Third-rate Martial Family Becomes the Best Under Heaven - Chapter 34

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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 034
The first gate of Jeongeum-ogwan: the Gate of Extremity.
Here, one’s spirit of perseverance—unwilling to surrender even when climbing the lofty Snow Mountain—was tested.
The second gate, the Gate of Virtue, remained incomplete and was bypassed, though it was meant to observe one’s virtuous nature.
The third, the Gate of Harmony, tested one’s mastery of music and rhythm, while the fourth, the Gate of Martial Arts, was a passage none could traverse without true martial prowess.
Then what of this?
What quality did Eum Hu wish to witness in her disciple at the fifth and final gate?
The answer was simple.
Ding-a-ling, ding-a-ling-a-ling~
Without conscious awareness, a beautiful melody reached my ears.
A melody that transcended mere pleasantness, seeming to bore directly into my mind.
‘That’s not all.’
An artificial flow of qi emanating from all directions.
This place existed within a formation far more powerful than the one that had created the Snow Mountain in the first gate.
Ding-a-ling, ding-a-ling-a-ling~
The artificial flow of qi, the sound, and the rhythm of the melody began to align as one.
And with that, a familiar landscape unfolded—the final moment of my past life, one I could never forget.
Before I knew it, I stood in the middle of the Gorge where I had once walked with my sworn brother Chu Dal.
“Brother, what’s wrong?”
The face of my sworn brother Baek Ri-chudal, resembling an otter, came into view.
Chu Dal cried out as if he understood.
“Are you scheming to tease this younger brother again? Really, you’re too much!”
What should I say? That I missed him?
Or that I was sorry for failing to protect him?
It was neither.
I grinned and tapped Chu Dal’s chest.
“You fool. I’ll come fetch you soon.”
“Huh? Fetch me? But I’m right here beside you. What are you talking about?”
“There are circumstances you, who understand nothing beyond a hundred li, couldn’t possibly comprehend.”
“Brother! I knew it! You love teasing this younger brother so much… Cough!”
Eleven masked assailants materialized like phantoms.
The blade of Namgung Cheon-yeong, who stood foremost among them, pierced straight through Chu Dal’s chest.
“Ugh, gah… Hah…! Brother….”
Blood cascaded from Chu Dal’s mouth like a waterfall.
His wide-open eyes fixed upon mine.
“Why didn’t you protect me, cough, why couldn’t you….”
Among the countless comrades I had met in my past life, he was the most precious.
We had been so perfectly matched that we had sworn the oath of sworn brotherhood in a moment of drunken camaraderie.
“That I die… is because of you, cough, you must… follow me without fail….”
Chu Dal harbored resentment toward me.
He was spewing curses as he died.
…And yet.
Yang Hwi smiled.
What did it matter what some third-rate martial artist said? I was simply delighted to see a familiar face after so long.
‘That Eum Hu is quite something. A troublesome woman indeed.’
With that thought, Yang Hwi cheerfully responded to Chu Dal’s words.
“Boy, you died because you’re third-rate. I even gave you a chance to escape, yet you got caught. Because of that….”
I got so angry that I avenged you and died myself.
You might have lived if you’d run away.
Well, since I’ve reversed time, it’s actually a gain.
“My apologies, Nangjoong Jeil-geom.”
Namgung Cheon-yeong swept his sword to the side, disposing of Chu Dal’s corpse.
By now, he had removed his mask, his expression grave and solemn.
“Your talent is dangerous. I cannot allow the Baek Family’s revival.”
In my past life, hearing such words filled me with disgust and revulsion, but now it was different.
My circumstances had changed, my position was different.
Now Yang Hwi felt a refreshing joy and a certain conviction.
“Yes, my talent is somewhat dangerous. I can even glimpse beyond the greatest under heaven to the greatest across all ages.”
“Isn’t that too arrogant?”
“You’re spouting nonsense. Then why does the greatest family under heaven, the Great Namgung, resort to assassination if you’re not even at that level? Aren’t you ashamed of your name?”
…
“Anyway. You’re all finished now.”
