Murim Login - Chapter 197

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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 197
Bone Marrow Cleansing.
This technique, which literally means shedding hair and washing the marrow, was a procedure executed only by prestigious sects with long histories.
By using one’s inner force to artificially refine the bones and muscles, and by removing the accumulated impurities within the body, one could transform their constitution into one suitable for martial cultivation.
Bone Marrow Cleansing was performed consistently over multiple sessions, but the problem lay in how exacting both its conditions and process were.
After hearing Jeok Cheon-gang’s explanation, I asked him a question.
“Is it really that demanding?”
Jeok Cheon-gang nodded.
“How could artificially transforming an inborn body be easy and simple? If it were, there wouldn’t be a single weakling left in this world.”
That was a fair point.
For an ordinary person to carve out a six-pack, they’d need to grind away for months.
There was no need to elaborate on what Bone Marrow Cleansing—which completely transformed one’s bones and constitution—would entail.
“Three conditions are necessary for Bone Marrow Cleansing.”
He said it was incredibly demanding, yet only three conditions?
The thought that had suddenly occurred to me vanished in an instant as Jeok Cheon-gang continued speaking.
“First. A master with inner force of at least the Jiapzi tier or higher.”
“…Oof.”
The difficulty spike right from the start was brutal.
Jiapzi tier meant a cultivation of at least one hundred and twenty years. How many people in the world possessed such inner force?
Surely only an extremely small number, and Jeok Cheon-gang standing before me was one of them.
He raised two wrinkled fingers.
“Second. Wealth.”
“Why wealth?”
“Because you must procure medicinal elixirs for the subject to absorb. The practitioner must guide and circulate the qi filling the subject’s body. The method varies by sect, but it’s no exaggeration to say it costs a fortune.”
“It would be difficult for anyone outside the Nine Major Sects and One Alliance or the Five Great Families.”
“Difficult doesn’t even begin to describe it. That Baek Moo-sung fellow—wasn’t that his name? The one from Huashan or whatever—he seemed to have undergone Bone Marrow Cleansing.”
This was literally an investment. Sects would select promising disciples with bright futures and perform Bone Marrow Cleansing on them.
For a blue-chip prospect like Baek Moo-sung, the Huashan Sect would certainly have found it worthwhile to invest.
“Then… could Chung Poong have received it too?”
“Would the Sword Saint have merely watched? He must have been refining him bit by bit since childhood.”
Damn it, I was the only one who didn’t receive it.
I had thought the Taewon Jin Family was at least a silver-spoon level in the Martial World, but before these diamond-spoon types who received Bone Marrow Cleansing like it was a cosmetic procedure, we were nothing.
“What’s the third and final condition?”
“Endurance.”
“Pardon?”
“Bone Marrow Cleansing is a technique that transforms one’s inborn bones and constitution. As the bones and muscles twist and resettle, it inevitably brings immense suffering.”
“How much pain are we talking about?”
Jeok Cheon-gang spoke bluntly.
“Pain enough to kill you.”
“…Enough to kill me?”
“People have actually died from it.”
“Gasp.”
“The Sichuan Poison Sect fills entire jars with a thousand different poisons and then….”
As Jeok Cheon-gang continued speaking, my stomach twisted into knots. I swallowed hard and asked.
“S-surely that’s only how the Sichuan Poison Sect does it, right?”
“Of course. The Main Sect has its own secret methods.”
“Perhaps they stack a thousand pieces of firewood and have you climb on top before setting it ablaze….”
“….”
“Ah, I suppose not. My apologies.”
“What in the world do you think of the Main Sect?”
Jeok Cheon-gang, who had been glaring at me with narrowed eyes, shook his head slowly.
“The Bone Marrow Cleansing cannot be prepared in a single day. Today I will only use my inner energy to straighten your bones and muscles—what you do with elixirs afterward is your own concern.”
“Ah, understood.”
Now that I thought about it, Jeok Cheon-gang was empty-handed. Had he intended to perform the Bone Marrow Cleansing properly, he would have brought the necessary elixirs and other materials.
“Should I remove my clothes then?”
“Ask one more time and I’ll strip the skin off you.”
I shed my garments at the speed of light.
As Jeok Cheon-gang’s gaze swept across my naked form, his eyes took on a peculiar gleam.
“This is….”
“Yes?”
“Ah, never mind. It’s nothing.”
