Chapter 299 |
Lost in the Fog
The disciples of Shaolin and Wudang repeatedly moved south after leaving Mount Emei.
After five continuous days of traveling, they finally arrived in Dali County, located in Yunnan Province.
Dali County, situated near Mount Zhongnan, the location of the Jeomchang Sect, was a bustling county.
Upon arrival, the Shaolin and Wudang disciples gathered in groups, wandering around the marketplace to purchase food and water that could be stored for a long time.
This was not because of the fight with the Jeomchang Sect.
After all, Zhongnan was right around the corner. It was enough to stay stationed here in Dali County and steadily supply themselves with provisions.
After buying the necessary supplies, the next day arrived.
Around fifty Shaolin and Wudang disciples gathered together.
Instead of participating in the battle with Zhongnan, they were heading straight to Nanzhao.
“Please take care,” Mu-jin said, giving a brief farewell to Hyun-Cheon, the abbot.
Hyun-Cheon wore a conflicted expression.
It was a curious look, blending worry and trust.
“Don’t overdo it. Life is precious. Although you are still learning, you and the disciples are more important to me than the apostates of the demon sect.”
“Yes. If it seems impossible, we’ll run away with our tails between our legs,” Mu-jin replied boldly.
With Mu-jin’s confident talk of retreat, the worry on Hyun-Cheon’s face eased a bit.
Hyun-Cheon exchanged farewells with each of the disciples heading to Nanzhao.
After all the farewells, they departed from Dali County.
Riding comfortably in a cart for recovery, Mu-jin glanced back at Dali County.
“They’ll manage well on their own, right?” he thought.
Even though fifty had left, about 250 disciples still remained.
And since Dali County was relatively large, it wouldn’t be difficult to obtain enough food and drink for 250 people.
Moreover, they had plenty of wealth taken from Mount Emei.
“Will they be okay?” Mu-gung, who was driving the cart in which Mu-jin was resting, muttered as he also looked back at Dali County.
“Why is the driver looking back dangerously?” Mu-jin exclaimed in surprise, causing Mu-gung to click his tongue and turn his head forward.
“Aren’t you worried at all?” Mu-gung asked.
Mu-jin shrugged his shoulders.
Of course, as Mu-gung feared, it was madness to attack one of the Nine Great Clans with just 250 disciples, no matter how sufficient their supplies were.
If the Nine Great Clans were at their full strength.
“But Zhongnan has lost much of its power,” Mu-jin said.
Zhongnan, like Emei, had lost many disciples in Sichuan.
“And considering the losses in Nanzhao, it’s now embarrassing to call Zhongnan one of the Nine Great Clans.”
If they considered the damage inflicted in Nanzhao, Zhongnan was no longer worthy of being called one of the Nine Great Clans.
“But still, Xinfen could send reinforcements,” Mu-gung said.
“Well, with the abbot and Jegal Mun remaining, they’ll handle any variables well.”
Jegal Mun, with his clever and sly mind, must have considered such scenarios.
However, Mu-gung looked even more anxious at Mu-jin’s answer.
“Jegal Mun might just sacrifice us and escape alone if things go south.”
Being someone who valued his own life above all, it seemed plausible.
But Mu-jin shook his head.
“He came with us to Gwiryeong Mountain last time, remember? He’s someone who eliminates threats to his life, not someone who just runs away.”
Of course, if the situation became utterly hopeless, he might flee alone.
“But if it comes to that, there would be no way out from the start.”
Since it was a meaningless worry, Mu-jin didn’t bother to voice it.
Instead, he spoke to ease Mu-gung’s worry.
“So stop babbling and push the cart. It’s time for lower body training!”
When one focuses on exercise, idle thoughts tend to disappear.
* * *
After leaving Dali County, the Shaolin and Wudang disciples arrived in Xishuangbanna after three days of travel.
Xishuangbanna was a village located at the border, crossing from Yunnan to Nanzhao.
“Shaolin Elder Monk, before we enter Nanzhao, we should buy some food and water and prepare some money to use in Nanzhao,” Mu-jin suggested.
