Martial God of the Sun and Moon - Chapter 10

—————
This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
—————

Chapter 10
As the sparring match began in earnest, Dokgo Ak looked me up and down.
‘What is this….’
My arms hung limply without a trace of tension, my stance awkwardly wide.
Dokgo Ak let out a scoff.
‘I should be careful not to hit him too hard, or he might collapse in a single blow.’
From head to toe, I was nothing but openings.
There were so many flaws that he couldn’t even decide where to strike. He could probably knock me down just by placing the wooden sword against me without even swinging it with full force.
‘But I can’t do that.’
Dokgo Ak smiled coldly.
Normally, he would have beaten me moderately and been done with it, but hadn’t he come here today with the intention of thoroughly grinding me into dust?
So first….
“…Let me wipe that arrogant smirk off your face!”
Thud!
Dokgo Ak suddenly kicked off the ground and swung his sword toward my jaw.
Dokgo Ak expected me to take the hit pathetically and fall.
But then.
Whoosh!
The sword cut through empty air.
I had dodged the attack by turning my jaw slightly.
‘What? He dodged that?’
Crack!
Dokgo Ak withdrew his sword as if to recover, then thrust it forward again.
This time, the blow was infused with inner force—far faster than before!
Swish!
Yet again, the wooden sword merely grazed my sleeve and cut through empty space.
‘So, he has learned something after all!’
Dokgo Ak’s eyes widened as he gripped the wooden sword in his hand even more tightly.
Crack!
He brought the sword down at my head, but I leaped backward, causing him to strike nothing but air once more.
And then.
This scene repeated endlessly.
Crack! Bang!
I dodged.
I dodged again.
Over and over, without pause, I kept dodging.
“Like a little rat….”
Dokgo Ak frowned and glared at me.
And in that moment, Dokgo Ak caught sight of my lips curving upward like a crescent moon.
“…You’re smiling?”
Veins bulged prominently across Dokgo Ak’s forehead.
“Fine, excellent. Let’s see how long you can keep running away!”
Dokgo Ak let out a sharp cry and stamped the ground.
* * *
The spectators were all focused intently on the match.
From the start, the match had deviated from expectations in several ways.
Dokgo Ak, displaying remarkable inner energy, had seized the initiative.
Yet rather than losing spirit, Dokgo Myeong had made a shocking declaration instead.
Wasn’t the psychological warfare the most entertaining part of watching a fight?
As the increasingly captivating match unfolded, a Guard of the Main Sect sitting nearby nudged his companion and whispered.
“This turned out to be more entertaining than expected, didn’t it?”
“Indeed. That timid Young Master Myeong making such a declaration—I was genuinely shocked.”
The man chuckled with amusement.
But the guard beside him shook his head slowly.
“Shocked? He made a foolish move. That declaration will only further damage the Director’s reputation.”
“That may be true, but he’s still evading remarkably well so far.”
The man gestured toward the arena with his chin.
Whoosh! Swish!
Since the match began until now.
Dokgo Myeong had indeed dodged every single one of Dokgo Ak’s sword strikes as declared.
“For now, yes. But it won’t be long before that becomes difficult.”
“True, he looks desperate just evading, let alone counterattacking.”
Crash! Slash!
On the arena.
Dokgo Ak began pressing Dokgo Myeong relentlessly like a tidal wave.
Swoosh!
Against the sharp sword strikes, Dokgo Myeong could only stumble backward.
The man shook his head.
“Phew, this is nerve-wracking. It feels like watching a tightrope walker.”
“Indeed. What is this supposed to be?”
“It’s neither footwork nor evasion technique…”
If I had to describe it… just body movement?
He’s evading everything, but it feels more like watching acrobatics than martial arts.
In contrast, Dokgo Ak was displaying sword techniques of tremendous power befitting his reputation as a genius.
His relentless strikes were like a whirlwind, while Dokgo Myeong was like a fallen leaf caught in its current.
The man let out a soft laugh.
“He won’t last much longer either. How long do you think he’ll hold out?”
