WeTried Translations
Translator/Editor: Chen
Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried
◈ The Martial Genius who Remembers Everything ◈
Chapter 285: The Right to Have a Chance
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After sending my junior disciples in every direction, I climbed to the summit of Mount Zhou Dang.
I sharpened my vision and carefully took in every detail of the terrain.
I studied Mount Zhou Dang from one peak, then moved to another and studied it again from a new angle.
I moved as quickly as I could, but by the time I finished, the sun was already high in the sky.
“My head feels like it’s going to burst.”
Clutching my throbbing head, I descended Mount Zhou Dang and returned to our lodgings.
My junior disciples had already arrived.
“Senior Brother, we drew them.”
Eunho stepped forward and handed me a thick stack of papers.
“You did well.”
“Senior Brother, what are you plotting this time... no, what exactly do you intend to do with these?”
What did I intend to do?
I looked at him and grinned.
“I intend to sell an opportunity.”
“An opportunity?”
“Yes, an opportunity the Zhongnan Sect has monopolized.”
They must be confident that they alone could monopolize it.
I intended to slip through that gap.
Unaware of my thoughts, Eunho looked as though he had no idea what I meant.
I patted his shoulder.
“Just watch. You’ll understand soon enough.”
“No, not again...”
What was this? Was he going through a rebellious phase?
As his lips began to move, I tilted my head toward the side.
Iron rings and steel plates were neatly piled in one corner.
Eunho immediately clasped his hands together.
“I have always trusted you, Senior Brother.”
Of course he wasn’t going through a rebellious phase. Naturally not.
With disciplined movements, he began turning over the maps they had drawn one by one.
I examined every detail without missing a single thing.
Just as I had instructed, they had left out all people and drawn the area around Heavenly Cave’s entrance in detail.
“Bring the Beggar Sect’s map too.”
Now it was time to compare them with the fake treasure map the Beggar Sect had sold.
The Beggar Sect’s map showed only about seventy percent of Heavenly Cave.
That was fine. What I needed was the terrain around the entrance.
I slowly closed my eyes.
Using what I had seen earlier, I created a scaled, realistic model of Mount Zhou Dang in my mind.
I would combine the Beggar Sect’s map with the maps my junior disciples had drawn and recreate Heavenly Cave as well.
To turn the cave’s cross-sectional drawings into a realistic three-dimensional model, I needed the maps my junior disciples had made.
After opening my eyes again, I began assembling a three-dimensional model of Heavenly Cave, comparing the maps Eunho turned over from the beginning with the Beggar Sect’s map.
The more clearly Heavenly Cave’s true shape took form, the tighter the back of my head felt.
Once that was done, I needed to merge the two three-dimensional maps of Mount Zhou Dang and Heavenly Cave.
“Hmm...”
The shape of Mount Zhou Dang gradually became hazy.
‘It was here.’
Using the three-dimensional model of Mount Zhou Dang as a reference, I aligned the recreated Heavenly Cave with the entrance the Zhongnan Sect was blocking.
Once I finished adjusting the scale, the entrance and surrounding terrain became clear.
‘Done!’
I rotated the recreated model map and examined it more closely.
Then...
“...S-Senior Brother!”
Eunho’s horrified voice made me snap my eyes open.
His face was right in front of mine, and something was clearly wrong.
Seeing him this close, he was really ugly...
“B-Blood! Your nose is bleeding!”
Huh?
When I touched my nose as Eunho said, enough blood to fill a bowl was streaming down.
“Ah.”
Once I noticed it, my head spun and the world seemed to turn.
It was the same feeling I had when I was forced to cram the materials from the Mantong Office and the Profound Mystery Pavilion into my head.
But...
‘And I’m doing this to myself.’
Back then, others had forced me to do it. Now I was doing it of my own accord.
While I stood there blankly lost in thought, Hong Saryeon gasped and pressed a cloth against my nose to stop the bleeding.
Hey, be a little gentler...
“What on earth are you doing?!”
Hong Saryeon looked as though she might burst into tears at any moment.
She worried more than anyone else.
I gently removed her hand and spoke.
“What am I doing?”
Then I pinched my own nose and grinned.
“Making the Zhongnan Sect eat dirt.”
The ones gathered around me frowned and looked at me as though I had gone mad.
How dare they look at their Senior Brother, lofty as the heavens, with such disrespectful eyes? Insolent brats.
