WeTried Translations
Translator/Editor: DereKimchi
Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried
◈ The Returned Zenith Wants to Rest ◈
Episode 15:
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When Yoo Kangmin first fell into the martial world, it was in the midst of a golden age.
Supreme arts lost for hundreds of years had resurfaced, and geniuses who appeared only once in an era competed in martial arts beneath the same sky.
The Heavenly Demon, the Sword Immortal, the leader of the Martial Alliance, the leader of the Unorthodox Hegemony Alliance, the Sword Empress, the Thunder Emperor, the Fist Saint, the Saber King, and more.
Whenever people discussed who was the greatest under heaven, a different name came up.
Some wielded swords. Some relied on their bare fists. Some even made the lightning of the heavens their own.
They were monsters whose superiority could not be easily judged against one another.
Powerful figures like them were scattered all across the land.
Thanks to that, the martial world enjoyed an unexpected era of peace.
Even the three great powers that divided the world among themselves, the Martial Alliance, the Unorthodox Hegemony Alliance, and the Demonic Cult, could not move carelessly.
There was only one reason.
To bring one side down, they would have to accept comparable losses themselves, only to find the remaining side waiting with drawn blades once the battle ended.
‘There were too many powerful people in the world. That was why no one could unite it.’
As they maintained their forces, raised disciples, and kept each other in check, the martial world prospered even further.
Then Yoo Kangmin entered that balance.
It was not as though Yoo Kangmin had been special from the beginning.
He had simply struggled to survive and grown stronger.
But as time passed, the masters Yoo Kangmin had once looked up to admitted defeat before him, one after another.
‘The martial arts of the orthodox factions, the unorthodox factions, and the Demonic Cult. I could make them all mine.’
Forms of qi said to be incompatible merged into one within Yoo Kangmin.
The Limitless Heavenly Origin Art.
Through the internal cultivation method known as the Limitless Heavenly Origin Art, Yoo Kangmin was able to understand the origins of every martial art he had encountered.
‘I never knew that would become the root of disaster...’
What Yoo Kangmin needed was a way home.
Even if he gained the world, he could not see his mother. Even if he became the supreme master of the martial world, he could not see his younger sister’s face.
‘I wasn't even interested.’
But the three great powers feared not what he wanted, but what he could do.
There was no guarantee that someone with no interest in the world today would feel the same tomorrow.
Knowing there would be no turning back if Yoo Kangmin changed his mind, they secretly formed an alliance and summoned him to the Valley of No Return.
A total of one hundred and twenty-seven people.
That was the number of supreme masters belonging to the three great powers.
They sought to kill Yoo Kangmin for the order they had protected.
‘And that was how it ended up.’
Yoo Kangmin lowered his eyes for a moment.
In the end, it had been a battle where no one got what they wanted.
He had left too much behind on his way back as well.
Still, he had not lost everything.
The martial arts he had seen, learned, and experienced firsthand while living in that era.
The teachings of those who had walked the path alongside him still remained with Yoo Kangmin.
The Bright Mirror Sword Manual he had passed on to Yoon Seoha.
The Thunderbolt Body-Tempering Art he would pass on to Baek Dohee.
They were all memories of those who had lived in that era, and of a life that could never be reclaimed.
* * *
“The Thunder Emperor?”
It was an unfamiliar name.
As far as she knew, no hunter used that title.
And what was her own title, after all?
Though it might have faded from many people’s memories, she had once been called the Spear of Thunder.
There was no way she would not know someone who used a title like Thunder Emperor.
Yet Yoo Kangmin kept smiling as he recalled a fond memory.
“Yeah. He was quite an odd one. Whenever he saw rain clouds, he ran up a mountain.”
“Why?”
“To get struck by lightning.”
“Excuse me? What did you say?”
For a moment, Baek Dohee doubted her ears.
He climbed mountains to be struck by lightning?
What kind of insane idea was that?
“It was an insane idea. But it worked.”
Yoo Kangmin understood her reaction.
He had made a similar face at first.
What most people would find difficult to experience even once in a lifetime, that man repeated as training.
He was struck by lightning, endured it, and eventually stored it within his body.
“The Thunderbolt Body-Tempering Art. That was the martial art he completed.”
“D-don't tell me I have to learn it the same way?”
“Right. Fortunately, you don't.”
Yoo Kangmin pointed near her heart.
“You have plenty inside you already.”
The only way that man could obtain thunder qi had been to get struck by lightning.
But Baek Dohee’s situation was different.
After her awakening, thunder qi was overflowing within her.
‘If he saw this, he would've been shocked. No, maybe he'd have gone mad with joy?’
[Thunder qi builds up just by staying still?]
[Yes.]
[Even when it isn't raining?]
[Even then.]
[While you're asleep?]
[That's what I said.]
Then, after thinking for a long time, he would have asked seriously.
[Where does one undergo this awakening?]
Yoo Kangmin nearly burst out laughing.
That man had chased rain clouds to obtain thunder qi.
On days he came down empty-handed, he would pour himself a drink and curse the heavens.
To someone like him, Baek Dohee would have been no different from a walking miracle.
“Mr. Yoo Kangmin?”
“Ah, sorry. I was just thinking about the past.”
Yoo Kangmin stopped smiling.
“First, relax your leg.”
Baek Dohee carefully stretched out her right leg.
Yoo Kangmin moved into position behind her.
“From now on, I'll move qi through your body. Watch where it goes and how it moves.”
“Understood.”
Yoo Kangmin placed a hand on her back.
“Relax. Feel it.”
“Gasp!”
At that moment, warm qi flowed from his palm.
