WeTried Translations
Translator/Editor: Chen
Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried
◈ The Martial Genius who Remembers Everything ◈
Chapter 537: Even If I Become Ashes (2)
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Gongsun Feng was no ordinary martial artist.
In the more than twenty years since he entered the martial world, he had gone from straddling the righteous and heretical paths to becoming a Black Path martial artist, advancing from third-rate to the Transcendent Peak Realm.
Along the way, he had faced death dozens, no, hundreds of times.
Which meant that once a martial artist reached Gongsun Feng’s level, even when faced with an overwhelmingly powerful enemy, they did not fear death. Instead, it stirred their competitive spirit and sharpened their fighting spirit.
The anticipation of being given a chance to prove themselves outweighed the death awaiting them.
Yet the reason Gongsun Feng feared the Black King’s Wraith, no, a demonic monster that was nothing more than a creation of the Demonic Cult, became clear the moment one saw it.
Death.
It radiated death from its entire body.
It was not the fear inspired by its strength, but an instinctive terror.
Like a rabbit standing before a tiger.
A human reduced to prey before a predator could not help but sense death from the creature’s presence, which stirred something primal within them.
As though it had been made for that very purpose.
‘Were the Demonic Cult’s arts truly capable of this much?’
Of all the Heaven-Defying arts, this was the first time I had faced such instinctive fear.
That unfamiliar sensation only made the revulsion I had been suppressing rise even further.
It wasn’t as though I couldn’t sense death either.
No, shrill screams rang through my head, relentlessly urging me to run at once.
But when I imagined that thing entering my sect and standing before my junior disciples...
Heat like a living volcano blazed in my chest and swallowed the uproar in my mind in an instant.
“You’ll die here today.”
Fwoosh!
The Sacred Flame Demon-Extinguishing Hand gave off a faint flame.
This was the greatest power I could draw out for now.
But it didn’t matter. The moment it touched demonic qi, it would spread without restraint like fire catching dry kindling.
And I had prepared a killing move as well.
Whoosh!
Whoosh!
I narrowly avoided the claws brushing past my face and charged at it.
“Je Geumhak really loved getting hit by this. Do you know Je Geumhak?”
Grrrr.
The instant I used Taeul Eighty Thousand Divine Steps to rush in, its figure blurred.
‘...Demon Blood Divine Steps?’
It was using a Blood Cult movement art again.
I pushed Taeul Eighty Thousand Divine Steps to its limit and closed in even faster.
Then it used Four Death Ghost Steps and darted sideways.
It was hard to believe a creature with such a massive body could move like that.
What the hell... was it?
It was as if it had been taught never to let me close the distance.
Desperately trying to keep me away, it lashed out with its claws and stretched out its hands and feet.
The one fortunate thing was that its elongated limbs could not perform martial forms.
Whoosh!
As though it had read my thoughts, one of its hands flew at me like a whip.
Thud!
I used the Devouring Gauntlet to soften the blow, but my body was still sent backward.
I spun once, stepped off the wall, and shot toward it again.
Fwoosh.
Just as the Sacred Flame Demon-Extinguishing Hand was about to touch its wound, the injury healed instantly, and a hard, scab-like layer rose over it.
“Where do you think you’re going!”
I struck the place where the wound had been with all my strength.
Boom!
Flames from the Sacred Flame Demon-Extinguishing Hand bloomed like a flower, scattering in every direction.
But...
‘It’s unharmed?’
Not just unharmed.
It was like a few fallen leaves had landed on a sheet of solid steel. I had not harmed it at all.
Its sharp claws came flying at me.
Stab!
I twisted my body in a hurry, but...
Stab!
One claw still plunged into my lower abdomen.
“Argh!”
When I forcibly pulled it out, agony spread through my entire body as though the backward-facing edge had torn through my insides.
Perhaps sensing that its attack had worked, it sent its claws flying again.
I endured the pain and used the Twin Heavens Sword Art.
Shhhhhh!
Dozens, then hundreds of sword phantoms enveloped its body.
Clang! Clang! Clang-clang-clang!
