WeTried Translations
Translator/Editor: Chen
Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried
◈ The Martial Genius who Remembers Everything ◈
Chapter 593: Beyond the Line of Fire (3)
──────
The profound principles of softness and stillness.
Gentle, quiet strength seemed easily swallowed by powerful, violent force.
But if that were all there was to it, the Wudang Sect could never have risen to become the foremost sect in the martial world.
Softness Overcomes Hardness.
Within softness and stillness lies the power to subdue even the greatest, most violent force.
Whoosh!
Yong Soa had never properly used the power of Softness Overcomes Hardness before.
Most opponents had been weaker than him, and even those stronger than him had been unable to break through the future shown by Dragon Eye.
He had only used it to conserve his strength.
That did not mean Yong Soa was incapable of wielding Wudang’s profound principles.
Clang!
He thrust his sword toward Gan Se-ung, who came hurtling at him like a cannonball.
It could not have been a coincidence that a rebounding force formed around Gan Se-ung’s tough skin whenever he reached the Peak Realm’s speed.
It was likely a form of sorcery, just as Jin Sowoon had said.
But that did not matter.
This was not strength meant to overcome strength in the first place.
Thud. Thud. Thud. Thud. Thud.
Yong Soa repeatedly thrust his sword at the man charging headlong at him like a cannonball.
The current extending from his sword tip traced a faint taiji symbol, twisting Gan Se-ung’s path by the narrowest margin.
Gan Se-ung passed Yong Soa, then crashed into the cliff at an even greater speed than before.
Crash!
“Urgh... You little rat... Cough.”
This was the first time Gan Se-ung had failed to control his own speed.
Watching him, Yong Soa quietly contemplated his Whirlwind Sword Art.
“...”
Why had he forgotten?
A current could not be forcibly stopped or twisted.
History was the same.
Perhaps the death foretold for him had not been the price of changing history. Perhaps it had been a meaningless death caused by a distortion.
As Gan Se-ung shook his head in a daze, Yong Soa swiftly moved to press his attack.
Then demonic beings in black and red martial uniforms rushed toward him.
“Attack!”
Yong Soa’s sword drew soft circles, fluttering through the air as though dancing.
It was neither fast nor powerful, yet its flow never broke.
Continuous Without End.
A flow that seemed as though it would break, yet never did.
Small as it appeared, the longer it continued, the more it formed an enormous current.
The demonic beings who had been fiercely swinging their swords were helplessly tossed about as though caught in waves, swept into that immense flow like a river and a vast sea.
“Aaargh!”
“Cough!”
“Hold your ground! You idiots... Cough!”
No matter how massive a tree was, it would be swept away by the Yangtze’s current. A small will could not overcome a great flow.
No matter how one flailed their hands and feet, they could not swim against a swollen river.
Wudang’s teachings were this deep and vast.
Why had he forgotten that?
‘I was arrogant.’
His dazzling talent, beyond comparison, and the power of Dragon Eye, which showed him the future.
They had narrowed his vision instead.
Violent demonic qi mercilessly targeted Yong Soa’s neck, but those sharp attacks never reached him.
Using Slowness to Strike Swiftness.
They were people willing to perish alongside their enemy, but in the end, they could only be swept away by the flow.
“Get lost!!!”
Gan Se-ung, having regained his senses, prepared to charge again.
Thud. Thud. Thud.
His massive body shook the ground.
“Mount Tai isn’t moved by a mere river!!!”
Gan Se-ung charged forward confidently, as though he had seen through the compatibility between Wudang’s martial arts and his own.
As he said, no matter how swollen a river became, it flowed around Mount Tai.
But was that truly so?
Yong Soa continued to wield his martial arts with the same impassive expression.
Using Stillness to Control Motion.
Within his uninterrupted sword forms, the shape of taiji emerged.
The taiji shape shot toward Gan Se-ung and twisted his path.
Crack!
Yet Gan Se-ung, having anticipated Wudang’s martial arts, twisted his path again and headed straight for Yong Soa.
Crack!
Crack!
Despite Yong Soa’s repeated attacks, Gan Se-ung kept charging directly at him.
Just as that huge body was about to smash Yong Soa apart,
“I don’t know why you assumed I wouldn’t move.”
Yong Soa turned by the narrowest margin, as though entrusting his body to Gan Se-ung’s flow, leaving a deep wound across Gan Se-ung’s back.
