Martial God of the Sun and Moon - Chapter 195

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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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Chapter 195
The dazed commanders of the Chamma Division filed out of the great hall, leaving only Dokgo Cheon and Dokgo Myeong in silence.
Dokgo Myeong gazed up at Dokgo Cheon with a long, measured look.
‘I thought the walls between us had crumbled and we’d grown quite close….’
Yet Dokgo Cheon remained Dokgo Cheon.
Through the wars of ages past, through chaos and peace, and now standing at the threshold of turbulent times.
A man who had never fallen to earth in any era—truly a being of ancient and modern times, transcendent beyond the heavens.
Dokgo Myeong let out a hollow laugh.
“How sudden….”
The higher one climbed the mountain, the more one could see.
“I feel how impossibly distant you truly are.”
“So you’ve gone out and suffered a bit, and now you’re showing it off. Have you finally developed respect for your grandfather?”
Dokgo Myeong smiled bitterly.
“I’ve always held respect for you. Where in this world could one find someone who respects the Household Lord as much as I do?”
“Always trying to win with every word, aren’t you?”
“Win? How could I ever dare against the Sword Sage of all creation?”
“There you go again. You won’t concede a single word. When an elder speaks, you should know to say yes, yes.”
“Ah, but a true gentleman must know how to say no when something is wrong, mustn’t he?”
“A gentleman? You dare speak of gentlemen?”
At Dokgo Myeong’s playful words, Dokgo Cheon’s lips curled upward as if amused.
But now Dokgo Myeong understood that expression concealed a smile. He smiled faintly in return.
Then Dokgo Cheon suddenly asked.
“What did you see?”
….
He was not asking what I had seen in the world.
He was asking what I felt upon measuring the distance between us just now.
“When I once asked you the same question, you said you saw as much as you were shown.”
“The higher I climb, the more distant you appear.”
“Is it not simply that your vision has narrowed from impatience?”
Dokgo Myeong let out a hollow laugh.
“The Household Lord truly knows everything.”
“Because I have experienced it as well.”
“Pardon?”
Dokgo Cheon’s eyes grew distant, wandering to some far corner of the past.
“Will you have a drink?”
“Pardon?”
“There is a pond behind the Household Lord’s residence. Come with me.”
He spoke as if issuing a decree, his steps brisk, and Dokgo Myeong could only scramble to follow behind him.
A table of wine had been laid out in the pavilion of the rear garden, as if it had just been brought.
“Pour yourself a cup.”
“Ah, yes.”
As Dokgo Myeong filled his cup, Dokgo Cheon picked up the bottle and poured for him in return.
Somehow, I had ended up drinking in the afternoon with the greatest swordsman under heaven.
Without even clinking glasses, Dokgo Cheon drank first, and Dokgo Myeong followed suit.
‘I can’t tell if the alcohol is going through my nose or my mouth.’
It seemed like quite potent liquor, yet it felt like drinking water.
Dokgo Cheon refilled the cup and spoke again.
“I heard you took quite a beating while wandering the martial realm this time?”
Dokgo Myeong replied with a wry expression.
“You haven’t heard that I’ve been overturning tables wherever I go?”
“If you hadn’t, you’d be dead.”
“That’s true as well. It was that kind of fight.”
Dokgo Cheon poured another drink and asked abruptly.
“Did you feel a lack of strength?”
“….”
Dokgo Myeong felt his body stiffen for a moment.
A lack of strength.
How could I deny it?
Yes, I felt it. I always have, and I live with that feeling.
In the unexpected encounter with Tuwang, in the moment when I nearly wounded my subordinates while trapped in demonic delusion, and when facing the malice of the Moyong Family and Jeongheol Sect at Deungyongji.
I won and was satisfied, yet I felt that insufficiency.
“How did you become so strong, Household Lord?”
Dokgo Cheon narrowed his brow.
“Asking such pointless questions shows your head is full of hot air.”
“Pardon?”
“Fill your cup first.”
“….”
Empty the cup, refill it, empty it again, then refill.
Dokgo Cheon spoke.
“An older person surpasses a younger one simply because they have lived through so many more years. In my time, there was impatience, there was fierce struggle, and there was regret.”
“Are you speaking from experience, Household Lord?”
“What else would it be?”
True, Dokgo Cheon wasn’t born composed and dignified from the moment he cried his first breath.
They say a master must have not only fortune but also a story behind them.
What kind of story lay behind the life of this greatest swordsman?
Dokgo Myeong emptied his cup in one breath, then ran his finger across its rim as he continued.
“But not everyone becomes like you just by accumulating years, do they?”
Dokgo Cheon nodded.
“People say the old become wise with age. But what were the elderly you’ve seen like?”
