Murim Login - Chapter 204

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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 204
Roooaaarrr!
A tremendous surge of qi began to rush forward along the meridian.
To open the Conception Vessel, one must traverse a path consisting of twenty-four acupoints, and the starting point is the Perineum Acupoint.
The problem was that this acupoint was located in an extraordinarily sensitive region.
‘No, this can’t be happening!’
A forced breakthrough!
No scream escaped my lips as the qi, transformed into an enraged bull, crashed through the Perineum Acupoint.
Thud!
‘…!’
That sensation—only those who have experienced it truly know. My vision turned pure white as if I had entered heaven itself, and all my senses grew distant.
The faces of my precious loved ones flashed before my eyes one after another.
Mother, Ha-yeon, and among them, the face of an unfamiliar newborn.
‘You, you are…’
Waaah, waaah, waaah!
The cry of a newborn echoing like a hallucination.
Only then did I grasp the child’s identity.
‘Good heavens, my child!’
Jin Tae-kyung Junior, whom I had yet to meet.
And perhaps the appearance of a second generation I would never meet.
The baby’s innocent eyes gazed at me with a question.
– Dad, can’t I come out?
The next moment, my vision returned from its white haze, and an overwhelming agony surged up from my lower body.
‘Kyaaaaaahhhhh!’
As I wailed with my very soul, an urgent voice struck my ears.
“Snap out of it! If you cannot endure this pain, death is all that awaits!”
“…!”
Die? Me? In such an unseemly manner?
In that instant, my mind snapped back as if doused with cold water.
The pain of a blade piercing my lower abdomen persisted, yet I summoned superhuman endurance.
‘I cannot die like this!’
I who had survived countless life-and-death battles. Even when struck with grievous wounds that threatened my very existence, I had persevered.
Merely this—well, not merely, but in any case, I was not so impatient as to end my life over something like this.
‘Breath!’
As I grimly endured the agony, the tremendous surge of qi relentlessly pierced through all twenty-four acupoints.
And finally….
Thud!
It collided with the gate known as the Conception Vessel.
Simultaneously, pain of similar magnitude to that of the Perineum Acupoint came crashing down like waves.
The difference was that this collision did not end with a single strike.
Boom! Boom! Boom!
Once, twice, thrice. Thunder and vibrations roared through my body like a tempest.
Now I understood why Jeok Cheon-gang had targeted my vital points and sealed my acupoints. Why he’d bound me with rope as well.
‘Nnnngh!’
Even with my acupoints sealed, my entire body trembled violently. My frame responded instinctively to pain beyond its limits.
Crack.
Blood vessels burst across my wide-open eyes.
Through the crimson haze of my vision, I saw Jeok Cheon-gang roaring with a lion’s cry.
“Endure! This is the last one!”
The last? Truly?
Whether it was truth or falsehood mattered not. His words breathed strength into me.
‘Just a bit more, more!’
I drew forth the inner energy slumbering in my dantian.
Forty-five years of accumulated power, flowing unobstructed through meridians now purged of all turbidity and obstruction, surged forth in a single, unstoppable torrent.
It merged with the essence of the spirit medicine already battering the Conception Vessel and the power of Jeok Cheon-gang.
Three forces converged into a siege hammer, striking the gate with unprecedented force and sharpness.
Crash! Kabooom!
It was the final note. The conclusion to a prolonged struggle of strength.
The rigidly sealed Conception Vessel crumbled, and the energies poured in like an occupying army.
In that instant, a dizzying pain swept through me, followed by a pleasure and refreshment several times more intense than the agony itself, engulfing my entire being.
Ding.
–
[Conception Vessel]
has been successfully opened!
– Control of inner energy becomes far more fluid!
– The speed of circulating and accumulating power increases dramatically!
– Achievement
[Conception Vessel Opened]
has been attained!
– As a reward….
‘Ahhh, ahhhh!’
