Murim Login - Chapter 710

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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 710
I feel it. Death looming before my eyes.
My vision blurs until I can no longer discern the shapes of things, and my once-sharp senses prepare to abandon this body.
In that dark and hazy consciousness, Jin Tae-kyung thought.
It must be.
This is a dream. Or perhaps an auditory hallucination born from approaching death.
Otherwise, there would be no way to explain this voice reaching me from behind.
“How dare you lay hands upon him, you wretched fox.”
And yet… it resembles someone.
That sharp, piercing voice and those crude curses evoke the memory of a single person.
Even knowing such a thing could never happen, even chiding myself for such an absurd thought, I cannot help but harbor this futile hope.
‘Am I truly dying now?’
In the moment that hollow despair echoed through my heart.
“So… how much longer do you intend to remain so utterly senseless?”
“…!”
Jin Tae-kyung’s eyelids, about to close, suddenly froze.
The consciousness that had been fading under the weight of that tremendous impact suddenly awakens, and distant sensations return.
‘Could it be.’
No. It cannot be.
Such a thing is impossible. ‘He’ should be somewhere far away in the Central Plains.
But someone once said it.
That it is hope which both destroys and raises up humanity. And so Jin Tae-kyung grasped at the invisible thread of hope and opened his eyes.
And he could see it.
“Ah. Ahhh…”
The figure of the Nantian Demon Empress, bereft of both arms, her body staggering.
And beside her, seized by shock and confusion, a single Zen staff thrust diagonally into the ground.
Clang.
The ring hanging from the staff releases a clamorous sound.
Feeling the heat of the sun’s essence flowing from that reddened object, Jin Tae-kyung opened his mouth with a faint smile.
“You… came a bit late.”
A voice so faint it could only be heard by one standing at his side.
But the master of the staff was different.
He could hear Jin Tae-kyung’s voice even from hundreds of zhang away, or even if separated by hundreds of li.
Not with his ears, but with his heart.
With the heart of a master toward his only disciple.
“I may be a bit late, you ungrateful brat.”
The Blood Monk—no, the Fire King Red Sky River—answered gruffly, contrary to his heart, and took a step forward.
Thud.
And in the next instant.
Whoosh.
As all the stages came to an end and darkness descended, a flame more colossal and ferocious than anything before erupted skyward.
Roooaaaar!
Flame Divine Palm.
A wave of fire laden with terrible heat advanced, devouring the darkness as it went. Unstoppable and endless, burning toward only one existence.
‘Ah.’
The Nantian Demon Empress gazed at the approaching heat with hollow eyes.
Not a whimper, not a scream escaped her lips. Her feet were fixed to the ground as if nailed there, and the pain in both arms felt distant.
‘I must escape. Somehow, I must escape….’
Her body would not heed the cries that continued in her mind.
Or perhaps everything had ended the moment she lost her only remaining arm.
A single immortal blade, moving so swiftly it seemed like a flash, carrying such tremendous heat—it had reduced to ash far more than just her arm.
Primordial Qi.
Even that final handful of power, which had been preserved solely to mark one’s final moment, was stolen away. Indifferently and mercilessly.
Observing herself, now lacking even the strength to take a single step forward, the Nantian Demon Empress finally understood.
‘It is over.’
A life truly long. I know not precisely where its beginning lay, but this place, this moment, would be her period.
Yet if one regret remained until the very end, it would be only the sorrow of not having severed Jin Tae-kyung’s lifeline with her own hands.
‘But… it is well.’
Why, by what twist of fate, the Fire King Red Sky River had come to this place, I did not know.
Yet just as I would fall here, Jin Tae-kyung too could not escape death.
Even if it were not the Fire King but the Great Immortal of the Great Luo who came, that truth would not change.
This single unshakeable certainty brought peace to the Nantian Demon Empress’s heart as she accepted the flames.
‘Heavenly Master.’
A call that echoed one final time within her heart.
The contemplation was long, but the moment was brief, and the flames shot forth above the kneeling Jin Tae-kyung’s head opened their jaws toward the Nantian Demon Empress.
Whoooosh!
Gazing upon the brilliant flames pouring down and melting the darkness, the Nantian Demon Empress closed her eyes.
Or rather, she tried to close them.
It would have been so, had not a figure descended upon her defenseless body in that instant when all turned blindingly white.
Crash!
In that brief moment, fractured and fractured again, the Nantian Demon Empress could see clearly.
“…!”
Jin Tae-kyung’s face, pallid with the approach of death, and his lips slowly parting in that slowed world.
And.
Crack!
Along with a sharp pain transmitted from her neck, the Nantian Demon Empress’s vision was consumed by darkness.
* * *
It was an inescapable reality, and at the same time, an enlightenment as swift as lightning.
‘If the Nantian Demon Empress dies now, I die too.’
The greatest reason I had been able to survive even when facing stronger cultivators above my level until now was thanks to recovery from leveling up.
No matter how exceptional one’s physique or how many attributes one raises, there is one thing that cannot be stopped: certain death.
Especially not when, like me now, one’s meridians are shattered and the twelve organs that should function in their proper places have abandoned their posts like soldiers on unauthorized leave.
But if the Nantian Demon Empress dies by another’s hand in this situation?
Then I’m completely fucked too.
In the end, there was only one choice left to me in that final moment.
Use my body as a shield.
‘Damn it.’
Swallowing a quiet curse, I squeezed out every last ounce of strength and hurled my body forward.
Or rather, it would be more accurate to say I barely managed to rise and throw myself over the Nantian Demon Empress’s form.
Crash!
“…!”
