Murim Login - Chapter 235

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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 235
The training that followed was deceptively simple in its framework.
Hold the horse stance beneath the waterfall, perform push-ups, hunt for bird eggs because I craved them….
Up to this point, it was manageable. The problem lay in the optional conditions attached to each training session.
“Six hours in the horse stance.”
“You’re joking, surely?”
“Does it sound like a jest?”
Whoooosh!
Hundreds of meters of waterfall cascading down. Even with my exceptional physique, after just one hour submerged in that torrent, my entire body screamed in agony and my vision blurred into chaos.
Yet six hours? While maintaining the horse stance, no less.
“Old Master, this is unreasonable. If I stay in there for six hours, I’ll genuinely perish.”
“Have you tried?”
“Pardon?”
“Try it first, then speak. If you refuse, return to your family estate.”
It took a full ten days to complete the quest.
I lost consciousness from the aftereffects, and when my eyes reopened, the weight of the iron spheres had increased.
“Add one hundred jin. From now on, extend the duration to twelve hours.”
….
At that moment, I briefly considered logging out.
But I had to complete the training. Though it might appear foolish to some, it was a rule I had set for myself when I began this regimen.
‘If I turn back, my body and spirit will soften.’
Roooaarrr!
The waterfall’s pressure was terrifying. With my cultivation and physical abilities restricted, I had to endure using only my body and willpower.
When I finally completed the waterfall training, I was confronted with lower body muscles hardened beyond steel and an unexpected system notification.
–
[Fire King’s Hellfire Training-2]
has been successfully completed!
– Exceptional Achievement,
[Immovable as a Mountain]
has been attained!
–
[Durability]
has transformed into
[Endurance]!
– Level Up!
– Level Up!
– Bonus Points acquired: 50!
The training continued relentlessly. No respite was granted.
One hour per day. Aside from precious sleep, everything became part of the training regimen.
One photo a day. Excluding those precious hours of sleep, everything was part of my training.
“Next, push-ups.”
“That’s too easy—wait. How many?”
“Ten thousand. Place the iron sphere you’re holding on your back.”
“….”
It was the most hellish push-up session in the world. But I gritted my teeth and saw it through.
On the day I completed every variation of push-ups Jeok Cheon-gang demanded, the first tender shoots of spring were breaking through the frozen earth.
“The weather has warmed. It’s been a while since I’ve craved swallow nest soup. Go fetch some.”
“Aren’t swallows migratory birds? They won’t arrive until it gets warmer.”
“What does a fool like you know! I’ve spent my entire life on Jiuhua Mountain. By now, a few impatient swallows should be building their nests.”
“Sigh, where would I mainly find them?”
“The cliffs.”
It was the longest quest yet. I had to find swallow nests without even knowing where to look.
I combed through every cliff face of Jiuhua Mountain, laden with iron spheres that now weighed well over a thousand pounds.
And finally, I discovered a brand-new swallow nest that had just been completed and brought it to Jeok Cheon-gang.
“Here it is. A swallow nest.”
After a long silence, the single muttered phrase he uttered was enough to shatter my patience.
“…So it actually exists.”
“This damned old bastard!”
Eyes blazing, I lunged at Jeok Cheon-gang and took a beating that stopped just short of killing me.
When I regained consciousness, it was only natural that the weight of the iron spheres had increased.
“Now that you’re awake, get moving.”
“Is this new training?”
“It is new training. In a manner of speaking.”
Jeok Cheon-gang thrust a schedule at me that defied all reason.
It contained every single thing I’d done up until now, without exception.
“Three round trips up Jiuhua Mountain in the morning, ten thousand push-ups per arm at lunch. Cliff climbing followed by horse stance meditation under the waterfall—are you insane?”
“If you don’t like it, add five hundred more pounds.”
“Actually, I’ve wanted to spend my days like this for a long time. I’ll be back soon.”
“Very well.”
After that, I did whatever he commanded.
I wondered if it was even possible, but once I started, I found it was.
When the body suffers, the days grow short. As the training intensified, time flew by.
* * *
The frozen earth thawed, and new shoots pushed through.
Two months had passed, but my routine remained unchanged. The only difference from the beginning was the more grueling training and the increasing weight of the iron spheres.
Swish.
Flowers and grass that had grown tall brushed against my calves.
Jeok Cheon-gang, leaning against a tree on the vibrant, multicolored peaks of Jiuhua Mountain, opened his eyes drowsily from sleep.
“So it was you?”
“Who else would come looking for you?”
“I thought you were a reaper from the underworld.”
“Even a reaper would probably run away in fear from you.”
At my jest, Jeok Cheon-gang let out a soft chuckle.
“The more days pass, the more flattery you spew.”
“Yes, and you’ve been sleeping more and more, Old Master.”
Just as I said, Jeok Cheon-gang had indeed been sleeping considerably more lately. Given his age, it was perhaps only natural.
“I was in the midst of cultivation.”
“Ah, in your dreams?”
