WeTried Translations
Translator/Editor: Chen
Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried
◈ The Martial Genius who Remembers Everything ◈
Chapter 92: The Time of the Hunt (6)
──────
“What do you think a guy with a good memory dreams about?”
On the evening of the Musin month, Gyemi day, Jwa Daegi asked as we caught our breath after barely shaking off the demonic practitioners.
“What?”
He called himself the Six-Form Wolf, claiming he had learned the spear forms of the Nanjing Yuk Family Estate, a prestigious military household.
In truth, he had been a slave at the Yuk Family Estate. He secretly watched the young master practice martial arts, got caught, nearly got beaten to death, and fled.
His mouth was so foul that we called him Fucking Jwa Daegi.
“Think about it. If you’ve got a good memory, wouldn’t you remember all your dreams? You’d meet beautiful women in your dreams, do this(?) and that(?), and remember all of it...”
Someone else quickly joined in.
“Hey, can you control it in a dream too? See Aengaengi, then Yeondu?”
After a day spent walking the line between life and death, exhaustion came rushing in, followed by the despair awaiting us tomorrow.
“Fuck! Does that mean that bastard’s the only one getting the good stuff(?) every night?”
To overcome our fear of the death waiting for us the next day, we had these pointless conversations every night.
For something Fucking Jwa Daegi had thought of, he had been surprisingly accurate.
My dreams were precise and vivid.
When I was young, there were enjoyable(?) times, just as he said, and moments when I looked forward to going to sleep.
But after I left the Sojeong Unit, I avoided sleep for the rest of my life.
“Gasp... Gasp... Gasp... Gasp...”
“Fuck, fuck.”
“Damn it, save me!”
The members of the Sojeong Unit were running beside me.
I knew they were figures from my dream.
After all, I had already left the Sojeong Unit and hidden away in a remote mountain valley.
That was why their vivid appearances and obvious suffering did not shake me easily.
“Why are you running like that?”
“Fuck! The Demonic Cult bastards are chasing us!”
Knowing it was only a dream drawn from my memories, I spoke to them.
“This is just a dream. Stop already.”
“...!”
“...!!”
Those fleeing desperately glared at me as though they wanted to kill me.
“““It’s only a dream to you!”””
#
“Gasp... Haaah. Haaah.”
I drew in ragged breaths.
A dream I had not had in some time since regressing had returned.
“Are... are you all right?”
Startled, I turned to find Gang Seopyo watching me with concern.
Only after seeing Gang Seopyo did I realize I had woken from the dream.
“Did you have a nightmare?”
“...Ah. A nightmare...”
A nightmare...
Had I seen it because I missed them...?
I fell silent at a question even I could not answer.
“...”
Gang Seopyo did not ask anything further. Gang Seopyo set down what appeared to be my share of the food.
“...Fortunately, we’re sailing smoothly. I think you can rest a little longer.”
“Are there no more pursuers?”
“They need to sleep too.”
When I looked out the window, darkness had already fallen.
It seemed I had slept like the dead after using the Mad Heaven Divine Palm for the first time in a while, with several days of fatigue piled on top of me.
“That’s fortunate.”
“...Thank you.”
“?”
I looked up at Gang Seopyo’s sudden words.
“No, I should be thanking you. Thanks to you, Geumpyo, Eunho, and Dongryong arrived safely.”
After joining us, the three brothers had become much more at ease. The martial artists of the Namgung Clan and Iron Sword Sect cared for them like younger brothers rather than disciples from another sect.
That was all thanks to Gang Seopyo and Choe Mubin, who had looked after them.
“Aren’t you going through an even more difficult ordeal because of us?”
Gang Seopyo shook their head.
“We should be the ones thanking you...”
A faint smile touched Gang Seopyo’s lips. It was an expression I could never have imagined seeing when we first met at Demon Spirit Plateau.
“Since you joined us, not a single person has fallen behind.”
“...”
For some reason, I felt awkward and scratched the back of my head. In my past life, no one had ever thanked me.
