Martial God of the Sun and Moon - Chapter 46

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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 46
“I… I won.”
“I’ve lost again. Take it.”
“Ah, yes, understood!”
Geum Seok-du accepted the betting slip Song Mun-ak offered with trembling hands.
An hour had already passed.
During that time, Song Mun-ak had not won a single game after his victory in the first round.
“I’m tired of just holding card hands. Do you know how to roll dice at all?”
“Yes? Yes…”
“Let’s double the stakes again. The last round was four thousand taels, so let’s make it eight thousand taels.”
“E-eight thousand taels, you say?”
“What, do you object?”
Song Mun-ak’s eyes gleamed.
It was the kind of gaze that would force agreement even if one dared to refuse.
Geum Seok-du shook his head vigorously.
“No, of course not.”
It had been like this from the start.
Song Mun-ak kept doubling the stakes with each round, whether he won or lost. Yet he showed no sign of ending the game.
Clatter!
The gambling resumed.
Song Mun-ak lost again and again. He lost so consecutively that it seemed intentional.
Gulp.
Geum Seok-du’s hands began to tremble as he rolled the dice.
The stakes climbed rapidly. The enormous sums made Geum Seok-du’s head spin.
Whoosh!
“Oh dear, I’ve lost again.”
Song Mun-ak smiled wickedly.
Despite winning, Geum Seok-du’s face grew increasingly pale.
Then the Hwawollu Master approached from behind him.
“Master Song. You’ve lost all your money.”
“Is that so?”
Song Mun-ak shook his head dismissively.
“So it seems. Your skills must be remarkable—you’ve already run out of funds.”
“S-skills? It’s all just luck. Then, we should probably get up now…”
Geum Seok-du swallowed hard and opened his mouth.
“Sit down. Let’s talk for a moment.”
“I’m rather tired today…”
The disciples of the Black Bear Sect surrounded Geum Seok-du as he tried to rise.
“You know what? I’ve never lost at gambling.”
Song Mun-ak spoke while fidgeting with the dice in his hand.
Dokgo Myeong let out a scoff.
“For someone who claims that, your luck doesn’t seem particularly good, does it?”
“Luck, luck indeed. Hahahaha!”
Song Mun-ak’s laughter rang out sharply.
“Boy. Surely you don’t actually believe in something as trivial as luck?”
Song Mun-ak’s tone shifted in an instant.
“Then how did you win?”
“I kept playing until I did.”
Song Mun-ak’s eyes gleamed.
“Is it only gambling? My entire life has been that way. Keep betting, keep betting, and bet again—and eventually, I’m destined to win.”
Song Mun-ak leaned forward.
His glittering eyes resembled those of a predator gazing upon its prey.
“But sometimes, like now, my stakes run out first. Do you know what I did then?”
“….”
“I took my opponent’s stakes and put them on the table.”
The atmosphere grew frigid.
“Boasting about becoming a gambling den owner and stealing money.”
“When did I ever say I stole money? As the saying goes, that would violate the very principles of gambling, wouldn’t it?”
“Then?”
“If the fool valued his life, I poisoned him. If he had a family, I sold them. If honor mattered to him, I took his friend’s head. Whether as a back-alley blade for hire, during the Yanluo Debt years, or until now—that’s how I’ve always won.”
Shing! Crash!
Song Mun-ak suddenly drew a dagger and slammed it onto the table.
“Let’s stake that fool’s neck. What do you say?”
“….”
“Ah, not enough? I’ve learned he brought along separate companions as guards, and my men have already gone after them. If we add that one’s neck to the stakes, that should do it. What say you? Kahahaha!”
Song Mun-ak burst into wild laughter.
The dice on the gambling table trembled at the sound of his murderous laugh, then rolled away.
Dokgo Myeong clicked his tongue.
“Clean your mouth before you go around, you filthy bastard. Or just keep it shut and live quietly. Your breath is absolutely….”
At those words, the atmosphere in the hall froze like a bitter winter wind.
“What did you just say?”
“Why do people’s comprehension seem so dull these days? Whenever I speak, everyone asks me to repeat myself. Isn’t that right, Seok-du?”
This insane bastard! Don’t ask me!
And that’s because you’re spouting madness!
Song Mun-ak’s face contorted.
“So you’re the one who’s lost his mind.”
“No, you’re the one who’s lost his mind.”
Dokgo Myeong’s voice, which had remained composed throughout, turned cold and sharp.
“To reach that level of skill, you must have endured grueling effort. And with the martial arts you’ve cultivated, all you do is toy with people’s lives? Is that something to be proud of?”
