WeTried Translations
Translator/Editor: Chen
Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried
◈ The Martial Genius who Remembers Everything ◈
Chapter 159: The Black Flame Dragon Quelling the Chaos (4)
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“Fire!”
“Fire! There’s a fire!”
“Wake everyone up!”
The flames that began in one pavilion spread in every direction, throwing the Black Blood Sect into chaos as though it had been struck by a bolt from the blue.
Warriors still too drunk to tie their robes properly staggered about, hauling water and dousing the pavilion, but the blaze showed no sign of dying down.
A wheel rolling down a ridge would not stop until it struck a rock.
The nine Black Path sects of Yueyang, led by the Black Blood Sect and Black Talisman Palace, would not halt the war just because the Black Blood Sect Leader had died.
The Black Path forces of Yueyang were that wheel.
And the rock that would stop them was, paradoxically, the very method they had been using all along.
‘Creating fear.’
Once the Black Blood Sect Leader died, the deputy sect leader would step forward.
If the deputy sect leader died, the Black Talisman Palace would take the Black Blood Sect’s place.
The way to stop them was to make them realize that their own lives were also in danger.
Not the expendable lackeys they could use and discard, but the people making the decisions.
“Those bastards at the top are all the same.”
Even within the Martial Alliance, there were only a handful of leaders willing to throw away their own lives like grass.
And I had no reason to believe Black Path scum were any better than the White Path bastards.
“Wake those brats up! The fire’s spreading!”
“They’re all out at the Yujang Sect, so we’re short on people!”
“Then wake the villagers! Tell them to help if they don’t want to die!”
The fire consuming the enormous pavilion where the Sect Leader lived only made them more frantic.
Watching from afar, I used the Ghost Breath Movement Art again and ran toward the area farthest from the burning pavilion.
‘Now it begins.’
The massive flames spreading from the pavilion cast a huge shadow over where I stood.
I concealed myself within that shadow using the Ghost Breath Great Method, then moved through the Black Blood Sect grounds, watching only those giving orders.
“You bastard! Run! Are you going to run or not?!”
Off to one side, a huge man spat curses as he radiated killing intent.
He swung an axe as large as a person’s torso through the air, looking ready to split any subordinate who disobeyed him in half with a single blow. The Black Blood Sect warriors would not even approach the giant.
I slipped through the shadows and approached him from behind.
Perhaps sensing my presence, he cursed and threw a punch.
“You bastard! Who the hell are you...?”
Stab.
As though he had only then noticed the foreign sensation lodged in his chest, the giant slowly lowered his head.
“What rank are you in the Black Blood Sect?”
“...”
He was so quiet that I tapped his body a few times.
The giant was no longer breathing.
“Damn. I thought I’d stabbed shallowly enough.”
I dragged his body somewhere out of sight, then moved through the shadows again, searching for a suitable target.
The people who appeared to be in command were all too close to the burning pavilion, busy fighting the blaze, and I could not find anyone worth targeting.
So I began picking off the rank-and-file members instead.
“Hey, who are you...?”
Stab.
“Hey! Why aren’t you carrying water...?”
Stab.
There was no need to fight.
Whenever I killed one of the fighters too distracted by hauling water to notice me, someone else quickly filled the vacant spot.
Before long, the narrow alley behind the building where I piled the bodies was packed so tightly there was nowhere left to step.
‘Time to move farther inside.’
Crash!
Just then, one side of the pavilion collapsed under the flames, scattering sparks in every direction.
“Move! The fire’s spreading!”
“Get out, you bastards!”
“Sect Leader! Has anyone seen the Sect Leader?!”
The pavilion collapsed, and flames caught on the pavilion next to it.
The fighters, half out of their minds, abandoned their buckets and began fleeing in every direction.
Boom.
At last, the largest pavilion collapsed, turning the area around the main training ground and Great Training Ground into a sea of fire.
“The fire’s spreading over there too! Bring water!”
“We don’t have enough buckets!”
“Then bring dirt, you bastards!”
The moment everyone’s attention turned toward another pavilion, I slowly approached the dazed fighters from behind.
Just as I grabbed one by the neck, ready to pierce their throat, an unfamiliar voice came from above.
“What a fearless fellow.”
“!”
When I looked up, dozens of kicking shadows filled the air.
Crash!
I hurriedly used the Taeul Eighty Thousand Divine Steps to evade. The bluestone floor shattered, spraying stone fragments everywhere.
