Beast Palace Princess
Regardless of the reactions from his companions, Mu-jin thought to himself as he looked at the Imoogi sprawled out beside him.
“Wow. It’s even bigger up close.”
So, how big must the inner core inside that creature be?
Naturally, Mu-jin’s mouth started to water, and greed glimmered in his eyes.
However, Mu-jin’s greed vanished like a mirage, thanks to Mu-yul.
“Mu-jin! Were you thinking something bad again!”
Mu-yul, who had approached unnoticed, pushed Mu-jin aside and began stroking the head of the fallen Imoogi.
“Poor thing. It must’ve hurt a lot, huh?”
Mu-jin, scratching his head in bewilderment at the absurd sight, let out a deep sigh.
If he had planned to take the inner core from the start, he would have unleashed his full power with the Invincible Divine Fist to kill the Imoogi somehow.
“I’ve become so merciful. How many have I saved today?”
Contrary to the thoughts of the Muja Trio or Ou-yang Pae, Mu-jin considered himself too compassionate.
After all, he hadn’t only saved the Imoogi, but he was also preventing the possible ruin of the Beast Palace.
Mu-jin had no intention of fighting the Beast Palace to the death and annihilating them.
He watched Mu-yul playing energetically, stroking the Imoogi’s head.
“That guy as the Young Palace Master? I’d bet my hair that the Beast Palace will be ruined within five years.”
It was a future Mu-jin was confident in, enough to stake what he valued most.
In other words, he had persuaded the Beast Palace Master instead of making Mu-yul the Young Palace Master to save the pitiful people of the Beast Palace.
Meanwhile, as Mangkr, the leader of all the spiritual creatures in the Beast Palace, was defeated, the warriors of the Beast Palace were in great confusion.
However, the Beast Palace Master burst into hearty laughter.
“Is your name Mu-jin? I apologize for my rudeness. You are indeed worthy of being called a warrior from the North.”
The reason for his sudden change in attitude was not only Mu-jin’s dignified manner and his association with the prophesied child, Mu-yul.
More than anything, it was Mu-jin’s strength, which was enough to defeat Mangkr. And, added to that…
The imposing physique that Mu-jin revealed while defeating Mangkr had a significant impact.
“Indeed, you are a true warrior, unlike the other cowards from the North.”
“You flatter me. The Beast Palace Master also maintains an impressive warrior’s physique.”
The Beast Palace Master and Mu-jin exchanged compliments, flexing their exposed muscles.
To other men who did not enjoy exercising, it would have been a rather unpleasant sight.
Of course, Mu-jin was not someone who cared about others’ opinions.
“Muscles always connect with each other.”
Mu-jin prided himself on believing that there are no bad muscle enthusiasts in the world.
Mu-jin, now seeing the Beast Palace Master as a friend, asked.
“Now that we are on the same side, let me ask as a warrior to another warrior. What’s happening in the Beast Palace?”
“…What do you mean by that, warrior from the North?”
Seeing the Beast Palace Master feign ignorance awkwardly, Mu-jin scolded him instead.
“A warrior must confront problems head-on! The fact that you sought the prophesied child means the Beast Palace is facing a crisis, doesn’t it!”
Unlike before, the Beast Palace Master did not answer immediately but showed a troubled expression.
After contemplating for a while, he decided to tell the truth.
“Recently, vile poison users from the east have started encroaching on our territory.”
The reason they coveted the Beast Palace’s territory was not just a simple territorial fight.
It was for the various herbs and poisonous plants growing in the Beast Palace’s land, as well as the poisonous insects and animals like the Imoogi.
“We will protect the forest and our friends from the clutches of those vile poison users no matter what!”
To protect the animals that would be taken for securing and experimenting with poisons, the Beast Palace was fighting against them.
“The attacks of those vile poison users must be quite formidable?”
Hearing Mu-jin’s question, the Beast Palace Master tensed his muscles in indignation.
“Hmph! The vile poison users were never our match! It’s just that we couldn’t finish them off because of the poison they spread in the swamp.”
Listening to him brought to mind the Sichuan Tang Family.
The Sichuan Tang Family also turned the area around their home into a trap-filled land with poison and hidden weapons.
Having read many martial arts novels, including Gagyeong’s novels during his school days, Mu-jin could easily deduce who these ‘vile poison users’ were. 𝔯
“The Five Poison Sect.”
In martial arts stories, the three most powerful forces in the southern barbarians are the Beast Palace, the Sun Palace, and the Five Poison Sect.
As their name suggests, the Five Poison Sect specialized in using poison as their main weapon.
Deducing the identity of the vile poison users, Mu-jin asked.
“If they are stuck in the swamp, why is the Beast Palace facing a crisis?”
