Martial God of the Sun and Moon - Chapter 252

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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 252
Clang! Clang! Clang! Clang!
If I had to count the exchanges, we’d gone through about five rounds.
“Cough! How in the world….”
The Secheon General, who had charged forward without even glancing back, was reduced to a mangled mess in precisely half a round, his neck now gripped firmly in Dokgo Myeong’s hand.
“You’re not even a disciple, yet you know how to counter Secheon’s techniques? How is that possible?”
“All the disciples I captured told me everything.”
“Nonsense… They would sooner take their own lives than leak information about our martial arts.”
The Secheon General spat blood, his expression one of panic.
‘…It wasn’t a matter of martial skill level or internal energy difference.’
He’d been countered.
The flow of true energy, the sequence of breathing, where to place his feet, even the technique for generating momentum—
Dokgo Myeong had grasped every detail of how he would move and struck at his weaknesses with devastating precision.
‘If it’s come to this….’
A flash of determination crossed the Secheon General’s eyes.
But his opponent was Dokgo Myeong.
“Oh, where do you think you’re going with that hidden technique?”
“Gahhhhk!”
Whoooosh!
Dokgo Myeong drove his internal force into the Secheon General’s neck.
A combination of the Crimson Heaven and Radiant Heaven techniques.
Having suppressed the man’s dantian in a single breath, Dokgo Myeong let out a cold laugh.
“I’ll keep you alive for now—I have questions.”
“What do you….”
“Just rest for a moment.”
Thud!
The Secheon General went limp.
“Phew, is that the end of it?”
I caught my breath.
Looking at the collapsed Secheon General, I clicked my tongue.
“Now we’ve got a stubborn middle-aged man lecturing us. Really, there’s no predicting anything anymore.”
Son Baek-chan had genuinely been uncertain until the very end.
In fact, it was Jang Han-chung whom Dok Go Myeong had suspected. The man kept boasting that they had met at Deungyong-ji, even though it seemed like they had never seen each other before.
“…Still, I suppose I should be grateful for small mercies.”
A world where so much had changed.
I knew it was unlikely, but I’d worried—what if there was a general among those who had been part of the Cheonma Sect in my past life?
‘Right, they’re far too headstrong to become fanatics.’
In any case, it seemed there would be quite a bit of work ahead.
First, I’d need to return and conduct background checks on those captured or killed, and tomorrow morning I’d have to calm the reserve members who would surely be in an uproar.
‘A process of continued observation and filtering will be necessary as well.’
It seemed I would need considerable time before I could fully trust the Cheonma Sect.
Dokgo Myeong dragged the Secheon General down the mountain.
As he walked without hesitation, he suddenly gazed at the full moon hanging in the middle of the sky.
“What a bright and beautiful night. I’ve caught the rat, and my family has grown. This calls for a drink, yet….”
Dokgo Myeong exhaled a deep sigh and turned his gaze away.
“What do you think?”
“Drink.”
A clear voice rang out.
It came from higher up on the mountainside.
“I have never tasted it, so I cannot relate to that sentiment.”
An old man with hair white as snow stood with his back to the moon, gripping a staff in his hand.
* * *
“Grrrrrowl…!”
Hoa raised her fur and turned her head.
Ye-hwa had no hand to stroke Hoa. She was already wielding the Crimson Palace Bow, vigilant toward the front.
“How dare you….”
Anger swirled in Ye-hwa’s eyes.
Four men and women surrounded her.
“Do you truly believe you can walk away from this?”
This was the very front courtyard of the Dokgo Household.
While the Jeongheol Sect’s spies caught by Dokgo Myeong’s bait had rushed out, those who remained blocked Ye-hwa’s path.
“Descendant of Salgok. Do you think we fear for our lives?”
“How foolish. This world is but a fleeting dream, yet you cling to it so desperately….”
Ye-hwa did not bother to respond and instead used her mind. Just as Dokgo Myeong had done.
‘Why did these ones not react to the talisman? And why are they targeting me?’
Though she pondered, she could not discern the reason, but one thing was certain.
“Are you trying to pin me down right now?”
From Ye-hwa’s lowered body, a mist-like qi flowed forth, spreading silently with a subtle killing intent woven within.
“There is no need to fight.”
A burly woman who appeared to be the leader of the four stepped forward and spoke.
“When the time comes, we will end our own lives anyway.”
“If you say you will not fight, we will not need to act either. Simply remain bound here for a moment.”
“Silence.”
Twang!
Ye-hwa mercilessly drew the bowstring of the Four-Directional Bow.
