Murim Login - Chapter 323

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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 323
It all happened in a single breath.
The qi permeating the air convulsed, and the sword leaning against the table was drawn toward one man’s grasp.
And then….
Shwiiiiing!
A blinding torrent of light obscured my vision. A strike of unparalleled speed and precision.
The crystallized azure qi wreathing the blade scattered radiant luminescence. I already knew the other name for that light.
‘Sword Force.’
A power granted only to those who had stepped into the transcendent realm—the greatest pinnacle. That which surpassed everything in existence was descending toward my crown.
At this rate, I would die. There was no doubt I would perish.
But.
‘This won’t even come close.’
In a world slowed to a crawl, I moved, and the Sword Force cleaved through empty air.
Screech! Boom!
Everything split apart. The table, the chairs, even the floor of the tea house that had stood here for countless years.
Then came the violent gale summoned by the Sword Force, sweeping through the surroundings. Screams and thunderous sounds consumed everything. Beyond it, I saw the Old Master’s eyes wide with shock.
“You, how could you….”
I gently pushed Ju Hwa-ran, whom I’d instinctively drawn into my embrace, to the side and answered.
“How did I dodge? Because I could see it, of course.”
“…!”
“People say the transcendent realm, Sword Force—they’re beyond human limits.”
Undisguised shock descended upon Hwang Bo-eom’s weathered face.
“Then, surely you don’t mean…!”
“Who knows.”
I answered with a faint smile instead. By now, Hwang Bo-eom’s mind must be reeling.
Of course, I hadn’t yet attained the enlightenment necessary to reach the transcendent realm.
To be precise, it was my body’s abilities themselves—not martial prowess—that had ascended to the superhuman realm.
‘How should I even describe this.’
A transcendent master (physical)?
It was certainly an unprecedented form of transcendent master in the history of the Martial World.
I shrugged and spoke.
“It’s nothing special. When you do it, it works.”
Hwang Bo-eom cried out with bloodshot eyes.
“Impossible! How could a mere child like you reach such a realm!”
“We find it equally unbelievable. Wielding a sword in a place like this, of all things. Are you in your right mind?”
“That is….”
Hwang Bo-eom’s eyes, suddenly frozen, swept across the assembly.
Fortunately, since I had been the only target, no one was injured, but shock and fury were written across every face.
“You speak of the Orthodox Sects and the great Zhongnan Sect, yet one moment of losing your temper and you’re no different from bandits. Why not rename yourselves the Zhongnan Sect of Madness instead?”
“You…!”
Hwang Bo-eom’s grip on the sword hilt trembled visibly. His eyes, which had been darting about in conflict, turned cold and settled.
“Disciples of the Zhongnan Sect, heed my command.”
“Yes, sir!”
The thirty members of the Taeul Sword Squad, who had been frozen like statues by the sudden turn of events, snapped to attention.
As they hastily assumed their combat stances, Hwang Bo-eom’s order descended upon them.
“Seal the exits immediately. No one is to leave this place.”
“Y-yes, Master!”
“B-but that is….”
“What are you doing? Do you dare defy this old man’s command!”
Just as Hwang Bo-eom glared at Noh Ho-sung and the Taeul Sword Squad hesitated, a quiet voice pierced through everyone’s ears.
“Yes, we dare.”
Rage flashed across Hwang Bo-eom’s face as he identified the speaker.
“Hyuk So-pyung, you insolent wretch….”
A familiar face. The Zhongnan Prodigy, Hyuk So-pyung.
He stared at Hwang Bo-eom with eyes of indescribable complexity and spoke.
“Please, stop. I beg you, for the first and last time.”
“What?”
“This—what you are showing us now—is not befitting of a disciple of the great Zhongnan Sect, is it?”
“Silence!”
Whoooosh!
Hyuk So-pyung’s body was sent sliding backward by another violent gale of force.
Yet his gaze remained unwavering.
Hwang Bo-eom’s lips pressed into a thin line as he alternated his stare between the resolute Hyuk So-pyung and the hesitant thirty members of the Taeul Sword Squad.
