WeTried Translations

Translator/Editor: Chen

Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried

◈ The Martial Genius who Remembers Everything ◈

Chapter 97: The Sharpest Blade in the Darkness (4)

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“Those people... they were the ones who tried to kill us.”

Dawn broke.

As light spread across the plains, the Dark Soul-Severing Unit vanished with the darkness as though being chased away.

The dawn of a new day revealed a scene of utter devastation.

The surviving examinees realized just how horrific the place they had stood in the night before had been and fled in a panic.

“I know.”

Naturally, most of those who remained were warriors abandoned by their employers.

I suggested saving the critically wounded first, but the warriors were slow to move.

“You know, and you still want to help them? Young Master Jin... are you a Buddha?”

I shook my head.

“I have no intention of forgiving those who came after me, either. But they were acting under someone else’s orders, weren’t they?”

Though the level of warriors available for deployment was capped at Peak Realm, not every warrior hired could be at the Peak Realm.

Families with little influence or money often hired first-rate or second-rate martial artists, and in dire cases, even third-rate ones.

Among those who had died on the plains, there had been far more hired warriors than employers, and more low-level fighters than experts.

“Those abandoned by their employers will have no choice but to wait here for death.”

“...”

“...”

The examinees who had brought escort warriors for their safety had all fled in the emergency. Those warriors had been used as tools, just as our Sojeong Unit had been in my previous life.

“Besides, don’t you have people of your own to look after? Take care of them. I’ll handle these people.”

Seong Moran and Namgung Seonhwa, who had listened in silence, stepped forward.

“Alright. Let’s do that.”

“Unit Leader, please allow it.”

Gang Seopyo and Choe Mubin, who had looked reluctant, finally nodded.

Twenty warriors from the Namgung Clan and Iron Sword Sect had died.

It was a small number compared to the original sixty, but that did not make the deaths of people as close as blood kin any easier to accept.

Finding their bodies and burying them somewhere sunny was the duty of those left behind.

I took the Geum-Eun-Dong brothers with me and began administering emergency treatment to the gravely wounded.

Most of those receiving treatment could not lift their heads in shame.

It was rough treatment rather than proper care, so it had to hurt badly. Still, none of them screamed. Only when the treatment had mostly ended and they were about to leave did they finally speak.

“...Th-thank you.”

I simply nodded in reply.

Near noon, Namgung Seonhwa and Seong Moran returned.

“We’ll help.”

“You don’t need to push yourselves.”

What I was doing for these people was nothing more or less than regret for my previous life. I did not want to place that burden on Namgung Seonhwa and Seong Moran as well.

“If this takes too long, we might not clear Gate III. We barely survived, so wouldn’t it be infuriating if we failed to arrive on time?”

“You needn’t worry about that.”

“Do you have a way?”

At that moment, a line of carts came rumbling across the plains.

“Sowoon!”

I had suspected as much, and I was right.

“Shopkeeper Yang!”

Yang Gunbaek had arrived with Hao Sect members and physicians.

“...?”

“...?”

Namgung Seonhwa and Seong Moran looked at me as though asking what on earth was going on.

“I sent a message yesterday. I told them there would likely be a battle around here and asked them to handle the post-death affairs.”

“Ha...”

Namgung Seonhwa and Seong Moran could only stare.

#

“F-five hundred?”

Jegal Somyeong stared blankly at Cheonmok Pavilion’s report before picking up another.

Deaths: 480.

The number had dropped slightly, but it was still enormous.

After collecting themself, they picked up a third report, but the number barely changed.

“What is this...?”

It was common for nearly a hundred people to die in a large-scale battle, but this had not been one.

It had been a one-sided battle to seize the Gate Tokens held by the Namgung Clan, Iron Sword Sect, and Taeul Sect.

Once the tokens were secured, the attackers might have fought one another as well. Yet martial artists were quicker than anyone to grasp the balance of power, and they would not normally let things escalate into such a desperate battle.

More importantly...

The Namgung Clan, Iron Sword Sect, and Taeul Sect, the groups that had been the battle’s primary targets, had mostly survived.

“Why is that a problem? It’s a tremendous relief.”

“...”

Jegal Somyeong glanced at Maeng Juwon, who had interrupted without invitation, then looked at the other Mantong Office members nearby.