“Kahahaha! Why wouldn’t I be proud?”
Song Mun-ak rose from his seat.
A surge of power rippled outward.
Internal energy erupted from his entire body.
Simultaneously, the Sakpung Sect members seated throughout the room seized their weapons.
“That’s proof I’m stronger than them. Isn’t the world governed by the law of the jungle? Without strength, one is merely swept along.”
A click of the tongue.
Dokgo Myeong also clicked his tongue and slowly rose from his seat.
“I was trying to let this slide, but I see that won’t work.”
“What?”
“You’re going to take a beating from me today.”
A flash of crimson light.
The red essence of the Hwicheon Gi blazed across Dokgo Myeong’s eyes.
“Experience that survival of the fittest yourself.”
A thunderous boom.
Song Mun-ak instinctively grasped the hilt of the broad saber resting on the table.
A lightning-swift strike from the saber whistled toward Dokgo Myeong’s head.
A crash.
Yet the blade only cleaved through the innocent table and chair, embedding itself in the floor. Dokgo Myeong was nowhere to be seen.
Song Mun-ak’s eyes wavered.
‘Where did he go?’
That was when it happened.
A deafening crash followed by a sickening crunch.
Along with the explosion of sound, Song Mun-ak felt warm liquid drenching the back of his head.
Blood. Glancing back, he saw the chest of the Sakpung Sect member behind him caved in and collapsing.
“One down.”
Dokgo Myeong spoke, his fist clenched.
Song Mun-ak’s eyes widened.
‘So fast!’
A single step forward with no preliminary movement whatsoever.
That one step had slipped past Song Mun-ak’s perception entirely. The level of martial prowess far exceeded what he had anticipated.
“Don’t let your guard down! Surround him!”
Song Mun-ak shouted.
A flash of light.
The Sakpung Sect members encircled Dokgo Myeong without a gap, thrusting their weapons inward.
‘Evasion won’t suffice here.’
The Gwanggeuk Unheung was inherently specialized in forward momentum and offense. It was ill-suited for evasion and defense.
‘Then I’ll break through.’
Dokgo Myeong’s hand blade extended rigidly.
The Hwicheon Gi wrapped seamlessly from his shoulder to his fingertips.
A deafening crash followed by the shriek of shattering metal.
Pivoting on my waist, I unleashed a devastating hand-blade strike.
Half of the eight weapons surrounding me crumpled like clay.
The Sakpung Sect members’ eyes widened in shock.
“How is this possible with bare hands…!”
“This… this can’t be!”
Boom!
I drove forward through the wavering formation’s weakest point.
Crack! Boom!
Three Sakpung Sect members slammed into the wall from my casual kick.
It was merely a kick, yet the impact rang out like cannon fire.
Whoosh! Clang!
Without even looking, I reached backward.
In that instant, a fallen Sakpung member’s dropped sword was drawn into my grip as if magnetized.
“Gahhh!”
Slash!
Another Sakpung member who had charged recklessly, mistaking my empty hands for weakness, crumbled.
No defense. No evasion.
One step forward, one strike. After repeating this pattern mere times, the Sakpung Sect—who had rolled through countless back alleys—collapsed without landing a single counterattack.
‘A monster!’
Just one.
Merely one in this cramped space.
And yet, how many were on our side?
Thud!
In that moment, I kicked a falling Sakpung member away.
“Ugh!”
Though the kick seemed light, the body launched into the air like a ball. The airborne member blocked his comrades’ path.
Whoosh! Crash!
In that brief opening, I slashed my sword backward without even looking.
“Argh!”
“Screech!”
It was like watching a choreographed opera. With each of my movements, the Sakpung members fell in succession.
‘This won’t do!’
Song Mun-ak’s eyes flashed as he tensed his feet.
That instant, Song Mun-ak caught my gaze—eyes that pierced through the chaos, locked directly on him.
“…!”
Song Mun-ak’s movement froze completely.
Thump!
As the last of my opponents fell to my hand, Song Mun-ak remained utterly paralyzed.
“Hah.”
I exhaled sharply and turned my body.
A chill ran down Song Mun-ak’s spine.
He slowly parted his heavy lips.
“…I misjudged you.”
“What, regretting it now?”
Dokgo Myeong smirked as he slung the fallen sword across his shoulder.
“If you say you won’t pursue this, would you leave even now? I can offer you money.”
“I have plenty of money too.”
“You must be exhausted from fighting.”
“Does it look that way?”
….
