Chronicles of the Martial God’s Return - Chapter 81

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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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“Damn these bastards! Lord Jang, let’s overturn everything while we have the chance!”
Jang Sam-tae’s rage was beyond containment.
The Fengjianzmen conspirators were now leveraging the Acting Governor’s authority itself to drive them from the estate.
What grievance could they possibly harbor against his household to warrant such cruelty?
The fury churning in Jang Sam-tae’s chest would not settle.
“Compose yourself. Anger alone breeds no solutions, does it?”
Even as Namgung Cheon spoke these words, he exhaled heavily.
They were in hiding. This estate was the best sanctuary they possessed; abandonment would leave them nowhere to turn.
Yet he had no appetite for solitary refuge in some mountain wilderness, living out his days as a fugitive.
His situation was equally desperate.
Worse still—there was a child in this house now. He desperately wished Dan So-mi to remain untouched by such turmoil.
“What is your intention, Lord Jang?”
“What can I do? The situation will not change.”
“Not change? Does that mean we don’t leave?”
At Kwon Mu-jin’s words, Dan Woo-hyun glanced back at him with a faint smile, then pointed his finger downward toward the ground.
“Are we not standing outside the estate gates?”
“What?”
“Huh?”
For a moment, all three minds went blank.
True enough, they stood beyond the gate—technically outside the grounds—yet this was not what the Acting Governor had meant.
Was this truly the moment for riddles?
Did he so utterly misread the situation?
As the three exchanged bewildered glances, Dan Woo-hyun laughed again.
“The promise is kept. Now all that remains is to re-enter the estate.”
Jang Sam-tae’s face went pale, and he shook his head.
That expression—it was unmistakably sincere.
Dan Woo-hyun truly believed that merely stepping outside the grounds fulfilled the pledge, and now he intended to hear the Acting Governor declare that they could use the estate freely once more.
Jang Sam-tae stood confused for a moment, then burst into hearty laughter.
Yes, this was the way!
This was our lord!
An eye for an eye—repay what was given, doubled over.
“Exactly! Since we’ve kept our word, all we need now is to make the Acting Governor regret ever crossing us!”
“Make him regret? Your words lack precision. We need only hear him say we may return to the estate—nothing more.”
Dan Woo-hyun spoke with gentle certainty, nodding as he did.
His intent remained inscrutable; his composure was serene, his tone so mild that it seemed as though a Buddha himself had descended to earth.
Jang Sam-tae laughed again, and the two men shared soft chuckles—a harmony so perfect it seemed they were of one mind.
Kwon Mu-jin and Namgung Cheon regarded them both with peculiar expressions. What scheme were they hatching?
For the Acting Governor’s future, it was a troubling sight.

The Acting Governor was, ultimately, the Magistrate’s deputy.
Yet from the moment the Magistrate was absent, the region became his own. Thus Yu Yak-joong, now Acting Governor, had grown intoxicated by his newfound power and lost all restraint.
He could do anything.
Behind him, moreover, Fengjianzmen stood as an unshakeable bulwark.
Where the tiger sleeps, the fox becomes king—he embodied this principle perfectly.
“Ha ha ha!”
Upon his return from the estate, the Acting Governor made straight for the Red Lantern Quarter.
With the money given to him by Hou Zi-ling, the sect leader, he sat with courtesans on either side, drinking wine as though the world were his and even an emperor could not compare.
“You seem in excellent spirits today, sir. Tee-hee.”
“Of course, of course. Coin now lines my purse, my backing grows stronger—what troubles could I possibly have?”
Yu Yak-joong, laughing loudly, allowed his thoughts to wander.
Since ancient times, power was a thing one seized and climbed toward. To wait passively was to remain still and be pushed aside by others; if one desired something, one had to acquire it by any means necessary.
Currently, he desired the Magistrate’s seat.
Less than a month had passed since his appointment, yet he could scarcely believe how quickly the path had revealed itself.
The Magistrate, upon returning from the Imperial Palace, would vanish before enduring a full month—such was the compact struck with Fengjianzmen.
Naturally, the Magistrate’s position would become his own.
Of course, imperial sanction would be required, but a little money in the right hands would make even that trifling.
“Ho ho, but did you know?”
“Know what?”
“Most people keep quiet about it, but isn’t there an estate near Dongting Lake in the Western Regions?”
“Yes, that’s… right?”
“Yes, they say that’s where an Immortal dwells.”
“……What?”
“There’s a rumor that such an enormous estate was built in a single day. What’s more, they say that after the estate appeared, all those troubles with the Zhangbai Mountains and the Hukdo Society were resolved. Ho ho ho, whether it’s true or not, isn’t it amusing?”
“Ha…… haha, yes, quite so.”
Yu Yak-joong turned his head with a lukewarm expression.
An Immortal?
He was somewhat taken aback, but soon shook his head.
What nonsense. The master of that estate, as he’d seen him, bore far too little resemblance to any Immortal.
Not only was he shabby beyond measure, but his manner of speech hardly befitted anything more than an ordinary commoner.
How could one compare such a man to an Immortal?
The Acting Governor snorted and passed the wine cup along.
“So no one dares touch that place, they say. I’ve heard that even the Governor pays a visit once a fortnight to present tribute. They say all this peace and quiet in Ak-yang is entirely thanks to those Immortals.”
“Haha, what an amusing jest.”
The woman stroked Yu Yak-joong’s cheek with a gesture laden with coquetry. Her moist, gleaming eyes pressed softly upon his gaze, and her long, upturned eyes lifted slightly.
Soon her cherry-red lips parted, and a delicate voice emerged.
“It might be a jest. Or it might not be.”
“That’s… so, I… see?”
Yu Yak-joong sensed something was amiss. His head spun suddenly, and he could no longer keep his wits about him. Before his eyes, the women began to collapse one by one.
He struggled in vain to regain his senses, but it was useless.
Everything dissolved into darkness.

