Chronicles of the Martial God’s Return - Chapter 7

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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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Jang Baeksan, the scourge of Honam, had been captured.
The moment word spread, all of Honam trembled with excitement. Countless common folk who had suffered at the hands of bandits raised their cups in celebration.
The name of County Magistrate Hong Wonchang rippled across the whole of Honam, and he had earned the Royal Palace’s deep trust, hailed as a hero among the people.
“Ah, Magistrate! You work so tirelessly.”
As Hong Wonchang walked through the marketplace, he found himself smiling at the voices calling out to him from all sides.
He was no paragon of integrity, and the people surely knew it.
But now, it seemed such things hardly mattered. So many had placed their trust in him for capturing the bandits and Jang Baeksan.
Hong Wonchang awkwardly acknowledged their greetings and returned to his office.
The moment he closed the door behind him.
“Aaaaaaah!”
Hong Wonchang let out a raw, anguished cry.
It stood in stark contrast to the stern composure he had worn before those people just moments before.
“I can’t… stop thinking about it.”
Hong Wonchang swallowed back tears.
There were two problems.
The first was that the terrifying power displayed by Dan Woo-hyun—a being who defied all logic—had lodged itself deep in his mind and would not fade.
It came back to him at every turn: while walking the streets, while reviewing cases, even in his dreams.
The men slumped in pools of blood, metal shards scattered about them; Jang Baeksan fleeing only to be subdued in a single blow by that martial presence—it was terror incarnate.
And the second problem was that the Royal Palace’s trust had become so heavy it was crushing him.
“A Golden Buddha Statue? What madman broke into the Royal Palace?!”
He exhaled a deep sigh and leaned back in his chair.
It had not been made public, but recently the Royal Palace had been breached. To rob such a heavily guarded place would normally require far more than mere concealment skill.
It would surely be a trained martial artist from the Jianghu—but how in the world could one catch such a person?
“If that fool thief had stolen it and kept quiet, that would be the end of it…….”
Capturing Jang Baeksan had become a curse. With the Royal Palace’s trust deepened, even the Royal Family had felt emboldened to confide in the magistrate about the theft.
But that confidence had transformed into a burden that pressed down heavily on his shoulders.
“Sigh…….”
All that came out was sighs.

