TL: FoodieMonster007

    The moment the hunter couple stepped into their hut, the husband''s face flushed beetroot red with anger as he shouted, "You! What were you thinking, saying something like that? Are you trying to bring down divine punishment on us? You know what happened to the other hunters who spoke carelessly..."

    "There was a child," his wife said.

    She had already repeated the same reply over and over.

    She just couldn''t stop thinking about the little girl among the martial artists they met in the cave. In her eyes, that child overlapped with the daughter she had lost before she could even properly breastfeed her.

    "Don''t you remember? It was a day just like today. The rain was pouring so hard we could barely see ahead, and she was burning up with fever. We carried her in our arms, desperately searching for a physician, but by the time we arrived... her tiny body was already as cold as ice."

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    The husband clenched his teeth at the memory. "Damn it! Fine, I get it, just stop!"

    If only we hadn''t gone to that cave. If only we hadn''t seen or heard anything... he cursed inwardly.

    "Dear, let''s keep this to ourselves. We were given a large sum of money, too," his wife pleaded.

    "I know what you''re trying to say, and I want to do that too. But if we get caught..."

    The husband sighed heavily, his face filled with anguish. In reality, he wanted to protect that little girl as much as his wife did.

    That child did nothing wrong.., but the Mountain God is too terrifying to defy.

    If they failed to report that they had encountered martial artists, then...

    "You met some martial artists, I see," a voice said from behind them.

    ""...!!"" The couple turned around sharply.

    A tall old man, clad in a pristine white robe with a long, flowing beard, stood with his hands behind his back. Despite the storm outside, not a single drop of rain had touched him. His face was gentle, smiling serenely, but they knew better than to be deceived by that smile.

    This was the being that every hunter in the mountain feared most.

    "M-Mountain God...! W-What brings you to our humble abode...?"

    The hunter couple immediately fell to their knees, pressing their foreheads to the ground, their bodies trembling.

    The Mountain God was a capricious being. On good days, he would bring them a freshly caught tiger. On bad days, he would tear people apart just for answering him the wrong way.

    Fortunately, he seemed to be in a good mood today.

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    Stroking his long beard, the Mountain God laughed, "Hoho, I wasn''t eavesdropping on purpose, but your voices were quite loud. Now then, what sort of martial artists did you meet?"

    His voice was as soft as a gentle breeze, yet the couple''s faces turned even paler.

    "Well, um..."

    "Are you hesitating? After I''ve even taught you martial arts? This is no way to repay my kindness."

    "......"

    The hunter couple had a secret they had not shared with the martial artists in the cave, and it was that they had learned martial arts from the Mountain God. Of course, they were hardly skilled enough to be called disciples.

    All we learned were a few techniques, but even that was enough to make hunting easier and give us the confidence to stand up to bandits and martial artists.

    Nevertheless, the price had been steep... because the Mountain God was hardly the benevolent figure his name suggested he was.

    "In return for the martial arts I taught you, you swore to tell me everything you see and hear, did you not?"

    "Y-Yes, that''s right..."

    This was a pact that not just them, but many other hunters, herbalists, and woodcutters who had also learned martial arts from the Mountain God had made. As for those who had refused... they were long dead.

    Still smiling, the Mountain God said, "Luckily, I am in an excellent mood today. My long-awaited supreme art is finally nearing completion."

    "Congratulations!"

    "C-Congratulations, sir."

    SLITHER...

    Suddenly, a golden leech as thick as a child''s arm slithered out of the Mountain God''s sleeve and crawled up his arm, making its way to his shoulder.

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    "You gluttonous thing. You''re hungry again?" the Mountain God chuckled and held out his hand.

    "You said there were four earlier, did you not?"

    "One of them was a child! I-I''m sorry! I thought of my daughter who died years ago and... Please, just spare my wife..."

    "Hmph. Now you''re finally speaking the truth." The Mountain God scoffed and tossed the wife''s charred black body to the ground.

    THUD!

    The husband crawled over to check her condition, only to realize that she was barely breathing.

    "Fool. If you had spoken sooner, this wouldn''t have happened."

    "I-I''m sorry..."

    "So, where did they go?"

    The husband clutched his wife and sobbed, "They said they were going to cross the mountain... so we showed them a shortcut. Darling! Darling! Wake up!"

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    The Mountain God, clearly irritated, kicked him aside. "Lead the way. If what you say is true, I''ll save your wife with my divine power."

    "A-Are you serious?"

    "Of course. But if you have lied again, you will both suffer a fate worse than death."

    "Y-Yes!" the husband said, hastily lifting his unconscious wife onto his back. Fortunately, the rain had almost stopped.

    Meanwhile, the Mountain God inspected the banknote the hunters had received from the martial artists.

    "This is...!"

    The moment he saw it, the Mountain God''s eyes widened in shock, not at the large amount of money, but at the seal stamped on the note.

    "The seal of the Namgung Clan... Hah. What a coincidence."

    Years ago, the murim had known him as the Thunder Demon Geum Cheonho, and he had long harbored a grudge against the Namgung Clan, who had forced him to retreat into seclusion.

    CRACKLE...!

    The Mountain God''s face twisted into a grotesque expression as he burned the bill with a bolt of lightning. He no longer resembled a deity, but rather a demon from the depths of hell.

    "...To think that I would meet a Namgung brat just as my divine art is nearing completion. This must be fate."

    Decades had passed since he went into hiding and began living as a mountain god. Somewhere along the way, the Thunder Demon had deluded himself into believing that he was a true god.

    He gently stroked the golden leech perched on his shoulder.

    "I hope he''s someone of great renown. A fitting opponent to mark my return to the murim once my divine art is complete."

    BOOOOM!

    With a single blow, the Thunder Demon obliterated the hunters'' hut.

    "Lead me to them."

    "Y-Yes..."

    The Thunder Demon''s eyes gleamed ominously in the darkness, his face filled with madness as he set off in pursuit of his prey, the half-conscious man leading the way.

    "The heavens are truly on my side. Fufufu..."

    He had been searching for the perfect final offering to complete his divine art. What better sacrifice than a Namgung Clan martial artist? What sweeter revenge could there be?

    Just thinking about it made him grin so widely that it seemed like his face would split in half.

    Once my divine art is complete...!

    "The entire world will kneel at my feet! Kahahaha!"

    RUMBLE!

    Thunder roared across the sky, echoing the Thunder Demon''s laughter.

    Translator''s Note: Welcome to a new weekend! I have had a nasty past month, first a car accident, then revamping the commenting system, and now THIS BULLSHIT:

    My desktop SSD is dead and I can''t even boot into Windows anymore, I''m translating and uploading this from Ubuntu installed on a usb stick. Off I go to buy a new SSD so that I can rescue my old SSD, or at least salvage the data...

    Thankfully, all my important files are either backed up on external drives or uploaded to the cloud, including this entire site which is backed up to github.