The Martial Genius who Remembers Everything - Chapter 497

WeTried Translations

Translator/Editor: Chen

◈ The Martial Genius who Remembers Everything ◈

Chapter 497: The Beginning of Night (2)

──────

Since the Martial Alliance had not publicly revealed the Sword Tomb’s true nature, it warned people against acting independently.

The measure was meant to prevent sects from entering the Sword Tomb at random and suffering terrible misfortune.

To pacify those dissatisfied with the Martial Alliance’s actions, it even held examinations, selected qualified candidates, and included some of them in the investigation team.

Still, martial artists accustomed to doing whatever the hell they wanted were not about to leave the Sword Tomb alone, even if they were not as unruly as the Black Path.

The larger sects believed the dangers the Martial Alliance described applied only to “ordinary martial artists,” so they deliberately formed their own investigation teams.

Unlike the early days, when preparations had been hesitant, the discovery of the Tyrant King Soul-Seizing Blade spurred full-scale expeditions. Rumors that the Sword Tomb was far larger inside than expected led them to prepare proper supplies before heading to the Great Snow Mountain.

The Moyong Clan did not share the other sects’ objectives, but it too had reason to enter the Sword Tomb.

“...”

Moyong Seol watched the enormous crowd spread across the Great Snow Mountain, a sight that reminded her of a bustling market in Chang’an, and felt that something was wrong.

She could not identify anything specific, but she could not shake the deeply unnatural feeling.

As she surveyed the crowd, one man caught her eye.

He stood out conspicuously even amid the vast sea of people.

“Yong Soa.”

The man checking his gear turned at the sound of his name.

“Moyong Seol.”

It was a dry response, hardly fitting for old friends who had once worked together in the Dragon-Phoenix Association.

“It’s been a while.”

“I see.”

She greeted him warmly, yet received only an indifferent reply.

“Did you come to seek the Sword Venerable’s inheritance?”

“No. I came to find his remains. My great-grandfather deeply mourned the Sword Venerable’s disappearance during his lifetime.”

“I see.”

As though he had lost interest, Yong Soa returned to what he had been doing.

“Don’t you think something is strange?”

“What is?”

“They say the Sword Tomb has been open for quite some time. Why has no one come back out?”

Moyong Seol looked toward the Sword Tomb entrance, packed with people trying to enter. Then she felt an intent gaze and turned.

Yong Soa was staring at her with his usual emotionless eyes.

“What is it? Is there something strange on my face?”

It felt as though her face had reminded him of something, and he was tracing the course of that thought.

After staring at her in silence for a long while, he answered without emotion.

“Must you enter the Sword Tomb?”

“What? What do you mean?”

“If the Sword Venerable’s remains are with his inheritance, someone will bring them out. There is no need for you to enter yourself.”

Moyong Seol shook her head.

If it could be resolved so easily, the Moyong Clan would not have needed to come in person.

“What if Black Path martial artists find them? We don’t know what they might do to his remains.”

“They will not find the remains anyway.”

“...”

Moyong Seol knew Yong Soa occasionally said things without considering how they would affect others.

Knowing that, she forcefully suppressed the resentment rising within her.

Of course, she could not hide all of it. She was a martial artist too.

“We’ll see whether that’s true.”

No longer wanting to ask about the question that had originally troubled her, Moyong Seol turned and headed toward her clan’s people.

Namgung San, who had returned after giving his report, saw Moyong Seol’s retreating figure and asked Yong Soa, “Wasn’t that Moyong Seol?”

“She said she came to find the Sword Venerable’s remains.”

Yong Soa’s gaze followed Moyong Seol.

Her future began to unfold before him.

“Really? Then we can go in together. Should I ask her?”

Yong Soa shook his head. He had no intention of doing so.

“There is no need to change what is destined to happen, whether it is death or life.”

“Huh? What are you talking about all of a sudden?”

Yong Soa was someone who never forgot the lessons he had learned.

“By the way, where did you get that candied fruit?”

Namgung San watched Yong Soa pull candied fruit from inside his robe with a grave expression.

“Keep your strength up. It’ll be a difficult journey from the start.”

Yong Soa once again spoke as though he alone understood what he meant.

Once people stripped away their illusions about power, only cruel choices remained.

Those choices gnawed away at the human soul until one wished to abandon every benefit power offered.

That was why Jegal Somyeong could not easily relinquish their power.

It was not easy to find someone willing to bear responsibility and make those cruel choices in their place.

