WeTried Translations
Translator/Editor: Chen
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◈ The Martial Genius who Remembers Everything ◈
Chapter 328: Spirit Hunt (3)
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Fire Monkey.
It literally meant a burning monkey, but it actually referred to a monkey that had absorbed the power of a spirit vein and was filled with yang energy.
A Fire Monkey's inner core was considered one of the finest spiritual medicines, capable of supplying endless strength to martial artists, especially male martial artists brimming with yang energy.
Considering that Moyong Sangwon, the Young Clan Head of the Moyong Clan, had wanted to protect a Fire Monkey's inner core until the very end, even when facing death...
‘You can tell just how precious it is in the martial world.’
Its price was high not only because of its effects, but also because it was so difficult to obtain.
Who could catch a nimble monkey with endlessly burning energy? A martial artist? A hunter?
In any case, despite its entry in the Martial World Elixir Compendium, I had never given Fire Monkeys a second thought.
It was hard enough to claim spiritual medicine that stayed in one place. Chasing a Fire Monkey's ass alone?
I'd thought it was impossible from the start.
Roooaaar!
I'd definitely thought that...
A massive monkey with a hulking build roared viciously, baring fangs as large as thumbs.
No, could I even call this thing a monkey? It was bigger than most people.
Whoosh!
On top of that, scorching heat poured from its fur.
It was clearly different from the monsters I'd seen throughout Mukrim.
“So you're the Sunfire Monkey Hero Yang mentioned?”
Roooaaar!
The Sunfire Monkey roared as though it were answering me, pouring out killing intent.
“...So there was a reason Hero Yang said you were impossible to hunt.”
They wanted to hunt this thing?
Were they in their right minds?
Its killing intent rivaled that of most demonic beings.
The spirit vein energy I felt inside its body was probably ten times greater than that of the monsters I'd encountered so far.
Thump. Thump. Thump. Thump.
Black skin showed through the fur around its chest, and every time it struck that spot with its fists, the air rang as though it had hit a slab of iron.
I couldn't even begin to imagine how someone was supposed to hunt it.
“...Hah. This is insane.”
When I cautiously stepped back, the Sunfire Monkey bared its fangs further and took a large step toward me.
My escape route vanished.
It was using primordial qi, something said to be wielded only by martial artists who had reached a high level.
‘Is this really an animal?’
Even if it was a spirit creature, it had started out as an animal.
Yet it was blocking every direction like a martial artist.
As though it would never let a single opening slip past.
Ha, this was unfair.
“Fuck... can't you just let me go? I'm completely different from those people.”
Grrr.
“Fuck... figures.”
Its hulking appearance suited it. There was no way it understood me.
I had no choice now.
Hoping the Sunfire Monkey's feet weren't faster than the Peerless Wanderer Divine Art, I slightly turned my body.
“Then... next time... Hm?”
Something felt strange.
I was about to leave immediately, but its behavior bothered me.
The other monsters had attacked the moment they saw a person.
The Sunfire Monkey seemed to want to attack me too, yet it strongly felt as though it was hesitating for some reason.
No, it almost seemed to be putting on a show because it wanted me to retreat.
Roooaaar!
Whoosh!
With a tremendous roar, heat hot enough to cook my skin spread in every direction.
Then I saw something through the flames engulfing the area.
‘Wounds...’
Dried clots of blood stuck to a long wound stretching from its calf to its thigh. A finger was missing from the fist it used to pound its chest, leaving a gap.
They weren't old wounds that had healed long ago. They were fresh wounds that had only begun to fester.
The smooth cuts showed they hadn't been torn off by an animal's teeth.
Mukrim's monsters couldn't have done this in the first place.
The countless pieces of information I'd gathered since entering Mukrim came together into one picture.
‘Was this what the lecturers and Academy students were chasing?’
The divine spirit that had fought the Academy students day and night over the last few days was the Sunfire Monkey.
And after escaping them, it had happened to encounter me.
“Hmm, I see.”
Grrr!
I stopped gathering internal energy in my feet.
“I don't know where you learned it, but your killing intent...”
More precisely, I began circulating the Taeul True Scripture in a different way.
From my feet to my entire body.
The place where the greatest amount of internal energy gathered was...
Shing.
The Scarlet Radiance Sword gripped in my right hand.
“I don't lose to anyone in that regard either.”
Kyaaaah!
Terrifying killing intent surged from the red Scarlet Radiance Sword.
The Sunfire Monkey, which had been beating its chest, staggered back and growled with its fangs bared.
