Third-rate Martial Family Becomes the Best Under Heaven - Chapter 91

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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 091
My head tilted upward of its own accord.
As I rose to my feet, his head rose so high above me that I couldn’t see his face without looking up.
‘He really is massive.’
It wasn’t just height—his frame was disproportionately large.
Muscles rippled across his entire body, and his bone structure itself appeared so thick and robust that it transcended ordinary human proportions.
‘A martial skeleton bestowed by heaven itself.’
But that wasn’t all.
My keen sensitivity to qi allowed me to perceive the energy emanating from this man.
‘This fellow… is formidable.’
Yet his face was remarkably youthful for such a massive frame.
Beyond merely appearing young—he looked almost childlike.
His expression was as innocent and pure as a boy’s.
“Good person!”
“Yeah, yeah. With that build, why were you just taking hits like that, huh.”
His youthful appearance had caused me to slip into casual speech without thinking.
“If I may ask, how old are you?”
“Good person!”
“…You can stop expressing gratitude now.”
“Good, so good!”
“…”
Dang-gun’s voice came from behind me.
“Elder brother Yang Hwi. Something seems off with his mind.”
“Indeed.”
I looked into the man’s eyes. He cried out again.
“Good person!”
“…Yeah. Thanks. How old are you, anyway?”
“Uh…”
The man flexed and extended his fingers repeatedly, deliberating for a long time.
Growing impatient, I asked again.
“What’s your name?”
A bright, cheerful answer burst forth.
“Adu!”
Adu? Surely not the character for “foolish”…
‘It doesn’t sound like a Buddhist name. Perhaps he’s not from Shaolin.’
Shaolin monks receive dharma names according to their generation, cycling through the characters for wisdom, dharma, skill, precept, martial, and illumination.
“So, Adu, did you come from Shaolin?”
“Yes!”
He has a precept name but no dharma name?
That doesn’t make sense.
“You really came from Shaolin?”
“Yes!”
“Then why were you getting beaten by children here?”
“I was playing with them! The children are kind!”
So he wasn’t being beaten—he was playing with them.
And calling children kind when they swarm together and beat people with sticks?
One thing’s for certain: his mind isn’t entirely sound.
‘Then why did he call me a kind person?’
From his perspective, he was having a good time playing with the children, so I must seem like someone who came and ruined it.
“Why is a Shaolin monk in Taehwa?”
Shaolin is a sect and temple so famous in the Gangho that there’s hardly anyone who doesn’t know of it.
Yet actually seeing a Shaolin monk is like plucking a star from the sky.
They’re locked away in the Shaolin Temple on Mount Song and never venture outside.
Unlike other sects that maintain lay branches under their authority and communicate with the secular world, Shaolin has no lay organization at all.
Unless you visit the Shaolin Temple as an incense guest, there’s no opportunity to see a Shaolin monk.
“Yeah, I’m on a Lotus Journey.”
When disciples of Gangho sects reach a certain level, the sects send them into the world to gain experience.
Shaolin apparently calls this practice a Lotus Journey.
“I see.”
I crossed my arms and fell into thought for a moment.
A chance encounter. There’s potential to exploit this.
But.
‘Touching Shaolin is a hundred, a thousand times more dangerous than swatting a hornet’s nest.’
I could easily make the mistake of overreaching.
It’s better not to get entangled at all.
“Well then, take care. Elder Dang, Elder Brother, let’s go.”
I was turning to leave when—
“Whoa!”
Suddenly my robe was grabbed from behind, and my body staggered.
I almost fell over.
What kind of strength does this guy have?
“What?”
“Kind person!”
“Thanks for the compliment. I should get going now.”
“Since you’re kind, come with me.”
“With me?”
“Yes.”
“You?”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“Because you’re a good person.”
Gu Ak chuckled softly, tossing out the remark as a jest.
“Little brother. It seems the large monk has taken a liking to you.”
Ah. This is becoming troublesome.
“Adu.”
“Yes?”
“Why do you keep following me? Is it that you want to follow anyone who’s a good person?”
“Yes. The big monk said to learn by staying beside good people.”
“Why would I be a good person….”
I trailed off mid-sentence. A sudden realization had struck me.
Now that I thought about it, this boy’s gaze.
‘He’s looking at my dantian.’
“Don’t tell me you can see it?”