Starting from merely third-rate family martial arts, I had risen to the pinnacle of transcendence.
The qualities of a legendary master so exceptional that the Namgung Family, then the greatest under heaven, had attempted to assassinate me.
And on top of that, I had reversed time.
“Prepare your necks and wait. In this life, you won’t even maintain the title of a great family, let alone the greatest under heaven.”
I was confident I could make it so.
And since reversing time, I had been working toward exactly that.
“I’ve already consumed half of Ak-an County. Rumors are spreading of a hidden dragon growing at the Baek Manor. Oh, now I’m curious. Do you kill hidden dragons too?”
“Of course. We will eliminate all existence that threatens the Main Residence.”
“There you go spouting nonsense again.”
A scoff escaped me. I knew all too well that would never happen.
Since returning to the past, Yang Hwi had excessively displayed his talent and exhibited behavior unbecoming of a child.
Under the guise of maximizing family interests, I had committed actions far too conspicuous.
The reason I didn’t particularly mind the scrutiny of the great families.
“You Namgung bastards, with your high noses, would you even notice a hidden dragon growing in a third-rate martial family?”
In my past life, Yang Hwi wandered the world as a vagrant.
In doing so, I had witnessed the conduct of countless great sects and families, and thus I was certain.
The arrogant children of prestigious clans would never pay attention to third-rate families.
‘Well, I thought that way until the Namgung Family blindsided me.’
But this life is different. I already have two safety measures in place.
Unlike my past life, Jegal Seon, the head of the Jegal Family branch and my uncle by marriage, no longer needs to go into seclusion.
Though she is technically from a collateral line, Pacheon Eumhu of the Cheonmu-sip-jon has permitted me to call her master.
It’s unlikely to happen in the first place, but even if the Namgung Family were to monitor the main residence, they cannot cause trouble.
‘Moreover, the Namgung Family’s assassination attempt was entirely because I reached the ranks of the supreme pinnacle.’
First-rate mastery is a realm where one can claim supremacy within a single county.
Upon reaching the pinnacle realm, one’s reputation spreads throughout an entire province, allowing them to establish themselves as a master.
Then what kind of existence would one become upon reaching the supreme pinnacle?
‘A master whose reputation echoes throughout an entire province. An existence capable of founding their own sect, becoming a patriarch of an era, and seizing dominion over an entire city.’
That is precisely why the Namgung Family of my past life attempted to assassinate Yang Hwi.
The Nangjoong Jeil-geom, who committed the absurd feat of reaching the ranks of a patriarch of an era with third-rate martial arts.
To prevent a talent comparable to Sambong Jin-in, who founded the Wudang School starting with the Three Calamities Sword Technique, from establishing themselves in Jiangxi Province, which is close to their stronghold in Anhui.
“I’ve rambled long enough. Let us begin.”
Yang Hwi surveyed the eleven Namgung Family warriors, led by Namgung Cheon-yeong, who had drawn their blades.
A different development from my past life’s final moments. And far more brutal at that.
‘If this is how it goes, I’ll have to face all eleven simultaneously, including Namgung Cheon-yeong.’
Eum Hu, I understand you wish to recreate past suffering to observe what qualities your disciple possesses.
But isn’t this excessive?
I understand you want to see if I possess the tenacious spirit of challenge that never yields even in collapse.
But at this level of difficulty, I’m not sure—Seolha absolutely won’t be able to pass.
“Ugh!”
Yang Hwi deflected the masked assailant’s attack with his blade and severed their neck in one motion.
“You attack when someone lets their guard down?”
“The one who lowered their guard is at fault, is it not?”
“Fair point.”
Yang Hwi threw his blade, piercing through the head of the masked assailant who stood farthest away and had grown careless.
“If you make a mistake, you die. Isn’t that right, Namgung Cheon-yeong?”
“My hands are empty now. A year from today shall be the anniversary of your death.”
“We shall see.”
The masked assailants rushed forward simultaneously. I caught the blade of the one in front with my bare hand.
The skin should be cut where it touches the sharp blade—that is only natural.
Yet the blade had already slipped from the masked assailant’s grip and fallen into my grasp.
