WeTried Translations
Translator/Editor: Chen
Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried
◈ The Martial Genius who Remembers Everything ◈
Chapter 568: An Uninvited Guest to the War
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The Southern Forest Alliance had suffered defeat after defeat.
Demonic Cult units and masters who appeared to be aiding the Northern Forest Alliance were changing the rules of the battlefield.
Countless strongholds had vanished, and thousands of bandits were becoming corpses.
Reports of continual retreats and the Northern Forest Alliance pressing south kept reaching the Southern Forest Alliance.
“I’m sorry! Yeohong Stronghold... fought until the very end and died.”
At the furious bandit’s words, the Southern Forest Alliance’s Green Forest bandits mourned and grieved together for people they had never even met.
The scene felt deeply strange.
The couriers usually gave their reports to Bang Duchil in the main courtyard.
That meant no information could be concealed or hidden.
Such a reporting system would have been unthinkable in the Martial Alliance.
An imbalance of information was a symbol of power and a means of controlling the masses.
News of repeated defeats like this would make those under one’s command anxious and question their leaders.
Even groups that kept winning had deserters. No one wanted to remain in a force that suffered one defeat after another, only to die en masse.
During my time in the Sojeong Unit, I had never once been given the full picture of a battlefield.
We only ran wherever the command staff ordered us, fought, and returned.
Naturally, the lower-ranking martial artists would talk among themselves about which areas were holding up, which battlefields favored us, and which did not.
Yet when those rumors grew too widespread, the command staff suppressed them and kept them from spreading further.
Having experienced that, I found the Southern Forest Alliance’s method of reporting utterly bizarre.
Baek Soryeong was not incompetent enough to be unaware of this, either.
So I asked her.
“Hehe, normally, that’s true.”
“Controlling information is good even for the people under your command.”
In my previous life, I had felt deeply betrayed by those above us who refused to share information. Now, though, my thoughts had changed somewhat.
Not everyone needed to know everything.
“Even in a battle that can easily be won, people can become afraid and run away.”
“Of course. That is, under nor-mal cir-cum-stances.”
“What?”
Baek Soryeong smiled as brightly as rapeseed blossoms.
“I received a report about your exploits at the Sword Mound, Young Master Jin.”
How could she possibly know about something that had happened over a thousand li away?
“Brother Duchil wants every scrap of information related to Young Master Jin, without exception.”
...What was this? Why did that give me chills?
“Your escape plan was one that seemed certain to fail. It required not only people of the White Path, but also people of the Black Path to work together.”
Baek Soryeong continued with a relaxed smile.
“Was information controlled at the time?”
It was not. The Martial World Group bastards had a history of controlling information before stabbing us in the back, so we could not do that.
Besides, it had not been a situation where we could control information in the first place.
“Hmm. Then how did an operation doomed to fail succeed?”
“That was...”
“Right. Because of you, Young Master Jin.”
I had been about to say it was thanks to Venerable Cheonsim and Gongson Pung.
“People do not decide what to do based on whether they know the information.”
Baek Soryeong elegantly folded her iron fan.
“They decide based on who is leading them...”
Her gaze then turned to Bang Duchil.
“They simply decide what to do based on that.”
“Is it because they do not need to worry when Brother Bang is here?”
Laughter gathered at the corners of her eyes.
“That’s right. Besides, Brother Duchil finds it very difficult to hide things from his brothers.”
Baek Soryeong shook her head as if he were impossible to deal with.
“And he is not the only one serving as their pillar now.”
“Is there someone else?”
Baek Soryeong gave me an odd smile.
“You, Young Master.”
“What?”
“With the Black Dragon Stronghold Chief, whom Brother Duchil has praised himself hoarse over, here, they do not feel anxious no matter how many defeats they suffer. They believe we will win in the end.”
Good grief. What exactly was I to the Green Forest bandits?
I had wanted to discuss that, but I changed the subject. Talking about it any longer would only make my head hurt, and there was a more pressing problem.
“...Brother Bang says we do not need to worry about the Demonic Cult forces. Is that really true?”
Honestly, his confidence made him even harder to trust.
Demonic Cult forces were crueler and stronger than either the White Path or the Black Path.
They were clearly too much for bandits who had learned only martial arts at an ordinary person’s level.
