Third-rate Martial Family Becomes the Best Under Heaven - Chapter 367

—————
This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
—————

Third-rate Martial Arts Family, Greatest Under Heaven – Episode 367
Assassins who sell their blades for coin typically demand an advance payment.
If one were to undertake a commission with empty hands, there’s a high chance of being cheated.
The Divine Dragon Immortal’s request could be considered a commission in its own right, so receiving an advance payment wouldn’t be improper.
However….
“An advance payment.”
“Yes.”
“For me?”
The Divine Dragon Immortal, who had been referring to himself as Bin-do, said “for me.”
“…Yes. The Swordmaster, or rather, my Master ordered it.”
“What exactly did he order?”
“He simply said to ‘squeeze it out’….”
As people age, they typically become less easily surprised.
Experience accumulates, and wisdom deepens.
That’s what wisdom truly is.
Yet the expression that crossed the Divine Dragon Immortal’s face was unmistakably one of surprise.
This was someone who had lived well over five hundred years, unshaken by most things.
“The Swordmaster issued such an order. To Dou.”
The Divine Dragon Immortal, who had been pondering something, suddenly asked.
“Dou. I’ve become curious about your dream.”
“My dream, suddenly?”
“Your purpose. Your destination. Your deepest wish. Any of these words would suffice.”
The answer came without hesitation.
“The greatest under heaven.”
A dream that has never changed since I defied time itself, or rather, since I gained a father.
I will make the main family the greatest clan under heaven.
To achieve that, I must first become the greatest under heaven myself.
I’ll have to capture and crush that Cheonma bastard.
“The greatest under heaven. The greatest under heaven. Do you understand the weight of these four characters, Dou?”
I couldn’t dare claim that I did.
My opponent was an extraordinary being who had lived over half a millennium and an absolute being known as Cheonmu-sip-jon.
But.
“At least I know one thing.”
“Then speak.”
“I must become the greatest under heaven. And I have never failed once until now.”
The reason was simple.
“I will keep challenging until I succeed.”
My previous oath came to mind anew.
“If there is no path to that place, I will forge one and advance. If there is no path before me, then at least I will create one behind me.”
It was both aspiration and declaration.
Half a millennium—a span longer than the history of entire dynasties—had been spent in cultivation before Cheonmu-sip-jon, and that was why things had come to this.
My declaration was no different from saying I would absolutely surpass you.
“Hahahaha!”
The Divine Dragon Immortal’s lips curved upward, then parted wide.
The Divine Dragon Immortal, who had smiled mysteriously until now but never laughed heartily, truly burst into unrestrained laughter.
“Hahahaha! Hahahaha!”
He certainly laughs loudly.
Surely this isn’t mocking laughter?
Even if it were, it wouldn’t matter.
“I think I’m beginning to understand why the Heavenly Mechanism itself was altered to choose Dou! Hahahaha! If the changed flow is the natural current, then the changing itself follows the natural way! Hahahaha!”
Fortunately, it wasn’t mockery after all.
Rather, the Divine Dragon Immortal was genuinely delighted.
“Dou. I think this is the first time I’ve laughed like this in two hundred years. I’m grateful beyond measure. I’ve even come to want to accept that absurd proposal about advance payment.”
…Was it truly that absurd?
I felt somewhat wronged.
I merely conveyed what my superior instructed.
“Bin-do is a man of the old ways. It means he has a peculiar taste for recreating historical tales and reminiscing about the past.”
Only someone who could treat historical tales as memories could speak such words.
“A young child who dared proclaim himself the greatest under heaven before Cheonmu-sip-jon, the Divine Dragon Immortal. What I shall give you must be the legacy of one who came before.”
The legacy of one who came before.
Someone who departed to the afterlife?
Or perhaps, someone who became the greatest under heaven first?
“Yang Hwi of the Baek Family. You must surely be seeking the Sword Spirit of the Cheon-u Geom-sin.”
‘It was both.’
The Divine Dragon Immortal’s gaze turned toward Muk-pa hanging at my waist.
The legacy of Cheon-u Geom-sin Baek Cheon.
A sword weapon without a Sword Spirit.
If he brought this up not without reason, could it be.
“Is the Sword Spirit perhaps in Kunlun?”
