Murim Login - Chapter 418

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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 418
Every time I took someone’s life, whenever I met the desperate voices and pleading eyes of enemies begging for mercy, such questions would arise.
Why? Just why?
Why didn’t I reflect on my own actions? Why did I seek the cause of everything in others rather than myself?
‘It’s too late.’
If one wishes to kill, one must also consider the opposite consequence.
The seeds have already been sown, and now comes the time of harvest.
I gazed into Wu Hei-xing’s bloodshot eyes and whispered.
“Why should I bear such risk?”
「…!」
It wasn’t a question asked to hear an answer.
There was nothing left to hear or see. Without hesitation, I seized Wu Hei-xing’s throat and twisted.
Crack.
Flesh crushed and bone splintered under a grip that tore through steel like paper.
The last light faded from his wide-open, frozen eyes.
As his thrashing body went limp, a system notification chimed.
Ding.
–
[Lv.135 Wu Hei-xing]
has been defeated!
– You have gained a substantial amount of experience!
– You have gained no fame. If word spreads that you defeated this individual, significant repercussions are expected!
It was then that Lee Jung-yong, who had just helped his body up twenty meters away, opened his mouth.
“Not a moment’s hesitation.”
I cast Wu Hei-xing’s lifeless body aside and replied.
“He was someone who needed to die.”
“Do you know who that boy’s father is?”
“I’ve heard of him. One of those who smashed the Confucius Temple decades ago.”
“And that young Red Guard grew up to become the most powerful figure in Chinese politics and the leader of the Crown Prince Faction. Even Chairman Xiao Yang doesn’t dare touch him.”
“Damn. What an amazing continent. In our country, that’s like the Sungnyemun arsonist becoming president. Right?”
“There’s no need to understand. But one fact you must know is that you’ve just killed the only son—born after fifty years—of the most powerful man among a billion people.”
“Me? No.”
I laughed shamelessly.
“Wu Hei-xing died after a fierce battle with the Arch Lich.”
「…!」
“I told you, I’ve already decided on the epitaph. A wicked Chinese becomes a good Chinese and rests here. Of course, your tombstone will be right beside his.”
Lee Jung-yong, who had been watching me with an unreadable expression, let out a soft chuckle.
“You’re a cunning one.”
“Your scenario wasn’t bad. Let me borrow it.”
“Do as you wish. It won’t go your way anyway.”
“Well….”
I gestured toward Wu Hei-xing’s corpse sprawled across the ground and continued speaking.
“So far, it seems like things have been going according to my plan?”
“Yes, in that regard, you and I are alike.”
“What?”
Lee Jung-yong smiled serenely as he watched me furrow my brow.
“Wu Hei-xing is someone with thin ears and a loose tongue. He’s useless for collaborating on anything serious, but even someone like that has his uses.”
“…What nonsense are you spouting?”
“Let me show you what I mean.”
When Lee Jung-yong pressed something in his hand, a beam pierced through the dense fog and struck a concrete fragment, projecting a hologram.
The brief hologram, lasting barely ten seconds, captured Wu Hei-xing begging for his life and me snapping his neck without a moment’s hesitation.
“Ha.”
I let out a hollow laugh and opened my mouth.
“The picture quality is excellent. It’s the kind of footage that would be perfect for causing misunderstandings.”
“Exactly. Especially for an elderly father who has lost his only late-born son.”
“You’re not planning to show the unedited version?”
“It seems the mana interference might cause a malfunction, and the beginning of the footage will likely be corrupted.”
“What a remarkable coincidence.”
Anyone who sees this will be astounded. Those who love spreading rumors will turn against you, and even those who revered you will abandon you. The people you cherish so much will slowly crumble under public condemnation.”
The Peace Guild, and Mother and Ha-yeon.
The names and faces that flashed through my mind the moment I heard Lee Jung-yong’s words.
I stepped forward, treading over Wu Hei-xing’s corpse.
Thud.
“Was this your plan from the beginning?”
