Martial God of the Sun and Moon - Chapter 235

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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 235
“How did you figure it out?”
The Old Man’s eyes gleamed with interest.
I let out a derisive snort and fired back.
“There’s no one else who’d come after me like this except Moyong or Jeongheol. Why wouldn’t I know?”
“Your tone is rather insolent.”
“If you want respect, go find someone else. I’m not the type to show courtesy to people trying to take my head.”
The Old Man’s expression hardened.
Regardless, I took another swig of wine without a care in the world.
They say the martial world is where you meet enemies on the road, assassins in your sleep, and rivals on narrow bridges—it’s all routine. But this? This was too much of a coincidence.
‘There were no traces of my movements, no tracks to follow. Yet here we are.’
This was different from before.
Back then, I deliberately exposed my whereabouts to draw enemies in. But on this journey through the martial world, didn’t my opponents lack even the opportunity to react?
‘Something felt off from the moment I entered this place. Turns out there really was a trap laid out.’
No matter how much I racked my brain, I couldn’t find the answer.
In times like these, I needed to use something other than my head.
I opened my mouth.
“I must admit, I’m a bit bewildered. How exactly did you manage to track me down?”
“That’s not something you need to know.”
“I’ve already dealt with most of the main family’s lackeys. Are there still people left? Did information leak from the Geumsan Pavilion?”
“….”
“You’re quite bashful, aren’t you? Remarkably taciturn, I must say. Though honestly, it doesn’t really matter.”
The Old Man let out a dry chuckle.
“So it was you who drove out the people at the inn?”
“Huh? Me?”
The Old Man grinned wickedly.
His gums were blackened, devoid of teeth.
I stared at that for a moment, then set a cup down before him.
“Will you have a drink?”
“Mm… I don’t mind.”
“Since you’re from the Moyong Family, I’ll offer you wine. If you were from the Jeongheol Sect, we’d be fighting to the death right now.”
Thud!
The Old Man froze.
He looked at me with a startled expression.
“You’re saying I’m from the Moyong Family?”
I grinned widely.
“You didn’t react when I mentioned lackeys just now. If you were from the Jeongheol Sect, you would have shown some kind of response.”
“Those people are trained well enough not to reveal such reactions.”
“See? You just said ‘those people,’ didn’t you?”
“….”
“The very fact that you’re questioning me like that proves you’re from the Moyong Family. Hehehehe.”
The old man, his face slightly creased, let out a soft chuckle before opening his mouth. His speech carried a slight whistling sound that grated on the ears.
“When did you first notice we were following you?”
“From the beginning.”
“….”
“I have excellent instincts. Especially when it comes to detecting hostile intent aimed at me—I’m almost supernatural at finding it. Though I didn’t realize it was the Moyong Family.”
Dokgo Myeong smiled wickedly and extended his wine cup.
The old man clinked cups with him but didn’t drink, setting it back down instead.
Dokgo Myeong observed this quietly, then chuckled softly and drained his cup in one gulp.
“So it’s merely intuition?”
“Well, if I’m being precise about it, no matter how hard I tried to make contact with the beggars, the connections kept falling through. As if everything had been swept clean. How did you predict I would come to Namchang?”
“That was….”
The old man started to answer but hesitated.
“It was so natural I almost gave you an honest reply.”
“I answered you sincerely, so you owe me an answer too. Aren’t you an elder of a great family? How did you track my movements? It must have been difficult to find me?”
When the matter of family honor was brought up, the old man had no choice but to answer.
The old man spoke.
“I’ve been following you since you left the family. Your trail went cold near Guangxi Province, but fortunately I spotted a merchant caravan coming from Guizhou and was able to pick up your trail again.”
“Since I left the family, you say. Now I’m beginning to understand.”
This meant he could have been followed the entire way.
‘There’s a limit to obsession. This old man gives me chills.’
