WeTried Translations
Translator/Editor: Chen
Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried
◈ The Martial Genius who Remembers Everything ◈
Chapter 222: An Unwelcome Delegation (5)
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The subjugation force dispatched by the Martial Alliance, no, the delegation... no, the caravan that had become neither of those things, was making its way smoothly toward Taewon.
Surprisingly, the Flame Ghost Consort and Blood Brawl did not speak to the escort agency personnel or Martial Alliance members, so there was no cause for conflict.
Still, they sat beside me every time we ate, and now even the horse handlers and escort warriors had begun avoiding me.
It left a small wound on my tender heart, but when had anyone ever cared about such things?
In any case, there were no problems on the way to Jinzhong.
I occasionally sensed people whenever we crossed a mountain, but no one dared block our path.
It certainly seemed that many amateur bandits had sprung up. Every village we passed was filled with gaunt people, and the inns sold nothing but thin noodles.
‘No matter how oblivious they are, their hair will stand on end once they see our group.’
The original delegation members had already been strange enough, but after the Flame Ghost Consort and Blood Brawl joined us, we had become a truly bizarre group.
Unless someone was utterly insane, no one would pick a fight with us.
That did not mean there were no problems at all.
A small disturbance occurred in Taigu, the large city we had to pass through to reach Jinzhong.
For some reason, my cheek began to sting, so I turned my head.
“My heart's pounding. Can I finally uphold justice now?”
Black Path martial artists heading toward Taewon filled the streets, and brawls had broken out at every intersection. Dang Seohui looked excited at the sight.
“Haa...”
With no other choice, I entered the most disorderly-looking inn I could find and took only Dang Seohui to a separate table.
Naturally, the Flame Ghost Consort and Blood Brawl followed us over.
Fortunately, as long as I hid my sword, no one in our group had any visible weapons. That made us easy prey.
“Miss, you possess truly exceptional beauty!”
Just as expected, a man with a long curved saber slung over his shoulder strode up to the Flame Ghost Consort and flicked her chin.
“Oh my!”
The Flame Ghost Consort blushed and widened her eyes in surprise like a young girl. The Black Path man licked his lips at the sight.
“Tonight, I would like to show you a passionate night of pleasure...”
Don't do it, idiot. She'll suck out your true qi...
Without realizing that the woman he desired was one of the world's most notorious witches, the Black Path man was shoving his own head into a tiger's mouth.
I turned to Dang Seohui and nodded.
“That one should do.”
I held out the chopstick case I had confiscated from her before, and Dang Seohui snorted before quickly grabbing a handful of chopsticks.
Wait, were you planning to turn him into a porcupine?
Whether or not she noticed my dumbfounded look, Dang Seohui pointed at the man with a crisp, disciplined motion.
“Wait! Villain who defiles the order of the martial world! It would be better for your own sake if you stop this...”
Just as Dang Seohui delivered a line that sounded like it came from a martial arts novel and prepared to throw her chopsticks...
Smack! Crack.
“Guaaaargh!”
A bizarre impact rang out, and the man twisted as he screamed.
Wow! How did his arms bend like that? Huh, it looked so natural that I thought joints were supposed to move that way.
As the Black Path man wheezed with both arms bent in directions they should never have bent, the Flame Ghost Consort snapped her fingers and created a small flame.
“A night of pleasure... Hehe, how cute! But I don't think that will do. Your true qi looks far too filthy.”
Whoosh.
The flame extending from the Flame Ghost Consort's hand instantly spread across the man's entire head.
Even with his arms broken, the man flailed in an attempt to put out the fire. Yet the increasingly acrid smell of burning only grew stronger, while the flames showed no sign of dying down.
“Arrrgh!”
Those who appeared to be his companions rushed over together, striking his head and pouring water over him, but the flames refused to go out.
Only after all his hair had burned away and red burn marks had been left across his scalp did the fire finally subside.
“...”
“What in the world...”
“Gulp.”
Though Blood Brawl and the Flame Ghost Consort had each used only a single move, no one inside the inn dared move after witnessing such overwhelming displays.
The Flame Ghost Consort, who had caused this whole mess, lightly pinched her nose with slender fingers and made a distressed face.
“Phew... It smells terrible. I don't think I can eat anymore.”
Do you think acting like a young girl will work now?
“Why did you have to burn him?”
Despite my incredulous expression, the Flame Ghost Consort opened her eyes wide as though she had no idea what I meant, then smiled sweetly.
“He seemed to like things hot. This little girl likes hot things very much too, you know? Hehe.”
