The Genius Warrior Who Remembers Everything Chapter 38

Chapter 38. A Second-Rate Warrior Facing a Legend (3)

-At fifteen, I first took up the sword, and at thirty, I awakened to the Dao.

-I established the Dao upon the root of all phenomena, and named that study the Taeul True Scripture.

-I stepped into the murim to have my learning confirmed, and received nine confirmations.

-By the time the nine Martial Duels ended, those who wished to learn the Dao stood in an endless line, but there was no one to whom I could pass on the Dao.

-In a mountain of Anhui, I met a child who had lost his parents, and I was able to pass on what I had learned.

-Eminent masters of the murim came to me and asked me to step forward for the sake of the chaotic world.

-I heard that the one from whom I had originally wanted to receive my tenth confirmation was forcing his will upon the murim.

-Learning is something one trains in by oneself and achieves by oneself, so I could not agree with his will and stepped forward with them.

-The depth of learning possessed by the tenth person I faced was also formidable. However, the moment I finally broke his learning and blocked his advance, I was trapped in a boundless maze along with the sound of the heavens collapsing.

-The tenth person I faced said that the eminent masters of the murim had betrayed us.

-I had never intended to harm others with my teachings, so I wondered whether my training had seemed far too threatening to them.

-The boundless maze was a mystery that could not be broken even with my strength and that of the tenth person I faced combined. We were left waiting for death here.

-After spending infinite time with him in the boundless maze, there were parts of our wills that came to align. I realized that this was precisely Ten Thousand Streams Return to One.

-Where my intent and his found common ground, we created one martial art.

-Last night, in a dream, I thought of the disciple who was left alone. The fact that I had not left teachings for that child remained painful in my heart.

-If someone sees these words, I will consider that person my fated inheritor. Learn my teachings and accomplish what you intend. However, if Taeul Sect remains in your world, then pass mine on to it. That is my final wish.

As I read through the notes the Taeul Sword Emperor had written across half of the cavern floor, I could not stop my tears from flowing.

Another person might have resented someone or burned with thoughts of revenge, yet his writing was nothing if not calm, and that made my heart ache even more.

Again and again, he spoke of his disciple. The parts that took up the most space were his anguish and worry that the child might perhaps be suffering because he had not given him his teachings.

When I looked at the principles the Grand Patriarch had written down, it was as I had expected. Aside from the Taeul Heart Method and Minor Heaven Sword Art, they were not martial arts of Taeul Sect.

The disciple who had been left alone had carried on the sect through every kind of humiliation and oppression for five hundred years in order to wait for his vanished master.

I felt ashamed of myself for having so bitterly resented Taeul Sect in my previous life.

Why were they stubbornly dragging along a sect with no power like this? If we were going to live this pathetically, would it not be better just to die?

It had been something I thought in my immature years, but there had never been a moment when I hated myself as much as I did then.

“It was five hundred years. No less than five hundred years.”

Until the moment just before his death, the Grand Patriarch had worried and agonized over a disciple he could not meet within his lifetime, and that disciple had waited five hundred years for his master.

“I will bring you home.”

The floor was filled with notes written in the form of a diary, and the walls recorded his martial arts in detail.

They were martial arts that had waited five hundred years to be passed on.

[Taeul Heart Method]

[Minor Heaven Sword Art]

[Great Heaven Sword Art]

[Twin Heaven Sword Formula]

[Taeul True Scripture]

[Ten Thousand Seas Heaven-Earth Sword Formula]

[Ten Thousand Transformations Invincible Fist]

[Taeul Eighty-Thousand Divine Steps]

The Taeul Heart Method and Minor Heaven Sword Art were teachings for beginners.

Here, the Great Heaven Sword Art contained the martial scripture Taeul Sect had never originally possessed, and once one completed the introductory stage, from that point one entered the path of a wayfarer seeking to realize the root of the Dao.

The beginning of that was [Taeul True Scripture].

