WeTried Translations

Translator/Editor: Chen

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◈ The Martial Genius who Remembers Everything ◈

Chapter 284: Night of the Greedy (5)

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What the hell was he talking about now?

The Five-Spirit Flower Dew appeared only once every one gapja of internal energy, yet it already had an owner?

Thinking he was picking another fight with such nonsense, I looked at Cheol Sunjik. His expression was far different from his usual smugness.

More precisely, he looked like someone who knew he was saying something absurd.

It felt like there was more to it, so I asked again.

"What do you mean?"

Cheol Sunjik did not answer for a while.

After a long silence, he asked me instead.

"Do you happen to have a map of Heavenly Cave?"

"......"

I took the map from my robes and showed it to him.

He looked back and forth between the map and me.

"......You actually bought this."

He looked at me like I was someone who had been conned into buying an immortality herb from a quack.

"I didn't know Representative Jin was so naive."

Hah. Look at this bastard changing the subject.

"I heard that map costs twenty nyang of gold...... Did you really buy it?"

As if I would.

I briefly told him what had happened as soon as I arrived in Xian.

Cheol Sunjik listened in silence, then nodded.

"......At least that's a relief."

What was supposed to be relieving about that?

Whatever.

"Are you going to keep dodging the question?"

At my sharp stare, Cheol Sunjik nodded and continued.

"Mount Zhongnan Sect has already reached an agreement with Mount Hua Sect. Mount Zhongnan Sect will take the Five-Spirit Flower Dew."

What was that supposed to mean?

Who decided that?

"Have they already found the Five-Spirit Flower Dew?"

"Not yet. No one knows where in Heavenly Cave it will appear. But with Mount Hua Sect's approval, Mount Zhongnan Sect is planning to exclude everyone else."

"......"

The Five-Spirit Flower Dew was a spiritual medicine that burst forth the instant a certain amount of the earth's energy gathered.

You could know when it would appear, but not where.

The very act of searching for it within Heavenly Cave would create competition.

Yet they could exclude everyone else despite that...?

"Does that mean Mount Zhongnan Sect is getting serious?"

In the end, it meant they intended to stop others from joining the competition from the start.

As though my guess was right, Cheol Sunjik nodded.

"Mount Zhongnan Sect will mobilize its sect disciples and lay martial sects to prevent others from approaching Heavenly Cave."

I tilted my head.

"But the Beggar Sect is selling maps."

"That was also arranged between the Beggar Sect and Mount Zhongnan Sect. The Beggar Sect handed over a detailed map of Heavenly Cave to Mount Zhongnan Sect. In return, they are profiting by selling incomplete maps to people."

"......"

So this had been fixed from the beginning?

Then...

"Your conflict with the Beggar Sect was no accident either, Representative Jin. The Beggar Sect is compiling a register of unfamiliar people in case Mount Zhongnan Sect fails to secure the Five-Spirit Flower Dew. That is why they picked a fight with you."

Now it all made sense.

The Xian Branch report and the Martial World Elixir Compendium had only said that Mount Zhongnan Sect secured the Five-Spirit Flower Dew.

When I first saw those records in my previous life, I had thought nothing more than, "So this is the strength of the old sects," even though there had been many competitors, including Mount Hua Sect.

'But that wasn't it. They had prevented competition from the start and colluded among themselves?'

The Beggar Sect had even been toying with people's greed.

Twenty nyang of gold was no small sum. An ordinary person would need to save for their entire life to gather that much.

This was outright fraud.

"They're playing people for fools to this extent...?"

Bitterness flickered across Cheol Sunjik's face at my murmur.

"Jukhyeon Sect is already guarding the area around Heavenly Cave as well. You won't be able to enter either, Representative Jin. If you try to force your way in..."

"Mount Zhongnan Sect and its lay martial sects won't stand by."

Cheol Sunjik gave a short nod.

What he said next was even more discouraging.

"Mount Zhongnan Sect has also mobilized the Northern Dipper Sword Corps."

"Those lunatics..."

The Northern Dipper Sword Corps was Mount Zhongnan Sect's final assault force.

They never moved unless Mount Zhongnan Sect's foundations were threatened, and once they did, they would not stop until the enemy was annihilated.

To think they had even deployed the Northern Dipper Sword Corps.

It showed just how desperate Mount Zhongnan Sect was for the Five-Spirit Flower Dew.