“You diseased-mouthed wretches dare target us without fear?”
“Do you truly choose punishment?”
Ye-hwa laughed coldly.
“I will dispose of you four right now and go straight to find the commander.”
Whoooosh!
Ye-hwa drew her bowstring back with the speed of a swooping eagle and released it.
* * *
Dokgo Myeong examined the old man carefully.
When I thought about it, the situation was undeniably unsettling.
‘Encountering a sharp-eyed old man in a mountain valley in the dead of night is eerie enough….’
But if that old man was not some ordinary martial artist or villager, but rather a Magoon—the apex of the Jeongheol Sect—how much worse could it be?
‘This could turn into a very long night.’
Whoosh! Thud!
Dokgo Myeong set the Secheon General he’d been holding down onto the ground and took a step toward the old man.
“If you have something to say, come down. I don’t particularly enjoy looking up at people.”
“I’m afraid that won’t be possible.”
The old man shook his head firmly.
“You show up uninvited in the middle of the night without so much as a greeting. How discourteous.”
Dokgo Myeong furrowed his brow and took another step forward.
At that moment, the old man let out a soft chuckle.
“I’d suggest you stop narrowing the distance so slyly.”
“….”
“Given how aggressive you are, I can’t afford to let you get too close.”
I’d been caught.
Well, the old man’s level was far from ordinary enough to miss such a thing.
“Tsk.”
Dokgo Myeong clicked his tongue softly and recalled the old man’s name.
‘Jimeol Magoon.’
One of the Three Great Magoons, the apex of the Jeongheol Sect’s one hundred and eight generals.
The old man who held a position as one of the left and right Magoons alongside the Bloodfiend was none other than Jimeol Magoon.
“Delighted to meet you. I am Jimeol Divine General. I’ve only heard reports of you until now, and at last we meet. Do you have any idea how much trouble I went through to arrange this conversation?”
He spoke with a genuine smile, as if Dokgo Myeong were someone he truly welcomed.
With no intention of fighting, his perfectly controlled energy showed no trace of the Bloodfiend Sect’s characteristics.
“Conversation, you say. I don’t particularly dislike running my mouth either….”
Dokgo Myeong’s eyes gleamed as he surveyed his surroundings.
Whoooosh.
No bird songs or insect sounds reached my ears in the wind—only the faintest hint of human presence that tickled my senses.
“Do you call it a conversation when you surround me with drawn blades from all sides?”
Jimeol Magoon’s expression hardened ever so slightly.
‘He saw through it.’
Jimeol’s concealment technique ranks among the finest in the martial world.
It was not something that could be discerned merely through keen perception. The Jeongheol Sect’s martial arts extended not only into the realm of combat but also into the domain of heterodox methods.
‘What exactly is this man?’
I had heard the reports well enough.
He was not one to deny facts that had occurred. The contents were certainly difficult to believe, yet I believed them nonetheless.
But this transcends mere reports. How does someone in their mid-twenties possess such formidable abilities?
“…As rumored, your perception is extraordinary. I assembled only those most skilled at concealing their presence, yet here we are.”
Jimeol Magoon chuckled softly.
Dokgo Myeong nodded in acknowledgment.
“Cunning bastards, the lot of you. Was this one merely bait from the start?”
Dokgo Myeong stomped hard on Secheon General, who lay sprawled on the ground.
“Ugh!”
Even in unconsciousness, Secheon General felt the pain, his body convulsing with a pained groan.
Jimeol Magoon remained utterly indifferent to the sight.
“Indeed. He was bait.”
“You’d sacrifice a high-ranking general as bait? I’ve thoroughly damaged quite a few of your vital organs, you know.”
“That level of sacrifice seemed necessary to draw you out.”
“What if I hadn’t taken the bait?”
“That was never a possibility. Absolutely not.”
Jimeol Magoon shook his head with certainty.
“You would have attempted internal purification regardless. And you would have succeeded. I simply didn’t anticipate you’d begin the purge on the very first day.”
“Relying on an enemy—a strategy riddled with holes.”
“Riddled with holes? Haha.”
Jimeol Magoon savored the phrase, laughing as he repeated it.
“Unlike my Black Bloodfiend friend, I lack the capacity for calculated, meticulous planning… but I possess something instead: faith.”
“Faith? What do you mean?”
“Faith that you would succeed by any means necessary. Faith that you, who have repeatedly ensnared us in traps, would fall into this one. In short….”
Jimeol Magoon’s eyes gleamed.
“The true bait was your own ability itself.”
Dokgo Myeong’s expression hardened.
“So we’re even, then.”
