Third-rate Martial Family Becomes the Best Under Heaven - Chapter 160

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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 160
Seo Dae Mountain, nestled on the eastern slopes of the Taihang Range in Hebei Province.
From the summit of Dong Dae, the highest peak of Seo Dae Mountain, the tallest in all of Hebei.
Eum Hu gazed upon the mundane world sprawling beneath her feet, tilting her teacup to her lips.
“Grandmother. Must I truly go?”
Despite the fragrant aroma of tea, Eum Hu’s brow furrowed.
“Dragon King. Have I not impressed upon your mind that calling me thus invites punishment?”
Upon the summit of Dong Dae stood another figure besides Eum Hu.
An old man with snow-white hair and whiskers flowing abundantly.
What was peculiar was that despite his age, his physique appeared more robust than that of any ordinary Shaolin monk.
Peng Fan, one of the Cheonmu-sip-jon and the Great Sea Dragon King, chuckled.
“I know. I do know, and yet it remains true, does it not?”
As Eum Hu exhaled a sigh, Peng Fan continued once more.
“Never mind the reversing of youth or anything else. Is it truly fitting that one who has surpassed one hundred and fifteen years of age bears the appearance of a fifteen-year-old girl?”
Ding ling!
Though the resonance was gentle, the power contained within it was sufficient to crumble the peak itself.
Yet Peng Fan made no attempt at defense, allowing the sound wave to strike him.
“Ah, your realm has ascended another level? Still, a mere taste cannot penetrate this body of mine!”
Eum Hu clicked her tongue.
The Great Sea Dragon King Peng Fan was always like this.
A crude fellow in whom dignity and elegance could not be found.
“In any case, continue your tale. Seeing how you frequently observe the mundane world, it seems your disciples weigh upon your heart. Are you certain you need not visit them?”
“I am certain. My disciples are not weak children.”
“Hmm. Is that so? For you, Cheonmu-sip-jon Pacheon Eum Hu, to trust them so. How curious.”
Upon detecting the curiosity etched upon Peng Fan’s face, Eum Hu furrowed her brow once more.
“Let your curiosity end there. Both are my excellent disciples.”
“But one hails from the secular world, does she not? Should I merely sample a taste…”
“I said no!”
The Great Sea Dragon King Peng Fan. The supreme patriarch of the Peng Family of Hebei, among the five great families of the realm.
He wandered in search of a disciple to inherit his legacy.
Due to the nature of the martial arts he had created and mastered himself, finding a disciple proved difficult. Not a single prodigy among the Peng Family’s own descendants, nor among the countless talents scattered throughout the realm, had satisfied his exacting standards.
“You yourself know well. You are one who cannot find a disciple.”
“Which is precisely why I harbor curiosity. One never knows.”
“I have said it is not permitted.”
“Hehe, the stronger your resistance, the greater my curiosity grows. One of them shows promise, does she not?”
Sensing herself being drawn into his cunning manner, Eum Hu abandoned further argument.
To be honest, she harbored some anxiety as well.
‘If it were Sohyeop… this old man’s standards might truly be satisfied.’
Talent supreme under heaven? That alone could not make one Peng Fan’s disciple.
But… perhaps Yang Hwi could accomplish it.
“Tsk. Envious beyond measure, finding two suitable disciples in one’s twilight years. That’s precisely why I say this—if you don’t go, might you not lose both of them?”
Even separated from the secular world, news still reaches us.
One such piece concerns the struggle between black and white unfolding in Kangso.
In Peng Fan’s estimation, no matter how exceptional their talents, sixteen-year-old children were far too young to endure such a massive upheaval.
And yet.
“It’s fine. Their destinies are not something that will be broken merely in Kangso.”
“Destinies, you say….”
Even among the Cheonmu-sip-jon, each possessed their own specialized domains.
Reading the heavens was the hallmark of the Seong-eum-ok-ryeong School, passed down through generations of immortal cultivation.
This was also the reason Peng Fan currently walked alongside Eum Hu.
“Seolha has likely reached the pinnacle stage.”
“Ho? The pinnacle at sixteen? And through the inner energy of the Seong-eum-ok-ryeong School at that?”
The Seong-eum-ok-ryeong School was a Taoist martial lineage that yearned to touch the realm of immortals.
Like any orthodox martial art, progress was difficult to achieve in the early stages.
