I Obtained Guan Yu's Martial Arts - Chapter 72

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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 Yu’s Martial Arts — Chapter 72
Sacrifice Self for Benevolence (4)
Four days had passed since the Guan Clan declared war on the Huazong Sect.
In those four days since making the decision against Zhu Hu’s opposition, the household had moved at a frantic pace.
Though various small matters had arisen, the most significant development was that the Guan Clan now possessed its first military force.
The Zhenlong Brigade.
Guan Quying, who had once left the household and later returned, was appointed as its commander — chosen to safeguard the clan’s security.
He was one of those who had achieved the Heavenly Sacred Bone, and his experience as a guard captain was considerable.
“Guan Shi is the vice-commander?”
Guan Hui regarded the fifteen-year-old boy before him with reluctance written across his face.
The youth’s limbs were still not fully grown, and he had been experiencing pain recently.
It was questionable whether such a young one could truly shoulder the position of vice-commander.
“Guan Nantian. Is this really acceptable?”
Guan Hui turned his head toward the General Manager, Guan Nantian.
His bewilderment was so evident that he had even resorted to using formal speech—something he only did when the two were alone together.
“There is no warrior more suited to be vice-commander than Guan Shi. Not only was he the first in our household to achieve the Heavenly Sacred Bone, but he also trains with the greatest diligence.”
The General Manager had several reasons for naming Guan Shi vice-commander, but the foremost was Guan Hui himself.
He believed that if the household was to be led by young blood, then the young must be the ones to support it.
‘The old must step back gradually, and the young must take the lead anew. That is the right way.’
The current of a new era.
The General Manager believed this current was more important than anything else.
It was for this same reason that he had positioned Zhu Hu to take point in the household’s major affairs rather than stepping forward himself.
He desired only the role of a supporter in the shadows.
“Very well. Then I must trust in this decision.”
The General Manager and Zhu Hu knew the great and small affairs of the household far better than Guan Hui did.
He respected their judgment and moved on to the next matter.
“The vermin have fled Yun City?”
“Yes, brother. It appears to be the aftermath of the Black Shadow Sect incident. Those scoundrels were frightened by the assassins.”
A vast faction from the underworld world, commanding one of the seats of the Black Path Five Forests.
They had fled in advance, fearing their enemies’ retaliation might fall upon Yun City.
“Of course, it’s only temporary. Once they learn there will be no retaliation from the Black Shadow Sect, they’ll return immediately.”
“So they’ll come back once Miss Chu’s matter is settled.”
“Yes, exactly. Fortune favors us, brother. It gives you time to leave on your main journey, and the Zhenlong Brigade time to train.”
“You’ve worked hard.”
Guan Hui gave Zhu Hu’s shoulder a light pat.
Who would have thought that a mere pickpocket would grow to wield such influence over the household?
Zhu Hu was indeed one of the clan’s blessings.
“I think it’s about time you received the Guan surname as well.”
“……!?”
Zhu Hu’s eyes widened in shock.
To be granted a surname meant recognition—official recognition.
It meant Zhu Hu was being acknowledged as a member of the clan itself.
“Truly…… is this truly so?”
“Yes. In truth, I should have done this long ago. I’ve simply been too busy.”
“……Brother. Or rather, Family Head…….”
Zhu Hu bit down on his lips. His emotions threatened to spill across his face.
“Thank…… you.”
Zhu Hu’s voice came out thin and trembling.
Something was welling up from deep within his throat.
‘This is…….’
A boy born into a noble house but despised as a Base Worm due to his illegitimate birth, mocked and abused.
Now, at last, Zhu Hu’s face—so long darkened by the world’s shadow—shone brightly.
The shadow of his past no longer bound him.
‘This is…… what a family is.’
The boy’s world, frozen since he was ten years old, began to move once more.
“Heh heh. Congratulations, Guan Zhu Hu the strategist. We must hold a celebration tonight.”
General Manager Guan Nantian also offered his congratulations with a warm smile.
Since he had worked closely with Zhu Hu many times, he too was deeply gladdened by this moment.
“Thank you, General Manager. But it cannot be. On a day like this…… I cannot accept celebration. I am reborn today.”
Zhu Hu’s eyes blazed with an extraordinary light as he struck his chest firmly.
