That’s Not How You Use Martial Arts

Chapter 1
Even the Greatest Techniques Start from the Bottom (1)

『 Translator – Divinity 』

It had already been 10 years since that day when I first tried to explain lightness skills and sword qi to a passing escort in our village, only to be met with ridicule.

During those long 10 years, I, Gun Ja-seong, the youngest son of the Gun family, had obtained a fateful encounter and became a peerless master who could split the heavens and shake the earth… my ass.

“Hah! Hah! Yah!”

I was stuck in the only martial arts school in our village, Cheonpung Martial Arts School, practicing downward strikes with a wooden sword.

“Hahaha, you’re very diligent today as well. Of course, that’s only natural for the proud chief disciple of our Cheonpung Martial Arts School.”

I turned my head at the familiar voice coming from afar.

There I saw Bae Wang-sam, the owner of this Cheonpung Martial Arts School and my martial arts master.

He claimed to have been a renowned master in the murim in his younger days, but honestly, I couldn’t quite believe it.

I mean, even his name was a bit off. Wang-sam? What kind of name is Wang-sam?

It was a name that suited an extra like an innkeeper or a waiter, not a master.

Since I had no faith in my master, it was only natural for my attitude to be lackadaisical.

“You’re here?”

“Hmm, you’re speaking with that disrespectful tone again. No matter how much I beat you, it doesn’t get fixed.”

“Don’t you think it’s wrong to hit a child when you’re a grown adult?”

“I don’t. A disrespectful brat needs to be taught manners even if it means hitting them.”

“And what about our little one looking at her senior brother like he’s her enemy? Doesn’t that bother you at all?”

I looked at the smaller of the two children trailing behind my master.

It was Chu Ha-ryeong, the youngest disciple of this Cheonpung Martial Arts School and my junior.

The little girl, not even ten years old yet, had been glaring at me since she started talking with Master, and now she was outright scowling.

Well, it was just adorable.

When I grinned and waved my hand, she turned her head away so quickly it almost made a whooshing sound.

Hmm, what a cute kid.

“What do you want me to do with that little one? Hit her like you?”

“…”

I looked at my master with the same expression I would give to garbage.

“What’s with that look in your eyes?”

“What about my eyes?”

“You’re looking at me like I’m a dirty maggot, not your master.”

“No way. How could a disciple look at their master like that?”

You’re quick-witted.

You’re truly a peerless master when it comes to reading between the lines.

***

After the individual training of swinging the wooden sword, what followed was a beating disguised as sparring.

“Kweeeek!”

“I hear a pig getting slaughtered somewhere!”

I failed to dodge the thrust aimed directly at my throat and took the hit head-on.

For a moment, I choked and collapsed, gasping for air. Without a moment’s hesitation, the follow-up attack came.

“Uwaaaah?!”

A roll to the side.

I barely managed to evade the attack by using the technique commonly called the Lazy Donkey Roll, a movement technique that murim people desperately avoid using to save face.

“Hahaha-! You’re as quick as a rat!”

“What do you mean, ‘rat’ to your disciple!?”

I protested vehemently and got up, launching a counterattack.

Two years after entering the school, I had finally managed to form a dantian through the third-rate cultivation technique of this third-rate martial arts school.

I channeled a portion of the internal energy accumulated in my dantian to the soles of my feet and released it in a short, powerful burst.

“Oh!”

Master’s eyes gleamed as he saw me spring forward and swing my wooden sword at close range.

I thrust my wooden sword, aiming for the center of his throat as if to avenge the earlier attack, but my ambitious thrust missed pathetically.

Crack!

“Ouch!”

And then, an intense pain in my head.

I clutched the top of my head and collapsed.

“Kuuuuh…!”

Tears welled up involuntarily from the pain, and I trembled. Then, a merciless beating began, targeting my entire body.

“Ouch! Ouch! Wai-, wait! Stop! You son of a bi—!”

“Ahem! How dare you swear at your master who’s like the heavens!”

Master, who usually laughed off my disrespectful remarks, couldn’t tolerate profanity, it seemed.

I had no choice but to curl up and endure the onslaught of the wooden sword, which felt stronger and faster than usual.

In the end, today’s sparring also ended in my defeat.

“Ugh…”

After the beating disguised as sparring was finally over, I lay on the training ground, groaning in pain.

“Damn, how can he beat a child so mercilessly? Is he even human?”

There wasn’t a single spot on my body that didn’t hurt because I had been thoroughly beaten all over.

If I turned to this side, that side hurt, and if I turned to that side, this side hurt.

But there was one strange thing. Once this pain subsided, I felt strangely refreshed.

Could this be the legendary chu-gung-gwa-hyeol (pushing through the meridians and acupoints)?

“…Nah, no way.”

There was no way the master of a third-rate martial arts school in the countryside could use such a high-level technique.

Scoffing at the absurd thought, I groaned from the pain that still lingered in my body.

“Ow, ow, ow…”

Since any movement caused pain, I simply lay still and looked up at the sky.

The sky was already dyed crimson by the setting sun.

It was a sunset I had seen for 15 years now, but it felt new every time.

In my previous life, I had never properly watched a sunset because I was too busy and thought it was a waste of time.

That’s why I didn’t know. This beautiful color.

“You haven’t quit today either, huh?”

While I was lost in admiration of the sunset, a cold voice struck my ears.

Groaning, I lifted my head and saw an expressionless girl squatting beside me.

