Murim Login - Chapter 123

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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 123
A middle-aged man lay swathed in bandages from head to toe.
His brow was deeply furrowed with displeasure, and his body writhed restlessly, unable to find a moment’s peace.
“Ugh.”
The moment a groan escaped his lips, a rebuke came flying at him.
“Please, try not to move so much.”
“That’s not what I—”
“Uncle Chul Moo-baek, didn’t you hear what the Physician said?”
Here we go again. Chul Moo-baek of Hangsan merely stared blankly at the ceiling. Then Eun So-wol drew a thick quilted blanket up to his chest and continued speaking.
“You need to recover as quickly as possible. I understand your joints are aching, but you must stay in bed. Try to get more rest.”
“I’ve already slept enough.”
“You’ve only slept for two hours.”
“Two hours is sufficient.”
“If you keep this up, you’ll only injure yourself further.”
“I’ve lived that way for over thirty years. I’m fine.”
“But you’ve never been injured this severely before.”
“…Hmph.”
Chul Moo-baek fell silent at Eun So-wol’s pointed remark.
She was right. Since mastering the Asura Annihilation Fist, I had never sustained injuries as grave as these. Fractured limbs and severe internal injuries. According to the Physician, I required at least four months of recovery.
“Even when I faced your father, it wasn’t this bad.”
Eun So-wol reacted to Chul Moo-baek’s complaint.
“My father?”
“Yes, that friend Lee Cheon-baek.”
“What happened between you two?”
“I never told you?”
“I always thought you two simply got along and became friends.”
“That’s true. But at first, we fought for our lives.”
“You fought?”
Chul Moo-baek smiled faintly.
“What else would two martial artists do when they meet? We were both young and hot-blooded, so it was as inevitable as fire.”
Chul Moo-baek gazed out the window. Thirty years ago, somewhere on those towering mountain ridges, the two of them had first met and fought.
“He searched the mountain range like a madman for three months to find me. He looked like a beggar, but his bearing was extraordinary.”
Masters recognize masters. Chul Moo-baek, who had secluded himself in a remote mountain valley that no one sought out and trained alone, and Lee Cheon-baek, who had perfected his own martial arts through countless battles.
It was the first meeting of two supreme masters.
“He told me to become his subordinate. He said he would establish a sect below the mountain range and asked me to help lay its foundation.”
“That sounds like Father. And then?”
“What more needed to be said? We fought. Quite brutally, in fact.”
Eun So-wol let out a soft laugh.
“I see.”
“Aren’t you curious how it turned out?”
“Is there any need to hear it? Just look at the fact that Uncle Chul has remained in seclusion all these years—it’s obvious. Isn’t it just an embarrassing tale men tell, claiming they became friends after admiring each other’s martial prowess?”
“Ahahaha! That’s right! The match was decided in exactly five hundred exchanges… ugh.”
Chul Moo-baek, who had been laughing loudly, flinched at a sudden wave of pain, and Eun So-wol let out a sigh.
“It seems your condition is getting worse because of me… perhaps it would be better if I weren’t here.”
“You brat. Don’t you pity your uncle growing old alone?”
“If you’re serious about it, just say the word. I’ll even arrange a match for you.”
“Enough. What use is that at my age?”
Though the words came from his own mouth, a bitter taste lingered on his tongue. Chul Moo-baek cursed himself inwardly.
‘Yes, when did I become so old?’
Even Chul Moo-baek himself did not know exactly how many more years had passed since that day he lost his family.
Thanks to his profound inner strength and an extremely disciplined body, he appeared younger than his actual age, but his spirit had been aging for a long time.
‘My only friend has departed, and the martial arts I refined my entire life has been shamefully broken. How pathetic.’
Only now could I finally admit it—that the tiger of Hangsan had already grown old. Yet there remained something I still had to protect.
“So-wol.”
Eun So-wol answered in a warm voice.
“Yes, Uncle.”
“I wish for your happiness.”
“I know.”
“It is not too late. Marry someone you love. With the support of the Taewon Jin Family, you could build a safe and happy home anywhere in Shanxi Province.”
