The Martial Genius who Remembers Everything - Chapter 326

WeTried Translations

Translator/Editor: Chen

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◈ The Martial Genius who Remembers Everything ◈

Chapter 326: Spirit Hunt

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After that, we continued hunting without rest.

As if he had only moved slowly before to avoid demonic beasts, Yang Japyeong began clearing a path without hesitation.

Whenever we moved so boldly...

“Ugh, aaah...!”

Demonic beasts appeared, proving exactly why Mukrim was called Mukrim.

Azure-Scaled Golden Thread Snakes, Flying Centipedes, and even Human-Faced Spiders we had not seen in a while.

Of course, Seong Moran fainted on the spot when we encountered a Human-Faced Spider.

Demonic beasts rarely seen even in the Central Plains appeared here at every turn, like rabbits on a neighborhood hill.

‘Of course, rabbits don't charge at people with murder in their eyes, trying to eat them.’

The group members had initially hesitated at the demonic beasts' terrifying appearances, but they gradually adapted as their kills piled up.

Naturally, our hunting pace grew faster as well.

“Another millet-sized one came out.”

The person who changed most dramatically was Seong Moran.

She no longer shrieked in terror at the sight of bugs.

Perhaps after seeing a Human-Faced Spider, she could endure almost anything.

She had gone beyond merely enduring it.

“Whose turn is it this time? Dongryong's?”

She even took the initiative.

It made me smile with satisfaction.

Seong Moran skillfully took out the elixir pellet and handed it to Dongryong, but he only stared at it.

She held it out even closer.

“Why aren't you eating it? Hurry up and circulate your qi.”

“...”

Dongryong silently looked at the elixir pellet, then turned to me.

“...But Eldest Senior Brother hasn't eaten even one yet.”

Emotion surged in my chest at Dongryong's thoughtfulness.

Right. This was why I was going through all this trouble for them.

Barely holding back my tears, I patted Dongryong's shoulder.

“What this Eldest Senior Brother wants is for all of you to eat and take another step forward.”

“But...”

As Dongryong looked as if he wanted to give me the millet-sized elixir pellet, Seong Moran spoke mockingly.

“That's not it, Dongryong. Even if he ate that, it wouldn't even register for someone like him.”

“...”

“I heard he took elixir pellets from the Namgung Clan and the Moyong Clan too. Haa... I worried so much that the Iron Heart Pellet might not heal his dantian injury, and I didn't even know that.”

Ahem. Where had that confidential information leaked from?

They said one should always hide seventy percent of everything in the martial world.

Pretending not to hear Seong Moran, I said, “Dongryong, just watching you all eat makes me feel as though my internal energy is growing, so don't worry about me. Eat it.”

In truth, my internal energy really was increasing.

Most demonic beasts with elixir pellets possessed poison cores larger than their elixir pellets, and I had been secretly absorbing them.

Their energy was not as great as that of elixir pellets, but with the Azure Dragon Bangle, I could draw out plenty of internal energy from poison cores.

That was why I did not need to eat the millet-sized elixir pellets.

The problem was that it was difficult to use the Azure Dragon Bangle freely.

‘Haa, how many poison cores have I missed because I had to watch myself around them?’

If I could travel alone, I could retrace our route and secretly use the Azure Dragon Bangle.

But who knew what might happen if I wandered alone through terrain this dangerous just to consume a poison core?

No matter how crazy I was, I had enough sense to know that. Of course I did.

As my sighs continued to multiply, noisy voices echoed up from below the hill.

“Hm?”

When my group and I looked down, we saw around two hundred Academy students moving together.

‘What is this?’

I sharpened my vision and saw that the group was a mix of people from the Orthodox Society and the White Path Society.

“What are they doing?”

“I was wondering the same thing. They must have received exploration missions... Why are they moving together?”

As Seong Moran and Eunho said, their behavior was extremely strange.

Rather than exploring, it looked as though they had organized themselves for a hunt.

They were focused solely on moving forward, brutally knocking down trees and cutting through grass, no matter what lay around them.

“Hmm...”

Yang Japyeong let out a long groan, as if he knew something.

“I wondered why the lecturers had ordered something so dangerous in the first place...”

“Do you know something?”

“Hoo... It seems they intend to hunt divine spirits.”

I froze on the spot.

“Divine spirits?”

“The Four Great Divine Spirits that rule Mukrim. What could they possibly be thinking?”

“Is that true?”

“Exactly. Why would they do something so dangerous...?”

Fury surged through me.

“Representative Jin, don't concern yourself too...”

“Are there spiritual creatures in Mukrim?!”

No, why were you only telling me this now?

“They really exist?”

“...”

Yang Japyeong stared at me blankly.

If I had to put that look into words, it was asking, Is that what you were curious about?

Holding back my excitement, I asked politely again.

