A Medieval Knight in a Martial Arts Novel – Chapter 36

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Translated By Arcane Translations
Translator: Shrine
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“Sir William, what brings you here…”

William examined Ma-ryang, who was looking at them inquiringly. He was still dressed in a shabby attire and still not a hint of aura was detectable from him.

Unless Ma-ryang was actually an expert hiding all his aura, he likely had never learned martial arts.

After all, it was said that martial artists unconsciously used their footwork techniques when walking but William didn’t notice him doing so, so he definitely wasn’t a martial artist.

“Ma-ryang. Have you ever learned martial arts?”

“Huh? No, I haven’t. I was more interested in inn management…”

“Have you ever seen the secret manual of the Seven Severance Dao?”

“No. But why are you asking about that?”

Had he not noticed, or was he pretending not to notice? William couldn’t tell for now.

“Do you know why your father didn’t pass on his martial arts to your brother?”

“I don’t know the exact reason. But… I have some guesses.”

It seemed certain that something had happened between the two.

Scoundrels were rarely born that way – usually it was due to poor family education or some trigger that made them go astray.

In this case, it was clearly because of martial arts, but…

“There was something my brother said once, when he passed out drunk in his room after causing a commotion. He asked if our father really considered him his son, and accused our father of making excuses about problems with his martial arts…”

As expected.

There really had been an issue with Hong Mu-gang’s martial arts techniques.

Logically, there was no reason for Hong Mu-gang to be reluctant to teach his martial arts to his son.

No martial artist would want their legacy to end with their generation without leaving a trace.

“Do you happen to have the secret manual of the Seven Severance Dao?”

“No, I don’t. My father never told me anything about the Seven Severance Dao…”

His voice carried an undeniable hint of resentment. Perhaps he too had been hurt by his father’s adamant refusal to teach others his martial arts. Or maybe he was just hurt that his father never told him the secret conserning the Seven Severance Dao until the very end.

“Would it be possible to speak with your father?”

“Sir William, that’s…”

Hajin, who had been quietly observing their conversation, tried to stop William. Asking a martial artist to reveal details about their martial arts was an insulting behavior that could easily lead to bloodshed.

But this case was a bit different.

“The Seven Severance Dao will be lost after Hong Mu-gang anyway. It’s going to become a lost martial art. Don’t you want to know the reason your father was so adamant about not passing it on? The reason he kept it secret, the reason that led to your family’s ruin?

If you don’t ask him about this now, you’ll have to live the rest of your life suffering without ever knowing the reason.

Is that what you want? Or do you want to know the reason, even if a painful truth awaits?”

William looked at Ma-ryang, demanding an answer.

Hajin no longer tried to stop him.

He must have realized this was Ma-ryang’s last chance to clear his doubts.

With his brother having committed the ultimate filial impiety and his father on his deathbed, this was his only opportunity to learn the truth.

Would he take it? Or would he let it pass?

William wouldn’t force him.

After all, this was none of his business. If Ma-ryang refused, they could just attend the funeral and be on their way.

As for the older brother… he was said to be with some group called the Black Sand Sect, so it wasn’t really their place to go after him. Since they were acting as part of the Haenam Sword Sect, they couldn’t recklessly pick fights with evil sects.

Perhaps he would come looking for them on his own.

That is, If William’s predictions were somewhat correct.

“What will you do?”

“…I’ll do it. Anyway… the Seven Severance Dao will be lost after father dies. I want to know the truth, even if the truth is painful. What exactly is the secret of the Seven Severance Dao that father hid?”

He turned around.

They quietly followed behind him to the hospital room where Mu-gang was lying. When Ma-ryang opened the door to the room, they saw Mu-gang lying down and Elder Baek standing by his side.

Elder Baek turned his head to look at them and spoke.

“What’s the matter?”

“Elder Baek…”

They explained the situation from the beginning. After they relayed everything they had heard from the Beggar Sect and what Ma-ryang had told them, he nodded while letting out a sigh.

“Normally this would be a great discourtesy… but you are Mu-gang’s son. While you may not have the right to question his decisions as a martial artist, as a family member you certainly have the right to hear about the secret he’s been keeping.”

Fortunately, he didn’t try to stop him.

“We should step out. They’ll need time alone.”

They silently nodded and turned their backs.

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“…Ma…ryang…”

“Father.”

Ma-ryang sat down next to his father and quietly took his hand.

His father’s hand was cold and rough.

The traces of the years he had lived were clearly felt through this hand.

“Father. I want to know. Why didn’t you pass on the Seven Severance Dao to me and my brother?”

“The Seven Severance Dao… must not… be passed on…”

“Father. Please tell me the truth.

Do you intend to say nothing until the very end?

Even though our family was ruined because you didn’t reveal the secret concerning the Seven Severance Dao?”

His heart was pounding.

Fiercely.

Ma-ryang noticed that he was unconsciously gripping his father’s hand tighter.

But the strength in his hand did not lessen.

The questions and douts that he hid behind the facade of the ‘good youngest son’ for many years were bursting forth like a flood.

“Father. Please tell me.”

“I’m sorry… I’m so sorry…”

“If you’re sorry, then explain what you meant by your words!”

