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Translated By Arcane Translations
Translator: TushChen
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“Hmm…”
In [Murim Cheonha], there was a function to create martial arts.
However, hardly anyone liked that function.
I also tried it a couple of times, but I didn’t find it very appealing.
I only occasionally created martial arts when establishing a sect and needed sect martial arts.
First of all, creating martial arts itself was a time-consuming and inefficient task, so there was no practical reason.
However, the biggest reason I ignored this function was that the martial arts created were just mass-produced martial arts.
If the martial arts of the Mudang Sect had yin-yang symbols drawn and the martial arts of the Huashan Sect had plum blossoms scattered, the martial arts created by players were just ordinary swordsmanship without any personality or style.
They were created by combining a few fixed options, and that was it.
“Martial arts, huh.”
I fell in love with martial arts novels because I liked the image of the protagonist becoming stronger through training.
Training in the mountains, going out into the world, meeting various martial arts or masters due to circumstances, striving again, encountering incidents, and further enhancing martial arts…
Since I had fallen into Murim Cheonha, I also wanted to explore martial arts.
Well, anyone who enters the martial arts world would want to become an absolute master.
So, to break through the second-rate wall, I did my best for 2 years.
Even though I was a veteran, it took me 1 year to adapt to this world as a 15-year-old teenager after being an ordinary office worker.
I spent 1 year adapting to Murim Cheonha, but I spent 2 years trying to overcome the second-rate wall.
It wasn’t that I was frustrated or anything.
I just realized the futility of the whole process.
It wasn’t a particularly remarkable thing.
It was just the process of 16-year-old Ho Cheon-an learning about the world.
That reincarnation truck bastard didn’t promise to make me the protagonist, so naturally, when I fell into this world, I just had expectations thinking I was a player character.
I saved money to show my body to a famous doctor, and I thought the second-rate limit would be broken if I consumed spiritual medicine or learned ascending martial arts, so I risked my life to obtain a few.
I did all sorts of things besides that too.
In that process, I realized something.
The land I’m standing on now is not the martial arts world I dreamed of in my head, but just the reality called Murim Cheonha.
I’m not the protagonist either, just one of the countless people who exist in this Murim Cheonha.
I accepted that I wasn’t special or chosen.
So I decided to be content with what I had.
Even if I couldn’t become an absolute master, being a second-rate martial artist with a full stomach wasn’t too bad.
I could easily deal with martial artists from mediocre small and medium sects.
Well, it’s a compromise, but isn’t that how everyone lives?
Everyone knows that you can’t do everything you want. In reality, there are clearly limits and walls that exist.
It’s just a matter of whether you see them or not.
Well, now I’ve realized that I can’t stay as a second-rate any longer and actively decided to break the mold, but it was more of a choice to survive rather than wanting to become first-rate like crazy.
No, it’s not a choice.
It was just the only way for me to survive in this world.
Martial arts are not the purpose of my life in this world.
It’s just a means and a tool to survive in this world.
That’s why I learned gambling.
Martial arts were a tool that could no longer be developed for me, so I needed a new tool.
Most of the gambling techniques I learned were created by me.
Because there were few who properly learned gambling techniques, and even among those who properly learned them, there were even fewer who passed on their techniques.
So what can I do?
I had to create them myself.
I once had an interest in magic tricks and hand tricks, so using those memories as a stepping stone, I created them through trial and error one by one.
Those gambling techniques became martial arts through Tang Do-gyeong’s hands.
The gambling techniques, the tool I honed anew after giving up the tool called martial arts.
That tool was processed back into martial arts through Tang Do-gyeong’s hands.
What should I call this?
I laughed at the indescribable feeling.
Would I have learned gambling techniques if my limit realm wasn’t second-rate?
Well, I might have learned them anyway.
But even if I had just reached the peak, the gambling techniques wouldn’t have been in the same form as now.
Then, could the martial art called Tang Family Fierce Tiger Dark Dragon Fighting Technique have been created like now?
That martial art that was unfamiliar even to me, who had played Murim Cheonha for a long time.
I don’t know.
Unable to find the answer, I just kept watching the Tang Family Fierce Tiger Dark Dragon Fighting Technique unfolded by Tang Do-gyeong.
Just a sight of a tool turning into another tool.
I couldn’t take my eyes off that mere sight.
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“Now, cross your hands like this. Can you see it clearly from behind?”
“Yes, brother!”
Ho Cheon-an smiled, looking at Tang Ryeo-ah, who was sticking close to him.
She said she would show her skills to her friends at school tomorrow.
Seeing the enthusiastic student, Ho Cheon-an also slowly moved his hands and taught her simple magic tricks.
“Then, Brother Ya, I’ll go out for a bit. Please take care of Ryeo-ah.”
“Have a safe trip, Do-gyeong brother!”
“Alright. Now, Ryeo-ah. If you hold it like this and twist your hand like this…”
“Ah, I did it! I succeeded!”
“Yes, well done. With a little practice, you might be better than me.”
Tang Do-gyeong smiled, hearing the conversation coming from outside as he was leaving.
The place Tang Do-gyeong was heading to was the Family Head’s quarters.
