Third-rate Martial Family Becomes the Best Under Heaven - Chapter 77

—————
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 077
Yang Hwi led Jin Geum-bo to his quarters.
“I fear my appearance is too shabby to properly receive a guest.”
It was not an unfounded concern.
After years confined to the Closed Sect, the clothes I wore were little better than rags.
“Please wait a moment while I change into proper attire.”
When Jin Geum-bo saw me emerge after changing clothes, he could not help but gasp in admiration.
‘Truly a remarkable specimen!’
One might call my face that of a boy, yet my body was that of a young man.
No—I was more than worthy of being called a hero of this generation.
Could Jang Ik-deok, who alone had blocked the Jangpan Sect, have possessed such bearing?
Looking at height alone, I appeared a full foot taller than Jin Geum-bo himself.
“Forgive my impertinence, but Young Master Baek. Are you truly fifteen years of age?”
I glanced down at my own frame and let out a soft chuckle.
“For fifteen, my body has grown considerably large.”
It was the result of years of training that bordered on ascetic practice.
Does intense training make one grow taller?
Of course not—but I possessed an advantage.
‘I never realized the Seon-dan’s vital energy was this remarkable.’
One of the distinguishing qualities of the Seon-dan’s vital energy compared to other forces was its ability to benefit the physical body.
Making it more resilient, more robust.
By repeatedly pushing my body to its limits during my growth years and recovering with vital energy, I naturally developed this physique.
‘Surely I won’t grow any larger than this?’
A height of six chi, with muscles packed solidly throughout my entire frame.
Truly the ideal body of a martial artist—but…
If I grew any larger, I would be called a giant rather than a warrior.
‘Surely not.’
I suppressed my anxiety and looked at Jin Geum-bo.
“The vital energy I possess is somewhat unusual. My physical development is faster than most.”
“I see.”
“By the way, I heard you wished for me to be included in the escort mission.”
“That is correct.”
“You pay ten times the standard escort fee merely for my company—I confess I am curious about your reasons.”
Jin Geum-bo laughed heartily.
“My sword expert Geom-wae… Eek!”
My fangs flashed momentarily. Jin Geum-bo quickly corrected himself.
“The eldest son of the Baek Family possesses such virtue and renown that your name shakes the Four Seas. I simply wish to share the journey with you.”
“Oh, shakes the Four Seas? At most, word of me has only spread through Jiangxi Province.”
I smiled gently while studying Jin Geum-bo’s every detail.
‘Ten times the escort fee just for one person accompanying? That makes no sense.’
The goods themselves are merely a single letter.
Even if Jin Geum-bo accompanies the shipment and the escort has that character to it.
Any other merchant would choose to depart alone, accepting some risk.
Isn’t it the mark of those who walk the merchant’s path to live and die by money?
“I have a question for you, Merchant Jin.”
“Feel free to ask two if you wish.”
“In these parts, only our Baek Family can provide escort protection. Is there perhaps some danger you’re concerned about during the shipment?”
“…That’s not quite it, but I don’t believe travel between cities is without risk. That’s why I’m paying the escort fee and entrusting this task.”
As Jin Geum-bo spoke, I observed his entire form.
More precisely, the subtle shifts in his expression and the changes in his breathing.
Soon, a faint smile tugged at my lips.
“So the Jin Family Manor in Jiangxi is your destination. Coincidentally, your family name is also Jin.”
“My own family home.”
A merchant returning to his own clan.
The goods are merely a single letter.
A route passing through Anhui.
And a destination located at the border between Anhui and Henan.
‘This certainly seems to fit.’
For the past two years, I had been searching for a certain merchant.
I had even given hints to Chu Dal while in the Closed Sect, determined not to let this lead slip away.
“I’m sure you realize, Merchant Jin, that this request is quite peculiar.”
“Is that so? Well, it’s merely a request born from admiration and respect for Young Master Baek.”
Jin Geum-bo feigned a bewildered expression.
Yet I could sense it—his pulse quickening ever so slightly.
“I accept.”
“Hmm? Didn’t you just say it was strange?”
“I did. Nevertheless, I accept. And I won’t ask any further questions.”
I smiled at Jin Geum-bo with amusement.
“So keep this in mind, Merchant Jin—that you accepted this request despite sensing something amiss, without probing any deeper.”
“….”
In that moment, Jin Geum-bo realized that at least one of the rumors about me was true.
‘They say he possesses a depth of mind unbecoming his age, and indeed it’s so.’
Could he have already seen through me?
But I said nothing explicit—how could he know?
Tension caused him to swallow involuntarily.
Jin Geum-bo forced an air of composure and nodded.
“Then I’m in your debt, Young Master Baek.”
“The pleasure is mine.”

* * *
After arranging our departure for the following day and sending Jin Geum-bo off, I immediately summoned Chu Dal.
“Chu Dal!”
