Martial God of the Sun and Moon - Chapter 93
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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 93
Rustle!
Dokgo Jo-hak pushed himself up from where he lay sprawled across the bed.
The sun was already setting. Light filtered through the gaps in the closed window, stained crimson by the dying day.
Clatter!
The moment he rose, his hand reached out searching for a wine bottle.
But not a single bottle was within reach. It seemed the guards or servants had cleared them away while he slept.
No—it was more likely that his wife, Jeong So-hee, had done it.
“I’m falling apart. Someone came and went, and I didn’t even notice.”
Dokgo Jo-hak rose from his seat with a twisted smile.
There was a limit to how disheveled one could become. It was time to pull himself together.
Dokgo Jo-hak walked straight to the door.
The moment he grasped the handle, his eyes filled with bloodshot veins.
Tremble, tremble!
His hand was shaking.
His fingertips trembled finely, as if he were afraid, or as if he wanted to avoid something.
‘…You’ve been raising Ak-i all this time for me?’
Dokgo Jo-hak’s face contorted.
‘What’s wrong with that? In the end, that was all for you!’
Dokgo Jo-hak gripped the door handle tightly.
But he could not bring himself to open the door.
“…”
Dokgo Jo-hak turned his body away again.
That was when it happened.
CRASH!
“Ugh!!”
The door shattered, and Dokgo Jo-hak was sent flying backward.
“Who—who is this bastard!”
The destroyed door and dust billowing thickly into the air.
The foot that had smashed through the door withdrew back outside.
“Huh? I thought it was locked, but it wasn’t?”
A young man stumbled in, walking heavily.
It was Dokgo Myeong.
* * *
Dokgo Ak rushed in behind him, his face twisted as he shouted.
“You—! Why did you have to kick it when you could’ve just opened it with your hand!”
“What? I only gave it a light tap. The door breaking is the door’s fault. Use better quality doors. What is this?”
“You crazy bastard…!”
“What bastard? Did that mouth disease of yours flare up again?”
“…Ah, no!”
“Come on, let’s do this right?”
“Y-yes, yes….”
Dokgo Ak became mute as a bamboo joint.
Dokgo Myeong turned his head with a smirk.
“My, it’s been quite a while since we’ve met, hasn’t it?”
“…You bastard!”
“Calling your nephew a bastard after all this time? Your manners are lacking.”
Whoosh!
Killing intent erupted from Dokgo Jo-hak’s entire body.
“Have you lost your mind? What gives you the right to come here and cause such a disturbance!”
Dokgo Jo-hak’s eyes blazed with fury.
Pwoooosh!
With a sound like the sky tearing apart, a violent surge of qi burst forth from Dokgo Jo-hak’s entire being.
No matter how far behind he fell compared to his brothers, Dokgo Jo-hak was still the son of a sword master. The furniture in the chamber was swept about like leaves in a gale by the surging qi.
“….”
In the midst of that chaos, Dokgo Myeong remained composed.
No, rather, he opened his mouth with an expression full of disappointment.
“I heard you were a master who had reached the Ascension Realm, yet you’re falling apart this easily?”
“What did you just say to me, you whelp!?”
“If you don’t wish to be shamed by your nephew, perhaps you should first gather that scattered energy of yours.”
Dokgo Myeong’s eyes grew sharp.
“At your current level, Sect Leader, I believe it would take me merely a moment to subdue you.”
“How dare you! Your arrogance knows no bounds!”
“The thick stench of alcohol, turbidity clinging even to your true qi.”
“…!”
“Your joints creak, your muscles are rigid. It’s so obvious even to my eyes, yet you’ve reached such a realm and can’t even perceive your own condition?”
Dokgo Myeong released his true qi.
Crack! Crackle!
A sound like lightning sparking in the void echoed forth.
The Hongcheon Gi radiating from Dokgo Myeong burrowed through the gaps in Dokgo Jo-hak’s energy, creating that sound.
“…You arrogant fool. Did you truly think you could get away with such insolence?”
Just as the agitated Dokgo Jo-hak raised his hand to strike back—
He froze.
His son’s figure entered the corner of his vision.
