WeTried Translations
Translator/Editor: Chen
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◈ The Martial Genius who Remembers Everything ◈
Chapter 540: Outline of Darkness
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Word that demonic beings and jiangshi[1] had appeared in the Sword Tomb reached the Martial Alliance branch.
The Martial Alliance did not readily accept the report that demonic beings and jiangshi, which had vanished five hundred years ago, had suddenly emerged from the Sword Tomb.
More accurately, they did not believe it.
Those who had disappeared for so long could not simply fall from the sky without warning.
That was why, despite the terrible events unfolding within the Sword Tomb, their response was inevitably slow.
The circumstances of the various sects were tangled up in the matter as well.
Since neither the martial legacy of the Sword Venerable nor that of the Black King had yet been found inside the Sword Tomb, many argued that they should wait and see.
Rumors spread that Jegal Somyeong had turned the Elders' Council upside down with a sword in hand, yet the Martial Alliance remained sluggish.
Around then, news that the Black Alliance had dispatched a rescue force threw the Martial Alliance into an uproar.
“We cannot stand by and watch this. What if those Black Path bastards send a rescue force and save people from the White Path martial world? What then?”
“If the Black Alliance uses this opportunity to show that it has turned over a new leaf, it will become an obstacle when we try to subdue them later!”
“The Martial Alliance must dispatch a rescue force at once!!!”
Considering that the Black Alliance had been formed because the Martial Alliance failed to act during the Demon Spirit Plateau Incident, the Black Alliance sending people to the Sword Tomb was practically an attack on the Martial Alliance's reputation.
If things went wrong, people might say the Black Alliance was better than the Martial Alliance.
Disgrace.
A stain on their reputation.
In other words, a justification that made it impossible for them to remain still.
‘These fucking bastards...’
The elders had not moved an inch even when Jegal Somyeong had freely danced with a sword before them.
Watching them rage on about justification, Jegal Somyeong dispatched a rescue force with a more contemptuous expression than ever.
But they were already far behind the Black Alliance.
The Nine Sects One Gang, Five Great Clans, and Twelve Peak Alliance grew anxious.
Some sects even stepped forward, saying they would send their disciples as support.
As a result, disciples in Sichuan, Shaanxi Province, and Gansu rushed to the Martial Alliance branch, donned Alliance uniforms, formed a rescue force, and raced toward the Great Snow Mountain.
They hurried along, thinking all they had to do was arrive before the Black Alliance and at least pretend to rescue people.
Then.
“Uh, but over there...”
They ran into them.
By pure chance.
The Martial Alliance rescue force came face-to-face with the Black Alliance personnel at the foot of the Great Snow Mountain.
“We arrived first, so we'll go up first.”
The Martial Alliance rescue force made the first move, but the Black Alliance rescue force could not simply remain quiet.
“Go ahead, if you want to get ambushed from behind and die.”
“...Just what one would expect from filthy Black Path scum.”
“Fuck off. What are these hypocrites who dragged their feet yapping about?”
The situation was on the verge of exploding.
Then.
Rustle.
A man slowly stepped out from among the Black Alliance ranks.
It was strange.
He wore a scholar's robe, and not even a trace of internal energy could be felt from him.
Yet countless Black Alliance masters opened a path for him and bowed their heads without hesitation.
“This humble one is Dam Ak of the Black Alliance.”
The moment they heard his name, the people who had arrived under the Martial Alliance banner felt a chill run down their spines.
“D-Dam Ak?”
“The one who escaped from the Martial Alliance...”
“Shh!”
They knew all too well what Dam Ak had suffered in the Martial Alliance.
What they had intended as a threat might turn into a real battle. Realizing that the rescue force sent by the Black Alliance was no ordinary group, they prepared to resist desperately.
Then Dam Ak spoke.
“You came to save people, and so did we. Is there any point in wasting time on meaningless posturing?”
“...What do you mean?”
Dam Ak smiled with his eyes.
“I mean we should go up together. If you don't like that...”
Then, in the next instant.
“Only one side will be going up.”
His gaze settled over them, cold enough to freeze their bodies.
He was clearly just a frail scholar with no internal energy at all.
Yet every word he spoke carried a strange weight and chill.
“E-Even so, the Martial Alliance cannot follow behind you.”
The martial artist who barely managed to speak prayed desperately that Dam Ak would not fly into a rage at those words.
Perhaps that prayer was answered.
Dam Ak curled one corner of his mouth upward.
“Then we can go up together. The path isn't that narrow.”
“...”
