WeTried Translations
Translator/Editor: Chen
Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried
◈ The Martial Genius who Remembers Everything ◈
Chapter 356: Encounter with the Enemy (3)
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The Martial Alliance.
Then who was the greatest enemy of the orthodox factions that claimed to represent the White Path?
The Heavenly Demon Divine Cult, which had appeared for the first time in five hundred years?
The Blood Cult, which had brought bloodshed to Sichuan?
Or the Black Path forces that had been branded public enemies for three hundred years?
Who knew?
Such forces had only expanded the Martial Alliance's prosperity. They had never laid the groundwork for its collapse.
The Martial Alliance existed to protect.
Without something to protect, it could not continue to exist.
That was why the Martial Alliance always needed an enemy.
It had been founded five hundred years ago to stop a public enemy of the martial world.
And two hundred years ago, when it lacked a suitable enemy, it had nearly disappeared.
If no enemy existed, then there was no reason for the Martial Alliance to exist either.
For that reason, perhaps the forces I had mentioned earlier were not the ones that destroyed the Martial Alliance.
Then what had ultimately brought it down?
Who had done it?
I looked at the man before me.
“What brings someone as busy as you all the way here?”
Not a flicker of emotion crossed his beautiful face.
“Were you never taught to speak respectfully?”
His indifferent voice held a strange power of persuasion.
As though he were always stating an obvious truth.
“I don't think we're close enough to bother with pointless formalities.”
Even when I deliberately provoked him, he showed no sign of agitation.
Like a human ignoring an angry ant.
“Jin Sowoon. Don't you know that observing basic courtesy is the quickest way to build mutual trust?”
“You uphold manners for the sake of efficiency. That sounds just like you.”
The perfect sculpture carved from stone stood tall and unshaken, just as it had in the past.
That man's stillness.
In my previous life, it had looked as dependable as Mount Tai.
But...
“Yong Soa.”
Now I knew.
The hypocrisy hidden within that stillness.
Yong Soa stared at me with dry eyes.
Then, in the same tone he had used when he came to kill me, he said,
“Address me as your senior. You are an Academy student now.”
“I doubt that'll ever happen.”
It was a vow.
My small vow that I would not follow his path that appeared to be the right answer.
“Anyway, what brings you here? I thought the Dragon-Phoenix Association kept you busy.”
The answer came from behind Yong Soa.
“We mobilized at the Kunming Branch's request.”
A small girl stood there with the same characteristic expressionlessness as Yong Soa, though she spoke in an unusual manner.
Dang Seohui.
“What happened in Mukrim? And why were you staying at the Myriad Poison Sect?”
For an instant, it felt as though Dang Seohui had shot a glance at Dan Se-ung.
Yet it vanished at once, and she looked up at me with her usual indifferent eyes.
She still hadn't grown even a little.
I instinctively started to pat her head, then stopped myself and answered.
“Because we encountered enemies.”
“Enemies? Surely...”
Dang Seohui's gaze shifted to Lecturer Gang Suntak.
“I heard you had gotten lost.”
“Enemies? What enemies! They disobeyed a lecturer's orders, ran off on their own, and got lost!”
“...”
The Academy students' gazes turned icy.
How many battles had they fought and endured in Mukrim?
How many Academy students had died because of it?
And yet Gang Suntak...
“Jin Sowoon, you must have incited them...!”
The lecturer treated the Academy students' painful memories as though they were nothing, all to escape blame.
“Incited them, you say...”
“Jin Sowoon...”
Gang Suntak ground out my name, his voice filled with hatred.
“You are the problem! You! Because of you...! Things have grown this serious!!!”
Why had the Martial Alliance collapsed?
“If you had stayed put, we could have asked the branch for help and saved everyone safely! And now the Dragon-Phoenix Association has come as well!”
Why had that massive tree, with five hundred years of history, fallen so helplessly?
“You, who collude with the Black Path, misled the Academy students and put them in danger! In the name of the Martial Alliance, I will never forgive you!”
The answer stood before me.
‘Because it had rotted from within.’
A tree that withstood every storm would still fall once it had decayed and rotted inside.
“What will you do about the Academy students who died because of you?! Your fellow disciples and your sect will all bear responsibility for this as well!”
It was a place infested with vermin who did not even realize they themselves had festered.
The Martial Alliance's greatest enemy had always been within.
Clang!
I drew the Scarlet Radiance Sword.
There was no strategy, no scheme, no far-reaching plan.
I had lost my reason because Gang Suntak reminded me of that White Path official who had commanded it in my previous life.
