Martial God of the Sun and Moon - Chapter 223

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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 223
“You should hurry down as well.”
“No! We want to stay here!”
“That’s right!”
In the chaotic village, Village Chief Dan-hu met the gaze of the two siblings.
“Listen to me. Why are you being like this?”
“But all the other adults are staying. How can you ask us to flee?”
“That’s right. We’re meant to become the next village chiefs someday.”
Hong Lu answered calmly, and Hong Ta added with a firm voice.
“No, those remaining here are only those who’ve trained in martial arts. Everyone else is leaving. Why would you two stay?”
“But you said we need to become the next village chiefs!”
Dan-hu shook his head.
“I had to conduct the funerals of two dear friends with my own hands. Now you want me to conduct the funerals of their children as well?”
“That is… well…”
Dan-hu wiped his weary face with a dry hand.
The village was in turmoil.
Those trained in martial arts held weapons and evacuated people, while those with shamanic tools and talismans wandered about chanting strange incantations.
“We don’t know what will happen or how. The Elder commanded you to flee quickly as well. So go.”
“But they’re the enemies of our parents, as you said.”
Hong Ta spoke hesitantly.
“At the very least, let us serve the adults by bringing them food and water. If I flee and survive, but something goes wrong with the village… I would have to live in shame for the rest of my life.”
At Hong Ta’s words, Dan-hu’s eyes widened.
How had that small child come to speak such words?
It was both admirable and sorrowful.
But some things simply could not be.
He had to tell them to go down.
“Sigh…”
His lips would not easily part. He squeezed his eyes shut, then opened them and spoke.
“You must obey my words unconditionally. Whatever they may be. Do you promise?”
“Yes!”
Hong Lu and Hong Ta cried out with bright faces.
Dan-hu exhaled a long breath and turned his body. The siblings followed behind him and asked.
“But what exactly is happening?”
“What do you mean?”
“The Gwisucheolmang.”
A creature possessing damp and sinister energy is called a demonic creature.
Yet that was merely a human standard. Just as mystical beasts carried auspicious energy within them, these were merely creatures that had accumulated such energy in their bodies.
Hong Ta asked in a trembling voice.
“Could this… be happening because of Myeong-i?”
Dan-hu shook his head.
“I may have influenced events, but even without my interference, this would have happened eventually.”
“Then what exactly is it? Of course, we learned that Gwisucheolmang is an unusual entity, but… we were never taught it would disturb the sacred mountain to this extent.”
“That’s right. No demonic creature behaves like this.”
Hong Lu spoke with a bewildered expression.
Her words were not wrong. If demonic creatures were ultimately beasts, that is.
How could a mere beast wither a valley, scatter poison, and create demonic creatures?
No beast would ever do such things.
Throughout history, only one type of being beneath heaven had ever done such things.
“…I truly do not understand anymore.”
Dan-hu exhaled another sigh.
“From the beginning, Gwisucheolmang was not an entity that should be called a calamity deity. Even when I was young, that was the case.”
“Pardon?”
“Perhaps something went wrong from the day your parents passed away, the very day Gwisucheolmang suddenly tried to cross the barrier.”
“What do you mean by that?”
“Gwisucheolmang was originally an entity that dwelled in the ancient tomb.”
Hong Lu and Hong Ta’s eyes widened in shock.
This was a secret history they had never known.
“The Divine Spirit Geum-ye was also such an entity. There were nine beings that possessed the same vital essence. There was no reason for Gwisucheolmang to devour its own siblings, yet…”
That was when it happened.
Whoooosh!
The trees of the sacred mountain shook ominously.
“Ah, ah! Look there!”
Hong Ta cried out in alarm.
Halfway up the mountain.
Trees began crashing down as something stirred to life.
“It has finally begun.”
Dan-hu murmured while gazing at the ominously undulating slopes of Yongryeong Mountain.
* * *
Whoooosh!
Dokgo Myeong staggered once from the rushing wind before steadying himself.
‘It was not merely wind that blew.’
Hisssss!
The mountain wind carried a rough and turbulent energy within it.
It was no different from a qi blade. Like a formidable master exhaling qi infused with intent, an enormously murky and acrid energy flew toward me like a hidden weapon.
“They say snake liquor kills you if you drink it wrong, but… this will kill me before I even get a chance to drink it.”
Dokgo Myeong muttered nonsensically while surveying his surroundings.
Crunch! Crackle!
The sensation of stepping on the ground felt unpleasant.
Some areas were withered and brittle, while others were so waterlogged that my feet sank deep with each step.
A path as if death itself had taken form and begun to move.
Near the furrows carved by the Gwisucheolmang’s passage, everything lay twisted and warped.
Grass and trees had withered completely, drained of vitality, while lifeless stone and soil roiled with noxious vapors. The very earth had become a place that even Demonic Creatures feared to approach.