Hyun-hyeon, who was accompanying them to Nanzhao, nodded at Mu-jin’s words.
“It would be wise to also find someone to act as a translator and guide. Let’s use the military funds provided by Jegal Mun,” Hyun-hyeon said.
Mu-jin shook his head.
“Instead, it would be better to sell unnecessary items. Gold and silver treasures can be traded in Nanzhao as well, so it’s best to keep them for emergencies.”
“Not a bad idea, but what unnecessary items are you talking about?” Hyun-hyeon asked.
Mu-jin pointed to the cart that the Shaolin and Wudang disciples had been diligently dragging along.
It was a cart loaded with iron weights used for exercise.
“!?”.
Naturally, the Shaolin and Wudang disciples looked at Mu-jin with incomprehension.
“What should we do, Mu-gung Senior Brother? It seems Mu-jin has fallen into Qi Deviation.”
“Hey. Did you get heatstroke? How many do you see here?” Mu-gung and Mu-gyeong quipped, causing Mu-jin to let out a big sigh.
“Since Nanzhao has many jungles, it’s hard to drag carts loaded with iron weights. So let’s sell them to a blacksmith. It’s a pity, but we can at least get the price of the iron. The cart too.”
It was certainly a reasonable suggestion.
However, because it was Mu-jin who made it, everyone found it hard to believe.
“Mu-jin, giving up iron weights?”
“I thought he would say it’s more beneficial for training in the jungle.”
As the Shaolin and Wudang disciples murmured among themselves, Mu-jin asked in disbelief.
“What do you think of me?”
“A guy who loves weightlifting more than Buddha?”
“A muscle-crazed lunatic.”
“A fool who knows nothing but muscles?”
“Oink!”
With Mu-gyeong, Mu-gung, and Mu-yul’s teasing, Mu-jin clenched his fists in frustration.
‘To think I’m being called a fool by none other than Mu-yul.’
That was the part that irritated Mu-jin the most.
Sensing that the conversation was going off track, Hyun-hyeon cleared his throat loudly to mediate.
“Anyway, sell those carts and iron weights and get the necessary supplies and guides.”
“What do you mean, Shaolin Elder Monk?” Mu-jin reacted vehemently.
“Why is that?” Hyun-hyeon asked, puzzled.
“We should only sell what hinders our movement, not everything. That’s unacceptable.”
Mu-jin then approached the cart and started sorting the iron weights.
‘This one is too light to be effective for muscle training.’
‘This one can be used in various postures, so let’s take it.’
Like a jeweler inspecting gems, Mu-jin carefully selected the iron weights and loaded them into one cart.
As everyone watched Mu-jin’s strange behavior, he pointed to the cart he had organized.
“This cart alone should suffice. It’s regrettable, but having just this one will at least prevent significant muscle loss,” Mu-jin stated confidently, leaving all the Shaolin and Wudang disciples looking bewildered.
‘He really is muscle-crazy, isn’t he?’ They thought. Truly, those unaware of their own madness are the most dangerous.
In the end, following the opinion of the madman, the disciples set off for the market of Xishuangbanna with carts full of iron weights to sell, except for one cart.
But Mu-jin wasn’t the only madman.
“What is the matter?” The blacksmith, working in his forge, looked curiously at the monks dressed in robes.
The monks had come to sell strange iron weights of unknown purpose. However, despite saying they would sell them, they were trembling and their eyes were shaking.
‘Are they addicts?’ The blacksmith couldn’t help but think so, given that their symptoms closely resembled those of opium addicts he had seen in the back alleys.
Regardless of the blacksmith’s thoughts, the second disciple of Shaolin, who had come to sell the iron weights, was staring wistfully at the iron in his hands.
The feel, the weight—lifting this could make his muscles much stronger. Should he really sell it?
Such thoughts kept circling in his head.
It felt as though the moment he handed over the iron weight to the blacksmith, the weight of the iron would be matched by the loss of muscle from his body. And it wasn’t just this disciple who felt this way; many Shaolin disciples were experiencing similar symptoms.
Someone must have spread a serious poison in Shaolin.
