WeTried Translations
Translator/Editor: Chen
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◈ The Martial Genius who Remembers Everything ◈
Chapter 402: The Reason for the Struggle (2)
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Even if you gathered every martial artist in the martial world, they still would not match the Beggar Sect in numbers.
I never thought I would experience firsthand the rumors that circulated among martial artists.
“Attack!”
“Kill him!”
Beggars with knots around their waists charged at me with clubs in hand.
Did these bastards think I was a dog?
I unleashed Myriad Blossoms Invincible Fist with both hands.
Pupupupup!
Pupupupupupup!
Dozens of fist images shot from my hands, pummeling every part of the eight beggars’ bodies.
“Cough!”
“Urgh!”
Unable to defend themselves, the beggars took the fist art head-on, vomited blood, and passed out.
I had brought down eight men with a single move, but another eight beggars immediately rushed in.
The four in front charged with clubs like the last group, while the four behind them seemed to be preparing palm strikes.
The moment the four in the rear unleashed their palm force, I used Lotus, a form of the Flowing Cloud Divine Art, to pull the four in front toward me.
“W-what?”
“N-no!”
Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang!
The men I had pulled in took their allies’ palm force like human shields and collapsed unconscious.
“Figures. You’re beggar bastards, so you can’t even tell friend from foe?”
“D-did we do that on purpose?!”
“T-that’s right! You must have used dark arts!”
I gave them a little mockery, and they charged in, furious. They really were beggars through and through.
So I reformed their minds with Myriad Blossoms Invincible Fist.
Ha, even I thought I had a wonderful personality.
Pupupupupupupup!
“Reform yourselves, and don’t become beggars in your next lives.”
“How dare a Martial Alliance traitor insult the Beggar Sect...!”
Thud!
“What was that? I couldn’t hear you.”
See? They begged for a living and couldn’t even manage proper meals, so they couldn’t speak properly either.
After kicking the last man in the head, I looked around.
I had brought down sixteen men in an instant, yet my energy sense still detected more of them stubbornly closing in.
Ever since the beggar disguised as a slash-and-burn settler had fired the signal flare, these small skirmishes had continued for half a day.
The problem was that the number of approaching beggars was growing exponentially as time passed.
Most had no knots or just a single knot, so dealing with them was not particularly difficult. Still, the attacks would inevitably wear us down as they piled up.
Until now, most of them had no internal energy and fought with clubs or used Lotus Palm, the Beggar Sect’s basic palm art. Yet Two-Knot Beggars were starting to appear.
Their intentions were obvious.
They wanted to hold us here until the pursuers who had fallen behind, or Wudang Sect and Mount Cang Sect’s main force, arrived.
What in the world was happening to this country? The number of beggar bastards seemed endless.
It felt as if no matter how many I knocked down, they would keep shouting, “We haven’t even started yet!”
Dam Ak’s condition was terrible.
He had not been able to rest properly at all, and the guards had been moving fiercely to avoid attacks. They also occasionally left his side to counterattack, leaving his face as pale as that of a lost child.
Yet stopping to rest now would be madness.
“I’ll pick up the pace.”
“...Will that be all right?”
Even the Black Path martial artists clicked their tongues, apparently overwhelmed by the endless stream of beggars.
“Let’s offer only the bare minimum resistance and keep running.”
In the end, whether it was the pursuers or the main force, we would run into them eventually.
If that was the case, the best option was to advance even one more step.
Slash!
Slash!
I ruthlessly cut down those blocking our path.
At first, they had feared the sight of their comrades dying while drenched in blood. Before long, though, their eyes changed, and they began charging like half-madmen.
Clang! Clang! Clang!
Some threw stones or thrust spears they had picked up from who knew where.
Others fired crude arrows that struck their fellow beggars, while some rushed in with pitchforks clearly stolen from nearby farms.
They were deliberately trying to drag us into a chaotic melee, where martial artists were most vulnerable.
“Kill him! Kill him!”
The men we had not properly dealt with while speeding ahead naturally formed a thick encirclement and closed in from every direction.
A beggar struck down by a sword crawled along the ground and grabbed a guard’s ankle. The guard immediately stomped on the beggar to finish him off, but in that brief instant, three other beggars seized the opening and drove in their weapons.
It was the Beggar Sect’s favorite tactic, and one only the Beggar Sect could use.
Human Wave Tactics.
It was a tactic that had never once been defeated until the Demonic Cult’s jiangshi appeared, and it was now being deployed in earnest.
The guards’ movements began to tangle.
“Y-Young Master Jin!”
Like Dam Ak, the Black Path martial artists had gone pale at the tide of beggars and called out to me desperately.
