I Obtained Guan Yu's Martial Arts - Chapter 6

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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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Obtained Guan Yunchang’s Martial Arts — Episode 006
Who is the Victor (1)
“Urrgh.”
Guan Hui patted his belly with a satisfied smile.
His stomach, slightly distended from all the food he’d crammed in, was visible even through his clothes.
-……You certainly eat a lot.
Guan Yunchang gazed at the dozens of noodle bowls stacked in front of Guan Hui and couldn’t help but marvel.
To eat that much without moving from his seat.
At this rate, he might even stand a chance against that Zhang Fei.
“I don’t usually eat this much. Strange how hungry I am.”
-It’s likely the Red Fire Radiant Martial Art. External Martial Arts burn far more physical energy.
“Ah, I see.”
Unlike ordinary martial disciplines that consumed Inner Force, External Martial Arts—which drew solely upon bodily strength—exacted a considerable toll on stamina and muscular reserves.
There was a reason the generals of old who studied External Martial Arts had been known to devour entire pigs on their own.
-Your belly’s full now. What’s your next move? Don’t tell me you have no plan.
“Of course I do. I’ve got it all figured out.”
-……Tell me then.
Guan Yunchang spoke with evident doubt, drawing power up from Jungheon within himself.
If the boy pulled another foolish stunt like he was just eating rice, he was prepared to burn his own soul’s strength to deliver a sharp rap to that head.
“First, I need to settle my debts.”
The Guan Clan had accumulated roughly a hundred Silver Coins in debt stretching back generations.
Guan Hui was determined to pay off this debt first.
When money came in, repaying overdue debts was a matter of honor.
“That’s why I came here, actually. Convenient timing.”
Guan Hui lifted his gaze toward the staircase ahead.
From the stairs of this high-ceilinged floor, a middle-aged man with a weasel-like beard was descending.
“Guan Hui. It’s been a while.”
“A pleasure to see you, Ji Daein.”
Guan Hui rose from his chair and offered a respectful martial salute.
He was all the more formal because the man held his note.
There was always a chance he might forgive some of it.
“You look younger than when I last saw you.”
“Mm. Put in some effort.”
“What’s the secret? Share it with me too.”
“Of course.”
Ji Daein nodded and extended his hand.
“……?”
“Nothing’s free in this world. If you want information, you pay. One Silver Coin.”
True to form for a merchant.
Despite his wealth, the man was remarkably stingy.
Then again, such ruthlessness was probably how he’d become Yunseong’s premier merchant.
“Never mind then.”
“Hmm. Suit yourself. But I’ve noticed you ate quite a lot. Can you actually pay for it?”
Suspicion flickered in Ji Daein’s eyes.
Having lent money to the Guan Clan, he knew their financial situation better than anyone.
“For the Guan Clan’s circumstances, scraping together even one Silver Coin for a meal would be difficult.”
“That’s true.”
Guan Hui nodded readily and drew a Silver Coin from his pouch.
“Here’s the meal payment.”
“Ho.”
Suspicion vanished from Ji Daein’s eyes, and surprise flickered across them instead.
“How on earth?”
Did he steal it somewhere? Or did he get an advance from the Soul Medicine House?
All manner of theories raced through his mind.
Yet none of them seemed to fit as the obvious answer.
“I obtained it after wiping out the Soul Medicine House.”
“……?”
Ji Daein, momentarily dazed, suddenly burst into laughter, clutching his belly.
“Ha ha ha ha! You’re quite the entertaining fellow, aren’t you?”
Still chuckling and wiping tears from his eyes, Ji Daein suddenly turned serious and waved his hand through the empty air.
A gesture seemingly devoid of meaning.
Yet the ripples it sent forth were far from small.
Creak—
Dozens of people inside the three-story inn began filing out at a single hand motion from Ji Daein.
Those eating, those with cups freshly filled, even the kitchen staff preparing meals—all of them departed.
……
Silence flooded the empty inn in an instant.
Left alone in the vacant inn with only the traces of human presence, Guan Hui shrugged his shoulders with studied calm.
“The kitchen will char some fried food.”
“That much won’t matter.”
Ji Daein took the chair across from Guan Hui.
Guan Hui settled into his seat as well, and the young man and the middle-aged one studied each other intently.
