Third-rate Martial Family Becomes the Best Under Heaven - Chapter 38

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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 038
I attended morning practice with the Baek siblings for the first time in a while.
“Well then, my younger siblings. Let’s see how much you’ve improved.”
From searching for Eum Hu at Gokryeol Mountain to passing through the Jeongeum Five Gates, roughly a month had elapsed in total.
If they’d trained diligently during that time, their skills should have grown considerably.
“At our age, a single moment equals three autumns. You’ve worked hard, haven’t you?”
“Brother Hwi! What does a moment equaling three autumns mean?”
“Literally, one moment equals three autumns—three years. It means a brief span of time can feel as long as years.”
“Ah!”
After confirming the progress made over the past month, I nodded in satisfaction.
Both the boy and Yeon-a showed clear signs of diligent training.
“You both worked hard. Here, gifts for you.”
The best way to turn a child into a good one is through praise.
Since these children had grown up in poverty, praise combined with material rewards would be even more effective.
“Wow! Brother, what is this?”
“What else? A beautiful jade hairpin, as you can see.”
What I handed to Baek Yeon-yeon was a hair ornament—a jade hairpin.
“I’ve never received something this beautiful before!”
Watching Baek Yeon-yeon leap with joy, I felt it was worth stopping by a shop to pick up gifts despite my exhaustion.
“Heon-so, I have something for you too.”
The gift I’d prepared for Baek Heon-so was a tassel that could be attached to a sword hilt.
I personally tied the tassel to the end of Baek Heon-so’s wooden sword.
“Now training will feel even more rewarding, won’t it? How is it? Do you like it?”
“Brother! Thank you!”
Baek Heon-so, brimming with excitement, jumped up and performed a respectful fist salute.
The kid’s picked up a thing or two somewhere.
“Train even harder. You’re the pillar of our Baek Family, after all.”
“Pillar… Yes!”
Baek Heon-so, who had been so excited, suddenly wore a dejected expression.
“Why the sudden change?”
“It’s just… I heard you’re leaving again.”
“Ah.”
Children grow attached to others so quickly.
Despite knowing me for only a few months, Baek Heon-so already genuinely regarded me as his older brother.
“Kid. I’ll be back soon this time. Probably.”
“Still… Brother, you really seem amazing.”
“Suddenly? What do you mean?”
“Father allowed you to travel, and now… you’ve become a disciple.”
Baek Heon-so’s eyes conveyed a mixture of emotions.
I read every feeling contained within them with keen perception.
Admiration and respect. And… inferiority and jealousy.
The former shone more brightly, but for the young Baek Heon-so, the coexistence of such contradictory emotions was itself a source of confusion.
Added to that was the loneliness and regret he felt as his older brother—the object of these complex emotions—left his side once again.
‘Looking at it this way, it’s true that Heon-so does have a weaker temperament than Yeon-a.’
But precisely because he was weak-willed, I could mold him into a pleasing shape.
And if I simply hardened him properly, he could become solid ground.
So Baek Heon-so would not become twisted as he had in my previous life.
He would become an excellent martial artist and the head of the Baek Family.
I was confident that as his older brother, I could discipline and correct him.
“Heon-so.”
Yang Hwi chuckled and gently stroked Baek Heon-so’s head, pressing down repeatedly.
Baek Heon-so’s hair now stood up in disarray from the repeated pressing.
Seeing a seven-year-old child with his hair all mussed up and his eyes shining brightly was truly adorable.
“Heon-so, from now on, watch your older brother’s footwork carefully.”
Yang Hwi stepped back five or six paces so that Baek Heon-so could see all his movements, then took a single step forward.
The Gicheon Step unfolded—a footwork technique I had created after witnessing Eum Hu’s divine abilities.
“Did you see it?”
“Yes, older brother.”
“No, you didn’t. Look again.”
Once more, a single step. Baek Heon-so held his breath and concentrated all his attention on my movements.
Then something like a thread became visible to him.
“You saw it this time?”
“Yes. I think I saw it.”
“Still not enough. Watch once more.”
I demonstrated the form of the Gicheon Step repeatedly. With each step, the gleam of understanding in Baek Heon-so’s eyes grew deeper.
“Well, have you seen it all now?”
“….”
Instead of speaking, Baek Heon-so answered by taking a step forward.
Seeing the subtlety contained in Baek Heon-so’s movement, Yang Hwi smiled with satisfaction.
“Not perfect, but sufficient. From now on, I’ll teach you the incantation, so memorize it.”
The time it took to memorize and master the incantation was shorter than learning the form itself.
