The Martial Genius Who Remembers Everything Novel - Chapter 103

Chapter 103
## Chapter 103. Great Journey of Avici Screams(2)

Back when Jwa Dae-gi of the Sojeong Squad was stationed in Beijing—specifically, during the time he accompanied his Young Master to the capital as a bondservant belonging to the Nanjing Six Families Manor—he mentioned witnessing a hunt conducted by elite dignitaries and aristocrats.

To begin the event, the trackers would trap wild deer. Apparently, domesticated deer raised in enclosures were too accustomed to people and would just freeze on the spot, completely ruining the thrill of the chase. Once caught, these wild creatures were deprived of food until the start of the tournament. After all, if they possessed too much vitality, capturing them a second time would prove too troublesome.

Hearing this made me realize just how absurdly thorough their cruel antics were.

Due to starvation, the animals grew terribly weak and disoriented, losing the ability to think rationally even if offered a bit of bait. Only after reaching this state were they set loose to mark the official commencement of the hunt.

Typically, the dominant stags or herd leaders were the first to fall. This wasn’t because they bravely led from the front to shield the pack. Rather, it was due to their magnificent, sweeping antlers, which made them incredibly prominent targets. Furthermore, their heavier bodies slowed them down, preventing them from making a swift escape.

He had originally shared that anecdote to ridicule the top-tier martial artists of the Murim Alliance as they marched off to the Great Righteous-Demonic War draped in extravagant, ostentatious gear. However, the recollection brought little solace to the members of the Sojeong Squad, who were currently clad in rough sackcloth. The only reason this memory resurfaced at this exact moment was the bleak realization that, in this current scenario, we were the very stags being hunted down.

Under normal circumstances, examinees who successfully cleared the Third Trial would form small bands of three to five people, aligning with familiar faces to create massive alliances before embarking on the Great Journey. This stage was entirely different from the earlier assessments, which had witnessed brutal clashes between the Nine Sects and One Gang, the Five Great Clans, and the hopefuls from the One Hundred Eight Peaks. Since the sole objective of the Great Journey was simply arriving at the Murim Academy, those who had already secured their admission had every reason to pool their resources and work together instead of locking horns in combat.

Recognizing this, Namgung Seon-hwa and Seong Mo-ran had approached several individuals who had passed the Third Trial to propose a mutual alliance, only to face rejection:

> “Pardon? What exactly are you proposing we do?”
> “Work together?”
> “Ha! Lady Namgung, I had no idea you developed such a colorful sense of humor during our time apart.”
> “This is hardly a laughing matter…”
> “Haha! Tell you what, I will gladly serve as your escort once this whole examination is behind us.”

Not a single soul was willing to cooperate.

Martial artists who previously would have bent over backward just to exchange a passing greeting with them were now scrambling away in terror, treating them like carriers of a deadly contagion. Witnessing this harsh turnaround left both Namgung Seon-hwa and Seong Mo-ran deeply dazed and struggling to process the situation.

Compounding the issue, the forces under Namgung Seon-hwa and Seong Mo-ran had dwindled drastically, leaving them with roughly a fifth of their initial numbers. Putting aside any regular alliances between different schools, absolutely no one desired to take on extra baggage during such a critical evaluation. Under these grim circumstances, the fact that the fighters from the Murong Clan had aligned with their cause was an incredible stroke of luck.

“Even with things as they are, we are the ones setting up a trap?”

“A surprise attack launched at the exact moment the enemy least expects it yields the greatest probability of victory.”

Namgung Seon-hwa released a gentle sigh at those words.

—

Upon departing from Nanyue, we surged forward at maximum velocity, clearing Puyang within a mere three days. The rival groups, caught off guard by our aggressive pace, attempted to give chase, but their stamina crumbled when we maintained our sprint straight through the darkness of the night. Consequently, within twenty-four hours, every single tracker who had trailed us from Nanyue had been left far behind in the dust.

