The Martial Genius Who Remembers Everything Novel - Chapter 84

Chapter 84
## Chapter 84. Hell Regular Exam’s ‘Second’ Trial

Back when I was part of the Sojeong Squad, desperately escaping from the Demonic Practitioners, I caught my very first glimpse of the ocean.

It was an expanse far more immense and limitless than the Yangtze River, and its brine left such a pungent aftertaste that it felt as though it were saturated with precious salt, making it completely undrinkable.

At that moment, we completely put aside the terrifying reality that the Demonic Cult’s tracking forces were hot on our heels, threatening our very survival, and stepped closer to gaze upon the endless water.

The thick, heavy mire swallowed our feet with each step, proving to be a massive hindrance, yet the breathtaking and magnificent spectacle of raw nature spanning the horizon made us utterly oblivious to the struggle.

We stood there, completely entranced by the vast sea for a long time, until

the tide gradually began to roll in.

Initially, the water merely lapped at our ankles, but before we could even comprehend the danger, it had risen all the way to our chests. By the time we desperately scrambled to retreat toward dry land, the ocean had already pulled us under.

That vast body of water instilled in us a profound dread that far eclipsed the terror of fleeing from the Demonic Practitioners.

And right now, it felt as though we were submerged in that exact same terrifying deep.

“Hah…… hah…… Breathing is becoming nearly impossible, Senior Brother.”

The overwhelming wave of murderous intent pressed down upon them from every angle, mirroring seawater that had risen past the crowns of their heads.

The complexions of the young ones were rapidly draining of color.

Dong-ryong, who at the very least possessed the protection of the Demon-Purging Spirit Beads, appeared to be coping reasonably well, yet I could not bring myself to transfer the Demon-Purging Spirit Beads to either Geum-pyo or Eun-ho.

The absolute instant those beads left his neck, Dong-ryong’s volatile Killing Star Nature might burst awake under the weight of this suffocating malice.

“We must ascend further.”

The forces that had deployed the Heavenly Net and Earthly Snare from the base of Mount Makgan were relentlessly projecting an aura of slaughter, seemingly determined to submerge the entire peak within it.

Both the Yellow Sword Sect and the Blue Saber Gang had organized themselves into five-man units to maintain the Heavenly Net and Earthly Snare, whereas the remaining factions gathered in larger bands ranging from ten to fifteen individuals to reinforce the Heavenly Net and Earthly Snare.

They were effectively making up for the gaps in their individual martial expertise through sheer numbers.

As we bolted toward the higher ground,

my attention was involuntarily pulled toward a sudden uproar echoing from the lower slopes.

Flutter—!

The avian creatures that had been hiding silently beneath the heavy aura of malice suddenly took flight, swarming over the canopy simultaneously.

Rustle—!

Even without a breath of wind, the entire woodland shuddered violently.

Directly after, a chaotic stampede of woodland beasts, disregarding their own natural hierarchies as if fleeing a supreme apex predator, came rushing down the mountainside.

ROAAAR!

GRRRAH!

Incredibly, bringing up the rear of this frantic animal stampede were massive bears and apex tigers. These two fierce predators were salivating profusely, crying out in sheer panic as though they had come face-to-face with an absolute existential threat.

“Release!”

Following a loud command, a barrage of throwing swords and sharp arrows rained down from all sides.

Grrrhh.

Grraah!

The Hidden Weapons raining from every direction tore through everything in their path, from tiny hares to deer, boars, and stags, rendering them unrecognizable pincushions before they collapsed lifelessly.

The bears and tigers charged forward desperately despite being riddled with arrows, but the martial artists maintaining the Heavenly Net and Earthly Snare swarmed the formation synchronously, butchering the beasts in a fleeting moment.

The apex creatures that once dominated Mount Makgan were cut down like fragile weeds.

The entire sequence unfolded in the span of a single respiration.

Gulp.

The brothers Geum-pyo, Eun-ho, and Dong-ryong swallowed hard, feeling as though they were witnessing a preview of their own demise.

“We cannot afford to linger. Move out.”

“……U-understood.”

“Yes!”

Shaking off their paralysis, the trio of Geum-pyo, Eun-ho, and Dong-ryong resumed their frantic ascent to avoid suffocating under the crushing weight of the malice.

