Return of the God of War - Chapter 22

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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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Episode 22: There Are Only Two Kinds—Those to Keep Alive and Those to Kill.
Sado Heaven’s foremost master, Muk Uhmyeong, Lord of the Black Path.
He sat in the grand hall of Mannyeon Palace with his customary languid posture, much as he did every other day.
Yet unlike his usual expressionless face, a faint crease—the shape of the character for river—was etched between his brows.
Three years ago.
His youngest son, Muk Yeojin, had posed a question at Mangdam Hall that had drawn him into deep contemplation.
Muk Uhmyeong’s gaze drifted toward the distant horizon.
‘Can I truly become an absolute sovereign?’
After a long while of deliberation, Muk Uhmyeong turned his head back to center.
Whatever conclusion he had reached at that moment remained unknowable, yet the crease between his brows showed no sign of easing.
Then Ju Gok, the White Wolf Lord, entered the grand hall.
“A report has come that Master Muk Yeojin has entered Gwangseong Province. We expect his return to headquarters shortly.”
* * *
Upon returning to Sado Heaven, Muk Yeojin made straight for Mannyeon Palace to deliver his report.
Mannyeon Palace.
The towering pinnacle of Sado Heaven, where the Lord dwells.
‘Here I stand again in this place.’
Strange though it seemed now.
The reality of his return to the past struck his skin anew.
As he ascended to the palace’s highest level, the vast central doors of the grand hall came into view.
News of his return must have spread the moment he entered Gwangseong Province.
After all, Gwangseong was but the front garden of Sado Heaven.
Inside the grand hall of Mannyeon Palace, Sado Heaven’s retainers would be gathered under the guise of a welcoming reception, sizing him up.
Muk Yeojin paused before the entrance, looking at the proud wolf statues standing sentinel on either side, as memory pulled him back.
Before his regression, he had stood here as well, having completed the task of the Ascension Ceremony.
‘Though what I did then hardly deserved to be called a mission.’
Unlike now, when he held a Special Grade rank, his past self had received only a Special Lower Grade.
The task itself had been nothing more than a trivial errand—delivering goods.
And even that he had failed to complete properly, as bandits from the green woods had robbed him while crossing a mountain ridge.
The pitying looks the retainers had cast upon him upon his return had cut so deeply into his chest.
He had lost sleep for days afterward.
Muk Yeojin let out a soft laugh.
‘Even I can see how pathetic I was then.’
But.
That weak version of himself no longer stood in this place.
Muk Yeojin approached the entrance with confident, steady strides.
“Master Muk Yeojin arrives!”
A martial artist who spotted him cried out loudly and drew open the grand doors.
Creak—creak—creak!
As the heavy doors swung wide with a sonorous sound, what first met his eyes was unmistakable.
A crimson carpet, blood-red, running down the center of the hall, flanked on both sides by Sado Heaven’s retainers standing at attention.
And at the far end, seated upon the great throne, his father—Sado Heaven’s Lord, Muk Uhmyeong.
Despite emanating no deliberate aura, an overwhelming majesty radiated from him.
Even among hundreds of martial artists gathered in this space, he stood in singular, unmatched presence.
Truly a giant who towered above all ten thousand.
Step.
Muk Yeojin placed one foot upon the crimson carpet. In that instant, hundreds of gazes poured down upon him.
Some regarded him with curious eyes, but the majority bore expressions of clear displeasure.
And understandably so.
‘They must have sensed the Changgung Daeyon Jinjul Qi coiled within my Dantian.’
He had deliberately refrained from concealing his cultivation as he entered the hall.
The retainers’ expressions grew steadily darker.
It was common knowledge throughout Sado Heaven that Muk Yeojin’s mother was Namgoong Seongshi.
Yet she was an outsider, while Muk Yeojin was undeniably a direct descendant of Sado Heaven’s Lord, Muk Uhmyeong, carrying his blood.
The son of the Lord called the Great Master of the Black Path.
And the power dwelling in his Dantian was that of the White Path Martial World—the Namgoong Family’s cultivation technique!
What a scandal this was!
The looks cast his way transcended mere discomfort, verging on outright hostility.
Yet to Muk Yeojin’s eyes, their reactions were nothing but pathetic.
If the Wonyum Sect continued to flourish as it now did, they would all face death.
‘Before a messenger, pride means nothing at all.’
White Path, Black Path—such distinctions held no value for Muk Yeojin, mere trifles beneath contempt.
For Muk Yeojin, who had walked back alive from the entrance of the Sixteen Hells, there existed only two categories: those to save and those to kill.
As if to mock them all, he released the Changgung Qi he’d been holding in check, letting it sweep through the entire hall with deliberate abandon.
The attendants’ faces hardened at his arrogance, yet one man maintained an expression of perfect indifference throughout.
His father—Muk Uhmyeong, the Celestial Lord.
Step by step.
Muk Yeojin walked to within ten paces of the Celestial Lord and dropped to one knee in formal salutation.
“I greet the Celestial Lord.”
“You’re late.”
Muk Uhmyeong’s quiet voice resonated through the hall.
It was a flat, icy tone utterly devoid of emotion.
The words carried their literal meaning and nothing more.
Word had arrived a full fortnight ago that Muk Yeojin had prevented the Ten Thousand’s assassination and executed him personally.
Accounting for the time it took for news to travel, the mission had been completed well before that report arrived.
Yet here was Muk Yeojin, appearing now when he should have returned far earlier—and he would have to account for the delay in full detail.
But.
Naturally, Muk Yeojin had no intention whatsoever of confessing what had happened in Makho and Jeolgang.