One more hot experience like that, and he'd see the return of a flaming hell.
As I sighed and turned my head...
This time, I saw Dang Seohui holding her chopsticks with the resentful, aggrieved expression of a child whose toy had been taken away.
‘Ah!’
If she went to the Black Alliance and started doing strange things like “upholding justice” or “performing chivalrous deeds,” it would become a real problem.
That was why I had tried to tire her out in advance... but my entire plan had gone to waste.
What was worse, after witnessing one move from Blood Brawl and one from the Flame Ghost Consort, no one else dared charge at us.
‘What do I do? I can't exactly go to another inn now.’
Why were there no thugs around when there were normally so many?
Just as I was about to comfort Dang Seohui by saying we should look for another opportunity, she asked in her usual blank, expressionless voice.
“If a villain deals with another villain... does that also count as upholding justice?”
“Hmm...”
Now that I thought about it, I was curious too. When a chivalrous hero performed chivalrous deeds, it was called dispensing justice.
If a villain performed chivalrous deeds, could that also be called dispensing justice?
While I was lost in thought...
“Of course not. I was just venting my anger. He touched my jade-like face with his filthy hand, didn't he?”
“I only chased away a gnat buzzing around me.”
Having heard Dang Seohui's question, the Flame Ghost Consort and Blood Brawl answered for her.
What wonderful things they were teaching a child. Damn it.
#
I observed those two madmen for several days to discover why they had joined us, but they did nothing unusual.
I even pretended to sleep at night while waiting to see whether they would launch a surprise attack. I stayed alert in case they picked a fight or tried to harm us, but neither of them did anything particularly strange.
They truly seemed to be traveling alongside us.
Once I stopped paying attention to them, the road to Taewon became unbearably boring, and I began thinking about the martial arts I had put off for so long.
I could not train directly, but I could still establish the concepts and conduct mental training.
What I had recently become deeply absorbed in was the Void-Destroying Fist.
Exerting power across space through intent.
It resembled remote object manipulation, but it was a martial art based on an entirely different concept.
Moyong Gang said he would teach it to me if I became a member of his clan, but that was unrealistic. I had no choice but to think it through myself.
First, I considered its principles.
If remote object manipulation was an extension of materialized internal energy, then I had to approach the Void-Destroying Fist as a concept of controlling external energy.
In other words, it meant controlling and moving energy that did not belong to humans through intent.
‘But does that even make sense?’
As someone with perfectly ordinary common sense, I would have dismissed it as complete nonsense. Yet I had witnessed it with my own eyes and been struck by it myself, so no matter how much my mind denied it, my body had no choice but to believe.
I examined the Void-Destroying Fist by reviewing each image of Moyong Gang from my memories.
‘What in the world is it?’
No matter how many times I recalled it, I could not grasp it at all.
Empty space simply twisted without warning and took the form of a giant palm.
Still, its power was incredible.
‘What if I shaped it into a sword and gave it an edge?’
Even if I dodged, I would have been seriously injured.
The more I thought about it, the more I wanted that martial art.
‘Again.’
This time, rather than recalling the visual scene, I recalled the sensations.
In my previous life, every day had been a nightmare because this memory of mine vividly recalled even my most horrifying moments. Who would have thought I would one day use that curse like this?
Just as I was sinking into those strange feelings, a fragment of an odd sensation surfaced amid the flood of memories.
I hurriedly rewound the memory and concentrated on the sensations again.
Moyong Gang was chasing after me like a madman.
I was desperately running away from him.
Between us, an extremely faint, minute trace of energy passed ahead of me.
‘What is that?’
I paused the memory and magnified that part to examine it.
A tiny dewdrop containing the distortion of space, like the Void-Destroying Fist.
A tiny dewdrop...
A tiny dewdrop...
‘...!’
In that instant, I realized it.
This was the clue that would reveal the secret of the Void-Destroying Fist.
‘The problem is, what is it?’
I drew on every memory and record I possessed, even recalling my horrifying experiences with the Demonic Cult, but no one used energy like this.
I had found a clue, but I did not know what it was, so there was no way to use it.
I thoroughly reviewed Moyong Gang's teachings as well. Then...
[An attempt to unite the Way of martial arts with the Way of nature. That is the Void-Destroying Fist.]
I found something strange in what Moyong Gang had said.
The word “attempt.”
Moyong Gang had said that the Way of martial arts and the Way of nature shared the same foundation.
Yet he had also used the word “attempt.”
