Murim Login - Chapter 437

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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 437
The Fast Ship, as its name suggested, was built with speed as the priority.
In terms of weight class, if a standard combat vessel was heavyweight, the Fast Ship was somewhere in the welterweight category below that.
As a result, the hull wasn’t particularly large, which meant there were precious few places to hide from prying eyes.
“Oh my.”
“Jin. What brings you to this part of the ship?”
Two Water Thieves who had been shirking their duties under the guise of keeping watch at the stern of the vessel recognized me and bowed respectfully.
I nodded solemnly and opened my mouth.
“Save me….”
In that instant, something sharp jabbed directly into the mingmen acupoint on my lower back.
“Look around, would you.”
“Pardon?”
“I said, take a look around. I have a few things to discuss with this fellow.”
“Ah, I see.”
No, don’t agree. Please, suspect something.
I continued speaking while casting sidelong glances at Moon-kyung, who was pressed firmly against my ribs, my eyes wide with desperation.
“Really! Take a look around! If anyone asks about me, tell them I’m with Moon-kyung!”
“Yes, understood.”
“No, not just understood. That’s right! My master! If my master comes looking for me….”
“That seems unlikely to happen.”
Moon-kyung cut me off with a clear laugh.
“It appears you and Jin Wi-kyung have urgent matters to discuss. In any case, we’ve only come for a brief consultation, so don’t worry about us and be on your way. Rest in your quarters, and I’ll inform you later.”
“Well, that works for us.”
There was nothing sweeter than legitimate shirking during a tedious watch rotation.
The Water Thieves, now able to enjoy the shade and leisure thanks to this fortune, departed with smiles, and the silent transmission I had been about to desperately send was blocked by Moon-kyung’s next words.
“You seem to have several lives to spare.”
“….”
“You have two choices. Either answer honestly to everything I ask from now on, or if you prefer, keep your mouth shut quietly.”
I ventured to ask hopefully.
“What happens if I choose the second option?”
“You’ll end up in Hubei.”
“That’s actually fine….”
Just as I was about to respond, Moon-kyung continued calmly.
“Sunk to the bottom of the Yangtze River, drifting all the way to Hubei. Quietly.”
“…I thought you said you’d given up killing.”
“That depends on my will. It’s not your concern.”
Damn it, it’s not like quitting smoking or something….
Exasperated, I pressed the matter further.
“A Divine Physician threatening murder? Really?”
“A former Divine Physician. I passed that title to my disciple long ago. So, your answer?”
I fixed Moon-kyung with a hard stare.
“Do I look like someone who would yield to threats of this caliber?”
“Of course.”
“You read me perfectly. I’ll answer all your questions with complete sincerity.”
….
Moon-kyung, momentarily at a loss for words, finally broke the silence.
“I’ve seen some strange characters, but you take the cake.”
“I suspect most people would say we’re equally peculiar. Why don’t you conduct a survey across the entire Murim? See who comes out looking stranger.”
“Strange?”
“My tongue slipped. My apologies.”
The aura Moon-kyung radiated sent every hair on my body standing on end.
Moon-kyung watched me swallow hard in silence before dropping a single phrase.
“Your middle dantian.”
“Pardon?”
“Just days ago—no, half a day ago—your middle dantian was sealed. Yet somehow, in a single night, you’ve achieved such a monumental breakthrough. What sorcery did you employ?”
So that was it. The reason I’d been summoned alone.
‘I knew he’d noticed, but still.’
The hierarchy of martial prowess forms a perfect vertical structure.
It’s like sitting at the summit, gazing down upon all the landscapes below.
The Fire King and Sal-sung were legendary masters who had scaled the highest peaks of the treacherous mountain range known as the Murim.
They had opened their middle dantians long before Jin Tae-kyung was even born into the Murim, so detecting my transformation was inevitable.
The problem was….
‘How do I explain this?’
It wasn’t as if I’d accidentally broken wind in my sleep—my middle dantian had simply opened. For others, such an achievement required either blood-soaked training or enlightenment gained through brushes with death itself.
