Martial God of the Sun and Moon - Chapter 215

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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 215
Guangxi was once the land of the Yue Kingdom—the very same Yue from the saying “Wu and Yue in the same boat.”
A region where countless ethnic groups had mingled so densely it was once called the Hundred Yue, the southernmost reaches where the Ten Thousand Great Mountains stood felt like another world entirely to Dokgo Myeong, a man who had weathered every hardship. In Zhongyuan, merely crossing one city wall brought different dialects and cuisines; when entire peoples differed, what more could be said?
As a result….
“Me! One day! Lodging! Sleep, eat, and… no, anyway, that’s what I’m doing!”
Dokgo Myeong had to exert himself with gestures and hand movements just to communicate with the village elder.
“….”
The old man, chin propped on a long bench, fanned himself while speaking in an indifferent tone. Naturally, I couldn’t understand a single word.
‘This is driving me mad.’
Dokgo Myeong grimaced.
The language was incomprehensible—not merely a difficult dialect, but an entirely different tongue.
Grasping at straws, I attempted written communication, only to discover the characters the old man used were something masquerading as Chinese script.
‘I should have brought Seok-du along. He would’ve figured out a way somehow….’
That fellow Geum Seok-du somehow always found a method even when words failed.
Dokgo Myeong exhaled sharply and began deploying gestures infused with genuine sincerity and soul.
“Look here carefully! I have lots of money! Lots! Do you understand?”
The old man stared at Dokgo Myeong intently.
“Did you understand or not… Anyway! I’m giving money! Silver! This! Wait, you don’t use silver here? Ah, this isn’t imperial territory, is it? Then silk or salt! I’m giving these!”
“….”
“One day! Just one day! I’m leaving tomorrow anyway. Leaving! From here to there….”
The old man suddenly burst into cackling laughter. Then he muttered a few words with someone passing by before shaking his head firmly at Dokgo Myeong again.
Whatever it was, I could tell we weren’t getting through.
“Damn it… Then maybe this emblem! The Dokgo Household! The black dragon insignia! You don’t know this? This black worm!”
The old man narrowed his brows and examined the emblem carefully before tilting his head in confusion.
Dokgo Myeong grabbed his neck and squeezed his eyes shut.
‘Could it be another night sleeping rough?’
For days now since arriving in this region, I’d been sleeping outdoors.
Even when passing through cities, showing salt pouches or silver coins had worked reasonably well, but now that I’d ventured to the far south, even that stopped working.
‘Is there some local custom I’m missing?’
If there were blind bandits about, I’d twist their jaws off and rob them myself, but unfortunately this was such a remote backwater that even local ruffians were nowhere to be seen.
“Forget it.”
Dokgo Myeong sighed and bowed his head before leaving the village.
At the village entrance, the villagers tending the fields watched me with curious eyes. Some even approached playfully, laughing as they poked at the Qiankun Sword at my waist before running away—children being children.
‘In Zhongyuan, this would’ve been unthinkable.’
Not that I should boast….
At first glance, I was no ordinary figure, and I carried a sword besides, yet not a soul showed the slightest fear. It wasn’t just here—every village I’d passed through had been the same.
‘Perhaps it’s not fearlessness but confidence.’
Dokgo Myeong turned his head smoothly to observe the villagers.
My eyes caught the grin of a mischievous child.
‘A child without cultivated inner energy, yet their breathing is deep and prolonged. The adults all possess peculiar martial foundations.’
There were far too many martial bones among them. I had heard that the people of Baek Yue were all strong-boned, but occasionally it was shocking enough to catch me off guard.
‘Moreover, that Village Elder hadn’t even learned martial arts, yet he was practicing inner energy breathing.’
I narrowed my eyes.
Countless mountain peaks stood silhouetted against the setting sun.
The reason was likely that.
“Is it because of the spiritual energy contained within the great mountains?”
I had seen all manner of mountain ranges across the realm, but never a place like this.
It was truly a mountain that could have a hundred thousand peaks. Countless mountains of varying heights rippled like waves across the land from one end to the other.
‘A sacred mountain. The energy it contains rivals the Five Sacred Peaks. Perhaps even surpasses them….’
As I activated the Red Heaven Technique, I felt my inner force accumulating rapidly. The energy was so pure that there was no need to filter it through the Hui Heaven Technique.
