Third-rate Martial Family Becomes the Best Under Heaven - Chapter 231

—————
This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
—————

Third-rate Martial Arts Family, Greatest Under Heaven – Episode 231
A sword strike infused with Inner Qi drawn forth at full power.
Seeing Peng Wang’s eyes widen in astonishment, a flicker of satisfaction rose within me.
As his grandson, Daehaeyongwangdo Peng Beom would have already known the conditions his grandfather sought in a disciple.
A body sturdy and fully developed enough to accept vast quantities of Inner Qi at a young age.
In other words, a robust constitution.
‘He may have had a rough idea, but he never expected it to reach this level.’
No matter how much the opponent was the Family Head of the greatest clan under heaven, possessing fifty years’ worth of Inner Qi at such a young age far exceeded any reasonable expectation.
Once one reached a certain threshold, Inner Qi was something that wouldn’t increase no matter how much elixir one consumed.
“So this was the extent of your limits…!”
Peng Wang had no choice but to block the sword strike before he could finish speaking.
The blade was as thick as an adult’s thigh. I suspected its weight alone exceeded a hundred catties.
“Ugh…!”
The blade swayed like a willow branch caught in a storm, and Peng Wang gritted his teeth, enduring the pain.
“Ho. Truly worthy of the Peng Family’s Family Head. You’ve managed to withstand that. Now it’s your turn, Family Head.”
Judging by his expression, his mood seemed quite displeased.
Well, he must have noticed my trap, so it was only natural.
“This wasn’t a favorable format for the Peng Family?”
“Correct. Since the Peng Family Head is no easy opponent, I had to think strategically.”
“…Even with this method, it won’t be simple.”
Peng Wang ground his teeth and raised his blade to head height.
“My grandfather has always sought those with constitutions capable of accepting tremendous Inner Qi. He said it was a condition necessary to perfectly inherit his martial arts. I acknowledge that you possess the qualifications to become my grandfather’s disciple. However. However!”
Peng Wang brought down his blade, infused with surging energy.
Crash!
The martial art representing the Peng Family is the Five Tigers Gate-Severing Blade Method.
What’s interesting is that while it became a blade technique within the Peng Family, the roots of the Five Tigers Gate-Severing technique trace back to Shaolin.
‘It was likely one of the Eight Shaolin Methods.’
Since the founder of the greatest clan under heaven of that era was a lay disciple of Shaolin, perhaps Shaolin itself was the greatest sect under heaven.
Could the Shaman sect truly surpass Shaolin?
While entertaining such thoughts for a moment, I observed Peng Wang’s blade strikes.
Five Tigers Gate-Severing. Five tigers break through a gate.
True to its name, the Five Tigers Gate-Severing Blade relies on fierce, successive strikes to overwhelm the opponent as its primary technique.
‘In other words, in a format where we exchange only one strike at a time, he cannot draw out his maximum potential.’
Yet despite each individual strike being fierce, and with his age being roughly double mine, Peng Wang had no choice but to believe this format was absolutely advantageous to him.
Tap!
I absorbed most of the force carried in his blade strike and spoke lightly.
“You’ve seen it before, haven’t you? The Harmonious Great Smile. I displayed it when you asked me to provoke your competitive spirit.”
I had managed to prevent openly showing my hand under the guise of the wager.
Though declaring I wouldn’t fight openly in the group matches was also, to some degree, showing my hand.
‘Well, I do understand the Peng Family Head’s position.’
I got caught up in the Absolute One’s whims and ended up participating in the Dragon-Phoenix Contest, which wasn’t part of the plan. On top of that, I was treated like a dog under the guise of training.
Naturally, when Peng Wang looked at me—the very source of his resentment—his insides must have been boiling with fury.
‘If I were in his position, I’d want to throw shit at someone too.’
But that’s one thing, and this is another.
Thanks to all that, it turned out to be quite troublesome.
“Now it’s my turn!”
I unleashed a sword strike infused with Peng Wang’s entire legacy.
CRAAAASH!
“Ugh, cough!”
A faint crimson tinge appeared at the corners of Peng Wang’s mouth.
