Murim Troubleshooter Dan Mujin-Chapter 124 : Where the Heavenly Fate Had Gone Astray

Chapter 124: Where the Heavenly Fate Had Gone Astray
“Seriously, what kind of curse did this place have,” I muttered, looking up at the sheer cliff in disbelief.
According to Jukgwima, the remnants of the Blood Cult were all gathered over there.
Of all the places, why did it have to be that one?
“Why there?” Ilhong asked with a puzzled look as I kept my gaze fixed on the cliff.
“Because someone died there,” I said.
“Huh, who…?”
“A person who was neither one thing nor the other.”
Someone who had been neither Murong Cheongjin nor Dan Wonjun had thrown themselves off there.
And from down below, under the prime directive of survival, that person had been reborn as one.
‘Killing.’
The killing nature announced itself in a bloody red as if reminding me not to forget.
Right — I had forgotten about that one.
It was an unwanted presence that had slipped into the two mixed personalities like an intruder.
“Did they jump by their own will?” Ilhong asked.
“It was half-voluntary, half-forced.”
Either torn to pieces by my sister’s hand, or falling to their death from the cliff — it was a choice between two evils.
“If someone fell from there, they’d be swept into the rapids we saw on the way… whoever it was, they would’ve certainly died.”
“Hmm… I don’t know about that.”
I answered like that, then suddenly grabbed Jukgwima by the scruff of his neck.
“Hey, freelance snitch. What are the Blood Cult bastards doing over there?”
“……”
Jukgwima hesitated to answer, and I gripped harder and again displayed the Bone-Setting Through Tactile Analysis that twisted his bones.
“Ugh…! The — the Blood Cult’s astrologer! He said he followed the trail of the Heaven-Slaying Star all the way to this place…!”
As my grip tightened, Jukgwima groaned in pain and blurted out his secret.
When I heard what he said, everyone’s faces froze at once.
“...What?”
I asked again, thinking I must have misheard.
“You said Heaven-Slaying Star — right now, Heaven-Slaying Star…?”
Jo Harang, who considered that Evil Star her sworn rival, reacted instinctively as well.
Like some tacit agreement, the two of them looked toward the mist-shrouded cliff at the same time.
Then they stood motionless, eyes fixed.
Meanwhile, Jukgwima kept his fingers dipped in the puddle of blood on the ground.
Bubbling.
The dark-red blood began to writhe slightly, as if it were alive.
There was a reason he so readily spilled this grave secret.
If we killed everyone anyway, secrets tended to die with them.
Just as he was about to shape the drops of rising blood into a sharp Blood Art that would pierce us all—
Wham!
I punched Jukgwima in the face.
“Arrgh!”
His teeth shattered and blood sprayed from his nose as his head snapped back.
“Ugh… again… how—!”
Had he detected the murderous intent I’d harbored?
“Because, when you’re that ugly, any wandering thoughts show on your face,” I said with a half-smile, answering the unspoken question.
“You damn—see it through to the end…!”
Shick!
A heavy broadsword cut through the neck of the man who had been trying to pull a dirty trick.
Jukgwima’s head rolled across the ground with his shocked expression still frozen on it.
So ended the notorious Mad Demonic Practitioner’s pitiful finale.
“Mujin, you might do as you please, but I have to visit that cliff at least once.”
Purple Tenuity Star couldn’t contain herself; she seemed determined to run there even if I didn’t accompany her.
She hadn’t been able to restrain herself when she found what she’d thought was the trace of an Evil Star.
“Same here,” I answered without hesitation.
I needed to find out why these bastards were tracing my trail.
I glanced at Jo Harang after leaving the head that had rolled by my toes, then started running toward the cliff.
“Wait, boss! What about the head? We should pickle it and take it with us!”
“Do what you want with it!”
Priority had flipped in an instant.
The thin mist that circled the cliff was turning more and more blood-red.
It clearly meant the Blood Cult was up to something over there.
The two men and women who bore Evil Stars picked up the pace urgently.
Thud!
“Huff, huff.”
A woman smeared head to toe in crimson blood heaved breath into her thin shoulders.
