Third-rate Martial Family Becomes the Best Under Heaven - Chapter 336

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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 336
“Cough, hack!”
Neung-o, who had been knocked back, tried to rise but collapsed again.
Tae-rang, standing across from him, let out a scoff.
“Listen here, Neung-o. Your technique combinations are far too presumptuous.”
Neung-o was none other than the Jang-mun of Jeom-chang, one of the Nine Paths.
Yet Tae-rang treated Neung-o, whom he had known for only a few days, as a complete junior.
While Tae-rang was technically lower in rank as a disciple of Cheonmu-sip-jon, one would need exceptionally thick nerves to speak so casually without proper consideration.
“After about ten exchanges, you should have grasped it by now. Focusing on a single point is nothing but crude simplicity.”
“Perhaps it is the Path of Shooting the Sun instead.”
“Either way, it amounts to the same thing.”
Neung-o, who had once slain a Transcendent Master at a lower realm, could not withstand even a hundred breaths against Tae-rang.
The gap between a Master of the Peak and a Transcendent Master was this vast.
“I beg for another round, Dou Tae.”
“Ha! I despise how men cling so persistently. Well, swing away until you’re satisfied.”
Neung-o rose to his feet and assumed his stance once more.
No trace of defeat showed upon his face.
His face, his entire body, had become a blade.
“I have a question for you, Dou Tae. What do you believe prevents Bin-do from ascending to the Transcendent realm?”
“How would I know? I’m different from Baek—I have no talent for explanation.”
At some point in the past, Neung-o had been the strongest among Yang Hwi’s group.
But now, he had been surpassed not only by Yang Hwi but by Adu as well.
A cracked glass marble. The image of himself that Jegal Seol-ha had described.
Neung-o could not comprehend it.
‘How can my heart be nothing but cracked glass?’
At the tender age of five, he had experienced death at the hands of his Master upon entering the sect.
Since then, Neung-o had lived as a seeker of the Path of Shooting the Sun and a practitioner of self-mastery.
Thus, gathering himself into one, he had become an arrow that pierced even Transcendent Masters.
Glass, they said. A cracked marble, they said.
Since he could not understand, he must comprehend through enlightenment.
This was how Neung-o thought.
“I shall begin.”
“All that formality and ceremony. Since you can’t land a hit anyway, just ambush me.”
“I refuse.”
“Stubborn as ever. Come at me then. I’m confident in crushing you through sheer physical collision.”
“Gladly.”
Neung-o’s sword and Tae-rang’s blade clashed.
After observing the spectacle for a moment, Yang Hwi turned his head away.
“That will likely take some time. We should proceed with our discussion first.”
Before Yang Hwi sat more than ten people gathered in a circle.
Adu, Seolha, Dang-gun, and masters from the Jegal Family and Dang Family who were renowned as core members.
“Young Master Baek. What purpose do you have in summoning us?”
“I trust you understand that gathering us like this is itself a loss when the Changjiang Great War is intensifying.”
I nodded and replied.
“I understand. Each of you are among the most distinguished in both the Dang Family and Jegal Family, renowned for your poison, secret techniques, and mechanical formations.”
Each one of them were warriors capable of fighting one against ten, no—one against a hundred in martial warfare.
That’s precisely why I needed them.
“From now on, we must weave a net to hunt Seon.”
“Seon? You mean Susa Jaeseol?”
“Hunting one of the Cheonmu-sip-jon…?!”
I hadn’t revealed everything to maintain secrecy.
It was natural that astonishment followed.
“As you all know, the Cheonmu-sip-jon of Baek Do cannot participate in the Changjiang Great War due to their respective circumstances. Therefore, we must capture Susa Jaeseol with our own hands.”
The faces of the Jegal Family and Dang Family elders darkened in an instant.
‘Hmm. It seems they hadn’t heard this information. Then again, it’s strange that I received direct intelligence from the Cheonmu-sip-jon.’
I needed to invoke Eung-hyo Je-il’s reputation to boost morale.
“Therefore, my lords. Allow me to offer my congratulations. We shall, with our own hands alone, hunt one who has touched the heavens.”
I straightened my chest and drew my energy upward subtly.
“I swear by the name of Eung-hyo Je-il. We shall achieve victory.”
‘If we don’t achieve victory, we’ll all die anyway.’
