Third-rate Martial Family Becomes the Best Under Heaven - Chapter 175

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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 175
The Dang Family’s long-cherished desire was singular: to overhaul their inherited martial arts, which were bound by limitations.
Among the numerous challenges that needed to be resolved for this goal, one was developing resistance to poison.
‘Even if I don’t reach the level of immunity to all poisons, I must at least develop resistance to the poisons I handle.’
Of course, members of the Dang Family possessed superior resistance to poison compared to ordinary people.
Fire burns away even toxic qi itself. This was thanks to the Samyang-gwiwon-gong, which was founded on the principles of extreme yang.
But.
‘It’s woefully insufficient.’
No matter what, if poison entered the body, poisoning would still occur.
Even if I burned it away with extreme yang qi, that only prevented poisoning—it didn’t actually neutralize the poison itself.
They say that somewhere in the distant southern poison valleys, there exists a secret technique where one can accept poison itself into the body without becoming poisoned.
The Dang Family, with a history of merely a hundred years, was the most knowledgeable about poison in Baek Do, yet they did not possess such a secret technique.
‘How ridiculous—to handle poison yet risk poisoning myself with a single careless mistake.’
This had been the central focus of Dang Yang’s recent obsession.
To artificially realize a constitution that could accept poison into the body without becoming poisoned.
Whether by harmonizing with poison and negating the very concept of poisoning, or by pushing resistance to its absolute limit and achieving immunity to ordinary poisons.
Yet Dang Yang’s research had made little progress.
It was only natural. Since poison harms life and damages the body, how could it be easy to create a constitution that accepts poison and remains unharmed?
Surely it should be impossible…
“I-immunity to all poisons… Baek-dok-bul-chim…!”
Dang Yang’s eyes bulged from their sockets. His jaw hung open so wide it ached.
Baek-dok-bul-chim. A constitution immune to all of the Dang Family’s poisons.
A hypothetical state and constitution that Dang Yang had set as the goal of his research.
“It’s definitely Baek-dok-bul-chim! It truly is!”
A target he wondered if he could reach even after dedicating more than a decade—or perhaps his entire lifetime—now stood before his eyes.
And all it took was infusing some qi.
“Young Master Baek! How did you do it! How!”
I instinctively stepped back, overwhelmed by Dang Yang’s intensity.
His eyes were gleaming wildly—he’d completely lost his composure.
“I just applied emergency measures with some unusual…”
“The qi! That qi! Young Master Baek’s true qi was the condition for Baek-dok-bul-chim! This is unbelievable!”
Even hearing it casually, Baek-dok-bul-chim was clearly an extremely important state or a crucial clue for advancement within the Dang Family.
At this rate, I’m really going to be dissected.
“Elder, please calm yourself for a moment.”
“Dang-gun! How could I possibly calm down!”
Even Dang-gun’s eyes, as he tried to restrain the elder, gleamed with excitement.
Dang-yeon was no exception.
“Hwi’s younger sibling. I knew your qi was special, but I never imagined it would complete Baek-dok-bul-chim in a single stroke.”
Her tone was composed, but her eyes had lost all focus.
Dang-yeon approached another jar, retrieved the posterior qi index stored within, and plunged herself into it.
“Hwi’s Younger Sibling. Me too.”
“What?”
“I need to verify whether this is coincidence or not. Do it for me.”
“Y-you can just enter like that without preparation?”
“Of course not. In a moment, I could be poisoned to death. Unless my younger sibling helps me.”
She’s truly lost her mind. Just as I thought—her tone is calm, but she’s completely reckless.
Then again, Dang-yeon inherited the purification of poison toxins from among the Dang Family’s later generation geniuses.
No matter how much she’s the Soga-ju’s younger sister, without that degree of obsessive madness, she could never have achieved what she has now.
“Hurry. I’m already losing sensation in my limbs.”
“Understood.”
I placed my palm against the center of Dang-yeon’s back and infused the Hwa-cheon Seon-gi into her.
“Ugh….”
Dang-yeon concentrated her mind, analyzing one by one the changes the Hwa-cheon Seon-gi was creating within her body.
A force that harmonizes into one, guiding toward smooth flow.
Hwa-cheon Seon-gi.
Not all poisons are the same.
Since each has its own nature, the more poisons mix, the more difficult they become to handle, and when all hundred poisons combine, they become an uncontrollable monster that transforms infinitely.
