The Genius Martial Artist Who Remembers Everything [Novel] Chapter 217

Chapter 217: An Unwanted Invitation (6)

The Distinguished Guests Event began.

For about a week, the academy students would attend erudite lectures on martial arts and life by the invited luminaries, then ask questions about martial theory and hear their answers.

This year’s event was especially exciting because the peerless master, the renowned Wind-Splitting Sword Moyong Gang, would be attending.

The academy’s spirits had been low ever since the events in Sichuan, so everyone was energized by the excitement that had finally returned. In addition, the Righteous Path Society and White Path Society had collapsed, so the students no longer had to worry about what they thought.

When members of both societies showed up in great numbers, the atmosphere grew even more heated. Even the students affiliated with the Righteous Path Society and White Path Society found the name “Wind-Splitting Sword” too imposing to skip the event just to save face.

The event went ahead with a huge turnout, save for a few absentees, and the attendees seemed highly satisfied…

Or so it seemed…

“That’s just how you see it, Young Master Jin.”

“……Huh?”

Seong Moran, one cheek swollen as if she’d been beaten, spoke with a deeply dissatisfied expression.

“Do you know how packed the infirmary is right now?”

“……Well, proper instruction can be painful.”

At my unruffled reply, just like Ilgak usually gave, Seong Moran began to tremble.

“That doesn’t mean you should actually break bones!”

There was one small problem. It was Moyong Gang’s teaching style. When we suggested dividing the students into groups on different days because there were so many of them, Moyong Gang told us to bring everyone to the main training ground. Then—

[I can’t stand here and prattle on like a Taoist priest or a bald monk. A martial artist learns more in one brush with death than from hearing about enlightenment a hundred times. So I’ll give you all a chance to experience more. Who wants to be the first to get beaten? No one? Then I’ll come to you.]

…He said that, then charged into the academy students. At first, they were so taken aback by Moyong Gang’s actions that they didn’t know what to do. But even those who hesitated to lay a hand on a peerless master began charging him once their noses had been bloodied and their eyes had gone glassy. …In no time, chaos erupted. Some students, roused by their fighting spirit, used their ultimate techniques or attacked in a coordinated formation, but the ones who ended up bleeding and screaming were always the academy students.

[Tsk, tsk. What do you think the White Path’s greatest weapon is? What? A righteous spirit? What are you talking about? Hah, you say it’s justice? Do you even know what a bastard your sect leader was when he was young? You fools! The White Path’s greatest weapon is numbers! No Black Path or heterodox group can beat the White Path in numbers, which is why the Martial Alliance rules the martial world! Do you understand now?]

Under Moyong Gang’s “instruction,” the academy students joined forces and began forming sword formations. But when Moyong Gang waited for them to finish, then smashed the formation in an instant, they were too stunned to react.

[I said to fight with numbers. You think all you have to do is pile together? What have you been learning all this time? A coordinated formation is about working in sync. If each person inside the formation is busy showing off and you can’t match your strength, there’s no point in forming one! Don’t understand? Don’t worry! You’ll understand the teachings of Confucius once you’ve been beaten enough.]

As the assaults disguised as “lectures” continued, the academy students grew fed up and began dropping out of the event one by one. Moyong Gang had an incredible memory for every face, so he raided their dormitories, dragged them out, and resumed his “lessons.” It was truly a heart-wrenching display of passion.

“……But why didn’t you attend the event, Young Master Jin?”

Namgung Seonhwa, sporting a truly impressive black eye, glared at me. She really did look like she was in pain.

“Wouldn’t the representative normally be exempt from attending?”

“……Did you expect the lectures to go like this?”

Namgung Seonhwa looked at me with the betrayal of someone abandoned by her parents. Unable to meet her eyes, I replied as calmly as I could.

“Of course not… I couldn’t sign up because I was still in pain from all the beatings I’d already taken from Senior.”

I pointed at the bruised eye I’d had, but her suspicious look didn’t fade.

“The marks were almost gone!”

*Tsk. The medicine Sama Jeong prescribed worked too well. That was the problem.*

My companions had complaints of their own, but most of them stayed through the entire event. It was almost moving to see them go to Moyong Gang every day, bruised and aching all over. Since they had the highest attendance rate, they also received the most “instruction.” Geumpyo and Dongryong even set aside extra time for private lessons.

