WeTried Translations
Translator/Editor: Chen
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◈ The Martial Genius who Remembers Everything ◈
Chapter 357: Encounter with the Enemy (4)
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‘What?’
At first, I thought Yong Soa was trying to kill me.
Asking why I was still alive was that strange a question.
On top of that, he had several reasons to want me dead.
One of them was what happened at the Demon Spirit Plateau.
He had made a mistake, and because of it, both his reputation and the Wudang Sect’s had hit rock bottom.
I’d even heard that the Wudang Sect’s standing within the Orthodox Society had weakened considerably for a while because of it.
After building a certain degree of goodwill with the Hao Sect, I had them spread malicious rumors about him.
I made sure the accusations against him never died down.
The effect had been considerable.
People who had secretly harbored resentment toward the Wudang Sect’s high-handed ways all stepped forward to condemn them, and the Wudang Sect’s activities were visibly curtailed compared to those of the other Orthodox Society sects.
Most of all, Yong Soa’s once-revered renown had lost its luster.
Dang Seohui told me that, while taking part in Dragon-Phoenix Association activities, people occasionally cursed Yong Soa out right to his face.
At this point, most people would either choose suicide or struggle to find out where the rumors had begun.
Anyone could see that the current one-sided criticism was somewhat artificial.
Of course he would want to find and kill the person who had started those rumors.
Someone as skilled as Yong Soa would not be held back by helplessness, either.
In other words, there was no reason for him to endure it.
That was why I had reasonably suspected that Yong Soa intended to kill me.
But...
‘Something’s strange.’
He had no bloodlust.
There was no hostility, nor any similar presence.
‘What the hell is this?’
His face held nothing but pure confusion.
“What the...”
And that felt more unpleasant than bloodlust.
“What kind of bullshit are you talking about?”
For an instant, Yong Soa’s eyes flashed before dimming again.
“...”
A suffocating silence followed.
Only the crackle of torches swaying and burning in the wind could be heard beside us.
His face, illuminated by the firelight, returned to its usual blankness.
“Why?”
Once the confusion that had made him seem human disappeared, I felt as though I were facing an inanimate object again.
“I asked why you’re alive.”
Then I realized something was wrong with the question itself.
The rumors about how many times I had barely escaped death were widespread, so he must have known them too.
Most people who heard such rumors would ask, “What did you do?” or “How did you survive?”
They would not ask, ‘Why are you alive?’
Yet this bastard...
“Sounds like you don’t like the fact that I’m alive.”
He spoke as if my death were only natural.
I drew upon the Taeul True Scripture.
The wind died down, while my martial robe gradually swelled.
Three White Moon Heaven-Subduing Forms? Ten Thousand Seas Heaven and Earth Sword Art? Or the Jegal Three Forms?
I considered the martial arts I could use against him.
I had already gone through countless real battles, so I feared no enemy.
Still, when I thought of the Yong Soa I remembered, I could not be certain how effective any of them would be.
He was an endlessly hateful and detestable existence.
Yet as far as I knew, he was undoubtedly no less of a monster than those damned Demonic Cult bastards.
“Then again, I don’t particularly like the fact that you’re still breathing either, Yong Soa.”
“You didn’t understand what I said.”
He slowly turned.
He looked as though he were standing at ease, but I knew better.
Draw-Sword Posture.
That stance, which looked so relaxed, was Yong Soa’s own distinctive draw-sword stance.
He concealed both his bloodlust and presence, then erased his opponent before they could even think to respond.
‘Is this mad bastard really planning to make a move here?’
I raised the Taeul True Scripture to its limit and took up a Draw-Sword Stance.
No matter how fast his Draw-Sword Posture was, Extreme Swiftness from the Three White Moon Heaven-Subduing Forms could surely surpass it.
Though he stood casually, without a single opening, my palms felt damp.
I didn’t even blink as I glared at him. Yong Soa looked down at his own stance once, then spoke.
“Hm... You know this?”
Confusion returned to his face.
“Few people know about the Draw-Sword Posture yet.”
Then Yong Soa muttered that most of those who knew it were dead.
“...”
This was bad.
My resentment toward him had made me reveal my hand too quickly.
“Do you think I’d let my guard down after you just spoke about killing me?”
I tried to brush it off, but he stared into my eyes as if he had already lost interest.
“Jin Sowoon. You are... an uncertainty.”
“...”
“And uncertainties always cause problems.”
Shing.
He drew the Whirlwind Sword, his favored blade.
The silver blade reflected in the gentle moonlight was clearer and more transparent than any sword I had ever seen.
I remembered that beautiful blade pointed at my throat.
And then...
“Do you know? You’re a definite wrong answer.”
I knew the future he would create.
“Everything you’ve chosen has always been wrong.”
I knew the results of the choices he had made in my previous life.
They had never been the right choices.
Still...
“I... do not make wrong choices.”
In this life, he still knew nothing.
“Ha... Fuck.”
His flat voice made my temper boil.
“Then what about the Demon Spirit Plateau, you son of a bitch!”
The anger I had endured for so long finally burst forth.
