Chapter 305 |
United We Live, Divided We Die
Mu-jin increased his speed, aware of the high likelihood that enemies would soon swarm the area.
‘We need to leave before they gather.’
Since he had already drawn the enemy’s attention, he saw no need to be stealthy. Mu-jin unleashed the full potential of his Pa San Shin Bo technique.
Boom!
The ground exploded beneath Mu-jin’s feet, and the thick foliage of Namman shattered upon impact with his body.
Ignoring obstacles and charging forward recklessly allowed Mu-jin to reach the battlefield in no time.
“It’s the Divine Dragon of Shaolin!”
Someone recognized Mu-jin’s Golden Nine Palaces technique and shouted urgently.
However, he couldn’t speak any longer as Mu-jin’s strike left a massive hole in his abdomen.
“Mu-jin!”
Mu-gung, who was joyfully unleashing his Nirvana Palm technique, spotted Mu-jin and greeted him brightly, only to receive a barrage of curses in return.
“Hey, you crazy bastard! Fighting so flamboyantly will attract them all!”
Mu-gung’s face, initially happy to see his reliable ally, crumpled instantly.
“What else can I do? This is the only martial art I’ve mastered!”
“You think that’s something to brag about, idiot!”
Despite their bickering, they didn’t stop moving their limbs. Few demonic cultists could withstand the powerful martial arts of the duo, and they fell like autumn leaves.
While the two drew the attention of the cultists…
“Ugh…”
A demonic cultist suddenly collapsed with a hole pierced through his acupoint. Mu-gyeong, having hidden himself using Shadow Step and Ghost Walk, had silently approached and struck with his Sword of Sura.
‘Tsk. I’m not quite there yet.’
Feeling regretful for not reaching the level where he could hide even while attacking like the King of Assassins, Mu-gyeong clicked his tongue and disappeared back into the shadows.
Finally, with Mu-yul and Ling-Ling joining in, the demonic cultists were quickly swept away.
Fortunately, there weren’t too many of them, just around a dozen or so. After swiftly dealing with them, Mu-jin shouted urgently.
“Those who are uninjured, carry the wounded and follow this person! We will buy you time!”
The person Mu-jin pointed to was the Red Tiger Leader.
The ones hiding with Mu-gung in the refuge were experienced enough to understand the urgency and followed Mu-jin’s orders without a word. They quickly prepared to evacuate with the severely injured.
After sending them off and watching the cultists slowly gather, Mu-jin cracked his knuckles.
“We need to draw their attention, so let’s make it flashy.”
Mu-gung pouted but assumed the starting position for Nirvana Palm.
“If we’re going to be noisy anyway, why did you scold me?”
Mu-gyeong, grumbling, switched from his stealth techniques to preparing the Golden Rain.
“I’m injured too…”
Mu-yul, oddly cheerful, was smiling brightly.
“Hehe, this will be fun!”
“Ook-kee!”
* * *
The trio of Mu-jin fought splendidly as he instructed. Mu-jin’s Golden Nine Palaces and golden fist aura radiated magnificently, pulverizing the demonic cultists. Mu-gung’s Nirvana Palm blazed like a giant flame, incinerating the cultists along with the darkness. Mu-gyeong’s dozens of golden rain beams softly illuminated the surroundings like a forest of fireflies.
To an onlooker, it might have seemed a beautiful sight, but those fireflies were deadly.
Yet, it was Mu-yul and Ling-Ling who drew the most attention from the cultists.
“Ook-kee!”
“Ook-kee!”
To be precise, they were more infuriating than attention-grabbing. Mu-yul, making monkey noises, displayed bizarre and grotesque movements, attacking and dodging simultaneously.
After about half an hour of stalling…
‘The number of cultists is increasing.’
Realizing they might be unable to escape the encirclement if they delayed any longer, Mu-jin sent a voice transmission to Mu-yul, who was enjoying the fight.