Hearing their voices, I gathered internal energy in my hand.
Rumble.
Then I unleashed the palm force I had prepared.
“Duck!”
It was an abrupt command, but the Black Path martial artists felt the energy gathered in my hand and hurriedly lowered their heads.
Kwakwakwakwang!
A powerful palm force curled through half a circle, devastating the surrounding area.
“What the...?”
The beggars who had avoided the aftermath of the Mad Heaven Divine Palm stared in a daze, so I offered them some advice.
“Didn’t you know my specialty is fighting a hundred men alone?”
Rumble.
Then I immediately unleashed a second Mad Heaven Divine Palm.
Kwakwakwakwakwakwang!
The Mad Heaven Divine Palm swirled through half a circle once more and swept across the field.
Its power to inflict fatal injuries would be weaker, but there was no better method for a wide-area attack.
Besides, many of the beggars gathered here had no internal energy.
“Argh!”
“Cough!”
“Gah!”
The area swept by the two Mad Heaven Divine Palms became a mess of wounded men scattered about like fallen leaves.
“Let’s go!”
Leaving the beggars twitching on the ground behind us, I ran ahead while watching the path before us.
After wiping them out in one strike, the density of beggars had noticeably thinned.
“Push forward! His internal energy must be exhausted!”
“He comes from a third-rate martial faction! He can’t keep fighting!”
Even so, the beggars tried to force another melee, as though determined to maintain their numerical advantage.
But wait... which bastard had just called us a third-rate martial faction?
Was it because they were beggars? They didn’t know a thing.
I was the one who had experienced enough chaotic melees to be sick of them.
‘You bastards, I was a melee specialist in my previous life!’
I couldn’t say that aloud, so I swallowed the words and drew the Scarlet Radiance Sword.
Slash!
Slash!
Slash!
I used only the most efficient movements, with the least force, over the shortest distances.
I was no longer the pathetic Jin Sowoon from my previous life, who had been weak from a lack of internal energy.
Overflowing internal energy coursed through my entire body, leaving no limits on my movements.
“Urgh!”
“Cough!”
“Aah!”
My movements were simple and brief, but my opponents fell with fatal wounds.
The difference from my previous life was clear, and every movement felt light and smooth.
Then a Beggar Sect beggar thrust his head through an opening in my Scarlet Radiance Sword attacks.
I even pulled out the scabbard hanging at my waist and smashed it into his head.
Thud!
Using his body as a stepping stone as he rolled backward with his eyes turned white, I took another step forward and swung the Scarlet Radiance Sword in all directions.
A fierce gale overwhelmed the surroundings.
In my previous life, the limits of my internal energy and shallow attainment had left me able to use only the Lesser Heaven Sword Art. Now, I could draw out the Greater Heaven Sword Art as efficiently as I wished.
Shrrrnk!
The Scarlet Radiance Sword swung like a swift sword, yet countless transforming and illusory blades unfolded through the sword formula.
An attack that even a second-rate martial artist could have stopped was impossible for knotless beggars and one-knot beggars to block.
“Gah!”
“Argh!”
“Don’t run!”
No beggar had the nerve to charge when dozens of sword blades flickered before their eyes, grazing their necks.
The frightened knotless beggars mostly staggered backward and shoved the one-knot beggars. Their feet tangled, sending one-knot and Two-Knot Beggars tumbling forward in heaps to become sacrifices to the Scarlet Radiance Sword.
Slash!
Slash!
I could not even count the arms and hands that were cut off.
Still, crimson streams had already begun to flow through the mountain forest, where spring greenery had been emerging.
Rumble.
To finish it off, I unleashed the Mad Heaven Divine Palm.
Kwakwakwakwakwakwakwang!
As though they had entered hell itself, the terrified beggars blankly fell to their knees.
The massive crowd swayed in disorder before finally collapsing.
“Run!”
We swiftly passed through them.
“Chase...! Chase them!”
“Get up, you beggar bastards!”
The pursuit had not ended completely, but no one charged at us while trusting in their numbers as they had before.
Only those who followed from as far away as possible remained, despite their superiors’ urging.
Even if we shook them off, beggars hidden throughout our route would identify us anyway, so I did not waste my effort.
“Pant, pant!”
“Huff! Huff!”
The situation was not optimistic, either.
They had not been much of an opponent, but the guards had faced a massive melee. Their breathing grew rough as they reached their mental and physical limits.
Perhaps one of them noticed that I had been watching them.
A guard bowed his head to me.
“D-don’t worry. I can keep up.”
I pointed at his arm.
“Wouldn’t it be better to treat that first?”
“Pardon? What...?”
