Murim Login - Chapter 359

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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 359
Crack, crack, crack.
The Western Heavenly Demon Lord brushed the stone fragments from his body and twisted his neck side to side. His brow furrowed as bones cracked audibly.
“Your fists pack quite a punch, boy. Without my Protective Heavenly Qi, I might have taken serious damage.”
Serious damage, my ass.
I exhaled deeply as I watched the Western Heavenly Demon Lord rise unscathed after taking the full force of my Flame Divine Form and Extinction Flame Divine Fist.
“Never mind the protective qi. Isn’t it cheating when someone like you wears equipment on top of that?”
“Equipment? What’s that?”
I pointed to the black scaled armor visible beneath the Western Heavenly Demon Lord’s torn yellow robes.
“That thing you’re wearing underneath right now. You bastard.”
“Ah, you mean the Black Dragon Armor.”
“Black Dragon Armor?”
Now that’s a name with style.
Though I didn’t know exactly what the Black Dragon Armor was, its defensive performance seemed worthy of being called a divine artifact.
It had blocked two full-power attacks and only lost a few scales—that was all.
‘With that level of defense, fists and palms won’t cut it.’
The leather armor worn by Dark Heaven’s ordinary martial artists was formidable, but it couldn’t compare to the Black Dragon Armor.
‘An eye for an eye. A divine artifact for a divine artifact.’
As long as the Black Dragon Armor existed, White Flame was essential if I wanted to inflict a fatal wound on him.
‘If not that…’
The Western Heavenly Demon Lord smiled faintly as he watched my searching gaze.
“The more I see you, the more fascinating you become, young one. Your strange techniques are intriguing, but what I truly admire is your unwillingness to back down.”
“So? Want to become friends?”
“I must respectfully decline. I already have a beloved companion I’ve cherished for a long time.”
The Western Heavenly Demon Lord gently stroked his curved blade. From the severed edge of the sword broken in half, dark sword energy rose like mist.
“I’ve seen all your cards now. It’s my turn.”
The Western Heavenly Demon Lord stepped forward with a low murmur. A suffocating aura rippled behind him like wings.
That’s when I realized the truth: the Western Heavenly Demon Lord’s martial prowess had reached a realm far beyond what I had imagined.
“…Damn it.”
Clang.
It felt as though a bell rang out, announcing the start of round two.
But this wasn’t a boxing match that ended after twelve rounds. There were no cheering spectators, no staff members to throw in the towel.
This was a match that ended only when one life was forfeit—nothing more.
‘Inventory open. Summon.’
A cold spear shaft materialized in my grip. Drawing a deep breath, I leveled the spearhead toward the Western Heavenly Demon Lord.
“Come on.”
The Western Heavenly Demon Lord didn’t hesitate.
* * *
Whoosh!
The Western Heavenly Demon Lord extended his leg.
Form Displacement. The disappeared figure reappeared in the empty space above my head.
I leaned my body backward, my hair standing on end.
Shrieeek! Boom!
By the narrowest margin, his heel struck the ground where my nose had been an instant before. The earth caved inward, and stone fragments scattered in all directions.
Blood trickled from my nose where the wind pressure had grazed it, but I had no time to wipe it away.
Shwish, shwish, shwish, shwish!
Dark sword energy rained down from all directions. Slashing at my waist, chest, and abdomen without discrimination.
Attacks I could never have evaded in the past. But now was different.
‘I can see it.’
In this slowed world, I felt the sword energy hurtling toward me.
I could visualize where that destructive force would move, how my body needed to shift to avoid it.
My body was already moving ahead of my thoughts.
Crash, crash, crash, crash!
Some attacks I evaded; others I deflected with sweeps of my spear. Thick clouds of dust and craters like those from war films surrounded me on all sides.
And then….
Whoooosh!
Dark sword energy radiating a dull light burst through the dust cloud. The Western Heavenly Demon Lord, his eyes sunken and cold, brought his blade down in a diagonal slash.
I couldn’t tell what martial art it was, what technique he employed.
Only one thing filled my mind: if I retreated now, death was all that awaited me.
‘I must meet it head-on.’