Murong Cheonghye, hunted and driven into a corner by Blood Cult men, had fought desperately.
The situation had been hopeless, but she had burned herself out to take as many with her as possible, swinging the Murong clan’s ritual blade with stubborn ferocity.
As a result, dozens of Blood Cult corpses lay scattered at her feet.
“What a vicious bitch…”
Beyond the corpses, Gwang Hyeolso ground his teeth.
He had sent his subordinates ahead to conserve his strength, but they were all cut down without exception.
That ruthless hand made Gwang Hyeolso’s crimson gaze flash even more fiendishly.
“Did you want to kill that many people? Truly befitting the Heaven-Slaying Star overflowing with killing intent.”
A being said to possess a natural talent for killing.
I had thought capturing such a one would not be easy, but I hadn’t expected such tenacious resistance and frantic thrashing.
“Indeed… I had to kill. It wasn’t enough.”
Murong Cheonghye, having almost given up on denying the truth, muttered.
At that point she had already accepted that if she, as the Heaven-Slaying Star, died atop this cliff, it wouldn’t be so bad.
“She is a vessel for the one who dwells within. I intended to render her unconscious without damaging her… but now, there’s no avoiding cutting someplace.”
He pushed the honed sword forward and murmured as if regretful.
It was unavoidable. If I explained the circumstances of the wound, Lord of the Blood Cult and the great one who would descend later would probably understand to some degree.
As he thought that, he solidified the blood-red haze clinging to the sword into a distinct form.
It was proof of a Blade Flux so fierce it could cleave cloth, steel, and even sword qi — the sword’s enhanced qi.
“...So it was true.”
At that scene, Murong Cheonghye murmured as if in pain.
Even facing a peak master like herself, the Blood Cult expert had shown the composure of capturing her without leaving scars.
From the moment their swords clashed, she had felt an ominous qi — and she was right.
With sword qi alone, she could not stand against it. Gwang Hyeolso advanced step by step, closing the distance with a blade wrapped in Sword Flux.
Murong Cheonghye thought, So this is the end, and recalled something in her mind.
Even if she were to die, she resolved to drag him down with her — a determination for mutual destruction.
“Foolish woman. Even now, if you surrender, you shall gain mercy.”
Gwang Hyeolso’s sudden words blurred her concentration.
“Mercy, if I surrender? You expect me to believe that?”
“Under the mercy of the Heavenly Blood God, you could infinitely quench that overflowing killing intent. If that isn’t mercy, then what is?”
“As expected, nonsense… ah!”
Suddenly, the blood of the slain Blood Cultists soaking the ground surged up as though it had gained a will of its own, binding her legs like a snare.
“Khaha! Caught you!”
Blood trickled down his pinky finger — he had cast Blood Arts.
As her legs were bound, Gwang Hyeolso came at her with a triumphant face. Murong Cheonghye hastily forced out the last dregs of her internal energy to form sword qi.
The flickering blue sword qi and the crimson Sword Flux collided in the air.
Crash!
Her cherished blade, which had accompanied her since childhood, finally shattered, unable to withstand the Sword Flux.
Embedded with sharp fragments and bleeding all over, Murong Cheonghye collapsed.
Ah…
Gwang Hyeolso’s fist slammed into her, sending her sprawling.
As she lay on the ground, the hideous-faced man pressed her Demonic Acupoint and Water Acupoint, attempting to completely subdue her.
So this is the end…
For her final moments, she had intended to summon her latent energy and drag this Blood Cult master down with her.
Yet the difference in strength was too great, and she was defeated so helplessly.
Heavens, why would you grant me such a trial…
She heard the roar of rapids beneath the cliff.
To have her life end here, branded as the Heaven-Slaying Star…
Was it cruel irony of fate? Or perhaps she was paying some unknown price.
“Heh, sleep now. When you awaken, it shall be a blood-red paradise.”
Through the Water Acupoint, the drowsiness of sleep pressed upon her, swallowing her consciousness.
Her vision dimmed, her eyes closed.
But then — what was this?
“Hey…! Cheonghye… no!”