That could mean the Void-Destroying Fist had not yet reached a state of unity with the Way of nature.
‘If he had achieved unity, he would not have played tag with me in the first place. He could have already been standing before me or subdued me.’
Then this tiny dewdrop must be the “attempt” Moyong Gang had spoken of.
The Way of martial arts moved through intent, while the Way of nature flowed according to laws.
Like Moyong Gang, I gathered energy in my palm and materialized it.
A mass of energy without any intent behind it.
I filled it with powerful intent and fired it.
Pop.
The energy did not even travel half a jang before making a small sound and vanishing.
Space did not twist, nor did the energy of nature change as it did with the Void-Destroying Fist.
‘Well, intent isn't something you can fire just because you want to, is it? If it were, that would mean I had reached the realm of the Heart Sword... Damn it! Did that bastard cheat me with the Heart Sword?’
One suspicion led to another, and naturally, I began doubting everything about Moyong Gang.
Still, I did not think he would play games with martial theory of all things.
As I continued thinking frantically, Blood Brawl approached me.
“What are you doing?”
Please stop standing so close. People will think we're friends.
I shrugged as though it were nothing.
“I'm just bored.”
Then Blood Brawl suddenly began snickering.
What? Was he even crazier than I thought...?
“To practice dark arts within a Martial Alliance delegation. You truly have no fear, do you?”
“Pardon?”
“...!”
Ak Byeongbi, who was moving some distance ahead, perked up at the words “dark arts” and turned around.
That man really had ghostlike ears.
Blood Brawl stubbornly stayed beside me.
“Won't you tell me who your master is?”
Yet I felt a flicker of anticipation, as though I might obtain an important clue.
“What do you mean, dark arts?”
“Hmph! Will you keep pretending not to know?”
“No, I'm asking because I truly don't know.”
“Hm?”
Blood Brawl studied me suspiciously, then briefly looked dazed at my serious expression before sharply turning his head away.
“You will not answer my question, so why should I answer yours?”
What was wrong with this man all of a sudden?
He was not a child.
Normally, I would not have bothered responding, but my curiosity about the Void-Destroying Fist was too great.
“Then ask first. But you must answer my question too.”
“Fine.”
Blood Brawl smiled as though he had been waiting for this, then suddenly sent me a sound transmission.
-How did you learn the Sword Demon's martial arts?
As expected... he knew.
Since he seemed to be considering my circumstances by using sound transmission, I answered honestly as well.
-I took them.
“What?!”
Why use sound transmission so well, then suddenly shout?
Blood Brawl's sudden outcry startled the horse handlers and escort warriors, making them step back.
Ak Byeongbi was stroking his steel spear.
Maybe, as the delegation leader, he did have at least a little intention of protecting me?
I looked Blood Brawl straight in the eye.
“Now it's my turn. What exactly do you mean by dark arts?”
Blood Brawl furrowed his brow.
“...You did not answer properly.”
“I answered properly. If you don't believe me, ask him yourself.”
“How would I know where that bastard is?”
“He will reveal himself to the world before long.”
Blood Brawl's eyes flashed at my answer.
“Is that true? If it is a lie...”
“Come whenever you want. Go to the Martial Arts Academy and say you have come to see Jin Sowoon, the Academy Representative.”
The Sword Demon had told me to say that, so it was not a lie.
Besides, even if I told him to come, could Blood Brawl really enter the Martial Arts Academy?
The Martial Alliance was right in front of it.
Blood Brawl stared at me suspiciously. At last, he groaned and began to explain.
“...Wasn't what you used a trick commonly employed in dark arts?”
“A trick?”
“Yes. Like this.”
Blood Brawl opened his palm and sent energy into the forest.
A moment later, a strange phenomenon occurred within the trees.
“Guaaaaaaaaaaah!”
A horrifying scream that made my hair stand on end.
Yet no matter how widely I spread my energy sense, I could not sense any presence in the forest.
“How did you do that?”
“I put sound into it and made it burst in another space.”
“You put sound into it?”
“Yes. It is the method those dark arts practitioners use most often when deceiving people.”
Come to think of it, the Blood Cult's spirit practitioners had deployed illusion formations even from quite a distance away.
At first, I assumed they had installed some kind of mechanism and did not think much of it. But now that I considered it, wasn't that exceedingly strange?
“You truly did not know?”
“How would someone like me, who walks the righteous path as a member of a White Path sect, know such unorthodox methods?”
“Oh...!”
Blood Brawl looked at me with fascination.