“I’d say about a quarter of an hour should be sufficient.”
Then, a low voice came from behind them.
“Heh, it looks quite different to my eyes.”
The two men conversing suddenly whipped their heads around.
Their eyes widened in surprise.
“Director Maecheon?”
“Ah, how long have you been here?”
The voice belonged to none other than the Muhakbu Director himself, Maecheon Yang.
“I’ve been here from the beginning.”
“…But it didn’t seem that way?”
Maecheon Yang spoke with a meaningful smile.
“From what I observed, I didn’t think even a quarter of an hour would be necessary.”
“Ha ha, well, that’s true enough.”
“Yes, there’s no way Young Master Myeong could last a quarter hour….”
“No, it’s the opposite.”
Maecheon Yang shook his head.
“Young Master Myeong wouldn’t wait a quarter hour.”
Bewilderment crossed the two men’s faces.
“You mean Young Master Dokgo Myeong, not Young Master Dokgo Ak?”
“That’s right.”
Maecheon Yang nodded with an enigmatic smile.
“Things will unfold differently than you expect. I guarantee it.”
“Director Maecheon, but even so….”
“Ha ha, just watch a bit longer.”
“Yes?”
“You’ll understand when you see.”
….
Whoosh! Crack!
One became two.
Two became five.
“Hmm, still….”
Then it surpassed ten.
Ten became twenty.
“What…?”
The perilous evasions continued, and eventually time had far exceeded the anticipated quarter hour.
“What in the world…?”
The two men’s eyes gradually filled with astonishment.
Only then could they realize their mistake.
“Ha ha.”
Maecheon Yang’s eyes gleamed as he murmured softly.
“I told you to keep watching.”
They would surely be shocked soon enough.
But this was only the beginning.
Maecheon Yang chuckled softly, his attention fixed entirely on Dokgo Myeong.
* * *
Whoooosh!
Dokgo Ak’s wooden sword, swung with tremendous force, aimed straight for Dokgo Myeong’s neck.
Despite being merely a practice blade, the sound of it cleaving through the air was chillingly sharp.
Infused with inner energy, dust across the Training Hall was swept away in a violent gust. It was a strike powerful enough to fell an ordinary martial artist in a single blow.
But standing before Dokgo Ak was no ordinary martial artist—it was Dokgo Myeong.
Whoosh!
Before Dokgo Ak could even complete his swing, I tilted my head backward, evading the strike.
I nodded as I observed Dokgo Ak’s technique.
‘Not bad, I’ll admit.’
I couldn’t deny it. His footwork, his inner energy control, his swordsmanship, his physical conditioning—all far exceeded what one would expect from a seventeen-year-old.
His exceptional martial instinct was pure talent, but the fundamentals underlying this strike were evidence that effort had supported it as well.
‘So that’s why he goes around trampling everyone beneath him.’
Innate bloodline, superior talent, and considerable effort.
He probably thought the world belonged to him with just that much.
But I—
No, Dokgo Hyeon knew better.
‘Someone like you is a dime a dozen in this world.’
Uuuuhhhhm!
In an instant, my eyes blazed with light.
Not metaphorically—a brilliant azure glow, like the dawn sky itself, rippled across my irises.
Hyocheongong. The manifestation of Sensory Enlightenment.
Hyocheongong energy wrapped around my body, and Sensory Enlightenment awakened in its wake.
The imperceptible tremors of air, the bewildered murmurs of the onlookers, the heaving breaths of Dokgo Ak—
As if I had become a bird soaring above the heavens, looking down upon all things, I began to perceive everything surrounding me.
‘What the—?’
Dokgo Ak was the first to sense my transformation.
“So what if you do!”
He gripped his sword tightly.
“I’ve already seen through all your schemes!”
Though he was growing somewhat fatigued, did he really think his stamina would fail him this easily?
Dokgo Ak hadn’t been mindlessly flailing about.
Crack!
A downward strike from above!
I attempted to evade as I had been doing—by twisting my body to the side.
