◈ The Martial Genius who Remembers Everything ◈
Chapter 513: Into the Darkness (8)
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The Sword Sovereign and the Black King.
Those two absolute masters had thrown the martial world into an uproar.
Hundreds, perhaps thousands, of treasure maps were circulating, and doubts abounded.
Even so, countless people in the martial world were risking their lives as though they were nothing more than blades of grass, all because of the immense temptation carried by those two names.
From the moment the Treasure Radiance Divine Secret Sword and the Tyrant King Soul-Seizing Blade, the two masters’ divine weapons, were discovered, it had become all but certain that martial artists would enter the Sword Tomb.
One might have expected interest to fade after two treasures worthy of being called divine weapons had already appeared. Instead, it only burned hotter.
The reason was their true strength, their unique martial arts.
If treasures like the Treasure Radiance Divine Secret Sword and the Tyrant King Soul-Seizing Blade could grant wealth enough to change a life…
Then the martial arts of those two masters held the power to change fate itself.
Wealth and power were no more than servants subordinate to strength in the end.
Absolute martial might.
History had proven time and again that whoever possessed such strength could monopolize everything in the martial world.
Considering how keenly martial artists understood that truth, it was only natural for them to risk their lives for the two masters’ martial legacies.
Among them, the greatest manuals were undoubtedly…
The Black King’s [Limitless Tyrant King Blade Art], and the Sword Sovereign’s [Primordial Mystery Sword Manual].
But then…
“Why… do you have this?”
One of those two manuals, the [Primordial Mystery Sword Manual], had come from Do Gwangsu’s robes.
“…”
Do Gwangsu’s pupils shook violently.
His gaze moved from Dang Seohui and Ilgak to Geumpyo and Nam Hwaseong, then back to me and the [Primordial Mystery Sword Manual] in my hand.
He looked as though he was agonizing over whether to make a move.
‘Is he thinking of snatching it and running?’
He was a martial artist himself, so he had to be able to gauge our level well enough. Yet he was still hesitating like that. It showed just how terrifying the Sword Sovereign’s sword art was.
It wouldn’t be easy to turn away from that temptation.
Judging by its condition, the manual definitely hadn’t been made recently.
It hadn’t even been stored properly. The paper had repeatedly absorbed moisture and dried out, leaving it old and brittle enough to crumble with the slightest force.
While waiting for Do Gwangsu to make his decision, I began turning the pages.
[When I ascend a green mountain, become one with heaven and earth, and raise my sword, all creation in the universe dwells within the blade.]
The extraordinary opening left me blank for a moment.
‘What is this absurdly arrogant introduction…?’
It was an overblown interpretation of the Sword Sovereign’s own sword art, coupled with the insolent claim of having attained truth through a single martial art.
The opening was so unbelievably brazen that calling it manly did not feel like enough. It made me doubt whether this martial legacy was genuine, but…
‘Huh…?’
The moment I read the sword art’s theories, its explanations of its principles, its mnemonics, and the sword art itself from the very next page, I knew.
This was no ordinary martial art.
There were no revisions or signs that the manual had been altered.
I couldn’t understand all of it, but there also didn’t seem to be anything that could cause qi deviation through tampered characters or similar tricks.
‘I’ll need to confirm it more thoroughly.’
I had only read through it once, yet the form and pattern of the Primordial Mystery Sword Manual were already beginning to take shape in my mind.
They said that the higher the martial art, the more easily it took shape in one’s mind, and the more deeply and lastingly it could be understood. That saying felt proven right before my eyes.
‘They really released the Primordial Mystery Sword Manual…’
I knew the Demonic Cult would put out treasures belonging to the Sword Sovereign and Black King, along with several of their martial legacies. Still, I hadn’t expected them to release even the Primordial Mystery Sword Manual, the essence of the Sword Sovereign’s martial legacy.
The thought that they considered it worth so little sent a chill down my spine.
“G-Great Hero Jin, who is fair and just, righteous, and devoted to chivalry…”
Do Gwangsu was dragging out his words. It seemed he had made his decision.
“Th-that is something I obtained at the risk of my life. So please… could you return it… Aaaah!”
The moment I pretended to tear the manual, Do Gwangsu shrieked.
“Getting worked up over nothing. Tsk.”
“Haaah… haaah…”
I had already committed everything in the manual to memory, from beginning to end, including every character and even the stains on the pages. I had no further use for the bundle of paper, but…
“Tell me the truth. How did you get this?”
“D-Didn’t I tell you? I explored a cave at the risk of my life and…”
A petty criminal like Do Gwangsu, wandering around and stumbling onto a fated encounter that gave him such a sword art?
Inside a cave that so many people had already entered?
It would have been more believable if he said he threw himself off a random cliff and found a fated encounter by chance.
“If you don’t confess honestly, I’ll burn it right now.”
“W-What?”
“How did you get it?”
Do Gwangsu’s eyes began to dart around.
“I’ll burn it if you lie, too.”
“W-Well… th-that…”
“One, two…”
“…I picked it up, I picked it up!!”
“What?”
“Huh?”
Not only me, but everyone listening nearby was unable to hide their confusion.
