WeTried Translations
Translator/Editor: Chen
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◈ The Martial Genius who Remembers Everything ◈
Chapter 353: Escape (3)
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Ilgak was the Unit Leader of the Life-and-Death Unit’s First Unit.
It was not an official appointment, nor did he have a letter of appointment, but Ilgak still felt responsible for the role.
“It doesn’t look like they’re following us.”
Now that he had carried out that duty so well, he felt an unbearable surge of joy.
“Unit Leader Jin! We really did it.”
He could hardly believe it.
They had escaped that hellish place.
One worst-case situation after another had struck, but they had still pulled through.
It was not because the matter had been resolved through Shaolin Sect’s backing.
Nor was it the power of the Orthodox Society that had resolved it.
Nor had the Martial Alliance taken the matter out of Ilgak’s hands and resolved it.
It was through his own strength, the Academy students’ united resolve...
And...
“Everyone, stay alert until the very end!!”
Thanks to Jin Sowoon’s decisive leadership, which had guided them all, they had accomplished this difficult and exhausting task.
Ilgak looked down at his hands and clenched them into fists.
It was a feeling he had never experienced before.
His whole body tingled as much as it had when he gained some insight into the Muscle-Tendon Change Classic through wall-facing meditation.
But then...
“What are you grinning about, Baldy?”
“......”
Even at a moment like this, his crazy superior displayed an immense talent for ruining other people’s moods.
‘...At this point, should I call it his nature?’
The Buddha’s words about not judging by appearances came to mind, but no matter how often he repeated them, it was hard to focus only on Jin Sowoon’s essence.
Still...
Even the spikes covering a chestnut were part of the chestnut.
Ilgak thought Jin Sowoon truly had a talent for confusing people.
“Unit Leader Jin, aren’t you happy?”
The Academy students could not hide their joy at surviving that slaughterhouse either.
They were exhausted from injury and fatigue, but no one’s steps slowed.
“Isn’t this something Unit Leader Jin accomplished?”
At Ilgak’s words, Jin Sowoon’s face crumpled.
“Why are you standing around like everything’s over? We’ve still got a long way to go.”
“What do you mean...? Didn’t we shake them off in the end?”
“Ugh. Where’s the largest Martial Alliance branch near Jinghong, Yunnan?”
Yunnan was one of the most remote provinces, even within what people commonly called the Central Plains.
Sometimes counted among the lands beyond the frontier, it was one of the regions furthest from the Martial Alliance’s power structure.
Unlike the central provinces, which had several branches, sometimes nearly a dozen, Yunnan had only one small branch in Kunming.
“Uh...”
Once he considered that, Ilgak understood.
“That’s right. This isn’t over yet.”
“B-but...”
“Of course, I know. Those bastards will probably decide there’s no point chasing us anymore. But isn’t it better than letting our guard down and getting stabbed in the back?”
“......”
Nothing was over until it was truly over.
Muttering that, Jin Sowoon’s expression turned serious again.
Ilgak blamed himself for his foolishness.
He had relaxed merely because they had escaped Mukrim, all because he had taken it for granted that the world was under the Martial Alliance’s authority.
And if the hardships they had endured until now had come from that arrogance...
Then it meant he had learned nothing, even after going through all this.
‘You fool, Gak. You fool.’
Since when had he gone around acting as though he understood the world, as though he had attained enlightenment about all creation?
He was nothing more than someone who knew nothing.
Ilgak looked at the mountain-like man standing before him.
“Then what should we do now? Should we look for a provisional branch?”
“What would we do at some tiny sect that can barely be distinguished from a martial arts school? Die alongside them?”
“...Ahem. Even so, it’s impossible for all these people to reach Kunming.”
The injured and uninjured alike had reached their limits.
From this point on, they would probably collapse from their own fatigue before enemy blades could kill them.
Jin Sowoon could not possibly be unaware of that.
