The World’s Strongest Is from a Third-Rate Martial Clan [Novel] Chapter 66

Chapter 66

Composition. Literally, the act of creating a melody.

In other words, a tune forged by connecting notes at unique intervals.

It went without saying, but across both his past and present lives, Baek Yanghwi had never once learned music.

Back when he wandered the world as a vagabond, music was merely something he occasionally heard when he spent a hefty sum at an upscale tavern.

He never possessed the opportunity to learn it, nor had he ever harbored the desire to do so.

“Master. Why a melody all of a sudden…?”

“You will naturally understand once you compose a tune.”

Pressing her for details would likely yield no answers.

“However, I have never composed a melody before.”

“I do not hold high expectations for a swordsman. It merely needs to be a passable tune combining pitch and intervals. You can do that much, can you not?”

Baek Yanghwi always replied with overflowing confidence, yet this was an exception.

To create a melody.

‘This… feels rather impossible.’

He held an unshakable faith in his own martial talent. Furthermore, he loved martial arts more than anyone and possessed a burning desire to reach even greater heights.

Yet suddenly, she demanded a melody.

“To be completely honest, I lack the confidence to satisfy a master who bears the title of Heaven-Shattering Sound Empress.”

“I am not asking for a masterpiece, so it does not matter. I shall take my leave to instruct Seolha now.”

Lifting Jegal Seolha with formless qi, the Sound Empress vanished.

Baek Yanghwi was abruptly left all alone.

‘She wants me… to compose?’

Baek Yanghwi was no fool. He immediately grasped the intent behind her command.

‘She intends to teach me how to forge a new path forward by harmonizing the Phoenix Cry with sound arts.’

He understood. He understood it perfectly in his mind.

Yet when faced with the actual task of creating a melody, he felt utterly lost.

Had the task been to smash something to pieces, he would have rolled up his sleeves with brimming confidence.

No matter how much he pondered, etiquette and music were simply not his forte.

What else could he do? It was a command from none other than the Heaven-Shattering Sound Empress. He had to succeed somehow.

Vwoom!

The Sound Empress had not even provided an instrument.

Thus, his only means of weaving a tune were his voice and his sword.

He stared blankly at his sword, which vibrated with a sound akin to beating bee wings.

A rapid yet consistent tremor echoing through the air.

“A melody. Melody. In other words, pitch and rhythm.”

To put it differently, sounds with varying pitches and the regularity of those sounds.

A tune.

‘Should I try what I did at the Five Pavilions of Still Sound?’

When passing through the Hall of Sound, Baek Yanghwi had woven a rhythm by striking the iron core with his sword in time with his heartbeat.

Since it was the rhythm he was most intimately familiar with, utilizing the same method seemed ideal.

However.

‘Mmm. This is far more difficult than I anticipated.’

The Phoenix Cry was not simply a matter of making the sword vibrate to produce sound.

It was born from executing the first half of the Heaven-Covering 108 Swords’ stances with extreme speed to generate vibrations.

Furthermore, each stance possessed its own distinct flow.

‘I need to harmonize the flow of the stances with the rhythm of my heartbeat.’

Having never attempted such a feat before, it felt incredibly foreign.

‘Right. Let us start from the very beginning.’

The Heaven-Covering 108 Swords. The reason a sword art comprising fifty-four stances bore the number one hundred and eight.

It was because executing all fifty-four stances twice within a single breath invoked a unique sword resonance.

Embodying such extreme speed was still beyond him.

Instead, he condensed the nine stances of a single direction among the Six Harmonies into a single breath.

Vwoom!

In sequence, he unleashed the Six Harmonies, producing six consecutive Phoenix Cries.

In the midst of it, he suddenly realized a crucial detail.

‘The vibration. The sound is subtly different.’

To Baek Yanghwi, the Phoenix Cry had merely been proof of a martial realm; it was never a critical element in and of itself.

Thus, it was a truth he had remained ignorant of until now.

The shape of the stances varied depending on the direction, and the Phoenix Cry born from the rapid repetition of those flows echoed with subtle variations.

That meant.

‘I can manifest different pitches of sound through the Phoenix Cry.’

He had solved the sound aspect of a melody.

All that remained was the rhythm. That should be simple enough.

Vwoom! Vwoom!

Vwoom! Vwoom! Vwoom!

Vwoom!

He poured out six Phoenix Cries at varying intervals.

As a result, a tune that could loosely be considered a melody was born.

…Composition was much easier than he thought.

‘Perhaps I was actually blessed with innate talent for music all along?’

A heavy sigh escaped his lips shortly after.

“Talent, my foot.”

Vwoom-vwoom, vwoom-vwoom-vwoom, vwoom?

There was zero chance she would be satisfied with something so utterly basic.

