Chapter 5

I Obtained Guan Yu’s Martial Arts

Gwan Hwi (5)

The Hall Master of the Poison Refinery Hall, Gwang Sa-heun.

He was a first-rate master known by the alias Soul Poison Saber.

His weapon was a black Guan Dao.

Because poison had been applied to the edge of his Guan Dao, it emitted a green sheen when struck by light, earning it the name Green-Moon Saber.

‘Hmm.’

Gwang Sa-heun stroked his short, bushy beard as he gazed out through the wide-open window.

A glint flashed in his eyes as he stared at the young man disguised with crude transformation arts.

“What the hell is he doing?”

He could tell at a glance that the young man wasn’t one of his subordinates.

However, he still had no idea who the man really was.

That was partly because of the disguise, but there was another reason.

None of his subordinates possessed that kind of innate physical strength.

“Just when I was getting bored. This works out nicely.”

Even though an unidentified man had infiltrated the Poison Refinery Hall’s estate, there wasn’t a trace of panic in Gwang Sa-heun’s eyes.

On the Black Path, things like infiltration and intrusion were as commonplace as eating three meals a day.

“If you happen to kill all those bastards too, I’d have nothing left to wish for.”

Killing intent gathered in Gwang Sa-heun’s eyes as he looked at his subordinates.

He hadn’t told them, but the Poison Refinery Hall—which manufactured narcotics and poisons—was nearing the end of its lifespan.

The government forces pursuing the Poison Refinery Hall had finally closed in to their doorstep.

The sect sold narcotics and poisons indiscriminately to commoners and martial artists alike, and even conducted human experimentation without hesitation.

‘If we’re going to collapse soon anyway…… it would be better if I were the only one to survive.’

The Poison Refinery Hall currently possessed around three hundred nyang of silver in total.

One nyang of silver was enough to feed a commoner’s family for a month, so that was quite a substantial sum.

‘But if I divide it up, there won’t be much left.’

Gwang Sa-heun had no desire to split the money with the members of the Poison Refinery Hall.

He would have to flee Yunseong City to escape the government forces and start a new life somewhere else.

He didn’t know how much money it would take or how long it would take, so giving away any of his wealth to his subordinates felt like he was literally cutting out his own flesh.

‘Tsk. But I can’t simply refuse to give them anything.’

No matter how powerful Gwang Sa-heun was—one of the two strongest masters in Yunseong City—he couldn’t easily fight and defeat dozens of subordinates at once.

As they say, numbers make even the strongest helpless.

Even if he did win, he would undoubtedly suffer considerable injuries, and his reputation would hit rock bottom, making it difficult to survive in the Black Path afterward.

‘And if I run away without giving them any money, those vicious bastards will chase me for the rest of my life.’

He wasn’t afraid of dozens of Black Path bastards chasing after him with foam at the mouth, but it would certainly be troublesome.

So, whether he liked it or not, he had no choice.

He would have to divide up the money while crying tears of blood.

Unless someone else killed every last one of those bastards for him.

“……!”

At that moment, Gwang Sa-heun’s eyes widened until they seemed ready to tear apart.

The young man using the crude disguise had poisoned and killed every single member of the hall!

“Kehehe…… KHAHAHAHA!”

Even though the subordinates who had been with him for years had died, Gwang Sa-heun burst into wild laughter.

They had died at exactly the most opportune moment!

It was as though Heaven itself was helping him.

“Hehehe. So this is what it feels like to get your nose blown without lifting a finger.”

The people he had wanted dead had conveniently been killed for him.

Could there possibly be anything better than this?!

“KHAHAHAHA!”

Even as the subordinates who had been with him for more than a decade were brutally slaughtered, Gwang Sa-heun laughed and laughed.

“Then I only have to deal with one bastard, and it’s over.”

Shing—

Gwang Sa-heun gripped his treasured weapon tightly.

Completely unaware that this would be his final battle.

---

CLANG!

Iron struck iron, sending yellow sparks flying in every direction.

The air was thick with the metallic smell of steel, as though they were fighting inside a blacksmith’s forge, while flashes of sparks erupted all around them.

“Hooh? You’re pretty good.”

A sinister smile curled across Gwang Sa-heun’s lips.

This was already their twentieth exchange.

The young man was barely managing to deflect his Guan Dao with crude movements, surviving by the skin of his teeth.

‘Strange. He’s actually holding out.’

Judging from the way he swung the Guan Dao, his technique was utterly clumsy.

At first glance, he seemed to be somewhere between third-rate and second-rate.

And yet, strangely enough, he was deflecting every attack.

His skill with the blade was poor, but his reflexes were extraordinarily sharp.

‘And his strength is no joke either.’

The Guan Dao he had given the young man was made entirely of iron, from the shaft to the blade.

Its weight alone was considerable, making it difficult to wield.

Even someone like Gwang Sa-heun, who was exceptionally skilled with a Guan Dao, could barely wield an iron weapon like this.

