I Obtained Guan Yu's Martial Arts - Chapter 49

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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 Arts 049
Yellow Heaven (4)
“Cough!”
A spray of dark crimson blood burst from Cheon Gak’s mouth, spattering the ground before him.
“Quite the capable one, I see.”
Cheon Gak, his ash-grey hair swept back, curved his lips into a sneer.
“How is it that a mere First-rate Martial Artist fights so well?”
A flicker of intrigue crossed Cheon Gak’s eyes as he regarded Guan Hui.
“My own Martial Arts have reached the Peak Realm, yet here I am.”
By nature, Taoists cannot cultivate Martial Arts.
The moment Internal Force fills the Dantian, one loses the ability to command the natural spirits.
But Cheon Gak had overcome that weakness through blood sacrifice, and by forging a Dantian of blood and soul, he had attained the exalted Peak Realm.
Yet despite this, Cheon Gak found himself gradually giving ground to Guan Hui.
The Crescent Moon Blade in his opponent’s hands shattered Cheon Gak’s sword techniques, and the blade’s edge had found his flesh more than once.
Had it not been for Taoist Magic that accelerated his body’s regeneration, he would have died at least five times over.
“How can a mere First-rate warrior achieve the Peak Realm?!”
Cheon Gak tilted his head, bewilderment written across his face.
Guan Hui let out a cold laugh and brought the Crescent Moon Blade down vertically.
“Fool. Do you think Realm is everything?”
Clang!—
Cheon Gak blocked the falling blade with his own sword held horizontal and stumbled backward.
A single defensive move had shattered his breathing, and he tried to retreat further and regain his composure, but—
Thud—
Stepping on a pressure point to cut off his opponent’s movement, Guan Hui pulled Cheon Gak’s body toward him with raw force and swung the Crescent Moon Blade in a diagonal arc.
“……!”
A strike delivered without even a moment for a reaction.
The Opening Heaven Flash, a technique of such grandeur it seemed to split the very heavens, tore through Cheon Gak’s body.
Crack!—
Flesh ripped apart, ribs shattered, organs were cleaved in two.
The blade cut deep near his heart as dark crimson blood fountained outward.
“……Kugh. So there is something more important to Martial Arts than Realm?”
Even bearing a wound that should have been fatal, Cheon Gak wore a composed smile as he pushed off the ground and retreated.
The moment he widened the distance, the grievous injuries covering his upper body mended themselves, the wounds reversing as though time itself had been rewound.
His recovery moved at a speed that seemed to defy the natural flow of time.
“……You are no Martial Artist.”
Even as an inexplicable phenomenon unfolded before his eyes, Guan Hui regarded it with perfect composure.
Rather than shock or horror, he surged forward and swung the Crescent Moon Blade once more.
As though wielding the blade was all there was to his existence.
“I am not a Martial Artist? I have reached the Peak Realm. Does a First-rate wretch like you dare claim I am not?”
Cheon Gak’s brow furrowed as his expression twisted in fury.
The words spilling from this younger opponent’s mouth had struck at the very core of his pride.
“A fool who speaks only of Realm is no Martial Artist.”
In Martial Arts, Realm was merely one measure among many, not the whole of it.
This was Guan Hui’s conviction.
If Realm were everything, Guan Hui would have fallen long ago.
How else could he have fought and triumphed against stronger opponents of higher Realms?
“You and your kind will never understand.”
Whoosh!—
Guan Hui swung the Crescent Moon Blade roughly, pressing his assault against Cheon Gak.
Cheon Gak’s face twisted grotesquely as his sword clashed again and again to parry the incoming strikes.
“Arrogant worm……!”
Displeasure surged to the crown of his skull, seeming to burst forth from the acupoint at the very top of his head.
To be disrespected by this insect—it was as though his dignity had been trampled underfoot.
‘A mere gesture and that maggot would be nothing but pulp…….’
Cheon Gak was a Taoist of extraordinary talent, one whom even Zhang Chu Shan recognized.
With the power of the Formation sustaining him now, he could split Guan Hui’s body to pieces with a single move, reducing him to a handful of blood.
Yet he did not wish to kill him so easily.
He wanted to break that arrogant fool with Martial Arts itself—to prove his mastery complete.
“What could a mere boy like you possibly know!”
Cheon Gak scorned the Martial Artist, despised him.
