Return of the God of War - Chapter 76

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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 76. Human Duty.
‘So it was you, Muk Geon…….’
Deep within Muk Yeojin’s being, a terrible killing intent that had been suppressed like a war ghost began to boil over, reaching its breaking point.
Hissssssss.
The murderous will that evaporated from his inner depths crystallized in his eyes, kindling a sickly ghostfire.
‘Muk Geon…… Yes, so you were the mole of the Woneum Cult all along.’
Or rather, the entire Baek Yui Medical Family must be entangled in this.
A clan that claims the highest standing in medicine throughout the realm.
It was clear that the Baek Yui Medical Family was deeply involved in Ma Seon’s refinement of Gwangpokdan.
‘So that’s how it was…… Now all the pieces finally fall into place.’
The reason Muk Geon, a man of no particular power, could trample over promising successors and ultimately become the Young Lord.
He had borrowed the hands of those Woneum Cult wretches.
He tried to master his emotions, but strength welled unbidden in his clenched fists.
The thick blood that seeped between his tightened knuckles seemed to speak to the sheer density of his rage.
‘Was it all for a seat of power? Did he fall prey to the scheming of those vile demons merely for the sake of authority? Merely for that?’
Yet, thinking it through otherwise, what else could there be?
Lust for power, lust for wealth, lust for flesh.
Humanity itself was nothing but a stock species, willing to forsake both human and celestial duty for such paltry desires, embracing bestiality without hesitation.
But understanding and acceptance are not the same.
He could comprehend their motives, yet he would never sanction their deeds as just.
Muk Yeojin closed his eyes.
The face of his mother, smiling at him, rose to mind.
The sworn brothers who had always stood beside him as pillars of strength.
The faces of everyone he had forged bonds with—Boo-yeon, Yang Hwi, and all others—drifted past.
And.
Overlapping with those same visages was the image of them as cold corpses, fallen beneath the claws of the Woneum Cult.
A distant memory from the past, now erased as if it had never been.
But.
Muk Yeojin had never forgotten it.
Not once since his regression until now.
He still lived within that hell.
Roooaaaaargh.
At last, the dam burst, and a tempest of tangible killing intent poured forth from his entire being.
‘Yes, if you beasts refuse to shy from bestiality, then neither shall I hesitate to become a beast and tear you to pieces.’
The force of it was so severe.
Even the weeds and leaves nearby began to wither and lose their vitality.
Cheon Hwarin and Yang Hwi’s faces went pale in an instant.
“Hey, thief! Protect Ma Bu!”
“Gasp! What? Ah! Y-yes, understood!”
Cheon Hwarin quickly moved to shield the children and drew upon the Blood Heaven String, erecting a barrier of energy.
Cheon Hwarin and Yang Hwi might have been able to withstand it.
But ordinary people exposed to this aura of Muk Yeojin’s would likely perish on the spot—it was a killing intent so toxic and potent.
“……!”
Realizing his own lapse in an instant, Muk Yeojin hastily suppressed his killing intent.
Whooooosh.
As his energy receded, the scattered bamboo leaves descended slowly.
Soon the aura that had seemed ready to annihilate the world vanished as if it had been a lie.
Muk Yeojin wore a bitter smile.
‘My cultivation is still sorely lacking.’
He bowed his head slightly to the two of them.
“My apologies. Sect Leader Cheon—I lost control of my emotions for a moment. Yang Hwi, I’m sorry.”
The instant he learned that the mastermind behind it all was the Baek Yui Medical Family, his demeanor seemed to transform entirely.
Cheon Hwarin, too, had been startled, but she was not greatly shaken.
She already knew of Muk Yeojin’s prowess, and from the moment he arrived alone seeking her out, she had anticipated that he carried complex circumstances.
But Yang Hwi was different.
The tremendous killing intent that had just erupted made the backs of his knees tremble, and cold sweat streamed down his temples.
This must be what the phrase ‘one’s hair stands on end’ truly meant.
It was a dimension apart from the carefully measured killing intent he had shown to the Three Vile Ones.