A mystical place where the energy of the southern lands merged with the energy of Zhongyuan.
I felt a novel sensation here that I had never experienced before.
Yet the sensation was brief, and the night was long.
In any case, I had to prepare for another night under the stars.
Settling by the river, I gathered branches to fashion a rough roof against the night dew and sat before a campfire.
“…Where exactly should I search to find it?”
I sighed deeply and rummaged through my bundle.
Soon the map Lee Seong-cheon had given me was in my hands.
“Hmm, I seem to have found my way correctly… Could I have misread the map?”
I had not yet visited the sacred tomb, which was the goal of this journey.
This was because I had failed to meet the guide who was supposed to lead me to the sacred mountain.
-There is a vassal family that has long maintained the sacred mountain. Or perhaps I should call them a clan. Only after meeting them will you be able to enter the region where the tomb lies.
-Wasn’t the location of the sacred mountain marked on this map?
-This map marks the dwelling of the guide. It is quite dangerous terrain, so please be careful.
“Ugh, perhaps I should explore the north tomorrow. Argh! Why does this place have so many mountains!”
I grumbled and flopped down on my back.
I had followed the map correctly, but with so many peaks, I kept losing my way.
Still, it seemed I was almost there….
“Sigh, I should focus on martial training.”
I clicked my tongue softly and sat in a cross-legged position.
Whooooooom!
A flow of inner energy different from that of the Heavenly Exterior Realm began to envelop me.
It was the Eight Great Divine Techniques of the Dokgo Household.
Since receiving instruction from Dokgo Cheon, I had set aside the Heavenly Exterior Realm and focused on studying the Eight Great Divine Techniques.
Not learning—studying.
From the moment I left the household until arriving here.
Whenever I had time, I immersed myself in the Eight Great Divine Techniques.
‘The Eight Great Divine Techniques. Truly a different path from the Heavenly Exterior Realm.’
Four inner energy cultivation methods and four sword techniques.
If the Heavenly Exterior Realm was the pinnacle of non-action, the Eight Great Divine Techniques were the pinnacle of action.
It was a meticulously designed orthodox martial art. With such techniques at their disposal, it made sense why the elders of the main household rarely showed openings.
‘This path differs from what I knew. Beyond the centuries of tradition in a prestigious clan, the Household Lord—a legendary swordsman—has woven his enlightenment into these teachings.’
Dokgo Myeong gathered these insights methodically, organizing them in his mind. What he had only sensed intuitively through the Heavenly Vision now crystallized into clear knowledge.
It was a strange experience. He was studying the Eight Divine Techniques, yet it was the Heavenly Vision that deepened his understanding.
Ssshhhhh!
At that moment, heat shimmer suddenly rose from Dokgo Myeong’s entire body.
….
Dokgo Myeong opened his eyes and gazed at the mountain landscape.
Beyond the boundary line, the moon rose and set, then the sun rose and set again.
In between, he would stand and wield the Qiankun Sword, then return to lotus position and sink into meditation.
Dokgo Myeong endlessly pursued the shadow of Dokgo Cheon. The Eight Divine Techniques resided in his breathing, his limbs, his every glance.
Moreover, upon reflection, he realized that Dokgo Cheon had not simply unleashed his martial arts to strike him down.
He had been teaching him. Not through words, but by inscribing the teachings directly into his senses.
So that when he looked back upon it later, he could make it his own.
‘In the end, sensation is….’
myself. The way I perceive and accept the world is sensation itself, and the correct method of perceiving it is sensory resonance.
Then there was no reason to avoid other martial arts.
As the saying goes, you see only what you know.
Learning something new allowed me to feel something new.
‘My sensory resonance has advanced to an even higher realm.’
I now perceived not the path of life or death, but the path of the martial way itself.
At last, Dokgo Myeong had clarified the true purpose of this training.
‘I must make this sensation completely my own.’
Immediately after this resolve, Dokgo Myeong slowly regained consciousness.
How long had he been like this? His mind awakened slowly, as if from deep sleep.
“Ugh, I’m starving. How many days have passed?”
Grrrrowwwl!
His stomach was practically screaming that he’d gone days without food.
Still, with a river ahead and mountains behind, finding food shouldn’t be difficult.
