WeTried Translations
Translator/Editor: Chen
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◈ The Martial Genius who Remembers Everything ◈
Chapter 501: The Beginning of Night (6)
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“You bastards! Is this really the best you can do?!”
Jin Sowoon threw a fit, but no one could answer him.
Well, Ilgak could have, but he was a monk who only chanted Buddhist prayers in the face of Jin Sowoon’s abuse.
The poor victims could do nothing but lie on the ground and gasp for air.
“I went through all the trouble of bringing you here!”
At Jin Sowoon’s words, Yayul Geuk cursed inwardly.
‘Who said I wanted to come?!’
Of course, now that he was only just beginning to stutter less, he did not dare pick a fight.
He barely managed to get up and began qi-regulating breathing to recover from his exhaustion.
If he did not do this now, he would have to endure the aches, fatigue, and pain flooding through his body inside the carriage until the next meal.
‘When did he become such a monster?’
Thinking of Jin Sowoon, he began a Minor Heavenly Circuit.
When they had first met at the Martial Arts Academy, there had been a gap between them, but he had still thought he stood a chance once he completed the Flowing Cloud Divine Art.
Jin Sowoon had given him enlightenment through Snow Flower, and Yayul Geuk had never doubted that he would exact bloody revenge on that bastard once he completed the Flowing Cloud Divine Art.
‘Bloody revenge, my ass...’
He would be lucky if he was not beaten up again.
Just what had that monster been eating to become so strong so quickly?
Honestly, he was jealous, but curious as well.
“Phew...”
After completing one circulation of the Minor Heavenly Circuit, the throbbing pain in his arms and legs eased a little.
Some of the internal energy in his dantian had recovered too, but his body was far from perfect.
He even began to wonder why he was putting himself through this pointless suffering.
He had not been interested in the Sword Tomb to begin with.
He also felt that joining White Wolf Pavilion had been a mistake.
He had not known where to go, then heard that Jin Sowoon was applying to White Wolf Pavilion and impulsively applied as well.
Yet Jin Sowoon had not even joined White Wolf Pavilion.
‘That son of a bitch!’
Thanks to that, he had reunited with his older brother, who had passed the lower-ranked martial artist examination, after several years apart. Still, that did not mean he could forgive Jin Sowoon.
‘I’ll definitely get my revenge, Jin Sowoon!’
“Geuk, aren’t you going to rest?”
At Nam Hwaseong’s words, Yayul Geuk, who had been sharpening his blade of revenge, quickly calmed himself.
He was simply too tired right now.
This had continued ever since they left Wuhan.
Travel, eat, coordinate the sword formation, travel again, eat, coordinate the sword formation.
At this point, all he wanted was to rest even a little longer.
“Hey, Yayul Geuk.”
Then that damned Jin Sowoon called him.
“Wh-why?”
He feared he might stutter for the rest of his life, but Dang Seohui was so frightening that he could not bring himself to ask her about it.
“Why aren’t you giving it your all?”
“W-what do you mean? I-I am g-giving it my all...”
“Your position is the only one where the sword formation keeps breaking down. And are you planning to save that amazing Flowing Cloud Divine Art for cooking soup later?”
Yayul Geuk’s face turned bright red at Jin Sowoon’s words.
“The F-Flowing Cloud Divine Art i-isn’t f-for sword formations.”
“What are you even talking about? Why do you think it’s called the Flowing Cloud Divine Art?”
“H-huh?”
“Deputy Hall Master Dang, throw a stone at me.”
Dang Seohui, who had been sitting on a rock, kicking her feet as she ate a snack, tilted her head before hopping down.
“Watch closely.”
Like when she fought them, Dang Seohui used throwing arts to throw three stones at once.
The three stones drew strange trajectories as they flew toward Jin Sowoon’s head, chest, and abdomen.
Whoosh!
Jin Sowoon’s hands also traced circular paths, wrapping around the stones before sending them back in the direction they had come from.
Ping!
“See?”
Just as the returning stones were about to strike Dang Seohui, her eyes widened. With a piece of candied fruit held between her teeth, she swung both hands.
A taiji symbol seemed to form at her fingertips, and the concealed weapons flew back toward Jin Sowoon and Yayul Geuk.
