I Shouldn't Have Joined the Martial Arts Alliance - Chapter 61

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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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Joining the Murim Alliance for no particular reason — Episode 061
‘So it really exists.’
He’d never believed it could be real.
No.
He’d desperately wanted it to be real.
Hadn’t his father said it was a sword connected to Hyunwongong?
Of course, his father had only been speculating. He’d hoped that speculation was correct.
But from what he could see on the surface, there was nothing to detect.
Because he felt nothing at all emanating from it.
Was it because no one’s hands had ever wielded it?
Or was the Useless Sword truly useless after all?
Sa U-rin finally gripped the Useless Sword in his hand. As expected, he felt nothing whatsoever.
So Sa U-rin tried to draw it. To see if it was truly a sword that couldn’t be unsheathed.
As expected, it wouldn’t budge.
“Didn’t I tell you? That sword is one that no one can ever draw.”
Jang Hye-in and the team members watching from behind found it fascinating and each took turns grasping the Useless Sword, attempting to unsheathe it.
But it was no different.
“So that’s why it’s called the Useless Sword.”
Jang Hye-in and the team members nodded, understanding what it meant.
“Well then? Isn’t there a sword here that suits your taste?”
Sa U-rin spoke.
“I’ll go with this one.”
The white-haired old man’s eyes widened in surprise. Jang Hye-in and the team members leapt up, asking if he’d lost his mind.
“…Hey! At least keep your madness within reason!”
“Right! How are you going to walk out of Guicheon Hall carrying a sword that won’t even come free and actually accomplish anything with it?”
“Please, couldn’t you think and act normally for once, like everyone else?”
Sa U-rin’s gaze, which had been fixed on the Useless Sword, suddenly snapped toward the team members.
At that, they all flinched in alarm.
“…Ah, no…, it’s just……”
“…There are so many fine swords, so why insist……”
“Why insist on what?!”
“If you insist on doing it, then do it.”
“…Yeah. Go ahead, go!”
Who was going to stop him?
But it seemed like this bastard’s personality hadn’t been like this before……
Gradually…, he was starting to resemble the Deputy Leader. That crazy temperament of his.
No, wait.
He was starting to resemble his mother.
Ah!
…So this is just the beginning then……
In that case, wouldn’t it be better to close both eyes now and be done with it?
People say that even rolling in a cesspit in this world beats dying, after all.
…That’s true. Still……
The white-haired old man harbored the same thoughts.
“I can’t make sense of it either. Choosing that sword after coming all this way.”
“It’s just. Just that.”
Could it really be just that?
There had to be thinking behind it. He truly wasn’t mad about it.
* * *
Jang Hye-in and the team members left Guicheon Hall and headed straight for the Dormitory. There, they promptly removed a small box they’d been reverently cradling and scattered a Spirit Pill into their mouths.
Then they sat cross-legged and entered Energy Circulation Meditation.
Sa U-rin kept watch in case anything unexpected happened, maintaining vigilance over Jang Hye-in and the team members.
One Spirit Pill cannot determine the level of a martial artist. But despite that, one Spirit Pill can allow a martial artist to leap over the next barrier before them.
Naturally, it was impossible for one Spirit Pill to elevate someone to the ranks of a Supreme Master or an Absolute Master.
Put simply, the Taeyang Pill that Jang Hye-in had just received meant he couldn’t transcend his current level. However, it was certain that the Taeyang Pill would lower the wall he needed to overcome somewhat.
Moreover, he would no longer fall greatly short of Sa U-rin. Twenty years of internal energy would elevate Jang Hye-in’s strength, his speed, and everything else to the next level.
And the team members.
With the Soching Pill consumed back in Sacheon and the Taeyang Pill consumed now, the team members should be able to leap over the wall currently blocking them.
They could become martial artists truly worthy of being called masters.
It had to happen exactly that way.
For the road that Jang Hye-in, Sa U-rin, and the members now traveled was no different from the Yellow Springs Road leading to the afterlife.
