Murim Login - Chapter 264

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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 264
I never thought I’d be so relieved to see that dumpling ghost. At a time when even a cat’s paw would be precious, Chung Poong’s arrival could prove invaluable.
Before I knew it, a cry of joy burst from my lips unbidden.
“Chung Poong!”
“Yes, my benefactor.”
The Blood Lord observed Chung Poong’s hesitant response and smiled knowingly.
“Ah, so that’s who this rat is—the Invincible Divine Sword of the Hua Mountain Sect, no less.”
Just as I’d feared. His understanding of Chung Poong’s identity extended only that far.
During the martial tournament, it had been revealed that Chung Poong was a disciple of the Hua Mountain Sect, but he would never suspect that he was the youngest disciple whom Geom-seong Maejong-hak cherished like his own flesh and blood.
In a moment like this, I could exploit his carelessness…
“Or should I call you the Sword Saint’s disciple? Or perhaps his grandson?”
“….”
Damn bastard. He knows everything.
Then again, it was Dark Heaven that had cultivated and planted the Grand Elder decades ago. The Blood Lord was undoubtedly a high-ranking official within Dark Heaven itself.
‘It’s strange that he wouldn’t know.’
The Blood Lord chuckled at my disappointed expression.
“No need to make that face. Even with one more friend, nothing changes.”
This bastard…
Though I still lingered at the edge of the Pinnacle realm, Chung Poong and I were incomparable to ordinary masters of that level.
I possessed overwhelming stats and abundant combat experience, while Chung Poong had innate talent coupled with a genius-level combat sense that allowed him to combine dozens of martial techniques in perfect synergy.
And then there was Fire King Red Sky River, the foremost of the Ten Kings.
I believed this was a fight worth attempting.
“You’re underestimating us far too much.”
“It’s the truth.”
“What?”
“If you wanted to kill me, you should have brought the Sword Saint himself, not his disciple.”
“…You bastard.”
“There’s only one way left.”
The Blood Lord, his voice dripping with composure, flicked his finger toward us.
“Prove it through martial arts.”
That was the only thing this creature had said that made sense.
Right. A martial artist must prove themselves through martial arts.
Victory in battle proves strength; defeat proves weakness.
“Tell Yama, when you meet him, that the Fire King sent you.”
Shrieeeek!
With a voice like crumbling ash, Red Sky River’s form shot forward. Simultaneously, a familiar notification pierced my ears.
Ding.
– Sudden Quest,
[Critical Juncture]
has been generated!
– You cannot refuse this Quest. The Quest is forcibly accepted!
Damn it. The Quest title is absolutely ridiculous.
I kicked off the ground and surged forward. I didn’t forget to call out a name instead of cursing.
“Chung Poong! Now!”
Chung Poong bit his lip with a sharp intake of breath and rushed in. The Chung Gang Sword in his hand danced gracefully, painting plum blossoms across the empty air.
Screech! Whish-whish-whish!
On a secluded forest path, the scorching heat of the Ten Suns warmed the cool mountain breeze, while spear and sword cut through the heated wind.
The Blood Lord’s lips twitched as he watched us charge from both sides.
“Then let’s see… what you’re really capable of.”
* * *
Pap-pap-pat!
Red Sky River flicked his hand. The tremendous force brimming with the scorching heat of the Ten Suns erupted from his wrinkled palm.
The Flame Divine Palm, already perfected to its apex—an extreme yang palm technique said to incinerate even the soul—was about to sweep across the Blood Lord’s entire body when it happened.
Whish!
A gust of wind blew.
A blade had appeared in the Blood Lord’s hand. Before the ominously crimson-burning blade, the force of the Flame Divine Palm split cleanly in two.
Whoosh, boom!
The massive trees spreading their branches on both sides of the forest path exploded.
Thunder roared as flames erupted, and earth, grass roots, and wood fragments rained down like a downpour.
And through it all, two streaks of light pierced forward.
Screech-screech! Whish-whish!
Two spears and swords shot forth, claiming the front and rear.
The Blood Lord twisted his lips and released the blade from his hand. Simultaneously, his freed fists lashed out at the empty air.