A power strong enough to match that sword energy. This was the moment I needed my greatest move.
The answer had been clear from the beginning.
‘Annihilation Strike.’
Crack.
Every muscle in my body tensed like a drawn bowstring. My feet surged forward as my waist snapped upright. The rotational force flowing through my shoulders and arms added to the spear blade.
Crash!
A concentration of energy far too massive to be called mere spear force.
The spear blade, wreathed in blue flames, advanced. Burning the air, consuming the dust cloud, it shot toward one man.
“…!”
The Western Heavenly Demon Lord’s eyes widened. Simultaneously, his blade trembled and erupted with an even more colossal sword energy.
In the next instant, blue flames and black darkness collided.
Boom-crash!
With a deafening roar unlike anything I’d heard before, everything within a radius of ten zhang shattered and exploded.
Part of the ceiling, unable to withstand the impact, collapsed inward, and the solid stone crumbled into dust.
And standing in the midst of it all was one figure.
“Damn it.”
Even my Annihilation Strike at full power couldn’t pierce through.
As despair washed over me, the Western Heavenly Demon Lord shook his head. Blood was flowing from his shoulder. That was all my Annihilation Strike had left behind.
“No need for disappointment. It was a sufficiently powerful technique. For a moment, my heart turned cold.”
“Let me ask you one thing.”
“Anything.”
“If you hadn’t wasted your strength from the beginning and had unleashed that strike from the start… could you have killed me?”
The Western Heavenly Demon Lord pondered before answering.
“I might have taken an arm or two. Perhaps more. But it would have been you who died.”
“Damn it. I knew it would be like this.”
“It seems it’s time to end this.”
A low, resonant hum.
I was no longer surprised. Like water gushing endlessly from a spring, the sword energy whipped through the air with terrifying force.
I clenched my teeth, feeling the overwhelming exhaustion from depleting my inner force.
“It’s… not over yet.”
I drew upon every last shred of remaining inner force and unleashed the Heavenly Dragon Divine Spear.
Unlike before, the azure flames had visibly diminished in size, and they shot toward the Western Heavenly Demon Lord’s exposed neck.
A piercing shriek tore through the air!
And in the next instant, meeting the Western Heavenly Demon Lord’s unwavering gaze, I understood.
‘I’ve been read.’
The realization came too late. The sword energy that had seemed about to cleave me in two suddenly snapped in mid-air and whipped against my spear blade.
A deafening crash!
The sky seemed to split apart with the thunderous sound. I gripped the violently trembling spear shaft, my teeth clenched.
The sword energy came slashing down at me, my ankles now buried deep in the ground.
A series of sharp, cutting sounds!
From thirty-six directions surrounding my body—above, below, left, right—a devastating force descended.
Every nerve screaming, I wielded my spear frantically.
Crash! A series of explosive impacts!
With each blow I parried, my body staggered and my breath caught. This was no longer a matter of speed or strength.
Martial skill and inner force.
The Western Heavenly Demon Lord’s martial prowess lay in a realm I could never reach, and the terrifying inner force transmitted through the spear ravaged my body from within.
‘This is insane…!’
Blood sprayed between my gritted teeth. My torn palms had long since been drenched in blood.
Squeezing out every last ounce of strength, I swung my spear against the dark sword energy tearing through my chest.
Heavenly Dragon Divine Spear, second form. Heavenly Strike.
A piercing shriek, then a deafening crash!
But the dragon’s claw had grown pitifully weak compared to before, while the Western Heavenly Demon Lord’s dark sword energy showed no sign of diminishing.
A grinding, tearing sound!
As I retreated, carving deep furrows in the ground, I witnessed the Underground Prison trembling as if struck by an earthquake, dust clouds swirling all around.
‘He’s gone.’
The Western Heavenly Demon Lord was nowhere to be seen—not ahead, not to either side, not in the air.
Then there was only one answer left. I spun around and unleashed a palm strike.
A sharp impact, then an explosion!
Two sounds erupted simultaneously.
The heat from my Heavenly Flame Divine Palm scorched the air, while the Western Heavenly Demon Lord’s palm strike pressed against my chest.
