Murim Login - Chapter 244

—————
This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
—————

Chapter 244
Since childhood, I had loved the sea. The distinctive salty tang that pierced my nostrils, the way I would stand motionless watching waves crash with their thunderous roar—all of it captivated me.
And now, the sea dwells within me.
The Sea of Qi.
Another name for the dantian.
Today, as always, I swam through the endless ocean of qi within myself.
Grasping the horns of the Fire Dragon coiled within my dantian, I leisurely circulated through hundreds of meridians before opening my eyes.
Ding.
–
[Qi Circulation and Breathing]
has been completed successfully!
–
[Blazing Yang Divine Art]
has advanced to the Sixth Tier!
–
All martial techniques of the [Yeolhwa Sect]
become more refined and powerful!
– All fatigue and stamina have been restored!
– Level Up!
‘Finally the Sixth Tier?’
I barely registered the other system notifications. Only one thing mattered—that the Blazing Yang Divine Art had reached the Sixth Tier.
‘This is where the real journey begins, they said.’
Yeolhwa Cave was created by the founding master of the Yeolhwa Sect for his successors.
Saturated with fire essence, it was ideal for absorbing blazing yang energy, and especially optimized for mastering the Yeolhwa Sect’s supreme techniques.
In other words, it was a double experience event zone.
Yet even here, there existed a clear ceiling.
‘Hmm.’
‘Why are you groaning like a dog desperate to relieve itself?’
This was a conversation I had with Red Sky River about half a year after entering Yeolhwa Cave.
Back then, I had just reached the Third Tier of the Blazing Yang Divine Art and was brimming with confidence.
‘Oh, it’s nothing really. I was just thinking about doing another year of closed-door cultivation here.’
‘Here? Yeolhwa Cave?’
‘Yes.’
‘What about the Seongnae Daeyeon?’
‘I’m growing so rapidly here—why leave? Just one more year and… why are you looking at me like that?’
‘Nothing special. I was merely marveling at the thickness of your skull.’
‘That sounds like something pretty special to me.’
Red Sky River regarded me with an expression of exasperation, then released a long, heavy sigh.
‘Do you know how old I am?’
‘How would I know what even you don’t know?’
‘This year marks one hundred and one.’
‘Oh. One hundred and one Dalmatians.’
‘By the oath I swear to the masters of the Yeolhwa Sect, if you spout such nonsense one more time, I’ll toss your carcass into the sacred flame as kindling.’
‘…Yes, sir.’
‘In any case, even I, who has lived such a long span of years, remain at the eighth stage. What is there to complain about?’
‘Wait, the eighth stage? Haven’t you already achieved mastery?’
‘Why would Divine Technique be called divine if it were so simple? Though your progress is swift, there are limits to the martial arts one can master in Yeolhwa Cave. The Yeolyang Divine Technique, for instance, caps at exactly the fifth stage.’
‘…And after that?’
‘Martial arts are like weapons. Polish them without ceasing. Understanding comes only through countless trials and experiences.’
‘Then I must at least master the Yeolyang Divine Technique to the fifth stage within the remaining time.’
‘Such greed. To reach the third stage in merely half a year is already a remarkable achievement. Do not boast empty words relying solely on your Heavenly Martial Body.’
‘How long do you estimate it will take me?’
‘Well, it took me exactly five years to progress from the third to the fifth stage. Even with your Heavenly Martial Body, you’ll need at least two years.’
And exactly half a year later, I found myself face to face with Red Sky River, his expression half-dazed.
‘This… this can’t be. This makes no sense.’
‘It does make sense. But did it really take you five years?’
‘You… you insolent brat! I was counted among the finest prodigies of my era!’
‘Yeah. Heavenly Martial Body.’
‘This is absurd! How could this happen to me!’
Recalling Red Sky River’s anguished cries, a smirk escaped my lips.
I set aside the old memory, rose from my seat, and stood before a large mirror.
A perfectly balanced physique, muscles taut with power and elasticity, hair loosely gathered and tied back, and a now-clean jawline came into view.
‘It wouldn’t have mattered if I’d left it as it was.’
With the fullness gone, I felt oddly empty. But I couldn’t resist Jin Wi-kyung’s forceful insistence.
‘The Seongnae Daeyeon is a stage watched by all martial masters under heaven. For the Shanxi Sleeping Dragon to appear in the Central Plains looking like that would be a sin!’
I thought it was ridiculous to call it a sin, but now that it was done, I preferred it this way.
