I Obtained Guan Yu's Martial Arts - Chapter 39

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

Acquired Guan Hui’s martial arts 039
Shanxi’s First Spear (4)
“The tea tastes excellent.”
Guan Hui drained the entire cup and smiled with satisfaction.
“…I’m glad it pleases you. Then I’ll take my leave. Fight well in the match, and know you have my support.”
The steward turned back beyond the martial grounds without losing his composure.
“…What was that?”
Jang Seong’s brow furrowed.
“Why would the Yang Family steward say he’s cheering for our house leader?”
Something smelled wrong about this.
Now that he thought of it, the sudden offering of tea was suspicious too.
They’d just beaten the Yang Family’s younger house leader to a pulp—so why would they gift him tea meant to restore his vitality?
“Could it be…!?”
The thought struck Jang Seong like a blow, and he hastily circulated his internal energy.
But the energy within his dantian lay frozen, as though sealed behind a wall.
“San Gong Du!”
Jang Seong turned urgently to Guan Hui.
Normally, San Gong Du’s effects lasted about two hours.
For Jang Seong—who’d already finished his match—it hardly mattered. But not for Guan Hui.
He was about to face the Yang Family’s house leader.
“House Leader! My internal energy—!”
“Don’t worry. There’s no problem.”
Guan Hui gathered his internal energy above his clenched fist with ease.
“…!? H-how is that possible!?”
“Poison has never taken hold on me. I built an immunity serving as an experimental subject for those Mixed Medicine Hall wretches.”
“Indeed…! What a relief.”
Jang Seong exhaled deeply and wiped the sweat from his brow.
“That despicable steward. How dare he use San Gong Du before the match—wait. Why are you so calm about this?”
Jang Seong studied Guan Hui with a penetrating gaze.
If someone had slipped him poison, anger and indignation would be natural. Expected, even.
Yet Guan Hui seemed oddly serene.
“Because I knew.”
“What—? No, wait. How?”
“You just said it yourself—what madman offers tea to restore vigor to someone whose younger house leader he’s just beaten senseless?”
“Ah, but then why did you drink it?”
……
Rather than answer, Guan Hui gazed past the arena toward Yang Muwon.
The man stared back, eyes gleaming with murderous intent.
With his chin tilted up, his aquiline nose remained arrogantly high.
“When your opponent makes a blunder, you take advantage of it.”
Guan Hui smiled coldly and stepped onto the platform.
The Moon Blade in his hand blazed with silver light.

* * *
Standing on the arena, Yang Muwon’s thoughts turned dark.
‘Mere victory won’t suffice.’
The Yang Family’s standing had already fallen too far for that.
It had crumbled before the visiting nobles, whose favor he’d carefully cultivated with coin.
‘The future index for Shanxi’s First has already slipped away.’
His foolish son had failed his role, and the position of Shanxi’s First had been lost to them.
Of course, some of the blame lay with Yang Muwon himself.
His plan to propose the match first and weaken the other houses had crumbled when they proposed it themselves, rendering his strategy void.
Because of that, his son had been forced to face Jang Seong in full strength.
“Worthless dog. He couldn’t even beat that one.”
Yet Yang Muwon’s vicious reproach toward his son did not cease.
He continued to heap shame upon him before the gathered retainers.
“Maggot. Go to the underground chambers at once. Lock yourself away in seclusion for four years. You’re worthless to step foot in this world again.”
“…Yes, Father.”
Yang Yunshang, his face flushed crimson with humiliation, turned toward the Underground Chamber beneath the family compound.
Yang Muwon watched his son’s retreating back with contempt, then fixed his gaze once more on Guan Hui.
‘I have to kill him.’
The Future Index was, in essence, the strength a family would wield tomorrow.
Since he couldn’t prove that, he had to at least prove his strength now.
He had to show that Yang Muwon’s position remained unshaken, that the premier spearmaster of Shanxi still stood.
‘I’ll kill him overwhelmingly. Cruelly.’
In a Martial Match, killing techniques were an unwritten rule—but accidents happened all the time.
A small clan like the Guan Family lacked the power to press such accidents; they could do nothing.
“Huh.”
Yang Muwon steadied his grip on the Black Spear.
How long had it been since he’d held it?
The sensation of grasping the spear felt strangely unfamiliar.
“Come at me, boy. I’ll give you three moves for free.”
“Oh, much obliged.”
The premier spearmaster of Shanxi couldn’t fight at full strength from the start against a mere fledgling.
