Chronicles of the Martial God’s Return - Chapter 15

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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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To Hwa Somi, everything loomed large. Part of it was her small frame compared to other children, but at her tender age, the world simply felt immense around her.
The front courtyard of the Manor.
There, Hwa Somi stood gazing up at a pine tree, transfixed. Its thick roots ran deep into the earth, and its majestic form commanded attention.
The pine stretched its branches in all directions—so vast and grand that no single glance could take it all in.
When she looked at this tree, it called to mind the solid, dependable back of a man who could never be toppled.
Hwa Somi turned from the pine and busied herself with preparations to depart. Today she was meant to go out with Dan Woo-hyun.
The recent days had been hard, consumed with martial arts training, and the prospect of taking a break and venturing outside filled her with delight.
“Where are we going?”
“Well, if we follow the path, something will reveal itself.”
Hwa Somi nodded slightly.
Where they were headed, she couldn’t say with certainty. Before becoming an orphan, her home had been about three hours’ walk from Ak-yang, but if asked to find her way back now, she would shake her head and admit it was impossible.
The winding roads were hard to remember, and with her travels limited to the area around the Manor and Ak-yang itself, she had no cause to learn other paths.
Yet today, her heart raced.
Venturing far from the Manor meant the chance to see something new.
Her eyes bright, she followed after Dan Woo-hyun’s footsteps.
“Isn’t Jang coming with us?”
“That fellow…… well…….”
The three of them were always together. Jang Sam-tae often ran errands, but otherwise they were inseparable. Walking without all three of them felt somewhat lonely.
And when Jang Sam-tae was around, he could make anything—
they could eat good food. That was always nice.
“I told him to look after the Manor. There’s nothing worthwhile in taking him along.”
“Eh?”
What did he mean by “nothing worthwhile”?
Hwa Somi thought hard on it, pressing a small hand to her cheek. She felt the softness of her own full cheeks, but by now she’d grown so accustomed to them that the sensation seemed perfectly ordinary.
And so they walked.
Past flowers and trees, following the stream that flowed from Dong-jeong Lake, they wandered for hours. After more than two hours of roaming, she was drenched in sweat and her legs had grown heavy with exhaustion.
Yet Dan Woo-hyun never once slowed.
He pressed on ahead without offering her any help.
It reminded her of that day long ago when he’d left her side, and the fear that he might vanish this moment just as he had then—that they might never meet again—made her push forward with stubborn determination.
She would not fall behind. She would not lose sight of him.
She didn’t whimper about how hard it was.
If she did, it felt like he would abandon her for good.
Or perhaps—perhaps this path, this very sight of his back before her eyes, would be the last time. Even that anxious thought flickered through her mind.
“Why do you dawdle? If you stop because you’re tired, it won’t be any training.”
“T…… training?”
“No, never mind. Let’s go a little further. There’s a small village nearby where we can rest.”
Hwa Somi nodded vigorously.
The gentle warmth in his voice swept away all her anxiety in an instant. With renewed vigor, she picked up her small feet and scurried along behind him.
But as she glanced around, something stirred in her memory. This place seemed familiar. As her eyes caught on one detail after another in the landscape, the recognition pulled forth a long-buried memory from the depths of her mind.
“Oh, I came here with my mother once.”
“Hmm? Is that so?”
Hwa Somi nodded softly.
She looked about her now, recalling those distant days. It had been a long journey with her mother’s hand clasped in hers.
This village, she remembered, was said to be blessed by celestial beings—they had come to offer prayers for good fortune.
She had prayed too.
That both her parents would live without worry and prosper.
As those memories surfaced, she found herself smiling, almost without thinking.
“What is it famous for?”
“Oh! From what Somi remembers, it’s the village where a celestial being descended…….”
“So I’ve heard.”
Dan Woo-hyun let out a dry laugh.
People thought celestial beings were capable of anything. The truth was, all they did was wander the world for amusement when they grew bored of eating and drinking—and their grand deeds amounted to little more than planting some grass here and there.
‘They’re good at sneaking up from behind too.’
His brow twitched as he forced his hardening expression to relax.
If not for that ambush, he would never have fallen so easily. Perhaps those called the Eight Immortals might have become the Seven Immortals—or even fewer.
But it was the past now. Dwelling on it served no purpose except to breed regret.
“Do you think celestial beings are magnificent?”
“I’m…not sure, really. To me, you’re the finest person in the whole world, and I love you so much. Hehe!”
She laughed with crystalline brightness and sidled closer, reaching out to grasp his fingers with her small hand, as if afraid to let him slip away.
Dan Woo-hyun didn’t pull away; instead, his grip settled naturally around hers. His eyes had softened so completely that he seemed like a different man entirely.
“We must be nearly there now.”
The village at last.
Hwa Somi gasped with delight, her face breaking into an involuntary smile as the scene she’d held in memory appeared before her unchanged.
It was truly extraordinary.
Nothing had altered.
The village was small and perfectly preserved—a place that lived up to the legend of being where an Immortal had descended, its every corner arranged as though viewing the Mulyeong Dowon itself.
Vibrant flowers bloomed thickly in every direction, and each gust of wind carried their sweet fragrance thickly through the air.
The village resounded with what sounded like festival music, played at full volume.
It was a place that satisfied both eye and ear, its very scents brimming with joy. The small village possessed a cheerfulness that seemed impossible to contain.
And yet something felt amiss.
Something that should have been there was absent.
In truth, this village had become famous for a reason.
It was a great pine tree.
That ancient pine—said to have been planted by an Immortal—had stood at the heart of the village, and she remembered making wishes there.
But now it was gone.
The village remained as beautiful as ever, yet nothing could fill the empty space where the pine had stood.
Even the villagers who passed by seemed to glance toward that vacant spot and sigh softly.
“Where did the tree go?”
“Hmm?”
“There used to be a tree here…a huge pine tree.”
“Ah…so there was.”
Dan Woo-hyun tilted his head back to gaze at the sky.
Today, the weather was unusually clear.
It had been ages since he’d transcended the realm of Han-seo Bul-chim, yet why did cold sweat threaten to break across his skin?
“Little one, have you come to see the pine tree?”
“Oh? Ah…yes.”
A passing villager regarded Hwa Somi with gentle curiosity and asked. Seeing her bright response, the villager’s expression grew somewhat bitter, and they shook their head.
“I’m afraid someone stole it a few months back.”
“Really? But it was so enormous…”
“Exactly. The village folk say an Immortal must have reclaimed it. In any case, we’ve been in quite an uproar ever since.”
“Oh…oh dear…”
Hwa Somi’s face fell, her head drooping with dejection. One of the precious memories she’d shared with her mother had simply vanished, and it pained her heart.
Tears welled in her eyes as she looked up at Dan Woo-hyun.
“Do you think it was really stolen? Or did an Immortal take it back?”
“Whether Immortal or thief, someone who needed it must have taken it. Perhaps that pine is happier being with them than standing alone in a place like this.”
“Yes…I hope that’s true!”
Suddenly Hwa Somi’s face brightened with a smile.
Though it troubled her that her precious memory had faded away, the thought that the tree might find a better place and a happier life felt more important than her loss.
After all, Hwa Somi found far greater happiness in being at Dan Woo-hyun’s side like this than she ever had wandering as a vagrant.
Seeing the girl beam with joy, Dan Woo-hyun reached out and stroked her hair.
That simple gesture was enough to wash away all of Hwa Somi’s sorrow over the vanished pine. She held within her heart a small, tender wish—that moments of happiness like these would stretch on without end.

