Ultimate Martial Venerable - Chapter 33

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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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Episode 33. Heaven-Born Spirit Warrior
The sound of wind brushing past his ear tore through the darkness.
Light blooming in the distance grew steadily sharper, until at last a blue sky and white clouds filled his entire vision.

“Finally awake.”

The first thing he saw was Hwan Wol’s face.
The way she looked down at him with the corners of her mouth raised seemed far too pleased.

“Sleep another minute and I’d have carried you all the way to Peng Castle.”

Yuk Beom’s body jolted upright by instinct.
The ground beneath his feet gave way.
It wasn’t solid earth but soft feathers, and his unbalanced body tilted sideways as a fierce wind pushed him.

“You’ll fall, fool.”

Hwan Wol grabbed his collar and pulled.
If the weight of the Weaponless Heavy Sword hadn’t anchored him downward, he would have been blown clean away beneath the clouds. Yuk Beom drew up his Fusion Strong Energy, righted his body, and quickly surveyed his surroundings.

Mountain ranges flowed beneath him.

They were riding on a giant creature with a back wider than most mansions. With each stroke of its wings, clouds parted left and right, and distant peaks vanished behind them in the blink of an eye.

“Where are we?” he asked.
“The sky.”

Hwan Wol answered without hesitation.

“I can see that.”
“Then why ask?”

Yuk Beom closed his mouth, and two canine teeth gleamed with satisfaction.

“Don’t worry. I won’t hit you now. I need to wait until you’re fully healed before I collect what you owe me.”

Yuk Myeong’s voice came from behind.

“Now that you’re conscious, sit. You’ve been lying there for a day and a half.”

Yuk Myeong, who had been sitting a short distance away, tossed over a wine pouch and a bundle of meat.

“If you collapse again on an empty stomach, I’m leaving you behind this time.”

Yuk Beom caught the meat and scanned the area once more.

“Where’s Kkamangi?”
“Over there.”

Between the massive feathers, a black shape lay sprawled on all fours, snoring so loudly that each breath cut through the wind.
Only then did his tense shoulders relax.
Hwan Wol didn’t miss the shift.

“Eyes open for one moment and you don’t even ask about yourself—just look for the beast first. So you’ve got more heart in you than I thought?”
“Kkamangi is my companion.”
“What about me?”
“Why should I be the one to decide that?”
“You should at least owe me gratitude when I’ve saved your life.”

Hwan Wol pointed at herself with one finger, lifting her chin.

“From now on, call me Hwan Wol. I opened the path for you and kept you from being dragged off by the Seong Wi Dae — I’ve earned at least that much respect, haven’t I?”

Yuk Beom’s gaze shifted toward Yuk Myeong.
Yuk Myeong caught the unspoken question and nodded.

“I sent Seo-dan flying, and after you passed out, the Seong Wi Dae came swarming in. If this lady hadn’t intervened on the grounds that it was an internal matter of Eosujae, all three of us would be in chains right now.”
“Three? You mean four.”

Hwan Wol gestured toward Kkamangi with her chin.

“Don’t forget that one either.”

Yuk Beom set down the meat he’d been eating.

“Thank you for your help.”
“And you?”
“Thank you, Hwan Wol.”
“Still holding out till the end, are you.”

Her eyes narrowed, but the smile at the corners of her mouth only deepened.

“Fine. I’ll break that stubbornness with my fists later.”

Yuk Myeong took a sip of wine and clicked his tongue.

“You’ve got a gift for making a simple thank-you sound exhausting.”
“Wasn’t the real problem started when you assigned honorifics in the first place?”
“Both of you, quiet.”

Hwan Wol extended her open palm.

“And gratitude shouldn’t end with words. Hand over what you took from the dragon’s nest.”

So her help hadn’t been purely out of goodwill after all.
Yuk Beom paused a moment, then shielded his left hand — the family heirloom token

— from view. He couldn’t let them see him retrieving something from inside the ring.
He turned his body to block their line of sight, then pulled out a small medicine bottle.

“I can’t return that item. I’ll give you this instead.”
“What is it?”
Baek Ryeon Dan

— a grade-five medicinal pill.”

Yuk Myeong reacted first.

“Did Iron Face give you that?”
“Yes.”
“So he set some aside just for you.”

A flicker of envy crossed his eyes, but it didn’t linger. Yuk Myeong quickly brought his wine pouch to his lips, looking away.
Hwan Wol took the bottle and opened the stopper.
After inhaling the fragrance, her expression turned oddly unimpressed.

“Only grade five?”
“If it doesn’t suit you, feel free to give it back.”

Hwan Wol’s hand was faster than the one reaching to retrieve the bottle.
The medicine vial vanished into the red pouch at her waist.

