WeTried Translations
Translator/Editor: Chen
Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried
◈ The Martial Genius who Remembers Everything ◈
Chapter 461: Uncertain Conviction (3)
──────
Just as a commander’s poor judgment in war can lead to disastrous results,
the Inspectorate’s misjudgment had created a desperate situation as well.
The mystic formations that had protected Mount Mao Sect had finally reached the end of their lifespan and vanished. Not a single one of its fine buildings remained intact.
As the darkness receded, countless corpses were revealed.
Before the people of Mount Mao Sect could even recover from their fear of death, grief over the loved ones they had lost came crashing down on them.
“Sob.”
“Sayeong...”
“Aaaagh!”
Funerals could wait. Treating the wounded came first.
Those who had set out at dawn to bring physicians from nearby villages returned empty-handed.
“...They said they couldn’t help a sect that practiced forbidden arts...”
Ok Hwajeong choked back tears.
“What kind of nonsense is that?!”
Geumpyo shouted.
Why was that bastard so worked up?
“They’re condemning people who haven’t even practiced forbidden arts based on nothing but rumors?!”
“...Brother. Calm down.”
Nothing he said was wrong, but rumors were terrifying things.
The Inspectorate of the Martial Alliance had even stepped in, which was practically the same as confirming those rumors.
The area around Mount Mao Sect made that clear.
A massive fire had broken out last night, followed by constant screams and explosions, yet there was not a single curious onlooker nearby.
People were so afraid of getting caught up in the trouble that they would not even pass near Mount Mao Sect.
“What about the physicians in the other villages?”
“...Every physician in the nearby villages refused us.”
Yu Jiryang lowered his head.
Like Ok Hwajeong, he had gone out to bring physicians back, only to return after receiving nothing but cold treatment.
The thick dirt on both his knees showed that he had even knelt before them.
Unable to treat his dying fellow disciples and family, he looked as hopeless as someone facing death himself.
I couldn’t leave them like this.
I had saved them because I wanted them to regain their resolve and keep living, not because I wanted them to scatter to the winds.
So I had to find some way...
“Senior Brother Yu! The Sect Leader...!”
We immediately headed to Gu Songbaek after hearing the urgent news.
Gu Songbaek, who had briefly regained consciousness, was pale as a sheet, his eyes bloodshot.
Cold sweat poured down his face, and his dry lips were cracked like rice fields in a drought.
Pavilion Masters, elders, and disciples had gathered around him, listening in case he left behind any final words.
Yet Gu Songbaek, who had only just awakened, was looking at one place alone.
“Jin... Young Hero Jin... Please, our children...”
His eyes rolled back again as he spoke.
Those who knew basic emergency treatment quickly pressed his acupoints and crushed a medicinal pill into his mouth.
Gu Songbaek’s ragged breathing gradually settled.
“We’ve barely held him together, but he won’t last long.”
Everyone’s faces darkened at the disciple’s words.
They had barely survived the Inspectorate’s assault, yet as if the real ordeal had only begun, suffering crashed over them like a storm.
“Urgh! Senior Brother...!”
Unable to endure any longer, Geumpyo stomped across the courtyard toward us.
“Let’s kidnap them.”
“...!”
“Even if we have to kidnap them, we should make them treat everyone. Saving lives comes first, doesn’t it?”
Perhaps Geumpyo’s words gave him some comfort, because Yu Jiryang let out a dry laugh.
“We can’t do that, Young Hero Geumpyo.”
“But...”
“If they harbor ill intent after being forced into it...”
Yu Jiryang looked at me as though asking me to stop him.
“Isn’t that right, Young Hero Jin?”
Honestly, I had thought it was a good idea.
“...”
As Yu Jiryang said, kidnapping them would bring more harm than benefit.
If they provided careless treatment because they had been threatened, it could kill even more people.
After gathering my thoughts, I asked, “Is there a clinic operated by the Tang Clan nearby?”
“The Tang Clan? There is one in Zhenjiang, but...”
Yu Jiryang’s expression was grim.
He was probably wondering whether a faction that formed one of the pillars of the Martial Alliance would really get involved in this.
“...Wouldn’t they refuse even more strongly?”
I shook my head.
