Murim Login - Chapter 669

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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 669
The time it takes to brew tea—or perhaps merely a moment.
It took less than that to resolve everything in the Underground Prison.
With Tae-san blocking the staircase, halfway through his transformation driven by hunger, Ya-ryul Mok and I advanced at the forefront while Chil Myo-ho followed. The White Tribe warriors lost their will to fight.
For me, this was an extraordinarily fortunate turn of events.
While I had urgent reasons to escape the Underground Prison as swiftly as possible, even I—still unable to fully comprehend the capabilities of my Middle Dantian—was beginning to sense my limits.
Having already expended tremendous mental energy severing the restraint shackles, followed by a brief skirmish, my stomach churned and my chest ached. Tae-san’s arrival was like having ten thousand celestial soldiers at my command.
“Uuuaaarrrghhh!”
Well. At that point, he was practically the Hulk.
The enemies’ swift surrender owed not only to my presence as a supreme master, but greatly to Tae-san’s utterly sinister muttering.
“%#$%&^&%^&%^#$!”
“Huk-eok!”
Eyes gleaming with ravenous hunger.
To the White Tribe warriors, Tae-san’s approach—spewing forth an incomprehensible language like machine-gun fire—was terror incarnate. But I knew the true nature of those utterances.
“Roasted duck with plum sauce, braised pork belly, fragrant pork with ginger, steamed pork ribs, three-treasure pork, fruit-glazed pork, ancient pork, pork with bamboo shoots, Dongpo pork, mapo tofu!”
“….”
“Kung Pao chicken, fragrant stir-fried vegetables, wontons, osmanthus chicken, hot and sour soup! Uuuaaahhhhh!”
Hmm.
Thank goodness they don’t understand Chinese. Though perhaps advancing slowly while chanting food names like a man possessed might be even more terrifying.
“Baegopa Cannon!”
“Kyaaaah! Sorcery! That monster is attempting sorcery!”
“Surrender! We surrender!”
This bastard is at least a Saiyan—Southern Wilderness edition.
Judging by their reaction, you’d think Baegopa was an energy blast rather than hunger.
Regardless of my thoughts, Baegopa’s effectiveness was undeniable. When a few brave souls stepped forward undeterred, only to be pulverized by Tae-san, the situation ended.
“Fear not! Press forward!”
“You can do this! Strike him down!”
Those who stepped forward were skilled enough to be considered first-rate even in the Central Plains.
Their only problem was their opponent.
Thwack! Crack!
Crunch!
As limbs thick as logs swung about, bodies scattered in all directions.
Witnessing this, the White Tribe warriors swallowed hard and lowered their weapons. Ya-ryul Mok and Chil Myo-ho stared at me with astonished eyes.
“What. What is it.”
“Wasn’t his power sealed?”
“Ah. Yes, it’s sealed. Still can’t use it.”
“…But how.”
“I’m the result of cultivation, while he was simply born this way.”
Human bodies have natural limits, but through the system, I’ve transcended those limits far beyond. Tae-san, by contrast, is a naturally occurring monster.
Even without his cultivation base, he could crush first-rate masters as easily as catching mice.
Was I exposed to gamma rays as a child, perhaps?
It was a reasonably logical suspicion, but in the current situation, that wasn’t what mattered.
I gazed at the White Tribe warriors who had already lost their will to fight and disarmed themselves, muttering softly.
“All right. Let’s start by organizing this situation first.”
* * *
To cut to the conclusion, the surrendered White Tribe warriors survived. More precisely, Ya-ryul Mok saved them.
Thud. Thump.
Bodies struck by pressure point techniques lost consciousness and collapsed.
The Seven Miao Tigers, whom I’d become acquainted with days earlier on the road to Ai-nao Mountain, gathered them in one place and threw them into the Underground Prison, and we didn’t hesitate before heading toward the stairs leading to ground level.
Splash.
“As I said before… you’re going to regret this.”
A remark tossed out casually with my footsteps. Ya-ryul Mok shook his head, understanding the weight behind those words.
“There’s no need for regret.”
“With our faces already completely exposed, whose names do you think they’ll mention first when they regain consciousness?”
Ya-ryul Mok was a junior palace master of the Southern Beast Palace, so there was nothing more to say, and the Seven Miao Tigers were likewise well-known warriors representing the Miao Clan.
Though they belonged to different tribes, some of them had likely already recognized their identities.
“It’s only a matter of time before this truth comes to light. We should have silenced them.”
“It doesn’t matter.”
“It doesn’t matter? What do you mean it doesn’t matter? You said we’re not fleeing down this path. If you stay here…”
“My identity will be exposed. My life won’t be in immediate danger, but I’ll pay dearly for defying the Grand Council’s decision.”
“I’m sorry to say this, but do you have some twisted hobby? Is being locked in the Underground Prison on your bucket list?”
“Bucket… it’s difficult even to pronounce. I don’t quite understand what that is, but this is something I’ve already accepted and chosen to do.”
Ya-ryul Mok continued in a quiet voice.
“Though we belong to different tribes, we are people of the Southern Wilderness who have lived together on this same land for countless years. If we kill our own people, we become monsters ourselves.”
Listening to Ya-ryul Mok’s words, someone suddenly came to mind. He who had become a monster consumed entirely by vengeance.
‘Baek Sang.’
Yes, perhaps this is the difference between human and monster.
Not sacrificing fleeting lives to achieve one’s own purpose. Yet I opened my mouth with a heavy heart.
“I should have killed them all.”
“You enjoy murder. Are all Han Clan members like you?”
“You fool. Do you think I’ve become a Demon Master or something? This is just…”
“That’s enough. I already understand without you saying more.”
