Chronicles of the Martial God’s Return - Chapter 50

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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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Shudder-shudder!
Everyone around them trembled, swallowing hard.
There was no one who could shake off the terror that swept through indiscriminately, friend and foe alike.
Even the three sect masters, who had obtained power multiplied several times over through the use of Banishment Grounds elixir for a brief moment, could not so much as twitch when they beheld Dan Woo-hyeon’s Divine Presence before them.
Realizing that the strength they possessed was nothing more than a death throes, they felt the sky above the sky.
“Gggghhhhh……!”
“Grrrrk!”
The three sect masters were paralyzed by terror, unable to gather their wits. Was it because of that? Their vital channels tangled, and their Inner Energy began to backflow.
The tremendous pressure that still bore down upon them only fanned the flames further, and soon they found themselves succumbing to Demons Enter the Body.
“Kghhhhh!”
“Help…… save me……!”
All things flow according to their nature.
Those who, driven by the desire to grow stronger and stand above others, had not hesitated to employ wretched methods, now lost everything one by one as they faced an unforeseen calamity.
Crack-crack!
Their meridians burst, and blood fountained forth.
It was not the work of any hand, but the result of their own bodies’ destruction—unable to withstand the overwhelming terror.
“Turn your head away.”
In that moment, Dan Woo-hyeon’s voice cut through.
Gwon Mu-jin and Jang Sam-tae turned their heads in desperation.
Then.
Boom!
A tremendous sound erupted as the bodies of all three ruptured. Unable to withstand the force of their backflowing vital energy, they burst asunder.
Fragments scattered in all directions rolled to where Namgung So-hye stood.
At the gruesome sight, Namgung So-hye gagged and turned her eyes away.
“Heave!”
Though she had witnessed many corpses, never had she seen anything so utterly mangled. It was far worse than the grotesquely contorted faces of the masked men.
“The rest I leave to you.”
Dan Woo-hyeon then turned his back.