‘What kind of destructive power is that...?’
I had heard that Serpent Evil’s leg art was unmatched, but I had never imagined a foot not reinforced with internal energy could shatter bluestone.
“You ran from me, only to come back again. Do I look that easy to you?”
A middle-aged man descended from the roof with his hands clasped behind his back.
His goatee made him look even more sly as he chuckled.
“I heard the Black Flame Dragon was all talk. You’ve learned quite an unusual martial art.”
“I’m not the Black Flame Dragon.”
“I saw you during the Night March of the Black Path.”
Damn it. Was he one of the Black Path members gathered there that day?
“Ah, so we’ve met before. Then would you kindly step aside? This is between the Black Blood Sect and me.”
“To be precise, it is between the Black Blood Sect and the Yujang Sect.”
“Your employer is dead now. Isn’t it pointless to work so hard?”
“I always take payment in advance.”
“Right. Trusting Black Path scum to pay afterward would make you an idiot.”
“Heh heh heh. Your martial arts reek of the Way, yet you speak like a back-alley thug.”
With his hands still behind his back, Serpent Evil raised his right foot and lashed it eight times like a whip.
Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang!
Even with my body tempered through constant external training and internal energy wrapped around it, every glancing blow hurt as though it had shattered bone.
Worse, the entries and advances of his leg art were faster than most swift sword arts, leaving no opening to exploit.
I tried to widen the distance and swing the Black Dragon Sword, but Serpent Evil would not allow it.
I threw out a pointless remark to create an opening.
“My sword is unmatched. Wouldn’t you like to witness my swordsmanship?”
“Pfft. The swordsmanship that killed the Black Blood Sect Leader? I’m too cowardly to be curious.”
But he was different from the idiots in the Sojeong Unit.
Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang!
Leg qi filled the space from three directions, without leaving even a crack through which I could escape. Whenever I tried to retreat, he threatened me with stronger attacks and closed the distance.
“Where do you think you’re going, brat?!”
When I charged in to knock him down, he used the short distance to strike my thigh. Each blow hit hard enough to make my body sway.
‘His adaptability is incredible.’
This was not a style honed through sparring or practice. It was an extreme fighting art shaped through real battles.
The same move felt like a different move.
Different moves felt like the same move.
It had only been a short while, but as the fight dragged on, members of the Black Blood Sect began looking in our direction one by one.
If I delayed any longer, the fear I had intended to create would surely fail to take hold, so I desperately pulled away.
Retreating was an important tactic too.
“Are you still trying to run?”
“Someone’s waiting for me.”
“I’ll let them know you won’t be coming.”
“I’ll decline. I prefer telling them myself.”
I pushed the Taeul Eighty Thousand Divine Steps to its limit, creating three afterimages.
At the same time, I unleashed the Myriad Blossoms Invincible Fist to block Serpent Evil’s view, then drew out the Sacred Flame Demon-Extinguishing Hand and targeted his vital points.
He desperately twisted away and fired leg qi to evade the Sacred Flame Demon-Extinguishing Hand.
Bang! Bang! Bang!
Sparks burst outward with explosive cracks.
“I felt it earlier too, but those are no ordinary flames. What martial art is that?”
“The righteous flames that beat down Black Path scum.”
As I scattered the Sacred Flame Demon-Extinguishing Hand to open some space, I turned and gathered strength in my legs.
Then Serpent Evil said something strange.
“He’s still mine. Don’t touch him.”
Shiver.
He clearly was not speaking to me.
An odd chill crawled up my spine. The instant I ducked, something sliced through the air above me.
Whoosh!
Several strands of hair fell to the ground.
‘...I didn’t sense anything?’
Serpent Evil clicked his tongue as he looked at my hair on the ground.
“Tsk, tsk. I told you not to touch him.”
“Serpent Evil, our employer is dead. Stop playing around.”
“See? I told you to take the payment in advance.”
“...”
Why was he sulking in the middle of a fight?
Ah, I really hated this.
One man was cracking jokes even though his employer had died, while the other sulked like a child because he would not get paid.
There were plenty of strange people in the White Path martial world too, but they were perfectly normal compared to Black Path scum.
“Oh? Your IOU is getting away.”
Don’t call people an IOU, you lunatic!
Sword Evil looked up at Serpent Evil’s words, then suddenly appeared before me and blocked my escape route.
“Don’t run. IOU.”
“At least treat me like a person!”
