Chronicles of the Martial God’s Return - Chapter 116

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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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Ma Il-woong’s eyes opened to a disheveled world.
Whether he’d lost consciousness for a moment, his memory had scattered like leaves. Frowning, he glanced around and saw corpses strewn across the undergrowth.
He pushed his trembling body upright.
Soon he worked free of the brush and walked toward the direction Dan Woo-hyun had gone.
After walking what felt like a quarter of an hour, the surroundings bore violent marks—as though a typhoon had torn through.
He also saw the corpse of a man whose head was missing.
“Ugh……!”
The grotesque sight made him retch. He turned away, noticing traces leading in another direction.
He moved cautiously toward it, checking the area as he went, and after some distance found more bodies scattered about.
“There were more of them?”
The appearance of these dead differed somewhat from the Twenty Ghosts. Yet one thing was certain—they were their comrades; the clothes they wore were identical.
They didn’t appear to be wearing masks.
Besides, there was no way to examine such things on a corpse whose skull had been shattered.
“It’s difficult to believe even seeing it with my own eyes.”
Langwang Ma Il-woong.
He felt once more how shallow his confidence in his own strength and his eye for reading people truly was.
“The world is vast indeed, and eccentric masters are plentiful.”
With such thoughts, he exhaled a long breath.
He quickened his pace.
Following the traces before him, he continued winding through the landscape.

Dan Woo-hyun washed the blood from the flowing valley stream. No matter how much he scrubbed, bloodstains clung stubbornly to his clothes—he’d been soaked in so much of it.
Thinking on this, a laugh escaped him unbidden.
“It feels like the old days.”
The past came rushing back.
There hadn’t been a single day he hadn’t been drenched in blood. Even after opening his eyes and meeting Dan So-mi, he hadn’t stopped killing—but he’d never been stained this deeply before.
After washing for some time, Dan Woo-hyun wrung out the dampness and emerged slowly from the water.
With a sharp flick, he shook the wet fabric; every last drop flew into the air without a trace remaining.
His clothes were already dry.
“How much time has passed?”
He dressed in the dry garments, his mind turning to concern for the others. Considerable time had passed—more than half a day, it seemed. They would have put considerable distance between them.
He could deploy his Lightness Skill and close any gap in moments, but since their destination was the same—Honam—and he’d catch them eventually, he saw no reason to rush.
A journey alone was rare for him.
Why not savor it at leisure?
“I seem to have killed them all…… but since not a single one would speak, I’ve learned virtually nothing.”
A frown creased his brow at the thought.
He’d killed many, yes. But failing to discover who stood behind them meant his original assumptions had proven wrong.
Curse Technique and Divine Possession Technique, Reverse Heaven Corpse Technique and Demon Absorption Technique.
Considering such a combination, there could be only one answer.
“The Descendants of Blood Demon?”
The thought wouldn’t leave his mind.
If someone possessed all such arts, there was only one figure who came to mind.
Without thinking, he shook his head and walked on.
Among the dead, one was certainly a Shaman.
If the Namgung Clan’s collapse and what had moved behind it was indeed his doing, then the answer lay in Honam.
“What began as mere wanderlust has given me a purpose.”
How strange life’s turns could be.
He’d thought rightly that he was helping the Namgung Clan. That was why he’d decided on Honam—for a leisurely journey, or to aid Namgung Cheon. But now Honam had become his true objective.
Absurd, wasn’t it?
Then Dan Woo-hyun’s attention shifted.
He’d sensed an odd presence.
As he turned his gaze, the brush rustled and a familiar figure emerged.
“Hmm?”
“Were you…… here all along, sir?”
“You are…….”
“I am Ma Il-woong, sir. A wanderer!”
“I see.”
The figure that emerged was unmistakably Ma Il-woong.
Until now, Dan Woo-hyun had paid him little mind, so his presence here struck him as rather curious. As he regarded the man with an odd expression, Ma Il-woong abruptly approached and dropped to his knees.
“P-please, take me with you!”
“Hmm?”
The sudden plea made Dan Woo-hyun furrow his brow.
Now that he thought of it, something similar had happened before. It must have been with Kwon Mu-jin, wasn’t it? He too had knelt like this, pleading desperately.
