Chronicles of the Martial God’s Return - Chapter 129

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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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That evening.
Dan Woo-hyun stood before a burial mound on the hillside.
The moonlight was unusually bright that night, and from where he stood, the vista of the manor below lay spread before him in perfect clarity. Even the wind that drifted through seemed gentle, and he could not imagine a more pleasant hour in which to drink.
Dan Woo-hyun settled before the mound and poured out some So-hong Wine. He drank a cup and gazed occasionally toward the heavens, as though the sky itself had become his only companion at this meal.
A strange sensation, somehow.
Dan Woo-hyun closed his eyes slowly.
“Do you remember? When I told you to leave my side, you asked me for a name.”
It was a memory of one particular person.
A child in those days—surviving the world with nothing but a single blade, yet so lacking in skill that death could have come at any moment without surprise.
Still, she never abandoned the sword, and walked forward to the very end, until at last she stood before a Martial God known as the worst of Demon Heads. That fearless girl swung her blade without hesitation, and came within a breath of losing her life entirely.

“Save me, please!”

The girl, with death looming before her, spoke those words.
There was nothing more shameful for a martial artist bearing a blade than to beg for one’s life from an opponent, yet this girl uttered those desperate pleas with genuine hunger to survive—a contradiction that seemed absurd.
How ridiculous it had been.
And yet… entertaining.
He had seen many things in his long existence, but never before had he witnessed someone grip so firmly to the will to live while trembling with such terror that her lower garments grew wet with fear.
That woman was none other than—
Nam Ju-ryeon.
One of the Three Thousand, she who was called the Sword Heaven.
Later, when Dan Woo-hyun sent her away, he gave her a family name.
Namgung.
They had first met at the southern city gate, and he had bestowed the name without great thought—never imagining she would actually use it. Yet it seemed she had gone on to establish the Namgung Clan.
Namgung Cheon. Namgung So-hye.
The Changcheon Muwae Sword Technique unfolded by these two.
It was the very swordsmanship she had been cultivating.
“Fate is truly wondrous and amusing, is it not? Even after a thousand years, the threads that bind us remain unbroken… or so it would seem.”
He laughed softly and tilted his cup.
When he first met Namgung So-hye, his astonishment had been beyond words. And when he saw her unfold the swordwork that Nam Ju-ryeon herself had mastered, he felt his hair stand on end in awe.
A thousand years.
For that span of time, a single lineage had remained unbroken—a feat never easily accomplished. The greatness of Nam Ju-ryeon, who founded the Namgung Clan, was truly remarkable.
“Had she simply lived and gone to her end with a smile…”
Dan Woo-hyun smiled bitterly.
In the end, Nam Ju-ryeon had abandoned even the task of maintaining the clan she created, and met her death in a place that bore traces of Dan Woo-hyun’s presence.
The other two had followed a similar path.
He had thought it would be best if they simply lived their lives as they were, yet they could never forget the Martial God, and both came to their end in such wretched obscurity.
When he thought of it now, it pained him and filled him with remorse.
And yet—how extraordinary that the bonds remain?
Sa Do-hak, inheriting the legacy of Cheon Mu-gwang.
Namgung Cheon and Namgung So-hye, the blood descendants of Nam Ju-ryeon.
And what of the remaining figure—could it be none other than Tae-gong Jin?
“Wudang, you say? With the Samjae Sword Technique you created, you forged countless martial arts. Had you lived, you would have boasted of it with endless laughter.”
He had never witnessed Wudang’s martial arts himself.
Yet from the many tales he had heard, they stood as one of the two pillars of the Martial World—the great powers called the Taishan Big Dipper—who had guarded the Central Plains for centuries. Their prestige was evident without need for elaboration.
Thus all the threads of fate had woven together as one.
And for that alone, Dan Woo-hyun could smile with contentment.
A faint smile crossed his face as he raised his cup in offering.
Then, with an expression far graver than before, he spoke.
“The Supmakong has appeared in this world. That creature Huk Pung Shin Ma could not possibly still live, so I suspect it must be his successor.”
Yet there was something troubling about it.
The martial arts of Huk Pung Shin Ma were no common technique that anyone could learn. The very fact that not one person, but many, had mastered such an exalted and rare art gave him cause for unease.
If there existed someone who could freely transmit the martial arts of Huk Pung Shin Ma to others—
There was only one person who came to mind.
Dan Woo-hyun set down his cup and gazed steadily at the mound.
“Perhaps… that creature may have left behind a successor after all.”
Dan Woo-hyun’s eyes narrowed as he gazed out upon the world.
Those eyes looked down upon all things with arrogance, yet they also belonged to someone who had made a decision and would not bend from it.
“Even if I hold my breath, bow my head, and lower myself…… if there’s no escaping it, then I, Dan Woo-hyun, shall return once more.”
To set foot in the Central Plains again.

