Third-rate Martial Family Becomes the Best Under Heaven - Chapter 294

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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 294
In my past life, I couldn’t clearly explain how I reached the Transcendent Master realm.
My emotions had exploded upon witnessing Dang-gun’s death, and my intensified spirit had crystallized into a mental image through that surge of power.
‘The enlightenment itself was properly established, but I couldn’t remember how I obtained it.’
The reason I couldn’t immediately ascend to the Transcendent Master realm even when facing the crisis of Sim Su-chimrang.
I was ashamed and turning away from it, but this was the truth.
‘However, I have now obtained it anew.’
To express enlightenment in a single phrase.
It was the awl in the pouch.
That is, an awl piercing through the pouch from within.
The warrior is the awl, and heaven and earth are the pouch.
Overcoming oneself—that is, conquering the self to become the awl—this is the first step.
‘No. No, that’s not quite right. I should say chisel instead. In fact, it’s the opposite.’
The Transcendent Master realm. Breaking free from humanity. The realm of mental imagery.
Transcending the peak that signifies limitation.
Breaking free from the heavenly mandate given to mankind.
The realm where one carves one’s mental image into heaven and earth.
As one carves characters into stone with hammer and chisel, so too does one carve mental imagery into heaven and earth.
Thus, a chisel is necessary, and a hammer is necessary.
‘I’ve had similar misunderstandings before… but it was backwards. I must become the awl, but the chisel is Martial Arts. The hammer is Man. Therefore, Warrior.’
Martial Arts and Man becoming one as a Warrior capable of sculpting heaven and earth.
That is the first step in carving one’s mental image.
‘In my past life, I had made vengeance my conquest of self. Now it is purpose and will.’
In this life, I had sworn to make my family the greatest under heaven without fail.
Thus, even when death became certain, I did not give up and searched desperately for a way.
The intense consciousness of reaching the end of the path transformed into my conquest of self.
‘Now that I have clearly understood, in this life I can obtain a mental image far clearer and more distinct than in my past life.’
A mental image is, quite literally, the form of the heart and will.
Of course, much changes depending on what picture one draws.
Thus, even among those at the Transcendent Master realm, I could display higher martial prowess in this life than in my past one.
But.
‘Severing Heaven.’
Though Won-woo had been with me all this time, why did he only now teach me the second technique of the Heaven Severing Sword Method?
I immediately grasped the answer.
‘It must have been a kind of unlock condition—breaking free from humanity.’
Even if death had become certain, I had surely grasped the thread leading to breaking free from humanity.
As if he had been waiting, Won-woo appeared and taught me the Severing Heaven technique.
Now that I think about it, isn’t it laughable to even say death is certain anymore?
‘Anyway, that’s a secondary matter. The most important thing is something else.’
I had already broken free from humanity. I had stepped into the realm of the Transcendent Master.
Then, should I ascend?
I couldn’t bring myself to decide immediately.
The reason was simple.
I had pushed through my limits and reached the mountain’s peak, but I had glimpsed an even higher sky stretching beyond it.
‘If I climb now, the mountain’s summit. If I wait… the sky.’
In other words, Cheonmu-sip-jon.
A crossroads. No, the righteous path and the heretical path.
A shortcut that was swift but led to a dead end, and a winding path that took longer but ascended all the way to heaven.
The difference between these two paths was immense.
I hadn’t even noticed this in my previous life.
‘I was certain I knew this. No, I knew it, but I never truly understood it.’
I already knew that the Transcendent realm differed vastly depending on the mental image one cultivated.
But I had never genuinely grasped it or visualized my own mental image in its true sense.
Absurdly, I only understood it now.
‘If I take the shortcut, I can become a Transcendent Master and crush a drowning dog. But if I follow this newly discovered righteous path…’
That lofty sky unfolds in my mind once more.
Merely passing through it would be the realm of Cheonmu-sip-jon.
In other words, even if I had lived my entire previous life without dying, I could never have reached Cheonmu-sip-jon.
I had rushed down the shortcut in anger at Dang-gun’s death.
