Third-rate Martial Family Becomes the Best Under Heaven - Chapter 344

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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 344
Seon did not trust Ju Ja-bang.
Save for my master, I had never trusted another soul in all my years.
How could I trust the son of the man I killed with my own hands, regardless of circumstances?
Instead, I trusted in the decades that had passed and the present situation.
“Ja-bang, you’ve made a foolish choice.”
As the Leaf Assassin Dragon Formation exuded its ominous aura, Seon glared at Ju Ja-bang with wide, unblinking eyes.
“Did you truly believe you could accomplish your long-cherished desire after committing such an act?”
Over the decades, Ju Ja-bang had displayed an obsession with but a single ambition.
“You, who once served beneath your father, thought you could ascend to a position second only to one and above ten thousand without my aid?”
Ju Ja-bang had devoted himself entirely to me.
The reason he surrendered everything to the man who killed his father, smiling and flattering even when his arm was severed.
Ju Ja-bang was a man consumed by the hunger for power.
Through decades of observation, this was the Ju Ja-bang I had come to understand.
“Even if you betray me, Baek Do will never accept you. Your only fate is death!”
The Leaf Assassin Dragon Formation was a trap prepared by Baek Do.
I too knew this truth, and the reason I waited for the formation’s activation before walking willingly into the snare.
Because through Ju Ja-bang’s scheme, I could capture the Taeguk Sword Master.
Because I could achieve victory against the successor of the Sword Lineage—my lifelong obsession.
“Are you finally feeling fear now, you beast?”
Ju Ja-bang’s eloquence was extraordinary.
For me, seeing the always-composed Ju Ja-bang speak like a common mercenary was a first.
“You will surely die. Today, no less!”
It was no lie. The disciples of the Mudang Sect, now aware of Ju Ja-bang’s involvement in today’s events, were radiating killing intent.
Hyeon Geom, a disciple of the Sword Master, even began slowly closing the distance.
Yet Ju Ja-bang merely laughed with delight.
“You fool! A man who calls himself a deity cannot even read another’s heart? Hahahaha!”
I had seized the opportunity. The one and only chance—I would not let it slip away.
“I am Ju Ja-bang! Son of Ju Un-jang, the Twin Spear of the Great Current! Did you think I would cling to this wretched life? Hahahaha!”
Since his father’s head was severed, Ju Ja-bang had never laughed with genuine mirth.
He had smiled to cultivate his goat’s beard and to flatter, but never truly laughed.
So it was today.
The first time, and the last.
“Susa Jaeseol! Nay, O-hwang Jae-seon! If I exchange my life for that of one who has touched the heavens, why should I fear death?”
It had been long. A long and bitter epoch of humiliation.
Could any torment have been more agonizing than lying prostrate and licking bitter gall?
For I had hidden myself while licking the boots of the man who severed my father’s neck.
“Hear me, followers of Baek Do! Witness how foolish is this mad old man who dares call himself a deity!”
Susa Jaeseol ascended to the heavens.
Thus did he seize the glory known as the Cheonmu-sip-jon.
However.
What was granted to him was merely to barely touch the very bottom of heaven.
Stepping Upon Heaven. He could not aspire beyond that.
Therefore, Seon learned the sacred techniques of the Daoist lineage, yet he laid his hands upon the sorcery of Mado.
“The reason Seon regarded even the annihilation of the Suro Sect with indifference was to devour the Taeguk Sword Master’s True Qi and soul essence!”
Primordial Qi is the innate source force of life itself, also called the True Qi that gathers in the middle dantian.
Soul essence is the source that dwells within the flesh and moves life, also called the Spiritual Qi that resides in the upper dantian.
Humans between heaven and earth. When soul essence descends from the heavens and combines with the flesh that originates from the earth, that is what a human becomes.
“Since he could not ascend with what he was born with, he sought to devour it instead!”
To devour True Qi and soul essence?
This cannot be dismissed as mere murder.
Obliteration of humanity.
By blocking even the departure from this life and return to the cycle of reincarnation, it is truly defying heaven.
“That is why I sought to kill Seon, sought the opportunity to kill him! I gained his trust by offering the Taeguk Sword Master as a sacrifice!”
Killing intent blazed like fire from the Mudang Sect Disciples, yet Ju Ja-bang paid them no mind.
He had no intention of living beyond this day.
“Pretending to be an immortal, have you lost your wits to the ravages of time! To believe my words at face value simply because I presented the Taeguk Sword Master before you! Ahahaha!”
Ju Ja-bang had informed Seon beforehand that he would play the role of a spy.
He had even confessed that it would be possible if he falsely admitted to enduring hardship under the one who killed his father.
Truth within falsehood, falsehood within truth. To deceive one of Seon’s caliber, he mixed one part lie with nine parts truth.
“Foolish old man! How could you have mixed the sorcery of Mado into the Leaf-Slaying Water-Dragon Formation that Baek Do created with utmost devotion!”
Seon’s body trembled violently.
For one of his stature to express emotion through his body meant uncontrollable rage had overwhelmed him.
Of course, Ju Ja-bang still paid no attention.
“The Sword Master was not enough—your greed for a sapling destined to become a great tree brought this calamity upon yourself! You know it well yourself! That your own talent is insufficient!”
Most of what was said in this place was incomprehensible to the others.
Insufficient talent for Seon, who had ascended to heaven?
Was there somewhere higher still to reach?
‘Cheonma. Yeo Dong-bin. Jang Sam-bong.’
