Chronicles of the Martial God’s Return - Chapter 133

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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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A house? Here?
Zhuge Yun looked around.
Dongting Lake sprawled before them, and everywhere else was forest. Beyond, a steep hillside rose like a cliff face, but it seemed unlikely a house would sit in such a place.
No matter how hard he looked, he couldn’t spot any dwelling, so he turned to Dan So-mi with a puzzled expression.
“You have a house in a place like this?”
“Yes! This is So-mi’s home.”
In that moment, Zhuge Yun and Zhuge Yeon’s eyes went wide.
No matter how thoroughly they searched their surroundings, nothing resembling a building was visible, and so a single thought bloomed in their minds and refused to fade.
This child.
She must be sleeping rough out here.
As for the fishing — it was clear she couldn’t afford to buy food, so she was making ends meet this way. From what they’d heard earlier, the people of her household didn’t fish.
They couldn’t help but think: wasn’t this little one being worked like a slave?
“Those damned fools!”
Zhuge Yun roared.
Working such a sweet child like a servant?
They deserved divine punishment.
His teeth grinding audibly, he fixed his gaze on Dan So-mi. She stared back with wide eyes, clearly startled by his outburst.
“Where is your family’s house? I need to have words with them.”
“Eh?”
Dan So-mi tilted her head.
By his tone, he didn’t seem to be a guest of the estate. But why was he so angry?
Beside her, Zhuge Yeon’s face flushed with indignation as well.
Dan So-mi considered them.
These people.
They were clearly under a serious misunderstanding.
She opened her mouth to clear it up.
“Actually… So-mi isn’t… that is…”
“Enough. What’s striking is your kindness at such a young age, how you’d shelter even the adults. But there are mistakes that must be answered for, regardless of who commits them.”
So-mi flinched.
He stepped closer, leaning his face in so near that she held her breath. She nearly cried out but barely managed to stifle it.
Unable to resist his forceful presence, she found herself nodding.
Well…
Once she brought them to the house, the misunderstanding would clear itself up.
Besides, they didn’t look like bad people.
“This way, please.”
With an awkward tone, she gripped the basket with a slight groan and hurried toward the estate. The manor was some distance from this spot.
Recently, the fish had become scarce in Dongting Lake near the estate’s shore, so Dan So-mi had gradually moved her fishing to other locations, which is how she’d ended up here.
After walking for perhaps a quarter of an hour, the manor came into view.
In that instant, the two figures following behind her stopped dead.
“Gasp!”
“Oh my…”
No one could look upon the sight before them without astonishment. Zhuge Yun and Zhuge Yeon were people of high station themselves, and their own family’s prestige was said to be among the finest in the region.
But this manor was different.
Even the word “magnificent” seemed inadequate.
The towering walls had an oppressive quality that made one feel small. There was such a sense of awe that one might hesitate to enter. Though the interior couldn’t be seen from outside, the sheer grandeur of the outer structures suggested the beauty within would be extraordinary. The massive plaque hanging above the gate spoke volumes.
And that towering nameplate above the entrance.
As Zhuge Yun gazed upon it, he felt a crushing weight of pressure.
Honam Dan Clan.
He’d never heard the name before. If this was someone who possessed such an enormous estate, surely he would have encountered it at least once — the Dan Clan? The Dan Clan? No matter how hard he searched his memory, no such figure came to mind.
His throat went dry.
“Father… might we have come to the wrong place?”
Zhuge Yeon laughed awkwardly and began backing away step by step.
Was this the look on a third-rate martial artist’s face when confronting the Murim Alliance?
This place possessed a dignity that discouraged even approach. Stepping one pace beyond that gate felt like being swallowed whole by the jaws of some great dragon.
All this for a mere manor!
But who was Zhuge Yun?
He was a former Vice Commander of the Murim Alliance and the patriarch of the Zhuge Family.
For he was one pillar of the Five Great Families who had long upheld the Martial World of the Central Plains, and from his position, there was a pride he could never surrender.
“Hah! That can’t be right! This is even more absurd! A person living in such a fine place, working a child like a servant!”
“Y-yes, that’s what I thought too.”
The two men smoothed their ruffled expressions.
At the sight of them, Dan So-mi approached the gate with an awkward smile. The gate appeared far too heavy for a child’s strength to open, yet the moment she drew near, it swung wide as if it had been waiting.
Creak-eeeek!
The great gate yawned open.
A powerfully built man appeared in the doorway.
Dan So-mi bowed respectfully toward him.
“I’m back!”
“Welcome home, Miss!”
It was Ma Jang-gang.
How he had come to be a gatekeeper when he had once served as Dan Woo-hyun’s guardian was unclear, but he greeted Dan So-mi with a humble bow and lowered head.
Soon his gaze turned toward Zhuge Yeon and Zhuge Yun.
“Who are these…?”
“Oh! They’re guests. Right?”
Dan So-mi paused, uncertain whether they were guests or something else, and thought carefully about her own words. Yet they had certainly come seeking the estate, so guests it was.
Though it seemed they had no particular business here.
Dan So-mi stopped mid-stride and spun around.
“Please, come in! This is So-mi’s home.”