“Hup.”
Jin Sowoon casually twisted aside to avoid the stones.
All three struck Yayul Geuk instead.
Thud! Thud! Thud!
“Argh!”
Three places hurt, but he only had two hands. There was nothing he could do.
“D-damn it!”
“Tsk. I showed you how to do it, and you still got hit?”
“I-I still h-haven’t figured out h-how.”
“How long are you going to waste your time taking it easy?”
“W-what?”
“When you’re deployed as a member of White Wolf Pavilion, your brother might be standing beside you. Are you going to say you can’t fight because you still haven’t figured it out?”
It felt as though Yayul Geuk had been struck hard on the back of the head.
“Forget that. Once we enter the Sword Tomb, we’ll have to entrust our backs to each other. Can you protect your comrades?”
Yayul Geuk glared sharply at Jin Sowoon.
He felt as though he understood a little now.
The reason for Jin Sowoon’s strength.
‘Has it always been like this?’
He set impossible goals, then drove himself beyond his limits.
The worst situations someone might face once or twice in a lifetime, that bastard forced himself to face every moment.
That was what had created the gap between them, a gap even wider than the one at the Martial Arts Academy.
“Why aren’t you answering? Can you do it or not?!”
Yayul Geuk bit down hard on his lip.
“I-I can!”
“I can’t hear you.”
“F-fuck, I said I can!”
“Good. Deputy Hall Master Dang!”
Yayul Geuk drew up his internal energy.
He heightened his senses to their limit and focused his mind.
Dang Seohui was one thing, but even someone like Jin Sowoon had done it. There was no way he could not.
Whoosh!
Yayul Geuk unleashed the Flowing Cloud Divine Art without hesitation toward the stones flying at him in strange trajectories.
But...
Thud!
“Urgh!”
Thud!
“Ghk!”
Crack!
“Guek!”
Struck squarely by all three stones, Yayul Geuk passed out on the spot.
“You idiot, I told you to use the Flowing Cloud Divine Art. Do you think this is external martial arts training?”
As his consciousness faded, he heard Jin Sowoon’s voice, sounding utterly disappointed.
‘That bastard! I’ll definitely kill him!’
The flames of Yayul Geuk’s revenge, which had been dying out, burned hotter than ever.
#
The carriage that left Wuhan raced without rest until it reached Zhijiang. From Zhijiang, we boarded a ship.
During this season, when the northwesterly winds blew, traveling by ship through Sichuan and into Gansu Province was faster than taking carriages.
The ship could also move day and night with the wind and oars.
We could train and rest at the same time aboard the ship. It was killing two birds with one stone.
Around the time we passed Chongqing, the temporary members gradually began to coordinate with one another.
After that, I added Dang Seohui to the sword formation as a test.
Once inside the Sword Tomb, everyone here would have to work together anyway.
If Dang Seohui felt out of place at the last moment because we had let our guard down, it would become a serious problem.
Yet those concerns proved pointless. Dang Seohui blended perfectly into the White Tiger Sword Formation after just two tries.
It made me wonder why she did not normally use a sword.
“I keep forgetting to bring one.”
“...”
Once it was clear Dang Seohui did not need any training, I resumed putting the other four through hell.
I heard every kind of curse and complaint. Yayul Geuk, in particular, had gone wild-eyed and charged at me several times.
In my previous life, I would have been deeply worried about this situation, but now I was not worried at all.
I was their superior, and I was stronger.
If they did not like it, they could get stronger themselves.
“Amitabha...”
That bald monk chanted Buddhist prayers at every opportunity now.
After they entered the Sword Tomb and experienced that hellscape for themselves, they would realize how meaningful all their suffering had been.
Those experiences would also gradually spread after they returned to White Wolf Pavilion.
By the time I joined White Wolf Pavilion, there would at least be a basic foundation in place.
‘If there isn’t, you’re all dead.’
After arriving in Yibin, we immediately boarded the prepared carriages and headed for Neijiang.
From Neijiang, we could travel by carriage through Jintang and Dujiangyan, then reach Songpan without delay.
But things began to go wrong in Neijiang.
“What do you mean they aren’t ready?”
