith?

‘Wait. Come to think of it, they said the Director could even smooth over Shaolin’s complaints, didn’t they?’

Shaolin Temple would not yield simply because someone possessed superior martial arts and great seniority.

But what if the Director was not merely a powerful master, but an elder of the same Buddhist faith? Then it would only be natural for Shaolin to show respect.

The Director’s identity had remained impossible to discern until now. Yet before me lay a passage that might lead to a clue.

I steadied my racing heart, filled with anticipation and a little fear, then turned the page.

『Samadhi has no form.』

The sentence left me utterly bewildered.

“Um, didn’t this booklet say that everyone who helps people escape the underground is human?”

As the Green Rain Secret Keeper nodded, I voiced the question that had come to mind.

“I can accept that the Multicolored Venerable is simply someone who likes dressing strangely, and that the Blood-Scaled Fishman is just an eccentric person who once lived by the sea. But what exactly is this Samadhi?”

It did not even have a physical form. Shouldn’t that make it a ghost?

“Human Ghost contains the character for human too, doesn’t it?”

“Pardon?”

The Green Rain Secret Keeper chuckled and shook her head.

“When the survival rules refer to people, it means they are the opposite of the Anomalies encountered underground. We cannot be certain whether they truly possess blood and flesh like us.”

I said nothing more and quietly closed my mouth.

‘Though the Eccentric Physician does seem like the sort who either would not bleed a drop when stabbed or would bleed something other than blood, he is still a martial artist...’

As for Jade Scale, I had personally seen her draw blood and write with it.

In truth, the only person whose blood and flesh, in other words, whose essence I had not confirmed with my own eyes was the Director of the Records Office.

“Samadhi is the same. Our communication with Samadhi takes place through sound alone.”

Through sound alone?

My gaze returned to the rulebook.

『As you recite a Buddhist scripture, you will hear a question. But it will not come just because you have recited it a few times. You must recite it until that single passage is all that remains in your mind.

Until you can forget the coldness of a corpse touching your bare back beneath your clothes, or the voices of dead family and friends whispering in your ears.

Recite with such desperation and earnestness that every phenomenon you can sense through your five senses vanishes from your mind, leaving only the scripture.

Only then will the question come.

I asked those who escaped from the Colorless Layer. The question does not seem to change. None of them remembered it clearly enough for me to record the exact wording, but the meaning was always similar.

‘Where do you come from, and where are you going?’

Do not think of lying. Honestly state where you came from.

One fellow did not want to say he had come as a thief of the Hao Clan, so he named the place where he was born. He survived as well, but I would not want to gamble with my life in such a situation.

Answer the next question honestly as well. What did you intend to do once you got out?

There were people who did not reveal the whole truth here either. Bold gentlemen who hid their true intention of selling the Martial Alliance’s secrets and babbled about wanting to drink with women instead.

Those people survived too. As long as it is not a lie, Samadhi may graciously spare you regardless of your answer.

Still, I will say it again. I do not recommend gambling with your life for no reason.

You have already lost a gamble and been pushed underground. If you lose again, there will be no next time.

If Samadhi likes your answers, it will feel as though some enormous force is pulling you upward.

Do not bother opening your eyes. Nothing but the shadow of the Anomaly lurking in the Colorless Layer will cover your eyelids, for Samadhi has no form anywhere.

Pass out without worrying. Martial Alliance members on their morning patrol will wake you in a corner by the Martial Alliance’s outer wall.

Make an excuse about having drunk yourself senseless the night before, return to the Hao Clan, and tell them what you saw, heard, and experienced.

The pay will not be much, but it is better than nothing.』

The moment I read that last passage, I cried out.

“Wait!”

“Young Hero, why are you so shocked?”

“Surely the Calamity-Averting and Disaster-Escaping Office pays people who make it back alive from underground?”

The Green Rain Secret Keeper nodded, looking as though she could not understand why I was asking.

“Of course. They endured such hardship, then willingly shared their experiences for the sake of other gentlemen. Shouldn’t the sect properly show its sincerity?”

My world collapsed.

The Black Lotus Society had divided its Anomaly department into three, seeking greater efficiency through a division of labor in which each department handled work suited to its strengths.

What about the Hao Clan’s Calamity-Averting and Disaster-Escaping Office, an organization far smaller than either the Black Lotus Society or the Martial Alliance?

It could not operate multiple departments like the Black Lotus Society due to the sect’s limitations, but it did run a performance bonus system to improve its members’ morale and efficiency.

And the Martial Alliance Anomaly Records Office?

No bonuses. No division of labor.

Neither a sect between the paths nor an unorthodox sect, but the very embodiment of the orthodox martial world, the Martial Alliance treated people the worst.

“How could this be...!”

Deep in my heart, I understood why martial arts novels had people shouting, “You hypocrites of the orthodox sects!”

The shadow cast by the Martial Alliance’s glorious name was this deep.

The Green Rain Secret Keeper seemed to take my sigh for admiration of the Hao Clan’s system. A faint smile touched her lips as she nodded.

“We give proper rewards for dedication. We cannot bind everyone with strength like the Black Lotus Society, nor can we champion a grand cause for all like the Martial Alliance, but we are thorough in keeping our promises about money.”

I nodded several times. For a sect said to stand between the Orthodox Path and Unorthodox Path, the Hao Clan seemed remarkably trustworthy.

* * *

That concluded the conversation at the Hao Clan.

