Chronicles of the Martial God’s Return - Chapter 67

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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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Nearly two months had passed since Namgung Cheon arrived at the estate.
After spending roughly a fortnight recuperating, he had begun helping in earnest with the estate’s affairs—though in his condition, lacking any special skills, he could manage little more than odd jobs, and even then only those that didn’t require two hands.
Most of the real work fell to Jang Sam-tae and Kwon Mu-jin.
So Namgung Cheon had devised a special plan.
To find something he could do for the estate despite having only one arm. There weren’t many things, perhaps, but there were a few he could still manage.
Especially this.
Splsh!
He yanked the fishing rod up sharply, and a large catfish came thrashing free from the water. It was enormous—the size of a man’s palm—and Dan So-mi, who’d been watching nearby, burst into delighted laughter.
“Wow, it’s huge! I think that’s the biggest one we’ve caught so far!”
“Is it now? Ha, though it can’t quite match that crucian carp you caught yesterday, can it?”
“Oh, but I think this one’s actually bigger!”
Dan So-mi grinned and reached over. She carefully removed the hook from the catfish’s mouth and placed it into the basket that floated half-submerged in the water.
Kept this way, the fish would stay fresh for the journey home.
“Next let’s catch an eel! To make a tonic for Father and Grandfather!”
“Ha, those are rather tricky to catch, you know……”
“That’s all right. I’ll catch one for you—snap!”
Namgung Cheon watched Dan So-mi quietly.
The girl handled live bait without hesitation, threading it on the hook with practiced ease, fearless as anything.
‘At that age, most children should still be frightened by insects alone.’
Namgung So-hye had taken up the sword around the same age as Dan So-mi, yet she’d been terribly afraid of insects and small creatures. Whenever a cockroach appeared, she’d shriek and leap about in a panic.
The memory surfaced, and he felt a pang of longing.
“Speaking of which, So-mi.”
“Yes?”
“Aren’t you finding it difficult?”
“Difficult? How do you mean?”
“Being here, that’s what I mean. It’s remote—no Market Street, no School within easy reach, and precious few girls your age around. Just men as far as the eye can see. Ha ha ha.”
“Oh!”
Dan So-mi understood his meaning and nodded thoughtfully.
Over the past ten days, whenever he’d seen So-mi, Dan Woo-hyun had fetched her from the School when lessons ended; she had no proper time to play with her friends, returning to the estate to do little more than trail after the men about the grounds.
And Kwon Mu-jin and Jang Sam-tae, apart from Dan Woo-hyun, each had their own duties and couldn’t spare constant attention for the girl.
She spent a great deal of time alone.
This isolated place didn’t seem like the healthiest environment for a child.
Yet Dan So-mi shook her head firmly.
“Grandfather, doesn’t it bother you not having your arm?”
The sudden question startled him—his eyes widened. Even for a child, it was an uncommon thing to ask.
Even Kwon Mu-jin and Jang Sam-tae had been careful to avoid the subject.
Namgung Cheon sat with the question for a long moment.
‘Yes, it bothers me.’
The loss of his left arm alone had been a profound shock. It was the arm that had been with him his whole life, the arm that had carried him to the seat of Sword Emperor.
Now, with only one arm, he was reduced to fishing. Worse, he could no longer offer Namgung So-hye any real help, and that knowledge cut deep.
So his answer could only be honest.
“It does, somewhat.”
“Well, I’m not bothered. Even without friends, there are uncles here, and Father, and now Grandfather too. When I sleep tonight and go to School tomorrow, I’ll see my friends. And when I come back from School, my family will be here. So I’m not troubled at all.”
The child’s bright smile reached him somehow.
She’d simply spoken her thoughts aloud, yet Namgung Cheon’s face showed something like shock.
It was then that he heard Dan So-mi’s voice again.
“Grandfather, isn’t that true for you too? You don’t have your left arm, but you still have your right. I don’t think you’re troubled at all.”
As he listened, Namgung Cheon lifted his remaining right hand.
Since it wasn’t his dominant arm, it still felt awkward in its movements, yet it was this arm that allowed him to fish as he was doing now.
He found himself laughing.
“You’re right…… This old man still has his right hand.”
“Hehe, that’s it! So that’s why you can fish. You’re not troubled at all, are you?”
“Ha! So-mi, I admit it’s inconvenient—don’t think otherwise. But you’re right; it doesn’t seem so bad after all.”
Tug!
Seeing the fishing line shudder, Namgung Cheon quickly extended his right arm and yanked hard.
An eel came flying up, hardly even struggling as it was pulled from the water.
It landed on the ground with a wet thud, and Dan So-mi clapped her hands in delight.
“Whoa!”
“Heh heh heh.”
Namgung Cheon gazed at the writhing eel and smiled gently.
It was as though all the tangled thoughts that had cluttered his mind were vanishing one by one.
His gaze had shifted—no longer fixed on the captured eel, but on Dan So-mi instead. Receiving instruction from a mere seven-year-old child? It seemed his dignity as the Sword Emperor had been thoroughly crumpled.
His pride lay in ruins.
‘I still have my right arm.’
Left arm severed or not, the right remained.
His internal power had vanished, true—but with renewed effort, restoring it was hardly impossible.
As Namgung Cheon reflected on each loss and began to regard them with purpose, his eyes suddenly gleamed.
“I, Namgung Cheon, am not dead yet.”
He was the Sword Emperor.
Once hailed as the greatest master of the Orthodox Faction, a martial artist revered and lifted up by all.
What was mountain poison, and the loss of one arm, against that legacy? The footprints of a great warrior do not fade so easily.
He could rise again.
Namgung Cheon surged to his feet.
He smiled, feeling Dan So-mi’s steady gaze upon him.
“This grandfather has a matter to attend to—can you stay here alone for a while?”
“Yes, So-mi likes fishing. Hehe, and Father said he’d come by soon anyway, so it’s okay.”
“Heh heh heh, very well.”
He rose from his seat with a soft chuckle.
Truly, a remarkable child.
Even when surely lonely by herself, she showed no sign of it. Perhaps that was why he felt even more affection for her.
If Namgung So-hye were to see how he treated this child, she might well feel jealous.
After all, he had chastened her many times but had never once offered her praise.

