Martial God of the Sun and Moon - Chapter 47

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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 47
Whoooosh!
Song Mun-ak flew backward as if struck by a carriage, crashing hard against the wall.
“Ugh….”
It burned. A searing pain radiated from the vital points where he’d been hit, as if they were being consumed by fire.
He tried to push his inner energy forward to dispel the embedded force, but it was useless.
Instead, his own energy was devoured, and the scorching pain spread throughout his entire body.
“This, this… what kind of technique is this…!”
“That’s not something a dark cultivator should be saying, is it?”
Dokgo Myeong chuckled softly and walked toward him step by step.
It was the power of Hui Cheon Energy.
Unless one concentrated their inner force enough to extinguish the spark in one strike, pushing energy forward would only become kindling for the Hui Cheon Energy.
“I’ll hear your last words.”
“Why, why are you doing this to me?”
“How many times must I say it? You attacked first.”
“Nonsense… do you have some grudge against me? What did I do wrong….”
“Hahaha!”
At those words, Dokgo Myeong laughed aloud.
Though he had always worn a smile, Song Mun-ak felt this laughter was utterly different from before.
“Haven’t you heard the same words before?”
“What?”
“A man who fears for his life, a man with a family, a man who values loyalty. In the back alleys, in the Yeomwang Gambling House, in gambling dens—all those men you’ve encountered in your life. What did you say to them back then?”
His own words came flying back at him.
“Do you know who stands behind me?”
Song Mun-ak cried out, trembling violently.
“The noble families of West Lake are on my side, and not just government officials—even the Moryong Family receives my tribute! If I die like this, what do you think will happen? Even now, I can….”
Dokgo Myeong snorted.
“Do you know where I come from?”
“…?”
“The Dokgo Family.”
Song Mun-ak’s eyes widened as if they might split.
“I am a direct descendant of the most troublesome clan under heaven. So, do you still think I might be in poor health?”
“…!”
“Don’t feel too wronged. Isn’t this the world of survival of the fittest that you spoke of?”
Song Mun-ak’s eyes went wide.
With those words, Dokgo Myeong turned away.
That was the end.
In an instant, Song Mun-ak’s trembling body went limp.
* * *
Dokgo Myeong sighed and swept his gaze across the room. The interior was an absolute mess.
Dokgo Myeong trudged across the ruins and gazed down at a particular spot.
There lay Geum Seok-du, a blade embedded in his back.
“….”
Dokgo Myeong stared silently at the motionless Geum Seok-du.
Then, with a deep sigh, he opened his mouth.
“Playing dead long enough and you’ll actually end up dead.”
“….”
“Since you’re dead, it won’t hurt if I hit you, right? I’ll count to three. One, two….”
The moment Dokgo Myeong clenched his fist.
“Gasp! I, I came to….”
Bounce!
Geum Seok-du sprang up like a ball.
The blade that I thought was embedded in my back slipped out smoothly and rolled across the ground.
“W, what is the meaning of this? My apologies, sir! Those vicious bastards struck my head and I lost consciousness!”
Dokgo Myeong laughed brightly.
“Playing unconscious long enough and you’ll actually lose consciousness.”
“….”
“Really now, who feigns unconsciousness while others are fighting for their lives? Tsk!”
Geum Seok-du grumbled with an aggrieved expression, his eyes darting sideways.
“…Who asked you to fight? You threw yourself at them….”
“What?”
“Pardon?”
“This is really something.”
“Oh my, now that I think about it, I should gather up the money first. I’ll take care of it, so please rest yourself.”
“….”
Geum Seok-du scurried off in a rush.
Dokgo Myeong watched Geum Seok-du rummaging through the devastated interior with a blank expression.
Not a single scratch was visible on him, despite being caught up in that chaos.
“Heh, really.”
Even back in the Demon Slaying Unit days, he was someone with incredible vitality.
Or should I say instinct rather than vitality….
No matter how much attention was focused on me, I still couldn’t fathom how he managed to survive by playing dead.
That was when it happened.
“Sir!”
Bang!
The door burst open and a man covered head to toe in blood rushed in. It was Seo Ryun.
“Are you alright? Have you been wounded?”
“Ah, never mind. Just a few scratches.”
“You’re bleeding…! Let me apply pressure to the wound. We must stop the bleeding and get you to a physician at once!”
“I’m fine. Besides, I’ve already stopped the bleeding.”
“Here? But… what is this?”
Seo Ryun froze.
Wounds inflicted by martial artists don’t end with mere external damage. The infiltrating inner force attacks the meridians and damages internal organs, requiring swift treatment.
Yet the wounds Dokgo Myeong had sustained, despite their considerable size, had already stopped bleeding.
