Martial God of the Sun and Moon - Chapter 213

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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 213
There was one thing Dokgo Myeong could confidently claim, regardless of all else.
The instinct to detect openings.
The ability to uncover what others feared most.
This gift manifested not only in politics and verbal sparring, but in martial arts as well.
Rather, it had to manifest.
‘I was always inferior to others, after all.’
While others boasted of noble bloodlines and divine meridians that appeared once in a millennium, I was merely a back-alley orphan.
To keep beggars from stealing my scraps, I learned to exploit weaknesses, and to survive in the ronin underworld despite my late start in martial arts, I had to read flaws well.
‘Even before awakening my sensory meridian, I was skilled at that.’
So I was confident I could land a blow against anyone.
While martial technique might have no openings, people always do.
Whether in temperament, psychology, or circumstance.
But then.
A blade swept across and pressed against my neck.
I turned my head to stare at the sword resting against my throat.
“What in the…?”
Had the Sect Leader been fighting at full strength, I wouldn’t have found it strange to be struck in an instant.
But this wasn’t like before—I hadn’t been overwhelmed by superior inner force or enlightenment.
‘My sensory meridian didn’t even react. No—couldn’t react. I was struck purely by the sublime perfection of the swordplay itself.’
Why did I get hit?
I could have simply stepped back one pace.
The blade whirled away.
Dokgo Cheon withdrew his sword with a flourish, retreated three paces, and assumed a standard ready stance.
“How was that?”
I couldn’t answer such a simple question.
I swallowed hard and asked, “Did you perhaps draw upon additional inner force suddenly at the end?”
“It was exactly the level I showed initially.”
“Again—let’s try again. My focus must have wavered just then.”
I shook my head vigorously several times, my eyes brightening.
“Are you ready?”
“I am.”
“Come.”
The instant Dokgo Cheon spoke.
‘Breath.’
My breathing became labored.
Though he merely pointed his blade, my respiration grew difficult.
‘Intent of the sword?’
Was this that realm I witnessed earlier?
Is this the same state I saw before?
Yet there was no sign of true energy moving.
Was this truly nothing more than tension and pressure?
‘…Focus!’
I widened my eyes.
Then, Dokgo Cheon stepped forward.
A single strike with adequate internal force and adequate speed, aimed at my solar plexus.
The moment I sidestepped and attempted a counterattack with Hwacheon Strike.
‘When did the blade arrive here?! The trajectory and sword path of Hwacheon Strike overlap!’
If I continued, my wrist would be cut.
Since this was closer to a theoretical sword discussion than actual combat, I wouldn’t be cut, but regardless, I would suffer defeat in another second.
‘I withdraw Hwacheon Strike. With Jecheon Gi….’
I bit my lower lip and simultaneously deployed Cheonryu Yubo, pushing the blade downward with Jecheon Gi.
Whiiiiing!
Sensory Severance activated.
Only then did multiple paths beyond the blade become visible before my eyes.
Countless paths floated in the air as lines of light, and I chose one of them.
At that moment, Dokgo Cheon lightly swung his blade diagonally.
“…!?”
Tap-tap-tap-tap!
Every line that Sensory Severance showed me was severed.
No matter where I attacked, I would lose.
Yet the blade kept approaching.
‘Silver Han Wall?’
Even if I deployed it, I would be struck.
‘Switch to Hwacheon Strike… Too late.’
My limbs tangled.
I couldn’t break the enemy’s attack, and my own attack would be blocked.
Slide. Tap!
Finally, the blade touched my chest.
My eyes twitched.
“What… what is this?”
“What did you sense?”
Dokgo Cheon asked the same question again.
I responded with a bewildered expression.
“Have you already developed a counter-technique to my martial arts?”
If not, there was no way I could be so utterly helpless.
Yet Dokgo Cheon simply shook his head.
“If you were simply crushing me with force, perhaps. But you’ve seen it only a few times—how could you already develop a counter-technique?”
“There’s no other explanation.”
“Come again.”
Next, I endured for three seconds.
Then I deceived my breathing and lasted five seconds.
With variable techniques, I managed to hold out for ten seconds.
Each time it ended, Dokgo Cheon asked again.
“What did you feel?”
Dokgo Myeong, lost in thought, spoke with an uncertain voice.
“The sword was already positioned where I needed to move. What exactly… are you creating?”
I hadn’t expected Dokgo Cheon to demonstrate such ordinary sword techniques. Given that he was someone whose inner energy cultivation had reached its zenith, I thought he would showcase martial arts that would shake heaven and earth.
