WeTried Translations

Translator/Editor: Chen

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◈ The Martial Genius who Remembers Everything ◈

Chapter 18: The Third-Rate Martial Artist Saving a Girl (5)

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After finishing his daily duties, Wang Geumsan crossed a long corridor toward the enormous manor at the center of the Wang Residence Village.

Tall watchtowers stood in all eight directions around the manor. Along the inner four sides were quarters where escort units ready to be dispatched at any time were stationed.

Though they could not be seen, watchful eyes guarded every space between the gardens and buildings surrounding the residence.

Wang Geumsan passed through it all and entered Wang Soso's room.

"Father! You're here!"

The room was as cold as if the Northern Sea had been brought indoors.

Even so, the heat radiating from the child was anything but ordinary.

Like heat blasting from a roaring fire fed with a great heap of firewood, an enormous amount of heat poured from Wang Soso's body.

'Poor thing.'

Anyone who touched Wang Soso felt heat course through their entire body, making it difficult to endure.

As if aware of her own condition, Wang Soso stepped away from Wang Geumsan. The cold air immediately cooled his body again.

"Did you have a pleasant day?"

"Yes. I embroidered a new design today."

Wang Soso smiled as she showed him what she had been embroidering.

At the sight, Wang Geumsan felt the day's exhaustion melt away in an instant.

This child was a source of strength to him, yet his eyes were full of sorrow as he looked at her.

Her fever had begun when she was around ten. Whenever the heat flared up, she would languish in illness for days on end.

No matter how many renowned physicians or precious medicinal herbs he sought out, the heat did not subside. Instead, it grew stronger, and she began wasting away day by day.

He had spent tens of thousands of taels across the land just to learn the name of her illness.

Only after paying that staggering sum did he finally learn what it was.

"How strange. Solar yang energy appearing in a young girl's body."

"Can it be cured?"

"If nothing is wrong, how could it be cured?"

"What did you say?"

"......The heat coming from the young lady's body is innate. Had she been born male, she would have made a name for herself throughout the martial world."

"Explain it in detail."

"Have you heard of the Solar Yang Physique?"

Wang Geumsan knew of bodies born with innate talent.

"Those with the Solar Yang Physique radiate fiery energy that has surged through them since birth. It is natural and inevitable."

"Then why does she suffer so much in daily life?"

"Because a female body cannot accept the energy of the sun."

"......You're saying the energy is attacking her body instead?"

"Generally, an Extreme Yin Physique manifests in a woman's body, while a Solar Yang Physique manifests in a man's body. Since that natural order has been reversed, she suffers as she does every day."

"What is the treatment? How can she recover?"

The physician spoke even more cautiously.

"That is..."

"How frustrating! Speak quickly!"

"There is no treatment, because nothing is wrong."

"What?"

"If someone were born with a body destined for longevity, could that be called an illness?"

"......"

"A person who lives every day brimming with vitality and energy cannot be called sick. It is a blessing granted by heaven. Once she learns a martial art that can harness energy suited to her body, she could easily reach the peak realm. No one would think such a body should be cured."

"......"

Wang Geumsan's face twisted beyond description.

Seeing his expression, the physician hurriedly added.

"Gather as many cold-emitting treasures as possible. Make her room as cold as midwinter and have her live only inside it. That should greatly reduce the pain and hardship when the heat rises."

"......If I do that, will she be able to live normally?"

"......"

When the physician hesitated, Wang Geumsan ground his teeth.

"I hope I never have reason to mention your name over something you failed to tell me."

"......The power of the Solar Yang Physique will grow stronger after she turns twenty. Once the vigor of her life begins to fade, her body will find it difficult to accept the power of the Solar Yang Physique..."

"......"

"If you take the greatest possible care of her, I believe she can live until... twenty-five."

After that, he sought out every famed physician and herb gatherer he could find, but they all told him the same thing.

Some even claimed they could cure her. Their misguided treatments pushed Wang Soso to the brink of death.

