Return of the God of War - Chapter 94

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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 94. Aren’t they already rotting teeth?
Perhaps because she had struck a nerve.
The Demonic Qi she exhaled grew far more ominous.
Judging by its density alone, it was thick enough that one could rightly call it Demonic Force.
A chill that cut like a blade enveloped his entire body—a dimension apart from the threat she had scattered carelessly before.
Simultaneously, eyes as fathomless as a bottomless swamp pierced through Muk Yeojin.
‘Yes, this must be your true self.’
A woman who doesn’t belong in Sadocheon?
Yes, he admitted it.
The Yeohui Palace Mistress as she appeared on the surface was certainly a sage far removed from the Sado.
But what of the truth beneath?
The Yeohui Palace Mistress.
The sole legitimate successor of the Cheonhwa Party of the Tao Gate.
After enduring the vehement condemnation of the Baekdo, who called it corrupt and base, the Cheonhwa Party had been abandoned by the Righteous Path Sect and nearly vanished into the shadowed pages of history.
And into none other than the world of the Huekdo.
Into the crevices of the Dark Path Sect, where betrayal and slaughter were mere foundations, and schemes too twisted to speak of thrived rampant.
A woman who had clawed her way through and survived, ultimately raising the banner of the Cheonhwa Party once more—a legendary figure of resilience. That was Yeohui Palace Mistress Yuso.
Could such a woman be merely gentle and merely kind?
‘There’s no chance of that.’
As the saying goes, the mother’s three moves shaped the child’s destiny.
Environment matters far too much in the shaping of a person.
Whatever her nature at birth, to have rolled through murky waters for years meant that filth inevitably clung to her.
He had no doubt that behind that pristine Face Veil of hers, thousands of century-old serpents had made their lair.
‘They say the maidens of Yeohui Palace wear their veils to hide their beauty from others’ eyes.’
But suddenly, a thought had occurred to him.
What if she alone, the Yeohui Palace Mistress, wore the veil not to conceal her beauty but to hide her own hideous nature from the world?
Her gaze hardened as she turned to face Muk Yeojin and spoke.
“You came seeking me, saying there was something to be gained, did you not?”
“Indeed, though no matter how hungry one grows, one cannot thoughtlessly thrust into one’s mouth something of uncertain nature—be it Sweet Candy or poison. Fortunately, my hunger has not yet reached such a desperate state.”
Of course, that was a lie.
Muk Yeojin was always fiercely starved, proportional to the magnitude of his ambitions.
But he had no intention of sating this hunger with mere candy.
A proper, substantial meal.
To extract a sumptuous feast arranged by the Yeohui Palace Mistress herself, Muk Yeojin resolutely pushed away the Sweet Candy before him.
“If there is nothing more to say, I shall take my leave.”
The moment he opened the door to depart, the Yeohui Palace Mistress’s cool voice reached him.
“Should you cross that threshold now, you shall not set foot here again.”
“A pity, then.”
With those words, Muk Yeojin departed the Palace Mistress’s chambers without the slightest hesitation.
In this moment, who truly felt the loss more keenly?
Though they could not peer into each other’s hearts.
The Yeohui Palace Mistress’s gaze never left the hem of his robe.
And Muk Yeojin hastened his steps as though shaking off that very gaze, drawing farther away.
* * *
Late into the night.
The Yeohui Palace Mistress, having finished adorning herself after a long while, moved quietly toward some destination.
Already renowned for her youthful appearance, she had carefully applied expensive powder and retrieved her treasured cosmetics, displaying a beauty that seemed to have shed a full decade from her years.
Just as the current age boasted beauties called the Five Beauties of the Martial World, naturally in ages past there had existed women who shook the Central Plains with their beauty alone.
And the Yeohui Palace Mistress.
A woman once called the Bewitching Flower, who was invariably counted among the top three whenever the First Beauty of the Central Plains was mentioned.
Tonight, her bearing was more than sufficient to revive that faded renown.
Tap. Tap.