“Ah, well… yes…”
“Mm, yes.”
Zhuge Yun and Zhuge Yeon realized something was amiss.
They had assumed the child was being abused, but the gatekeeper’s conduct suggested otherwise.
Moreover, there was something about that man.
‘I’ve seen him somewhere before…’
As Zhuge Yun entered, he studied the man’s face intently. It was certainly a familiar countenance, yet the bruises scattered across it made him uncertain.
Even Ma Jang-gang had turned his head away.
‘What in the world is this estate?’
Zhuge Yun couldn’t shake an ominous feeling.
An estate of this caliber had scarcely been mentioned in Ak-yang’s rumors. The man who had just been at the gate—there was something decidedly unusual in the presence that emanated from him.
The bearing of a master of considerable skill.
He glanced about, examining his surroundings.
As he had thought, the interior was remarkably beautiful. The landscaping was arranged as if one beheld an imperial palace itself. A single pine tree standing at the heart of the estate seemed to harmonize perfectly with everything around it.
Zhuge Yeon, at his side, stood entranced by the entire vista.
Zhuge Yun felt the same, but he forced himself to look away.
First, he would examine this estate.
Then something caught his eye.
A figure in the distance, sweeping the courtyard. He raked with practiced ease, yet his gaze kept flickering toward them, gauging their every move.
It felt as though he might rush at them at any moment.
Plainly a servant by appearance, yet traces of martial training were evident in the very way he swept.
Zhuge Yun suppressed a groan and turned his attention elsewhere.
Then a figure caught his notice.
A man on the veranda ahead, startled by their arrival, was hastily donning a black mask. The mask, dark as pitch, carried an eerie quality merely in its appearance.
“Who are you, barging into someone else’s home?”
A voice rang out.
Zhuge Yun was startled—he had sensed nothing. He whirled around urgently.
A man stood there, regarding Zhuge Yun and Zhuge Yeon with a somewhat crooked gaze, though it was unclear when he had arrived.
‘This man… I’ve seen him somewhere before…!’
Then a memory surfaced.
“Y-you are…?”
“Do you know me?”
Do you not remember?
It had happened in a flash, and even Zhuge Yun’s recollection had grown hazy since. Yet he recognized him immediately because of the unique aura this man carried—an aura he had never forgotten.
Around the man, wind always seemed to blow.
It flowed sometimes sharp as a blade’s edge, sometimes gentle as silk.
“I… I am called Zhuge Yun.”
“Dan Woo-hyun.”
At the name Zhuge Yun, Dan Woo-hyun’s brows twitched slightly. He had heard of this name often enough that it had become lodged in his ears, yet to find such a person in his own estate was startling.
“I have been searching for you.”
“What reason could there possibly be?”
Zhuge Yun swallowed hard.
Reason?
Wasn’t it obvious enough?
To create a stronger Righteous Martial World. If he could only gain this man’s cooperation, it seemed he could complete a Martial World that had progressed even further.
But now?
Zhuge Yun found himself unable to speak at all.
He had resigned from his position as Vice Commander of the Murim Alliance and departed.
Since then, he had lived wandering in search of someone who could take the Sword Emperor’s place—sustained only by the thought that it was all for the sake of supporting the righteous Murim Alliance. Yet now, everything had changed.
Things were different now.
The Murim Alliance had split in two, and there was no reason to return. The Alliance would undoubtedly try to recruit Zhuge Yun again, but if that happened, he would be turning his back on the people of the Cheon Do Society.
The opposite was equally true.
Whichever side he chose, Zhuge Yun’s decision was to maintain neutrality, which meant he could do nothing in this situation.
That was why no answer came.
What business did he have seeking out this man?
Nothing but hope, perhaps.
“Many have tried to kill me, but few have come seeking me out.”
“…….”
“If you have no reason, then go. This is no place for the likes of you.”
“Wait……just wait a moment!”
Zhuge Yun caught Dan Woo-hyun’s arm as he turned to leave with Dan So-mi. How could he simply retreat from someone he’d gone to such lengths to find?
At the very least, he had to build some connection.
A connection with a master in this Martial World was like a fateful bond.
Zhuge Yun laughed urgently as he stopped Dan Woo-hyun in his tracks.
“Do you……care for wine?”
“Wine?”
“Yes, wine! What I mean to say is……I was going to give it to you.”
Zhuge Yun rummaged through his bundle.
He hadn’t brought it specifically as a gift for Dan Woo-hyun. Zhuge Yun himself was quite the connoisseur and collector of fine spirits. While wandering through Honam by chance, he’d acquired a superior bottle of So Hong Wine—never imagining it would be used precisely now.
Zhuge Yun smacked his lips in regret, but it didn’t feel like a waste.
He knew that a connection with such a master was worth far more than this wine.
“Fifty-year-old So Hong Wine, at that. What do you think? Are you interested?”
At Zhuge Yun’s words, Dan Woo-hyun’s expressionless face shifted ever so slightly. Knowing that nothing he’d said before had produced any change, Zhuge Yun understood that his instinct had been precisely right.
After a moment, Dan Woo-hyun’s voice came.
“I suppose I have no choice.”
At those words, Zhuge Yun broke into a smile.

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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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