WeTried Translations
Translator/Editor: Chen
Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried
◈ The Martial Genius who Remembers Everything ◈
Chapter 445: The Aftermath of the Typhoon (5)
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Silence was one way of expressing a break.
And breaks naturally gave rise to conflict.
That was why people found it difficult to remain silent.
Between another person's thoughts and my own, I could never know what intentions toward each other lay hidden in that unseen space.
Especially in the martial world, where one could take an enemy's life at any time, silence could mark the line between life and death.
That was why silence in the martial world carried even more weight.
“...”
The small room where the two men sat should have been hot and stifling, but a chill hung in the air instead.
The rosy-cheeked youth spoke first.
“You know who we are, don't you?”
He did not wait for my answer.
“Lately, dangerous elements have been appearing throughout the martial world. We are searching for them and investigating them.”
I cut off the youth who had introduced himself as Heo Gwanjung.
“Before that.”
Was this bastard going to keep dancing around the subject?
“Give me my money!”
“...I was about to discuss something important.”
“Something important?”
“Dangerous elements.”
“...”
“Do you think the Taeul Sect is not among those under suspicion?”
The hairs on the back of my neck stood up.
I could feel it instinctively.
This bastard...
“You never meant to return my money, did you?”
What a damned, hopelessly money-obsessed bastard.
“...Ha ha.”
The youth laughed as though he could not believe what he had heard, then took a silver coin from his robes and held it out.
He should have given it to me sooner.
I reached for the coin.
Squeeze.
The bastard would not let go.
“What... are you doing?”
“A sect that has grown unbelievably quickly in just a few years. Martial arts that have suddenly become powerful. Then, as if they had been waiting for it, outstanding talents began flocking to the Taeul Sect. And above all else...”
Creak.
“The most suspicious person is you, Jin Sowoon, the Black Flame Dragon.”
“...?”
“I heard you were suspected of mastering a forbidden art.”
I tightened my grip around the silver coin, but it did not budge.
“Furthermore, while investigating, we discovered that quite a few of those who fought you have gone missing.”
“...!”
Creak.
The wood was gouged and shifted only slightly. The coin did not move at all.
“Those bodies that were never found... Did you hide them because they bore traces of a forbidden art?”
I poured more internal energy into my hand.
Creak.
The coin came a little closer.
“Do the Black Officials investigate by making things up these days?”
“When several irregularities are discovered, they can no longer be dismissed as coincidence.”
Creak.
Yet the coin was drawn back toward the youth again, as if it had a hook attached to it.
“The Nine Sects One Gang and the Five Great Clans have never once fallen from their privileged position within the Martial Alliance for five hundred years. Why don't you suspect them?”
“Are you putting yourself on the same level as them?”
I poured in more internal energy.
Crack.
Perhaps from the backlash of our internal energy, the wooden table slowly began to splinter.
It was strange. I had poured in this much internal energy, yet I still could not wrest the coin free from this little brat's hand.
“Even with this much internal energy, you haven't moved an inch. Don't tell me you've mastered a forbidden art?”
“You don't seem to think your own skill is lacking.”
“That is exactly what I want to say. It is not that we are exceptional. Everyone else is simply lacking. So why should we be suspected of forbidden arts just because we're better than them?”
I unleashed the Sacred Flame Demon-Extinguishing Hand through several fingers.
My thumb glowed red-hot and bored into the table, burning through the wood.
Then I lightly pinched the silver coin between my thumb and index finger.
The coin, heated by the Sacred Flame Demon-Extinguishing Hand, soon glowed red-hot.
“Hup!”
He held out at first, but white steam soon rose from his fingers. Finally, his hand trembled and released the coin.
“Ghk...”
Heo Gwanjung clenched his hand into a fist as though his fingers hurt, his face twisting into a grimace.
“...You have been learning the Yang Family Qi Art.”
“Your information is slow.”
“You will not be able to use that silver coin anymore.”
“Of course it won't be worth its proper value anymore.”
I waved the damaged coin in front of his eyes.
“But that doesn't mean I can give it to someone else.”
Then I put the coin back into my robes.
The youth shook his head.
“Making someone bear ill will toward you over a single silver coin. You have the sort of personality that naturally makes enemies.”
“...”
The youth leaned back in his chair again, pretending nothing was wrong.
“You provided aid to the Mount Mao Sect through the Great Heaven Merchant Group, did you not? That is an act against the Martial Alliance.”
They already knew about that?
