Third-rate Martial Family Becomes the Best Under Heaven - Chapter 358

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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 358
Where is this place?
When I first came here, it felt half like a dream, so I let it pass without much thought.
But suddenly, doubt surged within me.
‘Was only my soul dragged to the Immortal Realm? Or into Geom Seon’s inner world? Or perhaps….’
“Listen here, Dou.”
A voice cut through my thoughts.
Now that I think about it, I was dragged here to settle accounts.
“Compensation. Give it to me.”
Geom Seon’s eyes held a gaze that looked upon something caught between human and beast.
“First, I must ask. What did you do to deserve compensation? In fact, I recall showing you some kindness not long ago.”
I possessed a memory that never lost anything once seen or heard, yet I couldn’t recall this.
What was he talking about?
Looking back now, it didn’t seem like compensation at all.
“I killed a monster several times my senior in age—one of only ten absolute beings under heaven. Won’t you give me compensation?”
I leaned on one leg and glared at him.
Geom Seon. Every swordsman under heaven would kneel at the mere sight of him from afar.
But that’s one thing, this is another.
Since when do assassins work for free just because of a name?
“Huuuuuh.”
Geom Seon released a very deep sigh.
It sounded more like wind than a sigh.
This is why he truly seems like an immortal.
“Listen well, Dou. I have never heard of compensation being given to one who merely did what they were supposed to do.”
“What I was supposed to do? You’re saying killing Seon was my duty?”
This was absurd.
Well, he wasn’t entirely wrong.
Somehow I ended up in conflict with the Jang Gang-su Ro-maeng—wait.
Their surprise attack on the main family was how the Jang Gang War began.
“You guided it.”
Geom Seon opened his mouth, then closed it.
“Guided. You believe heaven’s will guided trials toward me?”
“Well, it could have been a natural flow. So there’s no compensation then?”
“Return to righteousness and flow with the current. Return to the point and fulfill your desires.”
To correct and flow rightly—go back and act upon what you wish.
A voice that had echoed from heaven when I reversed time.
My posture became even more crooked.
‘So? The events that unfolded were the result of me moving as I desired, so there’s no compensation?’
Even the greatest swordsman under heaven couldn’t see through everything.
Any talented person must always pursue two gains from one stone.
Even if it was something I had to do! If it helped you all!
“Compensation! Please give me some!”
My crooked stance didn’t seem sufficient, so I collapsed to the ground.
“You said it before! Just catching Seon alone was such a struggle! Whether heaven arranged it or whatever, I can clearly see the currents are in turmoil! At this rate, we’re all going to die!”
I threw a tantrum.
Shame? There’s no way I could feel that.
‘If this humiliation becomes the strength to protect my precious ones!’
Eung-hyo Je-il Baek Yang-hwi, a man who could endure any disgrace!
“Please! Just let me skip one stage of the Formless Realm! Or the next technique after Cheondon Sword Method would be nice too. You’ll give it to me, right?”
I’d use it when creating the next path of Gaecheon Sword Road.
“Take on a proper disciple for once. You didn’t teach Cheondon Sword Method because Seon-gi couldn’t handle it, right? Then I’m the perfect disciple material!”
“Sambong possessed Seon-gi.”
So that wasn’t it.
“Then something else! Give me something! Otherwise, I won’t come down nicely. I’m telling you straight. I won’t come down? Should I just live here?”
Huuuuuuuuuu.
As if anyone would be intimidated by sighing wind like that.
“Is it because you’re a deity? Instead of bad breath, you smell like pine needles?”
“….”
Geom Seon’s face grew heavy with worry.
“What do you desire, Dou?”
“Oh!”
I jumped to my feet.
“Are you giving me everything I ask for?”
No answer came back.
So that wasn’t it either.
Then I’d need to think about this carefully.
‘Should I ask for some artifact with a hidden crazy function somewhere? Or a spring where pure energy flows?’
No, that seemed like too low-grade a reward.
Watching Geom Seon’s Judgment grasping at clouds, it seemed I needed to make a precise request to get what I wanted.
“Please modify Geom Seon’s Judgment so the characters display more clearly.”
I was accepting it as a divine decree.
Being able to know the future to some extent according to the flow of heavenly fortune was an enormous thing.
