WeTried Translations

Translator/Editor: Chen

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◈ The Martial Genius who Remembers Everything ◈

Chapter 251: The Black Flame Dragon Collects the Winnings (4)

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The northwesterly winds had begun to ease in Sichuan.

Farmers hurried to prepare firewood for the winter, while merchants reduced their orders in preparation for a market economy that would soon freeze as solid as lake water.

Martial artists dispatched ten thousand li from their hometowns felt even lonelier each morning when they woke to the cold.

But only until today.

After the Black Path factions that had prepared for battle in Sichuan returned to their respective sects, they began sending supplies.

The Black Alliance had announced a joint operation from the start, but no one had the nerve to fight back-to-back with people who had been enemies until yesterday.

Compared with the White Path, whose influence was widespread in every region, the supplies sent by the financially unstable Black Path martial world were pitiful.

Even so, the Martial Alliance's morale had never been higher.

The relief of no longer having to worry about their rear was a sweet reward that nothing else could replace.

With the Poison King of the Tang Clan at their center, Qingcheng Sect, Emei Sect, and many sects affiliated with the One Hundred Eight Peaks also spared no support for the Martial Alliance.

The Poison King stood before the warriors brimming with fighting spirit and planted both hands on his hips.

"We've dragged this war on for far too long! It's time to end it!"

“““Uwaaaaaaaaaah!”””

"Now it's time to show those bastards what happens when they defy Heaven's mandate!"

“““Chargeeeee!”””

Normally, the Azure Dragon Pavilion Master of the Martial Alliance would command the troops. Yet, considering the symbolism and the warriors' morale, the Azure Dragon Pavilion Master would handle the actual command while the Poison King publicly served as commander.

The decision, made strategically by the leadership and the Strategy Department, raised the White Path martial world's morale exactly as expected.

The enemy had beings who used grotesque dark arts, but the allied forces had poison practitioners and the Poison King.

That simple sense of security, along with the expectation that the war would soon end, made the Martial Alliance's warriors fiercer than ever.

Formation masters sent by Mount Mao Sect and the Jegal Clan led the way, breaking the mystic formations the Blood Cult had established.

The poison practitioners followed, clearing away the poisons scattered everywhere and opening the path. The White Path martial world poured through the route leading directly into the Blood Cult without hesitation.

"Kill them! Kill them all!"

"They play with corpses! Don't leave a single one alive!"

"We don't need prisoners! Don't leave even a blade of grass standing in this place!"

Filled with fury over the Blood Cult's atrocities, the White Path martial world swept through the Blood Cult like a storm.

In its deepest underground chamber, they found a hundred corpses prepared for use in creating jiangshi. They also found more than two hundred corpses bearing obvious signs of failed attempts to create jiangshi.

Word of that horrific sight spread through the expeditionary force. Alongside their accumulated rage, a sense of duty now burned within them, compelling them to destroy every being that defied Heaven.

There was not even a grain of mercy left in their hands.

They killed every Blood Cult martial artist and spirit practitioner, gathered all the documents from the Research Institute and laboratories, then set the place on fire.

"I-I surrender!"

"P-Please spare me!"

"I'll tell you everything I know...!"

Some realized early that the Blood Cult was finished and surrendered, but the Martial Alliance allowed no exceptions.

Aside from a few spirit practitioners needed for dark arts research, nearly everyone was killed.

Those who had learned the Blood Cult's martial arts, in particular, had their heads cut off on the spot.

As the Blood Cult was swept away with stormlike force, Poison King Dang Hyeokje brought Maeng Juwon along to inspect the corpses and documents used in the experiments.

"Tsk. You can tell at a glance that this is nothing special."

"I-Is that so?"

"Their studies are crude, and their experiments are amateurish."

At Dang Hyeokje's words, Maeng Juwon nodded while forcibly holding back the nausea rising in his throat.

"I-I see. But why am I even here...?"

He was a strategist assigned to the support force.

Strategists were supposed to make operational plans. They were not meant to enter the deepest parts of a battlefield.

"You need to see this situation to understand the enemy."

"..."

He was just starting to get used to that strange way of speaking, but he still could not understand what Dang Hyeokje meant.