“You find it hard to believe Brother Duchil’s words, don’t you?”
“That’s not... Yes. Honestly.”
“Hehe.”
Baek Soryeong could not hold back her laughter and clutched her stomach for quite some time.
“Would you like to come with me?”
“What?”
She pointed outside the window with the tip of her iron fan.
“I’ll show you how our Green Forest deals with the martial world.”
#
Baek Soryeong left the stronghold and headed to a neighboring peak.
Hah!
Hah!
Around a hundred people were practicing martial arts in a broad clearing at the foot of the peak.
But the martial art they were practicing was...
“Could that be the Gale Art?”
“That’s right.”
I was stunned, and I could not stop myself from cursing inwardly.
‘They’re teaching that insane martial art to people?’
Though the Gale Art belonged to a Daoist cultivation lineage, it had been designed to forcibly gather vast amounts of internal energy.
Its energy carried no malevolent qi at all, but it came with an extremely high risk of qi deviation and becoming mute.
In short, it was like walking endlessly along a tightrope stretched over a cliff in a fierce wind.
Unless one had a physique like the Heavenly Vajra Limitless Physique, capable of surviving even after falling from that cliff, this was a martial art that should never be learned.
“You must stop them. You may not know this, but the Gale Art is...”
“Young Master Jin.”
Baek Soryeong spoke calmly.
“Do you think we do not know?”
“...”
She looked over the Green Forest bandits.
“Brother Duchil gained an insight while unifying the south. That was how he realized the Gale Art had a serious flaw.”
“An insight?”
“He said he seemed to have understood the flow and principles of qi.”
“...!”
I barely managed to swallow the curse that nearly slipped out.
That meant he had reached the Dantian Ascension Realm.
‘Some people only reach that realm after desperately overcoming the Asura Locking Metal, Breaking Jade Art... and he reached it after a few sparring matches?’
I barely shook off the crushing sense of unfairness and continued listening.
“Then he began revising the Gale Art. He preserved its strengths while ensuring that, even in the worst case, its practitioner would not become crippled. It was not easy, of course.”
Even if he had gained insight, no martial art could become good if its fundamental principles were flawed.
Did Baek Soryeong understand that?
“What happens in the worst case?”
“Their internal energy stops growing.”
As expected, the side effects of qi deviation remained.
“Sister-in-law, that is no different from learning a flawed internal cultivation method.”
A dantian that could no longer develop was like a useless vessel.
“Hmm, is it?”
“No one in the martial world would willingly learn such an internal cultivation method. Unless they were as crazy... no, as bold as Brother Bang.”
“Hehe, that may be true for martial artists who consider themselves the most important thing...”
Baek Soryeong turned and smiled.
“But it is not a problem for the Green Forest bandits.”
“What?”
“How many Green Forest bandits have received a proper martial arts inheritance?”
“...”
“They all know there is a chance of failure. Even so, countless people volunteer.”
Resounding shouts filled the training ground.
“Even if they fail, they simply return to being ordinary Green Forest bandits.”
Martial artists and Green Forest bandits were different.
That was what Baek Soryeong meant.
“What may be the worst outcome for a martial artist is still worthwhile for a Green Forest bandit, as long as they gain even a small amount of internal energy.”
Her words left my mind blank.
“Half of the Green Forest bandits are poor farmers who ran away because they could not endure hunger. If not for the Green Forest, they would have nowhere else to go.”
It was almost a gamble, but if the Gale Art suited one’s body, it was no different from striking it rich.
And once they struck it rich...
They could do whatever they wanted.
“We are individuals, yet we also act as one whole. Even if I fail, I never doubt that I will survive alongside everyone else if one of my companions succeeds. That is why, even if they fail while learning the Gale Art...”
Countless voices rang through the training ground as one.
“They lose nothing.”
They were individuals, yet they were a community.
They had begun alone, but they were together.
Since they had nothing to begin with, even failure was not failure.
If someone else succeeded, it would not take away their own gains.
No, it would allow them to protect what they had.
That was why they could gamble their lives without hesitation.
“Huaaaaaah!”
“Arghhh!”
‘Amazing.’
In another sense, it was frightening.
Each success created a supreme martial artist capable of standing against any force in the martial world.
It was a method possible only for the Green Forest.
