Martial God of the Sun and Moon - Chapter 435

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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 435
The world was blindingly white and utterly silent.
As time passed, color gradually returned, though everything remained hazy as if I were opening my eyes underwater.
Only after blinking several times did the contours of the world finally come into focus.
“Gasp… huff…”
Though somewhat muffled, hearing my own breathing confirmed my ears were intact.
Dokgo Myeong raised his head, clinging to consciousness through deep breaths as it threatened to slip away.
The Grand General stood before him.
“Glugh!”
Blood filled the Grand General’s throat. He continued spewing it out relentlessly.
Embedded in his abdomen was the Hyeonchel Heavy Sword.
“Grand General. Is this the end?”
“…”
“It appears so. Then this battle is… our victory.”
The Grand General’s eyes widened in shock.
Dokgo Myeong breathed deeply, examining his internal state.
Whether from breath-gathering technique or the Heavenly Spiritual Core, vital energy was being restored. That extracted energy and the Dragon Scale Robe communicated, gradually healing my shattered body.
‘Good. Better than expected. The others…’
Dokgo Ak lay sprawled on the ground, Cheolmu-baek sat with his head bowed, and Namgung Sohwa leaned against her sword, breathing heavily.
All three were covered in blood.
Cheolmu-baek, who had taken the most punishment, looked particularly grave. Treatment was urgent, considering potential aftereffects.
Of course, there was something to do first.
Thump, thump.
Dokgo Myeong approached the Grand General, stopping at a distance where he could almost reach out and touch him.
“I…”
Dokgo Myeong took one long breath before speaking.
“There’s always something I’ve wanted to ask when reaching this point. Unlike my past life, where I was too busy killing, I can finally ask now.”
The Grand General’s clouded eyes wavered. He seemed unable to comprehend part of what was said.
“Grand General. How does it feel?”
“…?”
“You treated innocent people like slaves, forcing them to sacrifice their lives… and now you’ve become that slave’s position. Tell me. How does it feel?”
“…Slave.”
The Grand General spoke in a hoarse voice.
“Slave, slave…”
The Grand General’s shoulders suddenly heaved.
It was impossible to tell whether he was crying or laughing, given his contorted face.
“Are you… mocking me…? It’s pointless. From the beginning, this Cheonsal was your slave…”
“…?”
“You, the martial artists of the Central Plains… wasn’t it you who started this?”
Deep resentment settled in the Grand General’s eyes.
Crack!
The capillaries in his eye burst. The whites of his left eye stained crimson.
“You took everything from us… and treated us like slaves. Mu-il… I wanted to inflict the same suffering… how frustrating.”
Mu-il. That name existed in my memory.
A martial artist who had visited the Hwangbo Ga during his wandering journey, said to have wielded martial arts similar to the Cheonma Technique.
“So you all had your own circumstances.”
“You… would not understand.”
“It seems whatever this is, it’s connected to me in some way.”
Dokgo Myeong nodded.
“But does having circumstances justify what you’ve done?”
“…!”
“Do you know how tragic the tragedies you created were? Is that why you made rivers of blood and mountains of corpses out of frustration? Is that how you take revenge?”
I already knew that darkness from the martial world seeped beneath the birth of the Twin Horse Alliance. And perhaps the Cheonma Technique was entangled in it as well.
But what of it?
“Your methods were wrong from the start. That’s why your end looks like this.”
“What do you… know….”
The Grand General thrashed and screamed desperately.
“How dare you! What right do you have to speak such words!”
A resounding rebuke echoed across the battlefield.
Dokgo Myeong chuckled darkly.
“I can say it because I am.”
“…?”
“Because I—we are precisely what you created.”
“What?”
“Most of the Cheonma Sect were originally living ordinary, unremarkable lives.”
There were those whose lives were stolen by the flames created by the Jeongheol Sect and the Sea of Corpses.
Originally, they would have lived as third-rate martial artists, gamblers, merchants, con artists, porters, beggars, or at best, guards.
The Jeongheol Sect made them wield swords they would never have grasped in their lifetimes, and awakened talents that would have remained dormant.
“And I am precisely the greatest masterpiece you created. The one who cowered in his first life now severs your lifeline in his second.”
In that instant, the Grand General’s pupils trembled as if struck by an earthquake.
“…Second life?”
Dokgo Myeong smiled brilliantly.
“Look. Revenge is something you do while smiling. With great joy.”
Dokgo Myeong’s hand touched the Hyeonchul Sword embedded in the Grand General’s body.
Click!
Piercing agony shot through his entire body, and the Grand General’s mouth fell open.
Dokgo Myeong left his final words.
“Next is the Shinheol Sect.”
“…!!”
Dokgo Myeong drew out the Hyeonchul Sword.
Crack!
The Grand General’s body tilted. His eyes, gazing up at Dokgo Myeong, were filled only with shock and terror.
The Jeongheol Sect’s sharpest blade had been broken.
* * *
“Hey, you lot! Get up already! The captain’s fighting while covered in blood—what are you doing lying around like that!?”
