Murim Login - Chapter 655

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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 655
The Southern Wilderness was like a small nation separated from the Central Plains, and the Southern Beast Palace served as the royal heart of that realm.
Naturally, the Inner Palace’s scale could not help but be immense.
Warriors, cooks, servants, and beast handlers managing the fierce creatures—when you counted all those dwelling within the Inner Palace, their numbers reached a thousand, and during times like now when the Tribal Council convened, they swelled several times over.
Yet among those countless people, there were those of particular importance.
The four Great Clan Leaders.
They commanded the four strongest of the thirty-two tribes existing in the Southern Wilderness, men of such caliber that any could become the next ruler of the Southern Beast Palace.
Their influence was formidable, and the three Great Clan Leaders besides the current ruler had been guaranteed privileges passed down through generations.
Whoosh!
Just as Ya-ryul Mok, racing alongside me now, was explaining.
“All clan leaders except Father must remain at their respective tribal strongholds and provide advance notice before entering the Inner Palace, but the Great Clan Leaders are an exception. They enjoy free passage and are granted residences within the Inner Palace.”
East, West, South, North.
The North had been held by the Southern Beast Palace rulers since ancient times, and the other Great Clan Leaders each maintained residences in their respective directions.
It was a form of official residence granted to high-ranking officials, or in Central Plains terms, equivalent to the Son of Heaven granting a princely manor to his vassal lords.
But at this very moment.
What awaited me, having rushed here with all my strength, was pooled blood and corpses, along with the ruins of buildings destroyed by someone’s hand.
“What in the world…?”
Nam Ho’s low whisper pierced my ears. I felt the blood throughout my body turn cold as I lifted my gaze.
Above the shattered main gate, a wooden plaque tilted at an angle, its characters visible.
Western Yao Tribe.
Three characters revealing whose manor this was. Suddenly, the image of a certain woman with an alluring smile flashed before my eyes.
‘Yo-hee. The Great Clan Leader of the Yao Tribe.’
A woman better described as bewitching than beautiful.
Whether she was truly the perpetrator of tonight’s attack, I could not say, but two facts were certain.
This magnificent manor, saturated with Yo-hee’s taste, was no longer beautiful as it once had been.
And all traces had vanished without a trace.
Crunch.
As I stepped over the half-destroyed main gate, corpses and beast carcasses lay scattered throughout.
The colorful flower beds that once displayed their own hues were now drenched entirely in crimson blood.
“…Damn it.”
As I muttered the curse involuntarily, one of the warriors who had spotted Ya-ryul Mok walking alongside me approached.
“You have arrived, Young Master.”
Ya-ryul Mok nodded with a hardened expression.
“You’ve worked hard. Any additional discoveries?”
“None, save that the body count has increased.”
Behind the warrior who answered in a heavy voice, corpses lay in rows. At a well not far away, several warriors were hauling up a waterlogged tiger from the water.
“The confirmed count so far includes the Yao Tribe warriors and the beasts they commanded—easily over a hundred.”
“Survivors?”
The warrior fell silent for a moment at Ya-ryul Mok’s question before answering.
“…Currently, there are none.”
At present?
Well, I suspect it won’t happen in the future either.
Muttering inwardly, I approached the corpses lying before me.
A warrior reflexively moved to block my path, but when our eyes met, he flinched and stepped back. I then examined the wounds on the bodies of the dead.
How they had fought the mysterious attackers, and how they had met their end.
The moment understanding dawned, Ya-ryul Mok’s voice reached my ears.
“Have you discovered something?”
Feeling dozens of pairs of eyes converging on me, I answered curtly.
“Qi of the Void.”
“…!”
“…!”
Invisible turmoil rippled through the crowd. I continued in a measured tone.
“The opponent is undoubtedly a supreme master. Most of these warriors never even sensed the ambush until their final moments. The gap in martial prowess was that vast.”
Supreme mastery—a realm granted only to a select few.
Supreme masters who had overcome countless trials and transcended the barrier to reach that exalted state became true superhuman beings.
With a single sword stroke, they could slay dozens of first-rate masters. With bare hands alone, they could reduce a dozen peak-realm experts to pulp.
Tonight, Hyung Soo, who had attacked this place, was precisely such a master.
‘Extraordinarily swift, economical, and devastatingly lethal.’
The moment I saw the wounds on the corpses, I recognized it. Hyung Soo was a seasoned killer.
He had slaughtered every living thing within the manor with force neither lacking nor excessive.
Though all in the Martial World knew that a mere inch of depth could claim a life, only a supreme master could annihilate nearly a hundred warriors and beasts with such precision.
And the implication was unmistakable.
– Does this mean Baek Sang orchestrated all of this?
A whispered transmission pierced my ear. I gazed at Ya-ryul Mok’s face, rigid with shock among the stunned crowd.
–
Perhaps not.
– Perhaps not?
– In the Southern Wilderness, only two masters have reached this level of attainment. One is Baek Sang, as you know. The other is someone everyone in the Southern Wilderness knows well.
I saw Ya-ryul Mok’s face drain of color. His mouth opened as if to cry out, but he clenched his lips shut.
– Are you suggesting that my father is the perpetrator of this massacre?
– That’s unlikely.
– Then why….
– Because it would be too obvious. At minimum, Dark Heaven’s direct involvement is certain.
