Murim Login - Chapter 506

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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 506
A piercing cry echoed across the water.
The sails billowed magnificently as the northwestern wind swept across the vast expanse.
The rough-hewn sailors, their muscular frames glistening with exertion, rowed in perfect rhythm, their oars cutting through the water with powerful strokes. The bow of the rapidly advancing vessel cleaved the river into two, leaving trails of pristine white foam that appeared and vanished in endless succession.
‘As if nothing had ever happened—how peaceful it all seems.’
Perhaps because of the countless tragedies that had unfolded before, the landscape of the Yangtze River stretching endlessly like the sea struck me as beautiful today.
As if reading my thoughts, Jeok Cheon-gang, who stood beside me, opened his mouth.
“Today, as always, a wretched sight it is.”
“….”
“If I were to name two things that should vanish from the world this very moment, it would be Dark Heaven and the Yangtze River.”
Reading my thoughts—what nonsense.
How should I put it? In many ways, his unchanging nature was rather comforting. I sighed as I watched him, his crimson hair dancing in the wind.
“Do not sigh so loudly. The earth….”
“A sigh won’t make the earth cave in.”
“No, before you even set foot on land, you’ll be crushed by this old man’s hand.”
“My, you certainly exceed my expectations.”
“It seems you’ve forgotten how to open your eyes properly, having not seen me in so long. Your two eyes have ‘fire’ and ‘hand’ written on them respectively—what shall I do about this?”
“Respect and reverence, sir.”
“Would you prefer a beating with ‘foot’ and ‘respect’?”
“N-no, sir.”
A whooshing sound, then a sharp crack!
“Ow!”
In an instant, lightning flashed before my eyes. With a short cry of pain, I clutched the back of my head, and Jeok Cheon-gang flinched in surprise.
“I, I barely tapped you—the boy’s such a crybaby.”
“Barely? My skull is absolutely throbbing.”
“Your skull is… throbbing?”
“No matter how resilient I am, I’m still human—it’s only natural, isn’t it?”
“…Did it hurt that much? I didn’t intend to strike so hard. Let me see.”
I let out a quiet chuckle at the sight of Jeok Cheon-gang fidgeting about like a puppy desperate for a walk.
“Why, why are you laughing?”
“No reason.”
“…?”
“Ah, it’s all better now. More importantly, at this rate, how much longer until we reach Hanan?”
At my casual deflection, Jeok Cheon-gang’s face flushed a deep crimson.
“Y-you wretch! How dare you mock this old man!”
Crack!
“Ow, that really does hurt!”
“Just take it!”
It does hurt. Truly.
Yet I couldn’t understand why laughter kept bubbling up even as the blows rained down.
‘Was it longing?’
Yes, perhaps it was.
There are moments when even the most ordinary days become something to miss.
For me, it was my Father’s rough stubble that once felt so harsh against my cheek as a child, and later, the weakening grip of Jeok Cheon-gang’s palm.
But now it’s different. Though I can only see my Father, who passed long ago, in photographs, Jeok Cheon-gang has regained his strength from the decline that once consumed him.
Crack!
Feeling the restored power and speed of Jeok Cheon-gang alongside his renewed youth, I couldn’t help but smile.
‘This is nice. Even this.’
Crack! Crack! Bang!
“…Uh, wait a moment.”
“How dare you mock me, you whelp!”
“Ugh!”
Come to think of it, this doesn’t seem quite so pleasant.
No, I should be hurting a little—but this has crossed the line.
The mad, uncontrollable laughter had long since vanished without a trace.
It was precisely as I desperately twisted my body to evade Jeok Cheon-gang’s relentless, heavy palms.
“Um… would it be alright if I came back another time?”
At the sudden interjection, Jeok Cheon-gang’s movements halted abruptly.
Seizing the opportunity, I slipped away nimbly and hid behind the source of that voice.
In the face of this unexpected turn, my precious meat shield—no, Moo-song—cried out in alarm.
