Chapter 10 

Who Is the Winner? (5)

In truth, a martial arts manual was not everything when it came to learning martial arts.

No matter how excellent a manual might be, without an appropriate method of training to accompany it, it was like a steamed bun without red bean filling.

That was why the renowned clans and sects of the Central Plains all possessed their own unique training methods.

Only with a training method tailored to the martial art could one achieve proper growth and understand the principles behind the art.

“But Clan Head, we… don’t really have a training method, do we?”

One of the household members around Gwan Hwi’s age raised his hand and asked.

“We didn’t. No—we didn’t have one. But now we do.”

“Really? Was there a training method written in the martial arts manuals you obtained from the cliff?”

“Hmm. You could say that.”

Gwan Hwi had already prepared an excuse for the household members, saying that he had happened to fall from a cliff and obtained the manuals there.

Explaining that while hovering between life and death, he had met Guan Yu in a place called the Middle Heavens, and that a fragment of Guan Yu’s soul had connected itself to his Upper Dantian…

Even Gwan Hwi thought that explanation sounded completely absurd.

‘This isn’t some adventure novel. That story would make me sound like a lunatic.’

Fortunately, the household members believed Gwan Hwi without much suspicion.

After all, the cart was filled with the wealth and weapons he had brought back from the Soul Medicine Hall.

It was difficult not to believe him.

The Gwan Clan Manor’s only martial art, the Azure Dragon Staff Technique, was barely enough to contend with a second-rate martial artist, let alone a first-rate one.

“What you need to learn now are three martial arts manuals. An internal cultivation technique, an external martial art, and a saber technique.”

Strictly speaking, the martial art of the crescent-bladed guandao belonged to saber techniques rather than spear techniques.

Its form was similar to a spear, but unlike a spear, whose techniques included thrusting, its forms consisted entirely of cutting motions like a saber.

It was essentially a weapon that combined the two advantages of a spear’s reach and a saber’s speed.

“Of the three, the first thing you will learn is the external martial art, Red-Transformation Radiant Martial Art.”

“Clan Head, you mean we’re going to learn an external martial art before an internal cultivation technique?”

Gwan Nam-cheon tilted his head in confusion.

Normally, the first thing a person learned upon entering the world of martial arts was an internal cultivation technique.

An internal cultivation technique was a method of gathering the spiritual energy of Heaven and Earth within the lower dantian below the navel, allowing one to manipulate internal energy.

In other words, it was the foundation that allowed a martial artist to perform various arts impossible for ordinary people.

Furthermore, internal cultivation techniques purified the body by removing the turbid energy that naturally accumulated within the human body.

That was why a cultivation technique was more important to a martial artist than almost anything else.

Even young disciples entering the great sects learned internal cultivation techniques first, didn’t they?

“Yes. But if we do things that way, even forty years—no, fifty years—won’t be enough.”

Disciples of the great sects began learning martial arts at around seven years old.

They had to do so in order to become proper martial artists by the age of thirty, when a martial artist could be said to be at the peak of his prime.

But what about the Gwan Clan Manor?

The average age of its members was already somewhere between thirty and forty, yet their martial arts levels were only around the third- or second-rate realm.

If they learned martial arts through the conventional method, they would probably have to reach sixty before becoming first-rate martial artists.

‘They’ll cross the Three Paths of the Underworld before becoming first-rate.’

That was why Guan Yu intended to use a somewhat more extreme and unconventional method.

—We will use the Red-Transformation Radiant Martial Art to create a Heavenly Sacred Bone.

The Heavenly Sacred Bone referred to an artificially cultivated divine skeleton—the human body’s external framework, muscles, meridians, blood pathways, and so forth, transformed through deliberate training.

Wasn’t a body containing every form of energy—extreme yin, extreme yang, the Three Powers, the Five Elements, and Taiji—that could harmoniously practice every martial art called the Heavenly Martial Physique?

Simply put, the Heavenly Sacred Bone was an artificially created, incomplete version of the Heavenly Martial Physique.

‘Is something like that really possible? Creating a Heavenly Martial Physique…?’

—The inner aspect is impossible. But the outer aspect is possible.