Behind Dokgo Myeong, standing beneath the crimson glow of sunset.
And himself, standing in the shadows of the darkened chamber.
His son’s expression, backlit by the light, was twisted in a way he had never seen before.
‘Why are you looking at me like that?’
Dokgo Jo-hak slowly lowered the hand he had raised and turned away.
“…Get out. I will report this matter to the Law Enforcement Bureau and have it handled according to proper law.”
Dokgo Jo-hak turned his body away.
His footsteps carried him toward the deeper shadows.
But then, Dokgo Myeong let out a scoff and spoke.
“After going this far, you’re just going to tuck tail and run?”
He froze.
“I mean, how embarrassing would it be to get beaten by your own nephew?”
Dokgo Jo-hak turned his head.
Dokgo Myeong was staring at him with a faint smile playing on his lips.
In that face, Dokgo Jo-hak saw the visage of Dokgo Wi-hak—that arrogant older brother.
“You little bastard….”
The smile vanished from Dokgo Myeong’s face in an instant.
“If you’re truly a martial artist, you should have engaged directly without hesitation. Not skulking about like a fool.”
“…Hah.”
Dokgo Jo-hak’s lips curved into a hollow smile.
Immediately after, his eyes transformed.
Boom! Whoosh!
A palm strike shot out like an ambush.
It was a palm technique, yet sharp as a sword’s aura.
Dokgo Myeong grinned wickedly.
“Yes, you should have come at me like this from the start.”
Dokgo Myeong stepped lightly with one foot and drove his fist forward.
Crash! Boom!
The palm technique’s energy shattered and scattered under that single punch.
‘This guy!?’
Dokgo Jo-hak’s eyes widened in shock.
Even for a hastily executed palm technique, it was blocked far too easily.
That was when it happened.
“You stupid fool! You said to follow along to solve the problem, so what the hell are you doing right now!”
Dokgo Ak rushed forward urgently, shouting.
‘This, this guy’s lost it. He had that same look when he beat me and when he met the Paedo Sect Leader!’
Dokgo Ak trembled as he positioned himself in front of Dokgo Myeong.
Then, Dokgo Myeong exhaled the crimson light of Hongcheon Gi from his eyes and spoke.
“Can’t you see? I’m solving the problem right now!”
“What, what? This?”
It seemed like he was making the problem much, much worse.
“Let me teach you a truth.”
“…?”
“Most of the world’s problems can be solved with this.”
Dokgo Myeong raised his hand.
Bulge!
His tightly clenched fists displayed thick veins and muscles that split and rippled with raw power.
“You, you madman! My father is still your uncle, and yet…!”
“So what? Uncles don’t feel pain when hit?”
Good heavens, such a lunatic…!
“Move aside, you fool.”
Dokgo Myeong grabbed Dokgo Ak’s shoulder and shoved him back with brutal force.
‘Wh, what?’
Naturally, Dokgo Ak tried to resist.
But by the time he regained his senses, his body was already airborne, crashing against the wall.
And then.
Crack!
Dokgo Myeong clapped his palms together and rubbed them slowly.
“Oh my, dear uncle.”
Dokgo Myeong’s eyes gleamed with a cold, piercing light.
“Before we have a conversation, let’s start by trading some blows first.”
Boom! Whoosh!
Dokgo Myeong swept away the shattered remnants of qi and charged forward.
Dokgo Jo-hak’s eyes widened in shock.
* * *
Crash!
The floor where Dokgo Myeong’s fist struck cracked violently, and a deafening boom erupted.
Dokgo Jo-hak witnessed the full force of that devastating charge concentrated entirely at the tip of the fist.
‘Such brute strength!’
Dokgo Jo-hak quickly drew the sword resting on the pedestal by the wall and brought it down.
Screech!
He thought his grip would be torn apart.
Steel blade met human flesh and the sword was sent flying. It felt like he’d struck a boulder tumbling down a landslide rather than a mere fist.
“Ha-ah!”
Dokgo Jo-hak exhaled sharply and wielded his blade with ferocious intensity.
Bang! Bang! Bang!
One step.
Two steps.
Dokgo Jo-hak was driven back relentlessly.
Thud!
His back struck the wall.
