Chronicles of the Martial God’s Return - Chapter 60

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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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Nothing had been gained.
Considering the money and time the Murim Alliance had invested in this matter, it would be no exaggeration to say they had collapsed entirely. They had achieved absolutely no results.
Honam Murim Alliance Branch.
Namgung So-hye sat quietly, waiting for word. She had dispatched informants in every direction to gather intelligence on the vanished Demonic Cult members, but no meaningful reports had come through.
Was this truly the work of the Demonic Cult?
One doubt led to another.
Yet what truly gnawed at her was something else entirely.
The Memorial Tablet, shattered into fragments.
The name that emerged when she pieced the characters together.
“Dan Woo-hyun…….”
Sam-cheon had said he’d brought a Memorial Tablet honoring the Musin. She’d already heard it from the Qi-marked hunter, and since she held evidence in her hands, there was no reason to believe he’d lied.
“It surely can’t be that Dan Woo-hyun, though…….”
Namgung So-hye shook her head firmly.
The same name could belong to countless people.
Just as there were those outside the Namgung Clan in Anhui who bore the surname Namgung—albeit with different characters—there was no shortage of people who shared the same name.
But.
‘His identity is unclear…….’
The moment she returned to the Alliance branch, Namgung So-hye had initiated a background investigation into Dan Woo-hyun.
She’d sent inquiries not only to the Intelligence Network but to every other information gathering organization, yet aside from the fact that he had suddenly appeared in Ak-yang, she could find nothing else.
Though she had searched through all the Dan Woo-hyuns in the Central Plains, finding not a single match meant that no information about him existed at all.
“Heh heh, what troubles occupy your thoughts?”
“Ah, Grandfather…….”
“Think nothing of it. Sit, child. Is it the matter of Gentleman’s Island weighing on you?”
“……That too, but there’s something else that concerns me.”
“Ho? A matter of the heart?”
“Ah, no…… I mean…… Well, it’s not entirely not that, but it’s not like that either…….”
“Heh heh heh, it seems you’ve grown old enough for marriage, haven’t you?”
Watching Namgung So-hye’s flustered expression, Namgung Cheon chuckled warmly. Who could this man be, to have breached the iron walls of his granddaughter like this?
His curiosity lingered.
“Grandfather…….”
“Come now, tell me what troubles you.”
Namgung So-hye drew a small, measured breath.
It seemed foolish to even voice such a thought—as though admitting she’d lost her mind.
“Can a person live for a thousand years?”
“Hehehehe—”
As expected, Namgung Cheon burst into hearty laughter.
In an instant, Namgung So-hye’s face flushed crimson. Even she recognized it was an absurd question.
“Long ago, even Qin Shi Huang labored so to create an Elixir of Immortality, yet he could not escape death.”
“That’s…… true.”
“All people die. There have been rare exceptions, it’s true…….”
“You mean the Eight Immortals……?”
“Yes, those said to have become Immortals and long protected these Central Plains martial arts. Of course, it’s little more than legend, so credibility is questionable—but if one reaches such a realm, perhaps it’s possible.”
He let out a soft chuckle.
Namgung Cheon smiled.
That much made clear it was a stage beyond the reach of ordinary human effort.
Though the Eight Immortals were once human, and so the possibility wasn’t zero, there seemed no chance whatsoever that he had ascended to the Immortal Realm.
‘His personality is too strange!’
Namgung So-hye quietly conjured the image of Dan Woo-hyun.
Yes, thinking it through carefully, there was no way.
There was not the slightest possibility he was the same person as some human from a thousand years ago, or the one called the Musin.
Who was the Musin?
Once transmitted only as legend, his existence now confirmed, he reigns as the mightiest figure in the history of the Central Plains martial world, a Transcendent Existence whose fame will only spread—yet here he was.
Considering he’d picked the pockets of bandits and mocked her, the probability of their being the same person was nil.
A being of that caliber should possess the nobility and grace of someone like her grandfather, exuding Martial Presence befitting such station.
‘Mmm!’ Namgung So-hye nodded to herself and exhaled a long breath.
With her thoughts in order, her heart felt lighter.
“Have you eased your worries?”
“Yes, thank you, Grandfather.”
“Hah, well then. Since I haven’t spent time with my granddaughter in so long, I was thinking we might pay a visit to Dongting Lake. What do you think?”
“D… Dongting Lake?”
Namgung So-hye broke into a cold sweat.
Nothing ever went right when she went there.

