Murim Login - Chapter 370

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

Chapter 370
The Sichuan Poison Sect had long been renowned for its insular nature.
Even the most celebrated figures of the Murim could not freely enter its gates, and fearing that daughters married off might leak the sect’s martial techniques and secrets, they took in sons-in-law to continue the Tang family name.
It was merely seven days ago that the gates of the Sichuan Poison Sect, which had endured for centuries through this method, had swung wide open.
“You there, set that pillar straight!”
“On three, we pull. Ready. One, two—!”
Sturdy laborers hauled on ropes, carrying stones and timber.
Over the broad grounds, buildings slowly took shape upon foundation stones still stained with dark crimson blood.
At a distance from there, dozens of monks gathered to chant sutras.
“Namu Amitabha Buddha, the Buddha of Infinite Light and Life…”
The monks with their closely cropped heads and eyes gleaming with spiritual clarity were female disciples of the Emei Sect.
Before them, countless wooden coffins were engulfed in flames, burning fiercely.
“May they find rebirth in paradise. We shall not forget your integrity and spirits.”
Though several days and nights had passed, the flames still had not extinguished.
The victims who had perished in the Three Gates Blood History were countless, and the Sichuan Poison Sect’s loss of life was particularly severe.
“Sigh…”
“Myo Ryung Temple, you appear exhausted. Perhaps you should rest for a moment…”
“No. Master Ming-jin, I am merely doing what must be done. Please do not concern yourself. Let us continue.”
The Taoist priest gazing at the middle-aged nun with her pallid complexion nodded heavily.
Shortly after, martial artists bearing swords arrived in procession, carrying dozens of wooden coffins.
Among them were Taoists of the Qingcheng Sect, disciples of smaller sects, and beggars with tattered clothes dripping filth.
Behind them rushed a group of physicians.
“The patient suddenly coughed up blood? I thought he was stable?”
“If I knew that, would I be here now? He clearly suffered severe internal injuries, but I cannot determine what affliction this is…”
“Scatter and bring the Divine Physician here at once!”
Female disciples of the Emei Sect and Taoists of the Qingcheng Sect, beggars of the Beggar Clan and martial artists dispatched from various sects both great and small. Added to this were carpenters, stonemasons, physicians, and common folk.
Countless people moved through the grounds of the Sichuan Poison Sect, each fulfilling their role faithfully.
From a tall pavilion with its windows flung wide, a young beggar named Gung Ki-bang watched this spectacle unfold, muttering in a weary voice.
“In all my years, I never thought I’d witness such a sight. And at the Sichuan Poison Sect, no less.”
Then Hyuk Moo-jin, lying on a sickbed, replied.
“Stop watching and go help. Hu Gae, don’t just loaf about.”
“Loaf about?”
Gung Ki-bang’s eyes widened as he gestured to his own body.
His upper body was wrapped tightly in pristine bandages. One leg had a temporary splint. These were glorious wounds earned fighting the Third Demon.
“Looking at me like this and you still say that? Is this loafing? Huh?”
“Is only So-hyup injured?”
Hyuk Moo-jin snorted derisively and deliberately writhed like a worm.
Unlike Gung Ki-bang, his entire body was wrapped in bandages, making him resemble a mummy.
“This is the level of injury one should have. Ah, this fellow has truly suffered. That’s what I mean. Do you understand?”
“…!”
Gung Ki-bang trembled, his body shaking. It was clear proof that his martial prowess was superior—he hadn’t suffered any serious injuries—yet somehow he felt like he’d lost.
“I’ve gone through five rolls of bandages!”
“The fact that I’m alive is a miracle. And that’s only because your body is so filthy. The Physician, unable to bear it any longer, pushed while treating So-hyup and fainted from exhaustion. Is that true?”
“….”
“That’s enough. Any more talking and all that comes out is bad breath. Since we’re on the subject, next time try brushing your teeth. Every time I talk to So-hyup, it feels like I’m speaking to a stray dog’s rear end in the Market Street.”
Truly, a vicious tongue.
Gung Ki-bang, momentarily at a loss for words, gazed up at the ceiling and sighed.
“Sam-gwe should have killed that bastard.”
“Huh? That’s crossing a line.”
“I still can’t figure out how someone like you survived that fierce battle.”
“If you’re that curious, just stick around with our clan leader and this woman.”
“…I’ll pass on that.”
If there was one opinion where Gung Ki-bang and Hyuk Moo-jin, who constantly bickered, ever agreed, it concerned Jin Tae-kyung.
