I Obtained Guan Yu's Martial Arts - Chapter 44

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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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Guan Yu’s Martial Arts Obtained — Episode 44
Heavenly Secrets Leak (4)
“Surely you don’t mean—”
“Don’t speak of it.”
Guan Yu’s low voice cut off Guan Hui’s words.
“Don’t even let it pass your lips. There’s no telling what might unfold.”
“Understood.”
“That one’s existence is not something you need concern yourself with now. It’s a matter for the distant future.”
“……So I’ll have to face him one day, is that what you’re saying?”
“Perhaps. But even I cannot see what lies ahead.”
Guan Hui swallowed hard without thinking.
To face in deadly combat someday the general once called the strongest in Central Plains—
The weight of it pressed down on his shoulders already.
“Don’t worry.”
Perhaps Guan Yu sensed the turmoil in his thoughts.
The elder placed a hand, roughened by callus, gently upon Guan Hui’s shoulder.
“Though I could not do it, you will be able to.”
“……Thank you.”
The words were blunt, yet they struck Guan Hui’s heart with unexpected force.
Because it was none other than his ancestor and teacher, Guan Yu himself, who had spoken them.
“You need only focus on what is yours to do.”
“Yes, General.”
“Heaven’s Gaze will make conversation difficult for some time to come.”
Guan Yu glanced toward Zhang Jiao, then whispered softly.
“I will find a way soon. Wait a little longer.”
“Understood.”
Guan Hui nodded respectfully.
And at that very moment—
Rumble—
The sky that had been shrouded in dark clouds grew angry.
The Formation Time was ending, and collapse had begun.
“Tch tch. So far, then. It’s been a while since I saw your face in the mortal world. How pleasant. Yun Zhang.”
Guan Yu did not answer and ignored him entirely.
Even in this brief moment, he judged it better to devote himself to Guan Hui than to waste words on that creature.
“Guan Hui.”
Guan Yu called his name with a grave face.
“……that.”
“Yes?”
“You are a far better Family Head than I ever was.”
“……!”
The unexpected praise stirred something overwhelming in Guan Hui’s chest.
A warmth rose from his heart and filled his entire body.
Rumble—
As the Formation Time came to an end, the surroundings began to crumble away.
“Tch tch. You’ve aged quite a bit too, haven’t you? Speaking such things aloud?”
“Be quiet.”
Listening to the voices of two beings unseen in the Mortal Realm, Guan Hui thus withdrew from the formation.

