I Obtained Guan Yu's Martial Arts - Chapter 52

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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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Gaining Guan Yu’s Martial Arts Episode 52
Ak Jin-sung (2)
A banquet had been held at the Guan Family Estate for the first time in a long while.
Since the feast was to take place quite late in the evening, the household staff moved about busily with preparations.
Ordinarily, those of higher rank relished banquet preparations while those below found them tedious.
Yet the faces of the Guan Family servants bloomed with smiles as they worked.
The Guan Clan had so seldom found occasion to prepare a banquet, and rarely hosted guests at all.
And so when a guest arrived—
When none other than Ak Jin-sung, the Family Head of the Shandong Ak Family, whom men called the King of Shandong Province, came to visit—the hearts of every servant quickened with anticipation.
“……It’s a pleasant sight.”
Ak Jin-sung’s lips curved upward slightly as he watched the staff making preparations, a smile playing at his mouth.
A man could discern much about a Family Head through the bearing of his servants.
If they cowered in fear or wore darkened expressions, then their master was an arrogant, tyrannical man concerned only with authority. The opposite revealed a Family Head versed in benevolence, righteousness, propriety, and wisdom.
Looking upon the Guan Family Estate, it was clear that Guan Hui belonged unmistakably to the latter sort.
A far cry from the other Family Heads whom Ak Jin-sung found distasteful.
‘Small, yes—but all the more tightly knit for it.’
Despite holding the exalted position of Family Head, Guan Hui moved among his servants with open arms, lending his own strength to their work.
It was truly a sight that stirred something warm within his chest.
‘How fine.’
At the same time, he felt a twinge of envy.
The Shandong Ak Family, which had surged forward with eyes fixed only on the horizon to become the foremost clan in Shandong Province, had forgotten such things long ago.
‘We once had moments like that.’
A shadow of doubt flickered across Ak Jin-sung’s eyes.
When had they lost that light?
When they forcibly absorbed smaller clans like the Zhang Family Estate?
When they established a rigid doctrine of pure merit-based hierarchy?
“…….”
The reasons were too many to distill into a single answer.
A sudden heaviness seemed to settle upon his shoulders.
“Senior. The preparations are nearly complete. We do apologize for the modest arrangements, given the late hour.”
“Hah! It would be quite presumptuous of me to arrive unannounced at such an hour and expect an elaborate feast.”
Ak Jin-sung broke into a hearty smile and gave Guan Hui’s shoulder a hearty pat.
Thump-thump!
For the first time in ages, Guan Hui felt as though his shoulder blade might dislocate.
Guan Hui led Ak Jin-sung to a pavilion situated in one corner of the garden grounds.
A serene vista greeted him—a small pond nearby and trees that Guan Nantian, the Family’s steward, had cultivated with devoted care arranged in gentle repose.
“Ah!”
Ak Jin-sung uttered a soft exclamation of appreciation at the sight, which held not ostentatious splendor but the quiet beauty of simplicity.
Given its modest scale, he had harbored no great expectations when hearing it called an estate.
Yet it proved far more impressive than anticipated.
“You’ve arranged this most beautifully.”
“You honor us. The steward has gardening as his passion, and we have benefited greatly from his skill.”
“To surround yourself with able people is itself a virtue of an able Family Head. You strike me as a quite exceptional one.”
Guan Hui gave a slight bow of acknowledgment for the compliment, and both men settled into the pavilion.
Soon after, the servants brought trays laden with dishes.
Mushroom and Chinese cabbage stir-fried in fragrant oil, and pork belly stir-fried with garlic and onions—both dishes of the sort that delighted the palate.
At the sight of these two offerings, the corners of Ak Jin-sung’s mouth rose noticeably.
Both dishes happened to be among his personal favorites.
“This, this is—?!”
When the servants brought the wine, Ak Jin-sung’s eyes widened slightly.
It was neither the common white spirit nor the more refined yellow wine.
It was Bamboo Leaf Green—counted among the finest brews in all the land.
Five bottles of the precious and costly Bamboo Leaf Green, which even Ak Jin-sung could scarcely afford to drink more than once a month, had been brought forth.
“This, such a treasure… surely this is too much of a burden?”
Ak Jin-sung’s face darkened with conflict.
The memory of breaking down the gate door pricked his conscience, yet his mouth had already begun to water—a contradiction between his sense of propriety and his desire.
A struggle, as they say, between the head and the tongue.
“Ha ha. It is quite alright, Senior. This is a spirit we have brewed ourselves, so there was no cost involved.”
“……!? You brewed Bamboo Leaf Green yourself?”
