Murim Login - Chapter 677

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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 677
Click. Creak.
Light poured forth as the stone gate suddenly swung open.
Just as Hyuk-ung and Yo-hee, accustomed to darkness, instinctively shrank back with groans, a voice pierced through their ears.
“Oh, quite the sight you two make.”
“…!”
“…!”
“Yes, the savages of the Southern Wilderness ought to look exactly like this.”
At the slurred, wavering voice, both their bodies trembled violently.
Was it the mockery and derision laced in those words that wounded their pride?
No. It was fear and terror.
‘That voice….’
Recognizing the speaker’s identity, Yo-hee felt her blood run cold as ice.
How could she forget? The voice of the Evil Demon who had materialized like a phantom, slaughtered her warriors without mercy, and reduced Hyuk-ung to a one-armed man with a single strike.
As Yo-hee’s hair turned deathly pale, Hyuk-ung’s hushed whisper reached her ears.
“Remember this. You must not open your eyes under any circumstance….”
Whoosh!
“Gasp!”
A cry of agony echoed with the sound of a blade tearing through air.
Though Yo-hee kept her eyes shut as advised, it was hardly difficult to imagine Hyuk-ung spewing crimson blood from internal wounds.
“Stop! Please stop!”
“Cough, cough. Yo-hee, stay still….”
Whoosh! Thud.
As the sound of a blade cutting through air rang out once more, Yo-hee could no longer restrain herself and opened her eyes.
Hyuk-ung lay sprawled on the ground, his entire body bound. Before him stood the Evil Demon, towering over a pool of blood the size of a bucket that had poured from his mouth.
“You….”
“I heard you were quite cunning for a woman, but it seems that was mere rumor.”
At Yo-hee’s trembling words, the Evil Demon bared his yellowed teeth in a grin.
Hair as wild as straw, white as snow, and eyes narrowed to slits. Though he had worn a mask in the Yao Seo Tribe, the old man before her was unmistakably that Evil Demon.
“Why did you not heed his warning? Had you not seen my face, you might have lived a moment longer.”
“…!”
“Well, since it has come to this, there is no help for it. I shall send both of you wretches to the underworld together.”
The old man shrugged his shoulders and extended arms abnormally long for his diminutive frame.
As his palm, covered in inexplicable blotches, drew closer, the stench of death grew thicker.
It was the moment Yo-hee, sensing this was the end, began to struggle.
“That will suffice, Huk Soo.”
At those words flowing through the half-open stone gate, the old man called Huk Soo withdrew his hand and sighed.
“Tch, now I cannot even have my fun without worrying about appearances.”
An unseen presence responded.
“Are you speaking to me?”
At the voice as cold as eternal snow, Huk Soo smacked his lips.
“How could that be? I was merely talking to myself, merely talking to myself.”
“Enough of this thundering buffoonery. Surely you haven’t forgotten the orders bestowed by the Demon Empress herself.”
Huk Soo’s face contorted.
“Thundering buffoon, you say? I never expected to hear such words at my age.”
“Then conduct yourself befitting your years. Should you act recklessly with the Grand Design within reach, I will not forgive you.”
….
“I take your silence as acknowledgment.”
Though Yo-hee sensed no presence departing, she realized someone beyond the stone door had vanished. It was the murmuring that reached her ears moments later that confirmed it.
“Cursed old demon.”
Though it was merely a trivial complaint to Huk Soo, Yo-hee had to exert every ounce of her will to conceal her shock and dread.
‘It wasn’t just him.’
I didn’t know who the owner of that cold voice was who had suddenly interjected. Yet from the exchange between the two, I could discern it.
He was someone who possessed both the seniority and martial prowess to make even the Evil Demon before me obey without question.
And beyond that….
‘Demon Empress. They definitely said Demon Empress.’
Two characters that appeared during the brief exchange. Demon Empress.
And I already knew who that term referred to.
‘The Nantian Demon Empress.’
A core figure of Dark Heaven, known to be extraordinarily beautiful and far more dangerous than her beauty suggested.
All information regarding the Nantian Demon Empress was treated with utmost secrecy, but Yo-hee, one of only four Grand Tribal Chiefs in the Southern Wilderness, was an exception.
Above all, I had Baek Sang, a towering figure I could trust and rely upon.
‘If you stand beside me, I will give you what you desire.’
Those were Baek Sang’s words at our first meeting, shortly after I ascended to the position of Grand Tribal Chief in a woman’s form. To that, I had asked:
‘What do you intend to give me?’
‘Vast wealth and influence. And the revival of the Yao Tribe.’
‘How intriguing. But I must decline.’
‘Your reason?’
‘Even if I were to accept Grand Tribal Chief Baek Sang’s proposal, I would not obtain compensation equal to what I desire. My ambitions are greater than they appear. I’m not naive enough to make an enemy of Palace Master Yalul over a promise that won’t be kept.’
‘Upon becoming Grand Tribal Chief this time, you inherited the Yao Seo Tribe. Do you have trustworthy subordinates there?’
‘Of course. But why suddenly ask that….’
‘I thought to send a gift as a belated congratulation. Five carts of gold should suffice for now.’
‘…!’
‘Leave now. Should you decide to accept my proposal, we shall meet again at this hour tomorrow.’
Five carts of gold.
Initially skeptical of such an astronomical sum I could scarcely imagine, I had no choice but to be convinced after personally witnessing the glittering golden heap awaiting me.
Baek Sang always kept his promises.
If I stood beside him, I would obtain far more than the price I desired.