I saw her eyes, which had been closing in resignation, snap wide open.
Shock and confusion—the swirling emotions in the Nantian Demon Empress’s gaze seemed to ask the question her voice could not.
Why?
But there was no reason to answer, and no time to do so.
If I’d had even that much strength and composure remaining, I would have picked up the White Flame a few steps away, or drawn another weapon from my inventory to drive through the Nantian Demon Empress’s heart.
But… damn it. Clinging to a consciousness that felt ready to shatter at any moment, the best attack I could manage was this.
Crunch!
Age-spotted, wrinkled skin tears away helplessly. The metallic taste of blood floods my mouth, dampening my parched lips.
Of all the battles I’ve endured, this was the most primal, most primitive attack. And because of that, it was more desperate than any other blow I’d ever struck.
And the moment I sank my teeth into the Nantian Demon Empress’s throat, I felt an enormous wave of heat surge from behind me.
Along with what sounded like someone’s anguished cry.
“No-!”
Whoosh, BOOM!
A tremendous impact strikes my spine. The deafening roar that swallows the incomplete cry sweeps across everything with terrible heat, and I feel a floating sensation as I’m hurled away.
‘Ah.’
Someone once said that the greatest pain a human can feel is the searing agony of fire.
And that statement was absolutely true.
A terrible pain that doesn’t even allow screams to escape seizes my entire body.
My vision turns pure white, unable to see even an inch ahead, and my body, unable to withstand the massive impact, is simply torn through the air at ferocious speed.
Screeeech, CRASH!
The fierce sound of my passage through the air finally ends, and something rough and hard lashes across my entire body.
Or rather, it’s more accurate to say my body, shot forward like a beam of light, smashes through debris and embeds itself.
Cough.
Blood—what little remains—trickles from the corners of my mouth along with the cough.
From my already-ruptured eardrums comes the loud buzzing of bees, and beyond my blurred vision, the limp form of the Nantian Demon Empress and someone’s silhouette shimmer like heat haze.
“No-!”
And in that moment when the anguished cry rings out.
Ding.
A clear bell tone pierces my ears, and warm light envelops me.
* * *
Screeeeeech!
In this moment, as I pushed forward with every ounce of strength, my heart was consumed by despair.
‘No. This cannot be.’
Each step felt impossibly heavy.
My aged heart, worn by more than a century of life, trembled more violently than ever before, and my eyes, fixed upon the figure drawing ever closer, quivered uncontrollably.
Jin Tae-kyung.
My second and only disciple in this lifetime.
The sole spark of hope who had appeared before me one day, transforming my death-seeking existence into a reason to live.
‘But why. Why on earth!’
I felt as though blood would spill from my lips at any moment.
What I had unleashed toward the Nantian Demon Empress was a Flame Divine Form that had reached the twelfth stage of mastery.
Yet Jin Tae-kyung had stepped forward to intercept that terrible heat, capable of melting even steel itself.
‘This mad fool. This senseless idiot!’
I did not know his reasons. No—his reasons mattered not. The curses I could not fully voice were directed at myself alone.
My only disciple’s choices had always been right, always justified.
Only the sorrow and self-recrimination of losing Jin Tae-kyung through my own hasty judgment tore my heart to shreds.
“No!”
With a cry that was almost a scream, my aged feet finally came to rest before my disciple.
“Tae-kyung! You fool!”
My desperate call received no answer.
Upon seeing Jin Tae-kyung with his eyes closed and his breathing so faint it seemed ready to cease at any moment, my heart sank like a stone.
‘Ah.’
A shock that made the world spin before my eyes.
Armor shattered beyond recognition, limbs twisted in grotesque angles.
And beyond that, flesh and bone melted or shattered by the heat of the Flame Divine Form.
Only the armor kept him miraculously alive, but that was all.
The time remaining for this young one was measured in mere moments.
Even if I poured all my power into him, that truth would not change.
No—it would only prolong his suffering.
Tremor.
My hand, reaching for his wrist, quivered in the empty air.
‘…Dead? He is dying? That boy?’
Unable to bear watching Jin Tae-kyung die before my eyes in this incomprehensible reality, I squeezed my eyes shut.
I had witnessed countless deaths throughout my long existence.
Sometimes I had watched from a distance, and sometimes I had ended someone’s breath with these very hands.
But Jin Tae-kyung’s death—this child’s death—was different.
He had only just passed his twentieth year. Unlike this old man, he had countless days ahead to live, endless happiness to enjoy.
“But what. What is so urgent that you must leave so soon? Why!”
I cried out as though coughing blood.
Holding the hand of Jin Tae-kyung, half-melted by her own martial prowess, she grasped that scarred appendage and wept endlessly….
‘Hm?’
Jeok Cheon-gang’s eyes snapped open as he felt an odd sensation.
In his tear-dampened eyes, the hand of Jin Tae-kyung came into focus.
Pale and smooth as a newborn babe’s, with veins standing prominently across the back of the hand.
“…?”
This was strange. Just moments ago, the flesh had been melting and adhering to the bone. He could have sworn he’d even glimpsed the bone beneath.
‘What is this?’
No matter how he pondered it, there were only two possibilities. Either that accursed No-hwan had relapsed, or….
Gulp.
Jeok Cheon-gang swallowed dryly without thinking and slowly lifted his gaze.
And in the next moment, he could see it.
A pair of eyes regarding him with intriguing curiosity.
“…?”
“…?”
“…!”
“…!”
With that brief exchange of glances, Jeok Cheon-gang froze, and Jin Tae-kyung fidgeted with his fingers sheepishly.
“Um, perhaps we should let go of hands first before we talk?”

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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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