Third-rate Martial Family Becomes the Best Under Heaven - Chapter 248

—————
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 248
Baek Moo-ryang kept his blade drawn, remaining vigilant in all directions.
However, having only recently sobered from his intoxication, his senses remained somewhat dulled despite the effort to clear his mind.
Because of this, his reaction to the blood-red blade rising from the shadows came a fraction too late.
“Father, forgive my intrusion.”
Yang Hwi pushed Baek Moo-ryang aside and pierced the assassin’s throat with his finger technique.
Since the strike penetrated from fingertip through wrist, it was more accurate to say the assassin’s neck had been severed.
Baek Moo-ryang clicked his tongue.
“Hwi, you sensed that without even feeling it clearly. Impressive.”
“You know well enough that my senses are acute, Father.”
The amount of intoxication he’d expelled was considerable. His perception naturally differed from his usual state.
‘This is why carelessness is forbidden… though calling it carelessness seems off.’
Who in all the heavens would have anticipated assassination attempts in a city where four of the Cheonmu-sip-jon gathered?
Even I hadn’t considered this possibility.
Had there been any inkling of danger, I would have warned Father beforehand.
‘What could they be thinking? The slightest commotion would draw masters swarming from every direction.’
Did they believe, as assassins, they could handle this discreetly?
Yet even with the ambush failed, they haven’t retreated.
From this point on, we could deliberately cause a disturbance if needed.
‘Eight assassins remain, all at the peak realm. There shouldn’t be reinforcements, should there?’
I need to move with this in mind.
-Father. Deploy the Hwa-cheon-i-won-gong at full power.
The divine technique I created myself—Hwa-cheon-i-won-gong.
By reversing the principle of accepting all heavenly energies in the Six Harmonies, one can detect the flow of qi far more sensitively.
This was the result of my own interpretation of sensation through martial arts.
-Understood.
-For now, let’s engage them moderately and discern their intentions through their movements. Does that suit you?
-I am your father. I haven’t neglected my training, so don’t worry.
Baek Moo-ryang’s blade shone white.
The distinctive mental image of the Gaecheon Geomryong, felt alongside intense qi.
Just as a hawk’s cry was about to ring out, I urgently sent a transmission.
-It would be better to engage quietly without sound for now.
To extract their true intentions, it’s best to play along first.
We can always cause a disturbance later if necessary.
“What are you doing? Aren’t you coming out? I know all eight of you are still here.”
Fluctuations of qi ripple from various points.
They didn’t expect to be seen through so completely, it seems.
Soon, rapidly moving masses of qi.
Supreme movement techniques combined with concealment arts.
‘Admittedly, this is impressive.’
Of course, these assassins from the Five Great Killing Sects of the realm would have some tricks up their sleeves.
Just like Chu Dal, who deceived the eyes of peak masters even when he was merely first-rate.
‘Perhaps I should torture them and extract a few martial techniques. After filtering out the garbage and stitching together what’s useful, Chu Dal would be delighted.’
A smooth yet swift approach, flowing like water through a stream.
And the target of all eight blades was….
‘These bastards, worse than dogs?’
Yang Hwi’s eyes blazed as he shifted his position in front of Baek Moo-ryang and released a surge of qi.
-Kiiiiiiiii!
The living force carried the essence of a hawk’s spirit.
Baek Moo-ryang asked in alarm.
“Hwi, didn’t you say you’d handle this quietly…?”
“It’s fine. I’ve deployed a sound-suppressing qi barrier.”
After all, I’m Eum Hu’s disciple. Blocking sound is child’s play.
I’d held back from spreading the barrier across a radius of dozens of paces because I worried these bastards might panic and flee.
“Weren’t you trying to uncover their schemes as much as possible?”
“Isn’t improvisation one of life’s most important skills?”
I answered shamelessly, turned my head, and let my expression turn fierce.
“These bastards dare target my father?”
Ah, this changes the plan entirely.
I’ll have to crush them all.
If I keep just one alive and torture him, I might still extract something useful.

* * *
“Listen, child. My instructions end here. Can you manage it?”
A woman whose entire body gleamed crimson like blood itself. The mere sight of her stirred carnal desire, and her voice—so plaintive it made one want to embrace her.
And yet.
Sip-chil-hyeol, a first-rate assassin of the Muk-myeon Blood Sect, pressed his forehead to the ground and trembled violently.
