Murim Login - Chapter 698

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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 698
What is that?
A single thread of bewilderment filled my mind as the Nantian Demon Empress’s eyes widened dramatically.
Light.
It was brighter and more immense than anything I had ever witnessed before.
A colossal radiance erupted suddenly, swelling as though it might burst, devouring the encroaching darkness and seeping into the world itself.
Kwaaaaaaah!
A pillar of light surged toward the distant heavens, piercing through the sky. Sunlight poured through the gaps where dark clouds had scattered.
The darkness that had crashed like waves beyond the stone walls faltered the moment it touched the radiance, as if blocked by an invisible barrier.
‘…Blocked? By demonic energy summoned from the Rift, no less?’
An incomprehensible phenomenon.
The demonic energy of the ‘Rift’ was extraordinarily potent—pure darkness itself. Even the Imoogi, who had cultivated for centuries, could not withstand its full force and fell into corruption.
Yet everything unfolding before the Nantian Demon Empress’s eyes was undeniably real.
Dark clouds slowly dispersing, and waves of darkness held back by the radiance, unable to advance further.
And.
“Huh. This actually works.”
“…!”
Jin Tae-kyung.
Standing at the center of the radiance, a young man gazed at me with a smirk, and the Nantian Demon Empress clenched her teeth.
“How… How is this possible?”
Jin Tae-kyung shrugged at the Nantian Demon Empress, who could not finish her words.
“Nothing special. Everyone has some divine artifact tucked away somewhere, don’t they?”
“…!”
Divine artifact.
Those two words struck like a sledgehammer against the back of the Nantian Demon Empress’s skull.
Only then did her gaze slowly shift from Jin Tae-kyung to another presence.
‘That beast.’
The colossal Baek Ho. A creature that had transcended mere spirit beast—as certain as the Imoogi the Nantian Demon Empress had once corrupted—was roaring with its maw wide open.
Between the dazzling radiance, a luminous form glimmered faintly.
And simultaneously, an ancient legend of this land pierced through my consciousness like a fleeting whisper.
“…The Beast King Stone.”
The words flowed from between lips as crimson as pomegranate seeds, and Jin Tae-kyung chuckled softly.
“Yeah. You know it?”
How could one not know?
The royal insignia before which all beasts of the world bow in submission. A divine artifact of the Southern Wilderness that vanished across centuries upon centuries.
No—I could not fail to know. I was the very one who had torn through this treacherous Southern Wilderness searching for the Beast King Stone.
For more than a decade, no less.
Yet despite the passage of time enough to reshape mountains and rivers, I had obtained not even the smallest clue to the Beast King Stone’s true nature. I had been forced to abandon the ancient legend and begin my grand design.
But. But why.
“You wretches!”
Whoooosh! Crack!
A terrifyingly immense aura erupted, pressing down upon all directions.
Countless beasts that had been baring their fangs and growling tucked their tails between their legs, while the Pavilions filling the surroundings began to crumble as though trampled beneath a giant’s foot.
Tribespeople screaming as they fled from the Outer Palace caught sight of the figure standing alone in the void and gasped.
“Ah. Ahhh…!”
Darkness.
A woman draped entirely in roiling, dense darkness gazed down upon the Ground Level.
Like a god, like an Evil Demon from legend, she was measuring the remaining lives before her.
Yet contrary to everyone’s terror, the Nantian Demon Empress’s gaze was fixed upon one place alone.
“Surrender it.”
Rumble.
The dark clouds blanketing the sky released a deep, resonant cry.
A desolate voice echoing through a world where light and darkness coexisted pierced through everyone’s ears.
“That which rightfully belongs to the Heavenly Master. It is no possession for insignificant beings such as you.”
Beast and human alike.
All froze before that overwhelming power and terror. They forgot to scream, forgot to flee—only vacant eyes stared into the void.
Only two. Or rather, two beings stood apart from all the rest.
“Insane. Absolutely insane.”
– A mere human dares covet the Divine Stone.
Jin Tae-kyung and Su-ho-ryung fixed their gaze upon the Nantian Demon Empress suspended in the void.
Rumble rumble rumble!
I could feel it. The unprecedented power coiled within that small frame.
The aura pressing down upon the surroundings surpassed any human Su-ho-ryung had faced in the past several centuries, and exceeded even the Western Heavenly Demon Lord that Jin Tae-kyung had confronted multiple times, each time brushing against death.
‘Formidable.’
And terrifying.
An emotion any living creature would feel. Yet there is a fundamental difference between feeling fear and being consumed by it.
They understood that only by enduring the fear crushing down upon their entire being and pressing forward could they achieve victory in this moment.
– Much blood will spill, human.
“Damn it. If I survive this, I won’t piss toward the Southern Wilderness ever again.”
Jin Tae-kyung muttered the curse through gritted teeth, gripping the shaft of the White Flame Spear with iron resolve.
Then he spoke quietly to Yo-hee, who stood frozen behind him.
“You know what needs to be done, don’t you?”
“…!”
“Take the people and get out of here now. With every ounce of strength. As far as you can.”
Beyond those immediately visible, countless tribespeople still dwelled in the Outer Palace.
As Jin Tae-kyung, I wished to avoid painting their figures into the horrific hellscape about to unfold in this place.
Let only those with strength shed blood. The tribespeople without weapons or fangs must survive.
Even if everyone here were to fall by the Nantian Demon Empress’s hand.
‘But… I. We will hold the line.’
The demonic energy currently flowing from the rift was blocked by the Divine Stone’s power.
I don’t know how long this tense standoff will last, but I must strike down the Nantian Demon Empress and seal the rift before the situation deteriorates further.
‘By any means necessary.’
