Return of the God of War - Chapter 3

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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 3: The Answer I Gave
Sadocheon had been overturned.
To say that Sadocheon—the absolute hegemon south of the Yangtze River—had been overturned was tantamount to saying that the entire Gangho was in upheaval.
That was precisely why Muk Woomyeong, the Heaven Master of Sadocheon, had emerged from his seclusion of many years.
Rumors circulated that the Heaven Master had suffered grave injury and become an invalid.
Or else that he had already passed from this world, but the truth was being concealed to prevent Sadocheon’s fracturing.
And yet, at last, his figure had revealed itself.
The world then discovered how utterly baseless those whispers had been.
Along the Jujak Great Road, which led toward Mangdamjeon.
Even amid the thousands of masters who followed in the Heaven Master’s wake, Muk Woomyeong’s presence was overwhelmingly singular.
So much so that the warriors arrayed behind him seemed mere insignificant creatures by comparison.
Eccentric masters and renowned figures who had come in secret to observe Muk Woomyeong’s movements gasped in astonishment.
‘That man seems to have grown even stronger.’
‘Truly, a monster among monsters…….’
‘Amitabha Buddha…….’
A gathering convened directly by the Heaven Master himself, no less.
His wives and children attended, of course.
The fourteen great peaks that formed Sadocheon, a towering realm of Thousand Mountains and Ten Thousand Peaks.
The leaders of the Six Palaces, the Five Teams, and the Three Pavilions had all gathered, setting aside all other matters to accompany the Heaven Master.
Should Muk Woomyeong, the Heaven Master of Sadocheon, utter but a single careless command—’Cross the Yangtze’—to them?
A force of such staggering magnitude would mobilize that the Righteous-Evil Great War itself would commence.
‘This is certainly no trivial matter…… I must relay word at once!’
Among the White Path, the Dark Path, and the independent martial world alike, the elite intelligence agents of each faction were consumed with urgent dispatches, their eyes fixed solely upon the Heaven Master’s movements.
Yet none of them could have anticipated it.
That Muk Woomyeong had broken his seclusion for no greater reason than to gauge the measure of his youngest son—a mere speck of dust in his monotonous existence whose insignificance had somehow kindled a spark of curiosity.
* * *
But there was one—only one.
A single person who had divined the Heaven Master’s true intent.
‘Quite the theatrical entrance.’
Muk Yeojin felt laughter welling up within him.
He had anticipated that his father would respond in some fashion should word of his conflict with Muk Byeongho reach him, yet he had not expected the stage to be set on so grand a scale.
‘But this is an opportunity for me, in fact.’
Muk Yeojin now stood at the very center of the Great Training Grounds at Mangdamjeon.
And surrounding him on all sides, scores upon scores of figures packed the space.
Each one a senior figure of Sadocheon, no mere rabble.
The weight of their gazes alone was enough to make his palms slick with perspiration.
A boy not yet ten years old, still unformed, struggling to bear such a burden.
And true to form.
Muk Byeongho, standing beside him at the center of the arena, was already trembling in his hands and feet, drenched in cold sweat.
By contrast, his own gaze remained utterly serene.
The expression on Muk Yeojin’s face carried even a hint of indifference—so much so that the senior officials of Sadocheon found him rather intriguing and began to appraise him with genuine interest.
“The youngest young master appears to possess considerable composure.”
“Indeed. Rumor had it he was weak-spirited and frail.”
“Yet judging by the Qi I sense from him, it seems true that he has not yet begun formal martial training.”
“That the Heaven Master’s own son would shun the martial way—how can this be…….”
And the state of Muk Byeongho further fueled the crowd’s murmuring.
“But why does young master Muk Byeongho’s face look like that? It’s plain to see he’s been thoroughly beaten.”
“From the look of things, the youngest young master seems to have done this.”
“Absurd! That cannot be. Muk Byeongho clearly has already entered the realm of Rushing Qi. How could a completely untrained boy be any match for him!”
“Then what mad fool dared to mar the Heaven Master’s son in such a fashion here at Mangdamjeon?”
It was at that moment.
As scattered chatter echoed through the arena, the noise suddenly ceased, as though dispelled by an unseen force.
Footsteps echoed—steady, deliberate.
From the front of the arena.
Toward the enormous Grand Platform, erected for one man alone, he walked.
Muk Yeojin could not help but tense at this moment.
A gait neither swift nor slow.
Eyes solitary and profound, carrying the deep emptiness of one who has comprehended all things.
A figure not of great stature, yet towering like Mount Tai itself—a giant among mortals.
With presence alone, he overawed hundreds of elite masters—the very god of the Evil Way.
‘Father.’
The man known as the first great master of the Evil Way to unite the sects.
The world called him, along with the Heavenly Demon Divine Sect Master and the Righteous Way Martial Alliance Master, one of the Three Supreme Beings.
‘The Black Path First, Sadocheon Master Muk Woomyeong.’
He was Muk Yeojin’s father.
* * *
Behind Sadocheon Master Muk Woomyeong, his wives and children entered the Great Training Grounds in turn.
They too were puzzled, unable to fathom why the Master had suddenly made his way to Mangdamjeon.
All of them kept stealing glances at the Master, trying to read his mood.
Yet only two people stared intently at Muk Yeojin.
One was Hye Rangyeong, one of the Sadocheon Master’s five wives.
She was Muk Byeongho’s mother.
Whether she had learned the details from someone or not, she glared daggers at Muk Yeojin, who had reduced her son to a broken mess.
But that mattered little to him.
Muk Yeojin’s attention fixed on a single point.
He tilted his head slightly, his gaze drawn to one woman standing among the wives arrayed below the Master.
He looked upon her.