That was when it happened.
Boom! Rumble!
A sound reached his ears.
The noise of something exploding and collapsing.
“Kyaaahhh!”
Followed by a human scream.
Dokgo Myeong’s eyes flashed with alertness.
‘It’s far away. My sixth sense and energy perception have become sharper!’
A presence he couldn’t have detected before now came through with perfect clarity.
‘What is this?’
An unusual presence.
An aura that could never naturally emerge.
‘…Ghostly energy? Could it be?’
Dokgo Myeong’s eyes blazed like flames.
A sinister and treacherous force.
I was familiar with such an aura.
Boom!
Without even a moment to catch my breath, my form stretched out like a single line of light.
* * *
“Screech! Screech! Screeeeech!”
Among the Ten Thousand Great Mountains, there existed a place called Dragon Spirit Mountain, particularly treacherous and deep in its terrain.
Yet no matter how dangerous the mountain was, it was merely the backyard to the children of the remote village, so the boy fearlessly tore through the undergrowth.
“Huh? I heard a strange sound from over there?”
A young girl who appeared to be the boy’s sister cried out.
“Don’t go! The adults said not to go near anything that makes strange sounds!”
“Aw! It’s fine! Big animals don’t come down this far anyway!”
“Won’t you listen to your sister!? Didn’t you hear about the commotion that happened?”
“Sis! It’s fine!”
The boy advanced without hesitation toward the source of the noise.
‘What strange animal could it be this time?’
In a remote mountain village with little to do, the mountain was nothing but a playground.
“Screech! Screeech!”
As if possessed by something, the boy moved toward the creature’s cry.
“Ugh, that brat! Argh….”
The young girl, fidgeting and hopping in place, squeezed her eyes shut and chased after her brother.
“Hey! Where did you go! Come with your sister!”
“Hurry up, you slowpoke!”
“What? Slowpoke!? You want to die?”
The girl furrowed her brow and followed her brother’s voice from beyond the brush.
Before long, they were deep in the mountains. Her brother seemed just within reach yet always out of grasp.
“Sister… hurry up….”
Her brother’s voice came from just ahead.
The girl shouted sharply.
“Hey! How far are you going!?”
She pushed through the undergrowth and leaped forward, intending to catch her brother and report him to the village elders for a proper scolding.
But then….
“Screech, screech! Sister… hurry… you slowpoke!”
Her heart sank.
The girl froze in place.
“Hurry… hurry….”
It was not her brother.
A creature with long limbs like a monkey, draped in dark, dingy fur.
My younger brother’s voice was flowing from the mouth of that red-glowing entity.
That monster had bewitched a person.
“Sister!”
Just then, a boy caught up to his frozen sister from behind.
“Why did you come this way? I found that thing making that sound earlier… Aaah!”
The boy who had approached his sister’s side too late cried out in shock and fell flat on his back.
Flash!
‘Something’ turned its gaze.
The young girl, trembling violently, crouched down and pulled her brother to his feet.
“…R-Run!”
“Ugh, uaaaah!”
The moment her brother stood up, the young girl grabbed his hand and bolted away.
Crash!
At the creature’s gesture, a massive tree burst apart in an instant.
“Kyaaaah!”
The monster caught up to them in a flash, making the boy and girl’s desperate flight seem futile.
Boom!
When the young girl glanced back, she saw five grotesque fingers resembling a human hand right before her eyes.
The moment the young girl squeezed her eyes shut.
Crash!
Something burst through the leaves from the side and snatched their bodies.
“Aaah!”
“Uaaah! Let go! Release us!”
Suspended in midair, the boy and girl screamed and pounded their fists frantically against whatever held them.
“Ow! Ow! It hurts, you brats! I saved you and this is how you repay me?! Such ungrateful wretches!”
“Huh!”
“What?”
That something had spoken in human language.
It was immediately clear this was no mere mimicry.
“Y-You are…?”
The young girl cautiously opened her eyes.
Flutter!
What first came into view was the hem of a mysterious black robe.
Dokgo Myeong, the owner of the robe, flashed his eyes.
“I thought they were Twin Horse Alliance members… What on earth is that?”
That was when it happened.
“Kiiieeeek!”
The bizarre creature, spewing crimson energy from its mouth, lunged at Dokgo Myeong.

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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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