***

A man toiled up a mountain path with labored breath, his waist cinched with an Old Sword, a large bundle strapped across his back.
It contained provisions and a bedroll for when he slept.
The man’s name was Sa Geuk-jeong.
His martial skills were mediocre, and there was nothing remarkable about him whatsoever—he was utterly ordinary.
The place where he now walked was none other than Gunja Island, a small isle situated in the heart of Dongting Lake, in the north of Hunan.
“Huff, huff—damned exhausting.”
Sa Geuk-jeong wiped away the sweat that streamed down his face and caught his breath.
He had lost count of how many days he had remained in this place.
He had scoured the mountains and checked several times over areas where few people ventured, yet he had found nothing of particular consequence.
An Opportunity Hunter.
That was what people called men like Sa Geuk-jeong.
Those with not the slightest wish to grow strong through systematic martial training, but driven only by the desire to obtain a Fortuitous Opportunity and sell it for profit, or to become a master overnight.
Zhongyuan was rife with such men blinded by hollow ambition, yet it was safe to say that few of them ever succeeded.
Sa Geuk-jeong, seeking such an Opportunity, had drifted to this Gunja Island.
“Sigh—I hear that this place, which was forbidden for entry for a thousand years, only recently became accessible to people?”
It was a tale passed down through the generations, but those who had once set foot within were said to be cursed, and none ever escaped with their lives.
Since no one had ever returned alive, there were even those who did not know what had transpired inside.
Hundreds of martial masters and hundreds of imperial soldiers had once entered Gunja Island together, yet none of them had returned.
But then, at some point, it had simply become an ordinary island—which surely meant something of great fortune lay hidden here.
Thump-thump!
If he could only find it, he might become a wealthy magnate in an instant.
Sa Geuk-jeong grinned and walked on.
He had tried painstakingly to search the island thoroughly for anything that might serve as a clue, but it proved far from simple.
“Just what in the world is here……?”
He released a long sigh and took another step forward.
Thud!
The ground suddenly caved in beneath him, and he plummeted downward.
“Aaaahhhhh!”
His body fell without end, as if he’d hurled himself off a cliff into an abyss.
If he kept falling all the way to the bottom, he’d surely die.
Sa Geuk-jeong snapped to his senses and hastily rummaged through his pack for the rope.
Hunting for Fortuitous Opportunities meant falls like this were almost routine.
His scream hadn’t yet echoed back, which meant he still had time before hitting bottom.
He hurled the rope, and it caught on a jagged outcropping of stone.
Snap!
His fall stopped abruptly, and a searing pain shot through the arm gripping the rope as if it might tear free.
But knowing it was his lifeline, he held firm.
“Gasp… gasp… gasp…!”
He forced his breathing under control, steadying his mind.
Panic was death.
The moment he panicked, he was finished.
What came next?
He began letting out rope, hand over hand.
He’d long since learned to carry a generous length of rope for exactly such emergencies, yet staring down into this Great Cave, he wondered if even his rope might be too short.
‘Then I die. What of it?’
Sa Geuk-jeong descended steadily, cold sweat beading his brow.
The rope was nearly exhausted, and the darkness below swallowed all sight.
There was no climbing back up now—he’d gambled everything.
‘One… two…!’
He released the rope.
Sink or swim.
He couldn’t suspend himself forever; either he’d hit bottom and die, or he’d live. One or the other.
“Did I… did I survive?”
Against his expectations of a long plunge, his feet touched solid ground after only a brief fall.
The impact was gentle enough to tell him the drop hadn’t been far at all.
Sa Geuk-jeong understood he’d snatched life from the jaws of death, and he exhaled in relief.
“A blessing… but where in heaven am I?”
Darkness cloaked everything around him.
The echo of his words suggested a massive cavern, yet it didn’t feel like anything human hands could have carved.
He opened his pack and drew out a torch.
Using flint, he kindled the flame and surveyed his surroundings.
“This is…?”
His eyes flew wide at the sight before him.
It was indeed a great cavern.
But studying the markings along the cave walls, he felt his breath catch in his throat.
Something immense had left these traces.
“Scales… marks? A serpent?”
The walls bore scale-like patterns scattered across their surface. That meant this place had almost certainly been home to something beyond the mortal.
Though those marks seemed ancient and whatever creature had left them long gone, a creature of this magnitude would have to have reached at least the stage of an Imoogi before ascending to become a true Dragon.
Gulp.
He swallowed hard.
If such a beast had guarded this island, none who entered would have escaped alive—that much was certain.
An Imoogi on the verge of ascension was said to grow savage and devour anything that crossed its path.
Of course, that was mere legend; no living soul had ever witnessed such a thing.
Yet here Sa Geuk-jeong stood, having uncovered the traces of that very legend.
“Ha… hahahaha! This is it! This is the jackpot!”
He laughed aloud. Selling this knowledge to the Martial Alliance alone would let him live like a lord for the rest of his life.
He pressed forward along the cavern floor, smiling broadly.
Whether the Imoogi had ascended to heaven or perished, he couldn’t say.
Sa Geuk-jeong hoped its bones at least remained, but the complete absence of any stench suggested slim prospects.
He continued on.
The Great Cave was staggeringly vast and deep.
It made sense—it had been the lair of an Imoogi, after all.
One hour. Two hours.
After wandering for a considerable span of time, he stopped short.
The sound of water reached his ears.
He bolted toward the sound.
After all the walking they’d already done, he was desperately thirsty anyway.
The noise grew louder with each passing moment, and when the space finally opened before him, Sa Geuk-jeong froze—motionless as stone.
A vast chamber.
Everything about it felt different from what came before.
Water flowed along one side, and scattered weeds grew in the corners.
The walls on all sides bore ancient marks—etched deeply into the rock—that looked unmistakably like sword scars.
But what seized Sa Geuk-jeong’s attention more than anything else was—
“P-people?”
—human remains.
Three skeletons, brittle and crumbling at the edge of disintegration, sat in the center, perfectly aligned.
All three held the same posture, heads bowed as if gazing at something before them—and it struck him that perhaps they were mourning someone who had passed.
In front of them stood an Ancestral Tablet, marking the dead.
Sa Geuk-jeong swallowed hard and moved forward slowly.
One step. Two steps.
Could a single footfall carry such weight of dread?
With each step closer, cold sweat beaded his forehead. The very air of this place was strange, thick with an uncanny presence.
He reached the spot and stopped, studying the three corpses before him.
He couldn’t discern their identities, but one seemed to be a woman, while the other two appeared to be men.
This much he’d gleaned from their tattered clothing, brittle enough to crumble at a touch.
His gaze shifted to the Ancestral Tablet.
A single name was inscribed upon it.
Yet something else drew his eye more insistently.
The far wall of the Great Cave, just beyond the tablet.
Large characters were carved there—etched deep, as if by blade.

Honoring the Martial God, I gazed upon the place of his beginning.
Honoring the Martial God, I praise his deeds.
Honoring the Martial God, I speak his anguish.
Honoring the Martial God, I weep for what could not be protected.
Honoring the Martial God, I lay this tablet to rest.
Honoring the Martial God, the Three Heavens sleep here.
Tae Gong-jin.
Nam Ju-ryeon.
Cheon Mu-gwang.

“M-Martial God?”
He swallowed, his eyes moving to the tablet once more.
He read the name etched there, one character at a time.
“Dan Woo-hyeon.”

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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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