The Martial Genius Who Remembers Everything Chapter 83

[ … words ]

***

I breathed in deeply and then let out a battle cry.

“Ha-at!”

With a sound of air bursting like a pop, the killing intent that had been constricting our group receded in an instant.

The brow of Jong Seo-gang, who had been pressing us with a triumphant expression, furrowed deeply.

“Give you everything? I refuse. How dare a thief act so unreasonably, as if demanding I hand over my own property. Do you want to die?”

Jong Seo-gang, who had been furrowing his brow, suddenly burst into laughter.

“Ha!”

Then, he covered his mouth as if he hadn’t realized it himself.

“My apologies. I heard something so absurd.”

Jong Seo-gang smiled cunningly.

“It does not matter if you act tough, but what do you intend to do if your junior disciples are put in danger because of it?”

“They are not so weak that you need to worry about them.”

Jong Seo-gang tilted his head.

“People said a dragon was born in a small stream in Anhui Province, but it seems it was just a fearless imugi (lesser dragon).”

“The reason people call it a dragon is because it sees what ordinary people cannot.”

“…….”

Jong Seo-gang’s face, which had been wearing a triumphant smile, hardened stiffly for the first time. The men surrounding him as if to guard him were the same.

“Hoo……. It seems there is no easy path.”

Jong Seo-gang shook his head and then looked at me with wild eyes.

“I will warn you for the last time. Hand over the gate tokens, or choose death. Choose one of the two.”

“…….”

While listening to Jong Seo-gang’s bullshit, my internal energy (Gi-gam) was moving busily, grasping the surroundings.

‘One hundred fifty? Two hundred?’

The personnel surrounding the area as if encircling a certain distance centered on the forest were, as far as I could currently grasp, between one hundred fifty and two hundred.

Thinking about data from the past, there were likely five hundred personnel surrounding the area.

‘And the Sub-master of the Cheong-do-bang has not even revealed his face yet.’

Moreover, throughout the entire conversation, I could not take my eyes off the scar crossing the eyes of the man standing to the right of Jong Seo-gang.

‘The Emotionless Yellow Sword (Mu-jeong-hwang-geom), Gam Cheol-jin.’

The expert who would later become famous as a lone freelance fixer after the Hwang-geom-mun was destroyed.

‘Did they even mobilize secret martial artists?’

Those who knew well that they should hide thirty percent of their skills, as per the adage of the Jianghu, cultivated secret forces unknown to the Moorim Alliance.

The Am-gung-dae (Dark Palace Unit) of the Namgung Family was like that, and the Heuk-geom-dae (Black Sword Unit) of the Cheol-geom-mun had such aspects.

And secret martial artists like that, who were raised in secret and did not engage in Jianghu activities, were……. used like a trump card in events like the damn Hell Regular Admission.

In some ways, it was understandable. If one failed to enter the Moorim Academy, one could not occupy a position higher than a Vice-master within the Moorim Alliance.

A martial artist’s life was divided at the Moorim Academy.

‘Even I would want to use them if I had secret martial artists.’

Anyway, if I couldn’t use them but the opponent was using them, there was nothing more shitty than this.

“What will you do?”

Of course, that didn’t mean I would give up.

“I do not have the hobby of saying things twice. I refuse.”

Jong Seo-gang burst into a snicker as if he did not doubt his own victory.

“The punishment is what you have chosen.”

Shing.

Simultaneously with Jong Seo-gang’s words, the guards, including Gam Cheol-jin, drew their swords.

I also unfolded my starting posture, showing my intention to aim for Jong Seo-gang’s neck in a single stroke.

Then, didn’t Gam Cheol-jin show his intention to aim for Dong-ryong?

‘Is he confident in Jong Seo-gang’s martial arts? Or is there another secret martial artist mixed in among the guards?’

If we clashed right now, both sides would suffer damage, but it was certain that our side’s damage would be even more painful.

The Geum, Eun, and Dong brothers were prepared for battle by preparing their sword formation, but they were insufficient to handle an expert of Gam Cheol-jin’s level.

At that moment, Jong Seo-gang restrained the scene.

“Whoa, whoa. Do not get excited. Didn’t I say I wanted to have a conversation?”

Perhaps knowing that I would definitely attack him, Jong Seo-gang did not show any intention to fight immediately.

“Sheathe your swords.”

Simultaneously with Jong Seo-gang’s words, the guards, including Gam Cheol-jin, all put their swords into their scabbards.

“As a rule, a wounded beast is more ferocious.”

Jong Seo-gang turned around with words that seemed to be full of conviction about something.

“Haa.”