The martial scripture, which pursued deeper enlightenment than a heart method, sought a realm more profound than any martial principle I had ever seen.

-If you understand the Taeul True Scripture, you will be able to understand the harmony of heaven and earth.

The words the Taeul Sword Emperor had written with such confidence held teachings of such height that they did not seem false.

The other martial arts were not lacking in any way either.

[Ten Thousand Seas Heaven-Earth Sword Formula] was the sword manual that had created the legend of Ten Thousand Swords, and [Ten Thousand Transformations Invincible Fist] was no less remarkable.

In particular, having sampled the martial arts of the Nine Sects and One Gang and the Five Great Clans, I could be certain that [Taeul Eighty-Thousand Divine Steps] was absolutely no inferior to the footwork of the Nine Sects and One Gang.

“It is a shame there is no movement art.”

That regret lasted only a moment. I then thought about what I, who had inherited the true teachings of the Taeul Sword Emperor, could do.

I did not dare imagine it.

Considering that the Taecheong Divine Sword ruled the murim with a single sword, and Black Lion Gwak Gung shattered that murim again with his two fists, I could not even imagine how the future would change from now on.

After examining them for a long while, my eyes finally fell on the black-haired middle-aged man on the other side.

Unlike the Taeul Sword Emperor, he had instead maintained black hair and dark skin.

That strange sight was so fascinating that I approached him.

Like the Taeul Sword Emperor, he introduced himself with eight characters.

Dark Heaven and Earth.

Hell Demon Emperor.

The person who had been referred to as Dark Heaven was the Third Heavenly Demon of the Demonic Cult, who had disappeared five hundred years ago.

***

“Are these the ones?”

Azure Emperor Divine Sword Namgung Tae-ha.

He was the current head of Namgung Clan and a master whose name ranked among the Ten Greatest Swordsmen under Heaven.

Though his voice carried no internal qi, Yang Gun-baek and the beggar kneeling before him trembled all over as if thunder and lightning had struck them.

“I am Yang Gun-baek of Hao Gate’s Yueyang Branch.”

“I am the Yueyang Branch Chief of the Beggars’ Sect.”

The beggar who introduced himself as the Yueyang Branch Chief of the Beggars’ Sect was afraid, yet he struggled as hard as he could not to lose his dignity.

Azure Emperor Divine Sword paid no attention to that and continued speaking.

“They say you sold treasure maps.”

Hao Gate and the Beggars’ Sect.

Both were strongly characterized as intelligence organizations, so they were supposed to avoid revealing themselves. But in the face of what had happened now, they could not insist on that.

Five thousand.

No less than five thousand people had entered to search for Mita Sacred Water and had not come out.

Below the valley of Demon Spirit Plateau, dozens of factions had pitched tents and gathered in groups.

Though countless people were coming and going, there was no lively noise among them. Instead, a heavy tension pressed down on them, one that could explode at any moment without it seeming strange.

Their families and friends were inside.

And because no one knew whether they were alive or dead, everyone was holding back their anger.

“From the beginning, we merely sold a map to guide the way. Entering was their choice.”

The Yueyang Branch Chief of the Beggars’ Sect spoke as if pretending to be bold.

Looking at his trembling hand, Yang Gun-baek could not help feeling pity.

“So you are saying you did nothing wrong?”

“No matter how great Namgung Clan may be, you cannot treat a disciple of the Beggars’ Sect this way.”

“What was that?”

“We merely did our work as an intelligence organization.”

“Yet you did not properly inform them what danger lay inside.”

“That was something no one…….”

“Then you failed to perform your work properly.”

“What do you…… Urgh.”

In that instant, the Beggars’ Sect disciple seemed to suck in a breath, then vomited a basinful of blood.

“Hrk, hrk.”

At some point, a clear fist mark had been left on the area of the Beggars’ Sect disciple’s qi center.

In an instant too swift for anyone to tell, his qi center had been shattered in one move.