"Word among the lay martial sects is that their supply of Mystic Azure Pills is nearly exhausted, so they must obtain the Five-Spirit Flower Dew this time. Mount Zhongnan Sect is prepared to bear the criticism."

Even those who preached justice would cast aside all shame when the fire reached their feet.

If ordinary people were like that, then a great sect like Mount Zhongnan Sect would surely stop at nothing once it felt threatened.

"This is different from the Demon Spirit Plateau Incident. Mount Zhongnan Sect will try to secure the Five-Spirit Flower Dew at any cost."

"......Are you saying they would even kill for it?"

Cheol Sunjik stopped speaking for a moment.

His gaze lingered in empty space before returning to me.

"That is likely why they are blocking the entrance, to prevent such an incident before it happens."

At first glance, it did not sound like such a serious problem.

"But no one can know what happens inside Heavenly Cave."

Cheol Sunjik's next words were deeply unsettling.

As he said, no one could know what happened inside. It would become something that had never happened in the first place.

"Representative Jin, return to your hometown. Enjoy your break."

This time, his eyes held genuine concern.

"There is no need to waste your strength on something impossible."

Something impossible...

It certainly looked that way.

But after they had gone this far, how could I simply back down?

"Is Jukhyeon Sect entering Heavenly Cave?"

Cheol Sunjik looked at my expression and sighed.

"You have no intention of giving up."

"Just tell me whether you're entering or not."

He looked at me with an utterly complicated expression.

"......The lay martial sects cannot enter Heavenly Cave. We are only guarding Mount Zhongnan Sect."

"That's good, then."

"What could possibly be... Hah. Forget it."

Cheol Sunjik started to ask why, then shook his head.

After getting burned by me several times, he seemed to have become more perceptive.

"Do you truly intend to enter?"

His question was wrong from the beginning.

Would I enter? Of course.

It was not even worth discussing.

I could not give up the Five-Spirit Flower Dew either.

"What do you think?"

"......"

Unlike them, the choice before me was whether to confront them fairly or fight dirty just like they were.

So this was how Mount Zhongnan Sect wanted to play it...

#

As soon as dawn broke, I bought paper, brushes, ink, and an inkstone, then climbed Mount Zhou Dang with my junior disciples.

I had heard Cheol Sunjik's story, but I needed to know exactly how Mount Zhongnan Sect intended to exclude everyone else.

From the foot of the mountain, countless people were already gathered with weapons in hand, locked in silent standoffs all around us.

By the time we reached the middle of the mountain...

The crowd began to bottleneck.

"Great Senior Brother, there are more and more people."

No one could make any headway.

A few people skilled in movement arts climbed trees or scaled cliffs to escape the crowd, but most remained trapped on the mountain path.

We forced our way through the packed crowd and headed upward. That was when I learned why everyone had stopped.

"What do you mean we can't enter?!"

"There are too many people gathered here, and casualties could occur. Please understand that we had no choice but to take this measure."

"What kind of bullshit is that?! Are you saying Mount Zhongnan Sect wants to monopolize the spiritual medicine?!"

"Bullshit?"

A Mount Zhongnan Sect martial artist seized on the protester's words and drew his sword.

"Say that again."

"Urgh!"

The Mount Zhongnan Sect martial artist stepped forward, followed by Mount Zhongnan Sect disciples and martial artists from its lay martial sects. The person who had protested clamped their mouth shut.

Everyone was dissatisfied with this unreasonable situation, but no one could speak carelessly with sword blades flashing before their eyes.

"The entrance is blocked because Mount Zhongnan Sect has unilaterally stopped people from entering! This is not right! For Mount Zhongnan Sect to use such a petty method...!"

Someone offered a logical rebuttal, and hope began to appear on the faces around us.

The White Path was supposed to move according to righteous cause.

"The Martial Alliance has determined that the right to a spiritual medicine belongs to whoever obtains it. Mount Zhongnan Sect's unilateral actions are a problem."

When the Martial Alliance was mentioned, everyone looked toward the Mount Zhongnan Sect martial artist.

No matter how absolute Mount Zhongnan Sect's authority was here, it could not defy the Martial Alliance.

The disturbance among the crowd quieted for a moment.

The martial artist who had been staring at the protester finally opened his mouth.

"Does everyone remember the Demon Spirit Plateau Incident, when countless people entered the Demon Spirit Plateau and suffered calamity?"

"......"

"At the time, did you not all unanimously hold Wudang Sect responsible?"

As the Mount Zhongnan Sect martial artist continued, the protester's shoulders shrank.