Though I didn’t even know it was a shortcut at the time.
‘If I wait, I remain at the peak realm. I only build the foundation for the future; my current level doesn’t change.’
But.
But here’s the thing.
Daehaeyongwangdo Peng Fan. According to Eum Hu, he was merely a mediocre talent despite his name.
Could a mediocre talent ever reach the heavens, no matter how many fortuitous encounters he gained?
‘It’s possible. If one walks the righteous path, the very gap itself transforms.’
The Splendid Great Sea Divine Art, which contains the mysteries of amplification, is not a technique a mediocre talent could ever create.
Yet if one walks the path to heaven…
It naturally emerges as one progresses.
I only understood this now.
Despite boasting that I possessed the greatest talent under heaven.
‘Shortcut. Righteous path. Shortcut. Righteous path.’
Immediate growth. Future potential.
Future heights. Present danger.
Suddenly, laughter burst forth.
“Ha ha! Ha ha ha ha!”
What’s there to worry about? This calls for a gamble.
A grand game has arrived, and I’m hesitating to bet because I might lose everything?
‘If that’s the case, I should castrate myself first.’
All these thoughts, this choice born from endless contemplation, began and ended in an instant.
So Sim Su-chimrang had no choice but to be bewildered.
“Laughing so merrily in the face of death? Have you lost your mind? You’re just like that wretched bird and its master.”
Even as I heard Sim Su-chimrang’s sarcasm, my laughter wouldn’t stop.
I laid down a card and laughed even louder.
“Hahaha! How could I not laugh, you fool? I’ve won.”
“Won? You? Against me? It seems the aftereffects of your latent power’s detonation have invaded your Sang-dan-jeon.”
Looking at that expression, he genuinely believes I’ve gone mad.
Well, I suppose he has reason to think so.
Not a single trace of Inner Qi remains.
A bit of true energy lingers, but if I draw upon it, I’ll truly die.
I can’t even stand on the water’s surface right now—I’m floating helplessly.
And yet.
‘If I land just one strike, I live and you die.’
I postponed ascending to the Transcendent realm,
but Duan-tian.
A supreme technique aimed at severing the heavens themselves, true to its name.
Naturally, at my current level, I felt I couldn’t even grasp the faintest thread of this secret art.
If I witnessed it once and gained nothing, how could I boast of possessing the greatest talent under heaven?
Like a blind man feeling an elephant, I could at least discern its shape.
As brighter flames cast stronger afterimages, countless revelations came and went, until finally one form remained.
‘A technique that would sever even the heavens. According to martial principles… Sword Radiant Qi.’
Swordsmen with their sword auras and martial artists with their fist auras—peak-level warriors command tangible energy.
It is called the peak because it is the limit, the highest summit one cannot surpass.
Yet if one transcends even that and touches the Transcendent realm, the energy transforms once more.
‘Energy refined and purified to such a degree that it achieves spirituality through unity with tangible intention. Radiance.’
Here, the standard of purity is not the world.
It means what perfectly suits and harmonizes with the martial path one has walked—with the warrior oneself.
In other words, it is the means to impose ‘myself’ as a person upon all of heaven and earth.
The world calls this Radiant Qi.
‘How amusing. I couldn’t inscribe it into my mind, yet I’ve escaped the mold.’
I cannot carve it in, but it feels as though the hammer and chisel are prepared.
All that remains is deciding what image to draw and inscribe.
I thought I was in a stalled state, but thanks to Duan-tian, I feel I’ve taken at least one step forward.
This is more than enough.
“Hey, do you know what your epithet means?”
“What nonsense now?”
“The meaning of the four characters Sim Su-chimrang—this elder shall enlighten you. It means you are destined to be drowned today.”
“….”
“A wretch who shouldn’t be surprised to die at any moment, yet only his mouth lives on to prattle. How does that strike you? Pathetic, isn’t it?”
Sim Su-chimrang fell silent once more.
Tension was becoming increasingly visible on my face.
“Frightened? Anxious? Worried that someone with talent you mediocre wretches couldn’t even fathom might have a hidden trump card?”
