WeTried Translations
Translator/Editor: Chen
Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried
◈ The Martial Genius who Remembers Everything ◈
Chapter 32: The Second-Rate Martial Artist Seeking a Legend (4)
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“People in Hunan Province call Demon Spirit Plateau the land that touches the sky. No rain falls there all year, leaving it so barren that herb gatherers call it hell. This differs from the information others possess, but it points precisely to where the Mita Sacred Water can be found.”
I asked the owner, “What information do the others have?”
“There is a valley deep within Demon Spirit Plateau. Even the bold hunters in the area, let alone herb gatherers, never approach it. It is called Despair Valley. Recently, a herb gatherer accidentally entered that valley and was found six months later. They claimed to have seen a pillar of ice shining like the sun in a cave deep within Despair Valley.”
A pillar of ice shining like the sun referred to the Mita Sacred Water before it was refined, when it still retained its intensely yin nature.
“Martial artists began gathering here in Yueyang after hearing that rumor.”
Around then, I began to wonder why I would have to pay twenty taels of silver when they had already told me all this.
“Haha, consider this compensation for our earlier discourtesy. To obtain the actual information, you must pay twenty taels of silver.”
“What information is that?”
“A map of the caves within Despair Valley.”
That was an unexpected answer.
“A... map?”
“You remember the herb gatherer I mentioned? We tracked them down and made the map.”
Hmm. I was curious, but...
“Even so, twenty taels of silver seems too expensive.”
“Wouldn't you say it is cheap when weighed against your life?”
“There is no proof the map is accurate.”
“That would be true if you intended to spend half a year inside the caves.”
“...Are the caves that large?”
The owner pulled their hands from their sleeves and produced a scroll as long as their forearm.
When it unfurled with a flutter, it was nearly a foot wide. Hundreds of tiny rooms, packed together like an anthill, had been drawn across it.
“I hear the smaller caves are about as large as this room, while the larger chambers are so vast they may stretch all the way to Despair Valley.”
“Urgh.”
“Are you interested?”
The owner swiftly rolled up the document and tied it with a leather cord. It was compact enough to carry without drawing much attention, but...
“Unfortunately, I don't have the money.”
“I hear that with a Silver Wang Token, you can take out a loan with no fixed repayment term at any money house.”
“I'd never pay it all back, even if I worked for the rest of my life.”
The instant the owner showed me the map, it had imprinted itself clearly in my mind. There was no need to waste twenty taels of silver.
More importantly...
“My, you're making me ever more curious about who you are.”
“Ah, instead, would you like to buy a piece of information?”
“...Information?”
“Yes.”
“What information?”
While staying at the horse station, I had created a classified document in the format used by the Martial Alliance.
The travel funds I had received from the Wang Family Estate were more than sufficient, but it would have been foolish to leave the information in my head without turning it into money. I also had important dealings to make with the Hao Sect in the future, so I needed to sow the seeds now.
“It is a classified document concerning the Beggar Sect's expansion into Hangzhou.”
“...”
The owner's face went pale.
The Beggar Sect was one of the pillars of the Nine Sects One Gang and served as the eyes and ears of the entire martial world.
For that reason, it had always stood opposed to the Hao Sect, an organization of a similar nature.
The Beggar Sect held far greater overall power, but in places where entertainment and commerce flourished, the Hao Sect held information in a tight grip.
That was why the Hao Sect had endured through decades of fierce secret conflict.
“Hmm... It is useful information, but I cannot tell whether it is reliable.”
“Let's do this.”
I pulled the document from my robes, tore it in half, and handed one portion to the owner.
The owner cautiously accepted it and slowly read through it. Then their eyes widened as they looked at me.
“Are you truly interested in purchasing it?”
“...How much would it cost?”
“Twenty taels of silver.”
The owner's brow furrowed.
“Wouldn't it be quicker to simply ask for the map?”
“No. I do not need the map. Pay me in silver.”
“Are you serious?”
“I do not believe I will be able to obtain the Mita Sacred Water. I only intend to make some money and visit Yueyang Tower before leaving.”
