Third-rate Martial Family Becomes the Best Under Heaven - Chapter 207

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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 207
The thirty-six sects of the Baek Family, in other words, the Heavenly-grade martial sects, receive ten Heavenly-grade appointment tokens each time the Dragon Phoenix Assembly convenes.
It’s a massive event held only once every ten years, so there’s no way a single sect would send just one representative.
‘I’m not sure how many appointment tokens the Taiji Sect has torn through so far, but at most it would be one or two.’
The basis for my reasoning was simple. Because Seong Ju-hon, the Somunju of the Taiji Sect, had said something like that.
That he would show heaven above the heavens.
It’s frankly an arrogant statement to make when he’s neither part of the Nine Sects nor the Five Great Families.
Perhaps his momentum had risen from his recent winning streak.
‘Seeing that the Somunju came forward from the start, he must have thought that I—no, that Elder Dang would request a martial match.’
That had been the plan, but instead we faced Baek Heon-so. From the Somunju’s perspective, it must have been quite insulting.
It was only natural that he felt anger.
Setting aside whether he had the right to feel that way.
-Seo. You must win. You don’t need to worry, right?
-…I’ll do my very best!
I deliberately applied some pressure to Baek Heon-so.
Most people in the world tend to ruin important matters through excessive tension when facing them, but Baek Heon-so was the opposite type.
Our Seo thrives when given expectations, finding joy in them and pushing himself harder to meet them.
‘In my past life, he became twisted after having all the family’s hopes stolen from him, but seeing how properly he’s grown in this life makes it clear.’
In this life, I didn’t just steal the family’s expectations from Baek Heon-so—I’ve shown such remarkable achievements that even Family Head Baek Moo-ryang and Chief Administrator Han Seok-eon trust and rely on me.
In other words, he should feel even more deprived than in his past life, yet Seo hasn’t become twisted.
Why? Because the older brother he respected and followed poured his expectations upon him.
Indeed, Baek Heon-so was steeling his resolve.
‘My brother told me to win!’
So I will win! I can definitely win!
His brother was not someone who would ask him to do the impossible!
‘For the past few years, with my brother’s help, I’ve worked like a dog. I’m not who I was before!’
His brother was such a remarkable talent that even the most renowned figures in the realm spoke his praises in unison.
Such a precious person had spent his time on his lacking younger brother.
So he had to show results out of gratitude—no.
‘Because my brother spends time on me, I must be a person of worth! So I have to prove my value!’
The Somunju of the Taiji Sect.
The primary subordinate sect of one of the foremost shamans even among the Nine Sects, selected as a Heavenly-grade martial sect despite being merely a subordinate sect—in other words, the Somunju of a sect counted among the greatest in all the realm!
“Somunju. Would you perhaps grant your junior a small advantage?”
Seong Ju-hon, the Somunju, had just passed his twenties two years ago. Being three years older made him technically a senior.
-Our Seo has grown quite clever.
-Indeed, brother. He secured the first strike by invoking seniority.
-When you roll around under Hwi, people can’t help but change.
-He used to be so gentle and didn’t know how to gain advantage with his tongue like Yang Hwi does. Well, he still has that cute side that makes him fun to tease.
Unaware that the Tang Siblings were having this conversation through secret transmission, Baek Heon-so drew his sword.
“Hah!”
A renowned blade forged by Baek Cheol, the main family’s prodigious weaponsmith, who had achieved the legendary Baek Lotus Enlightenment and drawn forth the sword. Moreover, it was a masterpiece that incorporated Star Iron, a precious material that Yang Hwi had painstakingly obtained.
Yet there was something that moved Baek Heon-so even more than the materials and the craftsman himself.
“Since you’ll be attending the Dragon Phoenix Gathering, you should have a worthy blade befitting the legitimate heir of our main family. As it happens, this works out perfectly. You can use my sword.”
“Elder brother, you…?”
“For something like the Dragon Phoenix Gathering, I can manage with a mere twig, my boy.”
In other words, this blade was….
‘The sword my elder brother used and passed down to me not long ago!’
I had been recognized by my elder brother. The current me, Baek Heon-so, was deemed worthy of inheriting my brother’s sword!
On the day I received the blade, I abandoned my training to contemplate deeply, and I even bestowed upon it a name.
Gonghui. It means to shine together.
I had initially named it Sunghui, but I received a beating for that and renamed it.
‘Who am I? Baek Heon-so. The one and only younger brother of Yang Hwi, the greatest talent under heaven of the Baek Family!’
