Murim Login - Chapter 338

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

Chapter 338
That night, as worries and thoughts continued to surface, I found myself unable to fall asleep and had to watch the dawn break instead.
‘My body isn’t tired, but my mind is exhausted.’
Looking back, I’d experienced every conceivable upheaval over the past few months.
If I hadn’t consistently maintained my body and spirit through breathing cultivation, I might have suffered stress-induced hair loss.
I’d considered slipping back to reality for some rest, but over there, a deranged skeletal sorcerer was running rampant.
‘Come to think of it, that place is Sichuan too.’
What curse had befallen me?
For some reason, I remembered how Shu was always the first kingdom to fall in the Romance of the Three Kingdoms.
Feeling uneasy, I shouldered my pack and left the Pavilion. Already waiting outside was the Bermuda Triangle itself.
“Huh? The booger’s gone. Did you really eat it as a late-night snack?”
“Stop it! Stop!”
“Benefactor! Benefactor! Gung Ki-bang ate that booger yesterday!”
“That’s not true!”
“….”
Ugh, I just wanted to beat them all to death.
If this situation were a novel and I were the author, I’d kill those bastards one way or another.
But when does anything go according to plan in this world? That’s when I was shaking my head.
“Huff, huff. I’m sorry for being late!”
Right. That one was here.
Moon-kyung came rushing over, breathing heavily.
“Gasp, I, I was reading pharmaceutical texts late into the night yesterday….”
No need to guess—it was obvious. He’d overexerted himself with scholarly enthusiasm and overslept.
I waved my hand at Moon-kyung, who was gauging my reaction.
“Never mind, I just came out too. By the way, you’ve accumulated quite a lot of luggage in just one day?”
“Oh, this?”
Moon-kyung smiled brightly and patted his bulging pack.
“They gave me precious copies of pharmaceutical texts and plenty of medicinal herbs, and also, also… they gave me so much!”
“Good. Congratulations.”
“Hehe.”
The boy was absolutely thrilled.
Indeed, for Moon-kyung, still a novice physician, all of this was like a stroke of fortune.
The Sichuan Tang Sect wasn’t the kind of place that opened its doors just because someone knocked, or readily handed over pharmaceutical texts when asked.
Being both a martial family and a renowned house of medicine, what he’d obtained here would become a tremendous asset for his future path.
“Yes, you should take something with you.”
“Pardon?”
“There is such a thing.”
“Did something not go well with your matter?”
“Yes. There’s someone I absolutely need to treat, but circumstances make it difficult.”
As we were exchanging these words, the middle-aged guard I’d encountered the day before approached, leading his subordinates.
“Everyone’s here. Follow me.”
We fell into step behind him. The atmosphere and demeanor of the people we passed seemed even more tense than yesterday, yet the number of martial artists had noticeably dwindled.
‘It’s begun.’
There was no doubt that martial artists had departed en masse to hunt down the Demonic Beast.
Or rather, it was highly probable that it had already started before we even arrived. There was no way Dang Sa-dok, having lost his father, would have remained in a daze for days.
Lost in various thoughts as we walked, we arrived before the iron gate in no time.
As the iron gate slowly creaked open, the Middle-aged Guard suddenly spoke.
“Uncle—or rather, the Patriarch instructed me to convey a message.”
“What is it…?”
“Once your revenge is complete, the Main Residence will aid you with all its strength.”
Moon-kyung wore a bewildered expression, but the rest of us, myself included, clasped our fists in salute.
“We wish you success in achieving your aims.”
“And the same to you all.”
A faint smile crossed the previously stern face of the Middle-aged Guard.
Though we hadn’t received substantial material aid, this was a reasonably good parting.
And now I had to bid farewell to one more person.
“It’s been pleasant.”
Moon-kyung nodded at my farewell as if understanding.
“You’re leaving again, I see.”
“Yes. There are many places I need to visit.”
“If I may ask, where are you headed…?”
