Murim Login - Chapter 635

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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 635
Ding.
–
[Spirit of Mount Aenoe]
has appeared!
Spirit of Mount Aenoe.
A being and a name I had never seen nor heard of before.
Yet before I could even process this newly received information, a colossal Black Tiger designated by the system as the Spirit of Mount Aenoe unleashed a thunderous roar.
–
Kwaaaaang!
The roar tore through the darkness and shook the entire mountain, causing the air around us to ripple like water, and branches to shatter into fragments.
It was no mere beast’s cry.
It was something primal that awakened the deepest fears lurking within the human heart and shook the very soul itself.
And I was the person in this world who understood the nature of this power better than anyone else.
‘Fear.’
From the moment I first met its pale blue eyes, I instinctively understood it.
This massive beast that had suddenly appeared was an existence that could not be completely contained by the mere word “animal.”
The reason this feeling did not seem unfamiliar was because, just a few months ago in Hubei Province, I had encountered a being similar to this one.
‘Water Dragon.’
The master of Dongting Lake who had gone mad after losing reason due to Dark Heaven. A legendary spirit that had entered a new realm after centuries of time.
I sensed the same aura as the Water Dragon emanating from the Black Tiger standing tall before me, and I was not alone in feeling this.
–
Grrrrrr….
Baek Ho, who by ordinary standards was more than worthy of being called a spirit beast, was insufficient to overcome such intense fear.
But unlike that creature whimpering like a frightened puppy, another figure stepped forward without a moment’s hesitation.
“So it was your doing!”
Kwang!
With a cry filled with fury, the Beast King Miao Wang’s form shot forward, closing the distance of over ten zhang in the blink of an eye as he stomped the ground with all his might.
Brilliant radiance erupted from his clenched fist.
Whoooosh!
A heavy sound of air splitting. The destructive force wrapped around his fist like thread advanced, erasing everything in its path.
And at its end….
Swaaaash!
There was nothing—only empty void.
“…!”
“…!”
It had dodged. The single punch of an absolute master belonging to the Ten Kings.
It happened in an instant, and the Black Tiger, moving like mist through the darkness to evade the Beast King Miao Wang’s attack, swung its massive front paw.
Shwik!
Incredibly fast. Devastatingly fierce.
Boom! Crash!
A tremendous shockwave swept across the surroundings with a deafening roar. Beast King Miao Wang, unable to withstand the sudden force, was sent flying backward, his eyes widening in shock.
“What in the—!”
Yet he was scarcely granted time to process his astonishment. A ravenous beast does not hesitate when prey stands before it.
–
A roar erupted once more!
The cry shook Mount Aenoe to its very foundations.
In the Modern World, where Gates and monsters had become commonplace and routine, such a thing would be unremarkable. But the martial artists of this realm were unaccustomed to fear.
Especially Beast King Miao Wang, who now faced an entity that transcended all expectations—a being of utterly unprecedented magnitude—for the first time in his life.
“Hah!”
A microsecond of hesitation. For Beast King Miao Wang, it was the best he could manage, yet among those who had reached the highest echelons of martial mastery, life and death were decided in precisely such a fleeting gap.
This truth remained unchanged, even when one’s opponent was not a martial artist but a beast.
Shiiiek!
In that slowed world, the Black Tiger’s claws—sharp as hooks—tore through the air.
In that same instant, a spear released from my grip became a brilliant streak of light, cleaving across space.
Screeeech! Boom!
With a sound as though the heavens themselves were splitting, the space within a radius of ten zhang trembled violently.
Force against force. Power against power.
And in that brief collision, I emerged victorious.
Crash!
The massive Black Tiger’s body, now one with the spear, was hurled backward and vanished beyond the darkened forest, causing dozens of ancient trees in the distance to snap and sway.
Mountain birds that had long since awakened and held their breath watching this place suddenly took flight in unison, while countless leaves and branches fell like a downpour.
Patter. Rustle!
