Third-rate Martial Family Becomes the Best Under Heaven - Chapter 326

—————
This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
—————

Third-rate Martial Arts Family, Greatest Under Heaven – Episode 326
With matters in Mu-han largely settled, I decided to stop by the family estate before moving on to my next venture.
I’d planned a quick visit and then return to my mercenary work, but the entourage had grown far larger than anticipated.
Creak, creak—the cart rolled along the road.
Lying atop the stacked luggage with my head turned back, I could see several similar carts behind us.
And carriages carrying passengers as well.
‘Ugh, what am I going to tell Father?’
Most of these were envoys and betrothal gifts from the Jegal Family.
As for why these gifts suddenly appeared…
“The matter is whether Elder Brother would approve of this.”
Jegal Seon suddenly interjected, speaking up.
Despite his epithet of Waryong Musang, he appeared quite anxious.
“I don’t believe Elder Brother would refuse… but it’s certainly improper in terms of etiquette. Wouldn’t you agree, Yang Hwi?”
‘If someone who knows that goes ahead and does it anyway… well, it was the Jegal Family Head who did it, after all.’
The Jegal Family, currently focused on stabilizing Mu-han, was sending such a large delegation of envoys and gifts solely because of the betrothal between me and Seolha.
“Regardless of approval or disapproval, Elder Brother will certainly express displeasure at the betrothal being declared without consultation. You must mediate this well for us, Yang Hwi. Understood?”
Family Head Baek Moo-ryang took a scholar’s daughter as his wife and possessed considerable learning himself.
This meant he placed great emphasis on righteousness, propriety, and virtue.
To make his son a betrothed without any prior exchange between the families?
He would have every right to be furious, regardless of profit or brotherhood.
“Uncle, we should plan for at least two weeks of travel to arrive, shouldn’t we?”
“That seems about right.”
‘I’d planned to test the Ilcheon-eungmyeong-sin while I was at it.’
As I subtly redirected my energy, a faint buzzing sound resonated softly.
The Ilcheon-eungmyeong-sin—a technique I’d created by adapting Eum Hu’s Ilbo-cheon into my own cultivation method.
Since I’d never pushed it to its limits, my body itched to test it.
‘Can’t be helped, I suppose.’
Since things had come to this, I might as well make good use of the remaining time.
“Everyone, gather around.”
“Yes!”
Adu appeared first, munching on a rice cake with Seolha perched on his broad back.
“Looks like preparations are done?”
“Yeah.”
Then Dang-gun and Neung-o fell from the sky.
“Are we starting, Hwi’s Younger Brother?”
“We await Baek Dou’s instruction.”
Even Jegal Seon, instead of returning to his original position, awkwardly planted himself down with an embarrassed expression.
“Yang Hwi, I can join in too, right?”
The reason they gathered like squirrels was simple.
“Of course, Uncle. Then let me begin a proper discourse on the Transcendent Masters.”
It occurred to me that I should play the role of a martial theorist for once.
The greatest family under heaven cannot be achieved through individual strength alone—everyone must grow stronger together.
“First, I must ask. Have you truly established a theoretical framework solid enough to lecture on the transcendent realm?”
There are quite a few who serve as martial theorists in the martial world.
Some even teach warriors using only theory, without having learned martial arts themselves.
However, there exists no martial theorist capable of lecturing on the transcendent realm.
Why? Because the transcendent realm is a state of mastering the mind, and the human mind is as varied as there are people.
“It is said that from the realm of mental imagery onward, it becomes extremely difficult to achieve enlightenment through another’s teachings. Even the masters of Cheonmu-sip-jon would find it arduous to guide someone toward transcendence.”
It is not without reason that transcendent masters can control an entire city, nor is it coincidental that the number of transcendent masters is one of the conditions for the Nine Great Families.
But.
“I am different.”
“What makes you different, Hwi’s Younger Brother?”
“You know this, Elder Dang. I am the greatest talent under heaven.”
“….”
“….”
“….”
To be honest, it was thanks to my past life’s experience.