Using that method, they were moving forward step by step, unlike in my previous life.
Baek Soryeong’s voice reached me.
“I do not want to lose the Green Forest as it is now. I do not want them scattered once more, living in fear.”
Her voice blended with the training shouts like a melody.
“...So please help us, Young Master Jin. Help him protect this Green Forest.”
I nodded.
That was why I had come in the first place.
#
Just as Baek Soryeong had said, the Southern Forest Alliance’s morale did not waver in the slightest.
Every time the couriers delivered tragic news, their fighting spirit only burned hotter, to an uncontrollable degree.
“I’ve never seen such a strange group. The more they lose, the more they want to fight.”
Moyong Seol could not understand it either.
It was not just Moyong Seol.
No one here could understand their way of thinking.
They lived by laws of their own.
Their struggle differed from that of the Martial Alliance.
They did not grow stronger to gain more or seize more.
They fought to keep what they had from being taken and to protect their families.
News arrived that the Northern Forest Alliance was moving north.
It seemed the Martial Alliance’s support had eased their supply problems.
The first decisive battle would take place at Bongho Stronghold near Heze.
If that gateway to Shandong fell, the Northern Forest Alliance would surely begin advancing into Shandong Province in earnest.
Bang Duchil led the Gale Unit and a thousand Green Forest bandits toward Heze, while Yuseong Hall moved with him.
Waaaaah!
Waaaaah!
Thousands of people faced one another with Bongho Stronghold between them.
“Charge!”
“Charge!”
With a signal flare launched by the Northern Forest Alliance, nearly two thousand people split into three groups and began rushing forward.
Thud! Thud!
Those with low-level martial arts naturally preferred blunt weapons to blades.
The human body was surprisingly difficult to cut through, and the weapons used by Green Forest bandits were not of great quality. If a weapon broke while being swung, it could cause a serious problem.
So although many fighters were taken out of the battle, corpses did not pile up in an instant.
Instead, blood, teeth, and other things flew everywhere.
It was a filthy sight rarely seen in fights between martial artists.
“This is nothing but a dogfight.”
Yuseong Hall was watching the battle alongside the Gale Unit.
They were the force meant to act if the Demonic Cult appeared.
Then I received a sound transmission.
[Brother, should I provide some support?]
Moyong Jaehwa stood atop a tree, watching the evenly matched battle as he raised his bow.
[No. Step in when the Demonic Cult appears.]
The Southern Forest Alliance had the moral justification in this fight.
If it became known that we were with them, it could stain that justification.
So we calmed our impatience and watched the battle.
“Where is the Stronghold Chief? How long will you hide behind your subordinates?”
Bang Duchil’s Lion’s Roar thundered across the battlefield. He swept through it without restraint, like a predator among prey, bringing Xiang Yu and Lü Bu to mind.
“Were you so afraid of the Mountain King Challenge that you started a war? Do you intend to hide until the very end?”
He spoke to the Northern Forest Alliance’s Green Forest bandits.
In this fight, they were nothing more than sacrifices.
Was it because of his shout?
The Northern Forest Alliance’s formation began to give way.
More and more people were being taken out, fleeing, or retreating due to injuries. The Southern Forest Alliance gradually began to seize the advantage.
“It does not look like we will have a chance to step in.”
Just as Moyong Seol said that...
“Over there. Something is strange.”
Dang Seohui, still wearing an armband marked Black Phoenix, pointed toward the battle in the west.
“Those people are definitely not Green Forest bandits.”
Among the Green Forest bandits, each wearing distinctive clothing, figures in gray martial uniforms and masks advanced without hesitation.
Only around a hundred people had joined the battle, yet they were completely overturning the western front.
‘They are martial artists.’
That was not all.
“Something is strange over there too.”
Figures in gray martial uniforms and masks began moving to the front in the eastern battle as well.
All of them carried swords or sabers, quickly creating corpses where none had existed before and throwing the formation into chaos.
“We should move in.”
At the appearance of people who seemed to be remnants of the Demonic Cult, the Gale Unit’s Group Leader spoke.
“Could you handle the west?”
“Let’s do that.”
The Gale Unit currently had a little over a hundred people.
If we split them in two, the casualties would be greater.
The Gale Unit kicked off the ground as one.
A heavy aura burst forth, and their figures quickly vanished.