Gulp.

Yang Gun-baek swallowed dryly. If he was the Yueyang Branch Chief of the Beggars’ Sect, he had to be a first-rate warrior at least. If such a person’s qi center had been destroyed without even a chance to act, it meant the people of the murim had underestimated Azure Emperor Divine Sword’s skill.

“Go and bring the Deputy Yueyang Branch Chief of the Beggars’ Sect.”

“Yes.”

Once one Namgung Clan warrior dragged the Beggars’ Sect disciple away, only Yang Gun-baek remained in the area.

“I ask you. Did you sell the map?”

“P-please, spare my life.”

“Did you mark that a formation was deployed there?”

“Yes. I clearly marked it.”

“And the identity of that formation?”

“That…… We could not learn that even through our investigation.”

“So you irresponsibly sold the map.”

Yang Gun-baek felt so wronged that he could have gone mad and leaped in place. Who in the world would think of entering a formation when selling a map? From the start, if someone could enter the formation, they would not make and sell a treasure map. They would take the Spiritual Medicine or treasure for themselves.

“I-I am sorry. Our sect has neither the funds nor the personnel to study formations…….”

“Are you certain there is Mita Sacred Water inside?”

“…….”

In truth, that part was not certain either. If it was there, good. If it was not, nothing could be done.

They had no choice but to believe the person who had testified in order for them to make the treasure map.

“H-he clearly said there was Mita Sacred Water inside.”

“The youngest daughter of Namgung Clan’s direct line went in there.”

“…….”

“And it has already been over a month since we lost contact. Yet you are saying you do not even know whether the thing called Mita Sacred Water is inside or not. Is there any reason I should let you live?”

Gulp.

Yang Gun-baek thought the “you” Azure Emperor Divine Sword spoke of was probably not referring only to the Yueyang Branch.

If he could appease his anger, was he not a person who might erase all of Hao Gate?

Yang Gun-baek desperately racked his brain. Then, with a desperate heart, he spoke.

“T-there is someone who saw Yong So-ah!!”

“……What does that have to do with this?”

“Yong So-ah definitely entered that place to secure Mita Sacred Water. But three weeks later, one of our gate members witnessed him eating at an inn in Yueyang.”

He said a gate member, but it had been a waiter.

A man who looked like a beggar had come in, devoured dumplings, vegetable dishes, and bamboo-leaf clear wine as if starving, then left behind a single gold coin and disappeared. Finding it strange, the waiter had reported it to Hao Gate.

“Are you certain it was Yong So-ah?”

A Taiji pattern, the symbol of Wudang, was said to have been engraved on his sword case as well, so he was guessing that it was Yong So-ah.

Whirlwind Sword, a Precious Treasure of Wudang, could only be used by Yong So-ah.

It was not certain, but he could not dare say that it was merely a guess. Yang Gun-baek had no confidence in withstanding Namgung Tae-ha’s wrath. In that case, he was in a situation where, as an information merchant, he had to gamble with something that was not quite a gamble.

“Yes. Perhaps he came out of that formation as a representative and went to ask the Murim Alliance for help.”

After thinking briefly, Azure Emperor Divine Sword issued a threat.

“From today on, you will stay here and bring me every piece of information related to that place.”

“U-understood.”

Once Azure Emperor Divine Sword dismissed him, Yang Gun-baek stepped aside, his mind in turmoil over how he should ask the main gate for help.

Namgung Jin-myeong approached with a dark expression.

“It was all my fault, Father.”

“You fool. Just how unreliable did you seem for that little child to think of entering that deathtrap?”

“I am sorry.”

Namgung Tae-ha’s face, which had been shouting, soon calmed.

How could his sorrow at losing a granddaughter compare to the sorrow of a father who had lost a child?

“If Yong So-ah went to the Murim Alliance, then the Murim Alliance should know about this matter as well. Visit the Yueyang Branch and learn what happened.”

