Third-rate Martial Family Becomes the Best Under Heaven - Chapter 299

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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 299
In the darkness, Namgung Cheon-hu stood.
A single voice echoed suddenly from the void.
It was someone’s voice, yet not a sound; it carried meaning, yet was far too vast to be called merely meaning.
[Son of the Namgung Family. Do you truly harbor no regrets?]
The Cheonma—Lord of Ten Thousand Demons—radiated an aura so overwhelming that resistance itself seemed futile.
‘Baek Yang-hwi. That man dared to wield his blade against such a being.’
I could not imagine myself capable of such audacity.
Yet, rather than bend my knee, I gathered all my strength and forced out my answer.
For I was destined to become the Family Head of the Namgung.
“Yes. Since the Baek Family rejected your proposal, Namgung Il-geom must be removed.”
[Is that so? Hehehehe.]
The Cheonma laughed with satisfaction, pleased by my resolve.
Yet a cryptic remark followed.
[It ripens well.]
As I struggled to comprehend the meaning, a crimson shadow rose from the darkness and coiled around me.
“Is it not? The young girl tends to it most carefully.”
Hyeol-hyeol-nyeo—Bishop of the Blood Sect and the demoness who willingly served as the Cheonma’s instrument.
Her fingers slipped through the gaps of my garments.
“Is he not useful, Highest One? Even possessing the audacity to cut down his own father.”
[Yes. You are doing well.]
Hyeol-hyeol-nyeo pouted her lips slightly.
Even as she caressed another man, the Cheonma showed not the slightest tremor.
It was laughable to expect human reactions from a deity, yet only Hyeol-hyeol-nyeo could play such games before the Cheonma.
She had long enjoyed this privilege of hers.
“Cheon-hu. Confess your plan to the Highest One.”
“Lord of Ten Thousand Demons, the Namgung Family, stripped of its powerful leader, will descend into chaos in mere moments. Our sect has spent decades preparing for this very opportunity.”
The Bright Sect had infiltrated deep within Jeomchang, one of the Nine Sects, and finally seized its leadership.
Though all such tendrils had since been severed.
Would the Blood Sect truly remain idle?
Impossible.
[And what do you seek to gain through this division?]
“Blood. We shall expand the Blood Sect’s power.”
[So you would spill blood to obtain what you desire?]
I nodded without hesitation.
My sole purpose was to become the Family Head of the Namgung.
For that, no amount of blood spilled would matter.
“I have learned much from Hyeol-hyeol-nyeo. If I desire something, I will obtain it, even if it costs blood.”
Even if it is the blood of a Family Head who cast out his own child.
That was the moment.
[I expended a Transcendent Master against Namgung Il-geom. Had the Baek Family bent to my will, it would have been a card I need not have played.]
No matter that the Namgung Family Head himself had taken the field, the patriarch of one of the Five Great Families of the realm was not left defenseless and exposed to danger.
Dae Ryeol-il-hong and Yeo Hyong-chae’s elite forces—dozens strong.
Beyond that, Dan-hwan’s explosive potential, a resource more precious than gold and silver of equal weight.
Yet even at such a cost, I could not extinguish Namgung Il-geom’s breath.
Though he had fallen into a critical state, barely distinguishable from death itself.
[Had you waited, Namgung Il-geom’s fate was sealed to die. I had determined it thus. Explain your haste.]
“….”
Namgung Cheon-hu fell silent, gazing into the darkness.
Could it truly be that Cheonma dwelt somewhere within that darkness?
Had I rushed because the Baek Family refused to comply?
No… my true feelings were somewhat different.
It was not the Baek Family.
Baek Yang-hwi. If I granted that man time, he would conjure every conceivable variable. Haste was the proper word for it.
“I wished to seize control of the Namgung Family more swiftly, so as not to hinder the greater plan. The preparations seemed sufficient. Of course, this is merely my own assessment, but I am confident.”
Cheonma remained silent. Yet Namgung Cheon-hu sensed in that silence something like interest—an invitation to continue.
