noveltune Chapter 226:
Chapter 226:
Chapter 226:
Small Palace
Why did Mu-jin insist on dragging Mu-gyeong to find Ou-yang Pae?
It was because he needed to gain enlightenment from the match with Mu-gyeong to overcome the impending crisis when they went to the Southern Barbarians.
“Cough.”
However, if he was in such a half-dead state, enlightenment or not, the moment they went to the Southern Barbarians, a journey to the afterlife was guaranteed.
‘Damn. I unknowingly thought of him as the Heavenly Demon.’
Meeting the blood successor was supposed to be around the middle of the storyline. He was not yet the fully realized Heavenly Demon.
Even his invincible Primordial Chaos Divine Art was only in its nascent stage, yet Mu-jin, shocked alone, had used his full strength to unleash the Invincible Divine Fist.
But regret aside, saving him was the priority.
“Get a grip!”
As Mu-jin hurriedly approached him and shouted, Ou-yang Pae, spitting blood, responded in a solemn tone.
“Kill me.”
“Kill you? What nonsense.”
There was no way to overturn the novel’s plot. If you die, who will purify the Demon Cult?
“...Are you, a warrior of your caliber, trying to mock me? Kill me cleanly, like a true warrior. Cough.”
“Stop talking nonsense, you crazy bastard. I’m not going to kill you. You must have some internal injury medicine! Where is it? Huh?”
After rummaging through Ou-yang Pae’s clothes, Mu-jin managed to find a pill.
“Is this for internal injuries?”
“...”
Seeing the Shaolin monk trying to save him, Ou-yang Pae looked at Mu-jin with a confused expression.
From Mu-jin’s perspective, he was desperate to save him as soon as possible.
“Damn it! Is it the right medicine? If it is, take it! Take it first and then decide whether to die or live.”
In response to Mu-jin’s urgent words, Ou-yang Pae, seemingly wanting to live, accepted and swallowed the medicine.
Mu-jin supported Ou-yang Pae, helping him sit in a position conducive to conducting Qi.
Whether it was the efficacy of the internal medicine or the quick Qi circulation, color gradually returned to Ou-yang Pae’s pale face.
“Mu-jin, what are you doing?”
Meanwhile, the rest of the group, who had witnessed the whole scene, were puzzled.
He had turned the successor of the Heavenly Demon into a half-dead state, and now he was trying to save him.
“Aren’t you going to kill him? Isn’t he the successor of the Heavenly Demon?”
At Mu-gyeong’s words, the face of Ou-yang Pae, who was stably conducting Qi, suddenly turned pale.
“You, a disciple of Buddhism, why are you talking about killing everyone?”
“Aren’t you a disciple of Buddhism?”
“That’s why I’m trying to save him.”
“I bet the number of people you’ve killed would be in the triple digits.”
“Eh, they were all people who deserved to die.”
“And he doesn’t?”
As Mu-jin argued with Mu-gyeong and Mu-gung over whether to kill or save him, Ou-yang Pae’s face alternated between red and pale as he conducted Qi.
“There’s no law saying that just because someone is from the Demon Cult, they are a bad person. Considering he came here and killed the bandits, he might actually be a good guy.”
“Then why did you tell me to fight him?”
Though it was to give Ou-yang Pae enlightenment, Mu-jin couldn’t say that directly.
“Well, since he’s from the Demon Cult, I thought it’d be safer to subdue him first and then talk.”
As Mu-jin continued to spout sophistry, Mu-gyeong and Mu-gung sighed and gave up trying to persuade him.
They assumed there must be some reason behind his actions.
How long had the Muja Quartet and Ling-ling been silently watching Ou-yang Pae’s Qi circulation?
“Whew.”
With a deep sigh, Ou-yang Pae opened his eyes and spoke.
“Whether you kill me or save me, please make a decision.”
Despite his severe internal injuries, he was conducting Qi with reckless demonic arts.
