WeTried Translations
Translator/Editor: Chen
Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried
◈ The Martial Genius who Remembers Everything ◈
Chapter 363: The Invisible Torrent (3)
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Hefei, the provincial capital of Anhui Province, never went dark, even late at night.
Every entertainment district and inn along its streets was packed with drunkards who had been drinking themselves senseless.
The streets were so crowded with women dressed up for an evening stroll and hot-blooded men trailing after them that there was barely room to walk.
Tonight was no different. Even deep into the night, people showed no sign of sleeping.
At the foot of nearby Huayun Mountain, there were people who could not sleep for an entirely different reason.
“Huff, huff, huff, huff, huff.”
As Gang Chaeseok gasped for breath, he thought to himself.
‘I’m going to die.’
He turned his head slightly.
Everywhere the firelight reached, the Taeul Sect’s Hall Master-level figures and their fellow disciples were on the ground doing push-ups.
“Hngh!”
“Graaah!!”
They had passed forty and were nearing fifty, the age when one was said to understand Heaven’s will.
Yet there they were, making strange groaning sounds while performing the sort of external martial arts training children would do. It was enough to make anyone lose their mind...
“Gang Chaeseok! You’re supposed to be the Taeul Sect’s strongest martial artist, aren’t you? Is this all you can manage?”
A stern roar accompanied an immense weight pressing down on him.
The little strength remaining in his trembling arms felt as though it would give out.
Still, he gritted his teeth and endured.
If he collapsed here, they would place a rock on him and make him start all over again.
Someone beside him was actually enduring this training that sounded like a joke, so Gang Chaeseok could not afford to fall.
“...Sect Leader. Are you all right?”
Hong Mungi’s face was so red it looked ready to burst, so Gang Chaeseok cautiously asked after him. Even so, an answer came back.
“Hall Master Gang.”
“Yes.”
“Shut up.”
“...”
After saying that, Hong Mungi bent his arms again.
His body shook pitifully.
‘Fuck, how did things end up like this?’
It had started with Gang Yuseong.
After Yuseong returned from the Moyong Clan as an exchange disciple, he had received Moyong Gang’s personal instruction. Then, through the secret manuals the Taeul Sect had recovered, his attainment had risen rapidly until no one in the sect could teach him any longer.
The only possible alternative was Sowoon...
But could they summon him because of a disciple’s education when he was running all over the Martial Arts Academy, thousands of li away?
That was out of the question.
During the Academy’s break, Jin Sowoon visited and asked Baek Haegwang to personally guide Gang Yuseong. Since Hong Mungi permitted it, Yuseong’s training had not been an issue for the time being.
Yet that caused another problem.
Under Jin Sowoon’s instruction, Gang Yuseong’s attainment had effectively surpassed that of every other Hall Master except Gang Chaeseok.
‘What the hell happened to that kid?’
Their meager talent could not compare to Gang Yuseong’s, but they had lived far longer than he had.
How could they, as elders of the sect, hold their heads high if their attainment fell behind Yuseong’s when he had not even reached adulthood?
‘We wouldn’t be able to show our faces.’
On top of that, Yuseong had talent for teaching.
The training sessions the younger disciples held among themselves became study, and that study brought even greater attainment.
As a result, the Taeul Sect’s children were growing at an incredible rate.
‘Why is our sect so blessed with disciples?!’
Though smiles never left the Hall Masters’ faces, it felt as if massive stones rested on their chests.
If they lost focus even briefly, the other children might soon surpass the Hall Masters as well.
Around then, Hong Mungi, the sect leader, had begun to feel a deep sense of danger.
“The atmosphere in the martial world is far from normal.”
With the formation of the Black Alliance, the influence of Black Path sects was steadily expanding.
White Path sects that felt threatened by the growth of the Black Path were also expanding recklessly to display their own power.
Because of this, large and small clashes and battles broke out across the martial world every other day.
The Taeul Sect was closing its gates, but that did not mean its safety could be guaranteed forever.
“It cannot be helped if our attainment falls behind the children’s. But when a crisis comes, should those of us who are their masters hide behind them in shame?”
Hong Mungi’s words weighed heavily on the Hall Masters.
“So I intend to ask Hero Baek for help.”
“W-What are you saying?! That’s impossible, Sect Leader!”
The Hall Masters were horrified at the idea of their sect leader seeking instruction from a major figure of the Black Path martial world.
Anger appeared on Hong Mungi’s face as he watched them.
“Will you let your pride stop you from taking responsibility for what truly matters?!”
“...”