Yet the young man handled it as lightly as a pair of wooden chopsticks.

That meant his raw strength surpassed even Gwang Sa-heun’s.

‘If he’d been properly trained, he could have become an outstanding master.’

Gwang Sa-heun sensed Gwan Hwi’s talent each time their Guan Daos clashed.

But that was all it was.

Talent.

A flower that had yet to bloom.

“Your strength is extraordinary. But fighting isn’t about strength.”

CLANG!

Gwang Sa-heun knocked Gwan Hwi’s shaft aside, then slid his grip upward and held the Guan Dao like a saber rather than a spear.

Slash!

He immediately drew the blade diagonally across Gwan Hwi’s chest.

“……Kgh!”

The front of Gwan Hwi’s clothes was sliced open as he staggered backward and widened the distance.

He had barely avoided being injured, but it had been an extremely dangerous moment.

He had nearly been cut in half.

“Fighting isn’t about strength or talent. It’s about skill, brat.”

With a sinister smile, Gwang Sa-heun charged.

He stepped on Gwan Hwi’s toes to restrict his movement while simultaneously bringing the Guan Dao down vertically.

“……!”

Gwan Hwi hurriedly raised his Guan Dao horizontally to block.

Whoosh!

But as though he had anticipated even that movement, Gwang Sa-heun curved the trajectory of his Guan Dao like a snake, aiming not for Gwan Hwi’s crown but his shoulder.

Slash!

The edge of the black Guan Dao grazed Gwan Hwi’s shoulder, and crimson blood began to flow.

CRACK!

Gwan Hwi barely leaned his shoulder backward to avoid a fatal wound, only to take a kick to the abdomen and tumble across the floor.

‘Damn it.’

He had fought desperately, but he couldn’t see any chance of victory.

As expected, the wall separating first-rate masters from everyone below them was simply too high.

‘What should I do?’

It was at that moment, when he couldn’t see any way to defeat his opponent—

—Raise it vertically.

“……?”

At Guan Yunchang’s sudden command, Gwan Hwi instinctively swung his Guan Dao diagonally.

KLANG!

Gwang Sa-heun’s black Guan Dao collided with Gwan Hwi’s silver one, sending yellow sparks flying in every direction.

—Stab toward his chest, then pull back and rotate your body.

Following the voice in his head, Gwan Hwi thrust his Guan Dao and spun his body.

Then—

“Gah?!”

Gwang Sa-heun, who had been relentlessly pressing Gwan Hwi until now, took his first step backward.

Gwan Hwi’s Guan Dao had accurately targeted only the openings in his opponent’s technique, as though he already knew Gwang Sa-heun’s saber style.

—Use the force generated by your body’s rotation and swing the blade horizontally.

“Like this?”

Whoosh—

Using his right foot as the axis, Gwan Hwi rotated his body a full turn and swung his Guan Dao in a wide horizontal arc.

“……!”

Gwang Sa-heun raised his own Guan Dao horizontally to block the incoming strike, augmented by the rotational force.

CRUNCH!

His black Guan Dao, whose blade was forged from iron, instantly crumpled and shattered.

And then—

Slash!

Gwan Hwi’s Guan Dao, carrying the force of his rotation, didn’t stop there.

It cleaved Gwang Sa-heun’s body cleanly in half.

Gwan Hwi’s innate physical strength.

The power of Scarlet Transformation Radiant Martial Arts (赤化光武), which accelerated his body.

And the result of combining those with a perfectly executed strike that lost none of its force.

That was what had produced this outcome.

“Khak……”

Gwang Sa-heun couldn’t even scream properly as he fell to the floor.

THUD!

His head struck the ground and his body rolled once.

From his final gaze, he could still see his own legs standing rigidly in place, as though they themselves couldn’t believe reality.

‘This is impossible.’

The man who had been swinging his Guan Dao like a third-rate martial artist only moments ago—

How?!

It was a situation so absurd that even seeing it with his own eyes, Gwang Sa-heun couldn’t believe it.

His face frozen in shock, Gwang Sa-heun breathed his last.

“……”

Gwan Hwi’s eyes trembled.

‘I defeated Gwang Sa-heun.’

He couldn’t believe it.

Soul Poison Saber Gwang Sa-heun was a first-rate master and one of the two strongest martial artists in Yunseong City.

Yet that very man had become a cold corpse without even being able to properly display his martial arts.

And he had died at the hands of Gwan Hwi—a third-rate martial artist and the head of a third-rate martial clan.

“Haha.”

Gwan Hwi’s hands trembled violently.

It felt as though an earthquake were occurring in his palms.

Was it regret?

‘No. The opposite.’

The emotion surging from the depths of Gwan Hwi’s chest was exhilaration.

The exhilaration of taking revenge on the piece of trash who had turned an entire year of sacrifice into nothing.

It was like the release of something that had been bottled up for decades.

‘One year.’

Gwan Hwi raised his foot.

“Let’s end this miserable connection here.”

CRUNCH!

