The God of Death and the God of War - Chapter 23

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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Evil Hegemon Martial God

Chapter 23

Immaengsi.

Anyone who wishes to enter Sadocheon must take this test without exception.

However, the Immaengsi was notorious compared to entrance exams of other forces, including the Martial Arts Alliance.

Especially the Ilgeup Immaengsi.

It was because it was so cruel and dangerous.

The Ilgeup Immaengsi consisted of short decisive battles based on the winner-takes-all principle.

In other words, they had to keep fighting until the last person, the victor, emerged.

Though it was in the form of martial contests, being Sapa, it was conducted more brutally than those of the Martial Arts Alliance.

All acts except killing one’s opponent were permitted, along with all vicious and bizarre weapons and hidden weapons.

Moreover, unlimited martial contests were held all day long without any rest time or even a moment to catch one’s breath.

But as bitter as the process was, the reward was sweet.

The winner was given massive rewards along with the opportunity to be assigned not as a lower warrior, but directly as a vice-commander of the Ten Heavenly Commanders.

That’s why the final championship match was bound to be even more fierce.

“Hiyaaaaaaap!!”

A large training ground.

Along with a battle cry loud enough to resonate throughout the training ground, powerful techniques scattered in all directions.

“Uwaaaaa!”

The spectators and warriors watching the finals were visibly excited.

But completely different from the excited atmosphere of the audience.

“Hmm.”

The middle-aged man sitting in the highest seat of honor let out a low groan.

In the eyes of the middle-aged man looking at the training ground with his chin resting on the armrest, there was no sign of pride or satisfaction.

Rather, displeasure and dissatisfaction were openly displayed, so those around him had no choice but to read his mood.

But surprisingly, the identities of those reading his mood were remarkable.

The Danzu of the Five Clans, Sadocheon’s highest power structure, and the Daeju of the Ten Heavenly Commanders were all gathered in one place.

However, even they had no choice but to cautiously gauge their superior’s mood.

And for good reason, this middle-aged man was.

“It seems the applicants’ skills are getting worse and worse.”

The strongest warrior of Sapa martial arts, one who occupied a position among the Four Emperors and Six Saints.

Lion Blade Emperor Dokgo Cheon.

Only Heukpaesong refused to acknowledge it, but enthusiasts openly recognized and revered Dokgo Cheon as Sapa Jeil-in.

He was the master of this place, Sadocheon.

While everyone was still reading his mood, Dokgo Cheon bluntly said.

“Last year was said to be the worst, but this year is even more miserable than that.”

At his uncompromising harsh words, the Sadocheon executives beside him struggled to make excuses.

“These days, youngsters only like to play and don’t devote themselves to training. Anyway, the current state of society…”

They went on for a while saying things like “Young people these days…” or “In my time, we had grit…” trying to appease Dokgo Cheon’s mood.

“No, people are the same now as they were before.”

Dokgo Cheon said firmly.

“Yet the reason applicants are getting worse is because they judged that Heukpaesong is more attractive than us.”

“That’s not true!”

“Master, there’s no way we could lose to the likes of Heukpaesong!”

The Danzu and Daeju standing behind Dokgo Cheon all denied it in unison.

But in their unconscious expressions, a subtle sense of defeat lingered.

Because their master’s words were somewhat true.

Heukpaesong held their Ipseongsi at the ‘same time’ ‘every year’ as Sadocheon’s Immaengsi.

As the name suggests, Ipseongsi was a test to determine qualifications for entering Heukpaesong.

If Sadocheon’s Immaengsi and Heukpaesong’s Ipseongsi were held at different times, applicants could try challenging both sides.

But the tests were always held at the same time, forcing Sapa warriors to choose between the two.

As a result, the quality had dropped like this because applicants chose Heukpaesong’s Ipseongsi instead of the Immaengsi.

‘I can no longer just wait and watch with expectations of improvement.’

Dokgo Cheon pondered.

Promising young talents in Sadocheon’s territory were leaving their hometowns and heading east where Heukpaesong was located.

Considering that common people live and die within a hundred li radius of their hometown for their entire lives, leaving home was definitely not an easy thing.

This was the same even for Sapa people, no matter how free-spirited they were.

Leaving home meant becoming an outsider, and rolling stones being persecuted was no different anywhere in the world.

Yet the reason for leaving Sadocheon, rooted in their homeland, and heading to Heukpaesong in foreign lands was too primal.

Wealth and honor.

It was because Heukpaesong was overwhelmingly wealthier than Sadocheon.

Couldn’t you tell by seeing how Immaengsi graduates kept applying to Geumwol-dae, the lowest rank of the Ten Heavenly Commanders, rather than the top combat units like Saryong-dae or Cheonho-dae?

Their hearts were drawn to the financial support promised by Geumwol-dae rather than greed for martial arts.

That’s why for the past ten years, all those following Vice Master Mad Soul Fist Do Ye-cheon had pleaded with him.

Aren’t we all the same Sapa anyway?

Let’s make big money like Heukpaesong through drugs, plunder, human trafficking, and such.

‘But that cannot be tolerated.’

However, Dokgo Cheon absolutely would not accept it.

The banner of Sadocheon that he led was ‘freedom.’

But within the scope of that freedom, throwing away one’s human mask was not included.

This wasn’t referring to Jeongpa’s disgusting hypocrisy.

Even if it was Sapa, there were lines that had to be maintained.

Dokgo Cheon was convinced of this.

‘But to some extent, their words also have merit.’

As the era of peace continued, paradoxically, the value of gold was rising higher than the value of martial arts.