The Divine Dragon Immortal nodded readily.
The moment I saw that gesture, exhilaration surged through me.
‘When I return later, I’ll be able to make Baek Hwa-mun eat his words?’
Yang Hwi didn’t notice, but Jegal Seol-ha standing behind him was shaking her head.
Upon hearing that the Sword Spirit existed, the first emotion he harbored was joy at the thought of making someone else eat their words—occasionally, she found this truly remarkable.
“Please give it to me! That would suffice as advance payment!”
Instead of answering, the Divine Dragon Immortal smiled faintly.
“…Your expression suggests you have no intention of simply handing it over.”
“I cannot give something with empty words to one who cannot receive with empty words. It’s because Bin-do’s cultivation still lacks sufficient depth.”
For someone who has cultivated the Way for over five hundred years, you’re remarkably petty.
So that’s why he couldn’t achieve the Ascension of Immortals….
“Let me ask you something. How did that child, Cheon-u Geom-sin, become the greatest under heaven?”
“Pardon? Well, surely it was because he accumulated such achievements and earned the recognition of all the realm….”
His words trailed off.
At present, ten absolute masters existed in all the realm.
Not a single person currently held the title of greatest under heaven.
The Divine Dragon Immortal before my eyes must have already possessed martial prowess comparable to the Cheonmu-sip-jon even when my ancestor became the greatest under heaven.
‘Had he wished it, he might have become the greatest under heaven at any time.’
Therefore, I needed to discern the true intent behind the Divine Dragon Immortal’s question.
‘It was possible but he did not. Or perhaps, it was impossible.’
The greatest under heaven.
First under all heaven.
A companion of Swordmaster Yeo Dong-bin, accumulating martial prowess through an immeasurably long span of years, or perhaps waiting for the right moment—the Divine Dragon Immortal.
Then….
The Divine Dragon Immortal quietly observed Yang Hwi, lost in contemplation.
‘I feel envious. My cultivation still has far to go.’
Envy stirred within him, and covetousness as well.
One who obtained the Dou-do Tablet.
One chosen by heaven itself.
Perhaps, like several others I have observed, a child so young and tender who would surpass me first.
‘Then I must taint him. My friend, surely you have already seen through this depravity of mine.’
I would taint him.
And thus, a speck of dust would be added to the being that would be created.
‘Yeo Baek, Yeo Baek. Still you have not grasped even the Dao contained within your name. Yet what can be done? This too is me.’
In the meantime, Yang Hwi finished his contemplation.
“Could it be that one must be chosen by heaven’s mandate to become the greatest under heaven?”
“Truly perceptive.”
“No, but why does heaven meddle so much in the affairs of the mortal world?”
“Perhaps because it must. Even if it did not wish to, it might be something it must do.”
“Could it be that heaven simply cannot take its eyes and hands away out of greed?”
“What? Hahahaha!”
The Divine Dragon Immortal, who had laughed heartily only twice in two hundred years, gazed at Yang Hwi.
“Child in whom good and evil coexist, show me one technique. Your talent. Your capability. Your potential. Let me see. By the way, I am quite fond of those who challenge the impossible.”
So if I show well, he’ll give more?
Or perhaps he’ll give easily regardless.
“Understood!”
I had already felt the need to examine how the demonic energy constantly leaking from me affected my martial arts.
With the Divine Dragon Immortal as my opponent, I could unleash myself freely.
“Just one technique. Gather yourself fully and come at me with everything in a single strike.”
“Yes!”
One technique.
If there was only one opportunity, what I needed to demonstrate was already determined.
“The Canopy Sword Path. First Route. Step by Step Treading Heaven.”
Cleaving Heaven. Great Ocean. Tai Chi. Heavenly Evasion.
I advance with each principle I’ve gained as my stepping stone.
Simply moving forward, reaching toward my goal.
Thus, Step by Step Treading Heaven.
I will transform even this present crisis and the demonic energy of Seon into my steps forward.
Such resolve crystallized into my inner landscape.
“Ah…!”
Jegal Seol-ha gazed at Yang Hwi with violet eyes, her expression entranced.
Her divine bird was fluttering its wings.
To soar ever higher.
To play together.
Such a feeling stirred within her.
Her inner landscape moved.
Chara-rang, chara-rang.