Dokgo Myeong fussed about, gathering Namgung Sohwa, Dokgo Ak, and Cheolmu-baek.
“Who… didn’t bleed at all…”
Dokgo Ak, whom I thought had lost consciousness, coughed and muttered.
Cheolmu-baek’s eyes opened slowly as Dokgo Myeong infused his inner energy to drive out the poison.
“What about the Grand General?”
That was the first thing he asked.
Dokgo Myeong laughed and answered.
“Seeing him use Hell’s Seal or whatever, he seemed pretty close with King Yama, so I sent him directly to meet him.”
Namgung Sohwa let out a sigh of relief.
“Ah, it’s over.”
“Pretty much.”
Dokgo Myeong looked around.
From the moment Baek Si was shot, the momentum of the Jeongheol disciples had completely collapsed. Now only the cleanup remained.
“Then I’ll… sleep a bit longer…”
“Me too… Damn it, when we get back, buy expensive liquor, you bastard brother…”
Dokgo Ak and Cheolmu-baek exhaled deeply, then closed their eyes again.
Dokgo Myeong sat them both up side by side. He also laid Namgung Sohwa down beside them.
“Are you alright, captain?”
“You think I’m as weak as you lot?”
“Even if you say that.”
“I’m fine. I can still move.”
“How exactly?”
Perhaps it was because I had tasted the Realm of Nonpolar, even if only briefly.
The exhilaration of that moment had vanished like a mirage, but traces remained. It felt as though I could climb back to the Realm of Nonpolar by following those traces before long.
‘…But the road ahead is long.’
It was a battle where a single mistake would have meant death. It had been that fierce.
No matter how the Grand General was comparable to the Eight Dharma Protectors of the Divine Blood Sect, the fact remained that I had to stake my life.
‘I must grow stronger. For the war, and…”
To uncover whatever lies beneath the Twin Horse Alliance.
I was far different from my past life. Unlike then, when I only cared about winning the war, now I was thinking beyond that.
“Why do you have that expression?”
“It’s nothing.”
Dokgo Myeong exhaled sharply.
“The Jeongheol Sect is finished, right?”
“Even the renowned Jeongheol Sect Leader won’t have any moves left now. The Grand General is dead, after all.”
Dokgo Myeong gazed toward where the Grand General lay collapsed.
Then he came to an abrupt halt.
‘…?’
At first, he thought he was seeing things. Perhaps the tension had clouded his mind, or the blood qi waves rippling across the battlefield had created a mirage.
Only after blinking and opening his eyes again did he realize it wasn’t an illusion.
Someone was standing there.
Where the Grand General had fallen, a black silhouette stood like a specter, motionless.
“The Grand General…!”
“It’s not the Grand General.”
Dokgo Myeong shielded Namgung Sohwa with his arm.
“Step back. It’s dangerous.”
Dokgo Myeong pushed Namgung Sohwa behind him and looked ahead.
‘When on earth….’
In the heart of the battlefield, directly before the Grand General’s corpse bleeding cold blood.
He couldn’t tell where this figure had emerged from or how long he’d been standing there.
The man lifted his head.
“…You’re late.”
His voice sounded like rusted metal scraping against metal.
The first things that caught his eye were the massive frame and the blood-red eyes.
Flash!
Dokgo Myeong’s eyes blazed with intensity.
The moment he met those crimson eyes, Dokgo Myeong unleashed an overwhelming killing intent.
“…The Bloodfiend Sect?”
* * *
“Haa, ugh!”
“Are you alright?”
“I’m fine. Just help with the fighting….”
Ye-hwa collapsed onto the ground with a thud.
Her hands trembled weakly as she leaned her back against a tree. Her complexion had lost all color, appearing more corpse-like than pale.
Jin-sa quickly placed a Cheon Eun-hwan pill into her mouth and spoke.
“You pushed yourself too hard. You said Baek Si was your limit at ten strikes, yet you used five more. And you even exhausted all your inner energy….”
“It’s hard… don’t make me talk….”
Ye-hwa, gasping for breath, swallowed the Cheon Eun-hwan pill with difficulty.
The blood mist that the Jeongheol disciples had brought could only be broken through such means. After all, they had ventured into enemy territory and fought on their doorstep, so they must have prepared extensively.
“How did the battle go?”
“We won. The Grand General is dead, and the Captain and all the other Managers are alive.”
We did it.
We really did it.
Ye-hwa exhaled a sigh of relief.
“Then that’s settled. Jin-sa, go help finish the remaining battle.”
“The Captain ordered me to guard you, Manager.”
“It’s fine, go. We’ve already won—who would dare target me now?”
The other managers were still in the thick of battle.
No matter how battered my body felt, I didn’t want to remain here in the rear. They had become family to me now—more precious than life itself.
“Forgive me, but the Captain gave strict orders….”
That was the moment.
Suddenly, Ye-hwa turned her head, gazing toward something.
Following her, Jin-sa, the disciple from the Cheongun Sect, and the four hidden squad members all turned to look at the same spot.
“…A lotus flower?”
A brilliant crimson blossom was blooming there.