Regardless of everything else about this body, my face was undeniably handsome.
‘Like a courtesan’s older brother.’
I muttered what could be called the highest compliment one man could give another, when I suddenly realized I’d forgotten something.
Clank.
“Right. I had this.”
The shackles, chains, and iron sphere that hung from my body even after arriving at the Taewon Jin Family Estate. Those things, now almost part of my body, I gazed at them before speaking.
“Inventory open. Summon.”
Whoosh!
In the next instant, a sturdy spear shaft was grasped in my hand.
What materialized from the inventory was a spear approximately two meters in length.
Perhaps because it was forged from an enormous quantity of ten-thousand-year-old cold iron, it gleamed with transparent brilliance from the spearhead to the very tip of the shaft.
“White Flame.”
Whooom, whooooom.
Ugh, ugh.
As if recognizing its own name, a faint resonance echoed from within the spear.
A weapon forged solely for me by Jang Tae-bo, the former master of the Iron Technique House, renowned as the greatest craftsman under heaven. Perhaps that was why Baek Yeom was so extraordinary.
Both by appearance and through the system window.
Yet….
“Squad Leader. It is time to depart.”
As Hyuk Moo-jin’s words from beyond the door suggested, the time to leave had come.
Beyond the window, sunlight flooded the courtyard, and the members of the Taewon Jin Family, including Jin Wi-kyung, moved about busily.
“Understood.”
With my reply, I gripped the spear shaft and drew it.
Four streaks of light descended, and everything that had bound me for the past year fell away. Shackles, chains, and iron balls clattered loudly across the floor.
Whoosh. Clang!
Crash!
Startled by the thunderous sound, Hyuk Moo-jin rushed in and asked.
“What was that just now?”
“Nothing much. Let’s go. Oh, bring those chains with us.”
“…You’re planning to bind that with those chains, aren’t you?”
“Those chains are made of ten-thousand-year cold iron.”
“Gasp! They’re mine. Mine!”
I clicked my tongue and stepped outside. Jin Wi-kyung, mounted upon a large black horse, spotted me and grinned widely.
“Let us ride.”
“Yes.”
Our destination was Songshan.
There, the curtain would rise on the Seongnae Daeyeon, upon which the eyes of all the martial world were fixed.
“Onward!”
Leading the way with Jin Wi-kyung, fifty members of the Jinryong Squad followed behind.
Through the rushing wind, someone’s cry echoed faintly in the distance.
“Wait! Just a moment! Don’t leave me behind!”
“….”
I still could not believe that fellow was a vice commander.
* * *
Fire King Red Sky River muttered with an air of annoyance.
“…Must this old man attend such things?”
Dharma King Hongdao, seated with an infinitely benevolent expression, replied.
“This old monk is so bored he might achieve enlightenment, so hold your tongue and sit quietly.”
“Why? You said you were bored too.”
“Already bored as it is—if an old man with little time left whines like a seven-year-old child beside me, what then?”
“It would be irritating.”
“Precisely. Already bored, and if irritation piles on top, I might just smash my wooden fish and return to my quarters.”
“You have achieved enlightenment indeed.”
“Amitabha Buddha. Amitabha Buddha.”
Tap, tap, tap-tap-tap-tap….
The clear sound of a wooden bell resonated through the air. Those who had been listening intently to the conversation between the two men wore expressions of exasperation.
‘So the Fire King and the Dharma King are indeed famous for their eccentricity.’
‘Those two remain unchanged. Consistent as ever.’
‘The old man refuses to die, it seems.’
Their thoughts differed, as did their attire and the aura they emanated.
From middle-aged men whose hair still showed no white to elderly figures with snow-white locks.
These dozen or so individuals of such varied appearance were far from ordinary mortals.
They belonged to the fifteen pillars that upheld the martial world of the present age—the Nine Major Sects and One Alliance, and the Five Great Families.
Among them were faces that Fire King Red Sky River recognized well.
“Ah, is that not the Patriarch of the Namgung Clan?”
Nam-goong Yong, patriarch of the Namgung Clan, rose and clasped his fists in salute.
“Forgive my late greeting. The two of you were engaged in such an entertaining conversation that I could not help but….”
“No matter. Last time I departed in haste and we did not properly meet. I apologize for that.”
“Not at all. Rather, I am the one who should apologize.”
“Tell me, is your son competing in this Seongnae Daeyeon?”
“Unfortunately, he will not be able to participate this time.”
