Third-rate Martial Family Becomes the Best Under Heaven - Chapter 94

—————
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 094
Was this… really the right call…?
This thought had consumed Gu Ak’s mind throughout the entire climb up the mountain path.
‘No matter how brilliant Elder Brother Yang Hwi’s mind is, to the point where even I can’t fathom his thoughts…’
This didn’t feel right. No matter how I thought about it, this shouldn’t be happening.
Gu Ak recalled the request Yang Hwi had made last night.
“Elder Brother Gu. Go find the Bandits, receive generous hospitality, and subtly leak information about Jang Bo-do before returning.”
“Why can’t Elder Brother Yang Hwi go himself? Why must it be me…?”
“If the righteous hero of Baek Do shows up in person, those bandit bastards will become cautious, won’t they?”
“That’s not true. I don’t think they’d be cautious at all?”
Among those Gu Ak knew, if there was anyone second to none in the art of smooth talk, it was Yang Hwi.
How much must one admire him—back when he was with the Black Blade Gang, his subordinates thought they should learn a thing or two from him.
And this was when he was only eight years old. A mere eight-year-old brat… whose gift of gab was so filthy that even the Black Blade Gang paled in comparison.
And that Yang Hwi had said:
“Ahem. Just look at my appearance. I’m tall and spirited—anyone would mistake me for a righteous hero of an orthodox sect.”
“…”
Gu Ak felt a sense of frustration.
Why? Because he couldn’t refute Yang Hwi’s words.
Indeed, Yang Hwi at fifteen had grown so magnificently that one couldn’t even recall his days as a beggar.
If he kept his mouth shut, he’d look exactly like a promising young successor of Baek Do.
“Hmph. So you’re telling me to go to the Bandits and come back?”
“Yes. Go there acting somewhat like a Black Blade Gang member, receive appropriate hospitality, leak the information appropriately, and return.”
“What if I’m exposed?”
“Your face looks exactly like a Black Blade Gang member, so there’s no need to worry about being discovered.”
I had much to say, but I held it back and asked again.
“…So what if, by any chance, I am exposed?”
“Then… improvise!”
“…”
To summarize, it was like this:
No matter how much you’ve drunk from the well of Baek Do, you were born looking like a Black Blade Gang member, so go pretend to be one and leak information about Jang Bo-do.
Yes, well, that’s all fine.
Since it was a dangerous task, it made sense that he, the only supreme master, would be the one to go.
The only problem was.
“No matter how I think about it, this seems dangerously risky…”
The reason was simple.
What Gu Ak had to accomplish from now on wasn’t merely pretending to be a Black Blade Gang member.
‘…Let me trust him. Elder Brother Yang Hwi has a good head on his shoulders, after all. He must have a plan.’
The one who had been devising all sorts of cunning schemes since childhood was none other than Yang Hwi.
Sometimes he did go a bit overboard, but not this time… surely not…
‘Improvise…’
One of Yang Hwi’s frequent sayings was improvisation.
Indeed, could the task entrusted to me fall outside the realm of improvisation?
…Gu Ak had no confidence….
While thinking such thoughts, I spotted the mountain stronghold in the distance.
It matched the map Yang Hwi had given me.
“Who are you!”
Hearing the bandit on watch duty cry out, Gu Ak checked his outfit once more.
I quietly drew out a mirror and even examined my face.
‘Hmm. Certainly….’
Tiger-striped leather clothes, a thick beard, and a scarred face.
Two axes hanging from my waist as well.
By any measure, I looked like a bandit straight out of a painting.
‘What the hell.’
A true man is born once and dies once—what’s the difference if he dies twice!
Gu Ak tensed his lower abdomen and shouted.
“You? Did you just call me ‘you’!”
Standing alone before the mountain stronghold, I raised my voice instead, and the sentry asked cautiously.
“Might you be…someone of importance?”
Gu Ak shouted as if he’d been waiting for this.
“One of the Ten Heroes of the Green Forest! The Mountain Blood Tyrant, Gu Ak!”
“N-no, the Ten Heroes…!”
“Is he truly one of the Ten Heroes?”
“But why is his name Ak…?”
‘Hmm. Did I choose the alias too carelessly.’
Pretending not to notice, I raised my voice once more.
“Go fetch the fortress master! I have urgent matters to convey, so I’ve come to visit!”
Shortly after, Jang Han with broad shoulders appeared above the wooden palisade.
“You say you’re one of the Ten Heroes of the Green Forest?”
“That’s right.”
“Then speak.”
What I was supposed to say was obvious.
