Murim Login - Chapter 57

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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 57
“Faster, move faster!”
“Huff, gasp!”
We ran like madmen possessed. Hyuk Moo-jin wheezed as though death itself was imminent, yet he refused to fall. Each time his pace faltered, I brought the spear’s blade to his back—he became a steed driven by desperation alone.
Then, at some point, sound reached our ears.
Someone’s screams, the clash of steel upon steel….
Thank the heavens. The battle still raged.
Relief flooded through me even as my heart hammered wildly. The fighting continued, yet I had not confirmed Jin Wi-kyung’s fate.
What if he fell in the next minute, the next second?
‘If that were to happen.’
Crack.
My grip tightened on the spear without conscious thought. I channeled the inner force drawn from my dantian through my legs.
“Commander, Commander!”
The Scout Unit members’ voices faded behind me as I pressed onward. The countless footprints left by the main force ahead and the ever-growing din of battle served as my compass.
‘Stay alive. Stay alive. Please, stay alive….’
Ah! At last, I saw it.
Below the modest hillside, no more than two hundred meters away, countless martial artists clashed in a blood-soaked melee of death and slaughter.
“Die!”
“Aaaaagh!”
Corpses and blood, then more corpses, more blood!
The scene before me was so brutal that I momentarily lost all words.
Had I not built my tolerance through years as a hunter, I would have been paralyzed by shock for far longer.
‘Jin Wi-kyung! Where is Jin Wi-kyung?’
But the first person to catch my eye was someone else.
White hair visible even from this distance.
‘The Grand Elder!’
He stood before someone, sword in hand.
Hidden behind the Grand Elder’s back, the figure on his knees was a man of massive build, still gripping a sword.
‘Large frame and a sword?’
Only one person came to mind.
Jin Wi-kyung. I had to move immediately to save him.
‘Inventory open.’
My Murim inventory was packed with all manner of items.
This spear, with its wooden shaft and steel head, was among them.
‘Equip weapon.’
I drew the fresh spear and retreated several steps backward.
Two hundred meters. A dizzying distance. Far too great for a thrown spear to find its mark. Yet I had to succeed.
‘There is nothing I cannot do.’
Strength, stamina, agility.
I pushed every stat I had cultivated between Murim and reality to its absolute limit.
With inner force channeled through my arm, I could send the spear flying farther and with greater power.
“Huff.”
I held my breath and planted my feet. The first step slow, the last one heavy. The spear shaft shot forward from my fingertips as I whipped my arm like a lash.
Shrieeeeek—!
The thrown spear was faster and more accurate than I’d anticipated. It seemed ready to pierce straight through the Grand Elder’s back.
But then….
Scrape.
‘What the hell is that?’
A blue light flashed, and the spear split cleanly in two. From the spearhead all the way to the shaft, a perfect cut.
I couldn’t tell if what I’d thrown was a spear or a birthday cake.
“Who dares!”
The old man certainly had good lungs.
“It’s me, you bastard!”
Probably words the Grand Elder had never heard in his entire life.
We were from the same clan in the Murim world, and by genealogy, there was roughly the generational gap between a primordial ancestor and a chick.
That alone would be reason enough for shock, but I had one decisive move left.
“The Grand Elder!”
My voice, infused with inner force, rang out thunderously. Even I was startled by the power of it—what must the others have heard?
I glared at him in the distance, his expression cold and rigid, and shouted with all my might.
“Is a traitor!”
* * *
Jin Wi-kyung heard that voice right after he’d brought down all three of the Hengshan Sword Sect’s peak masters.
No—not just Jin Wi-kyung, but everyone on the battlefield heard that cry.
– Who dares!
– It’s me, you bastard!
Curses?
Common enough on a battlefield. But if the target of those curses was the Grand Elder, and if the youth who’d suddenly appeared hurling insults was Jin Tae-kyung, then things were different.
“That’s… that’s not the Third Young Master, is it?”
“What? That’s Jin Tae-kyung? But why?”
“What in the world is happening?”
Jin Wi-kyung had the same thought.
