Third-rate Martial Family Becomes the Best Under Heaven - Chapter 150

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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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Third-rate Martial Arts Family, Greatest Under Heaven – Episode 150
There was something I needed to do before moving forward.
‘Ugh, I feel like I’m dying.’
I had sustained massive injuries while facing Hyeong-san Eum-hyeol.
Though I hadn’t taken direct attacks, the damage came from forcibly activating my dantian and unleashing my latent power.
In short, my internal condition was a complete mess.
It wouldn’t have been strange if I collapsed right then and there.
In fact, those around me had been urging me to rest immediately rather than attend the meeting at all.
‘Seon-gi really is remarkable.’
Even now, my body was in the worst possible state. I was maintaining consciousness through sheer willpower and forcing myself to attend the meeting, but it wouldn’t have been strange if I collapsed at any moment.
Yet I could maintain awareness only thanks to Seon-gi.
Seon-gi’s function of guiding the body in the correct direction.
The Seon-gi that had fused with Hwa-cheon-gi, Hwa-cheon Seon-gi, was still coursing through my body within the limits my will allowed, mending damaged meridians and channels that had suffered impact.
‘Normally, I would have needed to dedicate more than half a year to recovery… but with Seon-gi, I could recover in just a few days of continuous cultivation.’
In terms of speed, it was dozens of times faster, which showed just how superior Seon-gi truly was.
Anyway.
‘Ugh, I’m dying. I need to get to my room and cultivate.’
The expedition had been decided, but it would take four days to complete the preparations.
Now that I’d finished the urgent meeting, I had some free time.
But.
“Young Master. I have something to tell you.”
“Right now? Really?”
“Right now, really.”
Seo Seong-saeng, his brow furrowed, had attached himself to my heels.
That wasn’t all.
“Yang Hwi, when are you giving me the rice cakes? The ones with red bean filling, right?”
Adu, who had been promised ten pounds of rice cakes as payment for fighting well, clung to me like sticky rice cake itself.
“Brother, the meeting’s over? I have something to tell you.”
Jegal Seol-ha, who hadn’t attended the senior council meeting, had appeared out of nowhere and addressed me.
However, Jegal Seol-ha’s appearance drew an astonished reaction from someone.
“Huh-whoa!”
“Oh my, what a young gentleman. How do you do?”
“A-a-a, how do you do…!”
Seo Seong-saeng, seeing Jegal Seol-ha for the first time, froze as if struck by lightning and stammered incoherently.
Come to think of it, those two would never have met in Nanchang.
‘I know the girl’s pretty.’
Even wearing a veil, she gets that reaction—I can’t imagine what happens when people see her bare face.
It’s rather amusing to see a fellow who usually runs his mouth so freely in front of adults suddenly act like a wooden plank.
In any case, it seemed I wouldn’t be cultivating right away.
Well, delaying cultivation wouldn’t leave any aftereffects, so it didn’t matter.
“Still, pain is pain. I’m tired.”
“Even if you’re in pain and tired, you still have work to do. You’ve been working me to the bone, and now you want to rest whenever you please?”
“Yang Hwi, you’re a good person!”
“Elder Brother is in pain? Tired? Really? Wow, that’s amazing!”
“….”
I let out a long sigh and waved my hand dismissively.
“Fine, all of you follow me. Don’t make noise in the hallway—let’s go to my room.”
My room was spacious, befitting the Crown Prince’s quarters.
It could easily accommodate three people with room to spare.
I flopped down on the bed and pointed to the stools and chairs placed to one side.
“I can’t be bothered preparing tea, so just help yourselves to the refreshments over there.”
“Wow, something sweet!”
“Do you think I’m a child?”
“Elder Brother! What will happen if you sit on the bed in those dirty clothes!”
“I’ll just call a servant later to change the bedding.”
“You abuse your authority as naturally as breathing, don’t you?”
“….”
I quietly shifted my body and flopped down on the floor below the bed instead.
“Ugh, this is exhausting. Anyway, what brings all of you here? Seo, you start.”