“I merely had my eyes closed.”
“You were snoring, though.”
“…Ahem, never mind that. Why are you here instead of continuing your cultivation?”
“I’ve finished.”
“Already?”
Jeok Cheon-gang’s eyes widened slightly.
“I wasn’t slacking off, so don’t go suspecting me without reason.”
“Who said anything? Fine, stop talking and focus on refining your fist and foot techniques.”
“Yes, sir.”
I answered promptly and took my stance in a nearby clearing.
Unlike spear techniques, I was practically a novice when it came to fist and foot techniques, so I was still building my fundamentals.
“You know what you need to do, don’t you?”
“Yes, yes.”
Ding.
– Repeatable Quest,
[Fist and Foot Technique Training]
has been generated.
The beginning was the simplest straight punch.
Each movement came with the absurd number of one thousand repetitions, but it was far easier compared to what I had done before.
‘If this is easy, I must be losing my mind too.’
I exhaled deeply and began throwing punches.
Whoosh, bang!
Wind split in the wake of my fist, and compressed air exploded outward.
Where once I relied solely on raw strength, speed, and the power of my inner energy, I could now control my movements with precision and adjust my force accordingly.
Clatter, clatter, clatter!
How many times had I heard the chain connected to my wrist rattle? As I relentlessly drove my fists toward an imaginary target, a system notification pierced my ears.
Ding.
– Repeatable Quest,
[Fist and Foot Technique Training]
has been completed successfully!
– Perfect execution with not a single deviation!
–
[Strength]
,
[Stamina]
,
[Agility]
each increased by 1!
– You have not yet learned Fist Technique. Additional rewards will be granted upon acquiring related martial arts in the future!
The rewards from the repeatable Quest were quite generous. Though the compensation diminished with each repetition, I had no reason to complain.
‘I think I could do this a couple more times?’
Quests had to be accepted before rewards could be claimed.
I relaxed my posture and approached Jeok Cheon-gang. He remained leaning against the tree, watching me as before.
“Old Master. I’ve finished.”
“….”
“Old Master.”
“Huh? Wh-what?”
He jolted awake and looked up at me.
“What is it?”
“I’ve completed the Fist Technique training.”
“Completed what?”
“The Fist Technique training. Fist Technique!”
“Fist Technique? What nonsense is this?”
“You ordered me to do it earlier. About an hour ago.”
“What?”
Jeok Cheon-gang’s brow furrowed.
“When did I?”
“Pardon?”
“What gibberish are you spouting? I’ve been standing right here watching you with both eyes wide open.”
“….”
What in the world was this situation?
I asked, bewildered.
“Why are you doing this to me?”
“What?”
“Are you deliberately trying to make me train more? I was already planning to do more without you having to go this far.”
“You brat, what nonsense are you——!”
Jeok Cheon-gang, about to flare up in anger, suddenly fell silent.
Fleeting emotions crossed his weathered face in that instant. After a moment of silence, he spoke again.
“You’re a perceptive one. Now go and refine your Fist Technique further.”
A notification chimed that a new Quest had been generated, but I didn’t move a single step.
I stared at Jeok Cheon-gang for a long moment, then suddenly opened my mouth.
“Old Master. I’m just asking out of curiosity.”
Jeok Cheon-gang’s weathered gray eyes trembled visibly.
In that moment, my suspicion transformed into certainty.
“Are you perhaps… unwell?”
I phrased it indirectly, since the matter was difficult to broach directly, but he clearly understood the meaning behind my question.
After a suffocating silence, a sigh escaped from between Jeok Cheon-gang’s lips.
“…Follow me. There is somewhere we must go together.”
* * *
Dementia.
Even in this modern age where magical medicine had advanced, dementia remained an incurable affliction.
One could only slow its progression; before the curse that time itself had laid down, all were equal.
‘How could I have missed it?’
Looking back, there had certainly been signs. His sleeping hours increased with each passing day, and I had noticed forgetfulness like what occurred earlier several times before.
Yet I had harbored no particular suspicion, precisely because he was no ordinary old man.
‘Fire King Red Sky River.’
I could never have imagined that he, a supreme master whose martial prowess touched the heavens, would suffer from the ailments of age.
Perhaps it was a truth he himself wished to deny.
“The history of the Main Sect stretches back several hundred years.”
Jeok Cheon-gang’s voice resonated through the cave.
The interior was humid and stifling like a wet sauna, and the heat intensified the deeper we ventured.
Though I had been at Jiuhua Mountain for over two months, I had never set foot in this place until now.
“The Founding Master was the greatest martial artist of his era. Yet due to his uncompromising nature, he had many enemies.”
His calm voice continued like flowing water.
It was the beginning of the Yeolhwa Sect and its history to the present day.
From the first sect leader to the seventeenth sect leader, who was Jeok Cheon-gang’s master.
Some among them ventured into the Martial World and made their names known across the land, while others spent their entire lives in obscurity, quietly cultivating successors.
