Return of the God of War - Chapter 24

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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 24 — Now She Knew.
Crack-crack-crack-crack.
Storm clouds gathered above the spear force that Namgung Ryeong-ryeong unleashed.
A sharp, cutting energy stretched forth — utterly unlike the Changgungg Qi that had pressed down on her surroundings with weighty dominion.
‘Heavenly Thunder Qi!’
Muk Yeo-jin’s expression hardened as if seized by alarm, and he swallowed dryly.
The energy radiating from his mother’s entire being was the force of the Heavenly Thunder Heart Method — another internal cultivation technique of the Namgung Clan that branched from the Changgungg Great Evolution Formation Technique.
Only then did the truth dawn on him.
‘The Heavenly Thunder Qi is Mother’s primary strength.’
No wonder her footwork and swordplay had seemed slightly at odds with the nature of Changgungg Qi.
Muk Yeo-jin spoke hesitantly, wiping cold sweat from his brow.
“Mother, it’s your son Yeo-jin.”
“Why speak something so obvious?”
“I thought perhaps you’d forgotten…”
His mother let out a soft laugh and vanished before his eyes.
It was footwork of extreme swiftness — employing the rapid nature of Heavenly Thunder.
Turning his head to search for his target here would be meaningless.
Muk Yeo-jin closed his eyes to achieve instantaneous supreme concentration.
And then.
‘Not behind — to the right!’
Bang!
He struck out perfectly, parrying Namgung Ryeong-ryeong’s blade as it curved through the air and slashed at his right flank.
Namgung Ryeong-ryeong could not hide her astonishment.
‘In the blink of an eye, he’s scattered his energy in all eight directions to sense me.’
His judgment and decisiveness far exceeded what ordinary understanding could account for.
“Now it’s my turn!”
With his cry, Muk Yeo-jin surged forward.
A single downward slash split into five different trajectories in an instant, dizzying the eye.
To execute such refined variations while wielding a Heavy Sword required extraordinary wrist strength.
It meant his son’s physical power too had transcended his age group by a vast margin.
Namgung Ryeong-ryeong discerned the five blade paths stretching toward her.
‘One is real. Four are feints.’
Even as the blade edges drew near, her eyes remained coldly lucid. And in the next breath, she knew.
‘Left!’
Crash.
Namgung Ryeong-ryeong swept away his variation strike with a thrust as swift as lightning.
Clang! Bang! Whishhh.
Muk Yeo-jin launched into a spirited sequence of rapid exchanges, but each fell short of true contact before Namgung Ryeong-ryeong’s blade, one step faster, intercepted and scattered the momentum.
The combination of fast and slow swordplay, enhanced by the properties of Heavenly Thunder Qi, was nothing short of miraculous.
Namgung Ryeong-ryeong had forged a Sword Way that stood in complete opposition to Muk Yeo-jin’s.
Muk Yeo-jin marveled inwardly.
‘Truly formidable.’
Unlike himself, her transitions between offense and defense flowed without a break — like watching a river in motion.
It was the first time he had felt the word ‘elegant’ watching someone wield a blade.
As he regarded his mother with fresh eyes, Namgung Ryeong-ryeong too was holding the sight of her son within her gaze.
Her son’s sword, encountered for the first time.
Honestly, it surpassed mere shock.
Among his peers, there seemed to be scarcely anyone who could rival him, let alone match his pace.
And beyond that.
‘The character of his strength is utterly foreign.’
His Sword Technique itself spoke to it.
‘Some aspects appear cruder than common marketplace swordplay, yet the martial principles he unfurls in sudden bursts rival techniques so exquisite I would hesitate to call them anything less than supreme…’
It was a manner of swordplay she had never witnessed before.
Yet paradoxically, that seemingly chaotic blade felt as if it fit his body like a garment tailored to his measure.
Her assessment was profoundly sound.
Muk Yeo-jin’s Sword Technique was drawn from the swordplay of numerous warriors with whom he had crossed blades during war before his return.
He had pilfered the movements that seemed worthwhile and woven them together haphazardly into a repertoire of techniques.
Yet what Namgung Ryeong-ryeong truly marveled at lay elsewhere.
‘The application of his martial arts is truly free and unbound.’
Right tool for the right moment.
In any situation, he judged precisely which martial art to deploy and acted without hesitation.
This was not something that could be attributed to raw talent alone.
Countless real battles.
‘Only true masters who had repeated life-or-death battles could possess such strength.’
Where and when on earth had he cultivated such skill?
Namgung Ryeong-ryeong could not fathom where it had come from.
But in another sense, she felt reassured at last as a mother.
Bang!
Using the rebound force from the collision, Namgung Ryeong-ryeong created distance and smiled.
“So you won’t be cut down easily wherever you go.”
“Of course not. I am the one and only son of Muk Gwang-nyong the Sword Master.”
At Muk Yeo-jin’s glib remark, Namgung Ryeong-ryeong let out a soft laugh before her eyes suddenly sharpened.
“Even so, from now on you must send word whenever you’re alive or dead—no exceptions.”
He was about to say something foolish like ‘How can I send word if I’m dead?’ but Muk Yeo-jin simply lowered his head respectfully.
“I shall do so, Lady Namgung.”
Namgung Ryeong-ryeong shot him a sharp look, then let out a small laugh.
She adjusted her sword stance once more.
“Shall we see if you can match me better this time?”
“I could ask for nothing more.”
Boom! Crash-bang!
Thus began anew the sword exchange between mother and son.
To a third party’s eyes, the fierce give-and-take unfolding between them seemed like a blood feud rather than a bond between parent and child.
How much time had passed like this?
By the moment when they had already exchanged well over a hundred strikes.
“Huah!”
Muk Yeo-jin’s thighs swelled powerfully.
Simultaneously, a strike flashed out like a beam of light.
Screech!
Again, before the sword force could reach its peak, Namgung Ryeong-ryeong twisted her blade to block it.
Clang!!
But as if he had already anticipated this, Muk Yeo-jin released the sword from his hand and pressed forward one step more.
It was a cunning move that shattered all the breathing pattern she had built up until now—a strike aimed at her openness.
Boom!!!
At close hand-to-hand range, he unleashed a pair of palms with a sharp vibration, short and explosive.
It was the Mountain King Martial Art Three Forms Light Rebound Palm.
Namgung Ryeong-ryeong’s eyes gleamed.
This was different from the sword techniques he had displayed so far, which had seemed somewhat lacking.
‘The vital energy infused in the palm and the coordination of upper and lower body are exquisite.’
It was clearly a wrestling art that contained the essence of extreme ascension.
So he still had hidden moves up his sleeve.
But Namgung Ryeong-ryeong was no easy opponent either.
She met his piercing twin palms head-on with a palm strike of her own, extending her left hand.
Her left palm shimmered with subtle rebound energy.
It was the Heavenly Wind Palm, one of the Namgung Clan’s supreme martial arts.
Bang!!
As palm met palm, a tremendous boom echoed across the Training Grounds.
Muk Yeo-jin, who had charged forward, was driven back a full ten paces.
“Ugh.”
The rebound force was staggering.
His wrists, elbows, and even his shoulders ached sharply.
In a sparring match—not a life-or-death battle—to have released his sword and then see his final move come to nothing was beyond reproach.
Muk Yeo-jin raised both hands in surrender.
“I have lost.”
At that, Namgung Ryeong-ryeong allowed herself a subtle smile.
She retrieved her sword and asked, “That unarmed technique was impressive. Did you learn that in Hidden Practice as well?”
Muk Yeo-jin was momentarily flustered.
“Ah… yes, well.”
At his transparent reaction, Namgung Ryeong-ryeong felt an inward laugh bubbling up.
‘A son with many secrets, it seems.’

