Murim Login - Chapter 349
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I will re-publish the earlier chapters to fix those issues with the translation. I apologize in advance if it did not meet your standard. Please comment the chapters you find that is lacking in quality so I can fix them ASAP. Thanks for understanding!
Current re-published chapters (270 - 305)
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The old man, Cheonryeokma, who had been silent for a while, finally spoke. [1]
“…A public urinator, you say. Do not call this old man such a disgraceful name.”
Ah, I realized I had made a mistake. It seemed that the nickname was quite uncomfortable for this man who once instilled fear throughout the world. After contemplating for a moment, I offered a more suitable term than “public urinator.”
“Well, how about a bedwetter?”
“You… you rascal…”
“If you don’t like it, then ‘country’s little pisser.'”
“This old man did not piss!”
“Then how about ‘Pissy’? Summer night’s pee. Featuring the Kunlun Sect.”
“Ah?”
I clicked my tongue at Cheonryeokma, who couldn’t respond properly.
“I don’t know why an old man like you suddenly started talking to me, but I neither want to listen nor chat. Just eat your food and relieve yourself as much as you want. Whether it’s number one or number two. Or both.”
“W-wait a moment.”
What a nuisance. As I was about to leave the cell after finishing my meal distribution, I turned around with an annoyed expression.
“What is it now?”
“I have something to ask.”
“If you have something to ask, does it mean I must answer?”
But for some reason, Cheonryeokma, gripped by an inexplicable urgency, did not relent. Draped in rags that once might have been called clothes, his eyes sparkled as he opened his mouth.
“The Divine Sect, what has become of it now?”
“The Divine Sect?”
“Yes, the Heavenly Demon Divine Sect!”
Ah, the Demonic Sect. For a moment, I was confused because the names differed depending on the faction. For most of us in the Murim world, it’s the Demonic Sect, but to them, it’s the Divine Sect.
Especially for Cheonryeokma, a notorious figure even among the Demonic Sect.
“Why? Do you miss your homeland after being locked up for so long?”
“Tell me.”
“That’s not difficult.”
I smirked and continued.
“I don’t really know.”
“…What?”
“How would I know what’s happening in a Demonic Sect buried far away in the desert? You should ask a new inmate from the Demonic Sect if one ever gets placed next to your cell.”
Cheonryeokma looked at me with a face that clearly showed he couldn’t understand.
“Aren’t you the successor of the Fire King? How can you know nothing about the sect?”
“…How did you know that?”
“Even though your dantian is damaged, my ears still work.”
“Quite perceptive for someone your age. How much do you know?”
“I know that the Fire King is treating his injuries here.”
He’s quite observant. Even though Cheongpung mentioned Jeok Cheon-Gang’s name a few times, it wasn’t loud enough for other prisoners to hear and deduce the situation.
‘Speak less, listen more.’
Unlike other prisoners who would try to coax me whenever they saw a chance, Cheonryeokma was different. I found myself slightly interested in the old man before me.
“Why are you so curious about the Demonic Sect’s news? You’ve been locked up for a long time already.”
“It’s been about forty years.”
“That was around the end of the Great War between the righteous and the demonic factions. Shouldn’t you have a rough idea of what happened?”
“Rough idea?” Cheonryeokma laughed bitterly and continued.
“There aren’t many who know more about the sect than this old man.”
“Sounds like you did some significant peeing there too.”
“I was once an elder of the Heavenly Demon Divine Sect. I received the esteemed leader’s command to subjugate Qinghai and opened the gates of the Holy War.”
“Holy War, my foot.”
Despite my curt response, I was internally surprised.
‘This old man is more significant than I thought.’
From what I’ve gathered, the Demonic Sect has several elders called Great Demons. I thought he wasn’t an ordinary figure given he urinated on the Kunlun Sect’s plaque, but I didn’t expect this shabby old man awaiting his death in an underground prison to be one of their elders.
“It seems you knew nothing about this old man.”
“Of course not. That was ages ago. I hadn’t even heard the name Cheonryeokma until today.”
“…Haha. Time has flown by.”
Seeing Cheonryeokma chuckle self-deprecatingly, I leaned against the wall of the cell.
“So, what does an elder of the Demonic Sect from forty years ago want to ask me?”
“Tell me everything you know about the sect’s recent state, without holding anything back.”
“Well, I feel uneasy about that.”
“This old man has lived past ninety and is weary in body and soul. It’s a last request from an old man who’s already accepted his death.”
“A request from a notorious villain, you mean.”
“Notorious… I’ll accept the punishment for the killings I’ve done. But what exactly does the word ‘demon’ mean? For a long time, the sect and your kind have clashed based on your respective beliefs, and we simply lost the battle for survival. That’s all there is to it.”
Cheonryeokma continued in a clear voice, almost lamenting.
“Can one truly say who is right or wrong based on that? The world back then was like a powder keg ready to explode. If your side had reached our desert first, you would have massacred our followers under the pretext of justice and eliminating the source of evil.”
“But from what I’ve heard…”
“Child.”
I shut my mouth at his low voice. His eyes, burning more intensely than ever, stared at me. They weren’t the eyes of a frail old man waiting to die, but those of a general who once led troops and a supreme martial artist.
“I witnessed and experienced it all firsthand. In the face of a war where lives were taken and lost, humans can become extremely cruel. Neither the sect’s followers who shouted holy war nor the righteous faction’s leaders who cried extermination were exceptions. Even…
At that moment, the fiery light in his eyes dimmed, and his bitter voice scattered like ashes in the air.
