WeTried Translations
Translator/Editor: Chen
Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried
◈ The Martial Genius who Remembers Everything ◈
Chapter 277: Those Who Break Walls (3)
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“White Tiger, Move!”
At one child’s shout, some twenty children moved in perfect unison.
“““Hah!”””
The child directing the sword formation shouted again.
“White Tiger Shatters Stone!”
“““Hah!!!”””
Shwaaaaaa!
Dozens of illusion swords burst forth from the blades thrust out at once.
Centered on the formation, the illusion swords swept in every direction like a storm of blades.
Individually, they were nowhere near skilled enough to produce illusion swords like that. Yet within the formation, they wielded them as though each were a first-rate master.
The Twin Heavens Sword Art, performed by twenty people at once, was enough to make any observer feel threatened.
Even Gang Chaeseok, considered the Taeul Sect’s strongest martial artist, wondered whether he could truly respond if he were surrounded by that formation.
‘Urgh...’
Naturally, as the one responsible for teaching them, he could not test it himself and risk losing to the formation in front of the children.
Still, after facing a formation made up of five first-generation disciples, he had concluded that breaking it would be difficult. After that, he had stopped even considering confronting the formation performed by the third-generation disciples.
‘What in the world did that bastard Jin Sowoon leave behind?!’
The White Tiger Sword Formation was not originally a martial art of the Taeul Sect.
For that reason, no one had taught it to the children or told them to learn it.
Yet after the Geum, Eun, and Dong brothers trained in the White Tiger Sword Formation with obsessive fervor, they went out into the world and earned the epithet Iron-Blooded Three Dragons, later becoming known as the Three Iron-Wall Dragons.
Among the children, learning the White Tiger Sword Formation spread like a game.
It was not something they dabbled in out of simple curiosity.
Just as the three brothers had done, they shut out their ears and eyes as they trained.
‘Thank heavens the sect was closing its gates...’
The training method used by the Geum, Eun, and Dong brothers had already been beyond common sense.
Now every Taeul Sect disciple was devoting themselves to the same bizarre training. Gang Chaeseok had begun worrying constantly that word of it might spread outside.
‘This is all because of that damned Jin Sowoon...’
Still, after they began that grueling training, the children’s growth became strikingly apparent.
The masters and disciples were learning the Taeul True Scripture at the same time. The children thirsted for instruction, but their masters could not properly teach them.
Whenever a child hit a wall, the masters would spend two sleepless nights thinking it over before they could finally offer guidance.
That did nothing to quench the children’s curiosity. Naturally, their attention turned to the White Tiger Sword Forms Jin Sowoon and the Geum, Eun, and Dong brothers had left behind.
Gang Chaeseok had learned the White Tiger Sword Forms while he was in the Martial Alliance, but there had been nothing especially remarkable about them.
The White Tiger Sword Forms the Taeul Sect disciples learned now, though, had something different about them.
“White Tiger Pierces Fangs!”
Shwaaaaa!
Illusion swords spread out and filled the entire training ground.
It was unbelievable power for a formation performed by children who had not even reached twenty.
‘What kind of formation is this?’
Illusion swords consumed a great deal of internal energy.
Most children could barely produce one, yet the moment they entered the sword formation, they could unleash them one after another.
According to Jegal Cheongi, the improved White Tiger Sword Forms possessed the effects of Dynamic Practice, allowing even children with insufficient internal energy to use illusion swords.
In any case, the current routine at the Taeul Sect was for the children to use the sensations they felt within the White Tiger Sword Forms to study on their own and cultivate the Taeul True Scripture.
Today, the training ground was once again filled with children who had gathered of their own accord.
“Stop!”
The child at the center of the formation continued.
“We’ll begin physical training now.”
“““Yes!”””
Not one of them questioned the order.
“Full sprint to Huayun Mountain! The last three to arrive run it again!”
“““Yes!”””
The children poured out of the training ground with booming replies.
“Hoo...”
Gang Chaeseok was left alone in the empty training ground, letting out a quiet sigh.
The scheduled training at Gwaehwa Hall had already ended. This was voluntary individual training the children did among themselves, so Gang Chaeseok could not say anything.
No, he should have been proud of them and praised them, but...
‘As their master, it’s heartbreaking that there’s no other way for me to help them...’
Then he noticed someone.
“Hmm?”
One child was training alone in a corner of the training ground.
At first, the child had trained in the White Tiger Sword Forms with the others. At some point, though, he began spending more and more time training alone.
Gang Chaeseok walked over.
“Yuseong, is something giving you trouble?”
Gang Yuseong, who had been staring blankly into the air, snapped back to his senses.
“Ah! Hall Master. I’m sorry.”
“You don’t need to apologize for that...”
