WeTried Translations
Translator/Editor: Chen
Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried
◈ The Martial Genius who Remembers Everything ◈
Chapter 137: The Black Flame Dragon Meets the Monster of Manseogo
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“Don't you feel wronged, Monk Ilgak? Wasn't the top student's position originally yours?”
Ilgak did not feel wronged.
Even if his opponent had claimed the top student's position through despicable tricks, then led the delegation with selfish arrogance while pursuing nothing but personal gain, that was simply the nature of unenlightened beings.
A tower built by force would one day collapse, and that which defied the natural order would eventually return to what was right.
Yet Jin Sowoon had gone too far.
It would have been enough for him to pursue his own interests, but he had used Academy events to divide people and overturn the established order.
Ilgak had thought he was merely an unenlightened being unable to control his desires. Instead, he was a madman possessed by a demon.
Ilgak knew this was not the right way.
Still, if he did not stop that cunning, deceitful being, far greater chaos would descend upon the secular world.
The order of the martial world would be overturned, and countless weak people would suffer as a result.
‘That's why I stepped forward...’
Jin Sowoon's martial arts were as cunning and chaotic as his character.
They deceived the eye, deceived the heart, and inflicted wounds.
Ilgak had trained in the Thousand-Pound Armor to attain an immovable body and mind, yet his skin felt flayed and his bones ready to bend, as though all those arduous years had meant nothing.
Dangerous.
He was far too dangerous.
This man could become an enemy within, more dangerous than the Black Path.
That was why Ilgak brought out Bodhidharma’s Muscle-Tendon Transformation Classic, which he had promised not to use.
Even if it meant returning to Shaolin Sect and facing the wall in meditation for years, he had to stop that unenlightened being.
Then a malicious voice pierced his ears and snapped him back to his senses.
“So this is how you stab someone in the back.”
Jin Sowoon spoke words Ilgak could not understand, then took his stance again.
‘Does he intend to continue?’
Bodhidharma’s Muscle-Tendon Transformation Classic was a sacred art.
Sweeping away demons and eliminating evil formed the foundation of the White Path, but Shaolin Sect's Bodhidharma’s Muscle-Tendon Transformation Classic was water so pure that it regarded even that as a worldly affliction.
Wicked purpose and enlightenment.
White Path martial arts, which looked squarely at efficiency, extinguished their own light before the fundamental question posed by Bodhidharma’s Muscle-Tendon Transformation Classic.
Rat-a-tat-tat-tat!
They should have done so, yet the cunning martial forms that concealed illusion and substance still did not lose their strength.
Thud-thud-thud! Crack! Boom!
Any other sect's martial arts would have vanished long ago, but Taeul Sect's arts merely lost some momentum without disappearing.
Unlike the first half of the match, Ilgak stood completely steady while Jin Sowoon appeared somewhat exhausted.
Even that astonished Ilgak.
‘Taeul Sect's martial arts... against Bodhidharma’s Muscle-Tendon Transformation Classic...’
He cast aside the uneasy affliction rising in his heart.
The essence of a sacred art could not be learned without pursuing its foundation.
How deep could the cultivation of someone as worldly as Jin Sowoon possibly be?
“With this, I will set the order right, Benefactor.”
Ilgak pressed his palms together and prepared the final form of the Vajra Demon-Subduing Fist.
They had gone too far for this to be called a sparring match, yet none of the instructors showed any intention of stopping them.
They must all have found the chaos Jin Sowoon was causing unbearable.
As Ilgak steadied his heart...
“You think I'll bow to the injustice you people created?”
“...!”
Jin Sowoon began taking a stance Ilgak had never seen before.
He lowered himself into a horse stance and placed both hands at his waist.
He looked like a child learning a straight punch for the first time.
Was he planning to block the Vajra Demon-Subduing Fist with pure internal energy when even the Taeul Sword Emperor's ultimate techniques would not be enough?
Cunning people always fell for their own schemes in the end.
“Haaap! Amitabha!”
Bang!