“Very well. Please wait a moment.”
While the owner was away, I looked over the items around the room and noticed something.
“Why is this here?”
It was a silver ornament shaped like a closed flower bud.
“Do you like it?”
“Why is this here?”
“It somehow found its way here.”
“Would Sichuan simply let this go if they found out?”
When I casually tested the waters, the owner gave a meaningful smile.
“As expected, you are no ordinary person. How about it? I will sell it to you for one tael of silver.”
“If I used this, Sichuan's ghosts would follow me for the rest of my life.”
“That is true. Then how about I give it to you as a gift?”
“You are giving me something this valuable as a gift?”
“Consider it the cost of friendship.”
“What a bad friend, giving such a dangerous gift.”
The owner raised a sleeve to conceal their hands and chuckled.
“Isn't it more fun to spend time with bad friends?”
The owner watched me with glittering eyes. Their determination to dig into my background and wring something from me was clear.
Was this what made the future thirteenth leader of the Hao Sect different?
There was nothing for me to lose by building a personal connection with Yang Gunbaek, the future leader of the Hao Sect.
I picked up the ornament and said, “That is true as well.”
“Then I look forward to working with you in the future.”
#
My mood was not particularly good after leaving the black market outlet.
The place where I believed the Taeul Sword Emperor's final moments had occurred was the same place where the Mita Sacred Water would be found. That meant I would have to throw myself into that chaos as well.
“Hey! Are you just going to walk past? You broke my shoulder!”
“If that useless shoulder broke so easily, shouldn't you have thrown it away long ago?”
Clang! Clang!
With martial artists gathering here, fights broke out sporadically everywhere.
These were not ordinary street thugs brawling. Every one of them was a master with a fearsome name, fighting in the streets.
‘Nine-Fingered Divine Beggar Ma Gosan, Golden-Horned Copper Man Sa Muin, Paradise Child Seo Hyeonjae... I have to compete with people like them?’
There were not just masters from the Black Path. There were also more than a few from the White Path.
The White Path, in particular, wore matching colors to distinguish friend from foe and traveled in groups of at least twenty, sometimes as many as a hundred.
‘If I wait until the struggle over the Mita Sacred Water is over, it will be too late.’
This affair lasted two whole months.
Afterward, White Path martial factions, including the Namgung Clan that had lost its young lady, and Black Path martial factions spent another half year on Demon Spirit Plateau trying to determine what had happened inside.
If I waited until all that ended, I would not even be able to take the Martial Arts Academy examination.
‘Still, I have to go in.’
The Taeul Sect's secret manuals might be hidden there. Even if five hundred people, no, ten thousand people had died there, I had no choice but to enter.
And if I looked at it positively, I might obtain both the Taeul Sect's secret manuals and the Mita Sacred Water.
“First, I should take care of what needs to be done.”
If I might obtain the Mita Sacred Water, I needed to prepare for it at the very least.
I headed to an accessory shop at the entrance to Yueyang's pleasure district.
In contrast to the shabby interior, the goods on display were all rare and beautiful.
At the center of it all sat a gaunt old man, better suited to the shabby interior than the beautiful ornaments, packing tobacco into a long pipe.
“You came, strange fellow.”
The old man stared at me as though I were still suspicious.
After arriving in Yueyang, I spent a day at the horse station, then came here the very next day and entrusted the Heavenly Silkworm Thread to him.
“Is it finished?”
“You should tell me how you knew.”
On the day I first came to the accessory shop, I had abruptly presented the Heavenly Silkworm Thread. The old man looked at me as though I were insane.
I ignored that and explained what I wanted made from it. After thinking for a long time, he asked how I knew his identity.
Since I could not tell him that we would meet in the future, I said I would tell him once the item was complete.
“Tell me whether the item is finished first.”
The old man casually tossed a cloth-wrapped object to one side.
The item that emerged from the cloth had a strange shape.
The leather was too broad for it to be called a bracelet, while it had too many attached ornaments to be called a hand guard worn on the hands or feet.