My cry rang out across the sprawling Baek Manor with a resonant clang.
The door to his quarters burst open, and Chu Dal entered with a furrowed brow.
“Don’t call me Chu Dal!”
“Son, if I don’t call you Chu Dal, what else should I call you?”
“Lee Hu! Lee Hu! My name is Lee Hu!”
“Tch. It’s been years now—stop being stubborn about it. Accept it. You are Chu Dal.”
“…Geom-wae.”
…
“What did you call me for, Elder Brother Geom-wae!”
“This brat?!”
I moved my hand.
Chu Dal, who had anticipated this long ago, attempted to evade with a subtle movement, but—
Smack!
“Ow!”
“How dare you call your elder brother by such a ridiculous nickname!”
“You call your younger brother an ugly otter—that’s perfectly normal! Kind words beget kind words, ow! Stop! Stop hitting me!”
I flicked Chu Dal’s head three times in the exact same spot before finally lowering my hand.
This boy grows more insolent by the day.
“Chu Dal.”
“…Yes, Elder Brother.”
“I’ve decided we’re going on a journey. Prepare yourself.”
Chu Dal’s expression grew serious.
“Is this the journey you’ve been searching for?”
“Likely.”
“The one Eum Hu mentioned?”
Chu Dal was one of the few who knew, at least in part, why I had been searching for someone over these past two years.
“Yes. We need to prepare thoroughly. The journey will be quite long.”
“Understood. How should we compose the party?”
“You and me. And Elder Brother Gu, Elder Dang, and his sister.”
Chu Dal’s eyes deepened with understanding.
Five. Merely five, but the maximum force I could deploy without arousing others’ suspicion.
And the fact that even Gu Ak would be joining us…
“Is this such a dangerous matter?”
“I’m not entirely certain yet. But I suspect we’ll need to be quite cautious.”
“Understood.”
“First, go to Elder Brother Gu at my quarters—no, wait. You go to Elder Brother Gu instead. And give word to the elders as well.”
Chu Dal immediately grasped why I was avoiding Gu Ak and burst into laughter.
“Hehehehe, we’re bound to face each other anyway, so why are you trying to avoid—”
That was the moment.
“Little brother! I heard you’ve finished your closed cultivation!”
The one who burst through the door was Gu Ak.
“Let me see, have you reached the Peak Realm! You were grinding your teeth so hard before the closed cultivation, so you must have broken through!”
“….”
“Oh no! Looks like you didn’t! Puhahahaha! Puhahahaha!”
It had been over five years since the Baek Family Head truly began to spread his wings.
Short in one sense, but long enough that mountains could shift and rivers change course.
The Baek Family Estate had undergone tremendous changes.
One of those changes was Gu Ak himself.
“Kehrhem! Puhoo, that’s understandable. No matter how talented little brother is, the wall of the Peak Realm stands far too high!”
“….”
“This one-day-one-cooperation Baek Ik-gak’s Hwa-hwa Branch’s Gu Ak broke through the Peak Realm wall long ago, but it seems little brother still finds it too difficult!”
“….”
“Puhahahaha!”
We were bound to meet eventually.
Yet the reason Yang Hwi had tried to avoid Gu Ak.
‘Damn it, I absolutely had to break through to the Peak this time.’
Three years ago from now.
Gu Ak had broken through the wall and became a master of the Peak Realm.
This meant the Baek Family Estate now had two Peak Realm masters, which should have been cause for celebration.
The problem was that Gu Ak’s arrogance had become unbearably inflated ever since.
“…Elder Brother Gu. The last time I saw you was before the closed cultivation, so it’s been three months.”
“Has that much time passed already? And yet little brother is still, poof, at the First-Rate Realm!”
…Yes. I admit it.
I had teased Gu Ak relentlessly at every opportunity back then.
But.
I don’t think I accumulated enough karma to endure three years of retaliation.
And yet!
“Argh! I absolutely had to break through to the Peak this time!”
“Puhahat! The Peak Realm wall is the wall of transcendence! Not just anyone can cross it, little brother!”
“….”
Yang Hwi simply gazed up at the sky.
In my past life, I had even broken through to the Transcendent Realm, far beyond the Peak.
Yet here I was, enduring such mockery.
‘Sigh. I’ve set my vessel too wide.’
The realm I had reached in my youth in my past life was the Peak Realm.
So why, even defying the passage of time, had I still not reached the Peak Realm?
‘Achieving harmony of mind, energy, and body has become this difficult.’
To reach the pinnacle of martial mastery, one requires more than mere enlightenment.
One must achieve the unity of mind, energy, and body.
In other words, only by harmonizing one’s mind, vital energy, and physical form into a single whole can one transcend the wall of the pinnacle—the realm known as Transcendence.
But the problem was.
‘My mind, energy, and body have all grown far too vast.’
Mind. The enlightenment from my past life.
