WeTried Translations
Translator/Editor: Chen
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◈ The Martial Genius who Remembers Everything ◈
Chapter 290: The Right to Have a Chance (6)
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By my estimate, the strongest opponents I could subdue easily alongside my junior disciples, without killing any Zhongnan disciples or causing a commotion, were second-generation disciples.
That was why I'd hoped we wouldn't run into any first-generation disciples or anyone above them.
‘Is this fucking real?’
...Hall Master-level martial artists?
The two middle-aged men held their heavy swords steady, pointed directly at us.
“Come out.”
They were merely pointing their swords at us, yet it felt as though we'd run into a solid wall.
“Do you intend to come out only after these people have died?”
I didn't need to hear who he was addressing to know.
In the end, Geumpyo, Eunho, and Saryeon slowly emerged from behind the cave.
“You seem too young to throw your lives away in a place like this.”
Could he roughly judge their ages from their height and movements, even with their masks on?
There was a weight of experience in his discerning gaze.
He even sighed as though he genuinely found it regrettable.
Then he looked back and forth between me and my junior disciples.
“If that man threatened you and dragged you here, speak now.”
The middle-aged man pointed at me.
“...”
“...”
My junior disciples' gazes turned toward me as well.
“Don't worry. I'm from Zhongnan. I won't lose to the likes of some old freak.”
I understood the dogshit misunderstanding he had.
No matter how healthy I looked, wasn't it too much to call someone who'd only just passed twenty an old freak?
Eunho flinched for a moment, but when my junior disciples still didn't lower their swords, the middle-aged man shook his head.
“So you're all accomplices after all?”
“Those children couldn't have entered this place without knowing Zhongnan was here.”
“Then that's laughable. You entered even knowing Zhongnan was here?”
The pitying expression on his face suddenly twisted into a sneer.
“I didn't think this matter would come to bloodshed.”
“Cheonji, be careful. That move just now was no ordinary one.”
“You should be the careful one, Hall Master.”
The moment I heard the name Cheonji, I couldn't help furrowing my brow.
‘Of all people...’
Among Zhongnan's current members, the only person named Cheonji was Gun Cheonji, the man who would one day be called the Zhongnan Guardian Tiger.
I even wondered whether he was the unidentified expert who had been following us.
But.
-Head Disciple.
This was no time to lose focus.
Whether the tiger's den I'd entered belonged to a cub or a fully grown tiger, I'd still get bitten if I lost my wits.
-You handle the middle-aged man on the right.
The command was simple.
I would take Gun Cheonji while my junior disciples handled the other man.
They only had to hold out until I was done.
The question was how quickly I could subdue Gun Cheonji.
Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh, whoosh, whoosh!
Using the Taeul Eighty Thousand Divine Steps, I dodged the middle-aged man charging toward me and rushed at Gun Cheonji.
Clang!
After we exchanged a single strike, a smile appeared on Gun Cheonji's face.
“Oh... old sir, are you my opponent?”
His sword occupied every direction, blocking the Black Dragon Sword.
It was simple and straightforward, leaving no opening to exploit.
More importantly...
“Who are you calling old?”
Ever since my regression, I'd never forgotten that I was mentally older than I looked. Still, being treated like an old man in this young body was unfair!
I surged forward like lightning.
“What?!”
Gun Cheonji's eyes widened as he blocked the Lesser Heaven Sword Art.
He looked even more startled than when he'd stopped my surprise attack earlier.
What was he so surpris...
“You're younger than me?”
Damn it.
Seeing that he was genuinely shocked made my anger rise even further.
If this had been a strategy to provoke his opponent, it would've been worthy of admiration.
Clang, clang, clang, clang!
I took advantage of his confusion and thrust at his vital acupoints, but Gun Cheonji's nimble movements blocked every strike of the Black Dragon Sword.
Gun Cheonji glanced at his own sword, then stared at me as if he still couldn't believe it.
“How old are you?”
Did he think an opponent wearing a mask and black martial clothes would answer that so easily?
Instead of replying, I gathered sword qi into the Black Dragon Sword and fired it.
Whoosh!
The sharp sword qi flew toward Gun Cheonji's throat, heart, and dantian. Still dazed, he stepped back before stepping forward again and swinging his sword.
Boom! Boom!
Ordinarily, a swordsman ought to deflect sword qi if possible. Yet Gun Cheonji fired new sword qi at mine, dispersing them.
He didn't block the force and absorb the shock. He used external force to cancel external force.
That showed just how high his martial understanding had already reached.
‘Is he a fully grown tiger?’
As a member of the special task unit, the Zhongnan Guardian Tiger had been one of the opponents even demonic beings were wary of.