No matter what, I couldn't pass up the finishing blow.
#
The moment I took an offensive stance, the Sunfire Monkey charged first.
As though it knew exactly how advantageous it was to strike first.
Roar!
The flames flowing from its mane moved into its arm, then it threw a punch.
Boom!
Even though I raised the Scarlet Radiance Sword to block it, the impact didn't disperse.
My body flew into a tree.
Crash!
What was that destructive power?
I'd only taken one hit, yet my insides shook violently.
“Urgh.”
That sturdy Mukrim tree had nearly shattered.
I quickly got up and moved away, and the tree with its trunk broken toppled over, kicking up dust everywhere.
Boom.
Fortunately, the impact wasn't as bad as I'd expected.
No, perhaps I felt less pain than I should have.
Even with internal energy, I couldn't disperse all the pain... Was it because of the Vajra Honey?
As I thought that and searched for the Sunfire Monkey, it had long since left its original position.
“Damn it, it ran... Huh?”
Crash!
A blazing red fist burst through the dust.
Thud! Thud!
I bounced off a rock and slammed into a tree. Just before my ribs shattered, I gritted my teeth, twisted my body, and regained my balance.
Scrape.
I dragged across the ground and barely got back on my feet. When I raised my head, the Sunfire Monkey's foot was already coming at me.
Where the fuck did it learn something like this?!
I grabbed its ankle and used Lotus from the Flowing Cloud Divine Art, slamming it into the ground.
Roooaaar!
It didn't seem particularly affected by the impact. Supporting itself with its tail, it sprang back up from the ground.
Hah. It had been a while since I felt this loosened up.
“My turn now, right?”
Shrrrk.
The illusion sword that began with the Greater Heaven Sword Art blocked its front, then surrounded it from both sides.
Tap. Tap.
It dodged the blades with swift movements, but soon realized it was trapped within the sword encirclement and bared its teeth in frustration.
I didn't miss that opening.
I immediately changed from the Greater Heaven Sword Art to the Twin Heavens Sword Art and pressed it.
Slash. Slash. Slash.
No matter how fast it was, there was a limit to dodging attacks that poured in through sheer volume.
Small cuts began to appear across its body.
‘Its skin is thick too.’
I was clearly cutting into its flesh, yet the blade couldn't sink properly, as though I were cutting hard paulownia wood.
I completely threw away my complacency and began drawing out sword force.
Until moments ago, the only light around us had come from its mane. Now blue sword force flickered everywhere, viciously targeting its vital acupoints.
Just as I was about to cut its neck and arms while it was completely surrounded by sword force...
Its entire mane glowed red, and it began advancing.
Slash. Slash. Slash.
I'd expected it to collapse soon, bleeding everywhere.
Instead, it ignored the small wounds, barely avoided the major ones, and kept closing the distance in great strides.
Like a martial artist who knew exactly how to deal with illusion swords and Change swords.
“...What the fuck is this?!”
Even as my mind went blank, heat gathered in its arm again, so I couldn't lose focus.
“If you make it that obvious, how could I not notice, you little bastard?!”
I stretched out my hand, determined to use Snow Flower and slam it into the ground.
Thud!
A powerful impact struck my abdomen, and bitter fluid surged up my throat.
‘I-It used a feint?’
My body flew into the air, leaving me no time to wonder how a mere monkey could behave like a person.
It was already throwing its charged fist.
Bang!
My body shot backward like an arrow from the tremendous impact.
“Cough!”
After I spat out a mouthful of blood, my stomach felt a little better.
Before I hit a tree, I quickly took out the Flying Dragon Claw and used it to slow myself down.
“Right... that's why they call you a divine spirit.”
The Sunfire Monkey glared at me again with both arms hanging like a beast's.
I looked at it and spat out bloody phlegm.
“But... I've come this far. I don't plan on going back empty-handed.”
I braced both legs.
Boom!
The ground split apart as I shot forward.
If it was confident in its strength, I only needed to fight with speed.
Slash.
As expected, I dealt meaningful damage to it for the first time.
Kyaaaah!
The Sunfire Monkey screamed as it looked down at its severed finger.
I flicked the blood from the Scarlet Radiance Sword and charged at it again.
The Lesser Heaven Sword Art, brought to its peak and imbued with sword force, stabbed toward its vital acupoints.
“Try blocking this too!”
Flames rose from the mane all over its body, and the sword force dulled once again.
‘What kind of sorcery is this?’
Sword force could slice even hard steel like tofu.
Yet its burning skin, as though it were made of diamond, showed no opening at all.