After such incidents repeated themselves, Wang Geumsan gave up on further treatment.

He decided to be content with cherishing every day he could spend with his daughter.

"What splendid bamboo. It has grown straight and true, with such noble spirit."

"I want to make clothes for Father with this."

"It will make wonderful clothes."

"Yes. Please look forward to them."

Wang Geumsan's heart broke again at Wang Soso's pure, radiant smile.

To ease those feelings, he always asked his daughter the same question.

"Is there anything you want?"

"I already have beautiful hairpins, pendants, ornaments, mirrors, clothes, and silk."

"Still, if you're bored, shall I invite a troupe? How about some Peking opera?"

"Um..."

"Tell me anything you want. Your birthday's coming soon, isn't it?"

"I want to see what a market looks like."

"What?"

"I want to paint one, but I've never been to a crowded market, so I don't really know what one looks like."

"Ah..."

"If you're worried, you don't have to force yourself."

They said kind children watched their parents' expressions.

Wang Soso immediately read Wang Geumsan's expression and glossed over her words with a smile.

Only then did Wang Geumsan change his expression and speak.

"I didn't intend to tell you until everything was ready, but..."

"What is it?"

"Actually, I'm having a carriage made for you."

"Really?"

"Yes... A carriage you can ride without difficulty, one where you can stay comfortably for a long time. Once it is complete, you'll be able to go outside as much as you wish."

"Really? Thank you so much, Father!"

Wang Soso threw herself into his arms.

The searing heat washed over him again.

After leaving Wang Soso's quarters, Wang Geumsan walked through the corridor once more.

Then, a man dressed in black stealth attire dropped from the ceiling and began walking beside him.

"Estate Lord, would it not be best for you to refrain from going out for a while?"

"Why?"

"I am concerned about the threatening letter that arrived."

"You worry over nothing."

Someone had left behind a threatening letter.

It contained the brazen, absurd claim that they would dare target Wang Soso inside the Wang Residence Village.

At this point, the Wang Residence Village was not on the level of the Nine Sects One Gang or the Five Great Clans, but it possessed strength comparable to the sects that held the foremost positions among the One Hundred Eight Peaks.

On top of that, the connections it had built with the authorities through its wealth granted the Wang Residence Village even greater power.

Who could possibly break into such a place? Aside from the Nine Sects One Gang and the Five Great Clans, surely no one could.

"Then may I increase the guard?"

"...Do so."

He dismissed it as needless concern and forced himself to sleep, but the first report he received the next morning was devastating.

"Young Lady... it appears she has been kidnapped!"

"Th-the Martial Alliance! Contact the Martial Alliance!"

"The branch chief is already on the way."

The martial artists who rushed over with the branch chief searched Soso's room from top to bottom, but they could not find a single trace.

"Have you received any contact from the culprit?"

The threatening letter suddenly came to mind.

"...They are bold. To send a letter openly declaring they would kidnap her. We will begin by searching the surrounding area."

"You must save her quickly."

"It may sound inappropriate to say this in such a situation, but please do not worry about the young lady's life. In cases like this, most kidnappers are after money, so they usually make contact soon."

"No! No, that is not the problem! Soso is ill!"

The Martial Alliance's Hefei Branch was thrown into uproar, and the news quickly spread throughout all of Hefei.

* * *

One of the Sojeong Unit members was a guy called the Traceless Death God.

I hadn't known from the start that he was the legendary Traceless Death God. It was only when the Orthodox-Demonic War was well underway, when we had been backed into a situation with no possible escape, that he revealed his identity.

A bastard with neither respectable internal energy nor impressive forms claimed to be a legend, so in the middle of that crisis, we cursed him out and punched him for talking nonsense.

Then the move he showed us made us gasp.

Though he stood plainly before our eyes, we could not sense the slightest trace of his presence.

Even when he moved and swung his sword, we could not sense that a person was moving at all.

Of course, what shocked us more at the time was that the Traceless Death God, practically one of the leading figures of the Black Path martial world, had been working as a low-ranking Martial Alliance martial artist.

