Murim Login - Chapter 633
—————
This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
—————
Chapter 633
The voice from outside was carefully muffled, yet the urgency and commotion it carried could not be concealed.
“Your—Your Majesty!”
At the cry of what appeared to be a guard, Beast King Miao Wang and Ya-ryul Mok snapped their heads up in unison.
“There’s been an incident at Ai-nao Mountain right now…!”
Crash!
A violent surge of energy erupted without warning, sweeping through the interior of the Ancestral Shrine.
Beast King Miao Wang, who had shattered the decrepit door to splinters, glared at his subordinate with wide eyes and bellowed.
“An incident at Ai-nao Mountain? What in blazes do you mean!”
And in that very moment, a soft chime reached my ears before the voice could.
Ding.
– Sudden Quest,
[Unknown Omen]
has been generated!
Quest
[Unknown Omen]
Ai-nao Mountain, the forbidden land of the Southern Wilderness, is screaming.
Countless towering peaks are strewn with torn corpses, and between them, thousand-foot cliffs are stained with the blood of something unknowable. From that place, shrouded in black clouds and mist, an endless chorus of shrieks pours forth, filling all with dread.
And now, a new path has appeared before you.
Rank
: Sudden Quest
Restriction
: Jin Tae-kyung
Objective
: Investigate Ai-nao Mountain within the time limit (Incomplete)
Reward
: ???
Failure
: ???
– Will you accept the Quest?
Unknown omen, indeed.
I muttered inwardly, then suddenly thought I should rename the Quest. Not “Unknown” omen, but a “damn certain” omen.
Of course, regardless of that, my answer in this situation was already predetermined.
‘Accept Quest.’
Ding.
– Sudden Quest,
[Unknown Omen]
has been accepted!
– Time limit has been generated!
Time remaining : 4 hours 59 minutes 59 seconds
Time, which had been frozen, began to flow once more, and before even a moment could pass, we set out for Ai-nao Mountain, cutting through the deep night.
* * *
The warriors of the Southern Beast Palace are said to grow up alongside fierce beasts.
They build bonds by raising these creatures from childhood, and after undergoing their coming-of-age ceremony, they are formally recognized as warriors and become the rightful masters and companions of their beasts.
Yet even this tradition, spanning centuries of history, had its exceptions—as all things do.
Whoosh! Crack!
Beast King Miao Wang Ya-ryul Cheok was an existence that needed no help from beasts. Perhaps he had always been this way, and it remained true even now.
He was the greatest warrior ever born in the Southern Wilderness and a beast unto himself.
From the mouth of the Beast King who led the charge through the jungle, thick with darkness and tall grass, a fierce roar erupted.
Roooaarrr!
It was, quite literally, the roar of a beast—rougher and more savage than the Lion’s Roar of Shaolin’s monks, which carried the power of demon-subduing force, and far more primal.
And this roar of the Beast King tore through the thick darkness, spreading far and wide with increasing speed, sounding a warning.
Gazing at the hundreds of torches rising from countless points below the distant mountain ridge, the Beast King suddenly called out to his escorts running alongside him.
“Gi-san. Do-gok. Go to the Outer Palace. Find the tribal chiefs staying there, reassure the people, and tell them to mobilize the warriors to prepare for any possible invasion!”
“Yes!”
“Won-hu. Man-jeok. You take the Inner Palace. Mobilize the Miao Clan’s warriors and defend the palace interior!”
“As you command!”
“The rest of you—find the other great chiefs, inform them of the current situation, and tell each to mobilize one hundred elite warriors and head to Ai-nao Mountain!”
Having issued these swift, decisive commands to the Seven Miao Tigers, the palace lord’s personal guard composed of the finest warriors in the Miao Clan, the Beast King’s gaze slid toward his youngest son, who was eagerly following behind him.
“Mok.”
“…Yes, Father.”
Ya-ryul Mok’s complexion appeared dark not because of the shadows that had descended around them.