It seemed his insides had been shaken, and blood was rising up.
“Baek Gong-ja. You’ve transcended the level of late-stage mastery.”
“Ah, yes, that’s true.”
“At your level, you probably don’t feel much value in the title of First Dragon.”
I held Peng Wang’s gaze for a moment.
‘So it wasn’t just luck that he claimed the position of Soga-joonim of the Greatest Under Heaven Family.’
Until now, Peng Wang had moved according to straightforward and simple emotions.
A desire for revenge against me, who had caused him trouble.
But the emotion now gleaming in Peng Wang’s eyes was different from before.
It was the bearing of the previous generation’s First Dragon and Soga-joonim of the Greatest Under Heaven Family.
“Though my grandfather forced me into this, I had planned to declare defeat at an appropriate moment and withdraw.”
“I would have taken the stance of yielding gracefully, saying something like, ‘I’ve seen how splendidly the younger generation fights.'”
If becoming the First Dragon of this generation, following the previous one, truly meant everything to him, then there would be no reason for such thoughts.
Even with some embarrassment attached, Peng Wang would have desperately sought to become the First Dragon.
“Well, from the Soga-joonim’s perspective, such thinking is understandable. Grandson of the Cheonmu-sip-jon, Soga-joonim of the Greatest Under Heaven Family. You would have felt the need to prove yourself through living.”
Peng Wang’s brow furrowed. My tone must have irritated him.
“I too have lived proving many things. I’ve experienced much frustration as well.”
“For example, failing to become a disciple of the Great Sea Dragon King?”
….
I’d struck a nerve. Fire blazed in Peng Wang’s eyes.
“Yes. That happened. I never even thought you could truly become my grandfather’s disciple.”
Peng Wang’s sword was now shrouded in energy so vivid it seemed to shimmer.
“Looking at your sword strike… a new sprout suddenly blooms.”
A sprout that bloomed from Peng Wang’s heart as its soil.
Its name was jealousy.
“Try to block this. It’s the Oho Tanmun Technique, the Three-Direction Tiger Enclosure.”
From three directions, tigers lunged with their jaws wide open.
It was a straightforward technique name, befitting the Peng Family.
CRAAAASH!
Three strikes were compressed into a single blow.
I deflected it once more using the subtle principles of Utopian Sword Technique, but the collision sent a shockwave through the air.
“My hands are tingling quite a bit. It seems Peng Soga-joonim must withdraw from this point.”
The reason I proposed a wager to Peng Wang.
It was partly to secure his cooperation in the main tournament’s second round.
But there was another, far more significant reason.
“I will absolutely become the First Dragon. If I can easily eliminate one formidable competitor, that would be an enormous advantage.”
“…Why do you so desperately desire the First Dragon position? Fame is merely an illusion. You should know this better than anyone.”
Instead of answering, I smiled.
‘Peng Wang wouldn’t understand. He couldn’t empathize with my feelings.’
I would absolutely become the First Dragon.
To prevent the Shaman’s foolish schemes?
To expose the true leaders of the Three Great Demonic Cults?
Those weren’t wrong reasons.
In fact, if I considered practical gains and losses, both were extremely important.
But the essential reason Yang Hwi had resolved to obtain the First Dragon position was different.
“Because my father would be happy.”
Peng Wang’s words weren’t incorrect.
The championship of the Dragon-Phoenix Struggle and the resulting title of First Dragon?
Unimportant.
I possessed the strength to build comparable renown whenever I wished.
For me, the First Dragon was proof.
“The Gaecheon Baek Family will become widely known throughout the realm as the clan that produced the First Dragon.”
“…Haha. I see. The simplest and most powerful reason. I had momentarily forgotten.”
It was somewhat unexpected. I hadn’t thought Peng Wang would empathize.
“Family recognition and joy. Extraordinarily important things. Important enough to grind one’s own bones for.”
“….”
I could infer one thing.
“You wanted to become a disciple of the Great Sea Dragon King.”
“No, how could that be? When I was young, my grandfather was heaven itself to me.”
Yet Peng Wang never became a disciple of the Great Sea Dragon King.
The First Dragon of the previous generation. The Soga-joonim of the greatest family under heaven.
