I Shouldn't Have Joined the Martial Arts Alliance - Chapter 74

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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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Foolishly Entering the Murim Alliance — Chapter 74
Jang Hye-in and the team members’ eyes went blank with confusion.
“……Surely not…….”
“No……, it can’t be.”
“……right?”
God, I hope so.
“But those eyes. How else do you explain those eyes?”
“Then……, could it really be…….”
“……Qi Deviation?”
“Hey! You bastards! You really hope that’s the case?! Huh!”
“No, we don’t want that to happen!”
“We’re worried, that’s all!”
“We’re worried!”
It wasn’t just Jang Hye-in and the team members.
Chu-yeop was equally anxious.
“Damn it…….”
On the surface, it looked like Qi Deviation. Of course, Qi Deviation had many different causes and symptoms. So one couldn’t pin down Qi Deviation to a single cause or symptom.
But he’d never seen eyes turn completely black like that before.
He’d never even heard of it.
And more importantly, what came after Qi Deviation. Once someone fell to Qi Deviation, it was safe to say there was no path back to normalcy.
Especially with symptoms like this—there was no mistaking it—they pointed toward progression into madness.
Almost certainly.
If Qi Deviation progressed to madness…….
He would have to be killed. Otherwise, transformed into a madman, he would roam the Gangho slaughtering everything alive in his path.
Chu-yeop couldn’t contain his anguish and struck the floor hard.
Thud, thud, thud.
“……Damn it all.”
If he had his way, he’d bite his own tongue and take his life right now.
The middle-aged man also believed Sa U-rin’s current condition was Qi Deviation.
And so.
“This has become troublesome.”
When someone fell to Qi Deviation and transformed into a madman, they typically wielded power many times greater than their normal martial prowess.
That was why.
Step.
Step.
Heedless of all the eyes upon him, Sa U-rin—or rather, Sa U-rin, now transformed into a madman with a demonic aspect—moved slowly toward the middle-aged man.
“U-rin!”
“Sa U-rin!”
“Youngest!”
“My lord!”
Jang Hye-in, the team members, and Chu-yeop all cried out to Sa U-rin in anguished desperation.
Open your eyes.
Regain your senses.
You mustn’t do this.
Come back to yourself.
To who you were.
But.
Step.
Step.
Sa U-rin, whose eyes had turned completely black, continued advancing toward the middle-aged man.
As rough rain poured down in the Hyeol-u-bang hall, the atmosphere turned suddenly frigid.
Shudder.
Step, step.
From Sa U-rin, now wearing a demonic visage, there suddenly emanated an aura the middle-aged man could not withstand.
And so the middle-aged man found himself backing away without thinking.
“……This is bad.”
No matter how much power Qi Deviation granted—surpassing his normal strength—this far exceeded even that.
Enough to make the middle-aged man tremble with fear.
Then.
A demon-like voice came from Sa U-rin, reverberating through the hall.
A deep, booming baritone—the kind that might echo from a vast cavern—erupts across the hall, shaking the ground beneath them.
“@#$ %&*, @%$ *@$% #$% @#$%.”
No one understood the sound. Whether it was language or something else entirely remained a mystery.
But then.
“Ugh.”
The groan that escaped Sa U-rin’s throat made the Middle-aged Man spit blood.
“Damn.”
It wasn’t just the Middle-aged Man.
Jang Hye-in and his men, along with Chu-yeop and his subordinates, didn’t vomit blood, but they all clutched their chests, gripped by a pain that felt as though their hearts might tear apart.
“Nngh.”
“Argh.”
“What the hell is this?”
“Beats me.”
“Christ, what’s going to happen to the kid?”
“Shit.”
“This is insane.”
Meanwhile, the Middle-aged Man was seized by shock.
‘…Me?’
Why?
Internal injuries from that strange, incomprehensible sound?
“Like a beast!”
Nothing made sense. He couldn’t comprehend it. All he felt was fury rising in his chest.
The Middle-aged Man clenched his teeth as rage flooded through him, gripping his sword with crushing force.
He resolved to end this in one stroke. The thought gnawed at him—if he didn’t, he might be the one destroyed.
But.
Thump.
Thump.
Sa U-rin’s footsteps never ceased. They neither slowed nor quickened, yet he drew steadily closer to the Middle-aged Man.
And with each step, the aura of this demon-like figure intensified, growing ever more overwhelming.
“Ugh! Hack.”
Blood erupted from the Middle-aged Man’s mouth again. And it was far from over.
Crack.
His right knee buckled, striking the ground of its own accord.
“…How…?”
His own limbs were no longer obeying him—they moved to the will of that madman instead.
The Middle-aged Man struggled to rise, desperate to launch one final strike at Sa U-rin, but even that was beyond him now.
His body refused to obey.
…Why?
What was the reason?
Even if a supreme master stood before him, they could never control him like this.
Yet that madman—what was he?
Was he treating the Middle-aged Man’s body as if it were his own puppet?
“This can’t be…”
Thump.
Thump.
The madman that Sa U-rin had become reached him at last.
The Middle-aged Man lifted his head defiantly, glaring into Sa U-rin’s face.
“What are you? What in the name of heaven are you?!”
The madman’s mouth opened, and that same rough, cavernous voice poured forth once more.
“#@$ #*%.”
“…Like a cursed beast!”
He couldn’t understand any of it.
The words were incomprehensible, his body no longer his own.
All that remained was to expose his neck and wait for death.
Was that why?
The demon-faced Sa U-rin raised the Hwa-ryong Sword high.
