Murim Login - Chapter 632

—————
This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
—————

Chapter 632
The Inner Palace.
Though my current quarters were technically part of the Inner Palace, I could immediately discern that Ya-ryul Mok’s meaning extended far beyond that simple fact.
“Ya-ryul the Great Hero wishes to see us?”
“Yes. To be precise, he’s asked that you and the Old Master be brought alone.”
This was welcome news. The Beast King Miao Wang, who had maintained stubborn silence until now, had finally agreed to my request for a private audience.
Yet to summon only myself and Nam Ho—just two people—rather than the entire Fire Dragon Pavilion was intriguing.
In that moment, as a question mingled with a peculiar thought crossed my mind, I found myself speaking.
“We need to avoid drawing attention from others?”
Ya-ryul Mok, who had been staring at me with an expression of surprise, gave a small nod.
“You’re more perceptive than I expected. We should move as inconspicuously as possible.”
“Because the tribal competition is tomorrow?”
“No. Because most of the tribal leaders despise you.”
….
“It’s the truth.”
Was I perhaps a guillotine in my past life? See how he cuts off my words before I can even speak them.
Yet unable to deny such an undeniable fact, I grimaced bitterly.
“I see. It seems Ya-ryul the Great Hero is facing pressure from all sides as well?”
Ya-ryul Mok’s lips trembled as if he meant to say something, but he soon closed his mouth with a hardened expression.
Just as I could not deny what I had heard earlier, neither could he.
But there are truths that must be acknowledged.
The Southern Wilderness was not the savage land that Central Plains prejudice painted it to be, and the Beast King Miao Wang was not a king at all, but merely one of several great tribal leaders who represented them.
‘He must know what I know. There’s no way he doesn’t.’
Ya-ryul Mok was a decent enough fellow, but he was still a young man who had not entirely shed his youthful naivety.
And then, Ya-ryul Mok, his expression wounded pride, muttered softly.
“Your words are correct. No matter how great my father is, he cannot handle them alone.”
…?
“What’s with that look?”
“Nothing, just unexpected. I didn’t think you’d speak so honestly. You’ve matured a bit, haven’t you?”
Did our conversation two days ago teach him something?
Now that I thought about it, though he still bickered like a moody middle schooler, Ya-ryul Mok had shown a far more favorable attitude than before—even bringing me wild boar he’d personally hunted.
‘If that’s the case, it’s a good thing. The problem is that our allies are but a grain of millet in this vast land.’
I opened my mouth before Ya-ryul Mok, whose face had flushed with irritation.
“What time and place?”
“The Hour of the Tiger. I’ll come fetch you then.”
“Very well. Ah, and while you’re at it….”
“While I’m at it. What?”
“Bring some deer or roe deer. Not wild boar.”
…!
* * *
In the Martial World, a day is divided into twelve double-hours, with each double-hour representing two hours. The Yin period refers to the time between three and five in the morning.
And Ya-ryul Mok kept his promise. In the deep of night when all slumbered, a white tiger whose entire body was covered in pristine fur descended before my quarters, cutting through the darkness.
Thud.
Alongside it lay a familiar-looking beast, quite dead.
“Damn it, another wild boar. Are you doing this on purpose?”
“I found it on the way.”
“Found it again? What, is there a wild boar field somewhere? Do you water them and let them grow, then steal them?”
Nam Ho asked with a bewildered expression.
“What is stealing? I’ve never heard of such a thing.”
“Such things exist. For you, old one, it’s not that you haven’t heard of it before—it’s that you won’t hear of it again in this lifetime.”
“As expected of a Han Chinese, the way you speak is….”
“Please stop the ethnic prejudice.”
To Nam Ho, who grumbled in an displeased tone, I offered a polite request to cease, whereupon Ya-ryul Mok gestured with his chin toward his back.
“Come.”
“This tiger?”
“…Or should I give you a piggyback ride instead?”
“It looks like it has quite the temperament.”
“That’s a prejudice. I’ve been with this one since it was young, so it’s docile as can be. If you don’t believe me, test it yourself.”
