Third-rate Martial Family Becomes the Best Under Heaven - Chapter 372

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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 372
The Great Thunder Sound Temple was among the top three powers even in Seojang.
Direct comparison would be meaningless, but if forced to judge, it meant they were on par with Gu-pa.
The Sun Demon Master, the leader of such a place, was bowing his head.
In terms of pure martial prowess alone, he was someone who could match Yang Hwi and still have strength to spare.
‘This sacred energy…’
It all stemmed from the demonic qi—no, the soul qi—emanating from the Seon faction.
A strange energy that, despite being demonic qi, felt pure and fundamental.
‘Even I’m encountering this demonic qi for the first time, so I’ve temporarily named it soul qi… but what exactly is it?’
The character for darkness combined with the character for qi. One thing was certain—it was absolutely not righteous energy.
Yet despite this, the two Thunder Sound Temples of Seojang were treating this soul qi as sacred energy.
“You may remain here until the competition for supremacy takes place.”
The dwelling was clearly luxurious. Seeing traces of someone having used it before, I let out a quiet laugh.
“Is this your room?”
“Since you are a distinguished guest, I wished to place you in the most honored location.”
This bastard had clearly made up his mind.
I didn’t know where he’d crawled from, but perhaps using him as a counterforce against the Small Thunder Sound Temple was better than letting him rot away.
I tapped the Sun Demon Master’s bald head lightly.
“I will not forget your loyalty.”
“…Thank you, Divine One.”
Hm, even this?
His scalp tensed so hard the sinews bulged despite having no hair.
It seemed I wouldn’t need to worry about backstabbing for a while.
‘I should continue to provoke him into harboring resentment.’
Even hearing words like sacred energy, apostle, and sect leader didn’t feel quite real to me.
So until I could clearly understand the boundaries, I planned to be deliberately disrespectful.
“When do we go hunting?”
It was an abrupt question, but it was also a term widely used in these parts.
The Sun Demon Master answered immediately.
“I was planning to send our sect’s masters out tomorrow.”
Here, hunting referred to eliminating those who did not revere the demonic faith.
The people from Potala Palace who had joined with another group, minor powers, and so forth.
“Will you join us?”
“No need. I have no intention of going out myself.”
A faint sense of relief crossed the Sun Demon Master’s face.
Was he worried I’d cause chaos if I went out?
My apologies, but I was planning to cause chaos from within.
“Go on. I wish to rest a bit.”
The Sun Demon Master, having bowed, closed the door behind him.
I heightened my senses and felt out the presence of the watchers, then quietly murmured.
“Chu Dal.”
Chu Dal emerged from the shadows.
“Yes, brother.”
Now that I think about it, this bastard has grown tremendously.
I deliberately helped him conceal his presence by radiating his aura, yet he followed me all the way here without even that much being detected.
‘Connecting him to the Divine Dragon Meridian was the right call. Though I never expected it to work this well.’
“You heard? Tell them it’s tomorrow.”
“Understood.”
This was precisely why I brazenly stormed into the Great Thunder Sound Temple and established order from the start.
To serve as a double agent on the side.
“So, did you find out anything useful?”
“Of course. This Lee Hu here is the successor to the Divine Dragon Meridian, that’s what I’m saying.”
“Lee Hu?”
“…Did you forget my own name?”
It’s not that I forgot, but calling him Chu Dal all the time makes it feel unfamiliar.
“Spill what you know.”
“Tch. I’ve been wandering around the area, and this place is absolutely insane, I’m telling you.”
“Why?”
“Everyone in the vicinity is learning demonic cultivation.”
“…Even civilians?”
“If I compare it to Zhongyuan, it’s like how many people there learn basic techniques that float around the markets? That’s how demonic cultivation is treated here.”
That’s absolutely mad, truly.
Unlike orthodox cultivation, demonic cultivation practiced incorrectly leads straight to demonic possession.
A living human accepting the energy of the Heavenly Demon—there’s no way this ends well.
Especially with low-quality demonic cultivation.
“So they’re willing to die learning it, just to accept demonic energy into their bodies?”
“Here, demonic energy is the very breath of divinity.”
It was a change that emerged in merely a hundred years.
Its origin was the Dalai Lama of Potala Palace, the spiritual pillar of Seojang.
“The Dalai Lama. This really does seem like the Cheonma’s handiwork, doesn’t it?”