For a moment, I considered restoring discipline with the iron rings and steel plates stacked beside us.
‘Well, whatever.’
Just imagining the faces the Zhongnan Sect would make when this hit them made it impossible to hold back my laughter.
Keh heh heh heh.
#
Ho Gyewak, manager of the Hao Sect’s Shaanxi Province Xi’an Branch black market outlet, could not hide his regret as he watched martial artists pass by.
‘My stomach hurts... If I sold it to just one out of every ten, how much would that be...?’
Ho Gyewak was quick with numbers. One glance at the people passing by was enough for the figures to calculate themselves in his head, making him clutch his aching stomach.
“Here we go, here we go~ Off we go, off we go! The wandering beggar who came last year~~”
The Beggar Sect disciples passed by, singing as if they knew how he felt and mocking him.
“I’m a silk merchant with no customers. I’m going to starve to death!”
“Kehehehe!”
At their words, veins bulged on Ho Gyewak’s forehead.
“You shameless bastards who scam your customers, how dare you mock anyone!”
Still unable to calm down, he brought out the salt bucket he often used and threw salt at them three or four times. Only then did the beggars flee in a hurry.
Even while running away, they did not stop flapping their mouths.
“Hmph! Did we scam them? They fell for it themselves!”
“Silk merchant, keep selling your silk! Not that anyone will buy it. Kehehe.”
Even after the beggars had completely vanished, Ho Gyewak kept fuming for a long time.
His anger did not fade.
‘Damn it! I prepared for three whole years...’
He had begun investigating Heavenly Cave three years before the Five-Spirit Flower Dew was due to appear. This time, he had been certain he could sell more maps than the Beggar Sect.
He had marked every place where the Five-Spirit Flower Dew had appeared before, then even hired a spiritual medicine expert to identify the places where it was likely to appear this time.
Ho Gyewak’s philosophy was that anyone selling information had to go that far.
Yet the higher-ups had ordered him not to sell maps of Heavenly Cave.
He had tried to persuade them, but failed.
‘Damn it...’
At first, he could not understand the order.
He knew well that the Hao Sect had suffered because it sold maps of Demon Spirit Plateau.
Still, Heavenly Cave was different from Demon Spirit Plateau. There was no unknown natural formation there.
Then he heard why the sale of maps had been banned, and all strength left his body.
Even knowing the Zhongnan Sect would block the entrance to Heavenly Cave, they could not sell the maps.
They could have sold them like the Beggar Sect and claimed they had not known, but the Hao Sect was in a different position.
People who realized too late that they had been scammed might find it hard to protest against the Beggar Sect, but they could retaliate against the Hao Sect as much as they pleased.
Unlike beggars with nothing to lose, they had things to protect.
‘We can’t do that.’
For the sake of the other Hao Sect members making their living through their work, such a thing could not be allowed.
How many Hao Sect members had suffered during the Demon Spirit Plateau Incident alone?
Even so...
“Ugh...”
The calculations kept running through his mind, and Ho Gyewak could no longer remain at his stall.
To make matters worse, the Beggar Sect disciples who had fled were starting to creep back toward him, making his anger boil over.
Just as he decided to close early and roast some chestnuts instead...
“I’m looking for a speshul favor.”
An odd voice from behind made his ears perk up.
There was one thing he could clearly hear.
Special cloth!
Ho Gyewak quickly turned around to look at the speaker.
The owner of that voice was...
“Oh? Young Master Jin?”
Jin Sowoon, the Hao Sect’s only guest retainer, the Academy Representative, the Black Flame Dragon, the Black Maitreya, and the lord of Black Dragon Stronghold.
“Yesh. That’s me.”
...stood there with both nostrils plugged shut, looking bizarre.
What was this...? No, he already knew Jin Sowoon was unusual, but this was too strange...
“Ahem.”
Ho Gyewak quickly came to his senses.
“Why is your nose...?”
“Manager, do you have thime?”
“Time?”
As Ho Gyewak tilted his head, Jin Sowoon pressed his left nostril with one hand and blew his nose.
“Yes. If you have time.”
The paper plugging his right nostril came flying out.
Then Jin Sowoon pressed his other nostril and blew his nose once more, sending a piece of paper shooting from his left nostril.
This was truly beyond bewildering...
“Let’s do some map business.”
“...”
Huh? That was even more bewildering.
For a moment, Ho Gyewak began wondering whether he should follow the higher-ups’ orders first or the request of a guest retainer.
