Chronicles of the Martial God’s Return - Chapter 110
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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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Sa Do-hak scratched his head.
With the captain dead, there’s nothing to extract. Someone is pulling the strings—that much is certain—but nobody knows who that person is or where they’re hiding.
“Their concealment is too masterful. If you hadn’t killed that captain, we wouldn’t be in this mess.”
“Ha, if you’d subdued him properly in the first place, you wouldn’t have made the mistake of approaching me.”
Sa Do-hak swallowed a groan.
That’s a fair point.
They’d been toying with him, but then fear drove them to rush at Dan Woo-hyun—never knowing they were boarding a carriage headed straight to hell.
It had become difficult to place blame on any single person.
“So there’s no way to trace the mastermind?”
“Doesn’t look like it.”
Sa Do-hak nodded in agreement at Dan Woo-hyun’s words.
He’d come a long way to find whoever was behind this. Though truthfully, his desire to help Namgung Cheon was outweighed by his wish to test Dan Woo-hyun’s strength once more—so it made little difference to him.
But the situation as it now stood left him unsettled.
“Setting that aside—how was your reunion?”
“Heh. Reunion? I merely exchanged greetings.”
“Hmm, looking at you now, it seems you’ve said everything that needed saying.”
Sa Do-hak chuckled softly.
He wasn’t trying to show it, but the man’s voice and eyes had brightened noticeably. The collapse of the Namgung Clan was lamentable, yet having saved his family seemed to have lifted a weight from his shoulders.
“So our business here is concluded, then.”
Both men nodded at Dan Woo-hyun’s words.
They’d traveled a long distance and achieved their purpose within days. Certainly, catching the mastermind would have felt more satisfying, but since that was impossible, it was better to accept it quickly.
Better than wasting time needlessly.
As these thoughts crossed his mind, Namgung Cheon hesitated, then spoke.
“I’m sorry to ask, but there’s one place I’d like to visit… would you be willing?”
His gaze turned toward Dan Woo-hyun.
It was Dan Woo-hyun who led this group, after all. Despite his youth, one could not disregard his position.
Dan Woo-hyun’s expression grew curious as he asked.
“Where?”
“Hanam.”
“…Are you seriously asking me to walk into the enemy’s stronghold?”
Sa Do-hak let out a incredulous snort.
The Demonic Cult’s leader, known as the Demon Emperor, proposing to enter Hanam where the Murim Alliance stood—that was the same as suggesting they infiltrate deep into the enemy’s headquarters.
It could even provoke the Great Righteous-Demonic War.
“You should return from here. And if the clan leader doesn’t go, I’ll have no choice but to withdraw cleanly.”
“You wish to meet the Alliance Master.”
“…Yes.”
This situation.
Namgung Cheon could not make sense of it.
The collapse of the Namgung Clan—very well. If the enemy’s strength surpassed the Clan’s, and if their strategies were sound, including the use of artillery, then even the Namgung Clan would inevitably fall.
But the Murim Alliance’s inaction meant something significant.
In the end, the Alliance couldn’t escape the suspicion that it had abandoned the Namgung Clan—a pillar of the Orthodox Faction for so long. That was what troubled him most.
The current Alliance Master was none other than Mo Yong Hyuk-mun.
Why hadn’t an old friend like him stepped forward immediately? The questions spiraled endlessly, tangling his thoughts further.
“Hanam, you say… Isn’t the Thousand Year Shaolin there?”
“Of course. Haven’t you been there before?”
“I went there a long time ago.”
Dan Woo-hyun smiled faintly.
He recalled a certain monk in his mind and wore a pleased expression.
“Not a bad idea. Returning empty-handed would’ve been dull anyway. It’s worth taking another look at Hanam after so long.”
“Thank you! I’m truly grateful.”
Namgung Cheon felt he could bow just then. To think that Dan Woo-hyun, once so taciturn, would go to such lengths to help—how deeply grateful must he be?
Without him, would he even exist as he does now?
The debt was immeasurable.
And now, despite the difficulty of traveling such a distance with a small child, Dan Woo-hyun agreed to venture into Hanam once more—for that, gratitude ran deep.
