WeTried Translations
Translator/Editor: Chen
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◈ The Martial Genius who Remembers Everything ◈
Chapter 112: Black Path Night Walk (2)
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Four Emperors Association.
There was no central authority in the Black Path martial world, but if one had to name its representative sects, this enormous sect would always be among them.
The Four Emperors Association had been enjoying a period of rest because of the Martial Arts Academy regular examination. Naturally, they did not welcome us after we smashed through their gates.
Ding. Ding. Ding. Ding. Ding. Ding. Ding. Ding.
Though the bell had only just rung, hundreds of Black Path martial artists were already charging toward the main training ground in perfect formation, swords drawn.
Clang. Clang. Clang. Clang. Clang. Clang. Clang. Clang.
Hundreds of swords tightly encircled every member of our group, forming a veritable forest of blades.
And our group?
“Pant, pant, pant, pant, pant.”
“Gasp, gasp, gasp, gasp, gasp, gasp.”
“Huff, huff, huff, huff, huff.”
Yet none of us paid them any mind. We had collapsed to the ground, desperately trying to catch our breath.
The warriors who had sworn they could not abandon the person they served to a Black Path sect had not even managed to draw their swords. They were far too busy trying to breathe.
“You bastards dared set foot in this place?”
The hundreds of martial artists parted to either side, and a massive man clad in black armor stepped forward.
“Did you think the regular examination would preserve your lives?”
Shing.
A greatsword slid free from his waist.
Only then did the group come to their senses. Their faces turned pale as they looked at the Black Path martial artists surrounding them.
“You fools. You could have simply given up the examination, but you refused. What are you waiting for? Cut off their heads and throw them outside the gates.”
“Yes!!!”
A thunderous roar shook the air, and suffocating killing intent erupted from every direction.
“W-Wait! Pant, pant. Please wait a moment.”
I carefully lowered Namgung Seonhwa from my arms.
“You dare enter the Four Emperors Association as you please, then think you can leave as you please?”
“That’s not it!”
“If you’re trying to waste time, I’ll cut off your hands and feet and throw you into a pigpen.”
Black qi took form above the man’s greatsword, rippling like dark flames.
“All right! Go ahead, then. But wait! Just give me a moment. Only a moment...”
I quickly reached into my robe.
Tap. Tap. Tap. Tap. Tap.
Five swords shot toward my throat.
“I-I’m just taking something out.”
“Let him.”
I slowly withdrew my hand and showed the item in my palm to the large man.
Beginning with him, those standing nearby opened their eyes wide one after another.
“H-How? How could a mere White Path brat dare...”
Something seemed to be running down my back. Namgung Seonhwa shouted behind me.
“Young Master Jin! You’re bleeding!”
Ah, it was blood. I thought it was sweat.
No wonder my head felt so dizzy. I gathered myself and spoke.
“I wish to see the Lord of the Four Emperors Association. I am Jin Sowoon of the Taeul Sect.”
“Jin Sowoon?”
“The Taeul Sect?”
“Isn’t he that Black Flame Dragon?”
“Oh? So that brat is the Black Flame Dragon, the Black Path Divine Star?”
Yes, your Black Flame Dragon.
I cursed them viciously in my head and closed my eyes.
#
“Oh, how fascinating.”
White-Handed Divine Sword Hyeok Mugang exclaimed while touching the skin of the grotesque corpse.
“Hmm... There should have been more corpses here. These wounds were inflicted after death, weren’t they?”
Jegal Somyeong, who had examined the corpse first, nodded.
“Someone must have taken them away to inspect them on the way to the Alliance.”
“Hmm... Do you believe it was the Elders’ Council?”
“Who else could it have been? In any case, they are not what matters.”
“So the procedure that turned its body into this... belongs to the Demonic Cult?”
“Yes. The report was delayed because I had to search through the records in the deepest part of the Profound Mystery Pavilion.”
Jegal Somyeong did not mention that work at the Mantong Office had temporarily stopped while they searched the Profound Mystery Pavilion.
“...”
Hyeok Mugang closed their eyes and slowly stroked their long white beard.
“But wasn’t the Heavenly God Cult, which emerged in Tianshan a century ago, completely wiped out?”
A century earlier, the Heavenly God Cult had appeared in Tianshan, claiming to be descendants of the Demonic Cult. Every last one had been killed by the Azure Heaven Great Emperor, the Martial Alliance Leader of that era.