Yet it was merely ordinary swordplay.
Dokgo Cheon asked.
“What do you think martial arts are?”
Dokgo Myeong’s expression grew uneasy.
This was burdensome—he was moving toward something too grandiose again.
“Well… isn’t it just for fighting well?”
“I think the same. But the other two thought differently.”
The other two?
Surely not?
“That monk, no different from a heretic, saw it as a tool for salvation and enlightenment of sentient beings, while that arrogant one who sought to know everything viewed it as a discipline for awakening.”
He was clearly speaking of Beobjon and Mujon.
Then what was our Geom-jon’s answer?
“I had no interest in such flowery talk about the Way or enlightenment. No matter how eloquently one speaks, martial arts are ultimately a means for struggle—the power to rationally and efficiently suppress and defeat one’s opponent. That is all.”
I nearly laughed without realizing it.
How perfectly that answered to our Sect Leader’s nature.
Shing!
Then Dokgo Cheon suddenly drew his sword.
After gazing at the keen blade of Yeokrin for a long moment, Dokgo Cheon spoke.
“That monk was born with the greatest inner energy and physique under heaven. Even if I trained my entire life, I could never surpass that.”
“…”
“That arrogant fool understood all things. Truly, the word ‘omniscient’ suited him well.”
Dokgo Cheon’s eyes gleamed.
“So I delved deeper into the sword. The mightiest form under heaven. That was this old man’s dream.”
“The mightiest… you say?”
Dokgo Cheon nodded.
“No matter what martial arts or energy the opponent has cultivated, even if it were not Dokgo Cheon but someone else who achieved mastery, they would not suffer defeat—an invincible sword technique. That was the sword form you just experienced.”
“Is that… even possible?”
How many martial arts exist in this world, and how many people practice them?
“It is possible.”
Dokgo Cheon’s eyes gleamed.
“Humans. In the end, it is humans who execute martial arts, so I sought to break down not the martial arts themselves, but humanity itself.”
A cold, blue light flashed across Dokgo Cheon’s pupils.
His eyes burned with something closer to madness and obsession than passion or ambition.
“All human movement ultimately originates from the bones and muscles. As long as we inhabit this human form, there are limits to the range of motion our skeletal structure allows. No matter how flexible one becomes, the neck cannot rotate a full circle, and the arms and knees cannot bend in reverse directions.”
“….”
“In the end, human movement has defined boundaries. That is what I am saying.”
Dokgo Myeong spoke with slight bewilderment.
“Forgive me, but isn’t that an oversimplification? There are countless variations in technique. Especially if we speak of martial masters who have reached enlightenment….”
“What if one could encompass all those variations? What if I could condense into the tip of this single blade a principle that pierces through ten thousand martial arts?”
Dokgo Myeong’s eyes wavered.
The convergence of all paths into one.
Dokgo Cheon was now discussing that illusory realm of mastery.
‘What is this….’
To create an absolute sword technique that transcended matchups, conditions, and all such variables would ultimately require ascending to the realm of the Martial God.
But then, what meaning would martial arts themselves hold? When one had already reached the stage of invincibility?
Could such a sword technique even exist?
At that moment, Dokgo Cheon let slip a single remark.
“Does it seem absurd to you as well?”
He stared directly at Dokgo Myeong with an intense, piercing gaze.
“Does my rambling sound like the delusion of a foolish old man, a dream too grand to be real?”
“….”
Dokgo Myeong gazed back at Dokgo Cheon quietly.
For the first time.
I felt as though I had glimpsed a vulnerable side of this great and formidable man.
Even as the patriarch of the greatest family under heaven and one of the Three Supreme Martial Experts, he remained, before all else, a human clinging to something.
‘I must choose my words carefully here.’
A solemn determination crossed Dokgo Myeong’s face.
I ran my tongue across my parched lips and spoke with genuine sincerity.
“Honestly, I have learned much.”
“….”
“Your perspective on martial arts, your resolve as patriarch, your determination… If I simply refine what I have learned today, I believe I can ascend another level.”
Every word Dokgo Cheon uttered was precious instruction. Both his vision and perspective held value worth more than gold.
“But well… it is somewhat absurd to say this.”
“….”
“After all, even the patriarch has continued to fail.”
“…Yes, I understand what you are saying.”
Dokgo Cheon nodded with clouded eyes.
Then Dokgo Myeong continued with a slight smirk.
“But surely, one day it will be achieved, will it not?”
“Hmm?”
