Volume 2 Chapter 18 – Genius

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Translated by Rain

Read it only at Novelbyu.com & Utoon.net

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“Captain, did you really cancel the transfer request?”

The gatekeeper shrugged his shoulders without much of an answer.

At that appearance, his colleagues who guarded the entrance of Pavilion of Perfect Enlightenment with him showed an incredulous reaction.

“No, have you lost your mind? Did you go through so much hardship for all that time just to be ordered around like a dog by that Swordless punk?”

“Have you really gone crazy? Please think about it once more. If it is a warrior of the Captain’s level, you would be treated well wherever you go in the Sword Family, wouldn’t you?”

The gatekeeper chuckled.

“…If so, why did you guys not go on the path to success and instead wear these guard uniforms and guard the gate here?”

The colleagues looked at him as if asking what on earth he was talking about.

“Of course, it is because dedicating everything and devoting ourselves to the Sword Family is the most honorable path, is it not?”

“Still, isn’t right now better than rolling around on the front lines?”

“Moreover, it is far better than walking around with a stiff neck while licking the backsides of the powerful bastards.”

They laughed heartily.

That the Sword Family did not end up torn into pieces even amidst the extremely chaotic political situation after the Patriarch fell was likely because there were many people like them.

“If so, what is your dream? Surely you do not want to continue living like now, only performing the tasks given to you?”

At that, everyone fell quiet.

After a moment, one person spoke quietly.

“…Is not a warrior’s dream to serve a lord?”

“Our only lord is the Grand Patriarch.”

“I wish the Grand Patriarch would quickly shake off his illness and rise.”

“I wish I could receive orders directly from the Grand Patriarch like in the old days, instead of instructions from some desk-bound high-ranking officials.”

Their conversation returned to those days of old when the Grand Patriarch actively operated as the Patriarch.

Watching them exchange conversations within their memories as if enjoying themselves, the gatekeeper murmured softly.

“…A lord.”

He looked up at the sky.

The day when he was enraged by the low-life trash of the Black Bone Gang or whatever it was, and disappointed in himself, came to mind.

‘What is there to be sorry for? You played your part.’

On the face of the Swordless who spoke like that, he had felt old memories being revived.

That appearance, which was like a high mountain.

That appearance, which was like a cliff that would never collapse.

‘What is there to be so sorry for? You did your best.’

His experiences of directly facing his lord, that is, the Grand Patriarch, were so few they could be counted on one hand.

Since he was a warrior who mainly operated outside, and his lord was the Patriarch of the Luoyang Sword Family.

Perhaps that was why.

For some reason, the faces of those two people overlapped.

* * *

He was walking along the forest path of Pavilion of Perfect Enlightenment.

It was for the purpose of delivering a pile of documents that had accumulated, which were nothing more than regular updates.

Upon passing through a formation that was more than worthy of being described as mysterious and wondrous , an incredibly beautiful scenery unfolded before him.

After stopping for a moment to enjoy the fresh air, he began to move his feet again.

And upon reaching the empty lot, he could not help but doubt his own eyes.

“The Sword Family’s secret sword , Flashing Shadow Instant …?”

He rubbed his eyes.

However, even when looking again, the scene visible in his sight did not change.

It was definitely that maid, who reminded him of his daughter who had married and gone to a place far from Luoyang.

Until just a few days ago, she was clearly nothing more than an ordinary person without even a trace of internal energy.

Yet now, although weak, the existence of internal energy was clearly felt from her.

Furthermore, what on earth was the sword technique she was performing?

It was clearly a high-grade martial art notorious for being one that the Sword Family’s experts would boldly challenge only to be knocked down.

‘That level is definitely not the first or second stage of mastery (, ), is it?’

Although her internal strength was terribly lacking, the form was clearly at a stage that could be called complete.

Jeong-ah, who had finished performing all the forms, bowed her head toward him as he stood there blankly.

“Have you come?”

Her appearance in the black martial robe with sweat trickling down was unfamiliar.

“Because there was a strict order not to stop until the end once I begin, my greeting is late.”

“A-no. Exclusive maid, since when did you learn that martial art?”

“I am ashamed to have dirtied your eyes with my humble skill.”

Feeling embarrassed, she hid the sword she was holding behind her back.

“…It has not even been half a day since I learned it, so I would be grateful if you could look upon it favorably as a child’s trick.”

“…Eh?”

“Yes?”

At that moment, a voice calling him along with the sign of a presence was heard from behind.

“Hey! Gatekeeper! Don’t interfere uselessly and come over here!”

* * *

“Ah, you came just at the right time.”

The detestable Eldest Young Master, as always, did not let go of the book in his hand.

“Uh, that is, Eldest Young Master. Just now, I saw something strange…”

The Eldest Young Master frowned at him, who was still dumbfounded.

“You didn’t say anything useless, did you? Whatever else may be, she will be better at Flashing Shadow Instant than you, so don’t talk nonsense.”

“No, but that took only half a day…”

The Eldest Young Master snatched the bundle of documents from his hand.

“That is not what is important.”

The Eldest Young Master commanded him.

“You, cook some food.”

* * *

‘Did I cancel the transfer request just to do this?’

‘Until just a few days ago, she was clearly a woman without a single handful of internal energy…’

‘Half a day?’

Such thoughts did not leave his head.

The moment Yeon So-hyeon put a spoonful of the rice he had prepared into his mouth, his complexion stiffened.

“…Jeong-ah.”

“…I will request personnel replenishment immediately.”

She took the spoon that had entered her mouth right back out, put it down, and disappeared with quick steps.

