Murim Login - Chapter 614

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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 614
Ding.
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[Synchronization]
beginning. 10, 9, 8, 7… 1, 0.
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[Synchronization]
completed successfully. Updated stats applied to body. Usage restricted for certain titles.
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[Login]
completed.
Before the familiar system notification could finish, the rough texture of straw and the scent of wet grass blades reached my skin and nose.
I spat out the rice straw clinging to my lips and muttered inwardly.
‘I’m back.’
My return to the Murim.
I’d spent barely more than a month in the Modern World, yet it felt like a distant memory—and this wasn’t mere illusion.
‘There’s been so much happening.’
The Murim. And the Modern World.
Everything surrounding me and both worlds was changing rapidly. With incidents unfolding in succession, even two bodies wouldn’t be enough.
“….”
Come to think of it, two bodies is exactly what I have. The problem is having to control them alternately—that’s what makes it so damn exhausting.
Anyway….
‘Ah. I don’t want to get up.’
The straw enveloping my entire body was warmer and softer than expected.
I desperately wanted to stretch out and sleep deeply. After all, I hadn’t slept properly for nearly a week while creating the basic-grade martial techniques.
If not for the soft murmuring of conversation that came the next moment, I might have actually fallen asleep right then.
“Um. What kind of person is the team leader?”
“Yes, I’ve been curious for a while. And since the other two haven’t arrived yet, it’s boring too. Isn’t that right, Song Guard?”
Familiar voices. Following the conversation between Hyuk Moo-jin and Ju Hwa-ran, the Soul Thief Song Il-seom answered curtly.
“Not particularly curious.”
“Did you hear? Song Guard says he’s curious.”
“No, I said I’m not curious.”
“I’ll give you two more silver coins.”
“…I’m becoming slightly curious.”
That money-obsessed bastard.
With Song Il-seom capitulating to the Chairman’s silver coin donation, Hyuk Moo-jin’s hesitant voice followed.
“Well, this is difficult to answer. The team leader is definitely still sleeping, right?”
“Yes. Yes.”
“Definitely asleep. His breathing is stable.”
“That makes sense. Once he falls asleep, even a ghost couldn’t carry him away.”
You sound awfully composed.
That’s because I’m controlling my breathing. Personally, I was curious what kind of answer I’d hear.
And my faithful right pinky toe didn’t betray my expectations.
“Our leader is that very famous, um, what should I say….”
“A handsome and lustful late-stage index?”
To Ju Hwa-ran’s question—clear and pure as a crystalline piano—Hyuk Moo-jin answered with the most resolute tone imaginable.
“A complete bastard.”
“…Oh.”
“…Ah.”
“These days people call him Yeolhwa Shinryong and whatnot. But a year ago, you’d be hard-pressed to find a bigger bastard than him. Every single day he’d go to Giru and drink himself stupid, steal public funds and throw them away at gambling dens. Things got so bad that back then, our leader’s nickname was….”
“Night.”
“Exactly. The Night King. In that particular field, even if all Ten Kings swarmed him at once, he’d be no match for them. Every night, with a money pouch strapped proudly to his side, he’d stride toward Giru with such swagger that my fellow Gate Guards and I would say: there goes that bastard, probably going to spend like a Heavenly Demon again today. But you, Song Dae-hyup, must have broad knowledge to have heard of it. As expected.”
To Hyuk Moo-jin’s jest, Song Il-seom replied with a lukewarm voice.
“What are you talking about? I didn’t say anything.”
“Pardon?”
“I said I didn’t say anything.”
“Come on. What do you mean? You just said ‘Night’ a moment ago.”
“I didn’t.”
“It was definitely a man’s voice. Honestly, what a joke. So then who on earth….”
His trailing words cut off abruptly.
After a brief but heavy silence, someone’s hand carefully brushed away the straw covering my face.
Rustle. Whoosh.
The straw obscuring my vision cleared away, and beneath the faintly shining moonlight, two gazes collided.