After I finished reading the rulebook, the Green Rain Secret Keeper bade me farewell and told me to visit Green Rain Traveller’s Inn if I ever needed the Calamity-Averting and Disaster-Escaping Office’s help.

She added that, if the matter was unrelated to Jaksu, I would have to pay an appropriate price from now on.

“Cheonmyeong. What did you think of that book?”

[Have you had an unsettling experience like that? At the Formation Array Research Department you went to, I mean.]

An ordinary spoken voice and voice transmission overlapped. It was quite a wondrous technique.

As I considered asking him to teach it to me someday, I shook my head.

“No. I’ve never been trapped underground. Still, I do have a few suspicions. I can only be grateful to have been given guidance on what to do in such a situation.”

There were several things I wanted to return to the Anomaly Records Office and ask about at once.

The matter involving the Murong Clan was one thing, but there was an especially troubling passage at the end of the Martial Alliance Underground Survival Rules.

It came after the instructions for the Colorless Layer. It described what happened when no one was encountered in the Color Layer, yet someone escaped by climbing the stairs.

『You will arrive in a room filled with countless books. If books and brushes are moving by themselves without being held in anyone’s hand, rest easy.』

Naturally, this described the Anomaly Records Office’s records room. The idea that one could safely continue up the stairs, get lost, then be “safely” thrown into a dungeon by an officer from the Martial Alliance Enforcement Department was somewhat amusing.

But the chilling passage came next.

『If the books and brushes are quietly sitting in their places, and you cannot sense anyone’s presence, immediately run through any passage to the east, west, south, or north. Flee deeper into the room and lock the door.』

Jade Scale had given me similar advice once.

But it raised a question.

Why was leaving the room not allowed in that situation?

Jade Scale had also instructed me to hide and wait until someone else came looking after a certain time had passed. Escaping up the stairs had never been an option from the start.

‘In an unusual situation, do the Anomaly Records Office stairs connect somewhere other than the Rites Department Preservation Archive?’

There was only one way to get an answer immediately. I had to go to the Anomaly Records Office and ask my seniors.

I told Jaksu that we would meet again sometime, then turned toward the Martial Alliance.

Showing up at work while on leave felt a little awkward.

* * *

“Oh, Brother Peng?”

There was a face at the Anomaly Records Office that I had not seen in some time. Peng Juhyeok greeted me with a cheerful smile.

“Brother Yeok! It has been a while.”

“Have you been well?”

“Shouldn’t I be asking you that, Brother Yeok? From the Life-and-Death Gambler to the Many-Eyed Court, I hear the heterodox evildoers of the Black Lotus Society are after you.”

It was bitter, but I could only nod. Peng Juhyeok chuckled and said that although he had gone out to investigate Human-grade Anomalies a few times, he had not suffered any serious injuries.

“By the way, what brings you here? It should be your day off.”

I hesitated for a moment. The question I wanted to ask could only be answered by those who had served at the Records Office for quite a long time.

People like those described in the Hao Clan’s underground survival rules. Peng Juhyeok was my direct senior, but he likely did not have experience comparable to theirs.

Just as I was about to give a vague answer, I remembered a topic perfectly suited to ask Peng Juhyeok about.

The false young master of the Murong Clan.

Peng Juhyeok himself treated his own standing as insignificant, saying he was only from a minor collateral branch, but he was also a member of one of the Five Great Clans.

I began the story with the phrase, “He may be entangled with a rather dangerous Anomaly.”

Sure enough, Peng Juhyeok’s eyes lit up when he heard the first sentence.

“What could be so dangerous?”

“...An Anomaly may have infiltrated one of the Five Great Clans. I think it is similar to the Sword Maiden Ghost, an Anomaly that works its way into a family.”

I began explaining, adding the name of an Anomaly I had seen in an earlier report.

But Peng Juhyeok’s expression after hearing my whole story was a little...

Strange.

“Hmm, you see.”

Was it disappointment? Bewilderment? It could be read either way, but the enthusiasm he had shown at first was gone.

“You saw that third young master of the Murong Clan yourself, correct?”

“Yes.”

“And your nose detected no scent from him.”

“Pardon...?”

Peng Juhyeok questioned this, saying that even if Murong Sung himself was not an Anomaly, living in the same household as one would have left some of its scent on him.

Which meant that if I had smelled nothing at all...

“Could that mysterious young master not be an Anomaly at all, but entirely human?”

“What?”

When I stared at him in disbelief, Peng Juhyeok gave the example of the Soul-Reaving Demon, the grave robber who sought the Heavenly Martial Physique.

“What if an elder master of the Murong Clan lamented the talents of his grandchildren and transplanted his own brain into the body of a child from a collateral branch? Thinking there was no one fit to lead the clan, he borrowed the Soul-Reaving Demon’s hand and chose to become one of the next generation’s rising young talents himself.”

He added, “In that case, it would explain why you could not sense even the slightest Anomaly scent from Murong Sung.”

Listening to Peng Juhyeok’s conspiracy theory, I let out a disbelieving laugh.

“No. Surely one of the Five Great Clans, a pillar of the orthodox sects, would not do that.”

A brief silence followed.

Peng Juhyeok smiled awkwardly.

Unlike his usual cheerful tone, he whispered in a noticeably subdued voice.

“...It has happened before.”

Author’s Note

“From where does life come, and to where does death go?” A Goryeo-era Seon poem, “Floating Cloud.”

Footnotes:

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