Return of the God of War - Chapter 35

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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 35. Singyou Bulpae, Manma Gunrim.
Muk Yeojin’s eyes sharpened with tension.
He studied the girl before him, carefully overlaying her image with the one burned into his memory.
If that short black hair, which barely reached her ears, were to grow long enough to brush past her waist.
If she were to grow taller, and those innocent black eyes were to deepen with profound emptiness.
If she wore that deep crimson robe she favored, and that axe in her hand became the Baekryeon Daesekbu, reforged from white-veined stone.
There could be no doubt.
‘My sister!’
Muk Yeojin was certain.
The girl before him was none other than Cheon Hwarin.
“Hmm. If you’d drawn your sword first, I would’ve taken your head clean off. You’ve got decent instincts, at least.”
Cheon Hwarin’s lips curved upward in a slight smile.
Yet for all her smiling, the dense killing intent radiating from her made the back of his neck tighten with dread.
“How are you enduring the toxin from the Hyeolwang Cho? What exactly are you?”
Cheon Hwarin herself stood unharmed within the poisonous mist of the Hyeolwang Cho.
But unlike Muk Yeojin, she did not rely on trivial techniques like the Yeonhwaryun to resist it.
It was her constitution that granted her immunity.
A woman beloved by the Way of Martial Arts—a creature of heavenly grace.
Born with the Cheonmu Jichae, the body of the Tyrant King’s destiny.
Because of this, Cheon Hwarin had been born with the Mandok Bulchim—a body immune to all poisons.
So whether it was the poisonous mist of the Hyeolwang Cho or the toxic plant itself torn raw and eaten, nothing would harm her.
This meeting was truly unexpected.
Shock warred with an unexpected warmth rising in his chest.
Not a phantom crafted by illusion arrays, but the real Cheon Hwarin.
And seeing her so much younger than he remembered felt strangely distant.
But that warmth did not linger long.
In an instant it drained away, replaced entirely by a gnawing unease.
Just as Muk Yeojin sensed Magi radiating from Cheon Hwarin, so too would she have detected the faint traces of righteous Jeonggi leaking from his restrained inner force.
‘She likely thinks I’m a Baekdo martial artist.’
Baekdo, Heukdo, Mado.
Though in time the Woneumgyou would arise and blur these lines, for now they remained bitterly opposed.
Muk Yeojin weighed his options.
Cheon Hwarin’s aim was surely the Seonryeong Shingwa as well.
He might concede one of the three divine objects, but would she truly accept such a compromise?
More troubling still—he couldn’t even be certain he’d leave this place alive.
‘……Do I fight?’
Yet even that choice was far from simple.
The solid Gido flowing from her, the thick Magi radiating outward.
It was immediately apparent.
‘She is not beneath me. Not by any measure.’
If they grappled desperately, he might carve out an opening and flee.
But.
‘The location is terrible.’
They were inside an Underwater Cave within Cheonghae Lake.
To escape this place, he would have to pass through that cramped entrance.
The odds of Cheon Hwarin catching him from behind during his flight were far too high.
And beyond that, there was an even graver problem.
It was the toxin of the Hyeolwang Cho.
Even now, those cursed flowers scattered throughout the cavern continued to spew their poison.
The Yeonhwaryun was not an eternal treasure.
Once the entire bracelet turned black, it would lose its purifying power.
With each passing moment, as it absorbed the toxins within his body, black specks were slowly spreading across its surface.
He did not have much time for a confrontation with Cheon Hwarin.
‘Then……’
After careful deliberation, Muk Yeojin reached a decision and acted.
And this was the choice he made.
Thud!
“Singyou Bulpae, Manma Gunrim! I, Myeong-hyeon of the Amryeongdang, humbly present myself before the young cult leader!”
“……What?”
As Muk Yeojin prostrated himself in the Otae Tuji and cried out, bewilderment flashed across Cheon Hwarin’s face.
“Amryeongdang? You’re saying you belong to the Amryeongdang?”
“Yes, that is correct, Young Patriarch.”
This was a gamble.
But from Muk Yeojin’s current position, it was a gamble where even losing meant breaking even.
Drawing a blade against Cheon Hwarin was a last resort.
So before that moment came, he meant to play every blank card he had.
He wasn’t even certain whether she truly held the position of Young Patriarch, but for now that detail seemed to pass without suspicion.
But the real test was only beginning.
Cheon Hwarin, her doubts still unallayed, pressed further.
“Which faction have you infiltrated?”
“I am currently embedded within the Baekho Division of the Jungdo Murim Alliance.”
The Amryeongdang was the organ that managed the Cheonma Singyou’s agents scattered throughout Joonwon.
To maintain absolute secrecy of identity, the actual operatives of the Amryeongdang trained themselves not in the Mado arts, but in the martial disciplines of rival factions.
‘If I’m positioned as an infiltrator within the Murim Alliance, my righteous aura would make sense too.’
Moreover, this information was true.
In fact, an infiltrator named Myeong Hyeon was embedded within the Murim Alliance’s Baekho Division.
Jang Pyeong, the third sworn brother who would one day become the leader of the Baekho Division, had told him this himself.
What were the odds that someone of her rank—Young Patriarch—would recognize the face of a mere infiltrator?
Fortunately, Muk Yeojin’s gambit seemed to be paying off.
The crushing weight of killing intent that had pressed against him began to thin.
“The Murim Alliance, then…….”
Yet she did not appear to accept his words completely.
“How did you know the Seonryeong Shingwa was here?”
Muk Yeojin answered, still bowing low.
“It was intelligence obtained by Tongmyeonggak, the Murim Alliance’s information network. Fearing the precious treasure would fall into the hands of lesser sects, I took action myself to prevent it.”
“Why didn’t you report it to the sect?”