Energy. The celestial qi of the Immortal Realm, which did not exist in my past life.
Body. A physical form tempered and hardened through rigorous training based on celestial qi.
Too much had changed.
To the point where it had become impossible to shatter everything with my past life’s enlightenment and transcend the wall of the pinnacle.
“…Elder Brother. Great vessels mature late, and the sturdier the foundation, the higher one can build.”
“What? The words of a first-rate nobody don’t reach my ears?”
“….”
At fifteen, I had reached the realm of first-rate mastery.
I was hardly deserving of the title “first-rate nobody.”
Throughout all under heaven, those who reached first-rate at this age could be counted on one’s fingers.
But to Gu Ak, objective facts mattered not at all.
“Little brother. Don’t worry. If you keep advancing diligently, one day you’ll transcend the wall. Puhahahaha!”
A creeping sound echoed from Yang Hwi’s jaw.
“Elder Brother. Won’t you regret this?”
Gu Ak flinched for a moment.
But soon, Gu Ak regained his confidence.
Who am I? Gu Ak, master of the pinnacle.
‘One day, little brother will surely reach the pinnacle as well….’
But that’s then and this is now! When else would I get the chance to tease him like this?
It was at that moment Gu Ak was thinking such thoughts.
“Say one more word, and we’re sparring today.”
“…Hm?”
“This first-rate nobody wants to receive some instruction from a pinnacle master.”
Gu Ak fell silent, observing Yang Hwi standing with one leg crossed.
By the tone of his voice, instruction didn’t seem to be the real purpose.
‘Surely this bastard doesn’t think he can beat me?’
An absurd notion.
A first-rate master could never defeat a warrior of the pinnacle realm.
This was an absolute truth, as immutable as rain not falling upward from the earth to the sky.
‘But that punk has been crushing third-rate nobodies since he was nine years old.’
“…Haha. Hahaha. Little brother. It seems you have business. Shall we discuss matters first…?”
“No. I think I need to warm up first. Follow me.”
Yang Hwi rotated his jaw and arms, producing crisp popping sounds.
My recent training in the Closed Sect had not been entirely without gains.
A first-rate master defeating a peak master is impossible, you say?
I’ll show you myself the miracle of turning the impossible into the possible.
Forget about proper etiquette—let’s establish discipline first.
“Little brother? Hey! Let’s talk about this first!”
“Come on, follow me for now!”
It was when Yang Hwi raised his voice.
The door to the residence burst open for the third time today.
Then came a voice.
“Father! Uncle Hwi!”
Yang Hwi and Gu Ak’s faces melted simultaneously.
“Oh, little Hwa-hwa!”
“Our Hwa-hwa is here!”
The child who entered through the door was Gu Hwa-hwa, Gu Ak’s daughter.
“Come here!”
“Come into your father’s arms!”
Yang Hwi and Gu Ak, both spreading their arms wide to welcome Gu Hwa-hwa, glared at each other.
“Hwa-hwa, shouldn’t you come to your uncle?”
“It’s father, father. Hwa-hwa.”
Hwa-hwa, a young girl who had grown as beautifully as her name suggested, tilted her head for a moment before her feet pattered forward.
Yang Hwi was the victor.
“How could this be! Hwa-hwa, how could you abandon your father like this!”
“But isn’t Uncle Hwi more handsome?”
….
Gu Ak’s body froze as if struck by lightning.
Already looking for handsome faces?
“I’ll eliminate all the pretty boys in my vicinity—no, I should start with little brother ahhh!”
Gu Hwa-hwa’s delicate brows furrowed.
“Father! Don’t bully Uncle Hwi!”
Gu Ak, stiffening once more, slowly sank to his knees.
“How could this be… our Hwa-hwa… Hwa-hwa….”
It was when Gu Ak, a peak master no less, suffered internal injuries from a single word from his daughter and fell into despair.
“Please don’t be like that, Great Escort Gu. Children are pure by nature and don’t place much weight on appearances, do they?”
“That’s right. If anything, it’s because Great Escort Gu has such a rough appearance. Ha ha!”
The Tang Siblings appeared as they opened the door.
I wondered how five-year-old Hwa-hwa had come alone, but it seemed the Tang Siblings had been playing with her.
“Brother Hwi. I heard from Chu Dal that you and Yeon-i wish to join us on the journey.”
“Yes, that’s right.”
Dang-gun accepted Yang Hwi’s proposal without hesitation.
Over the past few years, their relationship had become so close that formality had fallen away.
“Hmm. It doesn’t seem to be an ordinary journey. Is there something on your mind?”
Now that everyone who will participate in this expedition has gathered in one place, it seems fitting to address this matter.
“There is naturally a reason behind it.”
Speaking thus, I recalled the information I had received from Eum Hu years ago.
[Namgung Cheon-yeong. I have found traces of the Sword Saint Yeo Dong-bin.]

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