WeTried Translations
Translator/Editor: Chen
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◈ The Martial Genius who Remembers Everything ◈
Chapter 579: In the Line of Fire
──────
Yong Soa never forgot the purpose he had told Taoist Master Cheongsu about.
He never forgot his revenge, and as he grew older, his fixation on his target only deepened.
Rather than stopping him, Wudang Sect encouraged him.
The stronger Yong Soa's obsession became, the more astonishingly his cultivation improved.
“...Isn't he progressing too quickly?”
“For that child, this is a normal pace.”
“I'm worried that his obsession with revenge is too strong.”
“His heart is like clear mirror and still water. If you're concerned, feel free to examine him whenever you wish.”
The elders worried that the concentrated resentment in such a gifted child's heart might bring about an inner demon.
Yet when they examined Yong Soa internally, his energy channels were so clear that it was as though he had never even contemplated anger.
“How can this be? That child thinks of nothing but revenge.”
“Fire held in the heart creates resentment, but fire held in the mind becomes the driving force toward enlightenment. An ideal sage. That is Yong Soa.”
“Huh. He truly deserves to be called a Heavenly Physique. Even Patriarch Zhang Sanfeng could not have possessed such insight...”
If his obsession with avenging his family produced no negativity at all,
if it instead helped him grow,
then Wudang Sect had no reason to oppose it.
Before he even turned twenty, Yong Soa began taking on assignments outside the sect.
“Yong Soa, try this. It's candied fruit.”
“...Senior Brother Hyeonyeong, eating such junk food pollutes the body and fills the energy channels with turbid qi...”
“Just try it.”
Pop.
“...!!!”
“Good, isn't it?”
He went on assignments that the other disciples would have envied, but Yong Soa showed little interest in anything else.
He focused only on matters connected to his family and on revenge.
Whenever he finished Wudang Sect business, he always sought information about what had happened to his family.
“The Dragon Clan? It was a truly horrible scene.”
“Were there any clues about the culprit?”
“If there had been, wouldn't the Martial Alliance have punished them already?”
Perhaps the man pitied Yong Soa's disappointed expression, because he added something else.
“I don't know why you're investigating that case, but... there was something unusual.”
“W-what is it?”
Thanks to that, Yong Soa learned about the horrors of that day that he had failed to witness himself.
“The corpses were strange.”
“...”
“Some had been torn apart as though wild beasts had devoured them. Others had been burned to death, yet bore traces of frostbite. Right. There were strange corpses with wounds, but no blood flowing from them...”
Time passed.
“The corpses are strange...”
“...Senior Brother Hyeonyeong.”
“Hmm?”
At the scene of another incident,
“I found him.”
Yong Soa came across traces of the being that had destroyed his family.
“Hm? All of a sudden... what are you talking about?”
“My enemy.”
At the same time,
“Your enemy... You mean the enemy of your family?”
He saw it.
The future in which he met the culprit.
“Yes. At last... At last, I've met him.”
It was the moment Yong Soa had waited for so long.
#
On a night when even the moonlight had vanished, a man entered the ruins of Jeongmu Gate.
He crossed the collapsed remains of Jeongmu Gate and headed toward a storehouse.
Then he began clearing away the burned wreckage and digging into the ground.
Before long, an iron door appeared.
Crunch.
The man with snake-like eyes casually broke the lock and opened the door.
“To think the Nine Heavens Incense Burner was hidden in a place like this rather than at Jeongmu Hall... Who could have imagined it?”
He looked down at the small incense burner in his hand, then turned his gaze toward the seemingly empty darkness.
“What do you think? Do you also think I'm a fool?”
There was no moonlight, only darkness.
The silence of the night was broken by the faint chirping of insects.
Still, the snake-eyed man wore a faint smile, as though he already knew.
“If you're too shy, we can greet each other another time. I also happen to be in a position where I shouldn't reveal myself yet.”
Then,
Step.
A small figure emerged from the pitch-black darkness.
There was no moonlight, yet a soft glow seemed to radiate from the figure.
The one who stepped out of the darkness was...
“You are...”
None other than Yong Soa.
“Who are you?”
The night's silence settled in once more.
“Hmm, well...”
The snake-eyed man only studied the Nine Heavens Incense Burner in his hand. He did not even spare Yong Soa a glance.
That calm attitude irritated Yong Soa deeply.
“Did you have a hand in destroying the Dragon Clan?”
Until then, everyone Yong Soa had encountered had grown tense before him.
“No. I wasn't the one who did that.”
Yet the man before him remained calm.
“...!!!”
As though death had nothing to do with him.
Shing-
Moonlight broke through the clouds and shone upon Yong Soa's Pine-Pattern Sword.
“Then you know who did it.”
“Hehe.”
The future began unfolding before Yong Soa's eyes.
[It's a secret.]
“It's a secret.”
He saw what the man would say.
