Martial God of the Sun and Moon - Chapter 431

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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 431
“Teams One and Three, clean this up as quietly as possible. The enemy is observing us from a distance.”
“Yes.”
“Jeon Myeong.”
Boom boom boom!
The Cheonma Sect disciples, led by Namgung Sohwa and Dokgo Ak, burst forth from both sides of Dokgo Myeong.
Slice! Crack!
Teams One and Three moved differently than usual.
Rather than martial techniques, they employed killing strikes—assassination-like methods to fell the enemies pursuing the Baekryeon Sect disciples.
“Gack!”
“There’s an enemy here… urgh!”
Thrust! Slice!
They silenced them by covering mouths and driving blades through, or striking vital points to prevent screams before finishing them off.
The roughly twenty Bloodfiends pursuing the Baekryeon Sect were all eliminated within mere breaths.
“Sado, do you recognize me?”
Dokgo Myeong approached the Sado, who was half-collapsed.
Wheeze! Gasp!
It was the sound one might make squeezing a leather waterskin with a small hole punctured in it.
The Sado could barely breathe, producing only wheezing sounds.
His left eye was swollen shut, and his right eye’s pupils were dilated—he seemed unable to properly comprehend his current situation.
“Uh… ah…”
The Sado’s lips trembled.
“Sur… survivors… disciples…”
Hot tears streamed from his eyes.
“Please… take care of Singnyeo… I beg you…”
From his barely-open mouth came words entrusting those under his care to another.
He couldn’t even finish properly and swayed.
Thud!
Dokgo Myeong caught the falling Sado and forced inner energy into his vital points.
“Cough! Gasp, gasp!”
The Sado vomited black blood and gasped for breath. Only now did he begin breathing properly.
“Ten adults and eight children, the people in the palanquin, and you as Sado—that makes twenty total. Is that correct? Are there no others sent separately?”
“Cough! Not twenty… forty-eight… no, it should be forty-six…”
The Sado turned to survey his companions and froze.
Deep sorrow and despair filled his eyes.
“When did they all die? When…?”
Dokgo Myeong spoke.
“Snap out of it. Now is not the time for despair.”
Only then did the Sado’s eyes clear.
“Cough! Y-yes. You’re right. The situation has changed from what we expected. We must… we must flee. Cough! Cough!”
Sado grasped Dokgo Myeong’s collar as if clinging to him.
“Are there… no other forces? You didn’t come with the Martial Alliance’s massive army…?”
It had to be so. Only these people should have come. Around Dokgo Myeong, I could see barely two hundred soldiers at most.
“There are about a hundred fifty more, but nothing like the Alliance’s massive forces.”
“Ahhh!”
Sado sighed.
It wasn’t despair over a desperate situation, but guilt born from the realization that he had dragged innocent people into this.
“The Sect Leader and the Cheonsal Ma Army discovered the plan beforehand and cast their net. And now they’re about to haul it in. You must escape quickly. Please, I beg you—save at least the Singnyeo and the children.”
Sado’s expression grew urgent.
He pushed at Dokgo Myeong’s chest.
“Go! Go now!”
Dokgo Myeong didn’t budge.
He simply remained seated, meeting his gaze with a smile.
“After coming all this way, I can’t leave empty-handed.”
Sado suddenly grew curious.
Whether that smile came from ignorance or confidence.
“Don’t do this. It’s not too late yet.”
“Good then. If it’s not too late, that means you can escape on your own just fine, right?”
Suddenly Dokgo Myeong threw something.
Whoosh! Thunk!
“What, what is this?”
“Internal healing medicine. It’s quite potent, so if you circulate your energy while moving, your vitality will recover considerably.”
“Why would you…?”
“Make sure you survive and return on your own.”
Dokgo Myeong rose from his seat with a grunt, then loosened his neck while holding his jaw with his palm.
“We need to go do what we do best.”
Sado was horrified.
“That won’t do! You alone are insufficient! All the elites from the headquarters have come out. It’s no exaggeration to say it’s the entire remaining force of the Jeongheol Sect! Do you have any idea how many there are!”
“How many?”
“…?”
“So how many are on their side exactly?”
Naturally, he didn’t know precisely. So Sado inflated the number as much as possible.
“Easily between one and two thousand.”
Dokgo Myeong turned his head toward the Cheonma Sect members and spoke.
“That’s what he says?”
