Third-rate Martial Family Becomes the Best Under Heaven - Chapter 31

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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 031
After throwing Yang Hwi and Jegal Seol-ha into the entrance of Jeongeum-ogwan below the cliff, Eum Hu returned to Hu-gok Inn.
The total time elapsed was merely half of half a watch—a quarter watch at most.
Considering the two locations were half a day’s journey apart on foot, it was truly a remarkable display of lightness technique.
“Eum Hu, what of Yang Hwi and Seol-ha…?”
Jegal Seon, still standing uncertainly, asked, and Eum Hu replied with composure.
“They have entered Jeongeum-ogwan. Assuming they emerge safely, it will take at least a month, so you should return to your residence.”
“That is impossible. I will remain here at Hu-gok Inn until the children return. However….”
Jegal Seon, shaking his head with a stern expression, trailed off.
“You say ‘assuming they emerge safely’—is it truly so dangerous?”
After hearing that their lives could be at risk due to insufficient safety measures, he could not help but worry with a father’s heart.
“Yes. The probability of death in the first chamber alone is roughly fifty percent. It is the chamber most in need of safeguards, yet none have been implemented.”
Jegal Seon’s complexion turned ashen. No—beyond that, his face flushed with barely contained fury.
Words of accusation rose to his throat, demanding why she would throw Seol-ha into such a place, yet he could not bring himself to speak them.
Seeing Jegal Seon thus, Eum Hu smiled brightly.
“This is the path to becoming my disciple, Pacheon Eum Hu. Even if the road is perilous, it is worth treading, is it not?”
“…That is true.”
Throughout all under heaven, there would be as many as grains of sand on a riverbank who would cast away their very lives for the chance to become a disciple of one of the Cheonmu-sipseon.
Though their lives hung in the balance, the opportunity Yang Hwi and Jegal Seol-ha had gained was undoubtedly a stroke of fortune.
It was simply that as a father, he could not find peace of mind.
“Cast aside your anxiety and worry. Do you not trust your children?”
“….”
Jegal Seon, who had been silent, lifted his head.
“No, that is not it. The children will succeed.”
What Jegal Seon trusted was Yang Hwi.
The sworn brother’s adopted son, who had displayed exceptional talent from their first meeting.
Having witnessed the martial prowess and aptitude Yang Hwi displayed at the martial tournament, Jegal Seon had offered his genuine admiration.
‘Yang Hwi, I beg you. Please protect our Seol-ha. Escape Jeongeum-ogwan safely. I believe you can do this.’
Observing Jegal Seon’s face, where anxiety had given way to reassurance, Eum Hu felt a spark of interest.
For now he was merely a father worried for his daughter, but Jegal Seon was the young master of the Jegal Family, a great house that dominated the martial world.
That such a man would place such profound trust was intriguing indeed.
‘Indeed, the boy is no ordinary talent.’
Eum Hu had reached the same conclusion, which was why she had taken him as an inner disciple, like savoring a delectable sweetmeat.
Moreover… there was something distinctly special about him, unlike the other children.
‘The true qi of harmony. The energy felt within it is… unmistakable.’
The Seongeum Okryeongmun was a sect that pursued the way of immortals.
Therefore, Eum Hu could perceive the special quality Yang Hwi possessed.
How to describe it—as if he were born with the very vessel of an immortal, lofty and noble, yet profoundly clear.
‘After living so long, I encounter the most amusing things.’
More than twenty years had passed since ascending to the Cheonmu-sipseon.
Until now, Eum Hu had never felt such intense curiosity and fascination as she did at this moment.
Yang Hwi possessed exceptional talent and carried an uncommon, distinctive quality about him.
However….
An incomplete Jeongeum-ogwan was extraordinarily perilous. Each of the five gates would be a life-or-death crisis.
‘The first gate, the Gok-gwan. Even if I succeed in passing through, it will take seven weeks. I should visit and observe around that time.’

* * *
Gae-cheon-bak-pal-geom, Fifth Form, Opening Stance.
Eagle Feathers Scatter, Fifth Form, Variation.
Jegal Seol-ha watched Yang Hwi suddenly perform the sword dance and lost herself in wonder.
His sword form was breathtakingly beautiful, as if eagle feathers were scattering in all directions.
A sword dance that evoked feathers rising on the wind, fluttering gracefully before descending.
‘The depth of sword principle as if cultivated for decades. How is this possible when we’re the same age….’
In that moment, Jegal Seol-ha realized she had been so entranced by admiration that she failed to notice the changes around her.
The heavy snow that had been falling from the sky and accumulating around her.
The snow-covered mountain path that stretched winding into the distance.
All of it was vanishing like melting snow.