“Oh. Really?”
I reached out to stroke the white tiger’s chin…and pulled back like lightning.
Snap!
Large, sharp fangs slashed through empty air. At my gaze demanding an explanation with a bitter expression, Ya-ryul Mok smacked his lips softly.
“What a shame.”
“You bastard.”
“I said to test it yourself. I never said it wouldn’t bite.”
Ya-ryul Mok, spouting nonsense even a dog wouldn’t believe, gently scratched the white tiger’s brow.
“Mu Ya-ho. Mu Ya-ho. Don’t be upset.”
When he suddenly started doing that, I initially thought it was some sort of North Korean hiking trail cosplay, but then a thought suddenly occurred to me.
“Don’t tell me that’s actually the beast’s name?”
Ya-ryul Mok nodded confidently.
“Mu Ya-ho. It means a fierce tiger of the wild plains.”
….
“Truly a magnificent name, is it not?”
Purr. Purrrrr.
Ya-ryul Mok gazed at the white tiger, which was purring as if to say it too was feline, with eyes that adored it, and continued proudly.
“That’s how pleased it is. You may mount now.”
“…Ah, yes.”
“Why does your expression look like that? Is something the matter?”
There is. A small problem only I know about. But I can’t speak of it here.
I swallowed the words that had risen to my throat and silently mounted the white tiger’s back, with Nam Ho, his face slightly flushed with excitement, following after.
“To think that at my age, I would finally get to ride a tiger—one reserved only for warriors. And such a divine beast as Baek Ho!”
There is nothing in this world that brings a parent greater joy than praising their own child. Ya-ryul Mok, the Demon Empress’s consort, nodded with evident satisfaction.
“Indeed, Old Master, you have discerning taste. Do you fancy Baek Ho?”
“Ah, of course. I’ve always been quite fond of him.”
“….”
No, stop there. Pushing further would be unwise.
I waited for his next words with equal parts anticipation and apprehension.
Baek Ho, carrying three riders without the slightest strain, stretched luxuriously before launching himself from the ground with a powerful bound.
Patter-patter-pat!
Beneath the luminous moonlight, the three riders and one tiger cut through the dark jungle like shafts of light, until they came to rest before a crumbling, decrepit ancestral shrine.
* * *
The air inside the shrine was thick and humid, like the interior of a sauna.
Dust blanketed the floor, wooden pillars bore the marks of insects and rot, and a flickering lantern—as though it might extinguish at any moment—cast a dim, murky glow throughout the space.
And at the center of it all stood a figure who had been waiting for us.
“It’s fallen into disrepair since I last visited. Though I suppose it was never in particularly good condition even then.”
Unlike our first meeting, Beast King Miao Wang turned with a low bow, his expression as dim and flickering as the lantern’s flame, yet within it lay an exhaustion that could not be hidden.
Perhaps for that reason, none of us—myself included—asked why he had summoned us to this dilapidated shrine rather than the Great Hall of the Inner Palace.
Instead, I chose to acknowledge his rambling words.
“Which time do you speak of, my lord?”
“When I was young. Or rather, when I was still a child. Whenever we committed some catastrophe we couldn’t possibly cover up, we would always hide here to escape the adults.”
“By ‘we,’ you mean…”
“Someone you’ve already met. You’ve likely already guessed.”
“Baek Sang, the Great Chieftain of the White Tribe.”
Beast King Miao Wang nodded.
“Precisely. That very man.”
“I understand you spent a great deal of time together.”
“A great deal of time is an understatement. We spent our entire lives together. In the pastures, in the swamps, across mountains and fields. And even on the battlefield, we were always side by side.”
For a moment, Beast King Miao Wang gazed silently at the flickering lantern, lost in those memories.
“Yes. Indeed we were.”
“I’ve heard that the two of you are inseparable childhood companions and sworn brothers.”
At my sudden words, Beast King Miao Wang’s gaze shifted to me. I met his eyes directly and continued.
“But is that still the case now?”
“Hmm.”
“…Jin Tae-kyung. Mind your tongue.”
Grrrrr.