I greeted Hyuk Moo-jin, whom I was meeting after so long, with a warm and affable smile.
“Night.”
“….”
Hyuk Moo-jin, whose gaze had sunk deep and silent as he looked down at me, covered my face with the straw again.
As if nothing had happened at all, with utmost care.
“Remove it.”
“The moon’s so bright. What kind of hallucination is this….”
“If you don’t remove it, your life will grow dark. Remove it.”
“Yes, sir.”
The warm comfort I’d felt from the straw had long since faded away.
Like a vampire sealed by an exorcist and awakened after centuries, I rose from the cart’s cargo bed with a rustling sound.
Whoooosh.
A desolate wind swept away the straw clinging to my clothes.
Ju Hwa-ran, whose eyes met mine, hurriedly turned her head away, and Song Il-seom, who had been warming himself by a campfire I couldn’t remember being lit, suddenly muttered something about needing to feed the horse hay and got to his feet.
And my shadow, enlarged by the flickering firelight, fell upon one person.
“Any last words?”
To my quiet question, Hyuk Moo-jin answered calmly.
“Team Leader, please don’t do this. Just listen to what I have to say.”
“So why did I ask?”
“You said it was the last time. It sounds just like a deathbed confession.”
“It is a deathbed confession.”
“…Ah.”
“I’m absolutely delighted. Seeing my subordinate in such a state fills me with an irrepressible joy as a team leader.”
That was half true. I genuinely couldn’t contain myself.
After suffering through the Murim, suffering through the Modern World, and returning without a wink of sleep, my direct subordinate had been badmouthing me behind my back.
And the emotion that followed this light novel-like situation had a name: rage.
“Face, arms, legs, abdomen, or back. Pick just one.”
“Is that… the cause of my death?”
“I won’t kill you. I’ll just beat you half to death.”
Hyuk Moo-jin, who had been pondering for a moment, answered.
“I’ll choose the abdomen.”
“Why?”
“Scars on the back are… a disgrace to a martial artist.”
I let out an exclamation of admiration at his spirit.
“You’re spouting nonsense.”
“I did wrong, so I’ll accept the punishment gracefully. Come ahead.”
“Then since you chose the abdomen, I’ll choose the rest.”
“Pardon?”
“What do you mean ‘pardon?’ If only you choose, that’s unfair. I have to choose too for it to be fair.”
“No, wait. How is that possibly fair…”
Crack!
A violent impact sound.
Above the slowly smoldering campfire, the shadow of a man springs up, spraying blood from his nose, casting a deep silhouette.
‘I’m throwing punches the moment I arrive.’
This was Daebyeol Mountain, the border region connecting Anhui and Hubei to Hanan.
And the two shadows approaching from afar, listening to Hyuk Moo-jin’s screams playing like background music, were rootless heretics and the last members of the Hwaryong Pavilion.
“…Why is that guy getting beaten?”
“Tae-san! You came!”
Finally gathered in one place, the Hwaryong Pavilion Southern Expedition Team received a brief but intense instruction from me before I turned away.
“Come on, let’s finish beating this bastard and depart.”
There was no objection.
Right now, I wasn’t S-rank Hunter Jin Tae-kyung, but Yeolhwa Shinryong, the foremost rising star of the Orthodox Martial Arts World, and their direct superior, Hwaryong Pavilion Master Jin Tae-kyung.
Thud!
“Ugh! Aaah! Aaaagh!”
I truly love the Murim. Of course, except for that damned Dark Heaven.
* * *
It was a space of absolute darkness where not a single ray of light entered.
In the darkness where no sound or sign of life could be felt, human figures lay prostrate like the dead, their bodies trembling finely.
And in the next moment.
“Above Heaven and Below Heaven!”
“Ten Thousand Demons Bow in Submission!”
With a thunderous cry that erupted in a single voice, crimson flames surged from the darkness.
Whoooosh!
A fierce ring of fire blazed upward.