Such shallow logic could not possibly align with the Sound Empress’s true intent.

‘The reason she refused to explain the details is that she wants me to realize it myself.’

In other words, there was a profound truth he needed to grasp.

“Huu. Let us think this through from the beginning.”

He threw a philosophical question at himself.

What exactly was a melody?

It was both Etiquette and Music.

Etiquette signified outstanding skill, while Music represented a joyous and elated heart.

‘An outstanding skill that brings about a change in a person’s heart using sound as the medium.’

The Sound Empress had commanded him to weave a melody to advance his sword art.

For what reason?

The reason she pointed toward music as the solution to mend the flaws in his sword logic…

‘I do not know.’

Lacking any profound understanding of music, he could not unearth a single clue.

Then he had no choice but to approach it from the opposite direction.

The harmony of sword and sound.

If he could not understand sound, he would start from the sword.

When it came to discussing the sword, he possessed the confidence to lose to no one.

‘What exactly is a sword?’

A weapon meant for slaughter?

Its fundamental nature might be just that, yet to Baek Yanghwi, a sword was far more than a mere tool.

It was the means to achieve his grand dream of becoming the greatest martial family under heaven.

‘…No…’

He sank even deeper into his own consciousness.

‘The sword. To me, the sword is…’

The sword as the core of martial arts.

Yes.

A milestone to push further ahead.

A walking stick to climb even higher.

That was what the sword signified to Baek Yanghwi.

Perhaps sound held the exact same significance to the Sound Empress.

‘Commanding me to compose a melody must mean I need to infuse sound into my sword.’

The problem, then, lay in the method and execution.

How could he infuse sound into a sword?

How could he harmonize these two paths meant to push him further and higher?

Back to the beginning.

‘Melody. Pitch and rhythm.’

Translated into sword arts, they became stances and distance.

That was precisely why his first attempt involved projecting Phoenix Cries at varying intervals to create a tune.

“…”

Yet it was lacking.

He needed to reach something further, something higher.

“Young Hero.”

A voice rang against his eardrums. Baek Yanghwi pulled his deeply submerged consciousness back to the surface.

The Sound Empress and Jegal Seolha stood before him.

“Master.”

“A day has passed. Shall we listen to the melody you have forged?”

Baek Yanghwi offered an awkward smile.

“You must promise not to be disappointed.”

Rising to his feet, he commenced his sword dance.

Vwoom! Vwoom!

Vwoom!

Vwoom! Vwoom! Vwoom!

Distinct stances. Woven together into a single sword dance.

It was the same method as before, yet far more harmonious.

Unlike his initial attempt, it now possessed depth.

Though, of course, it still fell severely short of his own standards.

“This is the extent of it. I managed to create a melody with the sword, yet I failed to truly infuse the melody into the sword.”

The Sound Empress did not reprimand her disciple.

Instead, she gazed at him with a faint glint of admiration.

“Your comprehension is truly astounding, Young Hero. I offered you only the barest of clues so you could find your own path freely, yet you grasped the correct direction so brilliantly. And in merely a single day.”

Fortunately, it seemed the realization he had drawn from his philosophical question was not entirely wrong.

“Thank you for the praise. However, I could not find the path to advance further.”

“That certainly appears to be the case. Still, you have undoubtedly taken a step forward. I shall offer you a clue suited for your current stage.”

The Sound Empress flicked her finger.

A melody instantly radiated outward.

Clang, clang, cla-clang!

She had merely flicked her finger a single time.

Yet the sound lingered, cascading into a tune that brought sheer joy to the mind and body just by listening to it.

It was an utterly absurd feat.

‘I witnessed this before, yet it never fails to leave me in awe.’

This was the level one had to reach to stand among the Ten Sovereigns.

To display such profound harmony in sound arts, a discipline so unfamiliar to him.

He could only imagine how overwhelmingly magnificent it would feel to witness the divine might of a Ten Sovereign who mastered the sword.

“Young Hero. What sounds do you believe you are capable of producing?”

Instead of replying immediately, he unleashed the Phoenix Cry.

“Six variations of sword resonance. And if I must add one more, perhaps my voice.”

The Sound Empress shook her head.

“Is that truly the case? You can unleash countless sounds with nothing but your sword.”

What method was she referring to?

Could she be suggesting he inject qi into the sword to project notes of varying pitches?

He demonstrated it immediately.

Vwoom! Vwooom! Vwoom-vwoom!

“That, too, could be a path. However, it is not the direction I desire.”

“This lacking disciple begs for your guidance.”

The Sound Empress flicked her finger three times.

An ever-changing, kaleidoscopic melody echoed through the air.

All three notes were completely different.

