I Obtained Guan Yu's Martial Arts - Chapter 10

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

Obtaining Guan Yu’s Martial Arts – Episode 10
The Winner (5)
In truth, mastering martial arts does not rest entirely on secret manuals.
Even the finest secret manual amounts to nothing without the proper cultivation method to match it — like a steamed bun with no filling inside.
That is why every renowned clan and sect throughout the Central Plains possesses its own unique cultivation method.
Only with a tailored cultivation method suited to one’s martial discipline can genuine progress be made, and only then can one grasp the deeper principles of the art.
“But Master. We… we don’t have a cultivation method, do we?”
One of Guan Hui’s servants, about the same age, raised his hand and asked.
“We don’t. Rather, we didn’t. But now we do.”
“What? Did the secret manual you found on the cliff include a cultivation method as well?”
“Yes. You could say that.”
Guan Hui offered the servants a convenient explanation — that he had happened to fall from a cliff and discovered the secret manual.
The truth — that he had wandered through the borders between life and death in a place called Zhongtian, met Guan Yu there, and linked a Fragment of Soul with his own Upper Dantian — made no sense at all when he thought about it.
‘Reality isn’t a theatrical play. It sounds like madness.’
Fortunately, the servants accepted his account without much skepticism.
After all, the goods and weapons brought from the Anwen Family were piled high in the carts, making disbelief difficult.
The Guan Family Merchant Clan’s only martial discipline, the Azure Dragon Peak Method, was insufficient to suppress even a second-rate warrior, much less a first-rate one.
“What you must learn now are three secret manuals: the heart method, the outer technique, and the saber method.”
Strictly speaking, the martial arts of the Crescent Halberd belong to the saber method rather than the spear method.
Though its form resembles a spear, all its techniques consist solely of slashing, never thrusting like a saber would.
A polearm that combines both the reach of the spear and the speed of the saber, one might say.
“The first thing you will learn is the outer technique: the Scarlet Flame Radiant Martial Art.”
“Master, are we to begin with the outer technique instead of the heart method?”
Guan Nantian tilted his head in confusion.
Traditionally, the very first lesson in any martial discipline is the Internal Energy Heart Method.
The Internal Energy Heart Method involves accumulating Heavenly Earth Essence Qi in the Lower Dantian, allowing one to cultivate inner power.
In other words, it is the foundation that enables ordinary people to perform extraordinary feats.
Moreover, the heart method purifies the body by expelling the Turbid Qi that naturally accumulates within the human form.
For a martial warrior, no element is more vital than the heart method.
Even young disciples who enter great sects always begin by learning the Internal Energy Heart Method first.
“True. But if we follow that path, forty or even fifty years may not be enough.”
The disciples of great sects begin their martial training around the age of seven.
Only by doing so can they reach the stage of true mastery by their Thirties, the peak years of a warrior.
But what of the Guan Family Merchant Clan?
The average age already falls between Thirty and Forty, yet their martial skill remains only third or second-rate at best.
Following orthodox methods, they would not reach the first-rate level until their sixties.
‘We’ll have crossed the River of Three Paths long before reaching first-rate.’
That is why Guan Yu intended to employ a far more aggressive and unconventional approach.
—He would use the Scarlet Flame Radiant Martial Art to forge a Heavenly Saint Bone.
The Heavenly Saint Bone refers to a Divine Bone created artificially — one that reshapes the external skeleton, meridians, and blood vessels of a human being.
Is it not said that the Heavenly Martial Body possesses all the forces of extreme yin, extreme yang, the three natural powers, the five elements, and the supreme ultimate, allowing one to harmonize all martial disciplines?
The Heavenly Saint Bone was, in essence, an artificially created half-form of the Heavenly Martial Body.
‘Is such a thing possible? Creating… a Heavenly Martial Body?’
—It is impossible from within, but possible from without.
The Scarlet Flame Radiant Martial Art accelerates the flow of blood, multiplying the body’s physical capabilities many times over.
And the accelerated blood flow impacts recovery and growth as well.
—One must deliberately rupture muscles and fracture bones, then repeat the cycle of recovery.
The human body is much like steel in a forge — the more you strike it, the harder and stronger it becomes.
If one continues the cycle of destruction and recovery without pause, a physique emerges that is in an entirely different class from the ordinary.
In other words, a Heavenly Saint Bone is forged.
—Have you prepared what I requested?
“Yes. The blacksmith looked at us like we were mad, but… well, we managed.”
Guan Hui gestured to the servants.
Several of them brought out ten enormous cylindrical iron pillars from the storage.
They were as thick and imposing as the columns of a dragon palace, fit for a great celestial king to wield.
“Master, what exactly are we to do with these?”
“For now, stand them at appropriate intervals across the Manor Grounds, as instructed.”
Guan Hui set up the absurdly massive iron pillars at measured distances, following the orders.
“What comes next, then?”
“…Strike them, he said?”
“What?”
The retainers blinked blankly, their expressions frozen.
Strike it?
Surely he didn’t mean to pound that solid iron pillar with his fists?
-Use both arms and both legs. Strike it with your forearms, elbows, knees, head—every part of your body.
‘…Could the goal possibly be the extermination of the entire family?’
-What are you talking about?
‘If you do that, everyone will end up dead.’
Guan Hui stared at the iron pillar before him with an uneasy expression.
It was thick enough that two grown men would have to spread their arms wide just to wrap around it.
Ramming his body against it without any internal energy looked to him like nothing so much as a novel method of suicide.
-The Scarlet Flame Radiant Martial Art will manage it.
‘…But even if I deploy the Scarlet Flame Radiant Martial Art, won’t I still feel the pain?’
-You’ll become more sensitive to it than usual.
‘….’
-Youth is born of suffering, as the saying goes.
Hearing words that looked for all the world like something old men would say, Guan Hui let out a short sigh.
‘Let’s try it. All right.’
Martial training inherently came with pain—that was simply how it was.
True, this pain seemed excessively harsh and dangerous compared to other trials, but what could he do about it?
To gain strength, one had to endure.
“First, I’ll show you how it’s done.”
Pushing the retainers back, Guan Hui took the starting stance of the bare-handed boxing form he had learned.
In other words, he adopted a street-brawler’s crouch and asked:
‘But how long am I supposed to do this? You need to set a target for me.’
-Until you’ve destroyed that iron pillar.
‘…Is that even possible?’
He suspected he might cross the River of Three Paths first, but Guan Hui activated the Scarlet Flame Radiant Martial Art regardless.
“Let’s give it a try. Either the pillar dies or I do.”
Strictly speaking, the pillar was already dead as an inanimate object, so only he had a death approaching—but Guan Hui decided not to worry about such details.
After all, the shorter one’s thoughts, the easier the mind.
Thud! Crack!
With his skin stained crimson, Guan Hui moved relentlessly, beginning to pound the iron pillar.
The skin on his hands and feet peeled away, his forearms tore open, and red blood pooled across the training grounds.
The retainers’ expressions darkened at the gruesome sight.
Yet Guan Hui did not stop, even as he coughed blood.
Boom-boom-boom!
If anything, he began to strike the pillar far more rapidly than before.
The cycle of destruction and recovery that his body went through—the pain felt within that cycle cleared all stray thoughts from his mind, bringing him to a state of no-self where nothing existed but the moment itself.
The world turned entirely black; all he could see was the iron rod.
Guan Hui felt his two fists and feet, which had been striking haphazardly, gradually becoming more precise.
The sloppy technique was being refined, and the speed of his unarmed strikes slowly increased.
The efficient movements, stripped of all waste, resembled those of a master who had trained in the Fist Method for years.
-This boy…!
Through a fragment of soul, Guan Yu watched in astonishment.
The boy had never read a proper Secret Manual for the Fist Method even once, yet he was creating his own fist technique.
The ability to innovate a secret manual on one’s own meant possessing the qualifications of a great master.
And to put it another way…
-He truly does have the Heavenly Martial Body.
Now Guan Yu understood everything.
That impossible strength, the incredible speed at which he grasped martial techniques, the innate talent he absorbed like water soaking into cloth—all of it.
There was only one reason it was all possible.
Guan Hui possessed the Heavenly Martial Body.
‘I thought it was because of the poison.’
He had been convinced by the boy’s words that it was poison, but now it made no sense at all.
How could anyone gain such strength and talent from drinking poison?
-The poison merely assisted in the awakening of the Heavenly Martial Body.
The Heavenly Martial Body appeared perhaps once every few generations.
Yet interestingly, it does not manifest at birth.
It is the nature of the Heavenly Martial Body to awaken through different circumstances for each person.
‘I’ve gained incredible backing.’
Guan Yu felt a chill crawl across the flesh of his non-existent form.
During his era of influence, only one wielder of the Heavenly Martial Body had displayed such overwhelming martial prowess.
That singular figure, known as the finest among men and the finest among steeds—Lü Bu astride the Red Hare.
Even with Secret Manuals of modest rank, he stood without peer, the foremost general of his age.
Now, standing before Guan Yu’s eyes, was one born with such talent.
-If this boy perfects my martial learning…….
Guan Yu’s mastery joined with Lü Bu’s Heavenly Martial Body.
What manner of monster would emerge from such a fusion?
Even Guan Yu, who had lived through aeons, could not begin to fathom it.
-This will be fascinating.
Just as excitement began to seep into his voice.
Crash-boom!-
A deafening roar erupted, as if dozens of shells were detonating at once.
“……What?”
The sound was Guan Hui’s fist cleaving the iron pillar in two.
“……It worked.”
Guan Hui, bewildered by his own sudden success, scratched the bridge of his nose.
He had merely swung his fist as if entranced by something, yet never expected it to succeed so immediately.
-……Didn’t I tell you?
For reasons he couldn’t place, Guan Yu’s voice sounded strangely flustered today.
Perhaps it was just his imagination.