Three White Moon Heaven-Subduing Forms.
First Form.
Extreme Swiftness.
My sword swung.
Screech!
The sound followed afterward.
At a speed beyond perception, no one could avoid suffering even the slightest wound.
A sword faster than all others.
A sword sharper than all others.
That was Extreme Swiftness, the first form of the White Moon Sword.
But...
Slice.
The Wudang Sect’s distinctive blue-and-white martial robe was cut apart.
The red line that should have followed...
“Ha...”
Did not appear.
“A sharp, fast sword. And you even caught me off guard.”
His reaction made it clear that he had never seen it before.
Even so, he showed no more than a brief moment of admiration.
“But that is all.”
Shing!
He unleashed the Mysterious Heaven Seven Stars Sword alongside the Ladder-to-the-Clouds movement art.
The instant seven sword phantoms fell at once, I scattered the Twin Heavens Sword Art to block them.
Clangclangclangclang!
Countless sword forms stood against the seven sword phantoms.
The Wudang Sect’s fundamental principle was Taiji.
Yet every descending sword bore the weight of a domineering martial path.
It flowed into weak points like water, yet carried such oppressive weight.
It was a sword art that suited him perfectly.
I drew out even more power from the Taeul True Scripture.
Boom! Boom! Boom!
With an explosion of sword qi, Yong Soa’s Whirlwind Sword was knocked back.
Judging from the twitch of his eyebrows, even he seemed quite surprised.
“Do you still think I’m the Jin Sowoon from the Demon Spirit Plateau?”
The power of sword force swallowed Yong Soa’s surroundings whole.
Every swing of my blade descended in a one-sided barrage, as though it would cut apart and erase everything.
Even the Demonic Cult members in Mukrim had flinched in fear before this much power.
Boom! Boom! Boom!
The powerful shockwaves knocked over the torches lighting the darkness.
Sparks bloomed everywhere like fireflies.
At their center stood Yong Soa, shining in the light as he always did.
Right. Just like now, he had always shone nobly by himself in the mud.
Among those who lost their lives as meat shields. Among warriors worse than third-rate, struggling desperately to live even one more day, he had shone alone in noble splendor.
So truly...
“The one who deserves to die is you, Yong Soa!”
Shrrrrrrk!
More sword phantoms and illusion swords split apart than ever before.
The area was packed so densely with swords that it resembled a forest of blades, with no escape route in sight.
Shing!
Within that storm of sword force and sword phantoms, a graceful silver blade moved.
Shing! Shing!
Instead of the explosive noise that should have erupted as swords clashed...
A smooth sound spread repeatedly, like a blade being sharpened on a whetstone.
Shing! Shing! Shing!
Then, from within the forest of swords, a man wearing blue-and-white martial robes walked out as smoothly as flowing water.
‘How is this possible?’
It was not so much admiration for his level as a question about something incomprehensible.
No matter how agile someone was, they could not dodge falling rain or stop wind that seeped in.
Yet he had done it.
Even if it was Yong Soa, was this not an impossible feat?
But I had no time to dwell on it.
Had I not learned this again and again in Mukrim and that demonic realm?
If it didn’t work, I only had to keep going until it did.
If it wouldn’t break, I only had to strike until it did.
Shrrrrrrk.
The Lesser Heaven Sword Art unfolded again and again.
It layered upon itself like the Greater Heaven Sword Art and the Twin Heavens Sword Art.
Swish.
It spread out like illusion swords that left afterimages behind.
Perhaps he decided this wouldn’t do, because Yong Soa’s sword shifted into a defensive stance.
Energy seemed to take the form of Taiji along the path of his sword tip.
Whoooooom.
Just as the energy waves from both of us were about to collide at full strength...
“What do you think you’re doing!”
A voice rang out.
An overwhelming suppression from a massive force of energy brought both our swords to a dead stop.
My sword stood before his heart.
His sword stood before my throat.
“I want an explanation for this situation!”
The low voice, dripping with coldness, belonged to Dang Seohui.
“...”
“...”
Yong Soa, who had been looking into my eyes, shifted his gaze toward Dang Seohui.
Then he slowly sheathed the Whirlwind Sword.
“It’s nothing. Just an ordinary spar.”
After making that excuse, Yong Soa turned away.
Dang Seohui glared at him, but he said nothing and headed for his quarters.
Her gaze then turned to me, demanding an explanation.
I sheathed the Scarlet Radiance Sword and answered.
“It was just a spar.”
I had nothing else to say.
#
The next day.
Dang Seohui approached while I was eating.
“Yong Soa left first.”
Hwa Jeongsan also came over.
“Brat. Is it true you had a match with Yong Soa?”
I considered how to answer, then gave a vague reply.
“I just received some instruction.”
“Like the instruction you got from me?”
Hwa Jeongsan’s face twisted.
I answered casually.
“Still, it was definitely less sharp than Mount Hua’s plum blossoms.”
“...Hmph!”
His mouth twitched as he snorted.
Hwa Jeongsan went back to focusing on his meal, but Dang Seohui kept watching me.
