Chronicles of the Martial God’s Return - Chapter 131

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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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The Cheon Do Society, centered around the Eight Great Families.
The Murim Alliance, centered around the Nine Schools and One House.
Though considerable time had passed since the Murim Alliance came into being as a unified body, the fact that it had never once dissolved or fractured made the current situation seem like the gravest crisis the Orthodox Martial World had ever faced.
Kwon Sung, newly elevated to Alliance Master, had sent envoys to reabsorb the Cheon Do Society, but the lords of the Eight Great Families flatly refused, and so the coexistence of these two powers had become assured.
Among martial artists who had belonged to the Murim Alliance, those affiliated with the Eight Great Families or loyal to them underwent a mass exodus and defected to the Cheon Do Society.
While followers of the Nine Schools and One House remained within the Murim Alliance, the Eight Great Families’ influence had been so considerable that precious little strength was left.
In the meantime, ominous movements stirred in the Demonic Emperor Castle to the north.
The forces of the Demonic Emperor Castle, which had operated around Shanxi, pressed westward and invaded Shaanxi, which could be called Huashan’s domain.
Only through the combined might of Huashan and the Zhongnan School—two pillars of the Nine Schools and One House—could their advance be halted, though half of Shaanxi had fallen to the Demonic Emperor Castle, and the region remained on a knife’s edge, a tension so thick that war could erupt at any moment.
After a long period of quiet, ripples began to spread through the Martial World.
The first tremor came from the Heterodox Sects themselves.

“Moving as if they’d been waiting for this!”
Within the Murim Alliance.
It was Mun Baek-joong, an elder of Huashan, whose voice rang loudest among the many gathered leaders of the Nine Schools and One House. Though they had managed to hold the line, the damage was severe—if they faced another all-out war, Huashan’s very survival would hang in the balance.
That was something he wished to avoid at any cost.
He desperately wished to borrow the strength of the Murim Alliance, but no school, no faction, remained free from the threat of the Demonic Emperor Castle.
“They’ve allied with the North Sea. Unless we can muster comparable strength…”
Heo Gong, an elder of Wudang, drew a long, heavy breath.
All the schools gathered here wanted to help—that much was certain. But with the need to watch the movements of the Demonic Cult and the Outside Sects, they could not simply dispatch personnel on a whim.
Moreover, Hubei, where Wudang resided, was in no better straits.
Taking advantage of the weakened Murim Alliance, the Green Forest Bandits had begun running rampant, and mere suppression of them was already consuming enormous energy.
The other Nine Schools faced little better circumstances.
Shaolin alone remained relatively stable.
All eyes turned toward Kwon Sung.
The Demonic Emperor Castle’s advance into Shaanxi had to be stopped. If they could not contain it there, no one could predict what calamity might follow.
“What of the Cheon Do Society’s movements?”
“As yet, nothing remarkable. Without a head to lead them, consensus proves difficult to achieve no matter what they attempt.”
Kwon Sung nodded.
The Eight Great Families and the Nine Schools and One House—both had been moved by one mind, and that was the Zhuge Family’s brilliance. Though their martial prowess was unremarkable, their strategic genius was acknowledged by both the Nine Schools and the Eight Great Families alike.
And the Cheon Do Society, lacking the Zhuge Family’s participation.
Was nothing more than an impressive façade.
Kwon Sung nodded readily and spoke.
“Have you located the Zhuge Clan Master?”
“He appears to be somewhere in Honam, searching for someone.”
“Bring him to our side. The Zhuge Clan Master must not be lost to them… and I shall send Shaolin’s disciples to aid Huashan.”
“Understood.”

***

“Are you truly not going?”
“Heh heh heh.”
Namgung So-hye glared at Namgung Cheon with a face flushed with indignation.
Three months had already passed since she arrived at this estate. In that time, the political landscape of the Martial World had shifted dramatically, reaching a point where blood could spill at any moment, anywhere.
With conflict already erupting between Huashan and the Demonic Emperor Castle in Shaanxi, an all-out war seemed imminent.
Desperate to return to the Murim Alliance, Namgung So-hye was deeply disappointed by Namgung Cheon’s steadfast refusal to move. He was no other than the Sword Emperor—a figure whose very name would lend tremendous power to the Murim Alliance.
Moreover, he could even prevent the fighting between the Demonic Emperor Castle and Huashan unfolding as we speak.
So why?
“I have already resolved never to return to that place, which is why I wear this mask. The Sword Emperor exists no longer. So what purpose would my going there serve?”
“But… if only Grandfather were there, even the Cheon Do Society could unite under one banner.”
“Heh, they brought this upon themselves through their own desires. The time when my name held sway has long since passed. The Murim Alliance and the Cheon Do Society pursue different ideals—they cannot walk the same path.”
Namgung So-hye fell silent, like one struck dumb.
It was true.
Though weakened, the Murim Alliance still played the role of guardian to the Orthodox Martial World, whereas the Cheon Do Society moved solely for its own gain.
Over these three months, they had rallied a considerable force, grown to rival even the Murim Alliance in scale. Yet beneath the surface, it was nothing but a collection of families pursuing profit and demonstrating their own power.
So long as the Demonic Emperor Castle did not directly invade their territory, they sat idle, spectators to the flames. Even as Shaanxi was invaded and so much blood spilled.
Namgung So-hye found this unbearable.
That is why he had decided to go to the Murim Alliance.
These three months, so that everything he had learned from Namgung Cheon would not be wasted.
“You must find your own path. A true way is one you forge for yourself.”
……
Namgung So-hye gazed at Namgung Cheon in silence.
Then she exhaled and turned away, her eyes drifting toward the window where the landscape beyond revealed itself—a thick pine tree with a swing suspended from its branches, and on that swing, Dan So-mi played with carefree abandon.
Beside her sat Dan Woo-hyun in a chair, while Sa Do-hak, Ma Jang-gang, and Jang Sam-tae lingered about the grounds.
Namgung Cheon loved this view.
Having walked the Martial Way for so long, perhaps he had needed these moments of peace. Perhaps he believed that this Estate alone could grant him such respite.
Surely that must be it.
And yet.
“Wasn’t Sa Do-hak the leader of the Demonic Cult from the start? Isn’t it strange that he’d be here at all? And not just him—what about the Wolf King? That foolish-looking man is the Wolf King? Why are such people in a place like this?”
The words she had kept bottled up in her mind while occupied with training now spilled from her lips, and she huffed with indignation. Among these martial artists, what peace was there to be found? What pleasure could possibly lie here?
Worse still, Sa Do-hak was the leader of the Demonic Cult—an enemy one could never stand beside.
“Is it not the virtue of the Estate Master?”
‘Virtue? How ridiculous.’
Namgung So-hye pressed her brow and sighed.
This was beyond reason.
The Martial World stood on the precipice of chaos, this the gravest crisis of the Orthodox Martial World—and yet the Sword Emperor, once the supreme master of the Orthodox Martial World and its mightiest lord, loitered here as though without a care in the world?
She almost pitied the newly appointed Alliance Master, Kwon Sung.
Sigh.
Namgung So-hye exhaled once more.
“Will you not go?”
“How could I leave when Grandfather is here?”
“Heh, this old man has told you not to concern yourself…”
Hmph!
Heh, heh.
Watching So-hye turn away with her nose in the air, Namgung Cheon simply laughed without end. Both this expression and that one—he loved them all.
This entire scene delighted him endlessly.

