That’s Not How You Use Martial Arts

Chapter 6
The Circumstances of Cheonpung Martial Arts School

『 Translator – Divinity 』

A white light sliced through the darkness of the night.

I immediately drew my sword and deflected the light.

Clang!

The light bounced off helplessly and thudded into the ground.

Narrowing my eyes to see what it was, I found it to be a thin, metal needle.

It was quite thick for medical use.

Moreover, it had been thrown directly at me.

“…An assassin?”

Could it be that it wasn’t a guest but an intruder?

As I circulated my internal energy and expanded my senses, the hidden presence became clearer.

The figure was clad in black, with their face covered by a mask.

But those curves… a woman?

While I was momentarily surprised by the fact that the opponent was a woman, another needle flew towards me.

This time, three white lights came almost simultaneously.

Focusing my vision, I deflected two of them with a wide swing of my sword.

Just before the last one, which I couldn’t deflect, could pierce my shoulder, I raised the scabbard and successfully blocked it.

The masked figure’s eyes widened in surprise, seemingly astonished that all the attacks had been blocked.

I didn’t know who they were, but I wasn’t foolish enough to just stand there and be attacked one-sidedly.

Assuming the thrusting stance of Sage Pointing the Way, I dashed towards the female assailant before she could throw another hidden weapon—

“Wait!”

…But I couldn’t.

The door to the main building suddenly opened, and my youngest junior sister, Chu Ha-ryeong, stepped between me and the assailant.

“Junior Sister Chu? Why are you stopping me… Do you know each other?”

“Yes. I apologize on behalf of her for the rudeness towards Young Master Gun. Please sheathe your sword.”

…Somehow, Junior Sister Chu’s way of speaking was very unfamiliar.

She always hated calling me “Senior Brother,” but suddenly addressing me as “Young Master” felt very distant.

“…Really? I thought some assassin had infiltrated to attack.”

“She is my bodyguard. I also apologize for my subordinate’s rudeness.”

A third person’s voice I had never heard before.

Turning my head, I saw an unfamiliar middle-aged man looking down at me from the wide-open main building.

“Who are you?”

“Apologies for the intrusion. I am Bang Jin-myeong, who runs a small merchant group called Changcheon.”

“…You’re a merchant?”

“Indeed.”

What nonsense is this?

The qi I sensed from him wasn’t as strong as Master Wang-sam’s, but it surpassed even Junior Sister Jang and that female assailant.

A merchant leader traveling with a bodyguard weaker than himself… hmm, how intriguing.

Suppressing my excitement, I cupped my hands in greeting and introduced myself.

“It’s a pleasure to meet you. I am Gun Ja-seong of the Gun family.”

“I have already heard about Young Master from Young Mistress. You are a remarkable talent, are you not?”

“You overestimate me. I am merely taking my first steps.”

At my reply, Master and my junior sisters all looked dumbfounded.

What? Why? Did I say something wrong?

It had only been a year since I completely revamped the Trinity Qi Method and started cultivating anew.

No matter how you looked at it, that was just taking my first steps.

Moreover, what about my internal energy?

I had the weakest internal energy here.

Even weaker than Junior Sister Chu’s!

A fourteen-year-old with more internal energy than me, how was that possible? Did she also secretly consume elixirs?

Every time I saw Junior Sister Chu, I craved elixirs so much…!

As I was seriously considering asking my parents for some elixirs, Merchant Leader Bang Jin-myeong’s laughter broke the silence.

“Hahaha! Excessive humility is worse than no humility at all. I have already heard that you challenged Young Mistress to a spar and won.”

“Merchant Leader Bang…”

“Oh dear. I apologize, Young Mistress. My mouth runs too much.”

Merchant Leader Bang awkwardly scratched his head as he looked at Junior Sister Jang, who was pouting slightly as she called his name.

It felt like watching a sulky niece and her helpless uncle.

But his way of addressing her was unusual. Young Mistress?

“…My questions about you keep piling up, Junior Sister. I trust I can get those questions answered today?”

“Yes.”

Slowly nodding, Junior Sister Jang led me inside.

As soon as I stepped into the main building, Junior Sister Chu, who had followed behind me, quietly closed the door.

“Hmm? Is that assassin still waiting outside?”

“Yes? Ah, yes. We need to be wary of any possible intrusion.”

Junior Sister Chu replied with a flustered expression, as if she hadn’t expected me to ask such a question.

Hmm, is that so?

The night air had been quite chilly lately. Must be tough.

I shrugged, sensing the assassin’s qi on the roof.

As I continued walking, I saw a table prepared in advance.

There were five chairs around the round table, but one chair was particularly isolated.

Judging by the atmosphere, it seemed like I was supposed to sit in the isolated chair.

I figured as much and quietly took my seat.

Fortunately, it seemed like this was indeed my designated seat, as the others sat down in the chairs opposite me without a word.

However, the strange thing was that Junior Sister Jang sat in the center, the seat of honor, leaving the other elders like Master Wang-sam and Merchant Leader Bang to the side.

“I felt it when the Merchant Leader called you ‘Young Mistress’ earlier, but it seems our Junior Sister Jang is of quite noble status?”