Jegal Somyeong had just angrily laid into them over the reports. The Mantong Office members avoided their eyes and could not hide their nervousness, afraid that even a small mistake would be used against them.

Yet Maeng Juwon had jumped in without fear.

There was a limit to how much leniency Jegal Somyeong could show.

“Department Head Maeng, have you finished drafting the plan for restructuring the Martial Alliance?”

“Yes. I left it on your desk, Strategist.”

“...I heard the Orthodox Society submitted a proposal to be promoted to a Hall. How did you reject it?”

“I explained why it could not be approved, the side effects that could arise if the Orthodox Society became a Hall, and the fact that the White Path Society and Twelve Peak Alliance would also demand promotion to Halls. I sent it all to the Orthodox Society’s leader and members. A copy is on your desk as well.”

“...The Alliance Leader said he wanted to conduct an audit of the Enforcement Hall...”

“The Enforcement Hall is an especially stubborn group, isn’t it? To deal with people like them, the Mantong Office or Profound Mystery Pavilion has to step in. I selected and organized the candidates who will conduct the audit once the academy’s regular examination ends, and left the list on your desk.”

“...”

Maeng Juwon grinned shamelessly at Jegal Somyeong.

“You don’t have anything else to pick at, do you?”

“Why are you looking at me like that?”

“...”

Thinking they had gone too far, Jegal Somyeong subtly turned back to the reports.

“What do you think?”

“It certainly is strange. Our Sowoon’s group only had sixty people, yet they survived after facing a thousand opponents.”

“Do you think this can end as a merely strange incident?”

“No.”

“Then what do you think the problem is?”

Maeng Juwon stared blankly at the ceiling for a moment. It was a habit whenever he sank into thought.

“Too many people died.”

“I can see that from the report.”

“No. I mean the death toll far exceeds the maximum number of people who could have died in that battle.”

“Explain.”

“If I imagine moving together with Sowoon from Heze onward, there aren’t many choices I could make. And if I chose a direct confrontation like Sowoon did...”

Maeng Juwon’s fingers twitched as though touching something in the air. He was calculating something in his mind.

“Two hundred. That would be my limit.”

Jegal Somyeong nodded. They had reached a similar conclusion under the same circumstances.

“But I wouldn’t be confident of surviving that situation.”

He could kill up to two hundred people.

But surviving afterward was another matter.

Maeng Juwon, of all people, was saying that.

Yet Sowoon had accomplished it.

And the death toll had reached five hundred.

That number went beyond common sense, far beyond any reasonable chain of cause and effect.

“What if we simply failed to understand Taeul Sect’s true strength?”

There were only a few possible explanations.

Perhaps Taeul Sect had hidden its martial arts all this time.

Otherwise, Jin Sowoon would have had to be some rejuvenated old master in disguise.

Maeng Juwon shook his head.

“There are clear points where Taeul Sect’s circumstances changed. The period when Sowoon’s martial arts improved is also clear. If you calculate the pace of that growth, rejuvenation is impossible from the start.”

“Then?”

“Do you remember that pointless conversation you and I had before?”

When had Maeng Juwon’s pointless conversations ever been unusual? Still, Jegal Somyeong understood at once.

“The destruction of the Martial Alliance?”

“Yes.”

“...”

“You avoid considering it because there are no traces of a hidden hand, correct?”

That was the greatest problem.

If someone had been standing behind the curtain, they should have left at least some small trace behind. Yet there was nothing.

“Didn’t you say that just because we can’t see something doesn’t mean it doesn’t exist?”

“...Another missing piece.”

This time, though, there were no surrounding pieces to fit together. Without them, there was no way to know what belonged in the empty space.

“In the end, it depends on what reports arrive from the branches.”

Jegal Somyeong’s head throbbed.

No matter how well the Alliance processed information, it was useless if reports from the branches were blocked.

A regional branch leader’s position could not be attained through ability alone.

Every sect used every trick and pulled every string to place its own disciples in those posts.

Naturally, those who gained branch leader positions through their sect’s support responded faster to their sect’s influence than to the Martial Alliance’s orders.

For their sects, they sometimes filtered information before reporting it and handled incidents in ways that suited their own interests.

The victims of this incident were the secondary contingents of the Nine Sects One Gang and the scions of prominent One Hundred Eight Peaks sects.

