Murim Troubleshooter Dan Mujin-Chapter 121 : Climbing the Cliff

Chapter 121: Climbing the Cliff
“……But Chairman, why are you asking about Liaoning Province?”
It felt as though something stirred violently within me—Murong Cheongjin.
Suppressing my surprise and confusion, I asked in a calm voice.
“Why else? The client who requested you seems to have business in Liaoning.”
The client had summoned me to that place—and apparently had business there as well.
In short, this request was taking place in the hometown I least wanted to return to.
In that moment, several scenes flashed through my mind. The vast estate of the Murong Clan, the cold gazes of the blood relatives, and lastly, the grief-stricken face of the sister who stabbed me.
“Who the hell is this client that they specifically requested me to go to Liaoning?”
“That, I don’t know. They didn’t disclose their identity. But they did pay the full advance.”
An anonymous client. A type I often encountered in this line of work.
In return, I usually charged triple the standard fee.
“Boss, this request is like rain in a drought. Why are you hesitating?”
After having to pay for the repairs at the academy last time, I was back to being flat broke.
As the one managing the agency’s finances, she clearly had no intention of letting this job slip through our fingers.
“I’ve got painful memories in Liaoning.”
It’s quite far from Beijing. At my reply, both Ilhong and Jo Harang looked at me, as if curious about my past.
“Oh, by the way, the advance was a small gold ingot.”
At the same time, Chairman Gam Un placed a small, horseshoe-shaped gold ingot on the table with a sharp tap.
“But I don’t believe in something as vague as ‘painful memories.’”
Without hesitation, I quickly tucked the small, gleaming piece of gold into my inner pocket.
My subordinates stared at me with exasperated expressions.
“Alright then, I’ll take that as a yes. Make preparations to depart for Liaoning at once.”
Liaoning—just hearing the name stirred a deep trauma buried within Murong Cheongjin.
But who was I? The monster born of capitalism, the all-purpose troubleshooter Dan Wonjun. My greed for money overcame it all.
‘……’
And as if speechless at the sight of me, Salsung stopped whatever he was writing mid-motion.
‘What? Why? What are you looking at?’
When Liaoning—the place where Cheonsalsung had awakened—was mentioned, he rose up with a flare, only to fall silent again.
Without delay, I activated the Starfall Heart Cultivation Method and forced the guy who’d started to creep out again deep back into my core.
With a screeching “Kraaak!”-like outburst, Salsung vanished once more.
“Leave it to me. I’ll make sure the client doesn’t regret choosing me.”
Money heals sadness and painful memories.
Looked like I finally had a destination again after a long while.
The Murong Clan estate, where white and red blossoms bloomed in abundance.
In the peaceful Clan Head’s Room, where colors of every hue could be seen at a glance, a middle-aged man warmly greeted a blood relative who had returned after a long time.
“Cheonghye, I didn’t expect you to visit without any notice.”
This place, always thick with the scent of ink and brush, no matter when you came.
So many things had happened here.
Murong Cheonghye’s eyes swept across the Clan Head’s Room, at once unfamiliar and deeply familiar.
“Have you decided to return to the Murong Clan?”
“……No. As far as I know, that matter ended when the Blood Cult ambushed us, Clan Head.”
Back during the Dragon-Phoenix Tournament, Murong Cheon had dismissed her when she claimed that the Blood Cult would attack right as her son, Murong Hui, was on the cusp of victory.
The Blood Cult had remained silent for decades. He had bet that if nothing happened, she should return to the clan.
But the Blood Cult made a flamboyant return that rocked the entire Central Plains.
“You didn’t believe me. I understand. After all, I couldn’t completely believe my own brother either.”
Murong Cheon twitched his brow as she brought up a buried incident from long ago.
Unlike before, when she would follow every order without question, she now carried herself with poise, having grown into her role as Vice Captain of the Demon-Slaying Unit.
