Martial God of the Sun and Moon - Chapter 242

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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 242
Baek Ok-gak’s office.
Dokgo Jo-hak and Son Tae-im were receiving a stranger.
“Hmm….”
“Mm?”
The two men stared at the person sitting across from them with peculiar eyes for quite some time.
Son Tae-im, who had the warmer disposition of the two, cleared his throat and opened his mouth.
“Ahem! So… you’re the person the young master said he would bring, correct?”
“Yes, that’s right.”
“A pleasure to meet you. I am Son Tae-im, Geumsan Sect Leader.”
“You’ve already introduced yourself.”
“Ah, that’s right? Hehe….”
The atmosphere was awkward beyond measure, as if because a new person had arrived.
Jo Ryang-ui observed them calmly.
My first impressions of Dokgo Jo-hak and Son Tae-im were, in a word, this:
‘A balding pig and a goat with a venomous-looking beard.’
I had already received a rough introduction from Dokgo Myeong.
Probably the people I would clash with most frequently going forward.
‘Geumsan Sect Leader Son Tae-im.’
Essentially the man who controlled Dokgo Myeong’s financial power, and the one who handled all manner of miscellaneous tasks and errands.
“So.”
Then, the goat-bearded one opened his mouth.
“Where did you come from, and what were you doing?”
Next was Baek Ok-gak, Dokgo Jo-hak.
‘Privately his uncle, and the one who oversees the faction within the clan,’ so I’d heard.
He had a difficult temperament, was treacherous, and possessed a venomous nature. Given his status, he would likely be the most troublesome person to deal with.
Jo Ryang-ui’s eyes brightened as I opened my mouth.
“I was working as an Overseer at a pleasure house in Jiangxi Province until the young master came and found me, so I followed him.”
“A pleasure house? An Overseer?”
Dokgo Jo-hak’s brow furrowed sharply, then he shook his head repeatedly.
“What was he thinking… tsk tsk!”
“….”
“Well, whatever else, your face certainly has character to it.”
At those words, Jo Ryang-ui nodded calmly.
‘Yes, this is the normal reaction.’
It was Dokgo Myeong and Dokgo Wi-hak who were strange. Most people reacted like that upon seeing me.
No, this level was actually favorable. They hadn’t openly grimaced or spewed curses, had they?
‘Besides, as a rolling stone that tumbled in, I was prepared for territorial resistance and power struggles.’
Then, Son Tae-im joked and spoke.
“Come now, Baek Ok-gak. Why must you speak that way? You’ll upset the person.”
“Geumsan Sect Leader, have I become too comfortable lately?”
“Pardon? W-why are you suddenly…? Still, haven’t things gotten a bit easier for us?”
“Do you want to die? How dare you compare yourself to Yong-hyeol.”
“…”
Son Tae-im pouted his lips.
Then, lowering his voice as if sharing a secret, he spoke to Jo Ryang-ui.
“Don’t take his words too seriously. He’s always been a bit… lacking in certain ways.”
“I’m fine, so please don’t worry about it.”
“Haha. Well, that’s a relief…”
“Baek Ok-gak also seems to have quite a distinctive personality, so how could he take offense? That too is a form of individuality, after all.”
A brief silence fell over the office.
“What, what did you just say?”
“Didn’t you hear me clearly?”
Hadn’t I lived my entire life on pride alone?
I had no intention of losing in a battle of wits like this.
‘Come at me. I’ve never lost a verbal sparring match with the ruffians of Gangseong Province.’
Just as Jo Ryang-ui waited for Dokgo Jo-hak’s response.
“Ahahaha!”
Laughter burst from Dokgo Jo-hak’s mouth.
“I like you! Finally, someone with real guts has arrived! Yes, we’ve been waiting for someone like you!”
Huh?
I didn’t expect this reaction?
“Well, he wouldn’t have brought someone incompetent! At least you show some promise, so that’s fortunate.”
“…Yes?”
“Tsk tsk! What was that fool thinking, bringing someone who isn’t even a martial artist? Myeong-i, that bastard… no, you must have had a hard time dealing with him. But you came anyway. You came.”
Ah, so that’s what he meant?
‘I thought he was looking down on me for being someone who rolled around in the gutters?’
Jo Ryang-ui was so flustered he could barely string words together.
Seeing him like that, Son Tae-im added hastily.
“If… if you ever have any difficulties, speak freely. Really! Truly, it’s fine!”
“Y-yes?”
“Do you like money? If your monthly stipend isn’t enough, I’ll add extra for you, so if anything doesn’t suit you, just say so! Just don’t run away! Please!”
What is this? What kind of atmosphere is this?
In this suddenly changed atmosphere, Dokgo Jo-hak asked with a smile spreading across his face.
“So, what can you do?”
“Y-yes?”
“I asked what you can do. You can handle arithmetic and writing, I assume? He must have brought you because you’re sharp-minded.”
