Chronicles of the Martial God’s Return - Chapter 115

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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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Have you ever heard the term “Entering the Divine Realm”?
Many speak of those who have reached Entering the Divine Realm by comparison to the ancient Three Heavens—the highest state a martial artist can achieve, and one remarkably difficult to ascend to.
Even the Five Sovereigns, called the strongest of the Central Plains today, are said to have reached only the Semi-Immortal Realm, not Entering the Divine Realm itself.
Ma Il-woong had seen the martial prowess of the Five Sovereigns only once in his life.
It was in the Kaebang, one of the largest organizations in the Central Plains.
It was the martial arts of the one called the Beggar Sovereign.
An old man who always reeked of alcohol, staggering about drunk, unwashed and filthy because he begged for his living—that was all Ma Il-woong had taken him to be.
Yet in actual combat against the Heterodox Sects, his martial arts were nothing short of overwhelming.
He began to understand why people called him one of the Five Sovereigns, why they spoke of him as one of the five strongest.
But now.
Before his eyes stood someone displaying martial arts so dominatingly superior that even the Beggar Sovereign’s strength seemed mere grime beneath a fingernail. The Twenty Ghostly Beings, who had been difficult to handle even against a casual kick, were crumbling absurdly.
Watching it unfold, Ma Il-woong could only stand paralyzed.
“Holding out rather well.”
Dan Woo-hyun, by contrast, furrowed his brow.
That kick had been delivered with the intention of killing them all in one blow. Yet five had died while the others remained alive. Unharmed? No, that couldn’t be true—but his pride stung nonetheless.
“Corpses putting up a decent fight? Ha.”
Dan Woo-hyun shook his head dismissively.
Corpses.
Judging by their movements, they were no ordinary corpses. Then they must be Living Corpses, created from the living. Yet even that wouldn’t grant them the Absorption Technique. Which meant the answer was clear: Reverse Heaven Corpses—the spirits of the dead summoned and made to descend into flesh.
Incomplete, but impressive nonetheless.
Was draining an opponent’s Inner Energy through the Absorption Technique one of their methods for remaining anchored to this realm?
Dan Woo-hyun let a thin smile cross his lips.
His mind churned with various questions.
But he asked none of them.
It wouldn’t matter anyway—the dead gave no answers.
Whoosh-whoosh-whoosh!
The surviving Twenty Ghostly Beings moved.
Perhaps sensing their opponent’s strength, they moved faster than before, their momentum sharper.
Yet their eyes had changed—they gleamed like those of a predator stalking prey. Dan Woo-hyun’s consciousness was all they cared for; they wanted only to consume him.
“You wish to steal my Inner Energy through the Absorption Technique? Come then.”
Dan Woo-hyun extended his hand with ease.
His palm shot forward menacingly, and one of the approaching Ghostly Beings failed to evade, caught in his grasp.
It was no mere clutch at fabric.
His hand drove deep into the creature’s chest—whether to prevent escape or simply for effect—and he pulled, tearing at the corpse as he dragged it toward him.
Crack!
Ribs shattered with a sickening sound, followed by a faint groan. Simultaneously, blades erupted from all sides, shredding the body and withdrawing. A linked ambush using their own comrade? Or did they lack even the concept of camaraderie?
Anyone watching would have sworn Dan Woo-hyun was about to become a pincushion.
Yet.
The incoming blades stopped mere inches from his face. As though he’d foreseen this from the start, he moved with unhurried grace, his hand extending once more.
Thwack!
Releasing the dying creature, he spun and unleashed a sharp kick. A crisp, satisfying crunch echoed through the air as shattered bone became a projectile, striking a nearby comrade square in the head.
Thud!
One creature fell uselessly. The Twenty Ghostly Beings hesitated. Though corpses rarely displayed emotion clearly, fear did not so easily fade from their kind.
Dan Woo-hyun watched them, amused by their thoughts.
“Don’t worry. Soon enough, you’ll all return where you belong.”
Grip!
The Ghostly Beings tightened their hold on their weapons.
Their gazes fixed on Dan Woo-hyun with burning intent—eyes that blazed with determination, as though swearing they would survive.
“Dead things, lacking even the will to express yourselves properly… and yet you cling to life now that you’ve been roused?”
Flinch.
This time, they reacted.
More than a mere reaction—their eyes grew fiercer still. Waves of killing intent crashed through the space, as though breathing itself had become difficult.
“Will… kill.”
At that crude, halting declaration, Dan Woo-hyun smirked.
Regarding the remaining Ghostly Beings, he clenched his fist.
“Then kill, don’t just threaten.”

