Murim Login - Chapter 447

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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 447
Whoooosh.
The Fast Ship cut through the water with remarkable speed, yet silence hung heavy over its deck.
The Water Thieves of the Water Dragon Stronghold rowed with mechanical precision, their mouths sealed shut, while Moo-song kept his gaze fixed forward with a rigid expression.
‘The atmosphere here is absolutely suffocating.’
I clicked my tongue inwardly and surveyed my surroundings.
Currently, four Fast Ships were heading toward Dongjeong Channel.
Yet the atmosphere aboard was worlds apart from when we had sailed toward Hubei Province.
The cause was unmistakable—new faces that hadn’t been present before.
‘The Jeongal Family. And the Wudang Sect.’
Disciples of the two great sects that divided Hubei Province filled all four Fast Ships to capacity.
Each and every one of them was an exceptional martial artist—carefully selected elite, clearly prepared for potential bloodshed.
And at the center of their ranks stood two individuals.
“The wind seems particularly strong today, Family Head Jeongal.”
To No Do-sa’s remark, Je-gal Poong responded with unflappable composure.
“There is no need for concern. With winds like today’s, our task will only become smoother.”
“How so? I’ve heard that even weaker winds than this have already caused dozens of ships to sink.”
“While the sailors’ skill plays a role, the Fast Ship—the very symbol of the Yangtze River Water Bandit Alliance—is qualitatively different from ordinary vessels. Rather than being swept away by strong winds, it gains momentum and surges forward with even greater force.”
“I too have heard tales of the Fast Ship’s reputation, but my knowledge is limited. After devoting my entire life to the Martial World, I feel as though I’ve wasted my years.”
“It is only natural that you would not know, having remained at the Wudang Sect Headquarters. But… may I inquire about that matter you mentioned last time?”
“The Sect Leader himself works on it alongside the disciples of the Main Sect. In exchange, they sent this useless old fool who does nothing but eat provisions.”
“Eat provisions, you say? This junior feels as though he has gained ten thousand soldiers with the arrival of Xuangong Zhenren.”
Je-gal Poong’s words were not mere courtesy—they reflected reality.
Xuangong Zhenren.
That was the Taoist title of No Do-sa, who wore a patched Taoist robe and carried an old sword with pine-grain patterns at his waist.
His position within the Wudang Sect and his standing in the Martial World were in no way inferior to Je-gal Poong’s.
In fact, one could say they stood shoulder to shoulder, or perhaps he even surpassed him.
Unlike Je-gal Poong, who had not yet reached sixty, Xuangong Zhenren was a master of the previous generation who had earned distinguished merit even during the Jeongal-Wudang War, and he was the teacher of the current Wudang Sect Leader.
‘Moreover, he is also one of the Wudang Sect’s most celebrated supreme masters.’
Xuangong Zhenren was the swordsman rumored to have reached the pinnacle of the Wudang Sect’s greatest technique—the Tai Chi Wisdom Sword.
That Je-gal Poong, the Family Head of the Jeongal Family, spoke with deference even before others was a mark of respect toward him.
Of course, there was one person who remained an exception to all of this.
“He’s grown quite a bit, that bastard.”
At the words of Jeok Cheon-gang, the legendary Dharma Master of the Martial World and a relic of the past, I muttered in disbelief.
“Indeed. He’s grown so much his beard has turned white.”
“When I last saw him, he was barely twenty. Damn, time flies. Those soft, fluffy youngsters have all become sect leaders and elders.”
“…Soft and fluffy? At twenty, wouldn’t he have had quite a bit of body hair?”
Jeok Cheon-gang fixed me with a stare that could kill.
“The way you keep picking at my words, it seems you want all your body hair plucked out.”
“No, what kind of thing is that to say?”
I have absolutely no desire to get a wax on the deck of the Fast Ship while dealing with Fire King.
I waved my hand at lightning speed, then glanced sideways at Jeok Cheon-gang and asked.