Baek Ho, crouched in the corner, released a low growl.
With a subtle warning and a small gesture toward his son who had stepped forward, Beast King Miao Wang fixed me with an unwavering stare.
“Do you think otherwise?”
“It merely occurred to me that Great Chieftain Baek Sang’s thoughts may differ from yours, my lord.”
“….”
“I’m not sure how much detail you’re aware of, but right now in the Central Plains, all manner of chaos is unfolding. And the very beginning of it all started in Shanxi Province, where the Taewon Jin Family resides.”
The memory remains vivid even now.
Though obscured by major incidents like the Shaolin Blood Massacre and the Sichuan Blood Sect, Dark Heaven first appeared in the Central Plains in Shanxi Province.
They manipulated the Hengshan Sword Sect and the Grand Elder to wage war, and nearly a thousand lives were lost in the process.
‘If the Shadow Pavilion transmitted that information, there’s no way they wouldn’t know.’
And as if reading my thoughts, the Beast King Miao Wang nodded.
“I’ve already heard about it. I’ve even met Hwa-yang Geom Jin Baek-yang once.”
“No one could have predicted it. Unless they were an outsider with no connection to the family. The Grand Elder was bound by blood and was a great elder of the Taewon Jin Family.”
That was also why Jin Wi-kyung remained cautious of the Grand Elder yet trusted him to the end, and the Beast King Miao Wang was not so dull a man as to miss the meaning behind my words.
“Baek Sang… no. That can’t be. He’s different from Hwa-yang Geom.”
“No one knows that.”
Following my resolute answer, Nam Ho, who had been silently observing the situation, suddenly spoke up.
“Long ago, I had a subordinate I cherished like blood. He was the sole heir of a fallen martial family, and his parents were slain by the Demon Cult. Later, when a wildfire of ten thousand demonic paths erupted in the west, he threw himself into service with the Martial Alliance. Since he never feared death and threw himself into operations, the intelligence he brought allowed us to achieve a dozen small victories.”
It was a story of a Shadow Pavilion agent unknown even to me, unknown to the world.
But like Nam Ho’s darkened expression, the words that followed were equally grim.
“Even after it happened, I couldn’t believe it. That he was a traitor. That information he brought in exchange for an arm would drive five thousand alliance members to their deaths.”
“…!”
“When everything was revealed, he fled. And days later, I was able to see a head brought by the Assassination Squad. He was grinning widely, as if delighted.”
Silence descended where his voice had scattered. Nam Ho spoke again with a deep sigh.
“This old man’s words do not mean the White Tribe’s patriarch is Dark Heaven’s puppet. But this is the Martial World, where you cannot see even an inch ahead. Baek Sang. Yo-hee. Hyuk-ung. Or perhaps one of the thirty-two tribal chiefs who will gather tomorrow—it would not be surprising if any of them were revealed as a traitor.”
The Beast King Miao Wang did not answer. For a very long time.
He simply stared silently at the lantern that flickered and steadied repeatedly, until suddenly he turned his head toward me.
“Are you certain?”
I answered.
“At least of one thing, I am certain.”
“And what is that?”
“The Nantian Demon Empress. That bitch won’t leave the Southern Wilderness alone.”
The Beast King Miao Wang let out a low chuckle and spoke.
“The Southern Wilderness is no easy place.”
“Then the Sichuan Tang Sect, Shaolin Temple, Emei Sect, and Qingcheng Sect are all such easy targets that they got trampled?”
“…!”
“Ah, my apologies. That was harsh language.”
The Beast King Miao Wang let out a hollow laugh at my outburst and replied.
“You truly are the disciple of the Old Master.”
“He’ll be displeased if he hears it.”
“He’ll secretly be pleased.”
“…Right.”
Fair point acknowledged.
Just as I was giving the Beast King Miao Wang an internal thumbs up.
Whoooosh, crack!
From beyond the Ancestral Shrine, rough footsteps approached, accompanied by a voice strained with urgency.
“Your Majesty!”
At that same moment, a crimson warning flared to life in my mind.
Along with a system notification.
Ding.

—————
This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
—————