And as if he had already anticipated what would come next, the Beast King continued in a resolute tone toward his son, who answered in a subdued voice.
“Go with them. Assemble the warriors under the Miao Clan’s command, and you must raise a force to prepare for any contingency.”
“But…”
“Have you forgotten? You are a minor tribal chief of the Miao Clan and a minor palace lord of the Southern Beast Palace.”
This was precisely why one understood anew why the Beast King was the palace lord of the Southern Beast Palace.
When I first met him, the Beast King had seemed as relaxed as a well-fed lion, but now he was like a beast with prey right before its nose.
And Ya-ryul Mok was not foolish enough to defy his father’s commands—stern as stone—in a situation like this.
“…I accept your command, my lord.”
Yet contrary to his answer, Ya-ryul Mok did not immediately leave the formation.
The fellow drew close to my side as I ran alongside the Beast King and made an unexpected proposal.
“Go with this one.”
“What?”
–
Growl?
The “one” Ya-ryul Mok was referring to was none other than Baek Ho, which made it all the more surprising.
The warriors of the Southern Wilderness regard the beasts that accompany them as their most precious comrades and family.
Whoosh!
I dodged the branch that came rushing at my face and asked carefully.
“Are you perhaps offering to share? Like a household sharing arrangement?”
“That’s absurd!”
–
Grrrrr!
“Goodness, why are you so angry? You could just say no if that’s the case.”
“No! If you conserve even a fraction of your strength, it will be of greater benefit to Father!”
–
Kraaaang!
There’s truth to the saying that hearts speak to hearts—man and beast alike were making a fuss in tandem.
Well, in any case…
‘It’s certainly much better if I ride.’
The amount of inner energy I possessed was of a caliber rarely encountered even in the Central Plains, yet it was far from an inexhaustible spring that flowed without end.
If I were to face Dark Heaven, led by the Nantian Demon Empress, at Ai-nao Mountain, it would be wise to conserve my strength as much as possible, just as Ya-ryul Mok had said.
‘A capable one, indeed.’
Though I hadn’t been in the Southern Wilderness for long, I understood well what it meant for someone to offer their own beast here.
Looking upon Ya-ryul Mok with eyes of approval, I decided to give him a gift.
“Here, take this. Don’t refuse out of burden—it’s the way of things that when something comes, something must go.”
Whoosh!
The whisper of passing wind and silence threading through branches. Nam Ho, dangling from my hands like cargo, opened his mouth with a heavy expression.
“Am I an object?”
“If you were an object, I could at least throw you as a weapon. You’re not capable of that, Elder Nam.”
“Such insolence! How dare you speak to an elder in such a manner…”
“No need for complaints. Go now. Your retirement plans lie ahead, so don’t get entangled in this needlessly. Besides, our children can’t afford to sit idle either.”
This wasn’t disrespect—it was consideration. No matter how much Nam Ho had experienced as a Shadow Pavilion operative, he was ultimately just an old man who had never learned even basic martial arts.
And Nam Ho, knowing this truth better than anyone, exhaled a deep sigh with a worried expression.
“Tell the Fire Dragon Pavilion clearly. The Pavilion Lord is searching.”
“That will suffice. I trust you’ll also inform them of what to be wary of.”
At last, the fuse of the Southern Wilderness had been lit.
What mattered was whether that flame had been ignited by an external enemy or an internal one.
Nam Ho, whose mind remained sharp despite his aging body, gave a small nod.
“Pavilion Lord, one last word.”
“Yes?”
“Don’t get hurt.”
“Understood.”
“And certainly don’t die.”
At his words carrying concern, I smiled faintly instead of answering, and Ya-ryul Mok, receiving Nam Ho from me, leaped into the air with a gesture, kicking off from Baek Ho’s back.
Tap, whoosh!
A shadow flickers beneath the dim moonlight.
As they, along with the Seven Miao Tigers, broke from the formation and vanished into the darkness, Beast King Miao Wang, who had been charging like a massive fire bear on all fours, accelerated further.