“Yes. I can see you’re a good person.”
I see. I’d been wondering why he kept calling me a good person.
My eyes deepened.
This boy had perceived the seon-dan and seon-gi of my dantian.
‘The first time since Eum Hu.’
Even the Jegal Family Head couldn’t perceive what seon-gi and seon-dan truly were.
Yet this boy, despite his large frame and youthful appearance, had sensed the seon-dan.
‘Is it because of Buddhism, and Shaolin at that? Or perhaps….’
Seon-dan and seon-gi were mysteries even to me, with little knowledge to speak of.
In fact, my current situation was precisely why I was trying to enter the Sword King’s Treasury to uncover clues.
‘Getting entangled with Shaolin would become troublesome. Yet I can’t simply leave behind a boy who might hold the key to answers.’
Riiip.
“….”
The hem of my robe that Adu had been holding tore.
He was merely grasping it, yet it wrinkled and then tore completely.
Just how strong was this boy?
“Adu. When fate brings us together again, we’ll meet once more. You understand what that means as a Buddhist, don’t you?”
“Auspicious timing and karmic conditions?”
“Exactly. When there is karma, there will be reunion. So let’s meet again next time.”
“Okay!”
I released my grip on his hand and walked on with my companions.
“….”
“….”
“….”
A sigh escaped me unbidden.
“Adu.”
Adu, who had been following right behind me, broke into a bright smile.
“We meet again. Fate, it seems!”
Following me all this way and now claiming we’ve met again—what nonsense, boy.
At this rate, he’ll probably follow me even into death.
“Hwi, I think it would be better if we traveled together for a while. It troubles me to leave someone whose mind isn’t quite sound alone.”
“You’re right. If we think of it as forging a connection with Shaolin, there’s no harm in it.”
I suppose that’s true enough.
If only we weren’t scheduled to enter the Sword King’s Tomb in a fortnight.
‘For now, there’s no helping it. I’ll find an opportunity later to shake him off.’
“Adu. Will you keep following us?”
“No? I’ll walk with you.”
“That’s the same thing. Fine.”
Somehow, I’d ended up with a large traveling companion.
With his towering height, people’s gazes fixed on us the entire time we walked through the marketplace.
Should I be pleased or displeased by this?
“Brother. Those meat skewers over there look delicious. Buy me some.”
I flicked a silver coin into the air.
“Buy some… wait.”
The silver coin spinning through the air fell not into Chu Dal’s palm but was caught in Adu’s grip.
“What are you doing?”
“Hehehehe.”
Adu gazed at me with bright, sparkling eyes.
Looking only at his eyes and face, he was so cute I’d want to give him pocket money.
But with his head up there, the sense of discord was no joke.
“Don’t you have money?”
“I received alms.”
That wasn’t alms, boy—that was extortion.
I sighed and flicked another silver coin.
Clink!
“…You need two?”
“I’m hungry and want to eat a lot.”
“Fine… buy whatever you want.”
“Thank you!”
Adu moved his massive frame and bounded away with heavy thuds.
-Now’s the moment. Everyone scatter!
I sent a transmission to the group and unfolded my lightness technique with them.
We rushed to the front of Juru in a single breath.
“We meet again. Truly, it is the hand of fate. Is it not?”
My face went rigid.
Adu stood before Juru, his hands laden with pastries and candied fruits.
His lightness technique was skilled enough to catch up with us even after buying all those provisions.
‘This fellow… it’s not just about having abundant inner energy.’
A heavenly gift—a boneless frame.
An amount of inner energy that should be impossible to possess at that age.
And exceptional martial skill on top of that?
‘Could it be…’
In my previous life, during this very period, there was a rumor that swept through the entire Gangho.
A rumor that Shaolin was nurturing a heavenly prodigy—one destined to become the greatest under heaven in generations to come.
I had never met him, as I departed from this world before ever traveling the Gangho, but I did know that Shaolin had been furious at the time.
‘Could it be? Could it really be?’
“Sigh. Let’s head inside first.”
“Right.”
After getting permission from the Juru proprietor, I spread out the food I’d purchased on a table on the first floor.
“Innkeeper, bring us some wine. Your finest, if you please.”
“Yes, yes! How many bottles shall I bring?”
The Tang siblings, Gu Ak, and myself.
Four people in total.
“Four bottles!”
