Chronicles of the Martial God’s Return - Chapter 70

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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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“Why all this commotion?”
Dan Woo-hyun looked squarely at Jang Sam-tae.
Though his expression held no particular scowl, there was something in that gaze alone that felt sufficiently menacing—enough to stop Jang Sam-tae dead in his tracks as he rushed forward.
“S-sir! A terrible thing has happened!”
“Then tell me what this terrible thing is, instead of making such a fuss.”
Jang Sam-tae’s eyes flickered toward Namgung Cheon.
He seemed to gauge the other man’s reaction, opening his mouth and closing it several times—wrestling with whether he should speak at all. Finally, he forced the words out.
“The M-Murim Alliance has appointed a new Alliance Leader!”
“……!”
Dan Woo-hyun nodded as if to say, “I see.” Whether the Murim Alliance appointed a new leader or not had nothing to do with him.
What was so catastrophic about that?
Even as he let out a bemused laugh, he caught sight of Namgung Cheon’s expression—hardened, rigid.
“Surprised?”
“Kh—no, not at all. It’s only natural, after all.”
Namgung Cheon steadied his breathing, masking his alarm.
The absence of the Murim Alliance Leader would only breed chaos within the Alliance.
Since they had found no confirmation of his death and had uncovered no trace of him for nearly two months, it was only right that a new leader be appointed to restore order to the troubled Alliance.
Yet much depended on who that leader was.
“The Advanced Master of Shaolin?”
If it were Shaolin’s Advanced Master, he would be more than worthy of the position. Namgung Cheon had even considered recommending him for the leadership before stepping down—a man of integrity who could set the world’s affairs aright.
But something about Jang Sam-tae’s manner seemed off.
“N-no, that’s not quite…….”
“Then perhaps someone from Kunlun…….”
“It’s the Sword Saint from the Moyong Family…….”
“Wh-what?!”
Namgung Cheon’s eyes widened, and words failed him.
The candidates he had considered were Shaolin’s Advanced Master, Kunlun’s Jongri Kwon, and Wudang’s Cheong Jin-ja.
All of them were exceptional masters capable of leading the Orthodox Sects.
But Moyong Hyuk-mun had become the Murim Alliance Leader instead?
Namgung Cheon could not fathom it.
Moyong Hyuk-mun, known as the Sword Saint, possessed skill superior to any of those he had considered—yet he was hardly a man who could embrace others or lead the Orthodox Sects.
Just look at the disciples raised under him; they wielded their power and backing like tyrants, doing as they pleased.
How could such a man be appointed as Alliance Leader?
“Did Jegall Un consent to this?”
“The Vice Leader of the Murim Alliance resigned the moment he returned to Hanan, and Man Hu-ryang took his place…….”
“Man Hu-ryang?!”
Namgung Cheon pinched the bridge of his nose as if seized by a headache.
Man Hu-ryang was the lord of the Manzin Trading Company.
His family had served as disciples of the Moyong Family for generations. A merchant by trade, he was nonetheless a formidable martial artist who had earned considerable renown within the Murim Alliance.
Possessed of strategy and mercantile cunning that rivaled even the Jegall Family, he had become the wealthiest merchant in the Central Plains virtually overnight by leveraging the Moyong Family’s backing. He was so wealthy that forty percent of the Murim Alliance’s current funds flowed from his company.
And this Man Hu-ryang had become Vice Leader?
It was as if someone had given the Moyong Family wings to fly.
If things continued this way, the Murim Alliance’s entire treasury would pass into Moyong hands—it amounted to the same thing.
“What in the world were the others doing?!”
Namgung Cheon exhaled sharply.
He and Moyong Hyuk-mun were old friends.
But precisely because he knew that man’s nature well, he understood better than anyone that Moyong Hyuk-mun was ill-suited to leadership.
That was why he had intended to prevent his appointment as the next Alliance Leader—and yet suddenly the man had become Alliance Leader?