It was the internal qi of the Limitless Heavenly Origin Art.
As it neared Baek Dohee’s heart, the qi split into dozens of strands.
Then it began wrapping around her cracked mana circuits.
‘First, I'll brace them so they don't collapse.’
He had no intention of repairing the damaged meridians right away.
He needed to reduce the thunder qi filling them first.
Otherwise, the meridians he had barely reconnected would tear apart again.
‘This should be enough.’
Even if the thunder qi ran wild, it should not cause any major problems.
Then Yoo Kangmin repeatedly moved the qi of the Limitless Heavenly Origin Art, carving out a path.
“Did you memorize it?”
“Yes.”
“Good. You saw what Yoon Seoha did earlier, right?”
“Yes.”
“Close your eyes. You don't have to understand the formula I'm about to recite. Just repeat it silently.”
“Understood.”
Baek Dohee closed her eyes.
Yoo Kangmin quietly recited the formula.
“Draw thunder into the body, temper the form with qi.”
Baek Dohee silently recited the formula.
Then the warm qi surrounding her heart moved slightly, and her dormant thunder power stirred awake.
“Gasp!”
Baek Dohee’s hand twitched.
Then Yoo Kangmin’s voice reached her.
“Don't move. Stay calm. Move the thunder power along the path you just memorized.”
Why was that?
The moment she heard his voice, all her worries vanished.
‘I can do this. Let's try.’
The trail left by the qi of the Limitless Heavenly Origin Art was still clear.
Following it, Baek Dohee slowly moved her thunder qi.
The violent thunder qi began to settle.
“...!”
The terrible pain that struck whenever she moved her thunder qi vanished.
The agony that felt as though her heart were being torn to shreds was nowhere to be found, and though weakly, the thunder qi was accepting her control.
“Focus!”
Yoo Kangmin’s sharp voice rang out.
This was not the time to relax.
“Gather the qi in your dantian.”
The endpoint of the path carved by the Limitless Heavenly Origin Art lay below her navel, at the dantian.
As Baek Dohee’s awareness settled there, a small portion of the thunder qi began to remain in her dantian.
One circuit, then two.
With each rotation as the thunder qi settled within her dantian, the rampaging qi grew more stable.
‘This can't be...’
Baek Dohee herself felt the greatest change.
Even this much was miraculous progress, yet Yoo Kangmin’s guidance was not over.
The qi of the Limitless Heavenly Origin Art began carving a path once more, from her dantian to her right leg.
“Now, move the thunder qi in your dantian again.”
Baek Dohee slowly drew up the thunder qi and circulated it through her right leg.
“Good. Repeat it as much as you can.”
“...”
Following Yoo Kangmin’s words, Baek Dohee continued circulating her thunder qi.
Each time, her body became drenched in sweat, and impurities began to leave it.
How much time passed?
Then, at one moment.
Crackle!
Everything below her knee tingled.
It was pain she felt every moment, but it was distinctly different from the pain she had known until now.
‘C-could it be...’
Baek Dohee carefully put strength into her toes.
The toe of her sock moved slightly.
“...!”
She tried again.
They moved this time too.
It was like a miracle.
Thinking she might truly recover, Baek Dohee tried to force herself to draw up the thunder qi once more.
“That’s enough for today. Let's stop here.”
As though he knew what she was thinking, Yoo Kangmin withdrew the qi of the Limitless Heavenly Origin Art.
Forming a dantian on the first day had only been possible because it was Baek Dohee.
If they went any further, her body might not endure it.
Even now, Baek Dohee was trying to overexert herself without properly assessing her condition.
“Huff, huff!”
As the tension left her, Baek Dohee collapsed forward and panted heavily.
“How do you feel?”
“...”
“How does it feel to stand without a cane?”
At those words, Baek Dohee slowly moved her legs and tried to rise.
Crackle!
The pain was still there, but Baek Dohee was undeniably standing.
That alone made her vision blur.
“...”
Plink.
A drop of water fell onto the back of her hand.
At first, she thought it was sweat.
But before she could wipe her hand, another drop fell.
Only then did Baek Dohee realize that her cheeks were wet.
“It’s strange. I'm happy... So why am I crying...”
In the end, she could not continue.
Watching her, Yoo Kangmin spoke quietly.
“This doesn't end today.”
Baek Dohee raised her tearful eyes.
“I'll keep teaching you. Until you can hold a spear again. We've only just begun, so why are you crying already?”
At those words, the tears that had barely stopped began flowing again.
After moving her lips several times, Baek Dohee finally answered.
“I look forward to learning from you.”
Then she added one more word.
“Master.”
“Master, huh...”
Just then.
Creak.
The dojo door opened.
“Teacher, I'm here.”
It seemed that while he had been attending to Yoon Seoha and Baek Dohee, it had become four in the afternoon.
At the agreed time, Lee Serin and Han Jisu came to the dojo.
Lee Serin removed her hat as she stepped inside.
As her long red hair spilled loose, the atmosphere of the kendo dojo seemed to change.
Looking around the dojo, Lee Serin spotted Baek Dohee.
“Huh? Branch Chief?”
Baek Dohee raised her head as well.
Crimson hair.
A familiar face, and the manager standing behind her.
“Ms. Lee Serin?”
The two women’s gazes met in midair.
“Why are you here, Branch Chief?”
“That’s what I wanted to ask you.”
Han Jisu also stared at Baek Dohee in surprise.
But the reason for her shock was slightly different.
Her gaze moved from Baek Dohee’s face to her legs.
Then to the black cane leaning against the wall.
“Wait a moment, Branch Chief.”
Han Jisu’s voice trembled.
“Are you... standing right now?”
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