Those bastards in the Sojeong Unit would curse at me, if anything. They were not the sort to say thank you.
“Thank you once again.”
“Ah, yes.”
“Please sleep a little more. If anything happens, I’ll let you know immediately.”
“Still...”
“You’re the one leading us now. If you become exhausted, our losses will naturally grow.”
Gang Seopyo had put it that way, so I nodded.
I had woken from a nightmare, but somehow, I felt that even if I went back to sleep, I would not have another one.
#
“Is he all right?”
As soon as the door closed, Gang Seopyo heard Namgung Seonhwa’s voice and smiled slightly.
“If you’re that worried, I told you to bring it yourself.”
“...Ah, well, still, it’s a room where a man is alone...”
Namgung Seonhwa had a feminine temperament, but she was not normally so reserved around men.
Women of the martial world had never strictly kept their distance from men. Namgung Seonhwa had grown up seeing that as natural, so the fact that she felt shy now meant...
What a lovely time...
Gang Seopyo could not stop smiling. That little miss had grown up before anyone noticed and given her heart to a man.
“Come to think of it, I’m a little worried.”
“Y-Yes? About what?”
Namgung Seonhwa had not shown such a startled expression even when she heard they would have to take the regular examination with only twenty people.
“It seemed he had a nightmare. I wonder whether he’ll have trouble sleeping...”
“Pardon?”
“I’m saying it’s nothing.”
“...”
Only then did Namgung Seonhwa realize Gang Seopyo was teasing her and fidgeted with her fingers.
“I’m sorry, but I think I’ll be tired tomorrow morning, so please bring Young Master Jin his meal.”
“...You think you’ll be tired?”
“Yes... Besides, if I barged into a man’s room and happened to see him changing clothes, it would put me in a bad mood all day...”
“...”
Namgung Seonhwa’s face finally turned as red as a ripe persimmon.
Was it really making her that happy?
“S-Stop it!”
Once Namgung Seonhwa realized she was being teased, Gang Seopyo burst out laughing.
Embarrassed by the laughter, Namgung Seonhwa quickly changed the subject.
“By the way, what are the Changgung Unit martial artists doing with Geumpyo, Eunho, and Dongryong?”
After boarding the ship, the martial artists had sprawled out to rest for a while, then gradually began gathering on the deck.
They drew their swords, demonstrated movements, and discussed them.
Geumpyo, Eunho, and Dongryong did most of the talking, while the Changgung Unit and Iron Sword Sect martial artists listened.
“I hear they’re learning a sword formation from the Taeul Sect disciples.”
“A sword formation?”
Namgung Seonhwa tilted her head.
Did the Taeul Sect have a famous sword formation?
No, to begin with, why would martial artists of the Namgung Clan and Iron Sword Sect need to learn another sword formation?
“I heard the formation the Taeul Sect disciples learned is similar to the White Tiger Sword Formation.”
Namgung Seonhwa knew the White Tiger Sword Formation.
It was linked to the White Tiger Sword Art, the Martial Alliance’s official martial art.
The name sounded impressive, but it was no more than a crude mixture of the Three Talents Formation and the Eight Trigrams Formation, designed so ordinary Martial Alliance martial artists could learn and apply it easily.
“Why would they need to learn the White Tiger Sword Formation?”
“It’s not exactly the same. I heard Young Master Jin taught it to them and modified it so they could learn it.”
At the mention of Jin Sowoon, Namgung Seonhwa’s reaction was amusing. Gang Seopyo looked toward the martial artists gathered on deck.
“It’s simple and easy to learn, but highly practical.”
Namgung Seonhwa understood even less.
Something simple and easy naturally had less destructive power.
Why would they use their rest time to learn it?
“It’s... a guard formation based on the White Tiger Sword Formation.”
“What is?”
“The sword formation Geumpyo, Eunho, and Dongryong use to protect their food.”
“...”
Namgung Seonhwa’s gaze turned toward the deck.
At the center of a circle of martial artists, the three brothers were deploying the White Tiger Sword Formation.
