Murim School Record - Chapter 13

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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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Episode 13: The Beggar Sect’s Challenge (1)

Seol Yeochul was about to jump to his feet when Yi Mobaek grabbed his wrist.
“Don’t do this. Please.”
“Aren’t you angry? They’re treating us like we don’t exist.”
“So what if they disrespect us a little?”
He stopped short.
Suddenly the words wouldn’t come.
“Bear it. When you’re poor and weak, they can throw dumpling plates at you and call it nothing.”
“Mobaek, we’re part of Great Shaolin’s family. This is disrespect to Great Shaolin itself.”
“Why are you bringing Shaolin into this?”
Yi Mobaek’s eyes narrowed.
“Hehehehe! What is this Great Shaolin anyway? Is it food?”
Then suddenly a mocking voice cut through the common room.
Three heads turned as five shabby-dressed men came into view, drinking at their table.
The men wore tattered rags stitched over with countless pockmarks as if spiderwebs had been laid upon them, and Yi Mobaek’s eyes narrowed to slits.
“Wait, could those people be…”
“Who are these bastards?”
Thunk!
Yi Mobaek grabbed Seol Yeochul’s arm again before he could rise.
“Why do you keep grabbing me!”
“Look at their waists.”
There were five men in total.
Three wore a single knot around their waists, one wore two, and a man who appeared to be in his early thirties wore three knotted cords at his waist.
“Could they be from the Beggar Sect?”
“One knot is Il-gyeol, two are I-gyeol, three are Sam-gyeol.”
At this clear explanation, even Dang Duchun’s expression shifted to surprise.
They knew of the Beggar Sect as a vast faction, but they were ignorant of its hierarchy system.
Yi Mobaek lowered his voice slightly.
“One knot means a disciple who has studied for more than three years. By the way, during the first three years after joining, there are those who wear nothing at their waist—they call these the White Robed Beggars, those without Yi-gyeol.”
“What about two?”
Seol Yeochul asked.
Yi Mobaek continued his explanation.
“That’s called Gae-mok—it means a beggar opens his eyes to the world. And the last three knots mark a Bun-ta-ju or those of equivalent rank.”
Dang Duchun and Seol Yeochul’s eyes fixed on the man in his early thirties wearing three knotted cords.
“Then that one is their leader?”
“Is he definitely a Bun-ta-ju?”
“Shaolin’s yesterday’s news anyway. They went out to catch some blood-oath swordsman and got wiped out completely, didn’t they?”
“What kind of idiots would let a wooden club wielder beat them when even a slave can cook and wash clothes? If it were me, I’d die of shame and swallow my own tongue.”
“Great Shaolin’s completely fallen apart.”
“Hey, you begging dogs!”
As Yi Mobaek kept yanking his arm, Seol Yeochul finally shouted out.
Since he could no longer hold him back, Yi Mobaek let go.
Seol Yeochul stood up, his fists clenched tight, and spat out his words.
“So what? So what then, you bastards? Did you lot help Great Shaolin fall? You filthy beggar scum.”
“B-beggars…”
“If you’re beggars, you should beg for scraps—what are you doing in a place like this eating? You there, Jeom Soi!”
Jeom Soi came running at the sharp summons, his posture deferential.
“Yes, honored guest?”
“Why is the water here so filthy? How could you make us share a table with beggar scum?”
“It’s not that…”
“Spread it around that the Yongmun Inn in Yeong Seong serves beggars as guests. If word gets out the water is poor, it’s only a matter of time before this place closes its doors.”
Yi Mobaek’s eyes gleamed.
It was not an unreasonable argument.
They had not come to the Yongmun Inn by accident.
They had asked the people in the streets and learned it was the largest inn in Yeong Seong before they arrived.
No place is more vulnerable to rumors than an inn.
If word got out that flies had appeared in the food, or that the inn’s greed had drawn so many Beggar Sect vagrants that they overran the place, it would be a mortal blow.
“P-please, honored guest, calm yourself!”
“Innkeeper, get up. The stench of shit is so thick I can’t eat. Disgusting.”
Seol Yeochul walked out.
Hack!
Yi Mobaek spat phlegm onto the floor.
Dang Duchun had no choice but to stand as well, now that the other two had left.

