Martial God of the Sun and Moon - Chapter 268

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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 268
This meeting was not an official gathering.
If word reached the ears of the Moyong Family, the Jeongheol Sect, or any other nearby power, matters would become troublesome.
Since they needed to travel in secret, by the time they crossed into Hubei, the procession seamlessly transformed from the Dokgo Household’s grand entourage into the caravan of an ordinary, modest merchant company.
Clatter-clatter!
Naturally, the carriage was cheap and rattled terribly. The ride was uncomfortably harsh.
‘…Actually, I think the discomfort comes more from that man than the carriage.’
Dokgo Myeong glanced sideways at Dokgo Un-hak.
Now that he thought about it, he’d experienced a situation like this before.
Back then, that man’s son had been sitting here.
‘Father and son are both troublemakers.’
As Dokgo Myeong shook his head in thought, Dokgo Un-hak suddenly spoke.
“Both what?”
“Pardon?”
“Didn’t you just mutter something?”
Dokgo Myeong blinked and let out a wry smile.
“Ah, my thoughts seem to have spilled from my lips. There’s no need for the Outer Hall Master to concern himself.”
“The seating seems uncomfortable for you.”
“Surely the Outer Hall Master and I are not the sort to sit comfortably together, are we?”
Namgung Sohwa, startled, whispered through gritted teeth.
“Stop it!”
When Dokgo Myeong pretended not to hear, Namgung Sohwa drove her elbow sharply into his ribs.
Dokgo Un-hak chuckled and spoke.
“Don’t worry. I have no intention of causing trouble for some time.”
“Yes, I understand.”
“You understand?”
“Trust would be the more accurate word. You are one who cares not for methods, but you do care for timing.”
Dokgo Un-hak regarded Dokgo Myeong with a peculiar gaze.
Uncle and nephew, rivals and those bound by old grievances—the eyes of these two men met for a moment.
Soon Dokgo Un-hak smiled with profound meaning.
“I have nothing to lose. To think you trust this uncle of yours so.”
Dokgo Myeong smiled in return.
“I trust not the man, but the circumstances.”
“Circumstances, you say? You mean war?”
“That too, but I trust in how one who covets the seat of power in the Dokgo Household would conduct himself on the eve of war.”
Dokgo Un-hak’s expression shifted slightly.
Yet soon he burst into hearty, booming laughter.
“Indeed… even having let it go, I cannot help but feel the temptation. Such is human nature.”
Dokgo Un-hak shook his head.
“I never understood Cho Maeng-deok, who cherished his enemies. But now I begin to grasp that sentiment.”
“You won’t win me over with such flattery.”
“I already know you’re not the type to serve under anyone. I wasn’t expecting that anyway.”
“Is that so?”
“Once I become the true head of the Dokgo Household, won’t that resolve everything?”
“Pardon?”
“No matter what you do, the Dokgo name will always precede yours. If I ascend to power, it’s no different from me taking you under my wing.”
Dokgo Myeong’s eyes widened.
The more I see of this man, the more he reveals unexpected facets.
Would it be too much of an exaggeration to see traces of Dokgo Cheon in him?
Dokgo Myeong’s face twitched slightly.
“In that case, there’s no helping it. I’ll just have to change my surname if things go wrong.”
Namgung Sohwa, who had been quietly listening beside him, startled once more.
“…Please! Watch what you say!”
“Are you nagging me more often these days?”
“If you understand, then be more careful!”
“What, I can’t even change my own surname?”
“You normally can’t!”
To speak of changing one’s surname before the family elders, no matter how dire the circumstances—wasn’t this too much?
Dokgo Un-hak smiled enigmatically.
“You two seem to get along quite well.”
“Get along? She’s an insolent subordinate who keeps telling her master what to do.”
At Dokgo Myeong’s words, Namgung Sohwa’s eyes flashed with indignation.
“And you, my lord, should at least act like a superior if you’re going to be one.”
“Tch! When did you become so cheeky?”
“Did you just call me cheeky?”
“Are you pretending not to hear what you clearly heard?”
“Really, I’m not sure who’s being cheeky to whom.”
Dokgo Un-hak chuckled and turned his gaze toward Namgung Sohwa.
“By the way… I’ve heard bits and pieces, but how did you end up traveling with this troublemaker?”
“Yes?”
“We have a long journey ahead. Tell me that story instead. Bickering with that one will only give me a headache.”
“Ah, well…”
Namgung Sohwa explained the circumstances briefly.
Dokgo Un-hak listened to her account with surprising attentiveness.
“You must have endured quite a lot.”
“It’s nothing. I owe a great debt to Young Master Myeong.”
“So you entered the Chamado to repay that debt? That must have been a difficult choice.”
“That’s part of it, but I also have my own purpose.”
