Third-rate Martial Family Becomes the Best Under Heaven - Chapter 339

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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 339
“Seolha. Don’t be impatient. One cannot ascend to the Realm of the Heart through haste.”
Seolha stared at her Master with a frustrated expression before catching herself and correcting her face.
Eum Hu smiled knowingly at Seolha’s reaction.
“Namgung Cheon-yeong told me, didn’t he? That to reach the realm I’ve walked, one must become ever greater and broader. To have grasped this truth before even ascending—Namgung Cheon-yeong’s talent is truly remarkable.”
Even Eum Hu herself, called Cheonmu-sip-jon, only came to understand this truth long after reaching Transcendence.
Yet to recognize this from the Transcendent Realm itself and deliberately postpone the Ascension—
It was a talent that made even Eum Hu shudder with awe.
In any case.
“Seolha. Watch.”
Sand gathered of its own accord, forming a mountain.
“Can you stack the sand mountain even higher? However, you cannot gather more sand.”
“Yes, Master.”
Seolha spent a long time patting and sweeping the sand upward, but there were limits to increasing the height with only the given amount.
“Now, let me double the amount of sand.”
Unless water were to dampen it, a sand mountain could only take the form of a cone.
With more sand, she could build the mountain somewhat higher.
“Do you understand?”
“Yes, Master.”
This was why, even among those at the Transcendent Realm, some touched the heavens while others could not.
If the amount of sand were insufficient, one could never build it high enough.
“Don’t be impatient. With your talent, Seolha, you will surely achieve Ascension.”
“But, Master…”
“I understand your heart. However, I will not stand by and watch my disciple abandon a higher path.”
It was a stern warning—if she rashly challenged the Transcendent Realm, she would forcibly sever the moment of enlightenment.
“I understand, Master.”
Seolha felt no strong desire to resist.
To walk alongside her brother Yang Hwi, who stood at the center of the whirlwind, she had to achieve Ascension without fail.
“Now go. Today’s lesson ends here.”
During this time, Seolha had received all the teachings she had fallen behind on from Eum Hu.
She had learned much and had time to understand deeply.
Yet it was still not enough.
‘I’m so frustrated I could die.’
She was one piece short of achieving Ascension rather than mere Transcendence.
An itching sensation with no way to scratch it.
Seolha, biting her lip, took a walk through the courtyard to change her mood.
‘It’s quiet. Well, the population has dropped to less than half.’
Two months had already passed since the Baek Family began their full advance on Dongting Lake.
The war situation was roughly evenly matched, or so they said.
They had prepared sufficiently and matched the number of Transcendent Masters, but the problem was that the battlefield was Dongting Lake.
Even a stray dog eats half its fill in its own yard before leaving.
‘Though I suppose things may have changed these days.’
I had closed my ears to outside news while contemplating my inner state.
It was evenly matched at first, but things could be quite different now.
“It has been a long time, young lady.”
Neung-o, who had set out for Dong-jeong Lake, stood behind me.
“Master Neung-o. You’ve returned?”
“I stopped by briefly. I will depart again soon.”
Neung-o was wrapped in bandages across his body.
His cheeks were sunken and his gaze was ominous—so different from before that my eyes widened in shock.
“Master Neung-o. Your inner state has changed. The orb… it has split into two pieces.”
Neung-o’s response was indifferent.
“I see. Thank you for informing me. That is all.”
After that brief meeting, I learned of the situation at Dong-jeong Lake through Chu Dal.
“Master Neung-o killed one Transcendent Master. He lost at first and barely survived, but each time his wounds healed, he challenged again until he finally succeeded in killing him.”
Neung-o had succeeded in hunting a Transcendent Master once more.
While remaining merely at the Peak realm himself.
“Even one who has just ascended to Transcendent cannot compare to a Peak Master. That child has accomplished the impossible twice over.”
This was what Eum Hu said when I visited her in astonishment.
“How did Master Neung-o manage it?”
“If I had to guess—unity of purpose. The power of the mind is such a thing.”
Peak, meaning the limit, cannot be transcended, and thus it remains a limit.
A Transcendent Master is one who makes the impossible possible.
The inner state—the mind—is such a thing.
“So you too, Seolha, must gather yourself into one and refine yourself. Until you pierce through all that blocks your way.”
I had heard these words countless times before, yet now they resonated differently.
I went to find Neung-o at once.
Neung-o was packing, apparently preparing to return to Dong-jeong Lake.
“What is it, young lady?”
“I wanted to ask Master Neung-o something. How were you able to do such a thing?”
Neung-o did not ask questions about this and that.
Therefore, his answer was equally concise.
“Because I was released.”
“Pardon?”
“A released arrow does not think.”