Yet, much like a rising tide, the velocity at which the pressure mounted after overtaking their chests was exponentially faster than when it first lapped at their feet.

“Huff. Huff. Huff.”

The strain was rapidly escalating past a point that the Moving Circulation technique could mitigate.

They had reached the very apex of the mountain.

There was simply no higher ground remaining to escape the suffocating malice.

“Pay close attention. You must hold this position for exactly two quarters of an hour.”

“Excuse me?”

Eun-ho blinked in sheer bewilderment, whispering hoarsely.

“……By the time that marks passes, I reckon I’ll have lost at least an arm.”

“Do not fret. I happen to be well-versed in the esoteric techniques of the One-Armed Flying Sword. Should you lose a limb, I shall bequeath that martial style to you.”

“……Then I shall do my absolute best to survive.”

Without a second thought, I threw myself off the precipitous edge of the cliff face.

“……”

The wry smile on Eun-ho’s face instantly vanished, replaced by a rigid expression.

Geum-pyo and Dong-ryong, completely blind to the strategy, turned their gaze toward Eun-ho.

“What just happened? Did you and Senior Brother coordinate something beforehand?”

“Not at all.”

“Then why on earth did you agree so readily just now?”

Eun-ho kept his eyes locked firmly onto Geum-pyo.

“Do you honestly believe our Eldest Senior Brother would simply leave us to die?”

Geum-pyo, who had been on the verge of shouting at the absurdity of the situation, paused blankly for a brief second before offering his reply.

“No, he wouldn’t.”

“Then that is all that matters. Besides, even if he did abandon us, we already resolved ourselves to that outcome long ago. Am I wrong?”

“……Look at you, trying to act all heroic.”

Geum-pyo unsheathed his blade, stepping forward by two paces.

He assumed the vanguard position of the White Tiger Sword Formation.

It was an unwavering stance indicating he would not budge a single inch, regardless of who stood before him.

Eun-ho stepped into position on the left flank.

Following a brief moment of hesitation, Dong-ryong anchored the right side.

“Two quarters of an hour. Just two quarters! Make absolutely sure you keep all your limbs intact.”

Hearing Geum-pyo’s fierce declaration, the remaining two brothers bellowed the familiar rallying cry they had repeated countless times during their collective training of the Sword Formation.

“Let’s move!”

“Let’s move!”

—

Plummeting through the open air down the steep cliff face, I spotted the cavernous opening formed by two overlapping stone monoliths, precisely as detailed in the intelligence brief. I immediately discharged my Flying Dragon Claw to anchor myself and swung inward.

Navigating the cramped interior of the cavern, I encountered the small, moisture-laden oasis that smelled strongly of damp earth, matching the records perfectly. Pushing past the water source, a heavy, pungent stench reminiscent of a stagnant marshland filled the entire space.

“I wonder if the creature is in a state of torpor.”

Across the expansive cavern walls, which loomed wide enough for several grown men to stand abreast, golden, tile-shaped objects were embedded erratically.

They lacked the radiant luster of true gold, appearing instead as a dull, jaundiced hue akin to parched, cracked clay.

“What an insatiable appetite.”

In a distant recess of the cave lay a massive mound of discarded skeletons, clearly the remnants of the beast’s past meals.

The pile ranged from skeletal remains of smaller creatures like roes and rabbits to the heavy frameworks of apex bears and tigers.

“Don’t serpents typically digest their meals entirely whole?”

Scrrrrrape—

Had my intrusion broken its slumber?

Or perhaps entities that had evolved beyond standard biological limitations simply had no need for hibernation?

A grating noise, sounding like metal grinding against metal, reverberated through the cavern walls and assaulted my ears.

Moments later, a pair of crimson eyes ignited within the pitch-black abyss.

“So you are the true sovereign of Mount Makgan.”

A massive skull easily rivaling the size of a bull.

Glistening golden plates enveloping its entire form.

Before me stood a formidable creature that had survived for two centuries: the Golden-Scaled Blue-Line Snake.

—

Was it roughly three hundred…… or perhaps closer to five hundred?

Dong-ryong’s mind drifted back to the grand celebration where every single student of the Taeul Sect had assembled for a massive banquet.

‘That truly was a magnificent time.’

Snap out of it.

This was hardly the moment to lose himself in nostalgia.

Right in front of him, the complexions of Geum-pyo and Eun-ho had gone completely white.

