Chronicles of the Martial God’s Return - Chapter 139

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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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“Are you really sure about this?”
“How many times are you going to ask me the same question?!”
Ma Dok-jin snapped the words out, his face twisted in irritation.
His subordinates quickly lowered their heads.
But this was clearly wrong.
The Heterodox Sect was currently waging war in Shanxi, yet Ma Dok-jin had brought some of the Demonic Emperor Castle’s most formidable masters all the way down to Honam.
With Shaolin’s entry into the conflict and the Murim Alliance dispatching experts from every quarter, the battles had devolved into a grinding stalemate—retreat after retreat.
If the Demonic Emperor Castle or Sega caught wind of this, they would never let it slide.
“That bastard! He’s alive?!”
Crack.
Ma Dok-jin clenched his left eye shut, his teeth grinding audibly.
That eye—the one Kwon Mu-jin had slashed when he fled. It had never healed properly, rendered useless, a dead thing in his skull.
The thought kindled a fury that burned through him.
Not just his own failure to block a single blade—but that this whelp, whom he’d taken in off the streets and raised with his own hands, had dared bare his fangs against his master?
“Ungrateful dog!”
He’d believed the boy dead.
That was why he hadn’t been unleashed—a full year had crawled past. But then Kwon Mu-jin surfaced in Hanan, and while Ma Dok-jin was tracking him down, he’d found him faster than the Kaebang could.
Ak-yang.
The wretch was hiding somewhere in that town.
Word had reached him that several unknown figures surrounded the boy, but that meant nothing to Ma Dok-jin. Who stood at his side made no difference.
He would tear them all to pieces, leave not a single one alive.
The rage that had surged refused to ebb; his fury only clawed higher.
“Search! Find him! Learn who saved that dog’s life! Learn every last wretch connected to him! I want their heads brought to me—every single one!”
“Yes, sir!”
His subordinates bowed sharply as he poured out his words, his killing intent thick as smoke. There was no one here who could stop him now.
All they could do was obey.
And the target was, after all, only Kwon Mu-jin.
None of them gave a second thought to the boy. They’d watched him grow up from childhood, and they knew his abilities better than anyone.
No matter how he might flail and scheme, they all knew Kwon Mu-jin’s skill didn’t come close to theirs.

***

“You came here to give it a try, then?”
Geum Eun-hak, master of the Geumhwan Trading Company, sat alone with Dan Woo-hyun in an inn in Ak-yang. He knew this was his last real chance in life—however many times he thought it over—so he was determined not to let it slip away.
But facing Dan Woo-hyun was awkward.
He couldn’t even lift his head properly.
“P-please, just command me.”
“You’re the one doing it, not me. I know nothing about the company.”
“Truly? I may handle everything myself?”
Dan Woo-hyun nodded readily.
To build a trading company was already settled. And having chosen Geum Eun-hak to lead it, there was no point in offering commentary—it would’ve been absurd.
Dan Woo-hyun smiled as he watched the man still staring at the floor.
“You don’t believe my word?”
“No, no, sir. It just… feels like a dream.”
“Dreams are for sleeping. What stands before you now is reality—make sure you know the difference.”
“Of course, Master!”
Geum Eun-hak nodded repeatedly, pierced by the blunt force of the words.
He’d lived through much and believed himself grown, yet he’d never arrived at the kind of clarity that Dan Woo-hyun possessed.
“There is one thing I’d like to ask, though.”
“Speak.”
“Do you truly intend to overtake the Manjin Trading Company?”
Dan Woo-hyun laughed outright.
Did the man not believe his own words carried sincerity?
“Of course.”
“They hold seventy percent of the commercial sphere in the Central Plains.”
“Taking and being taken from—that’s the way of men.”
Geum Eun-hak nodded.
That’s the truth of it.
Whether it’s the Martial World, the Central Plains, the imperial court, or beasts—the principle of taking and being taken from shapes everything. It matters not whether it’s life or wealth.
Dan Woo-hyun and Geum Eun-hak, who understood this law better than most, knew that one could never rise higher without seizing from another.
“Much will change going forward. The process won’t be easy, but.”
“I understand.”
If only everything went according to plan.
He wanted to say as much, but kept his silence.
In this man’s presence, he fell prey to the delusion that everything would resolve itself. One might mistake it for trust born of confidence in Geum Eun-hak, yet it was nothing of the kind.
‘Conviction.’
Yes—conviction, pure and simple.
The man before him differed profoundly from everyone he’d encountered before, and he was worthy not only of trust but of reverence simply for following in his wake.
Geum Eun-hak clenched his fist, certain that he would rise to heights greater than his present station.
“I am grateful for your guidance.”
“Good. First, go to the Government Office and find Hong Won-chang. I’ve scouted a suitable location nearby—establish your trading house there. As for a name… use your own judgment.”
Dan Woo-hyun rose from his seat.
He’d said all there was to say.
What remained was to relocate the enterprise entirely and rebuild from scratch. Since he saw no particular difficulty in it, he’d left the matter to Geum Eun-hak for now.
“You don’t need me spelling out every detail, do you?”
“Have no concern, Master.”
“Good. If anything comes up, find either Hong Won-chang or me.”
“Yes!”
Geum Eun-hak sprang to his feet, bowing deeply. Without another word, he watched Dan Woo-hyun’s retreating form fade from sight, steadying his breath.
“But here’s the thing… one’s at the Government Office, and I haven’t the faintest idea where the other is…”
He sighed deeply, scratching his head.
In his nervousness, he’d failed to ask the one thing he should have.

