WeTried Translations
Translator/Editor: Chen
Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried
◈ The Martial Genius who Remembers Everything ◈
Chapter 177: The Black Flame Dragon Swallowing the Sea of Blood (7)
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Martial Alliance, Mantong Office.
“Keep your hands properly raised!”
At Jegal Somyeong’s icy command, Maeng Juwon’s trembling hands shot straight up again.
The sight of someone nearly thirty sweating as if their life depended on enduring a child’s punishment only made Jegal Somyeong dislike them more.
They must have completely lost their mind. How dare they issue a Mantong Office order?
Procedurally, there had been no problem.
With Jegal Somyeong absent, it was only natural for Maeng Juwon, the Mantong Office’s department head, to take responsibility.
The problem was that the order had demanded the Elder Council’s return, and that Tiger Hall had been assigned to carry it out.
Of all things... Tiger Hall.
Politically, it could be interpreted as the Mantong Office viewing the Elder Council as Black Path rabble.
This was serious enough that the Elder Council could use it to pressure the Mantong Office at any time, both now and in the future.
Even if Maeng Juwon had lost their head over Jin Sowoon, they had crossed far too many lines.
“You cannot possibly have been unaware of that. Have you truly gone mad?”
Maeng Juwon could not answer Jegal Somyeong’s question, merely moving their lips.
“If you have a mouth, then speak! Speak! Did you do something so indefensible that you cannot even offer an excuse?”
“...No, it’s just...”
“No? No? Are you saying there is room for you to make excuses here?!”
Maeng Juwon had been about to explain after being told to offer an excuse, but clamped their mouth shut.
“You wretch! What is with that dissatisfied look on your face?! Do you think you did well?!”
“Well... actually...”
“You still have something to say?! You should have nothing to say even if you had ten mouths, yet you dare open the one you have?!”
“...”
The same scolding had been repeated for two entire hours. Maeng Juwon felt like dying.
Do you want me to talk or not?
It would have been easier if they had simply been punished. Instead, Jegal Somyeong kept finding fault with every little thing and berating them all over again.
At this rate, they would be scolded for breathing.
“Then let me say just one thing.”
“You really...!”
“It isn’t an excuse. I only wanted Jin Sowoon to feel the authority of the Mantong Office. That is all. I admit my fault, but please understand that I sincerely wanted to bring in a capable person.”
Maeng Juwon poured out every word in one breath before Jegal Somyeong could interrupt.
Having said everything they had to say, Maeng Juwon drew deep breaths.
Jegal Somyeong was dumbfounded by their shameless attitude.
“Fine. Then how did you get Tiger Hall moving? They would not have acted on a Mantong Office order alone.”
“Ah, that? It was nothing. I went there, knelt, and begged. Properly, too.”
“...”
Maeng Juwon even rubbed their hands together as they spoke proudly, as though recounting a heroic tale.
Did this person truly have no shame at all?
It was already maddening enough that the Mantong Office would have to endure the Elder Council’s scrutiny later. Now its dignity had been dragged through the mud as well.
“You truly are...”
Frightened by Jegal Somyeong’s furious expression, Maeng Juwon suddenly snapped their fingers and pulled a pouch from their sleeve.
“This is it!”
“What?”
“This, Grand Strategist.”
Caught off guard by the abrupt change of topic, Jegal Somyeong responded before realizing it.
“What is it?”
“A pouch that will save me from this crisis.”
Had this bastard’s mind finally abandoned them?
“It is something Jin Sowoon asked me to deliver to you.”
At the name Jin Sowoon, Jegal Somyeong’s anger immediately cooled.
That clever boy could not have failed to foresee the repercussions of the current situation.
Then why had he accepted not only the Mantong Office order, but Tiger Hall as well?
With a displeased expression, Jegal Somyeong opened the pouch.
Inside were two slips of paper that appeared to be intelligence reports and a wooden piece.
Jegal Somyeong unfolded one report first, then frowned at its unfamiliar format.
The Martial Alliance, like other intelligence organizations, needed to condense information into small reports, so each used a set format.
The Mantong Office primarily encountered reports from its internal information networks and the Beggar Sect.
This unfamiliar format meant it had not come from the Beggar Sect or an organization tied to the Martial Alliance.
Does he have another source of information?
Yet as Jegal Somyeong turned the report over, they remembered having seen the format somewhere before.
That was...
...The Hao Sect?
A new intelligence organization that had recently risen quickly enough to trail close behind the Beggar Sect.