“What I desire is not a home, but the Hangsan Inspection Bureau.”
A flicker of sorrow crossed Chul Moo-baek’s eyes. Eun So-wol, whom I had watched since infancy. Rebuilding and revitalizing a fallen sect was too heavy a burden for one not yet in her twenties to bear.
“You may come to regret the choice you make now.”
“But no matter what choice I make, you will trust me, won’t you, Uncle?”
“If I hadn’t, I would never have passed the secret manual of the Asura Annihilation Fist to you.”
Eun So-wol grasped Chul Moo-baek’s weathered hand tightly.
She too was a daughter of a martial family. She understood what a monumental decision this old warrior before her had made.
“Thank you, Uncle.”
At the tremor in her voice, which had grown tender, Chul Moo-baek waved his hand.
“I am old. It was becoming difficult to take on disciples at my age anyway, so this is a fortunate opportunity.”
The Asura Annihilation Fist follows the principle of single transmission and transmission only to the worthy. The intent is to find a successor of upright conduct and pure heart, and continue the martial lineage.
Yet Chul Moo-baek, the ninth successor, broke that principle and passed the secret manual to Eun So-wol. Though she had not received direct instruction, I had shattered the tradition passed down through generations of the sect.
But Chul Moo-baek had my own reasoning.
‘With Jin Cheon Sword and Shanxi Sleeping Dragon, they could protect So-wol.’
If Eun So-wol had resolved to make a strategic marriage, those two were the best choice.
There was no need to speak of their talent in martial arts, and they possessed the chivalrous spirit to stake their lives against injustice.
‘Though I must observe their true nature…’
If all went well, it would be a path that could satisfy both the purpose of a strategic marriage and the tradition of single transmission to the worthy.
“So then.”
Chul Moo-baek continued in a subtle voice.
“Which of the two have you chosen?”
Eun So-wol tilted her head as if she didn’t understand.
“My, what do you mean?”
“Don’t play coy with me. Tell me straight—is it Jin Cheon Sword? Or Shanxi Sleeping Dragon?”
“I’m not sure.”
“They’re both capable enough, but… wouldn’t Jin Cheon Sword be the better choice?”
“You don’t seem fond of Shanxi Sleeping Dragon?”
“Well, it’s not that I dislike him, exactly…”
Chul Moo-baek’s brow furrowed. Even he, who spent most of the year deep in the mountains, had heard rumors of the Taewon Jin Family’s reckless fool.
“No matter how much one reforms, old habits die hard. I worry he might drive a spike through your heart later.”
“What about Jin Cheon Sword?”
Chul Moo-baek’s stern expression softened.
“There’s no younger brother quite like an elder brother, they say. I spoke with him briefly yesterday, and he’s truly a fine man. His martial prowess is exceptional.”
“I heard he knows nothing but martial arts.”
“Bah! That’s far better than chasing after women. His bearing is dignified and carries real weight. That’s how a man ought to be, yes indeed.”
Chul Moo-baek chuckled contentedly.
* * *
Jin Moo-kyung, his eyes rolled back halfway, grabbed me by the collar and shook me violently.
“Marry her at once!”
“Hack, hack!”
Tea had already gone up my nose, and now he wouldn’t stop shaking my collar—I couldn’t think straight.
“Let go, will you?”
“Asura Annihilation Fist! Blood Wolf Sword Technique! Blood Wolf Movement Technique!”
“I understand, just let go!”
“You fool! Do you know what Asura Annihilation Fist is!”
“We can talk about this if you release me!”
“Single-line transmission! Non-transmission to the second!”
“Stop it, you madman!”
By the time I finally pried Jin Moo-kyung’s hands away, the interior of the Pavilion looked as though a hurricane had swept through it.
“Huff, huff.”
I caught my breath and surveyed the surroundings.
The table had collapsed, the chairs were smashed to pieces, and fragments of broken tea ware scattered across the floor.
Then Jin Moo-kyung, his expression now composed, straightened his clothes and spoke.
