WeTried Translations

Translator/Editor: Chen

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◈ The Martial Genius who Remembers Everything ◈

Chapter 12: The Third-Rate Martial Artist Protecting His Sect's Honor (6)

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“What in the world is going on?”

“Y-yes. No matter how I look at it...”

“They said the Bloody Wolf of the Twin Wolf Iron Swords was supposed to be outstanding even beyond Anhui Province, but that must have been nothing but an absurd rumor.”

Though a Taeul Sect disciple was overwhelming the Iron Sword Sect’s prodigy, the crowd seemed more interested in tearing down the Iron Sword Sect than acknowledging the Taeul Sect.

Damn it.

The Taeul Sect had spent centuries unable to play even the part of a paper fox, much less a paper tiger. Changing the martial world’s perception of us would take a long time.

And to buy that time, I needed grounds strong enough to utterly shatter the Iron Sword Sect’s honor.

The martial world needed to become so convinced that whenever the Iron Sword Sect so much as lifted a finger, people would think, They’re trying to swallow the Taeul Sect like some black-path gang.

“Huff, huff. Huff.”

In that sense, things were going very well.

Seong Mohyeon had been reduced to a beggar’s state while using the humiliating Lazy Donkey Roll, and small cuts covered his body.

I, on the other hand, was spotless and uninjured. My breathing was not even labored. Anyone could see that I held the overwhelming advantage, yet Seong Mohyeon could not easily concede.

‘I wouldn’t be able to either.’

There were simply too many eyes on him.

Not only were members of the Iron Sword Sect watching, but every drinker in Anhui Province seemed to have gathered here.

Wasn’t gossip the finest drinking snack for those who loved alcohol?

If he lost today, Seong Mohyeon would carry the label of someone who could not even defeat the Taeul Sect for the rest of his life.

More than that, his belief that he could not possibly lose was likely the greatest reason he could not give up.

Judging by how the spar had unfolded, I had no sword art that could counter the Mountain-Crushing Sword Art.

He should have been able to win, but for some reason, his qi kept cutting off, and he could not circulate his internal energy properly.

“Your internal energy training seems to be lacking.”

“...Y-you bastard!”

The qi flowing from his dantian should have poured forth steadily, like a stream running through a valley. Yet the Azure Dragon Bangle kept interrupting it, preventing his forms and power from flowing together properly.

“You... What are you...?”

“What do you mean?”

“You... Could it be...?”

“Your lack of skill must be giving you distracting thoughts.”

Swish.

Slice.

At last, Seong Mohyeon’s hair was cut away by my sword.

Now looking like a disheveled beggar, Seong Mohyeon huffed furiously, as though he could not contain his rage.

“Is something wrong?”

“Huff... Huff...”

Even Seong Mohyeon seemed to have realized something by then. He switched from swordplay to a fist art instead. The moment our hands met, I activated the Azure Dragon Bangle and drained away a large amount of his qi.

“Hup!”

His eyes said he finally had proof.

Seong Mohyeon leaped back as though he had encountered a ghost.

Then he shouted toward the platform.

“S-dark arts! It’s dark arts!”

Before his words had even faded, the Iron Sword Sect martial artists and the Iron Sword Sect figures on the platform sprang to their feet.

Ignoring them, I swung my sword at Seong Mohyeon with even more vicious force.

“Eek!”

A sound that was neither a scream nor a battle cry escaped Seong Mohyeon’s mouth as he began rolling across the ground.

The wounds carved into his body grew larger, while despair and snot ran down his face.

“Stop!”

At last, the Iron Sword Sect Leader rose from his seat and shouted.

His voice, infused with abundant internal energy, thundered loudly enough to tear through every spectator’s eardrums. Those with insufficient internal energy even clutched their heads and staggered.

“Huff, huff.”

The instant Seong Mohyeon turned toward the Iron Sword Sect Leader’s shout, as though he could finally catch his breath, I unleashed the Lesser Heaven Sword Art with the intent of cutting off his neck.

“Did you think this would be the end?”

Swish.

Reassured by the Iron Sword Sect Leader’s intervention, Seong Mohyeon was caught off guard by the Lesser Heaven Sword Art rushing at him. Without even time to use his movement art, he stumbled backward in panic.

But I moved one step ahead and slashed a long wound across his back.

“Argh!”

Red blood sprayed everywhere as a wound ran from his right shoulder to his left flank.

Just as I swung my sword again, intending to cut across his back in the opposite direction, the Iron Sword Sect Leader suddenly appeared and extended his hand.

With a bang, my body flew back two zhang.

* * *

‘Something is wrong.’

That was what Seong Cheonwol, the Iron Sword Sect Leader, thought.

There were situations like that.