“Right now, I am just a martial artist.”

Right now, she said.

So it was different in the past?

“Young Master Gun. Allow me to formally introduce myself. My real name is Ju Hwa-ryeon. My father is the great hero Ju Cheon-mu, the former lord of the Paecheon Fortress, known as the Defeated Sword.”

“…”

I closed my mouth tightly.

Perhaps perceiving my silence as shock, Master Wang-sam spoke up.

“I apologize for hiding our identities. However, we had our reasons.”

“…”

As I continued to remain silent, Merchant Leader Bang stepped in this time.

“Young Master Gun. As you might have guessed from the mention of Paecheon Fortress, we are currently in hiding from those villains who deserve to be torn to shreds. It was certainly our fault for deceiving you, but please understand that we had no choice…”

“Wait, wait!”

Unable to bear the story proceeding without my input any longer, I raised both hands and interrupted.

The Merchant Leader fell silent without protest.

Four pairs of eyes, eight pupils, focused on me.

Under their gaze, I let out a long sigh.

Gulp.

Hearing someone (probably Junior Sister Chu) gulp, I slowly opened my mouth.

I spoke the words that I absolutely had to say at this moment.

“So, what’s Paecheon Fortress?”

Silence.

And a thud from afar.

It sounded like something heavy had fallen.

“Did the assassin lady outside fall from the roof? Is she okay?”

“…”

“…”

Despite my question, only a chilling silence filled the room.

***

Paecheon Fortress.

It was said to be the largest single martial arts faction, effectively ruling the Central Plains for over fifty years.

The reason the sect was named Paecheon Fortress was that its base wasn’t just a manor, but literally an entire fortress.

“Under my father, the great hero Ju Cheon-mu, Paecheon Fortress underwent remarkable development and grew into the greatest martial arts sect, surpassing even the existing Nine Great Sects and Five Great Clans.”

Junior Sister Jang, no, Ju Hwa-ryeon, who had been momentarily speechless at my question about Paecheon Fortress, finally regained her composure and explained, prompting me to let out a cry of admiration.

“Nine Great Sects, Five Great Clans…!”

Weren’t those words that made any martial artist’s heart race?

Seeing me excitedly muttering to myself, Ju Hwa-ryeon’s gaze turned skeptical.

“…Why is your interest piqued in that direction?”

“Huh? Well, when you talk about the murim, it’s all about the Nine Great Sects and Five Great Clans, and when you talk about the Nine Great Sects and Five Great Clans, it’s all about the murim. Isn’t that obvious?”

I casually answered Ju Hwa-ryeon’s question, which she asked with a strangely disgruntled expression, and her gaze turned from skeptical to cold.

Her eyes seemed to accuse me of knowing about those things while remaining ignorant of their situation.

However, I had something to say about that.

“Junior Sister Jang. No, Ju Hwa-ryeo… Young Miss Ju? What should I call you? Anyway, you tend to overestimate me. You need to look at people objectively.”

“…Objectively?”

“Yes, objectively. Look at me. What do I look like?”

I asked, pointing at myself with the index fingers of both hands. She seemed to think for a moment, then hesitantly replied.

“…A somewhat handsome youngest son of a rural landlord?”

Her answer came with a slightly unexpected description.

As the two adults’ gazes simultaneously fell upon her, Ju Hwa-ryeon coughed slightly, her face reddening.

“…Well, thanks for the compliment. Anyway, it’s not about my handsome face, it’s about what comes after.”

“After… being the youngest son of a rural landlord?”

I nodded at her following question.

“Yes, the youngest son of a rural landlord. What does that mean? Huh? In the end, it means I’m a country bumpkin who only knows how to brag within my own village and is ignorant of the ways of the world. How would I know about Paecheon Fortress, an organization with a mere few decades of history?”

“…Ah.”

Ju Hwa-ryeon let out a short exclamation, as if finally understanding my words.

This place, Gun-gang County, was a rural area with almost no connection to the murim, to the point that there wasn’t even a single martial arts school before Cheonpung Martial Arts School was established.

As a result, apart from what I had read in my previous life’s martial arts novels, I had hardly heard any stories or news about the murim.

At most, I would hear old tales from storytellers at the village inn.

There were occasional escorts from merchant groups passing through the village, but most of them just quietly stayed for a day and then left.

Most of the villagers were wary of outsiders, so they rarely even spoke to them.

The only exception was when I, at the age of five, asked an escort about lightness skills and was ridiculed for it.

Ah, thinking about that escort made me angry again.

Anyway,

“Most of the villagers probably don’t even care about the murim. Isn’t that why Master Wang-sam hid here in the first place?”

“Ahem.”

Master Wang-sam acknowledged with a small cough.

But the way he was looking at me was strange.

As if asking, “Then why do you, a rural native, know so much about the murim?”

Well, because I was an avid reader of martial arts novels.

I even had the names of each sect’s techniques memorized.

Of course, the murim in this world seemed quite different from the one I knew.

In any case, having understood why I didn’t know about Paecheon Fortress, Ju Hwa-ryeon let out a small sigh and continued her explanation.