Return of the God of War - Chapter 77

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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 77. Because they are no different.
‘No.’
Muk Yeojin’s eyes gradually dimmed.
Not Ma Seon.
That man had been tall, with thick, coarse features.
But the figure before him now was entirely different.
Shorter even than Cheon Hwarin, with a more delicate frame—a woman of pale, fragile beauty.
And yet for a moment, he’d nearly mistaken her for Ma Seon.
Her facial features bore that much resemblance to him.
‘…Blood relation?’
It had to be.
Without a single drop of shared blood, one could never resemble someone so closely.
‘So Ma Seon had blood kin.’
Even Muk Yeojin had not known this.
But that was not the pressing matter at hand.
‘How did she approach without a single sound?’
Until she’d spoken from behind them, neither Muk Yeojin, nor Cheon Hwarin, nor Yang Hui had sensed her presence.
Tension coiled suddenly through his body.
Muk Yeojin measured the woman with a sharp gaze.
Was she skilled enough to fool both his and Cheon Hwarin’s Qi Perception?
If so, the situation would become troublesome indeed.
But soon enough—
Having observed her carefully, Muk Yeojin shook his head.
‘…No. She is not skilled.’
Quite the opposite, in fact.
She was among the weakest even among ordinary people, let alone a warrior.
The pallor of illness clung so heavily to her that she seemed to strain merely to support her own frame, and each breath she drew was faint as a whisper.
‘Her vitality is spent.’
One with little time left to live.
That was why.
Possessing Qi weaker than insects, she’d drawn near undetected until the moment she spoke.
And yet, strangely—
The atmosphere she emanated was anything but ordinary.
Not grace, not beauty.
Something incomparable to anything else.
There emanated from her a mysterious quality that made one instinctively reluctant to approach.
Though Muk Yeojin kept his sword’s point unsheathed as he watched her intently, she did not so much as blink.
Despite the weapon leveled at her, there was neither surprise nor caution in her eyes.
Only a quiet gaze as she looked upon the three of them.
“My name is Yeo Cheong.”
Muk Yeojin found himself uncertain how to respond.
More than the question of what relation this woman called Yeo Cheong bore to Ma Seon, it was her demeanor that left him disconcerted.
As though she had been waiting for them—that serene, unruffled composure.
Cheon Hwarin and Yang Hui too seemed bewildered, overwhelmed by the inexplicable aura Yeo Cheong radiated.
As the three hesitated, she smiled gently.
“You seem to be the quiet type, Myriad Sound Creator.”
Muk Yeojin started visibly, staring at her.
“How did you know that?”
“Well… I simply came to know it. The way humans breathe without having to learn—it happens naturally. The Heavenly Mechanism is like that, I’ve found.”
Then Cheon Hwarin nodded as though understanding.
“Ah, yes. I’ve heard of it—those born with an Upper Dantian already awakened from birth can read the Heavenly Mechanism. That connection to heaven, what people call Divine Descent. In exchange, they suffer the Heavenly Pain throughout their lives and can only live extremely short spans.”
“You speak truly, Celestial Mage. I do not have long left. Though I cannot see all futures, nor can I predict everything. Or rather, I should say—I have seen, but I cannot remember, much like how people forget the dreams they experience upon waking.”
“Either way, it seems you already knew we would come to this place.”
“Yes. You have come to stop the wickedness Baek Yu’s Household is committing.”
Muk Yeojin’s eyes narrowed.
Seeing through his thoughts, Yeo Cheong smiled.
“There is no need to look at me with such a frightening gaze. I harbor the same purpose as you all.”
“The same purpose?”
At Muk Yeojin’s question, Yeo Cheong nodded.
In that instant, her eyes grew deep with sorrow.
“So many children, never given the chance to bloom, were sacrificed. Had things gone differently, countless more would have fallen into suffering.”
Yeo Cheong tilted her gaze toward the sky as she continued.
“Yet something happened I cannot explain. The Heavenly Mechanism, once set in motion, twisted. And I came to see you all. Perhaps… perhaps even heaven took pity on those children.”
Muk Yeojin, turning over her words, cast a sidelong glance at Cheon Hwarin.
‘Heaven took pity on the children?’
