WeTried Translations
Translator/Editor: Chen
Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried
◈ The Martial Genius who Remembers Everything ◈
Chapter 592: Beyond the Line of Fire (2)
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I suddenly kicked Yong Soa in the side.
As expected, he smoothly avoided it.
“What are you doing?”
Yet he could not hide the awkwardness in that movement.
The Yong Soa I remembered had not reacted after seeing an opponent move. It was more like he already knew what would happen and had prepared for it beforehand.
“You were late!”
“...It hasn’t even been an ilgak.”
“And your opponent is that guy.”
The tip of the Scarlet Radiance Sword pointed at Gan Se-ung.
Seeing where my sword was aimed, Yong Soa glared at me through blood-streaming eyes.
“My opponent is him.”
His finger pointed at the snake-eyed man, Gu Do-cheong.
Yong Soa was displaying hostility as if he had encountered an enemy he could never share the sky with.
I was seeing plenty of things I had never seen in my previous life.
“I understand how you feel, but he isn’t your opponent right now.”
Yong Soa stopped abruptly, as though he had broken down.
“...Then is he your opponent?”
Why the hell was this bastard suddenly directing killing intent at me?
“That’s not it... Fuck, why do I have to explain this?”
Yong Soa acted as though I owed him an explanation.
“He is the enemy of my clan.”
Yong Soa’s eyes, which had never burned even once in my previous life, blazed fiercely.
“...”
His face remained expressionless, but the violent turmoil in his eyes gave him a strangely sorrowful air.
I had lost my sect as well. I had lost fellow disciples who had been like family, and watched their corpses be desecrated.
I understood his feelings completely.
Remembering that grief, I spoke to him.
“If you don’t want your clan’s bloodline to end today, do as you’re told. You can see the situation for yourself.”
“...”
Yong Soa’s gaze soured. His expression plainly said, What kind of bastard is this? Still, it couldn’t be helped.
Acting on emotion was exactly the situation Gu Do-cheong liked best.
No martial artist could survive in that kind of situation.
“...Fine. But Jin Sowoon, promise me one thing. I will kill him with my own hands.”
If he wanted to survive and take his revenge as well...
“Fine.”
“...”
“Once we deal with that giant quickly and wipe out everyone here.”
He had to become crueler and bolder than they were.
“So, Yong Soa, you too...”
Enough to make even them afraid.
“Don’t die.”
#
Whoosh! Crash!
Gan Se-ung’s house-sized body shot forward like an arrow.
Crash! Crash! Crash! Crash!
A massive body charging at such terrifying speed carried immense force.
Yong Soa unleashed sword force and brought it down upon Gan Se-ung, but perhaps because of his speed, the sword force did not take effect properly.
He had felt it before, but their martial arts were bizarre beyond belief.
That was why Dragon Eye was useless.
Knowing where an attack would come from only meant he could evade it.
Foresight did not necessarily lead to victory.
Whenever he tried to evade at full speed with the Ladder-to-the-Clouds movement art, Gan Se-ung somehow changed course midway and counterattacked.
Thud!
Yong Soa had protected himself with a protective qi barrier, yet the impact spread through his entire body as though he had been struck by the Internal Heavy Hand Technique.
“That’s why you should’ve gotten yourself a useful treasure robe like mine. Tsk.”
...Had Jin Sowoon known that he had refused the Heaven-Guard Treasure Robe Wudang Sect had offered him?
For some reason, Jin Sowoon’s mockery made Yong Soa want to wear it even less.
Thump! Thump! Thump! Thump!
“How long are you going to keep running?”
This was an exceedingly strange enemy.
An opponent he could not stop despite knowing what was coming, like a natural disaster.
It was understandable why Dragon Eye had shown him a black curtain when he considered fighting not only this man, but the even stranger snake-eyed man and countless demonic beings as well.
Of course, that did not mean the current situation had improved much.
“Why does this perverted bastard keep sticking to me?”
The reinforcement who had come was...
“Fuck, I said stop clinging to me!”