In a situation requiring absolute stability, the constant talk of killing or saving him nearby was a miracle that he hadn’t fallen into Qi Deviation.
No, it was because he was Ou-yang Pae that he hadn’t fallen into Qi Deviation. Any other demonic practitioner would have died a hundred times from Qi Deviation in this situation.
Of course, Mu-jin was unperturbed.
“See? I saved you.”
“...Whew.”
Realizing that it was impossible to have a normal conversation with this man, Ou-yang Pae sighed deeply.
* * *
Somehow, Mu-jin managed to persuade the group and Ou-yang Pae, and they crossed the mountains with him in a carriage.
Before long, they arrived at Zangnan (Arunachal Pradesh), but the members of the Red Tiger Group were not there.
“It seems they have already left.”
The place they had promised to meet was not Zangnan.
Moreover, the Red Tiger Group was not a small group of just a dozen people.
Originally consisting of fifty members, they were divided into four groups, each using different methods to illegally enter the Southern Barbarians for safety.
Naturally, the rendezvous point was much further south, and the group leader had given three days, meaning they should head there if they couldn’t join at Zangnan.
“From now on, I’ll travel alone.”
Ou-yang Pae, indicating he couldn’t owe them any more, said this, but Mu-jin refused to accept it.
Ou-yang Pae had suffered severe internal injuries.
Although emergency treatment was done with internal injury medicine and Qi circulation, he needed at least a few more days to recover enough to perform martial arts normally.
Sending him off alone in this state could lead to his death, causing all sorts of trouble.
“We’ll escort you until you reunite with your comrades, so just shut up and focus on recovering.”
Thus, Mu-jin and his group’s unintended journey to the Southern Barbarians began.
‘I never got to travel Southeast Asia even in modern times, and now I’m doing it here.’
The language, culture, and of course, the food were different.
The only fortunate thing was that Ou-yang Pae knew the Southern Barbarian language to some extent.
“I studied it for this mission.”
“How long?”
“About a day.”
“...Damn it. How can an ordinary person live like this?”
After just a day of studying, he had memorized most of the Southern Barbarian characters and language.
Although his conversation and pronunciation were awkward without practice with the natives, it was still something.
Of course, Ou-yang Pae was dumbfounded by the constant scolding.
‘Ordinary person?’
Considering the one who broke his martial arts and turned him into a half-dead state called himself ordinary, what did that make him? A martial arts idiot?
However, knowing that conversing with this person could lead to Qi Deviation, Ou-yang Pae kept silent.
In any case, for this reason, Mu-jin’s group used Ou-yang Pae as an interpreter to find their way, order food and drink, and continue their journey.
On the second day of crossing the Southern Barbarians.
“#@$!”
Some savage-looking individuals, with red-painted faces and accompanied by beasts, blocked Mu-jin’s group.
“What are they saying?”
“They’re telling us to stop.”
Mu-jin, with a puzzled expression, said,
“Ask them why they stopped us.”
Ou-yang Pae, now serving as an interpreter, sighed and translated Mu-jin’s words.
“@#$@#$#!$#”
“!!@#$#$%#$^”
After exchanging a few awkward sentences with the savage, Ou-yang Pae frowned.
“What’s wrong?”
“They said, ‘How dare you try to steal our friend.’”
“Friend? What nonsense?”
Ou-yang Pae moderately softened Mu-jin’s words and relayed them.
“What friend are you talking about?”
“Are you pretending not to know when it’s right there in plain sight?”
The savage, with a furious face, pointed somewhere with his finger.
Although he couldn’t understand the Southern Barbarian language, Mu-jin understood the situation thanks to the gesture.
“Woong?”
The savage was pointing at Ling-ling, who was playing on Mu-yul’s shoulder.
Seeing that they called Ling-ling ‘friend,’ it wasn’t hard to guess their identity.
“This must be the territory of the Southern Barbarian Beast Palace...”
Mu-jin felt things getting increasingly complicated.