A Hao Sect contact held out a little over twenty pills.
“To be precise, we were unable to fill your complete order.”
The Heart-Calming Spirit Pellets I had ordered earlier.
Since I needed such a large quantity, I had used the Hao Sect to place advance orders with clinics along the route to the Sword Tomb.
I had only ordered fifty in Neijiang because I had heard there were no large clinics here, but they had not even managed to fill half the order.
“Heart-Calming Spirit Pellets are not difficult to make, but supplies throughout Sichuan and Gansu are currently being drawn north.”
“Even though I paid in advance?”
“Well, there is so little around the Great Snow Mountain that prices double or triple as soon as one crosses out of Sichuan. Since they can get a higher price by going just a little farther north, people here are taking their goods up there to sell.”
In the end, that meant I would not be able to secure the target amount south of Chengdu.
They said the situation would improve as we got closer to Chengdu, so I decided to make up the shortage near the city, even if I had to pay more.
Yet the situation did not improve much as we moved farther north.
We received some Heart-Calming Spirit Pellets in Ziyang, but the amount was still far short of what I had ordered.
In Jianyang, one clinic even canceled the order and returned my money.
‘This won’t do...’
The quantity I had ordered was absurd for a single person to use, but compared to the number of people entering the Sword Tomb, it was barely a drop in the ocean.
I had asked the Hao Sect to secure Heart-Calming Spirit Pellets, offering up to three times the market price. Still, when we reached Jintang, my last hope, I had no choice but to despair.
“If there are no medicinal herbs in Yibin or Neijiang, there are no clinics in Chengdu or farther north either.”
“What do you mean?”
“Fights and battles are breaking out every day, not only near the entrance to Gansu but throughout Sichuan as well. Every clinic is overflowing with patients from both the White Path and the Black Path. They do not even have time to work with medicinal ingredients.”
Geumdan Port was the port closest to Chengdu. If we could not get them here, we would have to stop by Chengdu or give up on the Heart-Calming Spirit Pellets entirely.
‘Without the Heart-Calming Spirit Pellets, the Sword Tomb will turn into exactly the mess those Demonic Cult bastards want.’
The thought of the Sword Tomb becoming an inescapable antlion pit for martial artists made me shudder.
“If we stop in Chengdu, can we secure the amount we need?”
“It is unlikely. As I said, money and goods are not the issue right now. There is an absolute shortage of people and time...”
When my silence dragged on, the Hao Sect member spoke carefully.
“Actually... there is a place that could produce a substantial amount, though not as much as you want.”
“What? If there was such a place, you should have told me earlier!”
“...But I cannot say with confidence that we can obtain them.”
As the Hao Sect member spoke in an unclear, roundabout way, their gaze slowly shifted.
I followed that gaze.
At its end, Dang Seohui was carefully nibbling on the last remaining mooncake.
‘Idiot! Why didn’t I think of that?’
When it came to Chengdu, Sichuan, there was the Tang Clan.
The Tang Clan possessed tremendous knowledge and martial arts related to poison, but its expertise and scale in pharmacology and medicine were unmatched by any other faction.
“Senior Dang, Senior Dang, there are a lot of physicians at your home too, right?”
“Do you need medicine?”
“Yes. A great deal of it.”
“We cannot get that much.”
“Huh? Why not?”
“Grandfather is someone who strictly separates public matters from private ones.”
The Hao Sect member continued.
“That is why I did not mention it. The Tang Clan is also watching the situation at the Great Snow Mountain Sword Tomb, so it has stopped all work unrelated to essential treatment, such as general checkups and producing restorative medicines.”
That was just like the thorough Tang Clan.
“Do you still want to visit my home?”
But there was no other option.
The last place I could put my hopes in was the Tang Clan. No... Dang Seohui.
“Yes.”
“Hmm... Fine. I shall invite everyone to my home.”
If their beloved granddaughter threw a tantrum, even the Poison King would have no choice but to give in.
“Senior Dang, you are close with your grandfather, right?”
“Grandfather is the family member I love most.”
“That is fortunate. Countless lives depend on the relationship between you and your grandfather.”
“...”
Dang Seohui tilted her head as though she did not understand.
Footnotes:
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