WeTried Translations
Translator/Editor: Chen
Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried
◈ The Martial Genius who Remembers Everything ◈
Chapter 418: The Price of Fate (6)
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A gaping mouth.
Eyes darting about without focus.
Hands hovering awkwardly in the air, unsure what to do.
The sound of a heart pounding so hard it seemed ready to burst from the chest.
People were blindsided for all kinds of reasons, but their reactions afterward were usually much the same.
And...
“Why are you so surprised?”
“...Gasp!”
This predictable reaction never got old.
‘It’s thrilling...!’
Even the question they finally managed to ask after their brief panic was always similar.
“H-how did you know?!”
The degree of surprise varied, of course.
People tended to be more shocked when they believed they had hidden their identities perfectly.
‘Well, they did put in some effort.’
They had carefully selected Wudang disciples who had never met me, dressed them in authentic Martial Alliance scholar and escort warrior uniforms, and sent them to approach me.
On top of that, I had no idea how they had acquired it, but even the carriage they brought was an official Martial Alliance ceremonial carriage.
Even so...
“You’re amateurs.”
The two men’s eyes shook even harder at my casually delivered words.
They must have expected me to panic after falling into their trap.
Too bad.
Instead, they were the ones caught off guard. Their faces turned red as they struggled to figure out where they had gone wrong.
Their heads were probably about to burst.
If their identities had been exposed, they should have moved to the next step without wasting a moment if they wanted to succeed in kidnapping me.
Yet their curiosity got the better of them, and all four eyes stared fixedly at my face.
Humans couldn’t bear to leave their curiosity unsatisfied.
“...W-when did you know?”
Well, there was no other answer to give.
From the moment I first saw them.
No matter how perfectly they concealed their identities, the memories from my previous life would never disappear.
I leaned leisurely against the window and shrugged.
“Why should I tell you that?”
“Th-that...”
An unexpected question in an unexpected situation.
A precise, elegant attack that left even those who had come intending to harm me looking foolish.
‘This is why blindsiding people feels so good.’
I stretched my arms high over my head. The two men watched every movement I made.
Flinch. Flinch.
One reached for the sword they carried, while the other reached for the soft sword concealed at their waist, then they froze again when they realized I was only stretching.
“Hm? Why aren’t you drawing them?”
Their faces turned as red as ripe persimmons after reacting so sensitively.
At least they seemed to possess the bare minimum of shame expected of martial artists.
I looked around the carriage.
“Still, this is really unexpected. I naturally assumed you’d take me to Wudang.”
I had clashed fiercely with the Mighty Tiger Unit during Dam Ak’s escape.
Even if the Mantong Office had given the order, the Wudang Sect wouldn’t simply let the matter go.
No, even if the Wudang Sect itself did let it go, its disciples weren’t broad-minded enough to overlook it.
“You’re not taking me to the Martial Alliance... Hmm, did you rent an estate around here?”
The escort warrior, who had finally regained his composure, snarled.
“You have crossed the line.”
The line?
“What line?”
I tilted my head as if I genuinely wanted to know, and the man’s face twisted even more viciously.
“Do you truly intend to feign ignorance about what you have done?”
“What I’ve done?”
My voice sounded even lighter against the malice in his.
“What exactly did I do wrong when I only followed the Mantong Office’s orders?”
“You dare play innocent after what you did to the Mighty Tiger Unit?!”
Hatred boiled up from the depths of his heart.
Seeing how furious they were, I really must have been their enemy.
Right. That was how it was.
“Hey.”
“...!”
“Fuck, what did I do wrong?”
There was no need for courtesy between enemies.
“W-what?”
“I asked what I did wrong, you idiots. If I really did something wrong, report me to the Enforcement Hall or the Inspectorate. Does it look right for Unit Leaders from Martial Alliance combat pavilions to pretend to be scholars and act so damn sneaky?”
Their red faces finally turned pale.
The escort warrior looked ready to draw his sword, but the scholar sitting beside him blocked the weapon with an expression even more murderous than the warrior’s.
