Chapter 1
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 1
Chapter Title: Might Not Be Bad
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What is the definition of murim?
In my opinion, murim is all about valuing martial prowess and chivalry, pursuing strength, upholding justice, and sharing the language of the body with fellow practitioners.
It's brimming with romance, something that swells the chest just to behold.
At least, that's how I see it.
After all, every so-called orthodox murim story I've read has stuck to that principle without fail.
But what is this mess laid out before my eyes right now?
"Junior Sister!!! Grip my hand tight!"
"Hic... Senior Brother... Please, just save me."
"Damn it, why has the Strange Fire Spirit...!!"
The man, clutching the woman who called him Senior Brother to his chest, stared blankly at the burning plaque of the Mount Hua Sect.
He couldn't comprehend it.
Who could have foreseen that Mount Hua's destruction would come so abruptly?
"...Junior Sister."
"......"
"Thank you... for everything."
Death was imminent.
No one remained.
All of Mount Hua's disciples had drawn their swords to halt this catastrophe.
But their blades were woefully inadequate against a spirit beast.
How could mere mortals subdue a spirit beast that had dwelled on Mount Hua for thousands of years?
Even immortals would struggle, or so the swordsmen had claimed before turning to ash.
Their swords lay embedded in the ground, melting away.
A ferocious heat that cooked their lungs.
Seized by the flames, they forgot their pain and met their ends without even closing their eyes.
The wrath of the spirit beast, the Strange Fire Spirit.
Hwa-ryeon, the Sect Leader's prized disciple and bearer of the Plum Blossom Sword Phoenix title, heralded as the next Sword Empress.
The moment her secluded training ended, Mount Hua's spirit beast went berserk.
No one knew why.
All they knew was that for three days and nights, frenzied karmic flames had engulfed the sect.
Her tattered black daoist robes.
The robes emblazoned with flame flowers now wrapped around her, sparked by embers.
Mount Hua's rocky peak, where none remained.
The souls of the Sect Leader and all his followers, kneeling before the heat that melted even steel, cried out to her.
Please, stop that spirit beast.
No tears would flow.
Any tears that might have were vaporized by the heat.
Hwa-ryeon stared vacantly at what was once her home.
'Why......'
Why?
What was the reason?
"...Spirit beast, Strange Fire Spirit."
Gazing at the raging karmic flames with a haggard face, Hwa-ryeon called out the name of the guardian they had revered.
"Why impose such cruel trials upon us?"
[......]
Crimson flames billowed upward.
Seeing them, Hwa-ryeon felt a sharp ache in her chest.
Why, in heaven's name?
Why destroy Mount Hua so easily—the very sect that had settled this land following the spirit beast?
She couldn't understand.
"...This girl intends to protect Mount Hua and its swordsmanship to the very end."
-Sizzle...
A single tear from Hwa-ryeon evaporated with a hissing sound that echoed into the sky.
Only then did a colossal tree reveal itself before her eyes.
She stared blankly at the plum blossom tree it resembled.
'Ryeon-ah, what does this tree look like to you?'
'...To this disciple's eyes, it appears as a massive tree. It vaguely resembles the World Tree from the Long-Eared Clan's legends.'
A faint memory surfaced of a conversation with her master, the Sect Leader.
Indignation burned within her.
'Ryeon-ah...!!! Leave this place to me and take the other disciples away...!!'
The face of the Sect Leader, like a father to her, flashed through her mind.
Just like a single plum blossom petal scattering fleetingly.
The vivid image of her master reduced to ash haunted her.
-Crunch
Gripping her sword tighter, Hwa-ryeon leveled it at the massive plum blossom tree with a blank expression.
The spirit beast writhed, then shifted form.
"...Strange Fire Spirit."
It transformed into a gigantic wingless dragon, its eyes flickering with intent as it gazed at Hwa-ryeon.
The surrounding rocks had all melted into lava, oozing slowly.
Even Hwa-ryeon's sword, wrapped in her inner energy, glowed red-hot and began to melt.
Embers rose from her skin and hair.
Smoke billowed as she, too, edged toward becoming a pile of ash.
'Even breathing hurts.'
Breathing itself was agony.
Having just emerged from seclusion, her body was already pushed to its limits.
"I do not know what you desire."
[......]
Yet she resolved to uphold her convictions.
It seemed to urge her to flee.
As if telling her she stood no chance.