“H-hey now. Junior!”
“Junior. That word sounds rather pleasant today. Senior.”
“What are you doing!”
“I’m inheriting the position of sect leader.”
“If you’re going to take the hits, take them alone!”
“Isn’t this when a senior should help? Don’t you want to be a senior who cares for their junior?”
“Why on earth am I… Gasp, the Great Rival!”
Unfortunately, the image of Moo-song and me taking the blows together never came to fruition.
With his momentum broken, Jeok Cheon-gang lowered the fist he’d clenched, instead licking his lips as he looked Moo-song up and down.
“Well, never mind. What’s the matter?”
Moo-song, who had braced himself for merciless beating, quickly peeled me away and answered urgently.
“I came because I was summoned. My subordinates told me you were looking for me…”
“Me? When?”
“S-surely you asked when I would arrive in Hanan…”
I, who had been quietly assessing the situation, raised my hand.
“Ah, I think that was something I said?”
It seemed one of the Water Thieves had overheard my muttering when I was feigning ignorance earlier and relayed it to Moo-song.
“…It was the junior after all.”
“Yes. I was just speaking carelessly.”
“I see, then.”
Hearing that desolate voice, it seemed the Water Thief who had delivered the false report would not escape punishment at the Yangtze River today.
I opened my mouth toward Moo-song, whose eyes held an unusual intensity as he stared at something.
“I did want to ask about that. When do you think we’ll arrive?”
Though Moo-song was young compared to other members of No Gang-ho’s crew, he was a seasoned Water Thief who had spent a lifetime on the Yangtze River.
After gauging something in that brief moment, he spoke.
“It seems we can save considerably more time than expected. If this weather continues, we should reach West Gorge within ten days at most.”
“West Gorge?”
Even though I had been running about busily from place to place, I wasn’t at the level of being able to precisely identify the geography of every corner of the realm.
In the Murim, I had been too occupied with endless daily tasks, and in the Modern World, even when I tried to study through the internet, the locations of place names and specific areas differed, making it difficult.
‘Even Dongting Lake is like that.’
This very place—in the Murim, Dongting Lake is located in Hubei Province, but on modern China’s maps, it’s positioned in Hunan Province.
Such discrepancies were one of the decisive pieces of evidence that the two worlds were similar yet distinctly different.
“West Gorge—is that in Hanan?”
At my question, Jeok Cheon-gang nodded.
“The southwestern edge of Hanan. According to my recollection, the tributaries of the Yangtze should end around there, so from that point onward, we’ll need to travel by land. Is that correct?”
“Yes. What you say is accurate, Jeok Dae-hyup.”
“I passed near West Gorge during the Jeong Ma Great Hall conflict. Good, very good.”
Whether it was his memory, now far more precise since No-hwan’s complete recovery through the Half-Returning Reversal technique, that pleased him, or the fact that we could leave the Yangtze within ten days at the latest, I couldn’t say.
Perhaps it was both.
Jeok Cheon-gang, a satisfied smile playing at the corners of his mouth, suddenly turned his gaze toward Moo-song.
“Now that I think of it, you’ve endured quite a hardship. From Sichuan to Hubei, and now continuing to Hanan—haven’t you?”
Moo-song shook his head with a bitter expression.
“This is hardly a hardship. Thanks to this, I’ve been able to close the eyes of Uncle Hwang, who met an untimely death, and countless brothers in peace. It’s something I should do regardless of whether anyone asks.”
After the Water Dragon fell, Moo-song and the Water Thieves of the Water Dragon Stronghold gathered the remains of the fallen and scattered them across the Yangtze River.
Having lived on the Yangtze and died on the Yangtze, it was a fitting end for Water Thieves of the Yangtze River Water Bandit Den.
“They must be grateful to you in the Nine Heavens.”
“Moo-saeng, was it? For a disciple of the Sea King, you have quite refined manners. Jang-gang Il-do raised the boy well.”
“He was like blood family to me. And it’s Moo-song, not Moo-saeng, Jeok Dae-hyup.”