No—it was not mere killing intent at all.
What had just been revealed was the ‘Mindscape’ itself, rooted deep within Muk Yeojin’s inner being.
Yang Hwi’s eyes widened in alarm.
What kind of world was he living in, that someone of such an age walked the Path of Asura with such ease?
‘Little Rakshasa… far exceeding rumor—a prodigy, a scourge, and worse.’
Little Rakshasa Muk Yeojin.
He had become quite renowned even in the circles of the Righteous Path.
There was little wonder in that.
In nearly every tavern north of the river, at least one table in three spoke of the Small Cheolheol Arena held in Sadocheon.
Yet from another quarter came whispers of a different sort.
That southern martial artists had deliberately exaggerated to elevate the standing of the Dark Path.
‘At best, he might rival the highest echelon of the Righteous Path—those of the Five Dragons Three Phoenixes caliber.’
That was the prevailing view.
Yang Hwi himself had been inclined to believe it might be so.
‘Five Dragons Three Phoenixes? Nonsense! Throw every last one of them at the feet of that Little Rakshasa and they’d all become mewling babes who can’t take a step.’
There was no comparison to be made with mere echelon rankings.
At the very least, one would need to be among the Murim Alliance’s elite Four Generations Martial Force, or better yet a Team Commander, just to stand as an equal.
That was how much Muk Yeojin’s display shook Yang Hwi.
Even as they watched, Muk Yeojin had already regained his composure and begun swiftly taking stock of the situation.
‘I still cannot gauge the full extent of the Baek Yui Medical Family’s strength.’
Rushing forward without first understanding one’s opponent was the height of folly.
Though Muk Yeojin’s power rose along a steep curve, he had only recently joined the ranks of those who could be called strong.
At his current level, he could not yet meet the Woneum Cult directly in open confrontation.
Yet neither could he simply retreat now.
‘Before the Gwangpokdan is complete… now is the optimal opportunity to strike at them.’
If he could only prevent the completion of the Gwangpokdan, it would be as though he were erasing more than thirty percent of their future strength.
This was a masterstroke of the highest order—one that could overturn the entire landscape of the war to come.
‘This gamble is worth staking one’s life upon.’
With that judgment, Muk Yeojin ended his deliberation and hardened his resolve.
‘I move directly on the Baek Yui Medical Family now.’
And even if a full-scale battle erupted along the way.
It seemed worth attempting.
Ma Seon.
That man was a personality broken by sovereign arrogance—’Heaven above, earth below, I alone supreme.’
For that reason, he always moved alone.
Absolute solitude.
He never, ever tolerated another’s presence in his domain.
So if Ma Seon was maintaining contact with the Baek Yui Medical Family, the likelihood of the Woneum Cult’s leadership—the First Head and his inner circle—being stationed there was slim.
It was then.
Yang Hwi turned suddenly to Ma Bu and asked.
“But tell me—what reason might the Baek Yui Medical Family have for gathering children?”
Even Muk Yeojin had been unable to discern this point.
Rustle-rustle.
Yang Hwi nodded as Ma Bu’s sign language conveyed its message.
Soon Yang Hwi relayed what had been said.
“This one claims no knowledge of such matters.”
That made sense.
If Ma Bu possessed such deep intelligence, that itself would be strange.
It was in that moment.
“……They said they would use us as materials.”
Muk Yeojin’s head snapped around.
It was the girl who had wept in Cheon Hwarin’s arms until her eyes were swollen.
“Materials, you say?”
Cheon Hwarin gently pressed, and the child nodded.
“Yes…… When we were locked in some dark room, I heard the adults talking outside. They said they would use us as materials for something…….”
……!
Muk Yeojin, Cheon Hwarin, and Yang Hwi.
The three of them felt their spirits sink as one.
The Gwangpokdan.
Spirit Medicine.
And materials.
By this reckoning, even the dullest mind could not fail to grasp what was truly transpiring.
Crack-crack-crack.
The sound of teeth grinding between Muk Yeojin’s lips rang out with chilling violence.