“Since our patriarch, who wields the sword best in all the world, continues to pursue it, surely one day you will succeed.”
Dokgo Cheon’s eyes widened in surprise.
“What?”
“Who in this world could possibly say it cannot be done? If they want to object, they should come with their own Geom-jon seal. I’m not at that level yet.”
Dokgo Myeong grinned wickedly.
A moment of silence.
Dokgo Cheon, apparently not expecting such an answer, let out several hollow laughs before finally bursting into genuine laughter.
“You speak no falsehood. If this Dokgo Cheon has decided to do it, who under heaven could dare add their own commentary?”
Dokgo Cheon’s eyes gleamed as he gazed upon the Yeokrin, still unsheathed.
The beloved sword that had accompanied him his entire life glinted in the sunlight.
‘Have I grown weak with age? Here I am asking such questions of a distant grandson.’
With such a state of mind, nothing could have succeeded anyway.
The supreme martial arts under heaven.
The greatest throughout history, the foremost left stance in all the world.
To challenge that legacy—how could it ever be easy?
In that journey, no one’s trust was necessary. Was not the martial way simply to believe in oneself and walk forward?
Moreover….
‘Instinct and sensation.’
Dokgo Cheon grasped a realm he had never before contemplated.
One might dream of the supreme technique under heaven, but ultimately any form with structure could be countered by another form targeting it.
What if there were no form?
If one advanced toward something new….
“I called you to impart teachings, yet it seems I too have glimpsed the path.”
This was the koan given to Dokgo Cheon.
Traces of countless years and supreme enlightenment began to manifest in his eyes.
And it was not only Dokgo Cheon.
“I too have learned greatly, Sect Leader.”
Within Dokgo Myeong’s meaningful gaze burned an intense awakening.
‘I shouldn’t blame only the younger ones for falling into complacency. I’m the same. Form, fundamentals… the Sect Leader mentioned it before—my long-standing weakness. The Sect Leader’s advice was similar.’
He had been turning away because he had no desire to learn other martial arts.
But thinking about it now, there was no need to avoid it.
‘Very well. Let me delve into the Eight Divine Techniques. Perhaps that will elevate Cheonoe Gyeong to a higher level.’
A new path to greater strength.
Then Dokgo Cheon spoke.
“I have given you all there is to teach. You already know the path you must walk yourself. Is that not so?”
“Yes, it is. I intend to learn the Eight Divine Techniques.”
“A wise decision. Will you go to the Ancestral Tomb immediately?”
Dokgo Myeong asked carefully.
“May I ask what lies in that place?”
“The reason our Main Sect’s symbol is the black dragon lies within it.”
“…Pardon?”
What kind of cryptic remark was that?
When I looked bewildered, Dokgo Cheon burst into laughter and opened his mouth.
“That place gave me considerable trouble to access. Not only did I have to employ those disagreeable sorcerers from the Jwa-do Bangmun, but I even had to invoke this old man’s reverse scale. It’s such a perilous location, you see.”
“Are you referring to that tomb where our ancestors are buried?”
“Hmm?”
“Why does it sound to my ears like some cursed demonic realm where entering would spell disaster?”
I asked with a troubled expression, and Dokgo Cheon let out a derisive snort before speaking.
“Well, yes. I did say you knew nothing of it.”
“…?”
“Once you step inside, all manner of demons and toxins, rare herbs and spiritual plants, fierce beasts and wild creatures will greet you. It would not be wrong to call it a cursed demonic realm.”
“What? What do you mean? What’s in there?”
“If you pass the trial successfully, you’ll gain considerable benefits. There’s no better place than that to refine your body, sharpen your senses, and cultivate your inner energy.”
“What trial? And if it’s so beneficial, why haven’t you been using it all this time?”
Dokgo Cheon narrowed his brow.
“How remarkable that such words escape your lips—using the burial ground of our family ancestors? And such a dangerous place at that?”
No, why would the family bury their ancestors in such a perilous land in the first place?
Cold sweat began to form, so I cautiously asked.
“I ask just in case, but would you be willing to tell me a bit more?”
“Not a chance. Why would I call it a trial otherwise?”
“I suppose that’s true.”
“If fortune favors you, you may obtain a great opportunity.”
“And if fortune doesn’t favor me?”
“That would be unfortunate.”
Damn it, really.
Did I speak out of turn?
‘What kind of place could it be?’
I scratched my head and closed my mouth with a click.
If Geom-jon speaks of a place with such gravity, I’m actually curious now.
“Very well. I shall go and see for myself.”

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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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