The incoming claws were swept away in the storm of sword phantoms.
Then, as its body was swallowed by the storm...
Boom!
Boom! Boom!
Powerful demonic qi erupted, unleashing massive energy clashes in every direction.
‘Ha, even Mad Demon Divine Armor...’
The energy it released instantly dispelled the Twin Heavens Sword Art.
Grrrrr.
Its crimson eyes stared straight at me.
Then its hand twisted grotesquely.
Before long, it took the shape of a sword and began to swing.
Countless streams of sword qi, unleashed through crude forms, rushed at us.
I could not have avoided all of them to begin with.
And even if I could have, if I had dodged every stream of sword qi...
“...Cough.”
“Haa... haa...”
Gongsun Feng and Venerable Cheonsim would have been caught in them.
I desperately swung my sword and deflected the sword qi.
Crunch! Crunch!
Even though I was knocking away sword qi, it felt less like cutting and more like smashing.
There was only one Demonic Cult martial art with that characteristic.
Mad Demon Shattered-Soul Sword Art.
The sword art of the Mad Demon Patriarch, master of the Demon-Subduing Madman, who wielded the madness brought on by qi deviation as martial power.
“You really have everything, don’t you!”
Pain surged through the wrist holding the Scarlet Radiance Sword, as though it were about to snap.
It wasn’t just my wrist.
My entire body was screaming in pain, and my internal condition was even worse.
Still, if I continued to drag this out, it would recover even its smallest wounds.
I had no choice but to make a decision.
“Eat this!”
[Void-Destroying Fist]
[Sacred Flame Demon-Extinguishing Hand]
It felt as though all the strength had drained from my body at once.
My head burned hotter than ever, and pain squeezed it as though a tightening golden headband were crushing my skull.
“Arghhh!”
A scream burst from me as I fought through the agony.
At the same time, the Sacred Flame Demon-Extinguishing Hand began burning from the wound near its left forearm.
Fwoosh!
Roaaargh!
For the first time, a scream came from the creature that had never cried out no matter what pain it suffered. It shook its hand in panic.
But the flame that had begun eating away at its demonic qi swelled in an instant.
Soon, the fire spread across its entire arm.
I fired sword qi at it, refusing to give it an opening.
It felt as though qi deviation might strike at any moment, but I couldn’t let this chance slip away.
Whoosh!
Whoosh!
Sharp sword qi struck its vital acupoints.
Then I unleashed the Silent Sound Azure Water Hand through those wounds.
Boom! Boom! Boom!
Yet the Silent Sound Azure Water Hand still showed no reaction.
‘Damn it... what the hell is it?’
It lacked intelligence, so it wasn’t one of those horrifying Living Jiangshi.
Yet judging by the movement of its joints and the many martial arts it used, it wasn’t a Blood Jiangshi either.
‘I’ve never even heard of a Blood Jiangshi like that.’
A jiangshi that could freely alter its own body.
The very idea made no sense.
The one saving grace was...
Roaaargh!
The Sacred Flame Demon-Extinguishing Hand was working properly.
The fire clinging to its arm grew fiercer and fiercer.
Just as I thought I could deal with that monstrous thing like this...
‘Huh?’
It raised its right arm, which had turned into a sword, and brought it down without hesitation.
Slice!
Splurt!
Black blood gushed from the severed stump.
The severed arm was engulfed by the Sacred Flame Demon-Extinguishing Hand, lighting the cave like a bonfire.
And from the stump illuminated by that fire...
“Crazy...”
A new arm was growing.
My hand gripping the sword reacted before I could fully process the unbelievable sight.
How hard had it been to make those wounds?
I couldn’t let it recover. The moment I scattered the Drifting Current Formless Sword...
Stab!
Pain like a red-hot iron searing my stomach shot through me.
“Urgh...”
I lowered my head.
Its claw had pierced through my abdomen.
‘When did it...?’
#
I had felt this pain before.
In my previous life, during my final moments, when I had met death at Gwak Gung’s hands.
That feeling.
‘Am I going to die like this...?’
It was absurd.