Boom!
Compressed air exploded outward, and a violent gale swept through. Both the ferocious spear thrust and the plum blossom blooming from the sword’s edge were caught in the wind pressure.
Our bodies were pushed back against our will, and Jin Tae-kyung and Chung Poong’s eyes widened.
“…Damn. Ridiculously strong.”
“This… this can’t be.”
Crack.
The Blood Lord twisted his neck and retrieved his blade from the air. He had done this while using Void Grasping—all while fighting two opponents.
“Is that all you have?”
“…!”
Red Sky River’s eyelids trembled.
To think the perfected Flame Divine Palm could be dismantled so easily in a single second. He hadn’t dodged it or deflected it—he had simply cut through it.
Realizing the Blood Lord was a master far beyond what he had imagined, his heart sank.
‘His words about bringing the Sword Saint if I wish to kill him… they were no empty boast.’
The opponent was a master who could rival the Three Saints, or perhaps even exceed them.
His inner force and understanding of martial arts were in no way inferior to his own.
Beyond that, he possessed the vibrant vitality and youthful body to deploy all of it without the slightest deficiency.
Red Sky River felt his wrinkled hands grow even smaller and more pathetic than ever before.
‘If only I were thirty years younger… no, even twenty would suffice.'”
When my body was whole, my enlightenment was incomplete. And once I filled that void, my flesh had grown far too ancient.
Water seeps from a cracked and broken vessel. That was precisely what Red Sky River had become.
‘Perhaps this place will become my grave.'”
Blood Lord did not miss the dimming light in Red Sky River’s eyes as he sank into contemplation.
He twisted his lips upward and laughed with a cackle.
“Old man. Are you beginning to grasp it now? Do you understand the situation?”
Red Sky River shook his head without hesitation.
He was aware that Jin Tae-kyung and Chung Poong’s eyes were fixed upon his mouth. He could not afford to let careless words break their resolve.
“Your tongue is quick. But we’ve only just begun.”
“That may be true for you. But I haven’t even started yet.”
“What?”
“I hear the Orthodox Sects speak of propriety and courtesy, how masters yield three seconds to their inferiors. I merely mimicked that courtesy.”
“…!”
Blood Lord’s long fingers pointed to each person in turn.
Three people each had deployed one stance, and their sum was three. Just as he said, they had yielded three seconds’ worth of technique while standing in place.
“Now it is my turn to move first. Let’s see you struggle.”
A crimson radiance erupted in Blood Lord’s pupils. Simultaneously, bloodshot whites of his eyes and an ominous, colossal aura spread outward from him as its epicenter.
And then…
BOOM BOOM BOOM BOOM!
Songshan trembled beneath us.
* * *
WHOOSH WHOOSH WHOOSH! CRACK!
Brilliant flashes consumed the space in all directions. Blinding cascades of light accompanied by endless, deafening roars filled the air.
Most overwhelming among them was a single saber radiating a blood-crimson aura.
ROAR!
The formidable saber-force swept through, leaving pale luminescence in its wake.
Every attack hurled toward Blood Lord was effortlessly deflected by the destructive trajectory that erased all resistance in its path.
Mine was among them, of course.
CLANG!
The spear-blade of White Flame shrieked. The shaft, gripped with all my strength, vibrated fiercely within my palm.
Despite channeling vast reserves of inner force, the power was truly staggering—almost inhuman in its magnitude.
‘A monster.'”
I gritted my teeth and flipped my body. WHOOSH! By the narrowest margin, the blood-crimson saber-edge severed strands of my hair.
But the wind pressure split my skin slightly, and blood began to flow.
I caught the droplets falling across my nose and swallowed them, then whirled my spear.
“Hah!”
WHIRRRRR!
The spear-blade rotated fiercely, targeting Blood Lord’s chest.
Perhaps because I had poured all the points earned from the Seonglae Tournament victory into my cultivation, my movements and power had reached a new height.
But…
Crack!
The hollow one’s hand seized the spear blade.
Bare-handed, yet not bare. A tremendous force blazing in crimson-red enveloped his palm.
“This won’t suffice.”