Pap-pap-pap-pat! Crack!
Thick branches snapped beneath us, and dense undergrowth was trampled flat.
Mounted on Baek Ho’s back—the white tiger Ya-ryul Mok had left behind—I heard voices carried through the wind that rushed fiercely past my ears.
“Do you think this is the work of Dark Heaven?”
“We won’t know until we investigate, but the likelihood is high. At minimum, they’re involved in some way.”
I opened my mouth again, addressing Beast King Miao Wang, whose face had hardened into a rigid mask.
“But what exactly is Ai-nao Mountain?”
“A forbidden place. No one may enter unless they have permission.”
I already knew that Ai-nao Mountain was forbidden—Nam Ho had told me on the way here, and the system had confirmed it moments ago.
Because of this, Beast King Miao Wang’s answer was hardly satisfactory.
“Isn’t the Southern Beast Palace the same? Or rather, it seems like most of the Southern Wilderness is like that.”
“It’s different. Truly different. That place is where only the most exceptional warriors from each tribe are permitted to enter and stand guard.”
“But what possible reason could there be….”
“It was some three hundred years ago. When my ancestor’s ancestor, and that ancestor’s ancestor, were living in the Southern Wilderness. This land was home to over a hundred tribes, locked in endless cycles of death and slaughter that stretched back generations. In the course of those wars, dozens of tribes vanished. The descendants who barely survived retreated to the deepest reaches of the Southern Wilderness and established their own sect. And then they began to cultivate something far more dangerous than any sharp weapon or savage beast.”
In that moment, a conversation I’d had with Jeok Cheon-gang in Hanan months ago flashed through my mind.
It concerned the history of the Southern Beast Palace, which was connected to the deeds of Yeolhwa Sect’s ancient sect masters.
It was also one of the reasons the Southern Beast Palace had participated in the Great Tournament.
‘Then it must be….’
There was only one answer. I murmured softly.
“Poison. It’s poison.”
“Yes. That was the beginning of the Five Poison Sect, which would drench the Southern Wilderness in terror for the next hundred years.”
We surged forward, cresting towering peaks, leaping off hillsides, trampling through dense forests.
Beast King Miao Wang, his hands curled like talons, swatted aside thick trees and continued his tale.
“It is said that countless people died. The riverbanks were choked with dead fish, and beasts that unknowingly consumed the poisoned corpses also perished. Poison seeped into the wells, and unknown plagues swept through the land. As thousands upon thousands fell, the fractured tribes finally united under a single banner and began a new war.”
That was the birth of the Southern Beast Palace.
But death begat death, and vengeance returned as vengeance.
And while the Southern Beast Palace and the Five Poison Sect, locked in an endless cycle of retribution, waged their bitter war.
A stranger arrived from the distant Central Plains.
“He declared himself the sect master of Yeolhwa Sect. It was a name none had heard before, but it mattered little to our ancestors. For the moment he set foot in the Southern Wilderness, he incinerated a hundred warriors of the Five Poison Sect who attacked him.”
The Yeolhwa sect master of that era found the Five Poison Sect’s unexpected grand welcome distasteful, and like most martial artists, he despised poison.
And with his overwhelming power, he tipped the scales of war decisively, leading the Southern Beast Palace to reduce the Five Poison Sect to ashes.
“The problem came after he departed.”
The disciples of the Five Poison Sect became bleached bones, but the venomous creatures and beasts they released in their final moments multiplied in the deep mountain recesses that had been the Five Poison Sect’s stronghold. Slowly. Secretly.
And that place, which had been the Five Poison Sect’s headquarters, was precisely….
“That very place. Ai-nao Mountain.”
I lifted my gaze, following the direction of Beast King Miao Wang’s fingertip.
In the distance, a dark mountain shrouded in clouds and mist revealed itself, its peaks rising endlessly.
—————
This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
—————