I had survived so many crises and gained so much, only to die like this again.
Just how deep and vast was the Demonic Cult’s malice...?
‘No, damn it, am I really dying like this?’
That was nonsense.
I hadn’t even seen Gwak Gung’s face again, and I hadn’t properly made the Demonic Cult bastards pay.
And that wasn’t all.
I still had to crush the heads of those corrupt White Path bastards, and I still had revenge to take on Yong Soa.
“Huff... huff...”
I examined my injury.
I had blocked the wound in front, but I could feel hot blood running down my back.
No matter how I looked at it, the wound offered no hope.
“So what...?”
Had I not made up my mind?
That I would burn that horrifying thing, and those who had created it, to ash.
“Arghhh!”
I drew up my innate qi.
A huge amount of qi began to fill my dried-out dantian.
Fire energy spread through my cold body.
Fwoosh!
The Sacred Flame Demon-Extinguishing Hand burned brighter than ever.
Then...
Sizzle!
I pressed that hand directly against the wound in my abdomen.
Whether the Black King’s Wraith took a guarded stance or not.
Sizzle!
I cauterized my own wound with the Sacred Flame Demon-Extinguishing Hand.
A horrible stench filled my nose in an instant.
I tried to hold back my scream, but...
“Arghhh!”
A cry burst from me at the pain that nearly made me lose consciousness.
The pain didn’t end there. I had two wounds.
Sizzle!
“Arghhh!”
I had thought I no longer had the strength to scream.
Apparently, I was wrong.
Once I confirmed that blood was no longer flowing from my wounds, I spoke to it.
“You will definitely... die.”
I used Taeul Eighty Thousand Divine Steps.
The distance between us vanished in an instant, but it no longer fled or tried to widen the gap.
“So now you think you can take me on?”
It still swung its hand after turning it into a sword.
Clang!
The sword laden with enormous demonic qi swung down, but it could not easily reach me.
“I’d forgotten something for a moment.”
Grrrrr.
“There’s a far better martial art for dealing with trash like you.”
The third form of the Jegal Three Forms was a sword art created solely to oppose the Demonic Cult.
Jegal Cheongi had created it during the war, drawing from the demonic arts I remembered.
The Anti-Demonic Cult Shattering Form.
[Jegal Three Forms]
[Demon-Subduing Form]
Even in the past, it had saved my life several times when all I had was the Lesser Heaven Sword Art and pitiful internal energy.
And now...
I possessed countless weapons that I could never have imagined in my previous life.
Thud! Thud! Thud!
Its demonic qi was overwhelmingly greater and more powerful than my internal energy.
But its power was not connected. It broke apart in fits and starts.
Clang-clang-clang-clang-clang!
Just as martial artists of the Nine Sects One Gang became flustered before the Shattering Form, the Black King’s Wraith let out an enraged roar, as though it was more frustrated than ever.
Roaaargh!
Neither of us gained a great advantage, nor suffered a great loss.
My Demon-Subduing Form could not break through its overwhelming strength, while its demonic martial art could not break through the Twin Heavens Sword Art reinforced by the Demon-Subduing Form.
But...
The distance had closed enough.
“Then I’m the one with the advantage.”
I grabbed its neck and activated the Azure Dragon Bangle.
A tremendous amount of energy was sucked into my palm.
Roaaargh!
To avoid being thrown off as it violently thrashed, I even discarded the Scarlet Radiance Sword.
At the same time, I drew the Ascending Heaven Dagger and drove it into its body.
“This is Je Geumhak’s special. Eat up!”
Fwoosh!
The Sacred Flame Demon-Extinguishing Hand flared up.
The Black King’s Wraith hurriedly tried to cut open its own chest.
I poured all the internal energy absorbed by the Azure Dragon Bangle into another Sacred Flame Demon-Extinguishing Hand.
Fwoosh!
Flames from the Sacred Flame Demon-Extinguishing Hand bloomed across its body.
Perhaps deciding it needed to tear me off first, it reached one arm behind itself to grab me and slam me into the ground.
Hum!
