WeTried Translations
Translator/Editor: Chen
Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried
◈ The Martial Genius who Remembers Everything ◈
Chapter 5: The Third-Rate Martial Artist Gathering Elixirs (3)
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The deep three-pronged furrow between Hong Saryeon’s brows returned, marring the good mood she had been in lately.
With Gye Yeonseung driven out and a new Hall Lord installed at Busaeng Hall, Gye Cheolyeong, who had kept quiet for a while, had returned to their old self and begun boasting again.
“Do you know what a Snow Plum Pellet is? Within Mount Hua, it is second only to the Violet Mist Pellet in increasing internal energy. As for strengthening one’s foundation, it far surpasses Shaolin Sect’s Lesser Rejuvenation Pellet. Even within Mount Hua, only direct disciples can barely obtain one. It is a precious elixir pellet.”
He would surely follow that with, “My father and my uncle, a disciple of the Mount Hua Sect, obtained that precious elixir for me.”
Hong Saryeon could predict his next words without even listening.
He had been saying the same thing in the same way for days now. It felt as though an unmemorized martial formula had lodged itself in her mind.
“...Yes. That’s truly impressive.”
“Right? So, you see...”
She wanted to shout, What am I supposed to do about it, idiot? But he was the son of an important patron who provided the sect’s funding.
It was not as if Hong Saryeon did not envy Gye Cheolyeong.
Born to the martial world, she desired elixir pellets as much as anyone else.
But as the Sect Leader’s only daughter, she had too much resting on her shoulders to wallow in feelings of deprivation and despair.
“Senior Sister! Senior Sister! What will happen to Senior Brother Jin?”
“Senior Sister! Senior Brother Sowoon isn’t leaving the sect, is he?”
“Senior Sister! If I only eat two meals a day... will Senior Brother come back?”
The junior disciples, like little chicks, did nothing but wait for their senior brother to return home. As for Senior Brother Jin, who was like a youngest sibling, nobody knew what he had been doing. Even the Outer Hall Lord had no news of him.
That damned man.
Saryeon’s patience with the tyranny of Gye Cheolyeong and Gye Yeonseung had been nearing its limit as well.
If Senior Brother Jin had not acted, she would have.
No, it should have been her responsibility from the beginning, not his.
After all, the future of the Taeul Sect would ultimately rest on her shoulders.
Gye Cheolyeong was merely an opportunist who had entered the sect for the sake of the Martial Arts Academy. Half the younger disciples would eventually inherit their family businesses, while the fortunate ones might find decent work as escort warriors.
Senior Brother Jin Sowoon was there, but Saryeon was not shameless enough to throw this burden onto him even while knowing the Taeul Sect’s future was bleak.
She had carried such heavy thoughts since childhood.
That was why she had been blaming herself for failing to step forward in time, afraid of Gye Yeonseung’s martial arts and afraid of Gye Yeonseok’s retaliation.
How did he even win?
Setting aside the question of how he had defeated Mount Hua Sect’s Plum Blossom Sword Art, Senior Brother Jin had left the Taeul Sect so Gye Yeonseok, who had been visiting the sect every day since that incident, would not notice him.
It was probably consideration for the sect.
Everyone knew how petty and tenacious Gye Yeonseok was.
That was why Jin Sowoon had deliberately left the sect.
“Senior Sister! Senior Sister! Try some of this!”
“Senior Sister! This meat is really delicious!”
The younger disciples offered her rice cakes and meat with the eager expressions of puppies. Hong Saryeon forgot her troubled thoughts and stroked their heads.
A small feast had been held at the Taeul Sect to commemorate the arrival of Mount Hua Sect’s masters at the Gyerong Merchant Group.
Naturally, Gye Yeonseok and Gye Yeonseung had no time to visit the Taeul Sect while entertaining the Mount Hua Sect guests. Thanks to that, the people of the Taeul Sect could enjoy the food among themselves in comfort.
“But where did Senior Brother Jin really go? He really liked these rice cakes.”
“Senior Sister! Can I save this meat for Senior Brother Jin?”
The junior disciple, repeatedly swallowing while staring at the food with bright eyes, asked in a voice that showed great restraint.
It had been so long since the child had eaten meat, yet they were willing to give it up.
Hong Saryeon felt a pang in her heart and roughly tousled the child’s hair.
“By the time he returns, the meat will have spoiled. So don’t hold back. Eat as much as you want.”
“Then when will Senior Brother Jin come back?”