After successfully deflecting a barrage of arrows from every angle and dodging targeted throwing blades, the enemy forces began pressing inward through the dense cloud of malice.

The adversaries’ strikes felt sluggish, as though they were executing their forms beneath a heavy body of water.

Compared to the blinding speed of their own synchronized Sword Formation practices, the enemy felt incredibly slow.

If the opposition moved at such a sluggish pace, a catastrophe should not be happening…….

Yet, he could not afford to break position recklessly.

An undisciplined movement would cause the entire Sword Formation to shatter.

He was painfully aware.

His martial brothers had not slowed down in the slightest.

By comparison, the enemy’s offensive wasn’t exceptionally swift either.

Through sheer grit, they were managing to parry the oncoming assaults.

Before long, however, fresh lacerations began to mar their skin.

‘Can we truly survive under this onslaught?’

Their Eldest Senior Brother had commanded them to endure for a mere two quarters of an hour, yet any path to survival seemed entirely out of reach.

A grim realization struck him deep within his gut.

In a few moments, his brothers were going to perish.

Realities that had once eluded his understanding were now manifesting as vivid, undeniable instincts.

He could practically picture it.

The endless mountain of casualties he had witnessed throughout his life flashed before him.

And resting among those lifeless forms were Geum-pyo and Eun-ho.

Even if their Eldest Senior Brother managed to return precisely at the designated mark, there would be no saving them.

The situation had been an impossibility from the very beginning.

This was his first time experiencing the suffocating pressure of what their Eldest Senior Brother called the Heavenly Net and Earthly Snare, yet its underlying nature was instantly clear to him.

This strategy was engineered to hunt down human beings as if they were common game.

In all honesty, even if their Eldest Senior Brother were standing right beside them, it wouldn’t alter the grim trajectory.

‘Furthermore, there are truly terrifying individuals among them.’

The elite martial artists who had positioned themselves flanking Jong Seo-gang of the Yellow Sword Sect.

Those individuals possessed a genuinely frightening level of power.

On an individual basis, they might fail to match up against Eldest Senior Brother, but if they coalesced their strengths into a coordinated Sword Formation just like Dong-ryong and his brothers did, even Eldest Senior Brother would find himself pushed to the absolute brink.

And currently, scattered throughout the ranks of the martial artists executing the Heavenly Net and Earthly Snare, those formidable figures were embedded like hidden vipers.

‘It’s all because of me, completely because of my weakness…….’

He understood perfectly well that he was nothing more than a liability to his brothers and Eldest Senior Brother.

Even so, he had stubbornly insisted on accompanying them.

Because the thought of being abandoned to his own devices filled him with dread.

Because he flatly refused to acknowledge his own profound uselessness when left alone.

The unfolding disaster was the direct consequence of his own selfish obstinacy.

Had he chosen to retreat initially, would Geum-pyo and Eun-ho have abandoned the field as well?

If they had done so, they wouldn’t be facing an imminent demise in this wretched place.

“Dong-ryong!”

Geum-pyo suddenly lunged forward, intercepting a sluggish blade that had been aimed directly at Dong-ryong.

Despite knowing full well that Dong-ryong possessed superior speed in this state, Geum-pyo instinctively shielded him without fail.

“Brother Geum-pyo!”

Eun-ho instantly moved to secure Geum-pyo’s exposed flank.

Once more, their defensive Sword Formation fractured.

It was a recurring, agonizing pattern.

He continually placed his brothers in mortal peril.

“Re-establish the Sword Formation immediately!”

Just as they attempted to lock back into their cohesive defensive positions, a pair of enemy combatants drove themselves forcefully between Geum-pyo and Eun-ho.

In a flash, their unified front was severed, forcing them to fight isolated battles against their attackers.

The defensive trajectories of Geum-pyo and Eun-ho desperately sought one another out.

Even as fresh wounds multiplied across their bodies, both of them kept their anxious gazes locked squarely onto him.

“Brother Eun-ho!”

Dong-ryong rapidly dispatched the adversaries who had foolishly exposed their backs to him, sprinting to close the distance.

This could not continue.

At this current trajectory, every single one of them would inevitably be slaughtered.

“Dong-ryong! Take cover behind me!”

With their complexions turning increasingly dark from exhaustion and poison, Geum-pyo and Eun-ho abandoned the strict dictates of the Sword Formation entirely, physically shoving him into the rear position.