“Many cards remain in hand. Since Namgung fell behind the Peng Family, we have pursued only strength. In that pursuit, many were left behind. Those in circumstances like mine. And those who would follow me.”
[….]
“Though I spent a Transcendent Master as a discarded card, the Gu-pa alone possesses six or seven such forces. Moreover, the Sect Master of the Ten Thousand Demons can create them at will—they are mere cards, nothing more. I shall prove this through results.”
[It is because you walk upon Honeum. That is what it means to shine brightly in the light.]
An unexpected utterance. Yet Namgung Cheon-hu could speak no further.
Cheonma seemed to know all things already.
[I wish to see it. So I shall believe. And grant you strength as well. Thus prove yourself. Your purpose and meaning. Do you understand, son of Namgung?]
Color bloomed from the pitch-black darkness.
It began as dark as the void itself, dense and profound.
Yet as it unfurled, it grew ever brighter, becoming a hue of flowers that stole one’s breath and left only wonder.
Hundred-fold Crimson. There was but one such color.
Scarlet.
That is, Blood.
“Highest One… I beseech you.”
Namgung Cheon-hu felt the wall that had beaten against him at the peak’s summit grow thin.
The martial arts of Namgung, cultivated a lifetime—Piercing Heaven.
The sky became visible. The sky began to tint like the glow of sunset.
[Transmit it. And thus reveal it.]
Blood Heaven.
A crimson sky billowed forth in waves.

* * *
I swung my blade, severing the mercenary’s neck in a clean arc.
Sword energy erupted in successive waves, most of it dissipating into ash as I danced beneath the crescent moon—a blade dance of lethal grace.
Yang Hwi furrowed his brow.
‘This is too easy.’
I had launched this night raid because the odds seemed favorable, but it was proving far simpler than anticipated.
Even so, to seize such a massive mercenary stronghold rivaling Yeo Hyong-chae’s operation in merely two hours?
“Krraaaaaaagh!”
I severed another lifeline from the mercenary and shook the blood from my blade.
Many were still fleeing, but they were all mere rabble.
Others would capture or kill them, or some would escape alive to become the source of rumors.
“Elder brother.”
Seolha descended, her white and crimson robes billowing around her.
Even beneath the dark moonlit sky, she seemed to radiate light.
“Seolha.”
“Were they just empty shells with inflated reputations?”
“You find it strange too, then.”
It shouldn’t have been this way.
At the very least, Yeo Hyong-chae’s Family Head was certainly a Transcendent Master.
“We struck first, yet they all scattered toward the Namgung Family’s direction… Ah!”
Both Yang Hwi’s and Seolha’s expressions shifted instantly.
A violent surge of energy was felt from far to the east.
-Father!
-Go! I will handle this place!
I burst forward immediately. Seolha followed in my wake, and Gu Ak also joined us, leading the elite forces of Baek Wing Pavilion.
Upon arriving at the eastern edge of Yeo Hyong-chae’s stronghold.
I could see Namgung Cheon-yeong standing with a devastated expression.
“Family Head! Family Head!”
Blood covered everything around them.
Yet relative to such carnage, the number of wounded Namgung Family warriors was surprisingly small.
‘The force feels concentrated in one place, as if it exploded outward.’
And at the center of it all lay a single figure.
The Family Head of the Great Namgung Family.
A warrior who had experienced only one defeat in his entire life—an undefeated Sword King of a single loss.
Namgung Il-geom.
I immediately opened my energy perception and extended threads of qi outward.
‘He’ll be in a sensitive state, so I must be careful not to be detected.’
I pride myself on possessing the most acute energy perception under heaven.
Thanks to this, I could discern Namgung Il-geom’s condition from a distance, at least roughly.
‘He’s essentially… already dead?’
Are all the Namgung Family’s martial artists fools?
Looking at the positioning, it doesn’t seem like Namgung Il-geom was ambushed while leading the charge.
While it’s true that a Family Head often takes the role of a general at the forefront, it’s also a fact that the Family Head receives the most rigorous protection.
So how in the world did this happen?
‘Were the hidden weapons the Water Route Alliance prepared really that sharp?’
No, this wasn’t purely the work of the Water Route Alliance alone.
