WeTried Translations
Translator/Editor: Chen
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◈ The Martial Genius who Remembers Everything ◈
Chapter 401: The Reason for the Struggle
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Although the Wudang Sect’s Fierce Tiger Unit had set out a little later than the Mount Cang Sect’s Taehwa Unit, they continued receiving messages from the Beggar Sect throughout their journey.
After crossing Horyeong Mountain and arriving at Yeongsan, they encountered Hyeonyeong, who had been pursuing Dam Ak ahead of them.
“What’s the situation?”
Hyeonyeong answered Myeongjin, the Fierce Tiger Unit Leader.
“The Beggar Sect is pursuing the Taeul Sect carriage heading for Huangmei, while Mount Cang lost the Taeul Sect carriage near Maseong.”
“The Taehwa Unit did?”
Myeongjin frowned.
The Beggar Sect might have failed to stop them because none of those sent in pursuit were martial artists, but it was difficult to understand how Mount Cang’s Taehwa Unit had failed to stop the Taeul Sect.
The report that followed was even more absurd.
“Fifteen of their thirty warriors were rendered unable to fight, so they ultimately failed to inspect the carriage.”
“Idiots.”
He could understand it to some extent.
They were not carrying out an official operation, and the Taeul Sect was one of the One Hundred Eight Peaks, the Martial Alliance’s blood allies.
There were reasons they could not spill blood carelessly.
Even so, half the Taehwa Unit being incapacitated by the Taeul Sect was hard to accept.
“They should have been cautious if they knew the White-Handed Divine Maiden was accompanying the escape convoy.”
Myeongjin could not comprehend the Taeul Sect neutralizing the Taehwa Unit through their own strength alone, so he interpreted it in the way that suited him.
“Then should we head for Hong’an now?”
The carriage bound for Huangmei was clearly bait.
It was not even heading toward the Black Alliance, and even if Dam Ak were inside, it would eventually return to Maseong.
It had no choice but to enter the Beggar Sect’s encirclement.
It was nothing more than bait meant to loosen the cordon.
Dam Ak was surely riding with the Taeul Sect’s main group.
Once they passed Maseong, Namjang, Jagwi, and Eunhyeon, they would arrive directly in Anhui Province.
“I think we should stay where we are.”
“What?”
Myeongjin, who had been ready to chase the main group at once, smash the Taeul Sect to pieces, and tear apart their carriage, stopped dead.
“What do you mean?”
“If we pursue the carriage at Maseong now, we won’t be able to respond if Dam Ak appears elsewhere.”
Once they entered Namjang and Eunhyeon, there would be no way back out.
Great mountain ranges blocked both sides.
That was why this official road was the most commonly used route to Anhui Province.
But it also meant that once they fell behind, pursuit would become that much harder.
“You don’t believe Dam Ak is aboard the Taeul Sect carriage heading for Namjang?”
“The Mount Cang disciples said that none of those aboard the carriage used military-style martial arts.”
“...!”
Why hadn’t he considered that?
His attention had been too fixed on the Taehwa Unit’s failure.
“They must have diverted him somewhere along the way!”
“Furthermore, Jin Sowoon and the White-Handed Divine Maiden were with that convoy. They could have driven off the pursuers whenever they wished, yet they only acted in earnest once.”
As Hyeonyeong spoke, the circumstances Myeongjin had failed to understand began falling into place one by one.
They had deliberately dragged pursuers along, then suddenly shaken them off.
Afterward, they openly identified themselves as the Taeul Sect and did not avoid a direct confrontation.
For people who had gone so far as to send Taeul Sect disciples to Huangmei as a deception, their behavior was unnaturally conspicuous.
They had also escaped Wuhan before while avoiding the Orthodox Society’s eyes.
Hyeonyeong had formed a reasonable judgment by piecing together the entire situation.
Overshadowed by Yong Soa as he was, Hyeonyeong was an exceptionally capable man in his own right.
“You’re correct.”
“I believe it would be best to wait in Maseong and pursue anyone suspicious who appears.”
Myeongjin nodded deeply.
“You’re right!”
“I also think we should gather the special units at Maseong.”
“Why?”
“The Taeul Sect has only a limited number of people in Wuhan. Other than the carriages heading for Huangmei and Namjang, the odds that the other carriages contain Taeul Sect members are low. Wouldn’t it be better to gather our forces and hunt them down in one strike?”
“That is also true. I’ll personally send the messages.”
Hyeonyeong might have shown pride at receiving such high praise, but he simply returned calmly to his place.
To Myeongjin, Hyeonyeong looked all the more admirable.
This was Wudang. This was the spirit of Wudang.