Song Mun-ak bit his lip hard.
“What’s your true identity? What scheme brought you to approach me?”
“You were the one who called me here.”
“Nonsense!”
“Well, what does it matter anyway?”
Dokgo Myeong thrust the sword’s tip forward, tilting it up and down.
“Come on. Let’s finish this quickly.”
“I’ll tear your limbs apart!”
Song Mun-ak roared and charged forward.
Crack-crack-crack!
Song Mun-ak’s blade emitted a grotesque screech.
The Thunderbolt Saber Technique shrieked as it swept across all directions.
Boom! Crash!
The weapons collided, sending sparks flying.
In an instant, Song Mun-ak’s blade struck upward against Dokgo Myeong’s sword, then slashed diagonally.
Slash!
The blade grazed his chest.
Though shallow, blood seeped from the wound. He had predicted and dodged using his sensory acuity, but his reaction was too slow.
Thanks to this, Dokgo Myeong’s mind became sharp and alert.
‘Yes, this is what the pinnacle realm is like.’
Though he was the sect leader of the rootless Black Bear Sect, a pinnacle master was still a pinnacle master.
‘An opponent of his caliber is perfect.’
Whiiiing!
He felt his entire body’s senses burning with unprecedented intensity.
‘There’s no better way to gauge my current level.’
Until now, all his battles had taken place where survival was guaranteed. There had been his confrontation with Woo Mu-jin the Paedobyeon Leader, but even that wasn’t fought with lethal intent.
But this moment was different.
Whoosh!
The Extreme Divine Technique and Heavenly Fire Strike unfolded in the form of a sword.
‘This guy?’
Song Mun-ak’s eyes widened in shock.
Though his chest had been cut, Dokgo Myeong’s blade blazed with an even denser surge of inner force.
Dokgo Myeong brought his sword down like a man swinging an axe, the blade descending in a straight line.
Crash!
He hastily angled his broad saber to deflect the impact, but the shock reverberated through his bones.
“You damned bastard!”
Crash! Screech!
When blade and saber collided, the violent energy wave that erupted shattered the furniture throughout the room.
Throb!
Song Mun-ak’s eyes narrowed as he flicked away the sword that thrust toward him.
His grip ached. His palms had split open from the repeated impacts.
‘What kind of strength is this…!’
His inner force reserves were clearly superior, yet the purity and power contained in that man’s true qi was at an incomprehensible level.
‘What the hell are you!’
Boom!
In that instant, Dokgo Myeong kicked off the ground.
An explosively fast approach.
Followed immediately by a cascade of Hwicheon Gi sword strikes.
Crash!
Song Mun-ak’s face twisted grotesquely.
‘Could he be a late-stage successor secretly raised by the Gupha?’
No, that couldn’t be. This man lacked the distinctive scent of orthodox sect disciples.
Rather, he was of the other kind. A thick stench of blood emanated from him.
Grunt!
Song Mun-ak gripped his blade with both hands.
‘He’s abnormally strong in offense and aggression, but that’s all. He’s weak in evasion and defense.’
Song Mun-ak bit his lip hard.
So just once.
If he could force the man to block or dodge with a desperate gamble, then seize that momentum, there was a chance.
‘I’ll kill you!’
Song Mun-ak’s thighs swelled with power as his body drove into the ground.
Rumble!
His broad saber thrust forward with his entire body behind it, thunder roaring through the air.
The ultimate technique of the Thunderbolt Saber Method unfolded—One Thrust, Certain Death.
Whoooosh!
Dokgo Myeong’s eyes flashed. He stamped down heavily and brought his sword crashing down with such force that his upper body bent from the strain.
Screeeech!
In that moment, Dokgo Myeong’s sword shattered.
It had been a decent steel blade, but not a renowned sword capable of withstanding the explosive force of the Hwicheon Gi.
‘Perfect!’
Song Mun-ak seized the opportunity and yanked the hilt of the blade from his opponent’s grasp.
Shing!
As the sword handle slipped downward, a small hidden projectile shot forth.
‘Die!’
Without his blade, he had no way to defend himself.
Song Mun-ak sensed victory was within reach.
But in that instant, Dokgo Myeong discarded the hiltless sword and clenched his fists.
“…!”
Song Mun-ak’s eyes wavered.
‘Now that I think about it, this bastard started with bare hands from the beginning…!’
That was right.
For Dokgo Myeong, whether he possessed a weapon was irrelevant.
Boom!
Song Mun-ak’s vision flooded with the crimson glow of Hwicheon Gi’s essence.

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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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