“But don't worry. We stopped it beforehand.”
Which meant...
“Of course, the carrier-pigeon message was not delivered either.”
“!!!”
Even that had only been a way to stall for time.
I shot to my feet.
Just as I was about to leave the room...
“The Martial Alliance,” the youth said from behind me.
“Will bring order to this chaos. Do not throw yourself into the confusion and get swept up in an unnecessary typhoon.”
“...!”
I had been about to leave immediately, but I could not endure it any longer. I turned back.
“To be precise, it isn't the Martial Alliance.”
He was trying to subtly drag the entire Martial Alliance into this.
As always.
All it took to rot an entire organization was a very small part of it turning corrupt.
“It is only the Inspectorate and the bastards connected to it.”
“You... sound like someone who wants the martial world to fall into chaos.”
“Not at all. I want peace more than anyone.”
“Then...”
“That is why!”
Lowering my voice, I stared deeply into the youth's eyes.
His position, thoughts, and eloquence did not match his age or voice. Every part of that discordance gave me chills.
“That is why I cannot forgive you bastards. You are looking out only for your own interests despite the danger right before your eyes.”
“...You truly cannot be reasoned with.”
Who was the one who could not be reasoned with?
Leaving the youth behind, I quickly headed out.
#
We left the inn without even having time to eat.
“Then... are you saying my sect does not know?”
“That is right.”
Yu Jiryang's face turned pale.
The fact that every inn in the nearby villages had been occupied was proof that something serious was happening.
His sect had made no preparations at all amid all this, and anxiety filled his expression.
I did not try to reassure him with pointless words.
This truly was an urgent moment.
Instead, I abandoned the horses and carried him on my back.
“W-What?”
Startled by my sudden action, Yu Jiryang waved his hands.
“This is an urgent situation.”
At my firm words, he tightly gripped my clothes.
“We're going at full speed.”
“Yes!”
We headed straight for the Mount Mao Sect.
We did not take the main road. We ran in a straight line at top speed.
“Aaaaaah!”
Yu Jiryang screamed at a speed he had never experienced before, but he never once told us to stop.
I could only feel him clutching my clothes even tighter.
“Senior Brother...”
As we ran, I heard Saryeon's worried voice and answered through sound transmission.
-Act as if you don't know anything for now.
The moment we departed, dozens of people began moving from the village.
But if Yu Jiryang noticed them, it would only make him more anxious.
Instead, I increased our speed.
At the very least, we had to arrive before them.
“J-J-Jin, young hero... Y-You're too... f-fast...”
“Curl up and hold on as tightly as you can.”
If we were late now, I would regret it for the rest of my life.
“Shouldn't we go even a little faster?”
“...!”
As if he had made up his mind, Yu Jiryang gripped my clothes even more tightly.
The distance between us and the dozens pursuing us gradually widened.
We ran without resting for a single moment, stepping across the treetops.
Before the sun set, the peaks of Mount Mao slowly came into view.
I could no longer sense the pursuers behind us.
The Mount Mao Sect, situated halfway up the mountain, stretched out in all its vast grandeur.
“We're almost there. Just a little farther and...”
Then, at that moment.
Pheeeew!
An ominous signal flare sounded somewhere near Mount Mao.
Boom!
Soon after, people began pouring out from the mountains and fields like a pack of dogs.
“Waaaaah!”
“Waaaaah!”
They wore identical clothes and carried identical weapons.
They began rushing straight toward the Mount Mao Sect.
Damn it!
The pursuers at the village had never mattered in the first place.
These bastards had finished all their preparations to destroy the Mount Mao Sect before we even arrived.
“T-The Mount Mao Sect!”
Yu Jiryang's voice rose as though he were about to faint.
“Is the mystic formation operating?”
“I cannot see properly...”
“There is nothing visible around the walls. It looks no different from an ordinary estate.”
“...Then only the mystic formation is active.”
Just as I expected.
They could never have imagined it.
That people from the same side would attack them.
They must have been cautious, afraid that taking a hostile stance first might provoke the other side.
At that moment, white mist began gathering around the Mount Mao Sect.
I immediately told Yu Jiryang.
He answered in a despairing voice.
“It is a Defensive Formation. One that stirs confusion and makes it difficult to find the Living Gate...”
They should have activated the Killing Formation immediately, yet they had used a Defensive Formation instead.
They had not expected matters to unfold this suddenly.
Even now, they must have been considering the faintest possibility.