Neung-o left the Baek Family then and there.
-I am a Daoist who pursues the sword, so I merely think of being released.
He left behind only these final words transmitted through spiritual sense.
‘Perhaps I am.’
The Daohwa Eye is an ability to perceive the inner state.
Thus, Seolha could glimpse into Neung-o’s emotions, and through that, I came to understand.
In Neung-o, there was no despair or frustration to be found.
He had slain a Transcendent Master while at the peak realm, yet he himself had not ascended to that transcendent stage.
But what did it matter?
Neung-o was a Daoist who pursued the sword, steadily advancing along his own path of the blade.
‘Ah. I see now.’
I had not sought out Yang Hwi for some time.
I had avoided the very range where screams echoed, resonating through the poison that saturated him.
At first, I could endure it, but watching the suffering of the man I held in my heart grew increasingly unbearable.
‘I must go to my brother.’
Today as well, Yang Hwi was being saturated by the poisonous qi that Dang-gun emanated.
Yet his state was somewhat different from before.
“Ugh, guh….”
He was enduring the pain. Even as he trembled violently, he never once broke his lotus position.
“Seolha… ugh, what… is it?”
“Brother. Master Neung-o has returned to Dongjeong Lake.”
“I… I know! He said goodbye… and left.”
Dang-gun’s poisonous qi was vicious to a degree entirely different from before.
This was the result of months spent poisoning a Transcendent Master and advancing through it.
In other words, Yang Hwi’s suffering was greater than it had been months ago.
And now, he was enduring even that.
Chara-rang, chara-rang.
A melody heard from somewhere.
No—it was a sound resonating from within my heart.
‘I wanted to walk together with my brother.’
A companion.
That feeling remained unchanged even now.
Yet it was transforming at the same time.
‘I see. The feeling I harbor. My affection.’
I gazed blankly at Yang Hwi, at the Shattered Heavenly Divine Bird that dwelled within him.
Chara-rang, chara-rang!
Chara-rang, chara-rang!
A partner.
The entire world was filled with a single melody.
I had chosen a new path.

* * *
Ascension to Heaven.
A creature for whom earth alone was once the entirety of existence, now claiming even the sky as part of itself.
Divine Bird.
A bird is a winged creature. Born upon the earth, yet yearning to dwell in the heavens.
Thus wings have grown, yet to soar higher and longer, it requires the wind.
Melody and Sound.
Rhythm and voice ripple across the atmosphere, undulating as one—they are, in essence, wind itself.
Therefore, the cultivation method of the Seoneum Okryeong School was named the Thousand Winds, Ilcheon-pung.
Seolha had understood this reason before, yet only today did she truly comprehend it.
‘I will become wind. Beyond merely walking together, I will.’
Wind that reaches the heavens—no, ascending even higher alongside him.
Becoming wind to support his wings, and being wind to remain with him eternally.
Such was her aspiration.
‘Baek Gong-ja. Yang Hwi. Elder brother. My brother. And….’
Yang Hwi is a Divine Bird that seeks to shatter the heavens.
Then I myself shall become the wind for the Divine Bird’s ascension.
By becoming wind, I shall share in the Divine Bird’s deepest desire.
This was my new heart.
A path to walk anew, extending together.
Thus, if a name were to be given, there was but one.
Sailors living by distant shores call the favorable wind that fills sails endlessly by this name.
Divine Wind.
‘My path. My heart. The destination I shall reach and the mental image I shall forge….’
Ascension Divine Wind.
No, that is not it.
My purpose is not to ascend to the heavens.
Thus, I must change a single character.
Wandering Heaven Divine Wind.
The character for music means joy and delight.
To frolic through the heavens together and live a lifetime in happiness.
I wished to become such a wind.
Therefore, Wandering Heaven Divine Wind.
A wind that yearns to frolic through the heavens with the one I cherish.
‘…Now I see it.’
The function of the Peach Blossom Eye shines forth.
My own mental image, which I could not perceive before, now reveals itself.
I am wind.
Wind that blows from below to above, from outside to within, for the sake of another.
Wind that is calm and serene, yet can rake fiercely whenever needed.
“….”
Seolha opened her eyes.
The face of the one she adored came into view.
Genuine concern reflected in those peach blossom eyes.
Her heart grew sweet and warm, and a smile bloomed naturally on her lips.
“Seolha, are you alright? Did you break through?”
Without hesitation, Seolha threw herself into Yang Hwi’s embrace!
“Yes! Ahahaha!”
“Whoa, I’m covered in poison right now?”
“It’s fine?! Don’t ruin the moment!”
Six Transcendent Masters were needed in total to construct the Leaf Slayer Dragon Formation.
