Twisted Fate
Mu-jin’s expression changed constantly as he read the contents of the letter sent by Jegal Jin-hee.
Since the letter’s size was limited, Jegal Jin-hee’s explanation was brief.
But it was enough. Mu-jin knew what the future held for the Jegal family.
‘As expected, it was a rebellion.’
Having anticipated it to some extent, he felt a tinge of regret. If only Jegal Jin-hee had noticed before the rebellion began.
But he also thought she must have had her reasons. And if they could resolve the current situation, it wouldn’t be too bad.
‘A rebellion and the only heir.’
And now the only heir’s daughter and her close aide were seeking help.
If he could solve this problem, he could immediately turn the Jegal family, who had sided with the rebels, into allies.
Additionally, he could deal with the forces from Shinchun that had come to assist the Jegal family.
Having sorted out his thoughts, Mu-jin looked at the middle-aged man who had delivered the letter.
“Do you know how many days ago Miss Jegal Jin-hee sent this letter?”
“Miss Jegal Jin-hee stopped by Yichang to deliver the letter. I ran nonstop for two days to get here. Thanks to Miss Ryu Seol-hwa informing me that if Jegal Jin-hee sought Kang So-hyeop, he should come to Cheon Seom Moon here in Gojang-hyeon.”
Mu-jin sighed in relief at the middle-aged man’s answer.
‘I owe her another one.’
Thanks to Ryu Seol-hwa’s preparations, they had saved time.
If Jegal Jin-hee’s letter had had to stop by Hunan Province before coming here, the situation might have been over by then.
But if only two days had passed, they might still be holding on.
Realizing the urgency of the situation, Mu-jin spoke up.
“Sorry, but could you ask for some help from the Cheonryu Sangdan in my name? What I’m asking is for them to safely escort the disciples of Cheon Seom Moon to Deungbong-hyeon.”
“Miss Ryu Seol-hwa instructed us to assist Kang So-hyeop as much as possible. I will send a message to the nearby branch immediately for assistance.”
“Thank you.”
Mu-jin bowed respectfully to the middle-aged man and then turned to Do Ji-hwan.
“We seem to have an urgent matter to attend to and won’t be able to go together. I apologize for not being able to keep the promise of accompanying you to Deungbong-hyeon.”
“No worries. If it’s that urgent, it must be serious. We’re grateful enough that you arranged an escort.”
Assuming Kang So-hyeop was Mu-jin’s real name, Do Ji-hwan pushed his son, Dao Yuetian, towards Mu-jin.
“Instead, how about taking my son with you? Though he’s not as capable as Mu-jin, he’s recently made some progress and might be of some help.”
“If Mr. Dao Yuetian doesn’t mind, we will gladly accept.”
As Mu-jin and Do Ji-hwan looked at him, Dao Yuetian, after a moment’s hesitation, stood next to Mu-jin.
“I’ll help as much as I can.”
“Since time is of the essence, we’ll depart immediately.”
Thus, Mu-jin’s group departed for Enshi Grand Canyon in Hubei Province without properly saying goodbye to the disciples of Cheon Seom Moon.
* * *
The distance from Gojang-hyeon in the northwest of Hunan Province to Enshi Grand Canyon in the southwest of Hubei Province wasn’t too far—by continental standards.
Using their qinggong techniques, Mu-jin’s group managed to reach Enshi Grand Canyon in just a day.
However, the problem remained.
“…It’s damn huge.”
True to its name, the grand canyon had vast mountains and valleys.
They needed to find where Jegal Jin-hee and her group were hiding.
“Do we have to search all of this?”
“…Even if we split up, it’ll take at least half a month.”
“Can we find them in time?”
While Mu-gung, Mu-gyeong, and Dao Yuetian expressed their doubts.
“Wow. This reminds me of when we first met. Right, Ling-ling?”
“Ook! Ook!”
Mu-yul and Ling-ling were chattering cheerfully as usual.
‘Hmm?’
But as Mu-jin listened to their chatter, a strange thought occurred to him.
Thinking back, it was Ling-ling who had found the hidden elixir in the mountain where they first met.
Of course, this place was different from that mountain, so it might be hard for Ling-ling to find Jegal Jin-hee’s group.
“What are you doing, Mu-jin?”
When Mu-jin suddenly rummaged through his backpack, the group asked curiously.
‘This is protein supplement, this is liquor, this is money.’
Ignoring their questions, Mu-jin finally found what he was looking for after a while.
“Mu-yul, can you let Ling-ling smell this?”
What Mu-jin handed over was the letter from Jegal Jin-hee.
In modern times, one of the main ways to find lost people was using trained dogs with highly developed senses of smell.
Though Ling-ling wasn’t a dog.
‘He’s better than a dog, really.’
Given Ling-ling’s extraordinary sense of smell demonstrated multiple times, Mu-jin had a hunch.
“Ook! Ook!”
As Ling-ling began sniffing the letter, Mu-jin added.
