Chronicles of the Martial God’s Return - Chapter 45

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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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“…….”
“…….”
The woman in the face mask, Namgung So-hye, smiled awkwardly.
Ever since meeting So-mi on Market Street, she’d been drawn along by the hand to this Estate without quite knowing how it happened.
It was confusing enough that Gwon Mu-jin, a renowned master of Sapa, was escorting So-mi—but of all people, the most difficult one to face had just returned: Dan Woo-hyeon.
“……I.”
“Hmm…… What did I eat? I’m seeing things that aren’t there.”
“I’m real, I promise.”
Dan Woo-hyeon turned his head.
He saw Dan So-mi holding both of Namgung So-hye’s hands. Beside her stood Gwon Mu-jin, his expression somewhat stiff, watchful and unmoving.
Even though Gwon Mu-jin had left Sapa of his own accord, he showed no sign of relaxing his guard—not when the other party was a member of the Namgung Clan.
If it was Namgung So-hye, famous as the Phoenix Gall Master, such caution was certainly warranted.
“I met Sister on Market Street! So So-mi brought her here!”
She grinned as if to say ‘Didn’t I do well?’ and giggled merrily.
Dan Woo-hyeon laughed awkwardly.
“Well, well…… You did good. But next time, bring only things that are in working order, won’t you?”
“Huh? Is something wrong with Sister?”
Namgung So-hye let out a small sigh.
Her sharp eyes flashed and she muttered in an acrid tone.
“Please don’t talk about me like I’m a broken object, will you? I’m perfectly fine.”
“That’s a relief. I thought you were injured—especially up here.”
Dan Woo-hyeon tapped his own head lightly as he spoke.
The humiliation at the hands of the Five Masters of Honam was a memory no warrior with pride could ever forget.
Especially not for Namgung So-hye, who had sailed through life without hardship, climbing ever higher.
She bit her lip hard.
“Hah, hmph! I’m not scared of that nonsense at all.”
“I see. But what are you doing here?”
Dan Woo-hyeon settled himself naturally on the Veranda. Directly before him stood Namgung So-hye, and Jang Sam-tae, sensing the tense atmosphere, was making a show of sweeping the Courtyard with a broom.
Gwon Mu-jin remained vigilant, still watching Namgung So-hye.
“Before I answer that, may I ask you one thing?”
“Go ahead.”
“What is that man doing here?”
Namgung So-hye glared at Gwon Mu-jin with a growl. Remembering what she’d suffered at his hands before, it wouldn’t have been strange if a confrontation erupted right then.
And he wasn’t just anyone—he was Ma Dok-jin’s subordinate!
The memory of that ordeal still made her teeth grind.
“He’s family now.”
“Family now? So you’ve taken in a Sapa man as family—that must mean you yourself are also a Sapa man, Young Master Dan?”
“So when you stayed here you were Orthodox Martial Artist, and when a Sapa man stays, he becomes Sapa? By that logic, should we take in demon cultists next?”
Dan Woo-hyeon delivered his sharp retort with a smirk, and Namgung So-hye fell silent.
If Dan Woo-hyeon were a Sapa man, he would never have beaten Ma Dok-jin so savagely.
Ma Dok-jin wielded considerable influence in the Muwangjong, the greatest power in Sapa.
Moreover, during the time he’d stayed at this Estate before, Dan Woo-hyeon had seemed like someone whose position was ambiguous by the Murim’s standard categories of Orthodox Martial Artist.
He was a man who walked his own path, beyond the world’s measures.
“Then it’s your turn to answer.”
“Fine. I was chasing opium smugglers under orders from the Murim League, and I traced their source back to Honam. So I’ve come south on their trail. But do you know what happened on the way here?”
Dan Woo-hyeon shook his head.
In truth, his reason for hunting down the opium smugglers was to clear Jang Sam-tae’s name.
It wasn’t that he’d taken up the cause because of opium or Honam or any such matter.
Yet somehow, the situation kept growing larger.
Dan Woo-hyeon glanced at Jang Sam-tae.
He saw the man shaking his head vigorously.
“In one small village, everyone has gone mad from opium. In the larger towns too, there are many showing signs of addiction. But here’s the strangest part—among those addicted, most of the young women disappear shortly after.”
“So you came down to Honam?”
“Yes, following the thread here, I ended up in this place.”
Namgung So-hye shrugged her shoulders.
In truth, the opium problem was a matter of state that should have been resolved by the imperial court.
The reason the Murim League stepped in was singular: several minor sects among its member organizations had collapsed due to opium addiction.
The process had been so secretive that even the Murim League hadn’t noticed their downfall until recently.
An investigation team was hastily dispatched, but the noble daughters of the sects had gone missing, and their fortunes had been scattered and traced flowing into Honam, leaving only fragments behind.
Where it all led remained a mystery, but one thing was certain: someone in Honam was behind it.
“Could there really be someone so bold in Honam? Most would have been arrested by now…….”
“The Samdo Society—that’s what they call themselves, or so I’m told. And their leader, it’s said, freely transforms his face using the Shape Transformation Art…….”
“That’s it!”
Jang Sam-tae suddenly cried out.
The Shape Transformation Art!
Why hadn’t he thought of it until now?
For someone skilled in the Shape Transformation Art, changing one’s face would be child’s play.
Jang Sam-tae dropped the broom and rushed at Dan Woo-hyeon, muttering.
“Master! The Shape Transformation Art! With that, they could make their face look just like mine!”
“I already knew.”
“Pardon?”
“I said I already knew.”
Jang Sam-tae fell silent for a moment.