* * *
“My apologies.”
The aged sorcerer bowed his head.
“I have not yet attained clarity in the Way, and have committed this error. The fault is mine.”
“…….”
Guan Hui stared at the old sorcerer without reply.
He considered whether to plant another strike across that face.
But having gained something, his fist would not clench so easily.
Thanks to that bizarre sorcery, he had been granted the chance to meet his ancestor directly, and had dimly glimpsed what his ancestor sought.
In any case, he had received a measure of grace.
“Your ancestor has made his will known.”
The Great Worthy Teacher Zhang Chuoshan adjusted his stone staff.
As the Formation Technique collapsed, he had already heard Zhang Jiao’s full explanation.
“Our ancestor instructed us to bring down the Yellow Heaven alongside Bai Guangxing.”
“The Yellow Heaven?”
“Heretical charlatans who plunge the world into chaos.”
“I see.”
Guan Hui nodded calmly.
He’d never heard of them, but he could piece together the general idea.
Probably lunatics like the White Lotus Sect or the Ecstasy Sect from days past.
“So you’re telling me to fight these heretical cultists?”
“That is our ancestor’s will.”
“Fine. Do your best.”
……?
Zhang Chuoshan tilted his head, visibly confused.
“Our ancestor said Bai Guangxing would stand with you as well.”
“Why would I?”
“Are you not a warrior of the Path of White?”
“True enough. But I’m also the head of my clan.”
For a martial artist—especially one who walks the Path of White—the Cooperative Spirit is sacred beyond measure.
But two hands alone cannot bear the weight of an entire world.
And a Family Head is the shepherd of his clan, is he not?
Within the reach of his own grasp, perhaps.
But he would not abandon his clan and family in pursuit of some grand ideal.
For Guan Hui, nothing mattered more than his clan and family.
“As for the Yellow Heaven or whatever it is, handle it yourselves. I’m not interested.”
Guan Hui crossed his arms and let out a disdainful laugh.
This man had appeared from nowhere to launch a sneak attack, then trapped people in a Formation Technique. Who did he think he was?
The misunderstanding had been cleared up thanks to Zhang Jiao, but that still gave him no reason to associate with such a madman.
“I see. You are indeed a creature of the secular world. You require compensation, then.”
“No. I simply have no interest in traveling alongside a lunatic like—”
“You never did obtain the blade for the Green Dragon Peak, did you?”
The Green Dragon Crescent Blade—the family heirloom once wielded by the legendary Guan Yu.
Guan Hui had obtained the Green Dragon Peak, part of the polearm, but had yet to find a blade worthy of it.
The peak alone weighed a hundred and eighty pounds, making it extraordinarily difficult to find a blade capable of bearing such weight.
To withstand that mass and momentum required at least Ten Thousand Year Cold Iron—and acquiring such a precious metal was nearly impossible.
“Help me, and I will give you Xuantie.”
……!
Guan Hui’s heart suddenly thundered in his chest.
Xuantie, forged from meteorites that fell from heaven, was said to possess a hardness many times superior even to Ten Thousand Year Cold Iron.
It was so rare that even the imperial court seldom beheld it, and so utterly impervious to breaking.
For the blade of the Green Dragon Peak, it would be nothing short of perfect.
“You’re offering Xuantie?”
“Yes. Do you see this Stone Staff? It too is forged from Xuantie.”
Oh…….
Guan Hui’s pupils gleamed.
The worn Stone Staff, which had seemed ordinary before, now appeared in an entirely new light.
There was elegance to it, and a sense of ancient grace.
“Xuantie possesses the quality of channeling Qi. It serves well for sorcery, but it would be extraordinary for martial arts as well.”
Oh……!
Guan Hui’s resolve wavered like a reed in the wind.
Yet something still nagged at him.
The thought of traveling alongside such a madman felt deeply uncomfortable.
‘I should refuse.’
Unfortunate, but unavoidable.
What mattered now was the clan, not Xuantie.
And who knew what unforeseen complications might arise from associating with such a lunatic?
‘There will be another opportunity.’
Guan Hui was about to open his mouth, steeling himself to decline, when—
“For what it’s worth, I alone in all the Central Plains possess Xuantie as an individual.”
Oh……!?
Guan Hui’s eyes widened far more than before.
But the answer remained the same.
‘I’ll refuse.’
“All right. Where should we start?”
Another moment where his true thoughts and his spoken words diverged the instant they left his mouth.

* * *
Shanxi Province. Yun City.
The Guan Family Estate bustled with visitors as always—merchants and guests alike crowded its grounds.
Before the manor, laden with gifts from the assembled visitors, Guan Hui and Zhang Chuoshan stood alongside three companions, making final preparations for their departure.
“Brother. Brother.”
Zhu Hu spoke up.
“Brother, so we’re going to deal with those heretical sect members—Yellow Heaven or whatever they are?”
“That’s right.”
“What did Zhang say his reason was for going?”
“He’s a guest retainer.”
A guest retainer traditionally received the family’s patronage in exchange for rendering service when the family had need of their strength.
Guan Hui had decided to make use of his guest retainers’ power this time.
“And Miss Huang is also a guest retainer, so that’s why she’s coming along?”
“That’s right.”
Zhu Hu tilted his head, unconvinced.
“But why am I going?”
“What do you mean, why?”
“Why do I have to go?”
Truthfully, Zhu Hu had no desire to leave.
Ever since returning to the Guan Family Estate, he’d been living quite contentedly.
Conversing with merchants alongside Guan Nantian, the estate’s overseer, debating transactions, and navigating clever deals for profit—that was his day.
No physical labor, only work for the mind; his life had become pleasantly satisfying.
But now he was supposed to abandon that peace to crush some heretical sect?
He really didn’t want to go.
“Besides, I can’t even fight. Do I really need to go?”
Zhu Hu’s martial skill was no better than that of a ten-year-old just beginning his studies at a school like Huashan.
In other words, he was useless.
“Wouldn’t it be better if I rested comfortably here—or rather, handled family affairs as a strategist?”
“I don’t want that.”
“Why?”
“I can’t stand seeing you rest—or rather, because I need your help.”
Zhu Hu let out an exasperated laugh.
“Did you just say it was because you can’t stand it?”
“Not at all. You misheard.”
Guan Hui set his expression firmly and waved dismissively.
“…Is that so?”
Zhu Hu tilted his head but accepted the explanation.
Guan Hui’s expression had been far too serious, so he’d been deceived by it.
“But what kind of help do you need from me?”
A sharp question came forth.
The boy’s eyes glinted briefly, his suspicion not yet laid to rest.
But there was no need to worry.
He’d already prepared an answer for exactly this.
“You’ve been to Shandong Province before, haven’t you?”
“I lived there for a while during my wandering days.”
“Exactly. That’s why I need you. We’re heading to Shandong Province.”
The headquarters of the heretical sect known as Yellow Heaven lay on Mount Tai in Shandong Province.
For this reason, Guan Hui and his party had to journey to Shandong for the first time, and they needed a guide.
“We could find another guide, but there’s no one quite like you. You’re a clever one, after all.”
“…Does a guide really need to be clever?”
At Zhu Hu’s grumbling, Guan Hui smiled gently.
Sometimes one had to offer a carrot instead of the whip, after all.
“A clever guide isn’t necessary. But a clever strategist is.”
“…Sigh. I don’t want to go, but I suppose there’s no helping it.”
Zhu Hu shook his head, his expression smug despite his protest.
Guan Hui watched him and thought what an easy man to deceive he was.
“Ah, but I’m curious about something, brother.”
“What is it?”
“What sort of people are they, that you’d go yourself? Are they heretics or something?”