Since the foundation was the Hwa-cheon-i-won-gong, there were aspects that aligned with the Yuk-hap-i-won-gong that Baek Heon-so was learning.
“The name of this footwork is the Gicheon Step. It is a single step that shapes a vessel to contain a thousand miles. It is a teaching I received from Eum Hu.”
Yang Hwi stroked Baek Heon-so’s head once more, pressing down gently.
The negative emotions that had been in Baek Heon-so’s eyes before had nearly vanished.
“Baek Heon-so, the eldest son of the Baek Family. Your father has returned to seclusion, so you are the pillar of our house. Can you do well while I’m away?”
“Yes, older brother!”
“If you train diligently, I’ll teach you something even better when I return. So let’s make a promise. That you’ll wake early every day and not neglect your training with Yeon-a.”
“I promise, older brother!”
“I promise too, older brother!”
Yang Hwi gazed at each of his two younger siblings as they answered in unison, then smiled warmly once more.
‘I pray you both grow straight and true, just as you are now.’

* * *
“….”
“….”
This feeling. This sensation. Familiar yet how long it had been.
Gu Ak could no longer contain himself and burst out loudly.
“Young Master!!”
“What is it, Brother Gu?”
“Is this right? Huh? Is this actually right?”
“What troubles you?”
“How could you not know what troubles me!”
Gu Ak hurled down the bundle he had been carrying on his back.
More precisely, he threw down Yang Hwi, who had been riding atop the bundle.
“Whoop!”
Watching Yang Hwi land gracefully after his somersault, Gu Ak’s fury erupted like a torrential downpour as he poured out his words.
“No matter that you are the young master of a house I’ve sworn to serve with utmost loyalty, between us we are sworn siblings! Yet you ride upon me like a pack mule for the entire journey! How could you do this to your brother!”
Yang Hwi’s eyes widened in realization as he struck his palm with his fist.
“Ah! Then I shall carry the baggage myself.”
“…You’ll carry the baggage while riding on my back?”
“Yes.”
“Arrrgh!”
Demonic possession. This must be the sign of demonic possession.
There was no other way his head could be burning like this.
“Then nothing changes at all!”
Yang Hwi chuckled and raised his hand, tapping Gu Ak’s forearm lightly.
“But I cannot walk, you see? Won’t you show me some mercy, Brother?”
“THAT’S EXACTLY IT!”
Gu Ak struck his chest and continued.
“Training your footwork until walking becomes difficult on a long journey is no different from using this Gu Ak as a pack mule, you brat!”
‘Ah, even so, now that he’s become part of the main family, he doesn’t speak as carelessly as before.’
In the old days, he would have called me a “little bastard” instead of a “brat.”
He’s adapting well. A truly gratifying change.
“Brother Gu. Think about it.”
When Yang Hwi suddenly lowered his voice, Gu Ak, who had been radiating anger, paused.
“Think about what?”
“Brother Gu. Don’t you miss Sister Rang-rang?”
“…I do miss her.”
Gu Ak, who had volunteered for this escort after falling for Han Supervisor’s scheme and only later realized he would be separated from his beloved for so long, had already come to regret it.
“When traveling on foot, the pace inevitably matches the slower person. But if you, young master, diligently train your footwork technique? Perhaps not immediately, but wouldn’t we be able to return faster when the time comes?”
“….”
“Brother Gu, you wish to meet Rang-rang quickly, don’t you? Then please help me just a little. I will also train diligently for your sake.”
Listening to him, I found myself tempted—no, this brat’s silver tongue has tricked me more than once, and I’ve regretted it every time.
Suddenly, Gu Ak voiced a question aloud.
“Why not just take a carriage?”
“It costs money, doesn’t it? If we rest when tired during training as we travel, that would be ideal. Why bother otherwise?”
“That’s the problem! Why do I have to rest on this Gu Ak’s back, you brat!”
‘He doesn’t seem like he’ll be swayed by words. There’s no helping it. I need to dangle some bait.’
Before Gu Ak could deploy his sincere killing intent, Yang Hwi quickly opened his mouth.
“Aren’t you uncomfortable around your father-in-law?”
Gu Ak stiffened abruptly. Yang Hwi continued more leisurely.
“As you know, it was I who brought Yeo Un-hyeok here.”
One of Gu Ak’s greatest recent concerns was Yeo Un-hyeok, the newly acquired family member of his beloved Rang-rang.
Having lived his entire life looking down on everyone except his father, and never even harboring a desire to be well-regarded by him, Gu Ak found himself uncertain.
As such, he worried greatly about how to build a relationship with his father-in-law—this superior, Yeo Un-hyeok.