“Your turn.”
“I paid the Hao Sect ten taels of silver to find out.”
The old man's identity was Jang Dowon, the master craftsman of Mansu Manor.
I knew that because I had formed a connection with him in the Martial Alliance during my previous life.
Sold to a forge at the age of ten, he had taken up a hammer. After that, he had been sold from place to place, including carpenter's shops and leather workshops, learning every craft he could.
Even in such miserable circumstances, his exceptional talent had given him the ability to make anything. But because of his lowly birth and his refusal to display his skills, he had remained buried in obscurity.
When the Demonic Cult returned in the future, he joined the Martial Alliance, forged fourteen divine weapons for the Nine Sects One Gang and the Five Great Clans, then disappeared again.
I could not explain all that, so I simply brushed it off by saying I had learned through the Hao Sect.
“You mean my worth is only ten taels of silver?”
Was that what angered him more than my suspicious answer?
“Isn't that because people have not yet recognized your true value, Master?”
“Enough. Stop flattering me and look at the item.”
“Oh, there is a dragon on it?”
“I named it the Flying Dragon Claw.”
“How do I use it?”
Jang Dowon had made something like this from the Heavenly Silkworm Thread I gave him in such a short time.
“Pull your palm inward.”
Click.
As the back of my hand drew inward, an arrowhead shaped like a hook shot out.
“It is made from cold iron, so it should be able to pierce most rocks.”
“You expect me to throw this and pierce them?”
“You know the properties of Heavenly Silkworm Thread, do you not?”
“It stretches when internal energy is infused into it. Then I should infuse it with internal energy and extend it, then withdraw the internal energy to pull it back. Incredible.”
However, as I admired it, Jang Dowon's gaze narrowed.
“You fool. Did you think you entrusted it to me so I could make something so crude?”
“Pardon?”
“Heavenly Silkworm Thread can change direction depending on how much internal energy is infused into it.”
“Pardon?”
When I wore a blank expression, Jang Dowon continued explaining in a strangely excited voice.
“If you weave several separate threads together and infuse internal energy into each one differently, you can change its direction. Ah, since it has been wound tightly from the beginning, if you have enough internal energy, the Flying Dragon Claw will launch itself without you needing to throw it.”
“What does that...”
“I have explained enough for you to understand, tch. If you cannot understand, it is not yours to use.”
I had not asked because I did not understand. I had asked because I could not believe it.
Moreover, the tip of the hook was jointed, allowing it to open and close like a bird's talons.
“I did not make this for a brat like you to use from the beginning. To use it, you need steady effort and control fine enough to rival acupuncture...”
Whiiirrr!
The hook shot from the Flying Dragon Claw changed direction through the air like a flying snake. After passing Jang Dowon, it snatched up a silver ring at the end of a display case and began returning.
Whiiirrr!
A small pulley whirred eagerly beneath my wrist. When the Heavenly Silkworm Thread had completely wound back in, a silver ring rested in my hand.
“Is this how I use it?”
This time, Jang Dowon wore a blank expression.
His eyes also held the wonder of a craftsman witnessing the item he had made being used to its full potential.
“Huh... I cannot believe it even after seeing it with my own eyes.”
Jang Dowon had me demonstrate it several times, and each time, I accomplished everything he asked with ease.
“Ahem. Well, it seems you can imitate it fairly well.”
“You said a moment ago that you could not believe it.”
“Enough! If you are done, go home.”
He waved me away as though I were troublesome, but the corners of his mouth had lifted slightly.
“Ah, there is one more thing I would like to commission.”
“Again? Tch, why did you not entrust it to me all at once?”
“It was not part of my plan either.”
I explained the shape of the item needed to collect the Mita Sacred Water.
Jang Dowon's mouth fell open.
“What in the world are you?”
“Haha, if I tell you, will you make it for free?”
Jang Dowon's brow deeply furrowed once more.
#
After ordering an item that could collect the Mita Sacred Water in case it became necessary, I asked Jang Dowon for directions and headed to the busiest inn.