“Yes. I will guard this place. So how about you return to the clan, Father?”

At the sudden words, Namgung Tae-ha frowned.

“What are you suddenly talking about?”

“The Azure Sky Merchant Guild’s movements are suspicious. It seems they intend to move the Elder Council.”

“Those damned bastards!”

When Azure Emperor Divine Sword drew up his energy, the warriors and servants working in the area all collapsed one after another, as if the strength had left the backs of their knees.

“That bastard Sang-won can no longer tell shit from piss.”

Why had Namgung Seon-hwa gone out to find Mita Sacred Water in the first place?

As pressure from the collateral line weakened the strength of the direct line and it seemed she would have difficulty receiving the family’s help in the Murim Academy Exam, she had stepped forward to solve it on her own, and this disaster had occurred.

He, too, had been preparing the Shattering Form for the collateral line’s main sword art, the Firmament Great Swallow Sword Art, as a method to suppress the collateral line, but he was still sorely lacking time.

Moreover, if done poorly, it could be interpreted as denying the clan’s legitimacy, so he had not been able to receive even another person’s help.

Azure Emperor Divine Sword looked at his grandson, Namgung San.

“What happened to the child you mentioned?”

One day, Namgung San had gone out, saying he would retrieve the Entry Token Jegal So-myeong had given to another child. Though he had returned empty-handed, he had looked quite pleased.

Since a child with such tremendous pride had come back with a happy face despite failing to achieve what he wanted, Namgung Tae-ha could not hold back his curiosity and asked. He then heard that the child had used a sword art similar to the sword art he himself was researching.

“I sent people to investigate, but they said he went out because he had something to do and still has not returned.”

“Why did you send people for such a matter? You should have gone yourself.”

“I am sorry. Because of Seon-hwa, I could not bring myself to go.”

“Ahem…….”

Amid the urgent situation, with Seon-hwa’s disappearance added to everything else, none of the direct family members had been able to remain fully sane.

As if mocking such a situation, the collateral line was moving at the most critical moment for the direct line family.

Azure Emperor Divine Sword looked at Namgung Jin-myeong and spoke.

“I will go alone. You remain here with them.”

“Father, you must not go alone.”

“Do you not trust this father of yours?”

Far from it.

Rather, he was worried that because Namgung Tae-ha was not going with warriors, if the collateral line made one final provocation, Azure Emperor Divine Sword would draw his sword.

“You will stay here, watch the situation, and if Seon-hwa ultimately does not come out, …do not leave any of those responsible alive in this world.”

“……Father.”

“If those whom we considered one family use a family member’s misfortune as leverage to make their move, then they are no longer family. I will clean up those who are not family.”

At Namgung Tae-ha’s words, Namgung Jin-myeong thought a bloody wind might blow through Namgung Clan.

***

-This sovereign is the Third Heavenly Demon of the Great Heavenly Demon Divine Cult. There is no other way to express who I am.

-From the beginning of my memories, I was a follower of the Divine Cult, and in the end, I rose to the seat of Heavenly Demon.

And under the teachings of the Demon God, I stepped into the murim to unify all under heaven.

-I was trapped in a strange formation together with a damned suffocating bastard. At first, I laughed at the bastard who had been betrayed after standing in front of hypocrites, but when I realized that this sovereign was trapped too, I despaired.

As I read the diary, I briefly rubbed my eyes. I had not seen it wrong. It definitely said “damned.”

They said he had climbed all the way to the seat of Heavenly Demon in the Demonic Cult, yet even in the diary he left at the end of his life, he had not stopped cursing. At the same time, unlike the Taeul Sword Emperor, there were many places that broke off halfway, as if he had repeatedly stopped writing.

-The damned formation was something I had never seen before in my life, and even this sovereign, blessed by the Demon God, could not break through it.

