WeTried Translations
Translator/Editor: Chen
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◈ The Martial Genius who Remembers Everything ◈
Chapter 167: The Sea of Blood Spreading Across Sichuan (3)
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When Cheol Sunjik heard that Jin Sowoon had requested permission to leave, he found it strange.
The academic term had only just begun. Where could the Academy Representative possibly be going?
Just as he was about to dismiss it with the thought, As expected, what an unpleasantly unpredictable man, he learned that Jin’s destination was Sichuan, where the Orthodox Society had gone for a field exercise.
He could not simply let that pass.
The man who had remained completely at ease while people died inside the Soul-Destroying Formation was now urgently chasing after an off-campus field exercise that was little more than the Orthodox Society’s defiant protest?
And he had even mobilized Azure Dragon Pavilion’s strike force?
What an unpleasant man in every sense.
Cheol Sunjik disliked most unpredictable things, and Jin Sowoon was an especially uncomfortable presence to him.
That was why he had volunteered to join this journey.
He wanted to learn what kind of person Jin was, someone who always acted beyond his expectations.
Was Jin merely a reckless brat who kept making impulsive moves because of his emotions, or...
Cheol’s thoughts stopped there as he watched Jin’s back.
“Anyone who falls behind will be left behind! Chase me to Chengdu in Sichuan with everything you have!”
Jin’s booming shout made Cheol tighten his grip on the reins without thinking.
The Twelve Peak Alliance members accompanying Jin were all elites among elites.
None of them would struggle with this speed alone.
“Brother Cheol, why did you tell us to join this man’s expedition?”
At Nam Hwaseong’s question, Ha Yeongyeong, Sang Muheun, and the others rode over beside Cheol and began speaking to him.
Keeping pace while gathering like this was an act of skill in itself, yet no one seemed troubled by it.
Nam Hwaseong even frowned as though he could not understand.
“And you even gave him command authority.”
Cheol chuckled at that.
Right before their departure, Jin had surprisingly accepted his offer to join without hesitation.
He had set only one condition.
Absolute obedience.
The Twelve Peak Alliance elites, including Nam Hwaseong, had objected, but Cheol had ultimately accepted the condition.
Only now did they press him about the doubts they had been holding back.
“To be honest, didn’t all of you come because you were curious about Jin Sowoon too?”
“...”
No one answered Cheol’s question.
“I’m going because I want to see Jin Sowoon fight those Nine Sects One Gang bastards. That guy always charges in without any thought for what comes after.”
Cheol nodded at Nam Hwaseong’s words.
“So am I.”
“Hm?”
“There is always a reason behind his actions.”
Jin was a man who did unpredictable things.
Unpredictable actions were things most people would not do.
And when most people did not do something, it usually meant the odds of a good result were low.
Yet that logic did not apply to him.
Every unpredictable action he took had always brought him the best possible result.
As though he had been given a hidden answer sheet from the start.
It had been that way at Demon Spirit Plateau.
It had been that way during the regular examination.
It had even been that way during the Soul-Destroying Formation incident.
“Brother Cheol, do you still not get it? That guy’s crazy. He’s just a lunatic with a screw loose.”
At Nam Hwaseong’s words, the Twelve Peak Alliance members burst out laughing.
“Hahaha. You think so too?”
Some people underestimated Jin Sowoon.
They called him a madman, or a Black Path martial artist who had lost his mind and believed himself to be White Path.
Such assessments likely came from envy. They could not accept the reality that he always achieved the best result through choices no one expected.
“That is why I am curious.”
Was Jin truly just a reckless lunatic with no sense of restraint...
Or was he a new kind of person walking a path that others would never choose...
Cheol believed that his generation in the martial world was already doomed.
That thought had become firmly fixed in his mind when he first met Yong Soa.
No one in his generation could surpass Yong Soa.
As long as Yong Soa existed, no one of their generation could rule the martial world or the Central Plains.
No matter how much the Twelve Peak Alliance expanded and how many masters emerged, no one would surpass Shaolin Sect’s Ilmyeong or Wudang Sect’s Yong Soa.
In the end, they had to bide their time for the sake of the next generation.
Until those two no longer existed in the martial world.
