Return of the God of War - Chapter 69

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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 69. Who Gave It to You?
Hye Rangyeong’s Residence.
The medicinal aroma drifted softly through the largest hall in the Inner Garden.
Shh… shh……
Muk Byeongho lay unconscious there, his body wrapped in bandages at multiple points.
Across his torso were what appeared to be dozens of moxa cones burning.
Even his limbs bristled with sharp needles inserted at various places.
Though the sight looked brutal at first glance, they were all medical acupuncture needles called Blade Needles.
Kang Chang, the physician, rose after completing the procedure, which had taken nearly two hours, wiping sweat from his brow with his sleeve.
“That should suffice.”
He paused to check Muk Byeongho’s pulse once more, then nodded.
“He’ll need at least six months of rest, but there shouldn’t be any lasting aftereffects.”
Upon hearing this, Hye Rangyeong finally exhaled a long breath, bowing repeatedly.
“Thank you. Thank you so much, Physician Kang.”
Kang Chang shook his head with a smile.
“Not at all. You should thank Young Master Muk Geon instead. The swift measures he took right after the injury were excellent.”
Hye Rangyeong turned and offered his gratitude to Muk Geon as well.
“Young Master… I am truly grateful. I will never forget this debt.”
Muk Geon waved his hand modestly.
“A debt? Not at all. Byeongho is my brother. It was only natural for me to do what I could.”
Kang Chang burst into hearty laughter.
“Young Master Muk Geon remains as humble as ever. And your grandfather—he’s still in good health?”
“Yes. My grandfather often asks about you, and frequently wonders whether you might yet transfer your household register to the Muk clan. He asks me often.”
“Ha! What would an old man like me do joining the Baek Yu Clan, already called the finest physicians in all the realm? Tell him we should share a drink sometime.”
Muk Geon nodded with a smile.
“I shall relay that. Now that Byeongho’s condition has stabilized, I should take my leave.”
Kang Chang nodded lightly.
“Do so.”
With that, Muk Geon left the room.
A middle-aged man waiting at the door quietly approached.
“Allow me to see you out.”
Muk Geon naturally fell in behind the middle-aged man.
They walked for some time.
Soon they reached the center of the Inner Garden.
The two arrived beneath the shade of weeping willows.
The surroundings were quiet, with no servants coming and going.
Only then did Muk Geon break the silence.
“Muk Byeongho’s Berserk Qi has vanished.”
The middle-aged man walking ahead, Gyeom Chonggwan, stopped in his tracks.
“……What was the cause?”
“A powerful penetrating force dealt internal damage and erased the Berserk Qi along with it. It can only be seen as coincidence.”
Gyeom Chonggwan’s brow furrowed slightly.
“Are you certain it was coincidence?”
The question carried the weight of an interrogation rather than mere inquiry.
From the tone alone, it resembled a superior reproaching a subordinate.
Muk Geon’s expression hardened in an instant.
‘This baseborn dog dares.’
He wanted nothing more than to lose his temper and lash out.
But he could not afford to.
If the mysterious organization this man belonged to did not lend its aid,
then his path to becoming Lord would be nothing but a dream, as would his maternal family’s leap to become the greatest clan in all the realm.
Muk Geon swallowed his irritation and replied.
“If it wasn’t coincidence, then what are you saying it was?”
A thin edge of sharpness threaded through his voice.
“Are you suggesting that Muk Yeojin somehow knew that Muk Byeongho’s Berserk Qi gathered at the Severing Gate acupoint? That would make no sense whatsoever.”
……
“Even if he had known, could a mere youth not yet of age defend a vital acupoint and simultaneously expel the Berserk Qi? Such a feat would require the strength of one of your precious sect leaders. Do you see that as possible?”
At the word “sect leaders,” Gyeom Chonggwan’s aura grew cold and somber.
He regarded Muk Geon silently.
“If you wish to live long, you’d do well to guard that tongue of yours.”