The Red-Transformation Radiant Martial Art accelerated the flow of blood, making the body’s physical abilities several times faster.

And accelerated blood circulation also affected recovery and growth.

—Deliberately tear the muscles and break the bones, then repeatedly recover from those injuries.

The human body was like steel being forged by a blacksmith.

The more it was struck, the harder and stronger it became.

By repeatedly destroying and recovering the body without rest, one could eventually develop a physique on an entirely different level from that of an ordinary person.

In other words, one could obtain the Heavenly Sacred Bone.

—Have you prepared what I told you to prepare?

“Yes. The people at the ironworks looked at me like I was insane, but… yes.”

Gwan Hwi gestured to the household members.

Several of them then brought ten enormous cylindrical iron poles out of the warehouse.

They were thick iron pillars, resembling the massive pillar Sun Wukong had used in the Dragon King’s underwater palace.

“Clan Head, what exactly are you planning to do with these?”

“He says we should stand them at suitable intervals around the manor.”

Following General Guan’s instructions, Gwan Hwi had the absurdly large iron poles erected with gaps between them.

“Then what…?”

“…He says we should hit them.”

“What?”

The household members blinked blankly.

Hit them?

Surely he couldn’t mean they were supposed to punch those incredibly solid iron pillars.

—Use both arms and both legs. Strike with your forearms, elbows, knees, head, and every other part of your body.

‘…Is your goal to exterminate the entire clan?’

—What are you talking about?

‘If we do that, I think we’ll all fucking die.’

Gwan Hwi stared awkwardly at the iron pillar before him.

It was so thick that two grown men would have to stretch their arms wide just to wrap them around it.

Trying to ram one’s body into that thing without using internal energy looked like nothing more than a brand-new method of suicide.

—It will be fine if you circulate the Red-Transformation Radiant Martial Art.

‘…? But even if I use it, won’t it still hurt?’

—You will simply become more sensitive to pain than usual.

‘…’

—They say youth is painful.

Hearing a saying that sounded like something old men had come up with, Gwan Hwi let out a short sigh.

‘Let’s just do it. Fine.’

Martial arts training was supposed to involve pain in the first place.

Of course, this particular pain was considerably more extreme and dangerous than normal, but what could he do?

If he wanted to gain great strength, he had to endure it.

“I’ll demonstrate first.”

Gwan Hwi moved the household members behind him and assumed the opening stance of the bare-handed fighting technique he had learned.

In other words, he took the stance of someone preparing for a rough street brawl.

‘But how long do I have to do this? We need some kind of goal.’

—Until you break that iron pillar.

‘…Is that even possible?’

Gwan Hwi suspected he might cross the Three Paths of the Underworld before accomplishing that.

Still, he began circulating the Red-Transformation Radiant Martial Art.

“Let’s give it a try. We’ll see whether the iron pillar dies first or I do.”

Strictly speaking, the iron pillar was already a dead object, so Gwan Hwi was the only one with a death date still approaching.

But he decided not to worry about such technicalities.

After all, the shorter one’s thoughts, the easier life became.

Thud!—Bang!

Gwan Hwi’s skin turned the color of red dates as he moved without rest, hammering the iron pillar.

The skin on his hands and feet peeled away.

The flesh of his forearms split open, and crimson blood spread across the training ground.

The sight was so gruesome that the household members instinctively grimaced.

Yet even as blood sprayed from his body, Gwan Hwi did not stop.

Babababang!

No.

If anything, he began striking the iron pillar much faster than before.

His body was repeatedly destroyed and restored.

The pain he experienced throughout that process caused him to forget every stray thought in his mind, bringing him into a state of selflessness.

The entire world became black.

The only thing visible was the iron pillar before him.

Gwan Hwi felt his fists and feet, which had previously been thrown around in every direction, gradually becoming more precise.

His messy fighting movements became clean.

The speed of his bare-handed attacks gradually increased.

His efficient movements, stripped of unnecessary waste, resembled those of a master boxer who had trained his fists for years.

—This boy…!

Through the fragment of his soul, Guan Yu watched Gwan Hwi and could not conceal his astonishment.

Despite never having read a proper boxing manual even once, the boy was creating his own form of boxing.