It had seemed familiar. This was the formation they deployed whenever they were attacked during a meal.
Geumpyo, Eunho, and Dongryong stubbornly cooked food even when the other martial artists had grown sick of being attacked and no longer wanted to cook.
“Everyone wanted to learn it somehow... and the three brothers readily agreed to teach them...”
“...”
This time, Gang Seopyo’s face turned red. Gang Seopyo understood how the martial artists felt, but it was still embarrassing to relay it directly to their young lady.
“They said they were tired of living on dried meat... The clan’s martial arts are powerful, but not very practical for this sort of thing... The White Tiger Sword Formation can be deployed with only three people...”
“...Could I learn it too?”
“What?”
“No, I should learn it too. I want to make porridge with Sister Moran.”
“Ah... Let’s go.”
#
Before reaching Sihong Port, we stopped the ship in the middle of the river and crossed the current.
It was to avoid anyone who might have reached Sihong Port before us and be waiting there.
“It’s strangely quiet.”
Seong Moran spoke as she circulated internal energy to dry her wet martial robes.
As she said, the surroundings were so quiet that it felt unsettling, considering everything we had gone through.
“Let’s move first.”
The Gate III examination was held in four locations across the martial world.
Namak in Henan.
Dongcheon in Shaanxi Province.
Chengdu in Sichuan.
Mount Akbuk in Hunan.
The examination grounds were each set in the east, west, south, and north, roughly two provinces away from Wuhan, where the Martial Alliance was located, for the convenience of examinees throughout the martial world.
As a result, the routes taken by candidates became fixed, and many waited along those routes to eliminate weaker competitors.
That was also why we had faced interference not only from Mount Cang Sect and the Radiant Flower Escort Agency, but from other competitors as well.
After traveling all night, we reached Sihong Port, our original destination, around dawn.
Candidates were waiting for ships at Sihong Port in the distance.
Namgung Seonhwa spoke softly.
“There are fewer people than I expected... Is that supposed to be a good thing?”
“If I were them, I wouldn’t wait at Sihong Port. I’d wait on the road to Feng County.”
“I would too.”
We passed Sihong Port and headed toward Suqian.
No one had followed us yet.
Screech!
While we gnawed on dried meat for breakfast, a courier hawk cried out as it approached me.
-Wudang Sect’s Hyeonjeong, two others, and his martial artists.
-Mount Hua Sect’s Yeon Umun, three others, and his martial artists.
※Currently waiting on the road to Feng County.
The report sent by the Hao Sect listed the names of the Wudang Sect and Mount Hua Sect disciples said to be pursuing us.
What was strange was that I remembered both of them.
Who are they?
They were not people who had entered the Martial Arts Academy during my cohort. Even so, it was strange that they remained in my memory.
As I searched through the archive in my mind, Seong Moran and Namgung Seonhwa approached.
“What are you thinking about?”
“These names feel familiar.”
I showed them the report.
Seong Moran took it and nodded as if she understood.
“Hyeonjeong is famous for being Yong Soa’s junior martial brother.”
“Famous for being Yong Soa’s junior martial brother?”
“Yes. When Yong Soa was at Mount Wudang, Hyeonjeong was the junior martial brother Yong Soa always kept by his side. Hyeonjeong has unusual talent too, so Wudang has high hopes for him.”
“And Yeon Umun?”
“He’s the eldest son of the Yeon Clan. I heard he became a lay disciple of Mount Hua Sect, so I suppose he’s taking the Martial Arts Academy examination this time.”
The Yeon Clan was a family famous for its fist arts.
Its unique fist and leg arts ranked among the ten best under heaven.
If the eldest son, who needed to carry on the family line, had entered Mount Hua Sect just to learn the sword, then his talent with the sword had to be no less impressive than Hyeonjeong’s.
“Is that all?”
I still could not shake the feeling, so I asked again, but Seong Moran only shook her head.
“They’re formidable opponents even with just that much known. We can’t take them lightly.”
“Hmm...”