It was the power of Hyocheon Force and Hweicheon Force. The Hyocheon Force that had seeped into his bones stemmed the bleeding, while the Hweicheon Force burned away Song Mun-ak’s energy that had penetrated his body, restoring his vitality.
Of course, he would need treatment later, but it wasn’t an urgent situation.
“More importantly, you look absolutely terrible, Commander Seo.”
“I’m merely wounded. More importantly, I apologize for the delay. There were more Black Bear Sect Disciples than expected, which took time to contain.”
“You took on a thankless task. I’m grateful.”
That reinforcements hadn’t arrived despite the chaos inside was entirely thanks to Seo Ryun’s efforts.
“However…”
Only now noticing the state of the surroundings, Seo Ryun turned with a hardened expression.
‘He faced all these enemies alone?’
Though Song Mun-ak was a rootless dark martial artist, he was a master who had reached the pinnacle. The Salpung Unit that he personally led was renowned for each member’s exceptional martial prowess.
Yet he had faced them single-handedly…
Seo Ryun exhaled sharply.
“However… didn’t you say there wouldn’t actually be any sword fighting? That’s why I withdrew…”
“I really didn’t want to fight! But that bastard drew his sword first! I really didn’t want to fight, but…”
Seo Ryun regarded Dokgo Myeong with sleepy eyes.
Dokgo Myeong’s brows furrowed.
“Why are you looking at me like that?”
“Young Master.”
“What?”
“Do you think anyone who knows you would believe that?”
“No, this time I’m serious!”
“Very well, I shall consider it so.”
“It’s not ‘consider it so’—it IS so!”
It was self-defense, self-defense! I’m dying of injustice here!
“Do you think I’m someone who gets irritable if I don’t get to fight for even a single day?”
“…”
“…Why are you suddenly silent again?”
“How could a warrior of the Dokgo Family speak disrespectfully to the Young Master?”
“This fellow…”
“Regardless, I must report this. Please understand my position.”
Suddenly, Dokgo Myeong’s face stiffened awkwardly.
“Report…? To whom?”
“To the Sect Leader, of course.”
Dokgo Myeong’s eyes widened.
“Why would you report to our Sect Leader?”
“Before coming here, he made a special request of me.”
“….”
“….”
“Hehe, Seo Ryun. Did you use the money I gave you last time well? I hope it was enough? We’re comrades of the Jeongcheon Alliance, so let’s not be like this….”
“I apologize.”
“….”
Watching Dokgo Myeong fidget anxiously, Seo Ryun let out an involuntary hollow laugh.
The man who fearlessly charged at the Paedo Sect Leader and the Main Sect’s household head was practically dying at the mere mention of the Saheon-gak Sect Leader’s name.
“Young Master, the inventory is complete.”
At that moment, Geum Seok-du grunted as he carried over a large wooden chest and set it down on the ground.
Thud!
The ground trembled slightly when he set it down. Inside the chest were treasures so dazzling they made one’s eyes widen—promissory notes, silver coins, and gleaming jewelry of all kinds.
“What? Where did all these valuables and documents come from?”
Dokgo Myeong blinked his eyes.
“There was a safe locked with a padlock beneath the floor under the back table. These items were inside it.”
“Finding the safe is one thing, but how did you open the lock?”
“Locks are made to be picked.”
He was speaking as if he’d turned the world of lock-makers upside down.
Seo Ryun clicked his tongue.
“Impressive. Did you learn such techniques from Manpaknoesa?”
“It’s really nothing special.”
Seo Ryun picked up one of the books placed on top of the chest.
As Seo Ryun flipped through the pages several times, his eyes gleamed.
“This is… a ledger.”
“This one’s a debt record.”
The documents and ledgers in the chest contained evidence of all manner of crimes connected to Hwawollu.
Murders covered up by bribing officials, forced debts that led creditors to sell their own children, wealth stolen through addiction to illicit drugs—and more.
Seo Ryun closed the book with a grim expression.
“What trash these men are, and foolish on top of it. To keep such evidence instead of destroying it.”
“Perhaps it’s precisely because they’re such trash that they kept it.”
“What?”
“Because they have no integrity. That’s why they keep it.”
Thwack!
Dokgo Myeong set down the documents with an indifferent expression, as if tossing them aside.
Because they were villains, they kept the evidence. They needed something—anything—to ease their anxious hearts.
Such men would never truly understand the real way to find peace of mind.
Then it happened.
Murmur, murmur!
The area near Hwawollu began to grow noisy.
The sounds of fighting that had been echoing for some time had finally ceased.
Seo Ryun glanced outside briefly and opened his mouth.
“Master, perhaps it’s time we withdrew. By now, word has surely reached the Heukwoong Gate. If reinforcements arrive, things could become complicated.”
He didn’t mention danger.
Seo Ryun had never witnessed Dokgo Myeong’s martial prowess firsthand, yet he possessed an inexplicable certainty that merely a mob of black-robed disciples wouldn’t pose a real threat.
