The Next Morning
The urgent voice of the Second-class Disciple woke Hye-geol from his sleep.
“Sa... Sa-baek-nim, we have a big problem!”
“What could be so urgent this early in the morning?”
“The Muja Trio has disappeared!”
With the Second-class Disciple’s follow-up words, Hye-geol’s remaining drowsiness was completely washed away.
“Could it be that they just went out for a walk?”
Having secretly visited the nearby Hwasan Sect several times with Mu-jin and Mu-gyeong, this was a hopeful thought.
However, the Second-class Disciple cruelly shattered Hye-geol’s hope.
“Here, this is a letter left by the Muja Trio.”
Upon confirming the letter handed to him by the Second-class Disciple, Hye-geol felt as if the world was going dark.
There wasn’t much written in the letter. It was simply a training schedule detailing what exercises should be taught to the Zhongnan Sect disciples going forward. In other words, it was a request for Hye-geol and the Shaolin disciples to take over the remaining training.
Though he had doubts, he never imagined they would really run away in the middle of the night again.
But before he could recover from the shock, Hye-geol realized something was amiss.
“What about Mu-yul? What happened to Mu-yul?”
As his own disciple, Mu-yul should have stayed behind out of respect for him.
“...”
However, the Second-class Disciple merely avoided Hye-geol’s desperate gaze.
“Hahaha...”
Watching Hye-geol, who seemed to have aged ten years in an instant, the Second-class Disciple cautiously delivered one more piece of information he had yet to share.
“And some of the training equipment has disappeared as well.”
“Training equipment?”
“Yes. Upon inspection, it seems the items Mu-jin used and a cart are missing.”
“Haha... Hahaha...”
Hye-geol could only laugh helplessly at the Second-class Disciple’s explanation.
“How could they carry such heavy things away without anyone noticing?”
At this point, he wouldn’t be able to argue even if he were punished for neglect of duty.
Mu-jin, who had dumped the training onto Hye-geol and the Shaolin disciples, continued moving westward with his companions, pulling the cart.
Of course, pulling the cart didn’t mean driving horses. They took turns dragging the cart in shifts, and occasionally stopped to do strength training.
‘How could I neglect my body after all the effort put into it? I can’t afford to lose muscle!’
Even for Mu-jin, carrying such heavy items was quite a gamble. However, his body, which had already reached human limits, would lose muscle if neglected even a little. Ɽ
While it wouldn’t be a drastic loss of muscle each day, even a slight decrease was enough to make Mu-jin frantic.
Although the constant pulling of the cart could strain his muscles, Mu-jin used a trick. By using his internal energy during strenuous activities like cart pulling, he could reduce the effort needed to just jogging lightly.
But maintaining muscles requires more than just exercise. To sustain his compressed muscles, he needed an extraordinary amount of calories and protein.
As a result, the cart they used was always stocked with food. Whenever they arrived at a village or town, they would load up on a massive amount of food, and Mu-jin would constantly munch on something.
“What’s wrong with them?”
“It’s because of you.”
To Mu-jin’s mumbling, Mu-gyeong responded.
“Me? Why?”
“Because you made me look like this. Isn’t it natural for them to be scared?”
Mu-jin ignored Mu-gyeong’s complaint about his bruised eyes.
Who told him to treat people like weirdos?
Since there was no use in speculating alone, Mu-jin headed to the inn. After securing a room and ordering food, he discreetly handed the innkeeper some money and asked if there were any problems in the village.
The answer was rather predictable.
“There’s a group of bandits or mountain bandits called the Black Wolf Brigade causing trouble.”
Expecting peace due to the absence of the Blood Monk was naive. Evil men were everywhere. Without the Blood Monk, the small fry were running rampant.
‘Or maybe the Blood Monk devoured them and settled here.’
In fact, the Linzhi area had conditions favorable for villains. There was the Potala Palace, a Buddhist sect similar to the Shaolin or Emei of Zhongyuan. But the palace was hundreds of li away, and the Blood Monk often pretended to be a monk from Potala Palace to deceive people.
“But why are they called bandits or mountain bandits?”
“They ride into the village on horses, but when a monk from Potala Palace came to capture them, they hid in the mountains. So, it’s hard to catch them.”
Mu-jin nodded at the innkeeper’s explanation. The Blood Monk had shown similar behavior, attacking in groups and then fleeing to the mountains.
The difference was that the bandits merely fled, while the Blood Monk lured his enemies into the mountains for individual fights.
‘It’s possible that the Blood Monk devoured those bandits and settled here.’
Given the similar behavior, it seemed likely.
After hearing the innkeeper’s explanation, Mu-gung spoke to Mu-jin.
“Shouldn’t we deal with those bandits?”
Mu-yul and Ling-ling nodded in agreement. Many villagers had suffered, and dozens had been killed or kidnapped by them, making them deserving of death.
“Of course.”
But even as Mu-jin answered, he had other thoughts.
‘This might actually be a good opportunity. I was wondering how to draw out the Heavenly Demon.’
In martial arts novels, demon cults often appeared, usually falling into three categories. First, as pure evil antagonists, depicted as bloodthirsty madmen like Mu-gyeong. Second, as supporting characters helping the protagonist or even the protagonist being a member of the demon cult, often misunderstood as evil by the Imperial Court or the Nine Great Sects. Third, as groups driven by the logic of power, where the protagonist would cleanse them.
In the first part of the Ga-gyeong trilogy, “Record of the Heavenly Demon’s Return,” the demon cult was more
like the third type. Initially leaning towards the first, it eventually got cleansed by the Heavenly Demon.
In this world, the demon cult valued strength, learning fast-growing demon techniques. And these demon techniques fell into two categories: those that grew stronger by absorbing others’ blood or essence, like the Celestial Blood Absorption Technique used by the Blood Monk, and those that grew quickly but lacked stability, prone to causing Qi deviation and madness.
The novel’s Heavenly Demon despised the first type of techniques and viewed succumbing to Qi deviation as pathetic.
He valued strong willpower to master unstable demon techniques without losing oneself, believing it to be the true warrior’s spirit. Hence, he detested warriors who harassed civilians, earning the moniker “Demon Hero.”
Such a man wouldn’t tolerate bandits on his way. Even if his companions tried to stop him, he wouldn’t relent.
‘Just like in the novel.’
As a member of the demon cult’s forces, he asked his comrades to go ahead to Nanyue, while he stayed back to track the Blood Monk.
This time, Mu-jin planned to use the bandits instead of the Blood Monk.