‘What on earth is going on?’
The youngest, who should have been in the rear, had appeared on the battlefield. That alone was shocking enough, but he’d even hurled unspeakable profanities at an elder of the family. Wi Paeng beside him muttered.
“He’s completely lost his mind.”
Jin Wi-kyung was about to nod in agreement when—
– The Grand Elder!
An even greater bombshell fell.
– Is a traitor!
The battlefield fell into a chilling silence. Even the occasional clang of weapons striking against one another ceased abruptly.
Everyone stared at Jin Tae-kyung with blank expressions.
‘What the hell is he talking about?’
‘Betrayal? The Grand Elder?’
‘Is he drunk? The Third Young Master’s old habits are showing again.’
The martial artists of the Taewon Jin Family said nothing, but those of the Hangsan Inspection Bureau harbored similar thoughts.
Even the senior members who had recently begun viewing Jin Tae-kyung favorably fell silent, their mouths agape.
“That madman.”
“Does he not know who the Old Master is!”
If one were to name the greatest contributor to this war, it would undoubtedly be the Grand Elder.
He had unified the family’s strength by aiding Jin Wi-kyung and defeated Lee Cheon-baek in today’s battle.
Considering not merely the obvious merits of this war but the broader context, Jin Tae-kyung’s words could only sound like nonsense.
Who was the Grand Elder?
Known as the Flame Yang Sword, his name had spread even to the Central Plains—a master of the previous generation and the embodiment of righteousness who had felled countless demonic cultivators in the Great Demon Suppression War.
Every martial artist in Shanxi Province harbored great respect for him, whether great or small.
“Such a man, what? A traitor? A betrayer?”
“Hah, this bastard is defiling three hundred years of Taewon Jin Family history.”
The Taewon Jin Family, the Hangsan Inspection Bureau—everyone present seemed to share the same thought. Yet at least one person was the exception.
‘The Grand Elder. Betrayal.’
The moment Jin Wi-kyung heard the youngest’s words, he felt the blood in his entire body turn cold. It was a discomfort that had taken tangible form.
‘Lee So-gun’s death was the beginning.’
He had died from extreme poison addiction. The Hangsan Inspection Bureau had named the Taewon Jin Family as the culprit, and that became the spark of war.
But the most crucial question had been overlooked.
‘Who was the true culprit?’
Even now, as the war neared its end, the mastermind hidden behind the scenes remained unknown. Or rather, because the war was nearing its end, no one bothered to question the culprit’s identity.
Survival of the fittest. The strong would survive and monopolize everything.
‘This war was… wrong from the very beginning.’
Lee So-gun’s death. The unnaturally rapid spread of rumors.
The Hangsan Inspection Bureau declared war, and as the Taewon Jin Family responded, the true fighting began.
‘And then there was the Grand Elder.’
The Grand Elder, who had remained secluded, appeared shortly after news of Lee So-gun’s poisoning reached them. His role within the family had been immense.
A respected martial artist, an elder of the family.
Had the Grand Elder not actively cooperated, the Taewon Jin Family might have split in two.
‘We were able to reach this point because of his help.’
Jin Wi-kyung thought the opposite.
‘We were able to reach this point because the Grand Elder willed it.’
In an instant so brief it could not even be called a moment, Jin Wi-kyung’s lips parted after his thoughts concluded.
“Wi Paeng.”
“I await your command.”
“Cut down the First Elder.”
“What?”
The First Elder, a hunched and gaunt old man, widened his eyes in shock.
Not only that, but all the veteran martial artists nearby were startled.
“M-Master of the House!”
“What in the world…!”
Yet Wi Paeng did not hesitate. His blade, drawn without conscious thought, flew toward the First Elder’s chest.
Clang, clang, clang.
At that moment, two swords suddenly intercepted Wi Paeng’s blade and forced it back.
Two elderly men—one portly and towering in height.
The Third Elder, who served alongside the First Elder as the Grand Elder’s right and left hands.
Wi Paeng’s brow twitched as he sensed the faint sword energy coiled around their blades.