“Who said you weren’t taking it? What could be better for your situation?”
“You just said it was merely a fifth-rank pill.”
“Merely or not, a fifth-rank is still a fifth-rank.”

Hwan Wol patted the pouch at her waist and broke into a wide grin.

“I’ll count this as one-tenth of your debt paid. The rest, you’ll bring to me whenever something valuable comes your way.”
“Are you aware that you’re committing robbery?”
“I am. If you do it without knowing, you’re a clumsy thief. If you do it knowing full well, you’re a skilled one.”

Hwan Wol laughed heartily at the sight of Yuk Beom, rendered speechless.
Yuk Myeong shook his head slowly.

“The two of you match rather well.”
“In what way?”
“The way you both make a nuisance of yourselves.”

Hwan Wol drew up her knees and leaned in close before Yuk Beom.

“Right then. I’ve taken my payment, so the interrogation begins.”
“Who said I was to be interrogated?”
“You did.”

With that firm reply, a finger pointed toward the Weaponless Heavy Sword.

“First: what exactly is that sword? I tried lifting it and couldn’t budge it. You’re barely at the threshold of the Inner Gangjing Realm—how on earth do you swing that thing?”

“It concerns matters of martial technique. I cannot easily explain.”
“Is that so?”

Hwan Wol glanced down at the clouds below.

“Then I’ll just throw it overboard.”
“In that case, I must follow it down.”
“I like that. The road gets quieter.”

Yuk Beom turned to look at Yuk Myeong.

“You really did save this bird because of the sword?”
“A normal Cloud Heaven Sparrow would be driven straight into the ground the moment your sword was loaded onto it.”

Instead of answering, Yuk Myeong tapped the massive feathers beneath his feet.

“This is a Sky-Veiling Sparrow. Among Cloud Heaven Sparrows, it’s the one they call king. Without Miss Hwan Wol, you would never have laid eyes on it.”

Yuk Beom examined the expanse of feathers beneath him once more.
It was large enough that an entire modest village could fit on its back and still leave room. Even a Sky-Veiling Sparrow of such proportions beat its wings more heavily with the Weaponless Heavy Sword aboard than it usually would.
There was nothing for it but to offer a reasonable answer.

“It is a blade that chooses its master through blood. In my hands, its weight feels lighter.”

It wasn’t entirely a lie.
O Jin had remade the Weaponless Heavy Sword and inscribed a Gold Seal into the Ice Heart Meteorite,

and the sword had gone through the ritual of bonding with its owner through blood. Only the actual weight hadn’t diminished.

“I knew it.”

Hwan Wol nodded without suspicion.

“I thought it didn’t make sense that you could lift it when I couldn’t. Fine, second brother.”

This time she gestured toward the sleeping Kkamangi.

“That beast tried to incinerate you at the dragon’s nest. How did you tame it?”
“I rescued it and gave it food.”
“What food?”
“Roasted meat.”

Hwan Wol’s eyes blinked.

“That’s it?”
“That’s it.”
“A beast that only bared its teeth at me for days gave in over a piece of meat?”

Yuk Beom hesitated for a moment.

“It might have been two pieces.”
“Does that matter?”

At her aggrieved outburst, even Yuk Myeong let out a laugh.
Hwan Wol glanced back and forth between Kkamangi and Yuk Beom, muttering as if wronged.

“I gave it pills and laid out good meat too, and yet…….”
“You set traps first, to catch it.”
“Shut your mouth.”
“Next time, try just the meat.”
“You really want to get hit, don’t you.”

As her hand moved toward the Red Short Sword at her waist, Yuk Beom bit into his meat and looked away.
Hwan Wol, who had been glaring at him, let out a long breath.

“One last question. Spirit Beast Fusion—

where did you learn it?”
“What is that?”
“……What?”
“I’ve never heard of it.”

Hwan Wol froze, her mouth half-open.
Yuk Myeong, watching from the side, couldn’t hold back and cut in.

“At the inn, Kkamangi came into your arms. You unleashed a black dragon and drove Seo Dan into the floor.”

The fragmented memories finally connected.
The pattern of a black dragon moving across his skin. Flames wrapping around his arms. A tremendous force that was his own yet not entirely his own.

“So that was Spirit Beast Fusion.”

“You didn’t even know that?”

Hwan Wol pressed her temples between both palms.

Man Su Gak—

what is it?” she asked.
“I don’t know.”
“Spiritual Beast,

then?”
“I’d never heard of it until just now.”
“And you’re telling me you performed Spirit Beast Fusion

without any instruction?”
“Apparently, that’s what happened.”

Hwan Wol fell silent for a while, then reclined against Cha Cheon-jak’s back.

“The world may be unfair, but there are limits.”

Yuk Myeong rarely sided with her, but this time he did.

