Third-rate Martial Family Becomes the Best Under Heaven - Chapter 28

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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 028
A child is the object of affection, care, and adoration.
It must be so. They should never become the object of any other emotion.
…Jegal Seol-ha was once like that too.
Once.
Peach Blossom Constitution. A temperament and physique that manifests in girls born under the influence of the Peach Blossom Star, one of the celestial positions of the Heavenly Stems.
However, the Peach Blossom Constitution was practically a curse because the peach blossom qi resided in the Upper Dantian.
The Upper Dantian—the energy center closest to Baek-hoe-hyeol, known as the gateway through which one communes with the heavens.
Those with an awakened Upper Dantian typically become shamans, fortunetellers, or sorcerers.
With divine qi dwelling within them, they can perceive what ordinary people cannot see and accomplish what should be impossible.
Jegal Seol-ha, whose Upper Dantian harbored peach blossom qi, had also gained a special ability, and I discovered this truth when I was five years old.
“Seol-ha, as a member of the Waryong Family, the time has come for you to enter the martial path.”
While martial arts houses typically begin teaching martial techniques as early as three years old, the Jegal Family was an exception.
Rather, according to family law, direct descendants were strictly forbidden from entering martial training before their fifth birthday.
The reason was simple.
The true martial art of the Jegal Family—its very foundation—was the Mysterious Origin Complete Dantian Divine Art.
Mysterious Origin. A profound and wondrous source.
Complete Dantian. A tree rooted wholly in the altar.
In other words, the Mysterious Origin Complete Dantian Divine Art was an internal cultivation technique that nurtured and developed divine qi based on the Upper Dantian.
This was the secret behind why all members of the Jegal Family were equally brilliant, exceptionally talented, and deeply versed in formations and mechanical trap arrays.
“The Upper Dantian is an extremely sensitive and dangerous place. You must focus your mental strength and exercise great caution as you practice the Mysterious Origin Complete Dantian Divine Art.”
“Yes, Father!”
It was merely an initiation procedure that all direct descendants of the Jegal Family underwent.
The problem lay in Jegal Seol-ha’s constitution, which had not yet manifested and remained unknown to everyone.
The meeting of the Mysterious Origin Complete Dantian Divine Art, which awakened the Upper Dantian’s functions, and the Peach Blossom Constitution became a curse for Jegal Seol-ha.
“Kyaaaaaaah!”
“This… Seol… Ughhhh!”
In the moment when screams filled with peach blossom qi echoed through the hall.
Jegal Seol-ha witnessed something.
The light in her father’s eyes, always brimming with love, suddenly changed.
Being so young, I couldn’t understand the nature of that emotion, but I was terrified.
And what Jegal Seon did next made Jegal Seol-ha scream once more.
Jegal Seon pierced his own palm with a blade, driving it clean through.
Splurt!
“Kyaaaaaaah! Father!”
Jegal Seol-ha rushed toward Jegal Seon without thinking and embraced him.
Blood dripping down. A pool of blood forming on the floor.
Yet her father’s eyes, looking down at her as he held her, were filled only with love as before.
“Seol-ha, it’s alright. Everything is fine. So don’t worry.”
The rampage of the Peach Blossom Constitution, triggered by the Mysterious Origin Complete Dantian Divine Art.
Three years passed after that.
Three long years.
The innocent and bright child had become a Young Girl (female) afflicted with selective mutism, fearful of stepping beyond her father’s embrace.
It was because of what she had witnessed and come to understand.
‘I am a being that wounds those around me.’
Upon hearing her screams, her father had pierced his own palm with a blade to suppress his desire.
When she first met her older brother after that day, she had inflicted an indelible wound upon his pure and virtuous heart.
Beyond that, countless others had to endure the filthy experience of disappointment and self-loathing, feeling shame at their own desires kindled by a mere child.
All of it was because of her.
‘I cannot exist alongside others.’
Thus Jegal Seol-ha came to avoid meeting anyone, locking away her heart behind sealed doors.
She carved dozens of scars into her own body, isolating herself from all save her father and mother, who had built resistance to the Hwa-cheon-i-won-gong.
It was the only way to ensure she would never wound another soul for as long as she lived.
And yet.