One might have thought she was attending some glittering imperial banquet, yet astonishingly, the place she visited was a shabby, humble cottage.
“Are you here?”
Creak.
As the door opened with a protesting groan, a deep voice emerged.
“Who calls?”
“It’s me, senior.”
The one who opened the door spotted the Yeohui Palace Mistress and widened his eyes in surprise.
“What brings you to a place like this?”
He was none other than Muk Yeojin’s master, the Pear Blossom Swordsman Pi Yangcheon.
Yeohui Palace Mistress bowed with a smile.
“I just wanted to see how you’ve been doing, senior.”
“You? Ha! That’s rich.”
Despite Pi Yangcheon’s scoff, Yeohui Palace Mistress merely smiled.
“Are you really going to leave me standing out here? Won’t you offer me some tea?”
“…Come in.”
Pi Yangcheon ushered her inside and began expertly steeping the leaves.
Soon the small cottage filled with the fragrant aroma of fine Tieguanyin Tea.
Clink.
“Drink.”
“Thank you.”
Yeohui Palace Mistress accepted the cup and savored it with evident pleasure.
“No matter when I drink it, your tea is always exquisite. Have you ever considered opening a tea shop? You’d rake in money by the handful.”
“What ambitions could an old man have, already living on borrowed time?”
“Is that truly so?”
Pi Yangcheon set down his cup and raised his eyes.
“What do you mean?”
“I’m asking if you really have no desires, no lingering attachments at all.”
……
For a moment, Pi Yangcheon’s gaze turned cold and distant.
“What exactly did you come here to say, hunting me down in the dead of night?”
Yeohui Palace Mistress smiled faintly.
She’d only crossed the line the slightest bit, yet here was his reaction.
Men in his presence typically became tongue-tied fools, babbling endlessly—but Pi Yangcheon was entirely different.
Whether Yeohui Palace Mistress arrived dressed in her finest or in rags, she suspected he would regard her with the same unmoved composure.
That was why she loved him.
Not as a man, but as a person.
“I came because I wanted to ask you something.”
“What is it?”
After a deliberate pause, an unexpected name emerged from her lips.
“Tell me—what sort of person is the youngest prince, Muk Yeojin?”
……
Pi Yangcheon, who had been gazing at Yeohui Palace Mistress, slowly curved one corner of his mouth.
“That rascal truly is a rare one. Trying to drag a nine-tailed fox out of its den where it’s been hidden all this time.”
Yeohui Palace Mistress frowned but couldn’t think of a suitable rebuttal.
“Never mind the riddles—just answer the question.”
“Hmm…”
Pi Yangcheon paused for a moment before speaking slowly.
“That boy… yes, he is… a Death God.”
Yeohui Palace Mistress tensed slightly.
“A Death God, you say?”
“Yes. A gut feeling I’ve developed over all these years tells me so. Follow that boy’s trail, and before you know it, you’ll be walking the Path of Hell without even realizing it.”
Though differently phrased, it echoed what Yeohui Palace Mistress had said of Muk Yeojin—that he was destruction incarnate.
“If you think of him that way, why do you look upon the youngest prince at all?”
“Well…”
Pi Yangcheon suddenly gazed out the window at the sky and gave a small laugh.
“True, the Path of Hell is all but certain. Yet that boy seems to believe there’s a Peach Blossom Paradise waiting at the end of it.”
…!
Yeohui Palace Mistress’s eyes widened. She’d never expected such words from him.
“The fool. Everything he does carries the cunning of a master who’s weathered every storm. Yet he harbors paradise in his heart like an innocent child.”
……
“So I’ve become curious myself—what truly lies at the end of that path? If any desire remains in me, it’s probably only that.”
Yeohui Palace Mistress lowered her gaze quietly.
“…But what if, after following the Death God all that way, you find only a terrible hell?”
Pi Yangcheon burst out laughing.
“Then I’d protest! ‘You wretch, because of you I’ve wandered into hell! Give back my life!'”
“…Don’t joke like that.”