[Just go back. Enjoy the life you have been allowed as the hope of the martial world.]
“Just go back. Enjoy the life you have been allowed as the hope of the martial world.”
He saw how the man would move.
And having seen all of that,
Yong Soa could not lose.
More importantly,
‘He's weak.’
In the future he saw, the man was no match for him.
Vwoong-
“I will hear that answer.”
Qi force gathered around Yong Soa's sword.
It became a streak of light and shot toward the man.
Slash.
The snake-eyed man suffered a deep wound from the first strike without properly responding.
Slash.
Half his hair was severed by the second attack.
Boom!
The third drove him back three steps.
The man's helplessness made all the composure he had shown so far seem ridiculous.
‘What is this?’
There was no need to use the Thirteen Taiji Stances.
Azure Cloud Sword Art and Zaoyang Sword Art alone neutralized most of the man's attacks, while Yong Soa's strikes landed precisely on his opponent.
Doubts continued to rise in his mind, but he did not pursue them.
At that moment, even focusing on the enemy of his family was not enough.
The man's entire body was soon covered in wounds.
Even so, a smile remained on his lips.
Paired with those snake-like eyes, it was even more disgusting to look at.
Swoosh!
Yong Soa's Pine-Pattern Sword, filled with emotion, cut deeply across the man's abdomen.
The wound was deep enough that Yong Soa worried the man might die.
Yet something was strange.
[As expected, the Dragon Clan's bloodline is still the Dragon Clan's bloodline, isn't it?]
“As expected, the Dragon Clan's bloodline is still the Dragon Clan's bloodline, isn't it?”
At a certain point, the future went dark.
His future self was clearly fighting the man fiercely, but the scene was cut off midway through.
‘Why?’
Because of a phenomenon he had never experienced before, Yong Soa retreated one zhang.
“...”
This had never happened.
Once Dragon Eye activated, it had never stopped.
He knew Dragon Eye was not perfect.
It did not show him everything. What he saw sometimes unfolded differently.
For some reason, events could even go completely off course.
Yet that only happened when uncertainty interfered.
Never before had everything turned dark in the middle of a vision.
‘Not even once.’
Keeping his distance, Yong Soa fired palm force.
A massive vortex surged from his hand.
The Returning Wind Palm shot forward, drawing dry leaves in as it flew toward the man.
Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom!
At that moment, the man spread his palm and smiled faintly.
[Suddenly using palm force.]
“Suddenly using palm force.”
Ignoring those words, Yong Soa concealed the Closed-Eye Exchange Palm within the Returning Wind Palm and targeted his opponent's fatal acupoint.
No one had ever survived this attack.
Kuwaaang!
As expected, the man failed to block the Closed-Eye Exchange Palm. He looked as though every drop of blood had been drained from his body.
Even so, the man did not fall.
Nor did he lose that disgusting smile.
“!!!”
Yong Soa's eyes widened.
Dragon Eye swept aside the black curtain and revealed another future.
[I understand why the Little Demon allowed you to live.]
“I understand why the Little Demon allowed you to live.”
In the future he saw, Yong Soa unleashed the Taiji Ten Severing Fingers, tearing through every one of the man's acupoints.
Then, just as the secret Qian Heaven Grand Unity Finger was about to destroy the man's Baihui acupoint,
Abruptly, it stopped.
A black curtain fell over Dragon Eye once more.
In the end, Yong Soa did not use the Taiji Ten Severing Fingers.
He could not understand what that ominous black curtain meant.
Dragon Eye was the only thing Yong Soa could rely on, with nowhere else in the world to turn.
The moment Dragon Eye vanished, he felt as though he had been left alone in a boundless sea.
‘...Even so, nothing changes.’
Dragon Eye had certainly been his support, but he could not let the enemy of his family escape right before his eyes.
Yong Soa stopped relying on Dragon Eye and trusted his own sword.
At last, the Pine-Pattern Sword unleashed the Thirteen Taiji Stances.
A sharp wind swept through all of Jeongmu Gate.
The ashes left behind by the burning gate rose with the wind.
A massive black gale rushed mercilessly toward the man.
[Hehehe. What a, what a, what a, what a, what a, what a, what a... pity.]
“Hehehe. What a, what a, what a, what a, what a, what a, what a... pity.”
Becoming one with that black wind, Yong Soa poured the Thirteen Taiji Stances, raised to its twelfth level, upon the man.
[Still, I have to endure it, don't I? I cannot earn the Little Demon's displeasure, can I?]
“Still, I have to endure it, don't I? I cannot earn the Little Demon's displeasure, can I?”
Just as he gathered every last bit of internal energy to unleash his final move,
─────!
the black curtain he had seen through Dragon Eye
“You're lucky.”
fell before his eyes.
#
“...Soa! ...Soa!”
The faint voice made Yong Soa realize that he had lost consciousness.
The moment he understood that, he sprang to his feet and gripped his sword.