Had the Nine Schools and One House, or the other Eight Great Families, raised no objection whatsoever?
The way Moyong Hyuk-mun had seized the leadership position so swiftly—as though he’d been waiting all along—suggested years of careful maneuvering behind the scenes.
Throb-throb.
Namgung Cheon felt pain building in his temples.
“As though he’d been waiting all along……?”
A thought surfaced in his mind, and he tilted his head uncertainly.
He shook his head to reject the suspicion blooming there, but this situation fit far too perfectly—how else could he make sense of it?
“It can’t be……. It can’t be…….”
He chewed his lips again and again, lost in thought.
The suspicion that he had been betrayed by a trusted friend would not leave his mind.
Every time Moyong Hyuk-mun’s face surfaced in his thoughts, the sharp look and expression in the man’s eyes came flickering before him, tormenting him.
“Sometimes what you believed to be false turns out to be the truth.”
“That can’t be! Him and me!”
“We were rivals competing against each other.”
Namgung Cheon’s lips trembled, and he turned his head sharply. The moment he heard Dan Woo-hyun’s words, the sharp gaze of Moyong Hyuk-mun flashed before his eyes.
That cutting stare, every time it fell upon him.
Sitting collapsed on the floor, Namgung Cheon clenched his trembling fists and steadied his breathing.
Moyong Hyuk-mun could not have committed such a barbarous act. Again and again, he told himself this, rehearsed it, trying to soothe his own heart.

***

Tap-tap-
The Alliance Leader’s Residence, situated in the deepest recesses of the Murim Alliance.
Moyong Hyuk-mun stood in the courtyard before his residence, pruning the thin branches of a tree.
His bearing was so at ease that one might have wondered if this were truly a man who had just lost an old friend.
After trimming branches for some time, Moyong Hyuk-mun stopped and turned his head.
The footsteps of someone approaching drew his gaze, which carried a certain sharpness.
“Well, did you find him?”
Tap-tap-
He asked while continuing to prune the branches.
The man who approached bowed slightly in courtesy, then shook his head in silence.
Evading the eyes of the Namgung Clan, he had searched the vicinity thoroughly for quite some time, yet found not even a trace.
“Hmm, at least we should have recovered the corpse.”
Moyong Hyuk-mun murmured with a somewhat regretful expression.
‘Had you not become the Alliance Leader, such things would not have come to pass.’
First among the Eight Great Families, bearing the title of Sword Emperor—that man whom he had never once defeated since childhood had climbed even higher.
To the highest seat of the Orthodox Sects: the Alliance Leader.
Moyong Hyuk-mun had dreamed of becoming the Alliance Leader since childhood, and he had nurtured that dream while swearing he would not be robbed of it by Namgung Cheon.
Yet in the end, he had spoiled everything.
Namgung Cheon, who had seized everything from first to last, had ultimately shattered the very dream Moyong Hyuk-mun had harbored since childhood, trampling him thoroughly beneath his feet.
And had he not even been looking to another as the successor Alliance Leader?
Of course, since the choice was made by majority vote, it was impossible through Namgung Cheon’s will alone, but a recommendation from the Alliance Leader and the Sword Emperor would surely sway many.
So he had waited for the time.
The matter of the Gunja Path had been unforeseen, yet it ultimately drew the Sword Emperor out from within the Murim Alliance, and for Moyong Hyuk-mun, this was nothing less than a Rare Opportunity.
He had prepared the Lightning Bomb and the Mountain Poison Strike, devised his plans, and made thorough preparations.
It was a single move designed to perfectly send away that existence he could never have caught up with.
“He was struck by the Mountain Poison Strike and his left arm was severed. Had he fallen from a cliff in such a state, he could not possibly have survived.”
The man with his head bowed, Moyong Gwan-cheon, the current head of the Moyong Family, opened his mouth carefully.
Since he had executed the entire plan and had even made mistakes in the process, failing to secure Namgung Cheon’s corpse, he was cautious even in speaking.
