WeTried Translations
Translator/Editor: Chen
Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried
◈ The Martial Genius who Remembers Everything ◈
Chapter 140: The Black Flame Dragon Meets the Monster of Manseogo (4)
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“Ah, ah...”
Seong Moran was left speechless by Namgung Seonhwa's confession.
“...”
Even Namgung Seonhwa, who had made the startling declaration, fell silent. A heavy stillness settled over the room.
In the uncomfortable silence, Seong Moran noticed Namgung Seonhwa's hand.
A small, delicate hand trembling uncontrollably.
Namgung Seonhwa looked as though she had committed some terrible sin, and Seong Moran gave a small laugh.
“Oh, is that all? I already knew.”
“...Pardon?”
“I said I knew.”
“W-Well, I...”
Now Namgung Seonhwa's face had turned so red it looked ready to burst.
Seong Moran found her adorable.
“Do you think I'm so dense that I wouldn't notice?”
“...”
She had known for a long time.
At Demon Spirit Plateau, during the regular examination, whenever Namgung Seonhwa looked at Jin Sowoon, her gaze had been different from the way she looked at other men.
“And! Did you think I'd distance myself from you just because you like Young Master Jin?”
“...”
Seong Moran reached out and tightly clasped Namgung Seonhwa's hand.
“You were my only little sister even before you met Young Master Jin.”
“...Sister.”
“That doesn't mean I'll give him up. I like Young Master Jin too.”
Seong Moran wiped away the tears gathering in Namgung Seonhwa's eyes.
“So no matter what happens, let's stay close. Besides, that man is always so busy that he doesn't even have time to pay attention to us.”
“Thank you. And I'm sorry.”
“First, let's become martial artists in our own right so that man won't have to be quite so busy.”
“That's right. I'll grow stronger quickly and climb even higher.”
Seong Moran sighed as she looked into Namgung Seonhwa's reddened eyes.
“Neither of us should be in this position, no matter where we go. How did things turn out this way?”
“Hehe.”
“Now that you're done crying, shall we go buy clothes? We need to surprise him when we visit, just like we did at the last banquet.”
“Yes.”
Seong Moran rose first. Namgung Seonhwa gathered her things to follow, then suddenly stopped as though something had occurred to her.
“Sister, what if we gain more rivals?”
“...That's the fault of that man for leading them on. We should punish him.”
Seong Moran clenched her fist as though she could never forgive him.
#
“Hm?”
A sudden chill ran down my spine. I looked around and extended my energy sense.
The Sword Demon noticed and gave me a strange look.
“What are you doing?”
“Nothing. I had an odd feeling, so I checked my surroundings. It was nothing.”
“Tsk. Just how much karma have you built up in your life...?”
I stared at the Sword Demon as he clicked his tongue and shook his head.
“Not as much as you, Sword Demon.”
“What?!”
His exploits truly defied imagination.
Once, claiming he had perfected his sword art, he infiltrated Shaolin Temple and challenged the abbot to a duel. Another time, despite becoming a public enemy of the Martial Alliance and falling into the Black Path, he stormed the Black Lion Society and fought its entire organization to the death.
“I had my own reasons for doing all that!”
What reason could justify ambushing the Shaolin abbot's residence?
“Has it never occurred to you that your own reasons might have been wrong?”
“You little bastard! I've been letting you off too easily!”
The Sword Demon threw the paper he had been reading at me, and I caught it.
It had already been ten days since I had begun recklessly challenging him to duels.
Still, perhaps we had grown somewhat closer, because he no longer left me behind even when I lost consciousness during a duel.
These days, I woke up in his hut, exchanged a few words with him, then returned home.
Of course, there were days when I challenged him twice.
For some reason, though, whenever I did that, I remained unconscious for the entire day.
Perhaps one duel a day was the line he had drawn.
I was walking a fine line just beneath it.
“Why are you reading such a useless paper?”
“That is none of your concern.”
“Are you looking for a treasure map or a martial arts manual? There are none here.”
I could say that with certainty because I had read every book that would later appear in the Ten Thousand Books Repository. None of its materials had anything to do with treasure maps or martial arts manuals.
“I am looking for no such thing.”
“Oh? So you are looking for something?”
“...”
Without answering, the Sword Demon resumed reading the paper. He was so focused that he looked as though he were reading an ancient martial arts manual.
