Murim Login - Chapter 652

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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 652
Whoosh.
Sa Ma-pyo knew the truth—the rustling that disturbed the dense grass before him was no mere wind passing through.
The killing intent of dozens of enemies bore down on him like invisible blades.
“They come uninvited and refuse to answer when questioned…”
Never had there been such inconsiderate intruders.
Sa Ma-pyo clicked his tongue softly and drew his signature weapon, the Black Dragon Blade, before speaking.
“Show yourselves. Let us face each other and talk properly.”
Instead of an answer, a dozen flying daggers came hurtling back.
Screech! Clang!
Sa Ma-pyo swept the Black Dragon Blade with lightning speed, deflecting the daggers while smoothly rotating his body.
Simultaneously, the blade energy wreathing the dark steel became a howling gale that tore through the grass and severed everything in its path.
Whoosh whoosh whoosh! Crackle!
Hundreds of leaves scattered into fragments, and faint lines were etched across the trunk of a massive tree.
Slide, boom!
The ancient tree toppled with a grinding crash. Sa Ma-pyo leaped over it and fixed his gaze upon the figures emerging into the clearing.
North, south, east, west—roughly thirty enemies moved slowly in a encirclement around the Pavilion, their faces hidden behind black masks.
“Not even allowed a glimpse of your faces. If you come uninvited, the least courtesy would be to remove your masks and apologize…but I doubt that will happen.”
Sa Ma-pyo accepted the situation with composure.
Masked intruders arriving in the dead of night. The way they greeted him with flying daggers made their intentions painfully clear.
Moreover…
‘Of all times, this happens when he is away.’
That reckless fool with the foul mouth and the habit of throwing punches at anyone who crossed him came to mind.
‘Jin Tae-kyung.’
Unpredictable and always causing trouble, yet in moments like this, he was more reliable than anyone else.
A monster who had left his mark on the martial world at merely twenty-two years old.
But whether by chance or fate, Jin Tae-kyung was absent, and Song Il-seom and Ju Hwa-ran—who would have been invaluable—were also gone. Even Hyuk Moo-jin, who could at least contribute something despite his limitations, was nowhere to be found.
All that remained were himself, Tae-san who had fallen asleep long ago, and Nam Ho—an ordinary old man he could not fight with full strength.
Meanwhile, the enemy numbered nearly thirty.
‘No, the numbers aren’t the real problem.’
Sa Ma-pyo muttered inwardly and quickly surveyed his surroundings. The killing intent emanating from these enemies, tightening around him like a net, was no amateur’s aura.
‘By Central Plains standards, each one is first-rate to peak level. Where in the Southern Wilderness did such warriors come from?’
The martial world of the Central Plains was vast, yet among its countless warriors, peak masters were not easily found—like grains of sand on a beach.
Yet in the Southern Wilderness, which could not compare to the Central Plains, thirty warriors of this caliber had been mobilized for an ambush.
Though not of the highest tier, Sa Ma-pyo’s surprise was entirely justified.
Moreover, despite being in the outer regions, this place was unmistakably part of the Inner Palace of the Southern Beast Palace.
“Who are you?”
Screech! Crash!
Instead of an answer, a short spear whistled past his neck, shattering the Pavilion’s door.
And that was the signal for battle to begin.
Pap-pap-pat!
Concealed projectiles and arrows streaked through the dimly lit moonlight, while shadows rushed forward like beams of light.
Simultaneously, the Black Dragon Blade in Sa Ma-pyo’s hand cut through the air with a sharp movement.
Whiiiing! Crackle!
Formidable blade energy shattered the void and swept away the projectiles and arrows. Toward Sa Ma-pyo, who had broken through the fire net in a single breath, blades came slashing from left and right.
Whoosh!
Hands that aimed for vital points without a moment’s hesitation. A coordinated strike technique that meshed together flawlessly.