I thought it would be better to join some group rather than go alone.
I could not trust them completely, but at least I would not be suddenly stabbed along the way for no reason.
As I headed toward the inn, someone entered my heightened energy sense, made sensitive by my gapja of internal energy.
‘What is this?’
There was no one I should be meeting in Yueyang right now.
Even if I knew some people, they would not know me. Most would be connections from my previous life.
‘Don't tell me...’
Suddenly, Gye Yeonseok came to mind, his eyes bloodshot as he cursed me.
Had he hired assassins?
If he targeted me in the Taeul Sect, he would immediately be named the culprit. So he waited until I went out...
As that thought ran through my mind, my hair stood on end.
If someone attacked unexpectedly amid this dense crowd, there would be no way to respond.
Then the suspicious presence smoothly cut through the crowd and rushed toward me.
The moment I drew up my internal energy to react...
“Young Master Jin! What are you doing here?”
The suspicious presence was Seong Moran of the Iron Sword Sect.
Seong Moran looked at me with a bright expression, holding a chicken skewer in one hand.
“Ah... You startled me.”
“I know. You startled me too. I never expected to see someone who is hard enough to find even in Hefei here of all places.”
“What brings you here, Young Lady Seong?”
“Me? Of course I came to find the Mita Sacred Water.”
Perhaps realizing she was holding a chicken skewer, Seong Moran quickly hid it behind her back.
“Are you alone?”
“No. I came with a younger acquaintance. There are also a few people here to help them, along with my friends.”
“Ah... You have companions?”
“Don't tell me you came to find the Mita Sacred Water too, Young Master Jin?”
“...You could say that.”
“With whom?”
“I am alone.”
“Goodness... I knew you were bold, but you truly do not value your life.”
“...Young Lady, I think that is a little harsh...”
“No, it is not harsh at all. How could you think of seeking the Mita Sacred Water all by yourself?”
“I was actually about to look for some companions.”
“Ah, really?”
“Yes.”
“Then how about traveling with us?”
A master like Seong Moran would be someone I could trust to watch my back.
Of course, that assumed she would not put a sword through my stomach.
Though I would be fine because I wore the Heavenly Silkworm Treasure Robe.
“Would that be all right?”
“Ah, wait a moment.”
Seong Moran moved her lips while looking behind her. She was likely using sound transmission to speak with someone.
But after moving her lips for quite some time, Seong Moran suddenly shook her head, and her cheeks flushed red.
It seemed the conversation was not going well.
“Young Lady, if it makes you uncomfortable, you do not have to force yourself to include me.”
“N-No! It is only because my younger acquaintance was teasing me.”
“Teasing you?”
“Ahem. In any case, they said it would be fine if we can both agree in advance about who gets priority over the Mita Sacred Water.”
For groups traveling together like this, it was common to agree beforehand about priority rights to treasures and spiritual medicines.
In fact, without such agreements, or when people failed to honor them, they often ended up drawing blades against one another in the end.
I nodded and said, “Of course.”
“They said they are coming this way now.”
A short while later, a commotion rose up ahead, and people began parting to either side.
The instant I saw the clothes worn by the men at the front, I recognized who they were.
‘The Namgung Clan!’
Although countless masters filled Yueyang's streets, few could rival the men before me.
Everyone knew it, which was why they stepped aside.
I was about to grasp Seong Moran's arm and pull her out of the way when...
“Seonhwa!”
“!”
Seong Moran raised her hand in greeting.
“Unnie! You suddenly disappeared and scared me. Is this... that person?”
“Uh... Ahem, this is Young Master Jin Sowoon of the Taeul Sect.”
The woman Seong Moran called unnie smiled faintly.
The men who had retreated to the sides of the street grinned foolishly at her beautiful appearance.
Namgung Seonhwa lightly clasped her hands in greeting.
“Hello. I am Namgung Seonhwa.”
The group I had agreed to join was the group that would die in this struggle.
Footnotes:
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