“If there are spiritual creatures... then they must have large elixir pellets, right?!”

“...Did you not hear the part about how dangerous they are?”

“If they have elixir pellets, how large are they? If they're called the Four Great Divine Spirits, they must be enormous, right?”

“Academy Representative?”

“Enormous... Heh...”

“Academy... Hey! Representative Jin! You punk! Can't you hear me?!”

“Four Great Divine Spirits... Heh... The Four Great Divine Spirits...”

Right. When would I ever make Mount Tai out of dust?

Life was all about one big score!

“Hey! Representative Jin! Your eyes look strange right now! Do you know that?!”

I could no longer hear anything Yang Japyeong, who did nothing but lie, had to say.

“Sunfire Monkey.”

“Hehehe.”

“Azure-Snow Ice-White Serpent.”

“Hahaha.”

“...Ten-Thousand-Year Earth Bear.”

“Pfft, hehehe.”

“Golden-Carapaced Roc.”

“Pahahahaha!”

“...”

Cold stares pierced me.

I cleared my throat and composed my expression.

No, but it wasn't as though I could help myself when the laughter kept bursting out.

“These four are collectively called Mukrim's Four Great Divine Spirits.”

“Hehehe.”

“...”

“Ah, ah, sorry.”

Yang Japyeong pressed his temples as if he had a headache.

“...As I told you, these aren't beings you can simply decide to hunt. They are inhuman beings to begin with. That is why they are called divine spirits.”

Yang Japyeong spoke fervently.

“Furthermore, no one has ever confirmed whether divine spirits possess elixir pellets. Do you know why?”

“I’m not sure.”

“Because not once has anyone succeeded in hunting one.”

“Not once?”

Namgung Seonhwa asked in surprise, and Yang Japyeong nodded.

“They are almost as intelligent as people, possess the power of demonic beasts, and Mukrim is their own backyard. Forget hunting them, people are likely to get lost while trying to track them.”

“...”

“If you decide to hunt divine spirits, I will stop guiding you. No matter how much I must fulfill my duty, I cannot throw away my life.”

My excitement settled, and cool reason returned.

If Yang Japyeong, who had gladly helped us build poison resistance and hunt demonic beasts, refused this firmly, it truly meant it was dangerous.

No matter how much I coveted spiritual medicine, I could not put my junior disciples' and group members' lives on the line for it.

I gave him a slight bow.

“I understand. I will accept your advice, Hero Yang.”

Yang Japyeong let out a long sigh of relief.

Just as we put aside our regret over hunting divine spirits and prepared to move...

“Eldest Senior Brother, people are coming this way.”

Some of those hunting divine spirits were approaching us.

They emerged while cutting through the brush, and they were none other than lecturers and Academy students.

“Hm? We came to warn some weasel-like fellow not to interfere with our hunt, but... Hah, the Academy Representative himself is here.”

No Jinha curled his lips as he spoke.

That ugly face of his had somehow become even uglier.

“Why has a lecturer who should be at the camp crawled all the way out here?”

“What? Crawled out here?!”

When No Jinha tried to lunge forward, Kang Taeha stopped him.

“...We also came out to explore, in part to protect the Academy students.”

I pointed with my chin at the people dressed as hunters standing beside Kang Taeha.

“And you brought guides who aren't even from the Namgwon Sect?”

One of the hunter-clad men stepped forward with a frown.

“The Namgwon Sect does not know everything about Mukrim. If anything, they are youngsters who only guard the entrance.”

Yang Japyeong ground his teeth.

He seemed to recognize the hunter-clad men. He glared at them, then growled at the lecturers.

“Hunting divine spirits during the Great Journey...! What are you all thinking?”

“We aren't cowards like you. Now that we've come this far, shouldn't we at least see a divine spirit's face once?”

“Hunting divine spirits is...”

“Ah, I won't listen to any nagging. We have prepared for things like natural formations.”

The hunter-clad men added with mocking grins.

“Natural formations are only frightening because you try to avoid them. You just need to crush your way through them.”

“Hah...!”

As Yang Japyeong looked at them in disbelief, No Jinha turned his gaze toward me.

“Why is the representative who should be exploring the Demonic Realm still lingering around here? Could it be you want to join the divine spirit hunt?”

No Jinha and the others shared a round of laughter before he spoke again.

“How about it? If you get down and bow, I might consider letting you join the divine spirit hunt.”

“...!”

My body twitched, and I sprang forward, but Eunho grabbed my arm at just the right moment.

-Get a hold of yourself.

Whew, I almost bowed.

He was quick to notice things.

Dusting off my clothes, I shook my head.

“No thanks. It's not as though divine spirits are stray dogs from the neighborhood. How could I trust foolish commanders like you to lead a hunt?”

“What did you say?!”

“Whether it's a divine spirit hunt or whatever else, do your best. I sincerely hope you succeed.”