“Gatekeeper, you, punk. Do you not even know how to cook properly?”

“No, that is…”

Yeon So-hyeon, who never wasted food, snapped at him while forcing the food into his mouth.

“While your achievement in Flashing Shadow Instant is inferior to that child’s, if you cannot even cook, where on earth am I supposed to use you…”

Toward the Eldest Young Master who was clicking his tongue, he could not say anything and only trembled.

‘…Detestable bastard.’

Having shrunk back while being scolded for a while, he put the food he had made into his mouth, and spat it out immediately.

“……”

And shrinking back again, he stared blankly as the Eldest Young Master devoured all the food.

What kind of stomach did this Eldest Young Master possess?

Meanwhile, an inquiry flashed through his mind.

“…Excuse me, Eldest Young Master.”

“What?”

The Eldest Young Master, whose mouth was filled with food that was not even worthy of being called food, looked at him with a gaze full of hatred.

“A-no, that is…”

He asked cautiously.

“Who on earth transmitted the Flashing Shadow Instant to that young lady?”

While the talent of the learner was important in martial arts, the talent of the teacher was no less important.

Is that not where the strength of large sects to continuously raise excellent successors comes from?

“Moreover, what on earth do you mean by saying she learned it in half a day?”

He had seen numerous geniuses until now.

Since all the colleagues around him right now were those who had crossed the wall, and he himself possessed a talent that was greater, if anything, rather than lesser.

He had long surpassed the criteria of what was commonly referred to as a genius.

Yet even for someone like him, he had never even heard of completing the forms of a high-grade martial art in half a day.

Had he not seen her a few days ago, he would have been certain it was an absurd lie.

“What do you mean half a day…”

At Yeon So-hyeon’s words, the gatekeeper brightened up.

There must be something he did not know.

“Since I taught her for the first time this morning, it has not even been half a day yet.”

“…H-half a day.”

Commonly, experts who crossed the wall before the age of forty, the age of freedom from vacillation , were referred to as geniuses .

As one of those geniuses, he was properly experiencing what a heaven beyond heaven was today.

Pondering Yeon So-hyeon’s words, he was greatly shocked once more.

“Did you say just now that you taught her yourself?!”

That the Eldest Young Master, called the Swordless, directly taught one of the high-grade martial arts rumored to be the most complex in the Sword Family.

Moreover, the one who learned it is said to have completed the forms in half a day.

“Ah, noisy.”

Yeon So-hyeon frowned at his loud voice.

Then he spoke to him in a firm tone.

“That, eat all of your share yourself.”

“No, that is…!”

As he was about to shout something, he could not say anything upon seeing Yeon So-hyeon put even Jeong-ah’s share into his mouth.

Since he had also experienced tearing apart snakes in the mountains and chewing tree bark during missions, he could somehow eat all of the food.

Of course, combining all of those things, the food he had made today was the most tasteless.

Having gulped down a bowl of cold water, he asked Yeon So-hyeon again.

“Did the Eldest Young Master truly guide her yourself?”

Unlike him, Yeon So-hyeon, who rinsed his mouth with the tea of Pavilion of Perfect Enlightenment that he had brewed himself, chuckled.

“Why? Do you also want to learn from me?”

“No, before that. Was your knowledge of martial studies high enough to teach high-grade martial arts?”

Yeon So-hyeon burst into laughter.

“No, in the first place, who was the one who organized Flashing Shadow Instant into its current form, that you say such a thing?”

“Yes?”

Yeon So-hyeon sat leaning back while giggling.

“In the past, the martial scholars belonging to the Martial Arts Academy gathered and had a heated debate over what was the most fastidious martial art within the Sword Family.”

He took a sip of tea and continued.

“So, I moderately mixed Diancang’s Light-Splitting Sword and Shaolin’s Arhat Instant Hand with the Main Family’s Fine Slicing and Piercing and organized it.”

He spread both of his hands.

“Ta-da. Debate over the most fastidious martial art concluded.”

“……”

The gatekeeper wanted to say something, but he could not possibly know what to say.

That martial art, which so many of the Sword Family’s warriors challenged only to drink the bitter cup of defeat.

That martial art, which had made so many geniuses challenge it only to feel their own talents were miserable and fall into despair.

Yet, that high-grade martial art which boasted a terrifyingly powerful might and struck fear into the enemies of the Sword Family.

To think that it had originated from the playfulness of this boy before his eyes.

“…Were you not the Swordless, Eldest Young Master?”

It was a question containing so many implications that even as he asked it with his own mouth, he could not know the exact meaning.

“Well…”

Yeon So-hyeon shrugged his shoulders.

“It is certain that I do not have a sword, though.”

From the appearance of Yeon So-hyeon tossing a joke at him, the gatekeeper felt a sense of d”j” vu .

To be precise, it was not d”j” vu.

His only lord, whom he had respected and served.

The figure of that lord overlapped with his eldest son, whom the Sword Family despised the most.

“Life-Snatching Ghost Sword .”

That was his former moniker, which he had buried in the past.

The one calling that name was the eldest son of his lord.

“You still carry around a toy-like sword.”

The Eldest Young Master’s gaze was directed toward the sword hanging from the waist of the gatekeeper, the Life-Snatching Ghost Sword.

“When your sword becomes worn out and you become unable to draw it for anything, that time will come.”

Eldest Young Master Yeon So-hyeon.

The figure who should have originally been the Young Patriarch of the Luoyang Sword Family asked the most ferocious sword of the Luoyang Sword Family’s past.

“How long do you intend to carry that fake sword around?”