Third-rate Martial Family Becomes the Best Under Heaven - Chapter 373

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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 373
Seolha struck the northern section of the Heavenly Sound Lute with tremendous force.
Boom—!
The reverberating sound echoed outward.
A single sound wave split into hundreds of branches.
Though splitting should weaken it, the spiritual energy contained within prevented the sound from diminishing.
The moment hundreds of sound waves merged back into one.
The sound waves overlapped and amplified.
Craaaaaash!
If a Transcendent Master fought a peak master, naturally the Transcendent Master would win overwhelmingly.
But.
What if there were two peak masters?
What if there were five peak masters?
What if there were ten?
Then even a Transcendent Master could face defeat.
Even in victory, it would require far more time than fighting a single opponent.
However, Seolha was different.
“Your martial arts are truly wondrous, Jegal Sojeo.”
At Neung-o’s praise, Seolha’s lips curled upward in a smile.
Not just Neung-o, but all the masters of Potala Palace stood with their mouths agape, marveling at Seolha’s divine technique.
“Sound is inherently a wondrous art. That’s precisely why people admire it and find joy in it, wouldn’t you say?”
In Neung-o’s case, he needed to unleash ten sword strikes to kill ten peak masters.
The Sa-il Sword Technique could sever life in a single strike, even against opponents of higher rank.
Therefore, against lower-ranked opponents, he still had to use one sword strike each.
Seolha was the opposite.
“Against lower-ranked opponents, a single technique could suppress dozens, or perhaps even hundreds.”
That was the nature of sound. It spread widely and resonated, affecting everyone within its reach.
“You’re too kind. But I must remain in the rear. Unlike the Nong Daoist Master, I cannot step forward and fight directly.”
Neung-o could kill one person with one strike.
He could repeat this hundreds or thousands of times.
Such was the solidity of a swordsman.
Meanwhile, the Sound Master required an excessively long preparation period before and after executing a technique.
One might say it was a fatal weakness for a warrior.
“It’s fine. I’ll protect you, Seolha.”
If there was a comrade to cover one’s weakness, there was no problem at all.
Before Seolha stood Adu, who even at the peak realm possessed defensive power approaching the Indestructible Diamond Body.
“Thank you, Monk. It’s reassuring.”
This time, Seolha plucked the strings of the Heavenly Sound Lute.
Twang, twang, chara-rang!
“Now that the vanguard is broken, step forward and kill them all.”
Her voice was itself a melody.
Seolha’s sound, having reached the realm of Heart-Sound, influenced the spirit merely by being heard.
In other words, with melody alone, she could maximize the morale of all her allies.
‘My heart… it races.’
‘We can overcome them all.’
“Ooooh! Ooooooh!”
Potala Palace had suffered at the hands of demon forces for nearly two hundred years.
By now, the disparity in power could be likened to the difference between an elephant and an ant.
The Great Thunder Sound Master and Lesser Thunder Sound Master called their battles against Potala Palace and other factions mere hunting.
In other words, the martial artists of Potala Palace were exhausted, trembling in fear, and unable to maintain high morale in combat.
“Everyone, charge!”
“Eliminate these vile Madou demons!”
“Uwaaaaaaaah!”
A single note of sound inflicted damage upon all enemies.
A single note of sound breathed strength into all allies.
This was Seolha’s martial way—Heavenly Wind Divine Song.
A desire to lift those who walked alongside her toward the heavens and revel in joy together.
“Sound Master Eum. Your mental imagery is truly remarkable.”
It was the admiration of Geumryun Soja, the Master of Potala Palace and fellow Transcendent Master.
‘That’s because it’s the image of my heart drawn from a desire to revel alongside someone truly great.’
Thinking thus inwardly, Seolha spoke words of humility.
“I fear I’ve robbed the Master of the opportunity to let your Golden Wheel shine. I can only apologize.”
“Speak no such words. Thanks to you, the casualties among our palace disciples will be reduced by at least half. As Master, I offer my sincere gratitude.”