Yuseong quickly clasped his hands and calmly explained.
“I was thinking about Swiftness. In the Lesser Heaven Sword Art, Swiftness does not pursue speed for the sake of Illusion, does it? So I wondered what it would be like if there were another martial art that could manifest Extreme Swiftness.”
“Hmm?”
Already seemingly lost in a state of selflessness, Yuseong continued with a thoughtful expression.
“For example, according to the Taeul True Scripture, the Lesser Heaven Sword Art does not simply pursue a fast sword. It requires the potential to develop along the Middle Way, toward either Change or Illusion.”
What is this child talking about?
Did he learn a different Taeul True Scripture?
“Um, well...”
“Then the Lesser Heaven Sword Art can be seen as a sword art with not only the core of change, but defensive elements as well. I’ve been considering whether there is a way to make more dramatic use of this Swiftness.”
“Uh... uh...? I-I see?”
“As you know, Hall Master, my training in the Twin Heavens Sword Art and the Ten Thousand Seas Heaven and Earth Sword Art is still lacking.”
Gang Chaeseok tilted his head as Yuseong nodded with a guilty expression.
The Ten Thousand Seas Heaven and Earth Sword Art and the Twin Heavens Sword Art consumed a great deal of internal energy, so even he, the Hall Master, could not use them easily.
It would have been stranger if Yuseong, who had not even reached twenty, could perform them freely.
Wanting to comfort the child as his Hall Master, Gang Chaeseok patted Yuseong’s shoulder.
“You don’t need to worry about that. Once you get a little older and accumulate more internal energy...”
“So I thought of this. What about Extreme Swiftness with absolute efficiency?”
“...Hmm?”
What was that supposed to mean now?
“I mean this.”
Gang Yuseong sheathed his sword and took a sword-drawing stance.
“This is the original Lesser Heaven Sword Art.”
Swoosh!
Before he had even finished speaking, his sword shot out, pierced an opponent’s heart, and returned.
It was speed no child Yuseong’s age should have possessed.
Before Gang Chaeseok could even admire it, Yuseong sheathed his sword again and resumed his sword-drawing stance.
“This is how it would be performed.”
Shiiing!
Gang Chaeseok could not even grasp what had happened.
He had clearly heard the sound, and the wind had followed.
...Yet he had not seen the sword’s path at all.
The thought that it might have been an enemy’s sword made a chill run down his spine.
“Y-you created this by yourself?”
“What? I didn’t create it. I learned it from the Taeul True Scripture...”
No, that was not in the Taeul True Scripture.
Gang Chaeseok barely closed his hanging jaw and asked.
“What is it called?”
“Pardon?”
“The name of the martial art.”
Yuseong answered with an awkward smile. He looked every bit the boy he was.
“I was only thinking that Heaven-Cleaving Sword Art might be a good name... Hehe. It’s embarrassing.”
Gang Chaeseok had known from the first time he taught him that Yuseong possessed extraordinary talent.
Above all else, the boy had boundless obsession with martial arts and boundless love for them.
After returning from the Moyong Clan as an exchange disciple, there had already been nothing left for Gang Chaeseok to teach him. Now Yuseong had reached the point of creating a martial art that did not exist just to make up for his own weakness.
A genius too great for the sect had rolled in, yet the sect had become the one standing in that genius’s way.
When Gang Chaeseok fell silent with a stiff expression, Yuseong began watching his reaction.
“Um... did I do something wrong?”
“...Yes.”
“Pardon?”
Shame and resolve mixed on Gang Chaeseok’s face.
“Ah, I wasn’t talking about you. If anyone did something wrong, it was us.”
“What do you mean...?”
“Train harder.”
Thinking that he could no longer simply stand by and watch, Gang Chaeseok left at once and headed for the Sect Leader’s Hall.
They should not have thought to grow stronger themselves before raising the children.
How could their growth possibly outpace that of young disciples?
Rather than themselves, who were already late, the people they had to nurture immediately were the younger generation.
Those children wanted to fly freely through the sky, yet his older generation had tied their wings down tight.
If they could not teach the children how to soar, they should not be clutching those wings and holding them back.
Crash!
“Sect Leader!”
“Hmm? Hall Master Gang?”
Hong Mungi, drenched in sweat from training in his private training ground, looked at Gang Chaeseok with puzzled eyes.
“Elixir pellets! We need elixir pellets!”
It was an absurd request to make out of nowhere.
What followed was even more incomprehensible.
“The children cannot fly. We need to give them elixir pellets so they can fly.”
“No... Hall Master Gang. Please explain yourself...”
“Elixir pellets. Elixir pellets are the best we can do.”
“No, I mean... slowly...”
“Give us elixir pellets! Elixir pellets! I’m asking for elixir pellets!”
