Third-rate Martial Family Becomes the Best Under Heaven - Chapter 310

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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 310
I peeled away the bandage, its surface crusted with dried blood.
Beneath it, fresh skin had sprouted soft and tender.
As expected of Seon-gi. Her mastery of physical recovery is unparalleled.
“Namgung Cheon-yeong. I’m heading to Hubei. Keep things in order.”
I was rising to my feet and placing my foot on the window frame when he spoke.
“Wait, Yang Hwi. Hear what I have to say, not just Jegal Sojeo’s message.”
“If you’re going to shower me with thanks and other pleasantries, save it for later. I’m busy.”
“Then I must speak now.”
Hmm? This piqued my interest.
No matter how pressed for time I was, it seemed worth hearing.
‘Slay something to seize victory from the king. Perhaps what Namgung Cheon-yeong offers is that very thing?’
It was possible that what he gave me would be what the divination indicated.
“If you’re giving something, hand it over. I told you I’m busy.”
“Given the urgency, I’ll spare the lengthy gratitude and keep it brief. Thank you, Yang Hwi.”
“Right. What are you giving me?”
Namgung Cheon-yeong extended a jade token inscribed with his name.
“Don’t tell me this is a debt-repayment token?”
Namgung Cheon-yeong nodded with a serious expression.
“It is.”
A debt-repayment token. The holder could demand one thing of the token’s owner as recompense for a favor rendered.
‘Literally, I can command him to do anything.’
Namgung Cheon-yeong was no longer merely a late-stage cultivator.
In other words, this token allowed me to command even the Family Head of the Namgung Family—one of the Hundred Illustrious Clans—to crawl through a filthy stream.
“You’re surrendering the Family Head’s debt-repayment token? Do you understand what this means?”
“Of course. The Namgung Family will fulfill whatever you command of us, without exception, one time.”
I gazed at him for a moment, then let out a soft chuckle and tucked the token into my robes.
The old man had pestered his son endlessly to escape the fate of the sword, yet here he was, binding himself to that very fate.
“Fine. I’ll put it to good use.”
Now I had two tokens in my possession.
Namgung Cheon-yeong’s token. And the Dodo token I’d received from Yeo Dong-bin when we met in a dream.
‘This Dodo token is impossibly heavy, yet I still have no idea what it’s for.’
“Yang Hwi. Beyond the debt-repayment token, there is one more thing I offer. Rather than merely leaving this as a future promise, I wish to demonstrate that the Namgung Family’s sincerity is genuine.”
“What else are you giving?”
“Access to the Changcheon Secret Repository. Whatever treasure you desire, I will grant you one item.”
My eyes widened slightly.
Access to the Changcheon Secret Repository? The Namgung Family, which had maintained its position among the Five Great Families for centuries and was once the greatest clan under heaven, was offering treasures accumulated over generations.
‘It seems the Namgung Family’s situation has been resolved while I was unconscious.’
This meant I no longer needed to worry about the proposal to join the Ilik Alliance.
I would accept it unconditionally.
The Namgung Family had apparently concluded they needed a fence to immediately block external threats.
In other words, access to the Changcheon Repository was likely the truth behind the One-Wing Alliance.
‘I can’t let this slide. I need to search thoroughly and find something worthwhile.’
Who knows? Perhaps some incredible artifact lies dormant here, like the Silent Script that the Baek Family’s founder left behind.
“Let’s go right now.”

* * *
Accessing the Changcheon Repository normally required complicated procedures, but after relentlessly pushing, I managed to gain entry in just half a double-hour.
Now I had become someone in the Namgung Family capable of pressuring the Family Head himself.
“Just… one item, sir?”
He said he’d let me in gratefully, but suddenly seemed anxious.
“Don’t be so petty, boy.”
“…Just one item, I beg you.”
“Can’t one become two? There’s a saying about killing two birds with one stone.”
“That’s not the saying to use in a situation like this.”
“Tch. Fine, I’ll only take one.”
The entrance to the Changcheon Repository resembled a prison vault.
It was clearly managed with strict oversight and thorough security.
