Murim Login - Chapter 356

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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 356
The Underground Prison beneath the Sichuan Tang Sect was inherently a dark and damp place.
The torches scattered sparsely along the walls cast dimmer light than fireflies, and the floor, pooled with unidentifiable filth, squelched with each step.
Just as it did now.
“What a foul stench. Even for a prison, keeping people in a place like this is barbaric.”
“People? This is a beast pen. Haven’t you heard the rumors that the Sichuan Tang Sect captured the demon beasts from the Heavenly Demon War and subjected them to all manner of torture? So it’s hardly surprising such a place exists.”
Squelch, squelch.
Though only two voices could be heard, the footsteps numbered far more.
I quietly drew upon my inner energy to count their numbers.
‘Fifteen.’
The two men at the front, seemingly the leaders of the group, continued their exchange.
“But why don’t I see any prisoners? There are only iron cages, and they’re all empty inside.”
“Those imprisoned here were all ancient demons from the Heavenly Demon War era—they should have died long ago. And having endured torture in this place, what more could be expected?”
“That’s true enough.”
Their assumption was half right and half wrong.
It was true that many of the Underground Prison’s original inhabitants had passed into the next world, but roughly a dozen prisoners still remained here.
However, they failed to anticipate that someone unseen had sealed the prisoners’ vital points and relocated them elsewhere.
“I don’t see a single ant. Wouldn’t it be better to head back up and kill at least one more?”
“We haven’t even covered half the place yet.”
“Since you mention it, what could possibly be deeper in here? The others will come and search this place thoroughly anyway.”
“That’s nonsense. Have you forgotten the orders given by the Heavenly Master? If any of the Tang Sect’s bloodline were hiding here….”
“No one would be fool enough to hide in an underground prison unless they had no choice. The battle isn’t even over yet—why would anyone hide here? They’d be better off trying to break through the siege and escape.”
“Hmm….”
The man who had been breathing softly soon spoke with a firm voice.
“Impossible. We are servants bound by the orders of the revered Heavenly Master. When the Demon Lord himself leads by example, how could we handle our duties carelessly?”
“Damn it all.”
“No more complaints. Just follow me.”
The warrior from Dark Heaven whose face I could not see did not know that his very words had sealed his fate.
At his resolute tone, the other man grumbled.
“Really now. A person needs some flexibility. If you keep living so rigidly, you won’t even die of natural causes.”
“Bad luck to say such things. I’ll live longer than someone like you who drifts through life carelessly, so don’t worry.”
“Care to wager on it?”
“Fine, I don’t see why not….”
To put it simply, the life-span wager between the two men ended in victory for the careless one.
Though even that victory was separated by mere moments.
Thwack! Thwack!
A perfect ambush.
In the labyrinthine corridors, I had waited in the pitch-black passage with my presence suppressed, and the moment I drove the dagger in my left hand into one man’s eye, I swung the blade in my right hand in a wide arc.
The sword edge, dulled with mud to eliminate its shine, cleaved through flesh and bone.
Crunch, squelch!
Two peak-level masters fell without even a chance to scream, their corpses crumpling like rotted logs.
The Black Robed Organization members, suddenly drenched in blood and filth, stared with vacant eyes, alternating their gaze between the bodies of their leaders and me.
“Th, this… what…?”
Thirteen remained.
Instead of answering, I swung my blade. Once more, a sickening sound of tearing flesh accompanied a severed head as it soared through the air, separated from its torso.
“Now twelve.”
“…!”
A single emotion flickered into the empty eyes of the survivors.
It was fear.
* * *
“Dead end, huh? The layout here is deliberately messy. They designed it this way to catch anyone trying to escape from the Underground Prison.”
“Eek!”
I advanced toward the rat cornered against the wall.
Though calling him a rat was generous—his frame was considerable. Yet despite his size, he was cowardly, the first to flee among them all.
“Come on, follow your friends to hell.”
“Ah, Evil Demon!”
“What, so when you do it, it’s romance, but when I do it, it’s infidelity?”
Thud.
The Black Robed Organization member dropped to his knees, his face drained of all color. His hands still gripped his weapon, but he already knew it was useless against me.
In the end, the method he chose was to beg for his life.
“Pl, please spare me…”
“Go to hell.”
Crack.
Without hesitation, I snapped the Black Robed Organization member’s neck. His head tilted at an unnatural angle, his tongue lolling out. Instant death, without question.
“Why do people always make me do things twice? As if you could’ve gotten far anyway.”
With a sigh, I hoisted the corpse over my shoulder and began retracing my steps. It didn’t take long to return to where I’d first launched the ambush.
The Black Robed Organization members hadn’t fled far, and besides, I’d grown accustomed to the labyrinthine structure of the Underground Prison over the past ten days.
“Damn dogs. What do you think you’ll find here, crawling in like this?”
This was the second time the Black Robed Organization had invaded the Underground Prison.
About thirty minutes ago, seven of them had infiltrated first, and I’d eliminated every last one.
I’d helped the Sichuan Tang Sect reduce enemy numbers, but there was no joy in it—I understood what their invasion meant.
‘The battle is turning against us.’
The Underground Prison was located on the outer edge of the Tang Sect’s Inner Hall. This meant the Outer Hall—what could be called the front lines—had been breached.
‘Then could it be that Chung Poong…?’
I shook my head against the ominous thought that flickered through my mind.
No. Chung Poong is the kind of man who’d crawl back alive even if dropped into the depths of hell itself.
He has to.
‘Damn it. If only I could log out, there’d be some possibility.’
I’d harbored a faint hope, but it proved futile.