“...”
Seeing Gang Chaeseok roll around on the ground and make a scene, Hong Mungi wondered if this was his chance to test the martial arts he had spent so long honing.
#
“...So you’re saying we need elixir pellets?”
Before Jin Taesan could even finish his first drink, he felt his throat tighten.
Elixir pellets were not dog droppings from next door.
“Hm, where could we get them? Shaolin Temple’s Greater Rejuvenation Pellet is the most effective. Should we send them an inquiry about buying some?”
Even at Jin Taesan’s sarcastic words, Gang Chaeseok did not relax his expression.
“I’m not joking.”
“...Why do your eyes look like that?”
Gang Chaeseok’s eyes were bruised black. He glanced at Hong Mungi, but Hong Mungi only drank from his cup without meeting his gaze.
“...I fell while walking.”
“The bruise looks exactly like it was caused by the Great Yang Fist. Did a rock use the Great Yang Fist? Or did a shovel use it?”
“I told you I’m not in the mood for jokes!”
“...I wasn’t making one.”
Otherwise, how could anyone so casually say they needed elixir pellets?
Gang Chaeseok spoke in a voice more serious than ever.
“The children’s growth has reached its limit. Their skill is already sufficient, but their internal energy cannot keep up. We need elixir pellets.”
Jin Taesan rubbed his temples.
“What about spiritual medicines? Through the Wang Family Estate...”
Bang.
“Are you going to feed every child a root of Ten-Thousand-Year Flower Ginseng? Or divide Azure Stone Milk among them all? We need elixir pellets, elixir pellets!”
“No, I’m asking where in the world we’re supposed to get those elixir pellets!”
“That is for you, the Outer Hall Lord, to solve.”
“...”
Is this bastard insane?
He thinks he can just say he needs something, and that’s the end of it?
If he said he needed a sword force master, would someone raise one for him on the spot?
Jin Taesan started to snap at him, then stopped.
Acting insane alongside someone who had lost his mind would be foolish.
Instead, he carved the character for patience into his heart and turned to Hong Mungi.
“What do you think, Sect Leader?”
Hong Mungi kept his lips pressed shut at the question.
It was not a problem that could be resolved by talking about it.
“Making elixir pellets is not something that can be done just because one has the ingredients. Each sect’s elixir pellets must contain something unique to that sect. Is there not a reason why even sects with long histories only produce two or three kinds of elixir pellets?”
“That is precisely what I’m saying. It is only natural, yet that madman has lost his reason and is spouting nonsense...”
“Elixir pellets! Elixir pellets! Elixir pellets!”
Jin Taesan and Hong Mungi sighed as Gang Chaeseok kept chanting the same words.
“We could ask a medical household to make them, but the cost would be considerable.”
Sects specializing in medicine and medical households occasionally made elixir pellets, but they almost never suited the constitution and internal cultivation method of the person ordering them perfectly.
On top of that, they were often outrageously expensive. If things went badly, they could waste a fortune and watch their finances decline for nothing.
Though the Taeul Sect’s circumstances had improved, it was not yet wealthy enough to commission the production of elixir pellets.
Jin Taesan tried to calm his mad... no, his friend.
“What if we first provide spiritual medicines that help increase internal energy?”
Gang Chaeseok stopped chanting, “Elixir pellets! Elixir pellets!” and suddenly asked a question.
“Do you know what we must be most careful of when consuming spiritual medicines?”
“...Qi deviation.”
He nodded deeply.
“Spiritual medicines are good. Better than having nothing. But if the children make even one mistake while circulating their energy... you know as well as I do that there is nobody in the Taeul Sect who can support them through it.”
“...”
All playfulness vanished from Gang Chaeseok’s face.
“Do you know what state the children are in right now?”
“...”
“They understand martial arts with their minds and bodies, but their internal energy cannot support them, so they cannot put it to use.”
The Taeul True Scripture had only recently returned to the Taeul Sect.
What was more, their attainments in the Taeul True Scripture had not advanced much because of the Great Tremor Divine Art, which they had cultivated as their primary art until now.
“The children who can produce illusion swords are devoting themselves to sword formations, and those who can produce sword qi are devoting themselves to illusion swords. And that Yuseong...”
Remembering Yuseong standing alone on the training ground, Gang Chaeseok furrowed his brow and let out a low groan.
“He is creating another martial art by himself because his internal energy is lacking. Does that make any sense?!”
The Diligence of Fireflies and Snow.
It was a fine saying, meaning that one could succeed through study even in difficult circumstances. Yet when one’s own child was placed in such a situation, it tore at a parent’s heart.
“I know it too. I know that crying for elixir pellets will not make them appear. But even if I understand it with my head...”
