Return of the God of War - Chapter 90

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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 90. What insolence.
Three days had passed since the battle with Nap Pyeonggi ended.
Muk Yeojin and Muk Iyeon had returned to Sadocheon.
The moment he stepped toward his quarters, Pyo Yeon, who had been in the garden, spotted him and rushed over urgently.
“Young master! Where on earth have you been? You’re only now returning!”
“I apologize for causing you such concern, Aunt.”
“Really! You ought to apologize! How worried your aunt and mistress have been……!”
Pyo Yeon’s gaze shifted to his side mid-sentence.
Only then did she notice Muk Iyeon and quickly lowered her head.
“Fourth Young Lady, my apologies for the late greeting. I am Pyo Yeon, who oversees the household of Hyiryonjeon.”
Muk Iyeon smiled gently.
“We’ve met before, haven’t we? I’ve heard much about you from this rascal here. He was so insistent that I should take care not to slip up around you, considering you’re like a sister to his aunt.”
Pyo Yeon’s face was about to flush crimson when—
Hearing her voice from afar, Nangung Yeongryeong and Gam Mo rushed barefoot to the gate.
“Yeojin, are you hurt anywhere?”
“No, Mother. I’m truly sorry.”
“It’s fine. You’ve come back safe and sound—that’s all that matters.”
Nangung Yeongryeong’s fingertips trembled slightly as she examined Muk Yeojin’s body, searching for any sign of injury.
It was different from that time after the Ascending Heaven Ceremony, when he’d returned so late without notice that she’d drawn her sword in anger.
Nangung Yeongryeong sensed instinctively that this matter was far more grave, and she found herself grateful to Heaven and Earth Divine Beings simply for the fact that her son stood alive and breathing before her eyes.
Only when Nangung Yeongryeong’s sight cleared did Muk Iyeon finally come into view.
“Red Maiden House Leader, it’s been a long time.”
“Please, speak freely. Aunt. It’s already been nearly four years since I stepped down from that position.”
“We can address such matters later. But how did it come to pass that the Fourth Young Lady returns with our Yeojin?”
Muk Yeojin stepped forward beside her.
“Mother, it’s quite a lengthy story. Let me explain everything once we’re inside.”
“Very well, I understand.”
Meanwhile, Gam Mo’s eyes, standing a pace back, narrowed to slits.
Nangung Yeongryeong, her sight obscured by emotion, had failed to notice the change in her son.
But Gam Mo felt a peculiar strangeness emanating from Muk Yeojin.
‘What is this discord I sense from Young Master Muk……?’
And the moment Gam Mo grasped the nature of that discord, a gasp escaped his lips.
“Y-Young Master Muk! You haven’t—surely you haven’t reached the wall?!”
“……!”
At Gam Mo’s startled cry, Nangung Yeongryeong’s head snapped toward her son.
Now she too noticed the change in Muk Yeojin.
His eyes.
Her son’s eyes were different.
Before, they had been lucid and unblemished, thanks to the azure vitality of the Heavenly Palace.
But now, what was this?
‘Clouded?’
No.
‘It hasn’t grown clouded.’
They had merely taken on such a hue; rather, that clarity had deepened further.
So it would be more fitting to say they had grown deeper rather than clouded.
‘But what matters more is……’
Behind those clear, deepened gray eyes.
She could feel it—a savage, beast-like vitality crouching in readiness, preparing for the wild charge of frenzy within.
How could she not understand what that rough, unyielding Qi signified, fierce enough to make her own Danjeon shudder?
She asked in a trembling voice.
“Yeojin…… have you truly reached the wall?”
Why hide it? Muk Yeojin nodded.
“Yes, that’s correct, Mother.”
……
At his matter-of-fact response—as casual as answering “Have you eaten?”—Nangung Yeongryeong’s mind went blank.
And how could it not.
The Wu Ji Jing.
The end of Martial Arts as common folk speak of it.
A state that even those called geniuses would be fortunate to reach after a lifetime of cultivation.
Of course, the reason it is called a wall rather than a destination is that there exist a few extraordinary individuals who shatter that wall, transcend human limitation, and journey toward the true Geuk Ui.
Such are those known as the Tianxia Samjon.
Such are those known as the Cheonmu Sipil Jwa.
Yet the vast majority of martial artists end their lives without ever reaching that wall. Calling it an “end” does not greatly alter the meaning of it.
The path to that wall was simply too long and arduous.
Yet his son had already planted himself squarely before it.
At the same level as the Gungju and House Leaders of Sadocheon, as well as the elders of the Nine Great Sects and One Faction and the Five Great Clans.
He had thrust himself into the ranks of the truly formidable.
Search through a thousand years of martial history as one might sift sand, and would there be another soul who had built such a Gyeongji at his son’s age?
And to achieve such a remarkable feat while maintaining such composure—
Nangung Yeongryeong could not help but smile broadly.
“Yeojin.”
“Yes, Mother.”
“My congratulations.”