I didn’t want to think about death before it came.
Once I was dead, it wouldn’t matter if my reputation crumbled to dust as a lie.
I declared this with confidence for that very reason, and fortunately, the effect was excellent.
“Eung-hyo Je-il… Young Master Baek has always turned the impossible into the possible.”
“I will believe in the possibility of Eung-hyo Je-il, who seeks to grasp supremacy under heaven at merely twenty years of age.”
The atmosphere seemed sufficient now.
Should I add a bit more polish to boost morale?
“You need not ask why I’ve gathered the elders of both martial families, correct?”
The Jegal Family Elder straightened his shoulders.
“When hunting the strong, one must weaken them through various methods.”
“If we manipulate the hunting ground to favor us, it would be perfect.”
Meanwhile, the Dang Family Elder seemed slightly discouraged.
“Certainly, our Dang Family’s poison is supreme under heaven. But… I wonder if poison would even work against the Cheonmu-sip-jon.”
As one’s martial cultivation advances, resistance to poison strengthens.
One can artificially expel poison by circulating their energy.
“It will work. The Dang Family has obtained the Thought-念-Poison, have you not?”
Mandok Dangjoo, the Dang Family Elder, flinched.
“…How did you know?”
Dang Family Head Tang Seong had reached the Transcendent realm around this time in my previous life.
Since it was the first time in Dang Family history that a Transcendent Master was born, the news had spread considerably through the martial world, and I remembered it.
‘I had reached that realm even without my help in my previous life, so I must have ascended faster this time.’
“I did provide considerable assistance in establishing the Dang Family’s unique martial philosophy, did I not?”
“I never forget such kindness. I intend to repay it across generations.”
“I only came to realize it during this process. If the Dang Family’s poison technique surpasses the realm of Qi Poison, then the next stage would be Intent Poison. Now that I’ve reached Transcendence, observing your momentum, I surmised you must have recently ascended to Transcendence as well.”
Upon reaching the Peak Realm, the Dang Family’s poison masters attain Qi Poison.
They come to manipulate material poison through vital energy itself.
Once material transforms into energy, the next stage is naturally mental imagery.
“Poison will not work against the Cheonmu-sip-jon. Even Qi Poison will prove useless, overwhelmed by their superior energy.”
But Intent Poison is different.
Such is the nature of mental imagery and intent.
Regardless of one’s realm, interference is inevitable.
“However, the Family Head cannot participate directly in the Seon hunt.”
Though called a hunt, it is essentially a suicide operation.
A family head cannot personally throw themselves into such danger.
By the same logic, Baek Family Head Baek Moo-ryang, Namgung Family Head Namgung Cheon-yeong, and Jegal Family’s Second Head Jegal Seon are also excluded from the hunt.
As for Jeom-chang Jang-mun Neung-o….
“Bin-do is acceptable. If he dies, the main branch will simply appoint another Jang-mun. If we exclude him, he’ll just follow us in secret.”
Neung-o and Tae-rang, having finished their sparring, had taken their seats.
“In any case, we would appreciate the Dang Family’s support with Intent Poison. It is essential for the hunt.”
“There is no Transcendent poison master besides the Family Head.”
“That’s not quite true.”
As Yang Hwi’s gaze turned toward Dang-gun, everyone’s eyes followed.
Dang-gun wore a bewildered expression.
“Me?”
“Yes.”
“Hwi, I’m still at the Peak Realm?”
“Not even fully consolidated. Nearly there, but not quite.”
Yet Dang-gun’s assistance was essential.
“Elder Dang. I have an unreasonable request to make. Will you join me in the Seon hunt?”
Dang-gun was also the Dang Family’s Second Head.
So even phrasing it this way was forced and discourteous.
“Please. I need your full support for the hunt to succeed.”
Dang-gun observed Yang Hwi bowing respectfully for a moment.
The answer came quickly.
“How disappointing. Is our bond so shallow that you must bow so deeply for such a request?”
“…Elder Dang.”
“Don’t bow. A single word from you is enough.”
Dang-gun looked toward Mandok Dangjoo.
“Mandok Dangjoo.”
“Yes, Second Head.”
“I hereby step down from my position as Soga-joonim, effective immediately.”
“Soga-joonim!”
