Murim Login - Chapter 722

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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 722
The Goddess of Earth Mother.
Her very name carried a warmth that soothed the soul, and this singular deity’s arrival turned the entire Southern Wilderness upside down.
A dazzling debut that swept away the fiercely competitive religious landscape of the Southern Wilderness with the same intensity as South Korea’s idol market.
And so began a tide of faith.
No—a wave of fanaticism.
“The Goddess of Earth Mother! The Goddess of Earth Mother!”
“Heaven for believers! Hell for the faithless!”
Those who believed in the Goddess of Earth Mother would find salvation even in death, while those who denied her would be cast into the fires of damnation.
Within half a day, those who had become children of the Goddess of Earth Mother began marching through the streets chanting slogans, which quickly escalated into proselytizing.
“You there, wait a moment.”
“Why, what is it?”
“Tell me—which deity do you believe in?”
“That is… ah, yes! I am a believer in the Goddess of Earth Mother!”
“Heaven for believers.”
“Pardon?”
“You don’t know the creed? You’re a heretic! Hell for the faithless!”
“Ahhhhh! I’ll convert! I’ll convert!”
And Jeok Cheon-gang, observing this spectacle, summed up his thoughts in a single terse phrase.
“This is insane.”
Jeok Cheon-gang, being an outsider, left it at that, but Beast King Miao Wang, who had somehow become the high priest of the Goddess of Earth Mother, felt his soul half-departing from his body.
“This isn’t… no, our traditions… our indigenous beliefs…”
Yet it wasn’t long before he began to grasp the significance of what was unfolding.
“Wait. This…”
Beast King Miao Wang, lost in contemplation, murmured suddenly.
“This isn’t bad. No—it’s actually good.”
“Do you see now? There’s nothing quite like religion for uniting people as one.”
Though everyone was currently pooling their strength for reconstruction, the fragmentation of the Southern Beast Palace was an undeniable reality.
“Those tribal chiefs you’ve locked away in the Underground Prison—you’ve been troubled about how to deal with them, haven’t you?”
“…Yes. No matter their crimes, they are still leaders who have guided their tribes.”
It wasn’t some pointless sentimentality that had stayed my hand.
The Southern Beast Palace was fundamentally an alliance of thirty-two tribes, and more than twenty of the tribal chiefs involved in this conspiracy were now imprisoned.
But if I executed them under the charge of betrayal, there would inevitably be those who harbored resentment.
Crabs prefer their own kind, and arms bend inward by nature.
“For now, the people demand their execution, but time will surely bring problems. They’re simply not visible on the surface yet.”
Memory has a way of becoming beautified.
Once enough time passed and the turbulent atmosphere settled into stability, people would undoubtedly begin to whisper like this.
“Still, our tribal chief was a decent person.”
“Right. He was just misled by Baek Sang’s schemes.”
“Come to think of it, something seems odd. How could so many tribal chiefs all participate together?”
I can picture it all too clearly without even looking.
The cautious conversations whispered among small groups would spread throughout the entire Southern Beast Palace, ultimately igniting yet another schism.
“Moreover, the tribespeople whose Tribal Chief was implicated in this betrayal would face invisible contempt from the others. This would inevitably breed resentment between tribes.”
“But we can’t simply release all of them either.”
“These wretches have already betrayed the Southern Wilderness once, blinded by wealth and glory. What makes a second betrayal so difficult?”
This was precisely why Beast King Miao Wang found himself wrestling with the question of how to handle the traitors.
He had to devise and reconsider the optimal method to punish them while simultaneously preventing the Southern Wilderness from fracturing.
At least, that was the case until the Goddess of Earth Mother appeared—a singular deity who had performed an unprecedented miracle.
“Now is the opportune moment. We can expose every crime these wretches have committed according to law, execute them, and uproot all the weeds infesting this land!”
Law? Execution?
Watching Beast King Miao Wang’s fist clench tightly, I clicked my tongue softly.