“The Matriarch did not wish her disciples to walk hastily, but those children likely have different thoughts.”
“In other words, without your assistance, they could still reach the pinnacle stage at that age?”
“Yes. Seolha’s senior brother, Baek Sohyeop, is truly extraordinary….”
Eum Hu stopped speaking. She had grown talkative in her desire to boast of her disciples, only to notice that her words had elevated the curiosity in Peng Fan’s expression to something far more covetous.
“I say this once more—it won’t happen.”
“Understood, understood. Let’s continue the conversation then. If a practitioner of the Seong-eum-ok-ryeong School’s inner energy has reached the pinnacle stage, even considerable chaos should pose no problem.”
“Indeed. Our sect’s martial arts shine especially when facing multiple opponents.”
The reason she bore the epithet Pacheon Eumhu.
Inner energy that had reached such heights possessed power enough to shatter the heavens themselves.
The number of enemies became irrelevant.
“Certainly, there’s little to worry about then.”
“So let us move quickly to ensure the children are not broken.”
“I’ve rested plenty. Very well. For the sake of my descendants, I must absolutely prevent the sprouting of defiance against heaven.”
In the next moment, both figures vanished without a trace.

* * *
When I had previously attempted to use the Blood Demon Sword—an artifact that neither broke easily nor revealed its secrets—for Jegal Seol-ha’s training, it had shattered.
Even Baek Cheol, who possessed talent sufficient to become the greatest blacksmith under heaven in my estimation, had been unable to handle the Blood Demon Sword before it broke.
And then came a voice from the heavens.
[Stars Meet, Fortune Turns]
‘If you’re going to give me a clue, at least make it comprehensible.’
Stars converge and destiny shifts?
What kind of vague nonsense was that?
I had no patience for getting bogged down in incomprehensible proclamations.
Still, I managed to find a way to apply it to the immediate situation at hand.
‘If I can harness the abilities Seong Cheol possesses, I might turn this disadvantage into a defensive position.’
I named the shattered metal fragments Star Iron.
A simple naming inspired by the broken remnants and the cryptic message about stars and fortune.
Star Iron’s function was straightforward.
Amplification of absorbed qi and mental imagery.
“Let loose with everything you have, Seol-ha!”
Jegal Seol-ha played the Heavenly Sound Pipa as if possessed by spirits.
While the sound of plucked strings was characteristically clear and pure, the resonating melodies were nothing short of a full spectrum of color.
So vivid that even human voices seemed to emerge from it.
This was entirely due to the pinnacle-stage sound cultivator’s ability: the Soundscape Transformation.
Ding-a-ling, ding-a-ling-ling!
Chara-rang, chara-rang-rang!
Aaaaaaaa—!
In the past, Eum Hu could flick her fingers once and produce the melodies of multiple instruments.
Though Jegal Seol-ha had not yet reached that level, her performance created the illusion of both solo and ensemble, with multiple melodies interweaving.
And the ripple effect was—
“Sorcery!”
“Everyone, raise your inner qi and protect your minds!”
“Ahhh, ahhhhh!”
The Black Blade members had attacked with two hundred strong, and roughly a hundred still survived.
Though calling it a hundred, this force was substantial enough to be considered an army.
And Jegal Seol-ha held back an entire army alone.
‘How does the Inferno Qi taste, you bastards?’
Inferno Qi spread to every place the melodies reached.
The surging qi, carried through the eardrums, was stimulating the mental imagery of the Black Blade cultivators.
Ding-a-ling, ding-a-ling-ling!
Those of lower realms could not withstand the embedded qi and mental imagery, causing blood to seep from their seven orifices.
First-rate martial artists who had awakened their will-force and peak masters managed to raise their momentum to block the invasion of qi and imagery, yet complete resistance was impossible.
‘Had that been possible, Seol-ha would never have suffered from the Inferno Constitution.’
Even the masters of the Jegal Family could not escape the Inferno Qi of the Inferno Constitution.
Moreover, now I even had the assistance of a necklace forged from Seong Cheol and Seong Cheol Rak’s support.
“Now is the moment! Strike!”
“Charge!”
“Understood!”
The Baek Family’s warriors began slaughtering the black-robed assassins while maintaining the formation of the Cheonwoo Hwa-in Array.
“Krraaagh!”
“Calm your spirits and fortify your defenses as much as possible!”
“Why are those bastards unaffected by the sound?”