“Are you not going to tell me why you fought?”
The truth was, I didn’t know why we had fought either, or why he had seriously come at me.
The only thing I felt while exchanging swords with him was...
‘Dry, without even the slightest tremor.’
I had clearly felt his intent to kill, but there had not been a trace of emotion behind it.
Just as in the past, his sword held no emotions, and his presence carried no personal feelings.
That was why I had nothing else to tell her.
“Well... He said it was foolish for Senior Dang to play at being a knight-errant.”
“...!!!”
Dang Seohui’s eyes flew wide open, her mouth hanging open in shock.
“So I told him that what Senior Dang does isn’t play, but the pursuit of justice. Then he said I was foolish too. That’s why we fought.”
After being stunned for a long while, Dang Seohui returned to her blank expression and stroked my head with her small hand.
“You did well. Very well. Yong Soa’s the bigger fool.”
Hwa Jeongsan shook his head as if he could not believe it, but Dang Seohui seemed satisfied with that answer.
She started eating too.
Since she wouldn’t eat vegetables, I placed some vegetable side dishes on top of her rice. She glared at me, then finally chewed and swallowed them.
“I-I’m going to stop eating...”
“You need to grow taller.”
As I kept giving her side dishes every other bite or so, Hwa Jeongsan suddenly spoke.
“What are you really planning to do?”
“What do you mean?”
“The lecturer. You don’t expect to get away with this after making such a huge incident, do you?”
Like Dang Seohui earlier, I couldn’t hide my shock as my mouth fell open.
“Are you worried about me right now?”
Hwa Jeongsan was worried about me.
I really had lived long enough to see it.
To see this scoundrel worrying about me.
“...What exactly do you think I am?”
“A scoundrel.”
“...You bastard...”
When Hwa Jeongsan ground his teeth, Dang Seohui chimed in from beside us.
“Hwa Jeongsan is a scoundrel. He went to someone else’s sect and provoked the sect leader like that. He is a scoundrel.”
“...Th-that was just a test! A prearranged test! An inspection!”
“They gave you that role because you are a scoundrel in the first place. A person’s nature does not change easily.”
“...”
Dang Seohui’s simple logic had actually worked.
Seeing Hwa Jeongsan fall silent, I couldn’t hide my surprise again.
The Life-and-Death Unit remained at the Myriad Poison Sect for three more days.
The Myriad Poison Sect were poison experts, but they also possessed excellent medical skills comparable to those of the Tang Clan.
The Academy students’ robust health helped them respond quickly to treatment.
Once the treatment was mostly finished, no one remained unable to move on their own.
Most of them could walk by themselves again.
Even so, the Myriad Poison Sect provided several carriages so the injured could return comfortably.
They also dispatched one unit to ensure we could safely reach the Kunming Branch.
Since we traveled mostly during the day and stayed at large guesthouses, there were no attacks.
After leaving Mukrim, we no longer had to worry about drawing the Demonic Cult’s attention, but one could never rule out the unexpected.
The Academy students were not particularly afraid, either.
Most of their injuries had recovered, and they had regained their strength while resting.
Some even hoped our enemies would show up so they could take revenge.
Dang Seohui and Hwa Jeongsan joining us also played a large part.
“Why are they walking like this?”
At Hwa Jeongsan’s question, I turned to look over the Academy students.
From his perspective, it was bound to seem strange.
“Hey, you Zhongnan penny pincher! What are you going to do when we get back?”
“Who knows... Are you returning to your clan?”
“Maybe I’ll have a drink with the Xitian Sect guys.”
The divisions between the Orthodox Society, White Path Society, and Twelve Peak Alliance had disappeared.
A mixed procession that transcended sect affiliation and differences in skill was bound to look unfamiliar to him.
I looked at the bald... no, Ilgak and Cheol Sunjik, who stood beside me like guards.
“I don’t know either.”
Once we left Mukrim, the Life-and-Death Unit had effectively disbanded.
After entering the Myriad Poison Sect, there was no longer any need to maintain an escape column.
Yet the Academy students still walked in step with the Life-and-Death Unit.
As though they had grown accustomed to it, some showed deep camaraderie within the group, regardless of their sects or affiliations.
Hwa Jeongsan found this extremely strange.
“If the Academy Representative isn’t normal, do all the Academy students become like this too?”
“That’s harsh.”
“Then you’re saying this is normal?”
“Wasn’t the Martial Alliance originally meant to be an organization that transcended affiliation and family?”
“You speak of ideals. Not once in the Martial Alliance’s history has that ever been accomplished, and you call it natural?”
I shrugged and stopped trying to convince him.
Then again, this kind of Martial Alliance had only come into being after we fled to the Northern Sea, so it was understandable that he wouldn’t believe it...
“Ah!”
Hwa Jeongsan slapped his palm into his fist as if he had realized something.
“You bribed them! I heard you have that much money! Right! That was it!”
“...”
Right. He got along perfectly with Gye Cheolyeong. They were such close friends.
I had forgotten for a moment.
“W-what’s with that look?”
I couldn’t hide my pity.
Footnotes:
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