Genius Martial Arts Trainer

Chapter 182:

Twisted Fate

“I guarantee that those who assisted the rebellion did not approach Jegal Gi-hwan with pure intentions. Therefore, the martial arts they taught must contain a trap. For example, they could have subtly altered the mnemonics to cause Qi Deviation the deeper one delves into the technique.”

In reality, the main members of the new Jegal family, who faced the crisis of Qi Deviation, had to voluntarily become the dogs of Shinchun to survive.

Just to obtain even a clue to solve the Qi Deviation.

“… Elder Jegal Gi-hwan is not such a foolish man. He wouldn’t have carelessly mastered a martial art that contains a trap, right?”

“That’s exactly the trap. Those who consider themselves smart often believe that their opponents cannot deceive them. Just like this rebellion.”

“!!!”

How did Jegal Mun, who couldn’t even trust his children due to his intense paranoia, lose his life overnight?

The three who understood Mu-jin’s words had serious expressions.

“So, Monk Mu-jin, you are saying we should uncover the trap hidden in this martial arts manual and reveal that the external forces that assisted the rebellion intend to swallow the Jegal family?”

“In addition, if we can portray Jegal Gi-hwan’s group, who initiated the rebellion by bringing in such untrustworthy people, as fools who sold out the family, we will have achieved our goal.”

If the opponent’s justification is ‘Let’s remove the despicable main branch obsessed with power,’ then we can paint them as traitors!

That was Mu-jin’s logic.

However, after hearing all the stories, the three still had somewhat puzzled expressions.

“There remains one problem. Can we find the trap that even Elder Jegal Gi-hwan couldn’t?”

Jegal Jin-hee pointed out the biggest flaw in the plan, but Mu-jin smiled lightly instead.

“There’s no need to worry. There’s someone outside who can solve that problem.”

Outside the formation, there was a martial arts genius waiting.

A remarkable individual who could steal any martial art just by watching it without needing the manual.

Perhaps it was due to Mu-jin’s confident attitude. Eventually, Jegal Jin-hee and Jegal Gung decided to accept his proposal.

However, even so, a problem still remained.

“Then we must now find a way to escape this place and return to the family.”

In response to Jegal Jin-hee’s words, Mu-jin discussed a strategy he had thought of since entering this hideout.

“How about conducting a feint operation?”

There was no suitable expression in the East, so he called it a feint operation.

The strategy Mu-jin thought of was the famous ‘hammer and anvil’ tactic he had learned from a ‘military history’ book during his service in the army.

* * *

Around the hideout where Jegal Gung and his group were hiding, there were a little over fifty martial artists stationed.

Among them, about forty were dismantling the formation from the front, waiting for their opponents to either break out or destroy the formation.

The remaining nearly twenty martial artists were spread out in a circle, watching for anyone trying to sneak out, these were the ones Mu-jin and Ling-ling nearly encountered while sneaking in.

“When will we be able to dismantle the formation?”

Asked a man in black attire, gritting his teeth.

It was a blow to his pride as a member of the Jegal family.

‘Damn it.’

But ignoring his feelings, the man in black urged him again.

“We need a definite answer to prepare ourselves.”

“Ahem. It’s almost dismantled. It seems to be a formation created by one of the previous heads of the family. It’s an old method, so it took a while to get used to it.”

Even though they helped with the rebellion, the Jegal family’s martial artists were getting sick of these outsiders acting like they were in charge.

‘Damn it. I haven’t even found a clue, let alone a solution.’

Unable to reveal his inner thoughts due to his pride, the Jegal family martial artist pretended to work by throwing a stone at the formation.

Ziiiing.

For some reason, the stone caused a ripple.

‘Why, why is this working!?’

He solved the problem but didn’t know why, resembling a modern-day programmer.

“Oh! Truly remarkable, Jegal family!”

Unaware of the internal struggle, the man in black was merely pleased.

In the meantime, the ripples in the formation grew larger. Soon enough.

Uuuuung!!

With a heavy sound, a structure that was previously invisible appeared before their eyes.

A building in the midst of small bushes and trees.

“It could be a trap! We should proceed cautiously!”

Despite the caution from the Jegal family martial artist who dismantled the formation, the man in black, fed up with the caution, gave an order.

“Send one person inside! If there’s no problem, everyone will charge!”

“Yes, sir!”

At his order, one of his subordinates boldly moved towards the building.

As he made his fearless charge, a change occurred.

A man dressed in the Jegal family’s uniform appeared to block the Shinchun martial artist.

“Haaat!”

Clang!

The two men clashed at the entrance of the hideout for a moment.

“Send another one!”

Thinking it might still be a trap, the leader of the black-clad men sent another subordinate into the formation.

But no additional enemies appeared, and the lone man barely held off the two attackers.

“It seems that fellow is just a sacrificial pawn to buy time.”

Whistle!

With his words, a red signal flare and a whistle sounded from the back cliff of the hideout.

It was the signal the watchers around the hideout had prepared, to be used if Jegal Gung’s group tried to escape.

“They are starting to flee! If we don’t hurry, we might lose them!”

“But it could still be a trap…”

“Damn it!”

Ignoring the caution of the Jegal family member, the leader of the black-clad men made a quick decision.

“Everyone charge inside! If nothing happens inside, we’ll all storm in!”

“Yes, sir!”

At his command, the black-clad men rushed towards the formation, and the hesitant Jegal family martial artists had no choice but to follow.