“Wait. We’ll settle everything once we arrive anyway.”
“But this bastard...!”
“Calm down.”
After pacifying the warrior, the scholar’s gaze stabbed coldly into me.
“We’ll settle it all once we get there. There’s no need to waste strength already.”
Crunch.
Tense silence and sharp stares filled the carriage.
To break the suffocating atmosphere, I threw out a joke.
“Ah, don’t tell me the people waiting there are acting too? I’ll be so awkward I might die.”
Crack!
“Urgh!”
Judging by their intense reactions, the joke had been a success.
#
The Hao Sect’s Wuhan Branch Leader couldn’t remember the last time they had slept.
It wasn’t because of some problem or deep concern in life that had left them suffering from insomnia.
To be precise, it wasn’t that they couldn’t sleep. They hadn’t slept a wink.
The branch leader had seized an opportunity that might change the history of not just the Wuhan branch, but the entire Hao Sect.
The one who had provided that opportunity was none other than the Martial Alliance.
For the first time, the Martial Alliance, which had only received information from the Beggar Sect, had placed a request with the Hao Sect.
After the first request had been carried out perfectly, a second arrived before the final details were even completed. The branch leader had no time to sleep.
The second request was no ordinary nuisance, either.
“What do you mean? Young Master Jin came to Wuhan...?”
“Yes. It appears he has already arrived in Wuhan.”
Jin Sowoon, who had kept the branch leader awake by vanishing without a trace, had suddenly entered Wuhan.
The branch leader sprang to their feet.
“Explain. Explain it in detail.”
“As you know, since Young Master Jin left no trace behind, we continued tracking Wudang’s movements.”
“You did.”
“But... they have done something strange.”
The reporter immediately spread out a map of Hubei and Anhui Provinces, then pointed to several locations.
“Wudang reserved every hall and inn marked here.”
The inns were near the main road connecting Eunhyeon, Maseong, Najeon, and Danpung.
“Hmm...”
With Cheongsu Jin-in under arrest by the Inspectorate, it made no sense unless they had gone out on a group excursion.
The branch leader tapped the table with a finger, then their eyes widened.
“They’re hiding something!”
“Yes. There is this as well.”
As of the Hour of the Rooster yesterday, Wudang disciples staying at the Martial Alliance had departed in large numbers.
The watch they had set just in case had sounded the alarm.
The pieces in the branch leader’s mind gradually began to fit together.
“...Has he already been kidnapped?”
“That is highly likely.”
“Damn it!”
Their intentions were obvious.
The matter had grown too large to resolve quietly.
They must have thought that if they intimidated Jin Sowoon, the most important witness, into giving testimony even slightly favorable to them, it would be well worth the trouble.
The branch leader glared at the map and shouted.
“Where are they? Where are they plotting this?”
“Well... They seem to have noticed the pursuit midway through and disappeared without a trace.”
One reason the Hao Sect always fell behind in its competition with the Beggar Sect was its lack of martial strength.
Still, they couldn’t sit around complaining.
The Hao Sect had to do what the Hao Sect could do.
“Send word to the Mantong Office at once... and notify the Taeul Sect as well!”
“Understood.”
A period of upheaval in which they could gain the upper hand for the first time was right before them.
Fatigue washed over the branch leader hard enough to make the back of their head throb, but they couldn’t sleep.
#
Neigh!
The carriage came to a stop.
The scholar and escort warrior climbed down first, taking positions on either side as they glared at me.
“Get down.”
Well, I suppose they had no reason to hide anymore.
When I climbed down from the carriage, the scholar and warrior blocked me from the front and rear, then gestured with their chins toward an estate.
“Go inside.”
I didn’t know whether they thought I had gone quiet because I was nervous or because their comrades had appeared, but they somehow looked smugger than before.
I couldn’t keep from sneering at the sight.
‘Were Wudang bastards always this stupid?’
The Wudang Sect in my memories had seemed as lofty as immortals.
They hadn’t been there for us, and they hadn’t always been perfect.
Still, Wudang had always seemed like something high above me, unreachable as a dream.
