Martial God of the Sun and Moon - Chapter 21

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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 21
“You must commit yourself fully.”
A voice that resonated like an echo in a cave filled the Training Hall.
‘He’s serious.’
My posture straightened instinctively.
He merely held the wooden sword loosely, yet I felt a pressure that seemed to pierce my skin. I could tell this was no ordinary sparring match to discipline a son.
“Yes, I understand.”
Dokgo Myeong nodded and headed toward the weapon rack in the corner of the Training Hall.
“….”
I reached for a sword without difficulty, then stopped my hand.
‘Get your head straight. There’s nothing easy about this.’
I glanced sideways at Dokgo Wi-hak.
‘I don’t understand why, but he intends to face me properly.’
The words of a man who was my superior, my benefactor, and now my father.
I couldn’t simply brush this aside with a casual or half-hearted approach.
Dokgo Myeong deliberated for a long time.
Dokgo Wi-hak waited patiently for his son.
After a moment, Dokgo Myeong finally ended his contemplation and drew a weapon from the rack.
“A spear?”
Dokgo Wi-hak looked at the weapon Dokgo Myeong had chosen with a puzzled expression.
“Have you trained with the spear?”
“Not particularly.”
“Then it’s a fine choice.”
The spear has greater range and destructive power than the sword. Given the clear difference in our cultivation levels, the spear would allow me to gain an advantage in distance.
Dokgo Myeong had just revealed his intention to engage in this match with genuine commitment.
Whoosh!
Dokgo Myeong spun the spear once through the air.
The spear blade traced a gentle arc and pointed forward, while from his lowered stance emanated the momentum of a seasoned spearmaster.
‘…Impressive.’
Dokgo Wi-hak’s eyes flickered with interest.
His posture was not bad.
No—it was good.
Though his technique lacked anything extraordinary, it was precisely this simplicity that revealed his proficiency all the more clearly.
“I won’t use my inner strength to keep things fair.”
“Since we’re being fair, how about you give me three seconds as well?”
“Suppress that cunning spirit of yours first, then speak.”
At the sight of his son’s sly demeanor, the corners of Dokgo Wi-hak’s mouth, which had risen slightly, fell back down.
“Come.”
Before the words even finished, Dokgo Myeong’s momentum shifted dramatically.
* * *
I focused entirely on my greatest weapon at this moment: Sensory Severance.
Sensory Severance.
And through this maximized Sensory Severance, as I observed Dokgo Wi-hak….
‘Is the Sect Leader truly at this level?’
My eyes grew distant.
There were no openings. Despite his ordinary stance with the wooden sword held at mid-level, no matter where or how I looked, I could only see futures where my attacks were blocked or deflected.
Then….
‘I have no choice but to create an opening.’
Sensory Severance is the martial art of perception. It uses sensation as both shield and weapon.
I exhaled sharply and stopped my movements in an instant.
“Hmm?”
Dokgo Wi-hak’s eyes widened slightly.
Just when he was about to reveal his fighting spirit, his son’s momentum was rapidly diminishing. He was right before his eyes, yet his presence became faint, as if he were merely looking at stone or grass.
And in the next moment.
Whoooosh!
Suddenly, the spear blade tore through the air and appeared before his eyes.
‘He deceived my perception?’
Dokgo Wi-hak stopped his thoughts and swung the wooden sword diagonally.
Clang!
The incoming spear blade bounced off the flat of the sword.
Whoosh!
In that instant, Dokgo Wi-hak’s eyes flashed.
The spear blade, which he thought would bounce away, elastically rotated and drove toward Dokgo Wi-hak’s waist.
Thunk! Clatter-clang!
The iron spear blade and wooden sword collided, producing a bell-like sound.
I perfectly utilized the spear’s reach and elasticity, unleashing a ferocious barrage of attacks.
Boom! Crash!
Vicious clashing sounds echoed through the air.
Dokgo Wi-hak was genuinely impressed.
‘I thought he was merely forging his own path.’
It seemed he had already completed the path and was now running forward with full force.
That sharp sense for exposing his opponent’s weaknesses, and those mysterious techniques that even deceived his own perception—they were nothing short of miraculous.
‘But why….’
Dokgo Wi-hak’s expression hardened.
‘Does he carry such a scent of blood?’
Dokgo Wi-hak smelled blood in my martial arts.
It was not the scent of killing intent. Rather, the opposite.
The scent of blood that he himself had shed to survive.
Every movement carried the desperation of fighting for survival.
‘So all this time… he has been training his martial arts with such a mindset.’
Dokgo Wi-hak’s eyes flashed with sudden brilliance.
Swiiish!