“With a mere finger, I can draw out ten thousand notes at ten thousand distinct intervals. You can perform the exact same feat with your sword, Young Hero. And you can do it right this very moment.”

The exact same physical action, yet completely different sounds and rhythms.

He was genuinely struck with admiration and astonishment.

‘It is not a trick utilizing qi. The sheer volume and quality of qi behind every flick of her finger were identical.’

Blessed with sharper senses than anyone, and with the Sound Empress demonstrating it so openly, he had no doubt about it.

‘…I think I understand. If I just reach out a little further, I feel like I can touch it.’

He was just a hair’s breadth away, yet he still couldn’t reach it.

Upon reflection, this was entirely due to his lack of profound understanding in music.

Had he taken a supreme sword master as his teacher and debated sword logic with them, he would never have felt this utterly stumped.

“Ahaha! Young Hero, I truly wish I could show you your current expression in a mirror. To think a boy overflowing with such ceaseless confidence could make a face like that. Do you not agree, Seolha?”

Standing beside her, Jegal Seolha stared at Baek Yanghwi’s face with an uplifted smirk.

“Yes, Master! It is quite refreshing to see a different side of Senior Brother.”

Gently stroking Jegal Seolha’s hair, the Sound Empress continued.

“Young Hero. Do you feel so frustrated you could die?”

He answered with absolute honesty.

“…Yes.”

A keen mind that had never forgotten a single thing he had learned since birth.

A peerless natural constitution and the sharpest qi sensitivity in the world.

And the supreme martial talent born from all these traits, allowing him to hear one truth and understand a hundred.

‘Is this why men are meant to remain humble?’

For the first time in his life, he felt truly suffocated.

He had never once imagined he would ever experience such frustration while learning something new.

“Since you find it so frustrating, I could simply tell you the answer. However, I believe you will travel much further if you grasp the realization with your own two hands. Therefore, I issue a new command.”

Turning her head, the Sound Empress gazed toward somewhere far below the mountain’s ridges.

“One of the Black Path’s wretches has settled in Hyeopha County, near Severed Melody Mountain. He has been an eyesore, so I planned to sweep him away soon. I want you to deal with the nuisance in my stead.”

In other words, she was telling him to go do what he was most confident in.

A good, bloody fight.

‘This works out perfectly.’

He had been growing deeply irritated by his own frustration anyway; he would use this opportunity to vent.

This was precisely why living as an orthodox martial artist was so satisfying.

You could beat the Black Path bastards around, blow off some steam, and still get praised as a righteous hero.

“Sparing my master from trivial burdens is also the duty of a disciple. I shall wipe him away with ease and return.”

A confident, combative grin spread across his face as he spoke.

It was then.

“Is that so?”

The Sound Empress smiled faintly. For some reason, unease suddenly welled up inside him.

Whoosh.

His vision warped in an instant.

Before he knew it, Baek Yanghwi found himself standing in an empty clearing near a village.

“Wait here for a moment.”

Her figure vanished for an instant before reappearing.

Simultaneously, a martial artist materialized in midair at the center of the clearing and tumbled across the dirt.

“This is a seed of the Black Path who goes by the alias Black Death Sword. It will be too arduous for you to handle alone, so face him together with Seolha.”

“Ugh, what the hell is…?”

Scrambling to his feet, the Black Death Sword immediately drew his blade.

Panic and sheer horror painted his face.

He had been in the middle of extorting money at a tavern when a sudden gust carried him here, making his reaction entirely justified.

“What is with these brats… Damn it!”

‘Oh. The bastard actually has some sharp wits.’

Let alone Baek Yanghwi and Jegal Seolha, even the Sound Empress appeared to be nothing more than a fifteen-year-old girl on the surface.

Despite this, the Black Death Sword immediately attempted to flee.

He was strictly adhering to the golden rule of the martial world: always beware of women, the elderly, and children.

‘Well, there is no way the Sound Empress would simply let him go.’

Clang!

“Kuaaagh!”

A single wave of sound struck his entire body, and he collapsed on the spot.

“O Senior Master of the previous generation! Why are you doing this to me?!”

The Sound Empress had no interest whatsoever in explaining herself to the Black Path bastard.

“Subdue my disciples. That is, if you wish to leave this clearing alive.”

The Black Death Sword glared at Baek Yanghwi and Jegal Seolha.

A boy and a girl not even ten years of age.

“You must honor your promise.”

A ferocious momentum erupted from the Black Death Sword’s entire body.

Baek Yanghwi instantly realized his master’s command would not be as effortless as he had assumed.

‘This bastard is at the first-rate realm?!’

Two second- and third-rate martial artists are supposed to take down someone at the first-rate realm?

He had felt this since the Five Pavilions of Still Sound.

It seemed the Sound Empress’s way of teaching her disciples was brutally demanding.