Martial God of the Sun and Moon - Chapter 406

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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 406
Patter, patter, patter!
Sleet drummed against the window.
As winter drew to a close, what had fallen as snow in the morning now poured down like rain, pattering softly against the glass.
Though it was not the dead of night, the surroundings had grown dim. I sat alone in Sa Heon-gak’s quarters with only a single oil lamp lit, gazing into the void.
How much time had passed in such stillness?
“Commander. It is Seo Ryun.”
A voice came from beyond the sliding door of the quarters.
My eyes brightened.
“Come in.”
“My apologies for the late hour.”
“Late? You must have been traveling day and night. I thought it would take at least three months—how did you find them so quickly?”
I regarded Seo Ryun carefully.
Seo Ryun was traditionally minded and scrupulous by nature, usually meticulous about his appearance, yet now his face was grimy and his blood-red robes were caked with dust and dirt.
“Since you set no deadline, I hastened as much as possible.”
“I never expected you to return in less than half a month. You’ve worked hard.”
“Not at all.”
I exhaled slowly before asking.
“So, do you believe you’ve brought the right person?”
Seo Ryun nodded and continued in a measured voice.
“All the details you recorded—their movements, background, appearance, and birth—matched perfectly. Beyond their own account, I cross-referenced with those around them and tracked them multiple times to confirm before capturing them alive.”
“That level of certainty is nearly absolute.”
“Among those I can find, they are certainly the most accurate match. Shall we depart immediately?”
My expression twisted.
‘I found them so easily.’
To have dragged this out until now was foolish.
In truth, the greater reason was my unconscious avoidance. Yet now that I had resolved to face everything, I could no longer flee.
“Where are they?”
“Mindful of external eyes as you instructed, I have kept them in utmost courtesy at that estate from before.”
“That estate? Ah, surely not the one where we brought the Jeongheol Disciple during the Guhwahyeolsa incident…?”
“Yes, that very place.”
“Perfect. Who guards it now?”
“Tight-lipped subordinates stand watch.”
“Good. Let us depart at once.”
Sizzle!
I pinched out the oil lamp with my fingers and rose from my seat.
Whoooosh!
The wind blew fiercely, yet my form remained unmoved. The boundless true qi flowing to the hem of my Dragon Scale Robe prevented rain, snow, and wind from touching me.
Turning back, I glimpsed a beast-like silhouette standing tall atop the roof of Sa Heon-gak.
“Grrrrrowl!”
Hoa’s eyes, difficult to read, stared intently at Dokgo Myeong.
“Commander?”
At Seo Ryun’s call, Dokgo Myeong turned his head.
“Lead the way. Let’s go now.”
Whoosh!
The two men launched silently from the ground and soon arrived at an abandoned manor situated a considerable distance from the clan.
Creak! Creak!
A single branch hanging from the roof swayed ceaselessly in the wind.
With the darkness of night and the fierce rain and wind, the manor’s landscape seemed all the more desolate.
My feet would not move easily. I simply stood there for a long while.
“Commander.”
“Mm.”
“Are you alright?”
“What could possibly be wrong?”
“Forgive my presumption.”
Seo Ryun detected tension in Dokgo Myeong’s face, but deliberately refrained from voicing it, unwilling to disturb his commander’s state of mind.
Then Dokgo Myeong let out a soft chuckle.
“If Seo Daejoo is concerned enough to notice, I suppose I am indeed somewhat tense.”
“It’s possible I brought the wrong person. He was not someone worthy of your attention.”
“That’s precisely why I trust him more.”
Dokgo Hyeon, who never became a ronin?
Perhaps he’s living as a beggar king or some back-alley thug?
I exhaled a long breath.
‘Meeting him won’t change anything. This is, in a sense… a process of elimination.’
What if he was the Dokgo Hyeon I knew?
Or what if Dokgo Hyeon was not the Dokgo Hyeon I knew?
In truth, there was one more fear that haunted me.
‘What if… Dokgo Myeong dwells within Dokgo Hyeon?’
If the reason he never sought out the clan was simply because he resented and rejected the family that had spurned him?
“Sigh.”
A sigh escaped unbidden. Countless thoughts clouded my mind.
Thump! Thump!
Yet strangely, my heart remained perfectly calm.
As if I already knew what the result would be.
“I’ll go alone. Dismiss the White Tiger Guards and wait at a distance.”
“Understood.”
I took a deep breath and stepped forward toward that particular annex in the corner of the manor.
After signaling the arriving disciples to withdraw, I placed my hand upon the door.
Screech!
As I opened the iron door and stepped inside, a man shrouded in faint darkness came into view.