“I’m beginning to resent the fact that we’re even in the same family.”
“What did I do wrong?” Yuk Beom asked.
“The way you ask that question—that’s the problem.”

Hwan Wol pushed herself upright again.

“Listen carefully. Among wild beasts,

there exist special beings capable of pooling power with humans—we call them Spiritual Beasts. Spirit Beast Fusion is the method by which a Spiritual Beast and a martial artist become one body and draw out that power.

Her eyes, which had seemed detached moments before, sharpened as she began her explanation.

“Not just any wild beast will do. A martial artist also needs inborn aptitude and proper training technique, or they can’t even attempt it. If the bond forms incorrectly, both their meridians can tear—and either one of you dies.”

Yuk Beom looked at sleeping Kkamangi.
They had never learned from each other, never made any pact. In the moment death was upon them, Kkamangi had bitten his hand, and the two forces became one of their own accord.

“Then how did Kkamangi and I succeed?” Yuk Beom pressed.
“How should I know?”

Hwan Wol raised two fingers.

“Two possibilities. Either you were born with absurd talent, or Kkamangi is special enough to achieve fusion on its own instinct.”
“It could be both, couldn’t it?”
“Ambitious, aren’t you?”

She let out a soft snort, then flicked Yuk Beom’s forehead with two fingers.

“A person who achieves Spirit Beast Fusion without any training method—Man Su Gak calls them a Heaven-Born Spirit Warrior.

It means something beyond genius. It also means you’re closer to a demon than a human.”

“So it’s a compliment, isn’t it?” Yuk Beom ventured.
“Your luck is what’s extraordinary.”

Hwan Wol’s finger pointed toward Kkamangi.

“That beast is remarkable, or so it seems.”
“Then we ought to determine who’s more remarkable.”
“And what good would that do?”
“If I’m more remarkable, I’ll train harder. If Kkamangi is, I’ll simply feed him more meat.”

Kkamangi’s mouth curled upward as if he’d heard even in his dreams, and his tail flicked once.
Hwan Wol’s face twisted in disbelief.

“This is absurd. Did that beast just laugh?”
“He listens well when meat is mentioned.”
“So if I feed meat to a Spiritual Beast, will one follow me too?”

Yuk Beom answered with complete seriousness.

“Go into the mountains and try roasting meat continuously.”
“Enough. Talking with you makes me feel like a fool.”

Hwan Wol turned away and settled herself at a distance.

“I’m going to train, so don’t bother me. And once I’m fully healed, don’t forget I’m collecting what you owe me.”
“But you just received the Baek Ryeon Dan.”
“You said it was only a tenth of the debt!”

Her shout carried far through the clouds.
Yuk Myeong rose from his seat as well.

“Even I’m losing strength just listening. At Cha Cheon-jak’s speed, we should arrive at Peng Castle by tomorrow.”
“Yuk Myeong.”

The retreating figure stopped.

“I was grateful just now.”

Yuk Myeong didn’t turn around.

“If you die, someone will have to retrieve the Family Seal for me.”
“Is that all?”
“If you want to hear more, try fainting again.”

Despite the cold words, his pace quickened slightly.
Yuk Beom smiled faintly and moved to Kkamangi’s side.
The beast’s breathing was steady, but his small frame still radiated no strength. When Yuk Beom stroked his head, one black ear twitched.
The Spirit Beast Fusion

had left him exhausted as well.
Yuk Beom settled into the Five Hearts to Heaven posture

and began channeling the Blazing Gold Body. The Heaven-Earth Force

drawn in by the Family Seal moved slowly through his wounded meridians and flesh.

He had to restore his body to perfect condition before arrival.
A new competition awaited at the Martial Arts Academy—one that didn’t end with admission.
After a day had passed, Cha Cheon-jak’s wingbeats slowed.
Yuk Beom woke from his training and looked down below the clouds.
At the edge of a vast plain, an enormous fortress wall rose into view. Two characters carved above the gate were clear even from this distance.
Peng Castle.

Peng Castle
.
Hwan Wol rose first, stretching both arms overhead.
​
“We’re finally here. Yuk Beom, don’t even think about running. The moment we step into the Academy, you’ll be the first person I come looking for.”
​
Beside her, Yuk Myeong adjusted his clothes.
​
“Get through the entrance selection first, then you can brag. If we both fail, we won’t even be worth laughing at.”
​
Yuk Beom rose slowly, cradling the sleeping Kkamangi in his arms.
Beyond the distant castle walls, a vast mountain range stretched across the horizon.
Somewhere in that expanse lay the Martial Arts Academy.
​
“We’ve arrived.”
​
Four days since leaving Ganglim Castle.
At last, a new stage unfolded before his eyes.

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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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