The Hao Sect’s growth had been so tremendous that people said the Beggar Sect could no longer properly involve itself with the Martial Alliance because of it.
Did Jin Sowoon have connections with the Hao Sect as well?
Unable to know the details, Jegal Somyeong unfolded the report.
-Those who appeared in Sichuan are presumed to belong to a different organization from those who appeared on the Puyang Plains during the same period.
However, their martial arts share a common trait: their aftereffects disturb a person’s clear mind and cause them to lose their reason.
They had investigated this much already?
Neither the Beggar Sect nor the Martial Alliance had yet properly identified the culprits on the Puyang Plains, but this report had compared them with those in Sichuan. Jegal Somyeong could not hide their surprise.
They quickly unfolded the second report.
-For the past ten years, people who have lost their reason have been found in Sichuan.
They commonly experience nightmare-like hallucinations and show recurring symptoms of decline, such as foaming blood while asleep.
Physicians, including those of the Tang Clan, examined only individual patients and failed to recognize what the patients had in common.
The symptom of a healthy person losing their reason and seeing hallucinations is one of the representative aftereffects of dark arts.
Because it does not differ greatly from an ordinary mental illness, physicians cannot identify the condition through outward examination.
The only difference is that their insides churn even while asleep, producing symptoms of internal injury.
This also occurs only intermittently, making it difficult to identify.
They even gathered detailed records of individual illnesses? Good heavens...
As Jegal Somyeong once again realized how formidable the Hao Sect’s growth was, they felt that this situation was moving in a direction different from what they had expected.
No, surely not...
An uneasy feeling prickled at their mind.
Even as they thought that, they reassured themself it could not be true.
The Martial Alliance’s entire system was already groaning under the effort of investigating the people who had appeared on the Puyang Plains.
If others appeared as well...
“Aren’t you going to look at the last one?”
“...”
Jegal Somyeong looked up to find Maeng Juwon had lowered their hands and was pressed close beside them, reading the reports together.
“When did you put your hands down?”
“I’ll raise them again after I check the contents.”
“...”
“From what I can see, this looks like quite a serious matter.”
“...”
Jegal Somyeong had been turning the wooden piece over inside the pouch. At last, they pulled it out.
With the dread of a gambler checking a tile, they slowly examined it.
-Blood Cult Emergence. Jin Sowoon.
Jegal Somyeong’s hand trembled after reading the words.
Beside them, Maeng Juwon failed to understand their feelings and began chattering.
“Blood Cult? Then it’s truly a good thing that I knelt down and sent Tiger Hall! If I hadn’t, wouldn’t all our Academy students have been in danger?”
Jegal Somyeong should have been fleeing reality, hoping Jin Sowoon’s report was false. Instead, Maeng Juwon was trying to excuse their own mistake.
Was this really the Mantong Office’s department head?
Jegal Somyeong filled the wooden piece with internal energy and hurled it at Maeng Juwon.
“Die!!!”
“Gyaaaaaah!”
#
Gu Jeongryong was dumbfounded by the scene before him.
“What is this...?”
Dust swirled through the air as people fought fiercely.
“What are you all doing?! Your opponents are only Taeul Sect disciples! Taeul Sect! Aren’t you ashamed to bear Kunlun’s name?!”
The issue was that everyone fighting belonged to the White Path.
What in the world are they doing?!
Nearly twenty Kunlun Sect and lay martial sect disciples were sprawled across the ground, while another twenty had formed Kunlun’s Thirty-Six Cold-Plum Sword Formation.
Absurdly enough, the ones facing Kunlun’s Thirty-Six Cold-Plum Sword Formation were three young men who did not even appear to be twenty.
“Stop!”
Unable to watch any longer, Gu Jeongryong shot forward and leaped between the two sword formations.
It was an exceedingly dangerous act, but one possible only because he had that much confidence.
“Ah! Hall Master!”
“The Hall Master is here!”
“Thank goodness!”
As if they had been waiting for him, the Gold, Silver, and Bronze brothers immediately withdrew their swords and stepped back.
The Kunlun disciples, unable to withdraw their swords in time, had no choice but to cross blades with Gu Jeongryong.
Clang, clang, clang, clang!
Gu Jeongryong blocked the swords of four attackers at once, then clicked his tongue at the force behind them.
So the Thirty-Six Cold-Plum Sword Formation really is one of Kunlun’s ultimate arts.
One wrong move could leave him humiliated or seriously injured. Tensing up, Gu Jeongryong hurriedly drew up his internal energy and sent sword qi at the Kunlun disciples’ feet.
Crack! Crack! Crack! Crack! Crack!