Geum-pyo exhaled as he released his tension. Eun-ho asked with concern.

“Sahyeong, will they back off with this?”

“No. Those who hid their bodies in the forest have not left their seats yet.”

“Don’t worry. We’ve fought against people close to a thousand before.”

In Geum-pyo’s words, Eun-ho did not hide his pathetic expression.

“…….”

“Why?”

Although the Ssang-mak-chae had a more overwhelming force in terms of numbers, it was difficult to compare bandits who hadn’t even learned a single unified martial art to a prestigious sect that proudly listed its name on the 108 Peaks.

Moreover, if we fought them in a situation where we didn’t know where the secret martial artists were mixed in, there was a high possibility of putting the junior disciples in danger.

“For now, let’s mov…….”

The moment I was about to leave the spot, I made eye contact with Dong-ryong and stopped.

“Are you having a hard time?”

“……Yes?”

Dong-ryong’s eyes were burning red. Perhaps because Dong-ryong himself hadn’t noticed it, he looked at his brothers with a surprised expression.

After being hit directly by Gam Cheol-jin’s killing intent, his Killing Star (Sal-seong) had instinctively boiled up again.

“Of all times, at a time like this…….”

“N, no! I’m okay!”

I took the Tang-ma-ryeong-ju out of my bundle and hung it on him.

“Sahyeong…… I’m oka…… Huh?”

Then, strangely, the pupils that had been burning red found their original color.

“Sahyeong, this is…….”

“Do not neglect your study of the Tae-eul-jin-gyeong. Relying on divine objects is the same as always carrying a risk.”

“Yes.”

“Let’s move.”

As soon as we left the spot, the forest began to shake violently.

Even though the wind was not blowing, the tree branches violently collided with each other.

“……Sahyeong, how many people are there?”

“Wouldn’t it be better not to know?”

“……Ugh. That’s true too. But why didn’t they attack right away?”

“Either they wanted to minimize damage, or they were watching to see who would move first; it’s one of the two.”

“Yes?”

“They are a group gathered from a total of seven sects.”

“……Sahyeong.”

Suddenly, Eun-ho called me in a serious voice.

“Why?”

“If there comes a moment when we can survive only by abandoning me, please abandon me at any time.”

“…….”

While I was unable to answer the story that I couldn’t understand at all, Eun-ho continued speaking.

“Please promise me. That you will not give up your Moorim Academy admission for my sake.”

He must have been stimulated by the bullshit Jong Seo-gang said a while ago.

Just as I was about to tell him not to worry about it, Geum-pyo said.

“Sahyeong, it is the same for me. If there comes a moment when you have to abandon me, please abandon me without hesitation.”

Following that, Dong-ryong, who had regained his gaze, also added.

“Sahyeong, me too!”

“What are you talking about, Yi Dong-ryong! You are the youngest, so you have to survive and go back!”

“Brother is the eldest son of our family! You have to survive and go back to inherit the mill!”

The three brothers were not backing down from their assertions, each claiming they would die.

“What are you guys doing?”

“……That is.”

“Where did you guys get the idea to throw away your lives first? Even if I enter the Moorim Academy by sacrificing you, would I be able to attend with a comfortable heart?”

What I regretted to death in my past life was surviving alone, leaving behind my senior brothers and juniors.

And now, I was running with the determination to die to avoid repeating that mistake.

“Haaa…… But, risking one’s life for one’s senior brothers is natural……. Dae-sahyeong…….”

Why on earth do I keep saying things that aren’t even in my memory?

“I will give you one warning. Do not die, ever. Do not even think about dying. If there is anyone who thinks they will sacrifice themselves for me or give their lives, I will send them to the sect immediately and tell the Sect Master to expel them!”

“……!”

“Why is there no answer!”

“Yo, yes sir!”

“Yes sir!”

“Yes sir!”

“…….”

Suddenly, what is ‘Yes sir’ (Jon-myeong) again? I was left speechless by the appearance of the children, who were becoming stranger as the days went by.

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Since we were being chased by pursuers anyway, it was meaningless to ride the mountain paths.

We immediately turned our feet, came down from the main road, and started running.

“Sahyeong, shouldn’t we run faster?”

If one unfolds internal energy circulation (Haeng-gong), the speed of the movement technique naturally decreases.

Perhaps because the pressure from the invisible opponent was great, Geum-pyo and Eun-ho had expressions that wanted to shake them off right away.

“No matter how fast you run, you won’t be able to shake them off.”

Once we had been surrounded, the moment we clashed to break through the encirclement, the colleagues who had been spread around would swarm at us.