“He’ll be back soon.”
Pretending it was nothing, Hong Saryeon stole a piece of meat and a rice cake from each of the younger disciples.
What the hell is that bastard doing out there?
#
“Make it ten taels of silver.”
I had spent my entire previous life cursing this memory of mine, but it was not entirely bad.
For example, it was very useful for smacking the back of shameless merchants who tried to drive down prices by using changing market rates as an excuse.
“Hah, what are you talking about? These days, people in Zhejiang Province are desperate to get their hands on tiger pelts like this. The starting price there is thirty taels of silver.”
Zhejiang Province, represented by Hangzhou, received so many goods that its market rates affected those of surrounding provinces as well.
Even so, a difference of twenty taels merely for crossing one provincial border was absurd.
“That price is for an intact tiger pelt.”
“Look at this. There isn’t even a single arrow mark on this tiger pelt. Offering only ten taels of silver for something like this is outrageous enough that I could drag you before the authorities.”
“Young man, are you blind? You call this an intact pelt?”
The merchant spread out the tiger hide with a snap.
“What on earth did you do to it? The whole thing has dried out and shriveled up. I’m only offering ten taels because I’m being generous. Go somewhere else, and you won’t even get half that!”
“...”
No matter how hard I searched my memories, there was no way to restore a shriveled pelt.
I readily accepted it and took the ten taels of silver.
Obtaining the tiger pelt had never been part of my plan in the first place.
Ever since the Azure Dragon Bangle absorbed the Human-Faced Spider’s inner core, I had been deeply troubled.
“If this goes wrong, I’m undeniably a demonic practitioner.”
The Absorbing Star Grand Art was one of the ten forbidden arts designated by the Martial Alliance.
Among those ten forbidden arts, the Absorbing Star Grand Art was classified separately as one of the four great evil arts. The Martial Alliance detested it as a demonic art.
Judging by the process through which the Azure Dragon Bangle absorbed an inner core, it looked exactly like the Absorbing Star Grand Art. Disposing of it was my most urgent task.
“Of course an heirloom left behind by that Vampiric Fiend bastard wouldn’t be normal.”
Should I call it fortunate? It did not absorb everything indiscriminately.
It could not absorb any energy from plants, rocks, or similar things.
But it did absorb energy from animals such as deer and rabbits.
It did not merely absorb that energy. It transformed the vitality of living creatures into true qi, then absorbed it.
That placed me on the same level as the Vampiric Fiend, which meant I would unquestionably become a target for extermination by the Martial Alliance.
Still, hoping for the best, I had risked my life testing the Azure Dragon Bangle deep in the mountain where I found the great tiger. As the result plainly showed, Jin Sowoon, the Absorbing Star Young Master, had been born.
Well done, Jin Sowoon. You regressed and all you got was a demonic art.
The Azure Dragon Bangle’s absorption ability was especially beyond anything I had imagined.
The great tiger rushed at me so fiercely that I could not regulate my strength. The instant I activated the Azure Dragon Bangle, every trace of moisture in its body vanished, leaving it crisp and completely dried out.
“Well done, Jin Sowoon. You regressed and all you got was a demonic art. Well done. Truly well done.”
My life was not the only thing I had to worry about.
The instant the Martial Alliance learned this fact, not only I, but everyone in the Taeul Sect, including my father, the Sect Leader, and the Hall Lords, would be dragged to the Martial Alliance and subjected to brutal torture.
The Martial Alliance’s underground cells were said to inflict torture so merciless that people would confess to crimes they had never committed.
The younger disciples would not last three days before confessing that they had learned the Absorbing Star Grand Art from me.
“If I die again, will there be another chance?”
Rather than pinning my hopes on something so vague, I began studying the Azure Dragon Bangle.
For one thing, it did obey my will well enough.
I absolutely could not let it suddenly shine for no reason again and arouse people’s suspicions.
Unable to trust even that, I entered the village and immediately went into a cloth shop, where I tightly wrapped my wrist in dark fabric.
More importantly, the reason I had not cut off my perfectly healthy left hand was this: whether it absorbed vitality or internal energy and converted it into internal energy, the energy itself was identical to the Taeul Mind Method I had cultivated.
More precisely, it was absorbed in a purer form and quickly merged with the Taeul Mind Method.
Considering that it did not produce the separation of absorbed internal energy, one of the characteristics of the Absorbing Star Grand Art...
