WeTried Translations
Translator/Editor: Chen
Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried
◈ The Martial Genius who Remembers Everything ◈
Chapter 414: The Price of Fate (2)
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After exchanging a single move, I had only one thought.
‘He’s strong!’
It was not simply a matter of whether he had more internal energy than I did.
We were on entirely different levels.
Just as even the strongest rabbit could not defeat a tiger cub.
The very world he stood in was different from mine.
If I had to compare him to anyone, he was on the level of Moyong Gang and Namgung Taeha.
A chill ran down my spine, and cold sweat streamed down my back.
My heart sank with a thud, then pounded wildly, showing no sign of calming.
‘This is fucking ridiculous...’
What were the odds that I would obtain the Taiji Pellet, a spiritual medicine of the ages, only for an unknown master to steal it right before I ate it?
It would be easier to get struck by lightning while cultivating and awaken a Lightning Spirit Divine Art.
“Why aren’t you answering? Was it not that important after all?”
The old man no longer bothered pretending. He spoke rudely and wore an insolent expression.
How could I get out of this situation? What would benefit me most...?
After thinking for a moment, I put on an easygoing smile and bowed.
“Ah! It seems to have fallen out. It’s precious to me. Would you return it?”
I was as polite as humanly possible.
This was not humiliation. It was simply the proper attitude to show an elder.
“This is yours?”
Click.
The moment the wooden box opened, the Taiji Pellet’s sweet fragrance spread through the air.
Hey! Hey! Old man! The scent’s going to fade!
“Ahem, it’s, it’s valuable. Could you close it, please?”
“And if I don’t want to?”
“P-please.”
I was so desperate that I was stammering. This was driving me insane.
“Heh heh, you’re an amusing one. You used a killing move on me, and now you’re trying so hard to be polite. Are you really a child of the White Path?”
Damn it, what was he even talking about?
Still, I forced the corners of my mouth upward.
“May I ask your esteemed name, Senior?”
“You don’t need to know.”
You fucking bastard...
Why were all the old men I met so eccentric?
Or did people become eccentric the moment they got old?
“What exactly do you want? Do you want that wooden box?”
“And if I do?”
What did he mean, if he did? Why was he acting as though he could just take someone else’s belongings?
“There is an old saying that the greedy die for wealth. Those who covet another’s possessions often place their lives in danger.”
“Oh... There was a saying like that? Strange. I’ve coveted other people’s possessions all my life, yet I’m still alive.”
“...”
The old man mockingly swung one arm in a circle.
“You were confident too, weren’t you? You said I would at least have to leave an arm behind. Yet it’s perfectly fine.”
Whoosh, whoosh.
His arm moved so lightly that it looked ready to fly into the sky.
Fuck, I thought I could take one of his arms.
Before I knew he was an absolute master.
When faced with a suspicious old man like this, the best option was to flee without forming any ties. Yet I could not run because he held the Taiji Pellet.
This was enough to drive anyone mad.
“Then how about this? We split the elixir pellet equally, then each go our separate ways...”
“And if I don’t want to?”
“...”
I suppressed the anger boiling inside me and spoke.
“Then how about six to four?”
“Rejected.”
“Seven to three... I can’t go any further than that.”
“Hmm. And what will you do if I refuse?”
He grinned as he casually tossed the wooden box into the air. Watching him do that made me wish more than anything that I could punch him square in the face...
“What, are you going to report me to the authorities?”
“...”
The corners of his mouth trembled as though he found this entertaining. The old man seemed to enjoy the situation itself.
Considering how skilled he was at provoking people, this clearly was not the first time he had gained the upper hand like this.
I adopted a serious tone.
I had no intention of letting him drag me around and dictate the pace.
“What do you want?”
“What do I want?”
“You know the item you’re holding isn’t an ordinary elixir pellet. If you take it without proper preparation, you won’t be able to bear the consequences.”
“...”
The old man looked into the wooden box again.
His expression became slightly more serious. It seemed we might finally be able to have a conversation.
“Judging from the move we exchanged earlier, it doesn’t seem like you need that item very badly, Senior. Rather than taking such a risk, why don’t you tell me what you want? I’ll grant it.”
“It’s that dangerous?”
“Yes.”
“...”
“That elixir pellet belongs to a highly reputable... ahem, enormous... cough! sect of the White Path. If they learn that you took it, Senior... it won’t end with them simply calling you a thief.”
The old man’s expression stiffened.
He thoughtfully stroked his goatee.
“Heh heh, you certainly have a way with words. Listening to you, I almost feel as though it’s truly dangerous.”
Maybe he was starting to listen...