He had not journeyed to this mountain to be a sheltered burden.

“Brother…….”

“Banish those worries! I will ensure you walk out of this place alive and breathing!”

“Dammit. Geum-pyo, realistically speaking, wouldn’t it make far more sense for me to be the one who surrenders an arm?”

“Absolutely not! I’m much better suited for it! That way, you can step up and manage the mill!”

“Are you seriously bringing up the family inheritance at a time like this?!”

Even with a horde of lethal adversaries projecting a suffocating aura of slaughter mere feet away, his two older brothers refused to abandon their characteristic banter.

In spite of himself, a faint smile tugged at Dong-ryong’s lips.

Seeing this, Eun-ho offered a wide, reassuring grin.

“Precisely, Dong-ryong. This is nothing more than a minor hurdle. Keep your head up. Everything will turn out perfectly fine.”

No, there wasn’t a shred of truth in those words.

Eun-ho was weaving a transparent falsehood to comfort him.

And Dong-ryong desired nothing more than to listen to his brother’s ridiculous jests for a long time to come.

‘…….’

The heavy internal debate he had wrestled with up until this very second reached a definitive conclusion.

Reaching up… he unfastened the Demon-Purging Spirit Beads resting against his collarbone.

“Dong-ryong! I explicitly ordered you to keep those on!”

In a spectacular surge, a torrent of raw, unbridled energy flooded through his entire anatomy.

His physical form, which felt as though it were on the verge of total collapse just a moment prior, experienced a complete and utter revitalization, while a scorching sensation hammered wildly inside his chest.

“Brother……. Let us ensure that every single one of us returns home safely together.”

Following Eun-ho’s example, Dong-ryong now voiced an equally transparent lie.

Thump, thump.

His erratically racing pulse settled into a profoundly tranquil, icy rhythm.

Conversely, his vision flared with a scorching, incandescent heat as if his eyes were actively combusting.

One, two, three.

Flawless martial trajectories mapped themselves with absolute clarity inside his mind’s eye.

Dong-ryong seamlessly integrated his physical movements into that mental tapestry.

“Gah.”

“Ugh.”

“Keukh.”

Three adversaries collapsed to the earth in the span of a heartbeat.

Five, six…… nine.

A life extinguished with every single inhalation.

As if the inherent revulsion and terror of his very first kill had been entirely erased, his anatomy operated with an eerie, terrifying fluidity, effortlessly robbing his targets of their lifeforces.

Fear gripped him.

No, that was incorrect; he felt no fear whatsoever.

The singular, true horror that plagued his mind was the prospect of Geum-pyo, Eun-ho, and their Eldest Senior Brother perishing on this mountain.

To banish that horrific outcome, he unleashed his blade with reckless, unrestrained abandonment.

……Because if he channeled his martial fury in this manner, the sole corpse left rotting on this peak would be his own.

“Wretched fools! You incompetent curs can’t even suppress a solitary brat!”

Through his highly amplified auditory senses, the grating shout of Jong Seo-gang pierced the din of battle.

Immediately following the command, the formidable warrior stationed beside him surged forward with lethal intent.

‘A genuinely dangerous opponent.’

This individual occupied an entirely different echelon compared to the previous rabble.

The mental battle choreography he mapped out against this newcomer fractured repeatedly.

The breakdown of that mental image could mean only one definitive outcome: his own demise.

Yet, he refused to falter.

Clang, clang, clang.

In the brief flash it took to execute three distinct exchanges, the formidable warrior’s eyes distended in sheer disbelief, a muffled grunt escaping his throat.

“Khmm.”

The mental battlefield reconfigured itself once more.

This time, the visualization appeared roughly halfway unified.

Clang, clang, clang, clang, clang.

After trading five successive strikes in the blink of an eye, the elite warrior’s front silks were shredded cleanly away.

“What manner of creature are you……?”

The mental mapping crystallized into absolute completion.

Victory was within his grasp.

At the terminus of the visualized path, the formidable warrior was drowning in his own blood.

Just as Dong-ryong prepared to thrust his blade forward for the decisive blow,

Clang, clang, clang, clang, clang, clang, clang.

An additional pair of elite martial artists entered the fray, launching a synchronized assault.

Now, the mental mapping failed to materialize entirely.