In that instant, Dokgo Myeong’s palm strike came down without mercy.
Boom!
The wall crumbled entirely, revealing the landscape beyond.
My blood ran cold.
Had I not dodged and taken the full impact, my protective cultivation would have shattered and I would have suffered a fatal wound.
‘I need to retreat. I’m at a disadvantage inside this chamber.’
Dokgo Jo-hak burst through the crumbling wall and hurled himself outside.
Thud, thud! Crash!
Dokgo Myeong emerged slowly, deliberately crushing the debris beneath his feet as he followed.
In the instant he smirked and lowered his stance slightly.
Boom! Bang!
Dokgo Myeong materialized right before his eyes, having already struck the ground.
“…!”
Clang! Clang-clang-clang!
A ferocious cacophony erupted through the air.
‘Where are you going!’
Dokgo Jo-hak thrust his blade with full force, desperate to create distance.
Whoosh!
Dokgo Myeong twisted his body slightly and evaded. That was all it took.
Pressing forward with another step, Dokgo Myeong simply extended his leg with effortless grace.
“…!”
Dokgo Jo-hak gasped and rolled aside.
Crack! Boom!
This time, the Baek Ok-gak wall behind him crumbled to dust.
Wherever Dokgo Myeong’s limbs passed, nothing remained intact. Even steel tempered a thousand times would shatter beneath his touch.
Brushing away the billowing dust, Dokgo Myeong advanced once more.
Boom! Boom-boom-boom!
He parried the attacks.
He continued to parry.
Dokgo Jo-hak gritted his teeth and deflected Dokgo Myeong’s relentless onslaught.
Then.
“You’ve already drawn your blade.”
Dokgo Myeong whispered softly.
“So why do you only flee? What frightens you so?”
“…!”
Crack!
In the deafening blast that clouded his vision, Dokgo Jo-hak suddenly understood his own state.
‘Frightened? Me, Dokgo Jo-hak?’
Absurd.
Yet he could not deny it.
‘Why have I been doing nothing but retreat?’
Falling back again and again.
I should be the one pressing forward, overwhelming him—so why have I only sought to evade from the start?
Bang! Crash!
His confusion manifested directly in the edge of his blade.
Dokgo Jo-hak began to be pushed back without any means of resistance.
‘What… what in the world is this!’
Dokgo Ak, who had rushed out in urgency, gaped at the sight before him.
‘He’s overwhelming him?’
It defied Dokgo Ak’s understanding of the martial world.
A master at the peak realm overpowering a master at the ascending realm?
Though the distinction between realms was said to be meaningless, there was a reason such divisions existed in the first place.
‘No, it’s real. Myeong-i is actually driving Father into a corner.’
His palms grew damp. His body tensed involuntarily.
He thought he had caught up through desperate effort all this time, yet that bastard had already leaped far ahead once more.
Boom! Crash!
The moment his feet touched the ground, his fist extended and shattered the sword energy.
There was no sign of wasted force or gaps in his inner power.
He was simply overwhelming.
“…Hah!”
In that instant, Dokgo Jo-hak lost sight of Dokgo Myeong’s form.
Whoosh!
Dokgo Myeong’s silhouette blurred, and before he could react, he had already burrowed into his embrace.
It was the Cheonryu Yubo technique.
Like a sunset silently painting the azure sky, Dokgo Myeong had slipped into Dokgo Jo-hak’s chest naturally and without warning.
‘Caught…!’
Dokgo Jo-hak’s body tilted to one side.
It was because Dokgo Myeong’s extended hand had seized his sleeve.
Dokgo Myeong grinned and spoke.
“I told you. A moment is all I need.”
Dokgo Myeong yanked the sleeve with all his might.
Crash!
Dokgo Jo-hak’s body was helplessly dragged forward.
Before his eyes, Dokgo Myeong’s fist expanded at tremendous speed.
Boom!
Dokgo Jo-hak’s neck snapped back violently.
He pulled with the Jecheon Gi technique and struck with the Hwacheon Gyeok. It was the harmony of two divine martial arts.
Thus, the battle was decided in a single blow.
“Gack…!”