– Mu-yul, follow the Red Tiger Leader’s scent!
Upon receiving Mu-jin’s transmission, Mu-yul twisted his body grotesquely and started running on all fours towards the southwest.
“Haa!”
Noticing Mu-yul heading in the direction of the Red Tiger Leader, Mu-jin executed his No-Phase Divine Fist to kill the cultist blocking Mu-yul and cleared the path.
– Mu-gung, follow Mu-yul and cover him!
Simultaneously instructing Mu-gung, Mu-jin began following Mu-yul while protecting him. He also transmitted instructions to Mu-gyeong.
– Mu-gyeong, follow us stealthily and erase our tracks!
Thanks to Mu-jin’s swift command, they managed to break through the cultists’ encirclement with relative ease.
How long had they run following Mu-yul’s lead?
It wasn’t long before they rejoined the Red Tiger Leader and his group.
However, new injuries were apparent on their bodies. Though the trio had drawn attention, cultists had still approached from the direction they were escaping.
‘If we had been any later, we would have been surrounded too, and this side would have been in danger.’
It seemed they had escaped just in time.
Of course, they still had a long way to go before reaching the refuge, but that wasn’t a problem.
“Red Tiger Leader, please lead the way.”
From now on, the Red Tiger Leader, who knew the way back to the refuge, and…
“Mu-yul, Mu-gyeong, keep an eye on the surroundings. If you sense cultists approaching, we’ll change direction.”
With two human detectors for approaching enemies, it was a composition that could hardly be called anything less than a trinity.
* * *
Avoiding the cultists required them to take a detour, and it took about two hours before they finally reached the refuge where Hyun-hyeon and the others were resting.
Having brought the hidden group twice to the refuge, it became overcrowded.
Originally designed for scattered hiding, the refuge could only accommodate around twenty people at most.
Moreover, with the repeated trips consuming time, the dawn was approaching.
However, a more pressing issue arose.
“Outer Sect Head, we need to leave only the critically injured here to recover and move together with the rest.”
“Indeed, it seems too cramped for everyone to stay hidden here.”
“The problem is not just the space. If we delay any longer, the lives of those hiding elsewhere could be in danger.”
Mu-jin felt alarmed after seeing demonic cultists attack the place where Mu-gung and the others were hiding.
In the worst case, the other locations might have already been discovered, and the elders or Wudang disciples might have lost their lives.
“…You’re suggesting that we leave the injured here to recover, while some distract the demonic cultists and others gather the scattered ones.”
“Yes. There might be injured among the scattered ones as well, so it would be good to bring them here and have those with minor injuries join us.”
“I understand your intention. Let me lead the disciples for now. How about you take a rest?”
The Unrivaled Three had been moving and fighting continuously through the night.
As the senior monk, Hyun-hyeon couldn’t help but worry about the youngest ones suffering the most at the front lines.
However, Mu-jin shook his head.
“This is a critical situation. We can rest after gathering everyone.”
“…Then at least practice some energy circulation and restoration. You need to restore your inner strength to fight again.”
This time, Mu-jin couldn’t refuse Hyun-hyeon’s advice.
Even though he could manage, others might be low on inner strength.
As they concluded their conversation to take a short break and restore their energy, the Red Tiger Leader spoke with a grave expression.
“You plan to leave the critically injured here?”
“Yes.”
“Then we might run out of medicinal supplies and water. This place was created as a temporary refuge, so resources are limited.”
“Can’t we bring supplies from other refuges?”
“The situation is the same there. Since the critically injured need time to recover, we need to ensure ample supplies.”
Pondering for a moment, Mu-jin soon came up with a good solution.
“Is there a nearby village where we can buy medicinal supplies and water? Since we plan to draw attention, it should be fine to purchase them openly.”
“There is a village, but does anyone here speak the Namman language?”
“You speak Namman, don’t you?”
Mu-jin’s response made the Red Tiger Leader frown.