He dismissed them as floundering insects, for what they built through blood and sweat could be torn down with a single Taoist spell, and he’d even proven it by effortlessly breaking through the Peak Realm using that very magic.
He’d demonstrated it without effort—Taoist Magic making short work of the Peak Realm itself.
“Let me show you how pitiful the Martial Arts you’ve built truly are.”
Cheon Gak’s eyes blazed with radiance as he drew his blade in a flash of brilliant light.
The reflection of the sword scattered across his vision, and in that instant, dozens of blade-shadows wove across the empty air.
A phantom technique so exquisite that the real blade and the false ones were indistinguishable.
Yet Guan Hui merely scoffed and tightened his grip on the Crescent Moon Blade.
“A blade without purpose is hollow—the weakest kind of all.”
First Form: Moon Light Breaks Heaven.
Blade energy as soft as moonlight carved through the sky, erasing every one of those dozens of shadow-blades back into nothing.
His Martial Arts were ornate but empty—like a gorgeous shell with nothing inside—and stood no chance against Guan Hui’s, which was rooted deep and built solid from the ground up.
In Martial Arts, what mattered most was not realm, but purpose.
Ever since witnessing the wretched deaths of common folk, every stroke of the Crescent Moon Blade had been infused with the will to kill him—and that blade-edge was stronger than anything else. But a blade that held only pride was weaker than anything else.
“Did you truly think that simply swelling your Internal Force would make you a Martial Artist?”
Guan Hui scoffed at him, his eyes fixed on Cheon Gak.
The Crescent Moon Blade was so heavy that it bore down upon Cheon Gak’s blade, and now it looked as though Guan Hui was gazing down at him from above.
“Your master told me—you wanted to become a true Martial Artist once, but they cast you out of the academy for lack of talent, is that right?”
The sneer in Guan Hui’s eyes deepened.
“Did you think Taoist Magic could make you a true Martial Artist by forcing your Internal Force to grow? You, who’ve never properly swung a blade in your life?”
“Shut your mouth! What could you possibly know—!”
Enraged by the contempt burning in Guan Hui’s gaze, Cheon Gak gripped his blade with both hands and swung it with all his force.
Instead of properly training in swordplay, he had only bloated his realm through Internal Force, and his blade-stroke traced an awkward diagonal arc.
Whoosh!
Guan Hui, who had cultivated his foundation and substance instead of merely inflating his realm, drew his Crescent Moon Blade in a perfect, straight line.
The two blades met in the air, crossing in an X-shape.
Screech!
With a sound like metal splitting, spider-web cracks blossomed across Cheon Gak’s blade.
“…!”
Horror flooded Cheon Gak’s face.
As the shattered blade fragments tumbled down, it was as though his very pride was crumbling with them.
“You are no Martial Artist. You never will be, not for all your days.”
Guan Hui scoffed and whirled his Crescent Moon Blade.
“…All right. Fine.”
The expression that had twisted Cheon Gak’s face throughout the battle—fierce and savage—turned suddenly cold and still.
With icy eyes fixed on Guan Hui, he thrust his palm toward him.
Wind layered upon wind above his hand, forming a massive barrier.
Boom!
The compressed wall of wind blocked Guan Hui’s attack with effortless ease.
“You seem rather pleased with yourself…but let’s see if that proud Martial Arts of yours can hold back Taoist Magic as well.”
A murderous gleam flickered in Cheon Gak’s eyes, his pride now shattered.
“I’ll tear you to pieces with magic.”
Kaboom!
The compressed barrier of wind exploded outward, and Guan Hui’s body was blasted backward like an arrow.
The shockwave of the blast—as if dozens of artillery shells had detonated at once—engulfed him completely.
“Cough!”
In an instant, Guan Hui’s clothes hung in tatters, and crimson blood sprayed from his mouth.
“Worm. I knew from the start you were never meant to face me.”
Cheon Gak’s eyes now held a chill deeper than a midwinter blizzard.
With eyes sharp as frost, Cheon Gak swept his hand through the empty air.
Crack!
Thunder roared into being above, and lightning crashed down onto Guan Hui.
“…!”
Guan Hui rolled across the ground, desperately throwing himself out of the bolt’s path.
“How well you squirm, like a worm.”
Toward Guan Hui came a blade of wind, its fangs bared.