‘If I let this slide now, I’ll end up playing into that brat’s hands again.’
Thinking thus, Gu Ak nonetheless found himself asking.
“Is there a way?”
“Hehehehe.”
Yang Hwi, shouldering his travel pack, quickly climbed onto Gu Ak’s back.
Gu Ak felt a surge of resistance in that moment, yet he couldn’t bring himself to push Yang Hwi away.
“The road is long, so let’s talk as we walk.”
“…Very well. Ah, now that I think about it, little brother. I haven’t yet heard where our destination is.”
“Right, I forgot to mention it. The destination—the most important thing when embarking on a journey.”
Yang Hwi fell into thought for a moment. More precisely, he recalled the past of Chu Dal, which he had heard from Chu Dal in his previous life.
“We’re heading to Gu-gang, northwest of Nanchang in Jiangxi Province.”
“What is there?”
“The Nameless Assassin Valley.”
“…That’s a rather ominous name for a sect.”
“It can’t be helped. It’s the Assassin’s Path Sect.”
The Assassin’s Path Sect—in short, a sect that cultivates assassins and killers for contract murder work.
“Why would you seek out such a place?”
“Because there is a talented prospect I’ve set my sights on.”
“…Don’t tell me you’re planning to bring a child being raised as an assassin to the Baek Manor?”
“Exactly! You’re as sharp as ever!”
“You’re planning something like that with only one escort? You don’t seem to be in your right mind, little brother.”
“You alone are sufficient. You are, after all, someone vying for the position of greatest master of Ak-an County!”
Yang Hwi may always tease him, but Gu Ak was one of only two first-rate masters in Ak-an County.
The first-rate masters possessed by Red Bridge Hall and Cheongsabang had either died or become crippled, and the Suhoji Guild possessed no first-rate masters.
Gyojin-bang and Gu Ak had effectively become rivals competing for the position of Ak-an County’s greatest master.
In other words, Gu Ak was at minimum the second-strongest in Ak-an County.
…Of course, when it came to confronting the Salhsu Sect, there was no way a single first-rate master could hold his own.
“Don’t worry, Brother Gu. We have no intention of storming the Nameless Killing Valley. We simply need to abduct—or rather, rescue—one child being raised outside. That’s all.”
“Abduct? Did you just say abduct? A member of the White Blade considering kidnapping!”
“Ah, I misspoke. I meant rescue. Besides, the child is genuinely in mortal danger if we don’t act immediately.”
In my previous life, Yang Hwi and Chu Dal had grown close because they shared the same hometown of Jiangxi Province, and their temperaments aligned perfectly.
They got along so well that they eventually became sworn brothers.
From the stories I’d picked up over those years together, I knew.
That soon enough, Chu Dal would face a crisis of absolute desperation.
“Our ultimate goal is to rescue the child who will be abducted by the Salhsu Sect, have his emotions severed, and be raised as a killer. So this journey is truly a righteous endeavor!”
I raised my arms triumphantly from atop Gu Ak’s shoulders.
“Brother Gu is finally becoming a hero of justice! So let’s go!”
“….”
Gu Ak simply closed his mouth. Every time I got tangled up in this brat’s silver tongue, I never came out ahead.
Sometimes silence was the most effective counterattack.
After teasing Gu Ak for a while by crossing the line, I grew tired when he wouldn’t respond and gave up.
‘The road is boring with no entertainment.’
At times like these, I missed Chu Dal all the more.
In my previous life, whenever Yang Hwi traveled long distances with Chu Dal, we would always trade jokes and banter.
My sworn brother was someone I got along with perfectly in everything—in a way, Chu Dal was like my soulmate.
‘Right, since it’s quiet now, I should work out the strategy more thoroughly.’
As of now, Chu Dal was being raised as a killer under the Nameless Killing Valley’s control.
And within a day at the earliest, or within a month at the latest, he would be forced to commit his first murder.
‘That bastard suffered so much from nightmares after that first time in the previous life.’
Chu Dal, my brother will make sure you don’t have to suffer nightmares in this life.
As I was busily planning how to extract Chu Dal from atop Gu Ak’s shoulders.
The number of houses gradually increased, and after passing through several mountain villages, a city came into view.
We had arrived at Gangwon.
“Guest! Cheap and delicious. We have an inn. Follow me!”
“The finest fragrant pork under heaven! You can taste it at our Yangharu!”
Several young innkeeper boys could be seen accosting passersby in the marketplace, soliciting customers.
I caught sight of one boy among them with an unusually stiff manner of speech and an expression devoid of any emotion, and I grinned widely.
‘Found him.’
It seemed I had managed to arrive at the right place at the right time.

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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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