“…Shut your mouth. A year from today will be the anniversary of your death. That will not change.”
“Then unleash something grand.”
After giving me a moment to think, he continued.
“So, will you unleash it or not? Are you trying to bait out a major technique, or just stalling with empty bluster?”
In that moment, Sim Su-chimrang made his decision.
To trust his own judgment.
Whoooooosh—
Water surged up, forming a wall.
Blood trickled from the corner of Sim Su-chimrang’s mouth once more.
He was manifesting Sim Su’s mental image while even expending his latent power.
To kill the future greatest under heaven in the most certain way possible!
‘He took the bait!’
I maintained my expression while internally exulting.
I barely restrained myself from bouncing with excitement and shouting in triumph.
“One Wave Drenches the World. The final technique to adorn your end, Gae-cheon Jeil-ryong. Remember that.”
Unlike Sim Su-chimrang’s heavy voice, my response was utterly flippant.
“Is it the character for ‘sink’ or the character for ‘drench’?”
“…”
“Looks like the latter. Still, you know your subject matter.”
Sim Su-chimrang’s fury manifested in his technique.
One Wave Drenches the World—a single wave soaking the entire world.
It was a magnificent display befitting its name.
But.
‘I still haven’t glimpsed a way to cleave the heavens. A mere wave, though…’
And if it was merely a mental image drawn with qi rather than actual water.
“Sim Su-chimrang. You shouldn’t have fought in water.”
Gae-cheon-bak-pal-geom’s Second Secret, Feathered Transformation Great and Small.
Grounded in the mysteries of Yin Arts, yet sharing the same lineage as the Shaman’s Four Heavenly Legs—an ultimate counter technique.
—Kiiiiiiiiiiiii!
The sound of waves transformed into the cry of a hawk.
My blade began trembling once more.
Several voices suddenly rang out.
“Older brother!”
“Yang Hwi!”
“Are you alright, Hwi?”
‘Speak of the tiger and it appears. Perfect timing.’
By the sound of their voices, it seemed they would need a few more breaths to arrive.
But they would certainly be able to witness this.
Why don’t I perform a spirited sword dance before our cherished friends?
-Kiiiiiiiiaaaaaaaa!
The Hawk’s cry filled the heavens.
Thousands upon thousands of fluttering feathers became swords themselves.
And my blade had now reached the realm of Absolute Strength.
Gae-cheon-bak-pal-geom’s first secret technique.
Hawk’s Roar Covers Heaven.
The enlightenment from the Sang-dan-jeon seeped into the techniques of my past life.
Thus, the blade’s path was drawn anew.
Gae-cheon-bak-pal-geom’s second secret technique—a new ultimate move.
The variation of two techniques: Feather Rain Severs Heart!
The feather rain poured down like a downpour, yet it was also the rain of the right feathers.
Since it seemed impossible to reach without the Ink Blade, I wielded only the Ink Blade held in my right hand.
Because of this, I couldn’t employ all the mysteries of the supreme ultimate techniques—Twin Wings Dominate Heaven and Hundred Feathers Layer Upon Layer Sword Illuminates Heaven, nor all the wonders of Twin Hundred Eight Transformations Heaven.
“….”
“….”
“What is the name of this technique?”
“Feather Rain Severs Heart.”
“I see. Like raindrops beyond counting that shatter even stone….”
Absolute Strength at its purest limit can sever and cut anything.
The Absolute Strength of Heaven’s Transformation succeeded in severing Sim Su-chimrang’s mental image.
The wave collapsed into countless smaller waves, which became ripples, and finally returned to a calm surface.
Even as I sank, I watched the master of the wave descending into the deep waters below.
I won.
I actually won.
‘I told you. You’re the one who dies.’
I felt a hand grabbing my collar from behind.
Moments later, I surfaced alongside Chu Dal.
I grinned first at Neung-o.
“Brother Neung-o. I’ve defeated a Transcendent Master while still at the peak realm.”
I hadn’t said it aloud, but I had been feeling like I was subtly losing all this time.

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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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