WeTried Translations

Translator/Editor: Chen

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◈ The Martial Genius who Remembers Everything ◈

Chapter 164: The Black Flame Dragon Quelling the Chaos (9)

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Damn it, damn it, damn it, damn it.

I cursed dozens of times in my head.

After risking my life to learn the Sword Demon’s martial arts, Sword Evil, the one I wanted to face, was trembling like a mongrel that had seen a tiger, while Axe Evil had gotten his head cut off instead.

Of course, I wasn’t upset that Axe Evil had died by my hand.

The bastard was a madman who lived for murder and arson.

Getting rid of him was a good deed for the martial world.

But still.

‘If I’d known Axe Evil would come out, I wouldn’t have done that crazy thing just to learn the Sword Demon’s martial arts.’

I had somehow learned the first form of the Three White Moon Heaven-Subduing Forms, but it had left my body like a mummy.

My energy channels and dantian weren’t injured.

If anything, my duel with the Sword Demon had brought me enlightenment, changing my body once more. The internal energy flowing through my energy channels surged as freely as the Yangtze River.

My appearance was only like this because my body could not endure such excessive training.

At this point, I felt like an idiot for worrying that the Black Path bastards would not accept the result of the duel.

No, I wished they would all come at me now.

If their cruel and vicious acts had not pissed me off, I would never have done something like this.

“Sword Evil. Are you really not going to come at me? Don’t you hold a grudge against me?”

When I called Sword Evil out, he jolted with a little hiccup, like a child who had swallowed wrong.

A hiccup... A grown man hiccupping...

“Serpent Evil! W-We have to run. We need to leave now!”

Sword Evil began dragging Serpent Evil, whose leg was wrapped in bandages, away.

Serpent Evil could not even shake off Sword Evil’s hand and only stared at me blankly.

“...Black Blood Sect, is there anyone who cannot accept the result of the duel? Then come up here.”

“...”

The Black Blood Sect members only looked at one another, their eyes saying, You go. No, you go.

I looked at the remaining Eight Evils standing beside the Lord of the Black Talisman Palace.

“Is there anyone among you who wishes to avenge Axe Evil?”

“...”

They met one another’s eyes, but no one stepped forward.

Then Spear Evil asked, “...The martial art you used... Was that truly the Sword Demon’s martial art?”

“You saw it. Why ask?”

“...It was real?”

Spear Evil’s face stiffened.

The Black Path martial artists gathered at the Yujang Sect began whispering in agitation as well.

“...Does that mean you are the Sword Demon’s disciple?”

“I am a disciple of the Taeul Sect.”

“Then how are you using that martial art? Did you learn it from him yourself?”

The Sword Demon had said he would break the legs of anyone who went around claiming to have learned even a single move from him.

My memory was absolute, and I especially never broke a warning given by someone like the Sword Demon.

“No.”

“Then...?”

“I took it from him.”

“Huh?”

Spear Evil’s eyes widened.

The whispers among the Black Path grew louder.

The Sword Demon had told me to say it this way, so it wasn’t a lie. Of course it wasn’t.

“He took the Sword Demon’s martial arts from him.”

“Are you insane? Does that even make sense?”

“Maybe it does... Isn’t he the Joint Successor of the Black Path Alliance?”

“Ah! As expected of the Black Path Divine Star!”

Black Path Divine Star, fine. But what kind of bullshit was this about being the Joint Successor of the Black Path Alliance?

“If your curiosity has been satisfied, come up here already!”

I wanted to get rid of this foul mood as quickly as possible.

I wanted a reward for everything I had suffered through!

Ah, this thirst for blood proved that the Sword Demon’s martial art certainly had something sinister about it.

Someone born to follow the Dao like me would never want to beat another person to death.

“...We were hired by the Black Talisman Palace. Axe Evil was at fault from the beginning for involving himself in the Black Blood Sect’s affairs.”

With that, Spear Evil stepped back and folded his arms.

The Lord of the Black Talisman Palace glared at him in disbelief.

Spear Evil met the gaze without backing down, his eyes saying, What do you expect me to do about it?

“Then is no one coming out?”

“...”

I looked over the Black Path martial artists as I spoke.

Using the Black Dragon Sword as a cane, I took a couple of steps forward and spoke again.

“I said, is no one coming out?”

Shuffle.

The Black Path martial artists all took a couple of steps back at once.

When I took another three steps forward, the Black Path martial artists all retreated five steps at once.

Shuffle.

“...”

What was I, some kind of germ?

#

The decisive martial duel ended like that.

The Black Blood Sect’s representative wrote a pledge on the spot, promising the Yujang Sect compensation for all damages and for the bereaved families as well.

The Yujang Sect, which had been packed with people, was empty within half a day.

Only shattered halls, collapsed walls, and the wreckage of the front gate remained where people had once gathered, making the place feel even more desolate.

“Senior Brother, what on earth happened?”

Eunho looked at me in disbelief.

I kept drinking water as I answered, “Once you enter the stage of Jade Pistil Golden Flower, the upper dantian opens, and what you envision can be applied as though it were real. That means mindscape cultivation can become the same as actual cultivation.”

“So?”

“The speed within a mindscape is far faster than the speed of reality. It is the best way to grow stronger in a short time. I’ll teach you later.”

“...No. I think I’d rather keep failing day by day in real time.”

Eunho shuddered as though they had seen something they should never have seen.

To be fair, it was not a method I wanted to recommend either.

I could only do it because my memory was absolute. If ordinary people fell into delusion while cultivating within a mindscape, it would lead straight to qi deviation.

