Martial God of the Sun and Moon - Chapter 219

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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 219
Yongryeong Mountain, the ancestral tomb of the Dokgo Family.
A demonic realm guarded by the village of the Great Mountain clan, and the burial ground where Dokgo ancestors rested.
I had to venture into that demonic realm teeming with malevolent spirits.
‘If I rush in recklessly, I won’t even get to scream before I forfeit my life, will I?’
After resting in the village for several days and pondering the matter, I reached a conclusion.
‘Perhaps this could actually work in my favor.’
I leaned back in my chair, lost in thought.
This village beside the ancestral tomb was also saturated with spiritual energy, making inner energy cultivation remarkably efficient. So how much better would it be beyond the formation?
‘Moreover, it seems natural spiritual medicines are scattered everywhere inside. If I think about this differently… isn’t this an extraordinary opportunity?’
With fortune on my side, couldn’t I overcome the chronic shortage of inner energy that had always plagued me?
As a bonus, I might even gather spiritual medicines for the managers and the Cheonma Sect members who would join later.
‘Regardless, my tasks at the ancestral tomb are set.’
First was martial arts cultivation.
Second was finding spiritual medicines and accumulating inner energy.
And the third was some kind of trial at the Ancestral Tomb.
The real problem was the malevolent spirits that posed actual obstacles….
“High-grade malevolent spirits only reach this far… Wait, Myeong! You did hear that properly, right?”
“You’re the one who wanted to know, so I’m explaining it! Pay attention!”
Somehow, I found myself learning about the interior of the ancestral tomb from Hong Lu and Hong Ta, siblings. When I asked Dan-hu to teach me about the ancestral tomb, he assigned these two siblings as my instructors.
“Yeah, yeah, I heard it all. Why do these little things have such loud voices?”
I scratched my ear.
Hong Lu glared at me with suspicious eyes.
“Then tell me. What malevolent spirit was I just talking about?”
I opened my mouth immediately.
“A human-faced serpent, you said—a snake with blue fur and a human face.”
“Huh…? W-well, that’s right.”
Hong Lu’s eyes widened in surprise.
“So what did I say you should do if you encounter one?”
“What should I do? Beat it, obviously.”
“That’s right. You should run away….”
“First, you fight it.”
“…Excuse me?”
“Maybe I’ll try making some snake liquor. Spirit liquor made from a malevolent creature—that might be quite rare….”
Hong Ta’s jaw dropped, and Hong Lu asked in bewilderment.
“Y-you’re going to make liquor from a human-faced serpent?”
“You said human-faced serpents have no poison, didn’t you?”
“That’s not the issue! You’ll die doing that!”
“Have you tried?”
“Excuse me?”
“I haven’t tried it, so how would I know if it dies?”
“Ah, but still, it’s a creature of the supernatural….”
Hong Lu’s words caught in her throat as she stared blankly, her mouth opening and closing soundlessly.
Following Dan-hu’s footsteps, she too—destined to become the village’s shaman—had been taught that creatures of the supernatural must be avoided and fled from.
‘But snake liquor…?’
Hong Lu suddenly recalled the corpse of the human-faced creature preserved in that bottle and gasped in horror.
“Ugh! Anyway, this won’t do! Surely you didn’t ask about creatures of the supernatural just so you could fight them?”
Dokgo Myeong nodded.
“Creature of the supernatural or not, in the end it’s just some vicious and peculiar beast, right? Isn’t it?”
Dokgo Myeong continued, rotating his fist in circles.
“My fists work just fine on creatures of the supernatural, and whether it’s human or beast, one good punch settles everything.”
Dokgo Myeong grinned wickedly, his curved eyes gleaming with an eerie light.
The siblings’ jaws dropped open.
‘Aren’t all the ones that didn’t become docile simply dead?’
Then Dokgo Myeong lifted himself from the chair’s backrest and asked.
“Anyway, tell me about that dangerous one said to be at the very center now.”
Suddenly, Hong Ta’s voice rose sharply.
“That won’t do!”
“Whoa, you startled me!”
“Brother! You’re not planning to fight that one too, are you? That one really won’t do!”
As Dokgo Myeong stared at him with puzzled eyes, Hong Ta flinched and lowered his head deeply.
“Ah, that is… I’m, I’m sorry.”
