Chronicles of the Martial God’s Return - Chapter 160

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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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“Dong Bang-gu? Dong Bang-gu… wasn’t he the Vice Commander of the Demonic Cult?”
Cough, cough!
Instead of an answer, a harsh, rasping cough echoed through the cell.
Ma Jang-gang opened his eyes and could make out the figure before him—a gaunt, skeletal man whose body was bound in shackles.
The cuts and gashes scattered across his frame told a grim story; it was clear he’d been subjected to brutal torture.
“That was once true…”
“This is insane… How could the Vice Commander of the Demonic Cult be locked away in a place like this while the Cult Master is alive and well?”
Jang Sam-tae cried out in disbelief.
Not just anyone—the Vice Commander himself.
Without Sa Do-hak being forcibly removed from his throne as Cult Master, the Vice Commander occupied a position second only to the very highest, untouchable by all. It would be no exaggeration to say so.
Yet here he was, in this state…
‘Has someone raised a rebellion?’
Who?
What madman would dare?
If Sa Do-hak had been weak, such questions wouldn’t even occur to him.
But the Sa Do-hak that Jang Sam-tae knew remained formidable—an existence worthy of being called one of the Celestial Realm.
That such a person would detain and torture someone he trusted?
It was impossible.
“Cough… hack, cough!”
Jang Sam-tae grabbed the iron bars urgently.
The coughing fit grew more violent than before.
It was touch and go, as if his breath might fail him at any moment.
To lose a man who understood the politics of the Demonic Cult without extracting any information—that meant further tribulations ahead.
Bang, bang!
He kicked the iron bars hard, but they wouldn’t budge.
This was the Brain Prison of the Demonic Cult, after all.
If escape were simple, it wouldn’t deserve the name Brain Prison, would it?
“Damn it! What in the hell is going on here?”
Even from his position of ignorance, something felt deeply wrong with the state of affairs in the Demonic Cult.
Dan Woo-hyun had likely anticipated something like this, and had sent him here precisely because he trusted him to investigate thoroughly.
If that were the case, he had to repay that trust.
“If hitting it like that would break it, someone would’ve escaped long ago.”
Ma Jang-gang muttered to himself, stroking his beard.
The iron bars were extremely solid. He’d considered digging through the ground as well, but judging by the Brain Prison’s structure, the bars were likely driven deep—far too deep to make such an attempt worthwhile.
He couldn’t slip through the tightly-spaced bars, so eventually someone would have to open the door, or he’d need to devise another method entirely.
The one saving grace was that no one was guarding them. They must trust the Brain Prison greatly.
Then there was no way to even summon a guard.
“Hah… hah… The metal of these bars is… a special material. Without the Rotating Heaven Technique… there’s no way to break them.”
“And there’s barely anyone who can use it…”
Ma Jang-gang laughed incredulously.
Who didn’t know of the Rotating Heaven Technique?
But throughout the Central Plains, only one person could actually wield it.
And that man was likely in Honam now, which meant—effectively—there was no one in this place capable of freeing them.
“Ah… are you perhaps referring to this?”
At that moment, Jang Sam-tae extended his hand.
In a flash, inner power surged through his arm, and a bead the size of a fingertip materialized.
It spun with ferocious intensity in his palm, and the moment Ma Jang-gang witnessed it, cold sweat poured down his face. Despite its small size, the sheer power contained within was unmistakable.
“Th-this is… the Ro-Rotating Heaven Technique…! How did you—”
“The Cult Master taught me.”
Jang Sam-tae tilted his head, looking puzzled.
Was this martial art really so extraordinary?
Sa Do-hak had taught it to him casually enough, and he’d endured months of grueling hardship learning it.
He’d heard that once mastered, he’d never take a beating anywhere, but the training had been so agonizing he’d run away several times. In the end, even Sa Do-hak had given up, and it had become one of the martial arts he’d never properly learned.
“The… the Cult Master… taught you?”
“Yes.”
“The Heavenly Demon Rotating Heaven Technique?!”
“Huh?”
What is this Heavenly Demon business?
I’d always thought of it as nothing more than a martial art that created a small rotating sphere, so I’d never given it much consideration.
I’d heard the name Rotating Heaven Technique before, but I never imagined the characters for Heavenly Demon would be attached to it.
Jang Sam-tae’s face drained of color.
“Surely this isn’t the Heavenly Demon Divine Technique!?”
“And you learned it without even knowing!?”
“You learned it without knowing!”