‘These insane bastards!’
* * *
After sheltering Ma Bu and the children in the inner residence of the Buk Cheon Yang Family.
The three of them set out toward Yeongsan County, where the Baek Yui Medical Family made their home.
He had never intended to overlook the Baek Yui Medical Family.
But now that he understood the true nature of the atrocities taking place there, retreat was no longer an option.
Cheon Hwarin and Yang Hwi had both agreed with this resolve and chosen to stand with him.
“Carriages carrying ordinary children don’t go through the main gate of the Baek Yui Medical Family, but rather through a secret passage at the rear, or so I’m told.”
Yang Hwi relayed what Ma Bu had told him before their departure.
“The inner and outer compounds are guarded so rigorously that not even an ant could slip through unnoticed. But the rear gardens are different. Aside from the gate sentries who watch over that secret passage, no one ventures near it.”
The moment Muk Yeojin heard this, he understood instinctively.
‘It’s Ma Seon. That bastard’s quarters must be in the rear gardens.’
Given his nature, if it were anything less than a grave matter, he would have forbidden anyone from setting foot anywhere near his dwelling.
Ma Seon had indeed cultivated some degree of martial skill for self-defense, but he was essentially a scholar and man of letters, not a true warrior.
If Ma Seon were unguarded and alone, Muk Yeojin’s current strength would be more than sufficient to strike him down.
‘Truly, this is a once in a thousand years opportunity.’
* * *
The problem was that the path to seizing this opportunity was far from simple.
“……It looks like there are well over a hundred of them.”
At the entrance to the secret passage connecting to the Baek Yui Medical Family’s rear gardens.
Gate sentries stood packed in dense ranks.
While individually their skill was unremarkable, the sheer numbers posed a problem.
“Each one is practically worthless, but there are far too many of them. We’d run out of time trying to dispose of them all and push through.”
“If a direct assault won’t work, we’ll need to find an alternative approach.”
“Yes, we will.”
“What about something like this?”
Cheon Hwarin and Yang Hwi exchanged ideas with serious expressions.
In that moment, Muk Yeojin regarded both of them with fresh eyes.
They could not possibly be unaware that this was a venture where death might claim them.
Yet neither of them was considering retreat as an option.
And they had no compelling reason of their own to stake their lives on this.
So why did these two stand here now, wearing such grave expressions?
Muk Yeojin arrived at an answer to that question.
‘……It’s Human Duty.’
Yes.
They were not chasing some lofty ideal like chivalry or greater righteousness.
Cheon Hwarin and Yang Hwi.
And Muk Yeojin as well.
None of the three could be called good people.
But neither could they be called righteous.
All three were martial artists who walked barefoot along blade’s edge.
They harbored no hesitation in taking others’ lives and inflicting wounds.
Warriors who had cultivated poisoned hearts so as not to feel remorse for staining their hands with others’ blood for the sake of personal gain—such men could hardly be called righteous.
And yet the reason these three moved now with one heart and one will.
It was because they understood the Human Duty that any person ought to possess.
Heart of Compassion.
Helpless common folk.
Children so small they had scarcely begun to bloom, sacrificed for these villains’ desires.
This transcended any simplistic trichotomy of Jeongdo versus Sado versus Mado.
It was the abandonment of the very Human Duty that anyone ought to bear.
Cheon Hwarin, Yang Hwi, and all their sworn siblings.
They were all people who took this Human Duty for granted.
‘That is why I can trust and rely on them.’
Conversely, it was also why Muk Yeojin refused to treat the Woneum Cult as human at all.
It was then.
“There…….”
A soft whisper!
A child’s voice from behind them.
Someone had approached from behind.
That three of them hadn’t noticed until the figure had drawn so close was extraordinary.
This was no ordinary person.
Whoosh.
The instant Muk Yeojin drew the Black Night Sword and spun around.
His pupils dilated.
He knew that face.
The visage before him was far too familiar.
This was the very target Muk Yeojin had been seeking all along.
‘Ma Seon!’

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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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