“Even the sect leader. He too lost his initial belief and fell into corruption. So, maybe your faction was right in calling us a demonic sect.”
Cheonryeokma’s words left my mind in turmoil. In some ways, what he said resonated with what I’ve recently realized.
‘Good people, evil people. They exist everywhere.’
Decades of enmity. The righteous and the demonic factions watching each other warily, like holding a lit match near a powder keg.
Ultimately, it was the Demonic Sect that lit the fuse, but what if the righteous faction had done it first? Would the righteous faction’s swordsman, Taeul Mujin, have spared the non-martial civilians of the Demonic Sect?
No way.
Suddenly, the two sides and Cheonryeokma overlapped in my mind. Who was white and who was black? Was there something unknown in the past?
Damn, I don’t know.
I bit my lip hard and pulled away from the cold wall.
“Talking to me about this is useless.”
Cheonryeokma nodded weakly.
“…I know. Nothing is as futile as a story of the past.”
“I’m not as knowledgeable about the Demonic Sect as you think. If a knowledgeable beggar were here instead of me, he might have given you the information you wanted.”
“Has the sect been defeated?”
“Well, it seems not. From what I’ve heard, they are still managing to survive somehow.”
Recently, the name Amcheon has been making waves, but the Demonic Sect remains the eternal nemesis of the righteous faction in Murim. Moreover, since there are suspicions of a connection between Amcheon and the Demonic Sect, the Murim Alliance in Hanam is probably investigating both entities.
“I heard they suffered significant damage during the Great War, and they’ve shrunk considerably.”
There’s a reason why the Central Plains is called the heart of the world. Unlike the righteous faction in Murim, which recovered much of its losses due to its abundant resources, the Demonic Sect had to retreat to the desolate desert after sustaining heavy casualties.
“…Indeed. It was a war where we put everything on the line.”
Cheonryeokma muttered softly, a self-deprecating smile on his lips.
“Haha. We once swallowed half of the world, but now we are so pathetic. I should have stopped the leader from accepting fiends like the Qilian Three Evils or the Yin-Yang Twin Ghosts, even if it meant risking my life. Indeed, it was around that time that the leader began to change.”
“Yin-Yang Twin Ghosts?”
“You may not know, but long ago, there were such people…”
“Oh, I know them.”
“What? You know the Yin-Yang Twin Ghosts?”
I nodded as if it were natural.
“I don’t know much about the Qilian Three Evils, but I know the Yin-Yang Twin Ghosts.”
“How can someone who hasn’t even heard my name know the Yin-Yang Twin Ghosts?”
“Well, you see…”
Scratching the back of my head, I continued.
“I tend to remember the nicknames of those I’ve fought. Especially high-level martial artists like them.”
“…What? You fought the Yin-Yang Twin Ghosts?”
“To be precise, my master, Noya, killed one of the Twin Ghosts. The other one was killed by some crazy guy, so they both ended up in the underworld together. Those bastards really thought they could turn Hanam into Gotham City.” [2]
At my muttering, Cheonryeokma stood frozen, mouth agape, before hurriedly speaking.
“Th-the Yin-Yang Twin Ghosts! How did they survive and reappear in Murim? And in Hanam of all places? Did the sect attack Shaolin?”
“They did wreak havoc in Shaolin. But it wasn’t the sect’s doing.”
“Then, who did it?”
As I expected, Cheonryeokma had no idea about the current state of Murim. The only outsider he spoke with was an old man from the palace.
‘Well, that old man wasn’t the type to share information willingly.’
He might share if you cut his tendons, though.
After a brief contemplation, I decided to tell him the truth. Cheonryeokma wouldn’t be able to leave the underground prison until he died anyway. The existence of Amcheon, which was once top secret, is now spreading through various prominent sects, so there’s no problem.
“I don’t know how to explain this, but…”
“Tell me, quickly!”
“Hold on.”
Ah, right.
Finally finding the right word, I marveled at my own brilliance and spoke.
“They changed jobs.”
“I’m not sure if it’s a job change or an internal transfer within the organization, but until they died, they were part of Amcheon, not the Demonic Sect. So essentially, what I’m saying is…”
I couldn’t finish my sentence. Familiar footsteps approached quickly, followed by a familiar face.
“Hey!”
“…Swallow what’s in your mouth before you talk.”
“Hey! I have something to tell you! It’s important!”
“Why do you keep yelling ‘hey’? Are you looking for the Chief of Namcheon-dong?”
“Hey!”
“Yeah, sure. You probably went to the sauna and had meals together too.”
“It’s really important!”
His cheeks stuffed with snacks, and his arms full of paper-wrapped food, I took out a well-roasted duck leg and was about to bite into it when I remembered the old man I had forgotten.
“Want one?”
And finally, I could face him. The sight of Cheonryeokma, frozen like a statue.
***
Footnotes:
[1] Cheonryeokma (천력마, 天力魔): This name breaks down into three parts: “Cheon” (천, 天) meaning “Heaven” or “Sky,” “Ryeok” (력, 力) meaning “Strength” or “Power,” and “Ma” (마, 魔) meaning “Demon” or “Evil Spirit.” Together, “Cheonryeokma” could be translated as “Heavenly Power Demon.” This name suggests a character of formidable strength and possibly a connection to demonic or evil forces, reflecting his notorious reputation in the martial arts world of Murim.
[2] Noya (노야): “Noya” is a respectful term meaning “old master” or “elder,” often used to refer to a highly respected and experienced martial artist in East Asian culture.