Sword qi tore through the ground, scattering clumps of dirt in every direction. As the Kunlun disciples hesitated, Gam Cheonak and the other Tiger Hall members surrounded the Academy students from Kunlun Sect and its lay martial sects.
“Who are you?!”
Kunlun’s elder, Sangwon, shouted furiously, his face red.
“I am Gu Jeongryong, Hall Master of Tiger Hall, Elder.”
Sangwon’s expression shifted subtly upon hearing his identity.
Quickly regaining his composure, Sangwon spoke in a stern voice.
“This is no place for Tiger Hall to interfere. Move aside at once.”
Gu Jeongryong’s gaze turned to the Academy students from Kunlun Sect and the lay martial sects lying on the ground.
Then it moved to the Gold, Silver, and Bronze brothers, who stood behind him looking somewhat tired but otherwise unharmed.
The circumstances made the situation obvious at a glance.
They had taken a beating, and their pride was wounded. That was it.
Kunlun and its lay martial sects had failed to overcome Taeul Sect disciples.
That was why Sangwon could not back down, even after hearing the name Tiger Hall.
“I’m sorry, but I cannot do that.”
“...What did you say?”
Sangwon’s martial robes swelled as though they would burst.
Gu Jeongryong continued as calmly as possible.
“This is not the time for us to be fighting among ourselves.”
“...Do you believe this is a fight?”
Sangwon appeared entirely unable to regain his composure.
Gu Jeongryong spoke bluntly.
“The advance groups were attacked and suffered casualties.”
“...?”
The heated atmosphere immediately cooled at Gu Jeongryong’s words.
“We have heard that Elder So Chunghyeon and Elder Jeong Saik were also attacked by the culprits.”
“What kind of nonsense is that...?”
“Elder Sangwon.”
Sangwon turned at the voice of Elder Suheo, who had arrived late.
“Is what that person said true?”
“I don’t know yet. We’re on our way to confirm it.”
Sangwon frowned.
“You followed them without knowing?”
“I heard this news was sent by Jin Sowoon and Cheol Sunjik.”
“Cheol Sunjik? The one from the Twelve Peak Alliance?”
“Yes.”
Cheol Sunjik and Jin Sowoon both belonged to the One Hundred Eight Peaks, but Jin Sowoon’s rise had made it impossible for the two to coexist.
The fact that those two had independently provided the same information was hard to believe, yet it also increased the report’s credibility.
“I don’t think this news can be true, but if that’s so, I thought we could hold them accountable for it.”
Sangwon nodded involuntarily at Suheo’s words.
“There is no choice.”
Sangwon looked at the Gold, Silver, and Bronze brothers.
“Do not think this is all Kunlun has to offer.”
“...”
“...”
“...”
As Sangwon turned away, he shouted at the Kunlun and lay martial sect Academy students.
“What are you still lying down for?! Get up at once!”
At Sangwon’s thunderous shout, the Academy students groaned as they climbed to their feet.
Gu Jeongryong released a long sigh and looked at the three Taeul Sect brothers.
“You’ve worked hard.”
“...We nearly died. Thank you, Hall Master.”
“Still, I cannot praise you.”
“What?”
Gu Jeongryong spoke sharply, looking utterly dumbfounded.
“How could you think of stopping them through force? You were fortunate to barely hold them off. If they had used the Thirty-Six Cold-Plum Sword Formation from the beginning, you would not have survived! Do you understand?!”
Gu Jeongryong shouted, but the three brothers wore strange expressions.
“...”
“...”
“...Ahem.”
They glanced at each other, moving their lips as if frustrated. Some shook their heads, telling the others not to speak.
Gu Jeongryong opened his mouth with a sudden thought.
“Don’t tell me... they used the Thirty-Six Cold-Plum Sword Formation from the start?”
Geumpyo scratched the back of his head with an awkward smile.
“They were quite serious. Yes. That’s why we’re so grateful you arrived, Hall Master.”
Eunho, who had listened silently beside him, glared at Geumpyo.
“I told you we should have pulled out halfway through! Do you know how many times we nearly died?!”
“Ah! We didn’t die, so why are you making a fuss now? You should’ve left then!”
“Ah! Brothers, don’t fight!”
The Gold, Silver, and Bronze brothers abruptly began bickering among themselves.
Gu Jeongryong could only stare at them in shock.
The three of them stopped the Thirty-Six Cold-Plum Sword Formation?
At that moment, Gam Cheonak approached Gu Jeongryong.
“Preparations are complete. We can depart again.”
