Return of the God of War - Chapter 71

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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 71. I am asking for your assistance.
The Samsaeng Daru establishments scattered throughout Jungwon served as information hubs for the Heavenly Demon Sect.
And the Gold Pouch that Muk Yeojin had handed to the proprietor was the very one Cheon Hwarin had given him before, filled with spiritual pills.
Thud.
Cheon Hwarin set down a Great Stone Weight beside the table—a slab that weighed half as much as a grown man.
She fixed Muk Yeojin with a scowl.
He greeted her with a smile in return.
“How do you do, Minor Sect Leader? I’m delighted to see you.”
…….
“The people around us seem frightened. Wouldn’t you prefer to sit down?”
……Sigh.
Thump.
Cheon Hwarin finally exhaled and settled into the chair across from him, her back against the rest.
“You look well. I’m relieved.”
Cheon Hwarin’s brow furrowed.
She had no idea where to even begin or how to approach this.
How had he discovered that Samsaeng Daru was connected to the Heavenly Demon Sect?
How did he know that the embroidered demon mask on the pouch was the sigil marking her as Minor Sect Leader?
And furthermore—
how had he known she was currently staying near Junggyeong and summoned her here?
In fact, Muk Yeojin himself had not known she was in Junggyeong.
Had she not appeared within four days,
he had resolved to move forward with a backup plan that would exclude Cheon Hwarin without hesitation.
That she appeared at this very moment was nothing short of great fortune.
After a long stare, Cheon Hwarin finally broke the silence with her question.
“What exactly are you doing right now?”
Muk Yeojin regarded her with a gentle smile.
He would have preferred to share good food and wine, exchange pleasantries about how they’d been, and converse warmly as they once had.
But he had no time for such luxuries now.
The thread he’d barely grasped connecting the Won’eum Sect.
If he squandered this opportunity through a moment’s indulgence, he would never forgive himself.
So he cut through the niceties and moved to his purpose.
“I need your help, Minor Sect Leader.”
Cheon Hwarin’s eyebrow twitched.
“Help?”
“Yes.”
…….
Muk Yeojin answered tersely and waited quietly for her response.
A long silence settled between them.
Cheon Hwarin studied him intently.
Then, a moment later, her lips twisted into a light laugh.
“It’s true that I owe you a debt from the main headquarters of the Heavenly Demon Sect. But…….”
Whoosh.
Cheon Hwarin’s presence descended with crushing weight.
The dishes on the table rattled and trembled from the sheer force of it.
“So? You’re calling in that debt now?”
Her gaze flashed with the ferocity of a predator’s.
“Do you truly believe the position of Minor Sect Leader of the Heavenly Demon Sect is a child’s game to be trifled with?”
Immediately, a crimson aura began to seep from her entire frame.
The Hyeolcheon Daeragi.
The patrons in the inn set down their cups and hurried from their seats one by one.
Everyone sensed that the atmosphere had become extraordinary.
It was then.
“No.”
Muk Yeojin’s firm voice cut through her aura and held it at bay.
He too abandoned his smile and met her gaze directly.
“I did not regard what happened then as a debt, nor did I ever intend to use it as a pretext to ask for help. I am simply asking for your assistance.”
“……Assistance?”
As Cheon Hwarin repeated his words, she could not help but be startled by what came next.
Muk Yeojin rose from his seat and bowed deeply.
His forehead nearly touching the ground, the bow was flawless in its deference.
“Please, Minor Sect Leader. I beseech you—lend me your aid.”
Cheon Hwarin’s eyes wavered.
An unfamiliar trace of bewilderment crossed her features.
Muk Yeojin.
A prodigy even Cheon Hwarin—herself born with the Heavenly Martial Constitution, a martial genius without peer—acknowledged as remarkable.
His father was none other than the Lord of Sadocheon, his mother a Sword Palace Master.
His pedigree was such that no one in all of Cheonha could claim his equal.
What could such a man possibly lack, that he would lower his head before another?
She had not foreseen this, not even in her wildest suppositions before arriving here.
……
Watching him remain bowed, she felt suddenly foolish—as though her own earlier display of force had been nothing but theater.
Fssss.
The Hyeolcheon Daeragi she had so painstakingly summoned dissipated without resistance.
Cheon Hwarin exhaled, embarrassed, and cleared her throat once.
Then, in a voice stripped of its earlier sharpness, she spoke with deliberate carefulness.
“……First, tell me what this ‘aid’ of yours entails.”
At her words, Muk Yeojin lifted his head and returned to his seat.
“Thank you.”
“……I haven’t agreed to help you yet.”
“I understand.”
He laughed briefly, then fell silent, his gaze distant as thought took hold of him.
‘How much should I reveal?’
Regarding the Won’eum Sect.
Should he lay bare everything he knew?
Should he warn her of their danger, even hint that their spies might already be embedded within the Heavenly Demon Sect itself?
Eventually, he would have to.
His sworn siblings—Cheon Hwarin among them—would see this through to the end alongside him, whatever came.
But.
‘Not yet.’
The inner workings of the Heavenly Demon Sect remained opaque even to his understanding.
Moreover, it was still a domain beyond his reach to meddle in.
If Cheon Hwarin grasped the Won’eum Sect’s true nature clumsily and provoked them, the consequences could spiral beyond his control.
Therefore.
‘Better she remain ignorant for now.’
This was the conclusion he had reached after careful deliberation.
‘So today, I will speak only what is necessary.’
Only the information essential to resolving this matter.
That alone, he had resolved to share.
After ordering his thoughts thus, Muk Yeojin began to speak, his words measured and deliberate.
“There exists an organization that manufactures Pseudo Spiritual Pills.”
Cheon Hwarin’s interest sharpened at once.
“Pseudo Spiritual Pills?”