And so, a strange sight unfolded as the Martial Alliance rescue force and the Black Alliance rescue force climbed the Great Snow Mountain side by side in two columns.
Whenever one side moved ahead, the other picked up speed as well. The two groups climbed while constantly keeping each other in check.
When they finally reached the entrance to the Sword Tomb, everyone in the Martial Alliance and Black Alliance rescue forces stood with their mouths open.
“W-What is this?”
It was not because injured people lay scattered everywhere.
It was not because people rushed around as if flying to save them.
The reason they were stunned was that they saw White Path and Black Path martial artists treating the injured and sharing food together without distinction.
“...”
“What happened here?”
“Could it be because there isn't enough space?”
The White Path and Black Path were enemies who could not coexist under the same sky.
What lay before them was not an easy sight to believe.
Then a Black Path martial artist who had been eating suddenly jumped to their feet and threatened a White Path martial artist.
“Damn it! I'll just kill you! If you hadn't pulled that stupid shit back then, we wouldn't be like this!”
Of course. That made more sense.
That crude, vicious Black Path bastard...
The Martial Alliance rescue force's eyes widened.
No matter how they looked at it, a Black Path martial artist was bullying someone from the White Path.
One of the Martial Alliance martial artists immediately rushed over and grabbed the Black Path martial artist's hand.
“Step back! How dare you!”
“...Huh?”
The Black Path martial artist blinked in confusion, and then an unexpected response came from elsewhere.
“Who the hell are you?!”
The White Path martial artist who had supposedly been bullied sprang to their feet and struck the Martial Alliance martial artist in the chest.
“Who the hell are you? Why are you suddenly picking a fight?”
“No, I was trying to help you...”
“What help? Go help the injured or something! Why are you hitting an innocent person?”
“No, I mean...”
“Pah, what a bunch of idiots. Let's go!”
The White Path martial artist shouted, pulled the Black Path martial artist free, and left with them.
“...”
Not only the martial artist who had tried to save them, but the entire Martial Alliance rescue force froze in place in stunned silence.
Only one person spoke.
“...I heard Jin Sowoon was here. It seems he's done something strange again.”
Dam Ak, who had been quietly watching, shook his head as though he understood and strode past the Martial Alliance rescue force.
A somewhat nostalgic smile rested on his face.
#
After our escape party used the central passage and emerged, the escape party led by Dang Suje came out of the cave.
Their numbers had been cut to a quarter.
“All the paths were blocked, so we nearly died. If we hadn't found that opening, we would have been trapped there for good.”
After that, the escape party led by the Ilju Sect emerged.
“...It's nearly a miracle that we returned alive.”
They had suffered even greater losses than the escape party led by the Tang Clan.
From what I heard, they had not even encountered the Black King's Wraith, yet their losses were worse than ours.
They were more surprised that we had encountered the Black King's Wraith and still brought half our people back alive.
As soon as I received emergency treatment, I went looking for the Martial Group.
I was not the only one who wanted to beat them senseless. Many people dragged their injured bodies around, searching hard for the Martial Group.
‘They didn't come out...?’
According to those guarding the Sword Tomb entrance, no one had emerged before us.
They were either still wandering within the Sword Tomb or had become souls who would never return.
Once I learned they had not come out, I slept as though I had passed out.
I did not have the strength to remain awake for even another moment.
Before I had slept long enough to recover from my exhaustion, however, I found myself dragged into a tent.
“...”
Dang Hyeokje sat in one of the seats of honor, with Dam Ak beside him.
Dam Ak... Dam Ak?
‘When did that man get here?’
Before them sat prominent figures of the White Path, including Venerable Cheonsim and Dang Suje.
Across from them sat prominent figures of the Black Path, including Gongsun Feng and Iron Pagoda Divine Shield.
And at the very end.
‘Fuck...’
I was sitting there alone.
No, why had they called me here?
This was obviously a meeting of the leadership, but I had no idea why I had been summoned.
I was also the only person anywhere near my age.
A yawn wide enough to split my jaw rose in my throat, but the abyssal silence filling the tent kept me from opening my mouth.
“What happened?”
“I'd like to hear that as well.”
Dang Hyeokje and Dam Ak asked the gathering at the same time, yet for some reason, everyone's eyes turned toward me.
...I felt even more uncomfortable.
Venerable Cheonsim was the first to speak.
“It appears that the appearance of the Demonic Cult, which has only existed in rumors, is certain.”
At the words “Demonic Cult,” small groans escaped from those who had not entered the Sword Tomb.
“Ugh...”
“Good heavens...”
“Is that really true...?”
Gongsun Feng immediately continued.