* * *
After many twists and turns, Mu-jin and his group minimized their baggage and departed from Xishuangbanna, entering Nanzhao.
Since they left Xishuangbanna in the afternoon, they traveled for half a day and stayed in a village for the night.
The village was quite peaceful. It was hard to believe that a war with the demon sect might soon occur in Nanzhao.
The next morning, after breakfast at the inn, they set off again.
The place where Ou-yang Pae and the apostates were based was the former location of the Five Poison Sect. Although the Five Poison Sect no longer existed, the guide they hired could easily lead them there because the sect had been based there for a long time.
“We will travel non-stop until evening and rest in a village we reach by nightfall,” Hyun-hyeon instructed.
Taegwang, the guide they had hired, organized the route in his mind and soon agreed.
After traveling for half a day, the atmosphere in the village they arrived at for rest was entirely different from the first village.
Everyone in the village looked at them with a mix of anxiety, fear, and suspicion. No one was willing to let them stay in their homes, not even at what seemed to be an inn.
“Is there a problem?” Hyun-hyeon asked.
Taegwang, looking troubled, explained, “Recently, there have been incidents of outsiders causing trouble in the surrounding villages.”
Mu-jin frowned as he listened beside them.
‘Why now?’
Feeling uneasy, they heard a thud.
“!?”.
Mu-jin, Hyun-hyeon, and the Shaolin and Wudang disciples looked in that direction with puzzled expressions.
In the shadow cast by a small building as the evening sun began to set, a strange scene unfolded.
“When did you go over there?” Mu-gyeong was there.
“And who is that?” He had subdued a man dressed in black.
The thud they heard was the sound of the man in black collapsing.
“I saw him using stealth techniques, so I approached and subdued him just in case.”
“Oh, really?” Mu-jin replied, feeling awkward.
‘I didn’t notice?’
Mu-gyeong’s understanding of stealth techniques had been improving since the war with the Salmak.
At this rate, he might become a more formidable assassin than the Head of Salmak one day. It was odd for a Shaolin disciple to be an assassin, but there was a more pressing issue.
“So, that guy was spying on us using stealth techniques?” Mu-jin approached the man in black, who was paralyzed on the ground, and grabbed his hair, lifting his head.
“Who do you belong to?”
“Do you think I’d tell you, you righteous fools?” The man shouted boldly, even while being captured.
His words made it easier to deduce his identity.
“Figures. You understand our language, and you called us ‘righteous’ just by looking at our attire. You must be from the demon sect.”
Given the timing and circumstances, Mu-jin had already suspected it, making the deduction even simpler.
The man’s eyes, which had been confident he could withstand any torture, shook wildly.
But Mu-jin, as if losing interest in the man, let go of his grip.
Thud.
As the man’s head hit the ground with a dull noise, Mu-jin turned to Hyun-hyeon.
“Shaolin Elder Monk, it seems the situation is urgent.”
“Indeed. Taegwang, could you tell us how long it would take to reach the former location of the Five Poison Sect from here?”
Taegwang, after some thought, answered, “At our current pace, it would take about half a day, but the night paths in Nanzhao are dangerous. It’s hard to navigate the forest paths in the dark.”
Though it seemed he didn’t want to travel at night, Taegwang cautiously added, “So, I’d need a bit of extra pay for the risk.”
Though it made sense to be scared about getting involved in martial affairs, his eyes were gleaming with greed.
But Mu-jin thought it was rather convenient. Since he was so blatantly after money, it meant he would be compliant if paid.
“We will give you double the originally promised amount.”
“Thank you.”
Once the deal was made, Mu-jin offered his back to Taegwang.
“Get on. We need to move quickly, so just direct us.”
Taegwang happily climbed onto Mu-jin’s back, and they left the village without delay.
Following Taegwang’s directions, they traveled for some time.
By the time the sky was completely dark and only the moonlight shining through the clouds softly lit the world, they finally reached the place where Ou-yang Pae and the apostates had gathered.
“…Damn.”
Under the desolate moonlight, staring at the ruined site, Mu-jin inadvertently cursed.