Had Sa Ma-pyo been merely an ordinary peak master, he would have suffered grievous wounds from this assault—or perhaps lost his life.
But Sa Ma-pyo was different.
He was no inexperienced late-stage cultivator lacking real combat experience, nor was he as rigid as the Orthodox Sects’ peak masters.
The greatest value of the Demonic Heretical Way was survival itself.
Clang, thud!
With dull sounds, the two peak masters who had rushed at Sa Ma-pyo from both sides crumbled like rotted wood.
Eyes visible above the mask were wide open, and a small arrow, a palm’s length long, was deeply embedded between their brows.
‘Success.’
The reason Sa Ma-pyo wore a thin robe instead of a simple martial uniform despite the sweltering heat was simple: he could conceal projectiles within the flowing sleeves.
The mechanism was straightforward—twisting his wrist at a precise angle would fire the loaded arrow—but in unexpected situations, it was more lethal than anything else.
“Idiots.”
Sa Ma-pyo muttered the words as if spitting them out, then pulled the two falling corpses forward and positioned them in front and behind him.
Puff-puff-puff!
Projectiles that had flown in unexpectedly riddled the corpse that had been his ally moments before, and Sa Ma-pyo aimed his sleeve through the gaps in the body he was using as a shield.
Clang, puff-puff!
But now the enemies had also grasped the situation.
An arrow embedded in the forearm instead of the intended brow. Having demonstrated the technique twice already, it would not work again.
‘Then.’
Click.
Sa Ma-pyo’s judgment was swift.
He disengaged the mechanism hidden in his sleeve and charged toward his enemies with a shout like a battle cry.
“Tae-san!”
Whiiiing!
The twenty-seven masked figures now surrounded Sa Ma-pyo like wolves.
* * *
Bang!
Nam Ho, who had finally fallen asleep after tossing and turning for a while, thought the moment his eyes opened.
‘What kind of bastard is this?’
There were countless drawbacks to growing old, but among them, the most lamentable was the loss of sleep at night.
Yet someone dared disturb the slumber of an eighty-year-old man. As Nam Ho rose with creaking joints, he made a firm resolve.
‘If that demon Tae-san woke me up eating late-night snacks… this time I absolutely will not let it slide.’
Despite appearances, he had fifty years of service with the Shadow Pavilion.
Having devoted himself body and soul during the Great Martial Confrontation, sending a letter to Hanan to make Tae-san a public enemy of Murim seemed like something Cheon Myeon Ho-ri would overlook once.
‘Would they believe me if I said this bastard was Dark Heaven’s lackey?’
But Nam Ho’s worries evaporated like foam before long. The commotion echoing from outside the window saw to that.
“Tae-san!”
Whoosh! Clang!
Crash crash crash!
Nam Ho, who had been gazing blankly down at the clearing from the window, rubbed his eyes, wondering if he was seeing things.
But what unfolded before him was no dream—it was undeniable reality, and the sword aura that Sa Ma-pyo had evaded swept past the window where Nam Ho stood.
Scrape! Boom!
And finally, Nam Ho grasped the situation.
‘An attack!’
A meticulously planned one at that. The very fact that they had struck while Jin Tae-kyung was away made it obvious.
‘What a damnable mess. Who in the hell—!’
The displeasure of being roused from sleep was now the least of Nam Ho’s concerns. In moments, it wouldn’t be sleep he’d be losing, but his head.
Sa Ma-pyo was fighting better than one might expect, but at this rate, he would surely fall to overwhelming numbers.
And worse still.
Patter patter!
The moment Nam Ho spotted some of the masked figures approaching the Pavilion while Sa Ma-pyo was occupied, there was no time for hesitation.
“Ugh!”
Terrified, Nam Ho moved with a speed that belied his eighty years, bursting from the room.
He then dashed across the corridor and threw open the firmly shut door at its end.
Bang!
“Ambush! It’s an ambush! Your master is outside right now—!”