Not from fear. He trembled because he now stood before an absolute existence he had never dared imagine he would encounter.
“Hyeol-hyeol-nyeo, I swear I shall complete your command.”
Hyeol-hyeol-nyeo laughed softly and extended her snow-white foot.
She pressed it gently against the back of Sip-chil-hyeol’s head as she continued.
“No, you cannot complete this command. I am sending you to your death. Do you understand? Never surrender—struggle with all your might until the very end.”
It mattered not. If he died serving the Bishop in the presence of the Blood Deity, he would be resurrected as a blood ghost and granted eternal bliss.
“Your role is singular: provoke them to the utmost and draw forth their response. Heighten the spectacle to its fullest.”
The weight upon his head vanished. Sip-chil-hyeol raised his gaze, only to find that Hyeol-hyeol-nyeo had already disappeared.
A brief audience. The ecstasy born from it.
Sip-chil-hyeol, who had lingered in rapture for some time, soon hardened his expression.
The emotional control befitting a first-rate assassin of the Five Great Killing Sects.
‘I shall complete the command. I will sacrifice everything.’
He led his subordinates and waited for the optimal moment to strike.
And that moment came.
‘They emerge alone without attendants. The Deity surely favors us.’
Moreover, their destination was not their lodging.
They had slipped through the marketplace toward a secluded hillside, seemingly intent on viewing the night scenery.
-From positions two through nine, deploy the hidden concealment technique and form an encirclement.
I issued the command to my subordinates.
Targeting the moment when my objectives—Baek Moo-ryang and Baek Yang-hwi—would be engaged in prolonged conversation, I ordered one subordinate to launch the ambush.
‘Perfect. I struck at the ideal moment.’
Though she had commanded me to struggle even unto death, the task seemed almost embarrassingly simple to accomplish.
It was at that very thought.
“Father. It seems we have some rude children interrupting our time together.”
Pal-ho was dead. The opponent had dismantled the ambush with contemptuous ease.
-Indeed, there is reason in what she said.
Yet it changed nothing. Only the compulsion to complete the command, even in death.
I sent another subordinate forward. I lost another.
Murmuring from the targets. Then came a voice.
“What are you doing? Won’t you come out? I know all eight of you remain.”
‘What!? He has seen through not only my subordinates but my own concealment as well?’
It was impossible. A first-rate assassin of the Muk-myeon Blood Sect possessed the caliber to fulfill commissions even against the Elders of the great sects.
Could a mere stripling, barely past his coming of age, truly possess the perception of an Elder-tier master?
‘…It matters not. My target is not Gaecheon Geomryong.’
-All units, kill the Family Head of Baek!
It was the moment Sip-chil-hyeol issued his command.
A terrifying aura of inner qi engulfed all directions.
“These bastards dare to target my father?”
From that moment, hell itself began.
-Gaecheon Geomryong’s martial prowess exceeds imagination. Retreat half a step and deploy concealment techniques at maximum intensity.
A half-step retreat was an order to maintain distance while remaining within striking range at any moment.
Thus, it was a measured and prudent decision.
But.
“Did you think I wouldn’t sense you from a distance?”
A whirlwind erupted beneath Gaecheon Geomryong’s feet.
One subordinate was visible, his abdomen pierced clean through, convulsing.
“I’ll guarantee you—none of you will die peacefully. I’ll send you off in maximum agony.”
Agony. For assassins, such threats held no meaning.
They had been conditioned since childhood to be immune to pain.
Certainly, that should have been the case. It had to be—yet….
“Krraaaaaaagh! Krraaaaaaaaaaaaagh!”
Screams so harrowing they chilled the very marrow, so agonized that merely hearing them transmitted the suffering itself.
“You wretches dare stand before me with such pathetic power? Go die.”
Another subordinate was claimed, accompanied by that mocking voice.
‘A monster. This is a monster.’
Incomprehensible. Impossible.
The overwhelming aura of inner qi could be explained away, but to inflict agony upon assassins whose nervous systems had been systematically stripped of pain sensation through martial conditioning?
This should never have been possible.
-All units, retreat one step!
An order contradicting the command to resist to the bitter end, yet unavoidable.
No—this too had to be viewed as a strategic retreat to execute the original command.
“You bastards are fleeing? If you chase and separate from your father, are you planning individual annihilation?”