What was that? The atmosphere had suddenly grown strange.
As I wondered what was wrong with the old man, I realized something and let out a chuckle.
“Come now, we’re all acquainted here. What’s the fuss?”
“…?”
“Truth be told, this size is absolutely not common. I was shocked when I first saw it too. Do you know about the Amazon? There’s something called a Black Anaconda there. It’s just, wow. Really. Quite something.”
“…!”
“I understand your surprise, but no matter what, you mustn’t touch it. Understood?”
Whoosh, crack!
A fist clenched with sudden force struck my temple with the sound of rushing wind.
* * *
Ding.
– Abnormal Status,
[Unconsciousness]
has been lifted.
As consciousness returned with the system notification, I gazed at the familiar ceiling and muttered.
“Damn it, he could’ve just accepted my refusal instead of hitting me.”
Did he really want to touch it that badly? Was his pride hurt because I refused so firmly?
I rubbed my throbbing temple and sat up. Before my eyes floated an unread System Message.
“Huh? The Bone Marrow Cleansing is already complete?”
I glanced around, but Jeok Cheon-gang was nowhere to be seen.
It seemed he had completed the Bone Marrow Cleansing in the blink of an eye while I was unconscious and left. Judging by this message that appeared.
–
[Bone Marrow Cleansing]
has been successfully completed.
–
[Bone Density]
,
[Meridian Strength]
increased by 5 each.
–
[Strength]
,
[Stamina]
,
[Agility]
increased by 1 each.
“Hmm…”
A hollow sigh escaped my lips.
It was definitely good. I had certainly improved compared to before. These gains were equivalent to what one would normally achieve through steady training after leveling up once.
But…
“That’s all?”
Form may be temporary, but class is eternal.
Even if it was done hastily without proper preparation, the Bone Marrow Cleansing was still the Bone Marrow Cleansing.
I had been anticipating some spectacular effect, and now I felt more bewildered than disappointed.
“What is this.”
In martial arts novels, it almost always appeared as a cheat code.
Rebirth and Bone Marrow Cleansing—these two were practically essential skills for any protagonist.
Weaklings who used to whine and complain would transform into thugs with these two techniques and rampage through the Murim.
So why was I like this.
“Did you do this too carelessly?”
As I was grumbling, the door opened and Hyuk Moo-jin poked his head in.
“Can I come in…… Gasp.”
I pulled on the scattered clothes from the floor and spoke.
“Just so you know, if you get any weird ideas, I’m smashing your head in. For reference, your head is the pot I’m talking about.”
“Then why are you naked?”
“That old man examined my body.”
“Your body. Did he really have to strip you completely.”
“…Your phrasing is oddly suggestive.”
Hyuk Moo-jin flinched and hastily waved his hands in denial.
“Ah, no. When I passed by the Red Sky River earlier, his expression seemed so unusual that I came to check if something was wrong.”
“His expression was unusual?”
“His face was completely stiffened. He looked like someone who had been startled by something, or perhaps angered.”
“Is that so?”
“Yes. I was so frightened I couldn’t even bring myself to speak to him.”
“Why?”
“I have no idea either.”
I tilted my head in confusion. Had something unexpected occurred?
* * *
Jeok Cheon-gang walked forward, lost in thought.
Those who recognized him bowed their heads from all directions, but his mind was occupied by only one person.
‘Jin Tae-kyung.’
In just a few days, his assessment of that man had changed multiple times.
From an amusing fellow to an infuriating one who had burned the sect’s secret techniques. And today, the moment Jeok Cheon-gang saw Jin Tae-kyung’s bare body for the first time, he thought:
‘A peculiar man indeed.’
Even at first glance, Jin Tae-kyung’s musculature was exceptional. It seemed wasteful for such talent to languish in a remote region like this.
But when he directly observed the body hidden beneath those clothes, it exceeded his expectations.
‘Such perfectly balanced musculature.’
A person’s body grows with time, but balance is an entirely different matter.
Even the smallest habits related to daily posture and living can disrupt that equilibrium.
A swordsman who wielded a right-handed blade would naturally have more muscle mass and greater strength in the right arm.
It was as natural a phenomenon as water flowing downward.
Yet Jin Tae-kyung was different.
‘…What manner of man is this?’
The length of bones, their angles. The form and shape of muscles.
Everything achieved perfect symmetry.
