Acquiring the Murim with Money - Chapter 25

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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 25. Blood Night

[Target: Fragment of Artificial Blood Ice Jade]
[Status: Remnants of detonation following critical collision of internal forces.]

The artificial Blood Ice Jade he’d once seen in the Golden Divine Hall—forcibly infused with ice mastery and blood energy.
A gorgeous facade concealing a time bomb, now being put to actual use as one.
‘Was it made for this purpose from the start?’
Baek Yunhui clenched his teeth.
The exterior was devastation. Bichieon Byeok Clan disciples lay scattered across the grounds, swept up in the sudden blast’s shock wave, their bodies wracked with internal injuries.
Then, from the smoke, three figures emerged.
No sound, no aura. Their clothing was plain, their faces shrouded in cloth. Yet the moment their feet touched the ground, a crushing presence descended upon all of Bichieonbong.
Baek Yunhui’s Golden Divine Eyes flared.

[Target: Unknown]
[Wealth value: Unmeasurable.]
[Warning: Analysis impossible with the current caster’s capital scale.]

‘Analysis impossible.’
Until now, only Byeok Hyeonggeom and Dang Soyou had been beyond the Golden Divine Eyes’ reach. Yet three such figures stood before him.
The three figures’ gazes turned in unison toward a single point.
Byeok Jingang on the sickbed.
And Baek Yunhui.
The first figure moved—toward Byeok Hyeonggeom.
The second turned naturally to Dang Soyou.
The third shifted direction toward the inner chamber.

The third figure: Mak-ya, the Cold-Faced Ghost Hand.
He was the quietest of the three. No words, no expression. A man whose sole purpose was to dispatch his target via the most efficient route, with the greatest speed.
Mak-ya flew toward the inner chamber.
Byeok Muchuang reflexively stepped in his path. The Golden Wing perched on his shoulder shrieked with metallic resonance, its golden aura lancing toward Mak-ya in a fierce charge.
Clang!
Aura and palm force collided head-on. Byeok Muchuang planted his feet, bracing himself.
But Mak-ya simply slipped the aura aside with ease.
“Hah.”
Byeok Muchuang’s center gave way. Through that breach, Mak-ya’s palm force surged.
Bang!
Byeok Muchuang crashed into the wall. The Golden Wing shrieked and recoiled.
“Father!”
Byeok Taegang rushed forward, spirit beast-less.
Mak-ya flicked his hand as though swatting an annoyance, and Byeok Taegang was hurled to the ground. Just as palm force poured toward his fallen form—
Byeok Soyeon drew her blade and charged. The Blue Wind unleashed thunder energy, cutting off Mak-ya’s line of sight.
Crackle!
The Blue Wind’s lightning grazed Mak-ya’s outer robe. He stepped back half a pace.
But that was all.
Mak-ya tilted his head once, then unleashed a torrent of palm force. An invisible, titanic power crashed over the Blue Wind.
No matter how supreme a spirit beast, without perfect resonance with its master, it cannot unleash its full strength. The Blue Wind gave way.
Shriek!
“Blue Wind, fall back behind me.”
As the wounded Byeok Soyeon froze in panic, Mak-ya’s hand shot forward toward her throat.
Whoosh—
A silver coin flew through the air.
Mak-ya flicked his extended hand sideways, deflecting it without breaking stride.

[Thousand Gold Throw activated]

Baek Yunhui stepped before the sickbed, his voice low and steady.
“Come on.”
Mak-ya’s gaze slowly turned back.
His eyes narrowed beneath the mask.
Baek Yunhui. A merchant nobody whom he’d been asked to eliminate while removing Byeok Jingang. Intelligence had reported that among those worth the Sect’s attention in this place, only Byeok Hyeonggeom and Dang Soyou mattered. Yet that silver coin just now—it carried a weight and strangeness of aura that couldn’t be dismissed.
Mak-ya moved again without a word.
Baek Yunhui’s Golden Divine Eyes tracked Mak-ya’s movements.
He couldn’t read exact numbers. But with the Golden Divine Eyes, he could interpret the trajectory of motion to some degree—the angle of the shoulders, the center of gravity in the soles, the turning of the wrists.
‘If the numbers won’t show, read the body instead.’
Baek Yunhui steadied his breath and shifted his stance.
The Shadowless Step Formula.
A transcendent lightness skill he’d extracted from Byeok Hyeonggeom not long ago. It was still only half-mastered. Combined with the Golden Divine Eyes, he could manage to evade attacks through sheer effort.
Mak-ya’s palm force split the space where Baek Yunhui had stood. Empty air.
For the first time, Mak-ya’s brow furrowed.
Baek Yunhui slid sideways and drew a bundle of gold coins from his sleeve.
So-ryang watched from the corner with eyes threatening to burst from his skull.