Just as I was about to search the Profound Mystery Pavilion materials in my mental archive, I noticed Geumpyo, Eunho, and Dongryong.
“What are you three doing?”
As they walked, the three brothers were playing around by reaching for one another’s sleeves.
“Ah... We learned some seizing arts from the Namgung Clan martial artists.”
“Seizing arts?”
“Yes. They said a martial artist should at least know some basic seizing arts.”
The seizing arts the brothers were practicing were the Thirteen Seizing Arts, which I also knew well.
They were not as common as the Three Talents Sword Art, but anyone with some experience practicing martial arts would encounter them at least once.
The three brothers were filling in the martial arts absent from the Taeul Sect and the Taeul Sword Emperor’s teachings on their own.
“...Should we not learn them after all?”
Geumpyo cautiously watched my expression.
Normally, sects forbade their disciples from learning martial arts from other sects or techniques sold in the marketplace.
I shook my head.
“It doesn’t matter. No, you should learn them diligently.”
“Really? But the martial artists said that if we trained too hard, it might affect our original martial arts...”
“It’s not like you would train that hard, is it?”
“...Senior Brother...”
“I’m joking. Do you know what the greatest martial art of the Taeul Sword Emperor is?”
“...The Ten Thousand Seas Heaven and Earth Sword Art.”
Geumpyo answered as though it were obvious, while Eunho and Dongryong nodded in agreement.
“That’s only the strongest martial art, not the greatest.”
“Then what is?”
“The Taeul True Scripture.”
Of all the Taeul Sword Emperor’s martial arts, the Taeul True Scripture was unquestionably the most remarkable.
“The essence of the Taeul True Scripture is enlightenment in the truths of all creation.”
“...What?”
“The other martial arts are only the Taeul Sword Emperor’s interpretations through the Taeul True Scripture.”
The three brothers still looked as though they did not understand.
“If the Taeul True Scripture remained, the Taeul Sect’s martial arts could continue even if every other martial art disappeared.”
“I don’t understand.”
“The Ten Thousand Seas Heaven and Earth Sword Art, the Lesser Heaven Sword Art, the Greater Heaven Sword Art, and the Myriad Blossoms Invincible Fist are all no more than forms and techniques.”
“But without forms and techniques, wouldn’t that cease to be martial arts?”
“Tsk. Do the absolute masters of the martial world subdue their opponents with grand forms and techniques?”
“...”
“Forms and techniques are no more than ladders that make the path to enlightenment easier to follow. Once you climb above them, you no longer need any of them.”
Only then did the three brothers begin to look as though they understood.
“Above all, work hard at cultivating the Taeul True Scripture. Learn many martial arts diligently as well. Then one day, you may create forms and techniques that are your own.”
“Us?”
Eunho, who was always most interested in the deeper aspects of martial arts, asked eagerly. I nodded.
“Yes. That is why the Taeul True Scripture is such a great martial art.”
At my words, the three brothers intensified their qi circulation as they moved.
“You brats! If you slow down while doing that, how will you take the examination?”
Only then did the three brothers return to their proper pace.
#
“Nothing happened here either.”
We had been extremely tense when passing through Xuzhou.
There was a Changgung Merchant Group branch in Xuzhou, so we stopped to rest and ease our tension. Yet that also meant we could no longer hide ourselves from the pursuers.
But even as we neared Feng County after leaving Xuzhou, we saw no candidates.
“I’ve never felt this uneasy about peace before.”
We had deliberately left traces behind and even lit fires in open areas to cook dinner.
Still, no one pursued us.
We had even searched places along the road to Feng County where someone might be hiding, but found no sign of people.
“What is going on?”
If only Mount Hua and Wudang were planning something, they could move in a coordinated manner.
But they were not our only competitors.
Just as countless candidates had waited for an opening when the Radiant Flower Escort Agency pursued us, other competitors should have appeared to take advantage while Wudang and Mount Hua targeted us.
Screech!
I raised my head at the cry of a hawk.
