WeTried Translations

Translator/Editor: Chen

Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried

◈ The Martial Genius who Remembers Everything ◈

Chapter 294: The Commoner's Return Home (2)

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The man walking alone through Heavenly Cave stopped.

“Hiss... Haa.”

After exhaling the long breath he had drawn, the man shuddered.

“To think there was killing intent like that...”

It was a shame he had failed to kill Dam Jungho, but assassinating an important figure had never been his mission in the first place.

He had missed out on a small pleasure during his work, but he had found another pleasure instead. It was not much of a loss.

“To think someone like that exists in the Central Plains. Hehehe.”

The instant he saw him, he forgot his original mission as an overwhelming urge to kill surged within him.

The Aberrant Fiend Demon Art did not emerge on its own unless he faced a worthy opponent. That alone proved the other man would be entertaining.

He had always thought so.

He had hoped that one day, he would have the chance to kill Yong Soa, Little Buddha, or the White-Handed Divine Maiden.

‘But there was another interesting one like this.’

He seemed somewhat inferior to them, yet that only made him more desirable.

Slurp.

His killing intent was rough and coarse.

The moment he saw that primal will, the desire to chew through flesh and strip away bone from his opponent, he understood.

That bastard was a beast.

A monster like himself.

Not one of the countless flowers raised in the Central Plains, but a wild beast that roared across vast lands, the kind rarely seen even within the Divine Cult.

How could someone carrying the foul scent of a Taoist sect emit such rough, savage energy?

“Ah, what a shame.”

Now he understood why Little Demon was more interested in him than Yong Soa.

‘Should I just kill him now?’

The man looked back the way he had come, then shook his head.

That bastard had done him the favor of smashing Je Geumhak’s head. Giving him one chance to live would not be so bad.

That was certainly true, but...

“Ugh... This excitement just won’t fade.”

His steps were awkward because his body had changed in response to desire rather than reason.

Once his desire rose, it did not easily settle. He needed to relieve it somehow...

“Who are you?!”

“You dare intrude on Mount Zhongnan Sect’s affairs without permission!”

“Do you want to die?!”

As if on cue, three martial artists surrounded him.

They wore Mount Zhongnan Sect uniforms and carried swords.

The man put on a deliberately startled expression.

He had been so excited that he had forgotten to hide himself.

“Oh dear... I decided not to leave traces in Heavenly Cave...”

Three people had already seen him, so his chance to leave quietly was gone.

“Ah! If I eat them all, there won’t be any traces left!”

A weak laugh leaked out.

At his words, the Mount Zhongnan Sect disciples looked dumbfounded and released killing intent.

“He’s insane!”

“Do you truly want to die?”

“What are you waiting for?! Subdue him!”

The man frowned at the surging killing intent.

Not because they dared release killing intent before him, but because it was so weak that it killed his interest at once.

“This is child’s play.”

Crack. Crack-crack.

Bones twisted in his hands and arms as their shape began to change.

“W-What is...?”

“D-Dark arts!!”

The Mount Zhongnan Sect disciples’ eyes widened at the sudden transformation.

“Look carefully. It isn’t some lowly thing like dark arts.”

The man wiped the drool from the corner of his mouth.

“It is the Demonic Path.”

The Mount Zhongnan Sect disciples despaired at the horrifying sight, something they had never seen in either the afterlife or the mortal realm.

#

After obtaining the Five-Spirit Flower Dew, we moved again.

As planned, we intended to use the confusion to blend in with the outsiders and leave the cave.

But fewer outsiders had entered Heavenly Cave than I expected.

When we quietly mixed in among them and listened in...

We learned something we had not known.

‘They blocked the entrance?’

I had wondered why there were so few people. It turned out the Mount Zhongnan Sect had sealed the entrances.

They had collapsed two entrances into one, then stationed disciples in front of it to stop anyone from entering or leaving.

Why were they acting so drastically?

A martial artist continued.

“I heard the Mount Zhongnan Sect knew when the Five-Spirit Flower Dew would appear.”

“...Then do they think it has already appeared?”

“Since the Mount Zhongnan Sect still hasn’t left after all this time... they must think one of us has it.”

My junior disciples glanced uneasily at the people around us.

Fortunately, none of the martial artists seemed suspicious of our group.

The water flasks we carried did not look particularly different from theirs.

“They... won’t use lethal moves, will they?”

The martial artist’s voice grew quiet.

It trembled slightly with unease.

“Lethal moves? ...Ahem. What absurd nonsense! If they used lethal moves here, what would become of the Mount Zhongnan Sect’s name?”

“R-Right! No matter how powerful the Mount Zhongnan Sect is, they can’t go that far. Isn’t that right?”

The man who had brought it up desperately sought agreement, trying to calm himself.

“If everyone here dies, no one outside will know anything.”

At someone’s casual remark, silence suddenly fell.