“I saw more than twenty jiangshi in the Sword Tomb alone. What force in the martial world could possibly create so many such abominations?”
Spirit-Summoning Art was one of the Ten Great Forbidden Arts and, together with the Absorbing Star Grand Art, was designated one of the Four Great Evil Arts.
In other words, it had all but vanished from the martial world.
“That is not all. The countless people we encountered gave off demonic qi found only in the records of ancient texts... It is even harder to say they were not the Demonic Cult.”
“We also encountered demonic monsters several times inside, creatures that were difficult to consider part of this human world.”
White Path, Black Path, regardless of ideology.
Everyone was saying the same thing.
They all looked unsure of how to react to the unexpected crisis before them.
I, on the other hand, found the situation quite exciting.
In a way, this was exactly what I had wanted most.
In my previous life.
The martial world did not even know the Demonic Cult existed.
Their response had been slow when the Demonic Cult appeared, and its existence was used as a tool in political conflicts.
Only after immense damage had been done did they realize how terrifying the Demonic Cult was.
By then, it was far too late to respond properly.
But what about this life?
The Heavenly Demon Tomb had appeared as the Sword Tomb, and countless people had suffered.
Still, we had managed to save people and impress upon them the Demonic Cult's existence and danger.
Now, not only the Martial Alliance but also the massive organization known as the Black Alliance was prepared.
Today's sacrifices would surely help prepare us for the future.
‘Is this the beginning?’
It was deeply regrettable that I could not kill more demonic beings within the Sword Tomb.
Still, I was somewhat satisfied that we had built enough strength to stand against them.
The leadership meeting continued as they shared information related to the Demonic Cult, including the grave conditions within the Sword Tomb and the devastating losses.
Then.
“By the way.”
Dam Ak raised a hand.
“There is one thing I am curious about.”
The disorderly stream of voices abruptly stopped.
“From what I have heard, the strange people... Let us call them the Demonic Cult for now. It seems the Demonic Cult's purpose was to wipe out everyone within the Sword Tomb, and they appeared to carry that out quite effectively...”
Dam Ak, who had the full attention of the gathering, turned his gaze toward me.
“How did you survive?”
Once again, everyone's attention focused on me.
Everyone had only discussed the Demonic Cult. No one had mentioned the dramatic events of our escape.
Naturally.
This was a meeting hall, not a drinking party where people recounted heroic tales.
That was certainly true...
“Hm... I had been curious about that as well.”
Dang Hyeokje and every Black and White Path person who had not entered the Sword Tomb could not hide their curiosity.
A legend of surviving a formation filled with demonic beings and jiangshi... No, a story like that.
If a martial artist could resist that, they were no true martial artist.
Silence briefly fell over the meeting.
“That was...”
One man broke it.
“Thanks to Young Hero Jin.”
Gongsun Feng looked as though he had returned from the brink of death, but his eyes were more alive than anyone else's.
At his words, everyone's gaze instantly turned toward me.
I nearly choked on my tea.
“You mean... Jin Sowoon?”
A White Path martial artist asked Gongsun Feng again, unable to believe it.
“If Young Hero Jin had not planned the operation in the Central Cavern, divided us into groups, and led the people, everyone would have died there.”
“...”
At those firm words, the White Path martial artists looked at me suspiciously.
In other words, their eyes said.
‘If a Black Path martial artist is defending him, he must be a spy.’
‘The looks on your faces...’
Venerable Cheonsim added for those who wanted an explanation.
“I believe the Buddha sent Benefactor Jin because there was still work for this poor monk to do.”
First Gongsun Feng, then Venerable Cheonsim.
When leading figures from each side said such things, the gazes directed at me filled with shock.
Gongsun Feng was a Black Path leader, and Venerable Cheonsim had once nearly become the abbot of Shaolin Sect.
“No. We survived because everyone worked together. It makes no sense to say that I saved so many people through my own ability.”
I tried my best to sound humble, but.
“Heh heh heh. Before everyone worked together, we survived because Jin Sowoon was there.”
Dang Hyeokje's words shattered all of that.
“The Clear-Mind Spirit-Protecting Pills prepared by the Tang Clan had been ordered by Jin Sowoon from the beginning.”
His words were enough to send a shock through the tent.
Everyone opened their mouths wide, unable to hide their astonishment.
Their gazes remained fixed on me.
‘No... So why did you call me here?’
Whatever the case, I was so sleepy I could have gone mad.
[1] Jiangshi: A reanimated corpse from Chinese folklore, often animated through sorcery.
Footnotes:
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