“Since we’re on the subject, may I ask exactly how old you are?”
“How old?”
Jeok Cheon-gang, who normally treats any comment about being old as a mortal insult, made me rephrase my words awkwardly.
“…Then, your age?”
“My age?”
What more could he possibly want when he’s already over a hundred years old?
I asked with exasperation dripping from every word.
“Cheon-gang, how many years old are you?”
Crack!
Yes, I saw that coming.
Jeok Cheon-gang smacked the back of my head like a thunderbolt and answered in a flat tone.
“I stopped counting after I passed a hundred.”
“So when was the last time you counted your age?”
“Five thousand years ago. Satisfied?”
Chung Poong, who had been dangling from the ship’s bow nearby, dropped his jaw wide open.
“Wow, five thousand years old!”
“…Does that fool not know how to doubt anything?”
“…He’s always been like that. But I must say, you look remarkably young for your age.”
Jeok Cheon-gang fixed me with a piercing stare.
“Do you want to know more details?”
“Of course not.”
Honestly, I’m curious, but his expression suggests I shouldn’t be.
Aside from his usual sensitivity about age, the reality of being aboard the Fast Ship as it surged forward through increasingly violent currents and winds seemed to be causing him tremendous stress.
“When in the blazes will this cursed wooden splinter finally stop?”
Just then.
As if hearing Jeok Cheon-gang’s grumbling, the cursed wooden splinter accelerated even further.
Whoooosh!
Water sprayed high into the air, and the previously stable hull swayed violently side to side.
Chung Poong let out a cheer like a child at an amusement park on Children’s Day at the sudden violent motion.
Hyuk Moo-jin and Gung Ki-bang, still suffering from the aftereffects of the Yangtze River incident, shrieked in terror, while Moon-kyung, who had been maintaining his composure alone, tactfully grabbed the railing to avoid drawing attention.
And Jeok Cheon-gang….
“Ugh, ugh-aaaaaah!”
He was in a state of panic, making sounds that belied his epithet of Fire King.
Look at those wide-open eyes. He could be a full-page subway advertisement for successful double eyelid surgery at a Gangnam plastic surgery clinic.
I dodged the spray of water hitting my face and shouted toward Moo-song.
“Senior! Could you slow down the speed a bit——.”
“I’m afraid that won’t be possible.”
Moo-song cut off my words sharply.
Standing upright as if on flat ground, a man born and raised on the Yangtze River lifted his hand and pointed forward.
“Do you see it?”
See what? What is he talking about?
Narrowing my eyes, I gazed toward where his finger directed.
Drawing my inner energy upward and concentrating it in my eyes, my dramatically heightened vision pierced through the mist blanketing the churning waters of the river.
‘That is….’
I see it.
A passage so narrow that even the Fast Ship, among the most nimble of all vessels, could barely squeeze through with just two ships side by side.
And before it, a violent whirlpool spinning like a blade.
Crash! Crack!
A massive log, swept down from somewhere, caught in a whirlpool with a radius of over a hundred zhang, shattered under the water pressure.
Some of the splintered pieces, hurled outward, collided with the enormous boulder standing like a sentry behind the whirlpool and shattered into countless fragments.
‘A whirlpool like that in a river, not the sea.’
A sight both wondrous and chilling, sending ice down my spine.
And everyone aboard the Fast Ship in this moment knew the true nature of that tremendous whirlpool.
“Tianling Waterfall!”
Someone cried out the words like a scream.
Yes. That is indeed the Tianling Waterfall.
A natural phenomenon that transformed the Dongjeong Channel of the Yangtze River Water Bandit Alliance into a fortress of heaven’s design, and a monster that had devoured countless lives and ships across the ages.
Jeok Cheon-gang declared with a face as if he might suffocate at any moment.
“Turn the ship around. I’d rather fight the Zhengma Great Hall one more time than cross that.”
Then Gung Ki-bang and Hyuk Moo-jin spoke with faces that already seemed to be suffocating.