Did the person who wrote that paper know?
Did they know the Sword Demon was desperately studying the trash they had produced?
“If you tell me, I'll help you look for it. In exchange, become my martial arts teacher.”
The fact that he had grasped the true nature of Ten Thousand Swords after a single clash meant his skill was far beyond my expectations.
The Taeul True Scripture evolved in increasingly unstructured ways as one's realm rose.
It was such a difficult martial art that I would eventually need to create a martial art of my own. I needed instruction from someone who had experience creating a unique martial art.
At the moment, I could not find a better martial arts teacher than this ill-tempered Black Path martial artist before me.
“...Tsk. Haven't I told you? You don't need sword force.”
“I know, but according to you, wouldn't Ten Thousand Swords become an even more incredible martial art if I used sword force with it?”
“...”
“And I want to learn from the experience you've accumulated over the years.”
“Are you saying you want to become my disciple?”
“I am a disciple of the Taeul Sect, so that is impossible. I am asking you to become my martial arts teacher.”
The Sword Demon looked at me as though I had said something absurd.
“Just how strong do you want to become?”
It was a subtle question.
I had always yearned to grow stronger, both in my previous life and this one, but I had never considered exactly how strong I wanted to become.
I could not explain it in terms of a precise martial realm.
Still, one answer immediately came to mind.
“Hmm... Strong enough to protect my people, no matter what enemy stands before me?”
“Do you think becoming the strongest under heaven is so easy?”
“I don't want to become the strongest under heaven.”
“That is the same thing. If you wish to protect someone precious to you, it would be better to spend time with that person than lose yourself in martial arts.”
The Sword Demon looked as though he had been reminded of someone he missed deeply.
“What if a truly terrifying enemy appears?”
“Then run away together, somewhere they cannot reach.”
His voice seemed steeped in regret.
“More than anything, what matters is spending time together.”
Like me, the Sword Demon seemed to deeply regret the past.
“...Are you searching through the Ten Thousand Books Repository to find that precious person?”
The Sword Demon's face stiffened at once.
“...How did you know?”
“I was only taking a guess. Hahaha.”
The Sword Demon's face crumpled like paper.
“...That tongue of yours could pick the purses of most Black Path scoundrels.”
“Won't you tell me?”
“...”
The Sword Demon turned away and resumed reading the useless paper.
‘So he was looking for someone.’
I began searching through the rooms in the library of my mind.
There was one room where the Ten Thousand Books Repository's useless books were gathered.
It held a random collection of books whose presence in the Ten Thousand Books Repository made no sense, such as erotic paintings and lurid novels.
I pulled out one of them.
It was a book written in the form of a woman's diary.
Without revealing who she was or where she belonged, she honestly described meeting someone in a city she visited during a break from the Academy, the events they shared, and the feelings that arose within her.
In my previous life, I had dismissed it as a romance novel and moved on...
But as I read it again now, the figure in the book had many similarities to the man before me.
I read through the book in my mind, then my eyes widened.
“Do you have a daughter?”
“...!”
The Sword Demon's eyes grew wide with shock.
“...How did you know that...?”
“...”
The Sword Demon was known to have neither family nor even close acquaintances.
He had cordial relations with a few masters, but in truth, he had been like a lonely island in the sea.
His character was too upright to get along with Black Path martial artists, while his notoriety was too great for him to associate with those of the White Path.
I could roughly guess why he had never built a family, even in old age.
He had built up too much karma and feared he would be unable to protect them while he was away.
“I asked how you knew!”
“...Ah, the truth is, I remember all the books in the Ten Thousand Books Repository. I never forget anything once I see it. That is my curse.”
“...”
“Hmm... Did you meet her in Hangzhou?”
The Sword Demon's mouth fell open.
“You two fell for each other there and began a romance.”
“...”
“Good grief... I never expected you to have a child, Sword Demon.”
“Where is that book?”
“You will probably have difficulty finding it. It was hidden very carefully so no one could find it.”
“Give it to me. I must confirm it at once.”
The Sword Demon stood on the bare floor in his socks as though he might run out at any moment.
“Ah... I cannot do that.”
“If you bring me the book, I will teach you sword force as you wish. No, I will go further and tell you how to develop Ten Thousand Swords!”
It was everything I had wanted from the Sword Demon.
Still, I shook my head.