Beyond the possibility of tainted information, the solution itself could be directed somewhere entirely wrong.

“It’ll be too late by the time the Enforcement Hall moves.”

The system that could correct their misconduct could only act after that misconduct had already occurred.

There was nothing to be done when every moment mattered.

“I’ll go.”

“What?”

“I’ll assess the situation myself and bring back accurate information.”

“...”

“And while I’m there, I want to see whether Sowoon is alright.”

Jegal Somyeong pondered for a moment, then shook their head and picked up a report. They threw it at Maeng Juwon using the Leaf-Plucking, Flower-Flying art.

The report flew straight toward Maeng Juwon’s forehead, but he quickly ducked and barely avoided it.

“Gah! What if that hit me? Don’t you realize the Mantong Office will stop functioning without me?”

“You know that, and you’re still saying you’ll go all the way to Henan Province?”

“What am I supposed to do when I’m worried about Sowoon?”

“Enough with this ‘our Sowoon’ and ‘our Sowoon’! You haven’t even met him!”

“That makes me all the more attached to him. Aaaagh!”

Jegal Somyeong’s report finally struck Maeng Juwon squarely in the face.

#

“When I received your message telling people your location, I had to think long and hard about whether it was real.”

Yang Gunbaek seemed to have agonized over whether the message was genuine after hearing the strategy I had used to hide among the crowd.

“And when I heard that you had raised Taeul Sect’s banner, I was truly shocked.”

Even thinking about it now, it was not a plan anyone in their right mind would have used. Yet without it, all of us, including Namgung Seonhwa and Seong Moran, would have died at the hands of the Dark Soul-Severing Unit.

“What exactly happened?”

“We were attacked by unidentified people.”

“Unidentified? Didn’t we tell you it was Wudang Sect and Mount Hua Sect?”

“They never arrived in the end.”

“...Then?”

I placed one of the Dark Soul-Severing Unit members’ arms before Yang Gunbaek.

“Eek.”

Yang Gunbaek recoiled at the grotesque black-skinned arm, from which a white bone sword protruded.

“W-what is that?”

“The people who attacked us.”

“Y-you’re saying that’s a human arm?”

“Yes.”

“...”

Yang Gunbaek calmly examined the arm. They pressed the skin and touched the bone sword.

“This is definitely human bone.”

“Yes.”

“But the skin doesn’t feel human.”

That skin was one of the traits shared by those who had undergone the Fluid Bone Sword procedure.

“Look at this.”

I gripped one side of the skin and pulled.

It stretched like cloth, revealing the flesh and bones beneath.

Yang Gunbaek looked as though they could not believe what they were seeing.

“I can’t believe it even as I see it.”

“Twenty people had bodies like this.”

“Then are there more bodies?”

“Unfortunately, this is the only one. The others’ bones and skin decayed away the moment they died.”

Yang Gunbaek looked at the arm with obvious regret.

“That’s unfortunate. If there were more bodies...”

Without saying it aloud, Yang Gunbaek’s eyes showed they understood where this body needed to go.

I took out the Black Dragon Sword, cut off the upper portion of the arm, and handed it over.

“Sowoon...”

“The lower part remains, doesn’t it? I’m not yet a Martial Alliance member, so I have no obligation to hand over the body.”

“Ah...”

“This will create the gap between the Beggar Sect and the Hao Sect.”

Yang Gunbaek stared blankly at the arm, then their eyes widened.

They looked back and forth between the arm and me before realizing something, then looked at me with shining eyes.

“You called me here on purpose.”

“...Yes. More or less.”

“How can I ever thank you? You are our guest retainer, yet you have helped us more than anyone.”

If the Hao Sect noticed the Demonic Cult’s existence first, they might be able to predict the cult’s emergence from its traces.

That would make the martial world more alert to the coming war. At the same time, the Hao Sect, which had begun investigating the Demonic Cult first, could surpass the Beggar Sect in one stroke.

Then the martial world’s fastest and most accurate intelligence organization would become my firm backing.

“Isn’t this for everyone’s sake?”

#

There were no further attacks on the way from Puyang to Nanyue.

Perhaps word had spread, or perhaps everyone who intended to come had already come the day before. After entering Nanyue, everyone was finally able to relax completely.

Stealing Gate Tokens from one another was forbidden around the Nanyue Branch, where Gate III would be held.