“Very well. But before that….”
Dokgo Myeong’s gaze fixed upon Geum Seok-du.
“Geum Seok-du.”
“Yes?”
“What was your reason?”
“What reason are you referring to, Master?”
“Why did you sit in on a game set up by that man?”
“Why does a gambler sit at a gambling table? To gamble, of course.”
Dokgo Myeong let out a soft chuckle.
“You didn’t know this man might draw his blade if things went wrong? Truly?”
In that instant, Geum Seok-du’s eyes wavered.
“No, you knew. You knew and sat down anyway. You had a purpose.”
Geum Seok-du’s mouth opened and closed. Soon, with a reluctant expression, he hesitantly spoke.
“Master, what exactly do you know? Are you truly certain you have no connection with my teacher?”
“I swear by heaven—I have never once met Manpaknoesa.”
“Then how…?”
“Mere intuition.”
Intuition, my foot.
He hadn’t mastered mind-reading techniques, so how could intuition accomplish such a feat?
Though exasperated, Dokgo Myeong seemed entirely unwilling to reveal the truth.
“Fine. Very well.”
Geum Seok-du exhaled deeply and nodded.
“You’re right, Master. I did know.”
“Why?”
“I was planning to infiltrate the Heukwoong Gate. I heard that man doesn’t kill skilled gamblers—he keeps them under his thumb instead.”
Geum Seok-du spoke plainly, then regarded Dokgo Myeong with a suspicious expression.
“But how did you really notice? Never mind. You won’t answer this time either, will you?”
Dokgo Myeong smiled flatly.
“You told me yourself.”
“Me? When?”
“In a past life. We’ve saved each other’s lives dozens of times over.”
“What nonsense is that? Just say you don’t want to tell me.”
Geum Seok-du grumbled.
Dokgo Myeong simply smiled in silence.
‘You don’t know me.’
I watch Geum Seok-du, who scratches the back of his head out of habit.
‘But I know you well.’
Dokgo Myeong knew Geum Seok-du’s past.
His present, and perhaps even his future.
-There was something I was looking for.
After some battle where I was fortunate enough to survive.
Geum Seok-du recounted his story with unfocused eyes.
-So I deliberately joined the Black Bear Sect. I built up enough trust to get what I was after, but….
Geum Seok-du laughed bitterly.
-I got caught. Of course I ran. What? What did I find? That, that’s a secret? Ugh! Don’t raise your hand! Your hand!
Now that Song Mun-ak was dead, one might say that such a future no longer existed, but was that really the case?
The future could change because of my existence, but people never did.
His life would have remained the same. The world around him would have stayed exactly as it was.
“So, what are you going to do from now on?”
“I’m not sure. I had to join the Black Bear Sect….”
“Then do it if you want to join.”
“You speak so casually about someone else’s affairs. When you’ve already ruined everything for me.”
“So what are you going to do about it?”
“Once things calm down, I’m thinking of finding another way.”
For someone who was the very epitome of living a thin, drawn-out existence, I couldn’t fathom what he was trying to find in the Black Bear Sect.
“There is a way.”
“Pardon?”
Geum Seok-du’s eyes sparkled.
“What way is that?”
“Become a new recruit in the Musa Corps of the Dokgo Family.”
“What are you suddenly talking about?”
“Then two masters at the peak of cultivation will help you become the next member.”
“…!”
Geum Seok-du’s mouth fell open.
“Don’t tell me this is what you were planning…!”
“Hehehehe.”
Geum Seok-du hesitated.
“Why would you go this far for me?”
“I’m scheming to take you with me and use you.”
“….”
Geum Seok-du clamped his mouth shut.
Peculiar. A truly peculiar person.
‘He wants to take me with him?’
What does he see in me?
I couldn’t understand it. Honestly, I didn’t even trust myself.
Geum Seok-du had lived his entire life in mediocrity. He had entered the Gangho with dreams of great achievement in his heart, but he was a third-rate martial artist who had never received a single glance of recognition even from a rural sect, and though he was fortunate enough to serve under a remarkable master, he only received criticism until he finally descended the mountain after his master’s death.
The only place he had ever been recognized in his entire life was at the gambling table. No, even at the gambling table, his small nerve meant he couldn’t play in the big games—such was his life.
Yet now, a terrifying young man—a direct descendant of the greatest family under heaven who had reached the pinnacle at such a tender age—was acknowledging me. A peculiar warmth bloomed in a corner of my chest.
Perhaps that was why.
Before I could stop myself, the words tumbled out.
“Then please help me.”
The moment I spoke, I regretted it.
But Dokgo Myeong simply laughed.
“Of course.”
Perfect.
I’d been itching to teach those Black Bear Sect bastards a lesson anyway.

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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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