“Yes, Moo-saeng.”
….
Could it be that No-hwan’s recovery was incomplete?
That thought crossed my mind for a moment, but seeing Jeok Cheon-gang’s wide, staring eyes, it was clear he was simply being stubborn.
That gaze that said: whatever your name is, if you say it’s Moo-saeng, then change it legally.
Faced with the imposing presence of this master of the Three Bonds and Five Relationships, steeped in deep Confucian ideology, Moo-song swallowed hard.
“W-what?”
“No, nothing. Nothing at all.”
“Yes, Moo-saeng.”
Where was that sound of dentures clicking?
Unable to bear it any longer, I extended a hand of salvation to Moo-song, who had lost his name.
Though truthfully, it was more because I was personally curious about something I wanted to ask than for that reason.
“But Senior, do you intend to return to Sichuan?”
“Hmm?”
“Surely you know why we’re heading to Hanan.”
Moo-song’s eyes darkened as he grasped the meaning behind my question.
“So you’re curious whether I’ll participate in the Martial Alliance.”
“To be honest, yes. That’s right.”
“Dark Heaven’s treachery claimed the life of one I followed like a parent, along with countless brothers. What would you do?”
“I would repay that debt no matter what it takes.”
“I feel the same. I’d rush there this instant and lend my strength to the Martial Alliance. But….”
Moo-song bit his lip tightly before continuing, his words emerging like a sigh.
“I am merely a sect leader within the great fence of the Yangtze River Water Bandit Alliance, with no authority to make decisions. Only one person can decide matters of grave importance to the main alliance—my master and alliance leader, the Sea King.”
In the Martial World, where the strong are revered, this was commonplace.
The authority wielded by a sect master or family head of the First Gate surpassed even that of a modern-day conglomerate owner with an iron grip on management.
The problem was….
“Rootless water thieves, as expected. It’s laughable to expect anything from those who weighed profit and loss during the Righteous-Demonic War.”
Yes, that was precisely what Jeok Cheon-gang had just said.
The Yangtze River Water Bandit Alliance had never been part of the Orthodox sects from the beginning.
Water thieves scattered like grass roots across the realm gathered beneath the alliance’s banner because of the Sea King’s commanding strength and his guarantee of their individual interests.
‘I’ve heard the Green Forest Alliance operates the same way.’
Whether the Yangtze River Water Bandit Alliance or the Green Forest Alliance, their roots lay in bandit groups formed to steal from others.
The reason they had maintained their power and grown even larger was that they had sided with the Orthodox Martial Arts World during the Righteous-Demonic War and emerged victorious, earning recognition for their contributions.
Though they received far better treatment than other heterodox sects that survived the Righteous-Demonic War, grass roots could never become tree roots.
Jeok Cheon-gang gazed at the Yangtze’s waters with displeasure, muttering under his breath.
“Before the old man dies, this cursed river should dry up and wither. Then that Sea King’s face would be ruined. Tsk tsk.”
“….”
“You should think carefully too, Moo-song. Your master might make the wrong choice.”
“…That couldn’t possibly happen.”
Despite hearing his master cursed to his face, Moo-song could only offer a bitter smile.
Observing his reaction, I caught a glimpse that his relationship with his master, the Sea King, was hardly harmonious.
‘But what happens if the Yangtze River Water Bandit Alliance and the Green Forest Alliance side with Dark Heaven at this critical moment?’
The answer came quickly.
Things would become genuinely troublesome.
If Dark Heaven was a blade approaching from the front, these two forces were daggers stabbing from behind.
Should they harbor different intentions, even the mighty Orthodox Martial Arts World would inevitably suffer a devastating blow.
“The Sword Saint must be quite troubled. Indeed, what choice will those two make….”
It was the moment Jeok Cheon-gang muttered as if to himself, having arrived at a thought similar to mine.
“Not two, but four.”
When I turned my head, Moon-kyung stood there with a composed expression.

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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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