Dan Woo-hyun asked with a bewildered expression.
“Take you with me? You’re serious?”
“Of c-course. I have… I have spent my whole life searching for a master to serve. Surely this meeting with you is a sign from the heavens, a command to serve you…….”
“Fine.”
Dan Woo-hyun walked on, waving his hand dismissively.
He’d find some use for the man, if only as a shield for Dan So-mi’s sake. But Kwon Mu-jin was adequate for that purpose already.
Ma Il-woong was certainly strong, but compared to Kwon Mu-jin’s growth thus far, they were evenly matched. These so-called Hundred Great Masters?
Knowing how unforgiving the Martial World truly was, Dan Woo-hyun had never bothered to concern himself with such titles. The common talk might say Ma Il-woong was stronger than Kwon Mu-jin, but face to face, they would be equals or he would fall short.
There was no need to take another such man into his fold.
“S-sir. W-wait, please! You… you said you were heading to Honam, didn’t you?”
“I did.”
“Then allow me to stay by your side, at least until then. I will prove to you that I am a man worth having.”
“Hmm.”
Dan Woo-hyun’s expression hardened.
He was considering whether the man was worth the bother.
Yet as he met Ma Il-woong’s gaze, he found himself nodding quietly. Traveling alone wasn’t terrible, true enough, but having someone like Kwon Mu-jin at his side had its merits too.
And since the man was offering to prove his usefulness, it seemed the journey might be easier—at worst, no worse than before.
“Fine, then. But only until Honam. Once we arrive, if I find I have no further need of you, you’ll turn back.”
“A man’s promise is worth gold under heaven! I swear I will keep it!”
That satisfied him.
Unlike Kwon Mu-jin, who clung to him with relentless persistence, this would be more manageable.
Still, the fastest route to Honam was…….
“It’s this way, sir! If you follow this path over the Mountain Ridge, you’ll reach the main road that cuts straight through to Honam fastest.”
“I see.”
Dan Woo-hyun nodded, looking around.
Long ago, he would have known every path better than anyone, but so much had changed that he could barely orient himself anymore.
In such circumstances, having a guide was truly convenient.
Perhaps he’d prove more useful than Jang Sam-tae after all?
“……Can you cook?”
“Cooking, you mean?”
“Yes.”
“That… well…….”
Watching Ma Il-woong scratch his cheek, Dan Woo-hyun nodded. He found himself thinking once again that when it came to traveling companions, there was no one quite like Jang Sam-tae.
The truth was, when he’d first seen the man…….
He’d thought him more useless than anyone else in the estate.
Dan Woo-hyun licked his lips.
It seemed they’d need to reach a village soon.
He didn’t want to go hungry.

“What do you think Lord Dan stayed behind for?”
Inside the rattling carriage, Namgung Cheon looked at Sa Do-hak and asked. More than a day and a half had passed since they’d left Dan Woo-hyun behind and moved on.
Sa Do-hak had turned the question over in his mind countless times, but could find no satisfying answer, so he posed it now out of frustration.
Was he pursuing the ones who had done such things to the Namgung Clan?
If that were the reason, shouldn’t he naturally inform Namgung Cheon? After all, this was a matter Namgung Cheon himself was supposed to resolve.
And yet that man had stayed behind alone?
If so, there must be another reason.
“Hard to say. From what I can tell, that fellow’s got a cunning streak that makes what’s-his-name—you know, the Zhuge fellow—look straightforward by comparison.”
“Even so, leaving Dan So-mi behind and moving alone like that… don’t you think it suggests something’s afoot?”
Sa Do-hak let out a heavy sigh.
He leaned his back against the carriage wall and regarded Namgung Cheon.
His eyes brimmed with exasperation.
“Are you daft? He’s moving alone because it’s the sort of business Dan So-mi can’t be mixed up in.”
“Are you even listening to what I’m saying? That’s exactly why I said it’s not a simple matter, isn’t it?”
Namgung Cheon’s expression sharpened as he fixed Sa Do-hak with a hard stare.
I could have sworn I said the same thing, yet somehow it landed differently. These Demon Cult bastards—every last one of them knows how to twist words. It’s exasperating.
