Murim Login - Chapter 684

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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 684
Boom! Boom! Boom!
The earth trembled with the deafening roar.
Ancient trees, their roots driven deep over countless ages beyond reckoning, and boulders bearing the weight of ten thousand jin—
And the strange creatures of the Poison Blood Land that had been lurking somewhere, watching this battle with bated breath—
Everything was buried beneath earth that undulated and overturned like waves.
Crack! Crunch!
It was scorching.
I felt the searing heat wind whipping through the epicenter of the shockwave.
The oppressive, humid breeze carried not a trace of coolness, and the thick dust cloud blanketing dozens of zhang in every direction permitted no vision whatsoever.
And yet… I could vividly recall the Old Master unleashing both palms brimming with tremendous Yin-Cold Qi toward the spear point that had nearly reached his face.
The crimson blood gushing from his body, and the figure of Baek Ho disappearing into the distance, his snow-white fur billowing in the wind.
‘…That beast.’
In the final moment, Mu Ya-ho’s sudden ambush on the Great Snow Ghost had not been prearranged.
Rather, I had instructed him to avoid combat and search somewhere in this place for Yo-hee, who was likely being held captive.
Even if I were to die here today, I hoped that clever beast would survive and escape the Poison Blood Land.
If he could reach the Southern Beast Palace alongside the two Clan Leaders, the hope of preventing the calamity to come would not fade.
But Mu Ya-ho did not heed my counsel, and his recklessly perilous ambush ultimately succeeded.
‘A subtle difference, but unmistakable. The Great Snow Ghost’s reaction was delayed because of the unexpected attack.’
It had been worth dispatching White Flame, nearly my second self.
A hunter who had lost composure and sustained wounds was now nothing more than prey, not a hunter.
‘Where are you.’
Whoosh.
I launched forward with a light push of my feet.
Toward the thick dust cloud enveloping all directions and the earth and stones pouring down everywhere—toward those things blocking my sight and perception—I extended a single fist.
Boom!
There was no need to channel my power. At speeds that shattered the sound barrier and with force that broke the wind, compressed air erupted outward.
The enormous dust cloud was torn in half, and what had been concealed beyond it was revealed.
Whoosh!
Heat wind sweeping the surroundings. In the moment a blood-soaked figure’s robe hem flashed past from beyond the dust cloud, I reached out without hesitation.
A victory seized after desperate struggle.
I could not afford to miss this moment when the scales of battle were beginning to tip in my favor.
Even if some of the abilities I had yet to reveal to the Great Snow Ghost were exposed, it mattered not.
‘Inventory open. Summon.’
With the command that formed in my mind, I hurled the spear gripped in my hand with all my strength.
Screech! Crash!
A sharp piercing cry followed by a thunderous boom. Yet before all of it had even ended, another spear was already grasped in my hand.
Screech!
Again.
Boom!
Once again.
‘More. More. More, more.’
Thought and motion became one. I twisted my waist, threw back my shoulders, and unleashed spears with the full weight of my body behind them—they devastated the surroundings like artillery bombardment.
Boom boom boom!
I paid no mind to the dust cloud that seemed to scatter only to billow up again.
After all, I was unleashing attacks far more devastating than that.
Each one was a cheap iron spear incomparable to White Flame, yet once they left my hands and shot forth like lightning, no one could escape unscathed if struck even once.
‘Even if the opponent were a supreme master. No….’
Even if it were the Great Snow Ghost.
Crash! Boom! Booooom!
Explosions and thunderous roars without pause. And as I drove over a dozen spears into the earth like lightning in a single breath, I finally saw it.
Splurch! Squelch!
Beyond the thick dust cloud, crimson blood sprayed into the air with a sickening sound of tearing flesh.
There you are.
With that certainty, I extended my leg. My foot, driven forward with the weight of a thousand pounds, carved deep into the overturned earth.
Crack. Boom!
An explosion born from compressed force. I surged forward, erasing a dozen spans of space in a single breath, and plunged through the dust.
The situation was already one where the cacophony from all directions and cascading debris made it nearly impossible to discern front from back.
Yet there was not a shred of hesitation in my movements as I tore through the space.
‘Because I’ve already seen it.’
My keen senses detected the metallic scent of blood, and my superior vision caught sight of someone’s back once more through the dust.
The Great Snow Ghost, wounded from blocking White Flame, could not be faster than me.
I summoned a spear from my inventory and brought it down at an angle.
Whoosh.
With a soft cutting sound, pale blue flames coiled around the spear blade and slowly parted the air.
No—it wasn’t just the spear that slowed. Extreme concentration numbed my mind and froze the world.
And in that frozen time, as the flames slowly carved through the dust and finally touched the edge of fabric, a flash of certainty struck my mind.
‘It’s over…!’
But why, exactly?
This inexplicable chill and strange sense of déjà vu I felt now.
In a situation where just one more inch would end everything, my body—ignoring the command from my mind—wanted to retreat.
And in that moment, I understood.
It was both reason and instinct, instinct that preceded reason.
‘The Great Snow Ghost.’
An ancient demon crawled up from the abyss of forgotten time.
Yet the reason he is dangerous is not because he is a supreme master with an open middle dantian.
What the Blood Lord and the Western Heavenly Demon Lord—possessed of overwhelming martial prowess—never possessed.
No, precisely because of that overwhelming power, they never felt the need for the caution and meticulousness that are this old demon’s sharpest weapon.
‘For such a Great Snow Ghost to fall so easily?’
No. At least, the Great Snow Ghost I have faced until now could never be so simple.
In that infinitesimal moment, I twisted my body with every ounce of strength I possessed.