Despite being unmistakably flames, a shadow flickered beyond the inferno that exhaled a bone-chilling cold.
– It has been long.
Whether man or woman, young or old—I could not even discern if that voice was deep or high.
It was a truly strange sound, resonating with tremendous power and echoing from all directions, pressing down upon the human figures prostrate on the ground.
– My servants.
Before the unprecedented might contained in those brief words, all trembled.
Some trembled from fear of the absolute being; others from the awe and joy of facing the one they served.
And so they cried out as one.
“These foolish and lowly servants humbly greet the great Heavenly Master!”
Heavenly Master. The Master of Heaven.
There was no other word to describe that existence.
An absolute being more dignified and great than any other. The sky above the clouds was his palace, and all the insignificant things living on the earth below were the servants and subjects of the Heavenly Master.
No—they had to be made so.
– How much time has passed.
None who stood in this place failed to understand the question of the living god.
Those prostrate here were servants of the Heavenly Master, devoted and loyal beyond all measure.
The young man lying deep on the ground was no exception.
“From the day the great Heavenly Master last awakened, exactly one hundred and thirty-six days have passed, my lord!”
At the young man’s forceful reply, the fierce flames wavered.
– Yes. It comes back to me. The Western Heaven. The day that child departed.
“We are deeply ashamed!”
Led by the young man, another tremendous cry erupted.
Unlike before, it carried shame and self-reproach.
When the Western Heavenly Demon Lord and the forces of Dark Heaven he commanded were annihilated at the Sichuan Tang Family, they had been bewildered by that unexpected outcome and forced to awaken their master who had been in deep slumber.
“Great Heavenly Master. Never again will such a thing occur.”
The flames trembled once more at the words that flowed between the young man’s clenched teeth.
– No. It was my error in trusting you who are insufficient.
“…!”
– Blood Lord. You too were lacking, were you not.
At that rebuke, more painful than anything else, the young man—the Blood Lord’s—pupils trembled violently.
He understood better than anyone what his master now spoke of.
‘Hanan.’
That day, which the Orthodox Martial Arts World had named the Shaolin Blood Massacre, was one of the most agonizing memories in the Blood Lord’s life.
I had achieved far less than what was planned, and on top of that, I had suffered the humiliation of losing an arm.
If I hadn’t even managed to bring back the Jade Immortal Seal, Shaolin’s divine treasure… I didn’t even want to think about it.
‘The Sword Saint. And Jin Tae-kyung.’
As I recalled those two wretches whom I wouldn’t mind tearing apart alive, murderous intent surged unbidden within me.
Yet a loyal servant must never display such wicked emotions before their master. The Blood Lord barely suppressed the rising killing intent and opened his mouth.
“P-please forgive me, my lord.”
Whoooosh.
Instead of an answer, a chilling wind swept through.
Just as the Blood Lord and all others shrank further back, a soft voice pierced their ears.
– What is lacking shall be filled.
The air grew heavy and still. The wind ceased, and all living things held their breath.
In that space where everything had stopped, the Heavenly Master’s voice continued.
– I shall fill what you lack.
It was a command, an irresistible force.
Swooooosh.
Darkness rippled. Shadows undulated.
The Blood Lord’s eyes flew wide with ecstasy as he felt a tremendous power flowing from some unseen place and settling into his body.
“H-Heavenly Master!”
The Blood Lord, all of them, understood once more.
The master they served was a living god, an absolute being encompassing heaven and earth itself.
And the power he had personally bestowed upon them—they now grasped what it meant.
– Convey this to the Southern Heaven and the Northern Heaven.
Booooom!
The earth shook. The world trembled.
Beyond that unprecedented force that distorted all things, a thunderous roar erupted.
– Now… the Great War begins.
Heaven above, heaven below. All demons bow in submission.
As the servants shrieked with rapture and madness, the invisible shadow lowered its hand.
The blood-red flames that had stained the pitch-black space vanished, and darkness descended once more.

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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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