“These insolent fools.”
In the next moment, Hwang Bo-eom withdrew a small bronze tablet from his robes and hurled it at Hyuk So-pyung’s feet.
“This is the Sect Leader’s Mandate that your master entrusted to me. Will you still refuse?”
“…!”
The Sect Leader’s Mandate was a symbol of supreme authority, standing at the apex of any martial sect.
Hyuk So-pyung’s eyelids trembled as he recognized his master’s tablet.
“Master, you remain as you have always been.”
“Choose. Expulsion from the sect, or obedience.”
“Expulsion….”
Hyuk So-pyung’s regretful gaze fell upon me and Ju Hwa-ran.
Then, with a bitter smile, he prostrated himself before the tablet with a deep bow.
Thud! Thud! Thud!
“This disciple, Hyuk So-pyung, accepts the Sect Leader’s Mandate!”
A cry that seemed to cough up blood. Crimson streaks flowed from his split forehead.
Hyuk So-pyung rose to his feet with an expressionless face that betrayed no pain, positioning himself at the entrance of the tea house. The thirty members of the Taeul Sword Squad did likewise.
Watching this entire situation unfold, I clicked my tongue.
“At this point, you haven’t just crossed the line—you’ve erased it entirely. How do you plan to clean up this mess?”
Gathered in this place were the key figures of the Huashan Sect, the Beggar Clan, and the Haowen Sect. No matter how formidable the Zhongnan Sect might be, the backlash from today would be severe.
Yet in the eyes of Hwang Bo-eom, whose mind had already snapped, there was only fury.
“They will be safe. Everyone except you, that is.”
“I see. So you’ll dispose of me first, then clean up the mess?”
“Yes. At last I can tear that mouth of yours to shreds.”
“Why have you been so desperate to do it, old man? The Taewon Jin Family and the Yeolhwa Sect aren’t some passing fancy.”
“The Yeolhwa Sect?”
A sneer twisted the corners of Hwang Bo-eom’s lips.
And in the next instant, a strand of transmission qi pierced into my ear.
– The young tiger faces peril, yet the great tiger sleeps on, unaware.
“…!”
– Did you think I wouldn’t know, foolish child? I have long understood the Fire King’s condition runs deep.
A secret known only to the rarest few had been exposed.
Without thinking, my face went rigid. Hwang Bo-eom’s laughter deepened as he watched me.
– Fire King Red Sky River, and you. I have grown weary of it all. Perhaps it is not a bad thing to sever this karmic bond with the Yeolhwa Sect once and for all.
Sever the karmic bond?
At Hwang Bo-eom’s words, I went blank for a moment.
Was it what I thought it was?
My tangled thoughts suddenly cleared. And only one thought remained.
“I’m sorry, but I have one request of everyone here.”
I could feel it without seeing.
Baek Moo-sung and Chung Poong, Gung Ki-bang and Heuk Geol-gae, Wol-hwa and Hyuk Moo-jin. And finally Ju Hwa-ran. Every eye in this place was fixed upon me.
And in the next moment, words flowed from my lips in a voice so parched I could scarcely believe it was mine.
“Block the entrance. Let no one escape.”
Hwang Bo-eom may have blocked the entrance first, but it would be I who opened and closed that door.
“Tae-eul Mujeong Sword Hwang Bo-eom.”
I exhaled slowly. The extreme yang qi boiling up from my dantian flowed out as white vapor.
“You… spoke words you should never have spoken.”
One should never have uttered Red Sky River’s name so carelessly.
Truly, one should never have done so.
The price for speaking what should not be spoken would be paid starting now.
“Come on, you damned old bastard.”
In a moment split and split again, Hwang Bo-eom and I surged toward each other.
Kwaaaaaaaa!
* * *
The Thirty-Six Swords of Heaven and Earth.
The net of sword qi that blanketed the four directions was dense and formidable.
The sword techniques that poured forth ceaselessly bore no comparison to the Angry Sword Immortal I had faced a year ago or Hyuk So-pyung from the day before.
