WeTried Translations
Translator/Editor: Chen
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◈ The Martial Genius who Remembers Everything ◈
Chapter 566: Green Dragon (4)
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In my previous life, I couldn't understand Bang Duchil.
The thought that someone who had suffered so much at the hands of the Martial Alliance had simply accepted our request and helped us felt almost like a lie.
I'd been wary of him from the start.
I thought there had to be some kind of trap.
But there wasn't.
He helped us even when his own life was in danger.
We still couldn't understand him.
Chivalry that went beyond the bounds of chivalry itself.
The absurd way he lived, as though his bravado had spread beyond his body and taken hold of his mind, was something our Sojeong Unit, betrayed time and again, could never comprehend.
And yet.
“I won't forget this hatred.”
He was angry.
Quieter and more ominous than ever.
Like Mount Tai trembling with faint aftershocks.
Even the slightest movement from him brought a sense of foreboding.
Like a roc crossing a thousand li with a single flap of its wings.
A single measure of his anger felt enough to overturn the whole world.
A monstrous man who might turn the martial world into hell after the Demonic Cult was now setting his sights on the Martial Alliance.
And that ominous thought made my heart pound.
“...”
I steadied my breathing.
If I got worked up alongside him, nothing good would come of it.
Despite my racing heart, I cooled my thoughts like the glaciers of the Northern Sea and asked him, “Then why did you call me here?”
If he'd already made up his mind.
If Wuhan was his final destination, he shouldn't have called for me.
“Are you asking me to abandon my comrades and fellow disciples, then throw myself into a real bandit stronghold?”
He said nothing.
“...”
He simply sat there, quietly seething.
“Are you saying I should endure this?”
“You haven't even become the leader of the Green Forest Alliance yet. Do you really think you can face the Martial Alliance head-on after gathering a few half-baked bandits?”
Bang.
Bang Duchil slammed his palm onto the table.
Oddly enough, the shockwave traveled through the underside of the table and spread throughout the entire building.
Ssssh.
Sand rose from the floor while dust scattered down from the roof.
“Brother.”
He fixed his cold eyes on me.
“Did I become stupid while we were apart? Or have you changed?”
Disappointment was clear on Bang Duchil's face.
“White Pine Stronghold.”
He flinched.
“They practiced demonic arts, didn't they?”
Bang Duchil's eyes widened slightly.
As expected, I had been right.
“That is the Demonic Cult's method. They hide among us, sow discord, and use schemes to make us hate one another.”
“...”
“Are you going to let them turn you into a puppet?”
Bang Duchil stared at me for a moment before asking, “Why do you think that?”
“Because there's no way you would destroy White Pine Stronghold without reason.”
What had first been a guess based on everything he had done became certainty after seeing his wound.
That wound bore the traces of a horrific demonic art called the Shadow-Severing Soul-Seizing Demonic Art.
“Because that's the brother I know.”
Bang Duchil's eyes trembled faintly.
For some reason, the corners of his mouth twitched.
Did I say something wrong?
A suffocating silence gnawed at us.
Clap.
Baek Soryeong sighed softly and clapped her hands, breaking the tension.
“That's enough, dear. How long are you going to keep up this act when he's gone this far?”
Huh?
Then Bang Duchil grinned from ear to ear.
“Soryeong, did you hear that? Our little brother says the Bang Duchil he knows isn't the kind of person who'd do something like that. Hahahaha!”
Whatever he found so amusing, Bang Duchil kept slamming the table with palms as large as pot lids. Each time, the light wine cups jumped into the air before falling back down.
Strangely, none of the cups tipped over, and not a drop of wine spilled.
‘Has his control over his internal energy improved another level?’
He was undoubtedly reaching a higher realm faster than he had in my previous life.
“Yes, that's right. The White Path martial sects that came to help us had learned demonic arts.”
“...It wasn't only White Pine Stronghold?”
Bang Duchil nodded.