The moment the Quest began, the system had locked the logout function.
Besides, even if I could use logout right now, I couldn’t rashly return to the modern world.
There have already been two intrusions in the past thirty minutes. If those bastards came pouring in while I stayed in the modern era for even a moment… it would be the end not just for me, but for Jeok Cheon-gang and the Divine Physician as well.
‘I have no choice but to stop them here.’
They are many, and I am alone.
So I must maximize the advantage of surprise, just as before, and conserve my strength to prepare for any contingency.
‘If corpses are scattered everywhere the moment they enter, it’ll be a complete disaster.’
I began moving the bodies strewn about from place to place.
The location I had designated as a temporary corpse storage was the deepest and darkest corner of the Underground Prison.
Creak.
“It’s been a while. It must have been about two hours since I last saw you?”
“….”
“I brought some new arrivals so you wouldn’t be lonely.”
In the center of the Underground Prison, where not a single ray of light penetrated.
An old man festooned with restraint devices—Cheon Ryeok-ma—glared at me with blazing eyes.
“What, what is it?”
“…!”
“Glaring at me like that won’t change anything. If you have something to say, say it.”
“…!!”
“Oh, right. Acupoint seal.”
Since I had sealed his speech and dumb acupoints, he couldn’t say a word.
I approached and released the seal, and only then did an angry voice burst forth.
“What in the world are you doing right now!”
“Can’t you see? I’m moving the bodies.”
“Yes, but why are you moving those bodies here!”
“Don’t shout. If you raise your voice one more time, I’ll seal the death acupoint instead of the dumb acupoint.”
“…!”
Now he’s finally quieted down.
I left the now-silent Cheon Ryeok-ma behind and began stacking the corpses I had brought into the Underground Prison one by one.
Thud, roll roll roll.
“Could you pick up that head that fell over there?”
“…Are you speaking to me right now?”
“Oh, right. You’re wearing restraint devices.”
“Huff, huff.”
Cheon Ryeok-ma exhaled sharply through his nose, his face flushed crimson. In the process, unwilling to have the death acupoint sealed, he barely suppressed the shout that had risen to the tip of his throat.
“Just what kind of creature are you….”
“Finished organizing. I’m leaving.”
“…!”
“What, do you have something to say?”
This was Cheon Ryeok-ma, who had remained silent even as I tried to interrogate him these past few days.
A man who had seen enough corpses in the Great Hall to be sick of them wouldn’t whine without reason. Having struck a nerve, Cheon Ryeok-ma stammered as he spoke.
“No, there isn’t.”
“Then that settles it.”
“Wait, wait. Just give me a moment.”
“This is the last time. Speak quickly if you have anything to say.”
Cheon Ryeok-ma, whose lips had been trembling, exhaled a deep sigh before speaking.
“Why did you leave only me here? Where are the other prisoners?”
“I don’t know.”
“Then what are all these corpses?”
Though he asked as if it were of little consequence, the way his eyes darted about revealed his genuine curiosity.
For decades, the only visitor to the Underground Prison had been Gung Elder with his torture instruments, so it was only natural that nearly twenty naked corpses stacked here would perplex him.
“Has some calamity befallen the Tang Sect?”
“It has.”
I added a brief response.
“Dark Heaven has invaded.”
“…!”
It was the same expression I’d seen days ago.
I continued speaking, ignoring Cheon Ryeok-ma, who had gone rigid at those two words.
“The Outer Hall has already fallen, and fierce combat is likely raging in the Inner Hall. The battle situation is turning unfavorable faster than expected.”
“Who did you say?”
“What?”
“You must have interrogated the prisoners as well. I’m asking who leads them.”
“Quite perceptive, aren’t you.”
I had indeed interrogated one of the seven who first invaded the Underground Prison.
Though he was so terrified that he severed his own meridians and took his own life before I could extract much information, I did manage to hear one name.
“The Western Heavenly Demon Lord.”
Clang! Crash!
Just four words.
Yet the impact on Cheon Ryeok-ma was immense.
He, who had always hung suspended in shackles with nothing but bones remaining, suddenly seized the chains as if to burst free at any moment.
His eyes even blazed with bloodshot fury as he glared at me.
“Did you just say… the Western Heavenly Demon Lord?”
“You seem to know him.”
“That monster is still alive? What of the Cult Master! What has become of the Cult Master!”
Why is this old man suddenly like this?
I responded in bewilderment.
“…At this hour, he’s probably having breakfast.”
I’d never even heard of the Western Heavenly Demon Lord before, so how would I know about the Demon Cult’s leader? It’s not like they have an official Twitter account.
“So it has come to this after all. Hehehehe!”
He began spouting incomprehensible words, then suddenly burst into laughter like a madman.
I stared at Cheon Ryeok-ma in silence, then abruptly opened my mouth.
“Now spill it. What’s the relationship between the Demon Cult and Dark Heaven? And what the hell does this Western Heavenly Demon Lord do?”
The ringing laughter that had been echoing suddenly cut off. Cheon Ryeok-ma’s hollow gaze turned toward me.
“That one—the one you call the Western Heavenly Demon Lord—was one of the four Dharma Protectors of our sect. He was the one who stood closest to the Cult Master, and the one who bewitched him.”
“Then….”
“One day, he called himself the Western Heavenly Demon Lord. That was the beginning of everything. And in the end, it came to this. It all came to this. Hehehehe, ahahahahaha!”
The moment Cheon Ryeok-ma burst into wild laughter.
Boom! Rumble rumble rumble!
Along with a distant roar, the Underground Prison trembled.

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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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