Ordinary physicians naturally feared the Martial Alliance, the strongest force in the martial world.
The Tang Clan, on the other hand, had built its own influence within the Martial Alliance.
Though closely tied to the Martial Alliance, it had enough power and autonomy to lend a hand if it wished.
“Wouldn’t it still be better to try?”
If we stayed here, there would be funeral after funeral.
And once that happened, those left behind would not be able to live properly either.
“...Haa.”
When people faced too much despair all at once, they went mad.
That was why Saryeon had lost her mind in my previous life.
Her engagement to Gye Cheolyeong had been heading toward dissolution.
The junior fellow disciples who had been dispatched to the Martial Alliance with her had died meaningless deaths. When she heard that Taeul Sect was under attack, she rushed back, but what lay before her were only the brutal deaths of people who had been like parents and siblings to her.
Despair piled upon despair until it reached its limit, and Saryeon went mad.
[Hehe, I finally found it.]
I could still vividly remember Saryeon searching through the corpses for scattered severed heads, her body in a terrible state.
As though it had happened yesterday.
I pulled myself back from the memories and looked at Saryeon.
She was checking the condition of the injured people from Mount Mao Sect.
With eyes clearer and brighter than anyone’s, she looked over each person one by one.
That was the Saryeon standing before me now.
“No, I’ll convince them and bring them here.”
“...Young Hero Jin.”
Yu Jiryang stared at me with a more complicated expression than ever before, then lowered his head.
“Then I leave it to you.”
I patted his trembling shoulder and turned to go.
“I’ll come too.”
Ok Hwajeong stepped forward.
“I appreciate the thought, but I think it would be better if I went alone and returned quickly.”
“I’m confident in my movement art, and I know the shortcut to Zhenjiang better than anyone.”
“...”
“Please, take me with you.”
I looked toward Yu Jiryang, and he nodded.
“She travels to and from Zhenjiang several times a day. She won’t be a burden.”
#
Just as Yu Jiryang said, Ok Hwajeong guided me toward Zhenjiang as smoothly as flowing water.
Her speed did not meet my expectations, of course, but that was only because I was using the Peerless Wanderer Divine Art.
By the standards of ordinary movement arts, she was remarkably fast.
Even so, I did not slow down for her and kept a slightly faster pace.
The situation was urgent, and I hoped she would withdraw on her own if it became too much.
Yet Ok Hwajeong chased after me with all her strength.
She did not complain or show any sign of exhaustion.
Her determination to save the people of Mount Mao Sect felt desperate.
Thanks to that, we reached Zhenjiang sooner than expected.
“Here.”
A large estate stood in the heart of Zhenjiang, its signboard bearing the bold calligraphy: Life-Saving Clinic.
Two martial artists stood on either side of the entrance. The moment we appeared, their eyes turned wary.
“What brings you here?”
The martial artist’s sharp gaze swept over Ok Hwajeong and me.
“We have come because lives are at stake.”
The martial artist nodded as though accustomed to hearing such words.
“Who is injured?”
“A great many people.”
The martial artist’s expression hardened.
“What is your affiliation?”
“Taeul Sect.”
“Taeul Sect... Taeul Sect?!”
In my previous life, the reactions I received whenever I revealed my sect were largely the same.
People would tilt their heads or exchange unpleasant smiles and glances.
This time was different.
The guards looked at each other with wide eyes, nodded at the same time as though they had rehearsed it, and suddenly adopted respectful postures.
“We will escort you inside.”
A middle-aged physician and four female physicians soon came rushing out.
Ok Hwajeong and I cupped our fists politely. The middle-aged physician, who looked twice my age, bowed in return.
“You said you came from Taeul Sect. Has someone from your sect been injured?”
“That isn’t it...”
Then the middle-aged physician’s eyes swept over Ok Hwajeong’s figure beside me.
They stopped at one point.
“Could you be from Mount Mao Sect?”
“...Yes.”
My uneasy feeling proved correct.
“I see...”
The physician looked between the female physicians and the other doctors with an uneasy expression, clearly wondering how to refuse us.
Then Ok Hwajeong dropped to her knees.
“People are dying. If you help us, we will never forget this kindness.”
That must have been why she had insisted on coming.