Now my body trembled not with pain, but with ecstasy. It was different. Everything I had known until now was merely the tip of the iceberg.
The gap was as vast as that between the first-rate and the supreme.
‘Can things truly change this much?’
Though I had endured tremendous suffering, such an achievement was worth the price. No—I had to bear it.
Jeok Cheon-gang beamed at my astonishment.
“You did wonderfully!”
At his genuine joy, something warm swelled in my chest.
To think he would help me with such devotion. Had I not been sealed, I would have prostrated before Jeok Cheon-gang in gratitude.
‘Jeok Cheon-gang, just who are you?’
My eyes were growing moist when it happened.
“The Governing Vessel can be opened sufficiently this way.”
“….”
Damn it.
I’d forgotten about that.
‘You want me to do this again?’
No way. Absolutely not! At least let me rest for a moment first!
Jeok Cheon-gang laughed heartily as he watched me blink my eyes desperately.
“The boy’s so eager he can’t stand it. I was planning to let you rest a bit, but… very well. Let’s ride this momentum and open both the Conception and Governing Vessels!”
“…!”
“Here we go!”
And so the express train to hell departed once more, and an hour later, I could hear a faint system notification through my clouded consciousness.
Ding.
–
[Governing Vessel]
has been opened!
– Quest,
[Conception and Governing Vessels]
has been completed successfully!
– You have achieved a rare Achievement! As a reward…
.
.
.
I don’t care anymore.
Rare Achievement or whatever, I can’t take any more of this.
Having exhausted every ounce of my mental strength, I plummeted into endless darkness.
* * *
Whoosh.
The moment he loosened the rope, Jeok Cheon-gang carefully caught Jin Tae-kyung’s collapsing body. The stench of sweat shed from enduring pain and the turbid qi expelled earlier was overwhelming, but it hardly mattered.
These were the marks of a martial artist striving to reach greater heights.
Jeok Cheon-gang’s gaze upon the unconscious Jin Tae-kyung was deeper and more serene than ever before.
‘The more I know him, the more remarkable he becomes.’
That’s what I thought at first.
Why had it been this boy, of all people?
In his eyes, Jin Tae-kyung was neither white nor black. He was the gray one could find anywhere in the world.
Not burning with righteousness, yet not wicked either.
‘And he wasn’t even particularly diligent in martial training.’
Shortly after arriving at the Taewon Jin Family, he had heard the rumors about Jin Tae-kyung hammered into his ears.
Without even asking, people around him constantly talked about it.
Third-rate in martial arts, first-rate in debauchery. Unlike his two talented elder brothers, he was called the family’s disgrace.
Jeok Cheon-gang knew this fact, and for a moment he cursed the heavens.
‘Why would you bestow the Heavenly Martial Body upon such a man?’
A legendary blade should fall into the hands of a swordmaster, not a farmer.
Yet the Jin Tae-kyung of rumor was little more than a farmer wielding a legendary blade. He didn’t even possess a farmer’s diligence.
The only thing he pursued with any sincerity was indulgence—what more was there to say?
But….
‘I was mistaken.’
Upon reflection, he realized that everything he had thought was nothing but the stubbornness and contradiction of an old man.
He was no immortal sage, yet he had divided Jin Tae-kyung into black and white after knowing him for such a short time. What was wrong with gray?
‘The human heart. If one merely holds onto that, it is enough.’
Based on what he had witnessed thus far, Jin Tae-kyung was more than adequate.
Humans were inherently imperfect beings, so it was absurd to divide them into perfect white and black.
Perhaps gray was simply another name for a virtuous person.
‘And on top of that, such remarkable spiritual fortitude.’
What good was being born with excellent bones and meridians? The process of opening the Governing and Conception Vessels was so grueling and agonizing it could be called hellish.
Yet Jin Tae-kyung had done it. And he had done it magnificently.
It must have been unbearably difficult and painful. But he had endured it with nothing but a single resolve to grow stronger.