[Thousand Gold Throw activated]
[Projectile value: 50 gold coins → converted to physical force]

The bundle of gold coins traced an arc through the air. Mak-ya casually struck outward with a palm force, only to be hurled backward by an unexpectedly vast aura.
In that moment, Baek Yunhui was already releasing silver coins.
Ting! Ting! Ting!
Three silver coins struck Mak-ya’s right knee in succession. Not a killing blow by any measure. Yet the impact he couldn’t ignore made Mak-ya, who’d expected to finish this quickly, grow desperate.
A red glint flashed in Mak-ya’s eyes and vanished. He advanced step by step, now radiating a far more intense killing intent.
Baek Yunhui positioned himself before Mak-ya as a shield, standing between him and the still-recovering Byeok Soyeon, whose internal injuries hadn’t healed, and Byeok Jingang, who lay sprawled from the explosion’s impact.
There was nowhere left to retreat. If Mak-ya unleashed a full assault now, Baek Yunhui would have to absorb it with his entire body.
Then Byeok Muchuang rose to his feet again, blood trickling from the corner of his mouth. He immediately channeled the Golden Wing’s aura and deployed the Flying Eagle Sword Technique to its limit toward Mak-ya’s back.
Crash!
‘The best defense is always offense.’
While Mak-ya intercepted the ambush, Baek Yunhui unleashed the Shadowless Step Formula to its extreme and hurled his body at him.
“Value Degradation.”
Golden light erupted from his palm. Mak-ya’s internal energy flow twisted suddenly into chaos.

[Alert: Target’s wealth far exceeds the caster’s. Value Degradation effect applied at 20%.]

‘What is this?’
A technique entirely foreign to him. His blood energy twisted subtly, and his internal power no longer circulated smoothly.
Mak-ya stepped back half a pace and steadied his breathing.

* * *

Outside the inner chamber.
The fight between Mugsoo, the Black Wind Sword, and Byeok Hyeonggeom had been fierce from the start.
The Black Wind Sword. He’d been raised as expendable killer, yet through his talent with the blade alone, he’d climbed to this height. True to his epithet, his swordwork was secretive and swift as wind. There were no flashy moves, no ornamentation—only the fastest path to the blade. A sword that pursued nothing but ultimate efficiency for delivering lethal wounds to the opponent.
A simple yet swift and deadly sword, unannounced. When Byeok Hyeonggeom met the follow-up move, Mugsoo withdrew with admiration.
“To think a sect of falling birds has swordplay at this level. Truly impressive.”
His voice scraped like metal on metal.
“And you—sneaking in with bombs like a cowardly dog from the Dark Path. You’ve got some skill, at least. Where do you come from?”
Byeok Hyeonggeom answered at once.
Clang! Clang-clang! Clang-clash-clash!
Mugsoo lunged again without a word, accelerating his speed. Before one move ended, the next overlapped into it. Without tricks or variations, it was pure speed pushing forward.
Byeok Hyeonggeom held the tide.
The Jade Eagle Sword Technique. A sword that reads the entire battlefield through the eyes of an eagle descending from above. He too wasted no breath.
Clang!
Mugsoo’s right arm was cut shallow.
Mugsoo didn’t blink. Instead, he accelerated further, pouring internal energy into his blade.
Clang!
Byeok Hyeonggeom was driven back two steps. His hands went numb.
‘His raw internal power is superior.’
He judged coldly. Then he had to seize an opening and end this quickly.
Byeok Hyeonggeom lowered his sword and created distance.

Meanwhile, the battle between Dang Soyou and Yeon-dok, known as the Poison-Arm Wanderer, unfolded in an entirely different register.
Yeon-dok. Within the Blood Sect, she had risen to the rank of great master through poison mastery alone. Yet her poison differed from Dang Soyou’s. Where Dang Soyou’s toxins were precise and merciless, Yeon-dok’s were expansive and voracious—she wielded a whip-shaped weapon, scattering venom in all directions, corrupting the very air itself with contamination.
And throughout the fight, she wore an expression of subtle madness, humming snatches of song through her teeth.
As if delighted. As if savoring every moment.
Each time the whip carved through empty space, blood-colored poison bloomed outward.
Dang Soyou did not retreat.
“Not all poisons are equal.”
She advanced another step and drew silver needles from her sleeve.
Yeon-dok’s whip aimed for Dang Soyou’s shoulder.
Whip!
Dang Soyou tilted her body and caught the whip in her bare hand. Blood-colored venom crawled across her palm and burrowed in.
Yeon-dok stopped humming.
“What? You’re catching it bare-handed? Are you telling me you’ve achieved immunity to all poisons?”
“Perhaps.”
Dang Soyou’s voice was dull.
“I can’t claim immunity to every poison in creation, but I’m not falling for this sloppy work. Though I’ll admit—your blending technique isn’t half bad.”
Their poisons were poorly matched. Yeon-dok’s signature toxin was the Blood Flower Poison—concentrated, it could fell even first-rate masters in moments—but she preferred watching opponents suffer as the venom spread wide rather than perishing outright. So long as her whip technique, augmented by poison mastery and executed with terrifying unpredictability, left the strong and weak alike poisoned and fallen, she had grown careless with arrogance. There was no shortage of masters who had toppled under her assault.
In that instant of hesitation, dark, dense energy flowed backward through the whip in the opposite direction.
Poison Counters Poison.
Yeon-dok’s eyes widened.
“Using poison to neutralize poison. Your first time seeing it?”
Yeon-dok tried to withdraw the whip. But—
Thwip!
Two hidden projectiles that Dang Soyou had hastily fashioned rocketed along the whip and embedded themselves in Yeon-dok’s flank.
“What—why won’t they come out?”
All trace of composure vanished from Yeon-dok’s face. She grabbed at the projectiles in panic, trying to pull them free.
“Rip them out by force and you’ll regret it. Want help?”
Dang Soyou produced a large silver needle and spoke with unhurried calm.
“Or take another one.”

