Martial God of the Sun and Moon - Chapter 211

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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 211
“So it has come to pass.”
Dokgo Hye set down her teacup with a smile.
Dokgo Gun spoke with a bitter smile.
“Our clan had to sacrifice one Sect Leader and one Vice-Leader. The Elder Council appears to have initiated dismissal procedures for roughly three Elders.”
“Cutting off the tail, then. Both of you are truly harsh individuals.”
Dokgo Hye brought the teacup to her lips once more.
Perhaps it was from spending so long in the imperial palace, where propriety reigned supreme.
Though Dokgo Gun possessed the refined manners befitting a noble heir, Dokgo Hye carried such grace in her every gesture and word that she seemed to embody etiquette itself.
“It may grate upon your ears, but the brilliance of Myeong-a strikes me as truly astonishing.”
“It does not grate upon me, so think nothing of it. After all, she is an exceptional child, is she not?”
“Do you not resent her?”
“Resent her? In any case, she is my younger sister. How could there be resentment between blood relatives?”
Dokgo Gun spoke calmly, then lifted only the corners of his mouth in a smile.
Dokgo Gun’s manner of speech was always so ambiguous.
Dokgo Hye took a sip of tea and gently steered the conversation.
“What is that child doing now?”
“I heard she went to see the Patriarch this morning.”
“…Father?”
“It seems she is receiving instruction.”
Dokgo Hye set down her teacup slowly, her expression turning peculiar as if lost in thought.
“Why do you ask?”
“Have you heard the phrase ‘simultaneous pecking and tapping’?”
“I believe I have heard mention of such a phrase among Buddhist koans.”
Dokgo Gun answered with an uncertain expression.
Dokgo Hye nodded.
“It appears in a book called the Blue Cliff Record, a collection of Zen koans.”
It means that for a chick to break free from its shell and enter the world, it must peck from within and without.
From within through its own strength, from without through the mother bird’s aid.
It speaks to the essence of enlightenment and awakening.
Dokgo Gun asked with a puzzled expression.
“What are you trying to tell me, Aunt?”
“I had forgotten, but recently I recalled that child’s early years.”
…
“She was born with talent bordering on celestial curse. The Baihui point in the upper dantian should gradually narrow with age until it closes, yet hers closed far too early. For a child burdened so, breaking free from the shell alone is not easy.”
“You mean to say that someone…played the role of the mother bird?”
Dokgo Gun’s eyes deepened.
From the context of the conversation, there could be only one such person.
Dokgo Cheon.
But Dokgo Hye shook her head firmly.
“Who can say for certain? Even if the Sect Leader became the catalyst, who would dare speak against it? The problem is….”
Dokgo Hye’s eyes took on a peculiar gleam.
“People might entertain certain… curious speculations, wouldn’t they? Has anyone in recent times received the Sect Leader’s favor as much as that child?”
Less than five years since awakening from the Dunjae.
He had achieved countless accomplishments, and now he had even altered the family’s direction. He had transformed the rigid factional structure into a three-way balance, and now, it seems, the Sect Leader even instructs him in martial arts.
How would the world perceive this?
“The Sect Leader has never been stingy with his teachings. We cannot concern ourselves with those who read meaning into every detail.”
“Is that truly all there is to it?”
“That is truly all there is.”
At those words, Dokgo Hye smiled faintly.
“Consider it merely the anxious concern of an old aunt. I have become something of an outsider, but you have not, so your words must be correct.”
She lifted her teacup once more.
“Instruction, you say… Now that I think of it, you too have received the Sect Leader’s guidance before, haven’t you?”
“Didn’t you as well, Aunt?”
“Yes, once one reached a certain level, he would instruct all of us.”
Dokgo Hye gazed into the empty air.
Her eyes were distant, as though contemplating a distant past.
Dokgo Cheon had been accustomed to bestowing instruction upon his blood relatives who had reached sufficient levels.
Though each received different teachings, there was one thing they all shared in common.
“That sword technique. How did you perceive it?”
An incomplete sword art crafted by the one who earned the title Geom-jon, containing the insights of a lifetime.
Dokgo Gun spoke.
“It felt like being caught in a sudden downpour without an umbrella.”
“A downpour, you say….”
“How did you experience it, Aunt?”
Dokgo Hye spoke with a peculiar smile.
“As though my limbs were bound. Even though it was a match with limited internal energy, three breaths was my limit. But….”
“Those three breaths were not due to the sword technique’s profundity, but rather because the Sect Leader’s martial prowess is so transcendent.”
Dokgo Hye nodded.
That was right.
Though she could not withstand even three breaths, it was less the sword technique itself and more that she had been overwhelmed by Dokgo Cheon’s realm of mastery.
“To my eyes, it appeared to be something that could exist only in abstraction and theory. Yet he dreams of such a sword technique.”
“Since he dreams of becoming the greatest under heaven, he must reach such hypothetical realms to contend with those other two. Is that not so?”
Dokgo Hye shook her head firmly and spoke with conviction.
“Even he, who has transcended the realm of human limitation, has yet to perfect it. Then isn’t this martial art fundamentally impossible?”