“Yes. We have quite a sizeable Bamboo Forest near our estate grounds. We began fermenting Bamboo Leaf Green not long ago to make use of it.”
The idea to brew liquor using the Bamboo Forest was entirely the conception of Guan Nantian, the Family Head.
Beyond horticulture, the Family Head possessed considerable skill in the Way of Alcohol.
“Impressive! Horticulture and the Way of Alcohol both. You’re quite the accomplished Family Head.”
“You honor me. In any case, I’d be grateful if you’d evaluate this Bamboo Leaf Green, senior.”
The Bamboo Leaf Green had only recently been produced.
And it was so widely known throughout Shandong Province that Ak Jin-sung loved liquor that anyone from there would know it.
Zhu Hu, who had once worked as a pickpocket in Shandong Province himself, was aware of this fact as well.
That’s why he’d brought out the Bamboo Leaf Green deliberately.
To win Ak Jin-sung’s favor through it, and to have the liquor evaluated.
“In other words, killing two birds with one stone.”
“Hmm? What did you say?”
“Oh. Nothing.”
His true thoughts had slipped out by accident, but fortunately Ak Jin-sung hadn’t heard.
By then, he was already pouring for himself.
“Ah, how rude of me. My apologies.”
Proper etiquette in the Way of Alcohol calls for the host to pour first for his guest.
But Ak Jin-sung, in his eagerness, had made a mistake.
“I’ll remedy that.”
Ak Jin-sung flicked the cup into the air with one hand while bringing the bottle toward it with the other.
Naturally, when liquor spills from a cup suspended in empty space, it scatters in all directions.
Yet strangely, no such thing occurred.
The liquor gathered as though possessed of will, flowing smoothly back into the bottle.
Watching it flow like a transparent thread into the bottle, Guan Hui’s eyes went wide.
“Senior. This is…….”
“Ha. You noticed? I’ve employed the Martial Principle of Sword Thread.”
Sword Thread—the representative Martial Principle of the Peak Realm.
Not merely crude Internal Energy shaped into form, but a higher-order principle governing energy that streams forth like dozens or hundreds of threads.
“Do you know? From the Peak Realm onward, you can see with your own eyes the threads of energy that divide the world. Calling it Sword Thread isn’t really about threads as a symbol of the Peak—it’s about what you can see.”
If you cultivate your Internal Energy in the Third Class, pass through the Second Class, and reach the First Class while sensing that energy,
from the Peak Realm onward, you can see that energy with your eyes.
As you awaken to the profound Martial Principle regarding energy, you naturally come to understand that this world divides into black and white lines, like the yin and yang of the Primordial Diagram.
“That’s why they say the Peak Realm operates on a different dimension. I can see your will as threads.”
What the Peak Realm reveals is not merely black and white lines.
The murderous intent of an opponent likewise appears as red threads.
Seeing it means dodging or countering becomes far easier.
This is precisely why ten First Class warriors cannot defeat a single Peak Realm master.
“……!”
In Ak Jin-sung’s words, Guan Hui caught a glimpse of enlightenment, and his pupils trembled visibly.
What he was sharing now was the principle of martial doctrine from a Peak Realm master—something that would be difficult to obtain even for ten thousand gold pieces.
He was giving away the Martial Principle that he had awakened to through his own life.
“Why so suddenly…….”
“I violated the Way of Alcohol and failed to observe proper courtesy, did I not. Such debts must be paid.”
Ak Jin-sung replied with an untroubled smile.
“I’d say that settles the price of the liquor.”
Evidently, he was a man who held propriety in high regard.
“Thank you, senior. I’ve learned much.”
Guan Hui rose from his seat and offered a respectful fist salute.
At that impeccable courtesy, Ak Jin-sung’s smile deepened.
“If you’ve learned it, then you must embody it.”
So saying, Ak Jin-sung headed toward the open ground beside the pavilion.
“Yes?”
“My mind isn’t particularly sharp, you see. I find it better to awaken through the body than through thought. Besides, once I’ve exerted myself, the liquor tastes even better.”
“……!”
“What do you say? Shall we exchange moves lightly?”
Before Guan Hui could even open his mouth to respond, he threw himself toward Ak Jin-sung.
An opportunity to cross swords lightly with a Peak Realm master.
To refuse such a chance would be the act of a fool or a madman.
“It would be an honor, senior.”
“No weapons, no Internal Energy—bare-hand combat. Is that acceptable?”
“Of course.”
Without a weapon or Internal Energy, the advantage would actually swing to Guan Hui.
Though he lacked the deep reserves of Internal Energy accumulated through reaching Knowing Heaven’s Mandate, the Heavenly Martial Divine Body granted him Physical Strength that was second to none.