“They were not at this level.”
“They were also said to have created a hundred Iron Zombies.”
“This procedure is different.”
“It first forces them to master a bizarre martial art that combines concealment arts and swordsmanship to the Peak Realm. Then those Peak Realm masters undergo the absurd procedure known as the Fluid Bone Sword, turning them into monsters.”
It was a horrifying procedure that required at least thirty Peak Realm masters to create a single monster.
“The reports say that at least twenty such monsters were seen moving among people.”
“...”
Even Hyeok Mugang fell silent at those impossible odds and numbers.
“...A sect capable of sacrificing at least six hundred Peak Realm masters...”
“Does not exist within the martial world of the Central Plains.”
Peak Realm was said to be the highest level an ordinary martial artist could reach, but that was only possible after devoting one’s entire life to training with the right backing. The thought of an organization able to sacrifice three hundred such masters was horrifying enough.
“Whatever the case, the procedure’s effectiveness was undeniable. If not for this corpse, we would never have been able to trace them.”
The thought of Peak Realm masters blending into the darkness and launching attacks was enough to send cold sweat down one’s back.
“Phew... I don’t know.”
Hyeok Mugang’s reaction was only natural. Even someone who surveyed the martial world as though it lay in the palm of their hand did not know what had to be done now.
“Let us begin by establishing a hypothetical enemy.”
“...Will the Elders’ Council understand this?”
“...That is why we should keep this information among ourselves for now. Fortunately, they do not appear to have acted since the Puyang Plains.”
“Come to think of it, there has been no word from the Kunlun Sect.”
The Demonic Cult of the past had been located in Tianshan.
The Kunlun Sect had been the first line of defense against the Demonic Cult and served as the White Path sects’ scouts.
Jegal Somyeong pursed their lips.
“They must be too busy with the examination to pay attention.”
This examination round had seen more incidents than any before it.
“So that is why the Elders’ Council has been so quiet.”
“...?”
“Was it Jin Sowoon of the Taeul Sect?”
“!!”
Jegal Somyeong’s eyes snapped wide open.
The Nine Sects One Gang and Five Great Clans had grown more powerful than ever, making it impossible to select a Martial Alliance Leader from either side.
In the end, they had chosen White-Handed Divine Sword Hyeok Mugang, someone without a faction who was powerful alone. Yet at some point, Hyeok Mugang seemed to have built an intelligence network of their own.
“It is only for the sake of fulfilling my duties as Alliance Leader. If the Grand Strategist wishes, I can show them to you.”
Jegal Somyeong considered it briefly, then shook their head.
Was there any point in White-Handed Divine Sword Hyeok Mugang building a faction in the first place?
What use were followers to someone capable of facing every elder of the Nine Sects One Gang and Five Great Clans alone?
“It is fine. I apologize for not preparing them first.”
“Ha ha. Still, you must be disappointed. I heard you had your eye on that child, Jin Sowoon.”
Jegal Somyeong clicked their tongue at Hyeok Mugang’s words. If not for the Elders’ Council’s interference, they might have recruited their first Martial Arts Academy graduate into the Mantong Office.
“There is nothing to be done. He will come to fulfill his mandatory service anyway. I plan to give him a position then.”
“How about this? I will bring him to the Alliance Leader’s Hall first. Then, when the time is right, I will hand him over to the Mantong Office.”
Jegal Somyeong looked at Hyeok Mugang with the eyes of someone who trusted no one in the world.
“What are you saying when you know how busy the Mantong Office is?!”
“Ah, no, I only meant until he enters the Mantong Office...”
“If I had intended to do that, I would have brought him in long ago. Do you think I lack ways to recruit him? It is all because of politics. Politics!”
“...Ahem. I apologize, Grand Strategist. My greed got the better of me.”
“Do not say such things again. I claimed him first, and I will not let anyone take him from me.”
The Alliance Leader’s Hall had stolen more talents meant for the Mantong Office than anywhere else.
Seeing them try to steal even someone they would only use as a scholar, the Alliance Leader’s love of talent had gone too far.
If that was the case, they might as well establish a sect.
Though Jegal Somyeong had offered several times to help establish one, Hyeok Mugang had always refused. That made their greed for talented people even harder to understand.
As if I would let them take him again.
Determined not to lose him this time, Jegal Somyeong headed for the Mantong Office. Then they saw someone sprinting toward the Alliance Leader’s Hall in a panic and clicked their tongue.