Shiiiiing!
Blindingly swift and devastating. A mere graze would cleave flesh and bone, bringing death in its wake.
This was unavoidable. It had always been unavoidable.
‘That would have been true a year ago.’
The phrase “worthy of a second glance” came to mind.
Even that expression—suggesting achievements so remarkable one must rub their eyes to believe them—fell short of describing my transformation.
Through relentless, brutal training, I had grown stronger. No—evolution was a more fitting word.
‘Heaven shows no mercy. How could such a creature as you possibly exist?’
Red Sky River’s face, hollow with despair, materialized above the net of sword energy.
I laughed softly and drew my spear, White Flame, upward.
Shrrrraaack!
The extreme yang force blooming along White Flame’s blade tore through the net.
A fish would escape through the torn mesh, but I was no fish—I was a shark. The fisherman who cast this net had gravely miscalculated.
The old fisherman’s weathered face was consumed with shock.
“You—!”
I did not answer. I bent my knees and lowered my waist. The spear in my hand curved with serpentine grace, like a dragon’s tail.
‘Fire Dragon’s Tail.’
Whoooosh! Crack!
The blazing blue spear and sword collided. A deafening roar erupted as tremendous force exploded outward.
Had he been conserving his strength? If so, Hwang Bo-eom’s choice was catastrophically wrong. No matter how severe the drain on his inner force, he should have deployed his sword technique.
“Hah!”
Eyes wide open. The old master’s frame staggered under the inhuman strength and raw ferocity of martial technique unleashed without restraint.
“What… what manner of technique is this…!”
The Yeolhwa Sect’s founder was called the greatest under heaven of his era.
He had created the Yeolhwa Divine Art and made it the foundation of his sect. The sixteen sect leaders who succeeded him each became different branches growing from that root.
The Fire Dragon Divine Spear was no exception. This spear technique, created by the fifth sect leader, was devastatingly destructive and savage—the very embodiment of a fire dragon’s movement.
And now…
‘This is only the beginning.’
Whooooom!
I held nothing back. Thrusting, slashing, sweeping—striking all at once.
Each time the blue flames raged wildly, the heavens seemed to split, and deafening thunder shook the earth.
‘After the tail comes the claws.’
No one under heaven has ever witnessed a dragon in combat.
Yet learning the Fire Dragon Divine Spear, a thought had struck me. If a true dragon were to unleash its claws, would it not look exactly like this?
Gooooong.
Extreme yang force coiled around the spear’s tip. The tea that had spilled across the floor during Hwang Bo-eom’s rampage had long since evaporated. The jade-colored tea set, like porcelain fresh from the kiln, glowed red-hot on its surface.
Sensing the danger, Hwang Bo-eom cried out like thunder.
“Old fool!”
Nearly eighty years of age. Yet for one who had entered the realm of the supreme pinnacle, age was merely a number.
Formidable inner force and the Zhongnan Sect’s absolute techniques, honed over more than sixty years, poured down like rays of light.
Skreeeeeee!
If the Thirty-Six Swords of Heaven formed a net, this was the harpoon meant to sever the breath of life itself.
Dozens of afterimages scattered as his blade descended at tremendous speed toward my chest—and a single martial technique flashed through my mind.
The Tae-eul Separation of Light Sword.
One of the Zhongnan Sect’s most celebrated ultimate techniques.
Red Sky River had explained the Tae-eul Separation of Light Sword as the pinnacle of sword mastery. And he’d added one more thing.
‘Has senility finally caught up with you? Why does it feel like that boy is faster than the blade itself?’
If Red Sky River ever awakened, I would answer him.
That your words were true. That the martial techniques of the Yeolhwa Sect had shattered the Tae-eul Separation of Light Sword.
Heavenly Strike.
The Fire Dragon’s claws swept down. The strike descending from the heavens erased the afterimages born of the Tae-eul Separation of Light Sword, falling like a thunderbolt.
Boom!
A pillar of calamitous flame erupted skyward.

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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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