The first intention held by the divine bird of Shattered Heaven was treading heaven.
As the divine bird fluttered its wings for this purpose, the wind that arose was only natural.
For this was the wind for Yang Hwi that Seol-ha desired—a divine wind seeking to play in heaven.
‘I understand now.’
What I did not know, I now comprehend.
In other words, enlightenment had arrived.
A genius is one who can seize a fleeting moment as opportunity.
In this instant.
Seol-ha obtained the qualifications of a Grand Master.
‘The Achievement of Wind and Joy. No, the Path of Wind and Joy would be more fitting.’
Wind and Joy.
Wind of breeze and song of joy.
A song so delightful that divine spirit naturally arises.
Moreover, it was the desire to walk and play together.
Therefore, it would be more appropriate to conclude it as a path rather than an achievement.
…There was also no small measure of embarrassment in wanting to match the characters with the same radical as the one I cherish.
‘My first melody alone. The first melody of the Path of Wind and Joy is.’
The musical idea emerged.
It took the form of four characters: kindred spirits gathering.
An idiom meaning those of the same kind associate with one another.
Yet changing one character: kindred spirits playing together.
The desire to play and associate with someone.
The Canopy Sword Path, First Route. Step by Step Treading Heaven!
The Path of Wind and Joy, First Melody. Kindred Spirits Playing Together
It was the successful ascension of a Transcendent Master who held in his grasp the possibility of answering heaven itself.
Though they had not coordinated beforehand, and both had executed their moves with absolute precision.
The singular strike each of Yang Hwi and Seolha unleashed merged into one, hurtling toward the Divine Dragon Immortal.
-Kiiiiiiiii!
-Chara-rang!
The Heavenly Gate. A sacred realm where deities are said to dwell.
This was what transpired in the very heart of such Kunlun.

* * *
“Cough!”
Blood mixed with the Divine Dragon Immortal’s cough.
“I grew careless and fell for a clever move.”
Seolha hurriedly bowed her head.
“My sincerest apologies, Immortal. I truly beg your forgiveness.”
Though enlightenment had arrived and she had acted in a state of selflessness, an ambush was still an ambush.
It would have been no surprise to suffer immediate retaliation.
Yet the Divine Dragon Immortal smiled gently and waved his hand.
“Carelessness is poison to a warrior, but this too stems from my own lack of virtue. Think nothing of it.”
Yang Hwi inwardly sighed with relief.
Had the Divine Dragon Immortal sought to punish them, he had been prepared to fight and create an opening to escape.
“Come now, follow me. Since I have witnessed your prowess, I must grant you what you deserve.”
The Divine Dragon Immortal’s body rose into the air.
Since no one present was incapable of traversing the void, all followed in his wake.
“Hey, you’re being too much!”
‘Ah, I forgot about Chu Dal.’
“Tsk. Cling to the Heavenly Silkworm Thread.”
And so, with Chu Dal dangling from it, they flew toward a cave that radiated an aura of spiritual power merely to behold.
“Now then. Enter and partake. It awaits you within.”
“Thank you, Immortal.”
Yang Hwi swallowed hard and stepped forward.
‘The aura here is truly remarkable.’
Such pure energy—not quite celestial essence, yet it felt remarkably like it.
‘What is this?’
The winding cave grew deeper, and the aura became increasingly turbid.
It should have been the opposite, yet something felt amiss.
Murky and darkening as it deepened.
So much so that it was hard to believe this was Kunlun, and doubt crept unbidden into my mind.
‘It couldn’t possibly be turbid simply because the air doesn’t circulate well.’
Feeling uneasy, I turned the final corner.
Then the sight that met my eyes.
Even deep within the cave, light shimmered and pooled.
The source of that radiance was the Sword Spirit, gleaming with pristine white brilliance.
[Obtain a Companion, Unite the Sword Path, Pierce the Heavens.]
I found myself wondering if perhaps Heaven itself had foreseen even this moment when it spoke of the Kunlun Journey.
Given that it instructed me to tear it away with my own hands, I was certain of it.
“Come now, you beast. From this moment forward, you are my companion.”
The instant I reached out without hesitation and grasped the Sword Spirit.
Whoooosh!
The Muk-pa began to resonate.

—————
This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
—————