Chronicles of the Martial God’s Return - Chapter 65

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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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Led by Namgung So-hye and Jekal Un, the masters of the Murim Alliance surged forward in a torrent of motion. Their faces were etched with urgency as they galloped hard enough to kick up clouds of pale dust.
Their destination was An-hyang.
Without pause, they drove their horses forward like madmen, and the vast distance collapsed in moments.
“This… this is…!”
Jekal Un reined in his horse and began to tremble. Around the narrow gorge that opened into An-hyang lay countless arrows scattered like fallen leaves.
There were corpses as well.
When he drew near and peeled back the face coverings, the visages beneath were so grotesquely mangled they were impossible to identify. The wounds suggested they had been inflicted after death.
Someone had obscured their identities deliberately.
“Find the Alliance Leader! Now!”
Jekal Un’s lips clenched so hard they went white.
It appeared that Namgung Cheon, the Alliance Leader, had been ambushed.
Even as Jekal Un did not for a moment entertain the thought that the Sword Emperor could have fallen, a cold knot of dread coiled itself around his heart, wringing it mercilessly.
‘Who could it possibly be?’
The sword marks scattered about the ground offered no help. Most bore the signature of the Sword Emperor himself, and the traces of the attackers had been so thoroughly scrubbed away that they were invisible.
‘The smell of powder…’
Moreover, the air near the gorge reeked of gunpowder. The collapsed and cratered earth showed marks no human strength could have made—the use of Thunderbolt Bombs seemed unmistakable.
“General! This is…!”
“I know. Say nothing more about it.”
Namgung So-hye too had caught the scent of the Thunderbolt Bombs. Yet she found it impossible to believe that even the Sword Emperor could have fallen to such things.
But how in the world had they obtained Thunderbolt Bombs?
In this age, none but the Imperial House could lay hands on gunpowder. Merely possessing it would mark one as a traitor; it was a commodity for which men lost their heads.
So the two of them scoured the surroundings with redoubled vigilance, desperate to unearth any trace of Namgung Cheon.
Then something caught Jekal Un’s eye.
Between two small rocks, a fine white powder lay scattered. The amount was so meager that had he not looked closely, he would have missed it entirely.
He drew near and inhaled, and in that instant, Jekal Un threw his head back sharply, clapping a hand over his nose.
“San Gong Poison?!”
“No… surely not!”
At the mention of San Gong Poison, Namgung So-hye’s face drained of all color. No martial artist could be ignorant of such a thing.
A poison that was uniquely devastating to those of the martial world.
It was so rare that rumors held obtaining it was harder than procuring Thunderbolt Bombs.
But if this truly was San Gong Poison…?
“Grandfather!”
With her face gone ashen, Namgung So-hye bolted forward, frantically searching for Namgung Cheon.

***

Dan So-mi stared unblinking at the two men moving before her. She had kept vigil from that very spot for more than an hour without stirring, yet her eyes remained unwavering and restless.
Fidget-fidget.
She fiddled with her fingers, unable to keep still.
Finally, unable to contain herself any longer, Dan So-mi sprang to her feet.
“Sit down!”
“Stay put!”
Two men’s voices cut through the air, sharp as blades.
Jang Sam-tae’s tone in particular struck Dan So-mi like a lash.
She plopped her backside obediently onto the ground with a small whimper.
“Why not! So-mi can help too!”
“I know you can help! But you’re not supposed to wreck things while you’re at it, are you?”
“So-mi has never broken anything……”
“Look over there!”
Dan So-mi awkwardly averted her gaze.
Where Jang Sam-tae pointed, a heap of splintered wood planks lay piled up, unusable.
There were the holes she’d made when she wanted to practice hammering, pieces she’d cracked when she offered to carry timber and stumbled, smashing them in the process—the damage went on and on.
Already strapped for strength in the work of splitting wood, Dan So-mi’s well-intentioned efforts had only created headaches.
Sitting quietly was how she could truly help.
Besides, the boat would be finished soon. The fact that even a small wooden boat had taken two days to build was entirely thanks to Dan So-mi’s contributions—in the negative sense.
“Looks like it’s coming together nicely. Nearly found its proper form.”
At that moment, Dan Woo-hyun’s voice carried over.
The two of them started in alarm, their faces draining to an ashen hue as they turned their eyes away. Anxiety flooded through them—had he heard them cry out to Dan So-mi?
But Dan Woo-hyun paid them no mind and surveyed the surrounding area. He examined each fallen tree one by one, then nodded with evident satisfaction.
“To accomplish this in two days is admirable indeed.”
“Th-thank you, my lord!”
Gwon Mu-jin bowed deeply, and sincerely.
Over the past two days, he had mastered the technique of felling trees without so much as proper sleep.
Though he had not yet reached Dan Woo-hyun’s level—felling a great tree in a single blow—he had advanced to the point where he could topple even the largest specimens in roughly twenty strikes.
It was the fruit of exhausting effort.
By contrast, Jang Sam-tae still had much ground to cover.
Whether he realized it or not, Dan Woo-hyun offered him no instruction.
He merely watched in silence, or else took his place beside So-mi, and the two of them spoke in low, intimate tones.
He paid no heed to what the others did, absorbed entirely in conversation.
When Dan Woo-hyun appeared, Gwon Mu-jin and Jang Sam-tae had paused their labor; now, with awkward expressions, they resumed. A little more effort and it would be finished.
They would be rid of this accursed boat at last.