Seolha smiled softly and asked what curious her.
“But Master, why do they view this merely as hunting?”
The reason demons called their battles against heretics hunting by their own standards.
While the disparity in power was overwhelming, there was another reason.
“Wouldn’t converting heretics into fellow demon cultists be their greatest merit? Yet instead of conversion, they simply seek to kill indiscriminately.”
Geumryun Soja’s face grew clouded.
Her expression carried an ominous feeling for reasons unclear.
“They require sacrifices.”
“Sacrifices, you say?”
“Blood and resentment. They require victims. Even I do not fully understand for what purpose these sacrifices are made.”
Suddenly, Seolha recalled the events from the Great Yangtze Battle.
The mercenaries who had accepted demon energy.
In numbers, they must have been as many as Gu-pa combined with all others.
Of those, more than ninety percent had now perished.
‘And if my brother’s words are true, had the Martial Alliance been formed, a great war would have erupted that would have withered the very essence of the martial world.’
Tremendous blood would have been spilled.
Sorrow and bitter resentment would have filled the heavens.
‘A sacrifice… I don’t know what it’s for, but….’
That existence, born from blood and vengeful spirits.
Wouldn’t it seek to dye the world in blood and resentment?
I still don’t know what lies at the end of that path shrouded in darkness, but it would certainly not be a favorable outcome.
…I sense something ominous.
But.
Seolha’s sense of foreboding was infinitely lighter compared to the Palace Master’s, merely a fleeting impression she could shake off in an instant.
The reason was simple.
‘My brother will handle it, I’m sure.’
She recalled Yang Hwi, who had even blocked the Cheonma’s path with nothing but Peak-level martial prowess during the Dragon-Phoenix Gathering.
Yang Hwi, her brother.
Always walks ahead.
Blocks and protects, then advances first to strike down enemies.
So it will be the same going forward as it has been until now.
The Shattering Heavens Divine Hawk was a sacred bird that sought to shatter even the heavens themselves.

* * *
“Buurp…!”
“….”
“….”
“Oops, I burped without meaning to. My apologies.”
So consuming too much spiritual energy causes burping.
Or is it because it’s demonic energy?
Come to think of it, eating meat does produce more burps than eating vegetables.
Anyway, I gazed down at the corpses sprawled across the arena.
Candidates. Eight in total.
Now only one remained.
“Last prey. Come up and I’ll give you ten seconds. Don’t come up and I’ll come devour you.”
“P-p-please… spare me! I will serve the Deity with loyalty and live as your steed.”
Heh, you’re one of the finest talents even in the demon lair.
Since I’ll have more than enough steeds, a talent like you needs to die.
“Come up and I’ll consider it. Don’t come up and I’ll come devour you.”
“Deity… please….”
Watching the candidate tremble and beg for mercy, I laughed.
Should I tear into him a bit?
“You. You’ve taken the life force of others before?”
My keen sense of energy, now enhanced with the intuition unique to a Transcendent Master, whispered to me like divine inspiration.
The energy this bastard possessed carried the resentment of victims whose blood and vitality had been forcibly torn away.
“Let me ask you something. Have you ever shown mercy to those begging for their lives before your eyes?”
The candidate’s expression brightened as if he’d found a path to survival, and he cried out.
“Yes! I’m not some heartless monster! I’ve spared those with families a few times!”
“Is that so?”
I still found myself laughing.
But the emotion behind it had shifted.
“Then I’ll spare you a few times as well.”
“Th-thank you! Thank you so much!”
“Hmm? No, wait. You shouldn’t be thanking me. I wasn’t saying I’d spare you.”
“…What?”
“I’ll be sparing a few others, but not you. Come on up. Let’s go nicely.”
“…”
Veins and tendons bulged across the last candidate’s face.
Interesting—so he’s got some backbone after all?
One moment he’s begging for his life, and the next his pride snaps and his mind breaks.