“I know. That’s why I’m thinking.”
“Thinking about... what?”
For an instant, Jin Sowoon’s face stiffened.
Was something seriously wrong...?
“...I’m wondering if the rumors will get strange again.”
Rumors? What rumors was he talking about?
Jin Sowoon had always been surrounded by so many rumors, including countless absurd ones.
Above all, he had seemed unconcerned by them, so Ilgak had never considered it.
‘...Was he actually bothered by them?’
Whatever it was, was that really something to worry about right now?
They had overcome life-and-death hardships, and an unprecedented enemy was trying to kill the Academy students.
Yet he was hesitating over mere rumors.
“Unit Leader Jin, what foolish thing are you saying? You’re worrying over something like that?”
This was the time to survive, even if they had to steal someone else’s possessions.
They needed to live and properly report what had happened in Mukrim to the Martial Alliance.
Only then could they stand against those terrifying enemies.
“Why are you worrying about something so unlike you? Isn’t survival more important than anything else right now?”
“I know that. I’m worried you people will point fingers only at me, saying you were just following orders.”
Point fingers?
Ilgak felt heat rise over his scalp.
“Who... who would dare point fingers at you, Unit Leader Jin? If not for your decisiveness, every Academy student would have died in Mukrim.”
“No, I know that...”
“Even if anyone had survived!! There would have been only a handful. If anyone is dissatisfied with that, looks down on you, or tries to slander you...”
Ilgak took a step forward and thumped his chest.
“I, Ilgak, will step forward.”
How could anyone distort the deeds of someone who had achieved this much?
Ilgak was furious, and his voice rose even further.
But...
“...Hm. Really? Is that so?”
Jin Sowoon spoke with an oddly lukewarm expression.
“Then we’ll go with the opinion of the First Unit Leader. What do you say?”
“Good.”
If filth had to be thrown at someone, Ilgak was confident he could take it all.
He nodded firmly.
“......”
Then...
He regretted it almost immediately.
#
“Haa, haa, haa.”
The joy of surviving that hell was short-lived. Jong Chuak was on the verge of losing consciousness.
He knew better than anyone that they could not stop now, but his body was too exhausted to act on that knowledge.
No, he felt like he was dying.
He had long since forgotten whether he was even running properly.
It could not be helped. He had not slept properly for days and had been running day and night.
‘Is there really nothing we can do?’
Reaching Kunming, where the branch was located, was impossible.
Yet if they entered one of the small sects around here, they might not get a chance to rest at all. They might be wiped out alongside them.
There was also no sect capable of accommodating so many people, especially with this many injured.
Dividing up and asking for support was laughable.
Their opponents had been overwhelming even while they remained together.
Facing them while scattered would be even more ridiculous.
It was a situation of songs of Chu from all four sides[1], with no way forward or back.
It had been the same in Mukrim, but at this moment, Jong Chuak felt tremendous relief that he was not the Unit Leader.
‘Still, I’d like him to make a decision soon.’
Honestly, he was beginning to think dying in battle would not be so bad.
Not that he meant it.
Even during the harshest training at his home sect, he had never been this exhausted.
Then...
“Hold on just a little longer! I’ll let you rest soon!”
Jin Sowoon’s booming voice rang out from ahead.
“Our First Unit Leader, Ilgak, gave us an excellent suggestion. It had a few issues, but I should be able to handle the rest!”
Huh? Why was Ilgak suddenly being mentioned? Why bring him up now...?
The doubts he had felt vanished at the words that followed.
“Once we get there, you’ll receive treatment and rest comfortably under protection!”
There was a way?
They could receive treatment and rest comfortably...
There was no White Path sect around here that could offer that much.
He wondered whether there might be a merchant group or escort agency connected to the Martial Alliance, but none came to mind.
Yunnan was so far from the Central Plains that few factions, aside from a handful of sects, even established branches there.
‘He must have something in mind.’