No, why did he, the Head of the Mantong Office, need to understand the enemy?

"Tsk. Sending such an idiot in a crisis like this. I ought to take it up with that petty bastard Jegal Somyeong."

Idiot? He was the Mantong Office's greatest talent...

Well, Jegal Somyeong really was petty, but...

Veins rose on Maeng Juwon's forehead as Dang Hyeokje clicked his tongue, though he tried to hide his emotions.

He still had not figured out how far he could push back.

The Poison King looked at the pale-faced Maeng Juwon and spoke bluntly.

"Their main weapons were dark arts and Iron Zombies. Yet they weren't capable of creating Iron Zombies. Do you still not understand what that means?"

"Ah!"

Only then did the back of Maeng Juwon's head tingle as though he had been struck.

"Could it be... that there are other beings behind them?"

Maeng Juwon began fitting the pieces together as he considered a possibility that should never have existed.

How much wealth and how many lives had the Martial Alliance poured into dealing with a single Blood Cult?

Even if they resolved the crisis in Sichuan, the Martial Alliance gained nothing.

They had simply protected what they already possessed.

But what if these people were not the body?

What if they were only the tail?

No one knew how many pillars of the Martial Alliance had been uprooted just to deal with them. If enemies of this level appeared only a few more times, the Alliance would face a crisis of survival.

And if those behind them appeared personally...

...the Martial Alliance would eventually fall.

That was what Dang Hyeokje was saying.

"It isn't certain."

"..."

Unlike Moyong Gang, the Poison King was famous for not speaking nonsense.

A man like that would not have raised the subject based on a simple guess.

As if proving it, a shadow fell over the Poison King's face.

"Even so, we must prepare."

"..."

Prepare...

It was easy to say, but hard to carry out.

Still, judging by Dang Hyeokje's stiff expression, he already seemed to be thinking about the harsh days ahead.

"You'd best get used to it. This won't be the last time you see a scene like this."

Leaving behind Maeng Juwon, whose face had turned white from repeated vomiting, Dang Hyeokje turned away.

At that moment, Maeng Juwon felt goosebumps spread across his entire body.

‘D-Don't tell me... I'll have to travel around like this for the rest of my life?’

Why had he not thought of that?

If war broke out, not only would the Martial Alliance be shaken, but he, a strategist, would be dragged through battlefields as well.

‘I'm so screwed...’

The thought that his lifelong wish might never come true filled his chest with fear and despair.

Elsewhere, regardless of Maeng Juwon's misery, the Martial Alliance's warriors were savoring their victory.

War exhausted everyone.

The fact that the war had ended, that they could return home, brought incomparable joy to the warriors who had taken part in it.

Warriors from the Tang Clan, Qingcheng Sect, Emei Sect, the One Hundred Eight Peaks, and every other faction put aside their affiliations, threw their arms around one another's shoulders, and celebrated their victory to the fullest.

"Uwaaaaaaaaaah!"

"We won!!!"

"Let's go home!!!!"

#

"Have your questions been answered?"

At Cha Seokdu's question, Dam Ak lowered the teacup he had been raising.

"To be honest... I still don't fully understand."

Before Jin Sowoon woke up, Dam Ak had wanted to meet Jin Sowoon before anyone else.

He needed to confirm the identities of the unknown people who had appeared in his residence.

Yet Jin Sowoon had narrowly escaped death.

The Martial Alliance delegation naturally had the right to see him first.

Even so, Dam Ak had asked Cha Seokdu for a favor, and Cha Seokdu had needed to ask the Martial Alliance delegation in turn.

Then...

‘Who would have thought the Tang Clan brat would become the obstacle?’

Cha Seokdu had expected Ak Byeongbi to refuse first, but Ak Byeongbi did not seem to care much.

Instead, the brat named Dang Seohui dug in her heels.

She even declared that she absolutely had to see Jin Sowoon wake up.

It was nothing more than a simple emotional outburst, beyond politics or rational decision-making, but it was not easy to overturn.

Dang Seohui was not someone Ak Byeongbi or Ilmyeong could persuade in the first place.

Cha Seokdu knew how stubborn the Tang Clan could be, so he was just about to back down when Ilmyeong sent him a sound transmission.

