Murim Login - Chapter 701

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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 701
“My hunting dog. Trained with great care.”
The Nantian Demon Empress’s voice resonated softly, and in that same moment, the Masked Figure took a step forward.
Thud.
Between the hazy clouds of dust settling down, there was not the slightest tremor in each advancing footfall.
As the Masked Figure’s form gradually became clear, I muttered something like a groan.
“…Damn it. What the hell is that?”
It wasn’t a question seeking an answer. I already knew the answer to this doubt.
Regeneration.
Those two words could explain the bizarre spectacle unfolding before my eyes even now.
Crack, slither.
Shattered bones reconnected, and flesh and blood filled in.
Each time darkness writhed past the Masked Figure’s entire body like a living serpent, wounds healed and new strength seeped in.
– The power of Defying Heaven….
Defying Heaven.
A sight that seemed to go against the will of heaven, against the natural order.
When Su-ho-ryung released a thought like lamentation, the Masked Figure finished recovering and bent an unnaturally twisted elbow.
Crack.
Breaking the already-healed elbow themselves, then recovering it again with proper alignment.
Witnessing the Masked Figure not even twitch an eyebrow despite such excruciating pain, I finally understood the source of the discomfort I’d felt during the battle.
‘That creature cannot feel pain.’
Even someone with the dullest pain sensitivity would feel at least minimal pain.
But the Masked Figure had never let out a single groan or scream.
Not when a dagger was driven into their chest, not when their elbow was crushed, and not when they were struck by the Flame Divine General wreathed in terrible heat.
‘What in the world did they do?’
Did they get some kind of anesthetic injection somewhere?
As I swallowed hard, staring at the emotionless eyes revealed above the mask, a small, pale figure’s feet stepped onto the damp earth.
Squelch.
From sky to ground. The Nantian Demon Empress finally descended lightly onto the ground and smiled wickedly.
“You look like you’ve seen a ghost. Though I suppose you wouldn’t be that surprised, having seen it once before in Hanan.”
Growl.
With a low rumble, the massive form stained with blood here and there raised its exhausted body.
Yet the ragged breathing was distinctly different from before. If we clashed right now, defeat was certain.
I stepped forward to block Su-ho-ryung and opened my mouth.
“Yeah, Blood Lord. That crazy bastard was the same way.”
“What a shame. If I hadn’t met the Blood Lord back then, I could have seen you passed out cold by now.”
“If I had such a weak constitution, I’d have been dead long ago.”
“Is it because you’re young? There’s no helping such bravado.”
Bravado.
The Blood Lord’s display during the Shaolin Blood Massacre was certainly impressive, but not enough to make me pass out cold.
But I have witnessed and experienced far too much in the modern world where I was born and raised to accept such reasoning.
“Think whatever you wish.”
The Nantian Demon Empress sensed something in my calm response and narrowed her brow.
She swept her gaze across me from head to toe with those narrowed eyes, then licked her crimson lips with her tongue.
“Whether you simply possess extraordinary courage or harbor some secret unknown to anyone else, I cannot say… but you are truly enigmatic. I’m beginning to understand why the Heavenly Master shows such interest in you.”
“Interest?”
As I echoed her words, I circulated my inner energy so slowly that the Nantian Demon Empress would not notice.
The Nantian Demon Empress alone was formidable enough, and now a drug dealer who had received some mysterious injection had been added to the mix. I needed to buy time while gradually recovering from my internal injuries.
“Even that old fool Great Snow Ghost spouted similar nonsense.”
“My. So you still think it’s nonsense now?”
The Nantian Demon Empress smiled wickedly and took a step forward. I tightened my grip on the spear shaft as I answered.
“I wish it were nonsense.”
“Why?”
“Because I have no desire to be noticed by some deranged old fool, nor by any other lunatic standing before my eyes right now.”
Whoosh, crack!
A sharp pain accompanied the sensation of heat blooming across my cheek. I had narrowly evaded her finger strike, and the Nantian Demon Empress exhaled a breath of relief.
“Phew. I nearly killed you. You dodged well. Better than I anticipated.”
To receive praise from an enemy in such a situation.
Though it left a bitter taste, I learned two crucial facts from it.
First, even if that monstrous woman exerted her full power, I could endure it if I sustained only minimal damage as I had just done.
Second, killing me would bring her more loss than gain.
Drip, drip.
Rather than wipe away the blood trickling down my cheek, I tightened my grip on the spear shaft and responded.
“The Heavenly Master. That old fool seems far more interested in me than I thought. Judging by how he worries you might kill me.”
“…!”
“Now I understand why he merely watched over me in Hubei Province.”
The Nantian Demon Empress possessed truly formidable martial prowess. Even recalling all those I had encountered and faced, only a select few seemed capable of standing against her.
‘At minimum, she ranks among the Ten Kings. Perhaps beyond.’
The immense power was palpable merely from facing her.
Excluding Jeok Cheon-gang, who was treated as an exception even among the Ten Kings, the Nantian Demon Empress would surely rank within the top ten strongest warriors in the current realm.
‘Yet nothing happened. Despite having dozens, even hundreds of opportunities to act in Hubei Province.’
This question had lingered in my mind ever since I discovered her true identity.
Why did she spare me?
Because I was not worth killing? Merely for amusement?
Though I did not know the full details, I felt certain it was not so. I am the sole disciple of the Fire King Jeok Cheon-gang and the successor of the Yeolhwa Sect.