The bastard I had wanted to kill so badly back then, yet could not.
I would kill him now.
“You crazy bastard!”
A sharp Qingcheng blade swung at me, but it was not as frightening as the blades from my previous life.
No, it was almost laughable.
The swords I had faced in both lives had never been this dull.
Clang! Clang!
I could have blocked it easily with Lotus, but I forced my way through with raw power.
I wanted Gang Suntak to die in as much pain as possible.
Clang! Clang! Clang! Clang! Clang!
The lecturers drew their swords one after another.
Just as I had in Mukrim, I maintained only the minimum defense as I charged straight at Gang Suntak.
I deflected blades, blocked attacks, canceled out storms of sword qi, and advanced.
The more I pressed forward, the farther Gang Suntak retreated.
“S-stop! Stop!!!”
Was it because of the cuts on his arm and shoulder?
Gang Suntak's face turned white.
The Life-and-Death Unit had endured far worse pain in Mukrim without backing down.
In Mukrim, we had desperately searched for these people as though they were our hope.
Perhaps it was fortunate that the lecturers had fled first.
If they had been there, even more members of the Life-and-Death Unit might have died.
Clang! Clang! Clang! Clang! Clang!
I fired sword qi to counter the incoming sword qi.
The colliding sword qi exploded into a fierce gale.
Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom!
Gang Suntak staggered back again and again.
Then he spat out a mouthful of blood.
“Ghk!”
Without even wiping the blood that stained the front of his robe, he swung his sword frantically.
Then...
“Stop.”
An unignorable sharp presence slipped through an opening.
“Attacking a lecturer is a grave offense. Stop.”
An indifferent voice rang out like a reprimand.
“Is that so? Then discipline me.”
Clang.
I ignored the Whirlwind Sword Art and moved forward.
The opening Yong Soa had created made Gang Suntak scream at the top of his lungs.
“W-what are you doing?! Alliance members, arrest him at once!”
Shing. Shing. Shing.
Nearly a hundred Martial Alliance members drew their swords.
The situation was on the verge of exploding.
Then...
Boom!
A massive tremor shook the entire Myriad Poison Sect.
The shockwave had begun at the dais.
Even from far away, it was unmistakable.
“Do you take the Myriad Poison Sect lightly? Or do you take me, Dan Se-ung, lightly?”
At the same time, the Myriad Poison Sect disciples who had been watching from the sidelines all prepared for battle.
That was right. This was neither the Central Plains nor the Martial Alliance.
This was enemy territory.
The sudden lull seemed to make Gang Suntak forget that he had just been beaten one-sidedly. He shouted again.
“That bastard! Arrest him!”
“...”
Yet none of the Martial Alliance members dared move recklessly before Dan Se-ung's warning.
“Do you intend to continue?”
Dan Se-ung's gaze turned to Yong Soa.
Though Gang Suntak and the branch's Alliance members were present, looking at Yong Soa was no different from acknowledging him as the group's representative.
Still, Yong Soa did not readily sheath his sword even before Dan Se-ung's pressure.
He continued to look at Dan Se-ung and the Myriad Poison Sect disciples with the same indifferent eyes, as though he feared neither.
“I think it would be best to stop here. It seems there were many things we did not know.”
Hwa Jeongsan of the Mount Hua Sect stepped forward.
“Yong Soa, we came to rescue our juniors, not to wage war.”
The man who had come to pick a fight with the Taeul Sect was now mediating between the lecturer and me.
“Our impudent junior should stop here as well. If you have grievances, you can discuss them at the Martial Alliance.”
Then he looked around at the Academy students with an awkward expression.
“And the rest of you! Why don't you put away your weapons now?”
Even after Hwa Jeongsan spoke, no one moved.
When even the Mount Hua Sect disciples and those from Mount Hua's affiliated lay sects remained still, Hwa Jeongsan's eyes trembled faintly. Unlike in the past, though, he did not lose his temper.
“What do you think will happen if Martial Alliance members and Academy students fight inside the Myriad Poison Sect?”
“...”
I sheathed the Scarlet Radiance Sword.
Hwa Jeongsan clapped exaggeratedly to draw everyone's attention.
“Come on, let's head back. We can settle this after we return home.”
“That won't be necessary.”
“Hm?”
I helped Jong Chuak, who was sprawled off to one side, to his feet.
“Many people have not yet recovered from their injuries. We'll recuperate longer before returning.”
“Y-you mean in the Black Path... No, the Myriad Poison Sect?”
“Lord Dan learned the circumstances and readily offered us his help.”
I smiled at Hwa Jeongsan.