The daily report usually arrived every morning, but no news had come even by noon, so I had been waiting for it.
The courier hawk slowed as it reached my shoulder and extended its right leg. I fed it a piece of dried meat, then opened the report.
-Wudang Sect’s Hyeonjeong, two others, and his martial artists.
-Mount Hua Sect’s Yeon Umun, three others, and his martial artists.
※Currently impossible to track.
“...”
“...”
“...”
Namgung Seonhwa and Seong Moran, who had read the report with me, could not speak either. The thing we feared most had happened.
“It should be a force at least five hundred strong.”
“They can disappear all at once like this?”
Like us, hiding while leading a large number of people was no easy task.
It was only natural when even assassins and bandits rarely moved in groups larger than ten.
Yet they had vanished without a trace from the eyes of the Hao Sect, which rivaled the Beggar Sect in information gathering.
“We should assume they’re hiding somewhere, correct?”
“Leader Choe, Leader Gang, strengthen the watch.”
“...”
As Namgung Seonhwa and Seong Moran looked around and maintained their vigilance, I finally found the two names in the deepest part of the archive in my mind.
“!”
I looked toward the sun.
The sun hanging over the western mountains was slowly setting.
I quickly turned to the two women.
“From now on, we run at full speed.”
“What?”
“We don’t know when an attack will come.”
I also spoke to Geumpyo, Eunho, and Dongryong.
“Stop circulating qi and run at full speed from now on.”
“...?”
“...”
“...Yes.”
At the urgency in my voice, the martial artists of the Namgung Clan and Iron Sword Sect raised their vigilance.
“Something more frightening than Wudang and Mount Hua may be waiting for us.”
“What?”
“What do you mean...”
Perhaps we were already too late.
Not a single person had been seen between Xuzhou and Feng County.
“Young Master Jin, please explain!”
“Move first.”
“...”
As I began moving urgently without an explanation, the Namgung Clan and Iron Sword Sect martial artists followed, led by Geumpyo, Eunho, and Dongryong.
We had to reach a village as quickly as possible. If my guess was right, darkness and night belonged to them.
Thump.
Thump.
My heart began to pound violently.
It was not caused by my intent or my emotions.
I had already lived one life, and in this life, I had even cultivated the Taeul True Scripture. I could maintain a mind as clear and still as water better than anyone.
“...Young Master Jin, please explain. You’re making me nervous for no reason.”
Therefore, this agitation in my heart came from an outside influence.
“...”
Even if I had identified the enemy, what could I say?
Would anyone even believe it? Even the Martial Alliance had not believed when they first emerged into the world.
“They are enemies.”
“Enemies?”
“Yes.”
In the deepest part of the archive in my mind.
Even among the Profound Mystery Pavilion materials, it was a place I had never searched because it did not interest me.
The two names were written there.
[Unsolved Case Report]
-Wudang Sect’s Hyeonjeong
-Mount Hua Sect’s Yeon Umun
※Annihilated along with their junior fellow disciples.
Presumed to have been ambushed by those with specialized training.
※Characteristic: Some bones in the recovered corpses had turned black.
The fragments of information had been too far apart.
More than that, I had never imagined they would be active here and now.
“It is an organization specialized in stealth attacks and ambushes.”
Something registered in the energy sense I had extended in every direction.
“Get down!”
The martial artists ducked in alarm the moment I finished speaking. But black throwing blades had already lodged in the abdomens of those who reacted too late, spraying blood.
“What is this...”
Even to me, who had cultivated the Taeul True Scripture, what I sensed had been faint.
The others could only be even more shocked.
“I didn’t sense anything.”
Namgung Seonhwa and Seong Moran stared at the forest with disbelieving eyes.
Soon, the shadows in the forest stretched longer, and around twenty black silhouettes emerged one by one.
“...”
Everyone could only stand there with their mouths open at the bizarre sight.
“What... are they...?”
The Dark Soul-Severing Unit.
They were called the Heavenly Demon Divine Cult’s most fearsome blade.
Footnotes:
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