I Obtained Guan Yu's Martial Arts - Chapter 1

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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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Obtaining Guan Yu’s Martial Art Episode 001
Guan Hui (1)
The world abounds with prestigious families blessed by renowned ancestors.
The Luoyang Cao Family, descended from Cao Mengde.
The Nanjing Sun Family, descended from Sun Zhongmou.
The Sichuan Liu Family, descended from Liu Xuande.
And beyond them, the Hahou Family, the Gongsun Family, and others.
These pampered clan-men still rode the coattails of brilliant forbears, and it sickened Guan Hui to watch them.
Every time he laid eyes on them, his gut twisted with resentment.
‘Cursed by their rotten luck, every one of them.’
Truth be told, the Guan Family’s ancestors were no less exceptional than theirs.
Among the Guan clan’s forebears stood Guan Yu, a commander whose prowess was legendary in his age.
Guan Yu—a warrior who stood as the enemy of ten thousand.
A supreme general who swept across the realm astride the Red Hare Horse alone.
He was called the pinnacle of martial mastery, acknowledged by all under heaven.
‘Truly a towering figure—if not for one catastrophic flaw.’
While others hailed Guan Yu as the greatest, his own descendant Guan Hui harbored far more grievance.
Or rather, he carried one singular, tremendous complaint.
‘Why on earth didn’t he leave behind a Secret Manual?’
That complaint centered on a single absence: Secret Techniques.
Unlike the other generals who graced the age of the Three Kingdoms, Guan Hui’s ancestor had left behind neither Martial Art manuals nor Incantations of any kind.
‘Sigh. Ancestor. This is why I’m struggling so miserably now.’
A martial family without Secret Techniques was like steamed bread without filling.
The Guan Family, once called a Great Family after pacifying an entire city in ages past, had now dwindled into a provincial backwater clan.
A precarious household clinging to the brink of annihilation—only ten retainers remained.
Such was the Guan Family Estate.
And its young Family Head was none other than Guan Hui.
A third-rate martial artist barely twenty summers old.
And a test subject—number Five—bound by contract to the Black Path for the family’s sake.
Szzzzhhh—
Guan Hui plunged his fevered head into a bucket of water, and steam billowed up from its surface.
The burning toxin that had seeped into his skull met the cold water, creating the phenomenon.
“Ahhh.”
Having expunged the Heat Fire Poison’s venom, Guan Hui slumped into a chair, his face etched with exhaustion.
‘I’m drained.’
Living as the head of a household proved far more grueling than one might imagine.
Especially when that household teetered on the precipice of ruin from debt.
“Good work.”
Garam, the keeper of Honnyak-bang, pressed a silver coin into Guan Hui’s palm.
It was the day’s payment Guan Hui had earned as a test subject.
“That’s it? Why so little?”
Garam only shrugged at Guan Hui’s dissatisfaction.
“It was a mild poison. Today wasn’t an Extreme Poison, was it?”
“…Damn it all.”
Guan Hui glared at Garam with irritation, then clutched the silver coin and stepped outside.
“Sigh.”
The winter wind struck him, and Guan Hui exhaled a long, weary breath.
It had been a full year since he’d become a test subject for those Black Path wretches.
One might have grown accustomed by now, yet the ordeal of having vile toxins driven into his body remained exhausting and grueling each time.
By this point, one begins to wonder.
Why would Guan Hui, Family Head of the Guan clan, volunteer himself as a test subject to the Black Path?
‘Money, of course. What else?’
Running a household demanded considerable wealth, and restoring a collapsing family demanded vastly more.
Guan Hui had allied the Guan Estate with Honnyak-bang of the Black Path to repay the debts against which his family had mortgaged its very existence.
In exchange for placing himself at their disposal as a poison test subject, they paid him for each experiment.
‘I’d prefer to earn coin some other way, but what choice do I have?’
The methods by which a martial artist could earn coin were manifold.