Jin Tae-kyung possessed a spirit as unyielding as his bones and meridians.
‘The Heavenly Martial Body chose its master well.’
A satisfied smile graced Jeok Cheon-gang’s lips. After gazing at Jin Tae-kyung for a long while, he murmured.
“Perhaps… it may come much sooner than expected.”
As he finished speaking, Jeok Cheon-gang’s weathered fingers trembled slightly.
This task had consumed no small amount of his vital energy and mental strength. His aging body understood this fact before his mind could fully accept it.
“Not yet, you fool. Endure for just a few more years.”
Jeok Cheon-gang, his expression turning bitter, lifted Jin Tae-kyung’s body.
They had crossed a great mountain. Now was the time to rest. For both the youth and the old man.
* * *
Ak Bul-gun, the spear instructor of Cheon-mu Academy, arrived at Jin Wi-kyung’s office around noon.
As he opened the door and entered, Jin Wi-kyung, who had been writing something on bamboo slips, rose from his seat with evident pleasure.
“Master Ak, thank you for accepting my invitation despite your busy schedule.”
“It is only fitting that an idle man should move about. Think nothing of it.”
The Sandong Ak Clan was a renowned family of spear arts, celebrated throughout the Martial World.
Yet Ak Bul-gun, contrary to what one might expect of a direct descendant of such a prestigious house, possessed an unpretentious and straightforward nature.
This character trait was evident even in the questions that followed without so much as time for a sip of tea.
“But what brings you to summon me? Could it be….”
Jin Wi-kyung smiled faintly.
“Unfortunately, it is not a matter concerning Moo-kyung.”
“I see.”
Ak Bul-gun nodded and added bluntly.
“Young Master. Please understand that the discipline of Cheon-mu Academy is rigorous.”
The Cheon-mu Academy was a repository of exceptional talent and a gateway to advancement.
If one possessed sufficient ability, it mattered not where they came from—they could become a student of the academy. This diversity meant the student body ranged from disciples of minor sects in remote regions to heirs of prestigious major schools.
Despite such varied backgrounds converging in one place, there was remarkably little discord, for the Cheon-mu Academy enforced strict discipline upon all its students without exception.
“Should you fail to return by the designated date, you risk expulsion from the academy. Even members of the Ten Dragons and Phoenixes are not exempt from this rule.”
“I have already gone to see him myself, but….”
“Did he refuse?”
“Yes.”
After much deliberation, I went to find him, but Jin Moo-kyung would not even show his face.
According to Chil-deuk, the martial master of the Training Pavilion, he had not stepped outside since entering, not even once.
He sustained himself with Qi-gathering pills and permitted no one to approach him. Only when Jin Wi-kyung came did he send back a brief reply.
‘I will not return until I achieve great enlightenment.’
Upon hearing Jin Wi-kyung’s explanation, Ak Bul-gun let out a soft chuckle.
Having instructed the young genius on several occasions before, Ak Bul-gun knew his temperament well.
“That is just like him.”
“Regrettably, even I cannot break my younger brother’s stubbornness.”
“Both the family head and the academy director will surely share your disappointment.”
Everyone walks their own path. Ak Bul-gun nodded calmly and continued.
“I do not believe I have yet heard the reason you wished to see me.”
“Ah, I came to deliver a letter to you.”
“A letter, you say?”
Rather than answering, Jin Wi-kyung withdrew a small bamboo tube from his robes and handed it over.
Ak Bul-gun examined the characters engraved into the surface of the green bamboo tube and murmured.
“Cheon-mu Academy?”
“It arrived half a double-hour ago. I thought it best to deliver it in person, so I brought it here.”
“Please, excuse me for a moment.”
After requesting permission, Ak Bul-gun read through the letter in silence.
After reviewing it a second and third time, he looked up and fixed his gaze upon Jin Wi-kyung.
“Young Master.”
“…?”
“I will need your assistance with something.”

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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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