“Don’t tell me you borrowed money elsewhere?”
Ji Daein’s expression turned grave.
“That would be unwise. I have a small connection to the Guan Clan, so I lend with almost no interest—but others won’t be so generous.”
The world was full of men who lent money only to extract far more in return.
Ji Daein had no wish to see Guan Hui fall into their hands.
Though the family line had nearly withered, they were still descendants of the great Guan Yunchang, after all.
“That’s not it.”
“Then what?”
“As I mentioned earlier. I obtained the money by destroying the Soul Medicine House.”
Pfft!
Ji Daein spat out the water he’d been holding in his mouth.
“Careful, now.”
Guan Hui leaned swiftly to the side and dodged the spray.
His face had nearly been drenched.
“You—truly? You really destroyed the Soul Medicine House?”
“Yes.”
“……You did?”
“Yes.”
“……Alone?”
“Yes.”
“How—how on earth?!”
Ji Daein genuinely could not believe it.
Not just any Black Path faction—the Soul Medicine House.
The three great Black Path powers: the Black Flame Sect, the Blood River Sect, and the Soul Medicine House—vicious organizations all.
And he’d swept them all away single-handedly?
It wasn’t as if a Fortuitous Encounter had fallen from the sky.
How could this possibly be?!
“Here is the money we borrowed.”
Guan Hui produced one of three heavy money pouches he’d divided and stored beforehand.
He’d split three hundred silver coins before coming to the inn.
“Th—truly?! One hundred—a hundred silver coins?!”
Ji Daein’s face paled as he counted the coins in the pouch.
“N–no, that’s… How on earth…”
Ji Daein’s head turned to the left as he sat momentarily dazed.
His subordinate, who had been listening outside, had gone to the Soul Medicine House to verify and had just returned.
“Sir, it’s true. The estate is filled with nothing but corpses. The leader of the Soul Medicine House is dead as well.”
……
Ji Daein’s mouth fell open wide enough to swallow ten flies.
……He truly had annihilated the Soul Medicine House?!
The Soul Medicine House, which had terrorized Yunseong for decades?!
“How in the world did you manage it?”
Guan Hui did not answer the question.
Instead, he smiled slyly and extended his hand.
……!
Ji Daein’s mouth fell open again—struck by the sudden weight of it.
Had this boy actually taken his own words and turned them into action?
‘Was he always like this?’
The Guan Hui he knew had never been this bold or audacious.
It was the complete opposite of how he was now.
He had lived half like a corpse, consumed by anxiety over the clan’s collapse.
‘Ah. I was wrong about him.’
Ji Daein found himself thinking that perhaps he had misjudged Guan Hui all this time.
Perhaps he had never truly seen the young man’s real nature.
“Here you are.”
With that thought, Ji Daein promptly drew out a Silver Coin and handed it to Guan Hui.
It was not curiosity about how the money had been earned, but curiosity about the man called Guan Hui himself.
“My, such a generous sum. Then I suppose I should tell you.”
Guan Hui swiftly pocketed the Silver Coin and opened his mouth with a faint smile.
“So what happened was…….”

* * *
Ji Daein had begun his business at seven years old.
Starting with medicinal herbs plucked by small, delicate hands, he had spent forty years building his enterprise into the greatest merchant house of Yunseong, and from the very bottom up to now, he had experienced truly every conceivable circumstance.
Ji Daein was a man who had weathered crisis on land, crisis at sea, and everything in between.
Living that way, one grew accustomed to the myriad events that unfolded in the world.
Ji Daein had once declared with confidence that there was nothing left in life that could surprise him.
Or rather, he had declared that.
Before hearing Guan Hui’s story, that is.
“The Soul Medicine House destroyed…….”
The shock that reverberated through his skull made Ji Daein clutch the back of his head.
It felt as though someone had struck him across the crown.
‘I had no idea the head of the Guan Clan was so formidable.’
The patriarch or sect master of a third-rate martial house typically ranked somewhere around third-rate to, at best, second-rate.
At that level, they were essentially no different from a commoner who happened to be good at fighting.
Guan Hui had been no exception to that.
Or rather, he had been.
‘Now he is different.’
Even without training in martial arts, one could tell that Guan Hui now looked like a proper Martial Artist.