“With high probability, it does not seem otherwise.”
But there’s one strange thing.
Potala Palace is where those who follow the Dalai Lama gather.
Yet if the Dalai Lama was the Cheonma or the Cheonma’s tool, why did he abandon Potala Palace and stain the Great Thunder Sound Temple and the Small Thunder Sound Temple with demonic energy instead?
“I’ll draw all the attention to myself, so keep investigating and report whatever you discover.”
“Yes. If I get caught, you’ll save me, right?”
“Of course. Would I abandon you?”
Yang Hwi never abandons his own people.
Chu Dal knew this fact well, if nothing else.
“Then I’ll be on my way.”

* * *
Days passed, and the day of the succession battle arrived.
“Divine Immortal, please come this way.”
“So I finally get to see the other candidates today.”
The Sun Demon Master lowered his head, sensing displeasure in Yang Hwi’s voice.
Until now, the Sun Demon Master had endured and accepted whatever Yang Hwi did, but he had desperately prevented him from meeting the other candidates.
“My apologies. They all wished to make thorough preparations for today.”
“Fine then. I commend those who didn’t give up even after hearing of my divine status.”
“Thank you for your magnanimity.”
The succession battle was to take place in the largest martial arena of the Great Thunder Sound Temple.
Yang Hwi gazed at the disciples of the Great Thunder Sound Temple swarming around the arena.
‘Quite the proper Madu nest, this is.’
They were all cultivating demonic arts.
What was peculiar was that they all belonged to the Yang lineage, and it felt quite familiar.
‘Demonic arts from the Yang faction of the Ilwol Myeong-gyo. Confirmed.’
These bastards had been infiltrated by the faction that worships the sun even within Myeong-gyo.
The Small Thunder Sound Temple side was probably aligned with the moon faction.
…I recalled what happened yesterday.
‘That Sun Demon Master bastard—I slapped him outright for his insolent attitude, yet he endured it.’
Among Myeong-gyo’s demonic arts, the Yang faction has the characteristic of becoming increasingly hot-blooded the more one cultivates it.
Yet he endured a slap, which meant he desperately didn’t want to lose to the Small Thunder Sound Temple.
‘Or perhaps he has other schemes. Given that he prevented me from seeing the succession candidates… perhaps…’
“Then we shall now begin the succession battle. All candidates, ascend the arena!”
The arena was divided into a waiting space for the succession candidates and a space for martial combat.
‘Now I finally get to see their faces.’
One thing in common: they were all bald.
If this were the old Buddhist era, I’d understand, but why shave their heads now?
Are these bastards all going bald?
It was at that moment.
“Activate the formation!”
With the Sun Demon Master’s shout, the surrounding energy began to surge violently.
Boom…!
‘…So it’s not just martial combat, but this.’
As I heightened my perception, I felt it. The activated formation had but one purpose.
To prevent the arena’s energy from leaking outward.
“I heard you claimed to be a Divine Immortal. I am Rahan of the Great Thunder Sound Temple.”
I looked at the bald man who had addressed me.
His face appeared to be in his mid-twenties.
‘His martial prowess is considerable.’
The pinnacle of perfection. A few years ago, I would have heard tales of him being a prodigy worthy of discussing supremacy even in Zhongyuan.
‘Not just this bastard, but all of them at the pinnacle of perfection?’
Even accounting for how quickly demonic cultivation achieves results in its early stages, this is quite remarkable.
Conversely, the fact that not a single one has broken through to Transcendent Master level also demonstrates the limitations of demonic cultivation.
“Even the Sun Demon Master bows his head to me—what gives you the audacity to speak so carelessly? Do you wish to die?”
Rahan, caught off guard by my unexpectedly crude manner of speaking, immediately furrowed his brow.
“If I were going to bow to you, I would have given up from the start.”
Murderous intent. And competitive spirit.
Finally, blind ambition radiates from him.
The desire to achieve victory and realize his dreams at any cost.
This is why fanaticism is so terrifying.
How dare a mere peak-stage cultivator glare at a Transcendent Master?
“You shall be my first opponent.”
“What? The matchups are already decided.”
“Do I care?”
I turned to the Sun Demon Master and shouted.
“Sun Demon Master! I choose this one as my first opponent!”
“…As you wish.”
After a brief silence came the reply. I smirked at Rahan.
“Come at me or get out of my sight.”
….