As most of the martial artists stepped into the formation’s location.

Ziiiing.

The formation, which they thought had been dismantled, reactivated.

“Damn it. Stay on the path!”

Fortunately or unfortunately, a single path leading to the hideout remained open.

And at the sole exit, a lone man stood tenaciously blocking the path.

There was only one way out, and the path was so narrow that at most one or two martial artists could fight against him.

As a result, about forty martial artists found themselves blocked by just one man.

But fortunately, the most skilled leader of the men in black had entered the formation third.

“Move aside!”

He grabbed one of his subordinates who was fighting in front of him, threw him behind, and stepped forward.

“Haat!”

With the intention of quickly killing the man blocking the path and moving past, the leader unleashed his technique.

Swoosh!

Indeed, unable to withstand the force, the opponent’s sword was instantly cut in two.

Clang!

Amazingly, the opponent blocked the technique, which had even split the weapon, with his bare fist.

To be precise, with the golden energy enveloping his bare fist.

‘Was there a master among Jegal Gung’s bodyguards who could handle energy?’

Even though the leader of the men in black was puzzled, he continued to swing his sword, but the opponent effortlessly blocked his attacks with his fists.

Realizing that they would lose the enemies slipping away behind them, the leader urgently shouted.

“Go around the formation! We can’t waste time here!”

Though the path had narrowed due to the formation, the entrance they had come through remained.

It was an order to bypass the formation and support from behind, even if it took some time.

Thunk!

Swoosh!

“Argh!”

For some reason, screams began to be heard from the back of the formation.

‘What is going on!?’

While the leader of the men in black was wondering about the inexplicable situation.

“It seems they’ve finally arrived.”

The man who had been barely holding off his sword strikes suddenly muttered.

Whirr.

Suddenly, the golden energy that had been concentrated only on his fists began to envelop his entire body.

“S-Shaolin Dragon!?”

Why was he here? And wearing Jegal Gung’s uniform?

There was no time to voice his doubts.

The Shaolin Dragon, now fully enveloped in energy, charged at the leader of the men in black, abandoning his previously defensive stance.

Even as a subordinate swung a blade imbued with energy from the side, he paid no attention.

In fact, the subordinate’s blade was blocked by the Shaolin Dragon’s energy, yielding no result.

In the meantime, the Shaolin Dragon’s punch flew towards the leader of the men in black.

Clang!

“Ugh!”

The man barely blocked the first strike, but the relentless offensive left him unable to keep his wits.

Thunk!

Before long, the Shaolin Dragon’s fist pierced through the man’s abdomen.

* * *

“Whew.”

Mu-jin, having dealt with the reasonably skilled man, let out a light sigh.

In the “hammer and anvil” strategy, Mu-jin himself was the anvil.

Using the formation to create a narrow passage, they trapped the enemies there.

Mu-jin held off the enemies at the front, while reinforcements attacked from behind.

If the forty men had been allowed to scatter, it would have been impossible for Mu-jin to hold them all off alone, but with the power of the formation, it was not difficult.

Thanks to his internal energy having increased by half a rank, he could now fully utilize the Golden Turtle Technique for an extended period.

However, even with the increased internal energy, Mu-jin wore a regretful expression.

‘Once this is over, I need to rebuild my body.’

He was thinking about the lost muscle mass.

Had his muscles been as they were in his prime, he would have subdued the man much more quickly.

While Mu-jin was lost in these thoughts.

“Die, you monster!”

The man in black, whom Mu-jin had been ignoring, swung his blade again.

Clang!

The blade strike was once again blocked by the Golden Turtle Technique, producing a futile metallic sound.

“Where’s that mosquito buzzing from?”

Muttering irritably, Mu-jin shook off his thoughts about muscle loss and attacked the man.

After quickly subduing the man, Mu-jin dealt with a few more enemies blocking his path.

As his view cleared, he saw the reinforcements attacking the enemies at the entrance of the formation.

“Hyah!”

“Haap!”

“Die!!”

They were Ling-ling, Mu-yul, and Mu-gyeong.

For the hammer and anvil strategy, Mu-jin had entrusted Ling-ling with a letter to be delivered outside the formation the night before.

Even when entering the formation, Ling-ling had used her extraordinary sense of smell to avoid the encirclement, so he judged it wouldn’t be difficult for her to deliver the letter.

As Mu-jin had hoped, Ling-ling had successfully delivered the letter to their allies.

Thus, three people and one animal managed to create a bizarre battle scenario where they overwhelmed forty enemies.

By the time they had dealt with about half of them.

“Mu-jin, we’ll help you!”

Jegal Jin-hee and her companions, who had been playing the role of disruptors, joined them to help.

Among them were Mu-gung, Dao Yuetian, and the members of Cheongsu Dojang.

The hammer and anvil strategy was being used in two places simultaneously.

Just as Mu-jin played the role of the anvil alone, Jegal Jin-hee and Jegal Gung’s bodyguards pretended to retreat, luring the enemies.

Behind them, Mu-gung, Dao Yuetian, and the members of Cheongsu Dojang launched a surprise attack.

From the beginning, Mu-jin had divided the reinforcements into two groups, intending to narrow the path with the formation.

Mu-gyeong, Mu-yul, and Ling-ling, who fought well in narrow spaces, were with Mu-jin. The other three, who were either larger or used weapons, were with Jegal Jin-hee.