"No one was forced into that place. They entered of their own accord for their own gain, yet because Wudang Sect was there with them, everyone joined together to raise the question of responsibility. Is that not so?"

"Th-that was different..."

"Heavenly Cave is not far from Mount Zhongnan Sect. If something were to happen inside Heavenly Cave, there would certainly be people demanding that Mount Zhongnan Sect take responsibility."

Silence fell over the crowd before anyone noticed.

With a faint smile as if he had seized the upper hand, the Mount Zhongnan Sect martial artist raised his voice.

"Mount Zhongnan Sect is making every effort to prevent that! Mount Hua Sect has already understood the situation and permitted Mount Zhongnan Sect's actions. So I ask everyone gathered here to please understand."

At the mention of Mount Hua Sect, the Mount Zhongnan Sect martial artist even clasped his fists in salute. Those who had been protesting all tightly shut their mouths.

Pushing this through with such an absurd justification was practically a declaration that they would not listen to anything anyone said.

Everyone was full of resentment, but no one stepped forward easily.

Mount Zhongnan Sect's martial strength was one thing, but the number of lay martial sects accompanying them was no joke either.

Besides, those gathered to enter Heavenly Cave belonged to different groups. If someone protested first, they could easily become an example for the rest.

Off to one side...

"Let's try another entrance."

"Right. This isn't the only way into Heavenly Cave."

"Move. I'll go first."

A few people searched for other entrances to Heavenly Cave, but the situation there was no different.

"Those damned bastards...! I bought that map for nothing!"

"Do you think the Beggar Sect bastards didn't know about this?"

"How could they not?! The Beggar Sect clearly scammed us!"

Some people could not contain their anger and tore their maps to pieces.

There were countless people cursing and glaring resentfully at Mount Zhongnan Sect, but Mount Zhongnan Sect paid them no mind.

A hollow laugh escaped me at their shamelessness.

'Were they always this tyrannical?'

In my previous life, the Nine Sects One Gang and the Five Great Clans had seemed extraordinary.

They had never lost power and had held their place as supreme forces in the fiercely competitive martial world.

For a time, I admired them and tried to follow in their footsteps.

As a disciple of the weak Taeul Sect, I could never reach the heights they had attained no matter how hard I tried. I resented their oppression, yet still admired them.

But...

What they showed now was nothing but the crude sight of those who climbed first, then kicked away the ladder.

'Was this how they had maintained their power?'

They casually stole other people's chances.

They stripped them of even the chance to rise, even the right to compete.

Then, to preserve the power they had acquired so cowardly, they used their martial strength again.

'Those bastards...'

If they had truly been strong, it would not have mattered even if they used cowardly schemes.

They would have been strong enough to protect others.

But what had they looked like during the Orthodox-Demonic War?

Those who monopolized the spiritual medicines stood furthest to the rear, while those deprived of opportunity stood at the front.

Hadn't we, who did no more than pick up the scraps discarded by the powerful, become the first meat shields in the name of protecting the martial world's justice?

'Even the chance to defend justice had been forced upon us.'

Weak sects like Taeul Sect...

Had we ever stood at the front of our own will?

Those who hid behind us had pointed their swords not at the enemy, but at our backs.

They had simply driven us to the front.

That was how we lost our lives.

"Great Senior Brother, it doesn't look like there's any way in."

"If Mount Zhongnan Sect is blocking it like that, there isn't any way we can break through."

"And if we stay here and get caught up in Mount Zhongnan Sect's oppression..."

I turned toward the voices.

My junior disciples' faces were full of concern.

Right. They were still alive.

I fixed my eyes on the Mount Zhongnan Sect group again.

The opportunity they had monopolized could have belonged to my junior disciples.

If they had been given that chance, perhaps these guys would not have died so absurdly in my previous life.

That was why I could never let this opportunity go in this life.

"From now on, we're climbing Mount Zhou Dang."

My junior disciples tilted their heads at my words.

"But we're already on Mount Zhou Dang."

I looked back at them.

"You all have paper, brushes, ink, and inkstones, right?"

"Yes."

"From now on, draw every part of the area around Heavenly Cave. Do not miss a single feature of the terrain."

"What? What do you mean...?"

"Great Senior Brother, what are you plotting this time?"

Mount Zhongnan Sect, which had been given the opportunity in my previous life, ultimately failed to stop the Demonic Cult.

If that was the case, then this opportunity...

"It is time to show them Taeul Sect's strength."

It was our turn to have it.

Footnotes:

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