Murim Login - Chapter 238

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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 238
The Namgung Clan.
One of the Five Great Families that dominated the martial world alongside the Nine Major Sects and One Alliance.
They said that blood relatives alone numbered over a hundred, and when you included the martial artists under their command, the total reached thousands.
Perhaps that’s why the scale of their estate far surpassed the Taewon Jin Family.
“Wow.”
Just in terms of sheer size, how many times larger was it? Five times? Ten times?
The guest room we were led to was spacious and ornate, as if to prove the wealth and authority they possessed.
Jeok Cheon-gang regarded me with a look of disdain as I stood there with my mouth agape in admiration.
“Is this your first time visiting the Namgung Clan?”
“…Of course it is for me.”
“Ah, that’s right.”
The Namgung Clan wasn’t some neighborhood convenience store, after all.
Under normal circumstances, I would have made another snide remark, but not today.
I was aware that Jeok Cheon-gang and the Namgung Clan didn’t have the most pleasant relationship.
‘Jo Pil. That bastard left such a mess behind.’
When a student causes trouble, schools summon the parents.
The Namgung Clan was undoubtedly a towering pillar of the martial world and the supreme power of Anhui City.
Jeok Cheon-gang, who had a disciple who brutally murdered dozens of innocent civilians within Anhui City, had no choice but to have dealings with them.
‘Well, that’s probably why he came along so obediently.’
I recalled a story I’d heard at an inn in Shanxi Province long ago and asked.
“It was Chang Cheon Geom-wang, wasn’t it? The person who came looking for you back then?”
“That’s right. He was the one who first informed me of that fact, and later he granted my request. I owe him a great debt.”
On the day Jeok Cheon-gang chose not to kill Jo Pil and let him go, if the Namgung Clan had stepped in, that bastard would never have escaped Anhui City alive.
The person Jeok Cheon-gang sought out that day was Chang Cheon Geom-wang, the patriarch emeritus of the Namgung Clan.
“What kind of person is he?”
“I’ve only met him twice, but… the sword king I know is truly obsessed with the blade.”
“Ah, a blade fanatic.”
“A blade fanatic?”
“It’s a term for someone obsessed with swordplay. It’s a compliment, so let’s leave it at that.”
“I’m not sure I can trust your words on that.”
He was quite perceptive.
Jeok Cheon-gang, who had regarded me with suspicious eyes for a moment, continued.
“In any case, he’s certainly an unpredictable man. He even requested a martial duel with me in exchange for sparing that boy Jang Cheon’s life.”
“A martial duel?”
“Do you have a sense of what kind of person he is now?”
“Yeah, I’m getting a pretty clear picture.”
A horrific serial murder occurred within Anhui City, yet the patriarch emeritus of the Namgung Clan, who ruled Anhui City, let the perpetrator go.
Setting aside the grievances of the victims, it couldn’t have been a welcome situation for the Namgung Clan either.
As one of the Five Great Families, they would face whispers of incompetence.
A true sword fanatic, indeed.
It was said that supreme masters who had reached the pinnacle of martial arts repeated endless training to gain even the smallest enlightenment.
I had never met him, but I suspected Chang Cheon Geom-wang might be of that ilk.
But setting that aside…
“Who won that match?”
“The day after fighting with Jeok Cheon-gang, Chang Cheon Geom-wang entered seclusion.”
“Ah.”
“It was decided by half a move.”
Meaning he had won by the narrowest of margins.
Even among third-rate fighters, victory hinges on trivial details, so what of supreme masters? Their battles are decided by the thinnest of threads.
“Twenty years have passed since then, so he must be even stronger. Even back then, I couldn’t guarantee victory, and now even less so.”
I gazed quietly at Jeok Cheon-gang, whose expression had grown heavy.
Even he, possessor of martial arts that shook heaven and earth, was ultimately human.
I had learned this truth countless times during our year together in Yeolhwa Cave, and we had grown closer for it.
Age’s curse.
The curse of time that even supreme masters cannot overcome.
