Murim Login - Chapter 678

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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 678
It was a relief that the Nantian Demon Empress wasn’t visible at the moment, but there were two supreme masters present.
Damn it, I had no idea.
Whether I should call this situation fortunate or unfortunate.
Whoosh, crash!
I dodged the black fist energy that surged like a beam of light by the narrowest margin, straightened my posture, and sighed.
“Ah, the principles of the martial world have fallen to the ground. Where has the virtue of the Murim gone—that noble tradition of yielding three moves to one’s juniors?”
“What?”
The stocky old man with wild hair among the two elders blinked his eyes and stared at me.
Whatever he’d just heard was apparently so absurd that even the fist he’d been about to throw in succession after his initial attack lowered obediently.
“Principles of the martial world? Yielding three moves to juniors?”
I lowered my voice and answered.
“Indeed.”
“Suddenly speaking in formal speech and spouting nonsense? And just moments ago, you said you’d take us on in turn and told one of us to step aside.”
“One of us? Did I say that?”
“Now you’re using polite speech again. Either stick to casual speech from the beginning, or unify it with formal speech. It’s confusing.”
“Please forgive me. This humble junior failed to show proper respect to you esteemed seniors and committed a grave discourtesy.”
As I assumed a rigid posture and clasped my fists in salute, confusion flickered in the wild-haired elder’s eyes.
“At this rate, I’m even getting confused. Are you perhaps Jin Tae-kyung, the Yeolhwa Shinryong and successor of the Fire King?”
“Yes, I am.”
“So you’re ultimately just some Orthodox Sect nobody, yet hearing you go on about juniors doesn’t sit right with me.”
“How could you say such a thing? If one exists in the martial world, we are all fellow disciples of the same Murim and one family, are we not? Besides, the Yeolhwa Sect has always been a faction between Orthodox and Unorthodox, so we don’t discriminate and all get along harmoniously.”
“And yet this fellow serves as a delegate of the Martial Alliance?”
His eyes had already lost their sanity, but his mind still maintained minimal function.
However, a true master maintains composure in any situation.
I answered the wild-haired elder’s sharp question without changing my expression.
“Actually, I’m a double agent.”
“A double agent?”
“Yes.”
“Bullshit.”
“Woof.”
“This is driving me insane.”
“I understand your feelings. But I swear to heaven, there is not a shred of falsehood in what I say—it is the absolute truth.”
“You bastard….”
“Did you call for me, honored senior?”
The wild-haired elder, who had been staring at my respectful demeanor, opened his mouth with an expression of admiration.
“You’re spouting nonsense with such meticulous care, stitch by stitch. In all my years, I’ve never seen an Orthodox Sect fellow like you.”
I scratched the back of my head sheepishly.
“Damn brat. Well, seeing such sincerity, I suppose I’ll believe you.”
“You crazy fool. How could anyone believe something that makes no sense?”
“Quit it already—you’re embarrassing yourself, you idiot.”
“…Your tongue seems remarkably short. I could have sworn you were calling me senior just moments ago.”
“Has the old fool lost his mind? A pathetic wretch from the Demonic Heretical Way who should have died long ago during the Great Hall Confrontation—what right do you have to be called senior?”
The wild-haired elder, who had worn a dazed expression, let out a cackling laugh at my torrent of curses.
“Completely mad, aren’t you? Truly worthy of the Fire King’s disciple.”
“It’s strange—everyone I meet says the same thing. Yet they’ve never even laid eyes on the Fire King themselves.”
The wild-haired elder paused momentarily, then let out a soft chuckle.
“Amusing. Truly amusing. Here you are, barely past your twenties, a mere brat, and yet you dare speak of those times?”
“Well, I suppose I can understand it well enough without having lived through it.”
I shrugged and continued.
“If someone like you had ever encountered That Person, you’d be dead and gone by now. In short, you’re just a lucky bastard who managed to survive by avoiding the Fire King.”
“…!”
“But I suspect your luck runs out today.”
Whoosh.
I raised the White Flame in my hand, pointing it at him—no, at them. Shimmering heat waves rose from the pristine spear blade infused with Scorching Essence.
“The Yao Seo Tribe. Was this your doing?”
Thud.
The wild-haired elder, whose face had suddenly lost all traces of amusement, clenched his fists and stepped forward.
“Yes, this old man did it.”
“Figured as much. Something about this felt right. Only a madman kills people in such a manner. What about Hyuk-ung and Yo-hee?”
“For now, they’re being kept safe. Once the Demon Empress returns, those two’s stubborn lives will finally come to an end.”
I felt relief wash over me at the two facts my enemy had directly confirmed.
“Thanks for the useful intel. So the Nantian Demon Empress isn’t here—that’s what you’re saying. And the two of them are safe.”
Only then did the wild-haired elder realize he’d said something he shouldn’t have, and his face hardened like stone.
“…It changes nothing. Even if the Demon Empress isn’t present, you will still die by this old man’s hand.”
“Then why did you two come together? Were you afraid I’d be too much for you alone, so you brought your older brother for backup?”
“You damnable little brat….”
Thump.
A single step forward, born from barely contained rage. To others, it might seem trivial, but that one step was precisely what I needed in this moment.
‘Now.’
But in the next instant, I had no choice but to halt the spear I was about to unleash with all my strength.
Click.
A hand—long and withered like a dead branch—had seized the shoulder of the wild-haired elder just as he began to move.
“It’s a provocation tactic. Don’t be played by that creature’s three-inch tongue.”
Finally, he emerged.
A cold, detached voice and expression. Baek Sang was known for his icy demeanor, but the Thin Elder, who had remained silent throughout, surpassed even that. No—their temperaments might be similar, but the depth was entirely different.
A coldness as rigid and frozen as glacial ice, and the martial prowess dwelling within his very being.