“I cannot do that.”
“...What? Is there something more you want from me?”
The Sword Demon was so agitated that he seemed close to losing his reason.
It showed just how desperately he had searched for his daughter.
Yet even if our interests aligned, I could not easily accept his offer without knowing the intentions of the woman who had written the book.
“No. This concerns people. If your beloved hid the book so carefully, she may not have wanted you to find her. No matter how desperate I am, I cannot casually hand over information that concerns another person's life.”
Near the end of the book, she had even written where she planned to live after leaving her affiliation.
I did not know when it had been written, but it could be a major clue for someone seeking her.
I could not hand over information like that without confirming it first.
“...What if I gave you an unparalleled fortuitous opportunity?”
Because of people who believed there were things more important than another person's life, I had lived such a sorrowful and miserable life in my previous life.
I had not the slightest desire to become someone like them.
“Even if you gave me the whole world, I would not hand it over.”
The Sword Demon lowered his head and remained silent for a long time.
At last, he checked his dirtied socks and sat back down on the bench.
Then he looked at me with a complex look in his eyes.
“You... are far more unpredictable than I expected.”
I did not understand what the Sword Demon meant.
But I understood one thing.
At this moment, he was not controlling his emotions.
“Is the author's name written there?”
“It is not. That will make finding her even harder.”
“The one who wrote that book is likely Seop Sojeong.”
“Seop Sojeong?”
The Seop surname was not especially rare, but if one spoke of someone named Seop connected to the martial world, Baihua Palace immediately came to mind.
“Yes, the Seop Sojeong of Baihua Palace you are thinking of.”
“Good grief...”
Baihua Palace was a martial clan led primarily by women, much like Emei.
It was also a prestigious faction, counted among the foremost of the One Hundred Eight Peaks.
“What? Do you find it hard to believe that an illegitimate son like me had a romance with the daughter of such a prestigious family?”
“...I did not call you an illegitimate son. It is simply that the Sword Demon and Baihua Palace do not seem to fit together.”
“We knew that well. That was why we separated back then.”
Seop Sojeong had been an extremely important figure within Baihua Palace, while the Sword Demon bore an immense grudge against his own family and the entire White Path.
The gap between their positions had been impossible to bridge, and it had cooled even the heat of their passionate love.
“But ten years later, I suddenly received a letter.”
It said that they had a daughter together.
He had been bewildered at first.
Why had she not told him right away?
And why reveal their daughter's existence only now?
The Sword Demon suddenly laughed like a man who had lost his mind.
“She told me that if I wished to find them, I should search for their traces in the Ten Thousand Books Repository.”
“...”
“I thought it was a ridiculous joke. I could not easily believe that I even had a daughter. Yet... in the end, I came here.”
Though I did not show it, I was inwardly shocked.
This was why the Sword Demon's Wuhan dueling tour had suddenly stopped.
The Sword Demon pulled a carefully folded letter from his robes.
He had preserved it with great care, but it was so old that it was nearly in tatters.
“This is the letter.”
“How old is it?”
“About five years.”
“...”
I unfolded the letter, thinking of the years the Sword Demon must have endured countless humiliations from Academy students.
Though it had faded considerably, the handwriting remained distinct enough to compare.
Just as the Sword Demon had said, it told him to go to the Ten Thousand Books Repository if he wished to find her.
I carefully folded the letter again and handed it back to him.
“W-Well... does it match?”
“What do you intend to do after finding that book?”
“...What?”
The Sword Demon looked as though he had been struck on the back of the head.
“That book clearly states where she intended to stay. What do you plan to do after meeting them?”
“I do not know.”
The Sword Demon spoke with a regretful expression.
“I only... want to see them.”
“Who?”
“...Seop Sojeong and my daughter...”
Those who had reached the pinnacle of martial arts were called transcendent beings in the martial world.
By that measure, the Sword Demon was certainly one.
Yet he trembled as weakly as the thin branch he had held in his hand a few days earlier.
As though his entire life depended on a single word from me.
“W-Well? Does it match?”
This was not the Sword Demon as a transcendent being.
This was the Sword Demon as a father.
I smiled.
“You have suffered all this time. It is a match.”
“Ah...”
Tears suddenly began streaming down his face.
Unable to comprehend the weight of them, I simply stepped away for a while and allowed his long, heavy years to pass.
Footnotes:
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