“Cough!”
It was a wound deeper than any he had suffered so far.
“Even that tough body can’t endure the power of a flow, it seems.”
“You landed one strike and you’re already preparing a memorial rite?”
“Just one strike...”
Though a river flowed around Mount Tai, if it did so again and again, it would eventually erode even Mount Tai.
Nothing in this world could be absolute or perfect.
Gan Se-ung’s fist force came tearing in.
Following the flow of the fist force, Yong Soa turned into Gan Se-ung’s reach, and his sword cut through the air without delay.
Slice!
Before Gan Se-ung could even fully feel the pain,
“Don’t you think this is only the beginning?”
Yong Soa’s figure dispersed like a ghost.
Pshh!
All that remained was a massive wound carved into Gan Se-ung’s body.
“Graaah!”
As Gan Se-ung screamed, Yong Soa appeared behind him and cut at the back of his neck.
In the midst of his confusion, Gan Se-ung instinctively ducked.
Slice!
He avoided a fatal wound by the narrowest margin, but a chill ran through him.
‘Wudang’s Yong Soa is this strong?’
Before he knew it, Yong Soa stood before him.
“Have you heard the saying, ‘Wudang martial arts do not focus on attack, yet none may lightly offend them’?”
It was the most famous saying used to describe Wudang.
Yet Yong Soa’s expression did not show pride in his sect’s strength.
“Anyone who truly knows Wudang would know that Wudang’s strength does not end with merely defending against intrusion.”
Instead, he looked saddened that his sect’s true strength was not properly known.
Gan Se-ung found Yong Soa ridiculous.
Compared to the true power of the Demonic Cult, the Wudang Sect was nothing.
“A mere horse-nosed Taoist[1]...”
That was why he had to prove it. He had to prove that the Demonic Cult would not lose to Wudang.
Yong Soa took up Draw-Sword Posture as though he was accustomed to such an attitude.
Countless enemies had looked down on Wudang and become lonely ghosts.
He felt no pity.
Yong Soa himself had once been ignorant.
Ignorance was also a great sin.
“Blame your own ignorance for everything.”
Yong Soa’s body began to move with fluid grace.
#
The Demonic Cult was closer to a single entity rooted in religion.
There were so many fanatical believers that it felt awkward to call it a mere sect. Still, compared to the other martial sects of the martial world, it was certainly a single sect with a great many members.
Yet even if their numbers were comparable, starting a war against the entire martial world was absurd.
The Martial Alliance, led by the Nine Sects One Gang and the Five Great Clans, was not simply a military force. It also had close ties with merchant circles and those in power.
Even so, the Demonic Cult had been able to take the field with the aim of not merely conquering the martial world, but destroying it.
That was because they possessed a weapon called sorcery, one capable of instantly overcoming the difference in human and material resources.
And one such grotesque sorcery was...
Blood Mark.
The sorcery known as the Blood Brand was one reason the Orthodox-Demonic War became even more horrific.
It instantly rendered meaningless the imbalance between the orthodox and demonic factions, where the difference in resources was immense. It was a Heaven-Defying art that completely overturned the long-standing rule of the White Path and Black Path: that strength grew with time.
Even someone who had trained for decades, gained enlightenment, and reached the realm of absolute masters could not face a Blood Brand.
The more perfect their attack, the more perfectly that attack would pierce their own heart.
They could not kill him through sheer numbers either.
As long as blood flowed, Gu Do-cheong would return unscathed to his original state.
No matter what battle took place, Gu Do-cheong would always be the last one left standing on the battlefield.
People grieving the deaths of countless absolute masters and comrades had thrown themselves at him to stop him.
In the end, they had only thrown away their futile lives.
“Ghk!”
Gu Do-cheong, glowing red, threw out a clumsy Crushing Fist.
The Scarlet Radiance Sword barely brushed past the fist and stabbed sharply toward his neck.
Whoosh!
Slice!
It was only a small wound, but it was already the third one.
I was starting to get the hang of it.
I set aside the Greater Heaven Sword Art.
To face this bastard, I needed the simplest and most precise sword art.
In that respect, the Drifting Current Formless Sword I had recently acquired was the most suitable sword art for dealing with him.
Whoosh!
The Scarlet Radiance Sword shot out again, carving a long horizontal line across his forehead.