Jang Hye-in and the members’ Energy Circulation Meditation began with the Small Heavenly Circuit and progressed toward the Large Heavenly Circuit.
This lasted for a quarter-hour, then another half-hour passed.
Sa U-rin could feel it—Jang Hye-in and the members were growing stronger.
When Jang Hye-in and the members’ Energy Circulation Meditation ended, they all had a different light in their eyes.
There was even a sense that radiance might spill forth from their gaze.
Jang Hye-in and the members did not head directly into the Dormitory. They drew the Precious Sword obtained from Guicheon Hall and wielded it with solemn intent.
As if conducting a thorough reexamination of each technique they possessed, they moved with meticulous and careful attention to detail.
Another half-hour passed. Then Hyeong-jun cried out.
“Look! Did you see it? Did you?!”
Jung-geol shouted as well.
“Did you see mine too?! It’s flowing!”
In-hyeok, Tae-in, U-chan, and Hye-chan all cried out together.
“Me too!”
“Me as well!”
“Me too, me too!”
“I did!”
Sword Energy flowed from the blades of all who had shouted. In other words, those who had cried out had finally ascended to the rank of Master.
They had become true Masters, recognized by all—not mere mediocre martial artists.
And so.
Ju-un and Hyeong-woo’s faces darkened. Sword Energy still did not flow from their blades.
“It’s all right, you two.”
“You’re still young.”
There was only a two or three-year difference at most.
Ju-un and Hyeong-woo, unwilling to accept defeat, continued to wield their swords. And the other members, not to be outdone, kept swinging as well.
Another half-hour elapsed.
“Yes!”
“We did it!”
Sword Energy now flowed from Ju-un and Hyeong-woo’s blades as well. Together, all of them tangled in an embrace, laughing and weeping.
Was this not the rank of Master they had dreamed of?
They had truly never believed it would happen. They had dreamed, yes, but it was only a dream—mere fantasy.
It was something everyone desired, yet the realm of Master was not something anyone could easily reach, no matter how much they yearned for it.
And now all the members had crossed that barrier and ascended. While the Soching Pill and Taeyang Pill had been profoundly influential, without the members’ relentless effort, it would have been impossible.
And surely, the Precious Sword obtained from Guicheon Hall had played its part as well. The role of a sword in receiving internal energy could not be ignored.
Jang Hye-in approached them too and offered his congratulations. With genuine joy.
How could he not?
As all of them reached the realm of Master, the members’ combat capability saw an increase of at least twofold compared to before.
At minimum, it was doubled.
Put differently, if there had previously been eight members excluding Sa U-rin, the combined strength of what the old members could accomplish now translated to the power of forty to fifty such fighters—it would not be an exaggeration to say so.
A Master is that different.
It was not merely because they could now use Sword Energy. It meant they were that much faster, that much stronger, capable of fighting that much longer, more skilled with the blade, and able to command their internal energy with that much greater freedom.
Adding a touch of hyperbole, one could say the difference between a First-class Warrior and a Master is like heaven and earth.
Seo U-chan turned his head and spoke to Sa U-rin.
“Why aren’t you congratulating us?”
“I am right now.”
“……You were just standing there.”
“I’m congratulating everyone in my heart.”
“……Really? In your heart?”
“That’s what I’m telling you.”
Then Seo U-chan and the other members opened their arms and approached Sa U-rin. They wanted to embrace him and celebrate together.
Especially with their youngest, Sa U-rin.
When he thought about it, if it hadn’t been for Sa U-rin, this realm would have remained nothing but a dream.
The Spirit Pills, the Precious Sword.
And the relentless effort.
That’s why. That’s why they wanted to embrace Sa U-rin and all together——.
“Wait!”
The members’ footsteps, which had been approaching in joy, stopped.
“……Why?”
“I’d rather not.”
“What do you mean, rather not? You embrace the unit commander just fine.”
“Well, the Vice-Leader is a woman, after all.”