“I am Zhu Hu! I will approach this with the spirit of Sacrifice Self for Benevolence, grateful to my father for this second life! By day’s end, I’ll hunt down every heretic spy lurking in Yun City!”
Zhu Hu charged toward the hall bearing the Dark Fragrance Hall plaque, his shout still ringing in the air.
Guan Hui, watching his retreating figure, turned to the steward with a request.
“While I’m away, keep an eye on that reckless one, will you?”
“Ha ha. Don’t worry, Family Head. He’ll do well.”
Guan Nantian squinted against the sunlight and smiled warmly.
“A fine member of the Guan Clan, after all.”
* * *
“……It’s really all right.”
Chu Xue, her arms and legs wrapped in bandages, fidgeted with her sleeve as if uncertain.
“You’re not well. How could you travel alone? Shaanxi is a considerable distance—it makes sense for us to go together.”
Guan Hui stood beside her with quiet resolve.
Because of his great height, Chu Xue had to lift her chin sharply to meet his gaze.
“Thank you, Guan Hui. But…….”
She stared at the sharp line of light and shadow that cut across the bridge of his nose, her cheeks flushing red.
‘That’s right……. My final journey.’
The moment she arrived in Shaanxi, it would all end.
Rather than live on crippled, her core shattered and meridians severed, she had resolved to choose death.
But then, why not spend this last journey with the one she held in her heart?
Why couldn’t this final trip be painted in softer, rosier hues?
Having made her resolve, she smiled gently.
“Then I’ll ask you to come with me. My arms and legs still hurt a little anyway.”
Yu Hua’s exceptional skill had already healed her wounds completely, yet she feigned pain and pouted her lips deliberately.
With her life measured in days, she would indulge in petulance she’d never dared before.
“And we’ll stop at inns along the way, won’t we? There are some dishes I’ve been craving.”
“Of course.”
“Will you buy them for me? I’ve spent all my money already.”
Chu Xue pointed to her empty purse, which Chu Liang had taken from her.
Gold, they said, was stronger than martial prowess.
No matter how formidable one’s Martial Arts, without silver you’d be reduced to begging beside a beggar on the street.
“Of course. I’ll buy whatever you want.”
The Guan Clan was not the wealthiest house under heaven, but they had more than enough to indulge her every meal at any inn.
Besides, he owed her far more than he could repay.
He could have bought her an entire inn if she asked.
“Really? Then could you buy me a Jade Hairpin too? My hair’s long and gets in the way.”
“Of course. Choose whatever you like.”
“Tee-hee. Thank you.”
Chu Xue, smiling as innocently as a child, leaned her weight against Guan Hui’s shoulder.
Huang Xiaozhe’s eyebrows twitched, and she quickly pressed herself to Guan Hui’s other side.
“We’re coming too. You didn’t think it was just going to be the two of you, did you?”
“Oh. I see you’re joining us. What a shame…….”
“What do you mean, a shame?”
“Well, who knows?”
Chu Xue’s eyes curved into crescents as she smiled sweetly.
“Obviously I’d miss having time alone with him, wouldn’t I?”
Chu Xue spun in a graceful circle, smiling as she moved.
Her motion seemed to be savoring this clear air one last time.
She was smiling, yet there was something melancholy in her expression.
“…….”
Zhang Cheng watched her and bit his lip hard.
He wanted to tell her not to worry, that they would help her, but he could not.
Chu Xue had been adamantly opposed, so they had agreed to keep it secret from her.
‘I’ll tell her once this is over.’
Zhang Cheng clenched his fist in silent determination.
When everything was finished, he would confess the affection he harbored for her.
‘She seems to regard me favorably too, I’m sure.’
Zhang Cheng turned over their moments together in his mind.
Eating with Guan Hui and Chu Xue.
Watching Chu Xue pour wine into Guan Hui’s cup.
Watching Chu Xue tease Guan Hui.
Chu Xue and Guan Hui were about to eat together when Huang Xiaozhe discovered them, and the three ended up dining as a group.
‘True. We do have memories just the two of us.’
Zhang Cheng turned over in his mind the moments he and she had spent alone.
“…….”
On reflection, there weren’t any.
‘Well. We can make them starting now.’
The old saying held that no tree stood firm against ten chops.
With Zhang Cheng’s sincere effort, ten wouldn’t even be necessary.
‘Besides, it seems Miss Chu hasn’t yet set her heart on anyone else.’