“Tsk. What on earth is inside that fool’s head?”
Then they shouted at Maeng Juwon.
“You fool! Do you not know where you are, running around like that?!”
“Grand Strategist, s-something terrible has happened.”
Yet when Jegal Somyeong saw Maeng Juwon’s frantic, vacant expression, their heart dropped. Maeng Juwon was usually so relaxed that the fear struck even harder.
“Could it be that the Heavenly Demon has already...”
“Our Sowoon has been thrown into the Four Emperors Association by the vicious scheme of the Nine Sects One Gang!”
“...”
“Oh, no. Oh, no. Sowoon will never get married now. Oh, no. Oh, no.”
Watching Maeng Juwon wail as though they had lost their parents, Jegal Somyeong quietly rolled up their sleeves.
#
“They say a beating is the best cure for a madman.”
At Seong Moran’s words, everyone naturally looked toward the unconscious Jin Sowoon.
“He has to wake up before we can give him either a beating or a reward.”
Thanks to the Lord’s Token Jin Sowoon had produced as soon as they entered, they had kept their lives for now. Still, their situation was far from good.
Setting aside why Jin Sowoon possessed the Lord’s Token, he had not awakened. They had not even seen the Lord of the Four Emperors Association and had all been locked in one room under the watch of two thousand Black Path martial artists.
What drove them further into despair were the words of the physician who had treated Jin Sowoon before leaving.
“He is already a dead man. Do not wait for him. Find a way for yourselves to survive. To think he overworked his body so badly... Tsk, tsk.”
The Geum-Eun-Dong brothers, along with Namgung Seonhwa, could not pull themselves together.
They had followed Jin Sowoon after hearing him say this was their last chance, but with Jin Sowoon still unconscious, every plan had fallen apart.
Bang.
The door opened, and more than ten Black Path martial artists entered the room.
They all wore black armor, the symbol of the Four Emperors Association.
A massive man entered behind them.
“Has he still not awakened?”
His manner was unpleasant enough to provoke complaints, but no one in Jin Sowoon’s group dared step forward.
Colossal Tyrant Hwang Busik.
The fourth-ranking expert of the Four Emperors Association and one of the Black Path martial world’s foremost masters.
The tale of thirty first-rate martial artists from the Mount Cang Sect picking a fight with him and all ending up as corpses was enough to prove his strength.
“Only two days have passed.”
“If he has not awakened after two days, he is no different from a dead man. Besides, do you think we have the leisure to calmly treat him in such urgent times?”
Seong Moran could not restrain the anger rising within her.
“We are the people who brought the Lord’s Token. Show us at least the minimum courtesy.”
Hwang Busik sneered.
“The one who brought the Lord’s Token was Jin Sowoon, the Black Flame Dragon. As long as he remains unconscious, the Lord’s Token is no longer of any use.”
“Please let us meet the Lord. I know what he intended.”
The last trace of amusement vanished from Hwang Busik’s face.
“Hey, brat. Do you think the Lord of the Four Emperors Association is someone a brat like you can meet?”
“...”
“Outside, disciples of the Nine Sects One Gang are demanding that we hand over Jin Sowoon’s group. The Black Path martial world does not interfere with the Martial Alliance’s affairs in the first place. We have already given you two days. The Lord’s Token has already exhausted its protection.”
“How can this be...”
Why had they risked their lives to come here? In the end, they had even placed the life of the person they had relied on most in danger.
Seong Moran could not lift her head.
“Pack your things and leave. At the very least, we will see to the Black Flame Dragon’s treatment.”
“...”
“Leave the Four Emperors Association before the sun sets today.”
Whether Seong Moran and the others looked despondent or not, Hwang Busik turned without hesitation and headed outside.
“...Is the Four Emperors Association afraid of the disciples of the Nine Sects One Gang?”
“!!!”
Hwang Busik stopped cold. Terrifying energy burst from his body.
“How dare some brat...”
Regardless of Hwang Busik’s aura, everyone turned toward the place where they had been watching that madman.
“Young Master Jin!!!”
“Young Master Jin!!!”
“Senior Brother!”
Jin Sowoon was standing there, swaying dangerously as he forced himself upright.
“Hmph! Black Flame Dragon. So you finally awakened?”
“Fortunately, it has not been more than two days. Will you take me to the person who gave me that damned epithet? Tell them Jin Sowoon has come to collect a debt.”
Footnotes:
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