How much time had he spent in the Ten Thousand Great Mountains, yet this geezer never gave up and kept pursuing him the whole while.
“After entering Hunan, I set my direction toward Jiangxi and cast a wide net. Fortunately, you came directly to Namchang where I was.”
“What if I had gone somewhere else?”
“I would have pursued you regardless.”
“Ah, now I remember.”
“Remember what?”
Dokgo Myeong clapped his hands with exaggerated enthusiasm, his eyes gleaming.
“Missing teeth here and there, blackened gums…. I’ve heard there’s a master among the top experts of the Moyong Family’s branch house called Blacktooth Poison Fist. The one ranked seventh or ninth in the official hierarchy, is that right?”
“It warms my heart that a promising junior recognizes me. Yes, I am Blacktooth Poison Fist. Though my ranking has fallen considerably. I’m only thirteenth now.”
“My, what happened?”
“Lately, many frightening new talents have appeared in the main family.”
He must be referring to those who had mastered blood cultivation techniques.
Indeed, those fellows were terrifying.
“Did you come to avenge the Qiankun Swordmaster?”
Dokgo Myeong gestured with his eyes toward the Qiankun Sword, which lay nearby.
Blacktooth Poison Fist let out a hollow laugh.
“I never liked that fellow. He was always putting on such airs of superiority. A hypocrite through and through.”
“True, he was a hypocrite. Still, he left in style.”
The two men chuckled together.
Blacktooth Poison Fist smiled faintly and spoke.
“It seems you know of me. Then do you also know my specialty?”
“The Poison Hand, they call it? Since the Dang Family has connections, I’ve heard that poison application and fist techniques are your forte.”
The smile vanished from Blacktooth Poison Fist’s face.
“Yet you drink so fearlessly before me?”
At first glance, an ordinary old man’s visage.
But the interior of his mouth, withered and decayed from cultivating poison arts, felt distinctly repulsive.
Blacktooth Poison Fist spoke in a voice like wind whistling through gaps.
“I laced the wine bottle with a delayed-acting poison long ago. You’re already poisoned.”
“Is that so? I don’t feel anything in particular.”
“Circulate your inner energy. If you’ve reached the level to capture Muyong Ji, your energy cultivation must have advanced considerably. You’ll notice soon enough.”
Dokgo Myeong chuckled softly and nodded dismissively.
Blacktooth Poison Fist found that insolent demeanor quite displeasing, but decided to interpret it merely as youthful audacity.
He continued speaking.
“If you understand, follow obediently. There is someone who wishes to see you. If the conversation goes well, I’ll even provide an antidote.”
….
“Don’t rashly elevate your inner energy. A formation array is already deployed in this place.”
Whoooosh!
A terrifying surge of presence pressed in from around the inn.
A tidal wave of ominous formation qi and poison aura.
The vicinity was already filled with enemies.
“Do you feel it? These are poison cultivators I’ve personally trained. If you don’t wish to die here, follow obediently.”
Creak!
Blacktooth Poison Fist rose from his seat.
Yet Dokgo Myeong remained seated, looking up at the old man.
“Poisoned, you say?”
“What?”
“I was wondering why the wine had such a sharp, tangy taste.”
Clink!
Dokgo Myeong lifted the wine bottle, still half full.
Blacktooth Poison Fist’s brow furrowed.
“Didn’t you understand my words? I clearly said I laced poison in the wine bottle….”
In that instant.
Glug, glug, glug!
“…?!”
Dokgo Myeong began drinking the wine straight from the bottle.
Blacktooth Poison Fist’s expression turned incredulous.
‘Is he mad? No, why does that bastard seem completely unaffected?’
It was merely a slow-acting poison, not something harmless. His nerves should dull immediately, and problems should arise with his energy circulation.
Yet there was no sign of that whatsoever.
The Unnamed Martial Artist drained the bottle in one breath, then wiped his mouth clean with a swift gesture.
“Kya! That’s outstanding!”
