WeTried Translations
Translator/Editor: Chen
Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried
◈ The Martial Genius who Remembers Everything ◈
Chapter 536: Even If I Become Ashes
──────
In my previous life, I had been different from how I was now.
When I charged forward, I stood at the very back. When I fled, I stood at the very front.
That had been only natural.
My blind attachment to life, without reason or deep thought, had become an end in itself.
My sect, my martial brothers, my family.
Having lost them all, I feared death above all else because it had taken everything from me.
I admired heroes, yet hated them at the same time.
I admired their privileged backgrounds and natural aptitude, things I did not possess.
I despised them because their abilities had not protected me.
I had been nothing more than an unremarkable man dying by the roadside, and my death had felt more meaningless than anything.
That was why such a worthless life had seemed so precious, and why death had terrified me more than anything.
I had never hesitated to run.
The Martial Alliance, which gave me nothing.
The martial world, which had used me as a mere tool.
The masters who placed no value on my life, and the superiors who took my death for granted.
My resentment toward all of it.
That feeling had naturally led me down the path of escape.
[If you want to live that way, then go live that way.]
Yet after running from everything.
After moving away from the death I had feared so much and continuing to live.
I wanted to die more than ever.
The urge to kill myself rose so strangely that every day, I imagined throwing myself from the edge of a cliff.
Only then did I realize it.
What I had feared was not my own death.
It was the deaths of those around me.
‘They say fools are always the last to realize things.’
Now that I had lived one life and faced death again.
My heart did not tremble as it had in my previous life.
My legs did not weaken, nor did my breath catch in my throat.
I only calculated calmly.
‘How strong should I judge the Black King’s Wraith to be? Moyong Gang? Namgung Taeha?’
The past, when I had clung blindly to life, was gone.
By facing death directly, I now accepted both life and death as nothing more than outcomes.
‘No. If even a master like Gongsun Pung fears it...’
The mysterious old man I had met near Eunhyeon, where I had briefly stopped to absorb the Taiji Pellet on my way back after saving Dam Ak.
A mad, peerless master who had unleashed the Asura Locking Metal, Breaking Jade Art upon me, a technique horrifying from its name alone.
At the time, I had vaguely thought that old man was on a level similar to Moyong Gang and Namgung Taeha. Looking back now that I had reached the Dantian Ascension Realm, he was clearly a master a full level above them.
‘Right. I’ll assume it’s on the level of that mad old master.’
I tried to set him up as an imaginary opponent in my head and think of ways to face him.
“...”
“Are you all right? You look troubled.”
Of course I did.
Nothing came to mind.
“...I’m fine.”
I could not face Moyong Gang or Namgung Taeha in my current state.
How could I possibly fight someone at an even higher realm?
“Heh heh. You stepped up looking all impressive, but now that you’re thinking about dying, you must be worried.”
Gongsun Pung proudly voiced a prediction that was completely wrong.
“Don’t worry. You won’t die.”
He added something I could not understand.
Though he was trembling like a feverish patient enduring bitter cold, he smiled at me.
“What do you mean by that?”
“...There’s a reason. That bald monk seems to have stayed for a similar reason.”
“Amitabha.”
I wanted to ask what he meant, but I could not.
Thud. Thud. Thud.
Along with an ominous vibration, a strange sensation swept over us, freezing my five senses.
“It’s here.”
Gongsun Pung, the only one among us who had faced the Black King’s Wraith before, drew up all his internal energy.
At that moment.
Ssssss.
Something darker than darkness emerged from the shadows.
It stared at us with crimson eyes.
“...Amitabha.”
The King of the Sword Tomb.
The Black King’s Wraith had arrived.
#
It possessed greater demonic qi than any demonic being.
An unknown creature that could make even those with extensive experience in the martial world tremble in fear.
There was no real countermeasure against it.
We had divided into three groups only to increase the odds that even one more person might survive.
We had never planned to defeat the Black King’s Wraith in the first place.
That did not mean I intended to meekly become its sacrifice.
I did not know exactly what it was capable of, so I could not be certain.
Still, I had believed that with the many fated encounters and divine relics I had gathered in this life, I could at least protect myself no matter who I faced.
But that belief, no, that overconfidence, vanished like smoke the moment I faced it.
Grrr.
The shadow barely visible in the darkness was so enormous that I had to crane my neck to see all of it.
Its body was nearly ten feet tall, too large to be called human.
Clearly defined muscles covered its abnormally huge body.
Even in this darkness, shadows stood out across that densely built frame.
Its lips were tightly closed and purple, while its crimson eyes sent chills down my spine as though they gave off cold.
On top of that.
Thud. Thud. Thud.
Every time it took a step, the demonic qi it released was comparable to that of the entire Heavenly Demon Black Sword Unit.
Thud. Thud. Thud.
I understood why the Red Phoenix Bangle had sent such frantic warnings.
The moment I faced it, I had no choice but to understand.