A being as if all the world’s tribulations had been combined into one. That tenacious vitality and obsession that allowed him to survive any crisis.
And seeing Jin Tae-kyung now, possessed of martial prowess so distant it seemed otherworldly, one could hardly believe this was the same person.
‘Though there is one other like that.’
‘Yeah, that bastard.’
The two men’s heads turned simultaneously in the same direction, their thoughts aligned.
“Mi-mi, spin!”
Whirrrr!
“Good job, Mi-mi! Now try flying through the air!”
Whirr?
“Ah, that won’t work. Then how about….”
Hyuk Moo-jin and Gung Ki-bang wondered: was this strange young man commanding a snake, truly the successor of the Sword Saint and the Huashan Divine Dragon who had single-handedly defeated Il-gwe, the strongest of the Three Demons of Giresan?
“Hey, So-hyup.”
“What.”
“Is it true that one must be slightly unhinged to become a supreme master?”
“…I don’t know. I really don’t know anymore.”
Gung Ki-bang evaded the question.
His own master was eccentric enough, but not to the degree of Jin Tae-kyung or Chung Poong.
Looking at the Sword Saint and Fire King, one might wonder if disciples simply resembled their masters.
“But what exactly is that snake?”
“A snake with horns that large—there’s only one besides a Naga. The Thousand-Year Venom Horned Serpent.”
“In the Compendium of Spirits I saw as a child, it was described as an incredibly venomous creature shrouded in black light.”
Chung Poong exclaimed.
“Mi-mi. Lie down!”
Whirr!
“Looking at it now, it seems less like a venomous creature and more like just an ordinary animal.”
“My thoughts exactly.”
“But why is Chung Poong here? He didn’t seem injured at all.”
“Didn’t you hear that loud noise outside earlier? That was when So-hyup tried to help and ended up destroying the Pavilion.”
“…Ah.”
At the same time, the two men who had run out of words lay side by side on the bed, gazing up at the ceiling.
The Pavilion, which had miraculously maintained its form despite the destruction of a nine-story building, was now being used as a temporary Medical Hall to house critical patients.
Hyuk Moo-jin, catching the scent of medicinal broth drifting in from somewhere, suddenly murmured.
“It feels like a dream.”
“Indeed.”
Seven weeks had passed since the incident at the Three Gates Acupoints.
The Black Robed Organization of Dark Heaven, which had stained Sichuan with blood through the heaven-and-earth net woven by the unified forces of Sichuan’s martial world, had been mostly killed or captured, and even the Third Demon, who had vanished without a trace, had been apprehended by an enigmatic figure. Thus, the brief conflict had come to an end.
But….
“I have a feeling this isn’t the end. What do you think, So-hyup?”
“Don’t even say that. If this ends here, I’ll write a letter on my own palm.”
It was a sense of crisis felt not just by the two of them, but by everyone.
In just over two months, both Hanan and Sichuan had been drenched in blood.
Soon, when news of the Three Gates Acupoints incident spread to the far corners of the continent, the people of the world would realize it.
That the dark cloud known as Dark Heaven had drawn dangerously close.
It was the undeniable beginning of a chaotic age, and heroes were born from such turbulent times.
Hyuk Moo-jin’s gaze naturally turned toward the closed door.
“When do you think the Sect Leader will wake up, So-hyup?”
“Who knows? I have no solution either. For now, according to Moon-kyung, there are no problems, so we can only wait.”
“Since you mention it, Moon-kyung is skilled for his age, but isn’t he a bit inexperienced to be entrusted with the Sect Leader’s duties?”
“The Divine Physician is busy, so that’s how it is. The Red Sky River Master is also recovering his strength, and there are so many critical patients like Dang Sa-dok that it’s unavoidable.”
“I understand. I do understand, but even if he’s the Divine Physician’s disciple, Moon-kyung is still…. How much could that young thing possibly know?”
At Hyuk Moo-jin’s concerned words, Chung Poong suddenly jerked his head up.
“No, no, don’t do that. You’ll die.”
“So-hyup?”
“What you just said—don’t say it. Especially not in front of Moon-kyung.”
“What? Why all of a sudden….”
“You can’t. Really, you can’t.”
“…?”
As Hyuk Moo-jin and Gung Ki-bang exchanged bewildered glances, Chung Poong suddenly gasped.
“Mi-mi! Where did you go, Mi-mi!”
The moment Chung Poong desperately searched for the Thousand-Year Venom Centipede that had disappeared the instant he looked away, a suppressed cry burst forth from beyond the firmly closed door.