Deliberately erasing Chu Dal’s existence—someone I usually regarded with jealousy and rivalry—from my mind, I gazed upon the coldly gleaming blade of Gonghui and steeled my resolve.
Until Somunju Seong Ju-hon, unable to contain himself, spoke.
“…You’re not going to begin?”
“Ah. My apologies, Somunju.”
Baek Heon-so offered a brief apology and assumed the horse stance, focusing his attention on his dantian.
A deep rumbling sound, as if vast quantities of water were flowing, echoed from within his meridians.
A ginseng root as thick as a forearm, grown in sunlit soil, nourished abundantly by compost, water, and sunlight.
No—a ginseng so massive, so thick, so robust that it brought such imagery to mind!
By now, my dantian had become so densely packed that it resembled a thousand-year-old ginseng root.
All of this transformation had begun after I discovered the spiritual medicine field in Sichuan.
“Ah, elder brother! If you keep forcing it in like that, it will tear! Your younger brother will be torn apart!”
“Seo. A healthy body can accommodate even greater and more abundant inner force.”
‘Ah. The tears.’
Over the past three years.
I had consumed spiritual medicines equivalent to ten complete cycles of the heavenly stems and earthly branches.
If my body failed to fully absorb the excessive inner force and suffered injury….
‘I would be beaten like a dog—ah, rather, my elder brother personally performed the Chugung Acupoint Technique on me.’
A grinding sound of teeth clenching escaped from my jaw.
Though I revered and trusted Yang Hwi more than anyone in the world, the agony of the Chugung Acupoint Technique was something no mortal could endure.
“Seo. You can bear this. You’re my younger brother.”
“…Elder brother! You trust this younger brother so much…! Yes! I can do this!”
“Elder brother, I won’t call you that anymore! Please, save me!”
“Chu Dal, if you don’t want to die, endure it.”
“This is discrimination against your younger brother! Discrimination, I tell you!”
Well, thanks to my brother’s encouragement, I ultimately endured.
I succeeded in forcing inner force into my body up to the limit that my current physique could accommodate and my present cultivation could sustain.
‘With this much inner force, I cannot possibly lose to some mere twenty-three-year-old senior.’
To possess this magnitude of inner force at such a tender age?
Any renowned martial clan in the realm would shower me with admiration and praise.
Possessing vast inner energy meant far more than simply mastering superior techniques and consuming expensive spiritual pills.
The perfection of one’s physical form. The ability to control one’s inner energy.
Without both of these, even if one cultivated qi daily through divine techniques and consumed spiritual pills, the energy could never be condensed into the dantian as inner power.
“Hah!”
My blade, infused with tremendous force, followed the mysteries of Gae-cheon-bak-pal-geom to strike at Seong Ju-hon’s vital points.
The subtlety woven into each advancing step came from the Gi-cheon Step.
Seong Ju-hon, caught off guard, deflected Baek Heon-so’s blade.
“An opening!”
Seizing the moment when his movements grew too expansive, I pressed the attack so fiercely that Seong Ju-hon was forced to retreat a dozen steps.
I could have solidified victory right then, but instead I withdrew my blade and leaped backward.
“Thank you for yielding the first exchange, Senior. Since my turn has ended, please show me your technique.”
Victory matters, but when one is certain of victory, one should pursue greater gains.
Following the principle Yang Hwi constantly preached, I intended to use this sparring match as fertilizer for my own growth.
“….”
Seong Ju-hon fell silent. I could see his jaw muscles twitching.
His pride had been thoroughly wounded.
“Our sect’s supreme technique is the Dual-Reversal Tai Chi Six Methods. Allow me to demonstrate the first form.”
“My eyes will be greatly honored!”
Perhaps wanting to shake off the defensive position from moments before, Seong Ju-hon’s assault came fierce and brutal. Yet I parried each blade strike effortlessly, my eyes gleaming.
Watching this, Yang Hwi’s group began to chat.
“Wow, Elder Brother. Baek Heon-so’s skills have improved tremendously.”
“He’s a talented one. He’s been following along so diligently.”
As I conversed with Jegal Seol-ha, I suddenly realized something.
Normally when I said such things, someone would immediately retort from the side, “Are you saying that for my benefit?” But this time, nothing came.
‘Ah, I see.’
The Tang Siblings were discussing aspects of Baek Heon-so other than his martial prowess.