Gwan Hwi brought his foot down and crushed Gwang Sa-heun’s head.

Breaking a person’s skull with nothing but the strength of one’s foot was an extremely difficult feat.

But for Gwan Hwi, who possessed extraordinary innate physical strength, it was easy.

“Hoo.”

After smashing his head, the emotions that had remained inside Gwan Hwi seemed to finally dissipate.

His chest felt completely clear, with nothing left weighing on him.

Was this what they meant by tying up a loose end?

—Hoh. I didn’t expect you to win this easily. Impressive.

The General’s astonished voice echoed inside his head.

“What?!”

Gwan Hwi widened his eyes in confusion.

You didn’t expect this?

He had only won because he followed every instruction!

—I thought the battle would last a little longer. I miscalculated your strange strength.

“Ah, is that so?”

Gwan Hwi looked down at his own hand with a somewhat awkward expression.

He still couldn’t quite believe that his innate physical strength had grown even stronger after a year of poisoning.

—The technique I just taught you is a technique called Moonlight Heaven-Splitting (月華破天).

“Moonlight Heaven-Splitting…… So it means that a blade’s radiance, like moonlight, cuts through the heavens.”

Perhaps because the name suited what he had just performed so well, Gwan Hwi found himself rather fond of the technique.

“If it weren’t for this technique, I would’ve died. Thank you.”

—Your innate talent played a large part as well. No matter how I look at it, you are truly a Heaven-born—

“Hmm? Wait a second!”

A thought suddenly occurred to Gwan Hwi, and he hurriedly shouted.

“Th-Then, could this be……?”

Gwan Hwi’s pupils trembled violently in shock.

The word technique meant that this was one of the formulas contained within a martial arts manual, didn’t it?

Which meant……

—Yes. It is the first technique of my personal martial art, Heavenly Extremity Cloud-Destroying Saber (天極雲滅刀).

“……!!”

A shudder unlike anything Gwan Hwi had ever experienced before shook him to the very depths of his bones.

A hero of the age.

The greatest general of his era, who had virtually no equal.

Guan Yu, Yunchang.

His martial arts—too extraordinary to be adequately described even as peerless—were now being passed down, hundreds of years later, to his descendant, Gwan Hwi.

---

“Uff.”

Gwan Hwi pulled a cart loaded with goods as he left the estate of the Poison Refinery Hall.

—Why are you taking things that belong to those heretics?

A voice filled with confusion echoed inside his head.

It was because Gwan Hwi had loaded the cart with the Poison Refinery Hall’s medicines, poisons, money, and valuables.

“This is all money, General. If we leave it behind, someone else will pick it up. I can’t stand the thought of that.”

Those damn bastards from the Poison Refinery Hall had possessed more than three hundred nyang of silver.

They had that much money and still caused such a mess because they couldn’t bear to part with a mere hundred nyang.

If any of them were still alive, Gwan Hwi felt like splitting their heads open with a Guan Dao.

“With this money, I can pay off all our debts and even restart the clan.”

A clan was much like a delicate living organism.

It required enormous amounts of money, the strength to withstand pressure from outside, and the power to exert influence over those around it.

And beyond those things, there were countless other little necessities.

That was what a clan required.

But the Gwan Estate currently possessed none of them.

It was called a clan, but in truth, it was at the level of nothing more than the Gwan family’s household.

“With this money, I’ll establish businesses, bring our family members back, and rebuild the clan properly.”

At present, there were only ten people living in the Gwan Estate, including Gwan Hwi himself.

But if one asked whether only ten descendants of Guan Yu’s bloodline existed, the answer was no.

‘They’re simply scattered because there’s no central clan to gather around.’

They had scattered across the Central Plains, each seeking their own means of survival.

Yet people bearing the Gwan surname and sharing the same blood still remained throughout the Central Plains.

To gather them all through the Gwan Estate and build the clan into one that could never fall.

That was Gwan Hwi’s lifelong goal.

His lifelong regret and ambition.

Just as his father, grandfather, and countless ancestors before him had wished.

—That’s an excellent plan. So what will you do first from here on?

Gwan Hwi’s eyes sparkled at those words.

He had already decided what he needed to do first back in the damn underground cavern of the Poison Refinery Hall.

“The very first thing I need to do is incredibly simple.”

Veins bulged across Gwan Hwi’s tightly clenched fist.

—Indeed. You are a fine clan head.

Guan Yunchang spoke with a satisfied voice.

From the moment he met Guan Yu to the complete destruction of the Poison Refinery Hall—

Everything had happened in a whirlwind, crashing over him like waves.

Normally, he should still be processing everything and reviewing what had happened.

Yet he had already devised his next plan.

It was truly the image of an exemplary clan head.

—Now, tell me. What brilliant plan have you come up with?

Filled with anticipation, Guan Yunchang waited for his answer.

Gwan Hwi puffed out his chest with an expression brimming with confidence.

“First, let’s grab ourselves a bowl of rice!”

—…….

Yunchang squeezed his eyes shut.