“The Alliance will soon launch a large-scale search. I judged that there was no time to wait for orders after making a report.”
“Hmm…….”
Cheon Hwarin retrieved the Baekryeon Daesekbu and slung it across her shoulder.
It was decidedly smaller than the one she had wielded before her return.
Yet the pressure emanating from the weapon itself was in a different league entirely from any other.
“…….”
Muk Yeojin remained prostrate, utterly still.
Cheon Hwarin, gazing down at him, let out a faint laugh.
“Ah…… so you were a believer all along?”
She withdrew the killing intent she had been radiating completely.
Yet Muk Yeojin did not lower his guard.
The woman called Cheon Hwarin was not someone so careless.
“But the Hyeolwang Cho’s poison is so potent—how have you been enduring it?”
For that, no credible excuse came to mind.
She, born with the Mandok Bulchim constitution, would have no reason to covet such a thing anyway.
Muk Yeojin promptly extended both hands forward.
“I possess a rarity called the Yeonhwaryun. It has been purifying the poison seeping into my body.”
“That’s interesting. Ah! Get up, get up. How long do you intend to grovel there?”
“I am unworthy. How could one so lowly as I presume to gaze upon the countenance of the Young Patriarch, heaven’s chosen?”
“Really. Why do all the believers insist on acting like this? It’s all because of Father, isn’t it?”
“…….”
Cheon Hwarin’s father was one of the Three Supreme Masters of the realm.
The patriarch of Cheonma Singyou and a martial master who, seventh in history, had received the Cheonma Ryeong bestowment—Cheon Ilhui.
Within the sect, his stature was such as to resemble that of Heaven’s Chosen Child itself.
“Stand. That is an order.”
At last, Muk Yeojin rose to his feet.
Cheon Hwarin fixed her gaze directly on his eyes, then reached out toward the Seonryeong Shingwa.
“I’m going to consume this, so keep watch for me.”
Before he could so much as respond, she placed the elixir in her mouth and immediately settled into a meditative posture to begin circulating her Ungi.
The meditative state was when a martial master was at their most vulnerable.
Especially when one had just ingested a precious elixir.
A single misstep by an intruder could send them spiraling into the Juwhwa Ipma deviation.
It was therefore only natural to station someone trustworthy as a guardian during meditation.
On the surface, Cheon Hwarin’s gesture appeared to express trust in him before her.
In that moment, Muk Yeojin knew for certain.
‘She still suspects me.’
Cheon Hwarin’s forbidden art of the inner method.
The Hyeolcheon Daera Ssingong.
Unlike the typical inner cultivation techniques of Joonwon, it was rooted not in seated meditation but in moving meditation—a martial art that accumulated vital energy through motion rather than stillness.
Not crossing one’s legs, not sitting with eyes closed to gather breath, but channeling energy through deliberate movement.
So Cheon Hwarin was now deliberately creating the appearance of vulnerability while testing his responses.
‘Sister, forgive me. But it seems I’m seeing right through you.’
He held back the laughter threatening to spill out and maintained his composed expression as he stood guard before her.
How long had it been?
Cheon Hwarin, who had been feigning cultivation while actually operating the Hyeolcheon Daera technique, clicked her tongue sharply.
“So it was real?”
Muk Yeojin widened his eyes, playing dumb.
“This humble servant, being of lowly station, dared not understand the Sect Leader’s words. If it pleases you to end my miserable life——”
“Enough, enough.”
Cheon Hwarin waved her hand dismissively, as if bored, and pushed herself to her feet.
Then she turned to make her way out of the cave.
“As for the remaining Seonryeong Shingwa, eat it yourself or sell it—do as you please.”
“I shall stake my life on transporting the treasure safely back to the sect.”
“Sigh… do as you wish or don’t. Either way.”
It was just as Cheon Hwarin stepped toward the path leading to the entrance.
She turned her head once more, asking with disarming calm.
“Oh, right! That child’s name was Jeong Hyo, wasn’t it? It’s been quite some time since I’ve seen her. Is she well?”
In that single moment, as Muk Yeojin met her gaze, he answered:
“To my knowledge, there is no warrior by the name of Jeong Hyo in Amryeongdang.”
……
Cheon Hwarin’s lips curled slightly at his words.
Without another word, she walked out toward the cave entrance.
* * *
“…She’s gone?”
Muk Yeojin extended his senses to check.
She was.
She had clearly left the cave through the water.
A long breath escaped him.
At last, the tension began to ease.
“Woman’s impossible to trust, I swear.”
Until the very end, Cheon Hwarin had tested him.
And his answer.
How could he possibly know whether a warrior named Jeong Hyo existed or not?
It was purely instinctive—a choice born of necessity.
He almost wanted to praise himself for the quick thinking he’d displayed in that split second.
Suddenly, an image of Cheon Hwarin as she had appeared moments ago surfaced in his mind.
She seemed more emotional and brighter than how he’d remembered her before his regression.
“It would have been better if we’d met under more normal circumstances.”
But his connection with her would not end here.
He would simply look forward to their next encounter.
“Of course, when she realizes I’ve played her for a fool, she’ll certainly try to kill me.”
When that time came, he’d simply have to rely on his wits again.
For now, he should secure today’s gains.
Muk Yeojin turned his head to regard the gleaming Seonryeong Shingwa.
He considered consuming one here but thought better of it.
There was no knowing what might befall him if he actually attempted to cultivate surrounded by all these toxins.
Muk Yeojin carefully wrapped the Seonryeong Shingwa in the Mokgap he’d prepared beforehand and tucked it into his robes.
Though the day was already growing dark, he didn’t head toward the inn but instead rushed straight toward the main stronghold of Sadocheon.
Who knew if that creature wielding the stone axe might pursue him…

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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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