Martial contests, bodyguard work, escort missions, protection duties—the list went on.
But for a third-rate martial artist, there existed not a single viable path to wealth.
The world showed no mercy to third-rate warriors seeking employment.
Guan Hui, the Family Head of the Guan Family with nothing left but a meager Basic Mental Method and Fist Art, had only one option available to him: manual labor.
But even such pittance could not pay back the interest on the debt, much less the principal itself.
That’s why Guan Hui joined hands with those Heukdo thugs and became an experimental subject.
It was the only way to pay off the debt in his own generation.
‘At the very least, I won’t pass this burden down to the next generation.’
Debt passed down through generations dragged people into the depths of despair, consuming them with frustration.
Guan Hui was willing to sacrifice himself entirely if it meant sparing the next generation of the Guan Family from that weight.
Though, come to think of it, there might not even be a next generation anymore.
‘At least my body is sturdy. That’s something.’
Whether by fortune or misfortune, Guan Hui was born with exceptional innate body strength.
Possessing double the muscle and stamina of ordinary men, he’d spent the past year ingesting every poison imaginable and remained unblemished.
Even as all the other experimental subjects died or became too broken to continue.
Guan Hui’s innate strength had been renowned since childhood.
At five, he crushed river stones in his bare hands. By ten, he could cleave timber with a knife-hand strike.
“But what good is it? Without martial arts.”
Innate strength alone meant nothing if he lacked the martial arts to refine and direct that power.
No matter how strong, a crude, slow punch thrown haphazardly wouldn’t find any opponent willing to stand against it.
“Sigh.”
Guan Hui exhaled deeply and stopped before the main compound of the Guan Family estate.
The word “great family” was laughable—the dilapidated main gate and walls crumbling toward collapse said it all.
Inside the compound, grass had grown waist-high, and the martial hall that once buzzed with retainers now held nothing but spiderwebs.
The sight seemed almost like witnessing the very symbol of a ruined clan.
‘Great family? This is a fallen family.’
Guan Hui laughed bitterly, watching his near-defunct family in its death throes.
Bang!—
As if answering his laughter, the family nameplate fell to the ground at his feet.
“Damn it.”

* * *
The next morning.
Guan Hui headed to the Honnyak-bang the moment daylight broke.
To pay off the debt quickly, he had to become an experimental subject again today.
“You came.”
As Guan Hui descended into the familiar basement, the pharmacist Garam greeted him.
“I did.”
“No aftereffects from yesterday? Since I made it specially, the potency should have lasted quite a while.”
“Hmm. I didn’t notice anything.”
…….
Garam’s face twisted at Guan Hui’s indifferent response—his pride wounded.
‘This bastard thinks he’s some master toxicologist of the Odok School.’
Garam, a third-rate Heukdo martial artist, had delusions of grandeur.
The man had no sense of his own station.
Guan Hui had plenty of curses on his tongue but swallowed them down forcefully.
There was nothing to gain from antagonizing the man who paid him.
“Think about it carefully. The effect was surely quite good, wasn’t it? Poison nearly on par with the Odok School?”
Tch.
Guan Hui clicked his tongue internally and nodded his head.
He’d decided to humor this fool.
‘It was rather effective, come to think of it.’
“Stop spouting nonsense. You really comparing third-rate Heukdo garbage to the Odok School?”
“……What?”
Oh.
Guan Hui smacked his forehead in alarm.
He’d accidentally spoken his inner thoughts aloud instead of what he meant to say.
This hadn’t happened before, but lately these slips had been occurring with unsettling frequency.
‘Is it the poison’s aftereffects?’
“You bastard. What did you just…….”
“My apologies. The poison’s affecting my speech.”
“……I’ll let it pass this time. Be careful.”
Garam fixed Guan Hui with a venomous stare.
Looking at those eyes burning with vengeance, he knew forgiveness was the last thing he’d receive.