Dokgo Myeong’s eyes snapped wide open.
For the first time, the trajectory of Dokgo Wi-hak’s wooden sword vanished from his sight.
‘I must defend…!’
Whiiiing!
My sensory threads erupted like wildfire, sending out a warning.
Following instinct, I pulled the spear shaft forward to shield myself.
Craaaaaash!
The defense proved useless.
From the impact that struck across the spear shaft, my feet lifted clean off the ground.
Scraaape! Thud!
Dragged backward while gouging the earth, I finally came to a stop only after driving the spear shaft into the ground like a stake.
“Huff, huff….”
“….”
Whoosh!
After catching my breath for a moment, I let out a hollow laugh and pushed myself up.
“Phew… Didn’t you say you were going to teach me one technique?”
“….”
“If I learn one more, I’ll die, won’t I?”
No, seriously—I almost got something broken back there if I’d made the wrong move.
‘I never imagined he was hiding even more than that.’
I gazed at Dokgo Wi-hak with an exhausted expression.
He wasn’t just stronger than imagination—he was on an entirely different level.
‘My sensory threads were pierced through.’
With nothing but swordsmanship alone, he’d penetrated the gap in my trained senses. Even on the battlefield, sword masters who reached such heights were rare.
Then Dokgo Wi-hak opened his mouth.
“How did you see it?”
“See what, sir?”
“That final strike just now.”
I brushed the sweat from the back of my head and replied.
“Truth be told, I didn’t see it.”
“Then?”
“I was just lucky. I thought that approach might let me survive.”
Dokgo Wi-hak fell silent at those words.
That final strike was not something luck could defend against.
‘I put power into it without realizing.’
Disturbed by the confusion that had seized my heart, I’d deployed my technique without restraint. It was absolutely not a strike that could be blocked by mere luck.
Yet it was blocked.
“Shall we continue?”
Dokgo Wi-hak paused for a moment in thought.
Then he shook his head and reversed his grip on the wooden sword.
“Let’s call it here.”
* * *
“Huff.”
Thump!
Dokgo Myeong, who had collapsed into a corner of the Training Hall, exhaled a long breath.
‘I pushed myself a bit too hard.’
One side of my head felt heavy. Perhaps because I had squandered my sensory threads so profusely for the first time in ages, exhaustion came crashing down.
“Are you alright?”
“Yes, I’m fine.”
Dokgo Wi-hak’s complexion was only slightly flushed.
‘Truly….’
Dokgo Myeong smiled weakly.
I saw Dokgo Wi-hak anew. His strength—something I had never felt nor could have felt in my past life—now came into sharp focus.
“Myeong.”
“Yes.”
….
Dokgo Wi-hak weighed countless words that had surfaced in his mind before he could finally speak.
“…You’ve worked hard.”
He was not speaking of the sparring match.
At such a young age, to reach such a level.
On the surface, his martial prowess itself might appear modest, but Dokgo Wi-hak could see through to the profound enlightenment his son possessed—one that transcended his peers.
It was praise for the densely layered training required to reach such a state.
“Thank you.”
Dokgo Myeong laughed awkwardly and scratched the back of his head.
“You’ve grown strong. Very strong indeed.”
“I’m still lacking. My inner energy is barely a handful.”
“You are not lacking. You’ve simply emptied the vessel temporarily to forge it properly, haven’t you?”
Dokgo Myeong turned his head sharply to look at Dokgo Wi-hak.
“How did you know?”
“Because I too came to understand it late. The importance of tempering the vessel before filling it.”
Warmth settled in Dokgo Wi-hak’s eyes.
“It is a mindset your peers cannot possess. Though it may seem slow now, one day you will run faster than anyone else.”
The younger a martial artist, the more they neglect laying foundations. They wish to fill the vessel as quickly as possible, not to prepare it for filling.
But Dokgo Myeong was building his vessel without complaint, of his own accord.
‘Is he already this capable with just the vessel itself?’
Dokgo Myeong had said he was lacking, but Dokgo Wi-hak saw otherwise.
His progress was remarkably swift.
Moreover, through the recent sparring match, Dokgo Wi-hak had glimpsed the mindset hidden beneath Dokgo Myeong’s extraordinary growth.
“Let me ask you just one thing.”
“Yes, please go ahead.”
“What is it that you wish to do?”
The unexpected question drew a bitter smile from me.
“Truth be told, I’m not entirely sure. The Clan Leader asked me the same thing… but I simply have no intention of being swayed by anyone.”
In reality, there were many things I wanted to do.
I wanted revenge, I wanted to prevent war, and I wanted to reconnect with the bonds from my past life as well. Shouldn’t I live better than I did in that turbulent previous existence?