He could not agree with that in the slightest.
Fate.
In his past life, Baek Yu’s Household and Ma Seon had sacrificed far more children than this to complete the Raging Rupture Pill.
That would have been the predetermined path of destiny.
But in this life, a variable had emerged: Muk Yeojin.
And that variable existed not by heaven’s hand, but by Cheon Hwarin’s choice alone.
If heaven held any will, would it have allowed the likes of the Primal Sound Sect to run rampant across the world?
That was why people said heaven was indifferent.
Yeo Cheong’s eyes met those of the three in turn.
“The one orchestrating Baek Yu’s Household’s atrocities is my own brother.”
Muk Yeojin’s eyes snapped open.
‘Ma Seon!’
Yeo Cheong let a moment of silence settle before she spoke again.
“I beg you—please stop my brother and Baek Yu’s Household from accumulating any more karmic sins. If you do this, I will expend all the Divine Energy remaining in my Upper Dantian for your sake.”
Cheon Hwarin’s eyes narrowed.
“If you exhaust all that energy, won’t you be reduced to nothing?”
Yeo Cheong nodded without hesitation.
“I know. But I too have stood by all this time, watching the children’s suffering and my brother’s wickedness, telling myself I was powerless. I must bear that guilt as well.”
Yeo Cheong bowed deeply before the three, her posture the very picture of deference.
“What shall we do?”
At Yang Hui’s question, Cheon Hwarin gave an indifferent shrug.
“That’s for the one who gathered us to decide.”
Both gazes turned to Muk Yeojin.
He studied Yeo Cheong for a moment in silence.
“Our original goal was Baek Yu’s Household as well. There’s no reason to refuse your plea, but…”
His voice dropped lower.
“Do you understand what it means—asking me to stop your own brother?”
Yeo Cheong nodded slightly, a bitter smile crossing her face.
“A sister asking her brother’s life be taken… is there a greater transgression in this world?”
Her gaze drifted toward something distant.
“But every day I see it. I see tens of thousands, hundreds of thousands of innocent people falling into the Hellfire Abyss because of my brother alone…”
Her eyes grew resolute.
“So I have no regrets. And one thing is certain: if we let today slip away, we will never get another chance to stop my brother.”
Another chance to seize Ma Seon would disappear?
Setting aside everything else, that last statement was something Muk Yeojin could not let pass.
Unlike Yeo Cheong, who had glimpsed fragments of the future through her innate Divine Energy, Muk Yeojin had lived through the horrors that Ma Seon would bring with his own flesh.
That alone was enough to sweep away any hesitation.
“Do you have a plan?”
Yeo Cheong nodded.
“I have spent months preparing for today. First, I will guide you to Baek Yu’s Rear Garden. I will explain everything there. As long as you are with me, the Water Gate Guard will offer no resistance.”
“There’s no one in the Rear Garden at the moment?”
“…No.”
Yeo Cheong answered Yang Hui’s casual question with a slight hesitation.
……
For an instant, the gazes of Muk Yeojin, Cheon Hwarin, and Yang Hui intersected.
Without another word, the three followed in Yeo Cheong’s wake.
So it was they came to the entrance of the Secret Passage.
The Guard Captain, spotting the group, stepped forward.
“Miss Yeo Cheong? Who are these people behind you?”
“They are my brother’s guests.”
“Ah, I see.”
True to her word, the Water Gate Guard did not question the three’s identities further.
At the mention of Ma Seon’s guests, they seemed only eager to distance themselves.
They hastily cleared the way for the group to pass.
Once inside the Secret Passage, the party moved forward in silence.
Yeo Cheong took the lead down the narrow, darkened passage, with three others following behind her.
The surroundings were oddly silent.
They must have walked for about half an hour.
When the dimly lit tunnel that stretched perhaps a stone’s length came to an end, their vision suddenly opened wide.
The rear garden of Baek Yu’s Household revealed itself—ancient garden stones, a pond, and a pavilion with curved tile eaves, all standing in hushed stillness.
But.
Contrary to Yeo Cheong’s words, there was an unexpected figure already waiting there for Muk Yeojin and his companions.
The moment Muk Yeojin laid eyes on him, his gaze turned cold and sharp.