“Ling-ling, besides my scent and the man who brought the letter, do you smell anyone else?”
Realizing Mu-jin’s intent, the rest of the group looked at Ling-ling with hopeful eyes.
Ling-ling barked loudly, nodding his head.
“Ook! Ook!”
“He says he smells someone else too! It seems like a woman’s scent.”
“Tell him to search for that scent in this canyon!”
At Mu-jin’s words, Ling-ling moved the letter aside and started sniffing around like a meerkat.
“Ook! Ook!”
Then, having caught a scent, Ling-ling dashed off in a certain direction.
“Let’s follow him!”
The group followed Ling-ling, pushing through the underbrush.
How long had they been moving through the pathless canyon?
Ling-ling suddenly stopped and made a gesture to cover his mouth.
“???”
While the group was puzzled by Ling-ling’s strange behavior, Mu-yul, who understood Ling-ling through gestures, transmitted his thoughts.
– There are many people gathered ahead. The scent is coming from further inside.
Realizing this, Mu-jin moved the children back and cautiously advanced using his stealth techniques.
Indeed, after pushing through the bushes a bit further, he saw dozens of martial artists gathered ahead.
Just by rough estimation, there were more than forty. However, something more noteworthy caught his eye.
‘What are they doing?’
Over forty martial artists were surrounding something, and three of them were cautiously throwing stones and branches at the bushes in front of them.
‘Ah! It’s a formation!’
It was no surprise since the Jegal family was famous for their formations. If the heir had escaped to such a place, it made sense for a formation to be set up.
Thanks to the formation, Jegal Jin-hee and her group had been able to hold out for a few days.
Having grasped the situation, Mu-jin retreated and informed the group of his findings.
“So what are you going to do now?”
“Are we just going to charge in like in Guangxi Province?”
Mu-gung and Mu-gyeong’s questions made Mu-jin ponder for a moment.
The simplest method was to sweep away the surrounding formation as Mu-gung suggested, but it wasn’t going to be easy.
‘The rebels sent these people to capture the last heir. They wouldn’t have sent amateurs.’
The possibility was high that only skilled individuals had been sent.
Moreover, there was no guarantee that these were all the enemies present, unlike dealing with bandits or black market merchants in Guangxi Province.
Additionally, there was another problem.
If they tried to face the group with just the six of them, even if they gained the upper hand, a few enemies might escape.
Due to the significant difference in numbers.
If that happened, their involvement would soon be known to the Jegal family, complicating the situation further.
‘If only we could get help from inside to attack from both sides, it would be doable…’
But charging in blindly, hoping for Jegal Jin-hee’s response without knowing the internal situation was a bad move.
So.
‘We need to communicate with the inside!’
Having settled his thoughts, Mu-jin looked at Ling-ling once more.
“Earlier, you said you smelled something from inside those people. Can you find a way in?”
“Ook! Ook!”
Ling-ling confidently patted his chest as if to say, “Leave it to me.”
“Alright. I’ll go in with Ling-ling. You guys stay back. If we’re detected, escape the canyon.”
“Huh? How will you find us again?”
“With this guy around, why worry?”
Mu-jin pointed to Ling-ling, causing the group to exclaim, “Ah!”
Sending the group back, Mu-jin moved with Ling-ling.
“Can we go around the people gathered there and take another path?”
At Mu-jin’s question, Ling-ling nodded enthusiastically and started through the underbrush.
Passing through dense undergrowth and cliffs fitting the canyon’s name, using internal energy to climb the cliffs, traveling through terrain almost impassable for humans.
After a while, Ling-ling pointed to the side and changed course.
Following Ling-ling
in puzzlement, Mu-jin spotted a hidden human figure far away in the direction they had been heading.
Ling-ling had likely detected the hiding person’s scent and had avoided them.
‘It was good not to eat him back then, really.’
Mu-jin hadn’t anticipated Ling-ling to be this helpful initially. freewebnøvel.coɱ
Under Ling-ling’s guidance, they avoided hidden warriors and moved on.
After a long while, Ling-ling indicated a large underbrush, jumping up and down excitedly.
It seemed Jegal Jin-hee was inside.
‘Is this the opposite side of what I saw earlier?’
Mu-jin thought as he and Ling-ling entered the underbrush.
Ling-ling confidently led the way straight ahead.
After some time passed, and then more time.
“Ook?”
Ling-ling tilted his head, puzzled.
Mu-jin realized instinctively.
‘Damn. I should have made monkey soup back then!’
He was trapped in a formation.
Apparently, this formation could even confuse sense of smell.
“Sigh.”
Mu-jin sighed deeply and began gathering his immense internal energy from his danjeon.
Having come to this, he decided to break through the formation with sheer force. He couldn’t stay trapped forever.
As he gathered his energy and prepared to use the Golden Turtle Technique to blast through the forest.
“Mu-jin!?”
Jegal Jin-hee appeared from within the underbrush.
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