“A few days ago, you thoroughly crushed the Fierce Tiger Unit and made a mortal enemy of the Wudang Sect. Now you’re saying you’ll inform the Wudang Sect about the Taiji Pellet?”
Fuck, he knew everything?
The old man smirked as he tossed the wooden box into the air again.
“Go on, then. Let them know. I’d like to see whether you can even pass through the Sword-Discarding Pool of the Wudang Sect.”
What the hell was this?
#
He was an absolute master.
I knew nothing of his affiliation, name, or disposition.
Still, from the few words we had exchanged, he did not seem intent on harming me or especially covetous of the Taiji Pellet.
That did not mean he seemed willing to return it either.
Like Moyong Gang, people with somewhat unusual minds at that age tended to explode in anger when their games or amusements did not go as they pleased.
The moment that happened, the game stopped being a game.
In that brief instant, I combed through the library in my head, reading every military manual, book of stratagems, and treatise on schemes I could find before deciding how to deal with him.
Yes, this was the only way.
Thud!
“Give it back...!!!”
“It’s mine! Why are you taking someone else’s things!”
“Ah! Aaaah! Aaaaaah!!”
I lay on the ground, kicked my feet, clung to his trouser leg, and wailed.
Thank goodness my fellow disciples and the Taeul Sect members were not here.
I would have died of embarrassment otherwise.
Even the old man seemed flustered, as though he had not expected this reaction.
“...Stop that.”
“Give it back!!!! Give it back, I said!!!!”
“Get up! Aren’t you the Black Flame Dragon feared by both the Black Path and the White Path...!”
“It’s mine! Mine!!! Give Sowoon’s back!!!”
“Stop...! Stop!!!!”
The old man’s ragged clothes billowed, and terrifying killing intent erupted from him.
That was when I realized.
‘This works?’
My jaw trembled beneath the overwhelming killing intent, but I gritted my teeth and rolled around even more violently.
“It’s Sowoon’s!!!! Give Sowoon’s back!!!”
“You little bastard...”
The old man lightly tapped the ground.
I wondered what he was doing, but the earth suddenly bulged upward and sent my body floating into the air.
“What...?”
Before I could say anything else, the old man casually waved his hand from side to side.
At that instant, enormous energy clashes struck from both sides of my body.
Thud! Thud!
Pain tore through my entire body, as though I had been slapped by palms as large as houses.
That was not the only problem.
I tried to raise my internal energy to protect my body.
“Urgh...”
My qi and blood circulation twisted, and terrible pain surged through me.
Anyone deeply versed in energy arts could strike someone with a powerful energy clash.
But to inflict a massive impact while twisting the target’s qi and blood circulation at the same time?
It was proof of just how unfathomably high his realm was.
Thanks to that, even my chance to escape in an emergency had vanished.
“If you do something like that again, I’ll truly kill you this time.”
“...”
I respectfully nodded and slowly began untangling my qi and blood circulation.
I had concluded that he was not someone I could reason with.
‘One wrong move, and I’ll die.’
In the martial world, people who blustered about killing were less frightening than those who seemed playful but truly possessed the ability to kill.
Those who openly showed killing intent stood on at least the same level as me, but that old man had reached a higher realm. He probably did not even see me as a person.
“Now we can have a calm conversation.”
“...”
‘Who was the one who had made things like this in the first place?!’
When I remained silent, the old man seemed satisfied and opened the conversation.
“Who is your master?”
“Hall Master Gang Chaeseok of the Taeul Sect.”
“...Who is that?”
“He is the Taeul Sect’s strongest master.”
The old man tilted his head, then stared at the distant sky behind me for some reason. Soon, he frowned and glared at me.
What was this? Could he see ghosts?
“Do you serve someone weaker than you as your master?”
“...”
“Has anyone ever formally taught you?”
The old man’s question had essentially pointed out my fundamental problem.
My true masters were the Taeul Sword Emperor, the memories of my past life, and the library inside my head.
The Sword Demon had taught me a few things in this life, but he had never allowed me to call him my master.
“You reached this realm without a master... No wonder you weren’t in your right mind.”
He turned a perfectly sane person into a lunatic in an instant.
I had no time to answer. Untangling my qi and blood circulation was proving harder than expected.
“What a pity. Fate does not follow a person’s wishes.”
The old man looked me over with complicated eyes, then held up the wooden box.
“Do you intend to eat this?”
“...If you return it.”
“You speak as though it belongs to you.”
“It does belong to me...”
He cut me off.
“You must not eat this.”
What kind of bullshit was that now?
“What do you mean...?”