“Surely it’s not worthy of congratulation yet.”
“What? Ha ha!”
It was not false modesty in his words.
Her son truly believed this to be of little consequence.
That meant he was certain that he himself would ascend higher still—
Beyond the wall, into uncharted new worlds.
A thought took shape in Nangung Yeongryeong’s mind.
“……This audacious child.”
“Pardon? What did you say, Mother?”
Nangung Yeongryeong let out a bright laugh.
“Nothing at all, you devil. Come now, let’s go inside and hear what this is all about.”
In the past decade, had there been a moment as shocking as today?
As she walked, Nangung Yeongryeong thought to herself that the next decade would hold nothing to compare.
* * *
But alas.
Her prediction crumbled in less than a quarter hour.
“Is what I have just heard truly fact? Two people… killed Nap Pyeonggi?”
“Yes, Mother.”
At Muk Yeojin’s answer, Nangung Yeongryeong’s jaw fell slack once more.
She had only just managed to close her mouth, which had fallen open at that impossible achievement mere moments before.
Now her son claims to have slain Nap Pyeonggi of the Cheonmu Sipil Jwa.
Had this not been her own son speaking, she would have long since cut him off sharply for spouting nonsense.
“Is this true? Lady Muk?”
Muk Iyeon, seated beside her, nodded.
“Yes, Auntie. It is all truth.”
Now there was no choice but to believe it.
Nangung Yeongryeong’s eyes grew cold and sharp.
She understood that this was not a moment for admiration of her son’s accomplishments.
Baek Yuui, Nap Pyeonggi.
A name that should never be mentioned even in jest had been spoken—this could not be overlooked.
And that was not all.
In truth, including the assassination attempt at Hye Rangyeong’s residence, there were more than a few things she needed to ask her son.
“Explain to me, in full, what has transpired.”
“Yes.”
And so Muk Yeojin laid out the events in clear, methodical order.
When he finished speaking, Nangung Yeongryeong could only draw a deep breath.
“The Gwangbokdan… and agents of an unidentified organization hidden within Sadocheon itself. One of them being young master Muk Geon and his maternal relatives. Is that what you’re telling me?”
“That is correct.”
What Muk Yeojin conveyed was the existence of the Gwangbokdan and what lay behind it—Baek Yuui and a mysterious shadowy force besides.
As to how he had learned this intelligence, he mentioned the information broker career of Bu Yeon, the Overseer of Hongyeon, glossing over it vaguely.
In doing so, he had no choice but to reveal the fact that the merchant house Hongyeon was his private organization.
Yet since that was something he intended to disclose to his mother in time anyway, it posed no real problem.
It was at that moment.
Crack.
The teacup in Muk Iyeon’s hand shattered and crumbled to powder, scattering into the air.
She too was hearing the full truth of this affair for the first time.
He could have told his sister beforehand, but Muk Yeojin had chosen not to.
Had she known beforehand that Muk Byeongho, Muk Iyeon’s younger brother, was wandering the threshold of death, and that their mother had nearly fallen victim to an ambush.
She would have cast Muk Yeojin aside and stormed directly into the residence of Muk Geon, the one behind it all, raising hell.
As it turned out, she did exactly that.
As she heard the full account of events, her momentum rose like an active volcano—you could feel it radiating from her.
Muk Yeojin bowed his head to her.
“Forgive me. I judged that if I hastily summoned you to Sadocheon, those men would go into hiding. So I instructed Hye Rangyeong not to send word to you in Yunnam.”
Though she burned with fury, Muk Iyeon assessed the situation with cold precision.
“No—you did well. If a threat is coming one day, it’s right to deal with it when we can root it out completely. And because I was outside Sadocheon, you were able to seek help openly, were you not?”
But Muk Iyeon did not restrain her anger from finding its rightful target.
“Muk Geon? I’ll tear that bastard’s limbs off right now.”
The moment Muk Iyeon moved to draw the Sabokgeom and spring to her feet, Muk Yeojin rushed to stop her.
“Muk Geon is also a direct descendant of the Patriarch. No matter who you are, killing him without justification will surely sweep you into a backlash you cannot bear.”
“I don’t care. Such things mean nothing.”
“Even if you don’t, I do. I won’t watch you fall into peril.”
“The boy speaks truth. Compose yourself, please. When passion takes hold, even what could be done becomes disaster.”
…….
When even her aunt Nangung Yeongryeong said as much, even Muk Iyeon could not suddenly leap up and dance with her blade.
This was precisely why Muk Yeojin had come all this way to explain the situation to Muk Iyeon.
Nangung Yeongryeong, wearing a grave expression as she turned over her thoughts, asked:
“Do you have a plan?”
Muk Yeojin closed his eyes briefly, then nodded slowly.
“Isn’t that what an alliance is for—times like these?”
Measured only by the depth of his rage toward Muk Geon, his matched Muk Iyeon’s own.
A chill of ghostly intent settled in his gaze.
“I think… we need to find the Third Elder.”

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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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