Chronicles of the Martial God’s Return - Chapter 130

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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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Those with the strongest pride crumble most easily.
Namgung So-hye possessed such pride.
Born into a direct line of one of the Eight Great Families, she had learned the clan’s traditional swordsmanship, and from childhood she had been called a rising talent, standing at the very forefront of her generation.
Such things had shaped who Namgung So-hye was.
The stern education Namgung Cheon had given her became the very source of the arrogant confidence that defined her now.
“Haah… haah… haah…”
“Huff… huff…”
Namgung Cheon watched the two figures struggling for breath in the distance, his own face unreadable. He seemed at a loss for words, yet somehow this felt inevitable.
“What’s woven into that blade… is it Technique?”
Dan Woo-hyun’s murmur drifted across the Training Ground.
Yes, the Technique contained in Namgung So-hye’s sword was undoubtedly the same one Namgung Cheon possessed. But she was merely mimicking it, unable to wield it perfectly—making it ultimately useless.
“Mere imitation won’t keep you alive.”
Dan Woo-hyun smiled mockingly.
Jang Sam-tae’s capabilities were certainly far inferior to Namgung So-hye’s. In experience and the caliber of swordsmanship he had learned, the gap was vast.
Yet for all that, Namgung So-hye could not pin him down. Thanks to Sa Do-hak’s teaching, her eyes had grown accustomed to swift blades and fists, but Jang Sam-tae’s native Lightness Skill and Footwork were no inferior to her swordsmanship when compared directly.
Dan Woo-hyun and Sa Do-hak had refined those gifts. No matter how brilliant Namgung So-hye’s technique, no matter how deeply she drew upon her experience, she could not easily catch someone who moved like that.
“This… this is impossible…!”
Namgung So-hye’s breath came ragged, her brow furrowed in frustration.
More than a double hour had passed.
She had thought one move would be enough to subdue him, yet the sparring match had stretched beyond a double hour, and at this rate, that period would soon end.
How could this be?
She glanced sideways.
She saw Namgung Cheon standing beside Dan Woo-hyun. His face revealed nothing, which made the weight of his silence all the heavier.
‘I can’t lose. This can’t happen!’
Namgung So-hye gripped her sword harder.
Since the matter with the Sap-hyul Pill, how much training had she done?
How many times had she honed her blade?
Knowing that she would need to reach greater heights to lead the clan, she had stood where she was now, built on endless, blood-soaked training.
And now, to be checked by someone like Jang Sam-tae?
It was unacceptable. It couldn’t be.
She gritted her teeth harder, her grip tightening on the sword. Her eyes blazed with grim determination as she fixed on Jang Sam-tae’s labored breathing, resolved to end this—here and now.
“Reckless.”
“Hmm…”
But the two men observing all this remained skeptical. When she could not yet counter his speed, attempting to decide everything in one move was a grave mistake.
Yet in that instant, Namgung So-hye charged.
She exploded off the ground, deploying her Body Technique at maximum speed.
She closed the distance with her greatest velocity, her blade flashing like lightning, even faster still.
Slice!
But she didn’t connect.
She had shredded his collar, but her blade never touched his body.
Jang Sam-tae had already slipped far out of range, clutching his chest, gasping for air.
“I… I almost died there. Seriously! What happens if you actually go all out!”
She called it a sparring match, but the killing intent he’d just felt was real.
Without a moment’s hesitation, she had aimed to cut him down. Had he been even slightly slower, he would have fallen bleeding into the dust.
It’s supposed to be a simple sparring match!
Jang Sam-tae shot a sharp look at Dan Woo-hyun.
“Isn’t that against the rules?”
“You dodged well. You’re not dead, so it counts.”
“I thought I was going to die!”
“You won’t die from that. But I think further sparring is pointless now.”
Dan Woo-hyun smiled faintly as he turned his gaze to Namgung So-hye.
She knelt collapsed on the ground, her eyes vacant. That final strike had been unleashed with every fiber of strength she possessed.
It should have been beyond Jang Sam-tae’s capacity to evade.
Yet she had failed—and that shock hit her like a physical blow.
“H… how is this possible?”
“What do you mean?”
“That person… he was clearly…!”
“Not even third-rate. A worm.”
“A worm…… I…… Master Jang…….”
Jang Sam-tae stared at him in disbelief, cold sweat beading on his forehead. If you’re going to insult someone, do it when they’re not around—wasn’t that remark a bit harsh?
Though he shot Dan Woo-hyun a look of wounded indignation, the man didn’t even flinch.
Dan Woo-hyun glanced at the fallen Namgung So-hye with a derisive smile, then turned away.
“So our sparring match is now void. Well then, I suppose it’s time to start preparing breakfast.”
“Yes, of course!”
Jang Sam-tae bolted toward the Kitchen without a second thought. His body ached in a dozen places from the brutal morning exertion, but he was in no position to refuse Dan Woo-hyun’s orders.
Yet he appeared remarkably pleased.
As he left the Training Ground, he clenched his fists tight.
‘I actually defeated Namgung So-hye?’
“Hehehehe.”
Quiet laughter bubbled up from within him.
She had seemed like a woman beyond reach. Her name alone, her lineage alone, carried a power that could make anyone shrink back.
But now?
He had reached her.
Of course, calling it a victory would be difficult to justify—none of his attacks had actually landed on her.
Yet that alone was enough to kindle courage within him.
Jang Sam-tae felt himself becoming more of a true martial artist with each passing moment.