The experience of reaching transcendence twice with different mental imagery.
‘The reason explaining mental imagery is so difficult is for only one reason.’
Only one—a single pillar so intense that one buries oneself within it to make it one’s world.
Because of this condition, one can transcend limitations, the peak itself, and ascend to the realm beyond.
Given such conditions, explanation becomes unavoidable in its difficulty.
‘But I am different. Sak-u, and Shattered Heavenly Divine Condor. I possess two mental images.’
In other words, by analyzing the differences through two samples and undergoing the process of verification, I can reduce trial and error on the path to reaching the realm of mental imagery!
-Keeeeaaaaah!
I thought it was the cry of the divine condor surging from within, but it was actually the sound Won-woo made while flying overhead.
“Eui Suk-bu. What do you think mental imagery is?”
Jegal Seon, the only transcendent master besides Yang Hwi in this gathering, answered.
“It is the power of penetration.”
“Exactly. If penetration is directed in two directions, if the power is dispersed, then what could be pierced becomes impenetrable.”
I extended my hand. The space within my palm warped.
“Therefore, the first step is to make oneself the pillar. To firmly establish a small universe in opposition to the great universe.”
Up to this point, any warrior who has reached transcendence can offer such teachings.
What truly matters begins now.
‘So everyone, open your ears and listen carefully. The lecture on transcendence begins.’
“Um, Young Master Baek.”
The flow was broken. I frowned and looked at the uninvited guest.
“Ahem. Ahem… Would it be acceptable if this Family Head also took a seat?”
Now called the Living Sword, the new Family Head of the Namgung Family, Namgung Cheon-yeong.
He fidgeted while refusing to avert his gaze.
Yang Hwi stared at Namgung Cheon-yeong with a bewildered expression.
“But why are you here?”
“Ahem, I told you. Our paths back happened to overlap….”
Namgung Cheon-yeong is the Family Head of the Namgung Family.
That meant he had the duty to command the Namgung clan members.
Yet Namgung Cheon-yeong was clinging to me even while altering his route back to the family.
“Namgung Family Head. Shouldn’t you be going to oversee your retainers?”
“…Isn’t Jeomchang’s Jang Moon-in Neung-o also here?”
Neung-o answered briefly.
“I abandoned everything and came here, Namgung Family Head.”
….
When Jeom Chang Jang-mun Neung-o ascended to the position of Jang Moon-in, he had declared he would live by the arrow that was shot.
In other words, he was saying he wouldn’t uphold the duties of a Jang Moon-in.
In a way, he was quite a remarkable Jang Moon-in.
“Ahem, since our paths overlap! In the meantime, we can share fellowship and such, can’t we? I’m planning to take the waterway from Kangseong Gugang to Anhui.”
“Then why are you here instead of going with your family members?”
….
His expression was really something. This guy was fun to tease.
It was good that Chu Dal wasn’t around.
“Namgung Family Head. Do you really want to hear this young master’s discourse that badly?”
….
“You want to hear it? You want to obtain the clue to reaching Transcendence? You want to cling to me that desperately?”
….
Any more and he’d start crying.
“That’s enough teasing. Cheon-yeong. You’re already a member of Ilmyeok-maeng now, so why are you being so cautious? Make yourself comfortable.”
I even patted a wooden crate level and made it into a seat for him.
“…Cheon-yeong.”
“Huh? What did you say?”
“Call me Cheon-yeong, not Namgung Cheon-yeong. And I will call you Baek Hyeong.”
I stared at Namgung Cheon-yeong with my mouth slightly open.
Could this guy really say something so embarrassing?
Namgung Cheon-yeong, who had been hesitating, spilled out an explanation.
“I grew up without any friends since childhood… I was only close with my brother, but he too….”
The person who played a remarkable role in driving Namgung Cheon-hu to death was none other than Yang Hwi.
If anything, I was the primary contributor.
When he puts it like this, my heart softens.
Come to think of it, this guy must have grown up quite lonely.
He was raised as a sword for the Namgung Family since childhood.
“Alright, Cheon-yeong. Sit down quickly.”
