WeTried Translations
Translator/Editor: Chen
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◈ The Martial Genius who Remembers Everything ◈
Chapter 16: The Third-Rate Martial Artist Saving a Girl (3)
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Back at the Iron Sword Sect.
Seong Cheonwol had refused to see anyone off, but he could not ignore the Martial Alliance's Grand Strategist. After sending Jegal Somyeong away with a grim expression, he went to find Seong Mohyeon, who had been causing a commotion in the Golden Prison day after day.
“You bastard! Do you think you’ll keep your life after what you’ve done? Who do you think will inherit the Iron Sword Sect after this?”
Though he was the chief culprit behind the loss of the Fourth Group’s sword, Seong Mohyeon remained defiant.
“Grandfather! This cannot be allowed! He has clearly learned the Absorbing Star Grand Art. We must summon the Martial Alliance’s Inspectorate...”
“Shut your mouth, you fool! Are you trying to tear the Iron Sword Sect out by its roots?”
“It is certain. His forms did not connect...”
“You idiot...”
The Iron Sword Sect Leader, Seong Cheonwol, thought that if he entrusted the sect to this foolish grandson any longer, a terrible disaster would strike.
“Bring Moran here.”
“What?”
“Seong Mohyeon. If you can withstand fifty exchanges against Moran, I will forgive every crime you have committed.”
“...What do you mean?”
Seong Mohyeon, Seong Jutak, and the other Iron Sword Sect martial artists all looked bewildered by Seong Cheonwol’s sudden declaration.
“Moran, show everything you possess.”
“...”
“Do not think of hiding anything. As you have seen, the Iron Sword Sect’s survival already hangs over a cliff. Do you believe that bastard Seong Mohyeon can inherit the Iron Sword Sect in such a situation?”
“...Understood.”
No one listening to Seong Cheonwol and Seong Moran could understand what was happening.
“Grandfather! You cannot do this! You would pass over the eldest son?”
“You fool...”
“I have done my utmost for the Iron Sword Sect.”
Seong Mohyeon’s rage, with nowhere else to go, naturally turned toward Seong Moran. He had looked after her so well all this time, yet she had been a rival competing for the succession all along.
“Moran! How dare you!”
“Shut up and come at me.”
Seong Mohyeon’s fury rose even higher than it had when Jin Sowoon defeated him.
The sense of betrayal he felt toward the blood relative who had always been by his side as he grew up twisted into hatred strong enough to stir killing intent.
“You, of all people...!”
From the very start, he unleashed the Mountain-Crushing Sword Art at its tenth stage.
A killing move from the opening.
As if reflecting his state of mind, his sword movements were violent and savage.
But then.
“...!”
Clang!
The thunderous ring of steel did not even last for three exchanges.
Seong Mohyeon was struck by the flat of Seong Moran’s blade and sent flying thirty feet before rolling across the ground.
“What...!”
“Get up, Brother.”
Clang! Clang! Clang!
These were completely different sounds from his fight with Jin Sowoon.
The collision of the Mountain-Crushing Sword Art against itself scattered deafening explosions in every direction.
Seong Moran’s expression did not change, while Seong Mohyeon’s face was already filled with shock and desperation.
He wanted to exert strength, but it felt as though none would enter his body.
His internal energy and mastery of the forms were clearly greater, yet he felt utterly helpless.
Boom!
This time, Seong Mohyeon was sent flying forty feet. He could not even spring back up, only staring blankly at Seong Moran.
He had thought she was beneath him.
She had landed sharp counters a few times, but he had always overwhelmed her.
What was this?
It was as if the forms kept breaking apart and his strength drained away.
His arms and legs, which should have moved naturally, crossed against one another as though they did not belong to him.
“This is...”
A heavy voice bore down on the dazed Seong Mohyeon.
“Has Moran also learned the Absorbing Star Grand Art?”
“...”
Seong Mohyeon could not continue.
“Take him away.”
The Iron Sword Sect martial artists seized Seong Mohyeon, whom they had once cherished, like a grave criminal and dragged him back to the Golden Prison.
Scrape, scrape, scrape.