Gang Chaeseok struck his chest and lowered his head.
“My heart cannot accept this situation.”
“...”
At Gang Chaeseok’s words, as he pounded his chest hard enough to break it, neither Hong Mungi nor Jin Taesan could easily speak.
They felt the same way he did.
“...”
“...”
Silence lingered for a long time.
None of the three men lifted their cups.
Hong Mungi finally broke the silence.
“For now, let us settle for giving them spiritual medicines that aid the growth of internal energy.”
“Sect Leader!”
“You must understand this as well. Have you already forgotten that it has not been long since we were able to eat meat three times a day?”
“But spiritual medicines can become poison depending on one’s constitution.”
Hong Mungi, who had been turning his cup in his hand, gripped it tightly.
“Be careful with that... Besides, would it not be a problem if we overextended ourselves and the sect’s finances declined again?”
“...”
“Do not place too much burden on Taesan alone.”
Gang Chaeseok realized that he had only thought of himself. He muttered quietly.
“I’m sorry, Taesan.”
He had received an earful, but Jin Taesan knew Gang Chaeseok had nowhere else to vent his frustration. He slowly nodded.
“It’s fine.”
Their drinking continued, but nobody wore a relieved expression.
#
“Spiritual medicines?”
Eunho’s face crumpled like paper.
“Yes. Spiritual medicines. We need to pick some up on the way.”
“...”
The carriage ticket had been difficult to reserve, but Eunho could understand tearing it up if it was because of spiritual medicines.
Still, did that not sound strange?
Spiritual medicines did not simply grow on their own in fields where someone had scattered seeds.
What kind of head did that Head Disciple even have... No, how could he speak so casually about spiritual medicines as if they were stones one could pick up while walking down the road?
“Do you have spiritual medicines stored somewhere?”
Jin Sowoon suddenly frowned.
“Are you sick? Who stores spiritual medicines somewhere?”
“...”
You made it sound exactly like you did!
If you weren’t the Head Disciple, I really would...!
Whether Eunho was bursting inside or not, Jin Sowoon stretched and gave an order.
“Anyway, there’s plenty to prepare, so move quickly. Isn’t this the triumphant return you’ve been waiting for?”
“...Understood. But why are we preparing these?”
What Jin Sowoon had ordered were palm-sized steel plates and leather vests with pockets.
There were also circular iron rings.
Looking down at them, Jin Sowoon grinned with satisfaction.
“What do you think? I designed these myself. You can adjust the weight by putting steel plates in the leather vest.”
Eunho tilted his head even further at Jin Sowoon’s detailed explanation.
“Isn’t a vest something you wear over your clothes when it’s cold? Why would we put steel plates into it to adjust its weight?”
“If your body is heavier, the results of your training will double.”
“...”
Eunho struck his ears with his palms, wondering if he had heard something wrong.
“Training while traveling is bound to be less efficient. But if you wear this vest and these iron rings, the effects will double.”
...He had not heard wrong.
Eunho considered something seriously for a moment.
Perhaps it would be better not to return home at all.
Once a man left home to succeed, wasn’t it only proper that he refrain from returning until he had achieved that success?
“Come on. Hurry up and get moving. Can’t you picture the junior brothers waiting for you at the sect until their necks grow long?”
Still, Eunho soon gave up and began moving.
He hated hardship enough to die, but he also missed his junior brothers and parents.
‘Besides, that man is worse than King Yama. It’s not as though he would let me stay at the academy just because I asked. Hoo...’
Eunho felt sorry for himself, having become so much faster at giving up.
#
This winter break was busier than any before it.
There was more than one spiritual medicine set to appear this winter.
Simply gathering them all would consume half the break.
Of course, none of them compared to the spiritual medicines I had consumed so far.
Still, I needed them because they were important ingredients for making elixir pellets for the Taeul Sect disciples.
‘It’s about time.’
Looking at the speed at which the Geum, Eun, and Dong brothers and Saryeon had progressed, I could roughly tell.
The Taeul Sect was probably blocked by a massive wall right now.
And the only thing that could solve it was neither wealth nor power.
It was absolute time, given equally to everyone.
The Taeul Sect was not yet a sect with the wealth, history, or scale to make elixir pellets.
Even among prestigious major sects, disciples gifted in medicine received the sect’s support and devoted their entire lives to leave behind a single elixir-pellet formula.
If even the prestigious major sects were like that, could such a small and adorable sect as the Taeul Sect possibly accomplish it?
“But we don’t have to follow the standard path.”
When you have no teeth, you make do with your gums.
I left the office to find gums as sturdy as teeth.
I did not even have to go far.
The raw gem those idiots had thrown away without realizing it was gold was right in front of me.
Footnotes:
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