The moment one ignored the cruel choices demanded by responsibility and sought only the rights that came with power, corruption and collapse followed, as history had proven time and again.

Jegal Somyeong was once again realizing that taking responsibility for cruel choices was painful enough to tear one’s soul apart.

What was the cause?

The Tyrant King Soul-Seizing Blade.

‘It’s just some antique. Tch.’

The treasure maps to the Sword Tomb, scattered throughout the martial world like kindling, had been proven genuine.

From the moment Jegal Somyeong heard that the Tyrant King Soul-Seizing Blade discovered within the Sword Tomb had fallen into the Martial Alliance’s hands, a headache they had believed long gone returned.

Had that been all, they might have turned away from the truth they had struggled to face.

But then...

“They say Iron Chain Fort has acquired the Treasure Radiance Divine Secret Sword.”

The moment Iron Chain Fort, an infamous Black Path sect, obtained the Treasure Radiance Divine Secret Sword, Jegal Somyeong had no choice but to conclude that the time for cruel choices had arrived.

The Sword Tomb was a trap.

A trap vast enough to swallow both the White Path and the Black Path.

Yet because it was so vast, people could not recognize it as a trap.

The Martial Alliance was both the collective of White Path sects and their center.

The moment the Sword Venerable’s inheritance and divine relics emerged, the Martial Alliance could no longer step away from this trap.

In the end, the time had come for Jegal Somyeong to exercise their power.

The time to decide whom they would let die in the Sword Tomb and whom they would keep within the Martial Alliance and save.

The time for cruel choices.

“What are you worried about?”

At Hyeok Mugang’s question, Jegal Somyeong answered gravely.

“I don’t know whether I can repay the karmic debts I have accumulated in this life during the remainder of my days.”

“I’ll repay them with you. If this life is not enough, I’ll stake my next life on it as well.”

Hyeok Mugang tried to comfort them with a worried expression, but it did nothing to dull the pain in their soul.

“Alliance Leader, you may have to accumulate even greater karmic debts in the future. I’ll take this one upon myself.”

“...Is it truly that serious?”

“I’m certain. Even if we are incredibly fortunate, do you think even half the people who entered will return alive?”

“How can you be so certain?”

“The Sword Venerable and the Black King.”

The names that had sparked this incident, like an antlion pit drawing people in.

“Have they not been preparing this trap since the moment those two disappeared?”

At the very least, they had been preparing for a hundred years. Perhaps even two hundred.

The time their enemies had accumulated could not be repaid with time.

Only blood and flesh could pay the price.

“Would it not be better to stop anyone from entering the Sword Tomb?”

Jegal Somyeong shook their head.

“Absolutely not.”

If they stepped back so easily because they feared the blood that would flow in the Sword Tomb, the Martial Alliance itself would collapse.

The Orthodox Society, centered on the Mount Cang Sect, was already waiting for an opportunity to create a new power bloc.

If a new faction emerged, power was scattered, and internal conflict broke out in the process...

The day the Demonic Cult began to stir would be the day the martial world’s fate came to an end.

“Even so, can we simply leave it alone?”

To be honest, part of Jegal Somyeong wanted to do exactly that.

Since rumors of the Sword Tomb began spreading, the Orthodox Society and the White Path Society had demanded the Sword Tomb as a means of patching up their long-standing conflicts.

They intended to exchange their dissatisfaction with the Martial Alliance for the Sword Tomb.

That was why key figures from both the Orthodox Society and the White Path Society were currently at the Sword Tomb.

If they were all dealt with at once and their factions weakened...

Lost in thought, Jegal Somyeong suddenly came to their senses and shook their head.

‘Have I lost my mind?’

No matter how tyrannical they might be, the Nine Sects One Gang and the Five Great Clans remained the pillars of the present Martial Alliance and the martial world.

Their collapse would be no different from the Martial Alliance’s collapse.

“We must save at least thirty percent. No, at least half.”

They would find every excuse possible to keep them tied to the Martial Alliance.

Then, as time passed amid complaints and protests, they could at least save those who cursed at them.

“What excuse do you intend to use?”

Ordinarily, the Martial Alliance should have intervened long ago to suppress them or prevent them from uniting. Yet before anyone knew it, Bang Duchil had unified Jiangnan’s Green Forest Alliance and become the leader of the Southern Forest Alliance.

