noveltune Chapter 230:
Chapter 230:
Red Tiger Group
“If it was an injury that could heal in two days, we wouldn’t have come all the way here.”
At Mu-jin’s remark, Ou-yang Pae sighed and replied.
“Whew. It’s not fully healed, but I can move on my own without any problems. There’s less than a day left until the agreed time with my group, so I have to leave now.”
“Don’t worry. It’s not like I won’t let you go. I was just suggesting we go together because I’m worried about sending you off alone.”
Saying that, Mu-jin turned and called out to Mu-gung.
“Mu-gung!”
“What?”
“Let’s go out for a bit.”
“Why does it have to be me again?”
When Mu-gung asked back, Mu-jin pointed at Mu-yul.
“Mu-yul is busy right now, and leaving him alone makes me uneasy, so Mu-gyeong has to stay as the babysitter.”
“Why don’t I stay as the babysitter and take Mu-gyeong instead?”
As if it was the most natural thing, Mu-gung tried to pawn himself off, causing Mu-gyeong to call out sadly, “Mu-gung Saje...?”
Of course, Mu-jin wasn’t swayed.
“This time, it has to be you.”
“Hm. It has to be me?”
“Yes. There might be a situation that only you can handle.”
“Hmph. If that’s the reason, I can’t help it.”
Mu-gung snorted, satisfied that it was because he was essential, not just for cleanup.
He was a surprisingly simple guy.
But it wasn’t just to coax Mu-gung that Mu-jin said that.
“Not might, it definitely will happen.”
In the first part of the novel, “The Return of the Heavenly Demon,” Ou-yang Pae barely makes it to the rendezvous point after fighting the Blood Monk.
Although he didn’t suffer severe internal injuries like now, Ou-yang Pae did sustain minor wounds from his battle with the Blood Monk.
So, he took a day to rest and meditate, both to heal his minor wounds and to organize his insights from the fight.
Then he headed to the rendezvous point.
Upon arriving, he joined the Red Tiger Group and immediately got into a conflict with a certain organization.
While a healthy Ou-yang Pae could overcome the problem, he was currently still injured.
And if things went as Mu-jin expected, Mu-gung was the perfect person to resolve the conflict with that organization.
* * *
Somewhere in the southern barbarian lands.
The place where the Red Tiger Group, initially divided into five squads, was supposed to regroup.
As the agreed time approached, members of the Red Tiger Group began gathering there one by one.
A woman who had just arrived at the location scanned the gathered people before heading towards the leader.
“Leader! Where is Pae? I don’t see him.”
The woman was one of the squad leaders of the Red Tiger Group, who had come here via a different route. The person she was looking for was Ou-yang Pae.
In response to her question, the leader frowned slightly before answering.
“He got separated on the way here.”
“Got separated?”
“Pae had something he needed to handle alone. He said he’d make it here by the agreed time, so don’t worry.”
“But, Leader...”
Perhaps due to her special affection for Pae, she kept questioning the leader, causing his expression to change sharply.
“...Sorry, Leader.”
Realizing she had overstepped, she swallowed her frustration and bowed her head.
“I understand your concern, but for now, focus on letting the members rest. How can a squad leader care more about members from other squads than their own?”
“I’m sorry.”
Though she felt it was unreasonable since Pae wasn’t just any member, she wisely kept that thought to herself.
Regardless of personal feelings, Ou-yang Pae was the current Heavenly Demon’s son.
Though he wasn’t treated as such.
However, as a squad leader of the Demon Sect’s armed forces, she couldn’t show favoritism based on status.
Unconsciously, she might give special treatment, but voicing it would be foolish.
The leader of the Red Tiger Group felt the same.
“What on earth are you doing?”
Despite scolding her, the leader was equally troubled.
Ou-yang Pae shouldn’t have had trouble dealing with some bandits in a backwater like Linzhi.
The fact that he hadn’t arrived yet might mean something had happened.
“...What did you say?”
At her outrageous remark, Ou-yang Pae asked again, baffled. Su-linya wiggled her finger as she responded.
“To reach Mangdon Village by sunset, we must run all day without rest. Spending the night with me would leave your frail legs unable to endure.”
In an instant, Su-linya had demoted the heir of the Heavenly Demon to a man with weak legs. She then turned to Mu-jin and directed her gaze at him.
“A warrior like you might be able to handle it. Hehehe.”