***

“Are you truly saying it isn’t?”
“Yes, it isn’t.”
Jang Sam-tae stared at Dan Woo-hyun with unwavering intensity.
The sight of him muttering with that unchanging expression seemed almost brazen—thick-faced, as the saying went.
But no matter who looked at it, those were plainly Sam-cheon’s remains. How could he claim otherwise?
Did anyone ever swindle people this brazenly?
“But the memorial tablet…”
“The names merely happen to match.”
Cheon Mu-gwang, Nam Ju-ryeon, Tae Gong-jin.
How could three different people possibly share the same name?
‘He takes me for a fool,’ Jang Sam-tae thought, his lips twitching slightly.
Jang Sam-tae muttered something under his breath, his mouth twisting with irritation.
“Our eyes aren’t broken, are they?”
Dan Woo-hyun glanced between Jang Sam-tae and Gwon Moo-jin in turn. Both men held his gaze with unwavering certainty, their expressions utterly resolute.
Their eyes were not broken.
They were not blind monks, nor were their minds addled—so don’t think to deceive them.
That was what their faces seemed to say.
Dan Woo-hyun let out a quiet laugh.
“That could well be the case.”
“Hmph. I should be getting back to my cultivation…”
At those words, Gwon Moo-jin was the first to slip away.
Though Dan Woo-hyun wasn’t radiating killing intent, the look on his face suggested that pressing further would lead nowhere pleasant.
Dan Woo-hyun surely had his reasons, and probing into them would yield nothing of value.
But Jang Sam-tae was remarkably persistent.
“Come now, Lord Jang—won’t you at least tell me? How did you bring it here?”
“I told you it isn’t.”
“Are you really going to do this!?”
“Uncle, a ball flew over there and I can’t find it. Will you help me?”
Just then, Dan So-mi came rushing over in quick little steps, grabbing the fabric of Jang Sam-tae’s collar with tears glistening in her eyes—the face of a child genuinely distraught over the disappearance of her toy.
Jang Sam-tae jumped up and hurried away from Dan Woo-hyun’s side.
“I’ll fetch it for you right away!”
“Hehe, thank you!”
Dan So-mi watched Jang Sam-tae disappear with a bright smile. Once he was completely out of sight, she settled down beside Dan Woo-hyun, resting her head on his lap.
Dan Woo-hyun smiled at the sight of her.
“Do we even have a ball in this house?”
“He… hehe, w-well, maybe we do?”
Dan So-mi glanced away and offered an awkward laugh.
There was no such toy among her possessions. She had simply blurted out whatever came to mind because Dan Woo-hyun looked distressed.
“Lies are not a virtue. And yet sometimes a well-intentioned lie becomes necessary. Isn’t that a curious thing?”
“He… hehe, it is. But why does Uncle keep asking about that?”
Dan So-mi tilted her head curiously.
On most days, Jang Sam-tae wouldn’t press so relentlessly. If Dan Woo-hyun didn’t answer, he’d typically just accept it and move on.
But today he had clung to the question with unusual tenacity, which was why Dan So-mi had finally stepped in.
“Sometimes not knowing is a mercy. In time, you’ll learn such things for yourself.”
“Yes, I understand, Father. Hehehe.”
Dan Woo-hyun let out a soft laugh and gently stroked the girl’s hair.
For two days after burying Sam-cheon’s remains, he had felt little joy. Now, from that laughter, he discovered an unexpected warmth.
As he began to laugh as well—ha, ha—Dan So-mi nestled into his embrace.
“What about Sister?”
“I imagine she’s quite busy at the moment.”
Dan Woo-hyun found his thoughts drifting to Namgung So-hye.
The Murim Alliance, having gained nothing, would be furious. Not only the Demonic Cult, but other forces as well would be digging into the matter, striving to uncover some thread of clue about what had transpired.
It was a matter that had consumed considerable money and time.
So naturally, Namgung So-hye couldn’t have much leisure either.
While he was turning over such thoughts,
Dan Woo-hyun’s gaze shifted toward the gate.
He’d been about to call for Jang Sam-tae, but then remembered the man had vanished on some errand to find a jewel that didn’t even exist.
In the end, Dan Woo-hyun rose slowly from his seat.
As he walked toward the gate, he paused and lifted his head, sensing something in the wind. The Martial Presence carried on the breeze was far from ordinary, and a faint smile crossed his lips.
It had been some time since he’d felt a presence of this magnitude.
The moment he reached out and opened the door—
“Ah, haha, um… hello?”
There stood Namgung So-hye, forcing an awkward smile. Her expression was visibly uncomfortable, fidgeting with nervous energy as her eyes kept darting toward Dan Woo-hyun’s face.
Yet Dan Woo-hyun’s gaze wasn’t fixed on her.
It was on the old man behind her.
Namgung Cheon.
“It seems we have an honored guest.”
“Heh heh heh, I’m grateful you think so.”
Namgung Cheon was meeting Dan Woo-hyun for the first time.
Yet though his words lacked formal courtesy, Dan Woo-hyun found it not the least bit offensive.
The naturalness of it all was such that it barely registered.
“It’s just that I was sightseeing around Dongting Lake, and when I tried to book a room at an inn… well, there were so many people…”
“Come in.”
‘What?’
He wasn’t angry.
Namgung So-hye stared at Dan Woo-hyun with genuine surprise. She’d expected him to be furious at this sudden, unannounced arrival, yet he accepted it with startling ease.
‘Is he plotting something?’
She glanced around suspiciously.
“I’d have thought the Murim Alliance would be quite busy, yet it appears you have leisure after all.”
Thump, thump—
The voice came from Dan Woo-hyun, who was already walking ahead.
Before Namgung So-hye could even open her mouth to respond, the old man beside her spoke first.
“At my age, if I couldn’t afford such peace even amidst my duties, what use would I be? Heh heh heh.”
“Amusing. You can still laugh despite what you’ve endured.”
“Ho? What matter do you speak of? Might this old man learn of it?”
Namgung Cheon’s eyes gleamed as he studied Dan Woo-hyun intently.
The fact that Gentleman’s Island had yielded nothing was a secret still unspoken in rumor.
If Dan Woo-hyun knew of this and spoke of it now, it could only mean he was somehow connected to that very matter.
At that moment, Dan Woo-hyun, who had been walking ahead, stopped abruptly.
He turned slowly and locked his gaze with Namgung Cheon’s.
A chill ran down the spine.
And then he saw it.
The instant Namgung Cheon met Dan Woo-hyun’s eyes, his entire body went limp. For just a moment, his vision blackened and cold sweat drenched him from head to toe.
He forced out a dry laugh, yet it only deepened the terror coursing through him.
“Sometimes it’s better to know nothing at all.”
At those words, Namgung Cheon’s senses returned. He involuntarily stepped backward, swallowing hard.
That single phrase from Dan Woo-hyun’s lips kindled an endless, suffocating dread.
Even in this one who stood at the pinnacle of the martial world.
Cold sweat trickled down his forehead.

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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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