Too exhausted even to spend energy thinking, Jong Chuak cleared his head.
How long had they run like that?
Murmuring gradually rose from within the Life-and-Death Unit.
“W-where are we going?”
“Who knows...? The Unit Leader sounded so confident. He must have a plan.”
“Am I confused? This isn’t somewhere we should be going...?”
So they had been worrying about that? They must still have some energy left.
Jong Chuak did not care what the method was, as long as he could rest soon.
“Wait, wait, s-something’s wrong.”
“Y-yeah.”
The confused voices grew louder.
“D-don’t tell me...?”
“They said Monk Ilgak gave the suggestion. It can’t be, right?”
“No matter what...”
“......”
As the noise became more frantic, Jong Chuak snapped.
“Run quietly. It’s the Unit Leader’s order!”
“Brother Jong, even so...”
“Why? Now that you’ve survived, are you suddenly ashamed of having followed orders? And you call yourselves members of the White Path...”
“No, Brother Jong! Look. Do you know where this is?”
Jong Chuak snorted and followed the man’s pointing finger.
“What would I know about Yunnan’s geography...?”
Then, where the man pointed...
“......”
Tall poles shaped like snakes and spiders stood in a row along the road.
“You still don’t know after seeing those?”
“......”
How could he not know?
That emblem was one the White Path disciples feared most.
“...W-why are we here...?”
When he gathered himself and looked ahead, he saw a massive pavilion.
Its entrance was built high of stone rather than wood, resembling a fortress wall.
Its crude, rugged shape made it clear that it could be turned into a defensive structure at any moment.
Above the gate...
“This is...”
It marked the place belonging to the owner of the emblems they had seen all along.
“M-Myriad Poison Sect?!!!”
#
Dan Se-ung, the Sect Leader of the Myriad Poison Sect, had retired to his bedchamber early for the first time in a while.
The disturbances in Mukrim over the past few days had ruined his sleep, and fatigue had built up.
‘Those damned bastards.’
The Academy students who visited once every twelve years put the Myriad Poison Sect on edge.
It was not that Dan Se-ung feared they would harm the Myriad Poison Sect.
No matter how talented they were, they were still greenhorns newly arrived in the martial world.
What bothered him was that those greenhorns were running wild through Mukrim.
Mukrim was practically the Myriad Poison Sect’s greatest treasury.
It was a place where one could find countless poisonous creatures, with new ones appearing each time.
Mukrim was such a treasure vault for poison practitioners that even the Tang Clan had considered establishing a branch there.
Naturally, it was infuriating to imagine greenhorns trampling through and damaging such a place.
In the past, they had always formed camps at the places they visited and passed the time there, so there had been little cause for concern. This time, though, they had caused quite a commotion.
Explosions had gone off one after another, and at night, they had lit countless torches.
‘Are they hunting divine spirits? ...This year’s group must be full of lunatics.’
Those things were not prey that could be hunted in the first place.
Dan Se-ung knew that better than anyone because he had personally tried to hunt one.
They were clearly not creatures of the human world. They must have fallen straight from the immortal realm.
Some within the Myriad Poison Sect had suggested that they enter Mukrim and see what was happening, but they ultimately sent no one.
The Martial Alliance was strangely sensitive about events involving Academy students.
Considering the trouble it could cause later, it was better to turn a blind eye and avoid forming any connection in the first place.
As he continued thinking, someone came to mind.
‘They said that bastard was the Academy Representative.’
That White Path bastard he had met in the Black Alliance.
They had never exchanged greetings up close, but Jin Sowoon had left a deep impression on him.
Unofficially, he was the one who had truly saved the Black Alliance.
‘What a strange bastard.’
When he searched for the infiltrator hiding in the Black Alliance, he acted so crazily that no one could tell who belonged to the Black Path.
Then he had even risked his life to save the Black Alliance’s Chief Strategist, who was practically his sworn enemy.