“...”
“Hall Master?”
Gu Jeongryong asked Gam Cheonak, who was looking at him strangely.
“Cheonak, could you, I, and one Tiger Hall member stop the Thirty-Six Cold-Plum Sword Formation?”
“...What kind of question is that? Is this some new method of suicide? If you want to die, die alone.”
Gam Cheonak shook his head as if Gu Jeongryong had finally lost his mind.
Right. That was the normal reaction.
“Yes. Of course we can’t stop it... Then how...?”
“What are you talking about?”
But judging by Elder Sangwon’s reaction, the Gold, Silver, and Bronze brothers did not appear to be lying.
What was Gu Jeongryong supposed to believe?
“No... That’s not important right now.”
The situation was far too urgent for him to lose himself in curiosity.
#
Thump. Thump. Thump.
Bizarre movements.
Pale skin.
Blackened nails and sharp fangs like those of a beast.
No matter how many times he rubbed his eyes and looked again, it was unmistakably a jiangshi.
“Fuck, fuck, fuck.”
Nam Hwaseong cursed repeatedly despite having a monk beside him, but even the upright Ilgak could only nod at Nam Hwaseong’s profanity. The situation was simply too absurd.
“To think the Corpse Demon Spirit-Summoning Art would appear again...”
“I never imagined I’d see a real jiangshi in my lifetime...”
Like the Absorbing Star Grand Art, it was a heaven-defying art listed among the four great demonic arts. They had never imagined anyone would dare use it.
Eun Seollan roused the stunned pair.
“...I-I don’t think this is the time to be impressed! I-It’s coming this way!”
After staring at Moyong Jaehwa, the jiangshi began rapidly hopping toward them with its ridiculous movements.
“Benefactors, all of you fall back!”
Ilgak pressed his palms together and rushed forward.
Golden Vajra Force poured from his hands and struck the jiangshi.
Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang!
The jiangshi, which had not flinched even after being struck by Thunderclap Arrow, jerked and staggered backward.
Those watching marveled at the display, saying it was just what they expected from the Shaolin Sect, but their voices soon faded.
The golden light gathered in Ilgak’s hands was steadily growing fainter.
“...Venerable Ilgak looks very exhausted.”
Moyong Jaehwa nodded at Eun Seollan’s words.
It could not be helped.
Ilgak had continuously used Vajra Force, a superior energy rather than ordinary internal energy.
Even a Shaolin Sect disciple could not withstand that degree of internal-energy consumption.
Yet Ilgak did not retreat an inch.
“Benefactor Jaehwa! Take the others and evacuate!”
“But, Venerable...”
“I know! That’s why I’m telling you to evacuate. Until Benefactor Jin arrives...!”
Ilgak startled himself with the words that had slipped out.
He continued, packing all his sincerity into his voice.
“...Until Benefactor Jin arrives, someone must protect those who remain, must they not?!”
The golden energy around his punches gradually faded as he shouted.
At the same time, the jiangshi pressed Ilgak back and slowly drew closer to Moyong Jaehwa and the others.
There was nothing they could do.
Still, Ilgak endured and endured.
Nam Hwaseong watched him and bit down on his lip.
“Fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck. That fucking Jin Sowoon... He never said there’d be a jiangshi...”
Just as Moyong Jaehwa was about to speak to Nam Hwaseong, who was trembling as he cursed Jin Sowoon, Nam Hwaseong abruptly raised his head and looked at Moyong Jaehwa and Eun Seollan.
“Five forms. I’ll buy you that much time, so take everyone and run!”
The two stared at him blankly at his sudden declaration.
“What are those looks for? I can’t last any longer than that!”
“No, it’s not that. Why would you...?”
Moyong Jaehwa, Eun Seollan, and Nam Hwaseong were practically strangers.
If anything, they were closer to enemies.
It was natural that they could not understand why Nam Hwaseong would say this.
Nam Hwaseong looked at them seriously.
“Jin Sowoon said he’d give me five Demon-Subduing Talismans.”
Moyong Jaehwa was confused by the incomprehensible answer, but Nam Hwaseong only pushed the two from behind.
“Just move! If even jiangshi have appeared, we might all really die here.”
As if trying to forget his fear, Nam Hwaseong deliberately slammed his fists together.
“How dare you filthy bastards defile the martial world with jiangshi?”
Nam Hwaseong cursed and threw himself down the slope.
Otherwise, fear might consume him before he even began fighting.
Thump. Thump. Thump.
It was the most ridiculous movement he had ever seen, yet Nam Hwaseong even swallowed the saliva pooling in his mouth.