“After hearing the circumstances the lecturers refuse to believe.”
“...”
I left Jong Chuak with Nam Hwaseong and walked toward Gang Suntak.
Toward the person who felt neither responsibility nor guilt.
“You said we got lost? Then why did you not gather the Academy students at the meeting point?”
“...”
“You said there were no enemies? Then what were the things we fought so desperately?”
Even when I laid out every fault before him, there was no sign of remorse.
It was not because Gang Suntak was trying to hide his shame.
We would not call someone who knew shame rotten.
“You don't understand why the elites of White Path sects had to ask a Black Path sect for help, do you?”
Because he had no such shame to begin with.
That was why I called them rotten.
“Was it all for your own wealth and glory?”
Once the truth came out, once the circumstances were properly known, Gang Suntak would fall.
Not only Gang Suntak. Every lecturer would lose the brilliant future they had believed awaited them.
“...”
They had probably wished for it.
For everyone to die in Mukrim.
For no survivors to remain.
Then, even if the path before them shook, it would not have been derailed.
“You will be held responsible. For ignoring the assigned schedule and using Academy students for personal gain while serving as a lecturer, and for failing to fulfill your duty in a dangerous situation while protecting only your own safety.”
They had probably thought it would have been better if we had all died.
All the way here from Mukrim.
“You will also answer for trying to conceal the truth to cover up your crimes. I will never forgive you. You will answer for every Academy student who died because of you.”
“...”
They had likely wanted our deaths more than the people who had tried to kill us.
“Your fellow disciples and your sect will bear this responsibility as well.”
That was why I vowed once more.
“I will make it happen.”
I would take my revenge.
“Jin Sowoon... How dare a bastard like you...!”
I turned away without hesitation.
Gang Suntak's hate-filled curses rang out behind me, but I paid them no mind.
Only then did the Academy students begin to put away their weapons.
#
“You...”
Lord Dan Se-ung unexpectedly hesitated before speaking.
What was with him?
When I looked at him strangely, he forced out the rest.
“Are you... actually crazy?”
What?
Had he been about to ask if I was crazy? Or had he simply wanted to curse at me?
“Or have you secretly learned some dark arts or demonic art?”
“...”
It was absurd.
To hear that from a true madman who had injected unknown poisons into his own body to test their toxicity.
Thanks to the Taeul True Scripture, my body and mind were healthier than anyone's.
“What are you trying to say?”
“I am dumbfounded. Even a Black Path martial artist would not hurl such abuse at a Hall Master-level figure of Qingcheng Sect. You would have to be insane to... Ahem.”
“...”
My words had been harsh, but I had no desire to take them back.
Gang Suntak's words had denied the Life-and-Death Unit's efforts, resolve, and despair.
“...You know you're completely screwed, right?”
“...”
For such vulgar language to come from the mouth of a sect lord.
The Black Path really was the Black Path.
“I know I'm screwed.”
“Ahem. You have quite the filthy mouth yourself.”
Dan Se-ung patted my shoulder as he spoke.
“If merit and fault were ever judged fairly, neither the Orthodox Society nor the White Path Society would still exist. They would have long since yielded their legitimacy to others and lost their power.”
I knew.
Their power had only grown more solid through that unjust process.
“What's more, you humiliated a Qingcheng Sect disciple and gave them a reason to oppose you. Dark clouds are already gathering over the promising future ahead of you.”
He had been openly hostile toward me at first, yet now he was worrying over me with an odd familiarity.
At a glance, he even seemed pleased.
That look in his eyes was like he had found one of his own kind.
“My future has never had sunlight shining over it. It's only a matter of whether I face a storm or hail.”
“Hail hurts.”
“My head is hard.”
“Heh heh heh.”
Dan Se-ung let out a delighted laugh.
Was this old man drunk?
Before I knew it, a smile had crept onto my lips as well.
“Thank you.”
“Hm?”
I gave Dan Se-ung a small bow.
“For stepping in at the right time.”
“...”
Dan Se-ung snickered as though he found it amusing.
“I took your side to make people mistake you for a Black Path figure, you know?”
“Even so, my shining reputation as a chivalrous hero will not be tarnished.”
“Heh heh... You really are crazy. The Black Flame Dragon, a chivalrous hero?”
It seemed the Myriad Poison Sect did not truly grasp my reputation, perhaps because they had not been at the Demon Spirit Plateau.
Dan Se-ung chuckled for a while, then spoke in a far more serious tone.
“Cha Seokdu, that blockhead, told you to come to the Black Alliance whenever you wanted, did he not?”