I scattered the Twin Heavens Sword Art to hem Sword Evil in from all sides, and one of his eyebrows twitched.
His sword began to move so quickly that it blurred from sight.
Ping! Ping! Ping! Ping! Ping!
I gasped at Sword Evil’s move.
He did not distinguish between illusion swords and real swords.
Illusions confused and deceived.
If you struck everything without distinguishing illusion from reality, you could not be deceived.
It sounded unbelievably stupid, but seeing it in person made admiration rise in me.
I even wanted to learn it.
“How much are you being paid?”
“A lot.”
“I can pay a lot too.”
“How much?”
“Ten thousand gold taels?”
One of Sword Evil’s eyebrows twitched.
Wait, he was actually falling for this?
“...What do I have to do?”
“Please kill the Black Blood Sect bastards and Serpent Evil over there.”
Serpent Evil grumbled as he fired leg qi.
“Th-that idiot! Why are you listening to him again?!”
“...”
Sword Evil pouted, then shook his head.
“Serpent Evil has a bad personality. Holds grudges. He’ll torment me forever.”
I used the Iron Bridge to evade Serpent Evil’s leg qi.
“Couldn’t you just kill him here?”
“If Serpent Evil dies, no more jobs.”
“Are you two friends?”
Serpent Evil answered instead.
“Childhood friends.”
Oh, I see. They were friends.
“This is why adults tell you to choose your friends wisely.”
“The only reason that bastard became one of the Eight Evils is because of me.”
As Serpent Evil said, the two had clearly worked together for a long time. They covered each other’s weaknesses remarkably well.
Above the waist, Sword Evil left me reeling.
Below the waist, Serpent Evil tangled my footing.
It was already hard enough to face either one alone. Trading moves with both of them made escape seem impossible.
I began forming a plan as I committed their martial arts to memory, one move at a time.
“You’re proud of ruining your friend’s life?”
“Infamy is fame too, just like the Black Flame Dragon.”
Damn it, since when had my title become infamy?
The question rose to my throat, but I swallowed it again as a sword blade suddenly appeared before me.
‘What kind of sword art has no presence at all?!’
As if to prove my earlier feeling had not been mistaken, Sword Evil’s sword art had no presence again.
Its speed was one thing, but because my senses could not detect it, I could not take my eyes off him.
The moment I fixed my attention on Sword Evil, Serpent Evil relentlessly targeted my lower body.
“There! That’s the intruder!”
The Black Blood Sect members who had been stunned by the blaze began gathering one after another.
I filled one hand with the Sacred Flame Demon-Extinguishing Hand within the Myriad Blossoms Invincible Fist, while using the other to unleash the Ten Thousand Seas Heaven and Earth Sword Art and create two Ten Thousand Swords.
Boom! Boom! Boom!
The Myriad Blossoms Invincible Fist collided with Serpent Evil’s leg art, bursting flames in every direction.
Clang! Clang! Clang! Clang! Clang!
The Twin Heavens Sword Art unleashed by the Ten Thousand Swords shattered against Sword Evil’s sword.
It would have been stronger if I imbued it with sword qi, but Serpent Evil gave me no time to spare.
The Black Blood Sect members had already surrounded the area. They could not easily approach because of the aftermath of the battle, but they gripped their weapons, radiating a murderous readiness to charge me at any moment.
“IOU, give up. Your arm will get cut off.”
“...”
As he said, I was moving sword and hand so frantically that I could not even curse.
It felt as though I were a foreign object trapped between two perfectly fitted locks.
If I shifted even an inch, death would be hard to avoid.
Instead, I threw myself into their reach.
Sword Evil’s blade grazed above my eyebrow, and Serpent Evil’s toe left a sharp wound on my thigh.
‘Now!’
I withdrew the Myriad Blossoms Invincible Fist and extended my left hand toward Sword Evil as well.
“You think my kick is something you can afford to take?”
Serpent Evil swung a foot saturated with internal energy at full power.
The force was enough that not only bone, but even skin, would not remain intact if it struck.
With my freed left hand, I grabbed Sword Evil’s blade.
My skin split, and blood burst out like a fountain.
“Huh?!”
As Sword Evil stared in surprise, I used Lotus, the art of Flower-Grafting, with all my strength to redirect Sword Evil’s sword path toward Serpent Evil’s kick.
Stab!
Boom!
The sound of flesh being pierced rang out alongside the explosion of condensed internal energy.
Footnotes:
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