In any case, Ghost Breath Movement Art was the unusual movement art that had earned him the legendary epithet of Traceless Death God.

Ghost Breath Movement Art allowed its user to move as if using the Ghost Breath Great Method.

So long as its user remained out of sight, even the sharpest senses could not detect that a person was there. We had even used Ghost Breath Movement Art to capture the Sect-Protecting Dharma King.

And now, it was proving quite useful as I tracked Wang Soso and the Changgung Merchant Group.

Just as I expected, the bastards who had moved from the Wang Residence Village to Hefei, then from Hefei to Zhaohu, shook off the Martial Alliance's hastily assembled pursuit force and fled as far as Lujiang.

When they arrived at the abandoned house in the mountains of Lujiang where the decapitated corpse had been found, they seemed somewhat flustered, contrary to my expectations.

"This girl's condition is strange."

"What are you talking about? She was fine when we brought her out of the house."

"Look at this. Her body's burning like fire."

The man who touched the bundle jerked his hand away in shock.

"Then she's no use as a hostage. Release her paralysis acupoint."

"P-please save me. Please save me!"

"Hey. Do you have some kind of illness?"

"Please save me! I want to go home."

The man struck Wang Soso's paralysis acupoint again and stuffed her back into the bundle.

"We need to stay here for another day. What are we supposed to do if she's in that condition?"

"So what? Are you going to call a physician? Leave her alone. She'll last a day."

The bastards gathered in groups, built fires, caught rabbits, and roasted them. They behaved so leisurely that it was hard to believe they were kidnappers.

'Works better for me.'

Using Ghost Breath Movement Art, I slowly approached them.

"Hic. Ugh, eating greasy food without liquor... Urgh, who are you..."

I killed the first one as he crouched to shit.

"Hey! If you're going to take a shit, go farther away! If you do it around here..."

I killed the second one who came to stop the first from taking a shit nearby.

When the presence of two men vanished at once, the martial artists with sharper instincts began grabbing their swords.

"Someone is here."

"Draw your swords!"

"Who are you? Show yourself at once!"

I let the internal energy and presence I had concealed with Ghost Breath Movement Art burst forth all at once, then kicked one of them into the fire.

"Argh!"

The man rolled around trying to extinguish the flames clinging to his body, scattering embers in every direction. My sword ended his life, and as the fire died out, the surroundings slowly sank into darkness.

"Reveal your identity!"

"Great Lotus Sword Formation! Form the sword formation!"

"You crazy bastard! Shut up! If our identities are exposed here..."

I slipped through the flustered bastards again and took the lives of two more men. The men who had been chatting without a care fell silent.

"W-who are you?"

"Who are you to kill people so freely?"

"We are people of the Namgung Clan. There must be some misunderstanding. Let us settle this with words."

Desperately searching for me in the darkness, they unleashed the Changgung Unhindered Sword Art at full strength toward the sound of a stone I had thrown.

All they cut apart were fallen leaves and a few trees.

Then I spoke from behind them.

"I know exactly who you are. You are the Changgung Merchant Group bastards of the Namgung Clan."

"Y-you know who we are and still dare do this? Are you not afraid of the great Namgung Clan..."

One of the remaining three collapsed.

"If I feared the Namgung Clan, I would not have started this in the first place."

The remaining two unleashed the Changgung Unhindered Sword Art with all their strength, but I suppressed their sword art with the Sword-Breaking Form.

"W-what is this?"

"Impossible!"

Then their heads fell and rolled across the ground.

"I never thought I'd receive help from you, you Traceless Halfwit."

I honored his help with the nickname we used to call him, then walked toward Wang Soso.

"Our wealthy young lady, it is time to go home."

Wang Soso's complexion was pale when she emerged from the bundle.

She looked as though she might draw her last breath at any moment.

"P-please save me."

Wang Soso spoke as though she were about to die.

Footnotes:

Zhaohu follows the printed Hanja 沼湖 established in Chapter 17.

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