Jo Ryang-ui replied with a somewhat bewildered expression.
“I’m more than merely competent. I achieved top honors in both the provincial and imperial examinations. I’m also proficient in various practical matters, so don’t worry.”
“What? You mean you passed as the top candidate?”
Son Tae-im started in surprise, his expression growing flustered.
“It was merely something from my childhood….”
“Childhood? How young were you?”
“I passed the provincial exam during my early studies, and the higher exam around my twenties….”
“Whoa! Top honors at such a tender age? Were you a prodigy?!”
“Well, I did hear such things said about me back then….”
“Just as I thought! You seemed like someone who’d excel at work!”
Jo Ryang-ui felt his shoulders rise without his own volition.
“No, it’s really not that impressive….”
“And so humble too!”
“Ahem! No, truly, it’s not like that.”
“And you conduct yourself so well in society!”
“Of course—unlike those bookworms, you’re someone who’s actually worked in the field!”
“Heh, huh….”
“You’ll pick up our work here in no time. A proper worker has finally arrived!”
“My expectations are high! Truly!”
“Huh, uh, hehe….”
Jo Ryang-ui found himself laughing foolishly, scratching the back of his head.
Watching him squirm about awkwardly, Dokgo Jo-hak and Son Tae-im exchanged a subtle glance.
‘That’s settled?’
‘It appears so.’
‘We’ve brought a proper person here—we mustn’t let him escape.’
‘Agreed.’
There was much work and few hands to do it.
Soon, matters outside the clan would pile up, so how could they not welcome someone to handle them?
Moreover, he wasn’t just anyone—he seemed like genuine talent.
‘What does his appearance matter?’
‘As long as he works well!’
In truth, neither Dokgo Jo-hak nor Son Tae-im had truly looked at Jo Ryang-ui’s face.
Their minds held but one thought.
They had to hold him fast.
Keep him from running away—absolutely firm!
“But where did that bastard go, just dumping a person here like that? I’m going to….”
“Ah, the Cheonma Sect Leader said he was going to spar.”
“Spar? When?”
“Around the time I arrived….”
Dokgo Jo-hak sprang to his feet and strode briskly to the window, flinging it open with a bang.
And then.
Boom—a tremendous explosion echoed from afar!
Seeing the billowing clouds of smoke rising in the distance as if a fire had broken out, his expression hardened instantly.
“Damn it. I knew this would happen.”
He turned to look at Son Tae-im.
They merely locked eyes, yet Son Tae-im understood immediately and let out a sigh as if the ground beneath him had collapsed.
“…Yes, I understand.”
“Do me a favor.”
“You didn’t smash everything to pieces, did you?”
“Who knows? First, call the workers, and contact the medical pavilion as well.”
Son Tae-im rose from his seat and trudged away.
Jo Ryang-ui asked in bewilderment.
“Where are you going all of a sudden?”
“To work. Do you want to watch the process? It’ll be your job soon enough.”
“What?”
So suddenly?
What kind of work is this?
“Ah! It seems you still don’t know the Young Master well.”
“…?”
“Wherever the Young Master goes, there is only destruction and groans. And he even had a martial bout? Whatever breaks will be utterly shattered. So we must prepare in advance. Come on, get up.”
Jo Ryang-ui rose to his feet, bewildered by Son Tae-im’s gesture.
“Let’s go. Time to work.”
* * *
“Uuuugh….”
“Ughhhh!”
The medical pavilion beds were filled with groans.
The Old Physician paused mid-acupuncture, lifting his head with a bewildered expression.
Young men battered and bruised lay sprawled across the row of beds.
“Am I…really alive?”
“Sister. Sister, I can see that mountain. The mountain where Father was….”
“Ye-hwa, snap out of it! That’s a hallucination!”
“Clan Leader. Why is the Clan Leader here? Get out.”
“Argh! My mouth won’t work! Stop!”
It was chaos.
The pavilion was always chaotic when patients were present, but this was a different kind of chaos altogether.
Then, the man extending his arm before the Old Physician spoke.
“Doctor, sir. Please, very gently, if you would. Understand? If I accidentally trigger a flame strike, well, you’re quite elderly. You trust me, don’t you?”
It was none other than Dokgo Myeong.
His whining was so severe that he kept his eyes shut tight, his head turned away.
“…Did you really have a martial bout? You weren’t attacked by enemies?”
Dokgo Myeong chuckled and replied.
“Just, well, it’s been a while since we met, so I was greeting him warmly.”
“If you greet him twice like that, you’ll kill someone.”
The Old Physician finished stitching the wound on my forearm and wrapped the bandage tightly.
“Ahhhhh!”
“Please hold still. The compression isn’t too tight, is it?”
“No! Blood is seeping through the bandage! Blood!”
“It’s normal for blood to flow briefly when the bandage is tightened.”
“Then don’t tighten it!”