My suddenly braked body and the surging martial force that had been crashing down like a tidal wave reversed their flow.
As hot blood surged up my throat, the spear blade that had snapped in mid-air tore through my garments.
And in the next instant, I could see it clearly.
A soft scraping sound.
Within the slow-flowing time, flesh and bone being sliced apart like tofu by the spear blade.
Beyond the blood floating upward as if in zero gravity, scattered strands of hair drifting, and a pair of cold eyes gleaming over the shoulder of a corpse whose breath had already ceased.
I’ll return what you did. In exactly the same manner.
The moment I felt that voiceless message reach me, a bitterly cold flash erupted from the gaping hole in the Black Hand Fist Demon’s chest.
A piercing shriek!
I understood instinctively.
This attack could not be evaded.
However, I could avoid a fatal wound. What covered my upper body was a legendary divine artifact obtained after slaying the Western Heavenly Demon Lord—the Fire Dragon Armor.
But…
A shattering crack! Piercing sounds!
It was both cold and burning hot.
The Yin-Cold Qi seeping into my body.
And the spear blade of another divine artifact that shattered through the Fire Dragon Armor and lodged in my chest—the White Flame.
Beep. Beep. Beep beep beep!
–
[Fire Dragon Armor]
has been partially destroyed by a powerful force!
–
[Fire Dragon Armor]
Time remaining until automatic restoration: 3 days
–
[Yin-Cold Qi]
is ravaging your internal organs!
– Status abnormality:
[Bleeding]
has been inflicted!
– Status abnormality:
[Severe Internal Injuries]
have been sustained!
–
[Demonic Qi Deviation]
is imminent! Stabilize your energy as quickly as possible!
– Your body has suffered critical external and internal damage!
.
.
.
Through the haze of excruciating pain, I heard the relentless warning alarm piercing my ears and thought to myself.
Truly, what a day to end my luck.
* * *
In that brief moment when everything flashed past in an instant, it wasn’t only Jin Tae-kyung who felt the world stop.
The Great Snow Ghost, lurking between the dust clouds and seizing his last opportunity, experienced the same sensation, and after nearly a century of life spent in the longest and most grueling wait, he finally exhaled the breath he had been holding.
Crack. Thud!
A spear blade embedded in a man’s chest and a body trembling violently. And eyes clouded with pain and despair.
“Kuaaagh!”
Splash.
Dark crimson blood mixed with fragments of organs drenched the Great Snow Ghost’s face.
Yet the acrid, nauseating stench that assailed his nostrils left him unmoved.
Rather, he was appalled that the young monster still clung to life.
‘This insane bastard.’
The Great Snow Ghost’s plan had been flawless in every detail.
It would have been, had Jin Tae-kyung not twisted his body to evade at the final moment.
The reason the spear blade, which should have pierced his heart precisely, instead lodged in his chest was exactly that.
‘And if the old man hadn’t adjusted the spear’s trajectory accordingly… it would have only caught his side.’
The Great Snow Ghost felt a chill run down his spine.
The assessment he had made of Jin Tae-kyung at the battle’s outset had long since been revised.
‘Not fifty years hence, but thirty. Or perhaps… within twenty years, he will rival Mu-shin and the Heavenly Demon.’
A talent that could only be called monstrous, and a determination fiercer than flame itself.
This was no mere matter of martial prowess. It was strength emanating from the person himself—a presence that transcended danger and inspired fear.
In the Great Snow Ghost’s eyes, Jin Tae-kyung was already a powerhouse.
One who stood alongside the masters of the Nine Major Sects and One Alliance and the Five Great Families—indeed, comparable even to the Ten Kings.
But.
‘Even you end here.’
Grit.
The Great Snow Ghost clenched his teeth and applied more force to the hand gripping the spear shaft.
His right sleeve, now empty as if torn away, should have been sacrificed moments ago to Baek Ho’s ambush followed by the spear blade driven down, yet he harbored no regret.
Though he had lost an arm worth his very life, the mysterious sorcerers of Dark Heaven would surely find a way to restore it without great difficulty.
What mattered to him now was this: he could finally end Jin Tae-kyung, that fearfully tiresome monster.
‘Did I not tell you? That you would die and I would live. That this is the natural order and the mandate of Heaven.’
With a face mingling fear and exultation, the Great Snow Ghost gathered the last vestiges of his strength.
At the same moment, the cold spear shaft forged of eternal iron burrowed deeper into Jin Tae-kyung’s chest.
Crack!
The spear blade, now sheathed in cold instead of flame, pierced its master’s chest. With the gruesome sound of flesh tearing and bone shattering, Jin Tae-kyung’s body convulsed.
Spurt. Aaaaagh!
Blood fountaining upward and eyes gradually dimming. Having witnessed countless deaths, the Great Snow Ghost was more certain than ever.
‘Now no one can save him. Not even if the Divine Physician himself—or a Great Immortal of the Golden Immortals—were to arrive.’
However, the Great Snow Ghost had momentarily forgotten.
The young man dying before his eyes was an existence as unpredictable as a demon of strange power and chaos—beyond his calculations.
Thud. Whoosh!
The Great Snow Ghost was given neither time nor strength to respond.
In his eyes, wide with shock rather than cold fury, a single figure was reflected.
Jin Tae-kyung, gripping the spear shaft with all his remaining strength and driving it deeper into his own chest, advancing forward of his own volition.
And from his blood-soaked hands, the final flame burning with defiant brilliance.
“…!”
In the Great Snow Ghost’s wide-open eyes, a pale blue radiance blazed forth.
Crack! Boom!

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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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