“At this point, calling it an imoogi seems insufficient—wouldn’t calling it a dragon be more fitting? Could the black dragon the Sect Leader mentioned actually be that creature…?”
“Krung!”
Before Dokgo Myeong could finish speaking, the Mystical Beast growled menacingly, its tusks quivering as if dismissing his words as absurd.
Dokgo Myeong clicked his tongue in irritation.
“So does it understand human speech or not?”
Dokgo Myeong glanced at the Mystical Beast, then turned his gaze forward with renewed seriousness.
‘It’s not moving in a straight descent.’
If it were, we would have already left the mountain.
Instead of heading directly toward the Samun—the boundary between the mountain and the village—the creature was tearing through various parts of the mountain.
‘It intends to completely corrupt the mountain’s vital essence.’
Beyond targeting the water sources scattered throughout the mountain, it was systematically contaminating every crucial location—gorges, marshes, forests.
The malice was unmistakable.
This was no mere Demonic Creature; it warranted classification as a Demon Beast.
‘Damn my luck. I came here to cultivate, and somehow I’ve ended up facing such a monstrosity.’
It was at that moment.
Crash! Boom!
A deafening roar accompanied a violent tremor from somewhere—as if trees were being felled en masse.
Dokgo Myeong’s expression hardened instantly.
Dokgo Myeong signaled the Mystical Beast with his eyes.
“Let’s move faster now.”
“Krrrrung.”
The Mystical Beast gazed at Dokgo Myeong with clear eyes.
Eyes that seemed to ask: are you confident?
Dokgo Myeong’s lips curved upward.
“I’m more formidable than I appear. I’ve never lost to anything with a mouth, not once.”
And above all.
“There’s something I really want to ask that creature.”
Boom!
Dokgo Myeong and the Mystical Beast kicked off the ground simultaneously.
Now I was beginning to understand what these beasts on this mountain truly were.
The Saheon Sect Leader often imposed copying obscure texts as punishment. Surely he had hoped his son wouldn’t become a fool who only knew how to fight.
And our thoughtful Sect Leader, considerate in his own way, would intersperse fascinating books among the difficult ones.
The Classic of Mountains and Seas, the Mountain and Water Classic, the Records of Things…
All manner of strange mythologies, bizarre creatures, and imaginary lands recorded in these rare and curious texts.
Perhaps.
It was merely speculation, but the Sect Leader must have had some reason for including such books.
“Krrrrung…”
Dokgo Myeong gazed at the Mystical Beast’s profile, its golden fur rippling in the wind.
Having come this far, I could recall a story about nine brothers that had been written in those records.
The Nine Sons of the Dragon.
It was said that the dragon had nine children.
The eighth among them was called Geum-ye, or alternatively San-ye.
A mystical beast with the visage of a lion and the body of a tiger, wise and discerning between good and evil, capable of warding off calamity.
‘Could this mystical beast truly be an existence from that fanciful book?’
Then what about that serpent?
Whoosh! Whoooosh!
As the wind swept across my entire body, I spoke to the mystical beast—no, to Geum-ye.
“My name is Dokgo Myeong.”
Geum-ye glanced at me briefly, then let out a low cry.
“Grrrrr….”
Living this long, I’ve even exchanged names with beasts.
I couldn’t help but grow somewhat sentimental. The battle with that monstrous water serpent was now just around the corner.
Boom!
Dokgo Myeong and Geum-ye landed with an explosion.
My eyes gleamed sharply.
‘The trail ends here.’
Deep within the mountain, a vast flat land.
No, looking more carefully, it wasn’t flat land at all. It was a withered, twisted swampland.
‘Could this be…?’
I swiveled my head about, surveying the surroundings.
In the distance, a massive grayish-white structure carved from the cliff face of the mountain came into view.
The ancestral tomb of the Dokgo Family.
It was a space with the test grounds said to exist right before my eyes.
‘Now is not the time to focus on that….’
I spread my energy perception in all directions.
‘His energy is everywhere. I can’t pinpoint his location?’
I turned back to Geum-ye.
“Our mystical beast friend, do you know where he is….”
Then, a chilling sound echoed out.
Slither.
Perhaps because all existence held its breath in silence, my heartbeat rang out unusually loud against my eardrums.
“Grrrrr….”
Even Geum-ye, who had been growling with dignity throughout, now rumbled low with tension.
I slowly turned my head.
“Sssssss….”
A strange cry like air escaping.
As if it had been waiting, something massive and elongated began to emerge slowly.
Flash!
What I saw first was the head.
Two horns jutted from the forehead of a skull that resembled a wolf or perhaps a tortoise.
Next came the body.
Long and thick.
A body far more massive than Dokgo Myeong’s own stretched endlessly into the distance.