#
“Young Master Jin, um... what sort of map are you talking about?”
“What map could it be other than one for the Five-Spirit Flower Dew?”
“...”
No, I know that.
Then why bring it up so suddenly...?
Ho Gyewak cautiously opened his mouth.
“Young Master Jin, I’m sorry, but I don’t think that will be possible.”
“Why not?”
“Hmm... How should I explain this?”
After thinking for a moment, Ho Gyewak brought out the map he had made.
“I have already made a map of Heavenly Cave. But the higher-ups have not authorized its sale.”
Jin Sowoon carefully examined the map.
“This is a surprisingly precise map. Did you make it yourself?”
“Yes. I prepared it for quite some time.”
“Was it printed from woodblocks?”
“Pardon?”
Ho Gyewak tilted his head at the unexpected question.
Jin Sowoon, who had not taken his eyes off the map, added, “I didn’t think a map this precise would have been drawn by hand one by one.”
“Well... that’s right. I know someone who handles that.”
“Then that works.”
What worked?
Ho Gyewak let out a low hum.
“The higher-ups ordered us not to sell maps because the Zhongnan Sect has blocked the entrance. That is why, despite how badly I wanted to, I could not sell them.”
Just thinking about it made his anger rise again...
“Ah, you don’t need to worry.”
Huh?
“Our customers won’t complain.”
“Our customers...?”
Ho Gyewak looked at him in confusion, and Jin Sowoon spread a large sheet of paper over his map.
“We’ll sell this map.”
“Pardon...?”
The drawing looked more like a landscape painting than a map, and Ho Gyewak’s gaze moved between the paper and Jin Sowoon.
“Um... you’re saying this is a map?”
A map needed location information. It was usually drawn on a flat surface with commonly used symbols.
‘This is far too unfamiliar.’
The map Jin Sowoon had shown him was neither flat nor marked with symbols.
Yet...
“Look closely.”
At Jin Sowoon’s confident voice, Ho Gyewak studied the map carefully and spotted something familiar in the drawing.
“Th-This is...!”
For the past three years, Ho Gyewak had climbed up and down this place so often that he could never forget it.
“Mount Zhou Dang...”
“That’s right.”
“But you intend to sell this?”
Other than the fact that the Five-Spirit Flower Dew could be found there, Mount Zhou Dang was not a particularly famous mountain.
Even landscape paintings of the Five Great Mountains, the most rugged mountains under heaven, or Mount Song, a towering pillar of the martial world, would not be highly valued unless a famous artist had painted them.
And yet he wanted to sell a drawing like this, made with mediocre skill.
No matter how extraordinary Jin Sowoon was, as the Hao Sect’s guest retainer, Academy Representative, Black Flame Dragon, Black Maitreya, and lord of Black Dragon Stronghold...
“Hmm, this is a little...”
Despite Ho Gyewak’s troubled expression, Jin Sowoon remained so confident that Ho Gyewak began to wonder whether he was trying to scam him.
“Young Master Jin... do you perhaps need money?”
As though he understood, Jin Sowoon answered by pointing at a spot.
“Look here. ...And here.”
Ho Gyewak’s eyes diligently followed Jin Sowoon’s fingers.
The places he indicated were Heavenly Cave’s entrances...
Then...
“And here.”
Where Jin Sowoon’s finger stopped...
“Hmm...?”
There was another cave where none had existed before.
“This place is...?”
“We’re selling this information.”
“W-Wait a moment, Young Master Jin.”
Ho Gyewak looked at the drawing again.
But no matter how closely he examined it, nothing had changed.
Even if he could no longer sell maps, he had spent three years on this.
Mount Zhou Dang was a place he had entered and left like his own home for three years just to make this map.
“Young Master, I have climbed Mount Zhou Dang hundreds of times over the past three years, but Heavenly Cave does not have a third entrance like this...”
“Of course it doesn’t. It will soon.”
“Pardon?”
What am I hearing right now...?
The words that followed were even more absurd.
“The day after tomorrow, before the sun rises during Rabbit Hour,[1] this entrance will appear.”
“What do you mean...?”
A deeply mischievous yet confident smile spread across Jin Sowoon’s face.
“I intend to make this entrance.”
“...Make it?”
Ho Gyewak stared at that smile, his mouth hanging open.
#
Ho Gyewak took Jin Sowoon’s map and headed straight for the printing shop.
Bang! Bang! Bang!