After watching Hyeonyeong with pride in his eyes, Myeongjin turned to the Fierce Tiger Unit members.
“Dam Ak is the man who built the massive organization known as the Black Alliance from nothing. If he returns to the Black Alliance alive, countless comrades will die in the future war against the Martial Alliance. Therefore, even if he has not learned martial arts, you must never show him mercy.”
One unit member raised a hand.
“We heard that the Taeul Sect is helping Dam Ak escape. How should we deal with them?”
“If Jin Sowoon has used one final trick, he’ll have separated from the Taeul Sect’s main group and be moving with only a few people.”
Jin Sowoon of the Taeul Sect had grown beneath the Martial Alliance’s protection and received his education through its support.
If he knew gratitude, he ought to have stood at the forefront of the righteous path and burned himself away to uphold justice.
Yet he was helping a demonic fiend for his own desires.
Should someone like that be considered a comrade of the Martial Alliance?
Myeongjin’s life told him otherwise.
“If that is the case, there is no need to show mercy.”
“!”
“!”
The unit members’ eyes widened, but no one argued.
“He is a leader of the Black Path martial world. We must never allow him to reach the Black Alliance. He must die here! Do you understand?”
The spirited unit members answered with resolute force.
“““Yes!”””
#
Half a day after we switched to horses, Dam Ak woke up.
Things were proceeding against his wishes, yet he remained calm.
“When I saw that we failed to pass Yeongsan in time, I became certain. This operation will fail in the end.”
“We haven’t even tried yet. What are you talking about?”
“I know. If the operation had succeeded, we should have been at least as far as Eunhyeon by now.”
Dam Ak, seated behind me, looked around.
“If this is a mountain trail near Maseong, then it must be Jukho Mountain. Taking this road to Anhui means... the journey will take three times as long.”
“Don’t worry. Improvising is my specialty.”
Seriously, why did this man keep saying things to spoil the mood...?
Dam Ak suddenly seized the hem of my clothes and tugged hard.
I had no choice but to look at him.
“What is it...?”
“I need to die here.”
He spoke calmly but firmly.
Then, with that same placid expression, he continued with something chilling.
“I need to die a miserable death here.”
“...What the hell are you talking about?”
“My death will become the spark that sets the furnace called the Black Alliance ablaze.”
Why didn’t his eyes waver?
Even as he spoke of his own death.
“Once lit, the furnace called the Black Alliance will burn even longer with the Martial Alliance as its firewood.”
“...So the books you wrote in the carriage weren’t preparations for an emergency.”
The books he had obsessively written inside the carriage had not been a collection of ordinary strategies.
They were plans to revive the Black Alliance, beginning with his death.
He had never been afraid of dying in the first place.
To him, even death was no more than a tool to use in a strategy.
I couldn’t understand it.
The desire to cling to life was a fundamental desire shared by everyone.
Even Taoists and monks who had attained enlightenment could not escape the fear of death.
So why?
Why did Dam Ak, who had lived his entire life as a scholar in the secular world, have so little attachment to life?
“...What does the Black Alliance mean to you that you would go this far?”
“...Because it is the task entrusted to me.”
He spoke as though he were firm, but something within him felt hollow.
That made it even harder to accept.
In my previous life, Dam Ak had carried out the task entrusted to him until he was used up in the end.
I didn’t want to see him suffer the same fate in this life as well.
“Cut the bullshit and hold on tight.”
“From now on, they’ll come at us in earnest. Then I may not be able to guarantee even Young Master Jin’s life.”
“Instead of worrying about my life, why don’t you worry a little more about your own safety?”
“...I could get off in this state and run away.”
How far did he think he could get with that leg?
“I’ve learned one of the greatest movement arts in the world, and this Flying Dragon Claw of mine is made from Heavenly Silkworm Thread, so it can’t be severed. Please don’t make me tie you up and drag you along, Strategist Dam.”
Had my threat worked? Or was he using that brilliant mind of his to find a way to escape me?
Dam Ak said nothing more. Of course, he didn’t jump off the horse either.
What kind of future had he pictured in his mind?
“What do you expect will happen to the Black Alliance after you die? Can it fight the Demonic Cult?”
“The Martial Alliance will disappear, and the Black Alliance will at least preserve its lineage.”
“Preserving its lineage means most of them will die. Are you fine with that?”
“...”
Whatever future he had anticipated, I had no intention of accepting it.
Why should I lose a capable ally here? Sorry, but one past life of this bullshit was enough.
“Let’s fight together. No matter what kind of bullshit those in power pull, the real danger hasn’t even arrived yet. At least for the sake of preparing for that, let’s not risk our lives over something this ridiculous.”