Nor had he prepared any pathetic excuses.
The answer he had prepared for this very moment was this:
“The mountains and rivers were so beautiful that I stopped to admire them. That’s why I’m late.”
In that instant, the attendants’ stares toward Muk Yeojin grew sharper still.
Not a soul would believe his words.
Even if they were true, his dismissive attitude toward the sacred Ascension Ceremony, which commanded the attention of all Sado Heaven, could hardly be tolerated.
Regardless, Muk Yeojin’s face remained serene.
Muk Uhmyeong regarded him quietly.
An uncomfortable silence stretched for a moment.
Then, slowly, Muk Uhmyeong’s lips parted.
“Admiring the sights… So, did you see many fine places?”
The Celestial Lord’s response had been unexpected, but what followed from Muk Yeojin was even more extraordinary.
“Yes. And you, Celestial Lord—why do you remain shut away in this confined place? You should venture out once in a while and get some fresh air.”
“Gasp…!”
Someone drew in a sharp breath. Yet no one moved to rebuke them.
All stood paralyzed by the words that had tumbled from Muk Yeojin’s mouth.
Who on earth dared speak such boldness to the Celestial Lord, called the Sky of the Black Path?
Even Muk Uhmyeong’s eyes flickered slightly.
The attendants watched with tense eyes, waiting for their lord to respond.
Never before had anyone dared voice such a thing to the Celestial Lord.
What could his reaction possibly be?
A situation utterly beyond prediction.
After a moment, Muk Uhmyeong’s still-frigid voice resonated through the hall.
“That wouldn’t be such a bad thing.”
Greater shock rippled across the attendants’ faces than before.
It was an answer entirely unremarkable in itself.
Yet that it came from the lips of the Celestial Lord Muk Uhmyeong made it extraordinary indeed.
“Youngest.”
“Yes.”
“Do you wish to become the Celestial Lord?”
Stir.
The mood in the hall shifted abruptly.
For the first time, the Celestial Lord had made a direct pronouncement concerning succession.
All eyes focused on Muk Yeojin.
The factions within Sado Heaven had a complex history.
And at the apex of those causes and consequences lay the question of succession—so the Celestial Lord’s words could not fail to provoke a visceral response.
Yet.
There stood one person here who harbored not the slightest interest in the matter of succession.
That was Muk Yeojin himself.
He answered in an even tone.
“If it becomes necessary, then I will.”
It was the truth.
‘My sole aim is to stop the Blood Calamity of the Wonyum Sect and protect my people.’
Whatever proves necessary to that end—the seat of Heaven Lord himself, anything at all—I’ll seize it without hesitation, and if it serves no purpose, I’ll turn away without a shred of regret.
To him, the seat of Lord of Sado Heaven held precisely that much value, nothing more.
The retainers’ faces twisted in unison.
They thought Muk Yeojin’s insolence had crossed every line.
Yet Muk Uhmyeong, who had posed the question, found himself suddenly remembering that day three years prior.
The day this reckless youngest son had first seized his attention.
What Muk Yeojin had just spoken aligned perfectly with the answer he’d brazenly delivered that day in Mangdam Hall, with all eyes upon him.
―You mean to say you would become that absolute sovereign?
―If necessity demands it, I shall.
And Muk Uhmyeong’s response now was unchanged from that day.
“Still as arrogant as ever.”
Muk Yeojin flinched momentarily.
‘What was that?’
His father’s tone was flat and expressionless as always, yet for a fleeting instant, Muk Yeojin sensed something strange—a trace of amusement threading through that impassive voice.
As Muk Yeojin tilted his head in wonder at this impression,
“Then tell me, you willful youngest—what is your desire?”
Muk Uhmyeong’s voice, when it came again, held only that same detached indifference as before.
‘Must have been my imagination.’
In any case, that wasn’t what mattered.
Muk Yeojin cleared his thoughts and considered the question posed to him.
A desire.
It was a kind of reward the Heaven Lord bestowed upon his children as commemoration of completing the Ascension Ceremony.
His siblings typically requested access to the martial archives or the elixir vaults.
Yet among the three powers that divided the realm, Sado Heaven was uniquely the newest.
The secret manuals gathering dust in the archives struck Muk Yeojin as all the same—martial techniques indistinguishable from one another.
The elixirs posed the same problem.
Besides, Muk Yeojin had already obtained the Baeksu Divine Pill from the Jade Secret Pavilion.
As a result, his internal reserves now outpaced his current cultivation level—an odd imbalance.
As the saying goes, excess brings no good.
If all elixirs were absorbed indiscriminately, no one would bother with arduous training; they’d all be digging up herbs with a hoe.
‘Forcing mediocre elixirs into this state would gain nothing—not a step forward.’
Then what should he ask for?
His deliberation was brief.
He had already chosen a place he must visit after his regression, and this was one of them.
Without hesitation, Muk Yeojin spoke.
“Grant me permission to enter and exit the Chunghon Courtyard.”
At those words, confusion appeared on the faces of both Muk Uhmyeong and the retainers alike.
Understandably so.
The Chunghon Courtyard was indeed a place accessible only to those who had received the Heaven Lord’s approval.
Yet that restriction existed solely to prevent damage to what could be called Sado Heaven’s sacred sanctuary.
It was hardly a place where one could obtain anything of particular value.
The retainers exchanged glances, trying to discern Muk Yeojin’s intent, but came up empty.
After a moment of silent observation, the Heaven Lord Muk Uhmyeong spoke flatly.
“From tomorrow, during the hours of Tiger through Dog, I grant you access to the Chunghon Courtyard.”

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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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