Chapter 7
Chapter 7
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Translator: Vine
Chapter: 7
Chapter Title: The Body Remembers! (1)
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I sat cross-legged on the bed and began to circulate my energy.
But a moment later, I opened my eyes and tilted my head.
‘What? Why is this happening?’
I couldn't recall the mnemonic verses of my heart art at all. Before, whenever I sat cross-legged, the energy circulation would begin naturally. Now, I couldn't even remember how to start.
‘Is my mind still not fully recovered?’
I slapped my head a couple of times and tried again.
But after a moment, I opened my eyes and frowned.
‘What in the world is wrong?’
I had no idea what kind of heart art I had even mastered, nor could I remember a single word of its verses.
And I was supposed to have an incredible mind, one that never forgot anything it saw.
‘This is unbelievable…’
* * *
My energy just fizzled out. I tried to circulate my energy dozens of times, but the result was the same. I couldn't remember what my heart art was, nor its verses.
‘Why is this happening?’
This time, I decided to try summoning my internal energy. I had trained without a single day's rest for three years and five months, so there should have been ten, maybe twenty years' worth of power accumulated in my dantian.
“Damn it!”
A curse escaped my lips.
Internal energy doesn't just come out whenever you want.
You have to recite the verses of the heart art to draw power from your dantian, but since I couldn't remember them, this, too, was a lost cause.
Just then, an ominous premonition flashed through my mind.
‘Don't tell me!’
I quickly grabbed the Fire Dragon Sword and went outside.
* * *
There's an old saying: bad feelings are never wrong.
I had hoped it wasn't true, but my premonition became reality.
I tried to perform the sword and saber arts I had mastered with the Fire Dragon Sword, but I couldn't remember a single one.
I had spent three years and five months training myself to death in over one hundred and thirty different sword, saber, and fist techniques. How could it be that I couldn't remember or execute a single one?
I stood there blankly on the sandy shore of the river behind the annex, clutching the Fire Dragon Sword in my right hand for a full hour.
It was utterly bizarre. I could remember the fact that I had learned over one hundred and thirty types of sword, saber, and fist techniques, but for the life of me, I couldn't recall their names or verses. It was all a pitch-black void.
I put down the Fire Dragon Sword and tried to perform some fist techniques, but that, too, was a complete blank.
‘Ah! I'm going crazy!’
All my other past memories were vivid, so why was it that only my martial arts were gone? It was maddening.
But standing here blankly all day wouldn't bring back the forgotten verses and movements.
* * *
Lying on the bed in the annex, I racked my brain, trying to figure out why this had happened.
And I managed to come up with a vague idea of the cause.
‘Something must have gone wrong when I fell into the underground lake and my whole body froze.’
It was the only explanation. The only thing that happened after my three years and five months of martial arts training was falling into that lake and turning into a block of ice.
‘Could it be that my brain froze?’
If a part of my brain was frozen, causing the memory loss, then perhaps my memories would return once it thawed.
For now, that was all I could think. And it was my only hope, my only way out.
* * *
While eating with Yang-rim, I learned a shocking fact.
He was talking about various matters in the martial world when he mentioned that the Martial Alliance Headquarters was wandering all over the land, unable to settle in one place.
The Martial Alliance Headquarters was located at the foot of Mount Jinbao near Luoyang in Henan Province. I knew this better than anyone, as I was under the command of the Victory Hall at the headquarters.
Whatever happened to the Martial Alliance was none of my business, but that wasn't the important part.
The shocking fact was that the Demonic Emperor's Grand Union had attacked the Martial Alliance Headquarters at Mount Jinbao in Luoyang thirteen years ago and annihilated it.
Furthermore, the Alliance Lord of the Martial Alliance, the Lord Who Commands Heaven, Hyukryeon Jeong-mu, had died in that battle.
“The late Alliance Lord’s beloved daughter became the new Alliance Lord, and she has been wandering for over thirteen years.”
If the Martial Alliance Headquarters had been annihilated three years ago, I might have accepted it, but thirteen years ago? What kind of nonsense was this?
But it was unlikely that Yang-rim was lying.
“What year is it? Is this still the Ming Dynasty?”
“What an odd question. Of course, it’s the Ming Dynasty. Did you think the dynasty had changed?”
“What is the current emperor’s era name?”
“Isn’t it the twentieth year of the Yongle era?”
“The twentieth year of Yongle…”
‘My God! Does this mean I was frozen in that underground lake for ten years?’
It was the seventh year of the Yongle era when I first entered Mount Gwalchang. If it was now the twentieth year, a full thirteen years had passed.
This was insane. I had lost ten years of my life.
“What season is it now?”
“It’s autumn.”
Then it had been exactly thirteen years and seven months. That meant I had been frozen for ten years and two months.
I reflexively touched my face. When I looked in the bronze mirror earlier while getting my hair cut and shaving, I didn’t look like I was in my thirties.
“How old do I look to you?”
“At most, twenty-one or twenty-two, wouldn’t you say?”
Yang-rim asked pointedly.
“How old are you?”
“Twenty-three.”
If I looked twenty-one or twenty-two, there was no need to include the ten lost years.
Yang-rim grinned.
“I’m thirty-five. I’ll start speaking informally to you from now on.”
I nodded.
“Go ahead. I’ll do the same.”
“Uh…”
Taking it a step further left Yang-rim looking like he’d been slapped.