The most promising candidate for the greatest under heaven in the current martial realm, yet he never obtained what he truly desired.
“I’m jealous. I envied your talent so much it drove me mad. I need to vent my frustrations a bit.”
Hearing those words, I laughed.
Peng Wang before reversing time was an opponent I could never have approached.
In my previous life at this time, Yang Hwi was merely an assassin, but Peng Wang held his current position.
“I’m delighted. To think a man of Peng Soga-joonim’s stature would regard me as an object of jealousy.”
“You don’t think you’ll regret this later?”
“To ensure that doesn’t happen, I intend to end this match in my turn.”
I adjusted my grip on the sword. It had been about a year since I passed my previous blade to Baek Heon-so and received this new one.
Yet I am accustomed to it. More than accustomed—I am weary of it.
For Yang Hwi, the sword was a companion who had walked beside me through two lifetimes.
“I shall begin.”
The Sword Spirit shed feathers. The blooming feathers began to dance and swirl around the Sword Spirit at its center.
Peng Wang’s eyes widened.
“That realm is…!”
“I see you recognize it. Just as I suspected.”
“Hahaha! Indeed! The very talent my grandfather coveted!”
Yes, I knew Peng Wang would recognize it.
Eighteen years from now. The end of the future that Yang Hwi knows.
Among countless talents, the one who remained unbroken and alive.
The epithet he attained and claimed with his own hands was….
“Come then. Shall we test our blades?”
“Come as you wish!”
Qi began to crystallize upon Peng Wang’s blade as well.
A form materialized and roared fiercely.
It was a tiger.
“Ten years hence. Shall we make a pact? Let us cross blades again in ten years. It should be entertaining.”
“I agree as well.”
The feathers gathered to form wings. Around the pair of wings, a pure white form took shape.
A hawk. A white hawk crouched as if ready to soar into the heavens at any moment.
“I come.”
“Come then!”
I swung my sword. His blade met it.
The hawk spread its wings. The tiger opened its maw to devour it.
——-!

* * *
Yang Hwi cradled four flags in his arms. Peng Wang hoisted the unconscious Jin Yeong-jin onto his shoulder.
The two of them were moving at swift speed, employing their lightness technique.
“What a shame, really.”
There was no need to explain what he meant by that regret.
Yang Hwi felt the same way.
“If it hadn’t been for Young Master Jin, I could have warmed up much more satisfyingly.”
“Haha! The way Baek Gong-ja thinks, you’d fit right in with our Peng Family.”
“Is that a compliment?”
By the time they finished their banter, they had arrived at their destination.
The Referee stood at a distance.
Within the competition zone, but at a position where just one push off the ground would end the match immediately.
“You don’t seem to have any intention of ending this quickly?”
“No. Where’s the fun in that?”
“You’d be throwing away both the entertainment and any benefits you could gain.”
He seemed to have figured out what I was thinking.
“Wait a moment. It’ll be worth your while.”
I had collected four out of five flags.
This meant all the remaining teams except one would have to be eliminated.
“Baek Gong-ja. One flag is mine. We had an agreement, yes?”
“Don’t worry.”
As I reassured the anxious Jin Yeong-jin, the other teams began arriving one after another.
Four teams in total.
The one worth paying attention to was Okcheon and Namgung Cheon-yeong’s team.
‘Why hasn’t Adu’s team arrived yet?’
That thought crossed my mind briefly.
Yang Hwi grinned widely as he looked at the other teams.
“As you can see, our team has collected four flags. One remains.”
Namgung Cheon-yeong’s team looked eager to attack and seize it immediately.
I added one more thing.
“Just one step forward, and the Referee is right there.”
Meaning I could end the match whenever I wished.
“The reason I’ve waited this long is simple. I intend to give one of the flags to one of you gathered here.”
The moment those words left my mouth, the atmosphere shifted dramatically.
Yang Hwi smirked.
‘They all understood what I meant.’
Since we were close to the finish line, over a hundred onlookers had gathered to watch.
“Now then, fight each other.”
Before ending this, I wanted to enjoy a good show.

—————
This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
—————