It was Jang Seol-ran, the second disciple of Cheonpung Martial Arts School and my junior.

Even though I had seen her face for years, I was still startled by her snow-white, adorable face every time I saw her.

A face that made me truly anticipate her future in a few years, you could say?

Of course, right now, she was just an arrogant little kid.

“Kid, stop nagging and go. This senior brother is tired.”

“Who’s your junior? I can’t acknowledge you as my senior.”

“What if you don’t acknowledge me? Master acknowledged me as the chief disciple.”

“Which disciple in the world treats their master like that?”

“Me.”

“If you’re going to act like that, then leave the school right now.”

Her criticizing me for my attitude towards Master was all just an excuse.

She had been eager to kick me out ever since I first entered the school.

It seemed like she really didn’t like me.

Well, what was she going to do if she didn’t like me? Kick me out?

The only income this school had was my tuition.

Wouldn’t they starve tomorrow if they didn’t have my tuition?

Simply put,

“Yeah, you can’t do anything.”

“What’s with that tone…”

A crack appeared in her expressionless face.

I didn’t miss that moment and continued to provoke Seol-ran.

“Are you angry now? Super pissed? Want to kill me?”

“……”

“Yeah~ You can’t kill me, can you? Pissed again?”

“…Grrr.”
“You can’t do anything, can you? You can’t do anything, can you?”

Kwaang!

I dodged the little girl’s foot, which was trying to stomp on my head, and retreated a good distance.

“Kyakya! You’re just angry, aren’t you? Nya nya nya nya nya~”

“…Stay there!”

In the end, I climbed onto the wall of the martial arts school to escape the little girl who had completely lost her temper and exploded.

It was a height more than twice my current height, but with a little bit of internal energy, this much was easy.

“This…!”

However, unlike me, our little girl was small and hadn’t even formed a dantian yet.

In other words, she had no way to catch me.

“Yep~ Can’t do anything, can you? Kyahaha—!”

With a laugh that even I found annoying, I jumped over the wall.

Then, from inside the school, the little girl’s scream rang out—

—Aaaagh!

“Pffft…!”

Ah, today was fun too.

Well, she shouldn’t have made that cold expression at the tender age of ten.

It just makes me want to ruin that expression.

***

“Aaaagh!”

Inside Cheonpung Martial Arts School.

Bae Wang-sam, the owner of the school, along with his third disciple, Chu Ha-ryeong, shook their heads as they watched his second disciple, Jang Seol-ran, fuming with anger.

“To think I’d see Seol-ran like this. It’s a sight to behold.”

“Even I would be mad if that happened to me.”

Unlike her master who took it lightly, Ha-ryeong had a complicated expression.

She was displeased with Ja-seong, who was disrespectful to their master and teased Seol-ran.

But at the same time, she felt a little sorry.

“…Until when are you going to let that person stay in the school? This is a peaceful countryside village unrelated to the murim, so why… someone who has nothing to do with it…”

Ha-ryeong, with an expression too gloomy for a child who wasn’t even ten years old, said something cryptic to Wang-sam.

Looking down at her, Wang-sam made a bitter face.

“You know well, don’t you? Those who chase us are big and powerful. We can’t let our guard down for a moment. That’s why we put that guy, who doesn’t know our circumstances, forward as the chief disciple to divert their attention.”

Wang-sam and his two disciples had a personal story.

That personal story was quite dangerous and grim, so disguising themselves as a third-rate martial arts school in the countryside wasn’t quite enough to ease their anxiety.

That’s why, when Ja-seong first knocked on the school’s door, they thought it was a stroke of luck.

Although it felt uncomfortable to use a clueless boy, thanks to him, their disguise became even more convincing.

“…But you’re not teaching him proper martial arts.”

“Then what can I do? Should I teach him my secret techniques? That alone would increase the risk of us being exposed to them.”

“…”

Ha-ryeong closed her mouth at Wang-sam’s words.

As mentioned before, the reason Wang-sam accepted Ja-seong as a disciple was solely to divert attention from the outside.

In this situation, what if Wang-sam taught Ja-seong his secret techniques, and someone recognized those techniques?

Then, something truly terrible would happen.

Not only this Cheonpung Martial Arts School, but the entire village might get caught up in a bloodbath.

Therefore, Wang-sam taught Ja-seong third-rate martial arts commonly found on the streets instead of his own techniques.

While trying to convince himself that it couldn’t be helped, Wang-sam couldn’t help but feel sorry for Ja-seong.

‘What a waste. That talent that created a dantian in just two years with a third-rate cultivation technique. If nurtured properly, he would become an outstanding martial artist…’

Usually, it took at least four years to form a dantian with a third-rate cultivation technique.

But Ja-seong formed his dantian in half that time, just two years.

No matter how much he helped smooth the flow of Ja-seong’s meridians through beatings disguised as training, it would have been impossible without talent.

Moreover, the movements Ja-seong showed during the spar earlier…

The movement technique he used to suddenly accelerate and close the distance in an instant was truly amazing.

And how about jumping over a wall twice his height just now?

Since he hadn’t taught him that, Ja-seong must have developed it himself.

A young boy of merely coming of age creating a new movement technique?

At least Wang-sam had never heard of such a thing.

“Such a waste, such a waste…”

That’s why it was even more regrettable.

The reality that he couldn’t teach Ja-seong proper martial arts,

And the fact that a boy with such great talent was obsessed with the futile delusions of lightness skills and sword qi.