Being capable of creating one’s own martial arts manual was proof of the potential to become a Grandmaster.

And put another way…

—As expected, he possessed the Heavenly Martial Physique.

Only now did Guan Yu understand everything.

That absurd physical strength.

The astonishing speed at which he learned martial arts.

His innate talent that allowed him to absorb achievements as naturally as water being sucked into the earth.

There was only one reason all of this was possible.

Gwan Hwi possessed the Heavenly Martial Physique.

‘To think it was caused by the poison…’

Guan Yu had been persuaded by the boy’s explanation and believed that poison was responsible.

But now that he looked at it again, that made no sense whatsoever.

Who could possibly consume poison and gain such monstrous strength and talent?

—Perhaps the poison merely helped awaken the Heavenly Martial Physique.

The Heavenly Martial Physique was an extraordinarily rare constitution, appearing perhaps once every several generations.

Interestingly, however, it did not manifest at birth.

Rather, the Heavenly Martial Physique awakened through some different trigger in each individual.

‘I’ve gained an extraordinary descendant.’

Guan Yu felt goosebumps spread across a body that no longer physically existed.

During his own era, there had been only one person who had displayed overwhelming martial prowess as a possessor of the Heavenly Martial Physique.

The man who had been praised with the saying:

Among men, Lü Bu; among horses, the Red Hare.

The greatest warrior of his age, whom no one dared compare themselves to despite possessing martial arts manuals that were not particularly exceptional.

And now, someone with the same kind of talent stood before Guan Yu’s eyes.

—If this boy fully masters my martial arts…

Guan Yu’s supreme martial arts combined with Lü Bu’s Heavenly Martial Physique.

If those two things were combined, what kind of monster would emerge?

Even Guan Yu, who had existed through countless ages, could not dare imagine it.

—This is going to become interesting.

Excitement began creeping into his voice.

And then—

KRAAAAAANG!

A thunderous explosion erupted, sounding as though dozens of cannonballs had detonated simultaneously.

“…Huh?”

The sound had come from Gwan Hwi’s fist splitting an iron pillar in half.

“…It actually worked.”

Gwan Hwi scratched the bridge of his nose, having succeeded almost by accident.

He had simply swung his fist as though possessed by something.

He had never imagined it would actually work so quickly.

—…I told you it would.

For some reason, Guan Yu’s voice sounded unusually flustered today.

Perhaps it was just Gwan Hwi’s imagination.

“Phew.”

The second son of the Yanmen Zhang Clan, the Shadowless Saber Jang Ryu.

He had come all the way to Yuncheng under orders from the clan head to deal with Gwang Sa-heun.

But now, like a dog that had chased a chicken only to end up staring at the roof, a sigh escaped his lips.

“Damn it. I can’t believe someone else already dealt with him.”

He had been too relaxed simply because Gwang Sa-heun was said to be one of only two first-rate martial artists in Yuncheng City.

If he had headed to Yuncheng immediately after receiving the mission, he might have taken care of him first.

Who would have thought that spending so much time with Yeonhong of the Red Flower Pavilion would lead to this result?

“Can’t be helped.”

The secret order the clan head had given him was to kill Gwang Sa-heun and secretly retrieve a certain “item” in his possession.

He had failed to kill Gwang Sa-heun.

But he absolutely could not fail to recover that item as well.

However, he could not simply go to the master of the Gwan Clan Manor and ask for it.

The retrieval of that item had to be carried out secretly, after all.

‘I’ll have to kill them all.’

It was a tiny clan with only ten household members.

It would be a little troublesome, but cleaning up afterward should not be particularly difficult.

Jang Ryu decided that he would kill them all and then manipulate the circumstances surrounding the incident from behind the scenes.

“Arrogant bastard.”

After downing a cup of white liquor, killing intent shimmered in Jang Ryu’s eyes.

That murderous aura had become almost tangible under the influence of his martial energy, resembling flames blazing in the air.

“In the end, only the victor gets to smile. Let’s see who the winner really is.”

Jang Ryu lifted the corners of his lips into a sinister smile.

In his mind, he could already vividly picture the shabby estate of the Gwan Clan Manor burning until nothing remained but ashes.