As soon as we arrived in Nanyue, we placed the wounded in physicians’ care and caught up on the sleep we had put off.

Early the next morning, I sent messages to the warriors we had left in each region to let them know we had reached Nanyue safely. Afterward, before heading to the Martial Alliance’s Nanyue Branch, everyone scattered to take care of their own business.

“Why are you still carrying that banner?”

Eunho had gone somewhere with Seong Moran early that morning, but he still held Taeul Sect’s banner upright.

“I was told that Taeul Sect’s banner should never be lowered carelessly.”

“Ha! Did I tell you that too?”

“No. By the Sect Leader.”

“...”

“Anyway, we returned alive from that hellish battlefield. This is a symbol of confidence. We won’t break, so come at us if you dare.”

“If you want to say something like that, at least take that candied fruit out of your mouth first... No, where did you get the money to buy all those snacks?”

I managed our group’s funds. I was not stingy with my junior martial brothers, but I had not given them enough spending money to buy that entire bundle of snacks in Eunho’s hand.

“Oh, these? Miss Seong bought them for me.”

“Miss Seong? Why?”

Eunho stopped eating and silently gave me a disgruntled look.

“Senior Brother, what is your ideal type? Do you like women who are strong in martial arts?”

“If they’re strong enough to protect themselves, that’s fine. Why?”

“Then that settles it.”

“What?”

Eunho changed the subject and muttered, “They’re similar enough, anyway.”

I could not understand a word of it and shook my head.

“Let’s stop by a blacksmith first.”

Dongryong’s sword had suffered heavily as his sword forms changed each day. It had been a fine sword given as a reward for the Gyeonseong Envoy examination, but even that sword could not withstand all of Dongryong’s altered forms.

The blade was chipped all over, and it had become too light for his new sword forms.

“We need to replace Dongryong’s sword.”

“I don’t think we need to.”

Geumpyo pointed behind us.

Dongryong, who had gone around with Namgung Seonhwa, stood there clutching a long bundle of cloth to his chest.

“You don’t need to go, Senior Brother.”

“...What is that now?”

Geumpyo answered.

“Namgung Seonhwa gave Dongryong a Changgung Sword.”

“...”

The Changgung Sword was issued only to official Namgung Clan warriors. It was neither a famous sword nor a treasured sword, but it contained some cold iron, making it difficult for ordinary martial artists to obtain.

“Seonhwa and I decided to become sworn siblings. She said she had always wanted a younger sibling. This is a gift to say that we should look out for each other from now on.”

“...”

Had Namgung Seonhwa and Dongryong been that close? As I wondered, my eyes moved to Geumpyo.

“Why are you the only one empty-handed, Geumpyo?”

Geumpyo, who had been sulking alone, looked at me.

“Senior Brother.”

“What?”

“Do you know any more women? Someone rich, from an impressive family, and a little older.”

One person came to mind, but I did not bother to answer.

At that moment, an enormous procession appeared in the middle of the main road.

“What is that?”

The procession was exceedingly strange.

Most of the people at its front were injured somewhere, while huge coffins had been piled high behind them.

I had seen something similar in the Gyerong Merchant Group’s procession, but this one was not even comparable in scale.

Other than the escort warriors leading horses and donkeys, nearly everyone had suffered severe injuries.

Eunho chewed on a candied fruit and said, “Miss Seong said that half the participants from Hubei are in that condition.”

“Was there another great battle there?”

“No. Wudang Sect traveled through all of Hubei Province and eliminated the examinees.”

“...”

“After Gate III, everyone becomes a competitor. They decided to clear them out beforehand.”

“I don’t see any insignificant candidates among them.”

Most of the wounded were from the higher-ranking sects of the One Hundred Eight Peaks.

“That’s not it. Only those sects have enough people to take care of their own.”

I found myself nodding at Eunho’s words.

It had been the same on the Puyang Plains. No employer looked after the post-death affairs of people temporarily hired with money alone.

“Anyway, I don’t want to meet Wudang Sect or Shaolin Sect.”

Eunho murmured quietly as he looked at the carts laden with coffins.

I felt the same way. My bad blood with Wudang Sect was already more than enough with Yong Soa alone.

#

“This may be... difficult.”

Seong Moran’s voice was low as she left the clinic.