“But I didn't destroy them simply because they had learned demonic arts.”
That raised another question.
Bang Duchil had just said White Path martial sects had learned demonic arts.
That meant White Pine Stronghold wasn't the only culprit.
“I destroyed White Pine Stronghold to warn the White Path... no, the Martial Alliance.”
“A warning?”
“Yes. A warning that they would pay the price for deceiving me.”
I tilted my head.
The Demonic Cult was the main culprit behind this incident.
So why did Bang Duchil still hold a grudge against the Martial Alliance?
What was more, even Baek Soryeong, who possessed a sharp mind, nodded in agreement.
“The Martial Alliance knew that White Pine Stronghold... that they were learning demonic arts.”
“!!!”
What kind of bullshit was that?
“And they made us clean up their mess.”
He gripped the wine cup on the table.
“With the blood and lives of the Green Forest.”
He raised his head and looked at me.
“Let me ask you, brother.”
His eyes held neither resentment nor anger. They were simply the eyes of an elder brother looking at his younger brother.
“Should I forgive the Martial Alliance?”
I couldn't answer.
#
Schemes and stratagems were essential in politics.
Conflicts were never resolved through common sense alone.
Even a reasonable decision stopped being reasonable the moment a plan tied to someone's interests was rejected.
But once schemes and stratagems crossed the line, they corroded politics itself.
Everything was justified in the name of profit, and any act that could be justified was recognized as skill, no matter how underhanded the scheme.
If Bang Duchil was telling the truth.
The White Path... no, the Martial Alliance had displayed remarkable rationality.
That was why I had no choice but to ask.
Jegal Somyeong was involved in this.
And if they had agreed with this so-called rationality as well.
Then saving them would only make the Martial Alliance fall apart faster.
“Do you... have proof?”
Bang Duchil's brow furrowed deeply.
Baek Soryeong roughly set several bundles of documents on the table.
“This is the evidence we found.”
The documents included coded Martial Alliance messages and lists that should have circulated only within the Inspectorate.
They even contained Class A secrets from Cheonmok Pavilion.
These documents indicated that the sects dispatched to the Southern Forest Alliance, including White Pine Stronghold, had learned demonic arts.
I was certain because the sects sent to the Southern Forest Alliance, including White Pine Stronghold, had been targets of the Black Officials' purge operation.
They were among the few remaining sects that had survived because the purge operation had been halted after the incident at Mount Mao Sect.
‘Had they confirmed it because White Pine Stronghold never returned to the Martial Alliance...?’
The documents sufficiently explained White Pine Stronghold's previously mysterious whereabouts.
‘Their skill at plotting is truly impressive.’
They had dispatched the sects the Black Officials failed to deal with to the Southern Forest Alliance, intending to kill them with a borrowed blade.
Then they built a grand justification around White Pine Stronghold's destruction.
They lost nothing, handled everything perfectly, and even profited from it.
It felt less like a scheme and more like art.
“Is my anger not justified?”
If the Martial Alliance had not known that White Pine Stronghold and the other sects practiced demonic arts...
At the very least, Bang Duchil would not have been this furious.
His generosity had always gone far beyond ordinary sense.
But the Martial Alliance's deception had enraged even Bang Duchil, a man with such extraordinary generosity.
‘At this point, even the Buddha would clutch the back of his neck and collapse.’
Hundreds of Green Forest bandits had died.
Of course Bang Duchil could never forgive the Martial Alliance's deception.
“I never told you to forgive the Martial Alliance.”
“Brother, you've become fond of wordplay. Or did you learn politics from the Martial Alliance?”
“I'm only telling you not to move like a puppet under someone's control.”
“...”
I took out the Inspectorate's purge list and waved it.
“This is a document classified as top secret even within the Martial Alliance. It is passed on verbally to the commanders carrying out the operation, and the only place it is stored in writing is the Profound Mystery Pavilion.”
“...”
“In other words, this document should never have entered the outside world.”