She must have known from the start that they would refuse.
“...”
“We have not practiced forbidden arts. Even the Inspectorate realized its mistake and withdrew...”
She was desperate.
More desperate than ever.
Their lives and deaths rested on the other side’s decision.
What made it even sadder was that the Tang Clan would normally have come running before anyone even called for them.
Mount Mao Sect had held an important position within the Martial Alliance.
But the stigma of forbidden arts had made what should have been natural into something unnatural.
“Miss, please rise. Don’t put us in such a difficult position.”
“Physician! Young disciples who have not even reached thirty are dying!”
“Miss...”
Then a voice came from the main hall.
“What is going on?”
The physician who had been helping Ok Hwajeong up lowered his head deeply.
“Clinic Director, someone from Mount Mao Sect has come.”
The old man known as the Clinic Director of the Life-Saving Clinic furrowed his brow.
Ok Hwajeong turned and cried out again.
“Clinic Director, please help us. People are dying!”
The Clinic Director looked at Ok Hwajeong, then at me.
“You are the guest from Taeul Sect?”
“That is correct.”
“May I ask your sobriquet?”
Was that really important right now?
Ok Hwajeong looked equally stunned by the sudden question.
“I do not have one... Ahem. I am Jin Sowoon of the Jin family.”
When I cupped my fists politely, murmurs rose all around us.
“That’s the Black Flame Dragon.”
“It really is the Black Flame Dragon.”
“...No, why would the young lady...”
I can hear all of you.
The Clinic Director stared at me and asked again, “Are you truly Young Master Jin Sowoon?”
“There is only one Jin Sowoon in Taeul Sect.”
The Clinic Director seemed to sink into deep thought before finally turning back to Ok Hwajeong.
“I have heard much of your unfortunate circumstances. As you say, the Inspectorate withdrew midway through, so perhaps it made some error. Even so, we cannot easily help until the Martial Alliance proves that Mount Mao Sect is innocent of practicing forbidden arts.”
“Ah... Clinic Director! If innocent people die like this...”
“We cannot move so easily. I truly wish to help, but...”
Then the Clinic Director looked at me.
“I find it truly regrettable. We have no justification...”
What was with that ambiguous attitude? It was neither a complete refusal nor acceptance.
It was as though he wanted me to say something...
After thinking for a moment, I asked, “Is there truly no way?”
The Clinic Director’s eyes suddenly lit up.
“You also wish to help, Young Master Jin?”
What was this?
“Of course. Mount Mao Sect has suffered an injustice.”
“Do you truly believe that?”
“If you ask me to guarantee it, I will do whatever is required.”
The Clinic Director stroked his chin as though he had been waiting for that.
“Whatever is required... Then how about giving us a Lord’s Token?”
A Lord’s Token? Suddenly?
Mine, at that?
Was he asking for a Taeul Sect favor token?
“Taeul Sect does not have favor tokens yet.”
Great sects usually created favor tokens as symbols that their entire sect owed someone a debt.
The ones I had received from the Black Path sects at Demon Spirit Plateau were favor tokens.
Once someone possessed such a token, it could not be ignored unless the request exceeded reasonable limits.
“That is why I spoke of a Lord’s Token. If you guarantee this with it, we will have our justification.”
Taking my Lord’s Token meant he intended to make me owe him a debt...
When I looked beside me, Ok Hwajeong was staring up at me pleadingly, her face streaked with tears.
What was so special about my Lord’s Token?
Why was Ok Hwajeong looking at me with such desperation, and why was the Clinic Director of the Life-Saving Clinic willing to risk falling out with the Martial Alliance for one Lord’s Token?
I did not fully understand it, but there were times when you had to do something even if you did not understand.
Without hesitation, I took the Lord’s Token from my clothes.
“Please, I ask that you...”
“With this, I can take one more step forward. Hehe.”
“...”
What?
The Clinic Director accepted the Lord’s Token with a satisfied smile and muttered something I could not understand.
“Today, the Life-Saving Clinic will not see patients. Everyone, prepare to head for Mount Mao Sect!”
At the Clinic Director’s shout, the staff of the Life-Saving Clinic began moving in perfect order.