“Yes. Upon ingestion, when one hears a specific piped melody, the pills cause one’s martial force to surge explosively while stripping away reason entirely. Have you heard tell of them?”
Cheon Hwarin’s eyes narrowed to slits.
Even from the description alone, she recognized the thing as profoundly dangerous.
“This is the first I’ve heard of it.”
Muk Yeojin nodded, continuing his account.
“My half-sibling suffered greatly because of that pill. I have sworn to exact vengeance upon those responsible.”
His gaze deepened, growing darker still.
“But they are meticulous opponents, and my strength alone proves insufficient. Thus I have come before you, shameless though it may seem, to seek your aid.”
He bowed his head once more, bringing his words to a close.
……
Cheon Hwarin regarded him with narrowed eyes, studying him intently.
Then, arms crossed, she spoke, her words dropping like a stone into still water.
“Even you must sense how many holes riddle this account.”
Muk Yeojin let out a soft laugh.
“Your perception is as sharp as ever.”
He nodded, then continued with easy confidence.
“True. If this were all there were to it, why would I be undertaking this alone? I could simply bring my mother and the Geomgwi and sweep them all away.”
Muk Yeojin gave a slight shrug.
“But to explain further, I’d have to lay bare our sect’s internal affairs to you, the Minor Sect Leader—and to the daughter of an enemy commander at that. Surely you understand I can’t do such a thing?”
……
Cheon Hwarin found herself at a loss for words before such brazen audacity.
Was this truly how someone who had come seeking her help should behave?
It was so absurd that she couldn’t even summon a laugh.
A flicker of annoyance was beginning to creep in.
Still, Cheon Hwarin fell into momentary contemplation.
Truth be told, back then—
she had spoken that way for the sake of her dignity as Minor Sect Leader, but inwardly she could not deny that she owed Muk Yeojin a considerable debt.
He had proven genuinely useful during the affair with Geomgwi, after all.
More than that—
Cheon Hwarin cast a sidelong glance at Muk Yeojin.
‘If a man of his caliber is asking for help, then his opponent must certainly be no ordinary foe.’
This realization stirred her curiosity profoundly.
Both her inquisitiveness and her competitive spirit rose their heads at once.
At that moment, Muk Yeojin smiled with unmistakable meaning.
‘A situation reeking of danger and excitement like this—there’s no way Sister Cheon would simply let it pass.’
Cheon Hwarin felt a subtle stir at the knowing look in his eyes.
It was the expression of one who already knew she would help him without question.
‘What kind of man is he……’
Cheon Hwarin clicked her tongue.
Looking at that face, she found herself reluctant.
Yet it was a debt of the heart she would have to settle someday.
With the resolve to clear it in this moment, she opened her mouth.
“Very well. I’ll lend my hand to this.”
Muk Yeojin sprang from his seat at once.
“My gratitude. Come, let us finish the story as we travel.”
His expression, mouth corners raised, held the ease of one for whom everything was unfolding according to plan.
Cheon Hwarin swallowed down a bitter taste that rose unbidden.
* * *
The two figures dashed from the inn, their forms cutting through the air.
Muk Yeojin led the way, with Cheon Hwarin close at his heels.
Muk Yeojin marveled at her graceful lightness technique.
‘Bearing that heavy Great Stone Weight and executing such speed in her movement art—she truly is worthy of the name Sister Cheon.’
Yet as Cheon Hwarin watched his back, a similar thought occupied her mind.
‘That monster of a man.’
The movement art she was currently employing was the Mahjong Haengbi.
It was counted as foremost among the sect’s lightness techniques.
Cheon Hwarin had ascended to the sixth mastery level of the Mahjong Haengbi.
Even bearing considerable weight as she was, her running speed placed her among the top ten in the sect.
Yet now, even as she deployed the Mahjong Haengbi at full force, the distance between herself and Muk Yeojin ahead did not diminish by even a hair’s breadth.
It meant he moved at precisely her speed.
But that was not the end of it.
In any study of lightness technique, from third-rate to peerless masters, there was one universal principle:
to achieve maximum speed, one must lift the heels and concentrate force upon the forefoot.
Yet the heels of Muk Yeojin, as he pushed off the ground, remained in contact with it.
That is to say, he had not yet unleashed his true maximum speed.
Cheon Hwarin’s brows twitched.
The times in her life when her pride had cracked were few enough to count on one hand.
Yet Muk Yeojin accounted for two of those rare instances.
She could not help but admit it.
Muk Yeojin was a master who surpassed her.
……
After a moment of hardened expression, Cheon Hwarin suddenly laughed aloud.
‘How foolish. Since when did I concern myself with such things?’
So his martial skill surpassed hers?
What of it?
Then she would simply grow stronger and crush him beneath her heel.
Fire blazed anew in Cheon Hwarin’s eyes as she gazed upon the back of Muk Yeojin’s head.
Muk Yeojin started slightly at the sudden sensation.
‘What is this? A chill, all at once…….’
He unfurled his perception at the prickling sensation along his back, but felt nothing beyond Cheon Hwarin trailing behind him.
‘A false alarm, perhaps.’
In any case.
They had not traveled far on the wind when
the two of them crossed the Janggang and entered the Northern End of Junggyeong.
“This is Orthodox Sect territory, and you say there’s someone here who can help us?”
Muk Yeojin nodded at Cheon Hwarin’s question.
There were three establishments to verify.
Beyond Cheon Hwarin, he needed one more ally.
That was why he had come here.
Cheonggu County — the northernmost point of Junggyeong, where it bordered Sadocheon.
“There’s a thief here, born of a prominent family of the region. Crude around the edges, but useful enough if properly handled.”
A grin spread across Muk Yeojin’s face like that of a demon from the depths of hell.

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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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