“Bang Duchil, the Green Forest Battle King of the Southern Forest Alliance, has finally advanced into the north. The stronghold leaders in the north, who had avoided the Mountain King Challenge until now, have organized the Northern Forest Alliance and are gathering in response. A major battle will soon break out.”

Hyeok Mugang looked doubtful.

“Would they readily listen if we tell them to prepare for war instead of focusing on the Sword Tomb? Especially when it is an internal struggle within the Green Forest Alliance...”

“Of course they won’t. But can we simply stand by and watch?”

The Black Alliance in the north, the Sword Tomb in the west, and now a war within the Green Forest Alliance in the east.

The martial world was facing greater chaos than ever before.

The Martial Alliance could not be allowed to collapse.

Hyeok Mugang keenly understood the gravity of the crisis, so he could say nothing more.

Even so, the worry did not leave his face.

“Are you worried about those who entered the Sword Tomb?”

“...”

Hyeok Mugang pressed his lips together.

Seeing him like this made it clear how poorly suited he was to power.

That was also why Jegal Somyeong endured the pain and continued serving as Chief Strategist.

“I’ll tell you plainly. Sending more Martial Alliance personnel into the Sword Tomb now would be suicide.”

“...I know that well.”

“But there is something we can try.”

“What?”

Hyeok Mugang raised his head.

“Take a look at this.”

Hyeok Mugang read through the report Jegal Somyeong handed over.

It was an utterly ordinary report, roughly listing the current situation in chronological order. There was only one odd detail: the report’s tense.

Things that should have been written in the past tense had been written in the future tense.

“What is this?”

“Look at the date.”

“What?”

Only then did Hyeok Mugang examine the report again. It had been written when the Sword Tomb was discovered and people had begun to gather.

In other words, it had been written before the Tyrant King Soul-Seizing Blade was discovered.

“What is this...? Is the date wrong?”

The report described the suspicious circumstances surrounding the treasure-map incident. It also stated that divine relics of masters from the previous generation would be discovered in the Sword Tomb, lending it credibility and turning it into a deeper trap that would draw in even more people.

“The date is correct. The Mantong Office has already reviewed and submitted the document.”

The report listed events yet to come. Every line described a grim future far beyond imagination, enough to make Hyeok Mugang frown as he read.

“I hope this report doesn’t come true. If that is the future... I never want to see it.”

“I feel the same.”

Jegal Somyeong had been horrified when they belatedly saw the report.

They had been even more shocked because the events described in it closely matched their own predictions.

“Then who wrote this report? Was it Deputy Chief Maeng Juwon?”

“No. Jin Sowoon wrote it.”

“What?”

Jegal Somyeong gave a short, incredulous laugh before answering again.

“That damned bastard wrote it.”

Hyeok Mugang looked back and forth between the report and Jegal Somyeong’s face.

“Why did he write such a report?”

“He asked to be sent into the Sword Tomb.”

“...”

It made even less sense.

He had listed the horrific future that would unfold in the Sword Tomb, then asked to be sent there himself.

“He says that bold, active measures, rather than passive responses, are the only way to uncover the Sword Tomb’s true nature and save people.”

“...”

“To be honest, I don’t want to do this, and neither the Orthodox Society nor the White Path Society will like it. Still, would this not be enough of an arrangement for them?”

Hyeok Mugang tilted his head.

Jegal Somyeong cared deeply for Jin Sowoon. They cared enough to set aside even their own family for him.

Yet they intended to send someone so precious into mortal danger.

“Are you not worried?”

“He has survived more tenaciously than anyone in the present Martial Alliance and somehow succeeded in every mission. I don’t believe those things were coincidences.”

It was trust.

Firm trust.

“If he has predicted this much and still wishes to go there, would it not be best to trust that bastard’s unpredictability once again?”

“...You truly keep placing burdens upon a young man.”

“Hmph. What are you saying? It’s only natural for a superior to assign missions to a subordinate.”

Hyeok Mugang saw the deep guilt on Jegal Somyeong’s face.

They had grown old. Their heart had been worn down, and perhaps they could no longer endure their soul’s pain alone.

Though aware of their own decline, they desperately held themselves upright beneath the weight of their responsibility.

As if hypnotizing themselves, they leaned on the shoulders of a child while repeating over and over that they could still do this.

If they could not even do that, they might break at any moment.

Knowing this, Hyeok Mugang deliberately looked away.

Hoping Jegal Somyeong could forget their decline and bear responsibility a little longer.