“Without compression, the bleeding won’t stop. Bear with it a moment. Why do you insist on sparring with real blades anyway?”
“Then what else would we use for sparring?”
“…Ordinarily, people use wooden practice swords.”
“Bah, only those ignorant of the martial way do that.”
Dokgo Myeong’s bare torso was covered with scars in every corner.
The Old Physician shook his head as he observed them.
‘His body isn’t paper—it’s like a canvas painted with injuries.’
For martial artists, scars were perhaps inevitable, but this was excessive even by those standards.
Of course, the Old Physician had no way of knowing that many of these scars had reappeared after he’d undergone a complete rebirth that had erased them all.
Among them were still vivid bruises and blade marks—wounds from the sparring match just moments ago.
The Old Physician spoke as he wrapped bandages around the injured areas.
“That should do it. Your recovery is progressing even as I apply the acupuncture. Rest for just one day.”
“Ah, thank you.”
“Get plenty of rest. No one will disturb you in this room.”
The Old Physician bowed and withdrew.
I lay bare-chested with only bandages wrapped around me, a dragon-scale robe draped loosely over my shoulders, observing my companions groaning on their beds.
‘These bastards certainly didn’t slack off.’
They’d grown far too strong.
Dokgo Ak had reached enlightenment, and Namgung Sohwa seemed to have perfectly mastered the Nameless Sword and the Boundless Spear Technique.
Ye-hwa’s essence, energy, and spirit had achieved perfect harmony, displaying the cultivation of a true master, while Cheolmu-baek had finally begun employing genuine martial techniques.
And Geum Seok-du’s movement technique had become something even I found slightly challenging to handle.
‘Looking at just the movement technique, but in truth, what he learned from Cheon I-gak would be an even greater asset.’
Even as an associate of the Dragon Blood, or rather precisely because of it, accessing information from Cheon I-gak must have been extraordinarily difficult.
But to go beyond merely accessing information and actually recruit a person—what could that possibly mean?
It meant he’d earned considerable recognition within Cheon I-gak in just half a year.
‘Among these five, the one who’s grown the most is undoubtedly….’
My eyes gleamed.
‘Dokgo Ak. That bastard.’
My gaze turned to the bandaged forearm.
This wound came from Dokgo Ak.
He’d pierced through the protective technique of the Ascension Heaven Art—one that even drew upon the Heavenly Outer Shadow Formation.
Though the other four had helped, his attack honestly gave me chills.
‘These bastards have grown strong enough to leave scars on my body.’
A hollow laugh escaped me without thinking.
Not just Dokgo Ak, but all of them landed their strikes properly.
To be honest, if Namgung Sohwa had deployed her killing technique, Ye-hwa had drawn her blade, and Geum Seok-du had even used dark weapons or iron nets….
‘I’m not entirely sure. It might have been a bit dangerous?’
Well, if it had turned into such a brawl, he wouldn’t have held back either.
It simply meant these people had grown that much stronger.
Dokgo Myeong, who had been smiling with satisfaction, suddenly bellowed.
“Come on! Everyone up!”
“….”
“Look at these guys?”
The managers who had been sprawled out struggled to their feet with groans.
“Ugh, what a voice….”
“Nnngh!”
Dokgo Myeong nodded.
“Have you all rested enough?”
“Hey! We just finished treatment! Just now!”
Dokgo Ak shouted, even forgetting to address his brother respectfully.
“So you haven’t rested? Should I let you rest more?”
“…No, that’s not what I meant.”
Dokgo Myeong observed the five managers groaning like defeated soldiers.
All five of them, pretending otherwise, swallowed hard and waited for Dokgo Myeong to speak.
And then, Dokgo Myeong nodded several times.
“I acknowledge it.”
“…?”
“You’ve worked hard. Honestly, I didn’t expect you to grow this much.”
The managers’ eyes widened in shock.
Namgung Sohwa cried out.
“Are you hurt somewhere! Does it hurt? Why are you doing something you don’t normally do? Did something happen during your closed-door training?”
“Physician! Call the physician! Physiciaaan!”
“Eyes! Let’s check your eyes! Isn’t something reversed?”
Dokgo Myeong smiled contentedly.
‘Ah, now these are our Cheonma Sect Members.’
Should I just give each of them one punch?
The thought crossed his mind briefly, but he suppressed it with superhuman patience.
“Enough! Get out of the way, you pests!”
Boom!
Dokgo Myeong stamped his foot and his eyes gleamed.
“I said I acknowledge you, that I’m impressed! I never said you were strong enough!”
“…Ah, yes, of course.”
The managers nodded with expressions that said ‘Well, that makes sense.’
And watching their reaction, Dokgo Myeong smiled meaningfully.
“That’s why I brought gifts.”
“Pardon?”
“Has anyone here ever taken an elixir before?”
The managers’ eyes widened in astonishment.

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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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