The shock was so great that Seong Mohyeon could not walk on his own and had to be dragged away.
‘But when that man’s hand touched me, it was definitely...’
The question remained in his mind, but Seong Mohyeon could not bring himself to say it aloud.
Seong Moran had already proven just how grave his mistake had been. Now, he was afraid to even open his mouth.
* * *
To remove the Gyerong Merchant Group from the Taeul Sect, I first needed to reorganize the sect’s finances.
There were many ways to resolve the Taeul Sect’s chronic financial deficit.
I could sell the elixirs listed in The Martial World Elixir Compendium to raise money, or retrieve treasures from vaults and tombs that had yet to be discovered.
But I had to consume the elixirs myself, and most of the treasures were in faraway provinces, so I could not obtain them immediately.
“Even if I found them, recovering and selling the treasures would be a problem.”
Elixirs and treasures were the same in that regard. Once word spread that something had appeared somewhere, jackal-like people from across the martial world would rush in, and war would break out.
Such conflicts often caused as much damage as wars against the Black Path and the Demonic Cult. The Martial Alliance responded faster to those reports than to any other, striving to prevent bloodshed over elixirs and treasures.
Because of that, when mounted bandits or mountain bandits raided a village, people sometimes reported that an elixir had appeared instead of reporting a bandit attack.
In any case, the best temporary solution was to bring in another sponsor like the Gyerong Merchant Group.
There were quite a few merchant groups in Anhui Province that could replace them.
Nanjing in Jiangsu Province and Hangzhou in Zhejiang Province were nearby, making Anhui an ideal location for merchants and escort agencies to expand their influence. Naturally, there were many wealthy people there.
The problem was that those with immense fortunes had no interest in the Taeul Sect.
People who thoroughly weighed profit and loss had nothing to gain from the Taeul Sect.
That meant I needed support born not from a transactional relationship, but from gratitude.
And the richer a person was, the deeper their gratitude could be.
“They say the Wang Family Estate was so vast that they ended up building an entire village around it.”
“How many employees and household retainers do they even have? I heard nearby cities offered them free land if they would relocate there.”
“I’m the one who built that Wang Residence Village!”
“Do you work for the Wang Family Estate?”
“I said I built Wang Residence Village. I put up every roof tile and beam.”
“...Are you joking? Mr. Gwak, shut up and eat your snacks.”
The Wang Family Estate was an old family that had built enormous wealth over ten generations, beginning with the Wang Cloth Shop.
They operated countless businesses, including the Wang Family Bank, Wang Family Merchant Group, Wang Family Escort Agency, and Wang Family Inn. They had even secured a salt merchant’s license, a monopoly right granted by the state, making them one of the three wealthiest families in the realm.
Of course, a family that massive would have no reason to deal with the Taeul Sect.
“But it would be different if their beloved daughter were involved.”
Wang Soso was the only daughter Wang Geumsan, the current Estate Lord, had fathered late in life.
He treasured her so dearly that she had never gone outside until she turned fifteen. Her studies and hobbies were all handled within the enormous estate.
It was said that even her outings consisted of riding a carriage around the estate grounds. That showed both how great Wang Geumsan’s wealth was and how dearly he cherished his daughter.
“They say Wang Soso’s beauty is so incredible that one look enchants anyone, while a second makes them ill. Apparently, he hides her away because he fears the Emperor will take her.”
“I heard she has already entered the palace and is no longer at Wang Residence Village.”
In my previous life, she disappeared and was never seen again.
Wang Geumsan spent every bit of wealth his family had accumulated over ten generations to find her, but Wang Soso was never found anywhere.
And I knew the identity of the culprit Wang Geumsan failed to find even after exhausting his entire fortune.
“When I first learned this, I nearly fainted. I never imagined they were involved...”
The Martial Alliance was where information from across the martial world gathered before spreading outward again.
It held everything from trivial information to classified secrets that could not be allowed into the world, and the Mantong Office ranked and categorized it all.
Most information from the Mantong Office did not exceed Grade A.
Every document contained information important enough to sway the balance of the martial world, so it was managed with equal care.
Yet there was a place that made even the Mantong Office’s intelligence look paltry.