“…….”
Muk Geon’s breath caught in his throat.
The primal, chilling killing intent emanating from Gyeom Chonggwan was not something Muk Geon could endure.
A chill ran down his spine. He had no choice but to lower his gaze.
“……I misspoke.”
“…….”
Gyeom Chonggwan, who had been studying him quietly, resumed walking ahead.
“The Main Sect has great expectations of you and the Baek Yu Clan. I trust you will not disappoint us.”
Muk Geon clenched his teeth and answered.
“……Both my grandfather and I are striving with one heart.”
“I believe you.”
For a moment, the two walked in silence across the Inner Garden.
During the long quiet, Muk Geon suddenly spoke.
“What do you intend to do about Byeongho?”
“I was planning to dispose of Hye Rangyeong soon enough. There’s no point leaving behind unnecessary embers.”
It meant they would eliminate everything together.
“You said dispose of? The plan I heard before didn’t include anything like that.”
“Hye Rangyeong seems to have caught wind of something. She’s been secretly tracking the business operations I manage.”
At those words, anger boiled up inside Muk Geon once more.
‘So he’s saying I failed to manage my own affairs, got caught out, and he’s reproaching me as though it’s my fault.’
But this time too, he could only hold back.
On the surface, he merely nodded as though unmoved.
“……Then what of the materials for the Berserk Elixir?”
Gyeom Chonggwan replied with casual indifference.
“I plan to shift the source to Yi Gongnyeo soon. Don’t concern yourself with that—you and yours focus on assisting Sama Hyang with perfecting the Berserk Elixir.”
Yi Gongnyeo?
What was that supposed to mean?
He had many questions, but in the end, Muk Geon could only answer weakly.
“……Understood.”
They had arrived at the entrance to the Outer Garden.
Gyeom Chonggwan stopped at the gate and bowed respectfully to Muk Geon.
“Farewell, Young Master.”
Creak.
Thud.
Only after the gate closed could Muk Geon release a deep sigh.
Staring at the gate for a moment, he clicked his tongue and turned away.
‘One day I’ll repay all this humiliation.’
But he did not voice those words aloud.
That day would come only after he became Cheonju.
* * *
Step, step.
Measured footfalls echoed quietly through the corridor.
Ju Gok, the White Wolf Commander, had come to Manryeon Palace to report the results of the final match at the Cheolheol Arena.
He placed his sword-case before the dais and prostrated himself.
“I bow before you, Cheonju.”
Muk Umyeong, who had seemed to be asleep, slowly lifted his eyelids.
“Speak.”
Ju Gok cleared his throat and began his report carefully.
“……Thus, the final match held this afternoon saw Young Master Yeojin claim victory.”
Muk Umyeong showed little reaction.
Neither the process nor the outcome differed from his expectations.
“However…….”
“What is it?”
After a moment of choosing his words, Ju Gok continued.
“……During the match, Young Master Byeongho exhibited an unusual energy. His Qi and Blood seemed to surge uncontrollably, as though beyond his own will. It may be mere misconstruction on my part, but it was a change too significant to overlook, so I report it to you.”
Muk Umyeong answered calmly.
“You could not have been mistaken.”
A brief word.
Yet the moment it fell, Ju Gok’s shoulders trembled slightly.
Emotion blossomed across his face.
Even if it was mere lip service, Sado’s lord had revealed his trust in him.
How could his heart not swell with pride?
“Tell the Chief Inspector to conduct an investigation.”
“I shall obey your command.”
There were no specific instructions on what to investigate, how, or where to begin.
But that single word was enough.
Chief Inspector Sama Hyang.
She was a rare talent capable of grasping the whole from the mere speck of a clue.
Undoubtedly, she would return to Manryeon Palace with the results the lord desired.
Ju Gok, who had been waiting with his head bowed, continued his report.
“And Young Master Yeojin has taken the Dragon Tiger Robe from the State Military Arsenal.”