They had somehow managed to get inside, but now the truth struck them hard.

They had walked straight into a tiger’s mouth.

“W-We won’t just sit back and take it!”

“That’s right! If they act so arbitrarily, we won’t stay still either!”

Then someone raised a question.

“Then who will stand at the front?”

“Huh?”

“Even if we act together, someone has to lead. Who’s going to do that?”

The martial artists glared at the person who kept throwing cold water on their words.

“What the fuck is with you? You’ve been saying nothing but that it won’t work. Do you want to die here?”

The martial artist who had objected kept chuckling despite the pressure around him.

“Take a good look around. Do you see any disciples from prestigious sects here, aside from riffraff like us?”

Eunho firmly pressed down on Geumpyo’s shoulder as his body tensed.

Pride in one's sect was all well and good, but one had to know when to step forward and when not to.

‘And strictly speaking, we’re not quite a prestigious sect...’

As he said, all the outsiders who had entered were either wandering martial artists or people gathered in groups of two or three without any affiliation.

“Is there even anyone who could stand against the Mount Zhongnan Sect to recover your corpses after you die? Against people who could simply deny knowing anything about what happened inside?”

“...Tch.”

The martial artists fell silent as if he had struck the heart of the matter, then sharply turned their heads away.

After that exchange, silence hung over the group. I led my junior disciples away.

Once we put some distance between ourselves and them, Saryeon carefully asked me, “Senior Brother... what do you think is happening?”

I was curious too.

Why had the Mount Zhongnan Sect suddenly begun acting so drastically?

There were two likely reasons.

The first was what someone had said earlier. The Mount Zhongnan Sect might have predicted when the Five-Spirit Flower Dew would emerge.

Even after outsiders entered, they would not have withdrawn their disciples from the places where it might appear.

Just as Gun Cheonji and the Hall Master had remained in one cave.

‘But it never appeared there.’

The expected time had passed, yet the Five-Spirit Flower Dew had not appeared, and none of their disciples had found it. The Mount Zhongnan Sect might have naturally concluded that an outsider had taken it.

The second was Dam Jungho lying unconscious.

The Northern Dipper Swordsman the Mount Zhongnan Sect had sent in had not appeared again. They might have assumed something had happened.

Or...

‘...Did that fucking bastard cause some trouble?’

Fuck, his eyes had not looked right...

Judging by how he had tried to kill Dam Jungho without hesitation, he did not seem like the sort to leave without causing trouble.

Still, had there really been enough time for him to do anything?

Besides, no matter how much of a demonic being he was, with murder filling his head, if he had any sense, he would not do that.

They could not reveal their identities right now either.

“Will the Mount Zhongnan Sect really act ruthlessly?”

I did not know.

Only the Mount Zhongnan Sect knew how far they were willing to go.

What mattered was that the Five-Spirit Flower Dew was too precious to give up simply because our original plan had failed.

If they weighed the disgrace of killing the wandering martial artists inside Heavenly Cave against the Five-Spirit Flower Dew...

The scale would certainly tip toward the Five-Spirit Flower Dew.

And the Mount Zhongnan Sect seemed to have made up their minds to some degree when they sealed the entrances.

‘In the end, I’ll have to discard the first plan.’

Our plan to gather plenty of outsiders, create confusion, and leave through the entrance had fallen apart.

Then Eunho spoke to me.

“Eldest Senior Brother. What if we hide instead?”

“Hm?”

“Like when we obtained the Five-Spirit Flower Dew, we could collapse a few caves, hide farther inside, and suppress our presence. It would be difficult for them to find us.”

He really was quick-witted.

But it was not viable now.

“It’s a good idea, but they already have a perfect map. They’ll find us eventually.”

“Then what do we do?”

“What are you worried about?”

“Pardon?”

I looked at my junior disciples and smiled.

“We just leave the way we came in.”

You were supposed to prepare up to three plans in the first place.

Why did I live so tightly wound?

Well, I did not want to either...

‘Nothing in my life has ever gone according to the first plan.’

You could say I had become an expert at finding a way to survive.

#

“What happened inside?”

Cheol Sunjik stared at the long robe Cheol Hyeonjik held out to him with a puzzled look.

Cheol Hyeonjik sighed quietly and placed the robe in his younger brother’s hands.

“Your martial uniform is filthy. It’s daylight now, so your injuries are showing too.”

“Ah...”

Only then did Cheol Sunjik realize his condition. He accepted the robe and put it on.

‘That was a little dangerous.’

Since he had been near the entrance, he immediately noticed when the first entrance collapsed.

He understood the Mount Zhongnan Sect’s intentions, so he was no longer in a position to carry out any more favors Jin Sowoon might ask of him.

Cheol Sunjik quickly left Heavenly Cave amid the confusion.

Still, he had bought as much time as he had promised. He had done enough.

‘But I don’t understand the second favor at all.’

Jin Sowoon had asked him to erase their traces.