He stared intently at Dan Woo-hyeon’s face and muttered.
“Then why didn’t you tell me?”
“It was my choice.”
“……Damn it.”
Dan Woo-hyeon’s eyes instantly turned cold. Realizing his slip of the tongue, Jang Sam-tae turned his head away with a hollow cough.
‘Hell, I can’t even curse freely?’
Then Namgung So-hye’s voice cut through.
“Do you know something?”
“Someone’s been using this fool’s face to deal opium and traffic people. I thought it might be a Face Disguise Mask, but the Shape Transformation Art? More interesting than I expected.”
Dan Woo-hyeon produced the Portrait Record he’d kept hidden in his robes and showed it to her.
Namgung So-hye took it and stared at it for a long moment, then fixed Jang Sam-tae with a suspicious gaze.
“You……!”
“I told you it wasn’t me! Didn’t you hear what I just said? The Shape Transformation Art, the Shape Transformation Art!”
“Why would they bother to use your face specifically? You’re not even famous, and it’s hardly a beautiful one either.”
“That’s exactly what I’d like to know!”
Namgung So-hye maintained her suspicious expression and drew her sword.
She looked ready to seize him if provoked.
Seeing this, Gwon Mu-jin stepped forward and placed his hand on the Twin Blades at his waist.
“If you’re thinking of drawing steel here, I’d advise against it. I won’t stand idle either.”
“…….”
Twin Blades Gwon Mu-jin.
His skill was anything but a mere reputation.
In a proper engagement, he would begin to overwhelm her after some twenty seconds, and she wouldn’t last fifty seconds before falling.
That was the gap in their current abilities.
“Don’t make needless trouble. So-mi is here, isn’t she?”
As a hostile current began to flow between the two, Dan So-mi stood wringing her hands in distress.
She cared for both Namgung So-hye and Gwon Mu-jin.
Her only wish was for the two of them to get along.
Taking Gwon Mu-jin’s hand, Dan So-mi reached out with her other hand toward Namgung So-hye.
Just as she was about to press them together into a handshake.
Pop-pop!
Both recoiled in alarm before their skin could even touch.
“No, So-mi. The Seven Years Rule—if you hold hands with someone like that, it’ll be trouble.”
“Huh?”
“That’s right, So-mi. You can’t do that with just anyone. Especially not with someone so wrapped up in herself as she is.”
“What? What?”
Dan So-mi’s head swiveled back and forth between the two voices. She’d only wanted them to make peace, but their resistance was fierce indeed.
Then, from one side, came the sound of Dan Woo-hyeon’s sigh.
He reached into his robes and tossed something out.
“This is the opium that fellow was selling.”
“!?”
Namgung So-hye gasped in shock as she received it.
What she couldn’t obtain, despite desperately wanting to, was opium.
But where on earth had Dan Woo-hyeon managed to get his hands on this?
She turned the opium over in her hands, wrapped as it was in a small paper wrapper. After catching its scent, she frowned at something amiss about it.
“This isn’t ordinary opium, is it?”
“It looks like something specially manufactured. The addiction potential is several times stronger than common opium.”
Namgung So-hye turned her head away. As if she couldn’t bear even the smell of it, she quickly folded the wrapper and returned it to Dan Woo-hyeon.
“How could you have something like this?”
“There are ways for everything.”
“……Then is there a way to catch him?”
“Not the whole picture, but enough to follow the thread.”
Namgung So-hye regarded Dan Woo-hyeon with renewed astonishment.
This man swept through in moments what even the Murim League couldn’t accomplish.
It was impossible to tell whether he was human or ghost.
And the way he spoke suggested he actually did have a method in mind.
Namgung So-hye asked with a faint smile.
“What is it?”
“Do you want to catch him?”
“Yes, of course.”
“Then there’ll need to be suitable compensation.”
“I beg your pardon?”
Looking at Dan Woo-hyeon’s knowing smile, it seemed he wanted something. But what could this man possibly need? She had no idea.
In the moment she furrowed her brow and fell into thought—
“Bring me the bounty that was placed on the head of the Heukdo Society’s leader.”
“That…… that is…….”
Two hundred gold coins—no small sum, and it had been long since they’d settled that matter.
How was she supposed to explain it to Jegal Chong-sa and retrieve the money?
Moreover, the Murim League and Ak-yang were no trivial distance apart.
The travel time alone would be considerable.
“If you don’t want to, forget it.”
“No, I understand, I do! I’ll bring it. But I have a condition too.”
“A condition?”
Namgung So-hye took a brief breath.
In truth, even having to make such a request was terribly embarrassing.
And so, her face flushed, she spoke quietly.
“Once we resolve this matter, all credit will go to the Murim League.”
“As you wish.”
“What?”
“Do as you see fit.”
She was left stunned by how readily Dan Woo-hyeon accepted.
Though it hadn’t yet surfaced clearly, capturing these people would bring immense prestige.
Yet he surrendered it without hesitation.
Dan Woo-hyeon, as if reading her thoughts, spoke without delay.
“The Heukdo Society has damaged the Murim League’s standing, hasn’t it? Called you nothing better than a provincial magistrate’s office. So you’re trying to recover from this by solving this matter, aren’t you?”
“W-well, that’s true, but…….”
He was like a ghost.
How could he speak of someone’s heart as if he were peering directly into it? Even that difficult Jegal Chong-sa seemed incapable of such a thing.
Which was precisely why this man unsettled her.
Then Dan Woo-hyeon’s voice rang out.
“Sam-tae.”
“Yes?”
“Bring Hong Won-chang here.”
“Yes, of course!”

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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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