#
Although the Life-Saving Clinic agreed to help, I was deeply worried that too much time had already passed.
Mount Mao Sect was quite far from Zhenjiang, and ordinary people could not reach it in time on foot.
But...
“...Your movement arts are remarkable.”
The emergency physicians who set out ahead of us had movement arts beyond compare.
“Ha ha, that much is basic for an emergency physician.”
...I had not expected emergency physicians to be stationed in Zhenjiang.
The Tang Clan’s emergency physicians had also performed admirably during the Orthodox-Demonic War.
They were the first to move when critically ill patients appeared.
Of course, they did not move for every patient.
They were sent when high-ranking officials, wealthy magnates, influential figures of the martial world, or their families encountered trouble.
They were collectively called the Five-Tenths Unit.
The name came from the fact that when they moved, the survival rate increased by five-tenths.
“The Life-Saving Clinic has arrived!”
Ok Hwajeong’s voice thundered through Mount Mao Sect as she ran inside.
The emergency physicians began treatment immediately, without even waiting to hear an explanation.
One person sorted the patients, one boiled medicinal decoctions and prepared for treatment, while three physicians began emergency care.
The five people moved like lightning, providing the most essential treatment.
They passed over patients with broken bones or whose bleeding had stopped, as their lives were not hanging by a thread.
As they worked systematically to pull the people of Mount Mao Sect back from the brink of death, the main group from the Life-Saving Clinic arrived with the Clinic Director.
“Where are the patients?”
They immediately began caring for everyone.
Two hectic days passed.
“Phew... He is a truly fortunate man.”
The Clinic Director, who had treated Gu Songbaek for two straight days, wiped the sweat from his brow and muttered.
“Will he recover?”
“He will be left with some impairment, but it seems he will live to old age.”
“Thank you.”
The Clinic Director laughed heartily as he wiped away blood.
“Is that really thanks to me? It is the Sect Leader’s own good fortune, and...”
The Clinic Director’s eyes gleamed again.
“Your help as well.”
The Clinic Director seemed to be giving me far more credit than I deserved.
What was this person’s deal?
“But... are you not worried, Young Master?”
“Worried about what?”
When I asked, a subtle expression appeared on his face.
“You stopped the Inspectorate’s operation. Your actions have drawn the attention of the entire martial world.”
“It began because of false information in the first place. The Alliance Leader and the Chief Strategist are aware of this matter as well.”
After staring at me for a moment, the Clinic Director tilted his head.
“Hm. Are you pretending to be a fool?”
What did this person just say...?
“Young Master Jin.”
When I looked at the Clinic Director, his gaze had turned cold.
“Did you act without knowing that, regardless of the Inspectorate’s mistake, what you did challenged the authority of the Martial Alliance?”
“...”
How could I not know?
If someone were asked to name the people who knew the Martial Alliance best, I would certainly be among them.
“Some will praise you as brave, while others will find you offensive. There will even be people who feel hatred beyond anger.”
The Clinic Director’s voice had grown as cold as his eyes.
“I guarantee that among the people of the White Path, the latter will vastly outnumber the former.”
“...”
“Did you truly act without knowing that?”
The power of the entrenched interests, solidly built over five hundred years, had become natural to them.
Even those ruled by them considered that power natural.
Ironically, the first people to throw stones at us would be those who had been ruled by them.
I knew better than anyone how those who defied what was considered natural would appear in their eyes.
“I know well.”
“Then do you also know what results your actions will bring?”
Because I knew, I could never simply pass it by.
If I did, the only thing left at the end would be memories of what I had witnessed in my previous life.
“I know that as well.”
“Oh...”
The Clinic Director’s expression and voice suddenly became friendly.
“That is fortunate. I almost used your Lord’s Token as firewood.”
“...”
His lips moved faintly after he spoke those incomprehensible words.
“May I offer one piece of advice?”
“I will listen.”
“Before strength and power, the distinction between good and evil means nothing.”
A deep smile formed on his lips.
“The stronger one is good, and the weaker one is evil.”
That smile seemed both satisfied and mocking.
“Just as Mount Mao Sect has now become evil.”
They were strange words coming from a physician who saved lives.
Footnotes:
Join our discord at https://dsc.gg/wetried