Yet that document was circulating in the martial world.
I had no idea where or how it began, but one thing was certain.
The Martial Alliance was in turmoil.
“Doesn't the fact that this document somehow made its way into the Southern Forest Alliance leader's hands seem suspicious on its own?”
“...”
Bang Duchil, who had listened to me, looked at Baek Soryeong.
Baek Soryeong spoke for the first time.
“Are you saying someone orchestrated this whole thing?”
“I'm saying it's possible. It may not even have been their original intention.”
“What do you mean?”
I met Baek Soryeong's eyes.
“This purge operation was never carried out.”
“Why not?”
“Because I stopped it.”
“!”
Baek Soryeong couldn't hide her surprise.
“And when this operation was exposed to the world, there would have been many people who wanted to know about it. Those who had learned demonic arts, those suspected of learning them, and...”
The people who would want these documents most desperately.
“Those who command them.”
That was likely the Orthodox Society, the White Path Society, and the Twelve Peak Alliance.
To them, the fact that Demonic Cult forces had infiltrated their own factions would be no different from exposing a weakness.
Since they used schemes and stratagems without hesitation, they would understand better than anyone how fatal it was to show an enemy a weakness.
“If you're going to take revenge, why not do it properly?”
“...”
Bang Duchil closed his eyes.
When he opened them again, they were filled with fighting spirit.
“Then who is it? Who committed this kind of act?”
“I don't know that either.”
“...”
I didn't know how far this matter reached.
I didn't know whether someone had truly used a borrowed blade to kill White Pine Stronghold and the White Path martial sects.
But if such a person existed, we had to take revenge on them.
Taking out his anger in the wrong place would only give them a chance to gloat.
I could only hope the person laughing wickedly behind the scenes was not Jegal Somyeong.
“But they'll show themselves soon enough.”
“Why?”
“Because they won't want to leave any traces behind.”
Traces became weaknesses, and weaknesses became fatal wounds.
That was politics.
While the Northern Forest Alliance and Southern Forest Alliance were at war, they would surely reveal themselves.
“Can you help me?”
I gave a small laugh.
“If I had no intention of helping, I wouldn't have revealed that I was your brother in the first place.”
A faint smile appeared on Bang Duchil's lips.
Then, as though something had just occurred to him, he asked, “But aren't the people who came with you... members of the Orthodox Society or the White Path Society?”
It would not be easy to mistake the martial uniforms of Mount Hua Sect, the Moyong Clan, and the Tang Clan.
He must have sensed the martial aura they gave off as well.
“I wanted to come on leave, but I couldn't. So I came on a mission.”
“A mission? You came here on a mission from the Martial Alliance?”
“Yes.”
“What mission?”
“They told me to eliminate Alliance Leader Bang Duchil and prevent chaos in the martial world.”
“...!”
“Oh my!”
Bang Duchil stared blankly for a moment as if struck by lightning, then burst out laughing.
“Khahahaha! Fine, when will you try to assassinate me?”
He really was a man whose generosity went beyond all reason.
Why were there only people like this around me?
“Just what have you been eating? And how much internal energy have you accumulated?”
Even with the Heavenly Vajra Limitless Physique, wasn't this excessive?
Unless he had secretly stolen a Greater Rejuvenation Pellet from Shaolin Temple.
“What have I been eating...”
What was with that reaction?
Bang Duchil wore a meaningful smile.
Did he really eat something?
“Don't be too shocked when you hear this.”
This old man really had been hiding something.
I tensed without realizing it.
A man born with the Heavenly Vajra Limitless Physique had even received a fated encounter.
It was so unfair I could go mad.
‘Please don't let it be a Greater Rejuvenation Pellet! Please...!’
As I prayed so desperately.
“Hehe, brother. By any chance...”
With a smug grin, Bang Duchil opened his mouth.
“Do you know of Ten-Thousand-Year He Shou Wu?[1] I happened to eat some.”