“If there is someone who can defy even such a firm prediction...”
Cheol’s sharp gaze fixed on Jin Sowoon’s back as he rode ahead.
If Jin truly was not just a simple lunatic like others believed.
If he was the kind of person Cheol thought he might be.
Then perhaps, even in their generation, a promising figure capable of opening a new era beyond Cheol’s expectations had appeared...
“Hey! Twelve Peak Alliance! What are you all muttering about? Are you not going to catch up?”
“...”
Jin Sowoon had cut off his thoughts and glared back at them with a demon-like expression.
Cheol tried to keep his composure as he spoke.
“Representative Jin, are we going to keep riding like this? At this rate, everyone will collapse from exhaustion.”
“What?! You people said you wanted to come! If you were going to crawl along that slowly, why did you follow us? Go back to the Academy!”
“...”
Was he really just pushing ahead without any thought?
At this rate, not only the Twelve Peak Alliance but even Tiger Hall would not last long.
“...Brother Cheol.”
Nam Hwaseong spoke quietly.
“Pick up the pace. We’re getting cursed at by that lunatic because you keep falling behind.”
“No, I...”
“Didn’t you tell us to come, Brother Cheol? Hurry up.”
“...My apologies.”
Could it be that Jin had simply been lucky all this time, recklessly driving people forward without a thought?
Cheol Sunjik felt the weight of his thoughts begin to tilt in one direction.
#
“We will cut through Chongqing.”
Gu Jeongryong’s brow furrowed deeply at Jin Sowoon’s words.
Most groups traveling from Hubei Province to Sichuan took the Yangtze River, circled through Shaanxi Province, and entered Sichuan.
Travel by river was efficient in many ways.
It could carry far more than land travel, but more importantly, it was comfortable.
That was why most people heading for Sichuan took that route.
But cutting through Chongqing...
That was a route suited only for people traveling light and moving quickly.
If a fully armed group leading horses claimed they would cross Chongqing, they would be called insane.
Yet less than a day after Gu Jeongryong had handed over command authority, Jin Sowoon was saying something equally mad.
“Are you in your right mind? Cut through Chongqing? Forget the martial artists, the horses won’t endure it.”
Gu Jeongryong had given Jin command authority because of Maeng Juwon’s earnest plea.
Gu owed Maeng from the past, so it had been a request Gu could readily grant. Still, when the Head of the Mantong Office pleaded before the members, saying, “Please, just once, for the sake of my fox-like wife and rabbit-like child...,” Gu could not refuse.
Had Maeng Juwon not still been a bachelor in the first place?
In any case, Maeng’s desperate plea, enough to invoke a wife and child who did not even exist, made Gu decide to lend Maeng support. Gu had even given Jin command authority, but that did not mean Gu could blindly follow such an unreasonable decision.
“It is the only way to close the distance with the group ahead.”
“Why are you in such a hurry?”
“The best time to catch those who left first is before they reach Mount Emei. But if the Yangtze’s current is as fast as usual, we won’t arrive until after they reach Badong. If we want to catch them, we have no choice but to cross Chongqing.”
It was a reasonable argument, but only in theory.
People and horses could not move according to theory alone.
“Even if we manage Hubei Province, there is no Martial Alliance branch in Chongqing City, our stopover point. That isn’t even the only problem. Where will we find places to feed and house nearly a hundred people, and change horses, all the way to Chengdu in Sichuan?”
That was the most important matter.
There was no war. Were they really going to run Tiger Hall ragged just to stop an off-campus field exercise that was little more than an outing?
The members’ resentment would be no small matter.
“You do not need to worry about that.”
“What?”
“I have already asked for assistance, so there is no need to worry. Of course, I don’t know what that person may ask of me later...”
Gu could not make sense of Jin Sowoon’s words, so Gu had no choice but to give a stern warning.
“You understand the responsibility that comes with command authority, do you not?”
“Of course.”
“That includes the grievances of Tiger Hall’s members. Making martial artists suffer without a proper reason will invite resistance.”
“...”
“Even if we ride all the way to Jingzhou, the Martial Alliance’s Jingzhou branch will already be closed. Can you calm their resentment?”