When Ilgak pressed his palms together, the air burst and golden radiance spread in every direction.
Golden energy from Bodhidharma’s Muscle-Tendon Transformation Classic gathered in his hands.
Pure enlightenment that had cast aside everything, including greed, desire, justice, and hope.
Crack, crack, crack-crack-crack.
Fragments of marble scattered across the ground trembled violently, unable to withstand the pressure.
The single jang separating Jin Sowoon and Ilgak felt densely packed with something invisible.
“Subdue Demons, Set the World Right!”
Ilgak's legs shot forward with the Immovable Body Art.
In the blink of an eye, the distance closed, and a golden fist drove toward Jin Sowoon's solar plexus.
At that moment,
Jin Sowoon opened his eyes and threw a punch, meeting Ilgak's Vajra Demon-Subduing Fist head-on.
Clang!
----------!
--------------!
The air between Jin Sowoon and Ilgak was sucked inward.
At the same time, golden radiance burst from Jin Sowoon's fist and pushed back Ilgak's Vajra Demon-Subduing Fist.
The air that had been drawn in surged back outward.
A storm of sand, dust, and stone fragments rose from the training ground, forcing the spectators to turn away.
Then a crashing roar, as if the sky itself had fallen, tore through their eardrums.
----------------!
The spectators instinctively covered their ears from the pain and kept their heads lowered for a long time.
Kwarrrang!
An explosion followed.
Boom-boom-boom!
The once-clear training ground filled with murky sand and dust again.
“...”
“...”
Everyone stared at the training ground as though they had lost their minds.
A single figure appeared amid the billowing dust.
As it slowly settled, a young man with black hair and black martial robes stood alone.
“Ah...”
“W-what...?”
Ilgak appeared to have suffered a tremendous impact. After vomiting a basinful of blood, he had already lost consciousness.
The people watching the arena finally noticed the golden energy wrapped around Jin Sowoon's fist.
“...J-Jade Clarity Celestial Phenomenon Force?”
Spring had arrived long ago, but the air around the training ground had turned as cold as if frost had settled over it.
#
After the examination ended, the atmosphere at the Martial Arts Academy became much lighter.
The Academy's recess period would soon begin.
It was not only the Academy students who looked forward to it.
Other than special administrative matters, most instructors could enjoy some rest as well. It was also a good chance to receive hospitality from the parents of new students, who wanted their children looked after.
Buk Wonpyeong, however, looked far from comfortable in the innermost part of the Academy's main building.
“This is driving me mad.”
Buk Wonpyeong had intended to rush to Taeul Sect as soon as recess began. Instead, because of an unexpected incident, he had been dragged around by the Martial Alliance without even getting proper sleep.
No one would dare order around Buk Wonpyeong, whose bright future was assured. But things were different when those giving the orders were the people who decided that future.
“You look quite tired.”
Even at my attempt to comfort him, Buk Wonpyeong's eyes turned fierce.
“And whose fault is that?”
I shrugged at the expression that seemed to blame me.
“I'm only writing you a letter of recommendation. Why are you acting like this?”
“Urgh...”
It was not as though I did not understand.
Jade Clarity Celestial Phenomenon Force had countered Bodhidharma’s Muscle-Tendon Transformation Classic.
It was widely known that only the Three Pure Supreme Sword and Wudang Sect used that energy in the martial world.
Wudang Sect could not possibly have taught Taeul Sect, so Buk Wonpyeong was the only plausible suspect.
Naturally, Buk Wonpyeong had said he never taught me the energy itself. But would they find that easy to believe?
Those people had carved the belief, ‘Everyone but us is an idiot,’ into their hearts and let it pump through their bodies with their blood. It was only natural that I felt wronged when they blamed me for their desire to ignore the facts before them.
“And if you think about it, we'll soon be sharing the same roof. Wouldn't insisting that we have no connection only make people more suspicious?”
“...”
Buk Wonpyeong thought for a moment, then let out a long sigh.
“I suppose that is true.”
As he nodded, I cheered inwardly.