“Go on, drink this. Today’s poison.”
Garam handed over a small white vial, no larger than two finger joints.
“Mm.”
Without much thought, Guan Hui uncorked the bottle with familiar ease and drank the poison down.
“Hack!”
Guan Hui’s vision went pitch black.
It was as though someone had poured ink across his eyes—he couldn’t see a thing, and his head spun violently.
“Hoh. This one seems to have some bite to it?”
“What is this…!”
In the past year, he’d consumed every manner of poison imaginable, but nothing like this.
His organs twisted as if seized in a vice, and the pain made it nearly impossible to breathe.
“This is a new Dream Fantasy Drug I’ve just developed. I paid a small fortune to a poison master from the Odok School for the formula. Heh heh.”
“Cough!”
Guan Hui staggered, hacking and gasping.
Unable to walk straight as the world tilted before his eyes, he dropped to his knees.
-Descendant.
In his spinning mind, he heard a voice—strange, unfamiliar, utterly unprecedented.
-Descendant. Can you hear my voice?
“…?”
Guan Hui was bewildered.
What was this? An effect of the Dream Fantasy Drug?
At first, he thought the blurred senses were causing him to hear things that weren’t there.
And then came the agony.
A pain like his organs were being twisted engulfed his entire body. Breath choked in his throat, and his vision darkened to black.
“Krhh!”
He wondered if this was how he would die.
‘Not like this… not like this.’
In the very instant his vision was consumed by darkness, a torment worse than any interrogation imaginable—
Whoosh!—
His field of vision flooded with pure white, and the entire landscape before him transformed.
.
.
.
“…?”
Guan Hui’s eyes darted across his surroundings, confusion plain on his face.
Before him stretched an expanse of pristine white.
Neither sky nor earth visible—an endless white void that made his jaw fall open.
“What… what is this?!”
For a moment, he thought himself dead.
Yet his senses were far too vivid for that.
His breathing came naturally, and every sensation burned with crystalline clarity.
‘What on earth is this place?’
Guan Hui drew a steady breath and recovered his composure.
Strange beyond words as the situation was, his natural equanimity swiftly restored his presence of mind.
“Hmm?”
His gaze shifted toward something in his peripheral vision.
At the center of the space sat a middle-aged man, spine perfectly straight, legs folded in meditation.
His complexion was the color of jujubes, lean and muscular—a figure of tremendous build.
From his face flowed a magnificent beard, long and lustrous as a black waterfall.
It was a beard of such beauty it drew admiration from all who beheld it.
“Struggling against poison of such trifling strength. How shameful. Descendant.”
“Pardon?”
Seeing the middle-aged man speak so casually to a stranger, Guan Hui tilted his head.
“Who are you to address me so informally on first meeting?”
“…As your descendant, do you not even recognize your own ancestor?”
“…?!”
Guan Hui’s pupils trembled violently.
Could it be…?
That magnificent beard commanding admiration. The jujube-colored complexion. The massive frame that spoke of innate strength.
As far as Guan Hui knew, there was only one ancestor who bore such distinctive features.
“Wait—Guan Yu?”
The figure regarded the stunned Guan Hui calmly and drew his hand downward.
Crack!—
A Six-Faceted Club materialized from nowhere and came down hard on Guan Hui’s skull.
“That’s too informal.”
“G—General Yu? I mean, General Guan?!”
“……Just call me General.”
“You’re really Yu—no, General Guan, aren’t you?”
“I am.”
“Oh no. How is this possible? Am I—am I dead?”
Guan Hui’s face contorted as he took in the unknown white void, convinced it was the afterlife.
He hadn’t even finished repaying his family’s debts yet, and the thought of dying like this infuriated him.
“You are not dead.”
“Ah, is that so?”
Relief washed over Guan Hui’s features, and his expression brightened once more.
“Then what is this place?”
“A realm that bridges heaven and earth. We call it Jungcheon.”