Unless someone saw me absorb another person’s qi before their eyes, examining my dantian alone would not leave behind any trace that I had learned the Absorbing Star Grand Art.
In any case, if I could only avoid being discovered, this was no different from possessing an incredible trump card.
No, I had decided to think of it that way.
The future where I was dragged into the Martial Alliance’s underground cells was too horrifying even to imagine.
“Do you sell traps as well?”
“Hm? Didn’t you come here because you already knew? This is Hefei’s best hunting supply shop.”
“Then give me some traps for tigers and bears.”
“Eh? You plan to hunt with traps? The pelts will get badly damaged and you won’t get a proper price for them. A pelt dried out like yours would be better.”
“I’m not after the pelts.”
“Hmm. Bear gallbladders fetch a good price these days. How many do you want?”
“About... thirty.”
“Eh?”
“The things I need to hunt are rather cunning.”
#
The Gyerong Merchant Group held a feast livelier than any it had hosted in recent memory.
Whatever the reason, a visit from Mount Hua Sect masters was a good opportunity to spread word of the relationship between the Gyerong Merchant Group and the Mount Hua Sect.
They even posted notices within ten ri, serving food and drink to anyone without distinction.
The people who usually traded with Gye Yeonseok were offended to see someone so stingy toward them hosting such a lavish banquet, so they did not attend. But drinkers from the area brought one another along to the feast. The lights at the Gyerong Merchant Group did not go out, and the music did not stop, all night long.
The height of the feast was the music and dance of Wolhyang, Hefei’s foremost courtesan.
Even the drinkers who had stubbornly remained in their seats so they would not lose them began gathering in the center of the Gyerong Merchant Group, eager to catch even a glimpse of the famously elusive Wolhyang.
“Pay your respects. These are the Mount Hua Sect’s finest martial artists.”
Gye Yeonseok pompously praised the two Mount Hua Sect masters. Wolhyang slowly lowered her veil and gave a small smile.
“I am Wolhyang.”
Few people, including Gye Cheolyeong seated beside Gye Yeonseok and even the Mount Hua Sect masters, could keep their facial expressions under control.
Each time a flash of pale skin showed through the folds of her skirt while she danced, deep, unidentifiable groans spread through the hall.
And while everyone’s attention was fixed entirely on Wolhyang, the Soul-Chasing Wanderer concealed himself between the lanterns and climbed over the Gyerong Merchant Group’s wall without anyone noticing.
Success!
The Soul-Chasing Wanderer thought.
With this, his tiresome life of thievery would finally end.
Thrown into the martial world at the age of twenty, he had received no proper instruction and had stumbled from place to place, picking up only a few skills along the way.
His throwing arts were the most exceptional of them, which led him into thievery. But it was never the life the Soul-Chasing Wanderer wanted.
Then, by chance, the manual of the Mad Heaven Divine Palm had fallen into his hands.
It was the ultimate technique of the Mad Heaven Divine Lord, who was said to have vanished without leaving behind a successor.
He had obtained the Mad Heaven Divine Palm manual, but it contained only palm techniques and lacked the crucial internal cultivation method.
The Mad Heaven Divine Palm required an enormous amount of internal energy, as befitted its legendary destructive power. To the Soul-Chasing Wanderer, it had been no more useful than a shoe without a mate.
But now things are different! The martial world will witness the return of the Mad Heaven Divine Lord.
The Snow Plum Pellet in his robes, and the Mad Heaven Divine Palm.
With only those two things, he had nothing left to fear.
“Hehehe.”
The moment he laughed without realizing it...
“See? I told you he’d come this way.”
“Hehe. He really did steal it.”
At the sudden voices, the Soul-Chasing Wanderer felt as if his heart had dropped with a thud.
“...”
He swiftly deployed his movement art to flee, but the killing intent the two people radiated covered such a vast area that he could not tell where to run.
“Normally, at a time like this, shouldn’t you ask, ‘Who are you?’”
“I know. He must be quite tight-lipped. It would be nice if he worked for our Martial Alliance.”
The two people appeared while exchanging words utterly devoid of tension.
A sword at each of their sides, and cloud patterns embroidered upon their robes.
The Soul-Chasing Wanderer immediately realized that he could not handle them.
Mount Cang Sect.
The Soul-Chasing Wanderer’s mind raced.
Should I offer to split the elixir pellet?
They mentioned the Martial Alliance, so they would not kill me.
Should I swallow it and run?
“Look at that bastard thinking so hard.”
