WeTried Translations
Translator/Editor: Chen
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◈ The Martial Genius who Remembers Everything ◈
Chapter 486: The Conditions of Hatred (4)
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That voice clearly did not belong to Song Yesul.
“They said Yong Soa alone was a dragon among dragons.”
Sinister smoke clutched Song Yesul’s wounds and moved her lifeless body like a puppet.
“How did you recognize a Demon-Subduing Madman?”
“Is it so difficult to see through such clumsy dark arts?”
“Kek, kek, kek. Clumsy dark arts… As expected, Yong Soa is different.”
Whenever the sinister smoke spoke, everyone flinched for reasons they could not explain.
Its voice carried something that stirred the terror of the abyss.
“Do you know me?”
Even so, Yong Soa’s voice remained utterly emotionless.
“I know you well. You are the toy we look forward to most.”
“A toy… Is that something a person hiding away and using dark arts should say?”
“Everyone has their own way of fighting, just as the Martial Alliance did something cowardly five hundred years ago.”
Yong Soa glanced once at those of us collapsed under the effects of dispersing energy poison, then did what he had to do.
Hummm-
Blue qi gathered around the Whirlwind Sword Art.
It was different from before.
It gave off a sacred radiance, as though it carried light within itself.
It was Wudang Sect’s Taiji Force, similar to the Jade Clarity Celestial Phenomenon Force I used and the energy Ilgak wielded through the Muscle-Tendon Change Classic.
“How interesting. You understand it as though you had learned it.”
The Descending Body inhabiting Song Yesul slowly began to grow.
The people of Hwapung Manor froze at the sight before them, but the Azure Dragon Pavilion martial artists were different.
“Form up!”
The people who had been sprawled around moments earlier moved swiftly and surrounded Song Yesul and the Descending Body.
“Do not approach within three jang.”
At Yong Soa’s words, Hwang Seoyul shouted.
“Yong Soa! This is no time to act brave on your own!”
“This isn’t bravery. Only he and I can handle this here.”
Yong Soa cast me a look, then rushed at the Descending Body.
The enormous Descending Body brought down a bull-sized fist to crush Yong Soa.
Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom!
Every swing shattered buildings in Hwapung Manor and smashed the marble floor to pieces, but Yong Soa was not harmed in the slightest.
Instead, he unleashed the Ascending Dragon Kick and attacked the Descending Body.
The moment the Descending Body, its eyes glowing red, reached out to seize Yong Soa.
Shrrrk-
The fingers trying to restrain Yong Soa were cut into twenty pieces and scattered apart.
The fierce attacks of the Thirteen Taiji Stances then sliced through the entire Descending Body.
Shashashashashashak-
Every time the Whirlwind Sword Art, filled with Taiji Force, swept through the air, the smoke forming the Descending Body vanished, only to wriggle back together and restore its form.
Yong Soa increased his speed and did not give it even that chance.
He cut and cut again at the body trying to recover, scattering it into smoke over and over.
“You worm!”
The Descending Body, with only its red eyes remaining, trembled violently before its form collapsed in an instant.
Boom!
At that moment, Yong Soa leaped onto the roof of a nearby pavilion.
Shrrk-
With a light cutting sound, every building and stone lantern within three jang in every direction was cut apart.
Rumble. Crash.
“My heavens…”
“What is this…?”
The Azure Dragon Pavilion martial artists felt a chill run down their spines at the bizarre sight they had never witnessed before.
The Descending Body had just cut through everything around it and was about to restore itself again.
This time, Yong Soa’s Whirlwind Sword Art turned toward Song Yesul.
Song Yesul’s movements were clearly different from Heo Gwanjung’s.
She was moving with no will of her own.
Thud. Thud. Thud. Thud.
Yet the Descending Body protected Song Yesul’s body with its energy in exactly the same way it had protected Heo Gwanjung.
“I should have cut you down in one strike.”
“Kek, kek, kek. You are quite skilled, but do you think a Demon-Subduing Madman is so weak?”
The Descending Body rose again.
This time, it took the form of a spider rather than a puppet.
Two arms and six spike-like limbs stretched endlessly toward Yong Soa.
“A Demon-Subduing Madman… A name that suits your vile lot very well.”
Thud! Thud! Thud! Thud! Thud! Thud! Thud!
The Descending Body’s arms and spikes struck wherever Yong Soa’s afterimages remained.