“Wu Hei-xing was nothing but a tool from the start—he could never be anything more.”
Thud.
Lee Jung-yong also moved toward me.
But the aura emanating from his entire body was incomparably different from before.
This was why Lee Jung-yong hadn’t lost his composure even at Wu Hei-xing’s death.
A cunning beast that had achieved its purpose was finally baring its hidden claws.
“Damn it, no wonder it felt so easy.”
Lee Jung-yong let out a dry laugh at my muttering.
“I’ll give you one compliment. You far exceeded my expectations.”
“One last question. Why go to such lengths?”
“Could a brat like you even begin to comprehend?”
Thud.
“Was Choi Team Leader—or rather, Choi Min-woo—really that frightening to you?”
“Shut that mouth of yours.”
Kwaaaaaaaa!
In an instant, a tremendous wave of energy surged forward, pushing back the fog and seizing control of the space.
My skin prickled beneath the razor-sharp killing intent. In Lee Jung-yong’s previously serene eyes, an anger I had never witnessed before now blazed forth.
“This position is mine alone—earned through my own strength. An empire I have built across a lifetime!”
It was fury that had been suppressed for so long, an emotion finally breaking free after years of restraint.
Lee Jung-yong glared at me with eyes burning like a raging inferno, each syllable spilling from his lips as if chewed deliberately.
“No one can tear it down. Not you, not that boy Min-woo, and not even… my Elder Brother!”
Elder Brother?
I had no time to question those two unexpected words.
Thud.
A single step, unusually heavy and profound.
In that same instant, Lee Jung-yong’s form rippled like water.
The beast vanished, leaving afterimages in its wake, and was suddenly upon me.
Whiiiing!
Light flooded my vision. I twisted at the waist and swung White Flame.
The moment light and flame collided, the heavens themselves seemed to split with a deafening roar.
Boom!
* * *
The explosion was catastrophic.
The high-rise building, barely holding together, erupted and crumbled, its glass and concrete shattered into countless fragments that pierced through everything around us.
The shockwave of the collision could be felt tens of kilometers away.
Amid the cascading collapses and thunderous sounds, I extended my leg.
Whoosh!
Beyond the splitting dust clouds, a figure stood firm upon empty air.
Those transparent eyes, forever inscrutable, now blazed with infernal fury.
“Jin Tae-kyung!”
Neither of us hesitated.
I surged upward, shattering the ground beneath me, while he descended, treading upon the void.
When the trajectories of our sword and spear met with perfect precision, a tremendous shockwave engulfed my entire body.
As if by agreement, we both rebounded simultaneously, using the structures of the ruined city as footholds before launching at each other again.
Screeeech, boom!
With the sound of thunder, the tip of his spear, deflected from my blade, thrust directly toward my throat.
Pang!
I twisted my head, and strands of hair fell away, severed by the wind pressure.
But this was far from over.
Shiiiiing!
Lee Jung-yong’s sword became pure white light, piercing forward.
A net of Qi flowed along the blade’s edge.
Faced with this dazzling display of light, I awakened all the cultivation power dormant within my dantian.
The heat of thirty years of accumulated cultivation surged like wildfire through my limbs, and azure tribulation flames rose along the transparent spear shaft, undulating smoothly like a dragon’s tail.
‘Flame Dragon’s Tail.’
Whoooosh!
A single swing.
Part of the surging force dissipated against the Fire Dragon’s tail, which spread out like the ribs of a fan.
Now it was time to tear through the loosened net with sharp claws.
‘Heavenly Strike.’
The Fire Dragon Divine Spear, composed of merely two forms.
Yet the ancient sect leader of Yeolhwa Sect who created the Fire Dragon Divine Spear earned the title “Greatest Spear Under Heaven,” and left a brief testament about his martial art in his final moments.
‘A martial art I devoted my entire life to, yet never perfected. And yet, it can be called the Greatest Spear Under Heaven.’
His words were truth.