“Baek Heon-so really does resemble Hwi’s Younger Brother in many ways.”
“You’re right. He doesn’t seem to intend it, since his personality has no twisted edges, but every word he speaks scratches at the other person.”
The Tang Siblings alternated their gazes between Jegal Seol-ha and Baek Heon-so, then fixed their eyes on Yang Hwi.
Both of them certainly weren’t like this at first… Well, that’s enough of that.
One thing was certain, though.
“A heavenly-grade manual—practically already in our hands.”
“Right. We’d need to secure one more, but the Tai Chi Sect won’t make it easy, will they?”
“If another disciple had fought first and then Hwi’s Younger Brother faced Somunju afterward, two manuals might have been possible. But it seems difficult now.”
Even if the Tai Chi Sect was in urgent need of resources, they wouldn’t stake all their heavenly-grade manuals on a single match.
The manuals belonging to the sect’s key successors would never be put on the line.
In other words, this sparring match with the Tai Chi Sect would be the only opportunity.
And with this one chance, the Tai Chi Sect would suffer an irredeemable humiliation.

* * *
“Have you heard the rumors?”
“About the Taegeuk Sect?”
“Indeed. They say the Somunju himself was defeated by some young master from a minor martial family in the borderlands!”
“What! The Taegeuk Sect has been so confident lately—how could this happen!”
“Even if they’ve recently earned the title of rising power, they’re just a martial clan from Gangseong, after all.”
The Juru inn was as refined as it was soundproof, with guest rooms thoroughly isolated from one another.
Yet for a warrior who had reached enlightenment, eavesdropping on the adjacent room’s conversation was effortless.
“Kekekeke!”
“Kekekeke!”
Laughter in different voices, yet strangely similar and harmonious.
The ones laughing were Yang Hwi and Jegal Seol-ha.
“….”
“….”
I could overlook Yang Hwi laughing like that, but watching Jegal Seol-ha’s face contort with such unrefined laughter….
‘Hmm. I’ve just thought something disrespectful about the Jegal Family.’
‘It seems spending too much time close to Yang Hwi’s younger sibling isn’t good for one’s character after all.’
Regardless, Yang Hwi and Jegal Seol-ha exchanged banter like comedians, giggling all the while.
“Seolha, did you see? He was so confident that he could definitely beat Seo.”
“The Taegeuk Sect’s nose must be completely flattened! They accepted unlimited matches thinking they had no chance of losing!”
“At this rate, the Shaman’s plans must have hit a snag, no?”
“At least from our Jegal Family’s perspective, this is incredibly satisfying!”
The reason we went to the Taegeuk Sect and fielded Baek Heon-so as an opponent without regard for their pride.
It was to humiliate the Taegeuk Sect and, through that, to probe the Shaman’s movements.
The Shaman was one of the Nine Sects and possessed formidable power.
With subtle hostility arising from my relationship with Eum Hu, it was crucial to react to their movements.
“Rather than tiringly listening to every little move the opponent makes, it’s better to strike first and dictate the direction they’ll move.”
“Our relationship with them might worsen, but the Jegal Family and the Shaman were never going to have good relations anyway!”
“Kekeke! Seo, you’ve done well!”
“Kekeke! Seo’s younger brother has accomplished something great!”
The Tang Siblings exchanged glances with each other.
Normally, Baek Heon-so would have stepped in to stop them both, but now he merely grinned foolishly at the praise, his mouth corners raised.
At times like this, if only Chu Dal would step forward….
“Hmm? Come to think of it, where’s Chu Dal?”
“Huh? You’re right.”
I hadn’t noticed. He had vanished without a trace at some point, and I’d been unaware of his absence until now.
The past three years had changed more than just Baek Heon-so.
Just then, Chu Dal entered the guest room, using the window as if it were a regular door.
“I’m back.”
“Good, Chu Dal. Did you see everything clearly?”
“Yes. It was quite entertaining, actually.”
Dang-gun, sensing unease, quickly asked.
“Chu Dal, where have you been?”
“Yes, Soga-joonim. I went to the Taegeuk Sect and read through some documents.”
There were only two types of documents one could read at another sect.
Secret martial arts manuals. Or correspondence that outsiders weren’t meant to see.
“So you’re saying….”
“You infiltrated the Shaman’s secular branch and conducted espionage?”
Chu Dal remained composed.
“Come now. The Shaman’s secular branch is a Daoist sect, after all. I simply became a wandering merchant and enjoyed the sights.”

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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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