If she captured me, she could either draw out Jeok Cheon-gang—a major obstacle to Dark Heaven’s future endeavors—and eliminate him, or even if that attempt failed, she could obtain the secret techniques and profound knowledge of the Yeolhwa Sect.
There were many methods to make a sealed mouth speak.
Torture. Torture. And endless torture.
Yet the Nantian Demon Empress neither killed me, who had been so completely deceived by her, nor did she abduct me.
She simply watched from before me and then vanished without a trace, like a sentinel acting under someone’s command.
I moistened my parched lips.
“Why does the Heavenly Master take such interest in me? There are far more worthy of his attention.”
Yet despite my question, the Nantian Demon Empress’s lips, sealed shut for some time now, remained closed.
After a brief silence, she offered only a curt response.
“What could a trivial existence like you possibly comprehend of that Person’s will—omnipotent and august as it is?”
Trivial existence.
Muttering the words beneath my breath, I studied the rigid contours of the Nantian Demon Empress’s face.
I caught the sharp descent of her gaze, the way her teeth gnawed at her lower lip.
In that same moment, a thought flickered across my mind and spilled from my lips unbidden.
“You don’t know, do you?”
“…!”
I saw it clearly—the violent tremor in the Nantian Demon Empress’s eyes. A bitter laugh erupted from me.
“Fool.”
“…What?”
“I said fool. You pathetic, foolish old hag.”
And with those words, I lit the fuse on the bomb that was the Nantian Demon Empress.
Kwaaaaaaah!
A tremendous tempest of qi swept across all directions.
Seeing the Nantian Demon Empress wreathed in layers of pitch-black darkness, Su-ho-ryung steadied her ragged breathing and sent a thought.
– If you were going to do it anyway, why not drag it out a little longer?
I harbored some regret, but there was no other way.
I had to end this before the humans and beasts remaining in the Inner Palace completed their transformation. Who falls and who stands—that comes after.
I sent a transmission to Su-ho-ryung, whose body was still far from whole.
– Su-ho-ryung, is that you? Stop whimpering like you’re about to collapse. Fight with everything you have left.
– How dare you insult me. Three hundred years ago, I would never have suffered such humiliation at the hands of a mere human.
– True. Back then, that mad woman probably hadn’t even been born yet.
– …Damn it.
Su-ho-ryung, a name that hardly suited such crude language, bristled every hair on her body.
The creature’s gaze swept across the two shadows converging from both sides as she muttered.
– The situation has become more difficult.
– Wow. I honestly had no idea, but you really are something special for a guardian spirit. Thanks for the heads up.
– We each take one. The human male and the human female. Choose one.
– Then I’ll take the male.
– ….
What state is this creature’s conscience in?
Those pale blue eyes fixed on me seemed to ask exactly that. Even amid this dog-eat-dog situation, I let out a soft chuckle and moved forward.
Toward the Nantian Demon Empress.
Thud.
Perhaps it was the tension.
My footsteps echoed unnaturally loud. Her eyes, now crimson as blood, sent a chill through my chest.
“You think you can face me? You, of all creatures?”
A desolate voice. I exhaled deeply before responding.
“How disappointing. We wretched beings should help each other survive, shouldn’t we?”
“…!”
“Choose. Either kill me and face the Heavenly Master’s wrath, or die gracefully right here.”
Hack, spit.
I spat out phlegm mixed with stale blood and raised my spear blade upright.
A voice unfamiliar in its coldness, utterly unlike my usual tone, slipped through my lips.
“For your information, I fight until death.”
Whoosh, crack!
A Path of Blazing Flame—a single streak of fire that devoured the air as it shot forward.
And at the end of that path stood a monster shrouded in dense darkness.
Screech, boom!
* * *
Crash!
The world trembled with a tremendous shockwave.
The ground split beneath Jin Tae-kyung’s descending spear blade, and terrible heat erupted forth.
The Nantian Demon Empress, who had evaded the strike by a hair’s breadth, extended her hand.
Roar!
An unprecedented palm strike collided with the spear blade that cut through space like a beam of light. A colossal clash of qi. Yet the disparity in power was unmistakable.
Boom!
A figure was sent flying back with the sound of compressed air bursting.
Joy gleamed in the Nantian Demon Empress’s eyes.
‘That wretch is nothing.’
Certainly, Jin Tae-kyung’s martial prowess had advanced beyond belief. I found myself doubting whether this was truly the same child I had encountered in Hubei Province.
Perhaps Jin Tae-kyung had become the greatest obstacle of this great calamity, rather than the Beast King Miao Wang.
But….
‘I have grown far stronger.’
I could feel it. An unprecedented qi surging throughout my entire being.
As the demonic energy flowing from the ‘Rift’ intensified, my power grew stronger as well.
Even in this very moment.
Pop!
A single step.
The Nantian Demon Empress’s form, which had vanished like a specter, materialized from the void.
Jin Tae-kyung, buried deep in the ground, snapped his eyes open at her meteor-like descent.
Crunch.
The solid earth crumbled like mud. Jin Tae-kyung, who had dodged the attack by the narrowest margin, flicked his sleeve.
As if conjured into existence, the Nantian Demon Empress lightly evaded a hidden projectile that came flying from nowhere, then extended her hand like lightning.
Scrape!
It was merely a graze.
Yet the hook-like fingers tore through my martial robes and slashed across my thigh.
A guttural cry escaped me as blood fountained forth, my body staggering backward.
And toward me, the Nantian Demon Empress smiled brilliantly, her hand descending in a vicious strike.
A sharp, cutting sound tore through the air!

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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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