“The restoration of your family, I presume.”
“Yes.”
“This will be quite the ordeal.”
“I’ve heard that all necessary tasks tend to reside in the most difficult places.”
Dokgo Un-hak nodded with a satisfied expression.
“Such a mindset is rare to see these days. The Namgung Family’s restoration must be drawing near.”
“I’m honored by your words, Sword King. I hardly know what to say.”
“I speak in earnest. How did someone like you ever become entangled with this reckless fool? Though, come to think of it, perhaps you two are well-suited for each other after all.”
Dokgo Myeong blinked rapidly.
He’d been watching from the corner, unable to join the conversation, and something about the situation felt decidedly odd.
“What exactly are you doing?”
“What do you mean?”
“Why are you making advances toward my subordinate?”
Dokgo Un-hak spoke calmly.
“Is it wrong for a family elder to take interest in a girl who may become my nephew’s wife?”
“Pardon?”
“…?”
Silence suddenly fell within the carriage.
What? A wife?
Namgung Sohwa cried out a beat too late.
“That’s a misunderstanding! Young Master Myeong and I are not in such a relationship!”
“Is that so? I was quite certain you were.”
“We’re not! I don’t have the luxury to concern myself with such matters, and I’ve never even considered it! Me? With Young Master Myeong? That’s absurd!”
Namgung Sohwa raised her voice as she spoke. Dokgo Myeong, caught in the crossfire, furrowed his brow sharply.
“Hey, if you say it like that, what am I supposed to be? This is genuinely irritating.”
“That’s not what I meant!”
Dokgo Un-hak watched the two bicker and let out a soft chuckle.
“Youth.”
Clatter, clatter.
The carriage continued forward.
Dokgo Myeong, who had been grumbling, folded his arms and spoke.
“Let’s end the jesting here. Shall we discuss the matter at hand?”
“Very well.”
Dokgo Myeong’s eyes gleamed with intensity.
“How do you think they’ll come at us?”
Dokgo Un-hak’s gaze also quickly deepened.
“They’ll begin by suppressing our momentum.”
“That much is obvious.”
“They’ll be preoccupied with coordinating their timing right about now.”
Namgung Sohwa alternated her gaze between Dokgo Myeong and Dokgo Un-hak.
The two of them wore remarkably similar expressions.
* * *
Hubei Province, Wuhan.
Jang Han of Hubo exhaled a long, heavy sigh before the door before finally grasping the handle.
Creak!
“I apologize for my tardiness.”
A deep voice—it was Peng Jin-cheol, the Family Head of the Haebuk Paeng Family.
Two people were already seated at the round table inside the room.
Hwangbo Cheong, the Hwangbo Family Head, and Jegal Mun, the Jegal Family Head.
“You are quite late, Family Head Peng. I thought you would arrive yesterday.”
At Jegal Mun’s words, Peng Jin-cheol nodded calmly.
“My apologies. I took a wrong turn along the way.”
“Not at all. Please, be seated. Would you care for some tea?”
“Just a glass of cold water, if you please.”
As Jegal Mun gestured toward the back, a guard brought cold water.
Just as Peng Jin-cheol, his face rigid and stern, drank the water, Jegal Mun opened his mouth.
“The journey seems to have been quite arduous.”
“What do you mean by that?”
“Your sigh was loud enough to be heard from inside.”
Peng Jin-cheol paused for a moment, then let out a small laugh.
“It was difficult indeed. The path here was not an easy one.”
“Was there some problem?”
“All problems in this world begin in the mind, do they not? I kept thinking that what we are doing is not so different from what the Moyong Family does, and it weighed on me.”
Jegal Mun stared intently at Peng Jin-cheol.
Soon after, he shook his head.
“It is different. Very different.”
“In the end, we are still forming a faction. What is the difference?”
“Unlike the Moyong Family, we are not subordinating ourselves beneath one household, but rather joining our strength as equals.”
“….”
“Moreover, forming an alliance is merely one of several strategies we possess. Do not forget that we have united our purposes for the balance of the realm and for the sake of our respective families.”
Jegal Mun spoke with conviction, his eyes gleaming.
“If you truly find this objectionable, you may voice your opposition now and leave, Family Head Peng.”
Peng Jin-cheol clicked his tongue softly and leaned back against the chair.
“Your persuasion has merit, which is why I came this far. I have no intention of leaving, so do not worry.”
Peng Jin-cheol shifted his gaze to the side of Jegal Mun.
There sat Hwangbo Cheong, silent with his eyes half-closed.
“By the way, Family Head Hwangbo, you are in complete agreement with this?”
Hwangbo Cheong slowly opened his half-closed eyes and spoke.
“It matters little to me either way.”
Peng Jin-cheol furrowed his brow.
“That is all?”
“What more is needed?”
“….”