He could not say precisely what was wrong, yet he knew something was. Still, the matter was too important to simply stop, leaving him trapped in an uncertain situation from which he could not easily withdraw.

That was precisely where Seong Cheonwol stood now.

“The Taeul Sect’s sword art is quite sharp.”

At Jegal Somyeong’s murmured words, his doubts deepened.

The Taeul Sect’s sword was too light to break through the Iron Sword Sect’s sword.

Their sword paths differed too greatly, making the matchup unfavorable.

For the Taeul Sect’s sword to overcome the Iron Sword Sect’s sword, it needed overwhelmingly greater internal energy.

“That Taeul Sect child seems to have extensive experience in real combat.”

Jegal Somyeong’s words finally cleared away the fog. As Seong Cheonwol began objectively assessing the skill of that arrogant boy, Jin Sowoon, a shock struck him like a blow to the back of the head.

Jin Sowoon’s adaptability surpassed that of most wandering martial artists, making the same form appear to be an entirely different technique.

But by the time he realized what was wrong, it was too late.

“Argh!”

His precious Seong Mohyeon screamed and collapsed to the ground as blood sprayed everywhere.

Seong Cheonwol had no time to continue thinking.

“You bastard! Did you not hear me tell you to stop?”

The boy who had flown back two zhang was walking toward him, apparently with no intention of ending this.

“Has the outcome been decided?”

“How dare you!”

“Seong Mohyeon has not acknowledged his defeat. If he had conceded willingly, he would not have shed blood.”

Even so, was it right for blood to be spilled in a spar?

“So you believe you did nothing wrong?”

“Not only did that man refuse to acknowledge defeat, he insulted my victory by claiming I used dark arts. In the end, he even turned his back and tried to flee. If today hadn’t been the Sect Leader’s sixtieth birthday celebration, I would have cut off his neck, not his back.”

“Silence, you bastard!”

Seong Cheonwol desperately tried to bury the accusation of dark arts.

Dark arts and forbidden arts were not words to be thrown around lightly.

The problem was that his own grandson had said them.

“To begin with, this one-sided attempt to humiliate us under the guise of a spar began because the Sect Leader’s grandson insulted us without cause. Do you still believe you have done nothing wrong?”

“You bastard!”

The Iron Sword Sect Leader’s robes gradually swelled.

He tried to intimidate the boy into backing down, but Jin Sowoon showed no sign of retreating.

No, he looked as though he had found an excellent opening and began pressing in with fire in his eyes.

“The Iron Sword Sect must be such a petty sect that its leader personally steps in to ruin a match because it cannot acknowledge defeat in a fair spar. Do you understand now? The reason the Iron Sword Sect cannot enter the One Hundred Eight Peaks is because there is something wrong with the Iron Sword Sect.”

With every word Jin Sowoon spoke, the crowd’s mood slowly shifted.

The Iron Sword Sect Leader had been pushed into a position where he could neither advance nor retreat.

“It’s dark arts! It definitely is, Grandfather!”

Seong Cheonwol felt as though he wanted to sew Seong Mohyeon’s mouth shut immediately.

“...Be quiet!”

“It’s true. I felt it clearly! That bastard has definitely learned the Absorbing Star Grand Art!”

The Iron Sword Sect Leader looked at his grandson as though he could not believe he was this foolish.

During a fight, it could be dismissed as nonsense. But before so many people, he could not declare the existence of a forbidden art with such certainty.

The moment he spoke of a forbidden art, responsibility for that claim would follow.

Especially with the Martial Alliance’s Grand Strategist and members of the Namgung Clan present.

Fortunately, neither the Namgung Clan nor Jegal Somyeong made any move.

It was a moment when the enormous bribes he had given them did not feel wasted.

“Is that true?”

“How else could I have lost?”

“You...”

If Seong Mohyeon was saying this only to excuse his loss, he could never be forgiven.

Even if it meant the Iron Sword Sect’s line came to an end.

“Grandfather! I am Seong Mohyeon, the Bloody Wolf Iron Sword. Since childhood, I have never lost to anyone my age in internal energy or martial arts. Do you truly believe it makes sense for me to lose to the Taeul Sect?”

Seong Mohyeon had made his own efforts, but from childhood he had received every benefit imaginable, from Marrow Cleansing to all kinds of rare elixirs.

Even judging coldly, Seong Mohyeon should not have lost to Jin Sowoon.

“What grudge would I have to fabricate lies? During the spar, I clearly felt my qi repeatedly cut off and my internal energy drain away. I continued the spar to confirm it.”

Seong Mohyeon pleaded passionately through tears.

“Are you certain your qi was interrupted while you circulated it?”

“Of course. Not only that, at the end, I even felt the internal energy I was circulating suddenly drain away.”

With him speaking so insistently, suspicion once again turned toward Jin Sowoon.

“If what you say is not true...”