“Qingcheng. And Emei.”
At my answer, Moon-kyung’s eyes widened.
“Oh! Cheongseong Mountain and Emei Mountain—the most renowned of all sacred peaks! Surely you don’t mean those legendary places, the holy grounds of Taoism and Buddhism, where rare flowers and divine herbs are said to flourish!”
“…Well, I suppose that sounds about right.”
“How wonderful! To visit such magnificent places!”
What is this, déjà vu?
It felt like a scene I’d witnessed frequently of late. Just as an inexplicable sense of foreboding sent a chill down my spine, Moon-kyung released a shallow sigh.
“Unfortunately, I cannot accompany you this time. I must return to my master.”
“Master, you’re awesome!”
“…?”
“It means I’m disappointed.”
“I see.”
“Really, I mean it.”
Moon-kyung, regarding me with a suspicious gaze, bowed deeply at the waist.
“Thank you for everything. Thanks to you all, I’ve not only saved my life but gained many valuable experiences.”
“Don’t mention thanks. Just focus on staying healthy, studying diligently, and becoming a distinguished physician.”
Moon-kyung’s eyes sparkled as he asked.
“Like the Divine Physician?”
“Yes, like the Divine Physician.”
“Yes, Young Master! I’ll engrave your words upon my heart!”
A soft chuckle escaped me at Moon-kyung’s spirited response.
“Then go well.”
“Farewell! I hope we meet again soon!”
If fate allows, we’ll surely cross paths once more.
I waved to Moon-kyung before turning decisively toward the west.
“Come, let’s go. To Qingcheng.”
Just as I was about to take my first resolute step forward—
“Jin Tae-kyung and So-hyup?”
“Hmm?”
I turned to see the two guides standing there with blank expressions—one resembling the Bermuda Triangle itself, the other an unfamiliar face.
They were the ones the Sichuan Tang Sect had assigned as our guides.
“What is it?”
“Well, you see…”
“…?”
“That’s not the right direction. The path is blocked that way.”
“…!”
* * *
The guides Dang Sa-dok had assigned were nothing short of divine intervention.
Unusually for Tang Sect members, they specialized not in martial arts but in the professional cultivation and harvesting of medicinal and poisonous herbs—and because of this expertise, they knew the Sichuan lands as intimately as one knows the lines of their own palm.
“We should go this way from here, shouldn’t we?”
“No. That way is faster.”
“But according to the map, this direction seems correct?”
“Maps don’t always tell the truth. Especially old ones.”
“This one came from the Sichuan Tang Sect.”
“I made that map twenty years ago.”
“…”
“Let’s go.”
Right—if the mapmaker says otherwise, then otherwise it is.
After that, I simply went where they told me to go and stood where they told me to stand. Of course, I wasn’t idle either.
“Wait, shouldn’t we just jump across here?”
“Pardon? This is a cliff.”
“If we jump to the opposite cliff in one go, we’ll get across in no time.”
“You’ll also die in no time. The gap is nearly twenty zhang—how could you possibly?”
“Let’s just try it. What’s the harm?”
Whoosh! Kyaaaaaaah! Thud!
“See? I made it.”
“…This actually worked.”
“Come on, one at a time!”
“…Are you speaking to us right now?”
“Ah.”
“Would it be possible for you to come back and carry us across as well?”
“Possible. Absolutely possible.”
I wouldn’t hesitate to do anything if it meant saving time.
With the Made in Sichuan navigation system combined with my monstrous physical abilities that far transcended human limits, wherever I went became the path itself.
“…Heavens, this is impossible. From Chengdu to Cheongseong Mountain in just half a day? That’s a journey that normally takes four days.”
“Impossible. That is nothing.”
I threw out a famous quote I’d picked up from television as I entered Cheongseong Mountain.
After revealing our identities to the disciples of the Qingcheng Sect, we were guided to the Shangqing Palace, where decisions regarding the sect’s major and minor affairs were made, and there I met Chung Poong, another supreme master and the sect leader of the Qingcheng Sect.
