WeTried Translations
Translator/Editor: Chen
Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried
◈ The Martial Genius who Remembers Everything ◈
Chapter 39: The First-Rate Martial Artist Stirring Up a New Wind
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Three formation masters from the Martial Alliance were dispatched through its Yueyang Branch.
The people gathered at Demon Spirit Plateau looked at them expectantly, only to be unable to hide their disappointment.
Two youths who had only just lost their peach fuzz, and one middle-aged person.
Their outrage only grew when they learned these were not the people who had set up the Martial Alliance's formation, but personnel who had merely managed it.
“Is this everyone?”
Those gathered at Demon Spirit Plateau, White Path and Black Path alike, were confronting the Martial Alliance's Yueyang Branch Head.
From the White Path's perspective, the Black Path might have been grating, but united as victims, they no longer distinguished between enemy and ally.
“We intend to first determine what kind of formation it is, then dispatch additional personnel.”
“What about Yong Soa? I heard he survived and made it out of there. Where is Yong Soa?”
“Hyeoncheong reported to the Martial Alliance, then returned to the sect's main mountain because of an urgent matter.”
“What? Is there something more urgent than five thousand people dying?”
Namgung Jinmyeong's fist trembled. How could people they might as well have called blood allies act like this?
“Hyeoncheong also said he had no idea what kind of formation it was, so he likely wouldn't be much help even if he came.”
The Martial Alliance's Yueyang Branch Head desperately tried to excuse themself, but those in the know all understood.
The Wudang Sect's most cherished talent.
An unrivaled rising star of the Wudang Sect.
They did not want someone like that to bear responsibility for being the sole survivor among five thousand people.
“There were Mount Mao Sect disciples among those who entered. I heard they were there. Surely they could have identified the formation?”
“...Hyeoncheong said nothing of the sort.”
The discussion went nowhere.
At this rate, they would only repeat the same words forever.
“Bring that bastard Yong Soa here at once!”
“...”
The Yueyang Branch Head lowered their head, their eyes darting about.
“Do you not know that if this ends in tragedy, Hyeoncheong, the Wudang Sect, and the Martial Alliance will all pay the price?”
“...Well.”
The Yueyang Branch Head continued despite trembling under the relentless pressure.
“The Martial Alliance's position is that, since this was not part of the original mission, it cannot accept responsibility. Sending formation masters was merely a courtesy to our allies. Responsibility lies with those who entered the formation...”
“What did you say?!”
“They also said that how others deal with Hyeoncheong and the Wudang Sect is not the Martial Alliance's concern.”
“Who said that? The Council of Elders? The Mantong Office?”
“...It is the Martial Alliance's decision.”
Having spent his entire life as a member of the Namgung Clan, Namgung Jinmyeong had never experienced such helplessness. His anger was all the greater for it.
He headed for the Mount Mao Sect formation masters gathered nearby.
After hearing what had happened, the Mount Mao Sect had sent ten people as support. They had arrived days ago and were already studying the formation.
“How is it?”
“...The entrance itself is only an ordinary natural formation. Yet considering that five thousand people entered and could not come out, this may be an elaborate trap.”
“Can it be dismantled from this side?”
“The formation's axis is not here. It is so vast that we cannot even gauge its scale from outside.”
“So there is no way to save them.”
“Yu Jiryang is one of the finest disciples in our sect. If even that child could not emerge from there...”
“Hyeoncheong... no, Yong Soa apparently made it out. How do you think he did it?”
“...I believe he may have used a momentary burst of destructive force.”
“Destructive force?”
“If they were near the outside and had not fully entered the formation's influence, they might have briefly opened its gate through a sudden burst of force. Yet that would require at least five gapja[1] of internal energy, or something like a Thunderclap Bomb.”
“So that bastard had one of those two things.”
“Isn't five gapja of internal energy something found only in legends?”
“I understand. Please continue your efforts.”
“I can only apologize for being unable to help.”
Namgung Jinmyeong ground his teeth.
If only he knew what had happened inside, he might at least have felt some relief. Yet Hyeoncheong, who knew what had happened, had fled back to the Wudang Sect through the Martial Alliance.
Every martial artist lived knowing that life-threatening moments could arise in the martial world.
That did not mean they could easily accept deaths this absurd.
“San.”
“Yes, Father.”
“Go to Wudang Sect at once with the Sky Vault Unit, the Great Lotus Unit, and the Thunderbolt Unit.”
“...”
He understood sending the Sky Vault Unit and the Great Lotus Unit, but the Thunderbolt Unit was the Namgung Clan's elite strike force. They were not meant to leave the Namgung Clan's walls unless the clan's very survival was threatened.
Namgung San's face went pale at the order to mobilize them.
Was his father planning to wage war against the Wudang Sect?
“If they refuse to hand over Yong Soa, pass through the Sword-Discarding Pool.”
To pass through the Sword-Discarding Pool without laying down their swords meant armed conflict.
“At present, the only force in the martial world capable of demanding the truth from Wudang Sect is the Namgung Clan.”