Thump-thump-thump.
A man stood at a distance, watching the scene unfold. It was Ma Il-woong, who had been trailing the traces of the Twenty Ghostly Beings and those presumed to be the Sword Emperors when he encountered them.
He kept his vigil, expecting to witness something rather entertaining.
But then an entirely unexpected figure burst onto the scene.
“Who is that? How could the Twenty Ghostly Beings——!”
The man could barely draw breath.
The carnage unfolding before his eyes defied all description. The Twenty Ghostly Beings were creatures so formidable that even he would be no match for them if they assembled in full force.
Yet the figure now in his line of sight was crushing them effortlessly.
Bang-bang!
Terrifying screams echoed deafeningly through the air.
Trees shattered and stones crumbled. The very earth split open as though a natural catastrophe had descended. Yet all of this—all of it was wrought by a single human being?
How was this possible?
‘Where could such a creature have come from? I must—I must report this at once!’
This was grave.
He had to relay this information and seek aid immediately. He knew well that if such beings were not eliminated at their root, nothing but disaster would follow.
Yet his legs would not obey.
Seeing the mangled, shattered corpses of the Twenty Ghostly Beings scattered across the ground, he trembled violently, his eyes fixed solely upon that figure.
Then the man’s head turned.
Chill.
Their eyes met in that instant.
The moment their gazes locked, every hair on his body stood on end. The piercing eye-light and overwhelming aura threatened to steal his very consciousness, forcing him to stumble backward without thinking.
‘He saw me. From that distance?’
He tried to deny it, to ignore it, to dismiss it as impossible.
But those eyes burned themselves into his mind and would not fade. Seized by terror, he spun on his heel. He had to report this to his superiors at once and prepare for whatever came next.
The Sword Emperor alone was already more than they could handle—and now there was another presence?
It could not be.
Thud!
But the moment he turned to flee, he collided with something.
Trembling at the inexplicable impact, he hesitantly raised his head.
There.
That man.
The very figure who had slaughtered the Twenty Ghostly Beings from so far away now stood before him, the distance somehow closed. He could not move, could not speak—he could only stare into those eyes.
“So it was you. The one commanding those corpses….”
“Who…… who are you?”
“That is precisely what I wish to know.”
Thud!
In that instant, Dan Woo-hyun’s hand moved lightly, and the man’s body was slammed into the earth. The force was so tremendous that a crater formed, and blood sprayed from the man’s lips.
“Gaaaaah!”
“Who are you? Who are all of you? The Namgung Clan—I could understand if there were old grievances, but Spirit Descent Technique and Absorption Technique…… and even Reverse Heaven Corpse? You operate far beyond what ordinary men could conceive.”
“Cough, cough…… how did you—”
The man himself had no knowledge of such arts. Before he had come into contact with them and learned them directly, he had been utterly ignorant that such techniques even existed.
But who was this man?
He spoke as though he had known all along.
It only deepened the man’s terror of Dan Woo-hyun.
“If you keep your mouth shut, I will inflict greater pain. If you flee, I will bring greater despair.”
The man understood.
This one.
He was not a man to speak idle words.
The aura flowing from his body, the tone of his voice, the resolute gleam in his eyes—combined with an ability to strike without hesitation. This was a man equipped with all of it.
He would not resort to petty deceptions or clumsy attempts to wring information through falsehood. The man felt this in his very bones.
“I…… I know nothing.”
At those words, Dan Woo-hyun laughed.
He kicked lightly at the man’s abdomen.
“I have not yet asked you anything.”
“Ughhhh….”
“A lackey so quick to betray his master would hardly have been entrusted with deep knowledge.”
Dan Woo-hyun swept his hand lightly, and wind carved through the air, shredding the man’s clothes to tatters. As the garments fell away, his bare face was revealed.
“Who are you, and from where?”
“That…… that is——!”
The man covered his face with both hands.
What should never have been revealed had come to light. Should he take his own life instead? The thought flickered, but he lacked the resolve to draw his blade against his own throat.
Yet Dan Woo-hyun reached out, gazing at the sword the man carried.
The blade’s form was unremarkable, but the emblem carved into its hilt was not. It matched the symbol borne by those who had been present during the Three Heavens incident.
The Taegeuk.
“Wudang?”
A strangled gasp tore from the man’s throat.
He lurched to his feet.
What should never have been discovered had been discovered. With no courage to end himself and no hope of victory, only one path remained.
He unfurled his Lightness Skill to flee this place—
Bang!
“Aaagghhhhh!”
The man’s head drove into the earth with such violent force that his skull might have shattered. It was driven deep, impossibly deep.
Blood erupted like a fountain, and agony seized him so utterly that death seemed preferable.
Gripped by unbearable pain, he clawed at his head and thrashed across the ground. His mind went blank, incapable of a single coherent thought.
And in that moment, one truth became certain:
Flight was no longer possible.
Trembling.
He shook, clutching his skull, breath ragged with whimpers. Sobs mingled with the gasps. Before such overwhelming terror, he was powerless.
The Martial Arts they had taught him?
It seemed useless now.
Must he confess everything?
All he knew was in the Murim Alliance—
A choked cry escaped him.
The moment Man Hou-liang’s face surfaced in his mind, the instant he thought to speak that name, a strange sensation bloomed in his belly and raced upward in a heartbeat.
‘What is this? What—’
“Ugh! Ugh!”
Retching convulsed through him, yet the pounding ache in his head was beyond endurance.
“Aaagghhhhh!”
He shrieked, seizing his head in both hands. Everything was incomprehensible, beyond thought itself—he could not grasp what was happening to him.
Then, for a single moment, the agony subsided.
“P-please… help me…”
He stretched his hand toward Dan Woo-hyun.
From eyes and ears, from nose and mouth, from his head itself—
Blood poured in streams as he begged for life.
But—
Crack!
Without Dan Woo-hyun lifting a hand, the man’s skull burst apart. His body crumpled, offering not a final word—only silence.
Where he had stood, blood and fragments pooled.
Dan Woo-hyun regarded it with an impassive stare.

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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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