“T-Ten-Thousand-Year Snow Ginseng?!!!”
Yes, if it was the legendary Ten-Thousand-Year Snow Ginseng... then that would make sense...
“No, Ten-Thousand-Year He Shou Wu. And isn't Ten-Thousand-Year Snow Ginseng a spiritual medicine found only in legends?”
Wait a second.
“...You fucking ate Ten-Thousand-Year He Shou Wu?”
“...Hm, brother? Your tone is strange.”
“...”
Fuck, he only ate Ten-Thousand-Year He Shou Wu.
Not Ten-Thousand-Year Snow Ginseng, just Ten-Thousand-Year He Shou Wu...
Fuck, Ten-Thousand-Year He Shou Wu alone made him this strong?
‘This world really is...’
The man who proved with his entire body just how unfair the world was called out to me.
“Brother?”
“What?”
“Why are you suddenly... angry?”
“I'm not angry.”
Even his voice irritated me for no reason now.
#
I shut my mouth, shared a few drinks, and tried to settle my emotions.
No, to be honest, they wouldn't settle at all.
The effects of Ten-Thousand-Year He Shou Wu were that incredible.
Was how well medicine worked on someone a talent too?
Tap.
“So, what happened that made you send such a tear-soaked message?”
“...Brother. What exactly displeased you?”
“No, what could possibly displease me? You ate a spiritual medicine and became such an incredible master.”
Maybe I should be grateful that I didn't have a talent for medicine taking effect.
Considering everything I had forced down over the years, I would already have become an immortal.
Could there be anything more unfair than ascending against my will?
“You're acting like someone who got horribly ripped off at the market.”
Wasn't that just human nature?
I hadn't lost anything, but how could I not get angry when someone else had gained so much more?
If I could accept that, why would I be a martial artist instead of becoming the Buddha?
Fuck, I couldn't even list all the spiritual medicines I had picked up and eaten.
The more I thought about it, the angrier I got.
“No, why did you call me here?!”
“...Tsk.”
“Put some clothes on, will you?”
Baek Soryeong smiled as she draped a bear-hide coat over him.
It somehow suited him perfectly, which made me even more annoyed.
“Just like a bandit. You're not even trying to hide it.”
“Hm?”
“Get to the point already. I'm tired.”
The Overlord continued with slumped shoulders.
“Dealing with those Northern Forest Alliance bastards, who weren't even fit to be called men, wasn't all that difficult. Many of their bandits never accepted a stronghold leader who avoided the Mountain King Challenge in the first place, so of course their morale was low.”
He could say that so confidently because he was Bang Duchil.
Among Green Forest bandits with few proper martial artists, Bang Duchil was like Lü Bu himself.
Even under unfavorable battlefield conditions, his presence alone could bring overwhelming victory.
“But... strange things began to happen. Strongholds started disappearing overnight.”
“Is that really strange?”
War was cruel and desperate by nature.
Baek Soryeong explained in a calm voice.
“It is strange. In fights between Green Forest bandits, there are usually more wounded than dead. But the strongholds that were wiped out overnight showed clear signs of martial artists.”
Signs of martial artists...
Bang Duchil took over.
“At first, I thought the Martial Alliance was playing tricks. But it wasn't. The methods were far too brutal for that.”
“Could it be the Demonic Cult?”
Bang Duchil nodded.
“It is.”
As expected, there was a reason the survivors of White Pine Stronghold had gone to the Northern Forest Alliance.
“But the real problem wasn't that Demonic Cult unit.”
“...?”
“They had numbers, but if that was all, my men and I could have dealt with them easily enough.”
“Then...”
Bang Duchil nodded.
“There was a powerful figure among them.”
A shadow fell over the face of the Overlord, who feared nothing.
“Two of them, at that.”
It was unmistakably fear.
[1] He shou wu: a traditional Chinese medicinal root associated with longevity and restoring vitality; its ten-thousand-year form is a legendary spiritual medicine.
Footnotes:
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