Seo Seong-saeng, who had been chewing with his mouth full, suddenly looked startled and hurriedly swallowed the refreshment.
This bastard—didn’t he say he wasn’t eating?
“My business is simple. Or rather, complicated, I should say.”
“What is it?”
“What will you do going forward? Will you continue like today?”
I understood what emotion was etched on Seo Seong-saeng’s face.
Indeed, from a strategist’s perspective, that earlier meeting would be incomprehensible and frustrating.
“You mean Father’s decision?”
“Yes. To be honest, I think it was a foolish choice.”
“Foolish, you say.”
My father, Baek Moo-ryang, had chosen to march on Gilju from the two options presented.
Not that he refused to help, but by merely delaying, the Baek Family’s gains would only increase—yet he chose otherwise.
“How dare you attach the word ‘foolish’ to a decision made by the Family Head?”
I questioned him with a deliberately stern expression. Seo Seong-saeng remained tense but didn’t back down.
“Yes. It was a foolish decision. An incomprehensible choice. Because the Family Head is a Family Head before he is a martial artist.”
“And?”
“The Crown Prince summoned me to serve as a strategist. As a strategist, I demand an explanation for today’s outcome.”
I stared at Seo Seong-saeng in silence.
He flinched but didn’t avert his gaze.
“You pass.”
“…Yes?”
“A true strategist must be willing to challenge his superior’s misguided decisions.”
Yet he hadn’t confronted me in the conference chamber itself—he’d waited until it concluded before approaching me as the second-in-command. That alone marked him as qualified.
A strategist must exercise caution and follow the principles of knowing when to advance and when to retreat.
“You’re still being tested? But look at what you’ve accomplished—at such a young age, you’ve successfully coordinated the interests of Nanchang, a massive city, single-handedly?”
“Young? Well, I suppose you are rather small.”
“Master Baek, please don’t call me small!”
He complains when I call him young, yet bristles at being called small. Children are peculiar creatures.
“To pass the civil service examination, one must begin with the provincial exam and progress through numerous tests until the final imperial examination. Life itself is an endless succession of trials. Do you understand?”
“Hmph, I’ll pass through every single one, just as I have this time.”
Such confidence. Grow strong with that spirit.
“Seo Seong-saeng, let me summarize your grievance in a single statement.”
“It’s not quite a grievance.”
“Don’t quibble with me, boy. Essentially, you’re concerned that if the Soga-joonim continues making decisions weighted toward cooperation, it will hinder the family’s growth, aren’t you?”
“That’s correct.”
Had he been the patriarch of another great family, he would have made decisions diametrically opposed to mine.
A patriarch must set aside personal preference and represent the family’s interests above all.
“My father was the same way.”
“Pardon?”
“My father originally made decisions that prioritized the family above all else.”
“Is that truly so?”
I recalled my past life.
Si-hyeop-il-jeol Baek Moo-ryang had devoted a considerable portion of his meager earnings to relief efforts, much to the exasperation of Han Supervisor, who managed the family finances.
The most glaring example was Yang Hwi’s adoption.
The patriarch of a family had taken in a beggar with no one in the world.
Not merely as a servant to raise, but because of a desire to provide relief—he’d granted him the family name and made him a son.
And what became of the family as a result?
“A family founded by the greatest martial artist under heaven. A martial clan that once stood among the Five Great Families, now fallen. Tell me, Seo Seong-saeng—why has the Baek Family endured despite its decline?”
Seo Seong-saeng paused, then looked toward Yang Hwi.
His expression showed he’d grasped the answer, yet couldn’t quite accept it.
I should explain further.
“Seo Seong-saeng, when do you think a martial epithet is earned?”
“When one demonstrates exceptional prowess, I believe.”
“Correct. And my father bore the epithet Si-hyeop-il-jeol long before I joined this family.”
Baek Moo-ryang, patriarch of a third-rate martial family and merely a second-rate warrior himself, was called Si-hyeop-il-jeol.
Not a self-proclaimed epithet, but one acknowledged by the world.