...Only the irritating Jin Sowoon from some third-rate sect.
“What are you looking at, uneven eyes? Focus on your opponent!”
“...”
Yong Soa turned his gaze back to Gan Se-ung.
Gan Se-ung was extending fist guards as large as Yong Soa’s upper body.
Drawing on his experience from their previous battle, Yong Soa immediately responded with the Internal Heavy Hand Technique.
Boom!
The moment he made contact with the fist guards, the shockwave was transmitted into his body.
His muscles and bones screamed as though he had collided with something of overwhelming hardness.
He had used the Internal Heavy Hand Technique, yet the impact was returning to him in full.
As Yong Soa’s body was lifted into the air by the shockwave of fist force, Gan Se-ung prepared to charge again.
Once he landed, Yong Soa began to open Dragon Eye, then stopped.
Their repeated exchanges had already proven it.
Even if he saw it, even if he blocked it, it meant nothing.
Without letting even a shred of his focus waver, he faced the enemy’s attack.
Boom!
Every time Gan Se-ung stepped forward, the earth rose like waves before his body shot out like a cannonball.
Yong Soa scattered sword strikes at a speed too fast for the eye to follow.
Whoosh!
It was a speed that would astonish even a master of swift swordsmanship.
His Whirlwind Sword Art, as fast as a ray of light, struck at Gan Se-ung’s neck.
Boom!
Yet as though it had touched perilla oil, the Whirlwind Sword Art lost its distinctive sharpness and slid harmlessly off him.
Yong Soa swiftly twisted his body.
“!”
Gan Se-ung’s huge, heavy body crashed into him head-on, as if to shatter him.
Thud!
Yong Soa’s body flew away without resistance like a pig bladder kicked around by children.
‘There has to be a way...’
Even when he used the Internal Heavy Hand Technique, even when he sharpened his sword force to its utmost, the giant suffered only small scratches.
Yong Soa could not hide his confusion at this external martial arts method that defied all common sense.
Then a mocking voice reached his ear.
“My god, there’s actually an idiot trying to smash a boulder with an egg.”
Though it was clearly directed at him, Jin Sowoon continued as if talking to himself.
“Huh, he’s supposed to be a Wudang disciple? How did such a stupid bas... No, how did such a stupid person become a Wudang disciple? Ah! Did he become one because he’s stupid?”
“Are you talking to me?”
“Don’t eavesdrop on someone else’s monologue. Your character’s rotten too, isn’t it?”
Just as Yong Soa was about to look incredulous at Jin Sowoon’s shameless attitude...
“What will you do once you know?”
“What?”
“What will you do if you figure out how he got such a hard body?”
“...”
An opponent he had never seen before.
A situation he had never faced before.
On top of that, demonic beings rushed at him without allowing him even a moment’s rest, as if he were fighting battle after battle.
If he looked into the future with Dragon Eye, it surely would have shown him a black curtain.
But...
“Just think of him as a natural disaster. How are you going to stop a natural disaster?”
There was no basis for it.
Still, he felt that, just as Jin Sowoon said, things would not proceed according to what was predetermined.
‘Jin Sowoon...’
He had always been a twisted uncertainty that violently shook the fate set before him.
“A natural disaster... I see. I only need to see him as a natural disaster.”
All his foresight had gone astray.
Drip.
Yong Soa maintained clear mirror and still water, calmer than ever before, while looking at the man standing beside him.
#
Gu Do-cheong charged at me without tiring.
I fired the Flying Dragon Claw and bound his body.
Whirr!
The Heavenly Silkworm Thread, pulled with all my strength, stretched taut enough to snap.
His body was helplessly dragged over and slammed into the cliff.
Splat!
Gu Do-cheong left another enormous bloodstain across the cliffside.
I pulled him in again and this time smashed him into the ground on the other side.
Thud!
As he lay on the ground, he grabbed a demonic being’s ankle to resist the pulling force.
Rip!
Then he tore away the Flying Dragon Claw, flesh and all.
“...How long do you think you can endure like this?”
Gu Do-cheong looked toward Yong Soa.