“How about this: whoever’s feet lift off the ground first loses?”
A proper match could leave someone badly wounded.
A friendly bout couldn’t end in injury.
Ak Jin-sung added a small rule to keep Guan Hui from getting hurt.
“Otherwise you might take serious damage, you see.”
“Very well.”
Guan Hui nodded readily.
After all, his opponent was a master at the Peak Realm.
Even if he fought with everything he had, at his current level Guan Hui couldn’t win against such an adversary.
The fact that such an opponent was willing to show restraint was actually a stroke of fortune for him.
“All right then. I’ll hold back a step.”
Ak Jin-sung stood at ease, hands clasped behind his back.
“Then I’ll come at you.”
Guan Hui lowered his stance as if pushing the ground away, flooding his thighs with power.
In an instant his thighs swelled so dramatically they nearly burst through his trousers.
Whoosh—
Blood flow accelerated, and steam vented from skin flushed crimson.
It was proof that the Red Flame Light Martial had grown stronger, deepened by newfound insight into its power.
“Ho. External technique? How interesting.”
Just as a flicker of intrigue crossed Ak Jin-sung’s eyes.
Thud—
Guan Hui charged like lightning, his fist filling Ak Jin-sung’s entire field of vision as he kicked off the ground.
To close the distance and swing a left hook in the span of a single blink—impressive.
‘Speed that belies his size.’
Admiring that velocity, Ak Jin-sung tucked his chin and leaned his head back.
But Guan Hui had read even that, tensing through his feet to slam on the brakes.
Crunch—
Then, wrenching his body back in line, he drove his right fist into Ak Jin-sung’s abdomen.
“A very fine technique. Most martial artists would’ve been caught.”
Ak Jin-sung raised his palm lightly and brought it to meet Guan Hui’s fist.
Up to this point, Ak Jin-sung had harbored not the slightest doubt of his victory.
He was, after all, a martial master who had reached the Peak Realm.
His opponent was merely a First Class martial artist thirty years his junior.
While he might have lost a previous sword contest, there was no way he could lose at Bare-Hand Combat.
Among hundreds of such bouts, his losses could be counted on one hand.
“One flaw—your hesitation shows too plainly. You have to commit fully to deceive your opponent, or…… What?”
Ak Jin-sung’s face clouded with bewilderment.
The palm blocking Guan Hui’s fist was being driven backward relentlessly.
‘What—?’
His stretched arm bent backward at the elbow, and naturally his front foot’s sole lifted into empty air.
The monstrous force packed into that fist was pushing his massive frame away.
‘How is this possible?’
At first he wondered if Guan Hui was using Internal Energy in secret.
But his eyes—those that could perceive the threads of energy—saw no trace of it around Guan Hui’s form.
In other words, right now Guan Hui was relying purely on the strength of his body.
‘Then why—?’
The situation was utterly absurd.
Even as bewilderment gripped him, Ak Jin-sung extended his other hand, pressing both palms together.
If one hand couldn’t hold, two hands would.
But—
Whoosh—
His effort proved futile as his body, both feet together, lifted clear off the ground.
Though his feet rose only a span above the earth, they were indeed no longer touching it.
“Wait—I won, didn’t I?”
Guan Hui’s eyes went wide with shock.
He had never imagined he would actually prevail.
And certainly not with such ease—defeated by a single punch.
“……W-well, yes.”
Ak Jin-sung, equally startled, scratched at his lengthened philtrum.
He’d fought bare-hand combat hundreds of times over, tasted defeat in many forms, and the varieties had been numerous.
But to be defeated so absurdly, overwhelmed by his opponent’s raw strength—that was a first in his life.
What in the world was this?
The two of them weren’t putting on some kind of operatic performance.
“C-Congratulations, I suppose?”
“T-Thank you, I think?”
The gaze of the two martial artists, tilting their heads as though something had broken, swung toward each other.
……
A moment suddenly suffused with awkwardness.
Both the senior who’d meant to impart wisdom and the junior who’d come to receive it.
‘I’m losing like this?’
No matter how he turned it over in his mind, it made no sense at all.
Even a naturally gifted wrestler would never—
How could any man’s physical strength be that monstrous?
‘Is this man some sort of Heavenly Martial Divine Body?’
That absurd strength alone made even the Heavenly Martial Divine Body—a thing whispered about only in rumor, dismissed as impossible—seem plausible by comparison.
Of course, such talk was baseless hearsay.
Hah.
Ak Jin-sung, who’d struggled for a moment to find words amid his bewilderment, spoke curtly.
“Pour the wine, then. It’ll be cold soon.”
Even in the midst of this, Ak Jin-sung remained true to the Way of Alcohol.

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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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