After saying that, I turned around.

I heard someone behind me mutter, “That damned bastard, I'll definitely...” but I easily ignored it.

After we had walked for a while, Yang Japyeong came right up beside me, unable to hide his excitement.

“You made the right choice. Hunting divine spirits is absurd. It may not be much of a substitute, but... I will guide you to a place with as many demonic beasts as possible.”

Once we had put some distance between ourselves and No Jinha's group, I firmly grabbed Yang Japyeong's broad shoulder and asked, “You're sure... they can't succeed, right?”

“Pardon? What, what are you...?”

“The hunt... the divine spirit hunt. They really can't succeed, right?”

“...”

Yang Japyeong's expression somehow darkened like burnt charcoal.

Shaking his shoulders hard, I asked again, “Really, really, they definitely can't succeed, right?!”

“...”

“Hoo... They have to fail.”

Otherwise, I would be far too jealous.

We continued hunting demonic beasts even as we headed toward the Demonic Realm.

Some were demonic beasts I had seen in the Martial World Elixir Compendium or the Myriad Herbs Compendium, while others were strange creatures I had never seen before.

As we became more proficient, hunting no longer posed much difficulty.

Everyone quickly grasped each demonic beast's tendencies and acted with a clear understanding of what they needed to do.

Without needing to be told, they moved into position and helped with the hunt.

Eventually, they could hunt smaller demonic beasts or those with weaker venom without me.

The fact that even Yang Japyeong marveled at our hunting speed proved that we had become quite skilled at it.

By the seventh day, the group members no longer seemed uncomfortable with life in Mukrim.

Perhaps because of the poison they had consumed to build poison resistance, no one was bitten by bugs anymore. And thanks to Eun Seollan, we could occasionally rest in refreshing coolness.

“These ice arts truly are wonderful...”

Yang Japyeong drank water covered with a thin layer of ice and could not stop marveling.

Unfortunately, I still could not absorb poison cores.

After Geumpyo nearly got poisoned while looking for an elixir pellet, Yang Japyeong meticulously removed every poison core, buried it in the ground, and watched it until we left.

I could find no opening to absorb them.

In the end, I decided to let go of the matter to some extent.

I would miss out on the internal energy, but it was not worth risking the Azure Dragon Bangle being discovered.

Then I noticed Yang Japyeong's ability.

After spending nearly half a month together, I had learned something.

Yang Japyeong seemed capable of roughly determining his direction.

There had been several times when we strayed far from the original route to avoid natural formations or escape demonic beasts, yet Yang Japyeong had always returned unerringly to the original path.

When I asked him about it, he grinned.

“Of course, I can grasp directions and locations to some degree.”

“But didn't you say that none of your senses work properly in here?”

“Of course. The energy of the spirit veins is too powerful.”

“Then how do you find your direction so well, Hero Yang?”

Confidence appeared on Yang Japyeong's face.

“All senses are disrupted and confused by the spirit veins, but isn't there one thing that is not disrupted?”

“Something that isn't disrupted?”

Yang Japyeong pointed at the ground.

“The spirit veins.”

“Oh!”

A small exclamation escaped me.

To think he could use the spirit veins that disrupted all senses to find his direction instead.

“The spirit veins flow broadly from north to southeast. Of course, if you remembered every fine current of energy, you could come and go through Mukrim as though it were your own backyard, but that is beyond what humans can do. Still, if you remember the main spirit veins and the flow of their energy, you can find your way around Mukrim to some extent.”

There was a reason the Namgwon Sect had become the sect responsible for managing Mukrim.

“Then is there a way to sense spirit veins?”

“Of course. Anyone can do it. It is similar to a martial artist sensing energy. Still, it is difficult with an ordinary Breath-Absorbing Method.”

“Could I learn how?”

I cautiously asked, wondering whether it might be a secret art of his sect, but Yang Japyeong readily answered.

“It is not that difficult. Ordinary internal cultivation methods store energy within the body through the union of essence and qi, do they not?”

“That is true.”

“Reading the flow of spirit veins uses qi and spirit. You extend all your senses with energy, allowing your spirit to sense the energy of the spirit veins flowing beneath the earth.”

As Yang Japyeong continued explaining, I began operating the Taeul True Scripture.

I neither sat in meditation nor began qi circulation. I simply continued the union of qi and spirit where I stood.

In an instant, my five senses expanded as countless pieces of information flooded in.

The fishy smell of demonic beast fluids, the damp air against my skin.

The sight of my group members as though I were observing them from afar, and the sound of battle drifting from the distance.

Even the cold energy of the water still lingering in my mouth.

After the information brought by my five senses passed through me...

Whoooosh.

I began to hear something like the sound of an enormous river beneath my feet.

A chilling, cold energy that felt as though it were touching my skin.

No, I had not heard it.

I had seen and felt it.