Chronicles of the Martial God’s Return - Chapter 6

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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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“Hold it right there.”
At Dan Woo-hyeon’s single word, the bandits froze in place. They turned their heads toward him, their gazes sharp and cold—a clear warning that any foolish move would not be forgiven.
“What is it?”
The question did not come from just anyone.
Jang Baek-san answered.
He regarded Dan Woo-hyeon quietly, his question cutting through the air. Sharp intent radiated from his frame, his eyes fixed with the precision of someone who would miss not even the smallest twitch of movement.
“What do you intend to do with him?”
“Kill him. Just as he killed my family.”
“You seem to be a bandit yourself, are you not?”
“And your point?”
Jang Baek-san posed the question with a somewhat twisted expression. What connection could there possibly be between being a bandit and seeking vengeance?
Yet Dan Woo-hyeon laughed softly.
“If you’re a bandit, you’ve likely killed far more people than that Magistrate, not fewer. By that reckoning, hasn’t he done the work of avenging all those you’ve slain?”
“What…… what did you just say?!”
“Is this bastard insane!”
“Damn this cursed fool!”
The bandits gnashed their teeth and drew their blades.
Dan Woo-hyeon’s words were something that should never escape the lips—not without inviting certain death. Murderous intent surged like a tidal wave, ready to tear him limb from limb.
Yet Dan Woo-hyeon’s expression remained composed.
He held his gaze on Jang Baek-san for a moment, then slowly turned to look at the Magistrate.
“Do you believe yourself guilty of wrongdoing?”
“I…… I do not.”
Hong Won-chang swallowed hard.
Here stood a man facing the notorious bandit gang of Honam and their chieftain without showing the slightest hint of fear—his expression and bearing unshaken.
Watching him, Hong Won-chang felt an odd comfort beginning to bloom within his chest.
But it was short-lived.
Thump—!
“Gah!”
Jang Baek-san’s fist swung with brutal force, as though offended by the words the Magistrate had uttered.
He drove his foot deep into Hong Won-chang’s fallen belly, then kicked his face, breathing heavily with exertion.
The faces of his dead family still filled his mind. That rage had not faded, and to hear this man claim he bore no guilt was like adding fuel to a burning house.
Hong Won-chang writhed pitifully across the ground.
He was clearly a man of high station—a Magistrate—yet his present condition bore little resemblance to that rank.
His constables were all dead, and no one remained to save him. This abandonment only deepened his misery.
“Listen, stop your pathetic struggles and be on your way. My patience ends here.”
“Hmm…….”
Dan Woo-hyeon gazed at Hong Won-chang, letting out a soft sound as if lost in thought for a moment.
Leaving him to die was no difficulty, but the Magistrate’s death would not solve the problem of Jang-won.
Another Magistrate would come, and if they learned how their predecessor fell, they might regard Jang-won’s troubles with far greater severity.
Conversely, this situation might become an opportunity to bring the Jang-won matter to a favorable close.
Dan Woo-hyeon smiled coldly.
His gaze upon Hong Won-chang turned decidedly cruel.
“Magistrate, do you wish to live?”
Hong Won-chang’s eyes went wide.
Dan Woo-hyeon’s words were like finding a thread of light in the darkness. Though he could not believe the man had any real power to help him, still his heart seized at the offer.
“In exchange for sparing your life, I have a condition. Never again meddle with my Jang-won.”
“What kind of nonsense is this, you bastard!”
At last, one of the men could no longer contain his rage and charged forward.
Dan Woo-hyeon’s ease had struck a nerve. Scowling fiercely, the bandit drew his blade, meaning to pierce the man’s heart in one swift stroke and end him.
But before the blade could even touch Dan Woo-hyeon’s motionless body, wind gathered and swept the blade aside.
The man’s eyes flew wide in confusion.
Thump—!
“Agh—!”
In the next instant came the sound of something shattering, and the bandit’s body bent like a shrimp. Trembling at the extreme pain, he felt his consciousness growing hazy as he dropped to his knees.
Then he collapsed.
“Hah……!”
“That…… that’s Jang-u!”
“That makes no sense…….”
Horror flickered across the faces of the bandits as they stared at the fallen man. Jang-u was among the three strongest in their entire group.
To topple such a man with a single move was reason enough to be stunned.
“You’ve got some skill in you.”
Jang Baek-san ground his teeth.
How in the world had such a man been captured by mere Constables?
He was unmistakably a master of considerable skill. His hands moved too fast for the eye to follow.
Moreover, that speed was beyond all description.
Jang Baek-san’s eyes opened slightly.
He felt the hilt of his sword in his palm and tensed his body.
‘He might well be stronger than me.’
But retreat was not in his nature. Jang Baek-san had faced masters greater than himself countless times and survived every encounter to this day.
He trusted in his luck and his men.
Dan Woo-hyeon picked up the fallen blade and turned again to Hong Won-chang, who was trembling with shock.
“What do you say? Seems like a fair deal to me, doesn’t it?”
“If you’ll just let me live…… then, then anything……!”
At those words, Dan Woo-hyeon nodded slightly and regarded the bandits.
There was no need to count them one by one. By conservative estimate, there were at least fifty, perhaps a few more.
Against the Limitless Divine Demon, such numbers were child’s play.
“Very well. If you withdraw quietly, no harm will come to you.”
“You crazy bastard!”
The bandits were confident.
They held overwhelming numerical advantage, and at their side stood Jang Baek-san. No matter what master stood before them, they would not falter—not with a true master at their back, one who had carved through hardship all these years.
They believed in victory without doubt.
“Kill him!”
At Jang Baek-san’s cry, the bandits surged forward. The sight of fifty men charging at once was dizzying to behold.
Yet Dan Woo-hyeon’s expression never changed. He watched them approach in silence.
‘Kill them or not?’
Killing them would be simple—just thrust the blade at the incoming men and be done with it. But the thought of walking once more down a path drenched in blood made him hesitant.
Perhaps it had to do with the image of Hwa So-mi that kept forming in his mind.
Without quite realizing it, Dan Woo-hyeon smiled faintly and hurled the sword away.
The blade went spinning through the air.
That sword, tossed carelessly toward the bandits, traced an arc and fell slowly toward the ground. The charging bandits let out scoffs of contempt.
They could not fathom what Dan Woo-hyeon was doing.
Then his foot moved.
He kicked a pebble sharply, and it flew faster than an arrow, striking the falling sword.
Clang—!
A deafening metallic ring echoed out, and the bandits’ eyes went wide.
But their minds could not keep pace.
Thack-thack-thack-thack-thack—!
“Aaahhh!”
“Gaaahhh!”
“Krrgh!”
Shrieks and moans filled the air.
Those who had been charging were thrown to the ground as one. The shattered blade, now fragments, scattered like tiny projectiles in all directions, each shard embedding itself in the bandits’ flesh.
In an instant, more than twenty bandits fell.
They shrieked and cried out, writhing on the ground.
“Fewer than expected. Perhaps I didn’t generate enough fragments?”
His words, spoken like a death god’s whisper, sent terror through every soul present.