“What a pity.”
The Fire King’s gaze shifted to the next person, his expression betraying no genuine regret.
“And who might you be?”
A man with a thin, astringent beard asked in return.
“Are you referring to me, sir?”
“Yes, you with the beard like a treacherous minister’s.”
“I am Gong Il-joong, who oversees the Zhongnan Sect.”
“Ah. Are you that fellow they call the Feng Yun Transcendent?”
“It is Feng Yun Sword Lord.”
“What difference does it make? For one so young, you are remarkably inflexible.”
Feng Yun Sword Lord Gong Il-joong, a “young man” well past sixty, had to steady his breathing.
Just a year ago, when his senior martial brother under the same master, the Angry Sword Immortal, had returned with severe internal injuries, how shocked he had been.
But he had to endure. Fire King Red Sky River was, quite literally, a mad tiger incarnate.
“Did your senior brother tell you what happened?”
“…Yes.”
“Keep yourself out of my sight and manage things well. Confining you to Repentance Cave for some twenty years would not be a bad idea either.”
Feng Yun Sword Lord barely suppressed the curses rising to his lips.
Was that not essentially saying he would live another twenty years comfortably, so he should not cause trouble?
Even those who had harbored reservations about Red Sky River clicked their tongues inwardly at those words.
‘A vicious old man….’
‘Does he think he will enjoy immortality?’
‘If you’ve caused enough chaos, then leave us be, you old fool. Let us breathe a little.’
‘I should have brought my master with me.’
Though they hailed from different sects, the Martial World had its own hierarchy—an order as immutable as heaven itself.
Red Sky River was a figure from two generations past, and naturally his standing within that hierarchy was extraordinarily high.
This was one reason why even the greatest lords gathered here found themselves at a disadvantage before him.
Martial prowess, standing, eloquence—there was nothing in which he could be surpassed.
“Ahem. Ahem.”
“Cough.”
Several figures were clearing their throats to evade Red Sky River’s question when a voice thundered forth.
“Kahahaha! With the tiger gone, the fox has been playing king, hasn’t it? Red Sky River, how have you been?”
At that booming voice, Red Sky River turned his head. His brow was already deeply furrowed, for he knew well who spoke.
“Damn it. You’re still not dead?”
“Listen to this shrimp of an old man talk.”
An enormous elder laughed heartily, his mouth split wide in a grin, yet his eyes remained sharp and piercing as they swept across Red Sky River.
“I saw my great-grandson recently. He won’t be dying until after that boy gets married.”
“Great-grandson?”
“Why, jealous? My great-grandson’s wife is the most beautiful woman in Hebei, and she’s the spitting image of her mother—absolutely adorable.”
Red Sky River opened his mouth with an indifferent expression.
“The ‘most beautiful’ in that region is hardly reliable. In Hebei, they call any woman with big fists and a thick waist a second Yang Guifei, don’t they?”
“Why you!”
“Well, congratulations anyway. With ten children, you needn’t worry about heirs.”
“…What nonsense is this?”
“What nonsense? In celebration of seeing my great-grandson, why don’t you change your epithet? Instead of Byuk Ryuk Do-wang, how about Vitality Blade King? What do you think?”
“Krraaaagh! You old bastard!”
“Sit down while I’m being nice. Don’t you remember getting your bones broken when you charged at me during the Jeongma Great Battle?”
Shhhhhhh!
Tremendous waves of energy erupted from the bodies of these two supreme masters, a display of power so overwhelming that those present felt a chill run through them.
Had it not been for the Dharma King, that excellent mediator, bloodshed might well have ensued.
“Ahem. Amitabha, Amitabha… Both patrons, please calm your anger. The warlords outside await us—how can you bring such shame upon yourselves? Or perhaps you wish to sully the names of the Yeolhwa Sect and the Peng Family of Hebei this day?”
The final words proved effective. The two men, momentarily checked, withdrew their auras.
“Hmph. Red Sky River, I’ll settle with you next time.”
“I’ll be waiting. Vitality Blade King.”
Red Sky River, having delivered one final jab at Byuk Ryuk Do-wang, proceeded forward at a leisurely pace.
The Dharma King, Byuk Ryuk Do-wang, and the regional lords followed in his wake.
They passed through a corridor draped in blue silk and emerged into the brilliant sunlight beyond.
Three zhang below, gathered at the foot of Songshan, tens of thousands of people greeted them with a deafening roar.
“Waaaaaaah!”

—————
This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
—————