The Guan Hui of now was different from the one he had seen before.
How to put it.
As though he had become an entirely different person.
‘Remarkable.’
Ji Daein swept his gaze over Guan Hui, a flash of surprise crossing his eyes.
He was certainly more muscular than before, and moved with greater agility.
Of course, the change was not merely physical.
‘His eyes have changed too.’
Guan Hui, who bore the mantle of clan patriarch while still young, bearing responsibility for so many people.
In his eyes there had always been a heaviness born of that grave responsibility.
As though bearing the weight of the heavens themselves, that burden had been felt by all who stood near him.
But now it was different.
Not as though he had cast off that weight, but rather as though he had absorbed it into his very being.
Guan Hui appeared lighter than ever before, brimming with confidence.
“What on earth has happened?”
Instead of answering, Guan Hui extended his hand.
Pleased even by this gesture, Ji Daein smiled faintly and placed a Silver Coin in his palm.
“There you are.”
“I came by a Fortuitous Encounter.”
“A Fortuitous Encounter……! Is that so!”
Ji Daein clapped his hands together in wonder.
He had heard stories of Martial Artists who obtained a Fortuitous Encounter and became Master Martial Artists in a heartbeat, but he never expected to witness it with his own eyes!
“The emergence of a rising Master Martial Artist who toppled the Soul Medicine House…….”
He had already held affection and goodwill toward the Guan Clan.
Seeing Guan Hui renewed by these events, his eyes gleamed with an even deeper light.
In that gaze lay the admiration and affection one might show toward one’s own child.
‘The descendant of Guan Yunchang rises once more.’
A sudden thought struck him—that this might be only the beginning.
If the descendants of Guan Yunchang were to advance.
If they were to begin shining anew in Yunseong, after all those trials…….
‘This might be the chance to cleanse Yunseong of the Black Path.’
Yunseong was a place where the Black Path flourished, lacking any proper White Path faction.
Across the Central Plains as a whole, the White Path’s strength was beginning to eclipse the Black Path, but in smaller cities like Yunseong, the Black Path’s influence often ran deeper still.
‘What merchants need is the strength of the White Path.’
The ones who prayed for the Black Path’s disappearance more than any White Path martial artist were the merchants themselves.
Without them, they wouldn’t need to pay protection money under duress.
Of course, they still gave money to the White Path under the guise of security fees.
But that was nothing compared to what the Black Path bastards extorted.
And those vermin caused trouble whenever they ran short of funds for even a day.
‘The head of the Guan Clan could serve that role.’
Of course, not all White Path were righteous, nor were all Black Path evil.
If a White Path faction took root in Yunseong only to act identically to the Black Path, it would be meaningless.
But Ji Daein held faith in the Guan Clan.
Or more precisely, faith in Guan Hui.
‘Even through adversity, he has walked the righteous path with stubborn resolve.’
He became clan head before even reaching his twenties, bearing responsibility for dozens of retainers.
He must have wanted to flee from that crushing burden, to turn away from it.
A single choice of his could snuff out dozens of lives, could sever a family line that had endured for centuries.
Had Ji Daein been in that position, he would have fled long ago.
Anyone in such desperate circumstances would have.
But Guan Hui did not.
Instead, Guan Hui advanced step by step each day, seeking to restore his family’s honor.
He used his own body as an experiment to earn money for the clan, shrinking from no labor, however demeaning.
Drowning in debt where even breathing came hard, he could have walked the Evil Path—stealing from others to survive.
Yet he moved forward without a moment’s hesitation, treading only the righteous way.
For years he endured an ordeal that few would choose, that few could bear.
At barely twenty years old.
‘A talent this world has never seen.’
In all the Central Plains, many excelled in martial prowess, yet among them, none pursued righteousness itself.
Only the powerless spoke of righteousness, while the weak suffered still.
‘Only the Guan Clan Master does.’
Ji Daein’s eyes began to burn with fervor bright as the sun.
“Take this back with you.”
“……!?”
Ji Daein pressed the heavy money pouch he’d been holding back into Guan Hui’s hands.
He didn’t stop there—he drew out his own money pouch from within his robes and added it on top.
“Why are you giving me this?”
“To the Guan Clan. Or more precisely, I wish to sponsor you.”
“Sponsor me?”