“You’ve been concealing your martial prowess.”
Instead of answering, the First Elder’s fist came hurtling forward.
Boom!
The First Elder, who had sent Wi Paeng flying with power accumulated over a lifetime, straightened his waist.
The appearance of another supreme master who had spent his entire life hidden in the Grand Elder’s shadow froze the hall.
“First Elder, what… what is this?”
“Could it be…!”
Betrayal. Those two words etched themselves clearly into everyone’s minds.
“Impossible!”
The one who cried out was the White Tiger Master. If the Grand Elder’s limbs were the elders, then he had served as the First Elder’s hands and feet quite effectively.
“Elder, and Master of the House. It seems there’s been some misunderstanding…”
But his words never reached their end. The moment the First Elder nodded, the Second Elder moved with blinding speed and severed the White Tiger Master’s neck.
Slice. Thud.
Jin Wi-kyung’s and the First Elder’s gazes collided in the empty air.
“Wasn’t the White Tiger Master supposed to be turned to your side?”
“He was a noisy one. That’s all. The others are the same.”
Jin Wi-kyung’s prediction was half right and half wrong.
The elders had indeed betrayed, but the veteran martial artists belonging to the elder faction had not.
“Then why… ah!”
“Sharp-witted. I commend you.”
The First Elder withdrew a blackened bamboo tube from his robes. The fuse burning inside had little time remaining.
“Why would I reveal important secrets to such fools? Creating chaos within was enough to serve our purpose. It was easier to work when they didn’t know what was happening outside.”
Jin Wi-kyung cried out as if in agony.
“Stop it!”
“Too late.”
The First Elder was right. The moment the fuse burned to its end, a loud explosion erupted, and red flames shot high into the sky.
Whoosh, boom!
It was a signal.
The Samdo Gate, a three-sect alliance; the Byeokdo Sect, centered on the Way; and the Gung-gwi Sect, which had been relentlessly firing arrows from the cliff—
The martial artists of the so-called Sanseo Five Gates, minor and mid-tier sects, transformed in an instant.
“Kill everything in sight!”
“No need to hide anything! Sweep them all away!”
They were no longer clumsy third-rate martial artists. Killing intent blazed from their eyes, and their blades gleamed with deadly sharpness.
‘This was not prepared in a single day.’
Jin Wi-kyung’s face hardened like stone.
* * *
Boom!
The Grand Elder lifted his gaze to the sky. Before the crimson flames had even faded, a deafening roar erupted from all directions.
‘Fast. Too fast.’
The signal should have been fired only after the Hangsan Inspection Bureau was annihilated. The Sanseo Five Gates was a blade prepared for decades. It needed to be wielded once and end everything in a flash.
‘All things have their flow.’
The plan that had been flowing without obstruction began to falter. A voice pierced the Grand Elder’s ear as he smiled bitterly.
“So it was you, after all.”
Lee Cheon-baek. His voice was faint, yet his eyes burned with fiercer intensity than ever before.
“Do you still have the strength to speak?”
“I will tear you to shreds while you still draw breath.”
But before Lee Cheon-baek could finish, blood poured from his mouth. The Grand Elder pressed a vital point on his meridian and muttered.
“Not yet. You have work to do.”
Lee Cheon-baek despaired.
Though there had been great losses, hundreds of martial artists still remained in the Hangsan Inspection Bureau. If the sect master were captured as a hostage at this moment when the leadership had been decimated….
‘Kill me instead!’
The anguished cry could not escape his lips. His mute point had been struck, rendering him unable to speak, and when the Grand Elder’s hand brushed his paralysis point, his body stiffened like wood.
Lee Cheon-baek had become a living corpse with open eyes.
“You bastard! Get your hands off him!”
At the same moment, a piercing sound erupted.
Screeeech!
The Grand Elder remained unperturbed, drawing his blade upward from below. Beyond the spear split in two by the sword energy, Jin Tae-kyung rushed forward at terrifying speed.
“Hyaaaa!”
“Commander! Please slow down a bit!”
Along with a dozen ragged followers who appeared from nowhere.

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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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