-I tried copying the mind-image training or whatever that bastard was doing, and gained one realization. Thinking about it, I had the feeling that I, too, had been betrayed by the traitors of the Divine Cult.

Thanks to that damned Daoist bastard, I learned something I did not need to know.

-When I saw that bastard longing for his disciple, I thought it served him right. That is what he gets for crawling all the way here instead of raising the disciple he should have raised.

This sovereign raised no fewer than nine disciples. But all nine of them betrayed me. Thinking about it again still pisses me off.

-Since I had nothing to do and the only person I could meet was that Daoist bastard, we talked about this and that.

That bastard knew about the laws of the world made by the Demon God as well. I tried converting him. It did not go well.

-After I created a martial art together with that bastard, I also came to think that I wanted to leave something of my own.

The Heavenly Demon Scripture ultimately began from the roots of the Divine Cult, so it was not mine.

-I created a martial art to punish the disciples who betrayed me. Even in my eyes, having already reached the realm of the Heavenly Demon, it is an extremely pleasing thing.

I named this thing the Reverse Demon Scripture. Whoever discovers it, I hope that person will block my disciples’ path.

-Whoever you are, if you see these words, consider yourself blessed by the Demon God and devote yourself to the Heavenly Demon Divine Cult.

[Reverse Demon Scripture]

[Unrivaled under Heaven Movement Art]

The Reverse Demon Scripture was a study that suppressed Demonic Arts.

It was a martial art that attacked the parts of Demonic Arts, rooted in the Heavenly Demon Scripture, that could become reverse scales and suppressed those Demonic Arts.

It was a study one could hardly believe had been created by the Third Heavenly Demon of the Heavenly Demon Divine Cult.

What drew my eye even more than that was Unrivaled under Heaven Movement Art, which seemed to have been created by the Taeul Sword Emperor and the Hell Demon Emperor joining hands.

A movement art with an arrogant name meaning that once one ran, none under heaven could follow.

The principles hidden within it made the movement art itself a martial art with a tyrannical destructive force.

When one advanced, there was nothing that could stand in one’s way, and when one withdrew, there was nothing that could catch one.

After placing all those martial arts into my mind, I approached the Hell Demon Emperor.

I found it fascinating that his form remained even though no less than five hundred years had passed.

TAP.

The moment I touched him.

His body slowly turned to powder and disappeared, and a red bracelet remained in its place.

The raised characters on the inside of the red bracelet engraved with a phoenix told me what this bracelet was.

[Heavenly Demon Supreme Bracelet]

As I wondered whether this bracelet had once had a shape similar to the Azure Dragon Bracelet on my left arm, there came a soft crumbling sound behind me.

CRUMBLE.

The Taeul Sword Emperor’s form vanished.

I offered the Taeul Sword Emperor a ninefold bow, gave the Hell Demon Emperor a respectful nod, then drew the Black Dragon Sword and stood in the center of the cavern.

“Great Heaven Sword Art.”

The Great Heaven Sword Art was a sword art of variation and illusion.

Only now could I understand why the Minor Heaven Sword Art had the trajectory of a swift sword, yet was not particularly fast.

From the beginning, the Minor Heaven Sword Art and the Great Heaven Sword Art were nothing more than stepping stones to learn the Ten Thousand Seas Heaven-Earth Sword Formula.

WHOOSH.

WHOOSH.

Illusion swords and changing swords scattered in every direction.

When the Minor Heaven Sword Art joined in between them, it became impossible to know which was the true sword and which was the illusion sword.

At first, I had thought I should learn only the Great Heaven Sword Art and leave, but I poured several days into the Taeul True Scripture and the Ten Thousand Seas Heaven-Earth Sword Formula.

I had completely forgotten the very thought that I should go outside.

And when I had just taken the first step into the Taeul True Scripture and the Ten Thousand Seas Heaven-Earth Sword Formula.

SHING-SHING-SHING—!

CLANG-CLANG-CLANG-CLANG—!