-If you let her play Vice Alliance Lord, she'll step aside.

Play Vice Alliance Lord?

What the hell was that, you bald monk?

As Cha Seokdu struggled to grasp what it could mean, another sound transmission followed.

-Just have her lead the Four Emperors Association's warriors around the Black Alliance a couple of times.

Following Ilmyeong's advice, Cha Seokdu made the suggestion to Dang Seohui, half expecting it to fail.

"...I-I suppose it can't be helped. It's unfortunate, but I'll yield our first meeting."

After deep consideration, Dang Seohui accepted.

She donned ill-fitting iron armor from the Four Emperors Association.

Hwang Busik had suffered somewhat because she sat on his shoulders while marching around the Black Alliance a few times, but neither he nor the Four Emperors Association's warriors seemed to mind much.

Was she not a companion of Jin Sowoon, the man who had saved the Black Alliance?

In any case, they had gone through all that trouble to arrange this meeting, only for Dam Ak to say he did not understand.

A crease formed between Cha Seokdu's brows. Dam Ak slowly ran his fingers around his teacup.

"He risked his life even though doing so would put him at a disadvantage. The White Path calls that chivalry... but reason tells me that chivalry cannot have been what truly moved him."

The corners of Dam Ak's eyes drooped strangely.

His face had always resembled that of a sharp wildcat, but today he looked more like a dejected puppy.

Cha Seokdu snorted at the sight.

"Isn't it because you keep trying to think about it rationally?"

"What do you mean...?"

"I think I understand well enough."

Dam Ak's lips parted.

"...You understand?"

"That boy and you are both lonely people."

"..."

Dam Ak frowned.

He had spent his life close to books and writing, but aside from martial arts, he was second to none in his manliness.

And Cha Seokdu was calling him lonely.

Cha Seokdu regarded the contemplative Dam Ak with warm eyes.

"Do you know where that boy came from?"

"I heard it was the Taeul Sect."

"Right. If we compare Taeul Sect to the world you came from... it would be something like a tiny village school tucked away in the countryside."

Cha Seokdu grinned, apparently amused.

"The kind of school where the teacher isn't very capable, cannot properly collect the tuition, and rainwater pours through the roof."

"..."

"From a school like that, what was it, that examination you passed..."

"The provincial examination and metropolitan examination?"

Cha Seokdu nodded broadly.

"Yes! You said passing those would make you a licensed scholar, did you not?"

"Yes."

"That boy is in the same position."

"..."

The smile on Cha Seokdu's lips had vanished.

"What happens when someone who passed like that goes to Beijing? Do they rise to success and enjoy wealth and glory?"

"..."

It would be difficult.

Passing the provincial and metropolitan examinations despite such poor circumstances was impressive, but it also meant the person had no background at all.

At least graduates of prestigious academies could form connections. A dragon born in a muddy ditch would soon be dragged down by the useless followers clinging beneath it and by those who wanted to keep a dragon from the ditch from ever flying.

No matter how talented that dragon was, it could only live as the master of its ditch.

Cha Seokdu watched Dam Ak's expression, then nodded lightly.

"Jin Sowoon is in the same position. That is why he cannot help but be lonely."

The people in the ditch might look at the dragon and call it extraordinary, but the dragon itself would despair because it could not soar freely across the world.

"His name shakes the martial world, but he must still feel loneliness in his bones. The Nine Sects One Gang, the Five Great Clans, and the Twelve Peak Alliance of the One Hundred Eight Peaks are masters of schemes no less than Beijing's nobles. On top of that, they possess private martial forces that the nobles do not."

Thinking about it, the martial world was crueler than Beijing.

In Beijing, there was only a struggle for power centered around the Emperor. In the martial world, people resorted to direct force.

Dam Ak realized anew just how frightening a place he had stepped into.

Cha Seokdu looked toward the hall where Jin Sowoon was staying and continued.

"He must have been lonely. He must also know that the road ahead of him will be lonely."

Then Cha Seokdu turned his gaze to Dam Ak.

"Then you caught that boy's eye, someone standing alone in an unfamiliar world and preparing for revenge. He could not easily turn his head away."

Dam Ak's face flushed at Cha Seokdu's words.