Now was the moment to pursue and capture it.
Yet as I moved to chase the Black Tiger, I was forced to halt almost immediately.
‘Why is there no presence…?’
I sensed nothing. Not a trace.
The only clues remaining were the wreckage scattered as though a bomb had detonated, and a single spear lying with its blade shattered.
Beyond that, I could find no tracks or blood.
‘It escaped beyond the range of my perception? And with such speed?’
As I surveyed my surroundings, Beast King Miao Wang arrived with Baek Ho, his expression mingling anger and shame.
“Where is it?”
“It appears to have fled. I cannot locate it.”
“…Damn. What a sight to behold.”
“I understand. And I mean that sincerely, not merely in courtesy.”
Even Moon-kyung and Jeok Cheon-gang had been momentarily shaken by the fear emanating from the Water Dragon.
Though Beast King Miao Wang was formidable enough to be counted among the Ten Kings, comparing him to these two who had transcended into the realm of the inhuman was unreasonable.
Conversely, one might say Beast King Miao Wang had escaped the influence of that fear faster than anticipated.
Whether this was due to the nature of the Southern Wilderness region, where he had grown accustomed to encountering strange poisons and fierce beasts since childhood, remained unclear.
But what mattered now was…
“The creature still lives. There’s no blood, so it doesn’t appear to have sustained any injuries.”
At my low voice, the Beast King Miao Wang nodded.
“That’s what I thought. Knowing he couldn’t escape, at the final moment he bit down on the spear blade—one infused with formidable qi at that. I’ve lived my entire life in the Southern Wilderness, but I’ve never seen or heard of anything like this creature before.”
“That’s not quite right.”
“Not quite right? What do you mean?”
“About what you just said.”
Before the Beast King Miao Wang could respond, I continued calmly.
“Even if you haven’t seen it, you’ve certainly heard of it. I’m sure of it.”
There was no sign of the creature’s presence at the moment, but there was no telling when it might emerge again.
The Beast King Miao Wang’s body stiffened slightly as he stood back-to-back with me, vigilantly scanning our surroundings.
“Could it be…”
“You’re probably thinking of the right thing. There was a similar incident in Hubei Province.”
“…Are you talking about that water dragon?”
The Beast King Miao Wang continued, his voice like a groan.
“I did receive a letter from the Martial Alliance containing such information. But I dismissed it as mere fantasy.”
“Aren’t you the Lord of the Southern Beast Palace? Your only son rides around on Baek Ho—how could you not believe it?”
“He rides Baek Ho, not a water dragon.”
“…Ah.”
That was a fair point.
Water dragons were creatures that only appeared in mythology, after all. It was only natural that even information from the Martial Alliance would be difficult to believe.
Faced with my silence after his blunt response, the Beast King Miao Wang suddenly spoke.
“Then is the creature that just appeared also connected to the Nantian Demon Empress, that demoness?”
“I can’t be certain. But it’s highly likely.”
There were far too many unexplained details to deny it outright.
The sudden catastrophe that erupted on Ai-nao Mountain—which had been the former base of the Five Poison Sect but had remained quiet for over a century—and the sudden appearance and overwhelming strength of the Black Tiger all seemed to overlap with the Water Dragon of the past.
‘The Spirit of Mount Aenoe, they call it.’
What was that creature’s true identity?
Where were the two hundred warriors and the beasts they commanded who should still be alive besides these cold corpses scattered about?
In that moment, as I swept my gaze heavily across our surroundings.
–
A low growl.
Baek Ho, who had barely escaped the influence of the fear aura, suddenly lowered his stance and raised his tail sharply.
When both the Beast King Miao Wang and I reflexively turned our heads, understanding what that meant, darkness was rippling in the distance.
‘That is…!’
Both the Beast King Miao Wang and I had momentarily overlooked something while discussing other matters.
An animal’s sense of smell is tens, hundreds of times superior to a human’s, and tigers, which primarily hunt at night, possess an equally superior olfactory sense.