‘I’ve already grasped all your movements!’
The first strike was a feint. He’d only put half his power into it from the start.
The real attack came next.
Thud!
Dokgo Ak’s front foot, planted firmly on the ground, pivoted slightly.
The trajectory of the blade shifted.
The tip of Dokgo Ak’s sword, which had been descending from above, suddenly traced a gentle arc and extended toward Dokgo Myeong’s torso.
‘Die!’
No matter how skilled you are at evasion, you cannot escape this!
But then.
Whoosh!
Dokgo Ak suddenly felt a shadow fall across his vision.
‘A shadow?’
When he turned his gaze, something round and lumpy, flesh-colored, was blocking out the sun.
What is this?
Could it be….
‘A fist?’
A fist? Out of nowhere?
Why is it here?
Boom!
Dokgo Ak flew backward.
Like a bird, he soared through the air behind him.
Crash!
Dokgo Ak, having crashed to the ground, lay sprawled out and trembled violently.
Dokgo Myeong muttered in surprise.
“Damn it, the brat kept pestering me, so I hit him without thinking.”
For a moment, silence fell.
* * *
You were born gifted.
You are different from others.
You are the dragon’s blood of the Dokgo Clan.
Dokgo Ak had been taught this way, and he had grown up thinking the same.
From birth, he was taught that he was not one who ran about frantically on the ground, but rather one who soared nobly above the clouds.
Wasn’t that what dragons were supposed to be?
But not all dragon’s blood were the same.
There were ones like Dokgo Myeong.
Despite being dragon’s blood, he was a fool incomparable to the lower ranks, and a coward with a timid nature beyond measure.
That was when I realized it.
Ah, it wasn’t that dragon’s blood was special—it was that I was special.
A man like him was destined from the start to be swept along by chosen people like myself.
It should have been that way, surely….
“Gasp!”
As consciousness returned and my eyes opened, a vast blue sky filled my vision.
I had lost consciousness.
Me?
Who did this to me?
That Dokgo Myeong?
At that moment, Dokgo Ak’s vision filled with Dokgo Myeong’s face.
“Don’t tell me you got knocked down by a single hit?”
Seeing Dokgo Myeong grinning wickedly, blood vessels burst in Dokgo Ak’s eyes.
“You filthy bastard!”
Crash!
Dokgo Ak shot to his feet, unable to contain his rage.
Then, his eyes blazed as he spoke.
“I was just caught off guard! You cowardly wretch!”
“Cowardly? Bullshit. Why do all you bastards spout the same tired lines? Do you all go somewhere and learn this garbage together?”
“You son of a bitch! Are you mocking me?!”
Boom!
Dokgo Ak rushed forward, bringing his wooden sword down.
Of course, Dokgo Myeong simply smirked and slipped away again.
“Now that’s what I’m talking about. I was worried you’d get knocked out from one hit, seriously.”
As expected of the Dokgo Clan’s notorious troublemaker!
I have to give him credit for his tenacity, damn it!
“I’m done going easy on you!”
Dokgo Ak gritted his teeth as he rose, his eyes blazing as he gripped his wooden sword with crushing force.
Thoom!
A heavy vibration shook the training platform.
The aura emanating from Dokgo Ak became incomparably more intense than before.
“Ohhh!”
“That is!”
Suddenly, commotion erupted among the clan members watching the match.
That distinctive stance and the flow of inner energy.
They instantly recognized what Dokgo Ak was preparing.
The Eight Iron Sword Forms—the gateway to the Dokgo Clan’s Eight Supreme Techniques.
The secret art of the Dokgo Clan was about to unfold from Dokgo Ak’s hands.
“That looks a bit different.”
“Consider it an honor! It’s a martial art far too grand for the likes of you!”
“Yet you couldn’t even touch a hair on me until now.”
“Tch!”
“Right. Let’s do this properly then.”
Dokgo Myeong’s eyes, which had been smirking, suddenly turned sharp and cold.
“Time for you to take some hits too.”

—————
This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
—————