Pi Yangcheon chuckled and took a sip of tea.
Today it had steeped with a particularly rich fragrance.
Pi Yangcheon set down his teacup and met the Yeohui Palace Mistress’s gaze before uttering words neither of them had anticipated.
“Aren’t we both already too far gone for paradise?”
……
The Yeohui Palace Mistress’s brow twitched faintly.
“So why hesitate over what frightens us?”
……
The Yeohui Palace Mistress’s gaze drifted to the surface of her tea.
A considerable silence settled between them.
Whose face did she see reflected in that clear water?
Pi Yangcheon deemed it pointless to wonder.
After a moment, the Yeohui Palace Mistress’s rigid expression softened.
What was there to fear? What reason to hesitate?
As she turned those words over and over in her mind, a small smile bloomed at the corner of her mouth.
Pi Yangcheon did not miss the quiet transformation taking place within her.
“Has this old man been of some use to you?”
The Yeohui Palace Mistress narrowed her eyes and offered that characteristic crescent smile of hers.
“Well, who can say? Hehe.”
But the smile did not linger.
A peculiar light flickered suddenly in her eyes as she hesitated.
It stood in sharp contrast to the playful tone of moments before.
“By the way…… Senior.”
Pi Yangcheon lifted his teacup, then paused, turning to look at her.
Her expression had grown so grave that he found himself straightening involuntarily.
“What is it?”
After a beat, the Yeohui Palace Mistress finally spoke.
“Would it be all right if I…… stayed the night?”
……
Pi Yangcheon’s face crumpled like creased rice paper in an instant.
“Get out of my house this instant.”
* * *
Thump. Thump.
Each footfall felt impossibly heavy.
Nervous sweat traced down his cheeks, and his lips, pressed firmly shut, had gone dry — he couldn’t even swallow.
How long had he walked like this?
At last, his destination came into view.
A vast estate that radiated an overwhelming presence.
The moment Muk Hyeonam beheld that sight, his pupils trembled violently.
But only for a moment.
He squeezed his eyes shut, then opened them slowly.
The wavering gaze had already hardened like stone.
‘Steel yourself. Yeojin has done his part — now it’s my turn.’
He exhaled a deep breath.
Strangely, thinking of Muk Yeojin’s face eased his tension bit by bit.
It was unremarkable, yet truly remarkable, the man he was.
‘What sort of sorcery did he work?’
This morning, the Yeohui Palace Mistress had sent word transferring all authority over the Cheonju Order to him.
Even after reading it, Muk Hyeonam could scarcely believe it, and he read the letter several times over.
And for good reason.
He had truly thought Muk Yeojin would fail to obtain the Cheonju Order from the Yeohui Palace Mistress.
The Yeohui Palace Mistress he knew was no simple woman to be swayed by mere profit.
How on earth had he won her over so completely that she relinquished her trump card without hesitation?
The mystery did not end there.
At the end of the letter lay a single line the Yeohui Palace Mistress had left for Muk Yeojin alone — utterly inscrutable.
I shall prepare the formal ceremony separately; for now, do refresh your palate with some sweet candy.
‘What in the world could that mean……?’
After much deliberation, Muk Hyeonam shook his head slowly.
The more he turned the meaning over, the more tangled his thoughts became.
‘But that’s not what matters right now.’
Muk Hyeonam cast off his confused musings and lifted his head.
The grandeur of the estate before him was truly formidable, and the plaque above its entrance was massive enough to overwhelm anyone who gazed upon it.
And above it, inscribed in a hand as if each character had been carved with a blade—a passage of text.
Hyeonkwon Palace.
Below one man, above ten thousand.
The supreme instrument of power, commanded by Sadocheon’s Commander-in-Chief.
And the figure who occupied that throne—Samahyang, Mistress of Hyeonkwon Palace and Commander-in-Chief.
She was none other than the first wife of Cheonju Muk Umyeong and the mother of Muk Hyeonam.
At the same time, she was the vast, insurmountable wall he would now have to face.

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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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