Chronicles of the Martial God’s Return - Chapter 58

—————
This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
—————

“Haa… haa… haa….”
Namgung So-hye gasped for breath, unable even to think of wiping the blood from her blade. Her hands had gone numb—she couldn’t feel them anymore, couldn’t count how many of the unknown figures she’d cut down.
She glanced sideways and saw the others in similar straits: Gu Hwang from the Demonic Cult and Go Dam-jin from Wudang both stood heaving, their faces drawn with exhaustion.
Their opponents’ strength had exceeded all expectation.
Had they pressed even slightly harder, annihilation would have followed.
“Why did they withdraw so suddenly?”
Go Dam-jin gazed across Dongjeong Lake. He could see the carnage—many lay dead, but more of the enemy were escaping by boat across the water.
They wanted to pursue, but they couldn’t abandon the island unguarded.
They’d taken prisoners to interrogate, true enough, but those captives had bitten down on poison and taken their own lives, methodically erasing all traces behind them.
This was no ordinary affair.
“A signal flare….”
Namgung So-hye murmured softly.
Now that she thought of it, just before their retreat, she’d heard a sound from somewhere—a strange, piercing noise. And the moment it rang out, the enemy had begun to flee.
“Bidong!”
Gu Hwang’s voice rose sharp as he broke into a run. Something felt deeply wrong; his face had gone ashen.
Go Dam-jin was right behind him, and Namgung So-hye as well, along with the Murim Alliance branch commander.
All of them ran forward, dread coiling in their chests.
They plunged through the entrance and tore through Bidong’s depths at full speed.
None of them spoke—the urgency of their flight told the whole story.
After what felt like an eternity of running, they emerged into the Cave Chamber itself, and every one of them stopped cold, their breath catching in their throats.
“Damn it! Damn it! Damn it!”
…..
Nothing remained.
The three corpses that should have been there—gone. Whether anything else had been stored here or not was unclear, but one thing was certain: Bidong had been stripped bare.
Gu Hwang’s jaw clenched as he bit out a curse, his voice rough with rage.
They should never have neglected the guard here. At the very least, he himself should have stayed behind to watch over it. But the situation had been so dire, pressing so hard, that he’d given it no thought at all.
“There’s nothing here.”
Namgung So-hye let out a hollow laugh.
The marks left by blades on the walls, the characters carved into the stone as the hunter had described—those remained. But the remains that they’d assumed to be Sancheon’s, three corpses they’d sought so desperately—not a trace could be found.
Laughter erupted in scattered pockets throughout the chamber—bitter, mirthless laughter.
They’d come all this way, expended such effort to reach this place, and what greeted them was nothing but dust. It hollowed them out, made their exhaustion feel even more suffocating.
Even remains would have been something. At least then they could have found words.
“We pursue them now!”
Gu Hwang shouted the command and wheeled about.
Leading his men, he rushed back outside of Bidong, and as if they’d been waiting for the signal, Go Dam-jin and his party broke away as well, emerging from the cavern.
The will to catch them, to not let them slip away, burned in every heartbeat.
Namgung So-hye remained behind alone, sinking down onto her knees. She let out a long, heavy sigh without even bothering to look around the chamber properly.
The sense of loss was simply too great.
“Nothing’s gone right lately….”
When had it started?
Whatever task she undertook, she always saw it through to completion. But here in Honam, nothing—not a single matter she’d touched—had resolved properly.
She’d barely managed to maintain the watch, and the invaders had breached her guard. Now she’d lost the most crucial thing of all: three of Sancheon’s corpses, snatched away.
The thought of returning to the Murim Alliance felt like a crushing weight.
“I’m going to lose my mind….”
She let out another long sigh, and as she turned her head, something glinted on the ground. She saw it, seized by a sudden curiosity, and reached out to pick it up.
“A memorial tablet…?”
It was unmistakably a memorial tablet.
It looked and felt far different from modern ones, aged and weathered, but the fact that it bore a person’s name—that much was undeniable.
“Hyun?”
Judging from the way it was broken, the visible characters seemed to be from the very bottom of the tablet.
What could she deduce from something so fragmentary? Still, she wondered if more pieces might be scattered about, and began to search the area more carefully.
But visibility was poor.
The Cave Chamber was profoundly dark, and given how the tablet had shattered, fragments must have scattered in all directions. Finding them would take considerable time.
After what felt like an age spent combing through the chamber, Namgung So-hye managed to find three remaining pieces. The search had drained her entirely.
And then, as she began to fit the fragments together one by one—
Namgung So-hye went still, her mouth clamping shut. She had no words.
“Dan Woo-hyun….”