The voice rang out as all six remaining assassins scattered in different directions.
Despite their rapid retreat, it reached their ears with crystalline clarity, like a whisper.
He had locked onto their exact positions.
“As it happens, I’ve been practicing something.”
Sip-chil-hyeol felt an inexplicable dread, and that dread swiftly became reality.
Pristine white feathers bloomed into existence. The feathers shot forth like throwing blades.
Moving as though alive, they pursued relentlessly to the very end.
‘Void-seizing technique…!’
That Gaecheon Geomryong had awakened the Vitality Qi was common knowledge.
But to think he had actually mastered void-seizing as well?
And to such a perfected degree that it was applicable in actual combat.
“Kgh!”
“Khrk!”
“…Gasp!”
In an instant, all of my subordinates were dead. Sip-chil-hyeol found himself pinned through both legs by feathers, waiting for his target to approach.
“Based on your qi magnitude, you’re definitely the leader. Am I right?”
“….”
Sip-chil-hyeol laughed hollowly.
‘Hyeol-hyeol-nyeo… you never mentioned that I wouldn’t even be able to struggle.’
“Hey. I know you won’t talk, but let me ask anyway. What’s your identity? I know you’re from the Mute Blood Sect.”
“…!”
“How did I know? Who else carries that blood cult-like qi and does assassination work besides you lot?”
Gaecheon Geomryong stopped asking further questions.
Instead, he simply bared his fangs with murderous intent.
“First, let’s settle the price for this dog-like deed you’ve committed.”
The moment he pressed the vital points across my body, Sip-chil-hyeol felt pain so intense his eyes seemed ready to burst from their sockets.
‘Why does it hurt…!’
“There it is—your blank expression cracked. Why do you feel pain? Such is the magnificence of Seon-gi.”
A clear and pure qi flowing from the opponent’s fingertips.
Yet it was poison. It was destroying everything within Sip-chil-hyeol from the inside.
“Aaaahhhhh! Aaaaaaaaaahhhhh!”
“If you’re the leader, at least maintain some dignity. You’re being too loud.”
“Ahhhhhhhhhhhhh!”
After an eternity of hellish agony, the pain finally ceased.
At that point, Sip-chil-hyeol was fully prepared to divulge everything.
In fact, he had been ready long ago.
“Speak. Who hired you?”
“I, Namgung….”
“As expected. But that’s not it. Is there another order you received separately? Tell me.”
“….”
“Silence? Tsk, seems like you need more convincing.”
“No, no, I’ll talk.”
Sip-chil-hyeol squeezed his eyes shut, recalling Hyeol-hyeol-nyeo’s final instruction.
“The additional order I received… if I were captured, I was commanded not to hide that the Namgung Family was the client.”
“…What?”
Confusion suddenly flooded Gaecheon Geomryong’s face.
His facial muscles no longer obeyed him, already damaged beyond repair, but Sip-chil-hyeol laughed inwardly nonetheless.
‘Hyeol-hyeol-nyeo… I have completed the mission….’
Soon after, Sip-chil-hyeol responded to the pull he felt from the depths.
Sip-chil-hyeol’s spirit separated from his body.

* * *
“I also received an additional order… If I were captured, I was commanded not to hide that the Namgung Family was the one who hired me.”
The moment I heard this confession, a thought struck me.
It seemed I had somehow been caught up in someone’s scheme.
I was about to carefully choose my next question to learn more.
“Hm?”
I urgently placed my hand over the assassin’s heart.
I poured a torrent of inner qi into him, but there was no response whatsoever.
The bastard was dead.
Before I could even act, he had taken his own life through some swift and incomprehensible method.
“Yang Hwi. This man is dead. I have no idea what means he used to end himself.”
“Indeed. If he had used inner qi, I would have sensed the flow of energy. But I can’t detect anything at all.”
Standing before the assassin’s corpse, Yang Hwi furrowed his brow.
This situation seemed far more complicated than I had anticipated.
I racked my mind, but I couldn’t determine what would be the best course of action.
‘Hmm. This has become troublesome.’
It was then.
“First, let’s handle the aftermath. If anyone happened to see this, they would be shocked.”
“Ah!”
“What is it?”
‘It may not be the best solution… but at least I can follow this severed thread.’
“Father, thanks to you, a good idea has come to me.”

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