At my gesture, he looked down at his arm and finally noticed the broken sword fragment lodged there.
“When did this...?”
“I’m sorry. I didn’t even give you time for treatment. At least apply this medicine.”
When I handed him golden wound medicine, the guard pulled out the sword fragment while running, pressed his acupoints to stop the bleeding, then slathered on the medicine.
The companion running beside him roughly tore their martial robe and bound his arm tightly.
“Please endure just until we meet the main force.”
I knew they had reached their limits after repeated pursuit and the suffering of that melee, but that was all I could say.
If they could not endure this moment, everything would come to nothing.
“Ah... why...? Why must this happen because of someone like me...?”
Dam Ak watched the scene with a pained groan, his face pale.
I had neither the time to comfort him nor the intention of letting him have his way, so I kept running as if I had not heard.
#
Fortunately, the number of beggars did not increase any further.
They must have decided that adding more numbers was meaningless. Their Human Wave Tactics only worked against conventional martial artists.
Instead, the pursuit force that had been chasing us began to catch up again.
They had closed in three days the distance we had opened over four.
‘What is this?’
Something was strange, though.
Unlike the Beggar Sect’s beggars, the pursuers were not actively trying to stop us.
Seeing their behavior, I signaled the guards.
“Let’s slow down.”
“...”
Perhaps because I had explained its meaning beforehand, none of the guards looked relieved.
We gradually slowed down and maintained a suitable distance from the pursuers.
Even as our speed dropped, the pursuers did not draw closer. That was enough to confirm it.
‘The main force has arrived.’
Otherwise, there was no way they would willingly let us go.
The main force was probably waiting at Sky Bridge, located at the end of the mountain ridge.
I had chosen that place as the battleground from the start.
I spoke to the guards.
“Sky Bridge is at the end of this road.”
“...I see.”
They nodded calmly, as if it did not matter.
That bothered me enough to add something more.
“I’m sorry. Still, I’ll do everything I can.”
They looked faintly surprised, then their eyes settled again.
“Even if things go wrong, please don’t blame yourself. We are only doing what we must, and Young Master Jin is a man of the White Path.”
“...”
“Still, we will never forget that you entered a place of death with us.”
I could not bring myself to reply to their resolute eyes.
Then,
“What are you talking about?”
Dam Ak sensed that something was wrong and asked, but I had no time to answer.
I could already sense them.
Despair Valley, a deep valley so endless it seemed capable of swallowing everything.
A narrow path precariously spanned the valley between its cliffs.
People had named this stunning sight, born from nature’s grandeur, Sky Bridge in awe.
Now, around twenty people in identical clothes stood rigidly atop Sky Bridge.
Even at a glance, they carried an upright presence...
‘Wudang Sect!’
The men stood with their hands behind their backs and their swords tilted to one side, as though they had all matched their stances beforehand.
The characters for Fierce Tiger were embroidered in fine thread on their sleeves. Oddly, it was not the man who appeared oldest, but a comparatively young man standing at the front.
A Wudang Sect disciple who looked no older than me.
“Ha...!”
The moment I saw his face, I could not hold back a groan.
‘Why is that bastard, the Wudang Martial Guardian, here...?’
The Fierce Tiger Unit, affiliated with the White Cloud Unit, had been a bunch of fucking bastards, but an even worse bastard had appeared.
A giant who had been Yong Soa’s shadow and Wudang Sect’s guardian spirit, supporting the sect from the shadows.
Hyeonyeong, the Wudang Martial Guardian.
In my previous life, some people might not have known Hyeonyeong’s name, but no one in the martial world was unaware of the Wudang Martial Guardian.
“Are you the young hero Jin Sowoon?”
His face at close range and his voice were utterly ordinary.
“As you can see, we are from Wudang Sect.”
I did not let down my guard.
He was someone who hid vast greatness beneath that ordinary exterior.
Without making a sound, he stepped aside and made space beside him.
“Come this way. The Orthodox Society will treat all your past mistakes as though they never happened.”
“Mistakes?”
“That is right. We know that Young Hero Jin is filled with spirit, possesses a strong sense of chivalry, and will one day make a great contribution to the Martial Alliance.”
“Isn’t a mistake something that happens when someone harms another unintentionally?”
Without the slightest agitation, his lips moved.
“The Orthodox Society is not so narrow-minded as to hold someone accountable for a mistake made after being bewitched by wicked dark arts for a moment.”
Oh, so if I returned like this, they would overlook both what I had done to the Orthodox Society and my attempt to help Dam Ak escape?
And in exchange, I was supposed to stand by while war broke out and tens of thousands of people were ground up on the battlefield?