‘Though I’ve gone against time, the future must have changed so much.’
“I’m not a master of riddles or anything, and it’s hard to guess correctly every time. Tell me straight and clear.”
“That is not possible, Dou. Surely you are aware of the dangers of revealing heavenly secrets.”
Hmm. So there was a reason he displayed the characters in such roundabout ways.
Then I’d give up quickly.
“The fastest way to become stronger… No, cancel that.”
I had a strong premonition.
If I asked how to become stronger, he’d definitely tell me to deal with Baek Hwa-mun and reclaim the ancestor’s sword.
‘Ah, wait. There’s something I need to know before we settle this.’
“Elder.”
“…Elder?”
Geom Seon’s expressions today were remarkably varied.
“It has been five hundred years since Dou called me by that name.”
“Should I call you ‘sir’ instead? ‘Venerable One’ feels too distant, doesn’t it?”
“Hehehehe, this too is karma. Choose your address as you see fit.”
“Yes. Anyway, there’s one thing I want to ask. What exactly is Hondan’s true identity?”
In that instant, Geom Seon’s expression transformed completely.
How should I describe it—it darkened.
Or perhaps it reddened.
“Now that I think about it, I forgot because of Dou’s carelessness.”
“Since you were going to tell me anyway, shouldn’t this be excluded from the compensation?”
“…Dou.”
“Yes. Please speak.”
“Why did you eat it?”
“Eat it? What?”
I was momentarily flustered.
Geom Seon, who was revered as a true immortal in the mortal realm and had countless shrines dedicated to him, was using such crude language?
“Answer me. Why did you eat it?”
“…Well, I saw it flying by and got annoyed, so I ate it.”
Whoooooooosh.
Having my hair blown by someone’s sigh was certainly a novel experience.
“I warn you, Dou. Do not overstep. Do not waver. Simply walk your own path.”
More cryptic nonsense.
Drawing upon the deductive skills honed through years of adapting to Geom Seon’s enigmatic speech patterns.
Does it contain something that triggers Sim Ma within?
Well, it’s all permeated with energy stemming from Cheonma, so it makes sense.
‘If things go wrong here, I’ll slip past it, so if I demand heavy compensation, I’ll get beaten, right?’
No matter how much I’m throwing a tantrum, I still know where the line is.
I’ll save that for next time.
“May I ask one more thing, Geom Seon?”
“Why are you suddenly being so formal?”
“Because I’m asking with my bare mouth.”
“Speak as you wish. The etiquette of the mortal world is but empty form.”
“Elder, I mean the being that shines in bright places.”
Since I’d met Geom Seon, I wanted to nail down this one thing for certain.
“Is it me? Or is it Adu?”
“Did I not convey this somewhat before?”
“Clearly. Why does Adu perceive me as a good person? Which one is Heaven trying to drive out Cheonma through? Cheonma, Honeum. What is his true identity?”
Geom Seon gazed at the sky for a moment.
A scene that truly resembled a painting from the immortal realm.
‘That does seem impressive, but it feels like he’s carefully choosing only what he’s allowed to say.’
“One who shines in brightness. Yang Hwi. Both the child of Dou and Shaolin are Yang Hwi. Named with true purpose, yet broken first. One who seeped through the gaps of a sparse net and became named with true purpose.”
‘The former must be Adu, and the latter must be me.’
“That is why you feel drawn to each other.”
“Pardon? I don’t particularly feel drawn to Adu or anything like that.”
“You will.”
Adu is a precious comrade.
If he were to die, I would surely take revenge.
But it doesn’t seem right to call such feelings an attraction.
Well, if he says that’s what it is, then so be it.
That’s not what’s important anyway.
“So what about Cheonma?”
“Honeum is… a counter-current.”
Geom Seon drew a picture in the empty air.
A flowing stream.
Above it lay a sparse net.
Stones falling through the gaps of the net.
Stones lodged between the currents of the stream created a counter-current, and they pooled.
Because they pooled, they rotted, and because they rotted, they darkened.
‘Indeed, he does love grasping at clouds in the sky.’
Right, so a counter-current unintentionally born from the flow of heaven—in other words, Cheonma originated from the gaps.
“So what exactly is its nature? How can it be killed?”
“I cannot reveal it. For it would change if I did.”
