Chronicles of the Martial God’s Return - Chapter 140

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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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“Aaaaahhhhh!”
Crash-crash-crash!
Ma Dok-jin, his face wrapped tightly in bandages, screamed as he hurled everything within reach across the room. Restraining fury seemed to demand its own violence; his teeth ground audibly as he smashed indiscriminately at the world around him.
“Hah…… hah…… hah…… damn it all! Curse it! Curse it! Curse it!”
He fought to control his breathing, wrestling the rage back into submission.
Bad luck.
He’d been prowling the streets of Ak-yang hunting for Kwon Mu-jin when he’d stumbled upon that bastard of all people. The memory of what had transpired before so many witnesses—the humiliation—still burned too fresh to fade.
“Are you well, sir?”
A man entered through the door.
He appeared to be well past fifty, but his build was imposing and his bearing unmistakable. He was one of Ma Dok-jin’s clan’s prized fighters, originally sent for the confrontation with Shaolin—an unlucky soul dragged all the way south to Honam on Ma Dok-jin’s whim.
The man regarded Ma Dok-jin with an exasperated expression.
Abandoning his mission was already a problem; getting beaten in broad daylight on a crowded street was another. What would the clan elders say when word of this reached them?
“Have you found him?”
“The man’s quite well known in these parts. They say he lives somewhere near Dongting Lake, about a Double Hour’s journey from Ak-yang, but no one seems to know exactly where.”
“That’s all you’ve managed?”
“Well, there have been occasional sightings of a young girl and some strange old men, but……”
Yuk Kyeom-sa muttered the words with visible reluctance.
Did Ma Dok-jin not realize who he was, sending him on such errands? His own subordinates had vanished without a trace, and now he was being tasked with grunt work?
He delivered his findings readily enough, but his tone carried little warmth.
Bang!
Ma Dok-jin kicked over the table again, breathing heavily.
Yuk Kyeom-sa smiled at the display.
He hadn’t shared the truly interesting part yet.
“Kwon Mu-jin…… appears to be there as well, if I’m not mistaken……?”
“What……?”
“You didn’t hear me?”
“No, I heard. But he’s there? Really there?”
“My inquiries turned up consistent accounts. The physical description matches precisely.”
Ma Dok-jin began gnawing at his fingernails.
It displeased him.
Not merely that Kwon Mu-jin lived, but that Dan Woo-hyun stood beside him—why had the man accepted such a wretch?
Either way, they had to die.
Both of them.
No—everyone who knew them would die.
Not a soul would remain; not a trace of their existence would linger in this world.
Only then might this grievance begin to ease.
“You…… are you confident you can defeat him?”
Yuk Kyeom-sa let out an incredulous laugh.
Who was Ma Dok-jin addressing?
Yuk Kyeom-sa ranked among the top ten fighters within Demonic Emperor Castle itself, possessing power comparable to Ma Dok-jin’s own father.
Had he chosen to establish his own clan rather than follow Ma Dok-jin’s father, his reputation might have shaken the entire Heterodox Sect by now.
“Is he strong?”
“Very strong. Especially the one who did this to me.”
“Ha ha ha! Now that’s amusing. I haven’t had proper exercise lately—a real match would be most welcome.”
Watching Yuk Kyeom-sa laugh genuinely, Ma Dok-jin felt his confidence surge. The man was unbearably arrogant, true, but his skill was undeniable and deserved acknowledgment.
Deploying him against a single Kwon Mu-jin was overkill, perhaps.
Ma Dok-jin smiled darkly.
Once they found those bastards, this festering vengeance would finally end.