The matter finally erupted.
It happened as they crossed the high mountain pass of Jang Sa-ryeong on the way into An Hoi Seong.
“Hold it right there!”
The three men stopped in their tracks.
Five men emerged from the forest and planted themselves squarely in the road.
They were the Beggar Sect disciples they’d met at the Yongmun Inn.
But instead of Ta-gu Staffs, the five men now carried wooden clubs that appeared to have been cut from branches mere moments ago.
Their Ta-gu Staffs, the traditional weapon of the Beggar Sect, were sheathed across their backs.
“You there—try running your mouth again.”
So Ui-gae, the man who had said nothing at the inn and wore three knots tied at his waist, scowled.
“What? So the stench was so bad you couldn’t eat? I’ll knock every tooth out of your skull!”
Just as So Ui-gae was about to spring forward, Yi Mobaek stepped out to meet him.
“Even if the mouth walks away, the teeth should be ground properly on the millstone, as they say.”
So Ui-gae’s gaze—and that of the other Beggar Sect disciples—shifted to Yi Mobaek.
“You insulted our Great Shaolin first. Even a dog will snarl if you disparage its master, let alone when someone slanders the Great Shaolin I serve for no reason. Did you expect me to sit idle?”
“Did we say something false?”
So Ui-gae laughed as he asked.
“Then did we say something false?”
Yi Mobaek replied expressionlessly.
So Ui-gae’s expression turned vicious.
“Heh heh heh! This is rich. You think a mere Gae-mok from Great Shaolin can challenge me, So Ui-gae? Do you want to die?”
“I will file a report to the Martial Alliance today, making clear that the disciples of the Beggar Sect—who claim to be the finest under heaven—have mocked and trampled the honor of Great Shaolin’s Gae-mok, who are not even warriors.”
So Ui-gae smirked.
“That’s only if you make it to the Martial Alliance safely.”
Yi Mobaek’s eyes narrowed.
That was a clear message: they would never reach the Martial Alliance.

‘I see.’

Yi Mobaek nodded slowly.
Now he understood why they’d taken wooden clubs instead of their Ta-gu Staffs.
Murder and Destroy Evidence.
If they’d beaten them to death with Ta-gu Staffs, the evidence of Beggar Sect involvement would have been unmistakable, but wooden clubs were different.
If they were found dead from cudgel blows in this desolate, unpopulated mountain pass, anyone would assume bandits were responsible.
So Ui-gae was counting on exactly that.
Had that tavern quarrel truly been grave enough to warrant death?
Wandering through Kangho, such verbal exchanges happened constantly.
In everyday life, they were routine.
“Have we truly committed an act worthy of death?”
Dang Duchun asked.
“Whether it’s worthy of death is for me to decide.”
In his judgment, it was worthy of death.
“Is this what Kangho is truly like? The Beggar Sect, the eternal blood ally of Great Shaolin—not some heretical sect or bandit crew—will now take the lives of Great Shaolin’s Gae-mok?”
As Dang Duchun’s expression grew troubled, So Ui-gae laughed once more.
“Blood Alliance? Are there still such romantic notions left in Kangho? What are you waiting for? Beat these three to death!”
So Ui-gae’s command fell.
“Wait, if I may.”
Yi Mobaek quickly stepped forward, blocking his companions.
Halt!
The Beggar Sect disciples who had begun to charge stopped in their tracks.
“What if we did this instead.”
Yi Mobaek spoke with unruffled calm.
“Why drag this out? Let So Ui-gae and I settle it between ourselves, cleanly and simply.”
“Settle it?”
“Single combat. The matter resolved without fuss.”
So Ui-gae’s eyes gleamed.
“You mean like that?”
“If I lose, take my head. If So Ui-gae loses, his belongs to me.”
“What about the others?”
“Act like a leader, then. What use have I for another servant’s head, one with no martial skill? If I win, I won’t lay a finger on your men.”
“If that’s what you want, then I’ll stake my own head as well.”
Dang Duchun spoke loudly.
“Then I can’t sit this out either. If our Mobaek falls, you can have my head too.”
Seol Yeochul stepped forward as though unwilling to be left behind.
“If our brother Mobaek is defeated, I, Seol Yeochul, shall offer you my head with my own hands. Since Great Shaolin’s So Ui-gae desires it, it is only right to give it. I’ve plenty to spare—so fight with a glad heart!”
Seol Yeochul spoke in a loud voice and burst out laughing.
“Hah-hah-hah-hah-hah!”
His laughter was savage.
Yi Mobaek turned back with a frown.
“Why throw in your intact head?”
“My head is mine to do with as I please. What business is it of yours?”
Seol Yeochul glared as though dismissing the concern.