Yang Muwon moved his hand casually, almost dismissively.
Of course, this ease came from knowing Guan Hui was poisoned with San Gong Du.
‘A Future Index with no Internal Energy. Easier than eating cold rice.’
Toward the casually waiting Yang Muwon, Guan Hui advanced with long, measured strides.
“You said three moves?”
“That’s right. Three moves—I’ll yield them to you.”
“You won’t shamefully change your word later, will you?”
“Fool. Do you think the reputation of Shanxi’s premier spearmaster means so little?”
Yang Muwon’s brow furrowed.
Guan Hui shrugged lightly.
“Well. Yours does seem a bit… small, actually.”
“Insolent wretch—!”
Whoosh!—
Before Yang Muwon could finish speaking, a silver Moon Blade tore through the air.
“…!”
Caught off guard by the sudden strike, Yang Muwon brought his spear up at an angle with a gasp.
The gleaming blade descended toward the dark shaft.
Crash!—
A deafening boom like artillery fire erupted, and shockwaves burst outward in all directions.
“…!?”
Barely managing to block the blow by drawing up his Internal Energy, Yang Muwon’s eyes went wide as saucers.
‘What… what kind of force is this!?’
Both his wrists burned crimson, throbbing with pain.
The man had wielded the Moon Blade with nothing but raw strength—no Internal Energy at all.
Yet the force felt as though a boulder the size of a house were being driven down upon him.
‘This madman… where does this strength even come from!?’
Yang Muwon’s pupils trembled violently as he failed to comprehend Guan Hui’s innate Body Strength.
“Now for the second one.”
Guan Hui, having demonstrated his monstrous power, calmly raised the Moon Blade overhead.
“…!”
Yang Muwon steadied his racing heart and whispered to himself.
‘It’s fine. He still can’t use Internal Energy. If I just endure two more strikes—’
But in that instant, a translucent aura of Internal Energy began to gather on Guan Hui’s Moon Blade.
“…No, impossible!”
Yang Muwon’s mouth fell open in shock.
He had clearly seen with his own eyes as the man drank the tea poisoned with San Gong Du.
Yet how—how could he possibly use Internal Energy!?
‘This is… this is dangerous!’
Yang Muwon rushed to shift his stance, changing his posture.
‘At this rate, I die. Martial Match or no—’
The first blow, delivered with pure brute strength alone, he’d barely managed to block.
If Internal Energy were woven into this next strike—
‘I’m finished.’
That mad blow would be absolutely unstoppable.
He had to end this while the man was still gathering his power.
“You! It’s over!”
Yang Muwon twisted his waist, channeling additional force into the thrust as he drove his spear straight forward in a single, deadly line.
It was a perfectly aimed strike—targeting the heart of Guan Hui, who had raised his Moon Blade high above his head.
“That damned bastard, claiming he’d give ground, and now this!”
Jang Seong’s face contorted hideously as he leaped onto the Martial Arena with desperate urgency.
But there was no way he could reach in time.
Yang Muwon’s spear was already hurtling toward Guan Hui’s heart——
Crack—
The black spear blade, which had been flying in a straight line, came to an abrupt halt.
Drip. Drip.
Blood trickling down the spear shaft.
As if his breath had caught in his throat, Yang Muwon’s gaze froze, locked on empty air.
“You claimed you’d yield, then launched a sneak attack. This is hardly how one treats a guest, is it?”
Guan Hui seized the spear blade in one hand and tensed his arm.
Creak-creak-creak—
The spear shaft began to bend like a shrimp’s back, caught between the opposing forces pressing from both sides.
Snap—
Before Yang Muwon could even react, the black spear shattered in two.
“……!!”
His hollow gaze fixed on the broken spear.
His old comrade-in-arms, with whom he had once roamed countless battlefields, was now pathetically rolling across the training ground.
“You know well the fate of those who break the Unwritten Rules.”
Guan Hui gripped his Moon Blade once more with both hands.
In that instant, silver light flashed and seared Yang Muwon’s eyes.
“Wait—please, wait…….”
Whether from the blinding light or from some premonition of what was to come, tears spilled from Yang Muwon’s eyes.
He could not die like this.
After all the power he had poured into the Yang Family, to die without ever seeing the light——
Slice—
Yang Muwon’s neck, heavy with the regrets of a life unlived, rose into the air.
His body, severed from its spine, fell to the ground like a puppet with its strings cut.
“…….”
“…….”
The entirety of the Yang Family stood frozen in shock, staring at the scene before them.