"...I cannot forgive you becoming a true dragon, Strange Fire Spirit."
Grinding her teeth, Hwa-ryeon unleashed a flurry of techniques with qinggong, her movements blindingly swift.
Feints and strikes intertwined unpredictably to overwhelm the Strange Fire Spirit.
Swift sword strikes unleashed illusions of blooming plum blossoms that erupted, threatening to incinerate everything around.
But such techniques could never pierce the Strange Fire Spirit.
After all, everything of Mount Hua originated from it.
Like water cannot cleave water.
Flames cannot cleave flames.
"Urk...!!!"
In the end, Hwa-ryeon collapsed to her knees.
Before her coiled the massive spirit serpent.
[Mount Hua has grown far beyond what this one imagined. Thus, it meets this end.]
The last remaining disciple of Mount Hua, Hwa-ryeon, bowed her head, tears dripping down.
She felt utterly pathetic in her powerlessness.
'...My hands hurt.'
The hands she had protected with inner energy were slowly crumbling to ash.
It hurt.
Madly so.
Like the first time she gripped and swung a sword.
Like the blistering agony from endless daily training.
Only difference was...
'...Is this the end?'
What was once the pain of beginnings had twisted into the despair of endings.
Pain drowned in despair screamed miserably.
[Child of Mount Hua, the last one remaining.]
"......"
Hwa-ryeon lifted her head at the call, and the massive wingless dragon inquired.
[Have you any final words to leave behind?]
Any final words?
The cunning spirit beast feigned emotion, moved by her resolve.
Scoffing at it, Hwa-ryeon turned back.
Mount Hua's collapsing main gate.
A pile of ash retaining the shape of two embraced figures.
"...I'm, sorry."
An illusion gripped her, as if evaporated tears trailed down her cheeks.
"I'm sorry... Sect Leader."
Regret flooded her.
For not training even a bit harder.
For not reaching the Sect Leader's level a moment sooner.
In that instant, she wondered if she'd ever truly attained enlightenment, or merely chased her master's shadow.
[What meaning lies in apologies after failing to protect and losing everything?]
The Strange Fire Spirit's words clawed at Hwa-ryeon's heart.
Her bowed head would not rise again.
A ripping pain tore through her chest amid the torment, and she let her sword slip from her grasp.
-Drip...
The sword melted away pathetically the moment it left her hand.
And with that...
-Roar!
Her body, too, crumbled to ash and scattered on the wind.
The annihilation of Mount Hua.
News of one of the Nine Great Sects' demise spread across the Central Plains, becoming fodder for endless gossip in the markets.
A murim novel my friend recommended I read.
Reading it made my blood boil in reverse.
Like someone fiddling with my pressure points, an unpleasant sensation washed over me.
Mount Hua Sect had become a Fire Mountain Sect.
And it worshiped some bizarre spirit beast called the Strange Fire Spirit, turning it into a freakish cult.
But that wasn't the only problem.
I think I read up to chapter 10.
It was a total disaster.
Qi Circulation methods were served up like complimentary breakfasts by waiters in this insane world.
"Ifrit..."
It wasn't hard to figure out the Strange Fire Spirit's true nature.
Ifrit—a famously well-known name for a fire spirit.
Recalling that made me grit my teeth even harder.
"So these guys are that Demonic Cult or whatever? The ones who worship fire?"
Even more shocking was...
"......"
This bastard knew about the Fire Worship Cult.
Even so, equating the righteous Mount Hua with Demonic Cult trash?
The Heavenly Demon would have a fit if he heard.
But this was reality—no Heavenly Demon, so what of it?
"Sigh... This isn't murim."
"What're you talking about? It's murim—Chinese setting and all."
"......"
I looked up, questioning if he was serious, only to meet my friend's gaze like I was some alien freak.
"Forget it......"
"Whatcha doing?"
"Gonna leave a comment."
"...?"
I saw comments calling it a "Great Mountain of Joy."
To me, it was a displeasing valley.
"Time to show 'em the terror of a 5700-character comment."
"...You'll get possessed if you do."
5700 characters—that was more than the novel I'd just read.
"Possessed my ass......"
That was my mistake.
I should have heeded my friend's warning at least once.
By the time I grasped that life truth...
"Wha—what the hell..."
I had become Hwa-ryeon.
'Might not be so bad.'
A demon must have slipped into my head.