The woman’s eyes appeared distant at first glance, but now Muk Yeojin finally understood.
In those eyes he had taken for indifference, a complex tide of emotions swelled—concern, anxiety, relief—all of it flowing toward thoughts of him.
‘You’ve always looked at me that way, haven’t you? Mother.’
The woman was none other than Namgung Yeongyeong.
She was Muk Yeojin’s mother.
‘It has been too long.’
His mother, Namgung Yeongyeong, had sacrificed herself to protect Muk Yeojin when the Woneum Cult stirred up bloodshed and Sadocheon crumbled.
A reunion with his mother after more than a decade.
He longed to leap over the platform and pull her into his arms, but Muk Yeojin knew better than anyone that this was not the moment for such things.
‘We can settle our yearning once we’ve crossed this mountain, Mother.’
At once, Muk Yeojin took the action he knew was necessary.
“I pay my respects to the Master.”
“I—I pay my respects to the Master!!”
Muk Yeojin dropped to one knee first, bowing his head in proper courtesy.
Muk Byeongho rushed to assume the same posture, but his damaged legs left him wavering awkwardly.
Sadocheon Master Muk Woomyeong spoke to Muk Byeongho with a faint smile.
“Be at ease, then. Rest easy.”
His voice was languid, yet pleasant.
“Ah—thank you, Father!”
“Hmm, yes.”
Muk Byeongho’s face brightened further at the sight of his father gazing down at him and even chuckling softly.
He believed himself to be favored by his father—a man like heaven itself.
‘But that was a grave misreading of the situation.’
There was only one category of being to whom his father, Sadocheon Master Muk Woomyeong, would show warmth and affection while smiling broadly.
Those he judged to possess not the slightest worth.
In other words—insignificant creatures, like dogs or cats.
By that measure, the man called Muk Byeongho had already been assessed by the Master as possessing a value no greater than that of a mere insect.
Hye Rangyeong, Muk Byeongho’s mother, who understood this truth well, twisted her face into a bitter grimace, as though chewing poison.
Meanwhile.
Oblivious to his mother’s anguish, Muk Byeongho conversed at ease with the Sadocheon Master, his exchanges comfortable and familiar, like a contented father and son.
Then Muk Woomyeong opened his mouth, leaving Muk Yeojin still bowing with his head lowered.
“I have already heard of what transpired between you two.”
“Ah! That is to say—”
Before the flustered Muk Byeongho could speak, Muk Woomyeong cut him off.
“I heard that the youngest used cowardly tactics to Surprise Attack you. Is that true?”
His voice had grown desolate, utterly unlike before.
At that moment, Muk Yeojin could not help but tilt his head inwardly in confusion.
Not because his father had mentioned a Surprise Attack that had never actually occurred.
Rather, because of his father’s demeanor—utterly contrary to how he had addressed Muk Byeongho.
This reversal signified that the Sadocheon Master had not yet rendered his judgment upon Muk Yeojin’s worth.
‘At that time, I had not even begun my martial training, yet I still had not fallen out of Father’s reckoning…’
Muk Byeongho, meanwhile, fell into a grave delusion—that his father was now taking his side.
He answered with the confidence of that misunderstanding.
“That’s right! This coward launched a sudden Surprise Attack the moment I was exhausted from finishing my training.”
In that instant, the crowd surrounding the Great Training Grounds stirred.
“How can the son of the Heaven Master resort to such contempt…….”
“He must have judged there was no chance of winning in an honest contest.”
“I knew something was off about him. The boy’s rotten to the core.”
Though the voices were low, Muk Byeongho’s ears caught them clearly—a torrent of rebukes aimed at Muk Yeojin.
A thin smile spread across Muk Byeongho’s face.
He believed the tide of victory had already turned in his favor.
Imagining Muk Yeojin still pressing his face to the ground, trembling, he could not contain the rising corners of his mouth.
Of course.
The Muk Yeojin of old—frail and spineless—might have been exactly that.
But the Muk Yeojin of the present harbored a different thought entirely.
‘How interesting. Father’s showing his hand.’
Muk Yeojin concluded that this entire spectacle was a test directed at him.
‘Those voices just now—they must be retainers Father planted here beforehand.’
Otherwise, how could they have dared speak before the Heaven Master’s words had even finished?
Moreover, in all of Sadocheon, there could not exist a madman reckless enough to shout with such force that his Qi resonated through the entire Training Grounds—not against the wishes of the master himself.
If this was indeed a test, what answer should he give?
“Youngest, raise your head.”
Muk Yeojin lifted his gaze to meet Muk Woomyeong’s eyes.
The temperature of his voice was starkly different from what he had used with Muk Byeongho—cool, austere.
And his gaze held no emotion whatsoever, distant as an abyss without bottom.
Yes.
That was the true face of his father, Muk Woomyeong, Master of Sadocheon’s Evil Way.
“If you have an explanation, let you offer it now.”
An explanation…….
He could give one, if pressed.
But did his father truly want the truth when he posed such a question?
The deliberation was not long.
Muk Yeojin’s answer came: No, he did not think so.
He spoke then, his tone steady and clear.
“I have nothing to explain.”
“Nothing to explain?”
In that moment, a cold aura descended upon Muk Yeojin so intense it seemed the place had turned to an ice cavern.
Mere aura—and yet this formidable.
Moreover, this was not his father’s full strength, merely a light Qi Technique wielded as naturally as breathing.
Muk Yeojin clenched both fists to keep from trembling.
Muk Woomyeong pressed further.
“Are you admitting that you launched a cowardly Surprise Attack through cunning means?”
Muk Yeojin masked his inner tension beneath an impassive gaze and answered once more.
“Is that a mistake?”

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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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