Which meant.
‘This beast’s sense of smell extends far beyond the range of qi perception I can detect.’
In that instant of realization, both the Beast King Miao Wang and I pushed off the ground simultaneously.
* * *
In the process of chasing that creature, I came to understand clearly.
Why people called tigers the Mountain Lord.
‘Damn that bastard.’
I swallowed my curses inwardly and glared at the distant black form racing away.
No matter how hard I ran through the winding mountain ridges, no matter how many cloud-shrouded peaks I scaled, I couldn’t catch up to it.
It possessed overwhelming strength, inexhaustible stamina, and movements that defied prediction—consistently outpacing both Beast King Miao Wang and myself, while even Baek Ho, that white-furred spirit creature, couldn’t keep pace.
Rather, it was growing increasingly anxious.
‘That’s understandable. The opponent isn’t an ordinary tiger.’
The Mountain Lord was a term that meant not only the king of mountains, but also referred to a mountain deity.
Yet this creature was no mere spirit of Ai-nao Mountain—it was a vengeful phantom, or perhaps something far more sinister: a malevolent specter.
And as I continued pursuing Black Tiger without pause, the sights I witnessed only solidified this conviction.
“This infuriating—!”
A voice seething like molten lava. Where Beast King Miao Wang’s furious gaze fell lay corpses with limbs hanging limp in death.
Deep ravines and cliff edges. Valleys that once ran clear but now lay blackened by poison.
The bodies of Southern Wilderness warriors lay scattered like mile markers along our path, and the stench of blood mingled with the wind was suffocating.
“How dare—how dare such atrocities be committed!”
From Beast King Miao Wang’s entire frame, a savage aura erupted as he witnessed the horrific scene.
In this moment, he burned with fury unlike any before, and his movements grew correspondingly violent.
“You wretched thing!”
Crack, screech!
In an instant, his form shot forward at devastating speed, launching toward Black Tiger without hesitation.
But the opponent was a being known as the Spirit of Mount Aenoe. In direct combat, perhaps—but in terms of innate physical prowess and velocity, it was unstoppable.
Whoosh!
As I’d anticipated.
Black Tiger, transcending the limits of ordinary spirits, not only evaded capture but widened the distance further, vanishing into a deep, dark ravine.
Its eyes gleaming as if to say: come if you dare.
‘What is this?’
I slowed my pace and surveyed the surroundings.
Ancient trees of indeterminate age and vines crowded every direction, while the stench of poison drifted through the humid, haze-laden air.
I couldn’t pinpoint exactly where we were, but chasing that creature mindlessly had clearly brought us to the heart of Ai-nao Mountain.
‘This is—’
The feeling was wrong. Deeply wrong.
Yet unlike me, who gradually slowed my steps, Beast King Miao Wang charged directly into the ravine without a trace of hesitation.
“Ya-ryul Mok. Wait—!”
Crash!
There was no time to stop him, and even if there had been, Beast King Miao Wang wouldn’t have heard me.
Mild anger awakens a dulled mind, but fury beyond measure drowns it.
“Damn it.”
I muttered a soft curse and turned my gaze to Baek Ho, who had grown unusually docile.
Sensing the ominous portent already, that creature paced anxiously at the ravine’s entrance where Beast King Miao Wang had vanished, and when our eyes met, it shook its head as if human.
“That just now—does it mean danger?”
–
A low growl.
“Look at this beast, so clever. For the first time, our thoughts align. But this time, there’s no helping it.”
–
A rumbling whine.
“You don’t need to follow me further. Turn back here. And if you meet your master or anyone else, tell them we’re here.”
Intelligent enough to be counted among spiritual creatures, the beast would surely understand my words.
I gently stroked Baek Ho’s brow the way Ya-ryul Mok had done, then stepped toward the valley.
Without a shred of fear. With absolute confidence.
“….”
I could return alive, couldn’t I?

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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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