‘I can’t see an opening.’
The meaning of this instinct was unmistakable.
At minimum, he was my equal—or perhaps even greater.
That’s why I was the one directly exchanging words with the Thin Elder, but my attention had been fixed on him from the very beginning.
And it seemed the feeling was mutual.
“Impressive. No, ‘impressive’ falls far short of the mark.”
The Thin Elder stepped forward, his voice carrying an emotion difficult to discern.
“With mere words, you unsettle your opponent’s mind and seize advantage through the gaps you create… Now I understand why the Empress cautioned us to be wary of you. With martial prowess that belies your years and such cunning strategy besides, you’ll prove a formidable obstacle indeed.”
“Am I reading too much darkness into simple praise? It sounds to me like you’re saying you’ll kill me no matter what.”
“Then you’ve understood correctly. Both the praise and the intent to kill.”
“Then since you’ve already praised me, why not just let me pass quietly? Is there really a need to remove the stone from the path?”
“A stone lodged in the middle of the road must be extracted, or the path ahead will never be smooth.”
“You’re both confident you have the strength for that?”
“Damn it! Can’t you shut that mouth of yours!”
Unlike the wild-haired Elder whose face twisted at my casual provocation, the Thin Elder answered in a cold voice.
“I’ll do my best.”
Damn.
Suddenly, I felt not mere suspicion but absolute certainty—this would be an extraordinarily difficult fight.
If a mad dog were raging, you’d simply beat it down with a club and be done.
But an opponent who maintains composure in any situation and doesn’t underestimate you… such an enemy can only be troublesome.
Especially when that enemy possesses martial prowess that in no way falls short of my own.
‘If I faced him one-on-one in a fight to the death, my chances would be fifty-fifty. But such a situation won’t occur.’
In a desperate struggle where life and death hang by a thread, even a cat’s paw helps. And the wild-haired Elder’s strength, as I assessed it, ranked even above Baek Sang’s.
‘Can I do this? Can I?’
Just as this instinctive question flickered through my mind—
–
Grrrrr….
Mu Ya-ho bared his fangs and let out a wary growl.
Yet in his crouched posture, ready to pounce at any moment, there was not a shred of retreat.
Yeah, damn it. If even a beast that can’t speak is ready to fight, how could I, a man, back down?
The only thing that troubled me was the instinct that this time, I might not be able to protect him.
‘I’m sorry.’
–
Grrr.
I don’t know if that intelligent white tiger read the intent in my eyes or sensed my desperate hope that he alone would flee far away.
But this much is certain.
Either I die here, or I kill.
Regardless of the outcome, I won’t back down.
Step.
“Since I’ve never even heard your names anyway, why don’t you two stop wasting time and introduce yourselves with your titles instead.”
The wild-haired Elder opened his mouth with a murderous smile, facing me as I extended my white flames.
“Black Hand Fist Demon.”
“Right, our Huk Soo. Seeing how unfamiliar that title is, you really are a nobody after all.”
“I had my reasons. But now the entire world will come to know. After all, it’s the epithet of the one who slew Yeolhwa Shinryong.”
“Perhaps. They would have learned of it regardless, without resorting to such methods. Everyone I kill with these hands becomes famous.”
I answered with perfect composure, turning my gaze away while ignoring the Black Hand Fist Demon, who was on the verge of erupting in fury.
But contrary to my wishes, the Thin Elder, whose eyes met mine, shook his head slightly.
“An opponent whose epithet is known becomes all the easier to comprehend. Is that not so? Yeolhwa Shinryong Jin Tae-kyung.”
“…!”
“I know you, yet you know not me. However, one of us shall fall in this place. If your resolve is complete, come.”
Damn it. This was never going to be easy.
But the die had already been cast, and now was the moment to see what face it showed.
I awakened the Fire Dragon coiled within my lower dantian.
Grrrrroooowwwl—!
Qi waves erupted from my entire body as though a volcano were detonating, shaking all directions, and atop the transparent spear blade forged from ten-thousand-year-old cold iron, layers of cyan-white flames were woven and wrapped, completely enveloping the weapon.
Crackle, sizzle, sizzle!
A terrible heat that incinerated poison and evaporated moisture.
The Black Hand Fist Demon’s focus, which had been blurred as though drunk, sharpened at the pressure I released, and in the eyes of the Thin Elder, frozen like ten-thousand-year-old snow, a strange light flickered.
“Indeed…!”
Whoosh.
And in that instant, accompanied by a brief exclamation, the blade that revealed itself beneath the loose sleeve gleamed with a cyan light.
Shwiiiiing!
Two twin wheels released from the old man’s hands tore through space as they flew toward me.
* * *
Shhhhhush!
They ran without pause.
Though the three tigers had become two, and five people had become four, this fact did not change.
Rather, they had to advance all the faster because of it.
They had come too far to retrace their steps. If they turned back now, ‘his’ choice and sacrifice would become meaningless.
And thanks to his—no, Jin Tae-kyung’s efforts, no obstacles blocked their path forward.
The tigers bearing four people on their backs raced northward, ever northward, before the carrier pigeons from Southern Beast Palace could even arrive, and the warriors of each tribe were too busy pursuing Jin Tae-kyung.
Shhhhhush!
They crossed plains, scaled mountains, and forded swamps and rivers.
And finally… the first objective of this brief yet harrowing journey came into view.
“There!”
Nam Ho’s cry pointed toward the base of the hillside.
Far ahead, hundreds of Southern Barbarian warriors advancing in a continuous stream toward the Northern Border.
Having finally caught up with the Scouting Party, they felt their strength drain away as a single face came to mind.
‘Jin Tae-kyung.’
Their footnote, whose whereabouts and actions at this very moment remained unknown to them.

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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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