The Tyrant King Divine Fist erupted from my hand, knocking its arm away.
At the same time, internal energy began accumulating steadily in my dantian.
There was no longer any need to use innate qi, so I gathered my energy and poured the internal energy building up in my dantian into the Sacred Flame Demon-Extinguishing Hand again.
Fwoosh!
Fwoosh!
Fwoosh!
The Sacred Flame Demon-Extinguishing Hand used alongside the Void-Destroying Fist required an enormous amount of internal energy.
But that didn’t matter.
I had an excellent source supplying it right now.
“Keep dying until you’re dead!”
Rumble!
I gathered internal energy, placed my hand on its head, and unleashed the Mad Heaven Divine Palm.
Kwooooom!
I didn’t think about how effective it would be.
I simply poured everything I had into it.
The heat of the Sacred Flame Demon-Extinguishing Hand and the destructive force of the Mad Heaven Divine Palm damaged me as well, but I didn’t stop attacking.
Stab! Stab! Stab!
I repeatedly drove the Ascending Heaven Dagger into its body, using the Sacred Flame Demon-Extinguishing Hand on every wound I made.
While the Azure Dragon Bangle remained active, it felt as though my blood vessels and energy channels were being torn to shreds.
But the thought of stopping to rest never crossed my mind.
“Die! Die! Die! Die! Die! Die! Die! Die!”
Only one thought ruled my mind.
I had to make it die in the most painful way possible.
Then...
‘Huh?’
Coldness began rising from its body.
For a moment, I wondered whether it had mastered a yin and yang art like Je Geumhak, but that wasn’t it.
The Silent Sound Azure Water Hand I had unleashed earlier was finally taking effect.
“Ha...”
Strangely, the more the Silent Sound Azure Water Hand spread coldness through its body, the fiercer the heat of the Sacred Flame Demon-Extinguishing Hand burned.
The Silent Sound Azure Water Hand had likely succeeded in curbing its regenerative power.
I activated the Azure Dragon Bangle at full force and filled my dantian completely.
No, I filled it past its limit.
The internal energy I had absorbed beyond my body’s threshold threatened to make me burst from the overload.
I threw myself forward, picked up the Scarlet Radiance Sword, and swung it immediately.
[Ten Thousand Seas Heaven and Earth Sword Art]
[Heavenly Sword]
Six Ten Thousand Swords formed around it, each releasing brilliant golden sword force.
Those sword forces multiplied into dozens, then hundreds, tightening around it like a net.
Slice! Slice! Slice! Slice!
It didn’t matter whether it healed.
If it healed one wound, I would make two. If it healed two, I would make four.
Besides, with the Silent Sound Azure Water Hand and Sacred Flame Demon-Extinguishing Hand tormenting it, it was suffering more than ever.
Roaaargh!
It screamed as though enduring unimaginable pain.
[Three White Moon Heaven-Subduing Forms]
[First Form]
[Extreme Swiftness]
The Scarlet Radiance Sword cleaved through space, cutting through the Black King’s Wraith within it as well.
A deeper wound than ever appeared on its body.
The Drifting Current Formless Sword, imbued with sword force, pierced its heart along the most efficient sword path yet.
Boom!
“Try healing that too.”
The Black King’s Wraith took a step toward me, then stopped and groped at its own chest.
Soon...
As though it could not believe there was now a massive hole in its chest, it looked back and forth between the hole and me.
The yellow glow in its eyes wavered, and its lips parted.
As though it had sensed its own death.
Then, in its final moments...
“...Jin... Sowoon.”
My name echoed from its mouth.
“You could speak?”
The Black King’s Wraith’s eyes had returned to those of a human.
“Jin... So... woon, you...”
Its lips, no longer those of a wraith but a human, moved weakly.
“You will die... at the hands of the Divine Cult...”
Thud!
Its huge body fell.
The Sacred Flame Demon-Extinguishing Hand, which refused to go out, burned fiercely enough to consume even that massive body.
I looked down at it, now a giant torch.
“That won’t happen. The Demonic Cult bastards will all burn to death like you.”
Footnotes:
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