“Ugh!”
Using the force of Repulsive Force, Guan Hui drove his body backward and swung the Crescent Moon Blade in a wide horizontal arc.
Clang!
Though wind and blade edge met, a sound like metal striking metal erupted, and Guan Hui’s body was forced back again.
This was different from fighting Martial Arts alone.
A Taoist practitioner wielding magic—Cheon Gak was formidable indeed.
“Vermin. From the start, you were never even my match. Did you truly think a mere martial artist could stand against a Taoist?”
“A blade cuts you down the same whether you’re Taoist or martial artist.”
“Ha! And what drivel flows from your mouth.”
Cheon Gak, having recovered his composure, stood with hands clasped behind his back, a blood-tinged smile on his lips.
“Can you not see that your vaunted martial arts are useless?”
He spat.
Guan Hui hawked the blood pooling in his mouth onto the ground and gripped the Crescent Moon Blade anew.
“No. I don’t see it.”
“Tch tch. It seems this vermin lacks even a shred of comprehension.”
Cheon Gak clicked his tongue as if disappointed.
Yet in truth, it was not disappointment driving him—only mockery.
“Kneel. Then perhaps I shall be generous enough to spare your life.”
Cheon Gak, a crimson smile playing at the corners of his mouth, gestured down at Guan Hui.
“You’re young. You needn’t die here. Set down that Crescent Moon Blade and beg for your life like the dog you are.”
……
Guan Hui stared at Cheon Gak with clenched teeth.
At first glance, he seemed to be considering the offer, but that was not the truth.
‘Teach me quickly, General.’
—Yes. I shall teach you the opening moves of the Heavenly Thunder Slash.
Guan Hui was presently learning the latter half of the Extreme Cloud Destruction Blade in rapid succession.
The fifth stance, carrying the meaning of cleaving the heavens’ thunder in a single stroke—meant to fell this opponent.
—However, I believe the wisest course now is to retreat and buy time. Are you truly set on attacking regardless?
This battle hinges upon when Zhang Chu Shan breaks the formation.
In other words, it is wiser to aim for a future moment of victory rather than fight with no odds of winning now.
Yet Guan Hui chose to advance rather than withdraw.
Even knowing it might cost him his life.
‘Yes. I will not retreat.’
A martial artist who retreats once will retreat again, and repeated withdrawal breeds Martial Regression.
To retreat in this moment would eventually bring about the decline of his own martial discipline.
‘Even if I fall here, I will advance.’
Should his life end in this place, Guan Hui would wield the Crescent Moon Blade and press forward regardless.
For keeping one’s spirit unbroken mattered more than keeping one’s breath.
For that was the true heart a martial artist must carry.
—Splendid. You are truly my heir.
Guan Yu’s voice rang with satisfaction.
This heir was indeed like him.
Not merely in talent or physique, but in will and conviction toward the Martial Way.
Advance Without Retreat in Battle.
To choose forward motion over retreat in any circumstance.
Had he not himself walked a brilliant past with such a heart?
—Your resolve is just. Carry it in your blade and strike.
With Guan Yu’s affirmation, Guan Hui became a streak of light, rushing forward.
The Crescent Moon Blade, gripped in hands stained the color of dates, rose high as if to split the heavens themselves.
Woooooosh—
The formidable internal force contained within the blade sang, giving rise to clear, white blade energy along its edge.
“Foolish.”
Cheon Gak clicked his tongue and shook his head.
As he watched Guan Hui rush forward at tremendous speed, he swung the staff in his hand and compressed the air itself.
Whoooosh—
The semi-transparent white barrier formed by the gathered wind blocked the space between Guan Hui and Cheon Gak.
“A technique called the Wind Mirror Reversal Wave. It is Taoist magic that reflects an opponent’s attack.”
Cheon Gak regarded Guan Hui with a look of contempt and shook his head.
“Your own stance will tear you to shreds.”
Guan Hui, having resolved himself to death, wielded the Crescent Moon Blade, while Cheon Gak, with contempt written across his face, clicked his tongue.
In the instant their gazes met—
Crack—
With a clear, sharp sound, the Blood-Devouring Demonic Formation surrounding Tai Mountain shattered.
Simultaneously, the barrier of wind melted away like snow.
……!
The Crescent Moon Blade filled Cheon Gak’s widening field of vision.

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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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