“…….”
Namgung Cheon watched Namgung So-hye in silence.
Her frustration was plain to see. The fact that she’d ended the sparring match without securing a decisive victory against an opponent whose ability was so far beneath her own would be gnawing at her. Resentment must be rising like bile.
And she was struggling to contain it through sheer discipline.
Namgung Cheon exhaled softly.
“Are you frustrated?”
“Why…… why did this happen? How is this possible? I am of the Namgung Clan…….”
“Martial arts depend not only on the level of one’s ability, but also on compatibility.”
“Compatibility……?”
“Yes. From what I observed, your movements, your swordsmanship—all of it simply lacked compatibility with that boy Jang Sam-tae.”
“Such an absurd…….”
“It may be absurd, but didn’t it unfold before your very eyes?”
Compatibility?
What even was that?
Namgung So-hye snorted derisively. Was he suggesting that the quality of one’s martial arts had nothing to do with the swordsmanship skill possessed by oneself and one’s opponent?
No one had ever taught her such a thing.
Namgung So-hye bit her lips hard.
“Your sword is swift and elegant, true. But what dwells within it is merely a hollow imitation of my technique—nothing more. And no matter how swift, you become useless before someone who moves even faster. An outcome like this was inevitable.”
“…….”
“You are still underdeveloped.”
It felt as though she’d been struck with a rod.
Namgung So-hye hung her head low, unable to lift it. She felt as though she’d shown her worst self before Namgung Cheon of all people.
This was not what all those hours of rigorous training had been for.
“I…… I’m sorry…….”
“Heh, I’m not angry. This too is experience, is it not?”
“Not…… angry? But I just now…… brought shame to the clan’s name…….”
Namgung So-hye lifted her head.
When she looked at Namgung Cheon’s face, she found it subtly transformed. This was someone who would ordinarily rage at such a turn of events, yet today—for reasons she couldn’t fathom—he offered only a gentle smile, his presence wrapping around her with unexpected warmth.
This was not the Namgung Cheon she knew.
Because of this, Namgung So-hye’s expression grew uncertain.
Then Namgung Cheon reached out and stroked her hair.
“Ah…….”
The gesture was as natural as the one Dan Woo-hyun showed Dan So-mi. And the tenderness in his expression—cradling a wounded hurt, soothing it—was exactly as she had long imagined her grandfather to be.
Tears welled up in Namgung So-hye’s eyes.
“Waaaaah!”
She threw herself into his embrace, her cries pouring forth.

***

“Hmm…… how curious.”
Dong Bang-gu, Vice Commander of the Demonic Cult, stared at the corpses and swallowed hard. There were roughly twenty of them, twisted grotesquely in death.
Most were high-level martial artists who straddled the First-rate threshold, elite members of the Demonic Cult who would never fall so easily elsewhere.
And yet.
“No signs of combat?”
“Yes, sir. No matter how thoroughly we search, there are no traces of a fight.”
Dong Bang-gu’s brow furrowed.
A force of this size attacked, yet no signs of battle—not even any indication they’d attempted to flee. It was as if all twenty had simply been slaughtered in a sudden, overwhelming ambush.
But an ambush?
Dong Bang-gu examined the traces on the ground one by one.
If it truly had been an ambush, the attackers would have needed to hide somewhere, yet he found nothing—and not a single corpse bore any mark of how the ambush had even been carried out.
It was as if their hearts had simply stopped, naturally and without cause.
A sigh escaped Dong Bang-gu’s lips.
How many of the Demonic Cult had already fallen?
He needed to catch the culprit before Sa Do-hak returned……
“As if the troubles in the Martial World weren’t already giving me a headache……”
He gripped his aching head and grimaced. The upheaval at the Murim Alliance, the fracturing of the Eight Great Families into separate factions—
None of it left the Demonic Cult untouched. Though they operated in a different sphere, each move by those powers dictated which path the Demonic Cult itself must take in the days ahead.
And yet he still hadn’t caught the killer……
Just as Dong Bang-gu began shaking his head in frustration—
Crack!
The sound of bone snapping echoed from somewhere nearby.
Everyone’s eyes whipped toward the noise. There, one of his subordinates—neck bent at an unnatural angle—crumpled silently to the ground.
And then he appeared.
A single figure, standing motionless in that spot.
A man clad entirely in a jet-black Black Wind Robe, disheveled hair streaming, a cruel smile playing across his lips—and he was walking toward Dong Bang-gu without a shred of hesitation.
Thud-thud!
Each footfall cut through the air like a blade against their nerves.
Though it was unmistakably a moment to assume a defensive stance, not a single person could move. They stood frozen.
Dong Bang-gu was no exception.
The strange Demonic Qi radiating from the man’s body was one thing, but his gaze—his gaze was like chains, binding and locking down every soul in the vicinity.
“Who…… who are you……”
Dong Bang-gu opened his mouth cautiously, his voice trembling.
This presence.
Perhaps equal to Sa Do-hak.
Or even greater.
“Kneel.”
Boom!
A single word from the man’s lips struck like thunder from a clear sky, piercing their ears. But what shocked them even more was that every person around them fell to their knees as if compelled by the force of his command itself.
Dong Bang-gu was no exception.
He stared at the man through trembling eyes and swallowed.
Who was this?
Where had such an impossible being emerged from?
His lips twitched as he forced himself to meet the man’s gaze. The moment their eyes locked, Dong Bang-gu felt as though his heart might stop.
His breath came ragged.
Then the man’s voice cut through him.
“Bow before the name of Hei Feng Shen Mo. I am your master.”
Those words drove deep into his mind, reverberating through his skull.

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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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