I Shouldn't Have Joined the Martial Arts Alliance - Chapter 109

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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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Chapter 109
Dok-wang stares at Sa U-rin with eyes full of questions.
“……So the boy says only you can do this?”
“Honestly, I’m not sure myself. I can do it, but I haven’t seen what other people can or can’t do, so I have no way of knowing. But right now, that’s not what matters. What matters is why I brought this Water Droplet here, doesn’t it?”
“……Yes, that’s true. Still……”
Dok-wang is maddened by curiosity about how this is even possible.
“I’m curious too. Since when could you do this?”
It doesn’t seem like he could have done anything so absurd before.
“Since I died a hundred times.”
Both Sa U-rin and Jang Ryeo experienced that then.
Especially Sa U-rin—he’d been immersed in the Fung Yun Sword of the Jang Family Manor at that time.
And yet…… Or is that precisely why?
The more his understanding of the Jang Family Manor’s Fung Yun Sword deepened, the more it seemed to influence his Honwon-gong as well.
His mastery of Honwon-gong naturally climbed higher with each passing day.
And so Sa U-rin’s Yusim Sojjo, the mental method of Honwon-gong, rose to the seventh stage, while both Am-yeong Sinjul and Cheon-rae Sinjul also reached the seventh stage.
That meant, in other words, he could finally begin to learn Myeol-sin Jul.
So recently, while devoting himself to the Jang Family Manor’s Fung Yun Sword, Sa U-rin made time to study Myeol-sin Jul.
But……
Wasn’t it said that great expectations breed great disappointments?
Yes. That was exactly what happened. It was so incomprehensibly difficult. He was still far from even crawling—barely at the stage of flailing helplessly.
No, it was more accurate to say he hadn’t even entered the beginning.
This wasn’t about casting spells or anything like that……. In any case, it was so difficult that he hadn’t even dared to attempt it yet.
In any case.
“Was that when you too, my son?”
“Yes, Mother.”
“My, how alike we are. Hahahaha.”
“Indeed.”
“Then this time it’s thanks to your mother?”
“That’s right.”
“Hahahaha.”
Jang Ryeo was in an excellent mood. And so Jang Hye-in and the squad members were in good spirits as well.
Without even knowing why.
Probably because her good mood was better than her bad one—at least, that’s the very reasonable guess they all made.
Dok-wang Dang Mo-jun opens his mouth again, his expression still uncertain.
“Well……U-rin.”
“Right. I was just explaining why I brought this Water Droplet here.”
“……That’s right.”
Sa U-rin’s gaze turned toward Cheol-gae, the master of Gaebang.
“Master.”
“Don’t tell me you’re asking me to do exactly the same thing?”
“Of course not. Surely you don’t think I’d say such a thing without understanding the situation?”
You never know.
It’s possible he wouldn’t.
At his age, it’s entirely plausible. His experience is lacking. Seeing how he still laughs in his mother’s embrace makes it seem like he might be a bit young for all this.
“……Then, tell me.”
“Can you freeze this Water Droplet, Master?”
“……You mean turn that water droplet into ice?”
“Yes. It would be even better if you made it sharp like an Ice Spike, wouldn’t it?”
“……Ha. Haha.”
A hollow laugh escaped him. He couldn’t help it. Not even Cheol-gae, an Absolute Master.
Cheol-gae’s gaze shifted toward Jang Ryeo.
“……Don’t tell me you can do it, witch?”
With Hyeon Gyeong……it might actually be possible.
“I haven’t tried, but it seems like I could.”
“……Then, try.”
“Fine. Why not.”
And with that, Jang Ryeo concentrates.
The Water Droplet sitting before them all begins to freeze bit by bit. And soon the droplet is completely solid, frozen hard as ice.
“Wow!”
“It actually worked!”
“……It really is frozen!”
The words tumbled from Jang Hye-in and the unit members’ lips unbidden. And that was only the beginning.
Chu-yeop, Hyeon-wi, Jegal Gun-sa, Bi-ryeong, Dok-wang, and Cheol-gae—all stood speechless. Especially Dok-wang and Cheol-gae, who had ascended to the Absolute Realm themselves, grasped exactly how extraordinary what the witch Jang Ryeo had just done truly was.
She had frozen water under conditions where water should not freeze. This was nothing short of defying the very laws of nature.
Which meant?
That the witch Jang Ryeo had accomplished something only divine beings could do. In other words, she possessed martial power bordering on the divine.
Cheol-gae let out an uncomfortable cough.
“Ahem. Ahem.”
Had they truly crossed blades, they might not have escaped with their bones intact—let alone at an age where they still mended properly.
The thought alone was chilling.
But Dok-wang’s reaction stood in stark contrast to Cheol-gae’s. His face bloomed with a smile.
“Ha ha ha. My congratulations. So that rascal Cheol-gang……. No, that doesn’t seem right. In any case, my congratulations. Hyeon Gyeong, no less……. Ha ha ha. Truly extraordinary.”
Jegal Gun-sa, too, broke into a broad smile.
“My sincerest congratulations. This will surely invigorate our organization considerably.”
In the Gangho, nothing mattered more than strength.
With Hyeon Gyeong, could not the witch Jang Ryeo be called the supreme master of the Orthodox Faction?
Though those rigid Orthodox fools would surely balk at admitting it.
Then, quite suddenly, something surfaced in the witch Jang Ryeo’s mind.
“My son?”
“Yes, Mother.”
“Don’t tell me……you can do it too?”
She had a feeling he could. After all, the witch Jang Ryeo understood the nature of the Honwon-gong her son had mastered.
Even more so since ascending to Hyeon Gyeong.