“You say Ma Dok-jin?”
“That’s the name?”
“……Yes.”
Kwon Mu-jin, listening to Dan Woo-hyun’s account upon his return to the estate, regarded him with mild surprise. Yet from the moment he’d revealed himself in Honam, he’d anticipated something like this might occur—so the arrival of what he’d feared was merely confirmation of the inevitable.
“He’s come for me, hasn’t he?”
Poor wretch.
Kwon Mu-jin shook his head slowly.
Ma Dok-jin’s movements were certainly aimed at him, but the coincidence of Dan Woo-hyun being spotted was most unfortunate.
Picturing Ma Dok-jin being beaten in the middle of a crowded street, Kwon Mu-jin felt a satisfying warmth—and yet, an unexpected twinge of sympathy.
He clicked his tongue and spoke.
“You saw no one else?”
“He was alone.”
That meant Ma Dok-jin’s subordinates were likely tearing through the Ak-yang region searching for him. Given how confident Ma Dok-jin was in his own strength, he may well have thought there was no danger in traveling alone. Or perhaps—
‘—there was someone even more formidable at his side, someone he didn’t need to rely on his men for.’
Kwon Mu-jin let the thought drop.
Whoever stood beside Ma Dok-jin, having met Dan Woo-hyun meant the outcome would be the same—even if it were the Wu Huang City Lord himself.
“You chose not to kill him?”
“Taking a life should have value.”
And yet this man beat people every day?
Kwon Mu-jin felt cold sweat prickle across his skin.
He knew well how thoroughly Dan Woo-hyun had beaten Jang Sam-tae and Ma Il-woong. He himself had taken his share of blows lately, so those words rang hollow.
‘So we were worth beating, then.’
The logic was sound enough.
Sweat beading on his brow, Kwon Mu-jin stepped back without meaning to.
“So I went home and thought about it—and I’ve come to regret not killing him.”
……
Given Ma Dok-jin’s nature, he wouldn’t simply give up. He would pursue them by any means, seeking to kill both Dan Woo-hyun and Kwon Mu-jin. He was precisely the sort of enemy who would leave lasting trouble.
Yet Dan Woo-hyun had done nothing?
No—he surely understood the implications.
Dan Woo-hyun turned to look at Kwon Mu-jin.
Their eyes met, and Kwon Mu-jin felt his throat tighten.
“Can you do it?”
“Of course.”
He answered simply, nodding.
In the past, fighting Ma Dok-jin would have been impossible. The gap in their strength was vast, their Internal Energy on entirely different scales.
But that was then.
In just over a year, he had grown immeasurably. He had trained relentlessly, and he’d had Dan Woo-hyun at his side—and now, Namgung Cheon and Sa Do-hak.
What they had taught him was anything but wasted effort.
To receive ten teachings and grasp even one of them was, by any measure, to achieve success as a martial artist.
Kwon Mu-jin clenched his fists.
“You need not worry at all.”
“I have faith.”
Dan Woo-hyun nodded without a shred of doubt.
That trust seemed to pour strength into Kwon Mu-jin’s veins.
With conviction burning in his chest, he turned and strode away. He didn’t know how much time remained, but it was time to take up the sword once more, reaching for something greater still.
Kwon Mu-jin headed toward the training ground.
“Are you certain about this? Ma Dok-jin is a name of some standing even within the Demonic Emperor Castle.”
“Were you listening in?”
Dan Woo-hyun glanced back at the two of them.
Sa Do-hak and Namgung Cheon emerged from beyond the wall, their faces grave. Neither spoke at once.
“A man who cannot forge his own path is worth nothing.”
“Ha! Spoken true! A real man carves his own road!”
Sa Do-hak laughed loudly and clapped his hands.
He approved of Dan Woo-hyun’s resolve. If what he’d heard was correct, this Ma Dok-jin had once been Kwon Mu-jin’s lord. To abandon such a man and now cut him down—the irony thrilled him. It was like a scene from the stage.
He made no effort to hide his excitement.
“Still, the fact that the Demonic Emperor Castle sent men this far south is not good. Whether Mu-jin wins or loses, the Castle won’t let it rest.”
Namgung Cheon’s expression darkened.
Ma Dok-jin himself was hardly the real problem. For all his strength, he was nothing compared to the three in this manor—scarcely worthy of mention.
But what came after—that was dangerous.
The ripples that would spread from killing Ma Dok-jin.
The Sa Do Seven Clans would not remain silent, and the Demonic Emperor Castle would inevitably turn hostile toward Honam. They would send their finest to exact a blood price.
A storm of blood would sweep through Honam.
“Will you be all right? This is different from before.”
Dan Woo-hyun simply nodded at the worry in his face. He already understood Namgung Cheon’s concerns, but once he had resolved to move, nothing could stop him.
“An enterprise like this is necessary if the manor’s name is to rise.”
“…You?”
Dan Woo-hyun’s words had shifted. Until now he had spoken of “the manor”—but his phrasing had just changed.
The meaning struck Namgung Cheon, and his expression showed surprise.
At first, he had resolved to send Dan Woo-hyun into the Martial World by any means necessary, but gradually he had come to think that living quietly in a place like this might not be so terrible after all.
Yet now that Dan Woo-hyun—the very man whose conviction about this had grown most solid—was stirring to move, Namgung Cheon found himself tightening with tension, whether he willed it or not.
‘It is like unleashing a tiger among children…….’
He knows.
Namgung Cheon knows it better than anyone.
Dan Woo-hyun stepping into the Central Plains was nothing less than a ravenous predator severing the breath of prey too crippled to move.
Namgung Cheon shut his eyes tightly.
What sudden wind had blown to make him reach such a decision?
He was curious about his motive.
“It seems something has truly happened. For you to consider stepping into the Martial World.”
“They come even if I stay still. I cannot escape them, whether I cut them down or drive them away. And besides…….”
Dan Woo-hyun recalled a man.
A man with crimson hair.
Though the gap was barely half, being pushed back had set his blood alight. An existence that had always occupied the highest place, rendering the words “supreme” and “invincible” colorless through endless repetition.
An existence that no one could stop and no one could stand against—that existence was what was called the Martial God, and that existence was Dan Woo-hyun.
And now, for the first time, someone appeared who could stand in his way. Or rather, to speak more precisely, someone who had climbed up grinding their teeth to overcome Dan Woo-hyun.
It was immensely amusing, and the thrill of it refused to fade.
Keeping that emotion as hidden as possible, Dan Woo-hyun smiled.
“It seems it will be entertaining. To spread my name once more…… through the Central Plains…….”
At his soft murmur, both men wore blank expressions. If one thought carefully about the meaning of what he had just said, did it not suggest he had already once made his name known throughout the Central Plains?
Though the two of them had met many masters and fought them as well, they had never heard the name—let alone any alias—of any master presumed to be Dan Woo-hyun.
Just as doubt began to form and they were about to speak, Dan Woo-hyun’s voice flowed in first, cutting off their words.
“To keep anyone from laying a hand on you, you must prove you are stronger than anyone else. Don a mask. We have work to do.”
The words tumbled out with a playful lilt.
Yet his eyes alone remained grave.

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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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