“The Baek Family was excellent prey. Powerless yet prestigious—subduing them would be perfect for claiming glory.”
I, so-and-so, have subjugated the bloodline of the greatest martial artist under heaven, once among the Five Great Families, and made them my subordinates!
Quite the boast to make anywhere.
“My father was a patriarch. Moreover, he was wise enough to pierce through the barrier between second-rate and third-rate with only third-rate family martial arts.”
Has anyone ever contemplated the family’s survival and prosperity as deeply as my father Baek Moo-ryang did?
I can say with certainty—there is none.
“Acting the fool in a manner beneath his station, yes, the fool. My father, who behaved thus, earned the epithet ‘Absolute’ for his singular mastery of benevolence, and through that result, forged a sworn brotherhood with the patriarch of the Jegal Family.”
Whether through white methods or black, in Gangwon where only mediocre martial artists existed beyond the sects, that alone was enough to make those who dared threaten the Baek Family disappear, weighing the risks.
“Surely… you deliberately shaped the situation so that at minimum, sufficient justification would be required to exert pressure on the Baek Family? Did you intend all of it?”
Admiration bloomed across Seo Seong-saeng’s face.
He displayed benevolence unbefitting his station while earning the epithet of one who only knew how to flaunt benevolence, and through that very result, he obtained what he desired.
He endured any humiliation and loss for the sake of his purpose.
It truly brought to mind the tale of Han Shin crawling between the legs of a marketplace ruffian…
“No? I wouldn’t know that.”
My thought trailed off.
“How would I know? I never asked my father his thoughts at that time.”
“Then it’s all conjecture!”
But listen here, Seo Seong-saeng.
“You didn’t know before hearing my words. It means you failed to reason while keeping possibilities open.”
“That is…”
“Let me ask you this. You came questioning because the patriarch’s decision was incomprehensible—can your meager mind calculate everything under heaven?”
“…”
“You must accomplish it. That is the role of a strategist. You must agonize until your mind breaks, and fabricate reasons to attach to your conclusions.”
That is the strategist’s duty.
That is what I expect of you, Seo Seong-saeng.
“…”
Seo Seong-saeng’s eyes transformed.
As if he had grasped something and opened his eyes to a new understanding.
‘A good reaction.’
Though my insides still roiled, I rose to my feet.
Then I gathered my momentum.
“I will make this family the greatest under heaven.”
If I aspired to make the Baek Family the greatest under heaven, then I myself must become the greatest under heaven.
“Yang Hwi of the Baek Family will become the greatest under heaven. Surely, I will become an existence that stands above all warriors, looking down upon them.”
This was a declaration.
Not mere jest, but the resolve of one possessed of talent sufficient to achieve it.
“So I ask you, Seo Seong-saeng.”
“Please command me.”
“Young strategist who knew your own talent and came seeking me—do you have the confidence to become the greatest strategist under heaven?”
Seo Seong-saeng’s small hands clenched with force. His fingers curled, becoming hard as stone.
His muscles tensed, his body becoming rigid and unyielding.
That is, not a reed swaying in the wind, but like an ancient tree standing firm, his chin raised with unwavering resolve.
Seo Seong-saeng answered.
“Absolutely, I will do so. I will become that.”
For a young boy, the ambition declared by the crown prince—merely two years his senior—was enough to set his heart ablaze with fervent passion.
Fifteen years old—the age of Ji-hak.
As the Master once said, it is the age when one acquires learning and establishes one’s own purpose.
In this moment, Seo Seong-saeng set his purpose.
“Seo Seong-saeng. Let me tell you your role precisely. You are the one who ensures your father’s decisions bring the greatest benefit to our family.”
“Because that is what a strategist does.”
“Yes. I believe you can do it.”
Seo Seong-saeng rose to his feet. Standing with his spine straight, he performed a respectful bow to Yang Hwi.
“I swear it. I shall become the greatest strategist under heaven.”
A young man who had known his own talents but was too young to harbor grand ambitions
was now establishing his path and his purpose.

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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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