“...”
The Wudang Sect was not the only issue in this matter.
Next, they would raise the matter with the Beggar Sect, then the Hao Sect.
The Hao Sect might be a sect that moved between the White Path and Black Path, but the other two were members of the Nine Sects One Gang.
This would not end with words alone.
‘In the worst case, the Martial Alliance will surely step in.’
Even so, Namgung San could not voice the thought circling in his mind.
His father, Namgung Jinmyeong, could not possibly be unaware of it.
Perhaps this had already been discussed with his grandfather, the Azure Emperor Divine Sword.
‘The situation is terrible.’
Had it ended with Namgung Seonhwa's predicament alone, they would not have gone this far. But the matter involving the branch family was added to it, doubling and tripling their rage.
“Are you afraid?”
“No!”
“...I am.”
“What?”
“I don't know if I can ever forgive myself for letting things come to this.”
Namgung Jinmyeong blamed himself more harshly than anyone else.
“Father...”
“When I think of what that young child must have suffered in there, it tears my heart apart.”
“I will bring Yong Soa back.”
“...”
Instead of answering, Namgung Jinmyeong looked toward one wall of the darkened cave.
“Even if we bring that child back, can Seonhwa be saved...?”
A self-mocking question directed at no one in particular.
Rather than answering rashly, Namgung San looked where Namgung Jinmyeong was looking.
Then.
“Huh?”
For a moment, he thought he had seen wrong.
Dozens of torches had already lit the cave's interior as brightly as day.
Yet.
“Father, did you see that?”
A black shadow was writhing.
“I-I saw it!”
At Namgung Jinmyeong's shout, the Mount Mao Sect formation masters studying the formation hurried back.
They feared the formation might devour people.
Instead of lunging at them, the black shadow writhed before suddenly spreading apart to both sides.
Then, from between the shadows, it spat out a skeletal figure who barely looked human.
A similarly emaciated woman was carried on the person's back.
Namgung Jinmyeong and Namgung San shouted at the same time.
“Seonhwa!”
“Namgung Seonhwa!”
Behind the person carrying Seonhwa, a group emerged in a long line, each carrying another person who looked just as unwell.
Strangely, they walked only where the person at the front had stepped, and even after entering the cave, they kept their heads lowered.
As Namgung Jinmyeong and Namgung San took Seonhwa from the man's back, the man at the front rasped in a cracked voice.
“W-water. F-food...”
Startled, everyone quickly handed over food and liquor they had brought or hidden on their persons.
Not even knowing who had given him what, the man crammed it into his mouth. After chewing for a long while, he swallowed it all at once.
“Pwah, I nearly died.”
At that moment, shouts erupted from every direction.
The first survivor had appeared among the five thousand people thought dead.
#
When Jin Sowoon appeared, the Martial Alliance's Yueyang Branch Head tried to question him separately, saying they needed to investigate what had happened inside. Namgung Jinmyeong and the Black Path experts did not stand by quietly.
“The Martial Alliance said it bore no responsibility!”
“B-but...”
“My daughter's survival is the only thing keeping me sane right now. Do not make me lose any more faith in the Martial Alliance.”
The Martial Alliance personnel could not act rashly under Namgung Jinmyeong's icy threat.
The appearance of the first survivors did not mean everything was over.
Thousands still remained inside.
“That is the Boundless Indestructible Soul-Destroying Formation?”
The Mount Mao Sect formation masters were shocked by the return of a legendary formation that had vanished three hundred years ago.
What came next astonished them even more.
“You can find a route through the Boundless Indestructible Soul-Destroying Formation?”
The Mount Mao Sect formation masters found it difficult to believe Jin Sowoon, who had led the survivors out.
“I confirmed it.”
The emaciated Yu Jiryang spoke beside him.
With Yu Jiryang's confirmation, there was no longer any room for doubt.
“But how...?”
“The Mount Mao Sect formation masters had been calculating the formation's route from the start. Then that bastard Yong Soa interfered...”
Veterans of the martial world, from both the White Path and Black Path, had gathered here. Yet everyone shared the same resentment toward Yong Soa.
“Then how did you escape before the route was fully calculated?”
Jin Sowoon continued eating porridge as he answered the Mount Mao Sect formation master's question.
It was porridge boiled with dried meat at the camp outside the cave. Jin Sowoon was already on his tenth bowl.
“I calculated the rest inside by myself.”
Even after hearing it, they could hardly believe it.
“You... did you not say you were a disciple of the Taeul Sect?”
When the Mount Mao Sect formation master suddenly brought up the Taeul Sect, the Black Path experts listening nearby each had something to say.
“Fuck! What does the Taeul Sect have to do with this?”
“You idiots are still judging people by where they come from?”
“That's right! If someone can bring our disciples out of there, we should bring them in even if they're from the Demonic Cult, not the Taeul Sect.”
Yu Jiryang spoke in agreement.
“Martial Uncle. We do not have time for this. People are dying inside even now.”