How many heroes would we need to fight those terrible Demonic Cult bastards?
“...Haha.”
Dam Ak smiled, though I had no idea what he found amusing. It was an awfully complicated smile.
“Are you not risking your life over something ridiculous yourself, Young Master Jin?”
“It isn’t ridiculous at all.”
You need to fight alongside me. I wasn’t about to do all the hard work alone in the future.
As we passed through the mountain foothills, the path gradually narrowed until we reached a point where horses could no longer pass.
We decided to dismount and continue on foot.
The guards took turns carrying Dam Ak on their backs as they ran.
The deeper we went into the mountains, the denser the forest became.
There was little sign of human presence apart from traces of slash-and-burn fields, and wild animals that had been sleeping fled in alarm at the sight of unfamiliar visitors.
As I pushed through the brush at the front, I looked back and gave a hand signal.
“Let’s rest for a moment.”
“We can keep going.”
The guards voiced their determination, but I shook my head.
“Strategist Dam’s condition is not good.”
Only then did the guards check Dam Ak’s complexion and stop in alarm.
Though he had been carried the entire time, it was not easy on him.
Besides, the guards could not use Grass-Skimming Flight every time while carrying him, so there was no way he could be in good condition.
“Blegh.”
After being set down, Dam Ak vomited up the few pieces of jerky he had eaten, along with the Fasting Pellet.
“This is rather embarrassing for someone called a leader of the Black Path.”
Only after drinking a fair amount of water from a canteen did some color return to Dam Ak’s face.
As we rested, one of the guards suddenly sprang to his feet.
“Someone is approaching.”
Amid the insect cries filling the forest in broad daylight, we heard a group of people coming closer.
“Hey, Mister Gang, do you have any grain stored away?”
“What grain? We ate it all. I planted some barley, so take that if you want something to eat.”
“I’m sick of potatoes by now.”
At the faint presences and the voices we heard, the guards, whose hands had gone to their swords, slowly lowered them.
Then four slash-and-burn settlers coming down through the forest met our eyes and froze stiff.
The guards breathed in relief, and Dam Ak carefully spoke to reassure them.
“We’re not dangerous peop...”
Before he could finish, I unleashed the Bow-Arrow Flickering Shadow technique and shot forward.
At the same time, I struck all four people’s paralysis acupoints.
Tap, tap, tap, tap.
The guards and Dam Ak cried out in shock at my actions.
“What are you doing?!”
What was I doing? When danger was right in front of you, wasn’t it natural to act?
Without answering Dam Ak, I looked down at the four slash-and-burn settlers.
“You belong to the Beggar Sect.”
Their expressions turned alarmed.
“...I-I don’t know what you mean.”
“W-we’re only people who live in the forest by clearing slash-and-burn fields.”
The men trembled piteously. After examining them, Dam Ak stepped in front of me.
“Young Master Jin. Aren’t they simply ordinary people?”
Ordinary?
I pointed at the soot they had carelessly smeared over their faces with charcoal.
“Look at their faces. Grime from going without washing would not be so clearly and deliberately defined.”
There was something else as well.
“Why do people who haven’t washed to that extent have no smell at all?”
The best way to distinguish Beggar Sect beggars from ordinary beggars was by their clothing and their smell.
“Do these people smell like they haven’t washed for a very long time?”
“!”
Dam Ak turned his head in alarm.
Thud. Thud.
The two self-proclaimed slash-and-burn settlers standing behind us released their paralysis acupoints and moved.
Whoosh!
Six throwing knives flew toward Dam Ak’s back and neck.
I caught them and swung my sword at the same time.
Slice!
The Lesser Heaven Sword Art flashed out, its edge sweeping toward the Beggar Sect members’ necks.
Clang, clang, clang!
One died on the spot, but the other three defended against the Lesser Heaven Sword Art with their arms and weapons.
More throwing knives flew in, relentlessly targeting Dam Ak.
The guards joined the fight belatedly, their faces filled with shock.
Then I saw the man at the very back pull a signal flare from inside his clothes.
“!”
Leaving the other two Beggar Sect members to the guards, I immediately unleashed Extreme Swiftness of the Three White Moon Heaven-Subduing Forms at the man in the rear.
Whoooosh!
A streak of lightning shot out, severing his hand and neck.
Spurt!
Blood burst out like a fountain. As I confirmed his death, the signal flare that had fallen from his severed hand flew into the air.
Fweee!
A sound and smoke clear enough to notice even in broad daylight.
Then.
Boom.
The red signal flare that exploded at the end marked the beginning of another fierce chase.
Footnotes:
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