Hwangbo Cheong’s voice was like a withered, gnarled tree.
Not only his voice but his qi was equally damaged.
‘So it remains unchanged. How did the Tiger of Shandong fall to such a state?’
Peng Jin-cheol regarded him with eyes full of sympathy.
The decline of the family fortunes in recent years was common to all three households.
However, unlike the Paeng Ga, which could unite tightly because the family operated around bloodlines, or the Jegal Family, which had dealt shrewdly and actually profited, I heard the Hwangbo Ga’s fortunes had declined to a pitiful degree.
There were several reasons for this.
The greatest was that the Hwangbo Ga, like the Dokgo Household, had taken in many guests and talented individuals. The predecessor of the Hwangbo Household was the Hwangsan Sect, and the family tradition arose from directly inheriting the sect’s rules.
‘That created the Hwangbo Household, called the Tiger of Shandong, but circumstances turned unfavorable.’
Hwangbo Cheong had mishandled the response.
Hwangbo Cheong was an outstanding martial artist and a rare righteous wanderer, but he could not become a resolute family head.
Peng Jin-cheol clicked his tongue and asked.
“By the way, how is your eldest son doing?”
“…There hasn’t been much change.”
“Still no signs of improvement?”
“He’s not getting worse. Now that I think of it, I received the medicinal tonic you sent before. Thank you for your concern.”
“Have you managed to identify the illness at all?”
Hwangbo Cheong shook his head repeatedly.
As if by cruel fate, while the family fortunes declined, the young family head fell ill with a terrible affliction. I’m not sure if the Moyong Family is involved….
Then Jegal Mun spoke up.
“Perhaps it’s time we moved to the main topic.”
Hwangbo Cheong and Peng Jin-cheol nodded.
“The Dokgo Household will arrive here soon. At the earliest, tomorrow, but certainly by the day after.”
Peng Jin-cheol clicked his tongue.
“I heard the story beforehand, but… I still can’t believe it. Did they truly withdraw first and extend their hand?”
“Yes. The Elder spoke thus, and we received a reply.”
“And then?”
Jegal Mun spoke calmly.
“I’ve already conveyed this by letter, but I wished to unify our intentions one final time.”
“….”
“To speak plainly: once the Martial Alliance is established and the various sects join, there will be no voice to oppose the Dokgo Household.”
“….”
“Moreover, though we three families severed ties belatedly, we remain entangled with the Moyong Family in many ways. For now, there remains the matter of ownership regarding what the Moyong Family seized.”
The years binding the Four Great Families spanned centuries. Among them were not only matters of achievement but also cases of intermarriage between branch families and exchanges of martial arts.
“So what is it you wish to say?”
“For the sake of settling matters before and after, I intend to demand certain things from the Dokgo Household as the price of our cooperation.”
The demands were not unreasonable. They were entirely reasonable demands. From their perspective, they were.
“In exchange, we would assist the Dokgo Household’s war to a certain extent, but I believe that much is acceptable.”
“Will they accept?”
Jegal Mun nodded at Hwangbo Cheong’s words.
“Already, with the Hwangsan Sect taking the lead, several branch sects have aligned with us. The Dokgo Household cannot be ignored either.”
“Indeed….”
Then Peng Jin-cheol spoke.
“So what are you trying to say?”
“First, I intend to dampen their spirits before we begin.”
* * *
Munan was renowned as a bustling district and a crucial crossroads, yet I hadn’t expected to visit it again this time.
‘Perhaps I should exercise some restraint?’
On my first visit, I had taken the life of a Moyong Family relative, and on my second visit, hadn’t I also claimed the life of a Moyong Family meritorious servant?
No, thinking about it, everything was connected to the Moyong Family.
Since those bastards were the problem, I immediately abandoned any notion of restraint.
“I pay my respects to the Sword King of the Dokgo Household. I am Ju Won-gwang of the Gae-bang’s Outer Hall.”
Ju Won-gwang came to greet them.
After exchanging brief words, they quickly settled into an inn that had been prepared in advance by the Gae-bang.
Ju Won-gwang spoke while looking at Dokgo Myeong.
“Rest and recover from your journey for now. When the time comes, I’ll come fetch you.”
Dokgo Myeong chuckled and asked.
“You really came?”
“I really did.”
“Hmm, that’s how it should be.”
Dokgo Myeong’s party dined at the inn and took a brief rest.
Soon, as the sun began to set, Ju Won-gwang returned.
“It’s about time now. I’ll guide you.”
The meeting place was said to be at the finest pavilion in the vicinity.
Dokgo Un-hak spoke.
“Then let’s head out.”
He was as leisurely as someone simply taking a stroll.
Dokgo Myeong also smiled and rose from his seat alongside Namgung Sohwa.
It was time to remove the final obstacle before war.

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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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