They could not believe the Martial Alliance would truly do this to them.
And the price of that innocence was...
“Ah!”
At the northeastern edge of the Mount Mao Sect, where the mystic formation began, martial artists gathered together and released their palm force at once.
Kwarararang!
Part of the mist surrounding the Mount Mao Sect dispersed.
The martial artists threw lit torches through the gaps in the mystic formation.
Then they hurled jars filled with oil into it.
Boom! Boom! Boom!
In an instant, flames rose high enough to be seen from far away.
As the mist cleared, the opening grew wider.
“What in the world...”
Yu Jiryang could barely mutter, unable to believe what he saw.
Yet this had already been expected.
The Profound Mystery Pavilion contained the method for breaking the Mount Mao Sect's mystic formation.
Had they activated the Killing Formation, this would not have happened. Their complacency had exacted its price.
Martial artists began pouring through the breach in the mystic formation.
Black smoke soon began rising from all across the Mount Mao Sect.
“Senior Brother!”
At Geumpyo's call, I gave an order without hesitation.
“We break through. Eunho!”
“Yes!”
“Protect Hero Yu from behind!”
Eunho immediately carried Yu Jiryang on his back.
Saryeon stayed close beside them.
“Geumpyo! Dongryong!”
“Yes!”
I looked firmly into their eyes.
“Do not ever...”
“...”
“Hold back.”
They looked startled at my words, but they did not question me.
They were Martial Alliance members, yet not truly the Martial Alliance.
There were times when good could be crueler than evil.
Just as it was now.
“Because they certainly won't hold back either.”
At some point, the martial artists heading toward the Mount Mao Sect began slowing down.
The gathered force spread in every direction and split into two groups.
They had begun looking our way.
Rumble.
I prepared the Mad Heaven Divine Palm and increased my speed further.
There were roughly seventy of them.
I did not know their level, but judging by their movement arts, not one of them was mediocre.
When we came close enough...
One of them shouted at us.
“Kill them!”
A killing order given at once, without even confirming who we were. No, as if there was no need to confirm it.
They clearly knew us.
I immediately unleashed the Mad Heaven Divine Palm.
“D-Dodge!”
Kwakwakwakwakwaang!
A massive palm force like thunder swept through the area.
More than twenty people died in an instant.
Three White Moon Heaven-Subduing Forms.
First Form.
Extreme Swiftness.
Slash!
Hands and feet fell from people's bodies along the rifts carved through the air.
Blood then pattered down between them like falling blossoms.
Bang!
Geumpyo rammed an opponent with the Vajra Shield and sent them flying.
Clangclangclangclang!
There was no mercy in Dongryong's swift sword.
“When it turns red... red...”
Then, through the roar of the fierce wind, Yu Jiryang's broken voice reached us.
He muttered as if he desperately wished for something.
It did not take long to understand what he wanted.
Red smoke began spreading throughout the entire mystic formation surrounding the Mount Mao Sect.
“It... it worked...!”
Boom! Boom! Boom!
But explosions followed, along with an enormous blaze.
“Aaaagh!”
“Ugh!”
“Ghk!”
Horrible screams carried to us from afar.
As if those screams were a signal flare, the inside of the mystic formation, where red smoke had spread, became covered once more in its original white mist.
And on top of that...
“Senior Brother! Over there!”
“Senior Brother, this side too!”
Waaaaah!
More people poured in from every direction.
I could now sense the pursuers from the village behind us as well.
“It... it's over...”
Yu Jiryang's face crumpled in despair, as though he might collapse at any moment.
I grabbed his shoulders and shook him.
“Hero Yu! Pull yourself together!”
“It... It's over, Young Hero Jin... The Mount Mao Sect...”
“It isn't over yet!!!”
It was over. It was over.
One could not carelessly say it was over after only this much.
Not for the sake of those who remained.
Not for the sake of even one survivor.
You must never give up first.
It was not over.
I had not ended it.
I shouted as if struggling against everything.
“You must pull yourself together!”
Not everyone in the Mount Mao Sect was dead.
Neither were there only corpses left, nor had the buildings all burned down to ashes.
There were still people inside.
People crying from their wounds.
People screaming in fear.
“People who have survived.”
Then it was never over.
“But how...?”
“Hero Yu, you can do it.”
“What?”
We could not let it end here.
“The Boundless Indestructible Soul-Destroying Formation!”
“...?!”
That was the only answer now.
Footnotes:
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