Whoosh!
Dokgo Myeong hurled the empty bottle over his shoulder.
Yet no sound of shattering glass reached their ears.
Psshhh!
Instead, a sound like scattering sand filled the air. The bottle was crumbling to dust mid-flight, dispersing like grains of sand on a beach.
“How…?”
Blacktooth Poison Fist stared at Dokgo Myeong with trembling eyes.
He had consumed poison without hesitation, yet this man had casually pulverized the bottle with his inner energy—without the slightest warning.
Dokgo Myeong laughed.
“How? That’s a strange question.”
“….”
“Your tricks don’t work on me.”
Silence descended.
Blacktooth Poison Fist said nothing more and made no rash movements. He merely breathed shallowly, as if trying to conceal his breathing, while fixing his gaze upon Dokgo Myeong.
The next instant, his wrinkled fingers twitched.
Boom!
Blacktooth Poison Fist erupted into motion like a thunderbolt.
His fingers shot toward the Qiankun Sword resting on the table—clearly aiming to seize it first.
It was an excellent strategy. Disarming a swordsman would reduce his combat effectiveness by a third before the battle even truly began.
But Dokgo Myeong had never intended to draw the Qiankun Sword.
‘This will be my first true combat test of the Heavenly Void Phantom Orb.’
Whirrrrrrr!
As my will touched it, the Heavenly Void Phantom Orb began to spin.
Whoosh!
Blacktooth Poison Fist felt a strange suction force, as if the surrounding air itself was being drawn inward.
“…?!”
The center of that suction was Dokgo Myeong. The torrential inner energy pouring from him possessed enough power to pull the very air around him.
“This bastard!”
The moment he cried out, an explosion erupted centered on Dokgo Myeong.
Kabooooooom!
* * *
In the past, I had no interest in inner energy harmonization techniques like Void Grasping, Leaf-Walking, or Pressure Palms—nor in the various methods that accompanied them.
No matter how much I practiced Void Grasping, it was always slower than closing distance with my body.
Leaf-Walking was the same. Why bother running across leaves when I could simply push off the ground?
Pressure Palms had merit as a variable, but fell short as a decisive technique. In the end, it was merely a supplementary skill.
That was all I believed.
‘But thinking about it differently—being able to perform such techniques meant my martial understanding and inner energy cultivation had reached that level.’
And now, having mastered all of it, I possessed the overwhelming martial power of a true peak master of the martial realm.
CRASH!
“Ugh!”
Unable to block my punch, Blacktooth Poison Fist smashed through the inn wall and went flying out onto the street.
“Cough! Hack!”
As Blacktooth Poison Fist tried to rise, he spewed blood uncontrollably.
‘What was that just now?’
It was merely a basic punch. Just a simple jab followed by a straightforward fist strike.
‘How could a mere punch shatter my protective technique and send me tumbling across the ground like this?’
He understood only too late.
It was a difference in inner power.
He couldn’t believe it.
Regardless of anything else, how could there be such an age gap between us, yet I’m being overwhelmed in inner power?
‘This brat’s inner power, and he’s not even a practitioner of the Nine Schools…!’
Blacktooth Poison Fist staggered to his feet.
‘I made a mistake trying to seize his sword. There’s no way I should lose to such a green youngster.’
Then.
Crunch, crunch.
Dokgo Myeong walked out, treading over the debris of the shattered inn wall.
Whoooosh!
Blacktooth Poison Fist’s eyes widened in disbelief. As his feet touched the ground, all the debris blocking the path was swept outward.
This wasn’t the result of reaching some transcendent realm. He was simply wielding overwhelming inner power.
‘At that age…’
Whoosh!
The endless outpouring of inner power made his dragon-scale robe flutter.
He’d heard his epithet was the Black Dragon Technique. He’d thought no reputation could be more undeserved, but now he saw it was truly fitting.