Fortunately, fortune had smiled upon us, allowing me to ease the symptoms, but it only slowed the wheel already in motion—it could not stop it completely.
Understanding Jeok Cheon-gang’s heart, I opened my mouth with the brightest expression I could muster.
“Come now, don’t worry so much. We didn’t come here to fight, we were simply invited to the Sword King’s birthday celebration.”
“Do you truly believe that?”
“Pardon?”
“Did he not tell you? That he is a man obsessed with the sword.”
“…!”
A thought flashed through my mind in that instant.
Those obsessed with something pay no heed to their surroundings. They pursue their desires with singular, literal madness.
Alcohol, gambling, drugs… martial arts are no different.
It was none other than Chang Cheon Geom-wang who had released Jo Pil for the match with Jeok Cheon-gang.
“Now that I think about it, the timing is quite exquisite.”
“He was waiting.”
“So the birthday is merely a pretext?”
“A man like Chang Cheon Geom-wang could change his birthday hundreds of times over. What truly matters to him, I suspect, is only the day his breath stops. Then he will have no choice but to set down his sword.”
“…”
What is that? Terrifying.
This is a man properly obsessed with the sword.
As I was brushing away the goosebumps rising on my forearms, a delicate woman’s voice came from beyond the door.
“The master wishes to meet with Jin Tae-kyung.”
* * *
Clank, thud. Clank, thud.
Chains struck against each other as an iron sphere gouged deep furrows into the ground.
Glancing back, the path I had traveled thus far was marked like a line drawn behind me.
‘Hansel and Gretel.’
Had the fairy tale siblings possessed this, they would never have gotten lost in the first place.
Even if they had lost it, there would be no cause for concern. I shook my head while imagining Hansel strangling the witch’s neck with an eternal iron chain and Gretel smashing the back of her head with an iron sphere.
“No, wait. That’s not it.”
“Jin Tae-kyung?”
At Si-bi’s gaze—the look one gives a lunatic—I waved my hand dismissively.
“No, it’s nothing. Let’s continue.”
“No, that’s not what I meant….”
“Hmm?”
“Well, forgive me, but the object you’re carrying….”
“Oh.”
Si-bi’s finger pointed toward my iron sphere.
It seemed I’d been destroying this family’s courtyard rather thoroughly.
Sturdy servants had gathered at some point, their faces grim as they filled in the craters I’d left behind with soil.
“My apologies. I’ll just take it with me then.”
Clank.
I gathered the chains together and lifted the iron spheres.
For the first few months, I’d weighed them regularly, but I’d given up after that. They must have gotten heavier, I figured.
‘They must weigh quite a lot now.’
In any case, moving through the Namgung Clan Estate grounds like this naturally drew every eye.
To others, I probably looked like a fruit vendor carrying dozens of watermelons.
With each step, whispers burrowed into my ears.
“Who is that? Have you heard anything about him?”
“No idea. Those iron spheres make him look like a prisoner.”
“Can you even call that wearing them?”
“…You have a point.”
“Besides, it’s impossible to carry that many iron spheres of that size. They must be weapons with iron plating on the surface.”
“What kind of person is this? By his appearance, he’s a vagrant—but at that level, he’d be elder-rank in the Beggar Clan.”
“But there’s no knot, so that doesn’t seem right….”
I listened to the Namgung Clan warriors debating in hushed tones.
‘Damn bastards.’
Elder-rank vagrant. In the Beggar Clan, no less.
That one year in Yeolhwa Cave was literal hell on earth.
If a sauna is dangerous for pregnant women and the elderly, Yeolhwa Cave is simply dangerous for humans.
Sweat pooled into puddles, and with each breath, my lungs felt like they were burning.
‘I didn’t even log out on purpose.’
In such conditions, not bathing became such a habit that I couldn’t tell if my body reeked or if insects crawled across my skin.
‘I should have bathed the moment I arrived.’
Had I gone to the Inn first, I could have soaked in hot water, but things went awry when I came to the Namgung Clan Estate.
