WeTried Translations
Translator/Editor: Chen
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◈ The Martial Genius who Remembers Everything ◈
Chapter 539: Even If I Become Ashes (4)
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The escape party’s formation had lost all meaning.
Those who had been at the front and center were more seriously wounded than those who had remained in the rear.
Apparently, the people at the rear had been unable to bear watching those at the front fight so fiercely, so they had stepped forward to join them.
Our condition had become that dire.
Still, no one looked despairing or pessimistic.
“I’m getting out of here no matter what.”
“Why? Is there a wife waiting for you?”
“Damn it, if there were, I wouldn’t have come in here.”
“Ahem. Looking at that face of yours, I suppose there’s no way you could have a wife in the first place...”
“What? White Path bastards really do have filthy mouths!”
A White Path martial artist who had lost an eye laughed heartily at a Black Path martial artist disabled in one foot.
“I was joking. All right, then. What’ll you do once you’re out?”
“...First, if I get out of here, I won’t have to worry about paying for drinks for the rest of my life.”
“Kuahahaha! Good. I’ll buy your first drink once you make it out alive.”
“Oh? There are generous bastards among the White Path too.”
The Demonic Cult’s malice could no longer leave the escape party wallowing in despair.
“But how much farther is it? If I remember right, shouldn’t we have left the cave by now?”
“Yeah. This isn’t the path I remember. It didn’t seem this narrow when we came in.”
Yet dead ends kept appearing before us.
We were slowly wearing down as we repeatedly turned back.
Our spirits had soared high enough to pierce the heavens, but our bodies had surpassed their limits long ago.
The Demonic Cult bastards kept attacking as though they never grew tired.
Still, the battles ended faster than ever.
“Aaaah! Die!”
“Don’t use too much! You’ll die here at this rate!”
“What difference does it make whether we die from exhaustion or fighting?!”
The martial artists no longer hesitated to draw on their innate qi.
It was directly tied to their lives, yet no one faltered. They were determined to take at least one enemy with them in their final blaze.
The Demonic Cult’s numbers dwindled, the martial artists grew accustomed to fighting, and once they stopped fearing mutual destruction, the battles naturally became shorter.
“Is it really all right to leave them like this?”
Ilgak spoke as he watched the situation gravely, and Venerable Cheonsim agreed.
Everyone’s fighting spirit was admirable, but at this rate, there might not be a single survivor left.
“From now on, refrain from using innate qi as much as possible. Those who are injured or have no internal energy left, please do not take part in battle.”
Everyone answered Venerable Cheonsim, but once a fight began, they all charged in without hesitation.
Some even poured out every last drop of innate qi, as if determined to burn away their final spark before dying.
“Tell my sect... that I, Jo Yangseop, never gave up, even in the most desperate situation...”
“You bastard! Stay awake! Fuck... You have to tell them yourself! I’m Black Path, Black Path!!”
“Brother Jang... You’re the most righteous Black Path martial artist I’ve ever seen. From now on, only do... a little evil.”
We had seen countless deaths. You would think we would have grown used to them by now, but we never did.
Each death cast a gloom over the escape party.
Even so, no one stopped walking.
Stopping here would dishonor those who had died before us.
We continued our heavy march not for our own lives, but to bring news of those who died before us to the outside world.
-Great Hero...
How long had we walked? Do Gwangsu’s sound transmission reached me.
-I think... we’re trapped.
Repeated failures had left Do Gwangsu looking as though he stood at death’s door.
The burden of knowing that so many lives rested on his choices was written all over his face.
-What do you mean?
-...I can’t find the exit.
I pulled out the map engraved in my mind.
Then I traced the paths we had traveled across it.
As Do Gwangsu had said, many of the passages overlapped, but every route leading to the crucial exit had been blocked.
-I know what happened.
-What?
-This isn’t your fault. Don’t worry.
The reason so many martial artists had died before a wall in my previous life.
‘...They had prepared in advance.’
This was why.
The bastards who had altered the paths and driven us into danger had eventually blocked every way out so that we could not escape.
“Argh! Another dead end!”
“Haha... Is this really the end?”
“We came all this way...”
The escape party no longer had the strength to take another step.
Perhaps we would die before a wall, just like someone had in my previous life.
It was time to make a decision.
“Put me down.”
“You can’t walk alone.”
Iron Pagoda Divine Shield held me even more tightly against him, as though the idea were impossible.
This old man was being awfully solemn.
I snickered and patted his shoulder.
“I need to find a way out. Put me down. What, do you want to die here?”
“...”
Only then did Iron Pagoda Divine Shield carefully set me down.
He moved his lips for a moment before quietly muttering,
“...Don’t overdo it.”
“...?”
What was that reaction?
Iron Pagoda Divine Shield’s concerned words gave me chills.
After barely suppressing them, I looked at him.
“...”
For some reason, he had turned his head away.
Shuddering, I approached the wall.
Wooooong-
I struck the blocked wall with a little internal energy.
Boom-
Rumble-
I had only struck the wall, yet the entire cave shook ominously as rocks began to fall.
“W-What is that?!”
“Get back!”
We had not been able to break through the walls until now.
Despite its vast scale, this enormous cave had a structure vulnerable to impact.
Unless we wanted to be buried beneath the mountain’s earth and rocks, we could not destroy the walls.
But there was no other way now.
“Venerable, can you break through this wall?”
Ilgak could not do it, but perhaps Venerable Cheonsim could.
“If it is no thicker than about five feet, I can. But if it is thicker... we will all die here.”
Venerable Cheonsim was referring to what would happen if the force spread outward.
If we made a mistake, the power released at full strength could affect the entire cave and cause it to collapse.