And beautiful besides.
“……So you find Sa U-rin distasteful because he’s a man?”
“Yes. Men together—it’s filthy.”
The men’s eyes widened like lanterns.
“……Filthy, you say?”
“That’s right. Filthy.”
“……So what you’re telling us is that we’ve been doing filthy things all this time?”
“In my opinion, yes.”
“…….”
There was nothing to say. What could one do when faced with such judgment?
But Jang Hye-in wondered why this perfectly happy, joyful moment had to be poisoned like this.
He wanted to ask, but didn’t—the answer would only be more of the same.
So Seo U-chan asked something different instead.
“But what are you going to do with that sword?”
Why bring something you can’t even use?
“Don’t worry.”
“Don’t worry? Does it look like I’m not worried? What do you think, Leader?”
“Honestly, I find it wasteful too. I don’t see why you’d squander such a remarkable opportunity on something so useless. It’s unlike you.”
The youngest, Sa U-rin, didn’t appear to be, but he was actually quite practical—a martial artist who avoided unnecessary things. Yet when something was necessary, he would stop at nothing to achieve it.
“Then allow me to prove it right here.”
“……How?”
How in the world?
Prove what with a sword that wouldn’t even be drawn?
“……Don’t tell me……?”
“……That bastard…….”
“Do I really seem like the type who’d bring a sword that can’t be drawn?”
“……No, that white-haired elder definitely said no one could draw it…….”
And hadn’t everyone tried at least once? Yet the Useless Sword had remained sheathed.
“That’s what happened. But I’m different.”
Ah, of course.
This one wasn’t human.
Yes, he wasn’t.
Sa U-rin was certain. Rather, he had brought the sword knowing it could be drawn—no one had simply witnessed it. When he’d first tried to unsheathe the Useless Sword, it truly wouldn’t move. But in that fleeting instant, Sa U-rin had let the faintest thread of Hyunwon flow into it.
If, as his father had said, the Useless Sword was truly connected to Hyunwongong, wouldn’t it draw if he infused it with Hyunwon?
And just as Sa U-rin had suspected, the Useless Sword had responded to even the tiniest amount of Hyunwon. So he had pretended it wouldn’t draw and brought it with him.
He had done so hoping the white-haired elder would not spread word that the Useless Sword had been drawn.
One could never be too careful.
Even the Human Trafficking Ring proved that much.
The invisible hands of Gangho reached everywhere—they made use of trafficking rings to kidnap children who could sense the Origin’s essence.
So he had been cautious. So he had kept quiet about the sword that hadn’t been drawn in all those long years finally being drawn.
“Really, if that’s true, draw it here.”
“I can’t do it here.”
“If you won’t draw it here……then where?”
“In the Dormitory.”
“Drawing a sword in the Dormitory?”
Madness had taken on many forms these days.
Sa U-rin headed toward the Dormitory. Jang Hye-in and the men followed, burning with curiosity.
Soon, everyone had gathered in the Dormitory.
Jang Hye-in, deeply curious, asked the question.
“But why draw the sword in the Dormitory?”
“Because this sword is connected to the martial art I’ve cultivated.”
“Connected to Hyunwongong?”
“Yes.”
“How did you know that?”
“My father told me long ago.”
“Ah.”
So that was it.
“So this is something no one else should know about?”

Jang Hye-in and the others had come to understand it well enough by now.
They’d learned from Sa U-rin himself that the Human Trafficking Ring’s true purpose was abducting those who could sense the special energy that ran through the youngest member—and that knowledge settled heavy in the room.
“Yes.”
“Now that you understand, go ahead and try drawing it.”
Let’s see if it actually works or not.
A taut silence hung inside the lodging. How extraordinary the Useless Sword must be, if only those like the youngest Sa U-rin—those rare few who could sense that peculiar energy—could master the Hyunwongong bound within it.
So Sa U-rin began channeling Hyunwongong into the Useless Sword.

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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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