“Hm. How fascinating. One of you was born with the Heavenly Yang Bone, and the other with the Heavenly Slaughter Star.”

I already knew about Dongryong’s Heavenly Slaughter Star, but this was the first time I’d heard about Geumpyo’s Heavenly Yang Bone.

“Hmm… You wouldn’t know. It’s not a very well-known constitution.”

“Is it a good thing?”

“If you learn a decent external martial art, it’ll take quite a lot to break your bones or damage your skin. You were born with a body like rock.”

I’d thought they were good at enduring pain and blows because they were so patient, but it turned out their bodies were simply tough by nature.

*Does that mean I’m destined to stand at the very front of every battle from now on?*

Geumpyo felt as if he could see a sad future ahead. Dongryong looked at Moyong Gang with watery eyes.

“S-Senior, I’m a little worried. I don’t know when I might lose control.”

When Dongryong asked about the anxiety he’d been holding inside, Moyong Gang replied as if it were nothing.

“There’s no need to worry. You should be able to control it well enough with training. As it happens, you two can do the same training.”

“The same training?”

Moyong Gang nodded firmly.

“You’ll just have to get beaten a lot. The Heavenly Yang Bone will toughen your flesh and bones, and the Heavenly Slaughter Star will improve your endurance.”

……

At first, some students had been jealous that Moyong Gang gave advice only to Geumpyo and Dongryong. But after seeing the two get beaten from head to toe, they began hoping they’d never receive private lessons. The seven days of lectures that everyone had anticipated finally came to an end. As soon as the lectures were over, the students hurried to their dormitories or out of the academy, desperate to get away. The infirmary was still overflowing with patients, much to Sama Jeong’s distress. Of course, none of that had anything to do with me.

***

“Thank you for all your hard work.”

I clasped my hands in salute. Moyong Gang’s eyebrow twitched.

“You call yourself the academy’s representative, yet you didn’t come see me even once in seven days.”

I tilted my head with an innocent expression.

“Hadn’t I already received plenty from you?”

“……Still, I want to teach you.”

*Crack. Crack.*

Moyong Gang stretched, cracking his hands and neck.

*Could you really call that wanting to teach me?*

“Then teach me that.”

“What?”

I waved both hands around in every direction.

“You know, the thing where space kept warping like this.”

“You mean the Void-Annihilating Fist?”

“Yes!”

Moyong Gang’s voice erupted in a furious roar.

“You brat! That’s the insight I’ve devoted my life to!”

“Either way, you still owe me compensation for the damage you caused.”

“What?! I already gave you a lecture! I’m Moyong Gang! Do you think I’d ever show off my martial arts in front of a bunch of useless amateurs?”

Watching Moyong Gang rave, I let out a hollow laugh.

“Didn’t I restore the Moyong Clan’s principle for you? Is the principle I found for you really so trivial?”

……

“Besides, even if it’s the insight you devoted your life to, it’s the insight of someone who had reached Swordbreaker. Now that you’ve gained the perspective of Heavenbreaker, shouldn’t you aim higher?”

As I spoke nothing but reason, Moyong Gang’s lips trembled with anger, his thug’s temper reemerging.

“You… That move you showed back then was definitely the Sword Demon’s sword form, wasn’t it?”

“……I won’t answer that.”

“Hmph! I can tell from your expression alone. I don’t know how you learned it, but with the Taeeul Sword Emperor’s martial scripture and the Sword Demon’s sword form, you’ll have few rivals among people your age.”

At some point, Moyong Gang’s gaze had grown calm.

“……But why are you so obsessed with martial arts?”

I fell silent for a moment before answering him.

“Because it isn’t enough.”

“Not enough?”

Confusion appeared on Moyong Gang’s face at my answer. The countless demonic practitioners that kept swarming in. The monsters that wouldn’t fall no matter how many times you struck them. The sorcery that muddled the mind, and the demonic arts that defied the natural order. The future I remembered was hell. And the strength I had now still wasn’t enough to endure that hell. I looked straight into Moyong Gang’s eyes.

“I’m not strong enough to protect the people I want to protect.”