Considering the method mainly used for humans to hunt tigers, it was certain that the method the Hwang-geom-mun and the Cheong-do-bang were using to hunt us was a method that could produce the maximum effect with minimum damage.

“Then what do we do?”

“If you can’t shake them off, you just have to use them.”

“Yes?”

Having passed Deok-cheong, we were facing the fork in the road between Makgan-san and Hoju.

“Sahyeong.”

Eun-ho’s head was looking behind.

At the end of the main road, Jong Seo-gang and his guards, whom we had seen earlier, were following us with their figures revealed, and next to them, martial artists wearing the same yellow martial uniforms were showing an encirclement while keeping a constant distance.

“Sahyeong! In the forest!”

In the mountain foothills we had just come out of, people wearing dark blue martial uniforms were also slowly starting to narrow the distance. It was the Nam-hyang-mun based in Zhejiang Province.

The strange thing was that the Cheong-do-bang members were still not visible.

“In front of Sahyeong.”

I could know the reason the moment we entered the fork between Makgan-san and Hoju.

Jang Sun-won, the Sub-master of the Cheong-do-bang, was blocking the way to Hoju with those who appeared to be his guards.

“It seems like they are leading us to the mountain?”

“Because a mountain would be easier to hunt in than a city.”

“Your hands and feet match well.”

“……Let’s go to the mountain.”

“Yes? Are you serious? When being chased, do not run away to the mountain. That is a fact even a seven-year-old child knows.”

“I know that too.”

I immediately turned my direction to the opposite side of the road that Jang Sun-won was blocking.

Makgan-san was a mountain not yet famous in Zhejiang Province.

Since medicinal herbs or wild vegetables did not grow well, and good quality timber did not grow either, it was a place where people around were not very interested.

‘That is why they chose this place as a hunting ground.’

However, this Makgan-san becomes a place where people’s attention is focused due to an incident only after a few years pass.

I intended to advance that incident a little bit and use it from the beginning.

Looking behind, the Hwang-geom-mun martial artists began to encircle Makgan-san little by little, drawing a large semicircle.

“Move faster.”

As we climbed halfway up the mountain, a path appeared that could cross the mountain and go in the opposite direction.

“Sahyeong, on the other side, there are people who look like Cheong-do-bang martial artists.”

The opposite side of Makgan-san was already being blocked by the Cheong-do-bang.

“There is no way out.”

Geum-pyo’s helpless voice.

At that moment, Eun-ho spat out nervously as if he were annoyed.

“Shut up! Dae-sahyeong has thought about it enough to come here!”

“……Shut up? You bastard! To your brother!”

“Fuck! What do you want me to do!!”

As curses burst out of Eun-ho’s mouth, Geum-pyo gripped his sword hilt as if he were about to kill Eun-ho at any moment.

Only Dong-ryong had an expression of not knowing what had suddenly happened.

“Brothers, why are you like this?”

“You shut up too! It’s all because of you!”

At Geum-pyo’s harsh shouting, moisture welled up in Dong-ryong’s eyes.

The three brothers, who had been close until just a moment ago and told each other to live, were growling as if they were about to kill each other.

I quickly released my internal energy circulation and felt the internal energy (Gi-gam).

‘As expected.’

Killing intent that felt like it was stinging my whole body.

It was not direct killing intent scattered by humans, but killing intent that naturally spread into the air and ambushed the whole body.

When exposed to such killing intent, humans instinctively feel fear, and to overcome that fear, they extend their anger in all directions.

“Gal!”

When I burst out the Lion’s Roar (Saja-hu), the bodies of the three brothers, who looked like they were about to fight a battle at any moment, stopped dead.

“Focus on your internal energy circulation.”

Because I had increased the speed while entering the mountain, the internal energy circulation had gradually loosened, and the killing intent had permeated their upright minds (Jeong-sim).

For example, Dong-ryong had moved at the same speed, but the fact that he was not submerged in anger thanks to wearing the Tang-ma-ryeong-ju was an example of that.

Geum-pyo and Eun-ho, who had been wearing expressions full of dissatisfaction even though I was speaking, slowly relaxed their fierce impressions as if they had never been so.

“Huh?”

“Wh, what on earth is this…….”

“Sahyeong, are we perhaps caught in their formation (Jin-beop)?”

Can this really be called a formation? If it could be classified as a formation, this was the most cruel formation in the world that a human could unfold upon another human.

“It is similar but different. You must have heard of it too…….”

A tactic mainly used by the Demon Cult’s demons to deal with the absolute experts of the Righteous and Evil Paths.

“It is the Cheon-ra-ji-mang (Heavenly Net).”