Gu Ak spoke the secret contact phrase Yang Hwi had taught me.
“The mountain birds chirp too loudly, so the great tiger rises.”
“….”
The silent fortress master cried out.
“You bastards! The Ten Hero has graced us with his presence! Why aren’t you opening the gates immediately!”
‘Phew. Fortunately it worked.’
This mountain stronghold was Sam Ho Fortress, ranked last among the seventy-two Green Forest strongholds.
Yang Hwi’s conviction that they wouldn’t know all the aliases of the Ten Heroes due to their low rank proved correct.
‘He said he was confident, but was it really confidence…? It seemed more like just a guess….’
I swallowed my anxiety and forced an arrogant expression onto my face.
To pressure the bandits more effectively, I unleashed the distinctive aura of a peak-stage master as a bonus.
“Samho Bandit Chief! It seems we need to speak privately first. Do you have a suitable place?”
“Of course, Ten Heroes. Please, come this way.”
Following the Samryong Bandit Chief’s guidance, I stepped into the center of the bandit stronghold.
If I’m exposed now, it’s all over.
I’ll end up surrounded by these bandits, taking dozens of sword strikes.
‘Damn it. This is the moment to seize!’
“The Mountain Lord has obtained information that could change the fate of our Green Forest! Therefore, I intend to entrust you, Samryong Bandit Chief, with an important task!”
“An, an important task, you say? What kind of…?”
“Before that. When men of valor converse, there should be wine.”
“I shall bring it at once!”
Having decided to enjoy this situation for now, Gu Ak settled in.

* * *
Exhale on the outbreath, inhale on the inbreath.
Drawing natural qi on the inhalation, I expanded the circulation of the Hwa-cheon-i-won-gong through the Heavenly Circuit.
On the exhalation, I absorbed what could be absorbed and expelled the turbid qi that remained.
“Huuuuh.”
Hwa-cheon-i-won-gong.
One of the two supreme techniques I created directly with Gae-cheon-bak-pal-geom in my previous life.
A divine art containing the enlightenment of the highest transcendence, capable of manipulating even the qi of the heart-mind once the realm advances.
Since reversing the flow of time, I had accumulated inner strength day and night without cease.
Now, with the addition of the Sword Immortal’s spirit core I had obtained by chance, my inner strength approached a full sixty-year cycle.
Based on the fundamental technique of the Samjae Heart Method widely spread throughout the world, this was inner strength that required a full sixty years of cultivation—yet it dwelled within a fifteen-year-old body.
‘Originally, this would have been absolutely impossible….’
Commonly, people believe that more inner strength is always better, but this is wrong.
Everything has its limits. Too much inner strength in an incomplete body becomes a poison.
Therefore, one must emphasize the tempering of the physical form, and the subtlety of the heart-technique in controlling qi is what matters.
Thus, Hwa-cheon-i-won-gong truly deserves to be called a divine art….
“Yang Hwi! Let’s play!”
Adu burst through the door.
The sudden noise destabilized the flow of my qi.
“Hack! Cough!”
After coughing for a long while, I contorted my face in frustration.
“Hey, you bastard! I almost fell into qi deviation!”
“Hehehehe.”
“That’s not praise, you fool!”
Ugh, the flow of qi is still unstable… Damn it!
That was the moment.
Adu had already moved behind me, unleashing a palm strike.
“Immovable Diamond!”
“Ugh! This bastard’s attacking from behind… huh?”
A golden radiance emanating from the palm strike settled into my body.
The instability in my flowing qi vanished.
“….”
‘So this is what Shaolin truly is.’
All martial arts under heaven originate from Shaolin.
There’s a saying that all martial techniques in the world stem from Shaolin.
Other sects call them divine techniques and keep them secret, yet Shaolin possesses seventy-two such secret arts.
‘Shaolin’s seventy-two secret techniques… and among them, the Immovable Diamond Divine Art.’
A technique rumored to be particularly difficult to master among Shaolin’s many inner methods.
To correct the instability of true qi in a single strike means he’s achieved at least the sixth stage.
This foolish boy has mastered the Immovable Diamond Divine Art to the sixth stage at such a young age?
“Yang Hwi! Let’s play!”
“…What are you talking about? Besides, I was in the middle of training.”
“Exactly! So let’s play together!”
“Is training the same as playing?”
“Yes!”
I stared at Adu for a moment.
Still, it would be impossible to achieve that level of mastery at his age without enjoying training like play.
More than that, he’s asking to play together…
“Listen. In a few days, we’re heading somewhere. Will you come with us?”
