Murim Login - Chapter 683

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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 683
Boom!
The heat transmitted through my chest was scorching.
Crack, crack, crack!
A tremendous impact swept across my entire body like a tidal wave.
Cough.
A pain I hadn’t felt in far too long.
My vision, once sharp, grew hazy, and dark crimson blood burst from between my parted lips.
Yet what tormented the Great Snow Ghost far more than the pain or internal injuries was the fact that he had been driven into the earth, shattering an enormous boulder beneath him.
‘My strategy was read? By that insignificant wretch?’
The Great Snow Ghost’s mind reeled at the incomprehensible reality that his cunning—the very stratagem that had toppled countless formidable foes and brought him to this pinnacle—had been overwhelmed by a mere youth barely past his twenties.
‘The old man’s judgment must have been correct.’
He hung there in a daze, turning the thought over in his mind, before shaking his head.
No, no.
Not “must have been correct”—it was undoubtedly correct.
In this mad Murim, at the intersection of countless death lines, his survival had never depended on martial prowess alone.
Concealing oneself and knowing one’s opponent.
If the supreme martial mastery dwelling within the Great Snow Ghost was a sharp blade, then his unshakeable composure and frigid judgment were both shield and hidden dagger.
Yet this was unprecedented.
An opponent who did not fall even when cut by the blade, who was not stopped even when blocked by the shield, and against whom even the hidden dagger proved useless.
An existence that transcended all his calculations and certainties.
‘How, exactly?’
With that unresolved question gnawing at him, the Great Snow Ghost lifted his trembling eyelids and gazed forward.
Whoooosh.
The fierce snow wind that had been raging began to subside. The frost-covered ground melted away, and a bitter heat mingled with the white breath that had been billowing forth.
And at the center of all this stood one figure.
Thud.
With footsteps echoing through the silent space, a silhouette emerged from beyond the pale mist, reflected in the Great Snow Ghost’s pupils.
A blood-soaked figure from head to toe—a man of blood. Yet in stark contrast, a pair of eyes clear and piercing.
As the young man drew slowly closer, the Great Snow Ghost pushed himself upright.
Patter, patter. Stone fragments fell from his entire body, and pain surged through him. Gritting his teeth and suppressing his internal injuries, he spat out a single name.
“…Jin Tae-kyung.”
His voice was as cold as his reeling mind. Yet the response that came from Jin Tae-kyung was remarkably composed.
“Surprising. I thought you wouldn’t be able to move after that.”
“What?”
“The old man’s got good vitality. But in a situation like this, that’s not ideal. It only makes things more painful.”
In that instant, the Great Snow Ghost’s eyebrows twitched as something dawned on him.
“…You bastard.”
“Ah. It’s not particularly meaningful, but someone said something similar to me earlier, and I just repeated it back. Looking at it now, it doesn’t seem like even a quarter of an hour has passed. I can’t remember which idiot opened his mouth.”
Jin Tae-kyung muttered softly, wondering if the young man had dementia, and sighed while glancing back over his shoulder.
“Ah. If I don’t figure this out, I won’t be able to sleep tonight. That old man lying over there might know something, so is it alright if I go ask him real quick?”
“…!”
“I’ll be back in a flash, okay?”
Utter nonsense, no two ways about it.
There was no way to ask something of a corpse whose heart had already been crushed, nor any way for that corpse to answer.
This was blatant mockery. Not worth lending an ear to.
Yet the Great Snow Ghost found himself biting his lip without realizing it. Under normal circumstances, he wouldn’t have reacted at all to such drivel, but now he couldn’t help but be shaken.
“What… exactly are you?”
A question tinged with genuine bewilderment.
The Great Snow Ghost was truly curious. How could Jin Tae-kyung be standing on two feet at this very moment? Why hadn’t he collapsed along with the Black Hand Fist Demon?
“I saw it with these two eyes, crystal clear. It was no illusion or clumsy deception. But how, how could such a thing be possible?”