That was the extent of my sentiment.
‘But is that enough?’
So I couldn’t truly know.
What it was I truly wanted.
Then, Dokgo Wi-hak spoke.
“Is that why you involved yourself in the Geumsan Sect’s affairs?”
“Something like that. It’s a matter concerning Saheon-gak, after all. It’s where I and my people are. I couldn’t bear to see them manipulated.”
There was certainly a certain emotion in what my son was saying.
“A commendable sentiment. However.”
“…”
“No matter how wrong they were, your actions deviated from the righteous path.”
I tortured a man to steal his weaknesses, then used that information to sow discord and tear others apart. Though my purpose was just, my methods were not.
“I do not wish for you to become a wandering hero or a sage. Yet neither do I wish for you to act like the villains of the dark path.”
“Are you saying that protecting my own house is the conduct of the dark path?”
“If you fail to protect what must be protected, the world will judge you accordingly.”
Dokgo Wi-hak rebuked me with a firm tone.
“To stop conflict is called martial virtue. Avoiding and preventing fights does not make one a coward. Do you not understand this?”
I nodded.
“I understand.”
“Then why did you act as you did?”
“I understand it, but I don’t believe it’s right.”
“…”
In that moment, severity flickered in Dokgo Wi-hak’s eyes.
But I paid it no mind and continued.
“Do you know why the world emphasizes righteousness and justice?”
“Because it is right.”
“I think differently.”
My gaze deepened.
“When people are righteous, it becomes easier for the wicked to control them.”
Dokgo Wi-hak stared at me with astonished eyes.
In my pupils, which once held such clear distinction between right and wrong, he saw a profound darkness.
“And in my view, the Gangho right now is… full of frustratingly naive people who think that way.”
“…That is a dangerous thought.”
“You’re not saying I’m wrong.”
“Even if it were right, there is something that must always be protected, and that is why it is called the Way.”
“….”
Faced with such an obstinate answer, I simply closed my mouth.
There was much I wanted to say. But I had no desire to speak it at the cost of hurting Dokgo Wi-hak’s feelings.
“…However.”
Just as I maintained my silence.
Dokgo Wi-hak’s lips opened once more.
“If that is your will, then do so.”
“…What?”
“I have no intention of forcing anything upon you or commanding you. I have no right to do so.”
Dokgo Wi-hak’s eyes shone with a clarity unlike any before.
“But there is something you must remember.”
I straightened my posture.
“I am listening.”
“If you have decided to pursue your will, then establish your own standard.”
Dokgo Wi-hak raised his finger and drew a line through the air from one point to another.
“From here to here—draw your own line.”
“A line, you say?”
“How far you will advance, where you will retreat. Drawing a clear line for what you wish to accomplish—that is where it begins.”
My eyes gleamed.
“And cultivate the strength to make the world follow it.”
“…!”
“The strength to protect and survive carries only desperation. That is what you possess now. Cultivate strength to achieve your goal.”
Standard, line, goal, and strength.
It felt as though fireworks were bursting in one corner of my mind. I stared at Dokgo Wi-hak’s lips without even blinking.
“When your strength is sufficiently cultivated and people who share your will have gathered. Then the world will recognize and follow your standard.”
My eyes wavered.
Seeing his son as though entranced, Dokgo Wi-hak softened his voice.
“From now on, do not think of doing anything bound by me and Saheon-gak.”
I suddenly came to my senses.
“But.”
“That is my role.”
Dokgo Wi-hak cut off his words as sharply as a blade.
“Just because this father lives holding his breath—do I appear so weak that I would need your help? It is still ten years too early.”
“….”
“You run toward what you have willed. And when you need shelter, come find this father. That is my standard and my goal.”
A surge!
Suddenly something rose from deep within my chest, catching in my throat.
“Yes, I shall do so.”
“Yes.”
Dokgo Wi-hak turned away, his eyes gleaming with trust.
Dokgo Myeong remained alone in the Training Hall.
He slowly lifted his gaze toward the sky.
‘How naive of me to wish for a life unswayed by others.’
Only now could I understand.
Dokgo Hyeon had lived a life of protection.
In the alleys, he guarded a beggar’s bowl; within the Dokgo Clan, the pride of a martial artist; on the battlefield, the lives of his comrades.
That is why he desired nothing but to remain unswayed.
But that was Dokgo Hyeon’s wish, not mine.
‘I am no longer Dokgo Hyeon.’
Only then did I truly comprehend.
‘What I have desired through my past life and into this present existence is….’
To establish my own principles in this suffocating world.
In this life, reborn after one death, I resolved at last to create a place that defies the cursed standards of this heaven and earth.

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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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