Things were going so well that I wondered whether connections could truly fall into place this perfectly.
Three Purities Force stood alongside Shaolin Sect's Golden Saint Force and Wudang Sect's Taiji Force.
If the Three Pure Supreme Sword became part of Taeul Sect, it would be no different from installing a siege weapon capable of sweeping away swarming demonic martial artists in a single blow.
‘I should try to persuade him to establish his sect right beside Taeul Sect.’
It was doubtful whether he could properly build a sect before the Demonic Cult rose to power.
Still, remembering how he had single-handedly swept away corpse soldiers during the Orthodox-Demonic War in my previous life, I knew that even a little help from him in a crisis would erase all my worries about Taeul Sect.
‘The relationship between master and disciple may become a little awkward, but he is the Three Pure Supreme Sword. He won't refuse, will he?’
He would not be learning Taeul Sect's martial arts in the first place. It would only be a matter of teaching him the Taeul Mind Method, which the Sect Leader had publicly released to villagers for their health. As long as they overcame the awkwardness, there should be no real problem.
“I've already sent word ahead, so you can deliver this one in person.”
When I handed him the recommendation letter, Buk Wonpyeong hesitated before speaking.
“Will you not come as well? Is it not customary to return to one's sect during the first recess period and hold a banquet?”
“I still have much to do here.”
“Are you already preparing the next event?”
“I was about to mention that. What did Hyeongsan Sect say?”
After hearing through Maeng Juwon the insane proposal that the Elders' Council wanted to send Academy students to Sichuan, I moved Hyeongsan Sect's event, which I had placed last, forward.
This time, I had removed the limit on participants as well.
It would be the bare minimum needed to preserve precious lives against the Corpse Mountain Blood Cult they would encounter in Sichuan later.
With this, I had fulfilled everything I needed to do.
If they blamed me even for dying because they chose not to attend, even the King of Hell would click his tongue at their shamelessness and throw them into the Sulfur Hell.
“They refused at first, but when they heard your name, they agreed.”
“That is good.”
“...?”
“What's wrong?”
“Are you not pleased? Your standing has risen that much.”
The martial world was full of people who treated their names as dearly as their lives.
Still, I had seen too many horrific sights of countless people dying because of their names.
The moment honor seemed more important than life, people died miserable deaths.
I could not rest for even a moment.
“I can enjoy myself after everything is over.”
“Is everything not over yet?”
“It has not even begun.”
#
Ten Thousand Books Repository.
The Martial Arts Academy's one and only library, named for its ten thousand books.
Yet despite its name, countless books had been added over the years, making the name meaningless.
Even the people managing the library did not know how many books were inside it.
‘Exactly thirty-six thousand, seven hundred and twenty-two volumes.’
Even now, thinking of how I came to know that made my blood boil.
After making me memorize every report in the Mantong Office, the Martial Alliance made me memorize every book in the Ten Thousand Books Repository as well.
They said nine-tenths of what had made them who they were came from the Ten Thousand Books Repository or something.
Yet after the Orthodox-Demonic War began, they never made me recite any of the books from this place.
It was never a task one person could do alone, and they had decided it was not that necessary anyway.
In other words, they had put me through pointless busywork.
“I came back here on my own two feet. I must be out of my mind.”
If the books I had seen in the Ten Thousand Books Repository in my previous life had included secret manuals or hidden martial arts texts, my steps would not have felt so heavy.
Most of the Ten Thousand Books Repository's books, however, were nothing more than useless martial arts theories.
Before graduating, Martial Arts Academy students submitted a paper based on their own insights to the Ten Thousand Books Repository.
They wrote and submitted papers despite their shallow skill, so worthless materials piled up in heaps and buried even the truly important records.
That was why I had gone through that damn ordeal of memorizing material not even useful as kindling.
“Phew... Still, I can't remain in the same place forever.”
Ever since my clash with the shadow warrior from the Alliance Leader’s Hall, I had constantly felt as though I had struck a wall.