Ma Jang-gang found himself thinking sometimes.
‘Did I make a mistake coming here?’
He had followed Dan Woo-hyun on impulse at first, captivated by his strength and charmed by his character—so resolute, and at times even tender.
But once he learned the truth of this Estate, every thought scattered like ash, leaving his mind blank and white as snow.
First, that fellow over there.
He knew Kwon Mu-jin was called a master of dual sabers, and yet common wisdom claimed he did not rank among the Hundred Great Masters. After several contests, Ma Jang-gang had come to understand the truth.
‘I will never be able to defeat him,’ he had realized.
And the one beside him was Jang Sam-tae. His skill was unremarkable in itself, yet once he deployed his Lightness Kung Fu and took to the air, he seemed utterly beyond reach.
Three months ago, he had even fought Namgung So-hye to a draw.
Up to that point, it was tolerable.
Such people were not out of place in Dan Woo-hyun’s company, after all.
But then.
Ma Jang-gang stood rigid, his gaze darting sideways in a furtive glance before he quickly turned away.
‘Sa Do-hak!’
Yes, that man—the mightiest of the Demonic Cult, one of the Five Emperors.
That terrifying old demon.
Merely meeting his eyes threatened to break one’s nerve. It was no wonder, then, that facing such a person and speaking of Hundred Great Masters and such had resulted in a thorough beating.
And further still, that old man over there.
The window obscured his full view, yet the figure smiled with affection toward his granddaughter.
The Sword Emperor.
Called the supreme master of the Orthodox Martial World, his very name had struck terror into countless enemies. The Nine Schools and One House bowed their heads at the sight of him, as did the members of the Eight Great Families.
And he was here.
‘What in heaven’s name is my lord’s true nature, that such people should gather at his side?’
Ma Jang-gang carefully shifted his gaze to Dan Woo-hyun, who lay in a chair they had fashioned, reading a book. From time to time he smiled at Dan So-mi as she swung back and forth.
No matter how he looked at it, an ordinary man.
And yet, by no measure could he be called ordinary.
Not only his skill, but those around him were no trifling matter.
Could the Sword Emperor and the Demon Emperor even stand together like this?
The Martial World was in turmoil right now.
Once more, his eyes stole a glance at Sa Do-hak.
Jang Sam-tae’s dumplings disappeared between his teeth as Sa Do-hak roared with laughter. Could anyone truly call this man the Demon Emperor?
“What? Why are you staring like that?”
“Ah… No, it’s nothing!”
“If you’ve got something to say, out with it. I’ll listen to whatever you need to tell me.”
“No, truly, it’s nothing!”
Ma Jang-gang finally grasped the true nature of Sa Do-hak’s temperament in this place.
Touch him wrong, and you die.
Act in a way he dislikes, and you die.
One careless word, and a fist comes flying.
He’s simply terrifying.
Jang Sam-tae learned early to bring offerings whenever he stumbled, and Kwon Mu-jin treated each beating as an opportunity to sharpen his skills, throwing himself at Sa Do-hak like a madman. But Ma Jang-gang?
He lacked the nerve to spar with anyone, let alone the Demon Emperor himself.
That first thrashing had done much to cement his caution.
“Leave him be. He hasn’t adjusted yet,” Dan Woo-hyun said, a wry smile crossing his face.
But Ma Jang-gang knew better.
Sa Do-hak was frightening enough, but the truly terrifying figure in this Estate was none other than the very man he had chosen to follow.
He was death incarnate.
‘No—the man himself is hell.’
Ma Jang-gang shook his head slowly.
Last time, when Sa Do-hak and Namgung Cheon had clashed by accident and it had escalated into a real fight, Dan Woo-hyun had disposed of both of them in mere exchanges.
After that, the most difficult person in the Estate was no longer Sa Do-hak—it was Dan Woo-hyun.
‘I have a feeling… I came to the wrong place.’
He gazed up at the sky, his face twisted in dismay.
The urge to flee this place refused to leave his mind, even now.

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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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