“Senior Moo-song. Please save us. I’d rather beg in a beggar’s den.”
“Captain. Thank you for everything until now. I’m quitting the Martial World. I want to go back to my hometown and sell silk.”
“…It seems your soul was sold before your silk.”
Even I, speaking thus, was not without fear.
Watching the massive whirlpool rapidly approaching, I felt like a single ant that had fallen into an antlion trap.
‘Damn it, I’ll probably get smashed against the rocks first, then sucked in like water flushing down a toilet.’
Before the terror of raw nature, even the system and supreme martial arts seemed useless.
If someone threw me into the middle of the Yangtze River, I’m confident I could swim out somehow, but if I’m caught in a whirlpool like that… then it’s truly the end.
“Huff, huff.”
A thick hand came to rest on my shoulder as I took deep breaths.
“Youngest.”
Geo Han, so tall that even I, fairly tall myself, had to look up to meet his gaze, opened his mouth with a composed expression.
“Don’t worry about anything.”
The composure naturally drew out the word ‘Elder Brother’ from my lips.
Setting aside Jeok Cheon-gang, who pathologically hates water, even I, who had reached the pinnacle of martial arts, felt my courage waver, yet Jin Wi-kyung, far below me in martial prowess, showed not the slightest tremor. So this is why he is the Elder Brother, the great leader.
“Elder Brother….”
“Yes.”
Jin Wi-kyung nodded with a faint smile.
“Even as ghosts, the bond between us brothers will endure forever.”
“Pardon?”
“Our departed parents loom before my eyes. They beckon to us from Tianling Waterfall, as if calling us to join them.”
“…Father is still alive, isn’t he?”
“We’ve heard nothing in ages. Let’s just assume he’s dead.”
Elder Brother is absolutely insane. A complete bastard.
And in the midst of all this, he abandons the family and flees, yet still manages to kill off Father—who’s perfectly alive—in his mind. That’s the level of audacity we’re dealing with.
‘What the hell….’
Looking around, I see that most of them are already half-delirious, surrendering their bodies to the rhythm that nature provides.
I turned my gaze to Moo-song as my last hope.
“Hey, Moo-song.”
“I’m sorry, but it’s too late to stop now.”
Crash! Crunch!
“Damn, this is really happening.”
Moo-song nodded with a grim expression.
“Hold on tight. My men and I will do our best as well.”
“What? What are you talking about?”
“Do you think Tianling Waterfall is some common waterfall you find in every city? When I came to Hubei to meet Uncle Hwang, I only passed through it three or four times at most. All we can do is trust the Fast Ship of our alliance and the skills we’ve honed so far.”
“Wait, so… you’re saying you’re a newbie to Tianling Waterfall?”
“I’m not sure why you suddenly brought up Lü Bu, but ever since I left the gang and became a stronghold master, I’ve been in Sichuan. So naturally, I’m not familiar with it.”
That’s a fair point. A damn fair point.
With my wits half-scattered, I barely managed to squeeze out my voice.
“Are you insane? Why are you telling me this only now?”
“Je-gal Poong told me not to mention it to anyone else.”
What?
I whipped my head around with lightning speed, and my eyes fell upon the disciples of the sect, their bodies rigid with tension, and one figure at their center.
Je-gal Poong, whose gaze met mine, laughed heartily as spray drenched him.
“A wise man leads his allies, but a strategist deceives even his own. Now that we’ve all mounted the tiger, let’s see this through to the end!”
“…!”
“…!”
Is this really happening?
All of us, myself included, were left speechless, while Jeok Cheon-gang lost all reason.
“That son of a bitch…!”
One of the most legendary acts of betrayal I’ve ever witnessed.
But just as Jeok Cheon-gang, eyes rolled back in fury, was about to charge forward.
“Everyone, hold on tight!”
With Moo-song’s urgent cry, the gaping vortex of Tianling Waterfall struck the Fast Ship with tremendous force.
Crash!

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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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