“I am Jin Tae-kyung of the Taewon Jin Family.”
“Wow, hello! I’m Chung Poong! I’ve never met someone with a name so similar to mine, so I’m really happy!”
“Please shut up… and Chung Poong isn’t a name—it’s a title.”
The elders of the Qingcheng Sect looked at us with expressions suggesting they’d seen every kind of madman, but the sect leader Chung Poong turned out to be far simpler than I’d expected.
After reading all the letters I’d handed him, he chuckled like a neighborhood grandfather and spoke.
“We must help one another and live. This is something Mae Jong-hak specifically asked of us.”
That evening, the residents living at the foot of Cheongseong Mountain were thrown into chaos. The Qingcheng Sect’s Daoists, whom one might see only a few times a year, descended the mountain in a procession.
Their numbers reached several hundred. Among them were the Qingcheng Seventy-Two Swordsmen, composed of first-rate masters, and two elders as well.
“The sect leader has ordered us to do our utmost in helping So-hyup find the Divine Physician.”
“Whether as disciples or as old men relegated to the back rooms, we’ve been idle for quite some time. For a task like this, we should gladly step forward. Hehe.”
Gratitude, overwhelming gratitude…!
Honestly, I couldn’t help but feel a bit choked up at that moment. Regardless of being from the same Orthodox Sects, an entire sect was rolling up its sleeves to save Red Sky River.
“I will surely repay the help the Qingcheng Sect has given us.”
“Let me hear that again after you’ve found the Divine Physician.”
“That’s not all. We’ve also sent word to the lay disciples of the Main Sect, so you should hear good news soon.”
Though the Qingcheng Sect’s influence didn’t match that of Huashan and Shaolin, they too were a great and renowned sect worthy of being called one of the Nine Major Sects and One Alliance.
The web-like network of connections formed through lay disciples would prove to be an enormous help.
“Thank you. Thank you so much.”
“A man’s spine shouldn’t bend so easily. We’re simply doing what must be done, so think nothing of it.”
“That’s right. Excessive gratitude doesn’t look good either. Enough with the pleasantries—tell us where we should begin searching.”
I rubbed my eyes, which had reddened at some point, and answered.
“All of it.”
“Pardon?”
“What?”
“All of Sichuan…”
“…!”
“…!”
After a brief silence, a small murmur escaped the lips of the two elderly Daoists who resembled immortals.
“Damn it…”
“How are we supposed to find them…”
I left the two Daoists, who had begun to grow weary of the mundane world less than an hour after descending the mountain, and set off once more toward a new destination.
“Benefactor! Shall we head to Emei Mountain now?”
“No. Gung Ki-bang and Hyuk Moo-jin will handle the Emei Sect just fine.”
Two guides were sufficient. With so many people already, there was no need to move about in one unwieldy mass.
Chung Poong was unpredictable, so I’d keep him close; meanwhile, Gung Ki-bang and Hyuk Moo-jin were likely racing toward the Emei Sect as we spoke.
The guide then posed a question, curiosity evident in his expression.
“Then where are we headed, sir?”
“The magistrate’s office.”
“The magistrate’s office? You mean to visit the government administration?”
“Yes.”
“Jin So-hyup. I’m not certain what connection you have with the authorities, but this isn’t something a handful of constables can accomplish.”
“True enough.”
“Then why…?”
I spoke to the guide, who shook his head in utter bewilderment.
“But wouldn’t hundreds or thousands of men change the equation entirely?”
“Hundreds or thousands? Do you perhaps have connections with the Sichuan City Lord?”
“No.”
I smiled faintly and continued.
“I’m close with the king.”
“Pardon?”
Sangshan King Ju Pyo.
The sole younger brother of the emperor who rules the great empire, a noble prince of the imperial family—he happens to be my devoted admirer.

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