So Dokgo Cheon was frustrated.

By nature, he could only be a warrior.

He had innate martial prowess but lacked business acumen.

He could only oppose his subordinates’ proposals but couldn’t provide alternative solutions.

Allowing the gambling hall Paejeon-bang along with the creation of Geumwol-dae was his limit.

Because of this, Sadocheon was gradually crumbling like a sandcastle.

One result of this was the qualitative decline of applicants as seen now.

Truly a continuous vicious cycle.

Just as Dokgo Cheon was pondering how to break through this.

Waaaaa!

Finally, the winner of the finals was decided.

“Hu Seong, prepare the awards ceremony.”

“Yes, sir!”

At Dokgo Cheon’s words, Blood-Chasing Wolf Hu Seong, Dokgo Cheon’s confidant and leader of the Execution Squad among the Five Clans, immediately bowed and answered.

Now, with the awards ceremony ending under the watch of the Sadocheon master and all executives, the Immaengsi would be concluded.

However, among those lined up in the back, there was someone whose face had turned pale without a trace of blood.

‘No, when the hell is the Daeju coming!!’

It was none other than Jong Yo-geuk, the vice-commander standing in place of the Ten Heavenly Commanders’ Daeju instead of Noh Hwang-mun.

He was burning up inside.

The Daeju who had disappeared saying he was going to catch the culprit because something had happened to his younger brother wasn’t coming even though the finals were almost over.

All Ten Heavenly Daeju had to be present when the Immaengsi ended.

With Execution Squad Leader Hu Seong glaring at him as if to kill him, it was truly a living hell.

‘Surely nothing happened to him, right?’

He should tell his subordinate to hurry and check.

It was just as Jong Yo-geuk was quietly stepping backward.

Rumble!

“!?”

What, what’s that?

Suddenly, a massive tremor was felt.

It wasn’t an earthquake or anything like that.

It was the wave of tremendous inner energy someone was unleashing.

‘The main gate…?’

As Jong Yo-geuk blinked his eyes and turned his head, not just him but everyone was looking in that direction.

“…!!”

Even Dokgo Cheon, the master of Sadocheon.

-Who are you!

-Hey, stop him! Stop him!!

This isn’t normal.

Dokgo Cheon instinctively felt it.

Over there, something extraordinary was happening.

-No, don’t!

-Aaaaah!

Urgent shouts and commands followed, and occasionally screams could be heard.

“What, what’s happening?”

“…Why are they acting like that over there?”

Now it had spread into a commotion that everyone else could notice too.

But the real thing hadn’t come yet.

The real thing was…

Crash-!!!

With a noise so loud it could deafen one, the doors of the Yeonmu-jang came flying in.

The massive gate, measuring four jang (12m) in size, a main door that even first-rate martial artists would struggle to move, was rolling around like some twig gate.

Whoosh.

A quiet silence enveloped the Yeonmu-jang.

What is this?

What on earth is happening?

When people encounter situations they cannot understand, their bodies and thoughts freeze.

If a master of the Transformation or Transcendent realm had burst through the main gate, immediately the Daeju as well as all the Danzus would have drawn their swords and rushed in.

But the energy felt from the opponent was merely at the peak level.

A young man with an unfamiliar face they’d never seen before had revealed himself.

“?!”

“…!”

The man with some kind of bundle slung over his shoulder was a complete stranger unknown to anyone in Changsha.

From the looks of it, some young punk who had barely passed his coming of age had dared to cause a ruckus and intrude during the entrance ceremony.

In this absurd situation.

“Huh.”

When one person in the audience unconsciously let out a sigh, the rest began to grasp reality one by one.

Amid the growing murmur of voices.

Swish.

The man looked around, then soon found the seat of honor and raised his gaze.

Directly to where Dokgo Cheon, the master of Sadocheon, was seated.

“…”

“…”

The gazes of two hegemons silently intertwined.

‘What the hell is that bastard?’

Only Dokgo Cheon alone was recognizing the opponent’s true worth.

The amount of inner energy felt from the opponent was incomparable to his own.

…But what should this unprecedented aura emanating from that person be called?

‘Intimidation. No, presence?’

At that moment, it was the intruding man who broke the silence.

Thud!

The man threw down the mat he had been carrying onto the arena floor in front of everyone’s gaze.

Thump!

“Gah!”

Perhaps because it was completely unexpected, the champion standing on the arena floor was struck by the mat and fell ungracefully.

The thrown mat unrolled beside where he had fallen.

“Kyaa!”

“Gasp…!”

People screamed or gasped urgently.

It was because there was a horrible corpse inside the rolled mat.

Twitch.

“Ugh, urgh.”

While people were shocked, the corpse moved noticeably.

Seeing this, people focused their attention even more.

“Noh, Noh Hwang-mun?!”

“The Gold Axe Unit leader!!”

Upon recognizing the identity of the sprawled corpse, they were even more shocked.

With two of his limbs severed and even one eyeball missing in a gruesome state, the spectators gasped.

“M-master…”

Noh Hwang-mun crawled like a worm, extending his remaining arm.

It was toward Dokgo Cheon, the master of Sadocheon.

Stomp!

“Grrgh!”

But movement was not permitted.

Jeok-un had stepped on the back of Noh Hwang-mun, who was begging for his life.

“My name is Jeok-un.”

Then, the perpetrator of this outrageous act opened his mouth.

Grin.

“I’ve come to bestow grace upon Sadocheon.”

With a very imposing smile.

—————
This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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