This was the moment the fourth seat was being filled, following Tae-rang, Yang Hwi, and Adu.

* * *
A pleasant fragrance emanated from Seolha’s body.
She had always possessed a naturally sweet scent, but this was different somehow.
“Ahem….”
Recalling what had just happened, Yang Hwi cleared his throat awkwardly.
No matter how joyful the moment, for a grown woman to embrace a man so readily was unusual.
‘Even if we’re known as betrothed and have a formal engagement, people will misunderstand, Seolha.’
Yang Hwi remained completely oblivious to Seolha’s true feelings.
It wasn’t as though he lacked experience with women in his youth, nor was his perceptiveness anything to scoff at—he would rank second to none under heaven—and having grown up alongside Seolha since childhood, he knew her better than anyone.
Yet the reason he failed to perceive her heart was simple.
Seolha, who could see through Yang Hwi’s emotions with her peach blossom eyes, was deliberately concealing her own feelings with absolute precision.
Though affection had blossomed within her, harboring such feelings alone felt shameful.
So she would keep it secret and wait until romantic feelings took root in Yang Hwi’s heart as well.
This was the resolve Seolha held in her heart, and because of it, Yang Hwi could only interpret the embrace from moments ago as purely born from joy.
“Ahem. Ahem.”
Yang Hwi soothed his heart with several more throat clearings.
Now was not the time to waste on idle thoughts.
How pressed for time must he be to have even skipped the moment of congratulating Seolha on reaching Transcendence.
As a result, Seolha had even puffed out her cheeks and extracted three favors from him, but regardless.
‘Seolha, one must stay alive to repay debts.’
He suppressed the anxiety creeping into his mind.
In half a year, he would end the Jang Gang Tournament.
He would hunt Seon and transform the Five Great Families into the Six Great Families, and he would survive to climb even higher.
‘The real issue is the Leaf Slayer Dragon Formation.’
The geniuses of three families had pooled their minds to establish the minimum foundation needed to hunt Seon.
The problem was that too many conditions were attached to it.
‘The greatest problem is that Seon must be lured into the domain where the Leaf Slayer Dragon Formation is constructed.’
It seemed practically impossible.
No matter how hard I racked my brain, there was no way to lure Seon out.
Feign defeat and flee to draw him out?
No, the moment I deliberately created such a situation, everything would crumble to dust.
Seon was one of only ten absolute beings under heaven—such an existence could not be fooled.
‘Do what man can do and await heaven’s will. There’s nothing left but to exhaust all human effort and trust in fate.’
A despairing conclusion.
The phrase sounded noble, but it ultimately meant I couldn’t accomplish this through my own strength alone.
But.
Yang Hwi tapped an old tome while crossing his arms.
“Listen here. I’m about to die.”
There was no response.
“Just give me one opportunity.”
There was no response.
“Survive by taking the king’s path? It was survive by taking the path, wasn’t it? I nearly died following your words, and you’re staying silent even now?”
There was no response.
“Fine. Let’s see this through to the end. Looking back at everything so far, it doesn’t seem like my death alone will be the end of it. Why don’t you take some losses and exert yourselves too? Do you really want to watch the greatest talent under heaven, whom you went so far as to send back through time, die?”
By now, I was certain.
That I, Yang Hwi, had reversed time was heaven’s arrangement, and the reason was Cheonma.
Cheonma Honeum.
A demon that covets heaven itself, an existence that seeks to darken the world and shroud everything in shadow.
“Listen. If things continue like this, the age of Honeum’s rampage will return. If you’re going to arrange things, do it properly!”
That was when it happened.
The Sword Selection Record trembled and emitted light.
New characters inscribed themselves.
[Water Dragon’s Reverse Scale – Laughter Conceals the Blade]
“Yes, this is how it should be.”
But if you’re going to give something, give it properly. This is still vague.
“No opportunity beyond the characters? At least give me the next technique of the Heavenly Escape Sword Method. Or even a way to achieve some incredible enlightenment would work.”
…There was no response.
This seemed to be all.
“Damn it, if you’re going to show kindness, do it right.”
‘If the chance comes later, I’ll definitely repay this. It’s infuriating.’
Now I had to agonize over what this meant.
I had gained a problem to ponder in the midst of time running short.
…Thinking thus, several days passed.
“What? Someone came looking and said what?”
“A spy sent by Ju Ja-bang, the chief strategist of Jang Gang-su Ro-maeng. He says he’ll help with hunting Seon?”
Even hearing it again was absurd, yet eight characters filled my mind.
[Water Dragon’s Reverse Scale – Laughter Conceals the Blade]
‘A blade concealed within a smiling heart. Could this be it?’
A path to survival revealed itself.

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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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