The atmosphere had turned strange.
Dokgo Myeong narrowed his eyes.
‘There’s something behind this.’
When Dokgo Myeong glanced at Hong Lu, she gazed at Hong Ta with sorrowful eyes before speaking.
“There exists something called the Turtle-Headed Iron Serpent.”
An iron drake with a turtle’s head—the name alone was quite imposing.
“It’s a massive serpent living in the marshes around the Ancestral Tomb. Even when pierced by a master’s blade, it doesn’t leave a scratch, and I’ve heard its fangs spew such deadly venom that it can dissolve bone. Moreover, its body is large enough to swallow a tiger whole.”
Hong Lu exhaled deeply before continuing.
“Originally, it was the guardian spirit of Yongryeong Mountain and the village’s protector deity—a terrifying creature that gravely wounded that Divine Spirit and stole its place.”
“A Divine Spirit? Ah….”
Dokgo Myeong recalled the story Dan-hu had told him when he first arrived at the village.
“Our parents were also victims of that creature while trying to help the Divine Spirit. I know you’re strong, but if you encounter it, you absolutely must flee. Understood?”
“Hmm.”
Dokgo Myeong glanced briefly at Hong Ta.
The boy’s shoulders sagged heavily.
“Yes, I understand.”
At Dokgo Myeong’s words, Hong Lu visibly relaxed and placed a hand on her chest, while Hong Ta managed a bitter smile.
“But you know what.”
Dokgo Myeong casually broached the subject.
“Typically, don’t creatures that powerful like that yield inner cores?”
“Yes…?”
“No, I’m not saying I’m desperate for an inner core or anything, but isn’t it more of a… social convention? A set rule that when you gut those kinds of beasts, you get an inner core? Something like that?”
Hong Lu and Hong Ta raised their voices simultaneously.
“That’s not allowed! Why do you always think about eating the moment you say anything!”
“Please, no! Myeong!”
Leaving the flustered siblings behind, I sank into thought.
‘Ghost Beast Iron Web…’
* * *
After composing myself and learning adequately about the interior of the Ancestral Tomb.
Exactly one week had passed.
I stood at the entrance of the Ancestral Tomb, laden with bundles of supplies piled high.
“…You’re planning to take all of that with you?”
Dan-hu regarded me with a look of exasperation.
To exaggerate slightly, it was a bundle large enough for two people to fit inside.
“Ah, I can’t very well starve out there. I’m from a prestigious household, after all, so I have considerable needs.”
…True enough.
Though I hardly looked it, wasn’t I the young master of the Dokgo Family?
“But…”
Dan-hu’s eyes fell on a small jar protruding awkwardly from between the bundles, his expression turning skeptical.
“…Why liquor?”
“Well, whether it’s medicinal herbs or anything else, infused spirits always taste incomparably better than eating them plain.”
I made a light gesture with my hand, as if holding a wine cup, moving it up and down.
‘Infused spirits…?’
Dan-hu simply blinked, his expression bewildered.
Just then, Hong Lu and Hong Ta tugged at the sleeves of my robe.
“Myeong, are you really going to be alright?”
“Brother…”
Perhaps because we’d grown closer in the short time.
The two siblings had come to see me off all the way to the Three Gates, which most villagers wouldn’t even approach.
I chuckled softly and ruffled Hong Ta’s hair.
“Just a moment ago you were poking at me constantly, and now you’re worried?”
“I, I never did!”
Hong Lu, standing beside Hong Ta, also asked with concern.
“Is there really a reason you must enter the Ancestral Tomb?”
“I’m going to grow stronger.”
“You could grow stronger just by training here, without needing to go there.”
At Hong Lu’s worried objection, I let out a heavy sigh.
“Ugh, don’t I know it. Why am I crawling into that demonic realm with my own two feet? What a curse.”
Hong Ta hesitated before adding his words.
“If you don’t want to go in, then just don’t go, right?”
“Living in this world, I’ve learned that nothing comes free.”
“Pardon?”
“To get what I want quickly, I have to do the thing I least want to do.”
Hong Ta’s eyes trembled faintly as he pondered those words for a moment.
“Why are you so determined to become that strong?”
“Because there are far too many bastards in this world who deserve a beating.”
My eyes gleamed.