* * *

The Bichieonbong Training Grounds had become a chaos.
No one had died directly from the artificial blood-ice-jade explosion that erupted in the air, but the detonation’s position was perfectly calculated—most present had been swept up in its energy wave. When the bomb burst, peculiar blood energy erupted with it, and the vast majority of martial artists caught unprepared, their internal energy not yet deep enough to resist, collapsed with internal injuries.
Inside the inner chamber, the situation was worse.
Byeok Muchuang gritted his teeth.
He breathed roughly and stood between Mak-ya and the entrance.
“I will not yield an inch from this position.”
After another clash, he stumbled back, cradling the Blue Wind. Byeok Soyeon braced herself against the wall near the chamber entrance, barely holding firm. Byeok Muchuang fought desperately against Mak-ya, but his movements grew sluggish with each passing moment. Without Baek Yunhui’s intervention, he would have fallen long ago.
And each time an attack came, Baek Yunhui read its trajectory through the Golden Divine Eyes, then expended massive quantities of internal energy to deflect Mak-ya’s fist force. He flicked silver coins, released Value Degradation energy, deliberately avoiding direct confrontation and binding Mak-ya with relentless disruption.
But fighting such a formidable opponent, forced to squander his internal energy so recklessly, even that vast reserve was steadily draining.

[Remaining Internal Energy Reserve: 24%]

‘He’s too strong. I’m reaching my limit.’
Baek Yunhui clenched his teeth.
Mak-ya came again. This time, he dropped his hips low, moving fast—an angle Baek Yunhui could not evade.
Crack!
Palm force crashed into Baek Yunhui’s ribs.
He drew his internal energy upward to shield himself as much as possible, but he heard his bones creak. His vision lurched. He slammed into the wall beside the bed.

[Warning: Remaining Internal Energy below 20%.]

His vision turned yellow.
As Baek Yunhui buckled, Byeok Muchuang was struck by palm force in the next instant and thrown backward.
Baek Yunhui pushed himself against the wall, trying to rise. His legs would not obey.
Mak-ya approached slowly.
He was in no hurry. He already knew it was over.
His gaze shifted to Byeok Jingang, still on the bed.
Byeok Jingang’s eyes were open. He tried to push himself upright, but his body, not yet fully recovered, refused to obey.
Mak-ya drew something from his sleeve.
A blood-red orb. The second artificial Blood Frozen Jade.
Baek Yunhui’s eyes flashed.

[Target: Artificial Blood Frozen Jade]
[Status: 10 seconds until critical threshold.]

Ten seconds.
Baek Yunhui pushed against the wall, trying to stand. His legs buckled. He fell again.
‘I can’t stop it.’
So-ryang, watching anxiously from the corner, stifled a cry and lunged forward. Byeok Soyeon stretched out an arm. Byeok Muchuang rushed to help, but his body was already pinned beneath Mak-ya’s palm force.
Mak-ya’s hand rose.
Nine seconds.
Baek Yunhui stared at the sickbed.
Byeok Jingang met his gaze.
The old man’s eyes held an eerie calm.
Seven seconds.
His voice was low and measured.
“I’ll be fine. You escape while you can.”
Baek Yunhui clenched his teeth.
‘No, you won’t.’
Two seconds.
Mak-ya threw the Blood Frozen Jade.

Acquiring the Jianghu through Wealth — Episode 25

Author
Song Jjul-bol
Publisher
Daon Creative
Planning / Editing / Production
Yoon Tae-ri
Cover
Sik

UCI
G720:N+A036-20260907057.0025

ⓒ2026, Song Jjul-bol

※ This e-book is protected under the Copyright Law of the Republic of Korea.
No part of this work may be reproduced or modified in any form without the express permission of the author and publisher.

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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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