“That doesn't mean I can't cut you!”
Slash. Slash. Slash.
Its mane seemed to have some defensive power.
Still, it couldn't block all the sword force by itself. To stop the sword force, it had to gather fire energy, just as it did when throwing a punch.
Every time it gathered more power to protect the vital acupoints I relentlessly targeted, I persistently cut away more of its flesh.
At last, blood began streaming from the large and small wounds across its body. Unable to endure any longer, it started to flee.
“Where do you think you're going?!”
It moved astonishingly nimbly through the trees and across the forest, but it wasn't fast enough to escape the Peerless Wanderer Divine Art.
‘I’d been scared for nothing.’
As I chased the trail of flames it left behind, its body suddenly began to boil as though it were about to burst.
Then, in an instant...
Flash!
A huge burst of light exploded, bright enough to obscure my vision.
The powerful light pierced my eyes, stealing my sight in an instant. When the light vanished and I looked up again, every trace of it had disappeared.
“What the hell...?”
How did that make any sense? It had suddenly hidden itself?
It hadn't shot into the sky or burrowed into the ground.
I immediately began reading the spirit vein.
No matter how well it hid itself, it couldn't hide the spirit vein energy inside its body.
“Ha... You even know how to use natural formations?”
The Sunfire Monkey was crouched nearby.
It had completely hidden itself within a natural formation.
I deliberately looked around and spoke.
“Ah, where did it go? I can't find it at all. I guess I should head back...”
And while saying that, I fired sword qi!
Boom! Boom! Boom!
Screeech!
The Sunfire Monkey sprang from the bushes with its first genuinely monkey-like shriek.
I chased after it again, only to be dumbfounded by what it did.
Every time it grabbed a branch and tossed it aside, its body disappeared or its path changed.
What, was it some kind of Monkey King?
Was it going to use clones next?
‘It knows every path in Mukrim and uses natural formations itself to escape a predator's attacks?’
If I hadn't been able to read spirit veins, I would have lost the Sunfire Monkey long ago.
They said there was almost nothing numbers couldn't solve, but no matter how hard I thought, I couldn't imagine a way to catch it in Mukrim without reading spirit veins.
And even if someone could read them, they would still have to withstand this overwhelming power.
“So you're unlucky.”
Boom! Boom! Boom!
Sword qi tore through its mane and seared it, making it scream in pain.
Screeech!
“Because I can read spirit veins too.”
A long wound opened on its foot, and the Sunfire Monkey tumbled across the ground.
To subdue it completely, I brought down sword force.
Bang!
The Sunfire Monkey flew for the first time.
Not as fast as I had flown earlier, but still.
The moment it struck a tree, it sprang up and pressed itself low to the ground, staring at me intently.
Grrr.
This was absurd.
Just as it had blocked my escape route, I had blocked its.
I was fully prepared to cut off its head if it made even one wrong move.
Yet this monkey bastard didn't move an inch.
As though it knew every path I had blocked.
“Ha ha...”
I couldn't tell whether I was fighting an animal or a human.
“Of course, that doesn't change anything.”
I used the Taeul Eighty Thousand Divine Steps to create three afterimages and draw its attention.
Screech!
Its flaming fist struck an afterimage and missed, and I brought my sword down on its head.
Its raised hand flared brightly with fire from its mane.
“Hah!”
This time, it was too late.
Boom!
With a tremendous explosion, the Sunfire Monkey rolled across the ground.
Grrr.
It tried to rise with its broken arm and wounded foot, but its body wouldn't cooperate, and it kept falling.
Seeing it refuse to abandon its fighting spirit until the end, it truly was a spirit creature.
Still, I couldn't shake my regret.
“If you could talk, I wouldn't have had to take your inner core.”
As I looked at it, I thought this could have been a huge business opportunity.
If I toured even a single province step by step, I could quickly earn as much as the Great Heaven Merchant Group made in a year.
Did it understand even that? The Sunfire Monkey moved its lips as if it were about to speak.
That sight sent a chill down my spine, so I quickly tightened my grip on my sword.
“I'll enjoy your inner core.”
I gripped the Scarlet Radiance Sword in reverse and drove it into its heart.
Thud.
With the sound of stone breaking, the Sunfire Monkey's eyes widened.
Shhk.
When I pulled the Scarlet Radiance Sword free, blood spouted like a fountain from the small wound.
Then...
From the Sunfire Monkey's moving lips...
“H-Heavenly Demon...”
Human words came out, and I froze where I stood.
“...”
H-How did you do that?
Footnotes:
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