While we took blade wounds on the front lines, the special task unit ambushed the Demonic Cult from the rear. Their effectiveness more than justified the losses we suffered.
The issue was how much Gun Cheonji's current skill differed from that of the Gun Cheonji I knew in my previous life.
If he had already reached the level of the Zhongnan Guardian Tiger, there would be no way to subdue him in time.
I could only hope the man called Hall Master had risen to that position through social connections and political maneuvering rather than skill.
I created thirty illusion swords, then hid eight true swords among them and thrust them forward.
“Illusion swords?!”
Gun Cheonji's brow creased for a moment. Then he gripped his sword with both hands and assumed a middle stance.
The heavy, immense sword art unfolding from his hands was Zhongnan's most famous martial art, the Thirty-Six Swords Under Heaven.
It was also the sword art Zhongnan used most often against Mount Hua, which was famous for Change and Illusion.
Clang! Clang! Clang!
As if a colossal shield stood before him, Gun Cheonji blocked every illusion sword and true sword. His breathing was only slightly unsteady.
‘As expected, he's used to illusion swords because of Mount Hua.’
Zhongnan and Mount Hua, both based in Shaanxi Province, had long been close friends and rivals.
Neither side had deliberately created that relationship, but each had built up its sect while watching the other. Their martial arts had developed the same way, each evolving to exploit the other's weaknesses.
Mount Hua's sword arts were bright, seductive, and aggressively offensive. Zhongnan's, by contrast, were firm, heavy, and defensive.
Among Zhongnan's many martial arts, the Thirty-Six Swords Under Heaven was the sword art that most clearly displayed the sect's character.
For people like us from the Taeul Sect, who used Change and Illusion, it was an opponent we didn't want to face.
“Your sword is quite heavy. Those who use Change and Illusion usually wield their swords more lightly. Are you putting too much strength into it?”
Did he have enough leisure to analyze my martial art in the middle of this crisis?
Well, I did too.
Still, it pissed me off.
“Analyze this as well!”
I unleashed the Lesser Heaven Sword Art through the Black Dragon Sword while extending my left hand and using the Myriad Blossoms Invincible Fist.
Whoosh!
Perhaps intending to disperse the sword qi tearing through the air first, Gun Cheonji sent his own sword qi to meet it.
At that moment, boom, boom, boom!
Gun Cheonji's face contorted.
“What is this?!”
A look of dismay appeared on his face.
Of course it did.
How much internal energy did he think I'd poured into that sword qi?
Thud! Thud!
Gun Cheonji's hand, which had tried to disperse the sword qi as before, was flung backward.
Then fist qi shot through the opening like arrows.
Thudududud! Thudududud!
He frantically unleashed the Azure Cloud Celestial Steel Hand to disperse the Myriad Blossoms Invincible Fist, but he failed to avoid several strikes and took solid hits.
“Urgh...”
Gun Cheonji staggered back two steps, and I drove the Lesser Heaven Sword Art at him once more.
Whoosh!
The Black Dragon Sword shot forward like lightning, coiling around Gun Cheonji's blade like a snake and diverting its force.
Just as I was about to pierce through his Thirty-Six Swords Under Heaven and land another meaningful blow.
Riiip!
“...!”
His martial clothes tore across his back as he bent low, and my blade passed over him.
I knew that move.
A technique in which one bent down, extended a leg backward, and struck the opponent from a blind spot.
‘Rotation Kick!’
It was unmistakably the Rotation Kick, one of Gun Cheonji's signature moves.
Sure enough, the moment he raised his head, the sole of his foot was already an inch from my face.
I hurriedly raised my left hand to block it.
Thud!
Even though the Flying Dragon Claw wrapped around my arm absorbed the impact, it hurt as though my arm had broken.
If that kick had landed on my head as intended, I certainly wouldn't have been able to stay conscious.
Using the rebound from kicking my hand, he rose to his feet. Surprise filled his face.
“Hah! You blocked the Rotation Kick? Who in the world are you?”
As he stood upright, his torn martial clothes fluttered. His eyes held a complicated look.
“From your voice, you don't even seem to be thirty yet... What sect raised someone like you?”
Should I at least be grateful that the Taeul Sect was considered a minor sect?
Even when I forced myself to think positively, it didn't make me feel any better.
My grip on my sword tightened on its own.
“Do you not understand why I'm wearing a mask?”
Whoosh!
I launched the Lesser Heaven Sword Art without warning, but Gun Cheonji had already grown accustomed to it and easily blocked the Black Dragon Sword without any large movements.
Then I heard his incredulous voice.
“Do you still think you can break through us?”
I didn't answer.
Breaking through Gun Cheonji and Zhongnan was simply a given.