“You still haven’t grasped it.”
“What?”
“Law is fine, but this is judgment. Divine judgment.”
“Divine… judgment?”
“The ones locked in the Underground Prison are traitors who conspired with the Evil Demon Dark Heaven to corrupt this land, and you, as the sole priest, have received the divine oracle of the Goddess of Earth Mother. She commands you to slaughter every last one of these bastards and purify the Southern Wilderness.”
“…!”
“…!”
Beast King Miao Wang, and even Jeok Cheon-gang standing beside him listening to our conversation, stared at me with wide eyes.
Their expressions laid bare their thoughts completely.
‘No way, he’s doing it like this?’
‘Wow. Is this guy actually insane?’
These naive gentlemen.
Whether they were among the Ten Kings or not, these men who had devoted their entire lives solely to martial prowess still didn’t understand the ways of the world.
Even Beast King Miao Wang, who had long led the Southern Beast Palace, lacked the political acumen that Jeok Cheon-gang possessed.
‘That’s why Baek Sang’s faction ran rampant.’
But who am I?
A proud citizen of South Korea.
A person who had lived an entire life in a country where churches outnumber chicken restaurants, and where you can spot twenty-first-century martyrs bearing crosses near every subway station.
I decided to awaken Beast King Miao Wang—who still lacked full awareness of his role as priest—to the true power he possessed.
“Now, repeat after me.”
Beast King Miao Wang, who had been staring blankly at me, reluctantly echoed my words.
“Now, repeat after me.”
“No, not that part. We’re starting now.”
“Ah, okay.”
“I am the priest.”
“I am the priest.”
“The Goddess of Earth Mother is divine.”
“The Goddess of Earth Mother is divine.”
“Well done. Now continue on your own.”
“I am the High Priest. The Goddess of Earth Mother is divine.”
“Good. Repeat it.”
“I am the High Priest. The Goddess of Earth Mother is divine. I am the High Priest. The Goddess of Earth Mother is divine. I am… invincible!”
“…?”
That seemed somewhat different from what I’d actually taught him.
In any case, Beast King Miao Wang, now awakened as the High Priest of the Goddess of Earth Mother, trembled with exhilaration and took a momentous first step toward reforming the Southern Barbarians.
“In the name of the benevolent Goddess of Earth Mother, I convene the Grand Council!”
“….”
“….”
He’s really become a High Priest now.
* * *
The Grand Council commenced in the blink of an eye.
Part of this was because there were so few Tribal Chiefs who could attend the Grand Council, but truthfully, it wouldn’t have mattered even if I hadn’t sent a Messenger.
They were already waiting for Beast King Miao Wang in the hastily prepared Council Chamber.
“Palace Master!”
“Tell me this is just a rumor! Please say it’s just a rumor!”
“The Goddess of Earth Mother, all of a sudden? What in the world are you saying!”
“Damn it, the tribespeople are going mad! It’s like seeing Demon Cult followers all over again!”
“This is absurd! Are you telling us to abandon the Wood God we’ve believed in our entire lives!”
And those who rushed toward Beast King Miao Wang with expressions mingling bewilderment and shock, the moment they heard about the marketing effects this new brand launch of the Goddess of Earth Mother would bring to the market, declared in solemn tones:
“As a Tribal Chief myself, I must set an example. I will convert.”
“Our Grand Council supports the Palace Master.”
“Ah, the Southern Barbarians united at last!”
“The Wood God? When we speak of divinity, it’s naturally the Goddess of Earth Mother.”
Being the upper echelon, they certainly had sharp instincts.
Of course, there were also those who, lacking such instincts, came to oppose Beast King Miao Wang.
“Palace Master! Does this even make sense!”
“What exactly is this Goddess of Earth Mother, and where did this nonsense about ‘believers to paradise, nonbelievers to hell’ come from?”
“It’s poison! The Palace Master has released poison upon the Southern Barbarians!”