In any case, to think that ten years had passed while I was trapped in ice… it was truly a shock.
* * *
The next evening, the Branch Master and the branch members who had gone to support the Hangzhou Branch returned.
According to Yang-rim, two members of the Dong-ro Branch had died and several others were injured in a fight with the Hangzhou Branch of the Ten Heavens of the Unorthodox Path.
Once the chaotic atmosphere at the Dong-ro Branch had settled down a bit, Yang-rim took me to greet the Branch Master.
Yang-rim went into the Branch Master’s office first to explain my situation, then called me in.
When I entered the office, a robust man in his late thirties sitting behind a desk looked up from fiddling with my Martial Alliance token.
The burly man with a short, thick black beard and mustache seemed to be the Branch Master.
Yang-rim gestured respectfully toward the man with both hands.
“Greet the Branch Master.”
I simply gave a slight, silent nod.
My insolent attitude surprised Yang-rim, but the Branch Master didn't seem to mind.
Honestly, I didn’t feel like being polite or respectful to anyone.
“You may stay here until your memory returns.”
For both the Branch Master and me, that was the best solution.
If I regained my memory of my martial arts, I would have no reason to stay here.
The Branch Master looked extremely tired and weary.
“You may go.”
Yang-rim received the Martial Alliance token from the Branch Master and gave it to me.
* * *
I found it bothersome to run into the branch members, so I stayed cooped up in the annex and didn't go out.
Every now and then, I would try to circulate my energy and perform my martial arts, but I still couldn't remember anything.
It was incredibly frustrating, but compared to the oppressed life I had lived before, it was bearable.
It was noisy outside, and I could hear women crying. They were probably the families of the dead branch members, but I wasn't particularly curious.
* * *
A few days later, Yang-rim came to see me.
“Let’s go have dinner.”
When it was just the two of us, we ate together, but normally I was supposed to eat with the Branch Master and the other members in the dining hall.
I didn't feel like it, but I figured I had to stay here until I recovered my martial arts, so I followed him.
In the dining hall, the Branch Master and the branch members were sitting around several tables, eating. Two women were serving food.
Yang-rim led me to an empty spot.
“Let’s sit here.”
Yang-rim didn't seem to mind my curt behavior. He had a gentle and easygoing personality.
The two women were about twenty-five or twenty-six and seventeen or eighteen. The older one brought food and placed it in front of Yang-rim and me.
“Thank you, sister.”
“Yes.”
The woman, who had a plain appearance, must have been crying a lot, as her eyes were swollen and red.
Yang-rim explained in a low voice.
“Those women are the wife of one of the members who died this time, and the younger sister of another.”
Perhaps because their comrades had died, the Branch Master and the members ate their meal in silence, the mood heavy.
“The Branch Master was kind enough to let them work here.”
“Hey! Yang-rim, shut your trap and eat.”
Just then, a branch member eating at the next table scowled and shouted at Yang-rim.
At the Dong-ro Branch, Yang-rim was more of a steward who handled odd jobs than a warrior, so he didn't even go into battle. It seemed the other members looked down on him.
I glanced over, and the man spat out his words as he looked at me.
“What are you looking at, you bastard! Lower your eyes!”
He was about twenty-five or twenty-six, with sharp features. He must have heard about me, yet he was still acting high and mighty.
I averted my gaze and started eating, which made him grumble.
“Ah, fuck! I’m already pissed off, and now some beggar-like bastard has to get on my nerves!”
I was going to let it go, but his words struck a nerve.
Back when I was at the Martial Alliance Headquarters, I endured all sorts of things and acted as if I were dead, because if I got kicked out, I wouldn't get paid, and then I couldn't send money to my master.
But not anymore. I had nothing to hold me back. If things got rough, I was ready for a brawl.
At that moment, I had forgotten that I couldn't remember any of my martial arts. No, even if I had remembered, I wouldn't have tolerated being provoked by a guy like that.
I glared at him with displeasure, deliberately throwing bait to make him flip out.
The bastard took the bait and furiously threw his rice bowl.
*Fling!*
“What are you looking at, you bastard!”
A rice bowl. I hadn't expected that.
We were at adjacent tables, less than a single *zhang* apart, and the bowl shot straight and fast toward my face.
Everyone was startled, but I wasn't at all. I don't know why I wasn't surprised. It just wasn't something to be surprised about.
Remaining seated ramrod straight, I nonchalantly tilted my head just enough for the bowl to graze past my ear.
A normal person would have flinched and dodged with a large movement, but I showed the composure to move just enough for the bowl to pass.
*Thwack! Clang!*
The bowl hit the wall and clattered to the floor.
It seemed no one had expected me to dodge the bowl.
I couldn't be sure, but aside from the Branch Master, no one else here likely had the skill to dodge a bowl thrown with such force at such close range.
That's why they were all staring at me with shocked faces.
To be honest, I was a little surprised myself. I hadn't expected to be able to dodge the bowl so lightly when I couldn't remember any of my martial arts.
And yet, I couldn't understand why I had been so calm and unstartled.
‘What was that? Did my body react on its own?’
The thought suddenly occurred to me.
The guy who threw the bowl exclaimed, “Huh?” then, unable to contain his anger, he began to seethe. He shot up from his seat, drawing the saber from his shoulder.
*Chaaang!*
“You bastard! I’ll kill you!”
“Jung-gon, that’s enough.”
The Branch Master, who had been eating silently at another table, calmly admonished him.