“Family Head, it’s Do-gyeong.”
“Yes, come in.”
It was already a time that could be expressed as late at night, but Tang Guanglie welcomed Tang Do-gyeong without even showing surprise at his visit.
“Is it because of Teacher Ya?”
“Haha, that’s right.”
Tang Do-gyeong and Tang Guanglie sat facing each other.
“I thought Brother Ya was a gambler and learned martial arts for practical purposes.”
Tang Do-gyeong evaluated Ho Cheon-an as a gambler rather than a martial artist.
Most of the Sichuan outcasts, or to be precise, except for the Black Cat and Ho Cheon-an, were all passionate about martial arts.
Considering the atmosphere inside the Outcast Inn, those who didn’t train would feel self-conscious.
Nevertheless, Ho Cheon-an was the only one who didn’t come out to train, so he thought he was just someone who had no intention of learning martial arts.
“But after seeing the Tang Family Fierce Tiger Dark Dragon Fighting Technique today, I see it a bit differently.”
“I felt the same way.”
Tang Guanglie and Tang Do-gyeong pondered how to describe Ho Cheon-an’s expression after seeing the Tang Family Fierce Tiger Dark Dragon Fighting Technique.
“Should I say it was an expression tinged with resentment?”
“Maybe it was admiration.”
It was too complicated to describe it as just reflecting his feelings about his techniques being transformed into martial arts.
Neither Tang Guanglie nor Tang Do-gyeong could know exactly what Ho Cheon-an was thinking while witnessing the Tang Family Fierce Tiger Dark Dragon Fighting Technique.
They only read the longing for martial arts in Ho Cheon-an’s eyes.
Tang Do-gyeong said playfully,
“I acknowledge that Brother Ya is the world’s best gambler, but in terms of martial arts, we are a few moves ahead of him.”
“Hahaha! Yes, you’re right. I was very surprised today. I knew Teacher Ya’s insight was extraordinary, but I didn’t expect him to be knowledgeable not only about gambling theory but also about the principles of martial arts.”
“Yes, that’s true.”
Tang Do-gyeong recalled Ho Cheon-an from the daytime.
Although he tried to act as if he wasn’t, from the middle, he even forgot about acting and expounded on the principles of martial arts in a passionate tone.
In fact, the Tang Family Fierce Tiger Dark Dragon Fighting Technique made tremendous progress in just one day.
The principles of martial arts suggested by Ho Cheon-an.
And the close-range secret weapon techniques Tang Guanglie used in actual combat against the evil faction.
The direction of Tang Do-gyeong, who could be called the creator of the martial art.
These three elements greatly developed the Tang Family Fierce Tiger Dark Dragon Fighting Technique.
There was an absolute lack of time to systematically weave it together, but if the materials accumulated during today were properly woven together, it was certain that the Tang Family Fierce Tiger Dark Dragon Fighting Technique would become an even stronger and more complete martial art.
Ho Cheon-an’s contribution to that tremendous development was not small.
“The principles of martial arts that absolutely cannot come from the experience of a mere second-rate martial artist… Knowledge that cannot be accumulated without passion and effort for martial arts.”
Both Tang Do-gyeong and Tang Guanglie felt a strong sense of incongruity in that regard.
Why is Ho Cheon-an second-rate?
It’s true that there are people who are particularly knowledgeable only in theory, but the Ho Cheon-an they saw was not such a person.
His body was well-trained, and judging from his hand movements while gambling, he couldn’t lack martial talent.
In their eyes, Ho Cheon-an was not someone who would be blocked by the first-rate wall, let alone the peak wall.
The two, exchanging glances, were convinced that they were thinking the same thing.
They thought that there was some special reason why Ho Cheon-an couldn’t progress beyond the second-rate realm.
“Family Head, this Tang Do-gyeong would like to make a presumptuous request.”
“Haha! Do-gyeong! You’re being modest! Is Teacher Ya your benefactor? He is the benefactor of me, Tang Guanglie, and the benefactor of the Tang family!”
Tang Guanglie tapped the table.
Tang Do-gyeong looked at the item Tang Guanglie pointed to and smiled bitterly.
“It seems I made a fuss for nothing when the Family Head had already figured it out.”
“No, this is also a precious reward, but… Teacher Ya is not an ordinary person. He must have tried his own means to solve it, but seeing that he couldn’t, it may not be an easy task.”
Tang Guanglie recalled a week ago.
The sight of Ho Cheon-an immediately seeking a fundamental solution, taking action, and accumulating arrangements for the solution as soon as he heard the circumstances.
Truly an extraordinary mindset!
‘A teacher with such insight wouldn’t neglect his own matters. He must have tried his best in various ways… but failed.’
Considering the current situation, there was a high possibility that Ho Cheon-an would have to work quite hard.
But what if he worked hard and achieved no results?
It would only make the benefactor suffer a lot.
“So, in case of failure, I want to give him a material reward. I heard he competed with you for the Blood Jade Plaque. Is there anything special that the teacher might want?”
“Hmm…”
Tang Do-gyeong, who was pondering, suddenly raised his head.
“Then how about this?”
The discussion between the two Tang members to repay kindness twofold continued late into the night.
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