The usually compassionate man raised his voice as he rebuked his fellow disciples.
“Why do you think Sowoon keeps risking his life and throwing himself into danger? Do you think the Gold, Silver, and Bronze brothers entered the Academy simply because they were talented?!”
“...”
“Look at yourselves right now! The clothes you wear, the food you eat at every meal, all of it contains the blood and sweat those children have shed. Are those clothes truly comfortable? Does your food go down easily?!”
No one in the meeting hall could lift their head.
“Jin Taesan is struggling as the Great Heaven Merchant Group expands. If enemies threaten the Great Heaven Merchant Group, will you hide behind the children then as well?!”
“...”
“If you cannot do it, then I will do it alone!”
There was no further discussion.
No one could raise an objection.
Grow stronger or die.
The time had come for them to face the harsh truth of the martial world, one they had known for a very long time.
The question was whether Baek Haegwang would truly agree to teach them.
“...I’ll think about it.”
As expected, Baek Haegwang looked troubled.
Though he stayed at the Taeul Sect as a guest retainer, the sect’s people were, in truth, little different from strangers. He could hardly teach them carelessly.
Hong Mungi did not back down easily.
Baek Haegwang might have had a Black Path past, but his conduct while staying at the Taeul Sect was nothing like the rumors. It resembled that of a gentleman.
Hong Mungi also knew that Baek Haegwang, soft-hearted despite appearances, pitied Yuseong and sometimes secretly taught him.
Knowing this, Hong Mungi pleaded with him once again.
He might be cursed for being shameless, but he was that desperate.
“At this rate... our sect may have to worry about whether it can survive. So... please, Hero Baek.”
The sect leader of an entire sect bowed his head.
Baek Haegwang let out a soft groan.
Silence hung between them for some time.
Perhaps Hong Mungi’s earnestness had reached him. In the end, Baek Haegwang agreed.
“Jin Sowoon, that bastard... Ahem. That kid did mention it to me. If you don’t mind, I’ll help as much as my limited abilities allow.”
“Thank you, Hero Baek!”
That was how Baek Haegwang became the martial arts instructor for the Taeul Sect’s elders.
“I gave it much thought. How much of the Taeul Sect’s martial arts should be shown to you...”
This had been their greatest concern from the moment they asked Baek Haegwang for help.
As a martial arts instructor, Baek Haegwang would ultimately need to teach Taeul Sect martial arts. Yet they could not carelessly reveal their sect’s arts to an outsider.
On the other hand, would it not look bad if they showed distrust toward the very person they had asked to teach them?
But then...
“Hmm... I don’t think you need to worry about that for now.”
Baek Haegwang was unexpectedly calm.
“Pardon? What do you mean...?”
“As someone outside the Taeul Sect, I cannot casually examine the Taeul Sect’s martial arts. So it would be better if you study the Taeul True Scripture and ask me whenever there is something you do not understand. It may be slower, but you will be able to rise higher.”
“...”
“Still, do not worry. I will pass on the small insights I have gained throughout my life.”
He had considered even the points that might make them uncomfortable before they could mention them. He even intended to share what was most precious to him.
The Taeul Sect members who had looked down on him because he was a Black Path figure shed tears of remorse.
“There is one thing I would like to ask.”
It was Baek Haegwang’s request. Unless he asked them to hand over the Taeul Sect itself, they could grant him anything.
“Please, speak freely.”
Beginning with the sect leader, everyone eagerly nodded.
Baek Haegwang hesitated briefly before speaking politely.
“Well... since we will be sharing instruction, would it not be difficult for us to maintain formal speech with one another? Also, if you only do what you already know how to do without learning anything new, that can hardly be called training.”
They immediately understood what Baek Haegwang meant.
Hong Mungi nodded even harder.
“It is only natural, both by skill and by standing in the martial world. Please treat us however you wish. No, work us as hard as you like.”
“Thank you for understanding.”
“I’ll be counting on you. Hahaha!”
“I’ll be counting on you as well. Hahaha.”
From then on, whenever the sun set over Hefei, training began on Huayun Mountain.
“Get your heads straight, you bastards!!!”
...Something had gone wrong.
“Huh? Listen to that answer. Did you come here to have fun?”
“...”
“What? Internal cultivation? You haven’t even put up the pillars, and you want to raise the rafters already? You, get to the top of Huayun Mountain and back right now!!!”
The gentlemanly Baek Haegwang was nowhere to be found. In his place stood a demon-like lecturer who worked the Hall Masters to death.
“Basics, basics, basics! You have no foundation! Whether you want to reach the Peak Realm or go beyond it, your roots need to be that much deeper!”