“This decision is made in honor of Baek Yang-hwi, who has shown boundless grace to the Dang Family, and it is a token of my friendship toward you. Should I succeed in obtaining Susa Jaeseol, I shall resume my duties as Soga-joonim.”
“…I understand. I shall convey this to the Family Head.”
Dang-gun turned his gaze back to Yang Hwi.
“Come now, Hwi’s Younger Brother. Let us resume the meeting.”
“Thank you. Then my second request. Reach the Transcendent Master realm within six months.”
“…?”
Dang-gun blinked, asking in bewilderment.
“…The Transcendent Master realm that even Neung-o hasn’t reached yet, and you want me to?”
“Yes. Elder Dang, you can do it. I’ll vouch for you.”
“…Hwi’s Younger Brother. That sounds less like a guarantee and more like coercion. Surely I’m mistaken?”
“Well….”
“Hwi’s Younger Brother?”
“I’ll put it this way. If Elder Dang doesn’t obtain the Eung-hyo Je-il, I will die.”
Dang-gun’s mouth fell open.
In all his years, he had never encountered anyone who threatened him by wagering their own life.
The problem was how devastatingly effective it was.
And so Dang-gun spoke thus.
“Hwi’s Younger Brother. Six months to ascend to the heavens. Is it possible?”
“Even if it’s impossible, we make it possible. Let’s roll together toward death.”
“I see. If I can perceive the path, I shall ascend to the heavens.”
“Elder Dang?”
This time, Yang Hwi’s eyes widened.
“I told you. If I do that, one day I’ll hit a wall. A wall I can never overcome.”
To reach the Cheonmu-sip-jon, merely ascending to the Transcendent Master realm is insufficient.
One must be shaped greater and higher, only then can the possibility of ascension be grasped in hand.
“That’s true. But if I cannot overcome it within six months? Then my younger brother will perish.”
For a warrior, martial prowess is everything.
Dang-gun was declaring that he would abandon the possibility of becoming a deeply rooted tree and instead confine himself within a flowerpot.
“Originally, I was destined to ascend to the position of Family Head, and twenty years later, to be locked away in the main family’s training chamber in indefinite seclusion. I accepted it at a young age and considered it an honor, but the truth is it was bleak.”
The Dang Family undergoes generational succession faster than other martial clans.
The greatest duty of the Dang Family Head was to shed the curse of the Dang Family’s martial arts.
“You shattered that fate. You severed the shackles binding our Dang Family.”
Dang-gun smiled.
“For such a younger brother, what could I not abandon? Spare me the long words. My mind is already set.”
“Elder Dang….”
Yang Hwi’s expression deepened.
“I must repay this. I swear by the four characters of Eung-hyo Je-il. Elder Dang will reach the Transcendent Master realm within six months. The Dang Family will celebrate the birth of its second Transcendent Master in history.”
I could declare it with certainty. For I already possessed that conviction.
It was thanks to having devised a concrete method.
“Elder Dang. For the next six months, I’ll be your test subject. Unleash all your poisons on me and conduct every experiment you can imagine.”
What Dang-gun lacked now was practical experience.
More precisely, he needed the experience of elevating his poison technique into a transcendent poison—one that could even intoxicate the very consciousness of a Transcendent Master.
So I resolved to become an experimental subject for Dang-gun alone, one that would never die.
Of course, Dang-gun vehemently opposed this.
“Don’t talk such madness. How could I treat a friend that way!”
“I said I wouldn’t accept counterarguments, didn’t I? Same goes for me. I won’t hear any objections, so let’s do whatever it takes to reach the Transcendent realm.”
I added with a slight chuckle.
“Besides, it’s also helping my own cultivation, so it’s fine. I have new things I want to try.”
Now that I had ascended and reached the Mental Realm, I could perceive many things invisible in my previous life.
‘The Gae-cheon-bak-pal-geom. And the Hwa-cheon-i-won-gong. I thought I had reached the level of divine techniques, but… now I see the flaws.’
The Gae-cheon-bak-pal-geom was developing as I incorporated Yeo Dong-bin’s Heavenly Escape Sword Technique, but the Hwa-cheon-i-won-gong remained as I had created it in my previous life.
‘If I’ve realized what I thought was complete is actually incomplete, then I must rebuild it.’
Over the next six months, I would perfect the Hwa-cheon-i-won-gong in its truest sense.

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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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