I Shouldn't Have Joined the Martial Arts Alliance - Chapter 7

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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Rather pointlessly joining the Murim Alliance — Episode 7
“……Damn it…….”
This wasn’t what he wanted.
He’d had no intention whatsoever of going this far…….
That damned brat had kept picking at Ma-in’s nature, rubbing salt in the wound, fanning the flames.
Eventually, a small spark caught fire, and the fanning only made that spark grow into a roaring blaze.
‘……He must be dead, right?’
That’s right.
Hadn’t he poured out all his Inner Force?
No.
The brat had managed to weather two attacks fairly well. Looking at it that way, perhaps……he might not be dead.
But his insides must have been thoroughly shattered—he’d be a cripple at best.
‘There’s nothing for it.’
It was a path of his own choosing, wasn’t it?
‘A madman.’
Isn’t he truly mad? There was no need to go that far.
Did he really want to die so badly?
‘Could it be?’
But regret now would be pointless.
A moment of silence fell over the Gambling House, but it shattered just as quickly.
“Saurin!”
Jang Chun bolted toward Saurin, who lay embedded in the wall, crying out his name.
“Saurin!”
Jang Chun’s younger brothers and Saurin’s own older brothers cried out too.
But then, as if by deception, the feet of Jang Chun and his brothers—who had been rushing forward with eyebrows raised—came to an abrupt stop.
“……?”
Between the gaps of the shattered wall, Saurin’s hand suddenly thrust upward.
Crunch, crunch.
Then Saurin emerged, pushing his head through the broken wall, straightening his spine with unblemished dignity as though nothing had happened at all.
“I’m fine. So don’t make a fuss—return to your places.”
Everyone’s expressions were dumbfounded.
Thoughts that he was surely dead—no, more than dead—had filled every mind. Yet now Saurin moved before them, perfectly sound.
So Jang Chun asked.
“……Are you really okay?”
By all appearances, there was no way he could be.
A deafening crash had shaken the Gambling House so violently that the building might have collapsed entirely—that was the moment of impact.
“Yes, I’m fine.”
“Saurin…….”
But his appearance told a different story entirely.
The clothes he wore were torn to tatters in places, his hair disheveled and wild—he looked like a beggar, nothing more.
The only mercy was that nowhere did he bear a broken bone or a gaping wound. Not a trace of blood, not a single spot of crimson.
“What are you doing? Go back to your places.”
“You’re really okay?”
“I told you I am.”
“Well……all right then. I suppose that’s settled. Whew.”
They’d thought disaster had struck, but if Saurin himself said he was fine, they had no choice but to believe him.
When Saurin walked steadily back to stand before Ma-in, setting aside his tattered appearance, Ma-in felt utterly baffled.
“……You’re really all right?”
It was impossible.
“As you can see.”
Indeed.
By all appearances, Saurin was unharmed.
“…….”
‘Surely……I gave it my all…….’
He was so untouched that Ma-in doubted whether he’d truly exerted his full strength. The impact had surely sent the boy careening at tremendous speed into that wall. Hadn’t it?
At minimum, internal injuries should have followed.
If this were real.
‘He is no apprentice of mine…….’
If this were real.
But it is real, isn’t it?
This isn’t a dream.
“……What in the world is happening?”
“I was prepared for the shock.”
“Surely……?”
He’d known that she would come at him with everything she had?
“Yes, that’s right.”
‘……That’s it. I’m done.’
The thought of subduing Saurin with force and carrying him away unconscious was no longer worth considering.
Now there was only one path: he had to kill him. It was the only way he’d walk out of this alive.
Ma-in’s momentum shifted with the change in his resolve. Saurin sensed it immediately.
“Now things are getting interesting.”
“Madman. If death is what you’re so desperate for, I’ll gladly oblige.”
“I never said anything like that. Why do you keep putting words in my mouth?”
“You little bastard…….”
The boy’s tongue moved like a viper’s, always working to fray Ma-in’s nerves.