With a low murmur, an immense strength wrenched the spear blade away.
In that instant, the Blood Lord’s eyes widened dramatically.
The spear blade that had been in his grasp mere moments before had vanished.
As though it had never existed from the beginning.
“You…!”
Before his startled cry could fully escape, I had already burrowed deep into his embrace.
‘Inventory open. Summon.’
In a flash, the White Flame, heated scorching by the Lieyang Orb, was once more gripped in my hand.
The hardest and sharpest metal in all the world—eternal cold iron—cleaved through his protective force and pierced the flesh concealed within when I struck.
Squelch! Spray!
As he shook his sleeve, a powerful inner force lashed across my abdomen.
Driven back ten paces, what entered my vision was the Blood Lord’s eyes wide with shock and a fountain of blood erupting from his chest.
‘It worked.’
An attack only I could execute, and only because I was myself.
It succeeded because it wielded a system no one anticipated, and because my strike was something the Blood Lord could never have guarded against.
‘This is the moment.’
Perhaps a golden opportunity that would never come again. The final lifeline I could never afford to lose.
I swallowed the blood rising in my throat and cried out.
“Old Master!”
My shout echoed across the devastated forest path. It pierced the air. It rode the wind. It reached one man’s ears.
A voice burning hot spilled from between his lips.
“Well done.”
The Old Master launching toward the Blood Lord had already transformed into the Fire King.
Roooaaarrr!
Tremendous flames erupted from his diminutive frame. They scorched the air and crushed the wind.
If the Blood Lord’s aura was something ominous merely to behold, then Red Sky River’s was the very heat that would incinerate the world itself.
“This damned…”
The Blood Lord muttered like a groan.
But it was already too late. He did not know, but I did. What Red Sky River was doing, what power that technique possessed.
He had used that martial art only once before, and by slaying a thousand Demon Cult disciples, he had become legend.
‘Fire God Ghost Dance.’
In that moment, Red Sky River’s form vanished.
His hands and feet, approaching the Blood Lord with steps light as a dance, became hazy as mist.
Crimson and azure flames filled all directions. It was a spectacle beautiful yet terrifyingly destructive.
“Fire King!”
Shwaaaaaack!
With the Blood Lord’s savage roar, the crimson blade merged with the inferno. The cliff crumbled and the heavens split asunder as a deafening boom echoed across the landscape.
‘This is….’
An exchange so fierce that my eyes could scarcely follow. In a span of time too brief to even call an instant, I could perceive it all.
Hundreds of devastating exchanges had transpired in that fleeting moment.
And I knew who had emerged victorious.
Kwaaaaaang!
A wave of searing heat engulfed the crimson blade. Something brilliant shot skyward and buried itself deep within the churned earth.
A single saber. Its master, who should have wielded it, now faced his final blow.
“I once said this. Even if you were a demon rather than human, I would slay you.”
With those quiet words, a palm strike crashed against his chest.
Crackle. Flesh charred and ribs collapsed inward. The Blood Lord coughed up a torrent of blood, his vision dimming as he fell to his knees.
And… that was all.
Red Sky River’s form wavered as he gazed down at the motionless Blood Lord’s crown.
“Grandfather!”
“Grandfather Red Sky River!”
Chung Poong and I rushed forward urgently, supporting Red Sky River and moving him to a nearby patch of grass that remained relatively intact.
Flame God’s Ghostly Dance.
An eternal inferno does not exist. When the dance ends, the flames extinguish and the heat dissipates.
It was also the reason why Red Sky River, who had lived through countless ages, could only employ this technique once.
“How was it? Just as I said, was it not?”
“What do you mean, sir?”
“Flame God’s Ghostly Dance. Quite spectacular, was it not?”
At Red Sky River’s faintly smiling question, I exhaled a breath of relief.
And soon I smiled in return.
“It was spectacular indeed.”
That was the truth. Everything had been spectacular.
If only for the voice that reached us from behind in the next instant.
“Flame God’s Ghostly Dance… what a magnificent name.”
As we slowly turned our heads, our eyes filled with the sight of the Blood Lord rising to his feet, completely unscathed.

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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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