‘It’s my fault… all my fault…’

Mu-gang spoke the secret about the Seven Severance Dao that he had not uttered for decades.

“The Seven Severance Dao is… an incomplete… martial art… Once learned… sooner or later, it inevitably leads to demonic possession…”

“An incomplete… martial art? What do you mean…”

Ma-ryang’s eyes widened.

He had grown up listening to stories of the Iron Chivalrous Dao’s heroic deeds from guests at the inn. How could a martial artist acknowledged even by the elders of the Haenam Sword Sect have been practicing an incomplete martial art?

“Is that… true?”

Mu-gang nodded with half-focused eyes.

“Yes… I’m sorry… for only telling you now…”

He looked up at his son with eyes that seemed somewhat relieved.

‘I should have been more honest. In this life,I could be considered a good martial artist, but I couldn’t be considered a good father.’

He had a belated realization.

Despite his dying body, with a mind that had become clear, he gripped his son’s hand.

Perhaps because he sensed that this would be the last conversation he could have with his son in this life.

Ma-ryang noticed that his father’s eyes, which were looking at him with clear focus, showed signs of a dying person’s last moment of clarity.

“Son. I’m sorry. I… shouldn’t have hidden it… I… found out that the Seven Severance Dao was an incomplete martial art… after your eldest brother was born.

That day, while I was briefly regulating my breath… I fell into a state of demonic possession.

And I realized….. that… An important part was missing from the Seven Severance Dao. And that I couldn’t fill in that missing part with my own power, nor should I try to…”

Could a martial artist deny the martial art they had practiced their whole life?

At least the man who had just shed his youthful appearance couldn’t do that.

For him to deny his martial art would be tantamount to denying his entire life.

And it was only when he was about to die that he regretted it.

‘I should have been honest… What good was my pride.’

If he had, perhaps his eldest son would have listened when he told him not to learn martial arts and to live as an ordinary innkeeper.

Perhaps his beloved wife wouldn’t have died resenting him.

Belated regret washed over him like waves, gnawing at his weakened mind and body. Soon his battered spirit would leave his body and never return to this world.

Still, he could at least talk to his son a bit more in his remaining time.

“I couldn’t believe it. Whether it was lost over time, or deliberately written that way… the secret manual was incomplete, and I realized I couldn’t surpass that level in martial arts, falling into demonic possession.

I realized that once learned, it was a martial art that would inevitably lead to demonic possession.

And I realized that I could no longer function as a martial artist. Opening an inn using my wife’s cooking skills was the best I could do.”

Guests would tell stories of their father’s heroic deeds to his two children, expressing their expectations for them.

Surely the sons of such an outstanding expert would become excellent martial artists.

The eldest grew up dreaming of becoming a great martial artist himself. But he couldn’t teach him the Seven Severance Dao.

Because a wall like the Great Wall of China would eventually block his path and lead his son to ruin.

He wanted to have him learn other martial arts instead. But how could other martial arts satisfy the eldest son who had grown up hearing stories of his father’s heroic deeds that made him seem as tall as the heavens?

He couldn’t even utter the reason he wasn’t willing to teach him his martial arts.

His pride as a martial artist wouldn’t allow him to reveal the flaw in his martial art.

That too could be called a form of demonic possession.

“…I should have been honest with Munkyung.”

“…Even so, my stubborn brother probably wouldn’t have listened. But it would have been better than the situation now.”

At the very least, he wouldn’t have committed such a grave act of filial impiety.

Ma-ryang offered words of comfort tinged with criticism.

“Where is the secret manual of the Seven Severance Dao?”

“Do you remember… the house we used to live in? In what used to be my room… under the floor… the secret manual is there. I will let you decide… what to do with it.”

“…Yes, Father.”

“…I love you… son. Tell Munkyung too… that I love…”

“Father!”

His cry shook the room.

And, as if not even allowing him time to grieve, the door opened.

“…I’m sorry, but it looks like you need to come out.”

“Father…”

“Your brother has come.”

At William’s announcement, Ma-ryang came out through the door and turned to look at a familiar face.

“…Brother.”

“The Seven Severance Dao… hand it over…!”

He was clearly not behaving normally.

“…Sir William. It seems he’s fallen into demonic possession.”

“Then…”

Despair settled on Ma-ryang’s face.

To think even his brother had fallen into demonic possession.

No matter how much of a scoundrel his brother had been, seeing him driven mad by demonic possession was too much to bear, so Ma-ryang collapsed to the floor with a vacant expression.

“You rest. It seems… a conversation is needed.”

As everyone watched, William took off his bamboo hat and handed his sword to Hajin. Hajin, who had received the sword in bewilderment, looked at William’s back with a perplexed expression.

“Sir, Sir William?”

“It’s been a long time since I’ve used my fists.”

The sound of cracking knuckles and rough breathing filled the courtyard in front of the doctor’s residence.

The people who had hidden themselves after sensing the situation, along with Hajin, Elder Baek, and Ma-ryang, stared blankly at William’s back.

“Even a beast will become human if you beat it long enough.”

William’s eyes gleamed coldly.

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