Thus, the next day, having spent the night sleepless, I sought out Baek Sang at once and realized my judgment had been correct.
Or rather, I believed it had been correct.
Until the Evil Demon standing before me arrived.
“Ho, now look at this woman.”
As if his mood had never soured, Huk Soo laughed hazily like a drunkard.
“Your eyes are wide open—it seems you’ve grasped something, haven’t you? Hmm?”
“I, I didn’t….”
“Well, I’ve already heard the broad strokes, so I know well enough. Thanks to you, our preparations proceeded smoothly, or so I’m told. In that regard alone, Baek Sang—that barbarian handled matters rather competently.”
Yo-hee’s pupils trembled violently.
It was incomprehensible that she now faced death, having already served as Dark Heaven’s puppet.
“It can’t be. It can’t possibly be. I didn’t know….”
“Didn’t know, or pretended not to know?”
“…!”
“No need to ask—I already know. After following Baek Sang for over a decade, a woman of your standing as Tribal Chief would naturally harbor suspicions.”
Yo-hee could only stare blankly at Huk Soo’s cackling form.
Every word the Evil Demon spoke was truth.
It began modestly. At the Grand Council held once yearly, she raised her hand in support of Baek Sang’s opinions, and by simply following his trivial directives, gold and influence tumbled in like vines.
Yet as years passed, suspicion deepened, and the two characters “Dark Heaven,” heard with increasing frequency these past months, began to unsettle her.
But that was all. She deliberately turned away from and suppressed the doubt and anxiety lodged in her heart.
She had gained far too much to expose everything and make amends now.
The Yao Tribe’s people revered Yo-hee for reviving their weakening clan, and the tribal leaders who once dismissed her as a mere girl now bowed their heads first.
Even the mighty Beast King Miao Wang and Baek Sang would eventually crumble to dust. When that time came, the vacant throne would be worth pursuing.
To ascend to the Palace Master’s seat in a woman’s body and rewrite the history of the Southern Beast Palace.
Yet the grand ambitions Yo-hee rehearsed every night were crumbling entirely at this very moment.
“Still, you should be grateful to me. Had the Yao Tribe’s previous Tribal Chief not died suddenly, how could a foolish woman like you have enjoyed such luxury until now?”
“That, that can’t mean….”
“A troublesome old man in many ways. His martial prowess was pathetic, but his intuition was sharp. Fortunately, an epidemic swept through the Yao Tribe—easy to handle.”
Huk Soo laughed wickedly and continued.
“Wasn’t it curious? The aged Tribal Chief aside, his three sons who should have succeeded him all died, and the succession fell to a concubine’s daughter born to him in his twilight years.”
“…!”
“Baek Sang’s expression at that moment was truly worth seeing. He tried desperately to persuade that old man, dragging things out to the end—but the stubborn fool wouldn’t strike. A pity, really.”
Yo-hee gazed at Huk Soo with hollow eyes. She believed she had no more capacity for shock, no more strength remaining.
Yet this too was merely her own delusion.
“Still, for a woman, you showed promise. Even with your life hanging by a thread, you used a Tracking Fragrance—did you inherit such caution from your elderly father?”
Tracking Fragrance. At those three syllables flowing from Huk Soo’s dark lips, her slender frame froze solid.
And Huk Soo, having shattered Yo-hee’s final hope, could not contain his delight.
“Why, did you think I wouldn’t know?”
Huk Soo read the despair pooling in her trembling eyes and cackled.
He had faced such emotions countless times before, yet the thrill that surged with each such moment had never dulled.
“Tsk. This green girl. How foolish you are.”
A palm covered in dark spots, befitting the name Huk Soo, caressed her snow-white cheek.
“Truly beautiful. The Empress would covet you.”
The Old Master opened his mouth like a beast before its prey. From teeth that were rotted and grotesquely twisted came a stench so foul it made the air itself recoil.
“I would gladly strike you all down in a single blow if I could… but this once, I shall restrain myself. There is something I must do first.”
Leaving Yo-hee frozen like an insect caught in a spider’s web, Huk Soo rose from his seat.
And just as he glanced at Hyuk-ung, who had already lost consciousness and collapsed, and began moving toward the stone gate—
Boom, boom, boom!
Huk Soo could hear it.
Along with the thunderous roar that shook all directions, a voice crying out from somewhere distant.
– Come out! You bastards!
Roooaaarrr!
Now it was time to greet the guest who had traveled such a long distance.
* * *
My method of summoning enemies was simple.
Break, destroy, obliterate.
Poison Masters? Poison Users? Enemies lurking somewhere, watching and waiting for their moment?
It didn’t matter. Like a runaway eight-ton truck with broken steering, I tore through Poison Blood Land, smashing everything in my path.
So they would have no choice but to emerge.
And my efforts soon bore fruit.
“A spirited young man, I see.”
“I thought it would be Beast King Miao Wang who came… so you are the Jin Tae-kyung everyone speaks of?”
Turning slowly toward the voices, I could see them.
A short, elderly man swaying as if drugged, and a tall old man radiating cold so intense it seemed to pierce from the Antarctic itself.
Though these two were so starkly different, they shared something in common.
First: they were both supreme masters of martial arts.
Second: they both emanated a killing intent that made clear they had no intention of letting me leave alive.
As I regarded the two elders, I paused briefly before speaking with gravity.
“One of you step back. I will face you in order, according to the laws of the martial world.”
The answer came swiftly.
Whoosh, crash!
Yeah, damn it. I knew that wouldn’t work.

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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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