“Hey. Move so much as one finger, and I’ll cut off your head. Keep that in mind.”
The moment he heard that, the Soul-Chasing Wanderer gave up on everything.
Right. It is better to wait for another chance than die a dog’s death here.
The Soul-Chasing Wanderer quickly dropped to his knees.
“This lowly one was blinded by greed and committed this foolish act. Please spare my life.”
He pulled a small wooden box from his robes and prostrated himself.
Once they recovered the Snow Plum Pellet, he would be imprisoned by the Martial Alliance. But if the two people coveted the Snow Plum Pellet, there was at least hope that he might avoid a prison sentence from the Martial Alliance.
“Is this the Snow Plum Pellet?”
“Check the contents. You can never trust a thief.”
“Let’s see.”
One of them took the Snow Plum Pellet and opened the wooden box.
Pop.
With the sound of air rushing in, a refreshing fragrance reached the Soul-Chasing Wanderer’s nose even as he lay prostrate.
“It’s real.”
“Is it?”
“This lowly one would like to say something to you, honored heroes.”
“Hm?”
“What is he saying?”
“The leader of the Gyerong Merchant Group is known as a greedy, arrogant man who does not know gratitude. Even if you return the Snow Plum Pellet to him, would he truly reward you? Rather, why don’t you honored heroes keep the Snow Plum Pellet...”
“Haha, look at this bastard.”
“Honestly. What does he take us for?”
Though they said that, the exchanged glances between them gave the Soul-Chasing Wanderer certainty.
He could escape safely.
“Then this lowly one will be going...?”
As he tried to rise, the Soul-Chasing Wanderer found that his legs would not obey him.
“Boy. Did you think we would leave behind a witness?”
“Even for a Black Path scoundrel, you’re quite naive. How did you ever earn the name Soul-Chasing Wanderer?”
With “Damn it” as his last words, the Soul-Chasing Wanderer collapsed to the ground.
“Let’s deal with this quickly and leave.”
“Wait. People like him often keep their most valuable treasure on them. Look.”
One of them pulled a martial arts manual from the Soul-Chasing Wanderer’s robes.
“We can inspect it later. They’ll probably notice the Snow Plum Pellet is missing soon.”
Thud.
As one of them fired palm force into the ground, a hole deep enough to barely fit a person opened up.
The two people kicked the Soul-Chasing Wanderer’s corpse into the hole, roughly covered it with dirt, and prepared to leave.
Rustle.
At that moment, a sound neither of them had made reached their ears.
“Who is it?”
“Come out, or I’ll cut off your head.”
The figure who emerged from the forest was a young man who did not even appear to be twenty.
“W-Who are you?”
“And what brings you here in the middle of the night?”
Did he see us?
But the timing does not match.
As the two people exchanged complicated looks...
“I heard the Gyerong Merchant Group was holding a banquet with free liquor, so I was on my way there. But I got lost...”
“Did you see anything?”
“What do you mean?”
“...”
The person who had asked the question looked at their companion, who gave a small shake of their head.
“Come here. I’ll show you the way to the Gyerong Merchant Group.”
“...I’m sorry, but you seem suspicious. Could you not just continue on your way?”
“...”
“...”
There was no longer any reason to hesitate. The young man had definitely seen them.
The moment their eyes met, the two people kicked off the ground and appeared before the young man without either needing to move first.
“You were unlucky. Do not resent us.”
Just as they were about to strike with their swords...
The young man’s startled expression changed into that of a yaksha.
“You shameless bastards. Is that how Mount Cang teaches its disciples?”
“Ghk!”
They swung their Mount Cang sword techniques without holding back, intending to cut him down in one stroke, but the swords were absurdly blocked.
The instant their swords collided, Gu Ilmu of the Five Swords of Mount Cang felt agonizing pain shoot through his joints and staggered back two steps.
Snap.
“Arrgh!”
Sharp teeth seemed to tear through his ankle.
Though secrecy was essential, Gu Ilmu screamed without realizing it.
“Who are you? Do you know who we are?”
He drew all the internal energy in his body together to resist the trap biting into his ankle, but the trap’s teeth had already sunk in. He could not exert his strength properly.
A bloody smile spread across the young man’s lips, despite the innocent face and voice he had shown moments earlier.
“Who else would you be? Thieves from the Mount Cang Sect.”
“...Who are you?”
“The Snow Plum Pellet’s new owner.”
Jin Sowoon smiled brightly.
Footnotes:
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