It was impossible. How could a lotus flower bloom on such a cold, high mountain with no water?
Moreover, flowers couldn’t bloom this rapidly in the first place.
And it wasn’t just one. They burst through the earth, sprouted from tree branches, and fell from the sky like rain.
“…Prepare for combat.”
Ye-hwa murmured in a voice as sharp and cold as frost.
“Pardon?”
Someone, dazed, questioned her.
Ye-hwa’s voice grew urgent.
“All units, prepare for combat! Draw your weapons!”
“…!!”
Only then did the four squad members snap to attention.
‘What is this?’
‘What was that just now?’
The squad members, eyes wide open, soon realized that what they were seeing wasn’t real flowers.
It was an illusion.
False flowers woven from qi.
‘Something’s coming.’
Ye-hwa swallowed hard.
An inexplicable, intense sense of wrongness.
Something was approaching. And it was surely another master of the Jeongheol Sect who hadn’t revealed themselves on the battlefield.
Footsteps.
A dull thud echoes.
Clink.
The white jade ornament striking the golden crown produces a muted sound.
Swish.
The hem of robes dragging across the ground makes a sound like a serpent slithering.
“Remarkable. A descendant of the Secret Teachings? Your aura is similar, so you sensed it. I didn’t expect you to react so quickly, though….”
A sinister voice.
Treading upon the crimson flowers spread like a carpet, the man approached.
“The Jeongheol Sect Leader…?”
One of the four disciples asked, trembling.
The man nodded with a smile.
It was a smile that seemed to illuminate the entire world.
“Indeed. I am the master of the Jeongheol Sect.”
“…!”
Ye-hwa gripped the Saildjeokgung tightly.
“What is happening here?”
“To complete the Divine Prophecy.”
“Divine Prophecy?”
“To kill those who must be killed here and secure those who must be secured, completing the Grand Scheme to achieve victory.”
“The Grand General is already dead.”
The Jeongheol Sect Leader’s eyes crinkled with amusement.
“Who do you think planned that?”
“…!”
“He fulfilled his role. Now we must see what comes next.”
“What… what are you saying….”
“It was obvious you would come here, so there was no need to rely solely on the Jeongheol Sect to respond, was there?”
Confusion flickered in Ye-hwa’s eyes.
Dokgo Myeong had said it—that the Jeongheol Sect Leader sees the future. That such foresight was merely calculation approaching prophecy.
‘The Captain is in danger.’
I must warn him quickly.
But first, I kill this one.
“You walked into the trap of your own accord. Jeongheol Sect Leader, your martial prowess doesn’t even reach the level of ascension.”
“Remarkable. How do you know what cannot be known? But child, you know one thing and miss two. Think once more. Why am I here?”
“…?”
“Everyone is ignorant, but you are the greatest obstacle to the Cheonma Sect. The Saildjeokgung and Baek Si Jeon Tong. The power of Pama Myeolsa is fundamentally opposed to our sect. I will… kill you and reclaim them.”
“Who said I’d die so easily?”
The Jeongheol Sect Leader wore a faint smile.
“You feign strength. Yet you lack the energy to even stand any longer.”
“…!!”
“Do you trust your subordinates? But where are they now?”
Ye-hwa spun around in shock.
A murky blood mist had already engulfed the surroundings.
‘I’m already within the formation!’
Since when?
Was it from the moment I saw that flower?
This man… he anticipated Baek Si from the beginning and sent the Grand General. To ascertain my location!
Tap, tap, tap.
The Jeongheol Sect Leader approached with leisurely steps.
“By the way, I’m curious. How does Dokgo Myeong know of our sect’s circumstances? Child, why don’t you try answering?”
In that instant, eyes resembling a serpent’s turned toward Ye-hwa.
Flash!
Their gazes merely met.
Just that alone, yet Ye-hwa felt as though someone were wringing her stomach, and she collapsed right there.
“Gasp!”
Stagger!
A terrible headache struck like iron needles raking through her skull.
I knew what this was. I hadn’t mastered it, but I had learned of it through study.
‘Soul Seizure Technique…? How could a lost art from the fallen Secret Sect still exist…?’
In that moment, the Jeongheol Sect Leader’s eyes gleamed.
“…A new life? A second life, you say? Dokgo Hyeon?”
The Jeongheol Sect Leader’s eyes flashed.
“This won’t do. I must see for myself what lies within that mind of yours.”
The Jeongheol Sect Leader, wiping away any trace of amusement, took another step toward Ye-hwa.
That was when it happened.
“Who do you think you are?”
Whoosh! Boom!
An explosion erupted where the Jeongheol Sect Leader stood.
Thud. Thud.
Someone approached, brushing away the blood mist.
“How dare you…?”
The Jeongheol Sect Leader turned, visibly startled.
“Dare? You rotten bastard, do you know who stands before you?”
Boom!
The footsteps ceased.
The man who had appeared without warning curled his lips into a smile.
“Tsk tsk tsk!”
A mocking laugh echoed through the air.
Reinforcements had arrived—and not just for the Jeongheol Sect.

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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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