At my answer, Moyong Gang stroked his chin and fell into thought.

“Hmm. Is that really all?”

“……What do you mean?”

His gaze flashed sharply.

“I’m asking whether you want to protect people—or rule them.”

I shook my head.

“I have no desire for power.”

“Then what you have now is enough.”

I shook my head again.

“There are many people I have to protect.”

“……You madman. Are you saying you’ll protect everyone in the world?”

I didn’t answer. I knew perfectly well that it was impossible. At my silence, Moyong Gang clicked his tongue.

“You dare ask for my insight, yet you won’t even tell me your story properly.”

But then… The corner of Moyong Gang’s mouth began to twist strangely.

“You really are the sort of material that suits the Moyong Clan.”

*What was that smile? Why did he look happy? That was creepy.*

Moyong Gang kept smiling as he asked me,

“Why does a martial artist practice an inner-energy cultivation method?”

*This guy—why was he asking me this out of nowhere when I was already busy?*

My ear itched. I scratched it with my little finger and replied,

“……Skip the theoretical stuff and just teach me the formula and how to circulate the energy.”

“You insolent brat!”

*Thwack!*

A burning pain flared at the back of my head, and my skull shook.

“W-When did you…?”

Last time, I thought I hadn’t sensed him because he was far away. But even standing right beside him, I couldn’t sense his energy being circulated.

*I want it. I want it so badly…*

I hurriedly asked,

“Is it the Mind Sword?”

“M-Mind Sword?! You must’ve read too many novels. You think it’ll take on a physical form like that…”

I quickly cut him off and clasped my hands in salute.

“A martial artist practices an inner-energy cultivation method to gather energy inside the body and use it freely.”

Moyong Gang seemed pleased with my answer, and his gaze softened.

“……Now are you ready to listen properly?”

“I’ve been listening attentively from the very beginning.”

This martial art was even more amazing than I had imagined. To use energy without giving off the slightest trace of it… There were countless ways it could be applied. Moyong Gang stroked his chin and asked,

“Then answer me this. What is the difference between the energy inside you and the energy spread throughout the world?”

“Isn’t some of it purified through a cultivation method, while each method also gives it different properties?”

“Then is the energy gathered inside you fundamentally different from the energy of the world?”

At Moyong Gang’s question, I felt something begin to tickle in one corner of my mind.

“No cultivation method can erase the essence of the energy of the Great Nature. Even those who use martial arts that defy Heaven cannot erase the energy of nature.”

It felt like I was just one clue away from relieving this frustrating sensation, the way you finally sneeze after a tickle in your nose.

“Then why should a martial artist use only the energy stored in their own dantian?”

It was a theory that denied the very basis of martial arts. And yet I couldn’t say he was wrong. It was simply another part of the natural order.

“Martial arts try to imitate the Dao of nature, yet refuse to become one with it. Can the Dao of martial arts and the Dao of nature never become one?”

The more his words, rich with profound insight, continued, the more frustrated I felt. My heart pounded violently, and my breathing grew rough.

“The attempt to unite the Dao of martial arts with the Dao of nature—that is the Void-Annihilating Fist.”

It was a principle only someone who rejected the very foundations of things, a rebel to the bone, could understand. It was an idea only Moyong Gang could have conceived. I felt a desperate thirst, as if my throat were burning.

“Th-Then what’s the formula? How do you circulate the energy? Does it consume a huge amount of internal energy?”

I hurled questions at him, as frantically as a beggar trying to sate his hunger. Moyong Gang looked at me with a twisted smile.

“That’s all the instruction you’re getting.”

When I stared at him in shock, Moyong Gang grinned.

“If you want to learn more, become a member of the Moyong Clan.”

*He was stopping right there? Was he some kind of thug?*

#

Moyong Gang, who had arrived like a storm, true to his epithet, left just as noisily.

*Even so, he’d insulted the Alliance Lord in the middle of the Martial Alliance headquarters…*

Even a member or outsider would have been dragged to the Execution Hall and tortured for that, but neither the Execution Hall nor the Inspectorate had anyone capable of apprehending Moyong Gang.

And so Moyong Gang returned to the Moyong Clan.