Despite her resolve.
-Jegal Seol-ha.
-Do not hide behind anything, whatever you become.
The Hwa-cheon-i-won-gong dwelling in her Sang-dan-jeon granted Jegal Seol-ha a peculiar ability.
One of them was the capacity to faintly perceive the mental states and emotions—the inner landscapes—of others.
‘A scarred yet solid stone. It seems it would never shatter.’
Such was her impression upon glimpsing Yang Hwi’s inner landscape.
The fact that a boy her own age could possess such an unyielding and formidable spirit was almost incomprehensible to her.
‘But compared to him, I…’
Suddenly, Jegal Seol-ha realized something.
Despite concealing her face with cloth and remaining silent.
There was no trace of desire for her in Yang Hwi’s inner landscape.
Even though they had spent days in close proximity, exposed to the faintly spreading Hwa-cheon-i-won-gong.
‘Could it be… he is resisting the influence of the Hwa-cheon-i-won-gong?’
Thump!
Her heart raced. How could that boy be like this?
To young Jegal Seol-ha, there was only one explanation.
A will so formidable it was unbelievable for someone her age.
Something she did not possess.
She had locked away her heart to avoid wounding others.
She had avoided, hidden, and fled.
But the boy her age before her—even in her same circumstances—would never have made such choices.
In that moment, a truth she had long denied surged up from the depths of her heart.
‘…I do not wish to live my entire life like this.’
Jegal Seol-ha gazed upon Yang Hwi’s inner landscape once more.
A vast stone, scarred in countless places, yet never once shattered.
Her head turned toward the other presence in this place.
Toward the one whose inner nature defied her outward appearance.
“….”
A lake that evoked the Dongjeong Lake, said to be the vastest under heaven.
As broad and deep as it was serene, yet its surface rippled in harmony with a beautiful melody.
‘She is no ordinary young girl. Perhaps….’
In this moment, the appearance of someone with such a formidable inner nature?
Her identity could only be obvious.
I slipped free from Father’s embrace.
With unsteady steps, I walked toward the rippling lake.
Then I knelt.
‘Eum Hu.’
My lips moved, but no words emerged.
It had been far too long since I had spoken.
The Waitress Girl gazed down at me with quiet intensity.
In that moment, I realized I needed something greater—a more powerful expression of will.
And so.
I lifted the veil that concealed my face.
Beneath it appeared a face of such exquisite beauty that it seemed almost cruel in one so young.
“Eum Hu.”
How long had it been since I last spoke aloud?
A sharp ache rose from vocal cords long unused.
Finding joy in that sensation, I bowed respectfully.
“I am Jegal Seol-ha, and I humbly request to become your disciple.”

* * *
“This young girl, Jegal Seol-ha, humbly requests to become your disciple, Eum Hu.”
The moment Jegal Seol-ha spoke, a bewitching aura spread throughout the inn.
I immediately activated the Hwa-cheon-i-won-gong.
‘Extraordinary.’
An ordinary person would have lost their reason and fallen under Jegal Seol-ha’s spell.
Indeed, the future Seophon-mafu. Her innate constitution’s power was far from ordinary.
Meanwhile, Jegal Seon approached his daughter in shock.
“Seol-ha, you… you… what are you saying…?”
It had been years since he heard his daughter’s voice, and the shock was overwhelming.
So much so that he hadn’t even registered that his daughter had called the Waitress Girl “Eum Hu.”
But.
Jegal Seon was forced to stop in his tracks.
“What is this!”
A terrifying, formless aura emanating from the Waitress Girl prevented any approach.
“….”
The Waitress Girl—no, Eum Hu—remained silent, gazing down at Jegal Seol-ha.
As the silence stretched, Jegal Seol-ha bowed her head again and made her request.
“Could this young girl become your disciple?”
The bewitching aura spread once more, a seductive energy rising with it.
Yet neither Eum Hu nor anyone else in the inn was affected by it.
The energy wave emanating from Eum Hu had confined Jegal Seol-ha and sealed off the spread of the bewitching aura.
All of this was crystal clear to my energy perception.
‘Such powerful Void Grasping—capable of controlling formless energy!’
Void Grasping typically refers to moving objects without touching them through the use of energy waves.