***

“Where on earth were you napping that you’re only showing up now?”
Jang Sam-tae, who had come running up breathless, raised his voice at the sight of Dan Woo-hyun appearing only after everything had ended.
He felt all the more wronged, thinking that if only Dan Woo-hyun had been there from the start, none of this would have been so grueling.
“I fell into a rather deep sleep.”
“A man who wakes at the sound of a cockroach stirring, yet…”
“Had it been so, I’d have known. But that aside…”
Dan Woo-hyun surveyed the surroundings.
A considerable number of corpses lay scattered about. Some bore only light wounds, but most had sustained grievous injuries.
The shells that had rained down had only compounded the casualties inevitably.
Dan Woo-hyun nodded as though he had grasped the situation well enough.
“Managed not to die, then.”
“Hah! This Jang Sam-tae is not so easily killed. I’m stubborn enough to live on and suck the very marrow from your bones, so fret not, sir.”
“That’s fortunate indeed.”
Watching Jang Sam-tae speak with such hearty cheer, Dan Woo-hyun nodded. Seeing him so transformed from their first meeting, he found himself smiling despite himself.
“Still, looking at this state of affairs, I’m concerned for what lies within Bidong.”
Gwon Mu-jin, who had drawn up beside Dan Woo-hyun at some point, murmured this aloud.
The intention of those who had attacked was unmistakably to breach the Wudang’s Bidong.
Their withdrawal had come far too easily, which troubled him—yet watching Namgung So-hye disappear in haste, he began to understand it somewhat.
There was certainly a possibility that a separate detachment had infiltrated.
More than that—it was almost certain.
“Don’t trouble yourself with this. You should return. There is a matter I must attend to.”
“A matter, sir?”
Jang Sam-tae tilted his head, regarding him with puzzlement.
The only business he had was to fetch Dan So-mi from the Manor or go to retrieve her—or sometimes to go fishing.
That he, a man whose usual pursuits amounted to so little, should speak of having business to attend to struck Jang Sam-tae as rather amusing.
Dan Woo-hyun gazed at Jang Sam-tae calmly.
“I mean for you and the others.”
……
Ah, of course.
Jang Sam-tae and Gwon Mu-jin exchanged an awkward smile. Though neither quite knew what he meant, it seemed they would have to take the lead themselves.
“What would you have us do?”
“Return to the Manor for now and wait. I shall follow in due course.”
Gwon Mu-jin nodded.
He was a man who had sworn to follow, whether it pleased him or not. When his lord gave an order, it was the duty of a loyal bodyguard to obey without hesitation.
Besides, Dan Woo-hyun was not the sort to command anything wicked.
“Then I shall see you at the Manor.”
Gwon Mu-jin led the remaining two men toward the Manor.
A dark night.
Beneath thick, churning clouds that cast not a single ray of moonlight.
In a place somewhat removed from Gunja Island.
A place where few souls wandered and human feet scarce dared to tread.
On such a night, in such mountain depths, the desolation pressed down with a weight that would unsettle any man’s nerve.
Through such darkness, scores of men moved with deliberate stealth.
Though they appeared to be searching through the forest, they moved without hesitation, as though they had known their destination from the very beginning.
At length, as they arrived at a certain location—
One man’s expression darkened.
“Strange. They should have returned by now.”
The man could not conceal his bewilderment. A signal flare had been fired to indicate success, and it was to reunite at this designated place afterward.
Yet those who should have been here were nowhere to be seen.
What in the name of all that was holy had happened?
“Any word?”
“None, sir. From the traces about, it appears no one has arrived.”
“Did they… fail?”
“We confirmed before leaving, and those standing watch elsewhere also received the signal flare confirming success. Moreover, their vessel has vanished from Gunja Island.”
“…Then they’ve fled with Bidong’s prize?”
“That’s impossible, sir. You know well enough the loyalty of those men.”
The man fell silent for a long moment.
True enough, I know their loyalty well.
But who doesn’t waver before treasure? And if word spreads that something was obtained from the martial saint’s Bidong, can you truly blame them for harboring second thoughts?
It was in the midst of such musings.
Rustle—
The sound of undergrowth stirring broke through his thoughts.
“Come so far only to leave empty-handed—how disappointing that must be.”
“……!?”
The man’s eyes flew open at the sudden intrusion. His subordinates reacted likewise, every one of them caught off guard.
How could there be anyone here when they’d sensed no presence at all?
“Clever thinking, that. Sometimes bold measures are necessary if one wishes to seize everything completely, sacrifices and all.”
“…….”
As the murmur died away, the heavy shadows parting revealed two figures in the moonlight.
Dan Woo-hyun, standing motionless with mockery written across his lips.
And before him—
Gu Hwang, who had come as the Jeongma Alliance’s representative.
“Are you a man of the Murim Alliance?”
“Does it appear so?”
No. No, it does not.
Gu Hwang shook his head.
The Murim Alliance had been thoroughly deceived—their actions and speech made that abundantly clear. If even Go Dam-jin, that perpetually suspicious one, had been taken in, there was little point in stating it aloud.
Moreover, if this man were truly of the Murim Alliance, he would never stand alone in such circumstances. His duty would have been to rush back to the alliance and raise the alarm.
Unless he was a fool chasing glory.
“Did you kill those who were here?”
“No. There was no one here to begin with.”
Dan Woo-hyun had not known such a place existed. He had simply followed this man called Gu Hwang in secret.
“They became corpses in the cave.”
“……How did you know it was me?”
“One need not lack perception simply because you do not display your True Body Release. No matter how you conceal yourself, the underlying energy you possess cannot be hidden.”
Watching Gu Hwang’s shock, Dan Woo-hyun’s lips curled upward.
Either way, this situation favored him greatly.
“So—the Demonic Cult devised a plan to plunder everything from the martial saint’s Bidong. You deceived everyone flawlessly and succeeded. But the things that came out are extraordinary beyond measure. So you slaughter your subordinates and flee, taking it all for yourself.”
“What…… are you……!”
Crack!
Dan Woo-hyun thrust out his hand.
A sickening sound like shattering melon echoed as one black-robed warrior’s skull caved in. In that brief instant, understanding could not even register in his mind.
Crack—!
Another black-robed warrior collapsed to the ground, spraying blood.
“A fine plan, is it not? And you all made noise in the place where they slept. You have more than enough reason to die.”
Clang-clang-clang—!
Gu Hwang and all the others drew their blades.
The opponent was a master.
But they too were formidable, tempered in the Demonic Cult. At minimum, they would claim a limb or two to carry into the afterlife.
Such conviction blazed in their eyes.
“Good eyes. Remember the Demonic Cult, then.”

—————
This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
—————