“Huh? Yeah. If Yang Hwi goes, I want to go too.”
“Do I have no choice?”
“But the head monk told me to follow good people around.”
“….”
Even if I tried to leave him behind, he’d stubbornly follow.
It would be difficult to shake him off while traveling with my companions.
Which means I’ll have to enter the Sword King’s Tomb with him.
“Fine. Let’s play. I’ve been curious about your skills anyway.”
I rose to my feet and leaped out the window, with Adu giggling and following behind me.
Crack!
“Hey! With that massive frame, how could you throw yourself through the window! It’s broken!”
“Whimper. Sorry.”
“With the money to fix that, I could buy a hundred rice cakes!”
“Eek! A hundred?”
I clicked my tongue.
I have a feeling I’m going to end up paying for the repairs.
“Enough. Come at me.”
Juru, which served as a branch of Ha O-mun, had a training ground for martial artists who lodged there.
Yang Hwi drew his sword still in its scabbard and assumed a ready stance.
“Hehe, play. This should be fun.”
Adu bent his legs into a horse stance, placing both fists against his waist.
He showed no signs of attacking first.
“You won’t come at me? Should I go first?”
“Yeah. The Elder told me I shouldn’t play first.”
“Oho. Is that so? I don’t know who this Elder is, but….”
Quite arrogant, isn’t he?
“Then I’ll go first.”
I stepped forward using the Gi-cheon Step to close the distance, then unleashed my sword in the Sauwan-am technique of the Gae-cheon-bak-pal-geom.
That was the moment.
“Tathagata Divine Palm!”
Adu extended a palm strike directly toward my sword tip.
A golden radiant glow emanated from his hand as it drew closer.
No—it was expanding.
…Growing to twice the size of an ordinary adult man’s torso.
“This is insane!”
I hastily drew upon my Hwa-cheon-i-won-gong and even deployed the Bong-ik-myung-jin technique, wildly swinging my blade.
Crash crash crash crash crash bang!
Only after unleashing dozens of sword strikes could I fully dissipate the force contained in that palm strike.
“You bastard!”
Until now, I couldn’t bring myself to curse at the monk, so I’d called him “boy” instead. But now I couldn’t hold back.
“Who pours that much power into a sparring match! I nearly died!”
“Whine. I didn’t put in much.”
“Not much? That was at least thirty years of internal energy!”
“That’s why I said I didn’t put in much.”
“….”
Considering his internal cultivation, thirty years really wasn’t much.
“Sigh. I shouldn’t even bother speaking.”
“Hehe. Let’s go again!”
“That’s enough.”
“Whimper.”
Then a voice came from behind.
“If you ignore his build and just look at his face, he doesn’t seem to have reached twenty yet. Yet his power is extraordinary.”
“Right. I wonder if he can handle it.”
“Well, judging by how he’s standing fine, it seems he can manage, Soga-joonim.”
“Indeed, Gu Daehaep.”
The Tang Siblings and Chu Dal had gathered to watch the two of us.
Yang Hwi shook his head and looked toward Chu Dal.
“See that, Chu Dal? This fellow is living proof of why training is so crucial.”
Chu Dal’s expression showed confusion, so I elaborated further.
“The more thoroughly you temper your body, the larger your vessel becomes, and the more inner force you can contain. Understand?”
A well-trained physique could harbor far greater inner power.
This was precisely why Shaolin, which valued external cultivation more than any other sect under heaven, stood so formidable.
“But Elder Brother, if we spend time training the body, won’t we lack time to build inner force?”
His point wasn’t without merit.
But still.
“The Great Returning Elixir. That’s the answer.”
“Ah.”
“You think Shaolin’s Great Returning Elixir is famous for nothing? There’s a reason behind everything.”
Shaolin possessed the most superior alchemical methods in all the land.
With incense merchants flowing in like a tide and their coffers overflowing, they distributed the Great Returning Elixir—or at minimum, the Lesser Returning Elixir—to nearly all their disciples.
This allowed them to dedicate substantial time to external cultivation.
“Speaking of which, shouldn’t we begin moving soon, Younger Brother Hwi?”
We had already lingered in Juru for ten days.
I had told Jin Geum-bo we would return in fifteen days, leaving us roughly five days of buffer.
“When we factor in the time needed to reach Baek Su-san and locate the entrance, won’t things become rather tight?”
“Elder Dang is right. But there’s one more thing we need to do first.”
“What would that be?”
My eyes deepened with sudden intensity.
“We need to move against the most important piece.”
The Namgung clan. To inflict greater damage upon those bastards.

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