“Most of them seemed frustratingly foolish.”
“That’s exactly it. A wise young man becomes a wise old man. It’s the same principle.”
“Are you saying that those destined to become something will inevitably become it?”
“Yes.”
Just as Dokgo Myeong was about to let out a hollow laugh, Dokgo Cheon continued.
“And you are one of those destined ones.”
Dokgo Myeong froze.
After blinking silently for a moment, Dokgo Myeong swallowed hard and spoke.
“What if all of that is merely a misunderstanding the world has fallen into because of some small secret I possess?”
“No matter what heavy secret you hide, could it possibly weigh more than the years this old man has endured?”
“Pardon?”
“I anticipated what would happen to you in Shenxi. When the Overseer requested that I dispatch the Black Bloodfiend, I granted it. Yet you resolved it yourself.”
“…!”
“When the Am Seong-ju of the Moyong Family made his move, I thought you would use Cheon I-gak to hide yourself. Instead, you dug a trap?”
“That is…”
“In Dengyongji, I sent not one but two swordsmen favorable to you, just in case. I heard they arrived quite late and only became useful at the very last moment.”
“…”
“Look here. Sitting before you is the pinnacle of all swordsmen in the Central Plains and the head of the greatest household under heaven. Yet you have accomplished feats that even the years this old man has accumulated make difficult to fathom.”
Dokgo Cheon refilled the cup once more.
“You are already doing well.”
“…!”
Dokgo Myeong’s mouth opened slightly, then closed firmly shut.
Something rose in his throat, so he swallowed it down with the wine. The liquor, which had tasted like water before, finally began to reveal its flavor.
“Let me ask again. What did you see?”
Dokgo Myeong spoke.
“I saw a mountain I wish to surpass. I will strive to climb it.”
Dokgo Cheon’s eyes gleamed as he drained his cup.
“If you understand, then never show such pathetic displays again. Those who harbor such sentimentality tend to die the quickest.”
Dokgo Myeong trembled at the cold glint in those eyes.
“…If you’re going to encourage me anyway, couldn’t you maintain a gentler atmosphere throughout?”
“Do your enemies wield their blades with a gentle atmosphere? You seem to live in quite a pleasant martial world. The times have improved.”
“Ah, yes. Your grandson was wrong.”
I was too frightened to say anything else.
Dokgo Myeong let out a quiet laugh.
Seeing that expression, Dokgo Cheon nodded.
“Now that’s a look worth seeing. Let me hear the story. What happened?”
“Haven’t you already heard everything?”
“I haven’t heard your account of it.”
“Then…”
I laid bare everything that had transpired.
What I experienced in the martial world, what I learned, what I felt.
I had hidden almost nothing. The alcohol loosened my tongue, and words flowed more freely than usual.
As the sun began to set, the long story came to an end, and Dokgo Cheon opened his eyes narrowly.
“The Black Bloodfiend.”
“Yes, he must be the one who planted someone in the main household.”
Dokgo Cheon nodded and exhaled a long breath.
“Indeed, it was a greater matter than what was known. You’ve brought a spark that exceeds the Overseer’s expectations.”
A flash like lightning gleamed in his eyes.
“How far are you seeing?”
“For now, I’m looking at the complete annihilation of the Moyong Family.”
Dokgo Myeong’s eyes brightened.
“They are the foothold of the Jeongheol Sect. If we strike, everything will come pouring out. The collusion runs that deep.”
“There’s a reason war doesn’t break out easily. Even if you and Gae-bang join forces to sway public opinion, a conflict of sufficient scale to destroy the Moyong Family won’t unfold.”
“The Moyong Family’s support among the people is already at rock bottom. If it’s revealed that they were the masterminds behind the Infinite Blood Incident….”
“You’re being too idealistic. Does the world really flow that way?”
“….”
“You must view the world through interests, not emotions. Someone will wish for the Moyong Family’s downfall, but others will not.”
A great household is a great household for a reason. The Moyong Family dominates the prosperous lands of Zhejiang and extends its roots throughout the realm.
When you try to uproot them, the roots of other intertwined trees and soil come up together.
Unless a war engulfed the entire realm, great powers would waver but never face complete annihilation.
“You spoke of public sentiment and opinion, but that’s also problematic. The martial world won’t tolerate the extermination of an entire household.”
“Even if they were a ruthless faction?”
“Yes. Even those who pointed fingers at the Moyong Family would think it excessive if it led to total annihilation.”
Dokgo Myeong sighed.
“Even if it doesn’t flow that way, the Jeongheol Sect’s agents embedded in various organizations will create such public opinion.”
Dokgo Cheon nodded and smiled mysteriously.
“Let’s set aside all these complicated matters. Haven’t you overlooked the most important thing from the start?”