“...Ah!”
Less than half of his total internal energy remained, yet he drew it up and scattered killing intent in every direction.
He did not know what had happened, but Yong Soa's mind held only one goal.
‘I won't let him escape!’
Driven by the single obsession of catching that man, he endured the pain screaming through his body and swung his sword.
Clang!
Just as he was about to unleash a technique,
Clang-clang!
The Pine-Pattern Sword was caught by an immense pulling force and trembled dangerously, as though it might be torn from Yong Soa's grasp.
“Yong Soa!”
Only then did he realize that the one who had awakened him was not the man holding the incense burner.
“...Senior Brother Hyeonyeong?”
“What are you doing? Get a hold of yourself!”
“That man... Where is that man?”
“What man? Who are you talking about?”
“...”
The sky had already begun to brighten with dawn.
Within the ruins of Jeongmu Gate, illuminated by the first light,
“I'm certain...”
there was no trace of the man anywhere.
“There must be... There must be traces. He lost a great deal of blood... Senior Brother, we need to track this blood.”
“...Yong Soa. There is no trace of anyone here but you.”
Just as Hyeonyeong said, nothing remained around them.
Yong Soa was unsure whether he had dreamed or seen the future through Dragon Eye.
Yet it had definitely been real.
The screaming pain in his muscles.
The internal energy in his nearly empty dantian.
They clearly proved that a battle had taken place.
“Did you truly meet your enemy?”
He had definitely been his enemy.
The enemy who had destroyed the Dragon Clan.
He had finally met the enemy he hated to the bone.
Yet he had let him escape.
He had found the opportunity only after ten years, only to lose it so pointlessly.
“You remember what he looked like, don't you? If he used martial arts, we can trace their origin and learn who he is.”
Yong Soa clearly remembered the man's appearance, but nothing else was of any help.
A strange energy he had never once felt in the martial world, and martial arts following an entirely different path whose source he could not even infer.
Even with Yong Soa's limited experience in the martial world, he could quickly guess it.
Finding that man would be nearly impossible.
Impossible, impossible...
“Don't be so discouraged. If he appeared once, he'll appear again someday. We'll definitely catch him then.”
Hyeonyeong consoled him, grieving as though it were his own loss, but Yong Soa's obsession did not fade easily.
Forgetting even that he needed to move, Yong Soa carefully examined every trace of the man remaining in his mind, searching one by one for clues to his identity.
“The sun is already rising. Let's go.”
The moment Yong Soa opened his eyes at Hyeonyeong's words,
the moment light rose over the western ridge and shone upon Dragon Eye,
Flash!
Yong Soa screamed from a terrible pain unlike anything he had ever experienced.
“Guhk!”
Unable to endure it, he collapsed to the ground.
In an instant, both his eyes burned as though they had been seared by fire.
At the same time,
[Yong SoaJeong Jung-waLittle DemonFirst VenerableNorthern Sea Martial AllianceTrue DemonDemonic Worldmartial world's endMoyong ClanKunlun Sectannihilation-]
[AnewJegal UnHeavenly Demonthe future unfoldsDivine CultHyeok Mujimartial world's defeatlive onfor the Alliance's righteousnessYong SoaLittle DemonNorthern Sea-]
[DieliveDielivehatredresentmentragehelplesslydyingTang ClanitistheWayifnotgoingtogetherifgoingtogetherdestruction]
[Future-seeingbelievingyoursfateoverturnSowoonwill it becurseanewthis is a cursefutureSoa-]
An unimaginable volume of futures, far beyond anything he had seen before, flooded his mind as though someone were forcing food down his throat.
“Ah, aaagh! Aagh!”
“Yong Soa! Soa! Blood? Why, why is blood coming from your eyes...?”
It was an amount on an entirely different level from everything he had seen over the past ten years.
An overwhelming tide of futures filled his mind by force, seeming to cover his entire body and suffocate him.
There had never been pain he could not endure, no matter the training or battle.
Yet at this moment,
“Ghh... Guaaaaaah!!!!”
it was so terrible that death would have been preferable.
Just as he thought he could endure no more, the scenes of the future forced into his mind began arranging themselves one by one.
And among them,
[Hehe- Little Demon, Little Demon-]
he saw the snake-eyed man he had met the previous night.
It should have been a valuable opportunity to find a clue about the enemy of his family.
But Yong Soa was so shocked, no, so horrified by what he saw that he temporarily forgot even his desire for revenge.
“W-what is this...?”
Wudang Sect and the Martial Alliance were engulfed in flames.
Every martial artist, whether of the White Path or Black Path, was dead.
And atop the corpses and ashes,
[It's very beautiful.]
stood the snake-eyed man and people who appeared to belong to his faction, their bearing confident and proud.
Yong Soa knew exactly what it was.
It was...
“The end...”
the end of the martial world.
Footnotes:
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