The transformation extended beyond approximately ten zhang before it ceased.
“Tch. So this is my limit for now.”
Watching Yang Hwi stop his sword dance and click his tongue, Jegal Seol-ha asked.
“Senior Brother… How did you do that?”
Yang Hwi had just used his sword to dismantle a portion of the formation.
Even for Jegal Seol-ha, a direct descendant of the Jegal Family renowned as the finest in formation techniques, this was incomprehensible.
Despite the magnitude of what he had accomplished, Yang Hwi’s answer was remarkably simple.
“I severed the artificial flow of qi to create a temporary gate of life.”
The most common method of escaping a formation is to find the gate of life and slip through it.
But if it were that easy, the art of formations would have perished long ago.
Finding the gate of life requires not only sensitivity to qi that surpasses the ordinary, but also the knowledge and mental capacity to calculate the natural harmony distorted by the formation’s mechanisms.
‘Not finding the gate of life to escape, but creating a temporary gate of life instead.’
By the current standards of the Martial Arts World, an absolutely impossible feat.
Therefore, Jegal Seol-ha could only ask this.
“…Is that even possible?”
“Yes.”
“How?”
Jegal Seol-ha asked, her face still filled with astonishment.
Seeing her like that, Yang Hwi let out a soft laugh.
“Through superior talent, and skill.”
“…Fine if you don’t intend to explain.”
Jegal Seol-ha pouted slightly. But there was nothing to be done about it.
“I truly have nothing more to say, Junior Sister. That really is all there is to it.”
I was born with a qi sense so extraordinary that it would be no exaggeration to call me the greatest under heaven—nay, the greatest since ancient times.
My sensitivity to perceiving and reading the natural qi of heaven and earth was so acute that I could even detect the innate qi hidden deep within another person’s body.
‘Sensing distorted flows and severing them is child’s play.’
For now, my cultivation level and realm were too low to do more than create temporary safe zones, but in my past life, my very existence made me the natural enemy of qi mechanism masters and formation experts.
“Anyway, let’s hurry and move on.”
Upon reaching the boundary of the temporarily formed safe zone after walking ten zhang, I began performing sword forms again, jabbing here and there.
The snowy mountain landscape melted away like snow under the sun. I advanced another ten zhang and repeated the same actions.
Thus, roughly a day passed.
Jegal Seol-ha could only gape in astonishment.
“I thought it would take at least several days. Or perhaps I even thought we might die without passing the first gate….”
It was certainly a gate of such high difficulty that such thoughts were warranted, yet we had passed through in merely a single day.
Was this right?
“So, do you find your senior brother worthy of admiration now, junior sister?”
“….”
To be honest, admiration did well up within me… but Jegal Seol-ha puffed out her cheeks and stared at me.
Her tone was so full of playfulness, practically screaming that she intended to tease me relentlessly.
Listening to her, admiration gave way to annoyance instead.
She was my benefactor, so why was gratitude steadily disappearing?
‘Eum Hu… No, Master. I sincerely hope you’ve created at least one gate where your disciple can demonstrate her abilities.’

* * *
We arrived at the Eum-gwan, the third gate of the Jeongeum-ogwan.
The reason it was the third and not the second was because the second gate, the Seon-gwan, was so incomplete and poorly constructed that passing through it required nothing more than simply walking past.
“In hindsight, being thrown down was actually fortunate. Otherwise, this would have been far more troublesome.”
“Don’t forget that it was this junior sister who suggested challenging it immediately.”
“If junior sister hadn’t suggested challenging it immediately, this senior brother wouldn’t have been dragged along so troublesomely in the first place.”
“….”
Jegal Seol-ha puffed out her cheeks again and changed the subject.
“It seems the gates of this Jeongeum-ogwan are arranged in the order that Master considers important.”
The first tested perseverance, and the second—well, I only read the characters “Seon-gwan” written above the door—but it was clear it tested whether one possessed a virtuous nature.
“Though the Seongeum Okryeongmun is famous for its sound cultivation, they rank aptitude for sound as only the third priority.”
“The main sect seems to be a truly excellent place.”
The fact that she used the term “main sect” despite not yet being formally recognized as a disciple was simply endearing.
“But then, aptitude for sound… this is troublesome.”
I had no expertise whatsoever in sound cultivation.
To be precise, I had lived a life with no interest in anything except calligraphy among the four arts of poetry, calligraphy, painting, and music.
I had developed expertise in calligraphy not out of hobby, but because my family valued scholarly cultivation due to the influence of my mother, who was the daughter of a scholar.
“Heh. Since we passed through the first gate thanks to senior brother, it seems it’s my turn to shine now.”