Two more hours passed.
At last, something that could truly be called a boat was complete. Gwon Mu-jin, who had labored without proper rest, collapsed onto the ground and laughed.
It seemed to him that he had concentrated harder on this than ever he had during martial training.
“Well done. It looks sturdier than I expected.”
Dan Woo-hyun smiled with satisfaction as well.
He had anticipated that such rough hands would produce something clumsy and crude; yet what had emerged was a boat of considerable quality, if not precisely elegant.
“Can we go on it now?”
“Ha—it does seem so. But So-mi should wait a while longer. I haven’t yet confirmed whether it’s safe.”
“Yes! So-mi can wait and be patient!”
Thump-thump.
Dan So-mi gazed at the boat with the eyes of a child watching a fascinating toy, her heart racing.
Though she burned to climb aboard at once, if Dan Woo-hyun said no, then no it was.

***

Dan Woo-hyun set the boat upon Dongting Lake.
“Hmm—quite creditable.”
Contrary to his worry that it might sink at once, it floated securely.
Had the joints been misaligned or the carpentry flawed, water would have seeped through.
In that light, he could appreciate just how much effort those two had poured into the vessel.
Dan Woo-hyun regarded Jang Sam-tae and Gwon Mu-jin, who lay sprawled in exhaustion, then climbed aboard.
“The cut edges are rather rough, and the oar doesn’t feel quite right in hand—but for a first attempt, you’ve done well. It seems you both have the makings of excellent carpenters.”
“…….”
“Hmph! I’ve no intention of becoming a carpenter!”
While Gwon Mu-jin simply turned away without a word, Jang Sam-tae muttered quietly.
A carpenter—as if. He hadn’t remained here and endured this nonsense for that.
“Then I’ll go for a while.”
“Come back soon! So-mi wants to ride too!”
“Ha—understood, understood.”
Dan Woo-hyun pulled the oar with an easy motion.
At a single stroke, the boat glided across the water’s surface.
The distance it covered in one effort was so great that the three watching onshore widened their eyes in amazement.
“That’s not a man rowing—that’s something else. Tch!”
Jang Sam-tae turned away from the sight. He had received no proper rest during the boat’s construction and needed to lie down while Dan Woo-hyun was gone.

He rowed on.
This small wooden boat, gliding across the water’s face, seemed capable of going anywhere.
Dan Woo-hyun, standing tall as he worked the oar, felt the wind and bore a bright, contented smile.
Since breaking through the ice and meeting Dan So-mi, he had been living a leisurely life, yet today felt unlike any other day he had known.
He turned his head and surveyed the surroundings.
The endless horizon of Dongting Lake stretching before him.
The Estate, now so distant it required concentration to perceive.
Fish leaping between the boats scattered across the water.
With the gentle breeze awakening his spirit and heart, was this not a paradise? What else could be called paradise?
Dan Woo-hyun settled himself in the boat and reached into his robes.
He then retrieved a bottle of liquor he’d prepared in advance.
Leaning his back against one side of the boat, he took a gulp of the fiercely strong drink.
“Excellent.”
This—wasn’t this what life was truly meant to be?
In the past, all he’d ever seen was blood.
He didn’t believe it was wrong for a martial artist to draw his sword, but if that path showed him nothing but blood, then something was amiss.
‘Back when I was arrogant and thoughtless…’
As Dan Woo-hyun recalled his former self, a wry smile crossed his lips, and he turned his head away.
Thinking back to those days, shameful memories surfaced one after another.
He put the thoughts aside, took another light sip, and turned his gaze elsewhere.
……
Something was drifting along the waters of Dongting Lake. Borne on a faint current, the shape that approached was unmistakably human, even from a distance.
Fortunately the face was turned upward, yet there was no movement whatsoever; and with one arm severed clean away, the body was almost certainly lifeless.
Dan Woo-hyun’s brow furrowed.
Who on earth was it that ruined such a beautiful vista?
Carried by the current, the corpse drifted against his boat.
“Well now…”
And then he saw—the face of that person.
Though the features were somewhat ravaged, and the body bore the marks of blade wounds and scorching from fire, such disfigurement was not enough to render a known face unrecognizable.
“Namgung Cheon…”
The Sword Emperor Namgung Cheon had met Dan Woo-hyun once more.
Dan Woo-hyun extended his hand and brought it to the man’s nose.
Faint though it was, he felt breath. For someone not to die in such a state—wasn’t that the work of fate itself?
“You said if you didn’t die, we’d meet again. And here we are, meeting like this.”
Dan Woo-hyun gave a quiet laugh.
Slowly extending his hand, he moved his inner energy, and Namgung Cheon’s body rose gently into the air, settling onto the boat.
Using the Void Retrieval Technique to move small objects was a skill any master of sufficient cultivation could manage, but lifting a person—even for a Sword Emperor—was impossible to achieve.
“He’s been poisoned… San Gong Poison?”
Dan Woo-hyun checked his pulse and immediately recognized the poison coursing through his body.
The moment his own inner energy flowed in from checking the pulse, it was scattered by a poison that could only be San Gong Poison—a poison with the nature of disrupting the flow of vital force.
It was a particularly virulent strain.
“Hmm…”
Dan Woo-hyun let out a brief groan and began rowing.
Getting to the Estate was the urgent priority.
If Namgung Cheon survived in the meantime, that too would be the work of fate—a sign that his time had not yet come to an end.

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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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