“You have no right to speak while running away with your tail between your legs.”
“Did it look like I was running?”
Having retreated far back, Yong Soa charged in with the force of Bow-Arrow Flickering Shadow, cutting through every arm and spike at once.
Kakakakakak-
Then he soared upward like a dragon rising to heaven with a wish-granting pearl in its mouth, unleashing Dragon’s Ascent.
The force of that massive sword wind began tearing the Descending Body apart.
Kwakakakakakak!
I could only stare blankly at the scene.
Yong Soa drove back the Descending Body while scattering Taiji Force.
Song Yesul was dragged along, hanging from the Descending Body’s tail.
The sight before me did not feel real.
The gap between reality and what I saw made my body shudder, as though I were trapped in a horrible nightmare.
Then.
“Jin Sowoon.”
Yong Soa’s emotionless voice reached me.
“How long are you going to stay like that?”
At the same time, something shot from Yong Soa toward me.
Thud.
A pouch struck and released my paralysis acupoint, then fell to the ground.
“It’s the antidote for dispersing energy poison.”
I slowly clenched it in my hand.
Shrrrk-
In the meantime, the Descending Body, once again shredded by Yong Soa’s sword qi, kept collapsing and recovering.
It was growing larger, faster, and stronger, yet it had not pressured Yong Soa for even an instant.
“How long do you intend to make me wait?”
My gaze never left Song Yesul, whose half-severed neck swayed as she was dragged around by the Descending Body’s tail.
“Do you intend to make me regret my choice?”
I didn’t know what he was talking about.
Nor did I care.
What mattered to me now was this.
“When did you know?”
“Does that matter right now?”
The Descending Body, which had been helplessly battered by Yong Soa’s attacks, finally collapsed again.
The trembling black smoke transformed into dozens of blades and swept through the area.
“R-run!”
“Protect the people of Hwapung Manor!”
“Don’t fight back! Just get away!”
Sensing danger from three jang away, the Azure Dragon Pavilion martial artists led the people of Hwapung Manor away, kicking off the ground and retreating beyond five jang.
Rumble-
Massive blades swept through the area like a storm, leaving no intact buildings or objects behind.
“Will you keep watching that woman like this?”
Song Yesul, who had treasured Hwapung Manor more than anything, had become the embodiment of destruction, erasing everything within it.
She had planned a brilliant future and looked forward to working with the Martial Alliance, but now she had become a pawn of the Demonic Cult.
And yet.
[…I think I would have liked it if I had attended the Martial Arts Academy with you.]
Why did the memories in my mind,
[I think people have become much more at ease because of you, Young Master.]
keep reminding me of Song Yesul, who was now nothing more than an empty shell,
[Thank you… Thank you so much… If not for you, Young Master… More people would have died.]
make me doubt even whether those memories had been real,
[I wanted to know Young Master Jin.]
and cast a person so cruelly into hell?
[Do you dislike me, by any chance?]
“Damn it… Damn it… Damn it…”
I had no intention of watching those even more hateful bastards revel in their triumph. They wanted to control not only another person’s wishes, but their will itself.
“If I can make you suffer…”
I crushed the antidote and swallowed it.
“I don’t care if I must endure the pain of having my heart torn to pieces.”
The medicine gradually spread through me, and my empty dantian slowly began to recover.
I poured my intent into it and drew in internal energy faster than ever before.
My blood vessels and qi channels tightened as I forcibly awakened the energy that had been put to sleep.
At the same time, I pulled binding talismans from my robes and scattered them into the air.
When I chanted an incantation imbued with Jade Clarity Celestial Phenomenon Force, the falling talismans flew toward Song Yesul’s body as though they were alive.
“Where do you think you’re going? Did you think I’d let that happen?!”
As the unidentified Descending Body tried to block the talismans, Yong Soa, as though he had known all along, shredded its hands and arms into smoke.
At the same time, countless divided currents of Taiji Force became blades and tore through the Descending Body.
Just as the Descending Body completely collapsed and was about to split apart for the third time.
Whoosh!
The Sacred Flame Demon-Extinguishing Hand that bloomed from my right hand streaked through the darkness straight toward Song Yesul.
“I’m sorry, Miss Song.”
Thud!
Song Yesul’s chest was pierced.
Gush-
Song Yesul, whom I had believed dead, slowly opened her eyes, and a faint smile appeared on her lips.