“The Killing Star Nature…… the brat is a vessel for the Killing Star Nature!”

“Are you implying he is the Heavenly Killing Star?”

“That abominable abomination?”

Waves of intense revulsion and vitriol washed over him, piercing his psyche.

It stung deeply.

No, he felt absolutely no pain.

Even if he were deemed an absolute abomination, as long as his actions guaranteed the survival of his brothers and Eldest Senior Brother…….

Dong-ryong hurled his physical form back into the melee, desperately seeking to forge a new mental trajectory.

Geum-pyo and Eun-ho made frantic attempts to slice through the opposition to aid him, but a wall of standard martial artists effectively cut off their advance.

‘Stay back, please…….’

If only these adversaries could be wiped from existence, his Eldest Senior Brother and his kin could walk away from this alive.

‘So I beg of you, do not come any closer…….’

Amidst the mental combat images that kept fracturing into pieces, a vivid crimson pigment began to splatter across his consciousness.

It was a visualization he had never encountered before.

The choreography rendered in that bloody crimson hue flowed seamlessly without a single disruption.

It provided a definitive path to slaughtering the opposition precisely as Dong-ryong desperately desired.

However, at the absolute terminal point of this crimson tapestry, Dong-ryong’s own lifeless form lay cold on the earth.

It was an impossible phenomenon born from an insatiable, endless drive to extinguish human life, coupled with a fanatical, unyielding obsession that demanded execution even at the absolute forfeiture of his own existence.

-Dong-ryong! Snap out of it this instant!

-If you persist in losing yourself, we will abandon you right here!

The desperate cries of his brothers, which had echoed from a great distance back on Mount Tianmu, reverberated in his mind.

The sheer urgency in those familiar voices had barely managed to anchor his drifting consciousness back then.

For some inexplicable reason, the moment those familial voices echoed in his memory, even the residual terror of his impending demise evaporated into nothingness.

“He is an existential threat that must be liquidated immediately!”

“The legendary Heavenly Killing Star……?”

With the absolute erasure of his fear of death, a torrential reservoir of latent vitality erupted through his meridians with unprecedented force.

He channeled the profound energies of the Taeul True Scripture well past the parameters of his actual cultivation level.

Like an epicurean intent on savoring a grand feast down to the final morsel.

Like a master calligrapher rendering a flawless stroke upon parchment.

The entity known as the Heavenly Killing Star extracted every ounce of Dong-ryong’s Latent Power to orchestrate a magnificent, definitive slaughter.

Was this truly the final chapter of his journey?

Would he never again share a laugh with his brothers, or witness his Eldest Senior Brother take his rightful place within the prestigious Murim Academy?

It brought a profound sense of melancholy.

If only he could engage in idle play alongside his brothers and Eldest Senior Brother just one more time.

If only he could bear witness to Eldest Senior Brother proudly stepping through the gates of the Murim Academy…….

Ultimately, he resolved to purge any lingering avarice from his heart.

If his sacrifice bought the absolute safety of his brothers, then had he not fulfilled his ultimate purpose in this life?

He threw his entire being into the trajectory of the crimson visualization, an path that concluded explicitly with his own mortality.

Emulating the manner in which his Eldest Senior Brother had previously plunged himself without hesitation into mortal peril during their past trials.

Dong-ryong likewise surged forward, maintaining an aura of absolute serenity.

At that precise juncture,

“Have you grown men no sense of decency? Arraying yourselves in such numbers against a solitary child.”

Dong-ryong’s ears twitched in sheer disbelief.

It couldn’t be.

Already?

Completely oblivious to the lethal blades converging on him from the front, he forcefully wrenched his gaze backward.

Standing there was none other than his Eldest Senior Brother.

“Eldest…….”

Dong-ryong’s jaw dropped mid-sentence, utterly paralyzed by the spectacle.

The surrounding adversaries, who had been actively driving their weapons toward Dong-ryong’s vital points, froze in absolute shock, halting their weapons mid-strike.

Their Eldest Senior Brother was sprinting toward the battle lines at breakneck speed, closely pursued by a colossal golden serpent whose sheer mass easily rivaled that of a fortified mountain stronghold.

A fierce, uncharacteristic expletive erupted from the lips of the usually stoic Gam Cheol-jin.

“What in the absolute hell is that monstrosity?!”