“That’s exactly it—while grasping at clouds, you’re grabbing me too? I’m being seized and crushed?”
“Enough.”
My mouth was sealed. I tried to stomp my feet, but my body wouldn’t move.
“Since you desired it, I shall grant it. Think of one thing. What you truly desire.”
One thing. A single reward I could obtain.
What I truly desire.
The answer was clear without even thinking.
For that is what one’s true heart is.
“Indeed.”
Suddenly, Geom Seon smiled.
It was the first positive expression I had ever seen from him.
“Because you are such a person, we chose you. It seems our path was not mistaken. At least, not yet.”
We? That means there’s more than one person.
Who could Geom Seon possibly refer to as “we”?
The Eight Immortals of Daoism?
“You may descend now. It seems we’ve reached our limit for today.”
“Huh? Huh!”
Wait, you haven’t given me anything yet!
“Take care on your way.”
Whoooooosh!
A sigh transformed into a gale.
A wind so fierce it could easily sweep away several people.
I plummeted below the clouds.
The celestial realm receded into the distance.
And so.
“Gasp!”
When I opened my eyes, I was back in the sealed cave where I’d been sitting moments before.
It felt like a dream. The Geom Seon-ji Gyeol scroll I’d stabbed with my sword remained intact.
If anything, the worn paper seemed even cleaner now?
Of course, that hardly mattered.
I shot to my feet, my frustration erupting.
“Are you serious?! You didn’t give me anything or teach me anything! Is this some kind of joke?!”
At that moment.
The pages of the Geom Seon-ji Gyeol fluttered open.
New characters revealed themselves.
[Obtain a companion (得伴侶), unify the sword path (合劍路), scheme to pierce the heavens (計穿天).]
Obtain a companion, unify your sword path, and scheme to pierce through the heavens.
“…Well, I suppose living above the clouds explains it. You really do love your cryptic riddles.”
Still, he did give me a reward.
Now I know that if I push hard enough, he’ll give in. I’ll have to try again next time I get the chance.
In any case, three more characters—obtain a companion, unify the sword path, and scheme to pierce the heavens—had been added.
‘In other words, if I deal with Baek Hwa-mun, a path to elevate my martial prowess will emerge.’
Depending on the results of the victory banquet, the Baek Family would become extremely busy.
Whether they ascended to the Five Great Families or not.
But…
‘They’ll manage fine without me.’
I trust the path I’ve walked so far.
So for now, I should walk a different path from the main family.
The reason was simple.
[Wander like flowing waters (周遊浪), seek out the bizarre (眈奇怪), obtain your true desire (得眞願).]
Drift like ripples on water, seek out the bizarre, and obtain what you truly desire.
‘Seek out the bizarre. This must surely refer to Gwigyoe Jungok-gun, the greatest martial master of the past.’
Gwigyoe Jungok-gun. Remarkably, rather than relying on martial prowess alone, he had risen to the position of greatest master by wielding bizarre artifacts and mystical treasures—a true eccentric.
The directive was unmistakably to search through what he left behind for something that would aid Neung-o.
“Neung-o.”
When despair had taken hold—the plan crumbling, annihilation at Seon’s hands seeming inevitable—Neung-o stepped forward alone and lost his arm.
He had reached the pinnacle as a result, claiming he harbored no regrets.
Yet Neung-o, who had said such things, could not live with debt unpaid.
“I cannot live while owing others.”
Was I not repaying in this life the debts I had incurred in my previous one?
Seeking to repay what I owed Dang-gun, the Baek Family gained the Dang Family—the greatest of allies.
In attempting to repay my debt to Chu Dal, the current inheritor of the Divine Striking Meridian now labored for the Baek Family.
And that was not all.
So Wol-hyang, the finest courtesan of Hangzhou, continued to pour vast sums of wealth into the Baek Family’s coffers.
Stepping forward lightly for the Jegal Family, I had gained Seolha—a friend who ascended at the same age as myself, defying the passage of years, and a disciple of one of the Cheonmu-sip-jon.
Karma is a thread that never severs, only continues—thus it is called the thread of fate.
‘Looking back, it has always been this way. When I pull the thread of karma, whatever lies at its end comes forth.’
Thinking thus, I smiled wryly.
Well then, let us see what awaits at the end of the thread called Elder Neung-o.

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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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