Before the man lay an eight-dish spread, arranged with such reverence that they had managed to prepare even a liquor service despite the harsh weather.
The man filled his cup and looked up.
“…Are you the one? The one who sought me out?”
Dokgo Myeong opened his mouth.
“Your name is…”
“…?”
“Dokgo Hyeon?”
“That would be correct.”
Dokgo Myeong approached the man.
The man flinched, set down his bottle, and shot to his feet.
Clang! Crash!
Dokgo Myeong seized the man’s wrist and yanked him forward.
“What, what is this?”
Light streaming through the open door illuminated the man’s face.
Dokgo Myeong’s eyes wavered.
Sharp eyes, an expressionless face, rough skin.
It resembled him.
But…
“No, that’s not it.”
“Huh?”
“There’s no way you’re Dokgo Hyeon.”
Similar, yet unmistakably different.
This man was not the Dokgo Hyeon I knew.
* * *
“Born in Yunhwa Village, Huihua County, Hunan Province, never seen the family registry, raised by your collateral father until age four?”
“…”
“Your parents left you only the Dokgo name and died young when you were still a child, and you grew up as an orphan in the back alleys.”
“…”
“Living hand to mouth, getting shaken down by neighborhood beggars and street thugs… Am I right, or am I wrong? Why won’t this bastard answer when someone’s speaking to him?”
“Y-yes, that’s correct!”
Whether counterfeit or genuine, the trembling Dokgo Hyeon prostrated himself.
Dokgo Myeong clicked his tongue and asked again.
“Then you couldn’t stand it anymore, picked up a blade, and wanted to become a ronin?”
“Y-yes, that’s it!”
“That was around age fourteen?”
“Ah, how did you…?”
“You had talent with the blade, so you entered Maegseom Village… right?”
“Yes, yes!”
Damn it, everything matches perfectly.
How is this possible?
“But why weren’t you in Maegseom Village?”
“True ronin are far too rough, sir. I took a couple of jobs and retired.”
“…You took a couple of jobs?”
“Yes, yes. It’s been nearly ten years now.”
Ah, this one looks like he’s aged a full decade just standing here.
My head throbbed, likely from expending too much mental energy in such a short time.
‘So this bastard is Dokgo Hyeon?’
In this life, there was no Dokgo Hyeon like the one from my previous existence.
Was this the kind of world this was? What on earth was happening?
“Um, Young Master, about that over there…”
Dokgo Hyeon drew out his words hesitantly, gauging my reaction.
“What is it?”
“You said you’d give me ten silver coins if I followed you, so I did.”
Dokgo Myeong let out a hollow laugh.
I patted my robes perfunctorily, but of course I hadn’t brought a purse. Instead, I had a hundred-tael silver certificate I carried as emergency funds.
Dokgo Myeong simply tossed the certificate over and stood up.
“Here. But watch your tongue in return.”
“Gasp! A hundred… a hundred taels! Ah! Of course! Absolutely!”
“Figure out how to get back yourself. I won’t arrange a carriage for you.”
“Oh my! Thank you!”
Dokgo Myeong stood and headed for the door.
No, I stopped myself just as I was about to leave.
“Ah, wait a moment.”
“Yes?”
“On second thought, a hundred taels is too much. Hold on. Let me exchange it for you.”
“Are you… taking back what you just gave?”
“I can’t very well give a hundred taels to a Bloodfiend disciple, can I?”
In that instant, Dokgo Hyeon froze.
It was an instinctive reaction no human could suppress.
Dokgo Myeong smiled silently and wickedly, while the smooth expression on the fake Dokgo Hyeon’s face hardened rapidly.
“Caught.”
In that moment, my hand shot out like lightning.
Crash!
The Bloodfiend disciple disguised as Dokgo Hyeon crashed through the wall and flew outside.
Dokgo Myeong did not pursue him.
“Hoa, go catch him.”
The moment I gave the soft command.
Flash!
Piercing blue eyes gleamed in the darkness.
“Roooaarrr!!”
A lion’s roar erupted, golden energy flashing brilliantly as it engulfed the Jeongheol Disciple.
Crash!
The opponent was driven straight into the ground.
The massive mystical beast’s paw pinned his limbs.
Thud, thud.
As the wall of the annex crumbled and dust rose, Dokgo Myeong walked out leisurely.
“You don’t have that distinctive stench of those who’ve lived in back alleys. That filthy reek evoking swamps and that toxic miasma—it’s absent in you.”
“I, I…!”
“And on top of that, everything fits together far too seamlessly. Do you think that makes sense?”
The Jeongheol Disciple spat blood, then opened his mouth.
“Maitreya descending… perfect void fragrance… divine teaching undefeated…!”