The secret department of the Mantong Office, the Profound Mystery Pavilion.
Most information there was classified Beyond Grade A.
Only the Profound Mystery Pavilion’s custodian, the Mantong Office’s Grand Strategist, and the Martial Alliance Leader could read it. Once information was deemed secret and sealed, not even the Alliance Leader could open it.
What kind of information was important enough to warrant that?
Most of it consisted of the weaknesses and scandals of the Nine Sects One Gang and the Five Great Clans.
The Profound Mystery Pavilion’s records had been gathered to keep a leash around the great pillars of the martial world, the Nine Sects One Gang and the Five Great Clans.
“From the moment they made me memorize the Profound Mystery Pavilion’s records, my life and death had probably already been placed in their hands.”
For a moment, I recalled the final moments of my previous life, then quickly shook my head.
In any case, it was in the Profound Mystery Pavilion that I learned who was behind the Wang Soso Disappearance Incident, which had shaken the entire realm.
It was the very place no one could have suspected at the time.
“The Changgung Merchant Group...”
Three sects had been implicated in the Wang Soso Disappearance Incident.
The Black Path sects Gyeonsa Sect and Hyeolju Fort, which had been named as suspects, were destroyed. Even Tanghyeon Sect, an orthodox sect, could not escape destruction.
Yet no trace of Wang Soso was found. Wang Geumsan, who had pursued the matter recklessly, had to pay massive compensation to both the Martial Alliance and the Black Path Alliance.
“They had been dancing to the Changgung Merchant Group's tune from the beginning. There was no way they could have found Wang Soso, even if they died trying.”
The Changgung Merchant Group was a new merchant group established by the Namgung Clan.
At this time, its greatest concern was that it lacked the history and tradition of the Wang Family Estate.
To solve that, it entered a bid for the salt merchant’s license. But it could not overcome the Wang Family Estate, which had held the license without issue for one hundred and ten years.
Namgung Sangwon, the head of the Namgung Clan’s collateral branch and the Changgung Merchant Group’s true owner, decided that the Changgung Merchant Group could only grow by stepping over the Wang Family Estate. That was why Namgung Sangwon devised this scheme.
“And this time, I’m going to throw sand into your gears.”
It was not as if I had no other useful opportunities in my memories of my previous life. Even so, I deliberately chose to deal with the Changgung Merchant Group.
I had not chosen this troublesome opponent out of some paltry sense of chivalry or justice.
“They must have acted as though it had nothing to do with them at the Iron Sword Sect.”
My bloody fight with Seong Mohyeon. The forbidden art incident that had brought out even the Martial Alliance’s Grand Strategist. Throughout it all, Namgung Sangwon had yawned atop the platform as though bored.
I knew that the Iron Sword Sect’s tyranny in Anhui Province was permitted by the Namgung Clan and bolstered by the Changgung Merchant Group. There was no way I could find that sight pleasant.
That attitude of acting as though it had nothing to do with them, even after they pushed others’ lives to the edge of a cliff.
“Then there should not be much of a problem if I throw a little sand into your affairs, right?”
My opponent might have been the Namgung Clan’s Changgung Merchant Group, but I was not particularly afraid.
The Changgung Merchant Group’s martial artists would naturally have learned the Changgung Unhindered Sword Art, and since I knew every detail of the kidnapping, there was much I could prepare.
Above all else.
“Maybe Seong Moran is not such a bad person after all.”
The elixir pellet Seong Moran had given me was the Steel Body Protection Pellet.
It could not compare to Mount Hua Sect’s Snow Plum Pellet, but it was so precious that an Iron Heart Pellet could not even be mentioned in the same breath.
Even within the Iron Sword Sect, only the most direct members of the main line could consume it. Yet she had readily given it to me.
After digesting the Iron Heart Pellet and the Steel Body Protection Pellet, my internal energy was rapidly approaching forty-five years’ worth.
“Let’s see how you like it when the shit you splashed around stains your own clothes.”
I would have to face the Demonic Cult and the entire Martial Alliance in the future anyway.
The final enemy was too great for me to fear some collateral branch of the Namgung Clan.
Footnotes:
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