The printing shop owner came out carrying a club, thinking a drunken troublemaker was causing a scene. Ho Gyewak pressed him into making woodblocks.
Then he gathered every Hao Sect member available and began producing the maps.
By the time dawn approached, Ho Gyewak had made one hundred maps and immediately began selling them.
“People are already angry because of the Beggar Sect’s maps. Will they really buy this?”
At the Hao Sect member’s question, Ho Gyewak answered with certainty.
“They came all the way to Xi’an in search of the Five-Spirit Flower Dew. They’ll buy it, if only because they think they might as well risk being deceived at this point.”
“But didn’t the higher-ups order us not to sell maps?”
Ho Gyewak had worried about that too, but he did not pay it much mind.
The higher-ups had ordered them not to sell maps of Heavenly Cave’s interior. Selling a map of Mount Zhou Dang’s exterior was within the branch’s authority.
Besides, the provider of the information was none other than Jin Sowoon, their guest retainer.
Even if something went slightly wrong, the higher-ups would not make much of an issue if he said he had helped with Jin Sowoon’s plan.
“Then what price should we set?”
The price... yes, the price.
Ho Gyewak took a deep breath.
“Ten silver taels!”
It was a rather low price for a treasure map, but Ho Gyewak settled on ten taels.
People often thought others liked free information, but the opposite was true.
People trusted information in proportion to the price they paid for it.
“If anyone doubts it or asks us to lower the price, act as though you cannot refuse and sell it to them.”
“Pardon?”
The maps were only a tool for gathering people.
If everything worked out as Jin Sowoon planned, they could deal a blow to both the Zhongnan Sect and the Beggar Sect.
And if it helped Jin Sowoon, their guest retainer, all the better.
Just thinking about it made him want to smile...
No, no. I must not become too much like him. Ahem.
“Anyway, carry it out.”
The Hao Sect members could not understand a single part of Ho Gyewak’s orders, but they did not hesitate to act.
By the time the morning sun neared noon, Jin Sowoon’s map had spread throughout Xi’an by word of mouth.
“Can this be trusted?”
“It’s nonsense. I have already been there, and there was no entrance.”
“Look at the time here! It says the entrance will open tomorrow during Rabbit Hour.”
“Ha, even if there is spiritual medicine there, would a cave entrance really open and close according to the time?”
Many people did not trust the map, and some claimed they had been scammed.
Some even planned to storm the Hao Sect at once, saying that after the Beggar Sect, the Hao Sect was also treating martial artists like fools.
Yet all of those actions were put off for a while.
There was still the hope that a cave might really open during Rabbit Hour.
Before long, the new entrance to Heavenly Cave was packed with people.
“Oh? You?”
“Ahem...!”
“You told me not to believe such ridiculous nonsense!”
“What are you talking about? I merely came up Mount Zhou Dang for a stroll.”
“At this hour?”
Awkward meetings began taking place all over Mount Zhou Dang. People spoke less and gradually moved toward the place marked on the map.
Then, as Rabbit Hour drew near...
“Hm?”
“What is that?”
“You felt it too?”
Those with sensitive senses began looking around one by one.
Soon, the tremors grew strong enough for even those without keen senses to notice.
Then...
Rumble, rumble, rumble, rumble.
A vibration like the world shaking and the heavens collapsing echoed through the area.
Rocks in the mountains trembled and fell. Birds sleeping in the trees took flight all at once in fright.
“An earthquake?”
“W-What is this...?!”
At that moment...
Boom!
A massive explosion rang out, followed by a great burst of light.
Startled by the brilliant flash that seemed ready to illuminate the dark night sky, people turned their heads.
“What was that? Did lightning strike?”
“The light looked different from lightning, didn’t it?”
Their confusion lasted only a moment.
“Wait! That light! It’s where the map says!”
At someone’s words, they exchanged looks.
“!”
“!!”
Then, without anyone taking the lead, they unleashed their movement arts and began racing up the mountain.
In the blink of an eye, they arrived at their destination.
“Good heavens...!”
Before them stood a cave with a huge maw yawning open.
“An entrance!”
“The entrance to Heavenly Cave really opened!”
“Move! The Five-Spirit Flower Dew is mine!”
At someone’s shout, countless martial artists threw themselves into the cave without waiting for anyone else.
[1] Rabbit Hour: the traditional East Asian time period from roughly 5:00 to 7:00 a.m.
Footnotes:
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