“Here I come!”
Saurin seized the moment when Ma-in’s focus flickered.
But.
“This time I’m coming too!”
A life-or-death wager with no room for compromise—and by chance, it began in earnest in a Gambling House.
Clang!
Clang, clang, clang!
Terrifying speed and power hurtled back and forth in an instant.
Ma-in fought to kill.
Saurin fought to save the Murim Alliance’s warrior and, beyond that, to grow even a fraction stronger.
Their intentions were entirely at odds, yet in this moment—as blades crossed—both were martial artists of the Jianghu.
Martial artists are those who seek something through martial discipline.
Whether that something became power, wealth, honor, or growth, they trained relentlessly, day and night, each toward their own aim.
And then there were those who watched these two with desperate hope in their hearts.
“……Wow…….”
“……Brother, was Saurin always this strong?”
“……Didn’t you know?”
“……I didn’t.”
Jang Chun hadn’t known either.
“Can you see it?”
The movements between Ma-in and Saurin came too fast for the eye to follow.
“……How could I? You’re younger and can’t see it either. My eyes are no better.”
“Right?”
“Yeah, exactly.”
Jang Chun and his brothers couldn’t possibly track the speed with their own eyes.
That was when it happened.
“Saurin!”
Jang Chun’s brothers cried out in alarm. Jang Chun’s gaze snapped toward Saurin as well.
“No!”
“……Blood…….”
It was true.
Ma-in’s blade had finally torn through the flesh of Saurin’s forearm. Yet Saurin showed no sign of panic.
Rather.
“Now it feels real.”
Ma-in’s lips, which had started to curl at landing a blow on Saurin, froze mid-smile.
‘……Now it feels real?’
Only now?
“……You’re insane.”
How long had this life-or-death struggle been going on, and he was only now beginning to feel it?
It was maddening. It was suffocating.
So what had that boy been doing all this time? What of Ma-in, who had poured every ounce of his consciousness into this fight?
He wanted nothing more than to rip that boy’s mouth out so he could never speak again.
As if reading Ma-in’s mind, Saurin’s lips curved upward.
‘I’m getting used to it.’
Saurin was gradually adapting to Ma-in’s movements.
“You’ll need to be prepared.”
“Prepared……? You’re the one who drew blood.”
“Exactly. Since I’ve drawn blood, you need to be prepared. Well then, here I come!”
Saurin struck the ground with tremendous force and launched himself at Ma-in with the speed of lightning.
Slash!
Whoosh!
‘……He’s gotten faster.’
And Ma-in could feel it—as time wore on, the boy was growing subtly stronger with each passing moment.
‘It shouldn’t be possible…….’
Impossible or not, if you delved into the annals of the Martial World, such a thing was not entirely unheard of.
Martial artists of this sort were commonly called those with a Heavenly Martial Body or a Limitless Martial Body. Once every thousand years, such mad geniuses would emerge and overturn the Martial World.
They possessed bodies born for the martial arts themselves.
‘Could it be……this boy?’
It couldn’t be. No, it must not be. A prodigy like this appearing among the righteous sects instead of the Dark Sect?
Absolutely not. If he could not be brought into the Dark Sect, then he must be killed here and now—another pressing reason why.
Of course, Ma-in could be mistaken. The boy’s growth period might simply coincide with this moment by chance.
Yet one thing was certain: the child before his eyes was no ordinary opponent. So Ma-in steeled his resolve. As a martial artist of the Dark Sect, it was his mission to ensure this boy could grow no further.
By any means necessary.
Taking Saurin’s words to heart, Ma-in clenched his teeth and hardened his determination.
Though this ‘preparation’ was not quite the same as the boy’s.
Regardless.
‘Come then! I shall burn this body to illuminate the Dark Sect’s future!’
Clang!
Blade met blade.
No—
The resolve to illuminate the Dark Sect’s future, and the determination to save one life and grow stronger still, collided with their very existences as the stakes.