Instead, I scattered the Greater Heaven Sword Art while driving in the Lesser Heaven Sword Art at the same time.
Yet there was still no sign of a breakthrough.
“...You truly believe you can break through.”
A chill entered Gun Cheonji's voice.
It carried a weight completely unlike his earlier tone.
“Do you find Zhongnan so laughable?”
He resembled a tiger that had allowed a small rabbit to scratch it.
The injury itself hurt less than his wounded pride. It was the typical anger of those born with privilege.
“Do you think it's something children like you can challenge so freely?”
Who knew? I didn't know either.
After regressing, I'd risen to a higher position and gained greater martial strength than in my previous life. Even so, the walls of the Nine Sects One Gang and the Five Great Clans still looked high.
The only difference was that I no longer cared about those high walls.
I'd learned they wouldn't protect me.
I was no longer the rabbit who trembled before a tiger as I had in my previous life.
When I continued to say nothing, the corner of his mouth twisted.
“Then I shall educate you properly.”
Enormous energy gathered around his sword.
An energy larger and stronger than sword qi enveloped the blade.
“I'll teach you how great and terrifying Zhongnan is.”
The man who had spoken as though soothing clueless children suddenly spoke in a tone dripping with coldness.
What a pointless attempt to act imposing.
“I'll teach you that people like you don't even have the right to challenge Zhongnan.”
Killing intent filled the small cave.
Then.
“Urgh!”
A cry came from my junior disciples' side as well.
I turned my head.
“Huff...!”
“Pant, pant.”
Eunho lay on the ground with a wound near Eunho's shoulder, while the others fought to protect Eunho.
Damn it. Wasn't Zhongnan a sect that chose its Hall Masters through connections and politics?
Why did they have to be so damn fair about it?
“...This isn't the time to worry about someone else.”
Apparently displeased that I'd looked away for a moment, Gun Cheonji ground his teeth.
His sword contained tremendous force, ready to explode at any moment.
‘Great Celestial Steel Sword.’
This was seriously fucked.
The Great Celestial Steel Sword was so heavy that it was called the Heaven-Weight Sword, a heavy sword among heavy swords.
Ordinary people would have their bodies broken just trying to receive it. Even if they deflected it, they couldn't fully disperse the impact. It was the worst kind of heavy sword art.
And he was using that in this narrow cave?
It was as though he knew my goal was to subdue him, because he began attacking without restraint.
I focused and steadied my breathing.
‘I’ll subdue him in one move!’
Now that he'd seen through my intentions, I needed to move faster.
I prepared the Shattering Form I'd been saving until now.
Against someone like Gun Cheonji, who possessed extensive martial-world experience and exceptional innate ability, using the Shattering Form itself created another danger.
Who would want to leave alive someone who knew the weakness of their sect's primary martial art?
That was why I'd never taught the Jegal Three Forms to my junior disciples, and why I avoided using them unless absolutely necessary.
It required delicate psychological maneuvering.
Gun Cheonji charged toward me with fierce momentum.
“Take this too!”
As I watched the heavy sword descend in a blue arc, I unleashed the Void-Destroying Fist.
For an instant, it felt as though my dantian had been emptied. The space to Gun Cheonji's left began to distort.
“Gasp!”
Startled by the sudden presence of the Void-Destroying Fist as he swung his sword, Gun Cheonji barely pulled back the Great Celestial Steel Sword.
I withdrew the Void-Destroying Fist and immediately scattered the Lesser Heaven Sword Art at Gun Cheonji.
Whoosh!
More than ten streaks of sword qi flew toward his vital acupoints.
“What cheap trick is this?!”
Though confused by the Void-Destroying Fist, Gun Cheonji instinctively defended with the Thirty-Six Swords Under Heaven.
And I unfolded the Shattering Form for the Thirty-Six Swords Under Heaven, the move I'd waited so long to use.
The Thirty-Six Swords Under Heaven occupied thirty-six positions beneath the heavens to create an absolute defense.
I shattered the twenty-seventh position of its third form, the only weakness in that absolute defense, and thrust in the Lesser Heaven Sword Art.
It wasn't the sharpest strike, nor the fastest.
It was enough to thrust the sword forward with precision.
Sometimes, the right amount of force was the most precise force.
Stab!
The sensation of my sword piercing flesh traveled through my fingertips.
The Thirty-Six Swords Under Heaven had been shattered without warning. Gun Cheonji looked utterly unable to believe it.
“Cough! ...How?”
Even as he saw the Black Dragon Sword buried deep in his shoulder, he looked between me and the sword with bewildered eyes.
Why were you so surprised?
Slash!
I pulled the Black Dragon Sword from his shoulder and grinned.
“Because I have the right to challenge you.”
Footnotes:
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