Beings destined by heaven to dwell in darkness and shine in bright places.
Yang Hwi was certain.
That Seon knew of their innate heavenly destinies.
‘That final drop of greed is what reduced Seon to this state. Beyond the Sword Master, he coveted me and Adu, perhaps even Hyeon Geom.’
In any case, this was the opportunity. With Seon having lost his composure, I must press the advantage further.
-Elder Dang. Seolha. Father. Now is the moment to activate the First Form of the Leaf-Slaying Water-Dragon Formation.
-Understood.
-Yes, Elder Brother.
The Leaf-Slaying Water-Dragon Formation was composed of several forms.
Among them, the First Form.
Reverse Harmony Heaven.
Whoooooosh—
“You wretches, you insignificant insects…!”
The Baek Family’s supreme divine technique, the Hwa-cheon-i-won-gong, is founded upon the principle of harmonizing all qi beneath the heavens.
The Reverse Hwa-cheon, as its name suggests, implements this principle in reverse.
It renders all qi beneath the heavens incapable of ever harmonizing.
-Success!
Seon’s crimson dragon begins to thrash its head violently.
Moreover, the five-colored currents of qi swirling nearby trembled with instability.
-Had I been at full strength, I could never have dared to interfere.
-This opportunity comes only today, so I must seize it without fail!
Seon did not attempt to counter the technique by composing his qi.
His head felt ready to burst from rage.
“Ahahaha! Ahahaha! Foolish old man!”
Seon had never trusted Ju Ja-bang.
When Ju Ja-bang presented his scheme to capture the Taeguk Sword Master, Seon doubted him repeatedly.
Only after it succeeded and the Taeguk Sword Master’s heart was destroyed did he believe.
That the situation had spiraled into catastrophe.
“How amusing. How very amusing. I was deceived? I fell into a trap?”
The growl grew progressively louder.
His momentum became correspondingly more ferocious.
“Insignificant vermin, knowing no place! How dare mere humans covet a deity!”
It was mere momentum, yet it was also intent laden with intense imagery.
The aftermath alone caused countless figures to clutch their chests and cough blood.
“I shall devour you all. I will, without fail, ascend. First shall be you, Ja-bang. Let it be you.”
The Yeop-Salsoo-Yong-Jin was itself a vast barrier of qi.
It was necessary to restrain Seon.
But.
Crack—!
The head of the remaining dragon shoots forth.
“Gasp…!”
Though it was shaved away while piercing through the boundary of the Yeop-Salsoo-Yong-Jin.
Enough force remained to penetrate Ju Ja-bang’s torso.
“Ja-bang. What did you rely upon to wag your pitiful tongue? Did you truly believe the schemes of insignificant wretches could obstruct my designs?”
Ju Ja-bang’s lower jaw was covered in blood he had vomited.
Trembling violently, Ju Ja-bang nonetheless forced the corners of his mouth upward.
“This old fool accepted the loss merely to kill you.”
Even if it did not reach the heavens, it was the Yeop-Salsoo-Yong-Jin deployed by several Transcendent Masters.
Seon had clearly accepted the loss to execute his scheme.
Merely to capture a single human.
“Eung-hyo Je-il. This worthless one’s final gift.”
Ju Ja-bang’s eyes lost their light.
‘Nothing but a mercenary, yet you proved yourself worthy. You deserve my acknowledgment.’
He had schemed until the very end.
By constantly provoking Seon, Ju Ja-bang had sacrificed his own life to diminish a portion of Seon’s full strength.
‘I’ll honor it. Despicable and distasteful as you are, if today is truly our only chance as you say, then so be it.’
As he steadied his formation once more with that thought—
“…Ja-bang. Foolish to the very end. Did you think only you possessed the capacity for strategy?”
The crimson dragon split into dozens of strands.
A torrent of energy that had shattered Ju Ja-bang’s body assaulted the Baek Family members.
“Krraaaaaagh!”
“Flee! Flee!”
“That energy—he’s employing Absorption Mastery techniques!”
Seon’s Five Elements Qi deepened.
“You cannot witness the end even in death, Ja-bang. All you shall ever see is the interior of my belly.”
Seon—the sole inheritor of the legendary martial lineage of Daoism.
Now, he bore no resemblance to a descendant of Jang Sam-bong.
He was nothing but a Mara.
“Foolish creatures. You shall all perish today. Did you truly believe you could challenge me after the Geom-ong fell?”
A tiger, even wounded, need not fear a few ants.
Having replenished the power he had expended devouring spiritual essence and souls, Seon possessed absolute certainty in annihilating everyone present.
“Die, wretched insects.”
The crimson dragon, now far thicker than before, began its hunt.
With a single gesture, dozens of lives were extinguished.
‘Damn it. Even after a life-or-death struggle with the Geom-ong, he possesses this much power.’
—Keeeeeeaaaaah!
—Keeeeeeaaaaah!
The Hawk shrieked wildly.
It was when Yang Hwi prepared to unleash his ultimate technique.
In that instant.
[Eung-hyo Je-il. This worthless one’s final gift.]
“Kugh, cough!”
Seon coughed up blood violently.
“Ju, Ju Ja-baaang!”
Ju Ja-bang had never once contemplated what lay beyond today.
Today was the end, and this resolve encompassed his entire existence.
The sorcery Ju Ja-bang had bound to his own soul activated.
Yang Hwi seized the opportunity without hesitation.
-Now! Everyone attack!

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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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