Jegal Seol-ha stepped forward with confidence, her eyes gleaming with a somewhat self-important air as she glanced at me.
Is this really the same girl who clung to her father’s embrace yesterday and wouldn’t come down or speak a word?
‘It’s fortunate it’s not for the worse, but why is the change happening so quickly?’
Perhaps it’s because the Peach Blossom qi, thanks to the Celestial River qi dwelling within it, cannot escape from her Upper Dantian.
Or perhaps it’s simply because she’s at an age where a day can bring changes—a child growing by leaps and bounds.
Well, watching her is rather endearing, so I’ve decided to indulge it.
“Very well, let’s see what kind of skill my junior sister possesses in this Eum-gwan.”
“Leave it to me.”
The Eum-gwan was a circular chamber with dozens of iron needles embedded throughout its structure.
Jegal Seol-ha approached one of the iron needles and flicked it with her finger.
Twang, dong, dong, dong, dong-dong-dong—
The sound waves emanating from the first iron needle reverberated and spread to the others in resonance, forming a harmonious musical accord.
However, it was merely different tones overlapping, hardly what could be called beautiful music.
‘So that’s the structure.’
With the keen intellect befitting a direct descendant of the Jegal Family, I deduced the conditions needed to pass through the Eum-gwan.
“Senior brother, would it be alright if I employed the Hyeonwon Jeondan Divine Art? I’ll need to utilize my Upper Dantian.”
My Upper Dantian was surrounded by the Celestial River qi.
Once I began circulating my qi, the seal would inevitably break.
“Do as you wish. The Peach Blossom qi will leak out, but I’ll manage to endure it.”
“Understood.”
I immediately began employing the Hyeonwon Jeondan Divine Art.
The Peach Blossom qi drawn from my Upper Dantian began to spread along the sound waves.
A lover embracing a guqin—the one whom the young girl yearns for came down the western ridge of Ami Mountain with the instrument in her arms.
With a single flourish of the strings for the young girl, she played the guqin.
It was as if listening to ten thousand valleys of pine trees swaying in the wind.
The melody washed the young girl’s heart like flowing water.
Thus the young girl’s affection was cleansed by the flowing waters.
Yang Hwi genuinely marveled at what he heard.
‘So “Qing Shu Sheng Jun Tan Jin” could become such a beautiful song.’
“Qing Shu Sheng Jun Tan Jin”—a poem composed by Li Taibai, the greatest poet of the Tang dynasty, after hearing the guqin music of the monk Jun of Shu.
Jegal Seol-ha had reinterpreted this poem in her own way, making it lyrics and adding melody to it.
‘So that’s why Uncle was attempting to ask Master to accept Seol-ha as a disciple of Eum Hu.’
Jegal Seol-ha’s singing skill was truly exceptional.
Considering her young age, one couldn’t help but anticipate what she might become once she properly mastered musical harmony.
Should she become a direct disciple of Seongeum Okryeongmun with such talent,
‘In the not-too-distant future, rather than a Concubine of Sound, a Lesser Sound Empress might be born.’
Dong, dong-dong, dong, dong-dong-dong.
La, la-la-la, la-la-la, la-la, la-la-la-la.
Her voice caused the iron needles to vibrate.
As the vibrations spread, the adjacent needles resonated in harmony.
All the iron needles resonated, filling the chamber, and as the mechanical apparatus responded, an iron door in one corner opened.
Clank!
Jegal Seol-ha ceased her song and approached Yang Hwi.
Her shoulders were held high with pride.
“Huff. I’d say I’ve repaid a tenth of the debt I owed you from the first gate, wouldn’t you agree?”
“Having heard a song that has reached the realm of propriety, I’d say you’ve repaid it all.”
“Hehe, thank you for the praise, Senior. Shall we move on to the next gate quickly? The iron door is closing.”
“…Wait a moment.”
The iron door was closing rapidly, but Yang Hwi did not move.
The door shut completely. Though she could simply sing again to open it, Jegal Seol-ha found herself puzzled, unable to understand why her senior remained still.
“What is it, Senior?”
“I want to try passing through myself.”
Jegal Seol-ha’s song. The resonating iron heart.
A gateway that operates through the harmony of sound and qi.
Watching it unfold sparked my curiosity—I felt as though I grasped something.
It was not yet true enlightenment, but a vague sense that I would lose something precious if I simply moved on.
I chose to trust my instinct.
“Song and dance are paired as the art of performance. Having heard your beautiful song, allow this senior to repay you with the martial art.”
Dance and martial prowess—both wu.
The wooden sword I drew traced a single sword dance.
The first iron heart, struck, resonated with sound.
Ching!

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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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