“Murong Hui’s victory in the martial tournament has been forfeited. He’s no longer of an age to attend the next Dragon-Phoenix Tournament. And I’m still recovering from the internal injuries I sustained at that time.”
Seeing that his call to return had failed, Clan Head Murong Cheon tried to weigh her down with a detailed list of the misfortunes that had befallen the family.
“Misfortune has visited the Murong Clan. The external pressures are fiercer than ever. Isn’t this the time when you, at least, should be here for the family?”
There’s a saying in Go: Only after securing my own life may I strike down the opponent.
A group’s leader must read the board with cold clarity and, when in retreat, know when to call back their stones.
“This clan…… every time something unfortunate happened, it always blamed my brother. Said the misfortunes were surely the result of some ill omen—some ‘calamity’ that must be rooted out.”
And yet now, the very stone most needed on the board had turned its back and was drifting away.
Her words hinted at the unfair treatment Murong Cheongjin had endured in the clan, her restrained anger surfacing.
“I wonder, Clan Head. I wonder who you’re blaming now.”
“Watch your tongue, Cheonghye.”
Veins bulged on Murong Cheon’s furrowed forehead. His patience with his daughter’s defiant tone seemed to be reaching its limit.
“I haven’t blamed anyone. If I blamed anything, it was the heavens.”
Beyond the window, the sky revealed a stretch of blue heavens.
“That person… gave me that kind of order…?”
“……”
Murong Cheon was at a loss for words, seeing Murong Cheonghye biting her lips so hard they bled.
Letting out a long, deep sigh, the Head of the Murong Clan slowly lowered his head.
“It was a choice I couldn’t avoid. Back then, I mean…”
Heaven had chosen the Murong Clan as the stage where a storm would shake the world, and all he had done was desperately try to preserve the family.
Just like the previous Clan Heads before him, he had made a painful decision for the sake of the clan’s survival.
“And Cheonghye, do you truly not intend to call me ‘Father’ anymore?”
“As I’ve said before, I’m now the Vice Captain of the Demon-Slaying Unit. Today’s visit is purely official, Clan Head of the Murong Clan.”
To his deeply regretful question, Murong Cheonghye responded with a cold expression.
“Official business, is it? Very well, Vice Captain. What brings you to the Murong Clan?”
Smiling bitterly at her response, Murong Cheon asked the reason for her visit.
“Do you know what the Blood Cult’s ultimate goal was in attacking you, Clan Head?”
“Revenge, I’d wager. Just as we nearly wiped them out decades ago, now they’re trying to do the same to us.”
As if it were obvious, Murong Cheon casually laid out what he believed to be their motive.
But Murong Cheonghye shook her head.
“The Cheongun Sword Young Master raided their hideout alone and uncovered some crucial information.”
Because he moved alone, unlike other martial units, he was able to strike the most hidden spot undetected.
Upon hearing that Namgung Jin—the very man who had repeatedly ruined his son’s future—had once again achieved something, Murong Cheon’s brow furrowed deeply.
“They seek the Descent of the Heavenly Blood God onto this earth. Desperately so.”
And when he heard the secret that very man had uncovered, he scoffed in disbelief.
“They kept chanting something like… ‘Blood Seed’ or some other nonsense, right? Utter drivel.”
He shook his head, recalling the past and dismissing it as nonsense.
“That ritual failed miserably decades ago. I still doubt such a celestial being even exists… and the idea of containing it in a human body? That body would be obliterated.”
What they had witnessed as a result was just torn chunks of flesh bursting apart.
Afterward, he had joined forces with the Celestial Sword in his youth and cut down the enemies as the Thunder Sword.
“Just the delusions of twisted madmen.”
“Yet, Clan Head, even Cheonsalsung, who carried the Evil Star in his body, truly existed.”
“……”
Murong Cheon stiffened at Murong Cheonghye’s words.
What had once been a legend passed down by word of mouth—he had found it in his own son’s body and had been unable to contain his shock.