“Bare-handed blade seizing!”
Hearing one of the masked assailants cry out in shock, Yang Hwi swung the blade.
Shing—!
Two necks flew from a single strike, and the masked assailants retreated to regroup their formation.
Seeing this, Yang Hwi rested the blade on his shoulder.
“Namgung Cheon-yeong. Stop merely watching and come at me properly with your full strength. Otherwise, you’ll all die.”
“….”
Namgung Cheon-yeong drew his blade. An explosive momentum erupted from him.
A force that transcended mere qi manipulation.
Yes, Namgung Cheon-yeong himself had become like a vast heaven, pressing down with an overwhelming weight.
“Ah, it’s been a while since I felt something like this.”
The massive and formidable heavenly qi that flowed through my lower dantian was far greater than the frail body I possessed in this life.
But that was not all.
From the middle dantian at my chest, primordial qi surged and spread throughout my entire body.
And from the upper dantian at my forehead, the mental image that I held as a martial artist was being released as a tangible force.
Mental image qi—otherwise known as will qi.
A power that only those who transcended the absolute peak, the limit of human achievement, and successfully opened the upper dantian could wield.
“In my past life, I must have said something like this—that the Emperor’s Sword would make an excellent test subject for the Gae-cheon-bak-pal-geom.”
The heavenly mental image that Namgung Cheon-yeong emanated evoked the majesty of an emperor.
Against it, I unleashed my own will qi.
My momentum was not inferior to the heavenly mental image that the Great Namgung had pursued through generations.
“How… how is this possible…!”
“Why? Is it strange that a mere wanderer doesn’t yield to Namgung’s heaven?”
“Such a thing is impossible!”
Ah, that. I heard the exact same words in my past life.
Namgung Cheon-yeong, who had sent all his subordinates to pursue Chu Dal and sought a one-on-one duel to the death.
In my past life, he had been astonished by my mental image that never yielded to his own.
“Where in this world does impossibility exist, you fool?”
I grinned wickedly, and then threads of sword qi began to wind around my blade one by one.
What formed transcended mere qi concentration and reached the realm of materialization.
It was also proof that I had understood the harmony of spirit, energy, and essence, successfully opened all three dantians, and reached the supreme pinnacle.
It was sword radiance.
“Come, let’s see how sword radiance tastes!”
My blade, enveloped in pure white sword radiance, aimed at Namgung Cheon-yeong’s vital points.
Against it, Namgung Cheon-yeong also unleashed sword radiance tinged with the light of heaven.
Crash!
At the moment of collision, Namgung Cheon-yeong was shocked to discover that his own sword radiance was being shaved away.
“How is this possible!”
Unlike sword qi created by concentrating qi through the unity of will and form.
The realm of sword radiance could only be reached by compressing sword qi through will qi again and again until it materialized.
In other words, the strength of sword radiance was proportional to the intensity of one’s will.
“Different from my past life, isn’t it, you bastard?”
I smirked.
In my past life, my sword radiance and Namgung Cheon-yeong’s were evenly matched.
But this new sword radiance, enhanced by the enlightenment I had gained living this life, was clearly superior to his.
“Now, let’s not drag this out. Let’s finish this quickly. Seolha is waiting for me.”
“Ugh!”
As my momentum exploded outward, Namgung Cheon-yeong raised his own momentum to match.
The spreading qi and the will-force intertwined, each painting distinct mental images.
Yang Hwi caught sight of Namgung Cheon-yeong’s mental image—one that evoked a pristine azure sky—and smiled once more.
“In this life, I shall show you clearly. The Baek Family’s blade that covers the heavens.”
Every sword lineage aspires to their own Way, striving to infuse their heart into their blade.
Thus, the Huashan Sect’s sword pursued a brilliance as resplendent as a single plum blossom.
The Namgung Family’s blade followed a swordway as lofty and weighty as the sky that gazes down upon all things.
And the Baek Family’s blade was.
Gae-cheon.
Kiiiieeeeee—!
The cry of a white hawk consumed everything.
The cry of the white hawk covered everything.

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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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