“What do you mean?”
“Are you waging this war alone?”
“….”
“What good is justification? You don’t even have troops that follow you.”
Dokgo Cheon crossed his arms, looked at Dokgo Myeong, and chuckled.
“When we discussed the Hundred Masters Tournament before, you must have seen this far. You were thinking of mobilizing the main household to wage war, weren’t you?”
“Didn’t you tell me to bring something that could serve as kindling? I clearly heard it that way through the Overseer.”
“That and this are different.”
“There is only the main household. Noise can ultimately be erased through victory, and it’s also my justification for living.”
Dokgo Cheon spoke with a subtle smile.
“Then what does the main household gain?”
Dokgo Myeong hesitated.
Dokgo Cheon’s words continued.
“Tell me. What is this for? How were you planning to convince the Elder Council and the Outer Hall?”
This is the watershed moment.
Even if I persuade the Outer Hall Master and the Elder Council Leader, if I fail to convince the Household Head, everything collapses.
Dokgo Myeong exhaled slowly.
“You will gain the power to dominate all under heaven.”
“Power to dominate all under heaven?”
“Household Head. No matter how chaotic times arrive or how formidable our main branch becomes, true supremacy over all lands will remain difficult. You already know this, don’t you?”
The Central Plains have never tolerated any single ruler. The Dokgo Household is no exception, no matter how much power we accumulate.
Precisely because I understood this did I need to invoke the concept of “all under heaven” to persuade this man.
“And then?”
“You once said, Household Head. Power is influence.”
Dokgo Cheon’s eyebrows twitched.
Dokgo Myeong drove home his point.
“I intend to create a Great Alliance that encompasses all lands. With the help of the Gae-bang Master, I am already laying the foundation. When the main branch crushes the Moyong Family, it will be complete.”
“….”
“And if I obtain the seat of governance over all lands within that alliance, wouldn’t that itself be another form of supremacy?”
Dokgo Cheon’s lips curled upward.
“Now you’re trying to deceive even this old man? How bold.”
“Pardon? Deceive?”
“Once the alliance is formed and I step forward, everyone will have no choice but to yield the Alliance Leader position to me. But tell me—how long would such an alliance truly endure?”
If Dokgo Cheon became Alliance Leader, the weight of that name would crush the martial alliance beneath it. The name of the Sword Saint carried such gravity.
“And I cannot appear before the world. Not yet.”
His gaze carried an unmistakable warning not to ask further.
As Dokgo Myeong hesitated to speak, Dokgo Cheon’s expression shifted and he continued.
“Let me see. Since it’s you, not someone else, you must have anticipated this refusal and prepared accordingly.”
“Pardon?”
“You’d casually suggest that the Outer Hall Master or the Elder Council Leader could take the position instead. The main branch’s influence would grow regardless, so there’s no harm in it. Isn’t that right?”
“….”
“But you’re already thinking of placing someone else as Alliance Leader. Aren’t you?”
My lips felt parched.
I thought I was several moves ahead, yet he saw just as far and beyond.
Dokgo Cheon laughed.
“Heh, the attempt was admirable.”
“…Is it not possible?”
“Try it. If you can.”
“Pardon?”
“I have already released my grip on the main branch’s helm. I have no intention of interfering unless you cross the line. Much less over a decision made at the Hundred Clans Conference.”
“That means….”
Permission.
Dokgo Myeong clenched both fists tightly.
“Thank you, Household Head.”
“I did nothing.”
The liquor bottle had finally emptied.
Dokgo Cheon spoke as he filled the last cup.
“This time, quite a complex game has been set up. It won’t be easy for you to push through your intentions at the Hundred Masters Tournament. What do you plan to do?”
He was referring to the entangled struggle between the Outer Hall and the Elder Council.
Dokgo Myeong spoke with a faint smile.
“I’m thinking of taking a brief rest.”
“Hmm?”
“I’m planning to rest in the Cerebral Prison. While also sowing discord between the two factions.”
“Sowing discord?”
“Yes.”
Dokgo Cheon’s eyes gleamed.
‘He’s scheming something strange again, it seems.’
In truth, it mattered little either way. As long as neither side exceeded the line, I had no intention of moving directly.
“I’ve begun preparations to enter the Seonmyo as I mentioned before. Once matters within the household are settled, I’ll be able to enter.”
“Ah! Finally.”
“Come find me again when that time comes.”
At those words, Dokgo Myeong tilted his head in confusion.
Dokgo Cheon continued.
“Set your personal affairs in order and prepare yourself.”
“What do you mean by that…?”
“You’ve risen to a level where you can now receive my teachings. Before entering the Seonmyo, I shall impart my instruction to you.”
Dokgo Myeong’s eyes widened in astonishment.

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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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