A calamitous existence said to stain the world with blood every time one appeared.
A weapon of slaughter created for the sole purpose of killing humans.
A horrific being he had never wanted to encounter.
“Damn you, Jin Sowoon!”
He did not know why he had said he would step forward.
Nam Hwaseong was not such an idiot that he would wager his life for only five Demon-Subduing Talismans.
“If you dare tell me later that you used them all, I won’t let you off!”
What moved him in this moment was not some shallow matter of gain and loss.
It was an emotion that even Nam Hwaseong himself did not fully understand.
Perhaps he had stepped forward to discover that unknown feeling he held toward Jin Sowoon.
“Benefactor Hwaseong! Be careful!”
Perhaps unable to withstand the jiangshi’s strength any longer, Ilgak staggered back and shouted.
“Aaaaaah!”
The Antler Iron-Cloud Fist, the single martial art that had raised Samwon Sect to the foremost position among the One Hundred Eight Peaks.
Nam Hwaseong charged through the gap between himself and Ilgak, unleashing the Antler Iron-Cloud Fist.
Green fist force gathered around his fist and shot forward with enough force to crush the jiangshi.
The jiangshi, which had been moving absurdly, changed its target from Ilgak to Nam Hwaseong. Seemingly unaware of the dangerous fist force coming for it, it awkwardly raised a fist.
“You fool, to dare meet the Antler Iron-Cloud Fist...”
Boom!
A heavy impact rang out in every direction.
The instant their fists collided, Nam Hwaseong swallowed his confident words.
Five forms, my ass... I can’t even last three.
How many forms had Ilgak endured against this monster?
Creak.
His right hand felt as though it would shatter at any moment.
He shifted his internal energy into his left hand and unleashed the Antler Iron-Cloud Palm.
Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang!
The Antler Iron-Cloud Palm raked across the jiangshi’s entire head with the sound of rough rocks scraping together, but just as when it had been struck by Thunderclap Arrow, it did not even blink.
“Damn it...”
As Nam Hwaseong withdrew his fist and palm to unleash his final technique, the jiangshi stretched out its leg.
Thud.
It was an utterly ordinary kick, yet it struck him like a great bell’s battering ram. Unable to resist at all, he flew three zhang and crashed into a tree.
“Benefactor Hwaseong!”
“Cough, blegh!”
A wave of nausea rose in his throat, followed by a mouthful of blood.
Clear evidence of internal injury.
“...Damn bastard... You said you’d come soon...”
Nam Hwaseong cursed at no one in particular and stood again.
The jiangshi, which appeared to have no reason, ignored Ilgak and approached Nam Hwaseong.
“I have to keep my promise of five forms.”
Nam Hwaseong forcibly poured internal energy into his wildly surging energy channels.
His energy channels had swollen to twice their usual size, and he willingly accepted the risk that they might burst at any moment.
In the meantime, the damned jiangshi hopped closer with a taunting thump, thump, thump, reaching Nam Hwaseong in an instant.
“Benefactor Hwaseong! Dodge!”
Nam Hwaseong desperately unleashed the Antler Iron-Cloud Fist again and again.
“Aaaaaaaah!”
He repeatedly unleashed the Antler Iron-Cloud Fist until green radiance covered the jiangshi’s entire body.
Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang!
Unable to keep up with Nam Hwaseong’s speed, the jiangshi could not even defend itself properly...
A hollow laugh escaped Nam Hwaseong’s mouth.
“...Ha ha.”
The jiangshi emerged again after being engulfed by the green radiance.
“Even for a jiangshi, isn’t this cheating?”
It had not failed to defend itself.
There had been no need for it to defend itself.
The jiangshi raised its sharp black nails.
“Gasp!”
Then, unlike the slow movements it had shown until now, it shot forward and tried to pierce Nam Hwaseong’s heart.
“What?”
No, it tried to pierce it.
If not for the golden threads wrapped around its neck and hand.
“...”
Nam Hwaseong followed the threads with his eyes, then spoke.
“...Damn it, why did you take so long?”
For the first time, bewilderment appeared on the corpse-like jiangshi’s face.
The jiangshi frantically scraped at the threads with its nails, trying to cut them, but the threads only tightened further around its neck.
At the other end of the threads, the man restraining the jiangshi answered with an incredulous expression.
“To think there’s an idiot foolish enough to ram an Iron Zombie head-on.”
It was Jin Sowoon, the one who had caused Nam Hwaseong’s strange behavior until now.
Footnotes:
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