“Kheh-heh-heh…….”
A grotesque laugh that scraped at the nerves.
And eyes the color of blood-soaked crimson, burning with madness.
Contrasting with all that was the neat Reclining Dragon Crown resting upon his head.
The very existence that Muk Yeojin had hoped never to face stood right there before him.
“Kheh-ha-ha-ha! The tender shoot of the Celestial Mage Cheon Il-hwi?! How delightful—the prize has rolled right into my lap, vine and all.”
The name of the man now convulsed with laughter slipped low from between Muk Yeojin’s lips.
“……Yeo Mujyeol.”
It was Ma Seon—Yeo Mujyeol.
After a moment more of that grating laughter, he suddenly turned serious and glowered at Yeo Cheong.
“Sister, sister, oh my beloved sister! Did you truly think I wouldn’t notice your scheming to trap and kill me, you worthless wretch?”
Then.
Clack-clack-clack.
Warriors began to crowd around him in a dense formation.
They were Baek Yu’s Household guards.
From the rear as well, the presence of dozens more was pressing in.
A trap.
A perfectly prepared snare.
Muk Yeojin turned his head and gazed quietly at Yeo Cheong.
Judging from Ma Seon’s words.
It seemed the “plan” she had been preparing had been discovered.
But.
At this moment, Yeo Cheong showed no sign of confusion whatsoever.
The composure of someone who had known this situation would unfold.
That could mean only one thing.
“So this is the plan you spoke of.”
This circumstance itself was her intention.
Yeo Cheong bowed her head deeply.
Her breath wavered slightly beneath the weight of immense guilt.
“I’m sorry. I’m truly sorry. The only way to stop my brother and save the children was…… this. But…… depending on what the three of you do. I saw a future where all of you survive. I’m certain of it…… absolutely certain.”
What she was saying, in other words.
Was that she had also foreseen a future where someone in this place would die.
Yeo Cheong could not bring herself to lift her head, consumed by guilt.
She believed that in this very moment, she had driven three people toward their deaths.
But.
Yeo Cheong was overlooking something—the Qi Perception that belonged to a martial master who had transcended to a higher Gyeongji.
Soon, Muk Yeojin’s voice reached her ears.
She had braced herself for a torrent of curses, but something was amiss.
Muk Yeojin’s tone was perfectly composed.
And its content deviated far from what Yeo Cheong had anticipated.
“I already knew.”
“……!”
At Muk Yeojin’s low-toned words, Yeo Cheong’s head snapped up.
“What? You…… already knew?”
It was Cheon Hwarin who answered.
With the Great Stone Halberd resting against her shoulder, she gazed forward and spoke with utter ease.
“With this many ragtag soldiers crowded together, it would be stranger not to notice. From the moment we set foot in the secret passage, their presence was practically vibrating. And most tellingly…….”
Cheon Hwarin smiled faintly and looked at Yeo Cheong.
“Your lying is just terrible.”
Muk Yeojin and Yang Hui both nodded in agreement.
Yeo Cheong’s lips parted slightly.
“……If you knew all along, then why?”
He was asking why Muk Yeojin had walked here so willingly.
Shink.
Muk Yeojin slowly drew the Black Night Sword from its sheath.
“Well. I came because it seemed the man I’ve been so eager to meet was waiting here. As for why the other two came—I couldn’t say.”
At that, Cheon Hwarin lifted her momentum and stepped forward.
“Hmph. I’ve never shied away from a fight that comes my way. That’s all there is to it.”
……
Yeo Cheong turned her blank gaze toward Yang Hui.
Under her scrutiny, Yang Hui looked sheepish, scratching his head with an awkward smile.
“Well… I’m generally the type to avoid fights that come my way if possible. Might I still slip away even now?”
But his words belied his actions.
He already held the Twin Ring Blades in both hands, reading the flow of battle with keener perception than anyone present.
A smile had unconsciously bloomed at the corner of Muk Yeojin’s mouth.
‘Dishonest companions, these.’
Then Muk Yeojin stepped in front of Yeo Cheong and spoke.
“Perhaps because there is no difference—between the reason you stake your life, and the reason we fight.”

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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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