“...R-right. Ah, and I apologize.”
Pressed by the Black Path experts, the Mount Mao Sect formation master finally took a step back and looked at Namgung Jinmyeong.
Namgung Jinmyeong asked Jin Sowoon again.
“Is there anything we should be careful of on the way out?”
“If you follow my footsteps exactly, you will not lose your way inside the formation. But if you take even one wrong step, you will become trapped inside.”
“It will not be easy for those still in there.”
“That is why I only brought out ten people the first time.”
“How many can you lead out at most?”
“A formation route remains stable for about a quarter of an hour. To be safe, it would be best for no more than twenty people to travel at a time.”
“The Namgung Clan will prepare martial artists.”
“Our Four Emperors Association will provide martial artists as well. They will be better than those White Path scraps.”
“You have heard the name Black Lion Society, have you not?”
Everyone wanted their own martial artists sent in first.
“You should think carefully. If you lose the path just once, you will never be found inside the formation again. I have gone in and out several times, but I have never encountered anyone who entered before me.”
Those stepping forward fell silent at Jin Sowoon's words.
In the end, Namgung Jinmyeong asked again.
“Then what would be best?”
“First, send me twenty Peak Realm martial artists who have worked together before, not people drawn from separate groups. When they enter with me for the first time, they should carry food. When they return, they should first carry out twenty patients. Prepare physicians on both sides of the cave so they can be treated immediately upon emerging. Then prepare the next group of martial artists to enter and repeat the process.”
“That would be best.”
Namgung Jinmyeong and the Black Path experts nodded as they listened.
“But then you must keep going inside. Are you all right?”
Among those who had come out alive, Jin Sowoon was also one of the most worn down.
Furthermore, he had shed so much blood inside that his blue martial uniform was soaked black.
“From now on, it is a race against time. We cannot delay even a moment if we want to save as many people as possible.”
“I understand.”
At those words, everyone began moving in perfect order.
#
The Black Path experts went to Yueyang, forcibly woke nearby physicians, and carried them to Demon Spirit Plateau. The White Path experts visited Yueyang's inns and taverns, prepared food with every available ingredient, and sent it to Demon Spirit Plateau.
Beginning with the Namgung Clan's Thunderbolt Unit, twenty people entered carrying food. After a long while, they returned, each carrying a survivor on their back.
Without distinction between the Black Path and White Path, everyone treated whoever they could reach and worked to help them recover. Whenever a corpse emerged, it was taken to the command post so they could find someone connected to the deceased.
“Are you all right?”
With nearly ten thousand experts moving at once, there was no shortage of hands.
Their greatest concern was Jin Sowoon.
Since emerging from the Soul-Destroying Formation, no one had entered it more than Jin Sowoon. For three days now, he had gone in and out without sleeping a wink, and he looked even worse than when he first emerged.
“I am fine. If I regulate my qi for a moment...”
That was always his answer. He made up for his lack of sleep with brief sessions of qi-regulating breathing.
The sight could not help but weigh heavily on the martial artists.
Peak Realm experts might endure a month without sleep, but how could a Taeul Sect disciple be expected to match them?
Unable to watch any longer, Namgung Jinmyeong took a wooden box from inside his robe.
“Take this, then regulate your qi.”
“What is this?”
“The Great Lotus Divine Pellet.”
“What? How could I accept something so precious...?”
“Precious? It is nothing compared to you saving a member of our clan. I will repay you properly later. For now, take this and restore your strength. I am sorry, but you are the only person who can save those still inside.”
Once Namgung Jinmyeong stepped forward, the Black Path experts could not remain still.
“Our Black Lion Society's spiritual medicines likely would not suit the Daoist cultivation method you practice, so take this instead. It is a Purple Fire Orchid. You know what a Purple Fire Orchid is, do you not?”
“It would have been good if I could give you the Four Emperors Pellet, but unfortunately I cannot. I did purchase a Clear Heart Pellet from a black market outlet in case of need, so please accept it.”
“Have you heard of Hyunyang Water? Our sect had gathered it to make spiritual medicine, but...”
“Nine-Leaf Divine Herb...”
“A Heaven-and-Earth Herb.”
No one knew where they had all hidden so many spiritual medicines, but soon Jin Sowoon had a large pile of spiritual medicines and elixir pellets before him.
None could compare to the Great Lotus Divine Pellet, but they would be more than enough to help restore his vitality for now.
From then on, Jin Sowoon filled his stomach with spiritual medicines rather than food before entering the formation.
Four more days passed.
As the days and nights continued and even the experts began to tire, the final survivors finally appeared.
“That is everyone.”
“A total of four thousand two hundred eighty people have survived.”
The moment the command post's announcement ended, people from both the White Path and Black Path embraced one another and shouted loudly enough to shake heaven and earth.
“Waaaaah!”
[1] Gapja: A sixty-year cycle in the traditional East Asian calendar; in martial fiction, it is used as a measure of roughly sixty years' worth of cultivated internal energy.
Footnotes:
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