My vision bleached white, and waves of agony tore through my meridians in succession. I swallowed the blood surging into my throat and corrected my body as it was hurled backward.
“That was impressive. Truly.”
“…!”
It was pure instinct.
My arm moved of its own accord at the low voice that suddenly came from beside me. The hand strike aimed at my neck struck my forearm instead.
Crack!
Pain surged with the sound of bone dislocating, followed by the Western Heavenly Demon Lord’s foot, whipped like a lash, gouging into my ribs.
Thud, boom!
The Western Heavenly Demon Lord walked slowly toward me, embedded in the wall after shattering stone.
The emotion gleaming in his eyes was admiration and delight.
“Remarkable. Truly remarkable. Do you know what you just accomplished?”
I spat blood as I answered.
“No idea, you bastard.”
“You should be proud. You lasted over three hundred seconds against me at full power.”
“Three hundred seconds. How tearfully delightful.”
“Since you don’t seem pleased, let me put it differently. How does it compare if Gyeong Cheon Shin-ni and those elders lasted over five hundred seconds?”
“Not at all.”
“Why?”
I tossed a single remark toward the Western Heavenly Demon Lord, whose expression showed genuine incomprehension.
“Because they’re dead anyway.”
Whether one endures three hundred seconds, five hundred seconds, or a thousand—if you lose the fight, all that remains for the loser is death.
Gyeong Cheon Shin-ni and Dok Wang were no exception to this rule.
And… I would be no different.
“Cough.”
Blood trickled from between my split lips.
I wanted to rise as casually as the Western Heavenly Demon Lord had done, but my body’s condition made that impossible.
‘Internal injuries aside, my left arm is fractured, and my ribs are cracked.’
I’d taken a real beating. No wonder breathing had been difficult since earlier.
I exhaled in ragged gasps and pushed myself up using White Flame as a staff.
The Western Heavenly Demon Lord’s eyes gleamed at the sight of me.
“Do you still have something to show?”
“Of course.”
“That must be the power of a divine being of extraordinary strength. Show me. Show me now!”
“I was planning to anyway.”
I leveled my spear toward the Western Heavenly Demon Lord, who trembled with childlike excitement.
And that was the entirety of my action.
“…?”
“What are you doing, not coming in?”
The Western Heavenly Demon Lord stared at me with incomprehension in his eyes and asked.
“What did you just do?”
“You’re showing me exactly what you want—the power of the miraculous and inexplicable.”
“What?”
“Look, I’m good with my body, but my head’s useless. I failed the Chinese character level eight exam, so I’m a complete blockhead. But then I saw this term in a martial arts novel—’miraculous and inexplicable’—and since I didn’t know what it meant, I looked it up.”
Half of what I’m saying won’t register with him anyway.
My vision swims. With each exhale, my lungs sting as if pricked by needles, and my spear—always light in my hands—now feels like a boulder weighing ten thousand pounds.
And yet….
“Miraculous and inexplicable. A mysterious being or phenomenon that defies rational explanation. That’s what it means.”
I don’t stagger. I don’t fall. I simply hold the Western Heavenly Demon Lord’s gaze and continue speaking slowly.
“What’s so special about the miraculous and inexplicable? A man in this state, this condition, still willing to fight—that’s what makes him miraculous and inexplicable.”
Remaining stat points? None.
Physical condition? Standing is already a miracle.
Now that everything has drained from me like Pandora’s box, the one thing that remains is not hope.
‘Venom.’
Hope lifts people up while making them weak.
But if venom remains—if the will to fight until the end persists—I will not fall.
No, I’ve decided not to fall.
Because there are people I must protect. Fire King and Chung Poong fought for me, so even if I become a ghost instead of something miraculous, I must stand against him.
“So….”
I gathered every last ounce of my remaining power. A meager wisp of energy converged precariously toward the spear’s blade.
A faint spear aura bloomed like firefly light in the darkness.
“Stop your pathetic rambling and come. You freak obsessed with the miraculous and inexplicable.”
The Western Heavenly Demon Lord fell silent.
A torrent of emotions swept across his face before his eyes settled into a profound, sunken gaze.
Whoosh!

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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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