At this point, Muk Umyeong too showed a reaction.
“The Dragon Tiger Robe?”
The Dragon Tiger Robe.
Within the State Military Arsenal, it ranked among the three most valuable pieces of protective armor.
Yet protective armor was inherently meaningful only in the thick of war or before a life-or-death duel.
It offered no assistance whatsoever in ordinary martial cultivation.
Moreover, the youngest was studying the Extreme Origin Protective Art.
Once he perfected it—even if not immediately—the Dragon Tiger Robe would become little more than a useless trinket.
And yet the boy had chosen it regardless.
‘He must have come to realize that he will soon face a battle where his life hangs in the balance.’
A thin smile flickered across Muk Umyeong’s expressionless face.
Interest—faint but unmistakable—passed through his eyes once more.
His gaze turned toward the window.
‘What trouble is he planning to stir up now?’
* * *
Late dawn.
Hye Rangyeong rose slowly from her desk after finishing her work.
She wished to see her son Byeongho’s face one more time before sleep.
Though her son had sustained grave injuries, she harbored no resentment toward his opponent, Muk Yeojin.
This match had been a fight of Byeongho’s own choosing, after all.
Moreover, countless letters had arrived in the days since.
They contained praise from martial artists moved by the indomitable spirit Byeongho had displayed during the match.
This brought joy to both Hye Rangyeong and Muk Byeongho.
Yet.
‘What was that appearance he showed at the end of the final match?’
For a brief moment, her son had seemed like a beast robbed of reason.
Pi Yangcheon had remarked something similar, which only deepened her unease.
But since Kang Chang reported no abnormalities beyond internal injuries, she had no choice but to accept it and move on.
Lost in such thoughts as she walked, Hye Rangyeong soon found herself before Muk Byeongho’s bedchamber.
But in that instant, her body froze.
“…What…what is this?”
A sight that made her blood run cold.
Servants and attendants lay scattered on both sides of the corridor.
All of them lay collapsed on the ground, limp as though unconscious.
Then, like lightning through her mind, came a thought of her son.
“Byeongho!”
Clatter-clatter-clatter.
She nearly tripped over her own hem but paid it no mind.
She began to run as though possessed.
A frail frame that had never learned even basic Lightness Skill or Self-Defense Technique.
Yet in this moment, she cut through the wind like the wind itself.
As she drew near her son’s chamber, her face grew ashen.
She reached the door and kicked it open without hesitation.
Crash!
“Byeongho, are you all right—!”
Before she could finish, her eyes widened in shock.
Beside the bed where Muk Byeongho lay.
There stood an intruder in black garments and a dark mask.
Hye Rangyeong cried out, suppressing the trembling in her heart.
“You! Who do you think you are, speaking to me like this!”
“…….”
The figure in black did not answer.
He merely regarded her through the two eyes visible between the folds of his mask.
Hye Rangyeong’s body trembled of its own accord.
His gaze was utterly devoid of emotion—empty, indifferent.
Yet beneath it, she could feel a murderous intent swirling like a vortex, ready to explode at any moment.
Cold dread traced down her spine.
Even breathing became difficult.
She was afraid.
Every instinct screamed at her to turn and flee.
But she could not.
How could a mother turn away when death itself stood beside her son?
“……What do you want!”
Yet he gave no answer.
And then.
Bang!
The figure in black surged forward in a single breath and seized Hye Rangyeong by the throat.
“Gasp!”
Her feet left the ground.
Suspended three feet in the air, she clawed at his wrist, thrashing desperately—but his grip was unyielding as stone.
“Uhhh……”
Her lips quivered; breathing was impossible. Yet she forced out words through sheer will.
“Take me…… take only me. Please…… not my son. Not my son……”
“…….”
The figure in black—Muk Yeojin—gazed at her for a moment, then spoke in a distorted voice, slowly and deliberately.
Murderous intent poured from him like waves.
“Who gave you that Spirit Medicine you passed to your son.”

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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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