* * *
Mount Tai in Shandong Province.
One of the Five Sacred Mountains, renowned for its sheer cliffs and winding ravines, lay beneath the foreheads of nearly a thousand cult followers, who pressed their faces to the ground in submission.
“The world has already ended.”
A middle-aged man draped in a long yellow robe that swept the earth raised both arms to heaven and cried out.
“The Blue Heaven is dead; the Yellow Heaven shall rise! The Blue Heaven is dead; the Yellow Heaven shall rise!”
The disciples, unable to contain their fervor, echoed his words in unison.
“The Blue Heaven is dead; the Yellow Heaven shall rise!”
The roar of a thousand voices thundered across Mount Tai.
In their cries—mingled with weeping and trembling—there gleamed a terrible madness.
“Bring forth today’s sacrifice.”
At the Cult Master’s command, a middle-aged couple climbed the stone steps with careful reverence.
Between them, gaunt and hollow-eyed, walked their daughter—no more than ten years old.
“This is your daughter?”
“Yes. She is.”
“Mm. A suitable sacrifice indeed.”
The Cult Master’s eyes raked over the girl from head to toe.
For a brief moment, lust flickered behind those eyes—but the parents, their heads bowed, could not see it.
“Good. We shall offer this sacrifice upon heaven’s altar. Through this, you shall receive salvation.”
“Thank you…… Thank you, Cult Master!”
“Glory and honor, Cult Master!”
The middle-aged couple did not so much as blink at the news that they were surrendering their daughter as a sacrifice.
Instead, they smiled with joy, their faces alight with fervent rapture.
“Good. Follow me.”
The Cult Master seized the girl’s hand and swept toward the altar, his trailing robe billowing majestically behind him.
The child’s parents knelt at every third step, their gratitude pouring forth, while the watching disciples gazed after them, their eyes shining with envy.
And then the altar.
Hidden from the sight of the distant masses, near a crumbling platform, stood two middle-aged men.
They were Tian Bao and Tian Liang—twin brothers who bore the identical face of their elder, Tian Jiao the Cult Master.
“Brother. You’ve arrived?”
“Heh heh. Today’s sacrifice is quite pretty, isn’t it?”
Tian Bao and Tian Liang licked their lips as they appraised the girl.
The parents, caught off guard by this unexpected turn, looked at the Cult Master in confusion.
“C-Cult Master. What does this—”
Shlick—
Before his words could finish, the middle-aged man’s head rose into the air.
Tian Jiao, called Cult Master by his followers, had used a hidden dagger to sever his neck.
“Aaahhhhh!”
The middle-aged woman, her face drenched in blood, began to scream.
“Ugh, so loud and disgusting.”
Tian Liang, his brow furrowed in irritation, drove his finger toward her heart.
His finger, twisted grotesquely, pierced through bone in a single motion and impaled her heart.
“Kuh……”
She spat dark blood from her mouth and collapsed, lifeless.
“H-hic. Mother…… Motheeeeer!”
The girl, who had lost both parents in an instant, sank to the ground, tears streaming down her face.
“Tian Bao, Tian Liang. Today she is mine alone. Do not touch her.”
Tian Jiao, the Cult Master of Yellow Heaven, rolled up his sleeves and raised his hand above the sobbing girl’s head.
The Star Absorption Technique was activated at once.
The color drained from the child’s eyes in an instant, growing cold and lifeless.
Tian Jiao had absorbed not only her life force but her very soul.
“Mmm……. Exquisite. The taste of a young soul is truly the finest.”
Tian Jiao smiled with satisfaction, running his tongue across his lips.
“Now only one remains.”

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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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