Following that initial escape, we encountered a few scattered ambush teams lying in wait along the path after catching wind of our movement. Even so, our advancing column—now boasting vastly superior combat capabilities thanks to the reinforcement of the Murong Clan fighters—pushed through without losing a shred of momentum.

Still, the swordsmen of the Murong Clan were entirely unaccustomed to such relentless, overnight maneuvers, and they began dropping from sheer exhaustion one after another. Ultimately, it was the Murong Clan members who became the very first to take refuge inside the steel carriages.

“Is this our destination?”

“Correct.”

“…Just as you pointed out, Young Master Jin, this spot provides an ideal setting for launching a surprise strike.”

Situated between Hua County and Fengqiu County, Mount Jindan loomed directly adjacent to a flowing river. The elevation of the peaks was relatively modest, and because numerous agricultural reservoirs had been constructed across the area over the years, a main public thoroughfare cut straight through the landscape. Given that this route offered the quickest passage toward Hubei Province by way of Zhengzhou, it was a choke point that both our group and the remaining candidates would undeniably have to traverse.

“However, the peaks are far too low. With these heights, any martial artist with a modicum of proper training could scale these cliffs effortlessly.”

That exact vulnerability explained why no bandit fortress had ever been constructed here, despite the location otherwise being perfect for staging an intercept.

“There is absolutely no need to fret over that detail. Years ago, we trapped monsters in this very location that make the Wudang Sect look like child’s play.”

Regardless of how exceptional the prodigies of the Wudang Sect might be, they paled in comparison to the dread-inducing Blood Demon Ghost Sword Unit.

—

> “Since your flawed decision-making has jeopardized the testing performance of your own martial brothers, the burden of rectifying this crisis falls squarely on your shoulders. …Should you fall short, you can expect to pass the remainder of your days sweeping the floors of the Scripture Pavilion.”

The directive originating from the Main Mountain, delivered directly to him via the Zhengzhou Daoist Monastery Master of the Wudang Sect, carried a crushing weight.

‘Curse it all…’

Hyeon Su clenched his jaw in frustration.

He could accept responsibility for his own failure and the downfall of Hyeon Jin. Having lost his composure entirely following his loss to Jin So-un, he acknowledged that he had pressured Hyeon Jin into executing a disastrous plan. Even so, was he truly to blame for Hyeon Hyang falling to Eun-ho, or Hyeon Myeong losing his bout against Geum-pyo?

Yet, his ungrateful junior disciples had pinned the entire catastrophe on him. As a result, if Hyeon Su committed even a minor error going forward, he faced the grim prospect of being confined to the Scripture Pavilion for the rest of his natural life.

“We will reclaim the Entry Tokens that were stripped from us by the Taeul Sect.”

Tae Gun, whose entry into the academy was already secured due to his possession of a coveted Third Trial Token, set off toward Hubei Province alongside a detachment of Wudang disciples. Meanwhile, Hyeon Su and the rest of his martial brothers kept watch, biding their time until the Taeul Sect made their exit from Nanyue.

“We must intercept and crush them before they manage to reach Qingfeng County and merge with the larger group heading to Hubei Province.”

“…Understood.”

“…Acknowledged.”

The feedback he received lacked any real conviction. Every single time he spoke, his companions cast dubious, untrusting glances in his direction.

“If you miserable fools are so unhappy with my leadership, why don’t you devise a strategy yourselves!”

“…Nobody is complaining.”

Even assuming they successfully wrestled the Trial Tokens back from the Taeul Sect, attempting the Great Journey with a mere four individuals left them with a slim chance of actually making it to the Murim Academy. They absolutely had to corner their targets before they managed to cross into Qingfeng County.

“…Senior Brother, their movement speed is abnormal.”

True to that observation, the moment the Taeul Sect contingent crossed the borders of Nanyue, they accelerated to a breakneck pace.