For the first time, he felt he understood Jin Sowoon's heart.

For some reason, the faces of the friends he had once competed with at the academy came to mind.

"Even though I am an enemy?"

A smile naturally formed on Cha Seokdu's lips when he saw Dam Ak's reddened face.

"Politics may be that way, but the martial world is no different. There are no eternal allies and no eternal enemies. So while we were allies, that friend wanted to look after you, even though he knew he would put himself in a difficult position."

"...A difficult position?"

"No matter what, a White Path divine prodigy risked his life to save the Black Alliance's Chief Strategist. Do you think the Inspectorate and Enforcement Hall of the Martial Alliance will sit quietly? They will look for some excuse to make trouble for him."

"..."

Come to think of it, Dam Ak had heard that the Martial Alliance delegation leader was a vicious man, the Third Hall Master of the Inspectorate.

If even the uncouth Black Path people ground their teeth at the mention of him, he had to be extraordinarily ruthless.

...Dam Ak began to worry about Jin Sowoon anew.

"Will he be all right?"

Cha Seokdu smiled at the question.

"Why? Are you worried about your friend now?"

"F-Friend? It's only that I dislike owing him a debt."

"Well, he will handle that himself. If he can no longer endure the Martial Alliance's oppression and defects to the Black Alliance, that would not be so bad either."

Cha Seokdu let out a hearty laugh before continuing.

"Either way, it would ease our burden if we repaid some of that debt. Besides, that fellow came to me and threw quite a fit."

"Excuse me?"

Cha Seokdu shook his head as though he were sick of it.

"He came to see me and made all sorts of demands, saying we had to pay the price for him saving you. How can a man who just came back from the brink of death have so much energy?"

Dam Ak spoke carefully. "What exactly are you considering?"

"Well, what he wants is an alliance. But we already said we would not form one, so wouldn't it be ridiculous to go back on our word?"

"That is true. It would be best to avoid appearing unstable as much as possible."

It was a basic principle of the study of kingship.

The masses did not like a wavering throne.

Cha Seokdu nodded and asked Dam Ak, "There are some White Path possessions in the Black Alliance's treasury, are there not?"

During the formation of the Black Alliance, its core sects had been required to pay entrance fees above a certain amount.

But Black Path sects that hated parting with their own money had contributed valuable White Path antiques and lost martial arts manuals instead, items they could not use but that still had value.

At the time, Cha Seokdu had found the behavior absurd, but now the time had come for it to prove useful.

"How about sending him a few of those?"

"That would be enough to symbolize goodwill."

"Yes. If the gifts are worthwhile, Jin Sowoon may be criticized a little less. Would you prepare them?"

After thinking for a moment, Dam Ak lowered his head.

"...Yes. I will find something suitable and prepare it."

Dam Ak spoke calmly, but Cha Seokdu knew.

Dam Ak was already racking his brain.

All so that a friend from the White Path would not fall into danger.

#

I was in trouble.

"U-Um, what brings you here?"

Big trouble, at that.

I had avoided being alone with Ak Byeongbi as much as possible.

There was no good excuse for what had happened within the Black Alliance.

Finding the hidden culprit was one thing, but even I thought risking my life for Dam Ak had crossed the line a little.

That was why I had tried to pressure Cha Seokdu into at least forming an alliance, but that man would not budge.

Now that he had gotten what he wanted, Cha Seokdu was done with me.

‘I'm the only one who ended up screwed.’

Thinking about the distant future, saving Dam Ak had been the right choice. But for now, the biggest problem was how to persuade Ak Byeongbi and the personal guards from the Alliance Leader’s Hall.

No matter how I looked at it, they would think saving the Black Path's Chief Strategist had crossed the line.

I had tried every possible way to avoid meeting them until I returned to the Martial Arts Academy.

Yet Ak Byeongbi had insisted on arranging this meeting.

How was I supposed to avoid this...?

"Ah, my body aches. I'm rather tired, so may I excuse myself first?"

Just as I awkwardly began to rise, Ak Byeongbi's eyes flashed sharply.

"Are you thinking of joining the Black Path?"

My body froze.

My brows drew together.

"What?"

What was this old man talking about?

Footnotes:

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