Outside, Dan Woo-hyun moved with an unhurried gait toward the Manor. It had been a considerable time since he’d seen Hong Won-chang’s face, yet he felt no particular urge to visit the Government Office for the sake of it.
It might only distract from business.
As he walked with such thoughts, a face caught his eye—familiar in some indistinct way, yet not quite clicking into place.
The man swept his gaze across the streets of Ak-yang as if searching for someone. The upturned eyes, the aura radiating from him, and the single sabre gripped in his hand all sent the crowd retreating swiftly from his vicinity.
‘Where have I seen him before?’
Dan Woo-hyun pondered, a faint sound escaping his lips.
But the fact that nothing surfaced suggested this was no figure of consequence. He was turning to leave when—
“You bastard!”
A booming shout pierced the air.
What? Heads snapped toward the disturbance.
Dan Woo-hyun’s gaze turned as well, of its own accord.
The man was charging forward.
A figure Dan Woo-hyun had no recollection of was bearing down on him like a madman, his teeth grinding, a massive sabre in one hand already drawn and flashing with terrible intent—as if to split his head in two without hesitation.
The blade came slashing down toward Dan Woo-hyun’s crown—
—when his hand extended, catching the blade mid-strike.
The force the man had poured into it flowed cleanly into the ground, leaving a crater where Dan Woo-hyun stood and sending fragments scattering skyward.
“What manner of fool draws a blade in broad daylight?”
“You wretch! Have you forgotten me?”
“Hm?”
Forgotten him? The man’s face simply wouldn’t come.
Dan Woo-hyun exhaled softly, bemused.
He knew no one-eyed man among his acquaintances.
But he remembered the swordplay. The technique was a Sabre Technique, yes, but one that pursued the Swift Blade—and the weighty presence threaded within it. Surely this was one of those men he’d met through Kwon Mu-jin….
“Ah… that fool?”
“What… what?!”
Hazy though it was, memory began to surface.
It was definitely him.
The man who had stood above Kwon Mu-jin.
More than a year had passed since that encounter, and at the time, the details had scarcely lodged themselves in his mind—so much so that he’d forgotten all but Kwon Mu-jin himself.
But what in heaven’s name was this fool doing here?
Dan Woo-hyun’s hand drifted lightly through the air.
A subtle, cunning motion that struck like a serpent, his fingers coiled around Ma Dok-jin’s wrist before the man could even think to defend or retreat—a perfect, supreme counter.
Ma Dok-jin’s eyes went wide with shock as he tried to stumble backward, but Dan Woo-hyun seized him as if hurling a sack of grain and slammed him hard against the earth.
Bang!
“Uuurgh!”
“I’m not sure what possessed you to come back…… but if you meant to grit your teeth and seek revenge, shouldn’t you have trained harder first?”
Dan Woo-hyun swung his foot down hard, watching Ma Dok-jin writhe on the ground.
Thud!
As his foot drove deep into Ma Dok-jin’s belly, a ragged groan tore from his lips.
“Gaaaaahhh…….”
Dan Woo-hyun smirked down at the figure convulsing on the floor. Yet he could see his eyes hadn’t died. Even as his body thrashed in agony, those eyes still burned with killing intent toward Dan Woo-hyun.
“Good eyes. That’s what it means to be a Martial Master — the body may break, but the eyes live on.”
“You…… you bastard……!”
Thud!
“Gaaaaahhh!”
Dan Woo-hyun casually extended his foot and trampled the man’s eyes. He hadn’t put his full strength into it — the eyes didn’t burst, the skull didn’t crack — but it was humiliation enough.
“If that’s all you’ve got, don’t bother grinding your teeth over revenge. It’s a waste of time…….”
“Uuuuughhhh. I’ll…… kill you! Kill you! I’ll slaughter you, you bastard!”
Hearing that voice, Dan Woo-hyun’s sneer deepened.
Who exactly was threatening to kill whom?
It was absurd, yet that bitter, resentful tone made him feel something. When a killing intent so powerful it sent shivers down his spine washed over him, Dan Woo-hyun’s eyes changed.
Shiver.
In an instant, Ma Dok-jin, who had been screaming, clamped his mouth shut.
Was this the mind of one standing at the edge of death?
Was this the face of one who had seen the reaper?
Ma Dok-jin’s ashen, corpse-like pallor was almost unbearable to look upon with open eyes. That sharpness he’d displayed just moments before had vanished without a trace.
He closed his mouth with nothing but the will to survive.
At this, Dan Woo-hyun nodded, squatted down before Ma Dok-jin, and reached out to stroke his head — as if an adult were soothing a small child.
“That’s right, well done. Sometimes you have to know how to master your own killing intent.”
At the sight of Dan Woo-hyun speaking as if coaxing a child, all who watched were left speechless. In their eyes, Ma Dok-jin had seemed like a formidable master, yet Dan Woo-hyun had toyed with him far too easily.
“I hope I don’t see you again.”
Dan Woo-hyun rose to his feet and spoke the words flatly.
Then he looked down at him with an expression of utter disgust and smiled — the gaze of someone looking not at a human, but at an insect he could crush beneath his heel at any moment.
Yet even that interest seemed to fade as quickly as it had come.
Dan Woo-hyun turned his back and walked away, his posture so at ease it was clear he never doubted that Ma Dok-jin wouldn’t draw a blade against him from behind.
His pride had been trampled and shattered.
A man had stood before him and not even deigned to treat him as human. Ma Dok-jin felt this keenly, and his lips trembled with bitter rage.
Blood trickled from his mouth, but he paid it no mind.
Only his eyes burned brighter with each passing moment.

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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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