WeTried Translations
Translator/Editor: Chen
Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried
◈ The Martial Genius who Remembers Everything ◈
Chapter 124: The Black Flame Dragon Who Gives an Opportunity (4)
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Rumors of the Boundless Indestructible Soul-Destroying Formation swept through not only the Academy, but the entire Martial Alliance.
“They say there’s a solution?”
“There’s always been one. You just have to memorize two million possible routes.”
“Don’t tell me he plans to teach all two million routes and call it a day.”
“I heard Jin Sowoon intends to teach a way out without having to memorize every route.”
The rumors spread all the more because the formation’s operating period and the number of people allowed to enter were limited.
The Academy Representative Corps’ office, which had always been empty apart from those who worked with me, began receiving all manner of visitors, from people questioning the limit to those voicing complaints.
“Why spend so much money to operate it for only ten days?”
“Because the Boundless Indestructible Soul-Destroying Formation is extremely dangerous. If something goes wrong, a deadly zone could appear inside the Academy.”
“Then why limit it to only two hundred people?”
“Because the Boundless Indestructible Soul-Destroying Formation is extremely dangerous. We must prepare for the possibility of casualties among the Academy students if something goes wrong.”
“Every one of these decisions seems like the Academy Representative’s arbitrary choice!”
“Because the Boundless Indestructible Soul-Destroying Formation is extremely dangerous, I ask for your understanding that we cannot accommodate every opinion.”
No matter the opinion or question, I faithfully wielded the all-purpose weapon of “it’s too dangerous.” Even those chirping questions like sparrows naturally shut their mouths.
Then the conspiracy theories began.
“Isn’t he deliberately building a dangerous formation to kill Academy students?”
“That is precisely why we set the limit at two hundred people, to prevent such danger.”
“Could this be a scheme to strengthen his own faction by teaching only those two hundred?”
“Do I even have a faction to strengthen? And doesn’t that contradict what you just asked?”
Perhaps these pampered brats could not stand that the world did not revolve around them, because all sorts of nonsense poured out.
To teach them how harsh the world could be, I diligently cast the technique of “so what?” and thoroughly put an end to the controversy.
“What if no one comes?”
“What do you mean?”
“The mood toward the Academy Representative is already negative. Shouldn’t you be coaxing them along?”
At Seong Moran’s question, I looked straight at her.
“Wh-why? Why are you suddenly looking at me like that...?”
“Miss Seong.”
“Y-yes!”
“If you knew of a place with a divine weapon that could only be used once, would you go seek it?”
“What? What kind of sudden... Hmm, even if it could only be used once, if it could save my life, I’d have to go.”
“But it lies in the heart of the Black Path martial world, and your family forbids you from going. Would you still go?”
“I would. You said it was a divine weapon. Even if it could only be used once, I’d still go for something like that.”
“That’s right. You would go, for yourself and your family. This is no different. No matter how unreasonable or inconvenient it may feel, if martial artists can learn the solution to the Boundless Indestructible Soul-Destroying Formation, wouldn’t they go?”
“Ah...”
Not only Seong Moran, but Namgung Seonhwa and Moyong Jaehwa, who had been listening with her, gaped in surprise.
“Always with the little tricks...”
Eunho, beside us with both eyes blackened and one hand raised, muttered quietly.
“What was that?”
“N-no, nothing! As expected of you, Senior Brother! You’re the best! The best!”
“Keep your hand raised properly.”
“Yes!”
Namgung Seonhwa, who had been looking surprised, suddenly spoke as though she had thought of something.
“If that’s the case, why impose a limit at all? Since you’re doing it anyway, wouldn’t it be more beneficial for you, Young Master Jin, to let around three hundred people join the Academy program?”
“I have to hold five more Academy programs over the next three months. Filling every available place right now would make that meaningless.”
“Ah... Once we overcome one obstacle, another comes along.”
“That’s fine. The limit exists for that very reason.”
“What?”
#
“What kind of bullshit is that?”
Jang Seokdo of the Mount Zhongnan Sect shouted.
Geumpyo calmly wiped the spit from his face after Jang Seokdo’s sudden outburst.
“Didn’t I tell you? If you wish to learn the solution to the Boundless Indestructible Soul-Destroying Formation, you must attend five Academy programs hosted by the Academy Representative in the future.”
“You never said any such thing!”
“Isn’t it customary to show the terms and conditions when someone fills out an application?”
“You little bastards, you’ve really pushed it too far!”
“Dongryong.”
At Geumpyo’s word, Dongryong, who had been clutching his sword tightly at the side, stepped forward.
Jang Seokdo flinched and took two steps back.
He had heard the rumors about the Black-Blood Three Dragons of Class Zero.
‘They say the three of them together can take on an entire squad?’
The Nine Sects One Gang, the Five Great Clans, and the Twelve Peak Alliance all viewed the Taeul Sect’s recent actions with displeasure.