‘This insane creature… it’s grown even larger…?’
Dokgo Myeong swallowed hard.
Now I understood why the character for iron was part of its name. The dark scales covering its entire body like armor were clearly dense and formidable.
Flash!
In that instant, its vertically-slit pupils locked directly onto Dokgo Myeong.
“…This is nothing like what I expected.”
Geum-ye’s fur, standing beside Dokgo Myeong, bristled upright.
Dokgo Myeong forced an awkward smile and spoke.
“Um, can you understand speech? Please, don’t do this. We’ll come back another time…”
Roooaaarrr!
Black light descended, and an explosion erupted.
Flung into the air alongside Geum-ye, Dokgo Myeong’s eyes blazed with intensity.
“Damn it, so that’s how it is! Fine then! You snake bastard, let’s have a proper fight!”
Whoosh!
Dokgo Myeong twisted his body mid-air.
Though the empty space couldn’t bear a true stance, whirlwind-like sword energy coiled around the blade’s edge.
The realm Dokgo Wi-hak had once casually mentioned.
The state where one could unleash blade force whenever desired—I had reached that level.
Dokgo Myeong clenched his teeth and brought the sword down.
And then.
Claaang!
“…?!”
Though Dokgo Myeong had swung the blade, the tremendous recoil sent him flying backward instead.
Throbbing pain in my grip.
Dokgo Myeong’s expression twisted sharply.
“Damn! I should’ve known…!”
Crash!
Dokgo Myeong, suspended in mid-air, was struck by the creature’s tail and driven straight into the ground.
“Ugh!”
A sharp cry escaped, and my insides felt twisted.
Toward the fallen Dokgo Myeong, the black shadow descended once more.
Roooaaarrr!
Fortunately, Geum-ye arrived just in time to save him.
“Grrrrrowl!”
Geum-ye seized Dokgo Myeong in her jaws and placed him on her back, then desperately kicked off the ground.
Boom! Boom! Crash!
I couldn’t regain my senses.
Dokgo Myeong felt blood trickling from his mouth as he rapidly assessed the situation.
‘A True Martial Master has pride—I won’t suffer internal injuries from a mere serpent’s strike.’
I had anticipated the blade wouldn’t pierce.
But the problem was that it didn’t simply stop—it bounced back.
The creature’s scales were hard enough, but this level of deflection was impossible unless it wore protective qi like martial artists did.
“Grrrrrowl!”
Boom! Crash!
The explosion sent my vision spinning wildly.
Forcing myself to focus, I gripped the golden mane tightly and spun around.
‘This is insane!’
Crash!
It was like a hurricane given form.
Simply charging forward with that massive body—yet the ground inverted, boulders shattered, and trees snapped.
That was the moment.
I caught an acrid stench brushing past my nose.
‘This is—!’
I couldn’t even perceive what was coming.
The instincts honed through countless bizarre threats in the Sacred Mountain were screaming warnings.
“Run!”
“…?”
“Just run! Upward! Flee far away! Quickly!”
Perhaps my urgency reached her.
Geum-ye crouched low and kicked off the ground.
Whoosh!
In that instant, the hem of the dragon-scale robe that had swept across the ground began darkening to a murky color.
‘Poison!’
A sickly blue aura, a putrid stench.
The vegetation near where the creature stood wilted and crumbled to dust.
Frustrated at not catching us, the beast had finally resorted to its grotesque technique.
‘Fleeing alone won’t give us any chance of victory.’
Three zhang.
A full three zhang radius was saturated with the creature’s venom.
‘Can I endure it?’
I can endure it.
I have the dragon-scale robe, the Saint Heaven Qi, and all the spiritual medicines I’ve consumed.
Then…
I stretched my hand toward the ground where the iron mesh lay and spoke.
“Throw it at the beast!”
“Grrrrrowl!”
Their gazes locked.
Geum-ye seized the hem of the Yongrinpo in her mouth as though she understood the words.
Then, with terrifying speed, she hurled it toward him.
“Boooooom!”
A deafening sound tore through the air.
The instant it struck the ground with devastating force.
“Craaaaaash!”
Dokgo Myeong used the impact of the strike as his pivot point.
Then, with a brilliant flash of white light, the Hwacheon Sword extended outward.
“Claaaang!”
Another metallic ring, similar to before.
But the result was different.
“Screeeech!”
For the first time, the Gwisucheolmang’s body bent sharply.
It wasn’t a cut—it was a strike.
Now that I had mastered countless techniques, this level of adaptation came easily.
“Ptooey!”
I spat blood onto the ground and slung my sword over my shoulder.
“Today I’m going to brew liquor from you, boil you into broth, simmer your bones for stock, and even carefully tan your hide—so prepare yourself, you bastard!”

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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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