From afar, a familiar voice, and the rushing figure of a young man with a face so like her brother’s.
More mature, but the face still resembled her younger brother, Murong Cheongjin.
“Cheongjin…?”
Had her brother come to greet her from beyond?
Her lips parted briefly in disbelief — then her eyes closed fully, consumed by the drowsiness.
Her head slumped, and consciousness slipped away.
Confusion, shock, and fury swirled in my head.
“Dan Mujin Assault!”
I didn’t even remember the name of the technique — only primal instinct. I burst forth with inner energy from my Yongcheon Acupoint, charging at the enemy who dared lay hands on my sister.
Whoosh!
But the man wasn’t ordinary. My Dog-Beating Staff, swung with full power, cut the air with a sharp whistle.
The master with crimson glowing eyes slipped away with uncanny footwork, glancing between me and Jo Harang as we dashed toward the cliff.
“Huh? Lady Hero Murong Cheonghye? Mujin, why is she here?” Jo Harang asked breathlessly.
“…I don’t know. Really, why is she here?”
That was what I wanted to ask.
It had been too urgent, so I’d rushed in and saved her.
But from the way she mentioned Cheongjin at the end, it seemed she had seen my face.
My real face, uncovered, without the Human-skin Mask I usually wore.
“Damn it, this is bad.”
She had seemed half-dreaming from the acupoint strike… maybe she’d treat it like a dream?
Still, this was dangerous. When she woke, I’d just have to insist she was mistaken.
“What are you bastards doing here?”
Unbelievable. This guy asked the same question I wanted to.
“What about you? What are you doing here?” I countered, tilting my chin.
“Hmph. I am Gwang Hyeolso, Left Blood Law of the Blood Cult.”
My skin prickled instantly. His aura was unsettling, his answer unpleasant.
This one was strong.
I nudged Jo Harang’s arm — the one who had already drawn her broadsword — silently asking if she knew him.
“I know. Gwang Hyeolso. Despite appearances, he’s a former Demonic Practitioner… and to think he’s a Blood Cultist.”
“Fuck.”
Of all things, the two I hated most — clients who didn’t pay, and former Demonic Practitioners.
A madman who had lived for decades as a Demonic Practitioner. For someone like him to survive this long in the murim meant one thing: he was strong.
Ssshhh—
And as if to confirm it, Gwang Hyeolso released a blade of crimson Sword Flux right before our eyes.
For such destructive energy to condense into one sword — it could cleave anything apart.
“See? I knew it.”
I shook my head.
“…This is bad. What do we do, Mujin?”
Why was it that my bad premonitions were never wrong?
“Whatever you little rats may be, your bodies shall be offered to the great cause of the Blood Cult.”
His cold eyes foretold our deaths.
“Harang, if we work together, can we beat him?”
“Hmm… Even for us… that’s…”
It didn’t look promising. Damn it.
The Staff Qi of my Dog-Beating Staff rose white-hot in the crisis.
“Flesh and bone, blood and tears, until the last drop of your body…!”
The Blood Cult master roared, leaping from the ground.
Jo Harang and I exchanged glances, swallowing hard. The woman chasing the trace of the Heaven-Slaying Star, and the man trying to protect his sister.
Sometimes in life, there are moments when retreat is not an option.
We erupted with our inner energy and hurled ourselves against the blood-drenched madman.
The cliff where the Heaven-Slaying Star had last been marked.
The Astrologer felt a chill as soon as he entered the place.
When Gwang Hyeolso found a suspicious woman, he had told the Astrologer he was no longer needed and pushed him back.
Thus, the old man had been sitting afar, only hearing the sounds of battle.
But then he was overcome by a strange sensation. Without realizing it, he spread out his divination board.
Since neither moon nor stars were in the sky, he let blood drip upon the board, reading the heavens with that method.
And as he saw the result, his eyes widened.
“What a wicked, deceitful cliff this is.”
Bizarre. Strange. Monstrous.
Any of those words could apply.
“In this place… the Heavenly Fate has gone astray!”
Normally, all things of the earth followed Heaven’s will.
But here — someone’s fate had been greatly twisted.