Three swords occupied every direction and ground a formless opponent into powder.

When I expanded the swords’ influence further, the swords that spread in every direction erased the martial scriptures on the floor and walls one by one.

Among the three swords, there was no illusion sword.

Every sword was real, and each moved separately.

I added illusion swords to them.

The three swords increased to six.

The swords moving dizzily swept over the walls and floor once more, erasing the Hell Demon Emperor’s diary and martial scriptures.

Since the real sword had increased threefold, it was no real sword.

The Taeul Sword Emperor had given the name “Ten Thousand Swords” to this peculiar sword art.

A sword that was an illusion yet not an illusion, real yet not real.

I looked over the scene I had created.

Not a single one of the densely written characters on the walls and floor remained. They had all vanished beneath the tips of my sword.

Merely understanding the entrance to the Taeul True Scripture and the Ten Thousand Seas Heaven-Earth Sword Formula gave me this level of ability.

If an opponent tried to face this sword, they would not be able to distinguish which was real and which was an illusion.

“It is truly a martial art worthy of being called Ten Thousand Swords under Heaven.”

***

“…….”

Namgung Seon-hwa turned her head and looked at Seong Mo-ran.

Her cheeks were gaunt, her eye sockets hollow, and her eyelids blinked weakly.

Squeezing out the last of her strength, she spoke.

“I’m sorry…… Older Sister…….”

Seong Mo-ran’s eyes moved slowly, and her dry lips, which had parted several times, formed words.

“No……. It’s all right…….”

They were now using the last of their strength to speak while they were dying.

Around the time a month had passed since they were trapped inside the cavern, no more people entered.

And once no more people came in, all the food ran out.

They secured drinking water from the water flowing out through cracks in the cavern, but the moss growing inside the cavern was far from enough to serve as meals for four thousand people.

Fights broke out over food, and once even that food ran out, people began to stop fighting one by one.

Those weak in inner arts were dying one after another, and even those who remained could predict that not much of their lives remained.

“I’m truly…… sorry…….”

More than her own death, Namgung Seon-hwa felt far sorrier toward Seong Mo-ran, who had been trapped in this place because of her.

She was someone who had approached Namgung Seon-hwa first when she had no sisters, and who had readily stepped forward for her difficulties.

Namgung Seon-hwa had dragged someone like that into this place of death.

“Let’s…… not give up…….”

Seong Mo-ran had not lost hope to the end.

Did she truly believe in Yong So-ah and the Murim Alliance, who had gone out first?

Or did she think someone else would break through that formation and come in?

But strangely, Seong Mo-ran’s gaze was directed toward the opposite side from the exit.

She did not say it aloud, but she was waiting for the man who had been dragged into the Soul-Destroying Formation during the clash with Yong So-ah.

The person Seong Mo-ran longed for.

What did she expect from him, when he had not seemed special aside from having an extraordinary mind?

Suddenly, Namgung Seon-hwa also thought of him and looked toward the Soul-Destroying Formation into which he had been sucked.

WRIGGLE, WRIGGLE.

‘Is it because I have starved for too long?’

For some time now, she had begun seeing hallucinations.

At times, they appeared as meat, and at times, they appeared as the entrance to Namgung Clan.

Now, the hallucination appeared in the form of the Soul-Destroying Formation splitting apart.

‘How cruel.’

She even thought that perhaps hallucinations drove people into despair with the very thing they desired most.

Within that hallucination, a man appeared.

He looked worn down like them, but clear light flashed in his eyes, and though his steps were slow, he walked with dignity.

It was the man Seong Mo-ran had longed for most.

Namgung Seon-hwa turned her head with the thought that she should tease Seong Mo-ran.

But Seong Mo-ran’s eyes had gone round.

‘Is Older Sister seeing it too?’

When Namgung Seon-hwa turned her head back toward the hallucination, the hallucination came toward them.

Then it spoke.

“Are you all right?”

Jin So-un had returned.