Guan Hui’s pupils dilated in shock.
“Righteousness no longer exists in this world. Those with power and authority think only of their own gain, while the poor suffer day after day.”
“…….”
Guan Hui’s expression grew grave as he met Ji Daein’s burning gaze.
“I ask for little in return. The price of my sponsorship is but one thing.”
“What is that?”
“A Righteous Person.”
“……?”
“Continue to be a Righteous Person as you have been. Even if you cannot change the whole world, make Yunseong at least a livable place.”
“…….”
It was not a request easily answered.
To become a Righteous Person.
Understanding the weight of those words, his voice could not come easily.
“Ji Daein.”
“Speak.”
Ji Daein straightened his posture, his tone shifting with it.
Guan Hui looked at him with grave eyes and spoke.
“I am neither good nor evil.”
“Then what are you?”
“I am a Martial Artist.”
A good person practices goodness around them,
Evil men spread evil to those around them.
Then what is a Martial Artist?
A Martial Artist is one who has honed their martial skill and acts according to their will.
“I cannot promise you a Righteous Person. But as a Martial Artist and the head of the White Path Clan, I can promise you this: I will stand against what is wrong.”
Guan Hui closed his eyes once, then opened them as he spoke.
Perhaps it was not the best answer he could have given.
If he had simply promised to do so, even falsely, he could have received the substantial funds his clan desperately needed.
But he did not wish to debase himself to that degree.
One could bend the knee while keeping the spirit unbroken.
He wanted to remain dignified, even in poverty.
Money could be earned at any time, but once sold, pride could never be bought back.
……
Instead of answering, Ji Daein simply smiled in silence.
“That is enough.”
Ji Daein pushed the money pouch resting on the table toward Guan Hui.
“I know where your heart lies, and I’m not the only one—everyone in Yunseong knows it too.”
How Guan Hui, despite his young age, had walked a path of hardship as the head of his clan to lead his family forward was common knowledge among all the residents of Yunseong.
That path was so thorned that even the Black Path scoundrels could not speak of it carelessly.
“Just continue as you have been. That is all I ask of you.”
Ji Daein smiled with a gentleness rarely seen on his face and grasped Guan Hui’s calloused hand.
“Please change Yunseong for us.”
“Yes, Ji Daein. As the head of the Guan Clan now established in Yunseong, I give you my word.”
The aged merchant and the young clan head exchanged their resolve with burning eyes.
“I’m grateful. Now that I think of it, I never even served you tea—we only talked.”
Ji Daein poured hot water into the teacup that had been sitting in the center of the table.
At that very moment, the steaming water flowed from the kettle—
“Master, Master! He’s appeared! He’s shown himself!”
Ji Daein’s subordinate, a man with ferret-like whiskers, burst through the door in haste.
“Who is making such a commotion?”
“It’s—it’s the Minor Color Demon, Mak Pyeong…. He’s appeared again!”
……!
……!!
The faces of Ji Daein and Guan Hui contorted simultaneously as if by agreement.
“That accursed bastard……!”
Ji Daein’s aged fist trembled as he clenched it tightly.
Mak Pyeong, the Minor Color Demon—one of the disciples of Bang Gitae, the Color Demon.
That man, who had forcibly violated dozens of women over the years, bore the stain of having defiled Ji Daein’s daughter in the past, driving her to take her own life.
Crack—
One corner of the table shattered, sending splinters scattering across the floor.
It was Guan Hui, overcome by rage he could not contain, who had destroyed the table with nothing but the grip of his hand.
“……? Could it be that you as well……?”
Seeing the wavering pupils of Ji Daein, Guan Hui gave a slow nod.
“Yes. Two years ago, that beast violated a daughter of our clan.”
Guan Hui’s face twisted with the memory, contorting like a demon’s mask of fury.
That man had been the chief architect of the calamity that befell the Guan family.
Whoosh—
Guan Hui seized the Silver Crescent Blade he had set aside in the corner.
“Where is he?”
Overwhelmed by Guan Hui’s aura, Ji Daein’s subordinate swallowed hard despite himself.
“He’s—he’s at an estate called Eunpyeong Garden, to the west.”
……
As Guan Hui turned to leave, he cried out at the sight of the rising steam.
“I will return before your tea grows cold.”

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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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