The more I thought about it, the angrier I became. Why had I risked my life doing that?

I knew the Black Path bastards groveled before the strong and bullied the weak, but wasn’t this taking their lack of spirit too far?

Eunho, still shuddering, looked around and asked, “What will happen to the Yujang Sect now?”

They had defeated the Black Blood Sect and preserved their sect’s name, yet no one was celebrating.

The physician summoned from the Tang Clan was examining Jang Sageong, but said that his shattered innate qi had left him beyond recovery.

If not for the Tang Clan physician, Jang Sageong would have died the moment the duel ended. The physician had only managed to keep him alive this long.

That was why every Yujang Sect disciple had gathered to speak with Jang Sageong one last time.

I looked back at them as they struggled to hold back their tears, then asked Eunho, “What do you think will happen?”

“...”

Eunho thought for a long while before answering.

“I do not know, but... Won’t they become stronger from now on?”

In my previous life, the Yujang Sect had been wiped out as soon as the Orthodox-Demonic War began.

Mount Cang Sect had ordered every member of the sect to face the Demonic Cult without proper information.

Then Mount Cang Sect took no responsibility for it.

This time, the Yujang Sect would move forward differently.

I thought of Jang Sageong, who had created a different future for the Yujang Sect.

“I think so too.”

A short while later, those who had said their final farewells to Jang Sageong began leaving the hall one by one.

Most were crying. They lowered their heads to hide their shameful appearances, but they could not conceal the tears that kept falling.

Eunho pressed their lips tightly together at the sight.

I said to Eunho, “This will not happen only to the Yujang Sect.”

“...Yes.”

Eunho would understand with just that much. They were a clever child.

“Young Hero Jin.”

A hall master of the Yujang Sect called to me, eyes red and swollen.

“Yes.”

“The Sect Leader wishes to see you.”

“...All right.”

I slowly rose.

#

Jang Sageong’s martial brothers and Jang Woojae sat quietly on either side of the room.

Jang Sageong sat before them, devoid of vitality, yet smiling as he looked at me.

“Welcome, Young Hero Jin.”

As my internal energy increased and my energy sense sharpened, I could sense another person’s presence without consciously trying.

But I could feel nothing from Jang Sageong now.

It meant that every trace of energy that sustained his existence had dried up.

Without the Tang Clan physician beside him, constantly inserting needles, applying moxibustion, and pouring qi into him, he would not even have been able to sit here and speak.

“I heard... that you summoned a physician from the Tang Clan two days ago. How did you know I would resort to my innate true qi?”

Two days ago, I had seen Hong Mungi from my previous life in Jang Sageong.

Hong Mungi too had never hesitated to burn away his own body to save his disciples until the very end.

Perhaps I had seen Hong Mungi, whom I could not save in my previous life, within Jang Sageong.

“I just had a feeling.”

Jang Sageong stared at me, then spoke with a faint smile.

“It seems that, despite your youth, you have endured many difficult experiences.”

“...There must have been a wiser way through this. I am sorry that I was lacking.”

Jang Sageong slowly shook his head.

“No. I could not ask for anything more. I will not forget this kindness. I have told my children, and my children’s children, never to forget it either.”

At words that sounded like his last will, sobs broke out around the room.

“Thank you truly, Young Hero Jin. I do not know what virtue I accumulated in my previous life, but thanks to you, I can close my eyes in peace.”

“...”

Jang Sageong looked at his son, Jang Woojae.

“Bring it here.”

“Yes.”

Jang Woojae placed the object he had kept behind him before his father.

With trembling hands, Jang Sageong pushed a wooden tray toward me.

A small jewel of blue crystal rested on it.

“It is called the Wind Bell.”

“The Wind Bell?”

There was no record of such an item even in my vast library of memories.

“It is a relic of our founder, the Flowing Sword Divine. It protects one from cold and heat, so it should prove useful to someone like you, Young Hero Jin, who must travel the martial world.”

A relic of the founder?

Startled, I refused it.

“I did not do this expecting a reward. I cannot accept something so precious.”

A broad smile spread across Jang Sageong’s face.

“Young Hero Jin, that is why I am giving it to you. What righteous hero in this world would risk their life without asking for anything in return?”

“...”

“It carries my small wish that your good influence may spread throughout the world and open the eyes of many.”

I had only acted to erase the nightmare in my memories...

“You did not act with that intention, yet you are thinking that, are you not?”

What?

Jang Sageong laughed as if it delighted him.

“Perhaps as the end approaches, I can finally see what I could not see before. Young Hero Jin, do not worry. Whatever your intention, we have received a kindness we can never repay. If I close my eyes without giving you this, I feel I would become a ghost out of guilt even after death.”

Jang Sageong made such a grim joke.

I bowed deeply and clasped my hands.

“...I will gratefully accept the Sect Leader’s gift.”

When I raised my head, Jang Sageong met my eyes.

“What do you think? Did I do well enough?”

I nodded at his question.

“You did wonderfully. I could not have asked for more.”

For a moment, we smiled as we looked into each other’s eyes.

The Tang Clan physician met my gaze and shook his head.

It was time to truly leave them alone.

I quietly stepped out of the room.

“Why is the moon so bright?”

As I stared blankly at the moon hanging above the Yujang Sect, the sound of crying inside the hall gradually grew louder.

“On a day like this, I would not mind if it were a little cloudier.”

Before long, the crying spread throughout the entire Yujang Sect.

Footnotes:

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