“Hehe... It was absurd enough that Black Dragon Jin Sowoon, the Black Path’s guardian star, was saving White Dragon Yong Soa, the White Path’s guardian star.”
This crazy bastard.
“Who the hell is the Black Path’s guardian star?”
“Are you not? You created the Black Path, saved Dam Ak, and helped them. To anyone watching, you look like the Black Path’s guardian star.”
A sly smile appeared at the corner of his lips.
He must have thought he had found something to shake me with.
Still, there was no way his crafty schemes would work on someone from the Sojeong Unit.
“Hey.”
“Yes, you...”
“Gu Ja-hong.”
“...!”
“Do you want to spend the rest of your life crippled because you wagged your tongue wrong, just like Gu Ja-hong?”
Fire flashed in his eyes.
“...You filthy piece of trash!!”
It was truly strange.
Insulting someone’s parents and family worked everywhere, regardless of whether they were righteous, Black Path, or demonic.
There was one more way to get under the Demonic Cult’s skin.
“I seriously can’t understand why you’re still loyal like some damn dog when the Heavenly Demon crippled your father. Hey, are you really fine with following the orders of the Heavenly Demon’s precious bastard, the Little Demon?”
“!!!”
His body trembled and began to swell as if it might burst.
White breath sprayed from his mouth.
Proof that the Blood Demon Madman was enraged.
“...First, I need to find out how you learned that, how you learned that...”
His lips twitched as if he were trying to suppress his emotions.
“...Of course, you’ll want to die of your own accord before then.”
“How about you land an attack before acting so confident?”
Gu Do-cheong grabbed a demonic being by the collar.
Whoosh!
Without hesitation, he threw it at me.
Slash!
He seized another demonic being and threw it at me, and the Scarlet Radiance Sword cut it in half.
Splat!
Two demonic beings flew through the spray of blood.
I used the Greater Heaven Sword Art with the Scarlet Radiance Sword and shredded their bodies.
Gu Do-cheong kept throwing demonic beings at me like expendable goods. Even as they helplessly flew through the air, they swung their swords, trying to land even one strike on me.
At the same time, blood scattered everywhere flowed toward Gu Do-cheong as if streams were being sucked into him.
Even then, as though they knew Gu Do-cheong’s plan, the Iron Demon Sword Unit and Demon-Slashing Wolf Unit threw themselves forward in a flood.
It was no longer an attack or defense.
They formed a massive tide that simply filled the space with an endless sea of bodies.
Knowing their blood and deaths would become nourishment for Gu Do-cheong, they threw themselves forward to target my neck and become his sustenance.
Rumble!
I unleashed the Mad Heaven Divine Palm.
As the demonic qi intensified, five demonic beings threw themselves forward and blocked the Mad Heaven Divine Palm.
Then the demonic beings trampled without hesitation over those lifeless bodies and charged at me.
They committed acts no human in the world could commit, without the slightest hesitation.
Creak.
I drilled it into myself again and again that I would not be overwhelmed by their mad momentum, clenching my teeth hard enough to break them.
Even if I was not pushed back in spirit, it was only natural that my feet would be driven backward.
I stepped on the cliff, used Gecko Climbing Art, and changed direction completely.
A horde of demonic beings climbed over one another and rushed at me like plants growing in an instant.
I used the Twin Heavens Sword Art and stopped them within a storm of sword forms.
‘These fucking bastards!’
Rumble!
Accepting their wounds, they charged in while barely protecting only their fatal acupoints and vital acupoints, swinging their swords.
Slash! Slash! Slash!
Several wounds appeared in an instant.
The moment I stabbed my sword into one of their hearts and pulled it free...
‘Gu Do-cheong!’
I searched for any trace of him.
Then his voice came from behind me.
“Now we can finally get serious.”
Before I knew it, his fist had struck my abdomen.
I crashed into the ground like a falling star.
Thud!
The blow did not cause great damage to my body, but Gu Do-cheong could not hide his joy.
“Hehehe! Hehehe! I finally marked you. Finally!!! Hehehe!”