“I see.”
Guan Yu found himself intrigued by how calmly his descendant nodded in acceptance.
‘Interesting.’
Most people thrust into such a situation would panic or break down in shock.
Yet this descendant before him seemed only mildly startled—as composed as someone taking a leisurely stroll through the neighborhood.
‘A bold temperament, it seems.’
Guan Yu nodded with quiet satisfaction.
He approved of the natural disposition a commander ought to possess.
“But still, how did this happen so suddenly?”
Guan Hui tilted his head in bewilderment.
Life could throw all manner of absurdities his way, so he took this in stride.
But the reason eluded him.
His ancestor, who had paid the family no mind in life, had never shown such concern—why appear before him now?
“It may seem sudden to you, but not to me. I have watched over you steadily all this time.”
“You’ve been watching over me?”
Guan Yu stroked his beard—black as a waterfall—and nodded.
“Indeed. I have long wished to meet you, but the barrier between the living and the dead stood too high to breach.”
“Then now……?”
“The poison’s influence opened the door to your spirit. Through it, I was given the chance to meet you.”
“Heh.”
A bitter laugh escaped him unbidden.
It was a cruel paradox: the Extreme Poison from the Odok School—which had nearly killed Guan Hui—had created this very connection to Guan Yu, his family’s greatest general.
“For a modern youth, you’re not bad. Though complaining over mere poison seems rather soft.”
“I beg your pardon?”
“In my day, to cleanse poison that had sunk into the marrow, I had them scrape my bones with a blade. I played chess through the whole affair.”
“…….”
Wasn’t that just insane?
Guan Hui was left speechless by the absurdity.
“And here my descendant whines over mere poison. Tsk.”
“General, that’s not fair. The poison I ingested was a vicious Extreme Poison crafted by the Odok School, whereas what you faced was merely an ordinary poison smeared on an arrow, wasn’t it?”
“…….”
This time, it was Guan Yu who found himself without words.
He had not expected his descendant to compare the severity of poisons.
And besides, the boy wasn’t wrong.
In those days, poisons had not been refined to the level they were now.
‘This fellow……?’
Unable to continue, Guan Yu resorted to a tactic the spirits of Jungcheon frequently employed when cornered.
He changed the subject entirely.
“Regardless, there are regrets, but there’s no helping it. I intend to pass on my Martial Arts to you as your ancestor—receive it gratefully.”
“Wait, why are you suddenly changing the subj—I’m sorry, what?”
Guan Hui questioned his own ears.
Between the auditory hallucinations and this strange realm, he thought his hearing had finally gone mad.
‘I must have misheard.’
It couldn’t be otherwise.
The Family was on the brink of extinction, lacking even a single respectable Martial Art, and Guan Hui was desperately fighting to restore it.
In such circumstances, as if the heavens themselves had blessed them, to suddenly inherit an ancestor’s Martial Art—
And no less than the Martial Art of Guan Yu, the legendary general whose mastery had dominated an entire age.
“What, what did you say?”
“Don’t make me say it twice.”
Guan Yu clicked his tongue once and spoke again, his voice booming.
“I shall transmit to you, my descendant, the Martial Art that holds my life—the Heaven Extreme Cloud Annihilation Saber.”
“……!!”
Guan Hui’s arms and legs trembled uncontrollably.
His body convulsed with the overwhelming shock and joy of the moment.
“Y-yes, yes, YES!!”
He had obtained Guan Yu’s Martial Art.
Sogeumsan’s Martial Hero Epic Novel
Author
: Sogeumsan
Publisher
: Kwon Taewan, Woo Cheonje
E-book Publication Date
: 2026-07-14
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: KWBOOKS
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This book has been published as an e-book by KWBOOKS in accordance with a contract with the copyright holder.
Unauthorized reproduction or distribution of this work is prohibited by copyright law without the express permission of the publisher.

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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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