If I were to steal all the treasures sleeping within, I could buy an entire province and still have surplus.
‘The mechanism design… the level of artifice is no joke.’
Soon all external noise was cut off completely.
The vast repository, with only my breathing echoing within.
I collapsed onto the floor.
If one claims to be the greatest talent under heaven, one must always attempt to achieve two goals with one stone.
My plan was to circulate my inner energy while precisely assessing my physical condition, and simultaneously emit my qi to search for any worthwhile artifacts.
‘My current state is… not perfect, but around eighty percent.’
After emitting my qi and testing various techniques, my assessment changed somewhat.
‘Even eighty percent… compared to before the battle, I’m at one hundred and fifty percent.’
In other words, I had become at least one and a half times stronger than I was before facing Hyeol-hyeol-nyeo.
From a single confrontation, I had gained remarkably much.
‘Now I could defeat even a master who just reached the pinnacle without needing to use Seon-ran?’
It was absurd.
It was like saying a three-year-old child could easily defeat an adult man.
Yet for me, it was possible.
‘Woo-un-hwi. My new mental image.’
A form I became aware of thanks to Seolha.
To know the form of one’s mental image before consciously manifesting it—that too was amusing.
A mental image is literally the shape of one’s mind. Merely recognizing it changes much.
‘The pinnacle—I can reach it whenever I wish. If I desire it.’
I could ascend to the pinnacle right now and begin my complete transformation.
Ah, so he won’t undergo Rebirth of Bone and Flesh. According to Yongwang-do’s words, his body already possesses the characteristics of one who has undergone such transformation.
‘If I ascend in this state, the mental image I’ll manifest is… yes, I’ll call it Cloud-Wing Hawk’s Resonance.’
Without even reaching the realm, I could already perceive the function of the mental image I would manifest.
It was because Seolha had perfectly grasped her own mental image thanks to the newly awakened power.
The mind painted the picture.
The mental image of my past life was Feathers of Erasure—both the feathers that erase and the rain that erases.
A flock of feathers that sought to devour everything.
In contrast, Cloud-Wing Hawk’s Resonance was…
‘A flock of feathers gathering into clouds, a single hawk wielding those clouds as wings and sweeping all before it.’
Clouds could conceal something, or they could rain down upon the world.
Thus it was the manifestation of Heaven-Covering Earth—a hawk of clouds that carried the Feathers of Erasure within it.
But.
But.
‘I cannot become Shattering Heaven… yet.’
The final sword strike I unleashed against Hyeol-hyeol-nyeo.
I fell into that moment as if enchanted, reliving it completely.
My near-absolute memory reconstructed everything with vivid clarity.
Shattering Heaven—a hawk that would shatter the sky itself, all that stood against my will.
‘Cloud-Wing Hawk’s Resonance… my egg has not yet hatched.’
The desire was desperate. I wanted to reach the Pinnacle Realm immediately.
I was confident that a single step forward would change the outcome of the Yangtze River Tournament.
But. And yet.
‘Cheonma. At the end of my path, Cheonma surely awaits.’
Even if I ascended to the Pinnacle Realm now, I could easily surpass the Cheonmu-sip-jon.
Perhaps I could ascend even higher.
“…”
I bit down on my lip, hard.
Days ago, I nearly lost to Hyeol-hyeol-nyeo, who was merely a subordinate of Cheonma.
For the sake of revenge, I had to achieve a different result next time.
‘But there really aren’t many useful artifacts here, are there?’
Artifacts contain inner qi, so I could filter them through my qi perception.
Yet there was surprisingly little of value.
There were many things I could sell for a high price, but nothing that felt immediately necessary.
Should I go out and pester them to show me a secret technique?
It was while thinking such thoughts.
“What? Why is this here?”
I moved toward the location where an artifact had registered on my qi perception.
Then a single sword revealed itself.
The Heavenly Thunder Heavenly Sword, the Family Head’s treasure of the Namgung Family, was displayed on the exhibition stand.
“Namgung Cheon-yeong, you bastard. Why would you…?”
The Family Head’s Sword is called such precisely because the Family Head carries it at all times.