“I ran away from my group and saw dead people in a cave… I picked it up there.”
“You searched corpses?”
“…”
Do Gwangsu couldn’t lift his head in shame.
That wasn’t important right now.
“And then?”
“Pardon?”
“Why didn’t you leave?”
“I tried to leave…”
Do Gwangsu wore a hollow expression.
“I just couldn’t get out.”
“You had a map, didn’t you?”
For a moment, Do Gwangsu’s eyes flashed with the defiance of someone staring at their parents’ killer.
“What is that look for?”
“…N-Nothing. I tried to follow the map, but I still couldn’t get out. The paths changed.”
What did that mean?
“The paths changed?”
Do Gwangsu stared down at the treasure map and muttered.
“Paths that were there disappeared, and paths that weren’t there appeared… This treasure map is completely useless now.”
“Are you sure you weren’t mistaken?”
Do Gwangsu answered with conviction.
“They definitely changed. Me, Do Gwangsu! I never forget a path. Besides, there were people tracking me the entire time.”
“Tracking you?”
“No matter how deeply I hid alone in a remote cave, people kept finding me.”
“You?”
“Yes. They even knew my name.”
“…”
The martial legacies of the Sword Sovereign and the Black King had been deliberately scattered by the Demonic Cult, and just as they intended, blood was being spilled inside the Sword Tomb.
‘Those fucking bastards…’
I wanted to shove a mouthful of shit down their throats for their vile actions, but they weren’t the important thing right now.
Meeting Moyong Seol came first.
“Hey, take it.”
“W-What? Me?”
When I held out the manual, Do Gwangsu looked confused instead.
“You wanted it. Take it.”
I tossed it to him, and he flinched before catching the manual and carefully clutching it to his chest.
“I hope you make it out alive.”
“…”
Perhaps sensing something strange in my actions, Do Gwangsu desperately cried out.
“W-Wait, Great Hero Jin!”
“What?”
“P-Please take me with you.”
“We’re going farther in. We have something to do.”
“I-I’ll follow you.”
As expected.
I nodded.
“Fine, but there’s a condition.”
“J-Just say the word.”
“Burn that right now.”
“What?!”
“Excuse me?!”
“Gasp!”
Not only Do Gwangsu but Nam Hwaseong and Yayul Geuk looked at me as though I had gone insane.
…It was a little ridiculous for Yayul Geuk to look at me that way.
“Don’t you get it? Rats have been swarming around you because of that. You said they even knew your name.”
“…Even so…”
Nam Hwaseong turned pale as he spoke up.
“B-But Jin Sowoon, even if this is a trap, we have a duty to formally report it to the Martial Alliance…”
People couldn’t imagine their own death until they faced a true threat to their lives.
“G-Great Hero Jin, how about this? I’ll give you the original. Just let me keep one copy…”
Uncharacteristically, Do Gwangsu tried to bargain.
“Shut up.”
As long as we moved with the manual, it would dictate our movements.
Burning the manual would give the Demonic Cult an unexpected problem while removing the burden from our own people.
“Choose. The manual, or traveling with us.”
“…!”
Realizing that I was serious, Do Gwangsu could not close his mouth.
I had given him a reasonable enough opportunity.
“Fine. Then I hope you make it out alive.”
When I started to move, Do Gwangsu went pale and grabbed my robe.
“Th-Then you have to save me.”
This bastard was trying to be clever again.
I shook off his hand.
“You’ll be traveling with us. Whether you live or die is up to fate.”
“…”
Do Gwangsu’s expression slowly twisted.
“You… fucking… bastard.”
“Hm? What did you say?”
It sounded like he had just cursed at me.
“I understand. Then…”
Well, I could pretend not to have heard it once.
I drew upon the Sunfire Monkey’s energy.
A flame formed at my fingertip and flew toward the [Primordial Mystery Sword Manual].
Whoosh.
The dry manual caught fire in an instant and began to burn away.
When more than half of it had burned…
I stomped out the flames.
“…?”
“There has to be evidence like this. They’ll make a damn fuss over it.”
Do Gwangsu looked at me as though he were seeing a strange creature for the first time in his life.
#
Not long after Do Gwangsu joined us…
“There! The Sword Sovereign’s manual is over there!”
Just as Do Gwangsu had said, pursuers began to follow us.
‘Sons of bitches.’
That confirmed it.
The Demonic Cult was scattering manuals, then passing word of them to others to provoke chaotic fights.
“I knew it! I knew you’d come this way!”
It couldn’t possibly be a coincidence. Two groups were already pursuing us.
We hadn’t happened to run into them, nor had we shown them the manual, yet they found us as though they could smell it on us.
“Benefactor Jin!”
It was an urgent situation, but one welcome development was that Ilgak had entered a combat state.
“More people are gathering.”
Whether he knew it or not, killing intent that he normally concealed completely was faintly rising from him.
“We need to shake them off.”
“Where will we attack first?”
“No. We’ll draw in more first.”
“What do you mean…?”
“We’ll run until at least four or five groups gather.”
We couldn’t reach Moyong Seol with pursuers constantly on our trail.
We needed to shake them off properly here.
Then…
“Stop!”