As someone in a core position within the Black Alliance, Dan Se-ung could not help but have complicated feelings about him.
‘Hm... Since he’s here, should I go see him...?’
Dan Se-ung shook his head.
In the end, Jin Sowoon was a benefactor to the Black Alliance.
If Dan Se-ung went to meet him, Jin Sowoon would surely become entangled in uncomfortable rumors, which would negatively affect his future advancement in the Martial Alliance.
He could not burden his benefactor with that.
Besides, it would draw unnecessary attention to Dan Se-ung himself.
If he met that bastard again...
‘It would only be possible on the battlefield.’
That was the relationship between the Black Path and the White Path.
Then...
Thud, thud, thud.
Heavy footsteps came from the corridor.
Soon, an attendant’s tense voice followed.
“S-Sect Leader. Are you asleep?”
His subordinates knew perfectly well how long it had been since he had been able to rest comfortably in his bedchamber. For them to visit at this hour...
Dan Se-ung could not keep his voice pleasant.
“What is it!”
“I-I think you need to come out and see this...”
They were telling him to come out without even explaining why.
At this late hour, to him, the Sect Leader?
Dan Se-ung frowned and sighed.
“I asked what it is.”
“W-well...”
For some reason, the person outside the door hesitated.
Dan Se-ung finally threw off his blanket, got up, and flung the door open hard enough to make it bang.
“What could possibly be important enough to disturb me at this hour!!!”
“W-well, there are guests... no, enemies... Haa, what should I even call them...”
The subordinate’s rambling made Dan Se-ung’s face turn redder and redder.
“You... do you want to spend a whole week spewing blood from your ass?”
“Eek! N-no, sir! It’s just that someone... no, a person is looking for you right now.”
“Looking for me?”
At this hour?
He had gone to bed a little early, but it was still late at night.
Who had the nerve to disturb the nighttime rest of Dan Se-ung, the Night King of Yunnan?
Dan Se-ung threw on a robe, shoved past his subordinate, and headed out.
His robe was filled with poisons that could turn any enemy into a puddle of blood before they took five steps.
He left his bedchamber at an unhurried pace, passed through the pavilions, and crossed the training ground.
When he reached the main gate...
“Hah...”
He frowned deeply at the sight of every Myriad Poison Sect subordinate standing in attendance.
“What is this?! Has someone attacked us?”
“At first, we thought so too...”
He walked past the subordinate who, for some reason, kept trailing off today and arrived before the gate.
The flustered gatekeeper moved at once, and the enormous gates opened with a creak.
Then...
“Ah! Hello!”
...An utterly unexpected person stood outside the gate, greeting him in a completely unexpected manner.
“Have you been well? You look healthier than the last time I saw you.”
Jin Sowoon’s casual inquiry after his well-being was so natural that Dan Se-ung almost wondered whether they had been friends.
“Jin Sowoon...”
“Ah! You remember me, Sect Leader.”
Dan Se-ung’s gaze shifted behind Jin Sowoon.
What he saw there was even more absurd.
Young men and women who appeared to be White Path disciples stood in ragged clothes, their expressions stiff.
“...What is this situation?”
“Ah, well.”
Jin Sowoon calmly curled up the corners of his mouth and smiled.
“Put simply, something happened.”
The explanation was so simple that Dan Se-ung was about to protest.
“So...”
Jin Sowoon continued in a confident voice.
“Could I ask you to treat the wounded and provide food and lodging?”
His expression was so calm, as though he had come to retrieve a bundle he had left here.
“......”
Dan Se-ung could not answer.
“How desperate must we have been to come all this way?”
Jin Sowoon smiled brightly, his face gleaming.
“You understand, right?”
Dan Se-ung did not understand at all.
[1] Songs of Chu from all four sides: An idiom for being surrounded and cut off, from the story of Xiang Yu hearing enemy soldiers sing songs from his native Chu.
Footnotes:
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