“Ugh! Hey, you snake bastard!”
The gazes of the three men collided in mid-air.
Simultaneously, multiple names for one person rang out loudly beyond the Pavilion.
“Benefactor!”
“Sect Leader!”
“Jin Tae-kyung!”
At that cry, commotion erupted among the people who had been attending to their tasks outside.
“Did you just hear that?”
“Could it be that he’s woken up?”
“Inform the Sect Leader immediately! Hurry!”
* * *
I had a nightmare.
A snake slowly strangling my neck in pitch-black darkness where I couldn’t see even an inch ahead.
I couldn’t breathe, and my vision turned white.
And in the next moment, I exhaled the breath I’d been holding and opened my eyes.
“Cough!”
Hiss.
“…?”
Hiss? What the hell is this?
Three seconds of mental shutdown.
Finally realizing the true nature of my nightmare, I grabbed the horns of the snake coiled around my neck.
“Hey, you little snake!”
Whether it’s the Thousand-Year Poison Horned Mountain Snake Mi-mi or whatever its name was, I didn’t care. From today on, this bastard’s name is Snake Liquor.
“From now on, you only drink dew. Cham Isul dew.”
Just as I was about to swing it around and slam it hard against the ground, the firmly shut door shattered and someone burst in.
“My savior-!”
Chung Poong’s resonant cry made my head ring.
Behind him, I could see Hyuk Moo-jin wriggling like an earthworm and Gung Ki-bang hopping on one leg.
“Chief!”
“Jin Tae-kyung!”
“…Why do you all look like that?”
Hyuk Moo-jin answered with a powerful bounce.
“Sam-gwe. That crazy old demon did this to me.”
Gung Ki-bang added a helpful explanation.
“It’s a miracle we survived. That madman Hyuk Moo-jin mixed stones with dirt and threw it at Sam-gwe. If Chil Seon-ja hadn’t stepped in to block it, we would’ve been torn to pieces.”
“…?”
Wait, who the hell is Sam-gwe and who is Chil Seon-ja? I knew a Kim Seon-ja back in high school—she was the student affairs director….
‘These crazy bastards.’
The relief of surviving the Underground Prison was short-lived as I clutched my forehead, feeling a headache coming on.
I was supposed to stay holed up in the Divine Physician’s quarters, but these idiots couldn’t resist and crawled out to fight to the death.
Thank goodness they survived, or I would’ve been in real trouble.
“Did you all have a death wish? What the hell did you do this time?”
“…?”
“…?”
“What, why?”
Why do they all have that look on their faces?
The three of us, excluding Chung Poong, exchanged bewildered glances.
“What’s the problem?”
“Obviously there is one.”
“The Clan Leader ordered you to go rescue the Emei Sect.”
The first answer came from Gung Ki-bang, the second from Hyuk Moo-jin.
Both were nonsense, so I deliberately furrowed my brow.
“What are you talking about? Me?”
“Yes. Moon-kyung definitely told us that. Did you perhaps hit your head?”
That couldn’t be.
The moment I opened my eyes, I could feel it—a tremendous force surging through my entire body.
The vista before me and the natural energy surrounding me felt vivid and crystalline.
‘This is the pinnacle transcendence…’
I wanted to test this power immediately. And the mountain of System Messages that must have accumulated by now.
Of course, before that, instead of continuing to hear such nonsense, I needed to ask one thing.
“Is everyone safe?”
Those listening knew exactly who was included in my ‘everyone.’
Chung Poong, beaming brightly, threw open a large window instead of answering.
“Please verify for yourself, benefactor.”
I walked slowly toward the window as if entranced.
A warm spring breeze brushed my face, and the unusually quiet air greeted me as I leaned my head out the window.
“Ah.”
Looking down, I was left speechless.
There were people below.
Buddhist nuns, Daoists, craftsmen who appeared to be carpenters, and physicians dressed in pristine white robes. The emotion reflected in the countless gazes was singular.
‘Reverence.’
In the next moment, they bowed as if by prior arrangement.
Some performed the martial salute, some bowed their heads slightly, and some prostrated themselves deeply.
Simultaneously, a unified voice of tremendous power resonated.
“We greet the Blazing Divine Dragon!”
A shiver of electricity pierced through me from crown to sole in that instant.
Ding.
– Your achievements and renown shall echo throughout the entire Central Plains.
– You have acquired a new epithet!
Along with the system notification piercing my ears, I spotted one figure in the distance.
– Well done.
I laughed, following the Red Sky River.

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