***

A frame towering eight feet tall, muscles rippling with raw power, a thick and unkempt beard.
A blade resting beside him—one that marked him unmistakably as no ordinary man.
He sat in an oversized chair, blowing pipe smoke lazily into the air.
Those gathered around him held their breath.
No one dared open their mouth carelessly.
Soon, he drained the entire bottle of liquor with practiced efficiency, then hurled it carelessly to the ground.
Crash!
Flinch!
Every person in the room recoiled.
That was how fearsome this man truly was.
There are two organizations that inspire the deepest terror among those who hide in darkness to ply their trade.
One is the Black Kill Gate.
They are phantom agents whose whereabouts remain a mystery—assassins so formidable that, when given a contract, they fear nothing, not even the life of a Martial Alliance Leader.
And then there was the Black Degree Society.
One mustn’t dismiss them merely because they are a collective of vagrants. In truth, these rogue wanderers might well be the most fearsome force in all of Joongyeon.
They outnumbered the beggars of Gae Bang, and their intelligence network rivaled that of Gae Bang, Ha O Gate, or any of the great merchant houses—they were the Dragon Pool Tiger’s Lair.
But did that mean their martial prowess was lacking?
Not at all.
Whatever others might say, every man present in that chamber had reached the pinnacle of the martial arts. They were formidable masters, no less worthy than the disciples of prestigious clans or the Nine Sects and One League.
And this man, Sima Can, leader of the Black Degree Society.
He was the force that truly drove it forward. An idol to the vagrant wanderers, he bore the title of King of Rogues.
“Jang Baek-san…….”
“Ugh…….”
“So Chu-yeom, do you know how much they remit to us each year?”
“Y-yes, of course, I…… I do…….”
“The Honan branch…… and the men sent to capture Jang Sam-tae have all gone silent.”
Bang!
Sima Can’s eyes flared with fury as he spoke. Until now, Honan had been the quietest of all their holdings.
With no significant rival powers there and the region being so convenient for operations, it had been an ideal territory.
Moreover, thanks to Jang Baek-san’s disturbances, the rising forces had dwindled noticeably, and the incoming revenue from Honan had been correspondingly abundant.
Then, without warning, a cascade of incidents erupted.
First Jang Baek-san and So Chu-yeom were captured, and not long after, the Honan branch itself collapsed.
“There is someone. Someone interfering with us.”
“Y-yes, you’re quite right.”
A man wiped cold sweat from his brow and nodded. Most of those present would be thinking the same thing.
No matter how tangled matters became, they wouldn’t explode all at once like this—someone’s hand was clearly at work.
“I’m very curious who this bastard is.”
“W-we shall take measures at once.”
“Hyun-ryeong and this man Jang Sam-tae who was about to make a deal with So Chu-yeom—bring them both here and apply the question. Something will come out, I’m sure of it.”
“Yes!”
Sima Can lowered his gaze from the ceiling, which stretched impossibly high above him. He could see nothing but the darkness pressing down from above—strange, how unusually thick it seemed today.
An inexplicable unease settled over him.
Sima Can frowned, reaching once more for the Liquor Bottle to shake off this disquiet.

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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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