But what was this now?
“Get inside, now!”
“...”
I felt no dignity or grandeur from the warrior who shoved me in the back and urged me forward.
They hadn’t even gauged their opponent’s level properly, yet they were already certain of victory and unable to contain their delight.
Perhaps only these people were like this.
Had countless Wudang members not become lonely souls for the sake of others during the Orthodox-Demonic War in my previous life?
Maybe they were only Unit Leader-level martial artists, and their skills, Wudang’s backing, and privileges unavailable to others their age had temporarily made them foolish.
Yet the faint hope I had vanished the moment I entered the estate.
“Criminal, kneel.”
The Grand Training Ground was illuminated as brightly as day.
A straw mat that appeared to be meant for me lay in the center, while around a hundred Wudang disciples encircled the training ground.
I took in their faces one by one.
‘They’re all Unit Leader-level.’
Other than the man barking orders from the middle, most were Unit Leaders or people who had only recently become Deputy Hall Masters.
‘Was that a coincidence?’
There were too many gathered for that.
It was also strange that Wudang’s higher-ups could have remained unaware while so many Unit Leader-level martial artists assembled here.
That left only one conclusion.
‘They thought this would be enough.’
They must have thought it was more than enough to silence and intimidate me.
Even if this incident was exposed, they could dismiss it as the rash behavior of young people.
“So I really did look like a joke to you. Or is this only natural?”
As I voiced that small reflection, the face of the Hall Master-level figure who had ordered me to kneel turned bright red.
“What are you doing?! Did you not hear me tell you to kneel?!”
“...”
When I looked at the Hall Master-level figure as though he were nothing more than a buzzing insect, the warrior and scholar finally lost patience. They kicked behind my knees and pressed down on them.
But...
“Huh?”
My knees weren’t so easily forced down by such clumsy footwork.
“Kneel... down!!”
Thud!
A kick infused with qi deserved a gift in return, so I swung the back of my hand at him.
Smack!
Unlike when he kicked behind my knees, several teeth flew through the air with a satisfying sound.
When I looked down, the Wudang disciple dressed as a scholar was already rolling across the ground.
Shing!
The warrior who had kicked behind my knees stepped back twice and drew his sword, but a rabbit could threaten a tiger all it wanted.
I ignored him and spoke to the Hall Master.
“Did you forget that I fought a Hall Master-level figure from the Qingcheng Sect?”
“...”
“Or are you saying Wudang is different from Qingcheng Sect?”
The Hall Master bit down hard on his lips.
“You... still haven’t come to your senses.”
“Honestly, I have no idea what I did wrong. So...”
I looked at him and smiled politely.
“Could you tell me what I did wrong?”
The Hall Master began speaking as if he had been waiting for that question.
“Your first offense is...”
The instant his voice rang out, I struck the face of the warrior standing beside me.
Smack!
My movements were definitely different.
The Taeul True Scripture had never betrayed my will before, but now it felt as though my qi moved before my will could even advance.
When I gathered a handful of energy, less than half a handful moved, yet its destructive power was twice what it had been before.
The Hall Master, startled by my strength, shut his mouth tightly.
I tilted my head at him.
“What are you doing? I asked you to tell me what I did wrong.”
“Y-you lunatic, how dare you...!”
Shing! Shing! Shing! Shing! Shing!
Swords were drawn from every direction.
Their shock at my unexpected response was obvious.
The Hall Master, who couldn’t even give a proper answer about what I had done wrong, shouted furiously with his face red.
“Subdue him at once!”
“Yes!”
As the encirclement gradually closed in, I instinctively prepared to unleash the Twin Heavens Sword Art.
“Hm.”
That also felt like a waste.
Shing.
The Scarlet Radiance Sword glowed red.
Gwooooo...
An ominous wail of unknown origin filled the entire estate.
The Wudang disciples flinched, then rushed toward me without hesitation, as if even that offended them.
I calmly took the Opening Stance of the Lesser Heaven Sword Art and waited for the Wudang disciples.
Footnotes:
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