Shaolin Sect’s martial arts were vast and profound beyond measure.
Still, there were situations even Shaolin Sect martial arts could not solve.
“Phew...”
Unfortunately, or perhaps fortunately, I had a martial art that could resolve this situation.
[Tyrant King Divine Fist]
With this martial art, which could concentrate the exact force I wanted precisely where I wanted it, I should be able to break through the wall.
The problem was that I only understood the first three forms.
Even then, my mastery had only reached about twenty percent.
But.
‘Do I have another choice?’
Of course not.
Master Baek Haegwang had said he would kill me with his own hands if I used it again...
Well, what could I do? I had no choice but to use it now.
‘It’s not like Master will chase me all the way here.’
Reassured by that thought, I sat down and crossed my legs.
“What are you doing?”
“I’m going to gain an insight before I die.”
Iron Pagoda Divine Shield looked at me in disbelief.
“...Want me to stand watch?”
“That’d be nice.”
There was no real need, but he seemed to want to stand watch, so I let him.
‘So all these lives rest on me.’
With the weight of that burden on my shoulders, I sank into my inner world.
My head began to swell as if it were about to burst.
#
“What did you just say?”
Dang Hyeokje’s brow twisted deeply, and the leader felt their heart drop.
Even aside from their position as the leader of the second investigation team, the leader’s standing in the Martial Alliance was not low.
But it meant nothing before someone like Dang Hyeokje.
“Why are you keeping your mouth shut?”
“I, well... I thought it would be best to inform the Martial Alliance of the current situation first...”
“Are you saying you want to withdraw under the present circumstances?”
“That isn’t what I mean...”
At the entrance to the Sword Tomb halfway up Great Snow Mountain, countless people anxiously waited for survivors to emerge.
“All these people here are bearing witness. Those who entered the Sword Tomb have not returned.”
“...”
“And yet, with a crisis that could produce as many as ten thousand casualties before us, the Martial Alliance’s investigation team, which should naturally take responsibility...”
Dang Hyeokje paused, then slowly raised his hand.
His eyes flashed.
“Are you saying you want to withdraw?”
Seeing Dang Hyeokje rub his fingers together, the leader barely stopped themselves from backing away.
If the leader showed any sign of retreating now, they might truly die.
“No. I only meant that we should report this situation as quickly as possible and recover as many bodies as possible...”
“The dead?”
The leader wanted to cut out their tongue hundreds of times.
“The dead... Did you know such a disaster would happen?”
Since the Sword Tomb Incident began, the Tang Clan had sent people to observe the Sword Tomb’s entrance.
They discovered that although countless people had entered, very few had come back out.
What was more, they learned that merchants selling goods at the entrance had known about the situation but ignored it out of greed.
A member of the Tang Clan immediately reported this to the clan, and Dang Hyeokje had rushed here without delay.
The leader tried to make an excuse after realizing their mistake.
“N-No. That isn’t what I meant.”
“What do you mean, it isn’t?”
Dang Hyeokje’s anger would not fade so easily.
Just as he was about to turn the leader into a puddle of poison.
“The leader has done nothing wrong.”
Dang Hyeokje’s hand stopped abruptly.
There were only a handful of people in the entire world who could dare argue with him, whether by seniority or martial ability.
Yet someone spoke to him in such an insolent tone.
Dang Hyeokje stopped what he was doing and turned his head.
“Yong Soa...”
A man in white martial robes stood there.
“Just because it’s you doesn’t mean you can interfere wherever you please.”
“I only stated the facts.”
“...”
Dang Hyeokje’s green-tinted gaze fixed on Yong Soa.
“Are you saying I’m being unreasonable?”
“The investigation team did its utmost to fulfill its duty. It also warned those inside of the danger. Yuseong’s party recognized the danger and acted of their own will.”
“...Choose your words carefully. Do not forget that not only Tang Clan members, but also my granddaughter, are among those who entered.”
Dang Hyeokje’s expression darkened.
The leader felt as though they might wet themselves just from seeing it.
Yong Soa’s tone did not change.
“Everyone must take responsibility for their own choices.”
“...!”
At that moment, something seemed to snap inside Dang Hyeokje.
The leader turned pale, wondering whether they should flee or beg.
“...You’re saying those who died inside brought death upon themselves?”
It felt like taking one step after another toward a cliff at the end of a thousand-mile road.
Yet Yong Soa did not hesitate.
“I am saying there is no point in forming a rescue party and going in. And the investigation team was not created to recover corpses.”
A suffocating energy clash erupted from Dang Hyeokje’s entire body.
It was hard even to breathe, so he had clearly released poison into it as well.
“Was I wrong about you?”
“You were not wrong. It is only that the Poison King has been caught up in emotions uncharacteristic of him.”
“...”
The energy clash Dang Hyeokje had raised vanished in an instant.
Yong Soa continued as though nothing had happened.
“We will report to the Martial Alliance and arrange for the bodies to be recovered as quickly as possible.”
Even after Yong Soa said that, Dang Hyeokje stood frozen in place.
The leader watched him carefully, then gradually put distance between them. The investigation team quickly began descending Great Snow Mountain.
Then, at that very moment.
“S-Survivors!!!!”
A thunderous shout rang across Great Snow Mountain.
“Survivors! Survivors have come out!!!!”
Dang Hyeokje turned into a streak of wind and rushed toward the Sword Tomb’s entrance.
Yong Soa, who had been about to descend Great Snow Mountain, stopped abruptly. His gaze could not leave the Sword Tomb’s entrance.
His eyes were fixed on one place alone.
There.
“Jin Sowoon...”
Jin Sowoon, who should certainly have died, Yuseong’s party, and many others were walking out.
Footnotes:
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