“…Please, I beg you—spare me. I will obey your every command, whatever you desire.”
He didn’t want to die.
He had never imagined ending like this, unprepared, unbraced.
But from the madman came no answer at all.
A sword gripped in the madman’s hand moved.
“……the Annihilation Sword Technique……?”
The blade had merely shifted, yet the crushing weight made breathing nearly impossible.
“Ugh. ……Please…….”
The middle-aged man wanted to live. But the madman’s sword did not stop.
At last.
It swung.
The sword gripped in that demonic madman’s hand.
And it unfurled.
The Annihilation Sword Technique, which only two disciples of the Cheon-hon School had ever mastered.
The technique that Sa U-rin himself could not unfurl despite staking everything.
Screee!
A streak of sword energy erupted from the madman’s blade, flashing brilliantly, then carved diagonally across the middle-aged man’s body.
“……?”
But nothing happened.
Or rather.
It seemed as though he’d been cut, yet it seemed as though he hadn’t.
There was no sensation.
If he’d been cut, surely crimson blood should have welled forth.
But no pain came, no mark remained.
And then.
The middle-aged man’s body transformed into ash, like the charred remnants of burnt wood.
“……Ah, please…….”
But soon, his entire body crumbled to ash, even his hair, and scattered into the air.
Clang.
Only the sword that had rested in the middle-aged man’s hand remained on the ground, forlorn. The man vanished as though he had never existed in that place.
Then.
Thud.
The eyes of that demonic Sa U-rin closed, and his body collapsed to the floor.
“U-rin!”
“Master!”
Jang Hye-in and his retainers rushed toward Sa U-rin.
And after confirming Sa U-rin’s final moments, Chu-yeop too fell.
“Master!”
* * *
Flicker, flicker.
Sa U-rin’s eyes opened.
And the final moment at Hyeol-u-bang returned to him.
Sa U-rin had tried to unfurl the Annihilation Sword Technique, staking everything on it.
Yes, that was what had happened.
But then his meridians twisted and an agony like rupturing flooded through him. He thought again that the Annihilation Sword Technique was impossible. Yet he had fought desperately to unfurl it to the very end.
Because he had to.
Because it was his only recourse.
But in the end, he could not unfurl the Annihilation Sword Technique. And so the middle-aged man defeated him.
That was the last memory Sa U-rin could recall.
Once the memory faded, a clean ceiling came into view.
“……The afterlife……?”
He looked around.
It didn’t seem to be the afterlife. Certainly not.
Shouldn’t the afterlife be filled with things that are dark, or dingy, or strike fear into one’s heart?
And a ceiling at that?
A dead man in a room with a ceiling?
He’d never heard of such things existing in the afterlife. Of course, it’s unlikely anyone living would know of the afterlife anyway.
Still, in any case.
This place was not the afterlife.
Then…….
“……This is…….”
Wasn’t this the manor that lay hidden on the mountainside where he’d spent a day with his mother?
It was the room where he’d fallen asleep two days ago, now tidied and clean.
Yes.
It was certain.
“So then……, rebirth……or perhaps……, regression?”
Stories like that appeared in novels, didn’t they?
People died, were reborn, regressed, and started everything over again.
“It does seem to be something like that…….”
Regression to two days ago.
So he would fight again and win this time. This time, with his mother at his side.
Then surely—no, easily—he could overcome that crisis.
Why did he think this way?
Because Sa U-rin himself had died.
Or rather, he thought he must have. The circumstances had been that way.
There had been no possible way to survive.
Yes. That was how it had been.
Sa U-rin might well have truly died at that moment. Though he couldn’t be certain.
In any case, since Sa U-rin had no memories after that last moment, it was only natural.
But then, he felt something gripped in his hand. So he threw back the blanket.
“……The Hwa-ryong Sword?”
It was clenched in his hand.
As he looked down, he suddenly felt a heaviness in his chest. So he raised himself up on his elbows and gazed down at his own body.
“……?”
White cloth stained with crimson blood was wound tightly around Sa U-rin’s body.
“If it were that……, then this isn’t regression…….”
If he had truly regressed, there was no way the Hwa-ryong Sword would be gripped in his hand, nor would bloodstained cloth be wrapped around his body.
This was…….
“……Could it be?”
Had his mother come?
“That makes sense.”
Then it was explained. In that final moment, his mother had appeared, killed that middle-aged man, and rescued Sa U-rin himself, Chu-yeop, and…….
But what had happened to Chu-yeop?
“……Perhaps…….”
Perhaps—or rather, probably…….
Though his mother had appeared, it seemed Chu-yeop had already been too late.
He couldn’t move at all.
But one could never be certain, could one?
So Sa U-rin leaned the Hwa-ryong Sword against the wall and unwrapped the white cloth that covered his entire body.
The cloth was clearly soaked through with blood, yet when he unwound it, Sa U-rin’s body bore not a single wound.
Even so, Sa U-rin didn’t find this strange.
It had always been that way.
Even the smallest wound healed quickly on Sa U-rin’s body.
He hastily threw on some clothes and stepped outside. He could see his mother, Jang Hye-in, and the operatives.
He had expected his mother, Jang Hye-in, and the operatives to rush toward him with joy and welcome…….
……But they didn’t.
Why?
Their reaction was somewhat different from what he’d anticipated. Or rather, very different.
He thought they would be overjoyed to see him…….
But what were these looks of suspicion in their eyes?
Even his mother’s gaze as she looked upon her beloved son was strange.
As if she were looking at a monster.

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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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