A being that released boundless vital energy as if commanding a tempest, his black long robe billowing.
Truly, wasn’t this a ferocious dragon descended upon the earth?
“You said your rank was higher than Moyong Ji?”
“…!”
“That doesn’t match what I’m seeing. Even accounting for bad matchups, this is pathetic.”
Dokgo Myeong laughed with ease.
“First.”
My eyes fell upon Blacktooth Poison Fist.
“I’ll know better after beating you some more.”
Blacktooth Poison Fist felt a chill run down his spine.
The next instant, Dokgo Myeong, who had been far away, appeared before his eyes.
Boom! Crash! Boom!
Blacktooth Poison Fist immediately burst the poison pouch hidden in his sleeve and released a palm strike.
It was useless. Though he’d inhaled the poison powder with his breathing technique, the man pressed forward with his fist as if completely unaffected.
BOOM!
A deafening explosion erupted.
It was the sound of the Blacktooth Poison Fist’s toxic power and force collapsing in an instant.
‘Wasn’t he supposed to be vulnerable to poison? They said his internal energy was inferior. But what kind of monster is this…!’
The intelligence was far too different from reality.
Didn’t they say there were gaps in his martial arts connections?
Far from having gaps, his movements were remarkably fluid.
Just a year ago, hadn’t he barely managed victory against Muyong Ji?
This couldn’t be right. The only explanation was that the main family had given him false information to eliminate him.
‘That bastard, at such a young age….’
Blacktooth Poison Fist’s eyes widened in shock.
‘Has he accumulated martial prowess rivaling the Five Clans?!’
Boom! Crash!
Blacktooth Poison Fist, tumbling ungracefully across the ground once more, shouted urgently.
“Cough! Hack! A-attack! Form the… form the formation!!”
With that desperate cry, Blacktooth Poison Fist leaped backward.
In the next moment, I sensed something flying toward me.
Whoooosh!
A barbed iron chain wrapped around my entire body.
Immediately after, something else flew through the air.
Fire bombs.
I hesitated for a moment.
‘Can I do this?’
The question suddenly arose in my mind.
The Heavenly Outer Shadow Elixir still poured forth internal energy like an endless ocean.
‘Yes, I can do this.’
I stamped my true position.
My palms immediately met the incoming fire bombs.
Boom! Crash!
The explosion engulfed the surroundings in thick smoke.
Blacktooth Poison Fist’s eyes gleamed as he sensed victory.
Whoosh!
But I burst through the black smoke in the next instant.
“Stop him! Block him! Deploy the formation and overwhelm him!”
The battle had begun.
One against many.
Yet my sense of fate did not whisper that this place held my death path.
‘I’ve grown stronger indeed.’
I had known it already, but experiencing it firsthand was something else entirely.
I clenched my fist, feeling the fruits of my seclusion.
* * *
Bunta Dan-du Hwang Yeol-sam’s mouth fell open in shock.
Thinking that Dokgo Myeong, who had been cooperating with headquarters, might have fallen into a trap, he had administered emergency treatment and rushed down to the village.
But what he encountered was not Dokgo Myeong caught in a trap.
‘Those bastards…!’
The Black-Robed Men who had swept away Namchang Bunta in half a day were scattered about like laundry everywhere.
Hastily tracing the signs of battle, at its end he found…
“Ugh! When am I supposed to clean all this up? Should’ve fought more carefully, I suppose?”
There was a young man grumbling as he tidied up the devastated street.
“What… what is that?”
“I… I have no idea, Dan-du.”
Just then, Dokgo Myeong spotted them and opened his eyes wide.
“Ah! You beggars finally show up! What took you so long? Get over here and help me clean this up!”
“Y-yes?”
“Ah, I thought my back was going to break cleaning this alone!”
Barely half a day—perhaps only an hour or two had passed.
In that time, Dokgo Myeong had completely demolished all of Moyong’s assassins and was now grumbling and shouting.

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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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