“Well then, though it’s late, we should rest. You’ll have things to prepare anyway.”
Both men nodded at Dan Woo-hyun’s words.
All that remained was to return to the inn and lie down to sleep.
“Haah… haah…”
Meanwhile, at that very moment.
Namgung So-hye was pushing through the underbrush, her body worn to the bone.
No one followed her anymore, but considering she hadn’t eaten or drunk properly, hadn’t even slept in all that time, she thought she should have already collapsed and never moved again.
Yet she endured.
By sheer will to survive, she pushed on and on.
It seemed she possessed only one burning certainty: she would rebuild the Namgung Clan anew.
“I’m… I’m almost there…”
At last she pushed through the final stretch of brush and gazed at the landscape before her. But at the sight of it, inexplicably transformed, she caught her breath, unable to hide her shock.
“Wh… what?”
She made a small sound, a whimper of confusion.
There should have been a manor house.
No, there was definitely a manor house.
But it felt nothing like the one she remembered.
The manor she’d seen before was spacious, though not particularly lavish. Yet the one before her eyes now was not only vast but splendid beyond measure.
From the walls surrounding the grounds to every building within.
Not quite as if an imperial palace had been transplanted here, but the brilliance of it was so excessive that it could hardly be called an ordinary residence.
She wondered if she’d come to the wrong place.
She hopped toward the wall and peered over—and there, unmistakably, was that pine tree she remembered from before.
That alone was proof enough.
This was Dan So-mi’s house.
And look here.
The characters “Honam Dan Residence” were written in handwriting that was strangely, unmistakably familiar.
“Hm?”
Namgung So-hye tilted her head, furrowing her brow.
Was she seeing things? Without eating or sleeping, after all this time?
This structure couldn’t possibly have been built in just a month or two. And yet there it stood, as if it had been here from the very beginning.
Wasn’t this something even a ghost would weep over?
She rapped on the gate door with trembling hands.
She wondered if Dan Woo-hyun had moved elsewhere. But knock as she might, no one answered from inside.
She pushed the door open slightly, and with a creak, the interior came into view.
“There’s… no one here?”
The house was empty.
She steadied herself with a breath and stepped cautiously inside.
She worried that Dan Woo-hyun might have left, with strangers living here now—but in her current state, she had nowhere else to go.
She crossed the threshold into the manor.
As she entered the great courtyard, she swallowed hard.
Her wide eyes darted around and around.
She scanned the surroundings but saw no sign of recent habitation. The house appeared to have been empty for at least ten days or more.
“This… this seems to be the right place… Hello? Is anyone here?”
Namgung So-hye called out loudly as she moved cautiously through the rooms, and gradually she became certain of one thing: this was indeed the home of Dan So-mi and Dan Woo-hyun.
Objects she’d seen from when they lived in the previous manor lay scattered here and there.
And the kitchen bore all the marks of Jang Sam-tae’s hand.
The traces were too consistent to suggest they’d moved elsewhere.
She exhaled in relief.
Her stomach growled.
Was it because she’d finally let herself breathe?
Suddenly hunger came upon her.
Many questions remained—why the manor had changed so dramatically, where the others had gone—but her body obeyed the primal instinct to survive.
She made her way carefully to the kitchen.
She searched for anything edible, but as always, Jang Sam-tae prepared precisely measured portions and left nothing behind.
Besides, with the house empty for so long, there was no hope of finding leftover food.
“Ah… what do I do?”
She wondered if she’d end up eating dirt. Then something flashed through her mind, and she suddenly stiffened.
She rushed outside and searched through the rooms hastily.
At last she opened one door and broke into a wide smile.
“There it is!”
Yes, there it was.
The Fishing Rod.
Namgung So-hye held the Fishing Rod in her palm, breaking into a broad smile. Now she had everything she needed to catch fish. But first.
She had to dig.
She needed to find earthworms.
She set to work with fierce determination, her body moving urgently as she began to turn over the soil.
Hunger burned in her eyes as she drove herself forward.
Namgung So-hye’s struggle for survival had begun.
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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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