“Ahem, I’ve calmed down now.”
“…”
This man was far more unhinged than I’d thought.
I rubbed my face with the less-soaked sleeve.
“What makes Asura Annihilation Fist so special? Why are you so obsessed with it?”
“It’s one of the ten greatest martial arts under heaven. Or rather, it was.”
“It was?”
“That was two hundred years ago. Even the Library of Cheon-mu Academy, which houses tens of thousands of texts, has only records of it. Yet Hangsan Ho, the great master, was the very successor of Asura Annihilation Fist in his generation!”
Just imagining it makes Jin Moo-kyung’s cheeks flush with excitement.
I wiped the tea water from my nose and asked.
“So?”
“What do you mean ‘so’!”
Jin Moo-kyung stared at me with disbelief in his eyes.
“The Asura Annihilation Fist! A supreme martial art whose lineage supposedly died out centuries ago!”
“One of the ten greatest fist techniques from two hundred years ago?”
“Exactly!”
“Wait, hold on a moment.”
I picked up a thick wooden rod rolling across the floor—something that had been called a table leg just five minutes earlier.
“Do you know what this is?”
“A club?”
“You know your stuff.”
“What’s your point?”
“Two thousand years ago, wouldn’t this have been counted among the ten greatest weapons under heaven?”
He wasn’t foolish enough to miss my meaning.
Jin Moo-kyung’s eyes widened immediately.
“You’re comparing the Asura Annihilation Fist to something like that?”
“What’s the difference then?”
“That’s…”
“Of course it’s far more valuable than a wooden club. But is that still true now?”
In ages past, humanity fought with stone and wood. But when bronze and iron emerged, those old tools were left behind by the tide of history.
The Asura Annihilation Fist is no different.
“Certainly, it’s still a supreme martial art that everyone covets.”
Chul Moo-baek of Hangsan proved this himself—he became a renowned supreme master of Shanxi Province through the Asura Annihilation Fist.
“But that doesn’t mean the Asura Annihilation Fist is still one of the ten greatest fist techniques, does it?”
Just as stone and wood gave way to steel, martial arts evolve.
I don’t know what the current ten greatest fist techniques are, but Jin Moo-kyung’s expression proved my words weren’t wrong.
“If the Asura Annihilation Fist were truly that powerful, it wouldn’t have lost to Pung Yang. And this is the most important part…”
I tossed the table leg into the corner and drove the final nail.
“I have no intention of marrying.”
“…!”
“If the person involved says no, what can you do about it? Right?”
“That’s… true.”
Jin Moo-kyung sighed heavily. He seemed ready to argue further, but surprisingly, he accepted it readily.
Though his eyes still held that distant gleam, as if the secrets of the Asura Annihilation Fist kept dancing before his vision.
‘This guy really is a martial arts fanatic.’
Well, he went to Cheon-mu Academy because he wanted to learn more martial arts.
And now he’d discovered a martial art from centuries past that existed only in the records of that very academy—his body couldn’t help but tremble with anticipation.
“Sigh…”
Jin Moo-kyung let out a sigh so deep it seemed the earth itself might collapse, muttering under his breath.
“What a shame, what a terrible shame.”
“There’s no need to lament so deeply. If fate allows, we can seek it out another time.”
“You fool. Do you think supreme martial arts just fall from the heavens?”
“Well? They fell for me.”
“Even at the Cheon-mu Academy, where all the martial arts under heaven are said to gather, supreme techniques are strictly controlled… What did you just say?”
“They fell from the heavens for me.”
I withdrew a worn tome from my robes. The four characters inscribed on its cover had faded with the passage of time, yet remained legible enough to read clearly.
Flame Divine Palm.
Tigers leave behind their hides when they die; Jo Pil left behind a supreme martial art.
“F-f-f….”
This was surely the most astonishing day in Jin Moo-kyung’s entire life.
I offered a smirk to the man whose eyes bulged wide as he alternated his gaze between me and the secret manual.
“From now on, call me Elder Brother.”

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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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