I called her, clinging to my last hope.
“Miss Song.”
Song Yesul looked steadily into my eyes.
Then a voice that still did not seem to belong to her came from her lips.
“Jin Sowoon, I’ve heard of you as well. Kek, kek. You are more interesting than I expected.”
As though it were exhaling its remaining strength, the energy of the Descending Body murmured as it slowly slipped out of Song Yesul’s body.
It was an instinctive movement, searching for another host.
I withdrew the hand that had pierced Song Yesul’s chest and immediately swung the Sacred Flame Demon-Extinguishing Hand at the Descending Body’s energy.
Whoosh.
The burning energy of the Descending Body thrashed through the air several times.
“Kek… Urgh…!”
But the Sacred Flame Demon-Extinguishing Hand did not go out.
I caught Song Yesul’s body as she collapsed limply, free of the Descending Body’s control, and stared hatefully at the fading flames.
“Look forward to it, Jin Sowoon. Preparations have been made for you as well. Things will become even more interesting from now on.”
#
Hwapung Manor looked like ruins.
Every building and courtyard had been destroyed, but no one tried to repair or clear anything away.
Only deathly silence and heavy stillness covered the entire manor.
Even when thirty people died and fifty were injured, the manor had not sunk into such despair.
Many had even taken pride in their injuries and pain because they believed they had won.
When the Branch Leader returned in utter humiliation, laughter had broken out despite the mourning.
Yet the people of Hwapung Manor now tried to leave and return to their homes as though they were running from a nightmare.
Naturally, after what happened the previous day, they could not be allowed to leave.
The Azure Dragon Pavilion members blocked them, and small confrontations continued to break out.
“What should we do?”
Gwak Susan asked Ilgak, but no proper answer came.
“Amitabha…”
The inspection had already confirmed that none of them had learned forbidden arts or Blood Cult techniques.
Song Yesul had likely been an unexpected case even within Hwapung Manor.
The fact that the people of Hwapung Manor were in such deep shock was proof enough.
When considering why the Dragon-Phoenix Association had been assigned to conduct the inspection in the first place, was it not because someone like Song Yesul had appeared among the Black Officials?
“Senior Yong Soa has said nothing, and Group Leader Jin…”
After handing Song Yesul’s body over to the Azure Dragon Pavilion yesterday, Jin had not returned to the lodgings.
“He is still within Hwapung Manor.”
“…”
Gwak Susan considered Ilgak’s words.
“What should we do?”
“…Amitabha.”
It was not because Gwak Susan and Ilgak were foolish that they did not know where to go from here.
No matter how intelligent someone was, books and learning could not make up for a lack of experience.
In that sense, Jin Sowoon, despite being their peer, could not help seeming like a remarkable person.
No matter when it was, no matter how urgent the moment, he always seemed to know what he had to do next.
But now, Jin Sowoon had stopped.
Considering the way he looked at Hwapung Manor and the time he had spent with Song Yesul, which had been different from the time he had spent at other sects, it was only natural.
“Still, we have no choice but to ask him.”
Gwak Susan agreed with Ilgak’s words.
They were carrying out a mission.
And those carrying out a mission could not stop walking, even as tears fell.
“Will you come with me?”
At Gwak Susan’s careful question, Ilgak nodded.
#
[After my parents passed away, Hwapung Manor became my parents and my family.]
I looked at the place that had been Song Yesul’s parents and family.
“Everything has been destroyed…”
There would probably be nothing left afterward, not even traces of Song Yesul or the things she loved.
Taeul Sect had been the same.
No matter how much we gathered the traces left by the cult’s lackeys and the corpses, Taeul Sect could never be restored.
Those left behind could only keep staring at the wounds inflicted by the destroyers, hurting, suffering, and grieving.
When I was given a new life, I thought it was an opportunity.
I had spent half my previous life regretting things again and again.
I believed that if I were given another chance, I could change everything somehow.
[“…I want to know more. About you, Young Master Jin…”]
But I realized it again.
The regrets I had carried through my previous life.
The promises I had made at every moment.
They had all been nothing but fantasies.
Allies devoured themselves through pettiness, cowardice, and unfairness.
Enemies trampled the world through grotesque cruelty and mercilessness.
This life was not an opportunity.
It was nothing more than the despair of living through the same hell all over again.
Footnotes:
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