“Force an engagement! No matter how fast they are, a fight will compel them to halt!”

He dispatched a handful of highly agile martial artists to incite a skirmish, but regardless of these provocations, those lunatics merely pushed their velocity to even more absurd limits.

Furthermore, Hyeon Su had completely failed to account for a critical factor. While their quarry consisted of roughly a hundred individuals, his own forces approached nearly four hundred. Consequently, their marching line stretched out excessively, raising the dangerous possibility that they themselves might fall victim to a surprise assault before they could even close the distance with the Taeul Sect.

“Blast it, adjust our formation! Order a vanguard to press forward immediately so we do not drop their trail.”

Surely, those fools were flesh and blood just like anyone else. No matter how frantically they sprinted, physical exhaustion would eventually force them to take a breather. Provided the vanguard managed to keep tabs on them, they could spring their trap at their own leisure.

“Senior Brother, those lunatics show zero signs of stopping to rest.”

“The Hour of the Dog is nearly upon us.”

“What could they possibly be trying to achieve?”

Their relentless advance, which had commenced at daybreak, persisted unabated long after the sun slipped below the horizon and the moon climbed the night sky. Leaving the stamina of their targets aside, the disciples of the Wudang Sect were rapidly hitting their limits, having spent the entire day without consuming a single morsel of food.

“Halt our advance temporarily and make basic arrangements. Even those maniacs are bound by human limitations; they will have to sleep eventually. Deploy a secondary vanguard to ensure we capitalize on that exact window.”

Yet, Hyeon Su’s calculations proved entirely incorrect once again. Far from bedding down for the night, their targets forged ahead through the dark.

“Those absolute lunatics… Fine, let’s find out who breaks first.”

At this stage, Hyeon Su was acting out of pure, stubborn malice. Denying his men any actual sleep, he permitted them a brief two-hour window for Qi Circulation and Breathing exercises before immediately resuming the chase.

Regarding internal cultivation foundations, there was simply no contest between the elite members of Wudang and the ranks of the Taeul Sect. If those fools intended to drag this out into an endurance match, victory would undeniably favor the Wudang faction. True to his expectations, scouts finally arrived with intelligence that their targets had ground to a halt.

“Reports indicate that a portion of their force was spotted filing into the mountain pass at Mount Jindan.”

“Is that a fact?”

Evidently, the enemy had divided their strength—sending half ahead to maintain the illusion of a continuous retreat, while utilizing the remaining fighters to mount a defensive ambush intended to delay the chase. It was an elementary military maneuver, highly effective for a smaller contingent attempting to stall a massive army, but they had picked the worst possible target to use it against.

“They severely underestimate the might of our Wudang.”

Based on the frontline reports, while the central trail cutting through the gorge offered a distinct geographic advantage for a surprise strike, the terrain wasn’t steep enough to pose a significant threat to seasoned martial artists.

“What is the current gap separating our main force from the vanguard?”

“They have pulled ahead by roughly half a day’s journey.”

Had the space between them truly stretched that far? It seemed almost implausible that such a massive deficit could form, given that they had been engaged in a non-stop, three-day sprint.

“Senior Brother Hyeon Su, we must secure a moment to alleviate our exhaustion before we engage in combat.”

“What did you say?”

Turning around to glance at Tae Myeong, Hyeon Su noted that his junior’s complexion looked ghastly.

“We have pushed through three consecutive days without a single moment of sleep. Furthermore, we haven’t even had a decent meal to sustain us.”

It was only at this realization that Hyeon Su recognized the substantial gap in internal cultivation that existed between his younger disciples and himself.

“We will take two hours for individual adjustments, and then we move out immediately.”

“Sigh… Understood.”