“Insight? What good is insight? Your body won’t move, stiff as a rotten old tree!”
“What?? Five Dragons Serving the Sage? Hah! I wondered why Jin Sowoon was insane. Is that deranged way of thinking a sect tradition?!”
Grueling external martial arts training, followed by form practice until they were completely drained.
Then, after they had exhausted every last bit of strength, came sparring with Baek Haegwang.
Even Gang Chaeseok, who had suffered his share in the Martial Alliance, could barely endure the punishing routine.
“When roots grow deep, a tree grows tall. The reason you did not know how to advance before was because you had not rooted yourselves deeply enough!”
“Give me a fucking break. You love talking about balancing internal and external martial arts. That is why your internal cultivation is useless and your external martial arts are useless too!”
“What should you do, then? Roll around until you die! No, just die! Don’t worry about it, just die!”
True to his words, Baek Haegwang drove them to the absolute edge of their limits.
The training was so harsh that some people began fainting.
“Don’t worry. I’ve already settled things with King Yama.”
Yet Baek Haegwang only needed to massage them briefly and press a few acupoints before they snapped awake.
“Urgh...”
“Guh...”
As a result, even those who wanted to collapse from exhaustion could not.
They taught the children during the day and suffered through this every evening. Before even half a month had passed, everyone began to fear for their lives.
“Sect... Leader, cough! Hah... No matter what, this is too much...”
“H-Hall Master, please say something too... Senior Brother Geumpyo, guuuh... He did nothing all day, yet he kept bleeding from the nose. It wouldn’t stop...”
“...Something is wrong. Who in the world... trains like this...?”
Hong Mungi had been about to rebuke their whining, but he fell silent when he saw the Hall Masters, who had become skin and bones in just a few days.
Since he had asked for help first, he could not say anything. Still, he too had felt that something was not right.
But a man’s word weighed a thousand gold, and the dignity of a sect leader was as great as Mount Tai. He could not retreat now.
“A man does not go back on his word! I will keep the promise I made!”
The Hall Masters, who had been looking at him desperately, let their shoulders droop.
Even so, they were moved by their sect leader’s unyielding will as he stood firm before them like Mount Tai...
“But!”
“??”
“...I will not stop you if you go and speak with him! I absolutely will not stop you!!!”
“...!!!”
“Ahem...!”
For some reason, the Hall Masters felt that their sect leader’s back looked very small.
Even so, once the sect leader had given them permission, they needed to find a way to survive.
The Hall Masters put their heads together for the sake of survival.
“We cannot talk to him in the evening.”
“Quite right. He is a demon... No, a person who forces even those who faint to wake up and run.”
“But... will he even listen to us if the Sect Leader does not step in?”
Did they say that necessity breeds ingenuity?
“What about visiting him during the day?”
“During the day?”
“Yes. Well... Master Baek seems to act very differently when he is with his wife and daughter, with his family.”
“Even if he is the Sword Demon... No, Master Baek, would he really care that much?”
“But we have no other choice.”
It was an absurd plan, but when their lives were on the line, people clung to even the smallest hope.
Once they had decided, they acted quickly.
With Gang Chaeseok as their representative, the Hall Master-level figures went to find Baek Haegwang.
He was having tea with his wife when he calmly received them.
“Welcome.”
Gang Chaeseok and the Hall Masters were dumbfounded when Baek Haegwang politely bowed his head.
Having heard every curse under the sun from him the night before, they found the shock even harder to shake.
“Welcome. Shall I prepare some tea?”
Beside him, Seop Sojeong rose with a smile as lovely as a gourd blossom.
How could such a pure and graceful woman be the partner of that lunatic... No, their instructor?
“N-No, it is all right. We only came to speak briefly before leaving.”
“Oh, what a shame.”
Seop Sojeong’s beauty was striking, but what they found truly difficult to adjust to was Baek Haegwang’s attitude.
“What brings you here?”
“...”
Had he lost his mind... No, did he seem like a completely different person?
The demon-like face from the firelight was gone. He was smiling kindly, like someone who had never done a bad thing in his life.
Struck by the cognitive dissonance, Gang Chaeseok barely managed to bring up the matter at hand.
“...Ahem. T-The truth is, the training seems too difficult.”
“Oh my!”
Seop Sojeong looked startled and scolded Baek Haegwang.
“You’re not pushing the Taeul Sect members too hard, are you?”
The Taeul Sect members could not hide their nervousness. Would Baek Haegwang start hurling curses at them because she had defended them?