I hesitated briefly before spotting the large needle in Moon-kyung’s hand, then answered quickly.
“It just… happened.”
“What?”
“It just happened.”
“…You expect me to believe that?”
Of course not.
So I inserted a cliché straight from martial arts novels.
“Actually, I did have a strange dream.”
I lowered my voice while glancing around, and Moon-kyung’s brow furrowed.
“A dream?”
“Yes. This elderly man with white hair who looked incredibly ancient suddenly appeared and started swinging a sword at me. I didn’t even realize it was a dream at the time—I just dodged.”
Whether it was a spear, sword, or walking stick didn’t matter. This was a world rife with superstition anyway.
The mere mention of a white-haired elder with an immortal’s bearing appearing in a dream was intriguing enough to capture attention.
Sure enough, Moon-kyung asked with the expression of a web novel reader.
“And then?”
“I mustered every ounce of strength I had to face him, but he was completely out of my league. No matter what attack I threw at him, he dodged effortlessly, and whenever I tried to escape, he’d materialize like a ghost and slash with his sword—swish, swish—and I’d go ‘Ugh!’ You know the feeling?”
“You didn’t realize it was a dream?”
“There wasn’t time to notice. Besides, the pain felt so vivid. I was sliced hundreds of times in an instant, thinking, ‘So this is how I die,’ but when not a single drop of blood appeared, that’s when I realized it was a dream.”
“Continue.”
“But that’s what drove me mad. I kept getting sliced by the blade, and it hurt like hell, but even knowing it was a dream, I couldn’t wake up no matter what.”
“Yes, that’s right.”
Moon-kyung flinched as if he himself had been cut.
This fellow had surprisingly good reactions.
Reconfirming the instincts of a web novel reader hidden behind the terrifying name Sal-sung, I continued without hesitation.
“I lost all sense of how much time passed. Days? Months? As I kept getting sliced and swinging endlessly, forgetting time itself, suddenly a strange sensation came over me.”
“Explain in detail. What was it like?”
This much I could explain in detail, truthfully. Because I had experienced it directly in my battle with the Arch Lich.
Moon-kyung murmured softly after hearing my description—the kind that would make an ordinary person think, ‘What vague nonsense is this?’
“Enlightenment. You obtained a fortuitous opportunity.”
“Wow, chills. That Person said something similar too.”
“He left you a separate message?”
“Yes. He smiled for the first time while looking at me and said this fortune of opportunity was a blessing he gave you, so cultivate yourself even more diligently.”
“Is that all?”
“Pardon?”
“Nothing else?”
“Well, that is….”
Wait. This wasn’t in my plan.
Since I’d squeezed out the content in such a short time, what I’d prepared initially was already finished.
But Moon-kyung was demanding an encore, and I had no reserves left.
The problem was that Moon-kyung wasn’t an ordinary reader—he was Sal-sung.
‘What happens if I end it here?’
What happens? I’d sink to the bottom of the Yangtze River and drift all the way to Hubei.
I hastily opened my mouth as Moon-kyung’s eyes narrowed.
“He did say one more thing.”
“What did he say?”
“Well, that is….”
Damn it, I have no idea.
I swallowed hard and carefully opened my mouth.
“You must suffer to be a martial artist.”
“What?”
“Y-yes, he really did say that. He threw out just that one line, then jumped onto his blade and whoosh, flew away….”
“I sense the aura of wisdom.”
“Pardon?”
I let out a vacant sound while keeping my eyes fixed on the great needle in Moon-kyung’s hand.
‘What on earth is he talking about now?’
When I lifted my head, I saw Moon-kyung nodding slightly with a murmur of approval.
The man, who had been muttering incomprehensible words like groans, suddenly opened his mouth.
“Yeo Yen.”
“I know about stomach cancer and lung cancer, but are you feeling unwell somewhere?”
“…You don’t know Yeo Yen?”
Moon-kyung looked at me as if I were a madman and continued speaking.