* * *
“Sigh.”
Zhang Liu, second son of the Anwen Family, known as Shadow Blade.
Summoned by the family head’s command to dispose of Guang Saxin, he had come all the way to Yuncheng, only to find himself staring at rooftops like a fool chasing a chicken—a heavy sigh escaped his lips.
“Damn it. Beaten to the punch by someone else.”
He had grown complacent, thinking there were only two First-Rate masters in all of Yuncheng City.
Had he headed straight there upon receiving his orders, he could have struck first.
Spending so much time with Yanhong at Honghua Tower had led to this.
“Can’t be helped.”
The family head had issued him a secret command: slay Guang Saxin and discreetly retrieve a certain ‘object’ in his possession.
He had failed to eliminate Guang Saxin, but he could not afford to fail in recovering that object.
Yet he could hardly march to the Guan Family Merchant Clan’s head and demand it outright.
The object’s retrieval had to proceed in complete secrecy.
‘There’s only one way—eliminate them all.’
A pathetically small household with barely ten servants.
Tedious, perhaps, but the cleanup would hardly prove difficult.
Zhang Liu resolved to slaughter every last one of them and cover his tracks afterward.
“Arrogant bastard.”
Killing Intent rippled through Zhang Liu’s eyes as he drained his cup.
That murderous haze, crystallized by martial force, shimmered like dancing flame.
“In the end, only the victor laughs. Let’s see who that will be.”
Zhang Liu’s lips curled upward in a bloodless smile.
His mind painted a vivid image: the shabby Manor Grounds of the Guan Family burning to ash.

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