“This junior, no, this Iron Sword Sect disciple Seong Mohyeon, will gladly accept the punishment if it is not true.”

“Very well.”

Seong Cheonwol decided to place his bet on his grandson.

Perhaps tomorrow, he might be able to uproot the Taeul Sect entirely. Filled with that hope, he spoke to Jin Sowoon.

* * *

“Did you hear that? I must examine your body.”

The old man, who had hesitated because of the gravity of the matter, had finally made a misstep.

Part of him must have desperately hoped that I had learned such a forbidden art.

Then, once the Taeul Sect was gone, he could establish an Iron Sword Sect lay martial academy in its place, gain a position among the One Hundred Eight Peaks, and expand his influence around Hefei.

But I would never let him see that happen.

“By what right do you intend to do that?”

“As a martial artist who wishes for peace in the martial world, it is only natural that I do so.”

“You wish to drive my sect into a corner to this extent?”

Still, Seong Cheonwol had made a misstep.

Anyone with even a little sense would not learn the Absorbing Star Grand Art and then use it in a place filled with so many people.

That would be no different from asking to have their body dismembered.

“The Iron Sword Sect’s prestige resounds throughout Hefei, no, throughout all of Anhui Province. Yet because you cannot enter the One Hundred Eight Peaks, you wish to falsely brand a small sect like the Taeul Sect as a heterodox faction?”

“Then are you saying my grandson is lying?”

“My sect has already been tarnished by that reckless man. If I and the Taeul Sect are innocent, how will you bear the consequences?”

“...”

“In name only, we are still counted among the One Hundred Eight Peaks. May I take this as suspicion directed toward the Martial Alliance itself?”

Since the Grand Strategist was here, I might as well drag the Martial Alliance into it too.

“Silence! The longer you keep talking, the more suspicious you sound. As you said, after I confirm the matter, I’ll contact the Martial Alliance’s Enforcement Hall and have both you and the Taeul Sect held accountable.”

I grabbed the cuff of the Iron Sword Sect Leader’s trousers as he tried to pull away and yanked hard.

“I stake my honor and my sect’s honor on resisting the Iron Sword Sect’s unreasonable and senseless conduct to the very end!”

Instead of internal energy, I drew up my innate true qi.

Heat rose to my face, and my robes swelled as though they would burst, just like the Iron Sword Sect Leader’s had.

“This crazy bastard...”

Seong Cheonwol cursed, seemingly sickened by my willingness to perish together with him.

I shouted, infusing my voice with internal energy.

“Hall Lord! If I am crippled or die here, please do not let anyone so much as touch my body until the Martial Alliance’s Enforcement Hall arrives!”

“Jin Sowoon!”

Father called out to me desperately.

“Father! This unfilial son may forsake this precious body over an insult, but I do so for the Taeul Sect, which I hold as dear as my life. Please forgive me.”

Once I had made my resolve, an indescribable pressure filled the training ground and its surroundings.

Seong Cheonwol and Seong Mohyeon’s faces were crushed beneath that pressure.

As though I feared nothing, I took one step toward Seong Cheonwol.

Without realizing it, the Iron Sword Sect Leader took three steps back.

“Hmph! Do you think I would allow a disciple who has not even entered Gwaehwa Hall to recklessly destroy his body?”

Gang Chaeseok, Hong Saryeon, and Father all stepped onto the training ground.

“No father should outlive his child. Today, I will lay my bones at the Iron Sword Sect.”

The Taeul Sect looked ready to perish together with the Iron Sword Sect Leader if that was what it took to stop him.

“H-how dare you...”

The Iron Sword Sect Leader panted as he struggled to contain his fury.

But there was nothing he could do.

He could force his way through with martial strength, but then he could forget about a position among the One Hundred Eight Peaks for the next century.

The Iron Sword Sect Leader looked toward Jegal Somyeong with a desperate expression.

Every spectator’s gaze also turned to Jegal Somyeong.

They all knew he was the only one who could resolve this situation.

“Enough.”

Jegal Somyeong rose from his seat, and his voice reached every corner of the training ground.

It was not loud, yet it carried an undeniable weight.

“Everyone... sheathe your swords.”

As soon as he spoke, Seong Mohyeon and Seong Cheonwol sheathed their swords, while the Taeul Sect members put theirs away one by one.

“...?”

Jegal Somyeong’s questioning gaze turned to me.

“Why do you not sheathe your sword?”

Still watching Seong Cheonwol, I spoke to Jegal Somyeong.

“I cannot trust the Martial Alliance’s Grand Strategist, who has done nothing but stand by and watch until now, so I will not sheathe my sword.”

“!!!”

“!!!”

Those standing on the training ground, those gathered around it, and even those watching through the windows of the nearby halls stared in shock.

Footnotes:

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