“It is a false rumor.”
“Heh heh. That blockhead may not be bright, but he is not the sort to spread lies.”
Was Cha Seokdu the reason the Black Flame Dragon epithet had not changed?
Damn it.
It was about time it changed.
“But.”
Dan Se-ung's eyes suddenly turned cold.
The frivolous air from moments ago vanished completely.
“From what I can see, you are someone who must never join the Black Alliance.”
“...”
I had no intention of going in the first place, but hearing him tell me not to made me feel strangely disappointed.
“Why?”
He stared straight into my eyes, then turned away.
“You are too clear and too poisonous.”
I did not understand.
Could those two words even be used together?
Could they coexist at all?
Jeonghwa
“Among the poisons of the Myriad Poison Sect, there is one called Purifying Poison Water. It is colorless, but its smell is distinctive, so it cannot be used discreetly.”
“That sounds useless.”
“It is still effective. Splash it in someone's eyes, and it blinds them. Let it touch their mouth or nose, and it ruins their breathing. But...”
Dan Se-ung filled his cup and continued.
“There is a reason it is called Purifying Poison Water.”
“I did think the name was unusual.”
“If you use it to clean a polluted well or somewhere filled with mold, it purifies the place. A well people could not drink from becomes drinkable, and a place that causes disease becomes somewhere people can live.”
“Then it is not poison.”
“It is poison. Drink it directly, and you die. Spread it in a place like the Black Alliance, and people will die. But...”
He drained his cup in one swallow.
“I wonder what would happen if it were used to clean the Martial Alliance.”
He continued in an ambiguous tone, and I could not tell whether he was speaking of Purifying Poison Water or of me.
“Would that not be rather dangerous? A clean Martial Alliance? I can already hear the Black Path wailing.”
Even that seemed to amuse him.
“Do you know its most remarkable trait?”
“What is it?”
“After it is used, it evaporates without leaving a trace.”
It evaporated.
“Think carefully.”
Rather than look into my eyes, he toyed with his innocent cup.
“Consider whether it is worth using for the Martial Alliance.”
He ended with that ambiguity intact.
I thought I understood his intent, so I did not ask.
#
The Martial Alliance members left.
They had been branch personnel from the start, and the lecturers could not remain after Dan Se-ung refused them.
The Dragon-Phoenix Association remained instead.
The Myriad Poison Sect disciples who had spent even a small amount of time with the Academy students disliked the Martial Alliance members, but they were curious about the Dragon-Phoenix Association.
Even from their perspective, it was hard to ignore their curiosity about people praised as heroes of the White Path sects.
Among them, Dang Seohui drew the most interest.
They both used poison, and the fact that she was the Tang Clan's finest young talent seemed to have played a large part.
Several Myriad Poison Sect disciples carefully arranged a small drinking gathering out of that curiosity.
Dan Se-ung and the people in charge pretended not to notice the younger disciples' mischief.
I had been invited before meeting Dan Se-ung, but I did not feel like attending a banquet and making merry.
On my way back to the lodging after leaving Dan Se-ung's quarters, I could hear boisterous noise from afar. It was clear they had begun drinking.
After I walked a little farther, though, the noise grew muffled, and silence quietly settled over the surroundings.
For a while, I stood in a dark place beyond the torchlight and looked up at the sky.
The positions of the constellations in Yunnan were not greatly different from elsewhere.
Perhaps because of the high altitude or the clear weather, the stars glittered as though they might spill from the sky at any moment.
As I watched them and sorted through my thoughts, I sensed someone's presence and turned my head.
“...”
At the edge of the red shadow cast by the torchlight stood an unwelcome face.
“What brings you all the way here?”
“...What did you discuss with Lord Dan Se-ung?”
“Am I obligated to tell you?”
The moment I tried to ignore him and walk past...
“There is something I wish to know.”
A question?
It was not something that suited Yong Soa at all.
As I thought that and continued walking...
“I want to know why you are still alive.”
“...”
It was not something I could ignore.
Had he wanted me to die in Mukrim?
“Did you wish for my death too, just like Gang Suntak?”
“I have no interest in him. What I wish to know is...”
Yong Soa suddenly fell silent.
His face looked unfamiliar.
An expression I had never seen in either my previous life or this one.
After biting his lip for a moment, he slowly raised his eyes.
“Why are you still alive?”
Clear curiosity showed on the face of the man who was normally expressionless.
A question about why something that should have been certain had gone wrong.
‘...What?’
A chill ran up my spine.
‘Is he saying he will kill me now?’
He spoke as though my death were only natural.
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