The aftermath of the explosion felt around the area, that quality of energy.
Blood Qi? Soul Qi? It feels like it’s somewhere in between.
Not overtly demonic, but… it carries such a strong Cheonma presence that even my dantian’s vital energy reacts to it.
‘This confirms it. There’s a close connection between the Yangtze River Water Route Alliance and the Cheonma.’
Then what is the relationship between the Water Route Alliance Master Seon and the Cheonma?
Kill one to triumph over the king.
One of the kings that the Geom Seon’s Decree pointed to has fallen into a state of death.
By another king.
Suddenly, Namgung Cheon-hu’s warning came to mind.
‘Namgung Il-geom was originally fated to die suddenly three years from now. Namgung Cheon-hu, who became part of the Blood Sect, warned me not to interfere with Namgung matters.’
So it’s absolutely certain that this is the result of the Blood Sect’s reach.
What could they be trying to gain by killing Namgung Il-geom three years earlier than scheduled?
‘Ugh. My head is spinning.’
The threads of my thoughts had become hopelessly tangled.
It was an equally bewildering and sudden situation.
‘But there is one most efficient method in times like these.’
If the thread is tangled, simply cut it.
‘The enemy tried to sever the Namgung head. That means there’s something that can only be obtained when the head is gone.’
“Everyone, step aside!”
As I shouted and approached, the Namgung Family members all drew their swords in unison.
“If you come closer, we’ll cut you down!”
“Stop right now!”
In response, I raised my voice even louder.
“I have the means to treat the Family Head!”
It takes time to make an emotionally turbulent opponent believe you with words alone.
I’d need to bluff a bit appropriately.
I reached into my sleeve and drew out the Geom Seon’s Decree.
“The Geom Seon’s Decree! I have a technique obtained from deciphering the Geom Seon’s Decree! I possess the means to improve the Family Head’s condition!”
“That… the Geom Seon’s Decree?”
“Could it be that Geom Seon left behind a secret technique for revival!”
As expected, those with deep knowledge of medicine had all gathered around Namgung Il-geom.
In their eyes, Namgung Il-geom could not possibly survive.
Their best effort was merely to keep him barely clinging to life.
“I swear! If the Namgung Family Head departs from this world before today ends, then cut off the head of this Crimson Moon Wall-Breaking Dragon!”
Unbreakable Wall-Breaking Dragon. These were the words of one who had demonstrated a technique that could not cross a wall but would shatter it instead.
After calling out several more times, I finally reached Namgung Il-geom’s side.
-Brother, can you really save him?
-Yes. Probably?
-Probably? So you’re saying you can save him. Will you save him?
Jegal Seol-ha was fundamentally quite cold toward everyone except me.
Moreover, as a direct descendant of the Jegal Family, renowned for calculating coldly and displaying strategic brilliance, she was even more so.
From her perspective, the Baek Family and Namgung Family were already enemies, and saving Namgung Il-geom seemed like it would bring more loss than gain.
‘Even in a situation like this, brother steps forward as always.’
One with a heart as solid as bedrock.
One who inherited the benevolence of the common people from Father.
Because of this, she had no intention of stopping him, but she believed it was her role as both his junior and closest friend to make him reconsider his thoughts at least once.
-It’s fine. I’ve thought it through, Seol-ha.
With that final transmission of inner voice, I placed my hand upon Namgung Il-geom’s chest.
Horrific external wounds. Internal injuries even more severe.
To inflict such injuries upon a warrior of the caliber of an undefeated Sword King—it was a wickedly vicious method indeed.
But.
‘Come now, Seon-gi. It’s time to work.’
After all, these were injuries caused by the energy that existed between blood qi and soul qi.
And Seon-gi was the natural counter to both forces.
-Kiiiiieeeee!
As the energy moved, the cry of a hawk echoed from somewhere.
The energy, now possessing spirituality and worthy of being called Heavenly Qi, the Immortal Pearl Harmonized Heavenly Qi, seeped into Namgung Il-geom’s interior.
‘If death would be the only benefit, then let me keep him half-alive and see how the board unfolds.’

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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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