Quiver-quiver-quiver.
Hong Won-chang trembled uncontrollably.
Was what was happening before his eyes real? Or was it a dream?
He could not begin to judge. He had known that martial artists belonged to an entirely different category of being than himself, but this exceeded all bounds.
It was pure terror.
Tiny fragments of metal had subdued more than twenty men without killing them, and now Dan Woo-hyeon’s fists moved, crushing two or three bandits with each blow.
Thud-thud-thud—!
No struggle, no groans, no screams were heard.
Those struck by his fists had no time to cry out. Hong Won-chang found himself shrinking back instinctively.
“Erk……!”
It took Dan Woo-hyeon less than a single moment to apprehend the bandits.
‘I was going to strike such a monster with a water staff? Me?’
How could he have committed such recklessness?
The thought alone made vertigo wash through his limbs. Had that creature simply willed it, he would not be standing here at all.
“This…… this makes no sense! Why is someone like you being held by some mere constable?!”
Jang Baek-san, who had been standing dazed, let out a harsh shout and spun to run.
He could not win. Revenge was impossible—one step forward and death was all that awaited.
This man was in a league apart from any master he had ever encountered.
The moment that realization struck him, his body moved with perfect instinct toward flight.
He threw every ounce of strength into his legs, running at full speed for the first time in his life.
As Jang Baek-san’s figure rapidly receded, Hong Won-chang grew desperate.
More pressing than the fallen bandits was Jang Baek-san himself. The man was the bandit leader, and with a bounty on his head as vicious as the crimes he had committed, he had to be captured.
Moreover, there was no telling when he might strike again, so letting him escape was unthinkable.
“Please, please capture him! I…… I beg you! Seize that wretch!”
“Hmm…….”
Dan Woo-hyeon scratched his head.
Chasing down a man fleeing for his life and putting him to death was not his nature—and yet the Magistrate desired it.
To bring matters at Jang-won to a proper close, he needed this man’s goodwill, so he had little choice but to oblige.
The moment he took a single step, his form vanished.
And then he materialized directly behind Jang Baek-san.
“Gasp?!”
Jang Baek-san sensed the presence and gasped in terror.
In that same instant, Dan Woo-hyeon’s hand seized his head and slammed it into the earth.
Bang—!
Dust erupted in a thick cloud.
The ground caved inward with his head driven deep into it, his body convulsing. Such an impact should have meant death—yet unmistakably, he still lived.
Dan Woo-hyeon grabbed his hair and dragged him along the ground.
Then he cast him down before the Magistrate and smiled darkly.
“Our accord is now sealed, Magistrate.”
“Of…… of course! My thanks! My deepest thanks!”
“Should you ever trouble Jang-won again…….”
“There is no possibility of that! I swear it will not happen! You need have no concern!”
Hong Won-chang trembled with fear.
Who would dare speak so carelessly before such a being?
He could not challenge Jang-won again. No—he could not even consider it.
Having witnessed the terrible power of this monster before him, the conviction had carved itself into his mind: to live, one must never resist.
It was a difficult task to erase such terror once it had taken root.
When Dan Woo-hyeon smiled, Hong Won-chang quickly bowed his head.
Tremble-tremble.
His shaking body would not still.
‘I will never set foot near Jang-won again!’
Hong Won-chang made this vow and swallowed hard.

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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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