“The Cheonma Sect is roughly two hundred, and the Ji-myeol force about a hundred fifty. If we each handle six opponents, we should be fine.”
Geum Seok-du calculated the numbers calmly.
“Six opponents each. Understood.”
Namgung Sohwa nodded while touching her sword hilt.
“Then I’ll take about twice as many.”
“Then I’ll take three times.”
“Let’s see if you can do it.”
“Why, scared?”
Dokgo Ak and Cheolmu-baek displayed their competitive spirit as usual.
Following behind the captains, the disciples also chatted casually, and only Moryong Sohgyo, who served as a soldier, merely muttered, “There are more of them than expected?”
“What, what on earth…?”
Only then could Sado understand.
The smiles of Dokgo Myeong and the Cheonma Sect members did not stem from arrogance and ignorance. They came from confidence from the very beginning.
“Why are you so surprised? We came to fight, so we’ll fight. And if we’re going to fight anyway, we should win.”
That was when it happened.
Shrieeeeek!
A sharp whistle pierced the air.
Dokgo Myeong’s eyes gleamed.
“Is it the Bloodfiend Army?”
“They appear to be ready.”
“Good. Everyone, don’t forget what you trained for. Let’s catch a big fish this time.”
The momentum of the Cheonma Sect disciples transformed entirely.
Whoooosh!
It was as if heat shimmer rose from their fighting spirit alone.
“Then let’s go!”
“Yes!”
The Cheonma Sect disciples began to advance.
Dokgo Myeong also walked past the bewildered Sado.
“Wait, hold on…”
The moment the confused Sado tried to grab him.
“Benefactor, might you spare a moment?”
A gentle voice echoed from within the iron palanquin.
Dokgo Myeong paused and looked at the palanquin.
“Are you the one they call Singnyeo?”
“I am but a useless person who brings nothing but trouble, yet I am honored to be called such. First, I offer my gratitude.”
“Save your thanks for later.”
“Might I offer a word of advice?”
“Such things can wait…”
Thud!
Dokgo Myeong, who had been frowning and about to pass, stopped in his tracks.
‘A sense of calamity?’
The moment his eyes twitched, a voice flowed from the iron palanquin, spreading softly like ripples.
“The Jeong-hyeol Sect Leader and the Cheonsal Ma Army are the masters of the net.”
“…”
“Be careful of them. They will target you, Benefactor.”
The tone was peculiar. For some reason, it didn’t sound like he was targeting my life, but rather coveting my very existence.
“I’ve prepared a sturdier net, so have no worries.”
“That may be so. However, the Sect Leader is a fisherman who can see through ten leagues of water. Please do not let your guard down.”
Dokgo Myeong found himself nodding without realizing it.
“Understood.”
“Furthermore.”
“…?”
“Remember that even if the fire appears extinguished on the surface, embers may yet smolder within.”
I couldn’t comprehend that remark.
But there was no time to ask.
“Captain! The sun will rise completely soon!”
Dokgo Myeong glanced at the iron palanquin and turned his body.
“I’ll stamp out every last ember so nothing remains, so worry not.”
* * *
A tiny Buddhist hall atop a distant mountain peak.
Flash!
The Jeongheol Sect Leader, who had been sitting before the altar, opened his eyes.
A light blazed forth that perfectly embodied the word “extraordinary.”
“It has come.”
At the Sect Leader’s words, the Grand General standing behind him asked.
“What has come?”
“What else? The bite. Our long-awaited prey has finally entered the net.”
“There is still no change on the battlefield.”
Cheonsal gazed down at the desolate world of dawn visible below the mountain.
“Look carefully. The bait of the Baekryeon Sect has brought him to us.”
The Jeongheol Sect Leader laughed, his shoulders trembling.
Clink.
The jade ornaments on the golden crown upon his head swayed, producing a dull sound.
His very appearance could warrant charges of treason based on clothing alone. Not content with wearing a golden crown permitted only to the king, he donned a crimson dragon robe, upon which malevolent forms indescribable in words were embroidered with golden thread.
“The battlefield will tremble. Right now…”
Whoosh!
At that moment, a sudden chill swept across the place where they sat.
“….”
The Grand General, sensing something, turned his head to gaze into the distance.
Far away on a high mountain to the east stood some creature. Its luxuriant golden mane shone brilliantly like the sun itself, and in its undulating eyes gleamed unmistakable spirituality.