Her eyes, as fierce as a serpent’s, examined Mu-jin’s muscles.
* * *
Sadly, Mu-jin did not spend a passionate night with Su-linya.
Setting aside issues with Ryu Seol-hwa and his status as a monk,
“If it weren’t for the smell...”
The strong scent of sweat and the body odor from the warriors living in the jungle kept Mu-jin’s almost-escaped rationality firmly in his brain.
Regardless, the following dawn, Mu-jin, Mu-gung, and Ou-yang Pae left the Beast Palace with Su-linya.
As was typical of Beast Palace warriors, Su-linya also had an animal companion, a female leopard named Charida.
“Is it alright to wear your friend’s skin as clothing?”
Mu-jin asked out of curiosity, and Su-linya laughed adorably.
“Hahaha! This isn’t Charida’s skin. It’s made from her mother, Mard’s skin. Mard was also my friend, but she passed away a few years ago. I wear her skin to stay with her forever.”
She added that all Beast Palace warriors made clothes from the skin of their animal friends after they died to signify lifelong companionship.
While this was an insightful glimpse into the unique culture of the Beast Palace, Ou-yang Pae, pressed for time, frowned deeply.
“Can we talk while we move?”
Eventually, pressured by Ou-yang Pae, they started their journey.
Indeed, a warrior from the Beast Palace, who had lived in the jungle all her life, was different.
Su-linya did not follow the usual paths but cut through the jungle directly south.
She led the way, calling it a “shortcut.”
“She’s really fast.”
Mu-jin clicked his tongue in admiration as he watched Su-linya run ahead.
Su-linya, running on all fours with her friend Charida, traversed the underbrush, rivers, and even cliffs as if they were flat ground.
She moved so fast that Mu-jin and Mu-gung were falling slightly behind.
It wasn’t that Su-linya’s lightness skill was vastly superior to that of Mu-jin or Mu-gung.
It was simply that the myriad trees and rocks in the rainforest hindered their running.
Su-linya, however, seemed to use these obstacles to gain even more speed, which was astonishing.
“It reminds me of the old days.”
Naturally, Mu-jin reminisced about the time he learned lightness skills from Hyeon-gwang.
But the main reason Mu-jin and Mu-gung were lagging slightly was different.
“Oh boy.”
Chasing after Su-linya, who was running on all fours and wearing only animal skin that covered crucial parts, made it hard to know where to look.
Mu-jin, who had some resistance, managed to find peace by recalling memories with Hyeon-gwang.
“What are you doing! You keep falling behind!”
Unable to hold back his anger at Mu-gung, who kept lagging, Ou-yang Pae yelled out.
Despite being carried on Mu-jin’s back due to his unhealed internal injuries.
Regardless of Ou-yang Pae’s anger, Mu-gung struggled to maintain focus.
For Mu-gung, who had transitioned from a simple rural child to a monk, Su-linya’s appearance was a challenging mental assault.
“Namua-mitabha. Namua-mitabha.”
No matter how much he chanted in his mind, the tantalizing glimpse of the unknown world beyond Su-linya’s animal skin shattered his years of cultivated serenity.
“This is wrong! This is wrong! I have Miss Baek... No! Not Miss Baek!! I am a monk of Shaolin! Namua-mitabha. Namua-mi... Oh boy...”
Mu-jin, observing Mu-gung’s ever-changing complexion, sighed.
“Su-linya! We need to take a short break!”
Hearing Mu-jin’s shout, Ou-yang Pae, also on Mu-jin’s back, sighed and translated his words.
Su-linya, far ahead, finally stopped and looked back at them with a puzzled expression.
She seemed to wonder how they couldn’t keep up with this pace.
However, her confusion quickly turned to amusement when she saw Mu-gung’s colorful expression.
“Hahaha. You’re not bad for a warrior. But now is not the time. How about after we reach Mangdon Village?”
Su-linya’s eyes, now fixed on Mu-gung’s robust muscles, glinted mischievously.
Wondering whether to translate such absurd words or not, Ou-yang Pae sighed again and reluctantly translated them for Mu-jin and Mu-gung.
“Wh-wh-what do you mean after we reach Mangdon Village?”
Mu-gung began to tremble, realizing the implications too late.
“...At this rate, we might have a corpse before we arrive.”
Mu-jin worried that Mu-gung might die from Qi Deviation.