“Your dantian is already full of more internal energy than you can handle.”
I had five gapja of internal energy, but I had never once thought it was enough.
Part of the reason was that I constantly faced brutal battles and situations, leaving me always hungry for more. The real problem, though, was that every martial art I used consumed internal energy with reckless abandon.
“Need is relative, Senior.”
“Even if it breaks the balance of essence, qi, and spirit?”
The old man’s sudden question caught me off guard. Before I could answer, he continued.
“Since your internal energy increased, haven’t you often fainted after exhausting it?”
“...!”
Seeing my expression, the old man nodded as though he had expected it.
“It is a sign that the balance of essence, qi, and spirit is gradually breaking down. If you keep increasing your internal energy so foolishly, you’ll be fortunate if qi deviation kills you.”
It was that serious?
I had never even imagined it.
“And if I’m unfortunate... what happens?”
“Most become madmen, slaughter people, then die.”
“That can’t be right. You may not know this, Senior, but the martial arts I possess are as pure as those of the Wudang Sect or the Shaolin Sect. They aren’t ordinary Black Path martial arts.”
“Madman... Do you think White Path martial arts transcend even the laws of the universe?”
The old man balanced the wooden box on one fingertip.
“The Wudang Sect and the Shaolin Sect have countless treasures like this, yet they do not recklessly pour internal energy into a single person. Is that not strange, when you consider how greatly one absolute master can affect the history of the martial world?”
I stopped untangling my qi and blood circulation and looked at him. It felt as though I had been struck on the back of the head, leaving my mind blank.
“Do you think they never tried what you are attempting? They have tried it all, which is why they do not repeat the same foolishness.”
I had not known.
It was only natural that such valuable experience would not be shared with outsiders.
How many more trials and errors would the Taeul Sect, which had failed to produce a single absolute master in five hundred years, have to endure?
“Then is the faint amount of internal energy I sense from you, Senior... related to that reason?”
“Heh heh heh. You are perceptive, at least.”
A chance had suddenly disappeared.
Yet another chance had appeared alongside it.
Perhaps this mad old man could solve the worries I had carried all this time.
“Then what should I do?”
“What are you talking about?”
“Is there a way for me to eat that elixir pellet and become stronger?”
At my question, the old man’s eyes flashed. He looked like a child who had found an interesting toy.
“There is.”
I immediately bowed my head.
“Please teach me.”
“Why should I?”
The rejection came just as quickly.
“...”
What should I do? Should I roll around on the ground again...?
“If you’re thinking of doing something as filthy as before, I’ll kill you on the spot.”
That did not seem like an option.
“...”
I thought hard about how I could coax even a little teaching from this unknown old man.
Nothing came to mind.
I did not know his identity, affiliation, or even purpose. How could I possibly persuade him?
As I racked my brain so hard that I felt dizzy...
“Hmm... This should do instead.”
The old man suddenly muttered to himself and strode toward me.
Then...
“What do you mean...?”
Before I could finish speaking, his fingers struck ten acupoints.
“Huh! You’ve already untangled half of it?”
He struck another twenty acupoints, then immediately shoved the Taiji Pellet into my mouth.
Huh? Shoved it in?
‘Fuck...! You said I’d die if I ate this!’
The Taiji Pellet melted away in my mouth so quickly that I could not even spit it out. I swallowed it.
“It will hurt a great deal, so endure it.”
That damned old man then began striking acupoints all over my body in earnest with both hands.
Tatata tatata!
During the brief moment it took for the Taiji Pellet to melt and pass down my throat, the old man struck thirty-three acupoints in total. He waved a hand, and my body immediately floated into the air before being sucked into the cave.
“W-wait! I can’t move my... body...”
“Of course not. I struck you with the Asura Locking Metal, Breaking Jade Art. Would it not be stranger if you could move?”
At last, I had heard the faintest clue to his identity, but I was too shocked to answer.
“Ah, brats like you do not know what that is. In any case, overcome it, and your problem will resolve itself.”
The Asura Locking Metal, Breaking Jade Art was an acupoint art that had vanished from the Black Path martial world a hundred years ago because of how cruelly it killed its victims.
“D-don’t bullshit me! That’s a torture martial art!!!”
“Oh, you know a little, do you?”
“You crazy old man...!!!”
The old man grinned and casually waved his palm again.
The large boulder I had brought floated into the air and completely sealed the entrance.
Boom.
In the encroaching darkness, I vividly felt the qi and blood circulation throughout my body stiffening.
At the same time, energy from the Taiji Pellet began burning within my dantian.
“F-fuck, I’m screwed!”
Footnotes:
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