As he exhaled a long sigh, Sa Do-hak’s brow furrowed.
“What? You think my head’s empty?”
“I wouldn’t say you’re wrong, but…….”
“Hell, you Orthodox fools make such a fuss over a single word. Tsk, tsk. Don’t you agree, Sam-tae?”
Jang Sam-tae, who’d been sitting on the coachman’s bench, flinched.
Why did they have to drag him into their quarrel? But he couldn’t refuse to answer, so he reluctantly opened his mouth.
“W—well, of course. The Orthodox types are tiresome indeed. Ha ha!”
In that instant, Namgung Cheon’s brow twitched.
He had guarded the Orthodox Faction for decades.
No matter that he’d stepped down long ago and now hid even his name—to slander the Orthodox Faction was to slander the Sword Emperor himself, once hailed as the strongest of them all.
“Ahem! Well, we have to admit the Demon Cult rabble has nothing between their ears. That’s why they stumble about so carelessly and get pointed at, isn’t it? Wouldn’t you say so, Mu-jin?”
Kwon Mu-jin jerked and turned his head away.
In truth, he belonged to neither the Orthodox Faction nor the Demon Cult, so stepping into this dispute was far from ideal.
Though he’d received considerable help from Namgung Cheon, Sa Do-hak himself was a figure whose very existence inspired dread.
When he refused to answer, a cutting pressure radiated from within the carriage.
Both Kwon Mu-jin and Jang Sam-tae broke into cold sweat.
In the end, Jang Sam-tae nudged Kwon Mu-jin’s shoulder.
The message was clear: answer already.
“W—well, of course. The D—Demon Cult’s hollow heads deserve acknowledgment, yes. Ha…… ha ha…….”
“See here? You’re a Heterodox dog, aren’t you? Then you’re practically no different from the Demon Cult.”
“How is the Heterodox Sect the same as the Demon Cult?”
Kwon Mu-jin’s voice rose sharply, irritation flaring.
Lumping the Demon Cult and the Heterodox Sect together? It was absurd!
True, it was undeniable that the Demon Cult ranked above the Heterodox Sect, but the Heterodox Sect too had its own pride and history as a power.
Especially Demonic Emperor Castle.
“Hmm? Look at this one! That’s the problem with the Heterodox trash—do them favors and what do you get? Stabbed in the back.”
“That’s a fair point.”
Even Namgung Cheon nodded in agreement. He too seemed to think Kwon Mu-jin was wrong to raise his voice before his elders.
“Y—you people…….”
Kwon Mu-jin’s eyebrows twitched as he forced down his rage. Had the carriage not been moving, or had these men been beneath him, he might well have seized them by the collar and hurled them out.
Sa Do-hak, sensing his fury, poured fuel on the fire.
“Want to know something? The reason Demonic Emperor Castle has survived this long is because of the Demon Cult and…….”
“The grace of the Orthodox Martial World. Huh!”
“Hoh. Your thoughts align with mine for once, old friend.”
“He he he. I feel the same way.”
It was impossible to believe these were the same two who’d been bickering moments before—such warmth passed between them. Watching them face each other with hearty, rolling laughter, they seemed like the closest of companions.
“Those damned old fools!”
It was Kwon Mu-jin whose temper finally snapped.
Judging he’d heard enough, he shot to his feet on the coachman’s bench. He looked ready to storm into the carriage and throw a full tantrum.
The moment Namgung Cheon and Sa Do-hak showed interest with an “oho.”
“Fight and you get swatted!”
A voice suddenly cut through the silence.
Dan So-mi, thoroughly annoyed, let out a shriek.
Her cheeks puffed out full and she huffed indignantly. Those round eyes swept across the carriage’s interior before settling on the two old men, her small lips trembling.
“Grandfathers too! I’ll tell Father if you fight!”
“……Ah. Y—yes.”
“Ahem!”
“And you, sir!”
The three who’d been making such a ruckus fell silent.
Then, cautiously, they stole glances at Dan So-mi before turning their heads away.
They’d thought themselves free in Dan Woo-hyun’s absence, but now they remembered just how terrifying this child could be—and each retreated to gaze out the window.

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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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