There was still no wound on my body.
“What... What is this?”
Gu Do-cheong could not hide his confusion.
“You want to know?”
He did not care how much blood flowed from his own body. What he could not accept was that no wounds appeared on mine.
“If you want to know, give me five hundred taels of silver.”
“...”
“Oh, do you people not have money?”
“You... will regret this.”
His eyes looked ready to kill, and his red body had swelled as if it might burst at any moment.
His presence alone could easily overwhelm one or two ordinary people.
“Idiot, that only works on people who don’t know you.”
Whoosh!
The Scarlet Radiance Sword flew out without hesitation.
Slice!
Slice!
Slice!
At a distance so close it was almost dangerous, the blade carved marks into his body as though sculpting it.
From each small wound flowed more blood than an ordinary human could possibly lose.
Even then, Gu Do-cheong threw himself at me again, trying to place a Brand on me.
And I allowed that useless Brand.
Thump!
To make him feel even greater helplessness.
Whoosh!
“You!!!”
To return the unknown terror we had endured from them.
Slice!
I scattered my sword strikes without hesitation.
Whoosh!
Slice!
Part of his right ear was cut away, and his hair scattered through the air.
“Graaah!”
When I landed on the ground, not even a scratch remained on me.
“How did you do it...? Have you learned banishing evil and suppressing spirits?”
Gu Do-cheong clenched a piece of his severed ear and crushed it in his hand before pouring out his rage.
“Tell me! Tell me, Jin Sowoon! Then I’ll spare your life!”
His curiosity remained unanswered, so he was suddenly feeling generous.
“You said you’d kill everyone from my sect.”
“That...”
“You won’t kill them?”
“...Crack.”
Did he even have any teeth left to grind?
“But I still won’t tell you.”
“!!!”
Gu Do-cheong kicked off the ground and lunged as though having a fit.
I stepped back, kicked off the ground, leaped onto the cliff, then kicked off it again and passed by Gu Do-cheong.
Slice!
The ear that had already been cut was sliced again.
Tap.
“Arrgh!”
Unable to fully control his emotions, Gu Do-cheong charged like a mad boar.
My Scarlet Radiance Sword met him, leaving nothing but tiny wounds across his body.
“Come to think of it... There isn’t a single fatal wound.”
Countless people of the martial world had died by Gu Do-cheong’s hand.
And become Gu Do-cheong’s blood.
The martial world had been helpless before Gu Do-cheong.
“Whatever trick you’re using, it means you can go no further than this, right? Heh. Heh!”
Research into illusion arts capable of countering sorcery had already been sealed away for centuries.
And banishing evil and suppressing spirits were no more than common knowledge to martial artists.
“My, I got worked up for nothing. In a way, this is a strange and new feeling too.”
But more people than those Gu Do-cheong had killed had sacrificed their lives, finally discovering his weakness.
The small wounds I had deliberately inflicted on him were revenge for every person in the martial world he had harmed in my past life.
[A quarter-second, in the blink of an eye.]
They were a mockery of the Heaven-Defying art that toyed with all creation.
[It cannot be too fast, nor can it be too slow. The instant the Brand activates. If you can remember the sensation of that fleeting moment...]
They were a tribute to those who had sacrificed themselves to leave behind a way to defeat him, and repayment for using the legacy they had left behind.
[You can evade his Brand.]
And then...
‘The memory of that sensation is complete.’
The past sacrifices that had cried out that they were meaningless, and my Heaven-Sent Punishment that I had considered a curse.
“Whatever strange trick you possess, you and everyone around you will die horribly.”
Those two useless things had come together to create a time for revenge.
“Do you really think so?”
I no longer retreated.
My steps forward were faster than ever.
Whoosh!
Avoiding the fist that still threw out useless fist force, the Scarlet Radiance Sword cut through the air.
Slice!
With a small cutting sound, the ear of which only a trace remained was finally severed.
Spurt!
Blood sprayed out like a fountain.
“Ugh, uuaaagh!”
Gu Do-cheong touched the severed wound and stared at me with eyes that could not believe what they saw.
“I asked you. Do you really think so?”
Gu Do-cheong’s gaze did not leave my intact ear for even a moment.
[1] Horse-nosed Taoist: a traditional derogatory term for a Taoist priest.
Footnotes:
Join our discord at https://dsc.gg/wetried