Despite Gu’s pressure, Jin’s expression remained perfectly relaxed.
“Well, I can’t say for certain, but it will be better than catching a brief nap at the Jingzhou branch.”
“Hm?”
Gu had no idea what Jin meant, but decided to wait and see.
Ignoring Gu’s suggestion that they rest before reaching Jingzhou, the group rode until the moon rose high and only arrived in Jingzhou when it was nearly the Pig Hour.
“Haa... Haa... Damn it.”
“I knew this would happen.”
“Damn it, what the hell is that Black Flame Dragon thinking?”
As expected, the Martial Alliance’s Jingzhou branch had already closed.
Soon, Tiger Hall’s members began voicing their complaints one after another.
“Hall Master, what are we doing right now? We are not even going to fight. Why are we being driven this hard?”
“Even if this is a request from the Head of the Mantong Office, this is too much.”
“Hall Master, if we keep going like this, everyone will collapse before we reach Sichuan. Please make a decision.”
Just as Gu Jeongryong decided it was time to reclaim command authority amid the curses and complaints...
“This way.”
Jin Sowoon stopped in front of Golden Pavilion Inn, the largest inn in Jingzhou.
“Young Master Jin! We have been waiting for you.”
The Tiger Hall members and Twelve Peak Alliance martial artists who had been complaining all opened their mouths wide.
The innkeeper of Golden Pavilion Inn, Jingzhou’s finest inn, stood in formation with the servants to welcome Jin’s group.
“Attend to the martial artists!”
The servants immediately approached the martial artists, took their horses, and offered cool, wet towels so they could clean their hands and faces.
“The meals and baths are ready. You said you would depart early tomorrow, correct?”
Jin nodded as though accustomed to this treatment.
“We will leave before the Dragon Hour. Have the horses been secured?”
“The branch offices throughout Hubei Province are already prepared. Chongqing City and Sichuan Province will finish their preparations before you arrive, Young Master.”
“I apologize for making such an unreasonable request.”
When Jin bowed his head, the middle-aged innkeeper of Golden Pavilion Inn looked flustered and hurriedly stopped him.
“You need not say such things. Thanks to you, I can earn more favor with Lord Wang, so I should be the grateful one.”
Everyone stared blankly at Jin.
Lord Wang? Did that mean Wang Geumsan, the man said to have piled mountains of gold?
What was even stranger was that the Taeul Sect disciples, as well as Namgung Seonhwa and Seong Moran, who were always with Jin, accepted such treatment as though they were used to it.
Could Jin Sowoon be Wang Geumsan’s son? ...But their surnames are different.
After washing away every speck of dust in the baths, the group emerged into the dining hall and stared wide-eyed at the extravagant feast laid out before them as though it had been timed perfectly.
“Alcohol will be limited to one bottle per person. We still have a long way to go.”
At Jin’s words, the Tiger Hall members erupted in cheers.
The people who had been complaining only moments ago began praising the Black Flame Dragon as though nothing had happened.
“Black Flame Dragon! Black Flame Dragon!”
“Junior! You’re a real man!”
“Having the right commander really does matter!”
Gu Jeongryong was dumbfounded by the Tiger Hall members’ swift change of attitude.
“...”
Gu was so distracted that the food barely seemed to be going into either mouth or nose. In the end, Gu could not hold back and asked Jin Sowoon.
“Are you perhaps Lord Wang Geumsan’s hidden son or something?”
“Pardon? What are you talking about?”
“If not, why is Lord Wang Geumsan providing you with all these conveniences?”
They were the only guests in this enormous annex.
In other words, Golden Pavilion Inn had accepted not only the loss of a day’s income but additional losses as well, all for Jin Sowoon.
“Lord Wang and the Taeul Sect have always been close. His daughter is also my junior sister.”
Jin spoke as though it were obvious, but that only gave Gu more questions.
Jin Sowoon was not even Wang Geumsan’s son, so why would Lord Wang provide this much help to a Taeul Sect disciple? Could Jin be the Wang Family Estate’s son-in-law or something?
Gu Jeongryong’s doubts remained completely unresolved, but Gu found it necessary to get along better with Jin Sowoon.
Footnotes:
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