“Die, you bastard!”
Thwack!
I deflected his fist with a hand wreathed in dark energy, then seized his arm.
‘It’s strange when I think about it. I’ve absorbed another’s energy, yet instead of demonic possession, controlling the energy has become easier.’
Even having absorbed demonic energy tainted with resentment and malice, beneficial results were emerging.
Now I could even manipulate and utilize the demonic energy of Seon’s faction.
Though I still couldn’t control the energy leaking from the cracks.
‘Hmm, now that I think about it, something feels off.’
All the candidates’ demonic energy carried imprinted intentions.
They’d accumulated vast quantities of demonic energy through sound-absorbing techniques or life-draining methods.
-Save me! Save me!
-I will have my revenge!
-Not my family, please not my family! I beg you!
I shook my head, casting off the churning emotions.
These are not my feelings.
They’re merely the lingering intentions of the countless victims embedded in the demonic energy.
But…
A thought did occur to me.
“You’re the most vicious of them all.”
The last candidate. The reason I’d saved Yang Hwi for last was simple.
He looked the most appetizing.
“You’re cunning. Treacherous and cowardly. You’ve extracted most of your energy by preying on the weak, not by fighting and defeating the strong.”
“Pl-please spare…”
The reason he looked most appetizing.
He was the perfect example to make.
‘If you charge into a demon’s lair alone, you need to make sure you’ve secured everything properly.’
Unlike Baek Do, these bastards made backstabbing their daily routine.
Dogs that grow stronger by using humans as sacrifices—there’s nothing more to say about such creatures.
So… to truly control these bastards.
‘I need to instill overwhelming terror.’
Fortunately, I have the perfect means at hand.
The Seonhwa Ganggi in my dantian. The essence mixed within it—Spiritual Qi.
I recalled an incident from when I was eight years old.
Decades into the future, Gwi-no Baek-ma would become a figure of dread in the Sakyoji Plains.
At merely eight years old, I had succeeded in killing him.
It was all thanks to the power of Spiritual Qi.
‘Though these idiots do possess demon energy, that changes nothing.’
“All creatures bearing demon energy are my prey. Let me make that abundantly clear.”
I drew forth the Spiritual Qi.
My entire body, wrapped in dark energy, warped ominously.
It appeared as though my physical form had transformed into a heat shimmer.
And at that same moment.
“Kugh, KRAAAAAAAH! KRAAAAAAAH!”
I wove intent into the Seonhwa Ganggi, amplifying the power of Spiritual Qi to another level.
And this Spiritual Qi—even when no larger than a grain of rice at eight years old, it had made Gwi-no Baek-ma scream in agony.
“KRAAAAGH! KRAAAAGH! P-please! Kugh, ggggggh!”
A moment passed. I released my grip. Yet I did not withdraw the energy.
I kept his body suspended in mid-air through the Void Grasping technique, continuously injecting Spiritual Qi.
“…!”
The last candidate, now unable to even speak, could only convulse across his entire frame.
Soon after, his body exploded.
-Thank you….
-I am grateful to you….
-It brings peace….
Through the array’s function, his demon energy—the aura of resentment and lingering attachment—was absorbed into me.
Though the quality was filthy and I considered rejecting it, I did not. I accepted it.
Because I could sense the impressions within that energy, hear their voices.
‘I hope this brought them comfort on their final journey.’
With his body exploding directly before me, I was drenched in blood and flesh.
In such a state, I surveyed all of the Dae-Raeeum-sa.
Enveloped across my entire body in Spiritual Qi—to the demons, an endlessly ominous aura.
Enveloped across my entire body in Soul Qi—to the demons, an endlessly sacred aura.
“I ask you. Who am I?”
The Sun Demon Master was the first to kneel.
Immediately after, all the disciples of the Seo-Raeeum-sa bowed their heads to me, pressing their foreheads to the ground in reverence.
“You are our Highest One, our Deity!”

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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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