While Zhang Cheng sank into private reverie, Chu Xue linked her arm through Guan Hui’s.
Huang Xiaozhe’s eyes blazed with fierce light as she seized the opposite arm and pulled.
“Let’s travel by lightness technique while we’re at it.”
Guan Hui, who had never studied the Golden Rope Technique, deployed it anyway and escaped the two women’s grasp, moving forward with the Heavenly Steps Flowing Star unfolding beneath him.
The two women gave chase with nimble steps.
“Zhang, come quickly!”
“Eh?”
Spotting their retreating figures only now, Zhang Cheng hastily unfolded his lightness technique and followed them.
“Miss Chu spoke to me first……!”
Her soft voice, heard just moments before, would not leave his mind.
And from a distance beyond sight’s reach.
A pair of eyes watched Chu Xue with leisurely composure.
Eyes set in the Four-White configuration, carrying pupils of blood-red, trembled faintly.
* * *
“Hnngh…….”
A thin moan escaped, like a candle dying in its last breath.
It came from the lips of Zhang Chuoshan, who had lain unconscious for some time.
“Awake?”
An arrogant young nobleman of a distinguished house looked down at him.
The Red-Eyed Boy stood in a posture of arrogance, arms folded, suspended in empty air.
As though gravity itself held no sway over him.
“Who……are you…….”
Zhang Chuoshan strained against his unresponsive body, trying to rise.
But neither his arms nor legs obeyed his mind’s command.
It made sense.
Both his arms and legs had already been torn from him and lay scattered across the ground.
“My fortune’s remarkably good today. I caught that Daoist dog who reads Heavenly Fortune and meddles, and now I’ve found my old beloved.”
Zhang Chuoshan strained his neck and forced his head upright.
It was to face the boy.
“Do you want to read me?”
The boy descended through the empty air as though stairs existed there.
“……!”
Upon meeting the boy’s gaze, Zhang Chuoshan trembled with involuntary shock.
“The Great Ominous Star!”
A vast, sinister scarlet star filled his vision.
The red star, grown several times larger than when he’d seen it before, consumed his entire sight.
“Listen, Daoist. Let me ask you something.”
“…….”
Zhang Chuoshan did not answer.
Or rather, could not answer.
The boy’s overwhelming killing intent pressed down upon the space itself.
Only the boy, and those the boy permitted, could open their mouths in this space.
“It seems the White Light Star is together with my old beloved. If I kill that White Light Star bastard, will she grieve?”
“…….”
The boy’s sinister red eyes rolled as he stroked his chin.
“Hmm. I can’t leave him alive. But I don’t want to wound her either. What do you think?”
“……What connection exists between that beloved and the White Light Star?”
Zhang Chuoshan forced out his reply word by labored word.
He did not fully comprehend the boy’s meaning, but it was clear the boy intended to kill the White Light Star.
He had to stop him somehow.
With Heavenly Fortune itself so turbulent, if the White Light Star were to fall, the Mortal Realm would become a Demonic Realm.
“What sort of relationship? I’m not sure. It doesn’t seem particularly deep. Perhaps just friends.”
“……Then wouldn’t it be enough to wait and observe over time?”
“Hmm?”
“The friendships of the young are like duckweed upon a river. They form easily and break just as easily.”
“Ah, I see. So I should wait until she and he naturally drift apart?”
The boy’s red eyes blazed with an ominous light.
“A fine thought. The old Daoist has proven quite useful after all.”
The boy smiled broadly and nodded.
“Yes. Since a hundred stars remain, there’s no need to rush.”
“……!”
Zhang Chuoshan’s body trembled at the shock—his vision had already grown dim from the blood pooling before him like a small lake.
‘He… he killed three more stars in the meantime?!’
Zhang Chuoshan’s jaw quivered as he struggled to process the revelation.
“You’ve been helpful, old Daoist. Now die.”
The boy slowly raised his leg.
The moment his foot left the ground, overwhelming force converged at his heel, warping the very space around him.
A power that twisted space itself.
The strength contained within the Great Ominous Star was beyond reason.
‘Still…… I protected them.’
Watching the boy’s foot descend, Zhang Chuoshan found peace.
With nothing but his tongue in the end, he had saved the White Light Star and the Central Plains.
Crack—
And so he harbored no regrets.

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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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