Walking slowly, he opened the gate to the Estate and stepped inside.
On one side stood Jang Sam-tae, and on the other, Kwon Mu-jin’s face.
He passed by them both without acknowledgment.
His destination was already determined.
The Training Ground at the rear of the Estate.
He picked up a wooden sword scattered there, and the sensation of the wood felt strangely unfamiliar—for he had not held one since earliest childhood.
Whoosh—!
As he swung it once, a sharp whistle of wind struck his ears.
Though he lacked internal power, the technique itself remained unchanged, producing a surprisingly keen sound.
Yet it felt awkward.
Trying to execute with his right hand what his left had always done—the sword form itself, the way each technique unfolded—all of it became incomprehensible.
But he did not stop. He swung again.
Whoosh, whoosh—!
With each movement of the blade, the sound transformed. He repeated the sword form held in his mind, methodically relearning everything from the beginning.
It was far from easy.
In less than an hour, sweat already beaded on Namgung Cheon’s brow—he was tiring.
With his internal power gone, the martial arts he displayed now drew only on his remaining physical reserves.
At his age, it could hardly be otherwise.
Yet Namgung Cheon did not yield.
One day. Two days. Three days.
Spending two Double Hours each day with sword in hand, his sword form grew steadily sharper, and his techniques began to shift markedly.
Moreover, as he retraced everything from the beginning, he gained insights he had overlooked back then, and his sword form seemed not merely to have recovered but to have advanced beyond what it once was.
Namgung Cheon focused all the more intently.
He polished and honed his blade as though counting down to the day he would reclaim all that was lost.
Ten days passed in this manner.
Dan Woo-hyun, who had not been seen in the Training Ground until now, came to find him. He watched Namgung Cheon swing the sword for a long time, then spoke once the blade had stilled.
“It seems you’ve recovered your spirit at last.”
“Heh, shamefully, I have gained understanding from a child.”
“Does wisdom discriminate between young and old, male and female? If you do not know something and another does, there is no shame in receiving their teaching.”
Hearing those words, Namgung Cheon reflected.
‘You’re right. There is no shame in it at all.’
Intoxicated by the hollow title of Sword Emperor, he had looked down upon all others; though he had taught many in recent years, he had never been taught himself, and that was perhaps why the shame had cut so deeply.
But even that mattered little to him now.
“It seems I am not dead after all.”
“I share that impression.”
“Would you spare a moment to cross swords with me?”
Dan Woo-hyun regarded Namgung Cheon with evident surprise. He meant to test himself using an arm he’d scarcely learned to command?
It was intriguing enough.
“With that arm?”
“It doesn’t move properly yet, but neither can I simply abandon it. As I said before—Namgung Cheon is not a man who dies so easily.”
During these ten days of wielding a sword, he’d arrived at a realization.
The fastest and most natural way to adapt his right hand was through combat suited to that very purpose.
Though his internal power had been disrupted, his foundational techniques and combat methods stood in a different realm from Kwon Mu-jin and Jang Sam-tae.
He couldn’t match them in earnest—so he’d sought out Dan Woo-hyun, who at least appeared formidable enough.
Every aspect of executing techniques and sword forms would differ from what they looked like performed with his left hand, and Dan Woo-hyun alone could provide the tension such practice demanded.
“I thought we could keep it light. I’ve grown reasonably confident already, though gaps remain—and I wish to test those shortcomings.”
Dan Woo-hyun swallowed a brief, thoughtful murmur.
He’d already witnessed the Namgung Clan Swordsmanship through Namgung So-hye.
But what character might the Sword Emperor’s techniques reveal?
And Namgung Cheon was, moreover, the most formidable master Dan Woo-hyun had encountered since opening his eyes.
He’d never seen strength of such magnitude, and that presence alone had set his heart racing.
Though it was merely a test of techniques, it promised to be fascinating.
“Very well, if that’s what you wish.”
“I’m grateful.”
At those words, both Jang Sam-tae, who’d been attending to his duties, and Kwon Mu-jin cautiously drew near and fixed their eyes on the Training Ground.
A contest between these two was a spectacle one couldn’t purchase, no matter the price.
“Who do you think will win?”
“Lord Dan, obviously. No matter if he’s the Sword Emperor, fighting with a single arm…….”
Kwon Mu-jin, observing the two men as they moved slowly and grasped their wooden swords, nodded at Jang Sam-tae’s words.
The Mountain Poison had disrupted his internal power, and his body was no longer as it had been—this match would surely go to Dan Woo-hyun.
But the fact that his opponent was the Sword Emperor introduced an unpredictable element.
He was the strongest of the Orthodox Faction.
That alone was why he bore such a title.
Even in a mere exchange of techniques, his level clearly transcended anything they could match.
That was precisely why they couldn’t look away.
Soon the two faced each other, wooden swords in hand. Which technique would strike first? Even as Kwon Mu-jin pondered this, Dan Woo-hyun’s voice emerged—soft, unhurried.
“Give it your all.”

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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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