Just as Dokgo Myeong had cast bait through their faith in him, they had wagered on his ability to threaten them.
‘Yes, I’ve felt it all along—things have been far too easy.’
No matter how well I understood their methods, these vicious creatures had yielded far too readily, almost suspiciously so.
And yet it persisted.
“Aren’t the leaders of an organization plotting to overthrow the Central Plains acting rather carelessly?”
“In truth, I had no intention of entering the martial world. I should have emerged much later.”
“Then why have you appeared so soon?”
“You’re the one asking me that?”
Dokgo Myeong’s eyes flashed with light.
‘What is this?’
Something felt amiss. There were gaps in the conversation that didn’t align.
“Much later… much later meaning when? Around the time Sae-oe’s subjugation is complete?”
Jimeol Magoon’s brow furrowed.
“Now I understand what my Black Bloodfiend friend endured. How exactly do you know of that?”
A single remark that could have easily been overlooked.
Dokgo Myeong did not miss that one word.
‘The Black Bloodfiend was defeated?’
Well, he was defeated, that much was true.
But the tone was peculiar. It was as if he were speaking of someone dead.
Dokgo Myeong did not let the blade of suspicion that rose in his mind grow dull—he drew it forth immediately.
“The Black Bloodfiend. That fool was always incompetent.”
At those provocative words, Jimeol Magoon’s expression hardened.
Dokgo Myeong continued calmly.
“Once any matter becomes tangled, it cannot be undone. Yet you foolishly tried to set it right again, and for that you suffered at my hands. I suppose that is the mark of you fanatics, is it not?”
“Perhaps you should cease your insults.”
“I cannot. Idiots deserve endless mockery. When I saw the Black Bloodfiend’s head severed, I became certain of how pathetic you all truly are.”
“His head severed?”
In that instant, Jimeol Magoon’s brow furrowed as he muttered—an involuntary, reflexive response that escaped any person.
And a moment later, Jimeol Magoon realized his mistake.
“…You have caught me.”
“Look at this. How can you call him incompetent after hearing this?”
“Then it was not you…?”
“I was too battered at the time to do anything but flee. Thanks to that, I learned something valuable.”
“….”
“But why did you believe he was defeated by us? Was he struck down by a third party?”
Dokgo Myeong suddenly had an inkling of who that third party might be.
But he had no intention of revealing everything to his enemy.
“And judging by how you’ve been unaware of the situation until now, it seems the Black Bloodfiend suffered injuries severe enough to impair communication. Yet even with the extraordinary recovery of Bloodfiend physiology, that would mean…”
Dokgo Myeong shook his head slowly.
“He cannot return in the near future. Now I understand why you appeared here. Have you come as his successor to finish his work? Have you abandoned the new territories, or has the Great General himself taken the field?”
Only then did Jimeol Magoon clamp his mouth shut.
He felt fear.
This was not a matter of mere mental acuity. He possessed a keen eye to perceive his opponent’s weaknesses, and he had seized control of the conversation’s flow to discern exactly what he wished.
“Our conversation ends here.”
Jimeol Magoon’s face became rigid as stone.
Dokgo Myeong smiled.
“I have enjoyed our pleasant exchange.”
“I had intended merely to confirm your face and depart, but it seems that will not be possible.”
A glint of murderous intent flashed in Jimeol Magoon’s eyes.
“By now, thunder pellets should be installed around the Cheonma Sect grounds. They were insurance for a smooth conversation, but now I shall use them as a tool of coercion.”
“….”
“Follow me obediently. Otherwise, I will detonate the thunder pellets at once and capture you by force.”
Boom, boom, boom, boom, boom!
The ground near where Jimeol Magoon stood began to tremble as if an earthquake had struck.
“Are you confident? This is the Dokgo Household’s front yard.”
Dokgo Myeong’s eyes gleamed with light.
Jimeol Magoon shook his head.
“Why do you think I prolonged this conversation?”
Soon, countless shadows materialized around the two of them.
Dokgo Myeong tilted his head in confusion.
“Then why do you think I prolonged this conversation?”
“…?”
That was when it happened.
Boom!
A deafening explosion echoed across the sky.
The aura of the Heavenly Outer Spirit Elixir began to pour forth from every inch of Dokgo Myeong’s body.
“I trusted you as well. I knew you wouldn’t fall so easily.”
“…!”
“That’s why I kept my most precious forces hidden. I never expected such a formidable opponent would take the bait, though.”
The White Tiger Corps.
The Cheonma Sect Elders.
Those formidable reinforcements were rushing forward.

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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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