As Rahan gritted his teeth and took a fighting stance, the other candidates descended below.
“I’ll give you three seconds—no, ten seconds as a handicap.”
“…We are equal candidates. No handicap is necessary.”
“Equal my ass. Without the handicap, I’ll snap your neck in a single second.”
Rahan’s face flushed crimson with rage.
This bastard, despite having learned only first-stage demonic cultivation, certainly has impressive patience.
“I will make you regret your arrogance.”
“Please, do try.”
“Die!”
I didn’t even draw my blade. I simply deflected Rahan’s fist, wreathed in demonic energy, using the Golden Finger Technique I’d picked up somewhere and mastered casually.
“Quite hot.”
“I’ll feast upon your well-cooked flesh!”
The second move that followed.
Torrential demonic power erupted from Rahan’s entire body.
‘Hmm?’
A glimmer of interest flashed across my eyes.
The first-stage demonic aura I’d grown familiar with during my previous life in the Demon Sect.
Yet there was something slightly different about it.
‘There’s a trace of soul energy mixed in?’
The moment I grasped it, I concentrated all my awareness and scattered my qi perception in every direction.
Rahan’s attacks continued, but I paid them no mind, focusing solely on examining the candidates’ dantians.
‘They all possess hun-qi? So hun-qi wasn’t created by the Blood Sect after all.’
Well, it’s not strange that they cooperate in cultivation when all the higher-ups are Cheonma.
Hun-qi is so pure for demonic energy that you don’t feel the characteristic filthiness of demonic qi unless it’s being released.
Even when releasing energy, it only feels ominous rather than evil like ordinary demonic qi.
‘The Seon unit’s energy feels like hun-qi makes up seven-tenths and the rest is demonic qi.’
I examined Rahan’s energy in detail as he rushed at me.
Hun-qi one-tenth, and what felt like nine-tenths of Ilwol Myeong-gyo style demonic qi.
But as Rahan drew out more power, the proportion of hun-qi was increasing.
‘Hmm, that’s enough for now.’
I drew my blade and blocked Rahan’s fist.
It was his ultimate technique, achieved through the enlightenment of fist and spirit unity itself—but…
“That was exactly ten seconds. Right?”
The duel ended there.
Rahan’s head tumbled away with a soft thud, rolling across the ground.
Being bald, it rolled quite well.
How dare a mere transcendent master of the lowest tier challenge a true master?
The only one in this world who can get away with that is Chu Dal.
‘Now then, one down. I’ll slit all their throats without giving them a chance.’
These candidates were surely among the finest talents of the Great Thunder Sound Temple.
Surrender? Concession?
I had no intention of accepting such things.
‘I’ll sever their necks in one breath, not even giving them time to give up, you bastards.’
It was right then.
Uuuuuung—!
A formation technique with the function of trapping qi within its domain.
The formation activated, and something changed.
‘The demonic qi is being… absorbed?’
Normally, to absorb another’s qi, one would need to use techniques from the Devouring Star method lineage.
Yet now, qi was being absorbed from Rahan’s corpse.
‘The true function of this formation was… isolation.’
Just as hundreds of venomous insects are thrown into a single jar and made to kill each other to create an absolutely toxic insect—
All the candidates were destined to devour one another.
‘Hmm. Should I accept this or not?’
I could refuse the formation or anything else if I wished.
I could refuse the formation or anything else if I wished.
‘But if I did that, I’d make an enemy of the Great Thunder Sound Temple, wouldn’t I?’
Looking at it, the reason they accepted a candidate with a different martial lineage seems to be exactly this.
If I accept the same qi, eventually I’ll become the same as them.
‘Well, it’ll all be resolved once the Divine Dragon Immortal refines those spirit pills for me later.’
Demonic qi is a vicious force that invades the mind and body merely by being possessed.
However, since I have the Seo-seon Vessel, there shouldn’t be much of a problem as long as I contain it within.
‘Besides, demonic qi is still qi, so there will definitely be a time to put it to use somewhere.’
With that in mind.
“Well then. Who’s next?”
“….”
“….”
“….”
Not a single candidate stepped forward.
These fanatics sure know fear when it matters.
“Won’t come? Then you’ll do.”
I pointed at one of them, smirking as I watched him tremble.
“If you don’t come up, I’ll come down to you. Fair warning—once I move, there’s no ten-move courtesy or any of that nonsense, so keep that in mind.”

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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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