“Young Master of the Cheongun Sword told me—the thing they seek is the body of Cheonsalsung.”
“……!”
He couldn’t ignore those words. His eyes shot open.
“At the time, there was no body that could withstand the descent, but you and I both know… that Cheonsalsung truly descended in our era…!”
It was the kind of knowledge that could make the entire Central Plains an enemy. Even secret factions had been watching for the arrival of Cheonsalsung.
That’s why he had tried desperately to hide it—even severing ties with his own child to protect the clan.
“Cheonsalsung is dead. You saw it with your own eyes!”
When Murong Cheonghye tried to deny this, Murong Cheon’s voice rose to a near shout.
“But we never did find the body, did we?”
“At that height—even you, a Peak Martial Artist at the time, wouldn’t have survived!”
Murong Cheon shouted repeatedly for her to stop spouting nonsense.
“Just one more time. Please, one more time. Launch a large-scale search. I came here today as Vice Captain of the Demon-Slaying Unit to ask that of you.”
Very few knew that Cheonsalsung had descended to this world. And now, dangerous forces were seeking his body.
If she hadn’t known, that would be one thing—but now that she did, she couldn’t ignore it.
“So the Evil Star lost its light but didn’t die? Are you saying someone tampered with the celestial energy?”
“……”
“That the divine stars above us were manipulated… by a mere human?”
Truthfully, Murong Cheonghye knew her own reasoning was shaky.
It was a height no human could survive. And the heavens themselves had foretold Cheonsalsung’s death.
But sometimes, a person—no, a sister who lost her brother—develops an irrational, intuitive conviction.
Especially when that feeling had only grown stronger after encountering a certain young man.
“I cannot lend anyone from the Murong Clan for such nonsense, Vice Captain of the Demon-Slaying Unit.”
At the firm rejection, Murong Cheonghye bowed her head slightly, disappointment etched on her face.
“‘Nonsense’? So to you, Father, searching for Cheongjin’s remains is just… ‘nonsense’?”
“……That’s not what I meant. I’m saying you need to let go of the past and look ahead. Especially you, Cheonghye.”
He tried to console her, to call his estranged child back into the fold.
To him, his daughter clinging to a hopeless longing, unable to move on, was frustrating to witness.
“I… I simply can’t do that, Clan Head.”
Though he tried to persuade her to return, Murong Cheonghye coldly rejected him and rose from her seat.
And as she stood, his request for assistance rejected, Murong Cheon could only stare blankly at the back of his daughter as she walked away.
“I should never have let her go that day…”
A deep regret and sorrow.
But now, it was too late to turn things back.
Where had it all gone so wrong?
“Sigh… What am I supposed to do…”
Feeling as though he had lost not only his son but now his daughter as well, the Head of the Murong Clan let out a long sigh.
Liaoning Province.
A region that lies even farther north beyond Hebei.
Starting from the rugged eastern mountains and flattening into plains and rolling hills to the west, the population was mostly concentrated on the western side.
Due to its northern location, the temperature fluctuation was extreme. In winter, ice floes formed and everything froze over—harsh climate, to say the least.
How would a troubleshooter from Beijing know all this? Thanks to Murong Cheongjin’s memories.
Even in exile, they didn’t provide proper bedding or blankets.
Well, technically they did—but someone must’ve stolen them along the way.
I remembered shivering through that bitter winter like a punished dog.
If my sister Murong Cheonghye hadn’t come to check on me, I probably would’ve frozen to death back then.
“To think I’d actually come back to this wretched place.”
Stepping onto the green fields of Liaoning, I muttered under my breath.
“Well, I guess it would be awkward for you, Boss.”
“What now, punk?”
“Well, didn’t you call the Murong Clan Head, who rules this place, a greedy old man?”
“……”
Now that I thought about it… yeah, that was a thing.
I nodded in agreement at Ilhong’s perfectly reasonable point.