The Iron Sword Sect warriors who had seemed alright on the plains had collapsed unconscious once they entered Nanyue, as though the tension had finally left them.

Only twenty Iron Sword Sect warriors remained.

Regardless of Gate III’s outcome, that was far too few to endure the final examination.

“Still, it’s a tremendous blessing that they returned alive from that battlefield.”

“...That’s true.”

Hundreds had died the previous night.

No, without Jin Sowoon, they too would surely have been found as mangled corpses on those plains.

“It truly is a blessing.”

“I think there will be no serious trouble as long as you remain with Young Master Jin.”

Seong Moran looked surprised at Choe Mubin’s words.

“Why are you looking at me like that?”

“Did Unit Leader Choe not dislike Young Master Jin?”

Choe Mubin’s face reddened.

“Miss, that was a long time ago. Back then, he was an enemy of our sect.”

“Is it different now?”

“He will become our future son-in-law...”

“Pardon?”

“Ahem. N-no, never mind. More importantly, Miss, this...”

Choe Mubin hurriedly changed the subject and took out a palm-sized ornament from inside their robes.

“Is this not a powder compact?”

“Yes.”

“I just washed up. Do I still look dirty?”

“That’s not it. Earlier, I saw that Gang Seopyo had sneakily gone to a jewelry shop with Miss Namgung while you were washing.”

“...A jewelry shop?”

“Yes.”

“Why?”

Choe Mubin sighed at Seong Moran’s reaction.

Could someone this oblivious truly manage a proper romance?

Still, Choe Mubin could not ruin Namgung Seonhwa and Seong Moran’s relationship over feelings.

“Anyway, isn’t it better to do something than nothing?”

“No, I’m asking why I need makeup when Gate III will cover me in dust again anyway.”

Choe Mubin cleared their throat.

“No, I was only worried that Miss might look too much like a tomboy in Young Master Jin’s eyes...”

“What? Ah, ah, what are you saying...?”

Seong Moran seemed to think she had not made it obvious that she liked Jin Sowoon.

Usually, she had such a straightforward and open personality that she mingled freely with the men of the Iron Sword Sect. Yet when the subject of the man she liked was lightly probed, her face flushed at once, exposing her girlish side.

“If that is what Miss wishes, I can’t help it. I’ll just take this to my wife...”

“Wait.”

“Yes?”

Seong Moran pressed her index fingers together and fidgeted.

“...Young Master Jin clearly said he likes strong women.”

Choe Mubin’s expression brightened as they held out the powder.

“If two women are equally strong, wouldn’t he choose the more beautiful one?”

“...Can I trust you?”

“Miss, you have seen my wife, haven’t you?”

Choe Mubin’s wife was famous as a beauty even within the Iron Sword Sect.

“How could I have won such a beautiful wife with this face? Trust me.”

“A-alright.”

Seong Moran quickly turned around and lightly applied powder to her face.

“W-what do you think? Do I look alright?”

“It’s just right and natural. Next is this.”

Another small porcelain case appeared from Choe Mubin’s sleeve.

“Hair oil. Men are drawn more strongly to glossy hair.”

“...”

“And here is rouge.”

“No, Unit Leader Choe. Why do you know so much about women’s cosmetics?”

“You have no idea how many errands I run for my wife. I want to be born a woman in my next life.”

Once the grooming was more or less finished and Choe Mubin gave approval, they were able to head toward the Martial Alliance’s Nanyue Branch.

“There are more people than I expected.”

“Gate III has always drawn more spectators than participants.”

“Even so, doesn’t the atmosphere seem too hostile?”

After they pushed through the crowd, Jin Sowoon and Namgung Seonhwa came into view.

Namgung Seonhwa, like Seong Moran, looked far too radiant for someone who had endured the previous day’s battle.

“See, I told...”

Just as Choe Mubin was about to praise themself, they realized something was wrong and fell silent.

When Seong Moran and Choe Mubin approached, Jin Sowoon turned toward them.

“You have arrived.”

“Yes. But who are these people...?”

Before the group stood middle-aged people in robes of various colors, each wearing a sword at their waist.

Behind them had gathered dozens of young people who appeared to be disciples from their respective sects.

“They are the elders of the sects whose people died on the Puyang Plains, including Wudang Sect and Mount Hua Sect.”

Footnotes:

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