Buk Wonpyeong was teaching me how to use Jade Clarity Celestial Phenomenon Force, but the force I used followed a different path from his, making it difficult to learn.
I also felt a growing thirst for sword force, so I could not help coming here.
“No one should know about it yet.”
I raised my head and saw the plaque bearing the name Ten Thousand Books Repository.
With recess approaching, the students who normally used the Ten Thousand Books Repository were gone, leaving the place quiet. The servants were also reorganizing the library for the recess period.
I briefly looked around the Ten Thousand Books Repository that had been a nightmare in my past life, then began searching for him.
“He should stand out right away.”
Sure enough, I spotted him soon after walking through the library.
“Hey, hunchback! Organize these.”
“Ah! Y-yes.”
Rough hair, worn martial robes, a bold attitude that seemed to fear nothing in the world, and an enormous frame.
A man with an appearance that drew the eye at once handed books to an old hunchback. The hunchback repeatedly nodded and gathered the books before moving away.
‘There you are.’
The hunchback tried to carry all the books the man had taken out at once, then fell to the floor.
“S-sorry. I will clean them up right away.”
“You are troublesome.”
The man casually waved a hand, and the books the hunchback had been picking up were swept away in a line.
The hunchback hurried after them.
“His personality is as bad as expected.”
The man frowned at my words.
“Were you speaking to me?”
“No. I was only talking to myself, so don't mind me.”
The man looked me up and down for a moment before continuing.
“So you're the Academy Representative.”
“And you're So Cheonsu of Tian Gang Sect.”
“You know me?”
“It would be more accurate to say that I know Tian Gang Sect.”
Tian Gang Sect was one of the rare White Path sects obsessed with domineering martial arts.
Its obsession was so severe that unless one could use force qi after entering the sect, they were not even recognized as a martial artist.
‘The minimum requirement to leave the sect was force qi, wasn't it?’
Their martial arts were also bizarre. While most martial artists could only manifest force qi after reaching the uppermost edge of the Peak Realm, Tian Gang Sect disciples could do so the moment they reached the uppermost edge of the First-Rate Realm.
Of course, their force qi could not be considered normal.
Because Tian Gang Sect disciples could release force qi at a young age, they tended to be unbearably arrogant.
“Do you have business with me?”
“I didn't, but I do now.”
“Hmph. I'm curious what it is.”
So Cheonsu smiled and manifested hand force qi in his palm.
Just as expected from Tian Gang Sect's top disciple, he was acting like an immature child.
‘Well, before learning the true nature of that force qi, even a decent martial artist's knees would buckle at the sight of it.’
I slowly approached him.
“I didn't come here to fight you.”
“Then?”
“I came to help you.”
“What?”
As I spoke, I used the White Phoenix Hand to restrain the hand covered in force qi, then struck his paralysis acupoint and sleep acupoint.
“Y-you coward...”
“How is this cowardly? I'm only trying to help you. And it's good to focus on force qi, but don't neglect your other martial arts training. Isn't Tian Gang Sect's weakness that it falls to such basic methods?”
“...”
I had gone out of my way to offer advice, but So Cheonsu's body had already stiffened as he sank into sleep.
“Hmm, asleep already?”
I looked around to make sure no one was nearby.
“Using such methods against children. They truly are a Black Path martial artist.”
I activated the Azure Dragon Bangle and drew out the black qi embedded in So Cheonsu's body.
Had it remained there, So Cheonsu would have suffered unexplained aches and fever, leaving his mental strength weakened.
The strike had been so secretive and instantaneous that So Cheonsu himself had not even noticed it.
Watching that single strike, I became certain that I needed to learn from the old hunchback.
His realm was one thing, but he had reached the pinnacle with simple yet profound martial arts he had created himself.
If anyone knew how to wield sword force through martial arts that did not possess sword force, it might be him.
“But how do I persuade him?”
He had once stood at the very pinnacle of the Black Path martial world. I did not know why he was hiding in the Ten Thousand Books Repository.
On top of that, he was famous for his rough temperament. I had no idea how I was supposed to persuade him.
Footnotes:
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