Meanwhile, So Ui-gae’s expression hardened as he listened.
A head carries many meanings.
To have taken a head, to have severed it, means victory in the fight.
The severed head carried off is the greatest prize of conquest.
“Hmm.”
So Ui-gae swallowed hard.
His chest, which had been still, began to race.
It was no trivial thing to stake one’s own head on a comrade’s fight—another’s struggle.
Even if one lost a personal fight, parting with one’s life was hard to bear.
Yet these men spoke of offering their heads on the outcome of a comrade’s duel.

‘These bastards.’

He had never seen such a thing before.
A kitchen servant offered a bargain more ruthless than any warrior.
If he won, he would slaughter them all to destroy evidence—but something about it felt odd.
Look at the Beggar Sect warriors behind him.
Not one of the four had offered to stake his own head on his companion’s fight.
Not that the Beggar Sect warriors were strange in that.
They were perfectly normal.
No one stakes their own life like a prize on another’s battle.
Rather, these Shaolin servants were acting below reason itself.
A glance.
So Ui-gae studied Yi Mobaek again.
If his comrades shouted loud enough to stake their heads, there was a high chance this man possessed something unknown to him.
He examined him carefully, methodically.
Nothing.
Not a trace of mastery, and no Taiyang Point protruding.
A warrior of Kangho carries marks that cannot be hidden.
When Internal Energy refines to purity, Martial Force erupts outward, forming an invisible shield around the body.
The Taiyang Point is the first to appear.
Once one reaches the stage where Breathing Technique begins and Internal Energy can be released outward from within the body, that is when the Taiyang Point emerges.
And if the Gate of Life and Death opens, an unmistakable mark appears.
Moreover, one can judge the depth of an opponent’s martial skill by the light in their eyes.
Of course, at the level of Six Senses Return to Origin, Half Rage Returning Movement, or Exit Ten Enter Fire Realm, such outward physical traits reveal nothing.
All things considered, Yi Mobaek’s physical form was unremarkable.

‘Listen to me carefully, brother.’

Yi Mobaek stepped closer to Seol Yeochul and spoke in a whisper.

‘When I raise the index finger of my left hand, I want you to shout this:’
‘Shout what?’
‘Send him back with that fist that killed the Western Beauty — shout that.’
‘Why?’
‘Don’t ask questions. Just do it. You need to watch my left index finger carefully. This is incredibly important. Our lives depend on it.’
‘Our… lives.’

Though he didn’t understand, the weight of those words — our lives — made Seol Yeochul clench his teeth with grim resolve.

‘Right. I’ll watch with my eyes wide open.’

Snap.
Yi Mobaek took several steps forward.
His opponent was a Three Knots disciple of the Beggar Sect, ranked at the Bun-ta-ju level.
A Bun-ta-ju of the Beggar Sect fell just short of first-rate, but they were no weak opponent to be defeated easily.
If one imagined the Beggar Sect as a jar, its most prominent bulge was in the middle.
In terms of the human body, it was the waist.
The sturdier a sect’s waist, the stronger it was — and the Beggar Sect was the prime example.
Masters at the Bun-ta-ju level bearing Three Knots accounted for roughly sixty percent of the entire sect’s disciples.
Sensing that something lay beneath the surface, So Ui-gae grew contemplative.

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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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