“Why are you looking at me like that? It makes me rather uncomfortable.”
Blood Brawl nodded as though he understood and replied.
“Then you were instinctively drawn to arts based on unorthodox methods. Is the Black Path Alliance's Joint Successor truly different after all?”
Damn it, I'm not!
Moyong Gang walks the righteous path as a member of a White Path sect... Hmm, does he? I could not necessarily say he was someone who walked the righteous path.
It was only fortunate that he had been born into the Moyong Clan. Otherwise, he would have been more than capable of becoming an enemy of the entire martial world.
“Then can that energy contain nothing but sound?”
“Hmm...”
Blood Brawl seemed not to have considered that. He sank into thought for quite a while.
Then a clear voice came from the other side.
“Young Master is such an interesting person. You want to put something else inside energy... Would you like to discuss martial theory with me in detail tonight?”
At some point, the Flame Ghost Consort had placed a finger on my shoulder.
Her intentions were obvious, so I made my refusal clear.
“No. Remove your hand as well.”
“What a shame... I thought that as the Black Path Alliance's Joint Successor, you would naturally have deep knowledge of the Yin-Yang Unity Art too.”
Stop slapping the word “art” onto anything.
And why did she keep acting familiar? It was uncomfortable.
At this rate, I would have nothing to say if Ak Byeongbi took me for a Black Path spy.
Whether or not the Flame Ghost Consort made a sulky face, I turned to Blood Brawl. Having finished thinking, he shook his head.
“There is no need to put anything into it. The more energy is processed, the more it loses its inherent qualities.”
“It loses its inherent qualities...”
For some reason, Blood Brawl's final words continued to linger in my mind.
Then an escort warrior made a suggestion to Ak Byeongbi.
“Even if it takes a little longer, I think it would be better to take this route. I hear Gakmun Stronghold has been causing quite a stir lately.”
“Is that so?”
“Yes. Other caravans are using this route often as well.”
Just as Ak Byeongbi was about to reply to the escort warrior, Blood Brawl, who had been speaking with me, called out rather loudly.
“I would prefer to go this way.”
“Pardon?”
Everyone's gazes followed his finger.
“...”
No one could bring themselves to speak.
The place Blood Brawl indicated was where the troublesome Gakmun Stronghold was located.
Since nothing like this had happened before, the escort warrior seemed unable to hide their bewilderment.
“But Gakmun Stronghold...”
“Would it not be strange for a Martial Alliance delegation to take a detour just to avoid a single stronghold? Is that not right, Captain?”
He was even speaking to Ak Byeongbi, whom he had subtly avoided until now...
‘What is he trying to do?’
Given Ak Byeongbi's personality, he would not tolerate words like that.
Then again, now that Blood Brawl had spoken, he would not back down from his opinion either.
...A fight would break out in the end.
I began calculating whether I should attack Blood Brawl or the Flame Ghost Consort first if fighting started.
I was an elite of a White Path sect, after all. I had to uphold “justice.”
Yes, that was right.
As I thought that...
-What would you like to do?
Ak Byeongbi's sound transmission suddenly reached me.
What? Why was he suddenly acting like this?
The only choice he had given me throughout this journey had been when I wanted to drink water.
...And he was asking me something this important?
While I was still dumbfounded, I heard something even more absurd.
-I will follow your opinion.
Damn it, Blood Brawl alone was enough to give me a headache, but I could not understand what Ak Byeongbi was thinking either. Seriously.
Clutching my throbbing head, I answered.
“Let's just take the detour. Meeting a stronghold is bothersome too.”
As I gestured with my chin toward the other route, Blood Brawl crossed his arms and said,
“I want to go this way.”
“Then you can go that way with your companions.”
“Then you have broken your promise to accompany us, so I will have to kill every one of you.”
Damn it, what was he trying to do?
I suppressed the expression threatening to twist across my face and looked at Ak Byeongbi.
“Captain, I think it would be better to follow the elder's wishes after all.”
No matter how dangerous Gakmun Stronghold was, it could not be more frightening than Blood Brawl.
Blood Brawl crushed people, did he not?
Blood Brawl smiled in satisfaction at my swift change of stance.
Ak Byeongbi's eyes curved strangely.
-So that is how it is...
With that incomprehensible sound transmission, Ak Byeongbi sharply turned away.
Leading madmen and an ideological inquisitor made it feel as though my lifespan was shortening every day.
Damn it, just wait until we get back.
I would make sure to get something in return for every bit of my lost lifespan.
Footnotes:
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