Yu Yak-joong opened his eyes.
The world looked different.
Where the moon should have hung in the sky, an endless cliff-face loomed, and below where earth should have been, only a murky, ink-black sea of clouds stretched out.
“Ugh?!”
His entire body was bound tight with rope, suspended by a thread from a tree at the cliff’s edge, swaying gently with each meager breath of wind.
Shocked awake, he jerked his body upright in panic.
Crack-!
A strange sound rang out, and the tree began to splinter.
Yu Yak-joong’s face turned ashen, and his body went rigid.
“You’re awake.”
Then a voice reached him.
Gulp-
Unable to move his body, Yu Yak-joong swallowed hard and turned his head.
Four men stood there. Though they wore masks, their identities were instantly apparent.
“You, you bastards! Do you truly think you’ll escape unscathed for this?”
“What are you saying? We don’t know anything about you.”
“This, this makes no sense……!”
From his voice, manner of speech, and build, there was no doubt—it was the master of that estate. The others beside him, masked though they were, were equally recognizable.
‘Comparing such a wretch to an Immortal! That courtesan must be mad!’
How could men who oppressed others in such fashion be called Immortals?
“Cut me down this instant, will you not?”
Dan Woo-hyun regarded Yu Yak-joong quietly.
The fact that the man still cried out even now suggested he hadn’t the faintest grasp of who held power and who did not.
“His spirit’s still unbroken. Sam-tae.”
“Yes!”
Jang Sam-tae grinned wickedly and seized the axe. He began to advance slowly toward the tree.
Yu Yak-joong’s face grew paler by the moment.
“What, what are you doing……!”
Thwack-!
Without a moment’s hesitation, Jang Sam-tae swung the axe against the tree. The trunk split deeply with a heavy crack and swayed violently.
“Ahhhhh! You bastards! I’ll kill you all! Every last one of you!”
“Hmm…….”
Dan Woo-hyun reflected.
The man had considerable nerve. The way he raised his voice even now was telling. In ordinary circumstances, one might expect fear to loosen his bowels entirely.
The moment Dan Woo-hyun glanced at Jang Sam-tae, the man raised the Axe and swung it once more.
Thwack!
Crack!
“Aaahhh! P-please! Please save me! Save me!”
“Your words are rather short.”
Dan Woo-hyun let out a soft laugh.
The sight of him dangling there, swaying back and forth, seemed to amuse him greatly—his smile never once faded. Dan Woo-hyun had never laid hands on anyone outside the martial world. Accustomed to the proud posturing of martial artists even in their final moments, he found Yu Yak-joong’s reaction rather entertaining.
Thwack—!
As Jang Sam-tae struck the tree again, this time it tilted halfway, as though about to topple. With the weight now shifting downward, a single additional blow would send it plummeting endlessly into the abyss below.
Realizing this, Yu Yak-joong wept and clung to the rope.
“Uhhh-hnnng—p-please! Please save me! I b-beg you, my lord! I beg you!”
“Is that all you have to say?”
“Unh-hnnn…… I-it was all that b-bastard Hou Zi-ling’s d-doing! I, I never cared about the E-estate! The E-estate was never y-yours to begin with, w-was it? H-however you wish to use it is e-entirely your choice!”
“Hmm, I’m not sure which Estate you’re speaking of, but in any case, I’m grateful.”
Kwon Mu-jin and Namgung Cheon broke into cold sweat.
What had he been thinking? This was what he’d resorted to……
A man called a master of the martial world was doing something utterly absurd.
Namgung Cheon, in particular, swallowed a groan.
‘What is this feeling……?’
Clearly, this was something that should never have been done, and yet somehow his heart felt lighter. The resentment he’d harbored against those men seemed to be washing away.
‘This…… feels good.’
Experiencing an emotion for the first time in his life, Namgung Cheon allowed himself a faint smile.
“Very well. Release him.”
“Eh? Already, my lord?”
Watching Yu Yak-joong still weeping, Jang Sam-tae frowned. He’d wanted to torment him further, but to be ordered to release him already felt deeply unsatisfying.
Against his inclination, an order was an order. With a short sigh, he reached for the Rope Bindings, but the moment he gave the tree a light tap to loosen them.
Craaaack!
The tree snapped, and Yu Yak-joong plummeted without hesitation.
“Aaahhhhh!”
There was no time to catch him—he fell in an instant. Soon, a peculiar thud struck their ears, and Jang Sam-tae’s body stiffened.
……
……
……
“Uh…… ?”
All four men stared at the sight before them.
They hadn’t intended to kill him……
Jang Sam-tae looked at Dan Woo-hyun with a somewhat vacant expression, but soon shrugged his shoulders and, as if rationalizing his actions, opened his mouth.
“Well…… I suppose Heaven’s will has run its course.”
“…… Indeed.”
Dan Woo-hyun nodded in agreement.

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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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