Supreme masters are rare even in the Central Plains, but far rarer still in the Southern Wilderness. Even with my suspicions about Baek Sang, I wouldn’t jump to such a crude conclusion.
Dark Heaven must have deployed a supreme master under its command.
– ‘Standing back and observing from a distance, and now finally making a direct move?’
But to what end?
Muttering the question that surfaced in my mind, I spoke aloud instead of using transmission.
“There’s something I’d like to verify directly. Shall we move to another location?”
Ya-ryul Mok understood my meaning and gestured, causing the surrounding gazes to withdraw.
Nam Ho, Ya-ryul Mok, and I entered the Pavilion at the center of the Manor House together.
As everyone had anticipated, the interior—which should have been filled with rare and precious furnishings—lay in complete disarray, as though a violent tempest had swept through it.
“It seems they fought quite fiercely.”
Ya-ryul Mok answered Nam Ho’s murmur with a hardened expression.
“But the battle ended in mere moments. That was inevitable, given the opponent was a supreme master.”
“How did you know that?”
“I heard a brief but distinct explosive sound. By the time I received the report and arrived, everything was already over. What remained in the Western Yao Tribe was blood, corpses, and….”
Creak.
Ya-ryul Mok slid open a large sliding door and continued in a subdued voice.
“Only these.”
The ‘these’ Ya-ryul Mok referred to were two objects.
A fragrance sachet lying scattered across the ruined chamber. And something far more precious in value, yet far more gruesome in its scent.
“Hmm.”
Nam Ho let out a low whistle, and without hesitation, I stepped forward and touched ‘it’. A cold, lifeless sensation met my fingertips, accompanied by the sticky wetness of congealed blood.
‘This is…’
Anyone with eyes could recognize what it was.
‘It’ was a severed wrist. Someone’s hand, cleanly severed at the joint.
“Can you tell whose it is?”
There was no way I couldn’t.
Staring silently at the plump, well-fleshed wrist, I murmured softly in response to Ya-ryul Mok’s question.
“It must be Hyuk-ung’s.”
“Correct. He came with four guards seeking Yo-hee, the great chieftain. The Eastern Yi Tribe confirmed it.”
If the Yao Tribe had established the Western Yao Tribe to the west, then the Yi Tribe under Hyuk-ung’s leadership had settled to the east and founded the Eastern Yi Tribe. I set down Hyuk-ung’s wrist and asked.
“What time was this?”
“It was more than half a shichen but less than a full shichen, they said.”
Estimating the time roughly, it was immediately after we parted ways. He must have gone directly to the Eastern Yi Tribe first, then sought out Yo-hee.
‘…This mad fool. Couldn’t even wait.’
I had to exert all my effort to suppress the curses threatening to spill from my lips. Now was the time to remain composed.
I still didn’t know why Hyuk-ung had sought out Yo-hee, and without confirmation of death, I had to suspect everyone.
“What of the guards Hyuk-ung brought?”
“Dead. Along with the other Yao warriors.”
Of course they were.
I asked just in case, but it was as expected.
“Sigh.”
I exhaled deeply and surveyed the chamber slowly.
The ruined interior bore traces of resistance everywhere, and beyond the wall that had likely been destroyed by powerful palm force, the Rear Garden still maintained its brilliant appearance.
Along with the very faint footprints remaining there.
‘They swiftly subdued both individuals and escaped through the Rear Garden.’
Though the traces were too faint to identify their owner, one thing became certain from the footprints.
This was not a scheme orchestrated by either Hyuk-ung or Yo-hee—a third party had intervened.
Just an hour ago, there were at least three people in this place.
‘One of them was naturally a supreme master.’
Then who was the owner of these footprints? The Nantian Demon Empress? Or perhaps one of the Dark Heaven masters under her command?
I paused to consider for a moment, then shook my head.
I was no seasoned veteran like No Gang-ho, and the information obtainable from such meager clues had its limits.
Beside me was Nam Ho, who had worked as a Shadow Pavilion agent and encountered countless pieces of intelligence, but that knowledge extended only to the Demon Master’s appearance and external characteristics.
‘In the end, what I need is someone with both exceptional martial prowess and keen insight.’
Only two names came to mind immediately, and one of them was someone I simply could not trust.
Having finished my deliberation, I opened my mouth toward Ya-ryul Mok.
“When will the great swordmaster Ya-ryul arrive?”
“I’ve already sent word through my subordinates. By now, he should be coming with the other tribal leaders.”
That was welcome news to hear. Having left Hyuk-ung’s wrist in place to preserve the scene, I caught the scent of the bundle Yo-hee had left behind.
The silk pouch’s side had torn open, leaving only the faintest trace of fragrance—nearly odorless.
‘I will uncover it. Without fail.’
And in that very moment as I muttered to myself.
A commotion erupted from outside the Pavilion.
“It seems he has finally arrived. If it is Father, he might even know Hyung Soo’s true identity.”
But before I could even step outside the Pavilion, I realized Ya-ryul Mok’s words were mistaken.
The first to arrive was not Beast King Miao Wang, and the identity of Hyung Soo he had mentioned was someone I had never anticipated.
“The criminal walks out on his own feet.”
The moment I heard Baek Sang’s expressionless voice, I understood.
There were not only Baek Sang and Beast King Miao Wang among the supreme masters capable of orchestrating such an affair in the Southern Wilderness.

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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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