The stunning death of the family head during a Martial Match.
But the shock was only beginning.
“The head of the Yang Family violated the Unwritten Rules. He feigned yielding to launch a sneak attack, and he employed a lethal blow targeting the heart. These are all forbidden acts in a Martial Match.”
“…….”
“Moreover, the head of the Yang Family forced me to drink tea laced with San Gong Du before the match. No one walking the Righteous Way would commit such a vile deed.”
“……!!”
The Yang Family retainers, frozen in shock, began to stir and murmur.
“The family head used… poison……?”
“That’s impossible…….”
“But… but why……!?”
Guan Hui added one more word, directing it toward the unsettled Yang Family retainers.
“The price of breaking the Unwritten Rules. The head of the Yang Family has paid that price with his death.”
Gleam—
The keen edge of Guan Hui’s Moon Blade turned toward the Yang Family retainers.
“Should any of you harbor grievances, you are welcome to call upon the Guan Family at any time.”
“Now… wait just a moment.”
A middle-aged man with graying mustache opened his mouth.
It was Wang Hang, the proprietor of the Taesong Trading Company, who had provoked both Guan Hui and Jang Seong at a banquet some days ago.
“Is it truly the case… that the head of the Yang Family gave you tea containing San Gong Du?”
“It is.”
“But did you not use Internal Energy to resist it?”
I am naturally immune to poison. However, Jang Seong, who consumed the tea alongside me, is unable to use his Internal Energy.”
At those words, all eyes turned toward Jang Seong.
Taken aback, Jang Seong looked at them all and gave a nod.
“I swear by my father—it is the truth.”
“……Would it be permissible to verify this?”
“By all means.”
Wang Hang gestured to his subordinate.
One of them stepped forward and checked Jang Seong’s meridians.
“It’s true. The Qi Meridians connecting to the Dantian are sealed by the San Gong Du.”
“Ah…….”
A lament escaped Wang Hang’s lips.
At the same time, shadow fell across the faces of all the Yang Family retainers.
“For the Righteous Way to cross such a line — and cross it so completely! How could you show such shamelessness!”
Wang Hang’s face flushed crimson as he spat his words, breathing hard with fury.
The other guests, their expressions rigid, nodded in agreement.
“Yang Steward! Did you know of this as well!”
“I, sir. It couldn’t be helped. The Family Head ordered me to do it!”
Yang Steward fell to his knees in panic.
For a Righteous Way clan to have used poison against an opponent in a Martial Match was no different from severing the family’s honor.
For the Righteous Way, reputation was everything — and they had tainted their own with their own hands.
“Enough! I cannot ally myself with such shameless people. From this day forward, I sever all dealings with the Yang Family.”
“I do the same. We cannot wear the filth that you have brought upon yourselves.”
“To soil yourself with infamy — what foolishness. For us, this is the end as well.”
Beginning with the Taesong Trading Company, the proprietors of Shanxi’s most renowned escort houses and trading firms turned their backs on the Yang Family without mercy.
What sustained a family was wealth, and wealth flowed from business.
With every trading company in Taiyuan severed from them, the Yang Family’s future was as good as extinct.
…….
“We’re ruined. Completely ruined!”
“What do we do? Should we flee too?”
“Damn it all. Why did the Family Head do something so insane!”
The Yang Family retainers, who had lost both their Family Head and their connections in an instant, slumped to the ground with hollow expressions.
Guan Hui watched the swift collapse of their fortune for a moment, then turned and descended from the Martial Arena.
‘They brought it on themselves.’
He felt neither pity nor remorse toward them.
These were the same men who had stood silent while the Family Head committed his wrongs.
They too bore their share of responsibility.
“Family Head. That was impressive.”
Jang Seong offered him a cloth.
“I haven’t shed any blood though?”
Guan Hui spoke even as he hastily hid his left hand.
For now, style mattered more than stopping the bleeding.
“Ah, I see.”
Jang Seong dropped the cloth to the ground and extended his fist instead.
“Well done. The plan has succeeded.”
“You worked hard as well.”
Guan Hui extended his fist to meet his, and
Tap—
the two men’s fists collided lightly in the air.
“It’s time we left, brother.”
“Yes. Let’s go.”
Ju Ho and Jang Seong, who had thoughtfully prepared their things in advance, followed Guan Hui out of the still-reeling Yang Family compound.
It was as they took their first step toward the Guan Family.
“Family Head Guan. Might we have a word?”
A group of people blocked his path.

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