Then he had added...

‘Collect the iron rings??’

He truly was an impossible man to understand.

Since Cheol Sunjik did not understand, he had no idea what he was supposed to do.

Still, even if Jin Sowoon refused to give him the promised share because he had broken their agreement, it would not be much of a loss.

He had never expected the Five-Spirit Flower Dew to end up in his hands anyway.

More importantly, he had entered for another reason.

“...Did you see what you came to see?”

Cheol Sunjik raised his head and examined his older brother’s face.

The redness had faded, but the flesh was still swollen in the shape of a palm print.

There were so many people watching. He could have at least held a cold stone against it.

Cheol Sunjik deliberately looked away from his brother’s face.

“Who knows? The Mount Zhongnan Sect sealed the entrances like this... We’ll have to see what happens.”

After the third entrance had been opened, even the Mount Zhongnan Sect disciples waiting in Xi’an gathered around Heavenly Cave.

The Mount Zhongnan Sect immediately sealed two entrances, leaving only the smallest one open.

Cheol Sunjik’s gaze shifted to the Mount Zhongnan Sect’s people.

Two middle-aged men stood alone among the Unit Leaders and Hall Master-level personnel.

Their presence was more distinct than that of any other Mount Zhongnan Sect member.

‘Two Northern Dipper Swordsmen...’

Unlike the young Northern Dipper Swordsman he had stopped, he could not even gauge their level.

In some ways, they were the strongest experts here.

There was a clear reason the two had remained outside Heavenly Cave rather than entering it.

They intended to capture whoever had the Five-Spirit Flower Dew, no matter what.

‘Are they willing to silence everyone?’

At that moment, heaven and earth shook again.

Rumble.

Cheol Sunjik immediately realized something else was about to happen.

The Mount Zhongnan Sect members seemed to realize it too. Without hesitation, they began rushing madly toward the source of the tremor.

“S-Sunjik!”

The robe Cheol Hyeonjik had given him fluttered behind him as Cheol Sunjik quickly chased after the Mount Zhongnan Sect’s people.

Then, at that moment...

Boom!

With a massive explosion, part of the mountain’s edge spewed rocks and dirt.

A collapse in the same form as before.

A hollow laugh escaped Cheol Sunjik before he knew it.

“It’s him! The one who made the third entrance!”

“Mount Zhongnan Sect disciples, go capture him!”

“Go!”

Before the dust from the newly formed massive hole could even settle, Mount Zhongnan Sect disciples rushed into it like mad.

But then...

Rumble.

Heaven and earth shook again, and palm force burst outward once more.

A few people were hurled out of the hole with broken fingers, as though they had tried to withstand the palm force.

“He has formidable internal energy.”

“Seriously. To possess this much internal energy...”

The Northern Dipper Swordsmen murmured in admiration as they blocked the cave entrance.

Cheol Sunjik unconsciously swallowed.

Had Jin Sowoon truly obtained the Five-Spirit Flower Dew?

No, more importantly, could Jin Sowoon, who was trying to escape, defeat the Northern Dipper Swordsmen?

Then...

“Let’s gooooo!”

“Let’s gooooo!”

A battle cry echoed from within the cave, and black objects shot out like arrows.

“You think you can drive us back with mere rocks like these?!”

“You really think we’re that easy to deal with... Huh?”

The Northern Dipper Swordsmen tried to cleave the rock-like objects in two with swords coated in sword qi.

Clang! Clang!

“W-What is this?!”

The objects were not cut apart. As the unexpected weight startled them...

Five black figures shot out from the cave like arrows.

“Hah...”

The Northern Dipper Swordsmen were too busy batting away the countless heavy objects flying at them to stop the five people hidden among them.

They gave up on dealing with the unidentified objects and tried to thrust their swords at the five people.

Then a thunderous roar erupted again from the hand of the person at the rear.

...Along with a rude voice.

“Eat this, you bastards!”

Rumble!

Boom, boom, boom!

The palm force was far smaller than before, but its destructive power was still nothing to scoff at. The Northern Dipper Swordsmen had no choice but to raise both arms at once to protect themselves.

...

The storm-like moment passed.

When they finally raised their heads...

“...!”

The five people had vanished without a trace.

“What kind of movement art was that...?”

“What the hell...?”

The Northern Dipper Swordsmen, thoroughly caught off guard, let their swords hang limply.

Cheol Sunjik had watched every bit of it.

‘He really... really succeeded.’

He had to struggle with all his strength to hold back what surged up from his chest.

But then...

‘Huh...?!’

The objects that had struck the Northern Dipper Swordsmen caught Cheol Sunjik’s eye.

‘I-Iron rings? Don’t tell me...!’

Only then did Cheol Sunjik understand Jin Sowoon’s second favor.

After hesitating for a moment, he put on a solemn expression and began secretly gathering up the iron rings.

Footnotes:

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