His son seemed reluctant to speak of it, so she decided not to press further.
‘One day, he’ll tell me of his own accord.’
She believed her role was simply to trust him and wait.
Namgung Ryeong-ryeong set her sword against the side of the Training Grounds and asked a question.
“Do you understand why I urged you to cultivate the Changgungg Great Evolution Formation Technique—a righteous school method—even here in the depths of Sa Do-cheon, the demonic faction’s lair?”
The question came without warning.
Muk Yeo-jin, who had paused in thought, finally spoke.
“Because it is the Heart Method most suited to building a foundation, is it not?”
Namgung Ryeong-ryeong nodded with satisfaction.
“Precisely correct. The essence of Changgungg Qi is balance—neither lacking in anything nor excessive in anything. There is no better cultivation method under heaven for laying the great beams of a stone pagoda.”
Crackle-crackle-crack!
In that instant, azure thunder Qi erupted from Namgung Ryeong-ryeong’s entire body.
“But a perfectly flawless middle path is impossible. The limitations that arise from this are undeniable. Once your martial skill crosses a certain threshold, change becomes necessary.”
Whoosh.
The Heavenly Thunder Qi that had been pouring forth with such ferocity—as if rending the very space—vanished in an instant, as cleanly as if washed away.
“Originally, I had hoped you would master the Changgungg Qi and then walk the path of Heavenly Thunder alongside me, but it seems our natures are fundamentally incompatible. Heavenly Thunder does not suit you.”
Muk Yeo-jin nodded in agreement.
He himself fully concurred with his mother’s words.
Each person possessed their own constitution and temperament.
With weapons alone, some people were suited to the blade, others to the spear or staff, and still others to unarmed combat—a hundred people, a hundred different paths—and the same held true for Heart Methods.
‘The Heavenly Thunder Qi feels too light for me to wield.’
This was not a matter of inferior skill.
For one who walked a different Sword Way than his mother, it would undoubtedly become a peerless Heart Method.
Had Muk Yeo-jin mastered the Heavenly Thunder Heart Method and brought it to completion, he would certainly have become a master whose name echoed throughout the martial world.
But.
‘I would never reach the Supreme Realm that transcends the extreme.’
That was why Muk Yeo-jin could not master the Heavenly Thunder Heart Method.
Namgung Ryeong-ryeong had seen through precisely this point.
For a moment, a subtle longing flickered in Namgung Ryeong-ryeong’s eyes.
It seemed that, as a mother, the desire for her only son to resemble her was something she could not help.
‘That would be too great an ambition.’
If a better path, a more fitting path existed for her son, then as a mother she should certainly support him along that way.
Namgung Ryeong-ryeong cleared her thoughts and spoke.
“Yet no matter what branches your towering tree grows toward, the Changgungg Qi will remain the steadfast trunk that supports you—so focus first on bringing the Changgungg Great Evolution to full mastery.”
Muk Yeo-jin nodded calmly. This was something he had already grasped.
After watching him in silence for a moment, Namgung Ryeong-ryeong turned to leave.
“Let us exchange hands from time to time, you and I.”
“It is I who would ask that favor of you, Mother.”
Namgung Ryeong-ryeong smiled.
“You have done well. Go inside and rest.”
“Yes, Mother.”
As he watched his mother receding into the distance, Muk Yeo-jin spoke softly.
“I am sorry for the worry I have caused you.”
“Now you know.”

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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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