Quite a few direct blood relatives have witnessed that sword technique thus far.
Besides the two here, Dokgo Un-hak and Dokgo Wi-hak received instruction, and I heard Dokgo Yeon also received guidance, though her perception differed somewhat.
All of them gained some insight from that sword, yet simultaneously, they all agreed it was impossible.
Dokgo Gun murmured.
“I wonder what impressions Dokgo Myeong would offer of it.”
* * *
—Come.
The moment those words burrowed into my ears like an incantation.
Whiiiiiing!
A torrent of sensation crashed over me like a tidal wave.
It felt as though someone had placed a bell in my mind and was striking it frantically.
Beneath the heavens.
And above the earth.
Every space facing Dokgo Cheon was painted with danger.
‘…!’
Had I ever concentrated this intensely in this lifetime?
It felt like drowning in deep waters.
The speed of all things in the world slowed.
Before thought or consciousness could form, instinct and the unconscious moved my body.
Fleeing held no meaning.
The sensation demanded advance.
Crack!
My heel touched first, then my sole drove against the earth.
The moment my foot made contact, the Training Hall floor rippled like water, splintering from the center like a web as soil erupted skyward.
The solid blue granite flooring of the Training Hall could not withstand a single step.
And before the debris could even rise into the air, I burst forward like lightning.
Boom!
An explosion erupted where Dokgo Cheon had been.
Yet in the next moment, I snapped my gaze around.
“So you’ve reached this far. Impressive.”
Dokgo Cheon’s indifferent voice reached my ears.
Whoosh!
The mist tore open in a circular hole.
Beyond it, I saw Dokgo Cheon thrusting a branch straight through.
‘So fast!’
How could anything move with such speed?
In this realm where an instant becomes eternity, was time flowing for Dokgo Cheon as though it were merely an ordinary moment?
Crash!
I did not consciously understand how I evaded.
No—I realized too late that I had not evaded at all.
Splurt!
I saw droplets of blood spray upward.
Though I bent my waist to dodge, the branch had already split my chest open faster than my evasion.
“Your sensory perception truly is astonishingly remarkable….”
As Dokgo Cheon spoke, half a breath escaped his lips.
Dokgo Myeong dug even deeper into it.
Crash! Boom!
He stamped his foot abruptly to correct his stance.
Cutting through the dust cloud, the leg techniques of Hwacheon-gyeok extended outward.
Flash! Bang! Roooaaaar!
Yet even after pushing this far.
Blocked, and blocked again.
Dokgo Myeong couldn’t get past a single branch.
“If that’s all you have, I’m disappointed.”
The moment I felt the branch tap against my chest.
When I regained my senses, I was already embedded in the stone wall at the far end of the training hall.
“Cough!”
But I didn’t fly back without any counteraction.
My fingertips, grazing the ground, snatched up several fragments of shattered blue-steel stone.
Thunk! Crash!
The moment I steadied my stance, I stamped my foot and hurled the stones with the full force of my inner energy.
Perhaps the most primitive martial technique—stone throwing.
Whoosh! Smack!
The rocks didn’t even graze Dokgo Cheon’s collar.
Swinging the branch as lightly as swatting flies, the sword energy traced through the air reduced every hard stone fragment to dust.
‘Sword energy materialization… he can exert that level of power?’
I felt a dizzying sense of the ground collapsing beneath me.
The martial arts of one called supreme in this arrogant Gangho were overwhelmingly dominant.
Then Dokgo Cheon met my gaze.
Chill!
I felt a sensation as if my body hair was standing on end.
‘He’s coming! From the left upper—!’
Dokgo Cheon appeared before my eyes faster than the thought of “upper.”
The moment I switched to Seongheon-gi to withstand the attack.
“Your weakness in shifting energy techniques is glaring. You should have maintained the offensive instead.”
Thunk!
The sound wasn’t even loud.
He thrust the branch into the needle-thin gap in the Silver Han Wall and collapsed it in one breath.
I rolled across the ground ungracefully before springing back up.
I immediately switched to Jahagyeol and pressed forward against Dokgo Cheon.
‘This is… the realm of Sangcheon.’
I know.
That Dokgo Cheon is holding back considerably.
I know it very well.
That “this much” is not the entirety of Sangcheon’s power.
Yet despite this, I was being pushed back without any means of resistance….
“Hahahaha!”
Dokgo Myeong burst into delighted laughter as I extended my fist.
Whoooosh! Boom!
The wind surged forward, grazing Dokgo Cheon’s branch-like arm.
Jecheon-gi immediately coiled around Dokgo Cheon’s wrist—or rather, what I thought I had grasped was nothing but air, and by the time I realized it, he had already slipped away.
Dokgo Myeong urgently braced myself with Silver Cold Wall, then approached again with Spinning Heaven Technique.
‘This is exhilarating.’
It was exhilarating.
How could it not be?
My lungs felt torn from the lack of air, and my heart pounded wildly, wringing blood through my veins.
‘This is the first time.’
Across both my past and present lives, I had never fully revealed everything of myself before an absolute master of Gangho.