“Ugh... ugh... ugh...”
Gongsun Pung had been overflowing with fighting spirit, confident that he could tear the creature apart at any moment.
Yet even he, a man who seemed to have lived his entire life on pride alone, was now trembling violently, as if he had fallen into panic.
Cheonsim Seonsa kept reciting the Demon-Subduing Mantra, as though his mind was growing clouded by the murky demonic qi.
At this rate, we would accomplish nothing.
After some thought, I took a string of prayer beads from my robe.
It was not something I should bring out in front of Cheonsim Seonsa, especially a Shaolin Temple monk, but this was not the time to care about such things.
“Hm?”
When I wrapped the Demon-Expelling Four-Spirit Bead twice around Gongsun Pung’s neck, his trembling subsided.
Cheonsim Seonsa, who had been chanting, stopped after noticing something strange and looked our way.
I quickly shouted.
“It’s coming!”
Whoosh!
Before I could even finish speaking.
Something black flew at us from the darkness.
It passed just below my ear before embedding itself in the wall behind me.
Crack!
Boom!
Part of the wall collapsed in an instant, sending a pile of dirt pouring down.
‘That bastard...’
It seemed I could not simply deflect whatever it threw.
It pulled its arm far back.
‘What? Is it stupid?’
I almost laughed at it for preparing to throw a punch without considering the distance between us or its attack range.
Whoosh!
Its arm stretched to an absurd length and shot toward my abdomen.
“Urgh!”
I tried to move, but it was already too late.
Just as I wondered whether the Ten-Thousand-Year Earth Bear’s recovery would be enough to save me if its hand pierced through my stomach.
Whoosh!
My body was suddenly pulled aside.
“Gah...!”
Boom!
Its arm barely missed me and embedded itself in the wall again.
“...I never told you. Its arms and legs can stretch to absurd lengths.”
The one who had pulled me away was none other than Gongsun Pung.
The Demon-Expelling Four-Spirit Bead seemed to have steadied his mind somewhat.
As its swiftly retracted arm was about to shoot forward again, Cheonsim Seonsa unleashed palm force and blocked the Black King’s Wraith’s attack.
Bang!
He had blocked it perfectly, yet Cheonsim Seonsa’s body still slid backward.
‘Blood King Soul-Subduing Fist?’
It was shocking enough that this demonic monster used martial arts.
But that martial art belonged to the Blood Cult, which had been destroyed in Sichuan...
“Hah...”
I did not even have the energy to be surprised.
There was no time to satisfy my curiosity, either.
It had already launched its next attack.
Whoosh!
Whoosh!
Whoosh!
Three objects flew through the darkness.
The wall was too close behind us for me to simply dodge, so I raised the Devouring Gauntlet and blocked what it had thrown.
Clang!
When I caught one of the objects that had bounced off the gauntlet, I saw what it was.
‘...A fingernail?’
It was one of the nails attached to its outstretched hand.
Black as if dead, with a rough surface.
Incredibly thick, with edges as hard and sharp as blades.
It was unmistakably a fingernail.
I wished there were a limit to how often it could use such an ominous, vicious weapon.
Crushing that hope with ease, it began firing its fingernails at us like daggers.
Whoosh!
As their number steadily increased, we reached the point where we could neither dodge nor block them all.
I used the Taeul Eighty Thousand Divine Steps at full power and charged at it.
I did not know its true identity, but I knew it emitted demonic qi.
If that was the case...
Hummm!
Jade Clarity Celestial Phenomenon Force flashed with golden light, becoming a ray of light that stabbed into its vital acupoint.
Pop! Pop! Pop!
Screeech!
The moment it staggered.
Gongsun Pung and Cheonsim Seonsa charged in at the same time.
The White-Strike Fist Wanderer’s specialty, fist force, fiercely targeted its neck.
Shaolin Temple’s Arhat Divine Fist targeted its heart.
Slash! Slash!
Clang! Clang!
Boom! Boom! Boom!
All manner of impacts rained down on it.
It covered its fatal acupoints with its huge arms.
[Three White Moon Heaven-Subduing Forms]
[First Form]
[Extreme Swiftness]
A sword strike so swift it seemed to split even space passed through its arms.
Whoosh!
The sound of bursting air rang out a moment later, and long wounds appeared across both its arms.
“Good!”
Gongsun Pung cried out in delight at the effective strike.
Thud!
Its hand suddenly struck Gongsun Pung in the solar plexus.
Boom!
Gongsun Pung was sent flying nearly thirty feet before barely regaining his balance.
“Bleurgh.”
He vomited the blood he had been holding back.
“Amitabha.”
Cheonsim Seonsa’s hand began tracing a circle, leaving its afterimage in the air.
Then.
He unleashed the ultimate art of Great Vajra Fist, one of Shaolin Temple’s supreme martial arts.
Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom!
For someone said to avoid taking lives lightly, he unleashed overwhelming force that crushed down on the Black King’s Wraith.