The moment the opponent chanted those sect incantations—whether mantras or something else.
“Not so fast.”
Dokgo Myeong reached out into empty space.
Crack, crack, crack!
In an instant, the sleet that had been pouring down froze in midair.
No, it hadn’t frozen—it had struck something.
Void sealing technique.
Powerful internal energy had created a transparent barrier between Dokgo Myeong and the Jeongheol Disciple.
The next moment.
Crack! Screech!
The Jeongheol Disciple’s mouth was forced open, and white molars were torn out along with blood.
Something was bound to those teeth. Without even looking, it was clearly a poison pellet wrapped in cloth.
Dokgo Myeong suddenly split his lips into a grin.
“Hahahaha.”
An unnaturally sinister laugh spread through the air.
“I know all too well how you lot are everywhere and appear at any time…”
Dokgo Myeong, who had drawn close before the Jeongheol Disciple, looked down at him.
“You should never have shown yourself in this situation.”
Rumble! Crash!
A bolt of lightning that struck at that very moment cast shadows across Dokgo Myeong’s face.
The sleet had already transformed into pure rain.
Dokgo Myeong spoke in a voice turned ice-cold.
“Let me hear it.”
“…”
“Why do you know of Dokgo Hyeon, and why are you using his identity?”
“Hehehehe! Kehehehe!”
The Jeongheol Disciple pinned beneath Hoa suddenly burst into laughter, his body trembling like a seizure patient.
Tsk, tsk, tsk, tsk!
Crimson energy began surging and rising from the Jeongheol Disciple’s entire body.
Dokgo Myeong reached out his hand as if finding it ridiculous.
Boom! Crack!
The blood energy burst and dissipated.
Dokgo Myeong did not stop there, striking the empty air several more times.
Thud! Thud! Thud!
As he struck the void, the Bloodfiend’s limbs flailed like fish on the ground. He had restricted the blood energy with Finger Wind.
And that immediately led to a torture method shared only within the Cheonma Sect.
Crack! Crunch crunch crunch!
“…!”
Veins bulged across the Bloodfiend’s entire body, and his eyes seemed ready to burst from their sockets.
Tendon Severing Bone Breaking. The extreme agony of twisting and tearing every part of his body overwhelmed him.
Snap!
Dokgo Myeong seized the convulsing opponent’s throat and demanded, “What did you do to Dokgo Hyeon?”
“What did you do to Dokgo Hyeon?”
“Gack! Krrgh! We, we killed him. Killed him and took his identity….”
“Why would you go to such lengths for that nameless martial artist?”
The Bloodfiend’s mouth opened.
“Na, na, nameless? How could he be nameless?”
Even as the Bloodfiend stammered, a wild madness gleamed in his eyes.
It was familiar.
This bestial fanaticism, different from the Jeongheol Disciples who could communicate and held convictions.
‘A Divine Bloodfiend!’
The moment my teeth ground together.
A pause.
The opponent, who had been thrashing grotesquely, suddenly ceased all movement.
His eyes did not even blink, and a bizarre crimson light flickered in those unshaking pupils.
It was as if a different person inhabited the body—his aura changed in an instant. Those scarlet eyes fixed upon me.
Then his mouth opened.
“So it was you.”
A low voice pierced my ears like thunder.
My eyes widened.
Without any basis, I simply knew.
This was not the disciple who had been ranting moments before.
Through this body, someone was looking at me.
The next moment, the crimson light faded, and the opponent began convulsing madly once more.
“D, divine blood immortal! Maitreya descending…!”
“…?”
“The Divine is forever undefeated and eternal in life… thus Divine. Foolish infidel!”
Immediately after, the Bloodfiend’s body began to swell grotesquely.
My eyes widened in alarm.
CRASH!
* * *
Baek Ho Sect Leader Seo Ryun remained steadfastly at his post despite the fierce energy waves and sounds of battle reaching his ears.
But the moment a thunderous explosion shook the very earth, he steeled himself for reproach and rushed into the compound.
“What in the… Ugh! Commander!!”
A sickening stench and thick crimson mist enveloped the surroundings.
Fortunately, the downpour quickly dispersed the fog, and Seo Ryun hurried toward the annex with his hand covering his mouth.
“…!”
Everything was unrecognizable.
Dokgo Myeong stood upon the desolate, shattered earth.
“As expected.”
Upon seeing Dokgo Myeong, Seo Ryun found himself unable to speak carelessly.
He was smiling.
Though undoubtedly smiling, Seo Ryun felt every hair on his body stand on end.
“Hyeok Wi-sang… so you’ve come with me as well.”
From Dokgo Myeong’s upturned gaze, a terrifying murderous intent poured forth.

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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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