Their movement art was rough, but their speed was undeniable.
“...What the hell have they been eating in the Green Forest?”
Unaware of the circumstances, Hwa Jeongsan frowned slightly at the Gale Unit’s astonishing speed.
Then I sent a sound transmission.
[Jaehwa.]
At the same time, the sound of a bowstring snapping rang out.
Thwong!
With a dull sound, a streak of light passed over our heads and flew straight toward the center of the gray-clad group tearing through the western battle.
“Let’s go too.”
Each of us used our movement art and rushed forward.
Then, at that moment...
Whoosh!
One of the gray-clad figures leaped into the air.
Soaring skyward like a crane, they drew a throwing knife and hurled it into the air.
Then...
Boom!
The arrow that should have exploded among the gray-clad figures burst in midair.
Ssssh!
It shattered into pieces.
As Moyong Jaehwa continued firing arrows, the gray-clad figures began scattering in every direction.
‘What?’
It was as though they knew exactly what result Moyong Jaehwa’s arrows would produce.
Sure enough, the arrows fell into the Northern Forest Alliance’s formation and created countless wounded.
“Aaaargh!”
“You cowardly bastards...!”
“S-Save me!”
The gray-clad figures deliberately threw themselves among the Southern Forest Alliance.
The figure who had stopped the arrow in midair then charged straight toward us.
‘They are targeting Jaehwa!’
I could not simply let an enemy who knew what Jaehwa’s arrows could do, and how greatly he could influence the battle, get away.
I immediately changed direction and ran toward them.
Clang!
I had known it from the moment they threw the knife, but their skill was far from ordinary.
Despite my internal energy vastly surpassing the norm, the fact that they showed no signs of internal injury meant their internal energy was formidable as well.
Clang! Clang! Clang!
The sword art they unleashed had no wasted motion, and every strike took only the most efficient path.
At the same time, they remained ready to slip past me and run toward Jaehwa at any moment.
“As if I’ll let you!”
I used the Twin Heavens Sword Art and blocked every possible route of escape.
At the same time, I unleashed the Silent Sound Azure Water Hand.
Clang! Clang! Clang!
Boom!
Yet they deflected the Twin Heavens Sword Art in the most efficient manner, then used a palm strike to block even the Silent Sound Azure Water Hand.
‘What?’
I was stunned that they had blocked even the Silent Sound Azure Water Hand.
There were not many people capable of sensing a palm strike fired without a trace in the middle of such a chaotic battle.
What was even stranger was...
‘I cannot sense any demonic qi...’
Despite clashing with them several times, I could not feel even a trace of demonic qi.
When I looked around, the Yuseong Hall members seemed just as confused.
That meant the gray-clad enemies had not cultivated demonic qi either.
‘What the hell... are they?’
Amid countless questions, I felt an unpleasant sense of familiarity from my opponent.
Using this in such a large-scale battle made no sense, but I still had to confirm it.
I used the Twin Heavens Sword Art while drawing out the Sacred Flame Demon-Extinguishing Hand with the Void-Destroying Fist.
“W-What is that?”
“A master! Run!”
The bandits, terrified by the enormous storm of sword forms, scattered like a receding tide.
Inside the space that had been cleared, the assailant and I were left alone, as if in single combat.
The most irritating part was the gray-clad figure’s eyes.
Even after seeing the Twin Heavens Sword Art at full mastery, there was not the slightest disturbance in their gaze.
“Those eyes are really... pissing me off!”
The storm of sword forms engulfed them.
The assailant’s sword, wrapped in blue sword qi, swung to block the storm of hundreds of sword forms.
Just as the Sacred Flame Demon-Extinguishing Hand, launched with the Void-Destroying Fist from their blind spot, was about to set their body aflame...
Shrrrrk!
Their figure split into four, deflecting the Sacred Flame Demon-Extinguishing Hand.
Then their blue sword smoothly turned aside even the sword forms already bearing down on them.
With light steps, the assailant escaped danger without suffering a single wound.
That footwork and swordsmanship they used to escape the crisis.
“Fuck...”
And the way they acted as if it were only natural, even at a moment when they could have been proud of themself.
I knew who my opponent was.
“What are you doing here?”
No, I was certain.
“Yong Soa.”
Footnotes:
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