But.
‘Ahhh….’
Hundreds of poison toxins invading my body began to harmonize.
Energies of different natures appeared as one.
That was it. I didn’t feel it—I saw it.
Hwa-cheon Seon-gi. A force that harmonizes into one, guiding toward smooth flow.
In other words, true harmony.
The hundred poisons became one. One hundred and unique.
The reason I could perceive it that way was.
‘Poison. Different as they may be, their essence is poison. It’s one. I see it. The path appears.’
Unlike Dang-gun, Dang-yeon had not yet reached the peak realm.
Where Dang-gun transcended the wall of the peak through dark techniques—martial arts—
Dang-yeon sought to melt the wall of the peak through poison mastery.
Needless to say, this was a difficult path.
A warrior can ascend above human limits through martial arts because there exists a Way within the martial.
The Way. A method to polish oneself and ascend to heaven.
Poison mastery is merely the art of preparation and lower poison techniques.
Mixing poisons to create new ones and spreading them easily—that’s all.
Could poison mastery truly be said to have a Way?
‘It does. Poison too has a Way.’
A swordsman reaches the peak realm and obtains sword energy.
Sword energy is cutting through all things with force itself.
A Sound Master reaches the peak realm and obtains transformed sound.
Shifting one’s voice means freely manipulating all sound through qi.
Then, what is the pinnacle of a Poison Master?
‘Qi. Manipulating poison through qi. Obtaining toxic qi.’
Toxic qi. In other words, qi-poison.
Transforming material poison into qi.
The gasification of poison.
“Ah. Ahhhhh.”
My eyebrows shot up involuntarily.
Opening one’s mouth while channeling qi is a foolish act.
One could invite deviation into madness if careless.
‘What is this? I infused my qi as requested, but why is she acting like this?’
She had clearly fallen into a state of transcendence.
Could enlightenment arrive so suddenly and unexpectedly?
‘This is dangerous.’
Judging by how the toxic liquid was clearing, there didn’t seem to be any major problem.
‘What clue did she obtain?’
To reach the pinnacle, one must align heart, qi, and body, and possess the enlightenments of heart-generating-will, intention-manifesting-qi, and sword-qi-manifesting-intention.
From what I could see, Dang-yeon had not yet achieved the alignment of heart, qi, and body, nor obtained the alternative enlightenment to replace sword-qi-manifesting-intention.
‘She didn’t gain enlightenment simply from me infusing Hwa-cheon Seon-gi. She’s felt this qi countless times before.’
During the years spent together at the Baek Family, we had trained together easily hundreds of times.
In other words, she couldn’t have gained enlightenment now from the unique qualities of Hwa-cheon Seon-gi.
I focused my spirit and examined her body.
‘I see. It’s the enlightenment of unity.’
The ever-changing qi of Baek-dok was becoming one.
Not truly unified, but gathering to resemble oneness so closely.
The various conditions of the pinnacle ultimately converge into one.
Alignment.
Making heart, qi, and body one, and harmonizing the three enlightenments.
Becoming one with qi.
Comprehending the essence of qi.
That is the wall of the pinnacle.
‘And, advancing further from the state of becoming one with qi….’
I closed my eyes. I scattered my will.
Yet the qi still moves.
Living-moving-intention-qi. Qi becoming one with will and gaining life.
Until now, I had forcibly manifested living-moving-intention-qi through the power of Seong Cheol’s sword….
‘The reason why, despite having reached this state in my past life, embodiment was difficult in this life. Now I understand.’
I had known it, but now I comprehended it.
The enlightenment of unity that Dang-yeon obtained became the key, transforming what I only knew intellectually into embodied understanding.
The qi gained life and writhed like a dragon.
One of the three enlightenments needed to reach the pinnacle—the Vitality of Living Things. I had grasped it firmly in my hands.
Certainly, I held it.
“Haaah….”
“Haaah….”
When Yang Hwi opened his eyes, the landscape of Dang Yang’s experimental chamber had changed considerably from before.
Specifically, the Dang Family Head and the Elders were surrounding the area.
“Family Head? Elders?”
“….”
“….”
No one answered. I surveyed my surroundings to assess the situation.
‘It seems Yeon-yeon achieved her enlightenment before me.’
It was clear from the fact that she had changed clothes and was standing beside Dang-gun.