‘Why, you ask? That is precisely the divine technique displayed by a master of the pinnacle Sound Arts.’
Ordinarily, sound spreads outward in concentric circles in all directions.
However, the Realm of Transformed Sound is a state where one can alter the very form of sound itself.
This means I can control the space through which sound propagates and arbitrarily select the targets of my Sound Arts.
‘I anticipated this, but it’s truly extraordinary.’
Jegal Seol-ha was demonstrating the divine technique of a one-woman army, just as the name suggested.
To put it bluntly, she alone was holding back more than ten masters of the pinnacle realm.
‘Well, with Seong Cheol Rak, it’s fair to say she qualifies as a divine weapon, so I can’t call it purely her own strength.’
And yet, it was Baek Cheol who had resurrected the shattered fragments of Seong Cheol—once merely broken metal—into a divine weapon, despite the special properties it possessed.
‘In any case, Baek the Master Craftsman is a genius through and through.’
When the Blood God’s Demonic Blade shattered, I naturally brought most of the metal fragments to Baek Cheol and ordered him to research them.
As a result, Baek Cheol surpassed his own realm in a short span of time.
By observing and studying iron that absorbed qi and mental images, he himself became capable of infusing the will of a master craftsman into metal.
In terms of martial artists, it was as though he had ascended to the pinnacle realm.
‘Thanks to Baek the Master Craftsman, our overall strength has increased by at least thirty percent.’
It is said that swordmasters who have reached the transcendent realm can wield even a tree branch as a blade.
But for most warriors, a superior weapon is synonymous with an increase in power.
Baek Cheol’s advancement was the decisive factor that led me to decide to face these black-robed bastards despite our numerical disadvantage.
‘I’m satisfied. Everything I’ve done since my regression has proven correct.’
I saved Jegal Seol-ha from the fate of becoming Seob Hon-ma-hu and causing a blood calamity, and I connected her with Eum Hu.
I established the Gae-cheon-bak-pal-geom and Hwa-cheon-i-won-gong that I created myself as the family’s core martial arts, making my father a pinnacle master, and I transmitted various other techniques and the Cheonwoo Hwa-in Array to maximize the Baek Family’s overall strength.
I saved Baek Cheol from the fate of becoming a slave in the hands of the Black Blade faction and eventually the Master Craftsman of the Namgung Family, and made him one of our own.
All three strategies I prepared for today’s great battle stemmed from these actions.
And now.
“Well then, shall we proceed with the fourth move? At last, it’s checkmate.”
I sent a transmission to Adu.
-Adu. It’s our turn now.
-Yeah! This is going to be fun!
Had I deployed Adu to the front from the beginning, the battle situation would have become even more favorable.
After all, he was more than capable of handling several pinnacle masters simultaneously.
But I had kept Adu in reserve all this time.
It was all for the sake of this fourth move.
‘Seong Cheol’s martial technique. The amplification of infused qi and mental imagery.’
The blade in my hand caught the light of the full moon, gleaming with ethereal radiance.
Unlike what I had wielded before, this sword emanated a bone-chilling killing intent of its own.
‘Let me taste the true power of Seong Cheol’s technique myself.’
Three enlightenments were necessary to reach the pinnacle of transcendence—among them, the Living Qi of Motion.
The Living Qi of Motion was the enlightenment that breathed life into one’s inner energy, causing it to move and flow.
‘I have only grasped the thread of it so far, not yet fully integrated it into my being.’
Though this path could not be walked in my present life, the enlightenment of Living Qi of Motion was undoubtedly etched within my mind.
I could not walk the path, yet I knew the way itself.
“Hey, Hyeong-san Eum-hyeol!”
No answer came, but I felt the weight of his murderous gaze upon me.
I laughed wickedly and launched myself forward.
“I’ll keep the promise I failed to keep last time! I’ll sever that neck of yours beautifully!”
Baek Cheol’s sword infused with fragments of Seong Cheol’s technique, a blade of perfect white lotus purity.
With this sword, it was possible.
To demonstrate the enlightenment of Living Qi of Motion, even without full integration.
‘I shall show you the true power of Living Qi of Motion.’
The resonant vibrations of qi waves and sound waves emanating from the blade tore through the atmosphere in all directions with razor-sharp ferocity.
It was time to place the final punctuation mark on this long yet brief conquest of the Gangseong martial realm.

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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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