Whoosh.
After drawing a deep breath, Jin Tae-kyung fixed his gaze upon the figure standing solitary in the vast emptiness above the ruins of the collapsed Pavilion.
The Nantian Demon Empress. The beginning and end of every calamity that has befallen this land.
Someone must fall for us to witness the conclusion of this cruel tale.
“Let’s go.”
The moment those words escaped his lips in a low voice.
– A ferocious roar tore through the wind!
The mighty cry rent the air asunder.
The radiance that had been dimming against the darkness swelled anew, awakening the spirits of beasts and humans alike from their terror.
A thunderous cry erupted—Kwaaaa!
Light burst forth with the roar, and flames ignited, coiling around the silver spear blade.
The foreign visitor who had returned to this land after centuries merged as one with the colossal Baek Ho, surging upward.
Boom!
Pushing off the ground.
Whoosh!
Treading upon invisible air and wind.
Screeeech!
Toward the darkness unfurling in the distant sky above.
No.
Toward the being who had grown even more formidable by absorbing that darkness.
“Nantian Demon Empress—!”
The Azure Dragon’s Roar, cradling flames, flew forth with the spear blade, cleaving through space itself.
A sinister aura emanated from the woman’s face, now twisted beyond recognition like an evil demon, bereft of all beauty.
“The Heavenly Master wills it.”
In that instant.
Crash!
Turbulent light and darkness intermingled, painting the Southern Beast Palace in their chaotic hues.
* * *
A deafening roar echoed as if the heavens themselves were splitting asunder.
A colossal force swept across all directions, and Baek Sang instinctively closed his eyes against the blinding flash that erupted in that moment, swallowing hard as a violent gale pressed against his entire body.
‘Gasp.’
What tremendous power this was.
Even one of supreme mastery found it difficult to maintain his footing against the shockwave.
When he finally opened his eyes, the surroundings had already been reduced to devastation, and the tribespeople, saved only by the protection of the beasts, were fleeing in screams.
“Kyaaaah!”
“Ho! Ho! Where are you!”
“M-Mother!”
“Oh, Mother!”
Pavilions and houses built up over long years crumbled one by one, and a grown son wailed at the sight of his elderly mother groaning beneath the collapsed stone walls.
Screams and death. Blood and corpses.
The Street Market that had been filled with laughter and music just days before could no longer be found anywhere.
Only endless roars and screams overflowed from every corner.
Boom. Crash!
In a fleeting instant, light and darkness shot forth ceaselessly toward one another, intertwining and clashing.
Baek Sang, who had been gazing vacantly at the hellscape unfolding beneath that turbulent brilliance and the sound of the heavens splitting asunder, suddenly extended his hand in one direction.
Whoosh!
Palm force unleashed across space swept away the Large Boulder.
Even within that hellscape, the middle-aged man who had been struggling to rescue the old woman trapped beneath the stone wall opened his eyes wide.
“Y-you are….”
Had they met somewhere before? For some reason, his face seemed familiar.
Baek Sang, who had been quietly observing the middle-aged man supporting the old woman with an expression mingling rage and gratitude, suddenly understood the moment he saw the Old Woman’s face revealed.
‘She resembles her greatly.’
It was her. The Old Palace Servant whom he had personally ordered expelled from the Inner Palace before everything began.
She, who remembered his former self—a self now forgotten by nearly all—was bleeding and groaning.
“Cough. Ugh….”
“M-Mother!”
Did she have a child?
Watching the middle-aged man hurriedly check on his mother’s condition, Baek Sang suddenly moved forward.
He did not know why. He simply felt that he must.
“D-don’t come any closer!”
A cry filled with hostility.
Even if one closed the door and locked it, the ears remained open.
By now, everyone in the Southern Beast Palace knew. Their Palace Master, the Great Patriarch of the White Tribe, had betrayed them all.
The screams and death that continued even at this very moment—they were all caused by Baek Sang.
The middle-aged man before him was one of them. To protect his mother, he had blocked Baek Sang’s path, a sharp stone fragment in his hand—though he could not remember when he had picked it up.
“If you take even one more step….”
Shwip, crack!
The stone fragment, pierced by finger wind, crumbled to dust. In that instant, Baek Sang brushed past the frozen middle-aged man and extended his hand toward the Old Woman.
Tap. Thud!
As his fading hand pressed the Old Woman’s vital points with precision, the twisted, wrinkled forehead smoothed gently.
“Cough.”
As she expelled the stagnant blood, the Old Woman’s complexion grew noticeably more peaceful.
The middle-aged man, who had hurriedly checked on his mother’s condition, looked at Baek Sang with eyes that could not comprehend.
“W-why?”
Why.
Even to that simple question, Baek Sang could not answer.
Perhaps even if ten years or a hundred years passed, he would never be able to answer.
For he himself did not know the answer.
In the end, his single word that broke the brief silence was not an answer to the question.
“Leave with the others. Get as far away as you can.”
“Wait, hold on!”
“Will you kill your mother like this? Or….”
Baek Sang’s eyes sank deep with gravity.
“Will you make your mother watch you die?”
“…!”
“Go. If you head toward the East Gate, a path will open for you.”
With those words, Baek Sang turned away. The hoarse voice of the Middle-aged Guard, belatedly escaping his lips, pierced through his ears.
“As if this will absolve you of the sins you’ve committed!”
To that anguished cry, Baek Sang answered silently within his heart.
No. He had never once believed he would be forgiven.
Boom!
Behind his retreating form toward the Inner Palace, a deafening roar crashed down.
Yet there was not a shred of hesitation in his swift, graceful movements.
The moment he had envisioned and yearned for across decades had finally arrived.

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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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