His snake eyes gleamed brighter than ever as he licked his lips.
The reason he had tried so desperately to land an attack.
The reason his mastery had been so pathetic despite most of his martial arts being high-level arts within the Heavenly Demon’s arts.
The reason one must never encounter him on a battlefield.
All of it came down to one thing.
Blood Brand.
That bizarre sorcery, like a collection of grotesque spells, caused the branded target to suffer the same injuries inflicted upon the caster.
Naturally, the caster did not suffer the same injuries as the target.
In other words, if I injured him, I would be cursed to receive the same wound. No matter how much he attacked me, though, he would not be injured. What a fucking nightmare.
‘I can’t use Demon-Severing Radiant Whip.’
If I used the attacks that had been effective against him, throwing him around and slamming him down like a weight, I would suffer the same fate.
Absurdly, the demonic beings who had been madly pursuing me began to withdraw.
“Hehehe! Suffer. Agonize! Be soaked in helplessness until you want to kill yourself! Hehehe!”
He pulled back even the demonic beings and walked straight toward me.
I raised my internal energy and prepared to thrust the Scarlet Radiance Sword.
Ridiculously, he had no intention of defending himself. He opened both arms wide, ready to accept the Scarlet Radiance Sword completely.
Whoosh!
The Scarlet Radiance Sword shot out like a ray of light, aiming for his neck.
He even closed his eyes at the last moment and accepted the attack.
Slash!
Gu Do-cheong touched the spot where the sword had barely grazed his neck and checked the blood flowing from it.
“Have you already become afraid? That would be such a disappoin...”
As he spoke, his mouth fell open as if he had seen something impossible.
I asked him.
“Hm? Why?”
He kept looking back and forth between his wound and my neck.
“This...”
Because there was not a single wound on my neck.
“What? Is there a problem?”
“...That’s impossible!”
He threw an absurdly powerful punch.
Thud!
This time, I did not evade it either. I blocked it head-on and thrust the Scarlet Radiance Sword once more.
Shk!
When the Scarlet Radiance Sword, which had barely cut past his eye, returned...
“...”
There was still not a single wound near my eye.
“Why? What’s wrong?”
I asked as if I were genuinely curious, but he continued to stare at me with a blank look.
“Or can I keep going?”
The Scarlet Radiance Sword became a ray of light and shot forward again.
For the first time, fear appeared on his face.
Author’s Note
This humble student of the martial world, Jeokseolmok, greets you, great heroes. Have you all been well?
Some of you may already know through the announcement, but I was recently involved in a major car accident.
Fortunately, the Primordial Heavenly Venerable and Buddha watched over us. No one died, and no one was seriously injured. Everyone involved agreed that it was nothing short of a miracle.
In the process, my iron horse, which had promised to carry me all the way to the Peach Blossom Paradise, suffered irreparable damage and had to be scrapped.
As it left for the last time, I think it said to me, “I wanted to take you farther...”
It hurt to part with the iron horse I had grown attached to, but I think it protected both me and everyone involved in the accident until the very end.
Hospital examinations confirmed that I had no serious injuries, and I am continuing outpatient treatment.
I believe this is all thanks to the Iron-Lifting Sinew-Gaining Art, an external martial art I trained diligently in, and the vita spiritual medicine of the Westerners.
Great heroes, please do not focus only on internal energy. Give your external martial arts the same attention.
I have always lived with the thought, “Be grateful for everything,” but after going through this incident, I find myself repeating it even more strongly.
Being alive and healthy, being able to tell Jin Sowoon’s story, and having so many great heroes love the stories of Jin Sowoon and Taeul Sect are not things to take for granted.
I thank the gods of heaven and earth and Buddha, and I offer my thanks once more to all of you great heroes.
Having completed my closed-door training and spatial transfer technique, my internal energy has deepened another level, so I will work hard once again.
I pray that the honored bodies of you great heroes, the pillars of the martial world, remain healthy and that your iron horses never meet with accidents.
Thank you.
Footnotes:
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