“What?”
When I turned my head, Ya-ryul Mok was laughing silently.
“You’re worried about us. You’re burdened by guilt for getting into trouble while trying to save me.”
“…”
“Though the Central Plains and our language differ, the word ‘friend’ exists in the Southern Wilderness too. Perhaps you and I have somehow become such companions. Or perhaps it’s just my misunderstanding alone.”
“…!”
Damn it. I had no idea what to say.
Just as I lost my words, the endless staircase leading upward came to an end, and at last the entrance to the Underground Prison came into view.
“Won-hu.”
At Ya-ryul Mok’s call, the middle-aged guard nodded and stepped forward.
The monkey-like man inserted a massive bundle of keys one after another, and with a heavy grinding sound, the colossal iron gate began to swing open.
Crreeeak.
As soft moonlight seeped through the slowly opening iron gate, Ya-ryul Mok withdrew two small wooden boxes from his robes.
“This is an antidote capable of breaking the seal on your cultivation. It’s a secret treasure of the White Tribe, so I could only obtain two, but once you recover your power, you’ll be able to lead the others and escape the Southern Wilderness.”
“Others? You mean…?”
“The Old Master and the wounded. Perhaps because of their condition, the guards were remarkably lax in that area. Even for Uncle Baek, it was uncharacteristically careless.”
As Ya-ryul Mok finished speaking, I could see them through the fully opened gate—two unconscious figures being carried on Baek Ho’s back.
“My lord! Nam Ho!”
Upon spotting those familiar faces, Tae-san rushed out of the Underground Prison in haste, while I stared at Ya-ryul Mok with conflicted emotions.
“You…”
“Go. We’ll buy you as much time as we can. Of course, we’ll likely be discovered within half an hour at most, but it should help somewhat.”
I didn’t know what to say in this moment.
What would have become of us without their help?
Though Tae-san and I could have escaped the Underground Prison on our own, we could never have fled the Southern Beast Palace as swiftly as this.
For me, the existence of Nam Ho and Sa Ma-pyo detained somewhere in the Inner Palace was a shackle far heavier than ten thousand iron balls.
‘We might have been recaptured in the process.’
Yet they helped me with all their might, risking their own safety in the bargain.
Thanks to them, I had been granted a second chance to break free from this predicament.
“…Thank you.”
For the gratitude I hadn’t yet expressed, Ya-ryul Mok, Chil Myo-ho, and those disguised as White Tribe warriors outside the Underground Prison all shook their heads with faint smiles.
“There’s no need to thank us.”
“We’re simply repaying a debt the Southern Wilderness owes you.”
“My elder brother was at Ai-nao Mountain. Thanks to your kindness, I was able to see him again.”
Strangers whose faces and names I didn’t know had helped me, and someone called it a debt repaid.
I etched each of their faces into my memory, one by one.
Then I accepted the wooden boxes from Ya-ryul Mok’s hands and stepped forward into the hazy moonlight.
Squelch.
The moment my feet touched the damp earth.
Ding.
– Escaped Underground Prison before execution (Complete)
– Quest success condition achieved!
– Quest
[Escape the Southern Beast Palace]
successfully completed!
– Quest completion reward granted!
– Acquired substantial experience!
– Level up!
– Some injuries and status ailments have been removed!
A Quest notification pierced my ears, and a refreshing breeze—perceptible only to me—swept across my entire body.
Whoooosh!
Muscles that had grown rigid over more than a full day of exertion. My exhausted frame, worn from forcibly drawing upon the still-insufficient power of my middle dantian, recovered, and finally the force that had bound my lower dantian released, melting away helplessly.
Exhale.
The heat flowing from the Blazing Yang Technique mingled with my deep, deliberate breath.
Sensing something in my transformation, Ya-ryul Mok and Chil Myo-ho widened their eyes.
‘They’d be amazed, naturally. I haven’t even consumed the antidote yet.’
But there was neither the time nor inclination to explain every detail.
I tossed Tae-san a Vital Pill from within my neck pouch as a snack, then fed the remaining one to the unconscious Sa Ma-pyo.
Sizzle, dissolve.
The Vital Pill melted like water beneath the Blazing Yang Technique. As the liquefied pill slipped down his throat, color gradually returned to Sa Ma-pyo’s pallid face.
‘His condition is better than expected, but… he can’t exert himself for a while.’
Nam Ho was one thing, but Sa Ma-pyo—my reliable combatant—being unable to fight at full strength was a significant disadvantage. Yet it didn’t mean our chances of escaping this place had vanished entirely.
No, if anything, my position was better than before I surrendered.
‘I’ve secured the safety of the other team members, excluding the Scouting Party, and gained some insight besides.’
Beyond that, Ya-ryul Mok had shown me an unexpected kindness once more.
“Go with this one.”
Growl.
A familiar sound.
Baek Ho, who had spent a lifetime as both friend and companion to his master with sorrowful eyes, now offered his back to me.
“Mu Ya-ho is one of the white tigers that exist in the Southern Wilderness, revered as a spirit beast. He is like a brother to me, so I trust you will care for him well.”
Understanding Ya-ryul Mok’s low, measured words, Baek Ho licked my hand and sniffed at my face with soft grunts.
Watching the beast, Ya-ryul Mok smiled faintly and pointed in one direction.
“Go now. If you head northeast directly from where we first met, you should encounter the Scouting Party.”
And that was the moment it happened.
Thud.
With the impact, the ground trembled. Won-hu caught Ya-ryul Mok’s collapsing form and grinned at me.
“You’ll understand without me saying it, I trust.”
“You all…”
“Please look after the Young Palace Master.”

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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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