The Fire Dragon Divine Spear was such a martial art. A spear technique that could boast of being the greatest under heaven with merely two forms, and….
Roooaaarrr!
The Heavenly Strike, infused with full power, tore through the net of force and swept across the front.
Lee Jung-yong, who could only watch as flames descended upon him in an instant, brought his sword down with a powerful shout.
“Hah!”
Whoosh!
The flames split at the sword’s edge.
Following the paths of fire that spread left and right, his form shot forward like an arrow, unleashing countless sword strikes.
Shwish, shwish, shwish, shwish, shwish!
Chest, neck, shoulder, arms and legs….
Within a span of time so brief it could be called an instant.
Before the trajectory of the blade swinging and cutting like rays of light, I found myself seized by wonder.
‘How, how is this possible?’
I am a Hunter. At the same time, I am also a martial artist.
Or perhaps, the name “Player” would suit me better.
On that sweltering summer day when I picked up a VR capsule discarded at the Recycling Station, I gained a new power called the System. I became the only existence that spans both the modern world and Murim.
But….
Crash!
Movements without a shred of wasted motion, power control approaching perfection, and even qi manipulation.
As I received Lee Jung-yong’s attack, I inwardly marveled. It was not about who Lee Jung-yong was as a person, but astonishment at the skill he possessed.
‘To think he was this strong.’
After reaching the pinnacle of transcendence, I thought there would not be many people in the modern world capable of facing me.
And after meeting several S-rank Hunters in Sichuan, that conviction only solidified.
No matter how vast the qi they each possessed, there was no martial art in this place.
So-called Hunters merely engaged in efficient combat, but when it came to efficient qi manipulation, they were as blind as the ignorant.
Lee Jung-yong? He may have learned a cultivation method called Mana Cultivation Method in the modern world, but I thought it would not be much different.
And now I realized.
My arrogance had led to a grave misjudgment.
A sharp pain.
My thigh grew cool, then was followed by a burning pain like fire.
But why was it that my mind cleared as if waking from a long sleep, and my vision sharpened?
Sharp pain, sharp pain, sharp pain!
Arms, calves, and the nape of my neck.
Blood erupted from the wounds, and the influx of qi through the blade disrupted my cultivation base.
I stared at Lee Jung-yong’s face as he relentlessly poured sword strikes toward my staggering form.
His forehead glistened with sweat, while his eyes gleamed with absolute certainty of victory, and a smile played at the corners of his mouth.
‘Ah, this displeases me.’
That smile displeased me, and the fact that such a man possessed this level of power displeased me even more. Feeling something surge within, I swung the White Flame Spear.
Crash!
First exchange.
Blood flowed from the wound I had inflicted earlier, and pain radiated through me. Yet I thrust the spear forward again without a word.
Lee Jung-yong, who had retreated a step, came at me with a composed smile.
Bang!
Second exchange.
Lee Jung-yong, having retreated two steps, looked at me with surprise written across his face.
Did I still possess such strength? I could read his thoughts plainly displayed on his expression.
‘Of course I do.’
I muttered to myself, adjusted my grip on the spear, ignored the faint pain radiating through me, and pressed forward.
Bang! Bang! Crash!
Three times, four times, five times.
Each time the spear and sword collided and thunder erupted, Lee Jung-yong’s complexion hardened further.
The smile that had lingered at his lips vanished long ago.
“You bastard…!”
Instead of his usual voice, soft as a cat’s paw, came a snarling cry—and somehow, I found myself laughing.
Intoxicated by my own power, I had made the grave miscalculation of underestimating his skill, but Lee Jung-yong had done the same.
The claws Lee Jung-yong had revealed were sufficiently formidable and sharp, yet they fell short of severing my lifeline.
“Jung-yong.”
As I drew a deep breath, the stale air and stench rushed in. Yet my chest felt as though it had opened wide, refreshingly clear.
Yes, now I understand.
“Let’s trim those claws.”
Lee Jung-yong dies here, today.

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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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