***

Meanwhile, Dan Woo-hyun and Hwa So-mi had entered the marketplace. Their presence in this bustling place, away from the estate, was quite unusual.
In fact, Dan Woo-hyun had brought her here deliberately.
As for himself, that was one thing; but Hwa So-mi was still young. He thought she needed to encounter more people and see more of the world to grow properly.
The two simply walked through the streets.
Not going anywhere in particular or wanting to reach any destination. He wanted her to watch how people lived, to nurture in her the desire to do something, to dream.
In preparation for the day when he would have to leave her side.
“Hmm…….”
As Hwa So-mi walked through the marketplace, she kept her eyes moving, constantly taking in her surroundings.
She would smile brightly watching children play, then at other moments her expression would turn somber, her gaze falling to the ground.
That shifting expression was endlessly varied.
Dan Woo-hyun too glanced casually about.
Many people moved back and forth.
The shabby scene of the past had long vanished and no longer existed, yet before Dan Woo-hyun’s eyes, it seemed as though all those memories were overlapping with the present moment.
“…….”
Ak-yang, where Dongjeong Lake lay, held a peculiar significance for Dan Woo-hyun.
It was the place where he had been abandoned as a child; it was here he had been soundly beaten and resolved to become stronger.
Perhaps that was why, when he first awoke to this world, he had sought out this place and never left it.
Fragments of the past flickered before him, and Dan Woo-hyun found himself smiling without thinking.
The irony of still chasing after such things struck him as amusing.
In this space where past and present overlapped, only one person stood by his side.
In that warmth, Dan Woo-hyun smiled, and then understood something.
Hwa So-mi’s gaze had fixed upon one point.
He followed her line of sight.
A small child held their mother’s hand, walking through the street. In Hwa So-mi’s eyes as she watched them was a hollow, somewhat lonely light.
Dan Woo-hyun reached out and gently took the small hand of Hwa So-mi.
“Huh?”
Hwa So-mi’s eyes flew open at the sudden warmth, and she looked up at Dan Woo-hyun. Yet his face remained impassive, his gaze fixed straight ahead.
Still, she felt the tenderness behind it, unmistakably.
“Hehe!”
The child swung his large hand back and forth with both her small hands, laughing brightly at something only she understood.
‘Come to think of it…’
Feeling his arm sway, Dan Woo-hyun glanced around the square. Parents who’d brought their children were constantly surrendering to whining, buying sweets and trinkets to keep them quiet.
He could see the satisfied expressions on children’s faces as they chewed candy and other snacks.
But Hwa So-mi never whined.
She surely wanted treats like the others.
Yet knowing they had no money, she never fussed or complained. It struck him that she possessed a maturity beyond her years.
‘Then again, it’s harder when a child nags about wanting food.’
Dan Woo-hyun scratched his cheek.
In truth, if he had the means, he’d buy her everything. He wanted to dress her in finer clothes than the other children, to feed her the best food.
Throughout his life, he’d never given much thought to money.
A sleeping place needed only be a space where he could lie down; when hunger came, he could hunt in the mountains.
He’d lived that way since childhood, and after learning martial arts, he’d been too occupied fleeing and surviving to have time for earning coin.
Even now, he hadn’t felt much hardship because of it.
But now that he thought of taking care of someone else, of walking beside her, he finally understood that money was absolutely essential to living.
Then he would have to find a way to earn it.
“Well… let’s head back for now.”
“Yes!”
And so they left Marketplace Street behind and began the journey back to the estate.
The path to the estate was rather rough, the sort of place few people ventured. It was perfect for a quiet life.
‘If I were alone, it wouldn’t matter.’
Alone, Dan Woo-hyun could settle anywhere peaceful. But for Hwa So-mi, such an isolated place might not be ideal.
Lost in thought, he suddenly became aware that the warmth had vanished from his hand. A quick glance showed the child dashing off somewhere.
That was when he sensed something amiss.
Dan Woo-hyun’s brows lifted as he carefully surveyed the surroundings. There were traces of passage. Footprints scattered about—unmistakably not their own.
Someone else had been here.
Dan Woo-hyun sharpened the awareness he’d been deliberately suppressing and followed Hwa So-mi slowly.
“What are you doing?”
“I’m going to take this flower!”
Dan Woo-hyun found himself smiling despite himself.
Hwa So-mi had squatted down before a flower and begun digging at the earth with a small stone.
For a wildflower, it was remarkably beautiful, and it smelled rather nice.
She probably meant to plant it in the yard.
What was strange was how easily the ground around it came up, as if someone had dug there before.
As though it had already been disturbed once.
And the flower itself stood alone in such a conspicuously empty space that it almost seemed placed there deliberately.
It looked almost like some kind of marker.
“Hmm?”
That was when it happened.
While digging earnestly, Hwa So-mi discovered something. She reached for it in surprise, but it was quite heavy—too much for a child’s strength to pull free easily.
“Can you manage?”
“Ugh! No, no, I’m fine! So-mi is… very strong!”
Straining with all her might, she wrenched it free.
What seemed impossible to retrieve finally came into view. A large pouch, weighted down by whatever lay inside.
“Hehe, I did it, didn’t I?”
“Yes, well done.”
Hwa So-mi’s eyes gleamed with the pride of accomplishment. Dan Woo-hyun stroked her head and laughed. This child truly had a peculiar gift for bringing joy.
“But what could be in it?”
“I’ll open it!”
Since Hwa So-mi had been the one to dig it up, it was only right that she be the one to open it.
Dan Woo-hyun saw no reason to stop her, and the girl eagerly began to untie the pouch.
At that moment.
“How dare you touch what is mine!”
A shout erupted from somewhere nearby.
Dan Woo-hyun’s head turned instinctively, as though he’d already known where the voice came from.
A man came rushing toward them, his face twisted with wild fury.
In his grip was a short sword.
The blade’s true target was none other than Hwa So-mi.
“Ah!”
Startled, Hwa So-mi’s eyes flew wide open in shock. The man bore down on her swiftly, brandishing a short sword with menacing intent.
Crack!
“Ugh!”
The sound of bone snapping rang out crisply.
It was the kind of tremendous noise that might come from swinging an iron club to shatter a melon.
The man’s body spun violently through the air as he rushed toward Hwa So-mi.
Thud!
The impact as he crashed to the ground was equally violent.
Hwa So-mi, startled by the sudden turn of events, squeezed her eyes shut. Dan Woo-hyun caught her carefully before she could fall, laying her down gently on the floor.
His gaze shifted to the man.
The man lay motionless—whether unconscious or worse, impossible to tell. Foam dribbled from his mouth in thin streams, and his eyes had rolled back, showing only whites.
His face, properly battered, was beginning to swell visibly.
Yet Dan Woo-hyun’s eyes, fixed upon the man, burned with terrible intensity. The killing intent he’d held locked away deep within himself now surged to the surface.
Crack-crack-crack!
The earth fractured and wind tore through the air.
Martial Aura that wrought natural catastrophe with mere emanation.
It was a display that revealed Dan Woo-hyun’s power had long since transcended the bounds of humanity.
“Damn it.”
Dan Woo-hyun swore—the first curse to leave his lips since waking from a thousand years of sleep.
That alone spoke to how furious he was in this moment.
He’d sensed someone approaching. But he never imagined they would target the child Hwa So-mi, much less charge at her like this.
He pressed his foot down on the man’s head.
If he simply applied pressure, this wretch—deserving of death a hundred times over—would breathe no more.
But he restrained himself. Had the man meant to harm rather than merely frighten the girl, he would not have held back.
‘Still, he seems to have some sense about him.’
He suppressed the killing intent and steadied his breathing. With Hwa So-mi at his side, he wanted to avoid murder if at all possible.
Dan Woo-hyun exhaled slowly, then forced himself to turn his gaze elsewhere.
He needed to understand what had driven this man to draw a weapon and attack.
Dan Woo-hyun opened the man’s pouch.
The moment he saw what lay inside.
Dan Woo-hyun’s lips twisted into a savage smile of their own accord.

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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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