How could I tell Jeok Cheon-gang to wait when he was speaking so seriously about Chang Cheon Geom-wang?
“Try it yourselves, you bastards… when I’m not even pushing your backs for you.”
After my muttering, Si-bi’s pace quickened—though I was certain it was just my imagination.
Moments later, I arrived at the Pavilion, surrounded by an impenetrable cordon of guards.
Guards of the Namgung Clan, bearing the characters for “Azure Heaven” etched upon their chests, blocked my path.
“You are Jin Tae-kyung of the Taewon Jin Family, correct?”
I nodded, concealing my inner surprise.
Ten guards in total. Spanning their twenties through forties, every last one of them was a master at the pinnacle of cultivation.
Heavens—deploying ten peak-stage masters merely to guard a pavilion.
‘So this is why they call them one of the Five Great Families.’
Only now did I truly feel the power and prestige the Namgung Clan possessed.
Noticing my expression, the youngest-looking guard let out a soft chuckle and spoke.
“Please disarm yourself.”
I replied, suppressing my astonishment.
“Disarm? I’m not carrying any weapons at all.”
“Then what is that in your hands?”
“Ah.”
Right. I had forgotten about that.
In a world where one could kill with a ballpoint pen, the iron sphere I carried certainly qualified as a formidable weapon.
To me, it was merely heavy clothing I wore as a matter of course, but to others, it appeared quite different.
The problem was….
“My apologies, but I’m still in the midst of training. I cannot remove it at will.”
“Training?”
“Yes.”
It was no lie—I had grown so accustomed to the sphere that I found no reason to remove it.
Yet the young guard’s expression made clear he was far from satisfied.
“I’m afraid that’s unavoidable. Rules are rules.”
“Well then, I’m afraid I’m unavoidably bound as well.”
Clank.
I deliberately raised my hands and feet in turn for inspection.
Shackles fastened firmly around my limbs, their chains glinting with unusual brilliance, connected to the iron sphere.
“Without the key, there’s nothing I can do about it.”
“Who possesses the key?”
“My master naturally keeps it—or rather, my teacher does.”
“Your teacher would be….”
A year had passed since Red Sky River publicly acknowledged me as his disciple.
A fact even servants knew—there was no way this peak-stage master remained ignorant.
No matter how vast the continent’s expanse, Fire King Red Sky River stood among the precious few supreme masters in all the realm, and his every movement commanded attention.
“Hmm.”
The young guard, his brow deeply furrowed, alternated his gaze between me and the iron sphere, then abruptly spoke.
“I’ll have to cut it off.”
“Pardon?”
Wait, what did this kid just say?
Despite the bewildered look I cast his way, the young guard remained confident.
“The Namgung Clan has its own code of conduct. I’m certain the Red Sky River Master will understand.”
“…Well, actually, I doubt he’d understand at all.”
Suddenly, I recalled something Jeok Cheon-gang used to say habitually back at Yeolhwa Cave.
‘I entered the Yeolhwa Sect at nine years old. If we say a hundred people started learning martial arts at that age… among all of them, only I have reached my current level of strength. So how did I get here?’
‘How did you get here, sir?’
‘I eliminated all the heretical sects, sent the Black Path packing, and slaughtered every last one of those Demon Cult bastards who tried to set fires. In that sense, add another hundred jin to the iron weights.’
A history written entirely in blood and violence.
Even the Angry Sword Immortal, the senior martial brother of the Zhongnan Sect’s sect master, had been beaten senseless by him—I could only imagine what this young guard’s fate would be.
I offered him sincere counsel.
“You’ll end up dead. Seriously, you’re in real trouble.”
“…What did you just say?”
“No, I mean you won’t die by my hand.”
“Then by whose hand, you dare!”
The moment the enraged young guard’s hand moved toward his sword hilt, it happened.
“That’s enough. Let him in.”
Nam-goong Yong, the patriarch of the Namgung Clan.
His weighty voice, infused with martial power, pierced through everyone’s ears.

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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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