The Great Snow Ghost’s words were fact, untainted by a shred of falsehood.
No doubt about it. The man’s qi and blood were tangled from the profound dark energy, and he’d even been cut by the dual wheels where his vital force had gathered.
That was why the Great Snow Ghost could be certain until the very last moment.
With this ice sword in his hand, he could dispatch both a wounded beast and a hunting dog simultaneously.
The Great Snow Ghost’s decision to kill even the Black Hand Fist Demon stemmed from the caution a seasoned hunter carried.
One could never predict what a beast cornered at the cliff’s edge might do.
But… he was wrong. No, everything had been turned completely upside down.
The hunter failed to kill the beast, and the beast that had sunk its fangs into the hunting dog’s throat had raked the hunter’s chest.
Something that should never happen, something that must never happen, had come to pass.
And Jin Tae-kyung, who had been staring at the bewildered Great Snow Ghost, muttered as if speaking to himself.
“Yeah, maybe that’s how it was.”
The meaning contained in that murmur touched a realm the Great Snow Ghost could not comprehend.
It was a gamble only one person in this world could attempt.
‘Level Up.’
The one move capable of reversing a desperately unfavorable situation.
Jin Tae-kyung had wagered everything on that single option. He had willingly offered his own flesh to lure the enemy into complacency, and finally, he had been able to claim the enemy’s bones.
‘If I hadn’t leveled up with the experience gained from the Black Hand Fist Demon… I’d be the one lying collapsed right now.’
But the life-or-death gamble had succeeded.
On the journey to Ai-nao Mountain, Jin Tae-kyung had fought through a dozen or so battles, and in breaking through the Poison Blood Land, he had dealt with hundreds of venomous creatures.
And atop the experience points accumulated bit by bit, he had placed the name Black Hand Fist Demon.
‘On top of that, the 10 points I obtained escaping the Underground Prison but hadn’t used yet, and the Fire Dragon Scale as well.’
He had to suffer internal injuries first from the Great Snow Ghost’s unexpected move, but precisely because of that, he could unleash it at the most critical moment.
It had been perilously close, but the result was a success.
The punch thrown with all his might had stolen the Black Hand Fist Demon’s life more swiftly than the ice sword, and the Great Snow Ghost’s ice sword had failed to completely pierce through the Fire Dragon Scale.
Jin Tae-kyung suddenly recalled words he had heard from someone long ago. A man who loved baduk dearly. Someone who would cry out “Japs out, Chinks out” every time he lost a match. Words that man had once told him.
‘Son, there’s a saying in baduk called “The Great Horse Does Not Die.”‘
‘Dad. Was that Buddhism?’
‘No, that’s not it. The great horse—in other words, a great piece doesn’t die easily.’
‘I see. But Dad, why did you lose this game?’
‘That’s because the Great Snow Ghost died… Honey! Please, just take Tae-kyung away! Honey!’
A faint chuckle escaped me. Father was right. The Great Snow Ghost did not die easily.
Having discovered a subtle move after a fierce struggle, the Great Snow Ghost grew larger than any stone and came to dominate the board.
Just like now.
“Black Hand already went ahead, and our Grandfather Geomseong should be heading to see his parents soon too. By the way, I don’t do surrender recommendations.”
Shing.
The blade of the pale blue-white flame spear, gripped in a blood-soaked hand, was leveled at one figure.
The Great Snow Ghost stared at Jin Tae-kyung with eyes whose capillaries had burst, and opened his mouth.
“Don’t spout nonsense. You’ve merely gained a slight advantage. It’s not over yet.”
Jin Tae-kyung did not bother to deny it.
At least that damned old man’s words about it not being over yet were true.
Flesh severed, bone broken.
Though the flesh I had sacrificed was for the sake of taking bone, the internal injuries I had sustained earlier and the wounds from the Twin Wheels were insufficient to be healed by a single level-up.
Meanwhile, just as I had risen again after being caught in his preemptive strike, the Great Snow Ghost still possessed ample vitality.