Crack-!
As expected.
Moyong Gwan-cheon’s head snapped to the side.
Whether Moyong Hyuk-mun had swung the branch he held, a long gash now ran across the right side of Moyong Gwan-cheon’s cheek. Severe pain must have followed, yet he quickly straightened his posture and stood motionless.
He did not even wipe the blood flowing from his cheek.
“Foolish wretch. How many times have I told you that in all endeavors, everything from first to last must be perfect! Especially in such matters, you must erase even the sprouts that might grow later—did you still not know this?”
“I beg your pardon, Father.”
Moyong Hyuk-mun clicked his tongue in displeasure.
His sons—not a single one of them pleased him. Whether it was the sword or power, Moyong Hyuk-mun seemed to lose to Namgung Cheon in everything, even in the blessing of having decent children.
And so when he dealt with his sons, he felt no affection for them.
“What of the Namgung Clan? What are they doing?”
“They still remain in Honam, searching for traces. Of course, they have found nothing whatsoever.”
Moyong Gwan-cheon smiled coldly.
Bloodstains marking a death remained aplenty. But no matter how thoroughly they searched heaven and earth, they would find no trace left by Namgung Cheon.
They had brought not only the severed fabric of his robe but even the left arm they had cut off, and burned it all.
The Namgung Clan was merely wasting time now. And that was an excellent opportunity for the Moyong Family.
They had swiftly seized control of the Murim Alliance and bought themselves time to crush those who would not bend the knee.
Jegall Un had stepped down from the position of Vice Leader, and they had elevated Man Hu-ryang in his place.
Would there be conflict in this process?
There was not.
The Nine Schools and One House and the other Eight Great Families protested vehemently, but some were silenced by money, while others were crushed by force.
This was possible because the Nine Schools and One House no longer wielded their former strength. And so Wudang intervened actively in the matter of the three thousand corpses discovered on the Gunja Path.
Now the Orthodox Sects belonged to the Eight Great Families.
Which meant the Moyong Family’s power was stronger than ever before.
“The Namgung Clan is one thing, but the real problem is Jegall Un.”
Moyong Hyuk-mun narrowed his eyes as he trimmed away the last remaining branches. Without the Sword Emperor, the Namgung Clan held no terror for him.
But the Jegall Family was an opponent one could not afford to underestimate.
In fact, even someone like Man Hu-ryang would yield a step to Jegall Un, such was the brilliance of his mind, and the Jegall Family itself was a house whose extraordinary intellect had no equal in all the Central Plains.
Jegall Un had resigned from his position as Vice Leader and left the Alliance.
Why?
Originally, Jegall Un had been reluctant to take on the role of Vice Leader of the Murim Alliance. That he had changed his mind and accepted the position was because Namgung Cheon, whom Jegall Un had long admired, had been elevated to the seat of Alliance Leader.
The fact that he had resigned without fuss the moment Namgung Cheon disappeared suggested he had likely grasped the full scope of what had transpired.
Nothing was more threatening than that.
If the suspicions harbored in Jegall Un’s mind were to leak out and reach the ears of the Nine Schools and One House or the Namgung Clan, the Moyong Family would face a crisis unlike any it had ever known.
Allowing such a dangerous seed to take root was unthinkable.
“Where is he now?”
“Currently, he has left Hanan and is heading toward Honam. It appears he intends to unite with the Namgung Clan and search for the Sword Emperor.”
“I see.”
Moyong Hyuk-mun exhaled a soft sound, barely a whisper.
Then, trimming away the last remaining branch, he spoke slowly.
“The martial world has grown unsettled of late, hasn’t it? It would be strange if someone didn’t die any day now.”
At his words, Moyong Gwan-cheon bowed his head.
Now that he understood Moyong Hyuk-mun’s intent, it was time to move.
He could not bear to see the Moyong Family crumble while Jegall Un still drew breath.

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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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