‘Then I cannot end this encounter like this.’
As always.
I had never entertained the thought of defeat.
Even in loss, I had to take something with me.
Uuuuuuoooosh!
Sensation-bond illuminated the path, and I explored a sliver of possibility.
‘Here I go!’
Thooooosh!
I struck the True Angle.
A flicker of change crossed Dokgo Cheon’s indifferent eyes.
‘You’ve changed.’
Thwack! Kwaaaaaang!
Even against such a tremendous punch, Dokgo Cheon remained unscathed.
More than that—with his branch-like arm, he pushed my wrist away and controlled my movement.
The wave of force that struck empty air created a sound-splitting boom.
‘Not yet!’
Huff!
A flash of pale radiance gleamed in my eyes.
Suddenly, the absolute technique I had forged in Naeok grazed my head.
Incomplete as it was, somehow in this very moment, I felt certain I could unfold it perfectly.
“Haaah!”
At the same moment as my True Angle strike, I raised the hand-blades of both hands.
Swish!
Fire Heaven Strike.
It was not a single blow. They came in rapid succession.
Originally, Fire Heaven Strike was not meant to be like this. It had to be wielded in single-strike units.
But for the first time, I was holding back power and connecting the trajectories, unleashing them as consecutive strikes.
Thwack! Tap-tap!
Yet Dokgo Cheon remained unscathed.
With a mere twig barely a foot long, he struck precisely at the weak point in my technique, deflecting my attack mid-course.
It mattered not. As the force drained from my extended fist, the edge of Dokgo Cheon’s blade cut smoothly through my Jecheon-gi.
Jecheon-gi.
The Cheonla Yubo that seeped in like mist was merely a bonus. I maintained my stance through Buljeongjeoungip despite the instability from the forced penetration.
Now came the Budonggyeol.
Boom!
Silver Cold Wall.
I endured Dokgo Cheon’s tightening counterattack, forcibly maintaining the gap.
‘This bastard…?’
Dokgo Cheon’s eyes widened.
Soon his lips curved into a smile.
Still gaps remained in my energy transitions, yet with each successive attack, the power grew exponentially stronger.
‘Continuous Strikes?’
Perhaps it should be called Continuous Force rather than mere striking.
When transitioning energy, I wasn’t fully recovering the power—I was leaving it behind, stacking it layer upon layer.
Moreover, the blade force itself accumulated. With each successive strike, like a rolling snowball, I was filling the gaps with mounting power.
‘Impressive. Against none other than me.’
Typically, continuous martial arts carry restrictions of circumstance and condition.
While powerful if the sequence continues unbroken, such favorable situations rarely arise naturally.
Besides, wasn’t Dokgo Myeong’s foundation built on single, sharp strikes rather than orthodox martial doctrine?
Or perhaps that was precisely why it was possible.
Dokgo Myeong was crafting his techniques moment by moment, tailored to each situation and condition.
‘Pure instinct. Only instinct. Even a martial genius couldn’t achieve this.’
A supreme technique that elevated Dokgo Myeong’s personal instinct into the realm of martial arts.
Only then could Dokgo Cheon perceive the foundation of Dokgo Myeong’s strength.
“That’s enough. This is sufficient.”
Dokgo Cheon spoke thus, then pulled the twig back before extending it fully.
Crack!
A sound like a leather drum bursting rang out.
My arms flew upward into the sky.
“…?!”
I gasped involuntarily.
It felt like a light tap, yet I suddenly found myself in complete defenselessness.
The accumulated blade force that had been layering dissolved like bursting water droplets.
Whoosh. Tap!
I felt something touch my throat.
Then Dokgo Cheon opened his mouth.
“Stop. That was sufficient.”
Dokgo Myeong finally came to his senses.
‘What? What was I doing?’
With a dazed mind, he lowered his gaze to identify the foreign sensation at his throat.
Right beside his Adam’s apple.
A thin branch from Dokgo Cheon was gently pressing against the spot where a major artery ran.
Dokgo Cheon spoke.
“Breathe.”
“…?”
“Breathe.”
At those words, Dokgo Myeong slowly exhaled.
“Hack! Gasp!”
His lungs then convulsed, repeatedly expelling and drawing in air as if being wrung dry.
Dokgo Myeong collapsed to the ground, his body giving way.
Dokgo Cheon let out a hollow laugh.
“You ignorant fool. A master who has stepped into the Ascendant realm, yet you forgot how to breathe?”
Dokgo Cheon’s face filled with laughter.
“You were aiming for this from the start, weren’t you?”
“Gasp, gasp… I was caught. Did I fail?”
Dokgo Cheon shook his head.
“No. You succeeded.”
“Pardon?”
“You cunning bastard. Hahahaha!”
Dokgo Cheon burst into laughter and lifted the branch.
Crackle!
The branch crumbled like sand and scattered into the air.
“I concede. That was far too dismissive of me toward you.”
“Gasp, gasp! Huh… Gasp! Hehehehe!”
Dokgo Cheon’s acknowledgment.
Geom-jon’s acknowledgment.
Dokgo Myeong lay sprawled on his back, his laughter unceasing.

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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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