“Didn’t you say we should not be seen together?”
One of their goals was to pretend that the defectors and the Shaolin and Wudang sects were moving separately, so his point was valid.
But Mu-jin replied as if it was no big deal.
“Well, if it’s just one person, we can disguise you as a monk.”
“What are you saying?!”
The Red Tiger Leader was shocked. Asking a demonic cultist to wear a Shaolin monk’s robe was outrageous.
Even though he was considered a traitor by the main sect, he believed himself to be a devout follower.
He was just temporarily bearing dishonor to purify the sect by opposing the true traitors.
Seeing his fierce reaction, Mu-jin smirked and said.
“If we don’t draw their attention, Ou-yang Pae will be in danger.”
“!!!”
“If you keep being uncooperative, we can’t help you.”
“….”
Caught between his pride as a demonic cultist and his loyalty to Ou-yang Pae, the Red Tiger Leader hesitated but tried to avoid making a choice for a trivial reason.
“Hmm. The Shaolin Divine Dragon’s idea is good, but I don’t have a monk’s robe to wear.”
But this didn’t work on Mu-jin.
“We can just switch clothes with one of the injured elders lying here.”
“….”
Facing a dead-end, the Red Tiger Leader finally conceded.
“…Alright.”
Once he agreed, things moved swiftly.
There was an injured first disciple whose clothes were already half undone for treatment. They simply swapped his clothes with the Red Tiger Leader.
“Hm. This looks too much like a fake monk. Let’s do it properly.”
Mu-jin abruptly said and turned to Mu-gyeong.
“Cut it.”
“What are you talking about?”
“Cut what?”
Startled by Mu-jin’s words, both the Red Tiger Leader and Mu-gyeong asked. Mu-jin answered as if it was obvious.
“What else? His hair.”
“!!!”
Shocked once again, the Red Tiger Leader hesitated but eventually agreed, seeing no other option.
“Phew.”
Taking a deep breath, the Red Tiger Leader told Mu-gyeong.
“Shave it.”
With his permission, Mu-gyeong took up his Sword of Sura and approached him.
Swish.
Swish.
As Mu-gyeong’s blade cut through his hair, the Red Tiger Leader watched his falling hair with a complex expression, as if bidding farewell to an old friend.
Watching those unfathomable eyes, a long-forgotten verse suddenly surfaced in Mu-jin’s mind.
“Folded in thin white paper, a white hat, delicately unfolding in the wind.”
It was a poem he remembered learning in school.
The phrase “white hat” and “delicately unfolding” stuck with him, but he couldn’t recall the rest except the poet’s name, Cho Chi-hoon.
“Huh. That’s a poem I’ve never heard before.”
Hyun-hyeon, who was observing the shaving ceremony, commented. Mu-jin replied.
“It’s a poem called ‘Seungmu’ from a country far to the east.”
As he explained, another memory from his school days came to mind.
‘Come to think of it, it was a poem about a nun.’
It was strange. Thinking about the Red Tiger Leader’s shaving ceremony made him recall ‘Seungmu.’
Maybe it was the complicated expression on the Red Tiger Leader’s face as his hair was cut.
* * *
After the Red Tiger Leader’s shaving ceremony and a short rest for energy restoration, about twenty people left the refuge.
Excluding the critically injured, the group consisted of Shaolin and Wudang disciples, along with the Red Tiger Leader.
Following the Red Tiger Leader, who had a rather complicated expression, they headed toward a nearby village.
As they passed through the Namman forest, sunlight reflected off the Red Tiger Leader’s freshly shaved head.
Yet, for some reason, Mu-jin found the sight more sad than amusing.
The reflection on his bald head resembled a giant tear glittering in the light.
To console himself, Mu-jin raised his right hand to touch his own short hair.
‘Instead of being sad about how short it is, I should be thankful I have it.’
Indeed, happiness is relative.