Through all those days of killing her son at the Jang Family Manor, insights had accumulated layer upon layer.
And since reaching Hyeon Gyeong, she had begun to wonder whether the Absolute Realm was not truly attained only upon ascending to Hyeon Gyeong.
She had felt the grandeur of nature itself.
No matter how close a human, a martial master, drew to divinity, they could never defy nature.
Of course, upon reaching Hyeon Gyeong, she had gained the capacity for such absurdities as turning water to ice—yet compared to nature’s vast majesty, it amounted to mere lint beneath a fingernail.
But what of the Honwon-gong her son Sa U-rin had cultivated?
Was it not positioned not somewhere within that vast nature, but rather at nature’s very source?
Put simply, Honwon-gong was the reason nature could exist at all.
Then?
Did that not mean Honwon-gong could move nature freely according to one’s will, could unmake it, could remake it?
Of course, she sensed she might be thinking too far ahead, but that was the logic of it.
So she posed the question to her son Sa U-rin.
“Yes. I can do it too.”
At that, everyone’s eyes snapped to Sa U-rin as if he had lost his mind.
Dok-wang’s face went slack with disbelief.
“……You mean it? You’re truly saying you can do this too, Sa U-rin?”
Something Dok-wang himself could not accomplish.
“Yes.”
Even Cheol-gae, left breathless, managed a remark.
“……The Gangho has gone mad.”
He had suspected it all along, but not like this. The existence of such martial arts in the Gangho…….
And moreover—that the Invisible Hand, as an organization, had mastered such arts?
It was beyond words.
Jang Hye-in and the unit members dared not voice their true thoughts in the presence of such sky-like figures.
‘……Sa U-rin can do something like that?’
‘But why hasn’t he said anything about it to us until now?’
‘He hasn’t been here long.’
‘Even so!’
‘Ugh, what a betrayal.’
‘And he’s clearly not even human.’
‘He never was, to begin with.’
In any case.
Jegal Gun-sa, too, found himself at a loss for words.
“Sa U-rin, is this truly so?”
“Yes, Gun-sa.”
“Then you could demonstrate it?”
“Of course.”
So Sa U-rin had melted the ice his mother Jang Ryeo had frozen, turning it back into water. Then he froze that water again.
But it was different.
The ice took on various forms before finally transforming into truly sharp Ice Spikes.
“You saw that, didn’t you?”
“……Heh heh.”
“……You’re insane.”
At that, the witch Jang Ryeo let out a piercing shriek.
“Insane? You call my precious son insane? You want to die, beggar?”
“Ah, no. What I meant was…… it’s just that impressive. Yes, that’s it.”
“Is that so? Then I’ll let this one slide. Watch yourself.”
“…….”
‘Damn it. What am I doing at my age?’
For ten years, no one had ever pressed down on Cheol-gae from above like this.
No one dared.
Yet here he was, old as he was, being utterly disrespected.
He wanted to walk away from this at any moment, but hadn’t he sworn to dedicate himself to rebuilding the collapsing Gangho?
So he endured…….
No, he persevered.
Sa U-rin spoke again.
“This is only because I’ve learned martial techniques that allow me to do this. It’s not because I’m exceptional. So please, don’t look at me like that. And, Gun-sa?”
“……Eh? What?”
“You must have had a reason for calling us all here like this?”
That was right.
There had been a reason for gathering everyone like this.
“……Ah, that’s right. The reason I’ve called you all here is that I’ve received word that Cheon Hoon Mun has truly joined the Murim Alliance and will compete in the Blue Dragon Murim Tournament.”
“So what he said was true.”
“Yes. And that’s why I’m asking, U-rin—are you confident?”
He was asking whether Sa U-rin could win the Blue Dragon Murim Tournament.
“We’ll only know once we clash.”
“True enough. But if you don’t win…….”
All of Jegal Gun-sa’s plans could come to nothing. No, worse than nothing—wasn’t it clear that Cheon Hoon Mun would seize the Murim Alliance Leader’s seat and dominate Gangho?
Gangho was on the verge of falling into darkness.
Of course, it was possible otherwise, but the likelihood was very high. Because if they didn’t intend to seize and shake Gangho, there’d be no reason to emerge like this suddenly.
Hundreds of years…… or perhaps thousands of years.
After hiding all that time, the reason for such a sudden appearance seemed clear.
The Invisible Hand was beginning to show its ambitions.
But what was even more concerning was this.
“Cheon Hoon Mun won’t be the entirety of the Invisible Hand.”
“I think so too.”
“Which makes it all the more dangerous…….”
If Sa U-rin didn’t win.
“Even if I do win, couldn’t it still be dangerous?”
“……That’s possible too.”
Jegal Gun-sa had envisioned this situation countless times in his dreams, but now that he stood on the brink of facing it, dread flooded through him.
Could the people gathered here truly stand against them?
They couldn’t even fathom the true extent of the Invisible Hand’s power.
So the witch Jang Ryeo spoke up.
“You haven’t even started and you’re already cowering? Hm? Is that what a strategist does—then what about the rest of us? Hm? You’re the one who started this, after all. Sure, my son stirred things up too, but you fanned the flames harder, didn’t you? Didn’t you? Hm?”
“……You’re right.”
“That’s why pointless worries can wait. No rush.”
“I apologize. Now that we’re about to face them directly…….”
“Look at my son U-rin. The man has no fear. He’s not a moth, yet he flies straight into the flame. Watch him and learn. Hm?”
The witch was bragging about her son again.
So everyone frowned deeply.
And so the witch was becoming not the supreme master of the Orthodox Faction, but the mother of a son.

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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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