Unlike those who flinched, Baek Haegwang readily nodded.
“I see... So it was overly strenuous training.”
They had expected him to curse them for being unable to endure even that much, to ask whether they were men hiding behind a woman because they had nothing better to do...
But Baek Haegwang responded reasonably, and their faces brightened as if they had finally seen a glimmer of hope.
“Yes, Hero Baek. At this rate, someone may suffer serious harm.”
Seop Sojeong added her support as she grabbed her husband’s arm.
“You! If you hurt the Taeul Sect members, I will not let you off!”
“Urgh...”
Baek Haegwang had clearly been pushed into a corner.
He even looked troubled.
The Taeul Sect members inwardly cheered, certain they had succeeded.
Then...
“Sigh... I apologize. Jin Sowoon has endured training three times harsher than what you received every time, so I thought that, as elders of his sect, you would at least be able to endure that much.”
The Hall Masters’ bodies stiffened at Baek Haegwang’s words.
“Still, training like that every time is unreasonable...”
Baek Haegwang continued as he turned his teacup in his hand.
“I once asked him because I was curious. I asked why he pushed himself that far.”
“...”
“Do you know what he told me?”
For the first time, the Taeul Sect’s people heard Jin Sowoon’s story.
They learned of his honest feelings only through Baek Haegwang.
“Sowoon said that no matter what enemy stood before him, he wanted to become strong enough to protect his people.”
“...”
“I told him that becoming the strongest under heaven was difficult.”
The Hall Masters lowered their heads.
Baek Haegwang looked down into his teacup and gave a faint, bitter smile.
“Then I thought to myself. He was still so young... yet he had been struggling because he believed no one would protect him.”
How deeply had Jin Sowoon been hurt as he watched the Taeul Sect endure one humiliation after another?
They had told him that it could not be helped, that everyone simply lived according to the hand they had been dealt.
That being looked down on and ignored were things one could simply endure and move past.
How much must he have resented them for teaching him to live like a loser?
Jin Sowoon threw himself into danger and burned himself to the limit because...
The adults had not taken responsibility.
“...”
“...”
Had anyone cared for the disciples as much as Jin Sowoon did? Had anyone worried as much about the Taeul Sect’s future?
They were ashamed of themselves for complaining that their bodies hurt after receiving only a little training.
Baek Haegwang continued.
“To be honest, I also pushed you a little too hard. Looking at the state of the martial world, I cannot predict how long this age of peace will last. Since the Mukrim incident, each sect’s actions have also begun to grow more extreme.”
His gentle words pierced them more deeply than all the curses they had heard the night before.
Did they truly have the right to complain of pain?
Did they have the right to call their suffering unbearable?
Baek Haegwang lowered his head.
“I was moved by how much that boy cared for the Taeul Sect... I suppose I became impatient without realizing it. I apologize.”
Once they understood the feelings behind Baek Haegwang’s relentless training, the Hall Masters could not simply remain standing.
No, they would not have been human if they had.
Thud.
“I’m sorry, Hero Baek! Please forgive our foolishness!”
“““Please forgive us!”””
The Taeul Sect members fell to their knees together and clasped their fists, shedding tears as they realized their own foolishness.
“Sob... We will never complain that it is difficult again. Please work us even harder!”
“We will train until we die. No! Work us until we die, and work us even after we are dead!!”
That night...
Clang! Clangclangleclang!
Dozens of lumps of iron fell before the Taeul Sect members.
Hong Mungi, who had been secretly hopeful after hearing that the Hall Masters had gone to speak with Baek Haegwang, asked in confusion.
“W-What is this?”
“What else would it be? Iron rings. Put one on each hand and foot.”
“Y-You mean we are supposed to train while wearing these?”
“You asked me to work you hard, didn’t you? Until you died, and even after you died?”
“...”
Hong Mungi quickly turned his head.
He was looking toward Gang Chaeseok and the other Hall Masters who had visited Baek Haegwang.
What the hell happened?!
If you have mouths, then say some...
“...”
“...”
“...”
Yet no one met Hong Mungi’s eyes.
“From now on, anyone who talks back gets another iron ring.”
Hong Mungi watched Baek Haegwang smirk and realized something.
“Ha, you whined that a little of that was hard? And you deliberately went when I was with my wife?? Do you know how hard it was for me to explain everything to her?!!”
They had provoked the wrong person. Very badly.
And then...
“Consider yourselves dead from now on! You bastards who are not even worth as much as earthworms!!!”
They should have stopped those damned Hall Masters.
Footnotes:
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