It felt as though massive boulders and even hundred-refined steel would become mere dust before that force.
Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom!
The fist images pouring from Cheonsim Seonsa’s hand grew heavier and heavier over time, until they concealed the Black King’s Wraith’s entire body.
Hummm!
Dozens, then hundreds of fist images bore down on the Black King’s Wraith.
Just as I thought even it must have been reduced to powder.
Slash!
With an ominous cutting sound, Cheonsim Seonsa’s left hand fell to the ground.
“Venerable!”
“Be careful, Benefactor Jin...”
The Black King’s Wraith’s next punch sent Cheonsim Seonsa flying.
“You fucking bastard!”
Ten Thousand Swords, brimming with Jade Clarity Celestial Phenomenon Force, manifested in the air and filled the space all around us.
Whoosh!
At the same time, I swung my sword toward the Black King’s Wraith.
The golden sword force turned its powerful body into a mass of blood in an instant.
But.
“Crazy...”
The wounds it had suffered healed so quickly they were almost impossible to see.
Under normal circumstances, no, if I had even half my usual internal energy remaining.
I would have poured in more and seen how long it could endure.
Tremble. Tremble. Tremble.
My internal energy had already run dry. The internal energy throughout my entire body, including the Eight Extraordinary Meridians, screamed as I wrung out every last drop.
I gathered even the tiny amount of internal energy remaining in my dantian and fired the Silent Sound Azure Water Hand at it.
Pfft.
The Silent Sound Azure Water Hand sank into its body with a soft sound.
Pfft. Pfft. Pfft. Pfft.
I fired it again and again, but strangely, its movements did not change.
Then.
“Move aside.”
A tremendous storm of qi rose from behind me.
‘Martial Hero Gongsun should have no strength left.’
When I turned around, his hair had risen toward the ceiling, and an uncontrollable haze of qi billowed from his shoulders.
“Martial Hero...!”
“I’m fine. I’m fine.”
He had.
He had drawn upon his innate qi.
“I’ll buy time, so escape with the bald monk.”
“What...!”
Without even waiting for my answer, he charged at the Black King’s Wraith like the wind.
“Martial Hero!”
Slash! Thud!
Slash! Thud!
The Black King’s Wraith was moving too quickly for my eyes to follow, but Gongsun Pung moved even faster.
Thud! Thud! Thud!
“All the martial arts I cultivated throughout my life...!”
Thud! Thud! Thud!
“Do you think they’ll lose to a demonic monster like you?!”
A desperate cry, and movements even more desperate.
For the first time, the Black King’s Wraith began to retreat.
“No...”
Cheonsim Seonsa, collapsed against the wall and unable to move, let out a groan.
Gongsun Pung was clearly overwhelming it.
“Aaargh!”
His final move, surely his ultimate technique, unfolded as the Black King’s Wraith staggered and began to topple.
Thwack!
Thud!
The Black King’s Wraith’s hands struck Gongsun Pung’s chest, stretched out, and slammed him into the wall.
“Damn... it...”
He looked as though he had squeezed out every last bit of strength.
With violently shaking eyes, he barely lifted his head to look at me.
“...Kid,” he started, then coughed harshly. “This is as far as I go.”
He seemed to have barely blocked the Black King’s Wraith’s hands with both arms.
Yet his arms were twisted in directions they should never bend.
“Benefactor Jin... run.”
Across from us, the Black King’s Wraith recovered its wounds as though nothing had happened and stared directly at us.
Its crimson gaze had grown colder, cruelly looking down at us.
Grrrrr.
Its low growl echoed.
As if it were radiating hostility.
“Damn it... Damn it...”
Both masters were no longer able to fight.
The two who had sacrificed themselves for me desperately told me to run.
But I had no thought of running, nor did I feel fear.
No, I did fear its overwhelming strength.
But.
“Damn it... You must be another filthy tool of the Demonic Cult, aren’t you?”
My anger was greater.
A creature that mocked Cheonsim Seonsa’s long years of ascetic practice.
A creature that dismissed Gongsun Pung’s resolve to take it down with him as though it were nothing.
Defying even heaven’s order.
Deciding whether we lived or died according to its own will.
Declaring our deaths unilaterally.
That very malice of the Demonic Cult itself.
In my previous life.
And in this life as well.
“You bastards... again.”
It was trying to decree the deaths of my companions, my people, and me as it pleased.
“You’re trying to take what is mine.”
“Again, as you please.”
I had always been the first person to run.
The person who had considered that only natural and survived until the end.
But this time.
I cast aside every thought of escape.
For my sect.
For my companions.
Above all, for myself.
The thought that I would burn it to ashes awakened my mind with fierce clarity.
Whoosh!
Because of that.
“I won’t let things go your way.”
Even if my body burned and became ashes.
Like a torch, I charged toward those crimson eyes.
Footnotes:
Join our discord at https://dsc.gg/wetried