“Then let me ask you this. Were the Orthodox Society’s actions a mistake?”
“...”
For the first time, a faint trace of embarrassment appeared on Hyeonyeong’s face.
Was that another thing he resembled Yong Soa in?
“You attacked a guest invited by the Martial Alliance, hunted him down, and even tried to assassinate him. Does Wudang Sect think that can be dismissed as a mistake too?”
I looked at the empty space he had made beside him and laughed.
“Or did that bastard, Revered Daoist Cheongsu, tell you to say that?”
Hyeonyeong flinched.
Behind Hyeonyeong, the Fierce Tiger Unit members shifted as though they might leap out at any moment.
Yet even though I had insulted his direct master, Hyeonyeong’s face showed even less emotion than before.
“Young Hero Jin. Let me ask you one thing.”
He continued in the same composed manner.
His voice was calm to a frightening degree.
“Do you have the confidence to face Wudang Sect, the Orthodox Society... and beyond that, the Martial Alliance and the martial world itself?”
“I’ve heard that question so often that I’m sick of it.”
Shing.
Wooooo.
The Scarlet Radiance Sword’s blade turned red, and an eerie scream with no discernible source rang out.
“Ask that ass-kisser, Revered Daoist Cheongsu, what my answer will be.”
At the same time, the Sword Demon’s martial art unfolded.
Three White Moon Heaven-Subduing Forms.
Second Form.
Extreme Strength.
Countless masses of qi force shot forward like a wall.
Wudang Sect’s Fierce Tiger Unit had already drawn their swords.
Yet Hyeonyeong moved before them.
Nine Palaces Chain Sword, containing the mysteries of the Nine Palaces, unfolded and forcibly twisted the trajectories of the qi force.
Krrrrrrk!
The qi force I had unleashed moved completely beyond my intent, guided by his hand, before crashing into the ground.
Kwakwakwakwang!
The moment thick smoke began to rise, Hyeonyeong and the Fierce Tiger Unit moved at once.
Three White Moon Heaven-Subduing Forms.
First Form.
Extreme Swiftness.
The swift sword that had once cut down the demonic beings rushing at me in a swarm, along with the space around them.
Shraaak!
With a sharp sound of air splitting, it tore through space again.
Two Fierce Tiger Unit members caught within Extreme Swiftness’s range stained their chests red and fell to the ground.
But Hyeonyeong and the Fierce Tiger Unit Leader used that opening to rush toward me.
I stepped forward instead and thrust out the Mad Heaven Divine Palm.
Kwakwakwakwang!
The bridge of stone and earth connecting the valley shook violently, as though it might collapse at any moment.
The others retreated in tense alarm at the Mad Heaven Divine Palm’s destructive force, and I unleashed the Ten Thousand Seas Heaven and Earth Sword Art toward them.
Eight blades of Ten Thousand Swords rose into the air, and the Twin Heavens Sword Art began to unfold. Each time it did, countless bundles of sword qi swept in every direction.
Kwakwakwakwakwakwakwang!
“Aaagh!”
“Cough!”
I felt my vast internal energy drop sharply in an instant, but I did not regret it.
The Wudang Sect bastards had already begun to be driven toward the end of the bridge.
Whoosh!
I followed with Sacred Flame Demon-Extinguishing Hand and unleashed Myriad Blossoms Invincible Fist.
Bright red flames burned from each of the dozens of fist images, driving the Wudang Sect members back threateningly.
Still, no one had been injured since the Ten Thousand Seas Heaven and Earth Sword Art.
Rather than counterattacking, they focused on defense as they steadily retreated from my attacks.
But that was not disappointing.
It was exactly what I had wanted from the beginning.
Crack, crackle.
The bridge, shaken by the impacts of sword qi and qi force, began to shed clumps of dirt and rocks that fell into the thousand-fathom abyss below.
The moment Wudang Sect steadily retreated without loosening their encirclement, I sent sound transmissions to all the guards.
-Now.
Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang!
The instant I spoke, the guards who had emerged at the end of the bridge set off smoke bombs and scattered in every direction.
The Wudang Sect members, who had focused on defense, began retreating to stop them.
I used Void-Destroying Fist with Sacred Flame Demon-Extinguishing Hand to threaten them.
“W-what is this... Gah!”
“What...?!”
The Wudang Sect bastards recoiled in terror, just like their officers had.
As expected, the stronger someone was, the easier they were to deceive.
I immediately changed direction and seized Dam Ak, whom a guard had left on the ground.
I held him as he gasped as though he might faint at any moment.
“W-what in the world...?!”
Then I threw myself off the cliff.
Footnotes:
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