Could it be that I was merely showing off, saying I’d carry it once I reached a realm that wouldn’t shame my father?
‘Why did he leave it in the armory if I were to ask for the Heavenly Thunder Heavenly Sword?’
Any swordsman who sees a renowned blade feels the urge to wield it.
I had no intention of selecting the Heavenly Thunder Heavenly Sword to trouble Namgung Cheon-yeong, but once wouldn’t hurt.
I grasped the rigid grip of the sword firmly.
That was the moment.
“Hmm?”
My chest trembled. Just like when the Swordmaster’s Seal revealed new characters before.
Yet the source of the trembling was not the Swordmaster’s Seal.
The Dao Tablet.
A useless trinket I’d received from the Swordmaster but could never find a purpose for.
The Dao Tablet was trembling violently in response to the Heavenly Thunder Heavenly Sword.
‘Now that I think about it….’
Swordmaster Yeo Dong-bin’s Heavenly Thunder Sword Technique is a blade that discusses the heavens.
The Namgung Family’s pinnacle technique, the Sword of Boundless Creation, also discusses the heavens.
Could it be?
[If among my descendants there appears one with a destiny like Yang Hwi’s. I pass on what I received from the Swordmaster in preparation for him.]
The thread of intention emanating from the Heavenly Thunder Heavenly Sword.
The owner was surely the first Family Head of the Namgung Family.
‘The Namgung Family’s founding patriarch was a disciple of the Swordmaster? Or should I say an unrecorded lay disciple in this case?’
My mind cleared. The tangled thread unraveled.
In my past life, the Blood Sect must have infiltrated the Namgung Family.
The Namgung Family excavated the Sword King’s Tomb, and the Blood God Blood Sword sealed within it fell into the Blood Sect’s hands—there was no doubt.
Perhaps the reason the Blood Sect sought to infiltrate the Namgung Family in both past and present lives was
this very thing.
‘Dao Tablet. Path and path.’
Now I understood the Dao Tablet’s purpose.
Apart from the Swordmaster’s Lineage, there must be quite a few paths extending from the Swordmaster.
The right to gather things fallen upon those paths.
This tablet surely contained such authority.
‘Heh. I don’t know what was left behind, but I’ll gladly accept it!’
It felt like having fasted for four days and now facing a feast.
I was restraining my advancement in realm to paint an even higher and greater mental image.
If even a fragment of enlightenment were contained within, I could shatter more of the shell.
“…Huh?”
My mouth fell open.
Unlike the grandiose intention that had seemed to convey something, no enlightenment flowed from the Heavenly Thunder Heavenly Sword.
Instead, what transmitted to my mind was….
[Tai Chi Reverse Sword]
“The Taiji Half-Sword?”
It seemed to mean something like countering the Shaman’s Taiji Wisdom Sword.
Why had the Namgung Family’s ancestor created a counter-technique to the Shaman’s Taiji Wisdom Sword?
[Hear me, my descendant. Should Jang Sam-bong’s martial lineage continue to flow, you must crush that arrogance flat. Without fail! Unlike me, you are a being like Yang Hwi—you will be capable of it! Without fail!]
“….”
I found myself at a loss for words.
So the Namgung Guys were all petty by nature—it ran in their blood.
“…Wait a moment.”
The Taiji Wisdom Sword—the Shaman’s supreme sword technique.
I had obtained its counter-technique.
And I was set to depart with the Jegal Family to face the Shaman.
‘It certainly looks incredibly difficult. I may not be able to truly master it, but I think I can at least replicate it.’
If I were to demonstrate the counter-technique of the Taiji Wisdom Sword before the Shaman’s disciples.
Their pride would shatter into fragments, wouldn’t it?
“Hehehehe.”
Since it was the counter-technique to an absolute art, the insights gained from studying it alone would be tremendous.
And on top of that, I could actually use it as a sword to pierce the Shaman?
‘I’ve drawn a good hand.’
My mind spun rapidly as I laid out my strategy.
Even if I couldn’t use it perfectly, at the very least I should be able to sever the Shaman sect entirely, wouldn’t I?
With such thoughts, I began to grin wickedly.

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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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