“That will be eight silver taels!”
Watching Chu Dal pout, I smiled wickedly and accepted the wine bottles the innkeeper brought.
‘How long has it been since I’ve had wine?’
Seven years have passed since my return—a full seven years.
And if I count from the perspective of this current body, it’s the first time I’ve tasted it since birth.
“Ah, smell that. Chu Dal, want to take a whiff?”
“Are you making fun of me right now?”
“Then maybe I’m consoling you?”
“Ugh!”
While Chu Dal stuffed the meat skewers he’d bought into his mouth, I carefully poured wine into a cup.
“Elder Dang, Sister Dang, Elder Brother Gu. Let’s share a drink!”
I lightly clinked cups and downed it in one gulp.
An elegant aroma. A taste that clung to the palate.
“Ahhhhh!”
Now this is wine! This is real wine!
In my previous life, I only drank cheap liquor to save every coin.
How long has it been since I’ve tasted something this refined?
“Brother, couldn’t you just give me one cup?”
“Mm-mm.”
“I have three more months until I’m fifteen, three months!”
“No, you can’t drink even after you come of age until your body is complete.”
“….”
I grinned wickedly and picked up a piece of meat as a side dish.
My gaze then fell upon the food Adu was consuming.
‘Not a single piece of meat.’
It was certainly odd for a monk to abstain from meat.
How does he maintain that physique without any meat?
“Monk, would you care to try some?”
“Hm?”
“Ah, Yeon-a, don’t jest like that.”
“Tch, understood.”
It took roughly two hours for all the food we’d brought to vanish completely.
With the alcohol warming our spirits, we ordered more dishes from Juru’s kitchen and passed around another bottle of wine each.
“Ah, I’ll step out for a moment.”
“Young brother, where are you going?”
“To see Sofi.”
I paused briefly as I headed outside.
“What, you’re not following me now?”
Adu grinned brightly.
“Everyone here is a friend. I won’t run away.”
…So he’s not entirely foolish after all?
“Since it’s lonely to go alone, you—Chu Dal, the one who can’t drink alone—come with me.”
“Me?”
“No more talk, just follow.”
I walked along with Chu Dal in tow, my thoughts drifting.
‘Shaolin. Shaolin, is it.’
Ah, what does it matter.
Since I’ve already decided to cause chaos, why not drag Shaolin into the mess as well?
Conveniently, Mount Song, where Shaolin lies, is located in Henan, right above us.
If I set my mind to it, I could reach the Shaolin Temple from here in just four days.
‘Hmm. For now, I’ll proceed with the plan and reconsider later.’
“Chu Dal, follow me.”
With those words, I propelled myself upward.
I bounded across the rooftops in succession before landing atop the highest peak of Juru.
“Greetings, proprietor.”
“Eek, you startled me!”
The proprietor of Juru, who had been attending to paperwork, stumbled backward upon spotting me.
“Steady now, be careful.”
I quickly moved forward, grasped the proprietor’s forearm, and helped him to his feet.
“Sir, esteemed young hero, what brings you here…? If, if it’s money you seek, it’s over there.”
…It seems there must be some bandit faction nearby.
He naturally assumed I’d come to rob him.
Well, when an armed martial artist enters through a window, such thoughts are understandable.
“I apologize for the rudeness. I feared someone might follow if I took the stairs.”
“Th-then what brings you here…?”
The matter was straightforward.
“Tell me where the Hao Sect’s branch is located.”
In that instant, Lu Ju’s face underwent a drastic change.
-Elder brother! Something’s amiss!
“The Hao Sect’s branch, you say. Why do you seek it?”
“There must be a reason. Either you’re selling information, or buying it. One of the two.”
Lu Ju’s hands disappeared beneath the chair.
In that moment, Chu Dal burst forward with lightning speed.
“Where do you think you’re going!”
But Chu Dal never reached Lu Ju.
Yang Hwi had swiftly seized him by the scruff of his neck.
“You fool, didn’t I tell you to stop reading those ridiculous tales?”
“…?”
Lu Ju, who had stiffened at Chu Dal’s sudden outburst, quickly raised both hands.
In them he held a ledger and an abacus.
“Welcome, honored guest!”
“…Huh?”
Yang Hwi regarded Chu Dal, who stood gaping stupidly, with a look of utter contempt.

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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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