A new group approached from diagonally to the right and blocked our path.
“Prepare for battle!”
Do Gwangsu’s face turned white.
“G-Great Hero Jin! Could you put me inside the sword formation?”
“Are you some honored guest?”
“What?”
The spot beside me suited you just fine.
“Stay within five feet of me. Then you won’t die.”
“W-Wait…”
[Three White Moon Heaven-Subduing Forms]
[First Form]
[Extreme Swiftness]
A beam of light split through the air, followed by the sound of the atmosphere tearing apart.
Screeeech!
The people who had confidently blocked our path were cut across the chest along with the weapons in their hands, and blood poured from their long wounds.
“Aaaah!”
“Urgh!”
“Ghk!”
I accelerated and threw myself into their midst.
Shrrrkkk.
The sword forms of the Scarlet Radiance Sword fanned out through the air, and several sharp forms carved up five people from head to toe in an instant.
“M-My hand!”
“S-Save me!”
Those behind them surged forward, shoving aside their fallen companions.
Some even stepped on the people obstructing them as they pressed onward.
They treated everything around them as objects for the sake of their own goal.
They were no different from demonic beings.
“Eek!”
Do Gwangsu’s horrified reaction was no different from that of the martial artists who had faced demonic beings in my previous life.
Sometimes, unimaginable cruelty frightened people more than the level of martial arts involved.
The best way to handle them at times like this was…
To stop seeing them as human, too.
Slash, slash, slash!
The Drifting Current Formless Sword moved along the most optimal paths, cutting down the enemies.
The White Tiger Sword Formation followed behind me and completely shattered the formation I had crushed.
In an instant, we crippled a group of nearly twenty people.
“Ignore the rest! Run!”
We had destroyed one group, but two more were quickly closing in on us.
After passing through several small caves, we entered a fairly large Dynamic Practice.
Five groups, exactly as I wanted, were chasing close behind us.
“We’ll stop here for a moment.”
At my command, the Yuseong Hall members swiftly formed the sword formation and waited.
I pushed the Taeul True Scripture to its limit and filled the Scarlet Radiance Sword with energy.
A red glow flashed from the center of the blade, followed by a scream from nowhere.
Grrrrrrr.
Soon, sword qi began to form above the Scarlet Radiance Sword.
It grew from one foot to three, and I continued pouring energy into it.
An ordinary sword would have shattered into small fragments long ago under such internal energy, but the Scarlet Radiance Sword calmly accepted more and more.
Once every group pursuing us had filled the Dynamic Practice…
I swung the sword qi, now nearly twenty feet long.
Kraaaaaang!
The enormous sword qi sliced through the center of the Dynamic Practice, carving a deep trench at the pursuers’ feet.
At the same time, the pursuers flinched and stopped.
“Why are you following us?”
The figure standing at the center answered.
“I heard you possess the Sword Sovereign’s martial legacy.”
“Then why is Black Path trash coveting it?”
“The way this arrogant brat speaks is beyond disrespectful.”
“Anyway, and?”
The figure raised a sword and solemnly declared, “Hand over the martial legacy. Then I’ll spare your life.”
“Fine. I’ll give it to you.”
“You dare enter this Poison Scorpion’s grasp… Huh?”
“I said I’ll give it to you.”
The sword of the person who had introduced themself as Poison Scorpion trembled stupidly.
“Y-You mean it?”
“Yeah. But who told you I had this manual?”
I carefully watched where Poison Scorpion’s gaze shifted.
“What does that matter? Hand over the manual!”
“Ah, fine.”
I held up the wooden box that Do Gwangsu had treasured so dearly.
The people filling the Dynamic Practice seemed to recognize what it was immediately.
“Catch.”
I threw the wooden box with all my strength.
Yet just as the lid opened, instead of flying toward Poison Scorpion…
Thud.
The half-burned [Primordial Mystery Sword Manual] fell in an entirely different direction.
“Whoops. My mistake.”
“You damned brat!”
None of them rushed at me.
Securing what had been a bundle of papers that looked like a manual came first.
Before even confirming whether it was real, countless hands reached out to claim it.
“W-Wait! Don’t pull it!”
“It’s mine!”
“Move, you bastards!”
The Dynamic Practice turned into complete chaos in an instant, and the manual crumbled without a trace amid the crowd.
Horrible screams erupted from the tangled mass. Weapons began moving, and then blood began to flow.
I used the Ghost Breath Movement Art and slipped into the crowd.
Then…
‘Found you.’
One person was pretending to fight, throwing stones and shouting curses, yet subtly staying out of the battle.
They had kept their senses clear, as though they had taken an antidote to Mushim Illusion Powder…
The moment I approached from behind and struck their paralysis acupoint…
“Gasp! Damn it!”
They twisted their body, but…
“Got you, you little rat.”
I was one step faster.
“W-Why are you doing this? I haven’t done anything to you…”
“Mm-hm, you haven’t done anything wrong. You just…”
I tapped the cheek of the bastard, who looked more irritating the longer I stared at them.
“You were born wrong.”
The eyes of the person disguised as a White Path sect disciple shook violently.
“You fucking demonic being.”
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