A gamble.
Success would illuminate the Dark Sect’s path forward, offer the chance to save this one life and create the opportunity for growth.
Clang, clang, clang!
They poured everything they possessed into their blades to draw each other’s blood.
Slice.
“Damn it.”
Crimson blood sprayed from Ma-in’s ribs.
His eyes went wide as saucers.
“……This bastard…….”
Truly……, was he a monster?
Did the boy possess that very genius Ma-in himself had feared?
It could not be. Never!
Renewing his resolve once more, Ma-in gathered every scrap of his strength and threw himself at Saurin with the fury of the damned.
Clang, clang, clang!
Each time their blades collided, vicious Sword Aura rippled outward in all directions, leaving sharp marks upon floor, wall, table, and pillar alike.
Marks that would have drawn blood from human flesh—mere traces of Inner Force collapsing and dissipating were wound enough.
That was how completely Ma-in and Saurin were fighting.
Slice.
Ma-in’s blade carved a wound across Saurin’s thigh and passed through.
Slice.
Saurin left his own wound upon Ma-in’s forearm.
Yet despite their bleeding wounds, neither Ma-in nor Saurin wavered—they kept their focus entirely on the opponent before them.
Blood was expected, something they had prepared themselves for. What mattered now was whose blood would flow more, and whose would run dry first.
Clang, clang, clang!
Through endless exchanges of offense and defense, both their Inner Force reserves were depleting, growing exhausted, and their clothes were staining steadily red with each passing of the blade.
Ma-in and Saurin both stepped back to catch their breath.
Ma-in hurled words at Saurin with weary eyes.
“This is truly your last chance to live. You really have no intention of joining the Dark Sect?”
“Since you’re thinking of everything you’ll lose, is that why you’re thinking the cost has already been paid?”
The implication was that facing death, even Ma-in felt fear now.
“Hah. Do you truly mean to say you still fear death so little?”
He had not expected this.
Not even when he had pursued this boy to this very place.
Yet as he crossed blades with the child before him, Ma-in could feel the shadow of death creeping closer with each exchange.
Yes.
Of course the thought of survival crossed my mind.
Who in this world welcomes death?
“You seem to understand it, though?”
“……What are you talking about?”
“I’m growing stronger even now.”
‘This bastard…….’
So he was consumed entirely by the pursuit of strength?
Life and death meant nothing to him at all?
“Just what kind of creature are you…….”
Ma-in’s head shook of its own accord.
This was truly terrifying.
If Ma-in lost this fight and died, if the boy survived…….
That creature would grow to a horrifying degree. The prediction he’d desperately refused to believe was coming to pass.
“That’s why it’s so enjoyable. No—I’m about to lose my mind from how much I’m enjoying it.”
He truly was about to lose his mind.
Why had such a madman appeared in the Jianghu? For what reason?
And that made it all the more terrifying.
Terrifying in a way that drove him to madness.
And now he could see it.
His own death.
The darkness that would shroud the Dark Sect.
The tempest that would sweep across the Jianghu.
‘Since I’m going to die anyway…….’
Ma-in made his decision.
With his sacrifice alone, he could prevent all of it.
‘We’ll go together!’
Mutual Destruction.
Once Ma-in had decided, there was no reason to hesitate.
Around Ma-in, a tempestuous energy whirled and churned. He was drawing out everything he had.
Even the Innate Heavenly Qi that was connected to a Martial Artist’s very lifeblood.
“To that extent?”
The corners of Ma-in’s mouth twisted savagely.
“Are you afraid now?”
“No. I think I’ll be able to enjoy this even more.”
“Madman.”
Nothing surprised him anymore. No fear, no dread.
With everything laid to rest, his heart felt considerably lighter. No one would acknowledge Ma-in’s sacrifice, but even so, he felt a kind of pride in it.
And then, in that instant.
Bang!
Without warning, the sound of the Gambling House door shattering filled the space.

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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