“Do you think we priests will sit idle! We would sooner be dead than tolerate this calamity!”
Dozens of elderly priests, all aged beyond measure.
Those who had devoted their entire lives to serving the indigenous deities bellowed at Beast King Miao Wang with voices that belied their years.
Until Jeok Cheon-gang opened his mouth.
“If you cannot tolerate it, what exactly do you intend to do about it.”
“What?”
“Heh. A young punk like you daring to lecture your elders on manners.”
“Palace Master! Punish this insolent wretch at once! How dare this nobody open his mouth so carelessly….”
“Fire King.”
“…?”
“…?”
“That is my alias. Fire King Red Sky River.”
“…!”
“…!”
“I’ll spare those under a hundred years old. Everyone else gets their heads crushed.”
The reputation—or rather, the temperament—of Fire King Red Sky River was well known not only throughout the Central Plains but also in the Southern Wilderness.
“Excuse me, Palace Master?”
“Ah, let’s have a nice refreshing rain.”
“….”
The moment Beast King Miao Wang, their last lifeline, gazed toward the distant mountains, the priests unhesitatingly prostrated themselves and swore that henceforth they would remain absolutely silent regarding the Goddess of Earth Mother.
“Truth be told, we call ourselves priests, but we’ve never even seen those beings. What’s the point? Isn’t that right for all of us?”
“Hehehehe. Indeed, indeed. Yet the Goddess of Earth Mother has personally shown us such miracles. How magnificent she must be.”
“Um, Palace Master. By any chance, is there an opening in the Goddess of Earth Mother’s service? Of course, you would remain as the Palace Master, but perhaps another position….”
“Ahem. Now that you mention it, all the beings we serve are deeply connected to this land, are they not? So perhaps we could join forces….”
“Exactly! The Goddess of Earth Mother is the mother of this land, so isn’t she essentially the one who gave birth to all the gods?”
A fantastical collaboration between priests unwilling to lose their rice bowls and Beast King Miao Wang, who desired complete unification of the Southern Wilderness.
After serious deliberation, the Goddess of Earth Mother was reborn as a deity commanding dozens of minor gods, and I, who had no desire for religious war, lent some assistance as well.
“Things seem to be getting complicated. Let’s just create something now.”
“Create what?”
“Well… I suppose you could call it a Scripture?”
“A Scripture?”
“What is that?”
“The history of this land, the words of the divine. Think of it that way.”
“Ooh. Oooooh!”
“Truly a talent sent down by the gods!”
After that, I simply dropped a few hints and observed from a distance.
The people, like web novel authors facing imminent deadlines, began wracking their brains and squeezing out settings.
And over the past ten days, the traitors imprisoned in the Underground Prison were finally dragged before everyone.
“P-please spare us!”
“I was merely deceived by Baek Sang’s schemes! I never conspired with Dark Heaven!”
But there was neither forgiveness nor mercy.
Whoooosh.
The blessing bestowed upon this land by the compassionate Goddess of Earth Mother.
Beneath the rain that had come to be called the Sacred Rain, people cried out for judgment, and the executioner’s blade gleamed.
Thwack!
That was the end. The corpses of the traitors who once led this land were cast to the beasts.
The endless rain washed away the blood they had spilled.
And only then did the people suddenly realize.
That they had finally become one.
Together they had overcome calamity, witnessed and experienced miracles beyond belief, and at last become a single family in the warm embrace of the Goddess of Earth Mother.
That was the true miracle.
A miracle that finally united the tribal people, who had been divided into thirty-two factions, in a single heart.
And the Forest Guardian, who had cut down every diseased tree and weed that existed in the forest, cried out before everyone:
“From this moment forward, we are nothing but one—a unified people of the Southern Wilderness!”
“Roooaaarrr!”
A unified roar echoed across all directions.
It was like the battle cry of warriors heralding the great war that would soon arrive.

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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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