But why was Elder Dang Yang collapsed on the ground?
Dang-gun, seeing my confused expression, provided the answer.
“He was so delighted he collapsed. Goodness, so that was actually possible.”
“…Is that so?”
In other words, he had discovered something even greater beyond Baek-dok-bul-chim.
A chill ran through me. The anxiety that I might never escape the Dang Family surged up.
“Five is possible.”
“Pardon? Five what?”
“Your wives.”
“….”
My anxiety seemed about to become reality.
“Hwi’s Younger Sibling. Or rather, dear.”
“Ugh! Don’t say such things, Yeon-yeon!”
“Haha, I don’t like it either. Anyway, I should explain. I’ve reached the pinnacle. And through enlightenment about poison, no less.”
“What do you mean?”
“What do I mean? Do you understand how remarkable this is! It’s the first in the history of the Dang Family!”
What? That couldn’t be right.
In my past life, Dang-gun had certainly reached a level where he wielded poison as a martial art.
Given that Dang-gun, who trained primarily in assassination techniques and earned the epithet Dark Dragon, had achieved such mastery in poison, by now a martial philosophy regarding both poison and inner energy should have been established.
“There have been those who broke through the pinnacle wall through enlightenment about poison. However, I am the first to obtain such clear and transmissible enlightenment.”
“Is that so?”
“Moreover, Baek-dok-bul-chim as well. This proves it. Hwi’s Younger Sibling’s true energy plays a crucial role in achieving Baek-dok-bul-chim.”
“I see.”
Should I pack my things and return to the main family immediately?
This is going to become a real problem.
“The Way—what is the Way?”
It was the Dang Family Head who spoke, his voice low.
“The Way is the process of approaching the objective. How can one reach the summit if there is no path to the mountain’s peak?”
I found myself reflecting on the martial arts of the Dang Family.
The techniques bestowed by the Gu-pa and the Five Great Families were of this nature.
A curse of knowing a summit exists, yet having no path to reach it—unable to advance.
“There is truly much to say. However, the first words I wish to convey have already been decided long ago.”
Dang Seong slowly raised both hands—one palm open and flat, the other formed into a fist.
An extraordinarily respectful fist salute, brimming with emotion.
“I express my deepest gratitude for your benevolence!”
Following Dang Seong’s lead, all the Dang Family members surrounding us simultaneously performed the fist salute toward me.
“I express my deepest gratitude for your benevolence!”
“I express my deepest gratitude for your benevolence!”
“I express my deepest gratitude for your benevolence!”
Returning their salute, I thought to myself.
I would need to hear the details to be certain, but it seemed the alliance between the Baek Family and the Dang Family would become as unbreakable as a blood oath.
‘If I had known it would come to this, I should have applied the Seon-gi’s Pursuit and Blood Technique to Elder Dang and Dang-yeon long ago.’
I had applied the Seon-gi’s Pursuit and Blood Technique to Baek Heon-so and the Baek-a Unit Members, whom the Baek Family was cultivating as next-generation forces.
No matter how much it was called training, I could not beat the direct descendants of a prestigious family like dogs, so I had not done it for Dang-gun and Dang-yeon.
‘I never imagined Seon-gi would play such a crucial role in poison arts.’
Poison, which is rooted in harming something, and Seon-gi, which possesses the function of guiding all things correctly.
I never dreamed such tremendous results would occur when the two met.
‘This will also accelerate the reconstruction of the Dang Family’s martial arts.’
Since I had become someone the Family Head called a benefactor, surely they would permit me to glimpse their martial arts?
Once I merely made contact with them, I could transmit them, so the greatest problem would be solved.
“Let us head to the residence first. There is truly much to discuss.”
As I moved toward the Dang Family Head’s side, Dang-gun quickly interjected.
“Family Head. Is it not the way of all trials to be conducted three times? Hwi’s Younger Brother, I too would like to request this once.”
Dang-gun’s eyes sparkled brightly.
If Elder Dang was this eager, he truly desired it desperately.
But today was impossible.
“Elder Dang. I have no inner energy left.”
“Ah, I see….”
Disappointment appeared on Dang-gun’s face.
I felt somewhat sorry.
Well, in any case.
‘It certainly appears I have bestowed something tremendous. So there should be much to gain in return, yes?’
The conversation ahead seemed it would be truly sweet.
My lips naturally curved upward in a smile.

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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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