Though countless sects had crumbled over these centuries, the Yeolhwa Sect had maintained its lineage.
“Yet by my generation, even that can no longer be assured. It is all due to my own lack of virtue.”
When our footsteps finally halted after what felt like an hour, my entire body was drenched in sweat.
It was from the heat radiating beyond the moss-covered stone gate.
“This place is….”
“Yeolhwa Cave. Where the Main Sect began and continues to exist.”
Jeok Cheon-gang gazed at the stone gate with nostalgic emotion for a moment, then pressed his palm against its surface.
The moment the heat energy flowing from his fingertips touched the gate, the intricately carved sun emblem blazed with light, and the tightly sealed stone gate slowly slid open.
“…Ah.”
I found myself mesmerized as I beheld the interior of Yeolhwa Cave.
A space several times larger than the Training Pavilion of the Taewon Jin Family. Centered around pale blue flames were seventeen urns arranged in perfect order.
It was not difficult to discern the nature of these vessels.
‘The successive sect leaders of the Yeolhwa Sect.’
They were surely their ossuary urns. True to my suspicion, Jeok Cheon-gang immediately performed a deep bow toward them.
“Your unworthy disciple Jeok Cheon-gang pays respects to the Founding Masters.”
He rose from his seat and gestured toward me.
“Come inside.”
“Ah, yes. Pardon my intrusion.”
The moment I cautiously stepped into Yeolhwa Cave, a system notification pierced my ears.
Ding.
–
[Yeolhwa Cave]
has been entered!
–
When learning the martial arts of [Yeolhwa Sect],
their effects are amplified!
– The Yeolhwa Heart Technique you possess responds intensely!
–
[Internal Force]
restrictions are lifted!
Whoooosh.
The internal force of my dantian, awakened from a long slumber, surged through my limbs and meridians.
At my astonished expression, Jeok Cheon-gang opened his mouth as if he had already anticipated this.
“Your internal force originates from the Yeolhwa Divine Core—it is only natural that it responds to Yeolhwa Cave.”
I had found my roots. Was that it?
A strange sensation washed over me. As my internal force trembled like a living creature, my heart raced in response. This space, which I had set foot in for the first time, felt strangely familiar.
“Sit.”
We faced each other across the flames.
Beyond the pale blue fire, Jeok Cheon-gang’s face appeared noticeably aged.
“I shall transmit to you the martial arts of the Main Sect.”
“…!”
“What, did you think I would suddenly demand you become my disciple?”
“To be honest… yes, I did.”
“Master and disciple are not bound by necessity or coercion. Moreover, this old man’s body is already afflicted with age. This would pose great danger to you as well.”
Jeok Cheon-gang’s words were entirely justified.
If he were to confuse the incantations of the internal cultivation technique, if he were to forget even a single character, I would cross a river of no return.
Demonic possession or death—that river.
“Can you learn martial arts from someone like me?”
I took a deep breath.
After much deliberation and thought, I finally arrived at a single conclusion.
“I will.”
“I say this once more….”
“I trust you. That is enough.”
In that moment, indescribable emotions bloomed across Jeok Cheon-gang’s face, which had fallen silent.
Soon after, a smile spread across his weathered lips.
“That part, we share alike.”
One person inherits; no one else can.
For centuries, the Yeolhwa Sect has been passed down to only a single individual—one of such virtue that they would never commit evil.
That Fire King Red Sky River had brought me to this Yeolhwa Cave meant he already trusted me.
‘Fire King Red Sky River trusts me. He has chosen me. He intends to pass down everything of the Yeolhwa Sect.’
My chest swelled with emotion. As if sensing my feelings, the pale blue flames surged brilliantly.
Ding.
– Quest,
[Successor of Yeolhwa]
has been created!
With the system notification, Fire King Red Sky River extended his hand. As he activated his void-grasping technique, the lid of a dark metal box rising from the flames opened wide.
I read the title of the worn manuscript drifting toward me.
“Yeolhwa Divine Technique…”
I understood instinctively. This was the foundation of the Yeolhwa Sect—the martial art that was everything to them.
Fire King Red Sky River, who had risen to his feet at some point, now stood towering behind me.
“We begin at once. Cross your legs and close your eyes. From now on, follow the incantation I teach you and circulate your energy accordingly.”
I obeyed his words and closed my eyes. In the darkness, pale blue flames seemed to flicker before me.
And finally, Fire King Red Sky River’s voice pierced my ears.
“Haven’t you finished your martial training?”
“…What?”
“You finished training and now you’re slacking off… wait, damn it, you startled me. This is Yeolhwa Cave. What the hell is this?”
“…!”
Ah, damn. Dementia…
* * *
After that day, the two people who had stirred Jiuhua Mountain disappeared from sight.
While they were gone, trees sprouted verdant leaves, flowers bloomed in full splendor, and swallows built nests upon the cliffs.
From emerald green to crimson autumn, and then to white snow.
Three times Jiuhua Mountain changed its robes.

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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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