“There are so many wretches worse than creatures in this world. Fools who never imagined they’d get beaten in their entire lives. I live for the pleasure of pounding such things. That’s why I must grow stronger. Yes, far, far stronger.”
“….”
Hong Ta’s expression suggested he felt something profound.
I tapped the top of his head a few times and stepped forward.
Dan-hu was waiting for me in front of the Three Gates.
“Dokgo Myeong. If you don’t mind, might I ask one final favor?”
“A favor?”
“I would be grateful if you could hunt the creatures without overexerting yourself.”
“Why?”
“…So that damage from those escaping doesn’t occur, even if you reduce their numbers just a little, just a very little.”
At those words, I grinned widely.
“Ah, that’s not nearly enough.”
“Hmm?”
I strode forward to the Three Gates and spoke.
“I was already planning to wipe out their entire bloodline anyway.”
“What did you say?”
“Don’t worry and just wait. This time I’ll turn that iron serpent or whatever it is into a tonic and bring it back!”
“…?!”
“Let’s go! My spiritual elixir! My serpent liquor! My inner core!”
Whoosh!
Without looking back, I threw myself beyond the Three Gates.
* * *
Hong Lu, following behind Dan-hu, asked with a worried expression.
“Shouldn’t we stop him even now?”
Dan-hu shook his head.
“There’s no need.”
“Why? If he actually charges at the iron serpent like that…!”
“The Elder instructed me to leave him be.”
Hong Lu’s eyes widened in shock.
She blinked silently for a moment, then her eyes drooped at the corners.
“…Are all people from Zhongyuan like him?”
“At least, among the people of Zhongyuan I’ve seen, there’s no one like that. And….”
Dan-hu’s eyes gleamed.
“Dokgo Myeong is far stronger than we imagined. He is someone who carves his own path even in chaos where he cannot see even an inch ahead.”
“….”
At Dan-hu’s words, Hong Ta quietly clenched his fist. Then he gazed beyond the three gates.
Dokgo Myeong had vanished from sight in a brief moment.
‘…How magnificent.’
To risk danger in order to grow stronger.
Hong Ta had never lived that way before.
He had never even sworn vengeance against the Iron Web, the enemy that devoured his parents.
‘Was that why Mother and Father…?’
The image of his parents fighting the Ghost Beast Iron Web alongside the Divine Spirit to protect the village came to mind.
Over that image, Dokgo Myeong’s figure overlapped.
‘Indeed, how magnificent.’
Would he feel no fear? Would he have no regrets?
No, that couldn’t be.
That magnificent brother surely advances along his path without a shred of doubt.
* * *
“Damn. Should I turn back?”
Far from being without doubt, Dokgo Myeong swallowed dryly with eyes full of hesitation.
I was astounded.
Not as a figure of speech, but truly astounded.
‘What is this?’
I’m not even circulating my inner force—just breathing—yet my dantian feels like it’s filling up.
The problem is.
Uuuuuuuung!
‘…Isn’t this a bit much? External qi is pouring in even though I have no intention of filling my inner force.’
It feels like walking through water that’s risen to my neck. Excess truly knows no bounds.
If I don’t keep my mind sharp, I feel like I’ll fall into demonic cultivation. No, it’s not an exaggeration—one wrong move and I really will fall into it.
“Ughhhh…!”
Dokgo Myeong groaned, yet he had to continue circulating his inner force.
‘Actually, it’s good. Actually… damn, it is good, right?’
Yes, let’s think of it positively.
Beyond the aspect of increasing inner force, simply living in this environment will refine the sophistication of my inner force circulation.
‘Until now, I’ve only focused on the purity and output of my inner force. Honestly, my study of qi cultivation itself has lagged far behind.’
Don’t the skilled masters elegantly shoot wind palms and energy palms, displaying realms like grasping objects from the void and leaving no trace?
Dokgo Myeong was terrible at these kinds of delicate techniques that required refined control.
“But not anymore.”
Dokgo Myeong’s eyes flashed with determination.
Even when training external force, one must continuously increase the burden placed on the body.
Conversely, this was a place where my martial energy reserves grew without end.
Through breathing, cultivation, and combat alone, I could fill the gaps in what I lacked.
Of course, before that….
“Grrrrrowl.”
I let out a low chuckle.
“First, I need to survive here.”
Surviving the Ancestral Tomb—that was where it all began.

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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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