And the room’s occupant, Tae-san, responded with a thunderous voice.
“Grrrrgh. Snooooore!”
“You damnable old fool!”
“Snooooore!”
Nam Ho could scarcely believe it.
‘Sleeping through a situation like this? Is this creature truly human?’
The Pavilion was being torn apart everywhere, the clash of weapons echoing loud enough to reach Hanan itself.
Yet the man inside the Pavilion was snoring away without a care in the world.
“Old man! Wake up this instant!”
Smack! Smack smack!
With a cry that seemed to wring out his very soul, Nam Ho’s fists—weakened by the passage of years—rained down on Tae-san’s jaw.
And as if heaven itself was moved by Nam Ho’s devotion, Tae-san finally stirred and responded.
“Mmm. Tae-san…”
“Yes! Wake up now! Hurry!”
“Mmm. Mosquitoes… go away…”
“You wretched bastard!”
A cry almost like lamentation.
Just as Nam Ho’s eyes were beginning to glisten with tears, a dark silhouette appeared in the moonlight streaming through the wide-open window.
“…!”
Nam Ho’s body went rigid. As I slowly turned my head, three Masked Figures who had infiltrated the Pavilion reflected in my gray eyes.
‘Those… those bastards.’
Their movements were like those of ghosts.
At the same moment the weapons in the Masked Figures’ hands caught the moonlight and gleamed a brilliant white, I—who had endured the vast lantern show of eighty years of memories—realized the only way to awaken Tae-san.
“Tae-san! You bastard!”
Whoosh.
With my cry, the Masked Figures raised their weapons. Expecting death, I squeezed my eyes shut and continued shouting.
“Those bastards are going to steal all your meat!”
And in the next instant.
“No! Tae-san’s meat!”
As if by magic, Tae-san’s eyes snapped wide open, and he threw a single punch toward the Masked Figures.
Boom! Crash!
* * *
Huff. Huff.
Sa Ma-pyo steadied his ragged breathing. The gazes of the Masked Figures watching him, his upper body drenched in blood, now carried a subtle undercurrent of fear unlike before.
Sa Ma-pyo’s desperate struggle had been far more savage, fierce, and brutal than they had anticipated.
Hidden throughout his entire body were countless concealed weapons and poisons, and beyond that, martial techniques grounded solely in the practical application of killing.
But what was truly terrifying was his attitude—he feared death not at all.
“Come, any of you. I swear by my very being, I will kill you with everything I have.”
As Sa Ma-pyo spewed ragged breaths and charged forward, drenched in blood, the Masked Figures fell one by one before him.
Nearly twenty corpses now lay scattered across the ground, and seven of them were peak masters recognized throughout the Central Plains.
‘What a monstrous creature.’
And in the moment the Masked Figures all arrived at the same thought.
“No! Tae-san’s meat!”
Crack! Crash!
From within the collapsing Pavilion, the true monster emerged. Eight feet of insane height and tremendous bulk. And….
“Tae-san’s meat! Where is the meat!”
A madness that seemed not of this world.
Gulp.
What in the world is that thing?
As the Masked Figures swallowed hard, a small old man poked his head out from behind the monster and pointed at them with his finger.
“You see those bastards?”
“Tae-san sees them!”
“I saw it all earlier—those bastards stole and ate all your meat.”
“Tae-san cannot forgive this!!”
What meat? What was stolen and eaten?
As the bewildered Masked Figures hesitated, Sa Ma-pyo laughed, baring his blood-soaked teeth.
But what he was looking at was not Tae-san, but rather the hillside that overlooked the clearing below.
Or more precisely, someone descending the hillside with measured steps.
“I had a hunch something might happen while I stepped away.”
Thud, thud.
Jin Tae-kyung, who had walked over at a leisurely pace, asked Sa Ma-pyo.
“Are they perhaps your friends?”
Sa Ma-pyo laughed heartily and shook his head.

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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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