“Th-thank you, Baek Hyeong.”
Everyone in the group shifted their positions slightly to make room for Namgung Cheon-yeong to sit comfortably.
Though the bond had only recently formed and remained somewhat fragile, still a fledgling connection,
it was gradually becoming stronger.
“In any case. To ascend to the realm of the Spiritual Image, it’s crucial to materialize your own spiritual image into the form you desire.”
This was the essence of the trial and error I had experienced before reaching the Shattering Heavens Divine Transformation.
From a scarred yet steadfast rock, to feathers gathering into an egg that held light, and finally to the Shattering Heavens Divine Transformation.
Had I understood spiritual images more clearly, I wouldn’t have needed to delay my entry into the Transcendent realm.
“In that sense, let’s have an excellent instructor guide us.”
Seolha raised her hand from atop Adu’s back.
“Aha! I’m instructor Jegal Seol-ha!”
“Seolha’s eyes… hmm. Let’s call it the Peach Blossom Eye for now. The Peach Blossom Eye can perceive and interfere with spiritual images. It’s truly an insane ability.”
It really is an insane ability. Without Seolha, even this lecture would be meaningless.
“So let’s take time to organize your own spiritual image—something you can’t even see yourself—into the form you desire. First of all, the very first…”
When I turned my head, everyone followed my gaze.
Neung-o’s expression didn’t change regardless of whether attention was focused on him or not.
“The one closest to the Transcendent realm here is Neung-o.”
In truth, Neung-o was the one who best embodied the epithet “Unburning Shattered Wall.”
He was the one who had succeeded in killing a Transcendent Master purely through martial prowess at the peak realm.
“Neung-o. What kind of being do you wish to become?”
Neung-o answered without the slightest hesitation.
“A fired arrow.”
I knew he would say that. But it’s insufficient.
“Toward what? At what speed? With what intensity?”
“Hmm.”
“Seolha. Explain Neung-o’s spiritual image to us.”
“Yes.”
Seolha examined Neung-o for a moment before continuing.
“An arrow.”
“Mm!”
Neung-o let out an exclamation of recognition,
“but that’s not quite right.”
“Huh?”
“It’s a glass marble. One that could shatter at any moment.”
“Young lady. Are you saying this Neung-o’s heart is glass?”
Neung-o’s expression showed genuine shock.
“Yes. Master Neung-o, you are a glass marble. Already cracked, and it’s unclear when you’ll shatter.”
Without question, Neung-o possessed a mind as resilient as mine among all in our group.
How could such a person’s spiritual image be a cracked glass marble?
It made no sense.
But that was the nature of spiritual images.
“A glass marble is the hardest of all things made from glass.”
A rounded sphere doesn’t shatter from ordinary impacts.
Therefore, the hardest object in the world can only be a sphere.
“Neung-o. Are you satisfied with being a marble?”
“Of course not, Baek Dou.”
“Then congratulations. You are both a marble and glass.”
Glass—a mineral widely used as a crafting material because it can be shaped in infinitely varied ways.
“Let’s reshape the marble into an arrow. If you succeed, Neung-o, you will ascend to the Transcendent Realm.”
Molding one’s own mental image into whatever form one desires.
This was the theory I had established for reaching the Transcendent Realm.
‘These people will grasp the key in no time.’
Everyone gathered here was exceptional—there was no doubt about it.
The variable was Adu, whose spiritual world differed greatly from ordinary people, but well.
Yeoilrakbul would nurture Adu well regardless.
“Seolha, explain each person’s mental image one by one.”
“Yes.”
As Seolha described their mental images, I discussed with each person how to shape and refine their inner vision.
I peered directly into what they themselves didn’t understand, wandered through the darkness, and guided them toward the light.
Only Seolha, only I—this discourse was possible only because we two walked together.

* * *
It had been merely fifteen days.
When we arrived at the mountain pass overlooking the Baek Family’s main estate.
“Ohhhhh…!”
“A complete transformation.”
“It’s a magnificent sight.”
A new Transcendent Master had been born.

—————
This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
—————