57 - Murim Login

Episode 57 "Faster, even faster!” “Hah, hah!” We sprinted like madmen. Hyeok Mujin gasped as if he were on the brink of death, but he kept going. Every time his pace slowed, I pressed the spearhead to his back, spurring him on like a racehorse. Eventually, we began to hear sounds. Screams, the clashing of metal… Thankfully, the battle wasn’t over yet. A wave of relief washed over me, but my heart pounded with anxiety. The fight continued, but I had yet to confirm Jin Wigyeong's fate. Would he die in the split second I was delayed? 'If that were to happen…’ CRUNCH. Unconsciously, I tightened my grip on the spear. Channeling my energy from the core, I sent it surging through my legs. “Sir!” Ignoring the fading voices of the reconnaissance team behind me, I continued to dash forward. The myriad footprints left by the main unit and the intensifying battle cries were my guideposts. 'Be alive. Be alive. Please, just… Ah! At last, I can see it. Down a low hill, no more than 200 meters away, a fierce battle raged with countless warriors slaying and being slain. “Kill them!” “Argh!” Corpses and blood, even more corpses and blood! The gruesome scene unfolding before me momentarily left me speechless. Had it not been for my experience as a hunter, the shock might have paralyzed me for quite some time. 'Jin Wigyeong! Where's Jin Wigyeong?' However, the first person I laid eyes on was someone else entirely. A head full of white hair that was noticeable even from afar. ‘The Grand Elder!’ He stood with a sword, shielding someone behind him. Though obscured by the Grand Elder’s frame, the person kneeling was a large figure, clutching a sword. A towering figure and a sword?’ There was only one person who came to mind. It was Jin Wigyeong. To save him, I had to act immediately. ‘Open inventory.’ The inventory used in the martial world was brimming with various items. Among them was a spear with a wooden shaft and a steel tip. ‘Equip weapon.’ Brandishing the newly drawn spear, I took several steps back. 200 meters. An intimidating distance. Especially challenging to hit a target with a thrown spear. But it had to be done. ‘It’s not impossible.’ Strength, stamina, agility. I summoned all the attributes I had honed traversing between realms and reality. An arm imbued with power could launch a spear farther and with greater force. “Huff, I halted my breath and stepped forward. The first step was slow, the final step heavy. From the tip of my whip-like arm, the spear was launched. SWOOSH-! The throw was faster and more precise than I had anticipated. It seemed it would pierce straight through the Grand Elder’s back. But then… SHING. 'What on earth?' A flash of blue light split the spear in two, from its tip to its end, smoothly and effortlessly. For a moment, I couldn’t tell if I’d hurled a spear or a birthday cake. “Who dares?!” The old man’s voice was surprisingly robust. "It's me, you bastard!” An insult the Grand Elder probably never expected to hear in his lifetime. Especially since, in the martial world, he and I were from the same family, akin to a distant ancestor and a mere chick when checking the lineage. This alone was shocking enough, but I had a final, decisive move left. “The Grand Elder is a!” My voice, carrying all my energy, reverberated thunderously. I was surprised myself at how loud it was; how would it sound to others who heard it from afar? Gazing coldly at the man with a stiff expression, I shouted with all my might. “Traitor!” Jin Wigyeong heard this shout right after he had taken down three top masters from the Hangsang Sword Sect. Not just Jin Wigyeong, but everyone on the battlefield heard it. - Who dares?! - It's me, you bastard! An insult? On a battlefield, that's commonplace. But if the target of the insult was the Grand Elder and the young man hurling the insult was Jin Taekyung, the story changed. “Isn't that, isn’t that the Third Young Lord?” “What? That rascal is Jin Taekyung? But why?” “What on earth is happening?” Jin Wigyeong shared the same thought. 'What is going on?' The youngest should have been in the rear, but now here he was on the battlefield. If that wasn’t enough, he directed unspeakable curses at the respected family elder. The muttering beside him came from Wi Paeng. “He’s lost his mind.” Just as Jin Wigyeong was about to nod involuntarily. - The Grand Elder is a! A bigger bombshell dropped. - Traitor! Silence enveloped the battlefield. Even the clashing of weapons, which had been a constant backdrop, ceased instantly. Everyone gazed at Jin Taekyung with bewildered expressions. 'What kind of nonsense is this?' 'Treason? By the Grand Elder?' 'Is he drunk? Is the Third Young Lord reverting to his old habits?' The warriors of the Taewon Jin clan, as well as those from the Hangsang Sword Sect, harbored similar thoughts. Even those middle-ranking members who recently started seeing Jin Taekyung in a favorable light were left agape. “What madness is this?” “He dares speak such madness against such a venerable man?” In terms of pivotal contributors to the war, the Grand Elder would unquestionably top the list. He assisted Jin Wigyeong in rallying the family’s forces and, in today's battle, defeated the mighty Chun Baek. Even if one put aside the mere accolades of this war, Jin Taekyung's claim seemed preposterous. Who was the Grand Elder? Renowned as the Fiery Yang Sword throughout the central plains, a master of the old generation who had felled countless fiends during the Great Demon War. Every warrior in the Shanxi Province held him in high regard. “To speak of such a man with words like 'bastard'? 'Traitor'?” “Ha, that fool is tarnishing the Taewon Jin clan’s three-hundred-year legacy.” Warriors from both the Taewon Jin clan and the Hangsang Sword Sect seemed to share the same sentiment. Yet, there was at least one exception. ‘The Grand Elder, a traitor.’ Upon hearing the youngest’s words, Jin Wigyeong felt as though his entire body ran cold. It was the manifestation of a nagging unease. It all began with Iso Gun’s death.’ He died from extreme poisoning. The Hangsang Sword Sect blamed the Taewon Jin clan, sparking the war. But a crucial question remained unanswered. 'Who was the real culprit?' Even as the war approached its final stages, the true identity of the mastermind lurking behind the scenes remained shrouded in mystery. Perhaps, being so near the end, no one cared to unearth the fiend’s true identity. Survival of the fittest. The strong will live to claim everything. This war… was doomed from the start.' The irrationally swift spread of the news about Iso Gun’s death. The Hangsang Sword Sect declared war, and the Taewon Jin clan responded, marking the official onset of full-scale conflict. 'And then there was the Grand Elder.' The Grand Elder, who had remained behind the scenes for so long, appeared only after news of Iso Gun's poisoning reached us. Within the family, his influence was paramount. A respected warrior, the elder of the clan. Without the Grand Elder's active support, the Taewon Jin clan might have been torn apart. 'Thanks to his assistance, we’ve come this far.' Jin Wigyeong thought otherwise. 'We’ve come this far because that’s what the Grand Elder wanted.' In a fraction of a moment, not even worthy of being called an instant, Jin Wigyeong reached a conclusion. “Wipaeng.” “Your orders, sir.” “Cut down the First Elder.” “What did you say?” The hunched, gaunt old First Elder widened his eyes in shock. Not only him, but every senior member present was taken aback. “S-Sir!” “What in the world…!” But Wipaeng did not hesitate. In an instant, his sword was flying towards the First Elder’s chest. CLANG. Two other swords suddenly intervened, knocking Wipaeng’s blade aside. The obese, towering Second and Third Elders, who were known as the Grand Elder’s right hands, stepped in. Wipaeng’s eyebrows twitched as he noted the faint sword energy surrounding their blades. “You concealed your skills.” Rather than responding, the First Elder launched a punch. BOOM! With the strength accumulated over a lifetime, he sent Wipaeng flying backward and straightened his back. The emergence of another top-tier warrior, long overshadowed by the Grand Elder, froze everyone in the room. “First Elder, wh-what is the meaning of this?” “No, could it be!” Betrayal. Those two words etched themselves into everyone’s minds. “Preposterous!” The one who yelled was Baekho Dangju. While the elders served as the Grand Elder’s hands, he acted as the First Elder’s ally. “Elder, and sir, there must be some misunderstanding... But his words were abruptly cut off. At a nod from the First Elder, the Second Elder swiftly beheaded Baekho Dangju. Slash. Thud. Jin Wigyeong and the First Elder locked eyes across the space. “Wasn't Baekho Dangju one of your recruits?” “He was a noisy one, that’s all. Just like the others.” Jin Wigyeong’s assumption was partly correct, partly not. While the elders had indeed betrayed them, the senior members under them had not. “Then why… Oh!” “Perceptive, aren’t you? I'll give you that.” The First Elder pulled out a sooty bamboo tube from his robes, its already lit fuse dwindling fast. “I couldn’t very well let such secrets slip to lowly pawns. Creating internal chaos alone served its purpose. Knowing what’s happening outside would only complicate things.” Jin Wigyeong shouted in anguish. “Stop him!” “Too late.” The First Elder was right. As the fuse burned to its end, something detonated, and a bright red flare shot high into the sky. Fsssh, Boom! That was the signal. The Tri-Do Alliance, the wall-dwelling archers of Gyungwi Gate who ceaselessly fired arrows, and Byukdo Gate, devoted to training around Do, all in unison. Members from smaller clans within Shanxi, known collectively as the five factions, erupted into chaos. “Kill everything that moves!” “Spare no one! Sweep them all away!” No longer were they the clumsy third-rate martial artists. Malice gleamed in their eyes, their blade paths sharp and precise. 'This wasn’t prepared overnight.' Jin Wigyeong's expression hardened. Boom! The Grand Elder looked up, observing the dissipating red trail as ferocious shouts erupted from all sides. ‘Fast. Too fast.’ The signal was supposed to be sent only after Hangsang Sword Sect was annihilated. The weapon of the Shanxi five was honed for decades. It was to be a single, lightning-quick strike. ‘Every plan has a flow, but the unimpeded progression has started to unravel.’ As the Grand Elder's lips twisted in bitterness, a voice pierced through his consciousness. “You, it was you.” It was Cheon Baek. Though his voice was faint, his eyes burned with an intensity unmatched. “Still have the energy to speak?” “I’ll tear you apart with my bare hands.” But before he could finish his sentence, blood spilled from Cheon Baek's mouth. The Grand Elder touched his pressure points, muttering to himself. “Not yet. You have a task to fulfill.” Cheon Baek despaired. Despite significant losses, the Hangsang Sword Sect still had hundreds of warriors left. Now, with the upper echelons decimated and the sect leader potentially captured... ‘Better to kill me now!’ His bitter cry remained trapped within. His voice silenced by the Aqiao point, and as the Grand Elder brushed against the Mahyo point, Cheon Baek’s body stiffened. Cheon Baek became a living corpse, eyes wide open. “Hey, you bastard! Get your hands off him!” Simultaneously, an uproar erupted. SWOOSH-! The Grand Elder calmly drew his sword upward, splitting a spear in two along its path. Beyond the severed weapon, Jin Taekyung raced toward him at breakneck speed. “Yaaaah!” “Leader! Please, slow down!” Alongside him, around a dozen ragtag followers emerged out of nowhere.