The sheer resentment radiating from his disciples’ gazes was something that never would have occurred under normal circumstances. Yet, all of that friction would resolve itself by the end of the day. Once he successfully seized the Trial Tokens and demonstrated the severe consequences of disrespecting Wudang, neither his disgruntled martial brothers nor the hierarchy of Wudang would dwell on this incident. When all was said and done, he was an elite who had cleared Wudang’s internal testing—a trial widely reputed to be far more rigorous than the Murim Academy Exam itself.

When the moment to resume their march finally arrived, every single countenance remained deeply fatigued. A brief, fitful doze paired with a meager meal of dry provisions was a poor substitute for genuine, restorative rest.

“Grit your teeth and push through. Those dogs are bound to be just as drained as we are.”

By the time the sun fully dipped beneath the western ridges and the moon ascended to take its place, the forces of the Wudang Sect finally arrived at the base of Mount Jindan.

“They have stationed approximately thirty fighters along either ridge of the pass.”

“Is there an available trail to scale the high ground?”

“Not from our current approach.”

“Did they intentionally select this location because access is cut off?”

“That appears to be the case.”

“What are the measurements of the gorge walls?”

“The peaks reach roughly five zhang, while the shallower sections sit at around three zhang.”

Here lay the critical dividing line. This was precisely where the unbridgeable gulf between an orthodox, elite powerhouse and an insignificant, minor sect manifested. It all came down to a fundamental disparity in perspective—the sheer naivety of assuming a cliff face was insurmountable simply because they lacked the personal skill to scale it. For an initiated disciple of the Wudang Sect, clearing a height of five zhang required minimal effort.

“Jin So-un… what of that wretched fellow? He didn’t slip away ahead of the rest, did he?”

“Negative. He remains positioned on the flanks of the gorge alongside his fellow disciples.”

Hyeon Su offered a firm nod before addressing his subordinates.

“Our timeline suffered a minor setback, but we can execute our strategy as originally intended. Move out.”

Admittedly, occupying the lower ground would incur minor casualties. Even so, when weighing their nearly tenfold numerical superiority and the vast chasm in martial prowess, any initial losses would be easily absorbed and mitigated.

They seamlessly executed the Grass-Skimming Flight technique the moment they crossed into the mouth of the gorge. Though a massive force of nearly four hundred martial artists surged forward simultaneously, the only audible trace of their movement was the faint, gentle rustling of foliage.

Once they had advanced a considerable distance into the heart of the pass, a sudden, resounding crash echoed out.

—

## **THUD.**

Accompanied by a violent shudder that rippled through the dirt, an immense, man-sized boulder crashed down right into the middle of the path.

“Spring the trap! Engage!”

Following Hyeon Su’s roar, a volley of dozens of head-sized rocks rained down furiously from the ridges above.

While a handful of disciples were caught squarely by the plunging projectiles and knocked unconscious immediately, the rest adhered strictly to their pre-established directives, launching themselves off the ground to scramble up the precipitous walls of the pass.

“Jin So-un! Show yourself!”

Propelling himself off the surface of a descending boulder, Hyeon Su unleashed his internal energy to vault high into the open air. Using a jagged outcropping along the cliff side as a temporary foothold, Hyeon Su rapidly ascended to the very top of the ridge.

Yet, contrary to his expectations, Jin So-un was entirely absent from view. Instead, an unfamiliar, jarring noise filled the air.

*RUUUUUSH.*

‘Is that… rushing water?’

He had anticipated catching the disciples of the Taeul Sect red-handed as they hoisted and hurled stones down the precipice, making the sudden roar of a torrent completely baffling. How could the distinct sound of a raging river or stream echo across such an arid, rocky gorge?

Before he could fully process this logical contradiction or even bring his blade to bear, the reality of the situation dawned on him.

Hyeon Su witnessed it plainly.

He watched as the members of the Taeul Sect abruptly ceased their rock-throwing and firmly anchored themselves to the trunks of massive trees.

—

## **SPLASH!**

Directly above the ridge line, a colossal wall of water came roaring down, hurtling straight toward his position.

“What in the world is happening?!”