Just as he had rushed at Jin Sowoon of the Taeul Sect after underestimating him, others from Class Zero had also challenged the three brothers, only to suffer the misfortune of broken arms.
Even so, some people had not been able to let go of their anger. Hoping to target the brothers individually, they had called out the youngest-looking Dongryong to teach him a lesson.
‘They said that little bastard’s hands were incredibly vicious.’
Jang Seokdo had also heard how the limbs of the three people who attacked Dongryong had all been broken, leaving them unable to move properly for the next half year.
“If you aren’t going to sign, please step aside. There’s a long line behind you.”
When Jang Seokdo turned around, he saw a long line of people who, like him, had come secretly to fill out an application.
Looking them over, they were all people who held little influence within their own factions.
It was unbearably unpleasant for a Mount Zhongnan disciple like him to stand among them. Still, the moment news of the Boundless Indestructible Soul-Destroying Formation arrived, his main sect had ordered him to learn the solution. He had endured the disdainful looks of others and come all this way for that reason.
“Damn it... Give it here. Where do I sign?”
No matter how difficult life in the Academy became, he had to obey his main sect’s order when he considered his future in the Martial Alliance and his eventual return to Mount Zhongnan.
“Here, here, here, and here. Please stamp your seal in each place.”
“There are quite a lot of them.”
“Please note that these documents have been notarized by the Mantong Office. If you break the agreement, you must pay one hundred taels of gold as a penalty.”
“What?”
“This opportunity is available only to the two hundred people within the limit. The Mantong Office does not wish to suffer losses because of people who have no intention of attending.”
“...”
“Of course, if you attend properly, there will be no need to pay one hundred taels of gold.”
“...”
No matter how unfair it was, he could not disobey his main sect’s order.
“Yes, you’ve made a good choice. Next.”
#
Martial Arts Academy Grand Training Ground.
At the site where a special Boundless Indestructible Soul-Destroying Formation was being installed, I met a welcome face.
“I looked for you as soon as I arrived at the Martial Arts Academy, Hero Yu. Why didn’t you participate in the regular examination?”
Yu Jiryang, who looked thinner than before, clicked his tongue and laughed.
“The Martial Arts Academy was also an excellent opportunity, but there was an even greater opportunity at the Taeul Sect, so I said I would not attend.”
After I relayed my plan to the Mount Mao Sect through the Mantong Office, Yu Jiryang, who had been installing an arcane formation at the Wang Family Estate in Hefei, rushed over like an arrow.
“Besides, isn’t this a chance to install a pure Boundless Indestructible Soul-Destroying Formation? Of course I had to come.”
He had lost weight and looked thinner than before, but his eyes held a profound gleam more than ever.
“Have you gained some insight?”
“Through the book Hero Jin left behind and my research with Jegal Cheongi, I believe I have made some progress.”
Yu Jiryang was naturally flexible-minded and humble. For someone like him to say he had made progress showed that his recent insight was far from shallow.
“As expected, you are remarkable. Congratulations.”
Yu Jiryang lowered his head at my words, then stared straight into my eyes.
“I think Hero Jin is the truly remarkable one.”
“Me?”
Yu Jiryang turned toward the Grand Training Ground.
Five hundred carpenters were busily building nearly three hundred pillars and temporary structures across it.
“I heard rumors of the situation Hero Jin is facing. Still, even if I were in your position, I would not reveal a solution to the Boundless Indestructible Soul-Destroying Formation.”
“I suppose that is one way to see it.”
“May I ask why you made such a choice?”
There were other ways to draw Academy students in.
Even so, there were two reasons I had chosen this method.
The first was the Demonic Cult.
I had decided to reveal the Boundless Indestructible Soul-Destroying Formation because the Demonic Cult already knew the methods for breaking most arcane formations in the martial world.
The second was...
“Isn’t it tragic?”
“What?”
“The inside of the Boundless Indestructible Soul-Destroying Formation is empty. No monsters leap out, and no disaster occurs. Those trapped inside, as well as those outside who can do nothing but hope they escape safely, are left to endure an endless wait with no promise of an end.”
“...”
I suddenly thought of my grandmaster’s master, who must have waited for death inside that pain-filled formation.
“Setting aside the Black and White Paths, there are times when something appears before us that we must resist simply as human beings. To me, the Boundless Indestructible Soul-Destroying Formation is such a thing. Since the Soul-Destroying Formation, said to have disappeared three hundred years ago, has appeared again, this disaster will surely stand before people again someday. If there is a solution that human effort can manage, I believe it is right to reveal it.”
“Good heavens...”
Yu Jiryang stared at me for a long time with eyes as wide as a rabbit’s.
“As expected, Hero Jin is completely beyond my understanding.”
“You overpraise me.”
I smiled faintly.
“Besides, knowing the solution does not mean one can always escape it.”
The Soul-Destroying Formation would become a regular event during my term as Academy Representative.
Those who experienced it once would fear it while also seeking ways to overcome it. That desire would lead them to attend my programs regularly.