As if some omniscient, unknowable being had drawn half of Jin Tae-kyung on a blank canvas and then folded and unfolded it.
‘Could he have trained in the Bone Refinement Method since childhood? No, even that would be impossible.’
In the past, Jeok Cheon-gang had devoted considerable thought and research to improving Jang Cheon’s inferior physique, and had finally implemented the Bone Refinement Method after discovering the optimal approach.
The results had been successful, but that experience had taught him one crucial truth.
‘Even the Bone Refinement Method has its limits.’
The term “perfect balance” does not suit the human body.
Even spending ten thousand gold pieces instead of one thousand would leave microscopic flaws. Yet Jin Tae-kyung was different.
Jeok Cheon-gang kneaded and felt the unconscious body from head to toe.
Tough, elastic skin. He felt the power that filled both surface and depth, and by channeling his internal energy through the body, he confirmed the broad and sturdy meridians within.
And then he was astounded.
‘How could such a body possibly exist!’
It was nothing short of perfect. It was as if this was what the legendary Bone Transformation and Flesh Replacement would produce.
Jeok Cheon-gang had met several supreme masters throughout his life, and among them was even the incomparable Sword Saint Mae Jong-hak.
But without question, among all the physiques he had ever witnessed, Jin Tae-kyung’s was worthy of being called the finest under heaven.
‘Ho, could it be…?’
Jeok Cheon-gang, who had been lost in thought for some time, suddenly trembled as a suspicion flickered across his mind.
Throughout the Murim, there were legends passed down from the distant past.
The Heavenly Martial Body—a physique said to be born once every few hundred years, or perhaps once a millennium, by the whim of heaven—was one among countless such legends.
‘A Heavenly Martial Body? I must be losing my mind.’
Yet the more I observed Jin Tae-kyung’s body, the deeper my suspicion grew, and the more tangled my thoughts became.
That physique was, without exaggeration, flawless.
After completing a cursory examination that hardly deserved the name, my deliberation only deepened.
‘If that boy truly possesses a Heavenly Martial Body, and he were to master even more superior martial techniques and absorb spiritual elixirs… what would become of him?’
The chain of thoughts that refused to break continued even after I left the Pavilion.
And finally, the greed that had been crouching in the depths of my heart lifted its head.
“…What if I were to teach that boy?”
Startled by my own sudden murmur, I caught myself.
A disciple?
My only disciple had betrayed the sect and was no longer among the living.
The wounds from that time had not yet healed, and now I was considering taking on a new disciple.
Moreover, I had already passed a hundred years of age, and my mind was already clouded by the infirmities of old age.
‘Even without me, Mae Jong-hak could find talented individuals and continue the lineage of the Main Sect.’
Though I had told no one, I had planned to seek out Sword Saint Mae Jong-hak as soon as I left the Taewon Jin Family.
I intended to entrust the succession of the Yeolhwa Sect to him—a man of unparalleled martial prowess and free from selfish desires.
‘Yet what is this absurd notion now? Jeok Cheon-gang, you fool. What a foolish old man you are.’
It was then that I sighed deeply and looked up at the sky.
“Jeok Dae-hyup. Is something troubling you?”
The owner of that courteous voice was Geo Han, a man of tremendous stature—Jin Wi-kyung.
I flinched, having just been thinking of Jin Tae-kyung.
“Ah, yes?”
It had been four days since I began staying at the Taewon Jin Family, and Jin Wi-kyung asked carefully, noticing my unusual demeanor.
“Is there perhaps something uncomfortable about your stay…?”
“Ah, no. It’s nothing at all.”
“Then I am relieved.”
I gazed toward the distant mountains and waved my hand dismissively.
“This old man has no problems. Really, everything is fine, so go about your business.”
“Ah, is there perhaps something else you wished to tell me?”
“I said there isn’t.”
“Are you certain?”
“I’m telling you! Stop worrying and be on your way.”
“…Jeok Dae-hyup?”
“Why!”
At my outburst, Jin Wi-kyung hesitated before finally speaking.
“Jeok Dae-hyup, you are standing directly in front of my Office.”
“….”
“Would you care to share a drink and talk for a while?”
Jeok Cheon-gang, who had been silent for a moment, let out a dry cough.
“Ahem. Make it alcohol instead of tea.”
Despite what his heart might have preferred, Jeok Cheon-gang’s feet were honest.

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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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