But Eum Hu’s Void Grasping had reached a realm where she could confine and manipulate even energy waves that had no physical form.
‘As expected of Cheonmu-sipseon. And Jegal Seol-ha had already figured it out.’
Jegal Seol-ha had displayed mysterious behavior from our first meeting.
So I had wondered, and it seemed she had indeed discerned the Waitress Girl’s true identity at first sight.
In other words, the only one here who didn’t know Eum Hu’s identity was Jegal Seon.
‘Well, I didn’t know either, technically.’
I quickly rushed over to Jegal Seon and cried out, feigning ignorance.
“Uncle, did you hear what Seol-ha said? Calling the Innkeeper ‘Eum Hu’—what on earth is—”
My words were cut short by Eum Hu’s voice.
“Let’s drop the act, Young Master.”
“…Pardon?”
The Waitress Girl let out a sigh.
“Young Master, those at my level can read through such things.”
In that moment, I understood.
That I had underestimated the realm of Cheonmu-sipseon.
‘I’ve already been discovered.’
Even knowing this, Eum Hu had continued to play the role of the Innkeeper.
To observe how Yang Hwi and his companions would react.
“…I apologize for my rudeness, Eum Hu.”
“Since I was the one who acted improperly first, I shall accept your apology.”
As Jegal Seon listened to their exchange, his dumbfounded face let out a murmur.
“Eum Hu. Eum Hu, you say…? Seol-ha and Yang Hwi, how did you both know that… What in the world….”
Eum Hu ignored the still-confused Jegal Seon and gazed intently at his daughter.
“Even heaven shows no mercy, bestowing a heavenly curse upon such a beautiful child.”
Only then did Jegal Seon come to his senses.
“Eum Hu, I am grateful for your gracious visit, and though shameless, I make this request of you.”
He dropped to his knees.
“Please, I beg you, take Seol-ha as your disciple and free her from this heavenly curse!”
“….”
No matter how desperately one desires something, the young master of a great family had just knelt.
Yet Eum Hu accepted such an action as perfectly natural.
This was the standing that the Cheonmu-sipseon held in the current Martial Arts World.
A young girl, gazing for a moment at the middle-aged man kneeling with his head bowed.
Soon, her delicate lips moved.
“Alas. Becoming my disciple alone cannot free one from a heavenly curse.”
“However, I believe the supreme techniques of the Seongeum Okryeongmun could at least prevent the poison from spreading through sound waves and corrupting the dantian!”
Seongeum Okryeongmun. A mysterious sect passed down through unbroken lineage for centuries, transmitted from master to disciple alone.
As the name suggests, it is a martial lineage that aims to reach the realm of immortals through the power of sound.
“I do not deny this fact. However, I have no intention of taking as my disciple a child who will not grow to become an immortal.”
The head of the Jegal Family lifted his head abruptly.
“Seol-ha is a child of our Jegal Family!”
The Jegal Family, bearing one pillar among the five great families of the realm.
Naturally, they belonged to the righteous faction that walked the path of righteousness and championed justice.
Yet Eum Hu shook her head.
“Walking the righteous path offers no guarantee of virtue. All the more so for a great family.”
“….”
A piercing truth. Jegal Seon and Jegal Seol-ha might indeed be virtuous.
But the Jegal Family was a clan that pursued worldly interests, and therefore could never be purely virtuous.
“…Eum Hu.”
Jegal Seon, possessing the keen intellect befitting the young master of a great family, realized he could not persuade Eum Hu through logic.
Therefore, he voiced a proposal that skipped several steps.
His fists clenched tightly, his voice trembling greatly.
“I will… sever my connection with Seol-ha. So please….”
“Father! No. I don’t want that!”
Jegal Seol-ha, startled, clung to Jegal Seon, but he pushed her away with a hardened expression.
Then I bowed my head once more.
“Please, I beg you to accept Seol-ha as your disciple.”
“…Sigh….”
The Jegal father and daughter pleaded, yet Eum Hu merely exhaled a long breath, showing no willingness to accept.
A prolonged silence settled over the inn.
I realized it was time for me to step forward.
“What if we did it this way instead!”
Both Eum Hu and the Jegal father and daughter turned their heads toward me.

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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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