The next morning.
Namgung So-hye, who had risen early, washed her face with a vacant stare and stepped out into the courtyard. The first thing she needed to do was to take up a blade and swing it.
She could not forget that moment at the hands of the Corpse Blood Clan—if such a thing were to happen again, this time she would need to reach a level where she could resolve everything by her own strength alone.
And so she had to devote herself all the more.
Though the people of the Namgung Clan were said to have survived, restoring the clan to its former glory would require power equal to the task, and she would add her own strength to that effort.
With even Namgung Cheon, whom she had believed dead, alive, the Namgung Clan now merely waited for the moment to rise again.
Thinking such thoughts, she made her way to the training grounds.
This estate had two training grounds.
One was used by Jang Sam-tae and Kwon Mu-jin and others, while the other had been constructed but rarely saw use. It lay behind the main pavilion where Dan Woo-hyun and Dan So-mi were staying, and Namgung So-hye had practiced there for a long time.
Today, the moment she turned toward that same place as always, an inexplicable wind swept in and cut sharply across her entire body.
“Yelp!”
She cried out in surprise.
In a stillness where not even a whisper of breeze should have stirred, a tempest suddenly descended—there was no help but to be startled. Once everything had settled, her bewildered gaze fell upon a figure standing alone in one corner of the training grounds.
“D…… Dan… Young Master…… .”
It was Dan Woo-hyun.
With his outer robe cast aside, his solid muscles lay bare. His gaze was caressing his sword, and at the bewitching expression upon his face, Namgung So-hye felt as though her mind might slip away for a moment.
The gaze with which Dan Woo-hyun regarded his blade was that beautiful.
Soon his eyes turned toward Namgung So-hye.
“Practicing sword forms early in the morning—it seems you’ve finally found the resolve to do this properly.”
“Th…… that’s only natural, isn’t it?”
Namgung So-hye turned her head away with a flustered expression.
What did he take her for?
She may be a woman, but she too was a martial artist in her own right.
“That aside, I was the one who was surprised. You haven’t used that training ground at all until now…… this is the first time I’ve seen you practicing there.”
“A blade left alone too long grows dull.”
Dan Woo-hyun chuckled softly and put away his sword.
Presently he gathered up his outer robe and put it back on.
Namgung So-hye, who had been watching him intently, pressed her lips together tightly.
“Wait a moment!”
“What is it?”
“…… Could I learn something from you?”
She already knew that Dan Woo-hyun was strong.
But she wanted to know how much her blade could touch his.
Even if I became strong, could I ever match my grandfather?
With such determination burning in her eyes, she sent him her gaze.
What came back was mockery.
“Pointless. I don’t imagine you’d gain anything from it.”
“Ar…… are you running away?”
“Think what you like.”
“Ugh…… !”
What?
Dan Woo-hyun simply waved his hand dismissively and snorted. He clearly felt that even if they were to spar, there was nothing Namgung So-hye could gain from it.
That wounded her pride greatly.
For a martial artist to spar with another martial artist and gain nothing meant there was an enormous gap in ability—a gap beyond words.
And that touched Namgung So-hye’s pride raw.
“H…… ha! So you’re afraid of me, aren’t you?”
“If that’s what you prefer to think.”
“Wh…… what! Just try it once!”
“Ha, I’m not one for pointless sparring. If you wish to indulge in it, go ask your grandfather.”
“My grandfather’s skill is far beyond mine.”
Dan Woo-hyun let out a soft laugh.
So he thought the gap between them was not that great? He had never shed that arrogance, not then and not now—no wonder his growth had stalled.
“Fine…… but not with me.”
“Eh? Not with you, Young Master—is there someone else worthy of it?”
“Of course there is.”
Dan Woo-hyun nodded lightly and smiled.

“I… what exactly are we doing here?”
Jang Sam-tae asked with a thoroughly bewildered expression. He stood in the middle of the training ground, and before him was Namgung So-hye, looking decidedly exasperated.
“What else? A sparring match.”
That much should be obvious.
Jang Sam-tae fixed Dan Woo-hyun with a look of disbelief.
Serious?
Was he actually serious?
If the opponent standing before him was real and not some phantom, it could only be Namgung So-hye—a master swordsman ranking among the top five in the Martial World Late Period Ranking, and a woman who had once led an entire regiment within the Murim Alliance.
The gulf in experience alone was immeasurable, let alone the quality of martial arts.
So what was he supposed to do?
“Are you serious, sir?”
“I am.”
“Am I going to die?”
As Jang Sam-tae spoke in bewilderment, Dan Woo-hyun let out a soft laugh. Then he settled himself to one side and fixed the boy with a slightly crooked gaze.
“If you don’t forget what that old man taught you, you’ll win.”
“But the things he taught me are…”
Nothing but getting beaten senseless, really.
Sa Do-hak had disguised it as a kind of sparring match, but all he’d done was pummel him, shouting that there was no better way to learn martial arts than through real combat.
His whole body still ached from it.
And he was supposed to beat someone with that?
Why not just tell him to take the hits?
“This is insane! This man’s barely been training for any time at all, and you want me to spar with him?”
Namgung So-hye also raised her voice, her expression betraying her exasperation. Even if one were inclined to underestimate someone, asking her to face someone who’d only been training for just over a year crossed every line.
Was he truly mad?
She fixed him with an indignant glare, unable to comprehend the request.
But Dan Woo-hyun’s next words were even more outrageous.
“I’m telling you—you won’t win.”
“What… what did you just say?”
“That boy may look like nothing, but he’s quite formidable.”
Namgung So-hye ground her teeth together as she fixed Jang Sam-tae with a look that could kill. Had it been possible to slay with a glance alone, his heart would have stopped dozens of times over.
“Don’t hold back.”
“There’s no need to hold back. If you can’t win anyway, what does it matter whether you’re careful or going all out?”
Gah!
Jang Sam-tae stared blankly at Namgung So-hye, cold sweat beading his brow. Then it suddenly struck him—Dan Woo-hyun truly believed that he would win this match.
Not someone else. Dan Woo-hyun himself.
If he was making such a guarantee, there had to be a reason.
Jang Sam-tae clenched his fists and shouted.
“Come at me, woman! I’ll teach you a lesson you won’t forget!”
“You want to die that badly?!”
……
Some things were frightening no matter what.

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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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