With the Distinguished Guests Event over without incident, the delegation grew larger. To add even a little something to their academy records, students would be wise to serve in the delegation. Thanks to that, those who had been working on the delegation began distributing the workload and could finally catch their breath. I had even less to do.

A peaceful life: coming to the academy representative’s office, sitting in a luxury chair, and drinking Seven-Colored Blossom tea. An unexpected break had arrived.

“But now you have to report to the All-Connections Bureau.”

At Eunho’s remark, which ruined my peace, I frowned deeply.

“Do you get hives all over whenever you see Senior Brother resting?”

“Of course not. I just want you to hurry to the All-Connections Bureau and make yourself useful—for the sake of the other junior disciples.”

*Hah. Look at this kid.*

“……Come to think of it, you were the one who wrote that letter in Jaehwa’s place, weren’t you?”

“Of course not. I only wrote what Jaehwa dictated. He said his handwriting was terrible and would probably make his grandfather even angrier.”

……

Eunho gave me an ambiguous look; I couldn’t tell whether he was glaring or simply looking at me.

“And you shouldn’t have used Jaehwa as a scapegoat in the first place.”

…I was guilty, so I couldn’t scold Eunho. It also seemed like Jaehwa, who had stuck to me like a puppy every day since that incident, was gradually avoiding me. Eunho drove the final nail in with a smug look.

“Hurry up and report to the All-Connections Bureau. They keep complaining about a shortage of paperwork because of you.”

Even without Eunho’s nagging, I had to report to the All-Connections Bureau. Maeng Juwon sent messages several times a day and even came to my dormitory once a week.

*What a tiresome man.*

I’d already been thinking about doing some work at the All-Connections Bureau. I needed to compare the events unfolding differently from my previous life against what I remembered, and figure out how they might affect the future.

*Besides, there were those people, too. That damn Council of Elders.*

They wouldn’t easily entrust me with anything related to the budget, but I could still make life difficult for the Council of Elders by being meticulous with the paperwork. Heh.

My mental library already held tens of thousands of documents that would need to be written, so I wouldn’t have to struggle to learn the work. My short-term goal was to show how quickly I could complete the handover, then cut my attendance down to one day a week.

That way, I could rest with the delegation, take weekends off, and find time for martial arts training.

After sorting out my thoughts—

When I entered the All-Connections Bureau, Maeng Juwon and Jegal Somyeong greeted me.

“Welcome! Welcome! Welcome home!”

Maeng Juwon looked so delighted he could barely contain himself, even though this had never been my home in the first place.

“Have you been well, Senior Jegal?”

When I greeted Jegal Somyeong, he furrowed his brow.

“Did you think I’d been living comfortably?”

Since I was in the wrong, I instinctively bowed my head.

“You’re getting on in years, so please take care of your health.”

“Nine-tenths of my worries are because of you.”

*This would only get me in trouble if I kept talking.*

I quickly changed the subject.

“What should I start with? Give me anything. I’ll take care of it.”

Maeng Juwon started to lead me away, but—

“Leave him be. There’s something he needs to handle first.”

“Pardon?”

“……” For some reason, I was standing there doing nothing, but Maeng Juwon looked even more surprised. Jegal Somyeong handed me a long document rolled into a scroll. I quickly read it, then tilted my head.

“You want me to help establish an alliance with the Sahukryeon?”

I summarized the document briefly, and Jegal Somyeong nodded.

“Are we sending an envoy?”

*The “Sa” in the name used the character for “thought,” so I figured it wasn’t a Black Path sect. Could this be another sect that had appeared because of me?*

“I’ve never even heard of an organization called the Sahukryeon.”

“Naturally. It’s newly formed.”

That made it even stranger.

*If it’s only just been formed, why would the Martial Alliance need to establish an alliance with it?*

As I tilted my head, Jegal Somyeong continued to explain.

“You know them well. It’s the new name for the Black Path alliance formed around the Sahwang Bongju you’re close with.”

“Don’t tell me…”

“Go to the founding ceremony of the Sahukryeon.”

“……Whaaaat??????”

Jegal Somyeong calmly drank his tea.

*Anyone would think he’d just asked me to run to the neighborhood shop and buy a block of tofu.*