“Your death and this old man’s life. That is the natural order, the Mandate of Heaven bestowed by the heavens themselves.”
Shhhhh.
Cold air enveloped the surroundings along with that frigid voice.
Witnessing the ancient monster standing despite being struck by the full force of the Extinguishing Flame Divine Fist, I awakened the Fire Dragon that filled my lower dantian once more.
“Well. An old man losing his mind is just how it goes…”
Whoosh.
Pale blue-white flames erupted, covering the transparent blade and driving back the cold air. Flames kindled in a pair of eyes that held a subtle warmth.
“If Dark Heaven dares speak of the Mandate of Heaven, you’ll die without ever seeing your parents again.”
In that instant.
Boom!
With space itself erased, the flames and cold collided.
* * *
Crash!
The world trembled. The Fire Spear and Ice Sword that met head-on unleashed a tremendous roar.
Shockwaves that shook earth and sky swept in all directions, but the two figures, pushed back by the explosion, extended their feet toward each other without yielding an inch.
Whoosh!
One step. Just one step sufficed. The Great Snow Ghost, shot forth in a sliver of time, shook his blood-soaked sleeve.
Boom!
Cold so intense it froze the very air swept across the thousand-pound boulder buried deep in the earth.
‘A boulder?’
The Great Snow Ghost realized and lifted his head.
As if treading invisible stairs, Jin Tae-kyung, who had leaped upward half a beat ahead, descended as one with his spear through empty space.
Fire Dragon Divine Spear. This technique.
Heavenly Strike.
Boom!
There was no time to think. The Great Snow Ghost instinctively raised the ice sword in his hand upward.
A single streak of flame descended like a meteor, colliding with the ice sword.
Crash!
Had it been a moment earlier, I would have blocked it without difficulty. But now things were different.
Jin Tae-kyung’s attacks, with his qi fully recovered, were heavier and sharper than before.
No—the internal injuries that the Great Snow Ghost had sustained were equally severe.
‘Huff.’
The Great Snow Ghost swallowed the surging blood with a groan, redirecting his ice sword. The flames that erupted across the ground in a sliding motion exploded outward.
His figure was sent tumbling back with a deafening roar that made his ears ring.
Beyond his spinning vision, the Great Snow Ghost hurled his ice sword toward the figure like a projectile.
Screech! Crash!
Jin Tae-kyung, who had swept away the ice sword that came at him faster than the speed of sound, did not hesitate. Power surged through his feet as he stepped on the boulder frozen by the Dark Yin technique.
Crack. Crunch.
The ice melted, and spider-web-like fractures spread across the hard stone surface.
Then a single streak of flame erupted.
Roar!
Flame Path of Unity.
Jin Tae-kyung surged forward, wreathed in pale blue-white flames.
Toward the Great Snow Ghost. Toward the ancient monster who dared defy the natural order, who spoke of heavenly fate.
‘I can do this.’
It was neither certainty nor carelessness. I simply believed in myself.
With breath held, Jin Tae-kyung cut through space and advanced, gripping the spear shaft in reverse grip before unleashing it.
Screeeech!
The spear blade, brimming with flames, grazed the fleeting instant. It cut through the wind. It burned the air.
And at its end… there was a person.
“Roar!”
The speed was overwhelming.
The Great Snow Ghost, releasing a cry like a roar, gathered the Dark Yin technique abundantly in both his hands.
Immediately after, a pure white force surged toward the spear blade as if it would freeze the very world.
Or rather, it should have been so.
Whoosh! Crackle!
Pain transmitted from his back.
Something with white fur, accompanied by a burning sensation, flashed across the Great Snow Ghost’s vision.
That which passed through the vision of the old monster whose judgment had grown clouded did not slow its pace, instead rushing straight toward somewhere else.
‘Damn it. White….’
The Great Snow Ghost swallowed the rising curse. Toward the pale blue-white terror flame that filled his vision, he unleashed both palms with all his might.
Boom!
Crack!
A roar as if the heavens themselves were splitting shook the world.

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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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