What else could this be but a loss-leader strategy?
“...”
Yu Jiryang looked blank at my words, then a mischievous smile appeared on his face as well.
Seeing that smile, I asked with certainty.
“You know something too, don’t you, Hero Yu?”
He gave a small nod.
“Could you memorize five hundred twenty-four thousand eight hundred routes?”
“Ha.”
When I let out an impressed sound, he continued.
“Perhaps it will be of no use to Hero Jin, but even if the person who originally created the Boundless Indestructible Soul-Destroying Formation returned alive, they would not be able to escape the formation I created.”
Was this the smile that only those in the know could wear?
We exchanged crafty smiles.
#
“In the end, we didn’t fill all the places.”
“It’s only the first day.”
Once the Boundless Indestructible Soul-Destroying Formation was fully completed, bizarre pillars and buildings of unknown purpose stood in the center of the Grand Training Ground.
Not only the participants, but Academy students and instructors who had gathered just to watch craned their necks to look this way.
“Do you think they’ll keep coming?”
At Namgung Seonhwa’s question, I nodded.
“Everyone here will have to stake their lives on survival for the rest of their lives. There won’t be any fools who want to let a fortuitous opportunity offered for free pass them by.”
Those who had spent their whole lives among martial artists could not resist that instinct. They were surely watching one another closely, trying to decide when to rush out and fill in an application.
“Shall we begin?”
At Yu Jiryang’s question, I answered.
“Yes, please.”
Standing on the platform, Yu Jiryang raised a blue flag, lowered it, then raised a red flag.
“Activate the formation!”
Fifty formation practitioners from the Mount Mao Sect each took charge of a pillar and began activating the formation.
As fifty streams of internal energy moved at once, the sensitive horses in the stables began running about wildly. Everyone’s attention focused more closely on the center of the Grand Training Ground.
“Whoa!”
“Th-that is the formation?”
White cloud mist began to seep out of the temporary structures standing in the center of the Grand Training Ground.
The white mist slowly moved outward from the center. Once it reached the outermost perimeter, where the formation practitioners stood, it abruptly stopped as though it had struck something and began piling up in layers.
It looked as though a massive cloud, meant to be high in the sky, was forming on the ground.
The gradually accumulating cloud mist flowed between the strange pillars and enveloped the entire Grand Training Ground. In the end, every pillar and temporary building vanished from sight.
“I will test it.”
As Yu Jiryang approached the Soul-Destroying Formation, I asked, “Should I go in?”
Yu Jiryang smiled.
“I can enter something like this now as well.”
Yu Jiryang and I had created one safety measure while building the Boundless Indestructible Soul-Destroying Formation. If someone entered somewhere other than a life and death gate, they would naturally be ejected outside the Soul-Destroying Formation.
Yu Jiryang had studied tremendously at the Taeul Sect in Hefei. He had implemented what I envisioned without much difficulty.
“Gulp.”
When Yu Jiryang stood before the Soul-Destroying Formation, the area became so quiet that even an ant crawling could have been heard.
Step.
The moment Yu Jiryang took a step, he vanished into the cloud mist.
“...”
A short while later...
Step. Step.
Yu Jiryang emerged from the Soul-Destroying Formation completely unharmed, his eyes closed.
“From the moment I entered, I kept my eyes closed and walked straight ahead.”
It meant that even the safety measure had been perfectly installed.
“You worked hard.”
I turned to the first group that would enter the Soul-Destroying Formation.
“Are you ready?”
#
After seeing the Boundless Indestructible Soul-Destroying Formation activate, another fifty people expressed their intention to participate in just one day.
The news that many of those participants were from the Nine Sects One Gang troubled the Orthodox Society considerably.
From the beginning, the Orthodox Society had ordered its members not to participate in Jin Sowoon’s program.
“There are still people within our ranks who are wavering. We must be more vigilant.”
“Instead of this, let us speak to the Academy and have them give the solution to everyone.”
“We already raised the matter, but it was rejected.”
Recently, though, more people had begun moving according to orders from their main sects, and this was causing internal unity to weaken.
It was not as though they could tell people to remain still before an opportunity as unmissable as the Boundless Indestructible Soul-Destroying Formation.
“Then let us share the solution ourselves.”
“What? Are you suggesting we bring Jin Sowoon here and torture him?”
“Is that even possible? We should send people to learn the solution ourselves, then share it internally.”
“...”
“Everyone must have received contact from their main sects. Their sects will not want to let an opportunity like this pass by either.”
“Then let us proceed this way. Speak to the Elders’ Council and have our people unite more firmly. Also tell them that we will select people to learn the solution, then share it among ourselves afterward.”
“Understood.”
“This secret must never leak. According to the contract, anyone who shares it must pay a penalty of one hundred taels of gold.”
No matter what little tricks Jin Sowoon played, there was always an answer.
The people leading their factions ended the meeting, laughing at Jin Sowoon’s clever schemes.
Footnotes:
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