***

Sa Do-hak held a Short Bamboo Pipe between his lips, sucking air through it with a hollow whistle. With Kwon Mu-jin and Namgung So-hye gone from Jang Yuan, there was nothing to do.
Out of boredom, he’d played with Dan So-mi, but the girl’s stamina was so poor that she now lay sleeping peacefully across his lap, her soft snores filling the quiet.
“Ugh…… This is dull.”
I should have followed them when they left.
If I’d gone with Jang Sam-tae or Kwon Mu-jin, there might have been something interesting to do.
He exhaled a long sigh and gazed down.
Dan So-mi’s steady breathing reached his ears as she slept.
Seized by a petty impulse, he pinched her rosy cheek.
“Mmm…….”
Dan So-mi whimpered, her brow furrowing even in sleep.
Her small hand reached out and grabbed his finger, holding it with surprising strength despite her slumber.
“Ah well, such is my fate.”
Even as he spoke those words, Sa Do-hak’s face did not lose its smile.
He had never known family in all his years until now, and perhaps that was why this moment stirred something warm in his chest.
“You seem rather bored today.”
“Hey! You should have sent me along. There’s no fun in this, no fun at all.”
“Yet here you sit, perfectly content.”
“Hmph, she’s sleeping so soundly—I can’t just get up and leave. It’s already been a double hour.”
Though a double hour in name, it was quite a considerable stretch of time.
The fact that Sa Do-hak remained seated in the same rigid posture was proof enough that he didn’t truly dislike this situation.
At his grumbling tone, Dan Woo-hyun smiled and held out something to him.
A wine cup.
He’d brought simple food and wine.
The wine that Dan So-mi had prepared lay arranged nearby as well.
His throat tightened with a dry swallow.
“You know how to handle people, don’t you—dangling carrots one moment and wielding the whip the next.”
“Ha, I’ve never heard such a thing before.”
“Hmph!”
Splash—
He filled the empty cup with wine and quickly drained a mouthful.
It was nothing but the act of drinking, yet somehow it soothed his restlessness a little.
Seeing the cup empty again, Dan Woo-hyun refilled it once more.
Watching this, Sa Do-hak pouted his lips.
“I’m staying because I find you interesting. The moment I think this is no longer fun, I’ll leave. So don’t go treating me like some servant.”
“I have no such intention. Besides, I’ve never had the heart to keep someone who wished to leave.”
“Hmph!”
Sa Do-hak turned away, a hint of wounded pride in the gesture.
“But when exactly is that fool Jang Sam-tae coming back? He’s taking forever. It’s even more dull without him.”
“He’ll return soon. Quite safely, in fact.”
“Where did he go?”
“Somewhere far.”
“Is it dangerous?”
“Depending on the person, it might be…….”
Dan Woo-hyun smiled faintly and passed the wine over.
To some it might not be dangerous at all. To others it could prove quite perilous indeed. So there was no guarantee of safe return, yet Dan Woo-hyun did not believe calamity would befall them.
“Still, that cunning fool would find his way out of anywhere.”
“So that’s why you taught him?”
“Taught him what?”
Caught in something he didn’t wish to acknowledge, Sa Do-hak looked away.
Yet before Dan Woo-hyun’s eyes—eyes that seemed to peer even into his heart—he could never lie.
He didn’t speak, but the smile hovering at the corners of his mouth seemed to say he understood everything.
“Damn it, there’s no hiding anything from you. Fine! I taught him. I taught him. Though there weren’t many techniques to pass on.”
“Were you considering taking him as a disciple?”
“Have I lost my mind?!”
At the thought of Jang Sam-tae, Sa Do-hak shook his head in horror.
It was true he’d taught the man a few things, but he’d never entertained even a fleeting thought of making him a formal disciple.
From the start, that fool wasn’t the material to master the Martial Arts.
Just remembering when he’d first taught him made his head throb even now.
In all his years, he’d never encountered anyone with so little talent.
“Watching that pathetic wretch just reminds me of my old self. No strength, nothing to my name, yet stubborn with pride.”
“Does he even have pride?”
“He does. He must…….”
Sa Do-hak wiped away cold sweat with a grimace.
The man must have it somewhere.
It simply didn’t work in their presence, so he never bothered showing it.
Not every aspect of them was the same, but there were enough similarities that Sa Do-hak found it hard to simply dismiss the man.
Though he hadn’t mastered the techniques properly, they were enough to protect himself—that much was certain.
And there was another reason: Dan So-mi followed Jang Sam-tae devotedly. The man had virtually no skill, yet if anything happened to So-mi, he’d throw away his life without hesitation.
“You taught that one several techniques too, didn’t you?”
“Yes, I taught him. Same with Hong Won-chang…….”
“Teaching men whose forms are already set in stone—surely you understand they can’t reach mastery…….”
“Whether they master it or not is their own problem. I’m not obligated to guide them that far.”
That much was true.
Besides, they’d be fortunate if they simply survived.
Jang Sam-tae, Ma Jang-gang, Kwon Mu-jin, Hong Won-chang—all of them.
Whatever Dan Woo-hyun was setting in motion would grow far beyond what their current strength could handle.
“They might all die.”
“Is that so?”
“Touching the Mangeum Trading Company is one thing, but the real problem is the Chumun Family.”
“The Chumun Family…… you know them well, then?”
“We sent some men to negotiate with them once. Things went sideways, and the whole thing fell through…….”
“And?”
“All the men we sent came back dead.”
Sa Do-hak’s eyes opened slightly.
Not ordinary fighters—these were masters of the Demonic Cult.
Some had reached the Peak, and others had risen to the First-rate level.
Of course, they’d been sent under the guise of an honor guard, and there was no direct evidence the Chumun Family had attacked them, but the circumstances made it clear they were responsible.
It was not something to take lightly.
“There’s something about that place. Something you don’t touch.”
“So you’re planning not to touch them?”
At the unexpected question, Sa Do-hak let out a cold chuckle. He took a light sip from the cup before him and set it down roughly.
“Don’t be absurd. We need payment in blood for our men.”
At that time, they hadn’t been able to move against the Chumun Family.
The Nine Schools and One House—the Murim Alliance—had been watching, and there was fear that it might escalate into the Orthodox vs Demonic War.
What good would an old man like him do starting such a war? War devoured the youth’s strength.
That’s what he’d thought then…….
But if he’d made up his mind to act without restraint,
“I’m confident I can level it without leaving a single stone. When the time comes, send me.”
At those words, Dan Woo-hyun wordlessly poured more wine into the empty cup. Though he received no verbal answer, Sa Do-hak felt that was enough.
His killing intent rippled through the air.

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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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