“Yeo Yen. His courtesy name is Dong-bin. His Taoist name is Pure Yang. He achieved his own Way and ascended to the realm of immortals—people call him the Sword Immortal.”
“Wait, you mean Yeo Dong-bin?”
“Now you understand.”
I might not know Yeo Yen, but I certainly know the Sword Immortal Yeo Dong-bin. He’s one of the three legendary figures that appear in every martial arts novel, alongside Jang Sam-bong of the Wudang Sect and Bodhidharma of the Shaolin Temple.
Moon-kyung regarded me with utmost seriousness and continued.
“That old man you saw in your dream must be Yeo Dong-bin. Since he disappeared using sword control technique at the end, he’s undoubtedly the Sword Immortal.”
“Ah… yes, that’s right.”
I’d only made it up because it sounded cooler, but now it had spiraled into this.
I knew through novels that an immortal named Yeo Dong-bin existed, but I was learning for the first time that he was a master of sword control technique.
‘As the saying goes, it depends on how you interpret it.’
This was exactly that kind of situation.
Moon-kyung, who had identified the old man from my dream—or rather, from the novel—as Yeo Dong-bin, was now earnestly fitting the pieces together without even realizing it.
“Did his beard perhaps extend down to his chest?”
“Yes.”
“His height?”
“He was quite short.”
“Fool! I’m asking how short exactly.”
“Ah, just short. I was too busy getting slashed at to pay attention to such details.”
I managed to nod along through most of it, but there were some genuinely perilous moments.
“What else was he carrying besides his sword?”
“Well, the scabbard.”
“Do you want to die? That’s obvious. Was there truly nothing else?”
“…I don’t think so.”
Moon-kyung’s eyes grew distant as he heard my answer.
“Yeo Dong-bin doesn’t carry only a sword. He always carries a Taoist dust whisk in his right hand.”
“…!”
“Did you perhaps lie to me all this time?”
This was a critical moment.
I had no idea why this Sword Immortal fellow carried a dust whisk around, but right now, avoiding Moon-kyung’s suspicion was the priority. I answered without changing my expression.
“Everything I said was true.”
“Then why does your account contradict Yeo Dong-bin’s usual appearance?”
“I think he left the dust whisk behind today.”
“What kind of nonsense is th——”
“Wait, have you ever actually seen Yeo Dong-bin?”
“…!”
“I saw it.”
Fine, damn it. I saw it, so what are you going to do about it?
I pressed my advantage, aggressively pushing Moon-kyung, who had momentarily lost for words.
“And did I ever say I was Yeo Dong-bin? I just thought you were some old grandfather, but you’re the one who brought up Yeo Dong-bin first.”
“You?”
“That’s not the issue right now, and the facts speak for themselves. Honestly, whether you’re Yeo Dong-bin or Kim Dong-bin doesn’t matter to me. I met some mysterious grandfather in a dream and gained a fortuitous opportunity—that’s all. But you’re grabbing me like you’re catching a rat, as if I committed some crime, so I really, ugh.”
“….”
“See these tears welling up? I really don’t want to cry like this as a man, but right now I’m so wronged that tears are pouring out.”
The truth was, I was terrified.
The self-loathing of being coerced into fabricating lies, of not knowing what crime I’d committed to deserve this threat, compounded everything until a tear finally rolled down my cheek.
‘Is this what life is?’
Before, I’d been dragged downward; now I was dragged upward. What had started as an act had somehow become reality, and I caught the flicker of bewilderment cross Moon-kyung’s face, which had shown almost no expression until now.
“You bastard. What are you scheming?”
“Ugh, here we go again. I’m done. I’m out. I’ve answered everything, so I’m leaving.”
“Leaving?”
“I don’t care. Do whatever you want. Kill me, spare me, perform resurrection magic—suit yourself.”
The moment I tried to take a step forward, a figure appeared, radiating overwhelming power.
“What in the hell is this mess?”
The gazes of Fire King and Kill Star collided in mid-air.

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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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