Dokgo Jo-hak spewed blood from his nose and flew backward.
Thud!
Collapsed on the ground, Dokgo Jo-hak felt the sky spinning around him.
He had lost.
Defeated by his nephew.
Click!
At that moment, Dokgo Myeong’s pale face suddenly cut through the spinning sky.
“…!”
Dokgo Jo-hak saw Dokgo Wi-hak once more in that face.
The gaze of his older brother from long ago, who had beaten him down and looked upon him like trash.
“Do you understand why you lost?”
“Yes, you bastard….”
“Ah, of course it’s true that I’m stronger, but that’s not what I mean.”
Dokgo Myeong waved his hand dismissively, as if asking why he would state something so obvious.
“If my condition had been intact….”
“If it had been intact, you would have been beaten until it wasn’t. Are you just going to keep making excuses?”
Dokgo Myeong’s voice turned sharp.
“You lost because you only ran away.”
“…!”
Dokgo Jo-hak’s face contorted.
“Martial arts are a mirror that reflects the warrior. You lose because you only run away. Not just in this fight, but in everything.”
-You always just run away.
The words Dokgo Wi-hak had spoken long ago brushed past his ears.
And now his son, Dokgo Myeong, was saying the same thing.
‘Did I only run away?’
Dokgo Jo-hak’s wavering body rose up.
His hollow gaze trembled in the void.
‘Yes, I know.’
How could he deny it?
He knew.
He knew it all too well.
Dokgo Jo-hak had never once stood his ground.
Against his older brothers, against his sister, or against anyone in the family.
Because he feared defeat, he had refused to face them in battle.
He also knew well the emotions that arose from running away like this.
Inferiority complex.
That was Dokgo Jo-hak’s inner demon.
That demon had become a narrowness that sought to oppress those beneath him, and in turning away from it, arrogance was born, and in denying all of it, he had raised his son.
But then.
His son, who had accepted even that inferiority complex, moved forward.
‘I even ran away from that fact.’
The fact that even his son had moved forward terrified him.
How utterly shameful it was.
“Insolent brat….”
Dokgo Jo-hak lifted his head with a face twisted by resentment.
“Are you, a mere greenhorn, trying to teach me now?”
“….”
“So what exactly are you telling me to do? Right now, in front of my eyes…!”
“At the very least, you should have acted like a father.”
Dokgo Myeong’s eyes flashed with intensity.
“You shouldn’t have run away even from your own family.”
“…!”
Dokgo Jo-hak’s eyes widened in shock.
His trembling gaze turned toward his wife, Jeong So-hee, who had rushed out at the commotion.
‘My wife….’
His wavering eyes shifted backward.
‘Ak….’
Jeong So-hee and Dokgo Ak.
Seeing his son and wife, Dokgo Jo-hak’s head drooped heavily.
“…You’re right.”
Dokgo Jo-hak slowly opened his mouth.
“Yes, I was running away.”
Dokgo Jo-hak closed his eyes as if he had realized something. His shoulders and back trembled slightly.
Watching this, Dokgo Myeong’s expression changed sharply.
‘What’s gotten into him all of a sudden?’
Dokgo Ak flinched in surprise.
That look in his eyes was far too familiar.
‘Could he possibly…!’
“Hey, Uncle.”
“…?”
“Don’t create some touching scene like everything’s resolved after taking just one hit, alright?”
“What?”
“In my opinion, the disease that’s eaten into your very marrow hasn’t been fully cured yet, Uncle.”
Dokgo Myeong walked forward, rotating his wrist.
Dokgo Jo-hak stumbled backward.
“What are you saying now….”
“Look, look. There you go again with that ‘you’ talk. This is what happens when you miss the treatment window and the disease spreads from your mouth to your very core.”
“…You, you bastard!”
“One hit won’t do! We need to see this through to the end!”
Dokgo Myeong’s eyes gleamed brilliantly.
“Don’t worry. The family head approved, and your wife approved as well.”
Dokgo Jo-hak saw Dokgo Myeong’s smiling face rushing toward him.
“It’s not over until it’s truly over.”
Dokgo Ak was about to speak urgently.
Crash!
Dokgo Jo-hak was sent flying.
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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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