Soon the creature lifted its gaze to the heavens and opened its great maw.
Roooooaaarrr!
The lion’s roar awakens heaven and earth.
Immediately after, as the morning sun passed over the mountain and rose completely, as if that were the signal, fighting erupted from all directions.
Boom!
A small force appeared out of nowhere and began tearing through the meticulously arranged battlefield.
Behind them followed an endless column of soldiers clad in black armor, stretching far into the distance.
And at the forefront of that column stood that man.
“…Dokgo Myeong.”
Whoosh!
The Grand General’s eyes blazed forth like raging flames.
The Sect Leader spoke.
“Look at that. That is the beginning. Soon, responses will come from both north and south as well.”
Not long after those words ended.
Clang clang clang!
It unfolded exactly as he had said.
The beacon fires cry out, and battle commences.
The Jeongheol Sect Leader spoke as though he truly saw through everything.
“Did I not tell you? In the end, he would walk directly into the net himself.”
“Fortunately, your prediction proved correct this time.”
“Prediction? How can you call it mere prediction? It is the undeviating mandate of heaven, the divine words bestowed by the heavens themselves.”
The Sect Leader smiled.
That smile was not that of one who spoke of divinity, but rather resembled the smile of a strategist who moved the world according to his own will.
“It does not seem to be a time for such complacency yet.”
The Grand General replied coldly.
“If we lose the descendants of the Baekryeon Sect, the Baekryeon True Scripture will also slip from our grasp.”
“They cannot go far. This too is foreseen, so do not worry.”
The Jeongheol Sect Leader’s smile deepened.
“In the end, everything unfolds according to my will. All the currents of the world shall flow as I desire.”
At those arrogant words, the Grand General’s head turned.
He spoke with a very cold and blunt expression.
“Are you still being careless?”
“…Careless?”
“How many plans have gone awry because of that meager confidence?”
Still.
The Jeongheol Sect Leader, who had been wearing an eerie smile across his face, slowly turned his head.
“What did you say?”
“Have you already forgotten Ji-myeol and Bloodfiend? The captains and disciples who met dog’s deaths after years of endurance?”
The Grand General’s tone changed.
“All of that is your karma. Those spirits, unable to find peace and wandering the nine heavens, will demand recompense from you.”
It was a statement that sounded like both warning and curse.
The Grand General was telling the Jeongheol Sect Leader that he bore the karma of the entire Jeongheol Sect upon his shoulders.
“Restrain yourself. Cheonsal.”
“That is why I say—do not be careless.”
The Grand General gazed down at the battlefield with sharp eyes.
“For that man, such divine words hold no meaning. He is like ‘that person.’ It cannot be mere chance that he was born with such Heaven-Defying Talent.”
In that moment.
A thick, coppery stench swept across the area.
A thick, coppery stench swept across the area.
Light flickered within the Jeongheol Sect Leader’s pupils.
His irises stained crimson, while the whites of his eyes churned with pitch-black darkness.
“How dare you compare a filthy Central Plains dog to anyone. I’ve been wondering since earlier—Cheonsal, are you afraid right now?”
“It’s not a comparison. It’s the truth.”
The Grand General spoke as a warning.
“Do not forget. If you fail, the end will not be gentle. You have already wagered your life—your final trump card, the life of this Cheonsal—in this place.”
The Jeongheol Sect Leader twisted his lips into a smile.
“I know. I have never been careless from the start.”
He rose to his feet and stood beside the Grand General.
“Once we obtain both the Baekryeon True Scripture and the Heaven-Defying Talent, and that person becomes the Blood God, our victory will be assured. His ignorance—not even knowing he is the final piece—will be the beginning of Heavenly Punishment!”
“Heavenly Punishment, victory—I care not for such things.”
A deep, resonant hum emanated from within.
A terrifying force shimmered across the entire body of the Cheonsal Ma Army.
“Vengeance. That alone is sufficient.”
The Jeongheol Sect Leader laughed.
“Then it shall be Human Punishment, not Heavenly Punishment. Go now. The time is ripe.”
The Grand General nodded and began walking slowly forward.
Step by step.
Forward, ever forward.
Rather than descending along the mountain path, he treaded upon empty air as though it were solid ground, advancing without pause.
His robes billowed.
The hem of his garment fluttered like the wings of an immortal’s celestial robe.
The Jeongheol Sect’s greatest force was marching toward the battlefield.

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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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