“…It’s not a crisis yet!”
The Beast Palace Master muttered under his breath, “It’s just gradually approaching.” But Ou-yang Pae kindly translated even the latter part.
Feeling embarrassed about continuously denying the crisis, the burly Beast Palace Master shouted in anger.
“This is all because those vile people have allied with northerners! They started selling something to the northern people and used the money to hire wandering warriors, giving them their poisons to keep sending them over here!”
The Five Poison Sect, with their increased funds from trading, not only produced more varied poisons but also hired wandering warriors from the central plains with the spare money.
These hired warriors would steal animals, insects, and plants, both poisonous and medicinal, from the Beast Palace’s territory.
When confronted by the Beast Palace warriors, they would scatter the poison they received from the Five Poison Sect and escape.
“So that’s why they picked a fight with us as soon as they saw us.”
They had mistaken them for hired poachers from the central plains.
Regardless of the misunderstanding’s source, the Beast Palace Master’s story was frustrating to hear.
Not because the Beast Palace’s situation was grim. The notion of calling them vile for allying with outsiders was simply pathetic.
While it might seem vile from their perspective, it was pitiful for the leader of a group to think like that.
“I thought the Beast Palace would be ruined if Mu-yul became its master, but now it seems this guy is no different.”
The Beast Palace Master seemed like a fool who knew nothing but animals and muscles.
It appeared that focusing only on animals and muscles had caused his brain to regress.
“…It feels too familiar.”
Having experienced hair loss due to his focus on muscles and gym business, Mu-jin felt a strange sense of camaraderie.
Naturally, Mu-jin’s gaze shifted to the Beast Palace Master’s head, where he saw a head of thick, unruly hair.
It was uncertain which was worse: regressing hair or a regressed brain.
But at this moment, comparing the importance of intelligence and hair wasn’t relevant.
“The Five Poison Sect making money from trading with the central plains?”
That one piece of information from the Beast Palace Master started connecting previously disjointed pieces for Mu-jin.
“According to the information from Cheonryu Sangdan and the Beggar Sect, recently the Wudang Sect has made a lot of money trading with the southern barbarians.”
And that timing matched perfectly with when the Wudang Sect joined the Anti-Shaolin Alliance.
While tracing back the reasons for the Wudang Sect joining the Anti-Shaolin Alliance, he had found out only that much.
He couldn’t figure out exactly which force they were trading with or how that trade was connected to the Wudang Sect joining the Anti-Shaolin Alliance.
However, the Anti-Shaolin Alliance was a force secretly created by Shinchun, and now that it was revealed that the Wudang Sect was trading with the Five Poison Sect.
“It reeks. It reeks.”
Mu-jin intuitively sensed it. This matter was connected to Shinchun.
In the end, Mu-jin and the Beast Palace Master formed an alliance of sorts.
Mu-jin initially thought about sneaking away after persuading them with words, but since it was highly likely to be related to Shinchun, he changed his mind.
He decided to actively get involved in this matter.
Anyway, after amicable discussions with the Beast Palace Master, Mu-jin and his companions were now resting in a special room provided by the Beast Palace Master.
Meanwhile, Mu-yul, considered an honored guest of the Beast Palace, was enjoying his time with the Beast Palace warriors who came to see him.
“Wow! So that’s how Woong-woong moves!”
When a warrior handling a bear demonstrated a joint technique with the bear, Mu-yul, filled with admiration, mimicked the movements with Ling-ling.
Mu-yul continued to mimic the martial arts of other warriors and animals that came to see him.
Though it seemed questionable to easily show martial arts, the greatest asset of a martial sect, to Mu-yul, there was a reason behind it.
After demonstrating their joint techniques to Mu-yul.
A fierce-looking bear gestured and growled, mixing expressions to convey something to Mu-yul.
Watching this, Mu-yul nodded occasionally and sometimes asked
The bear’s owner, nervously observing, looked at the warrior who was interpreting for Mu-yul, Anarun, with an earnest expression.
After communicating with the bear, Mu-yul spoke. ɴᴇᴡ ɴᴏᴠᴇʟ ᴄʜᴀᴘᴛᴇʀs ᴀʀᴇ ᴘᴜʙʟɪsʜᴇᴅ ᴏɴ novel~fire~net
“It says it wants to stop eating grass carp.”
When Anarun translated Mu-yul’s words, the bear’s owner shouted in disbelief.
“He says that’s impossible. Himia used to love grass carp.”
“Woong-woong says that was a long time ago. Just like how tastes change for people, it’s tired of grass carp now.”
As Anarun translated Mu-yul’s words again, the bear’s owner looked as if he had been struck by lightning.
But only for a moment. He then bowed deeply, thanking Mu-yul, as if he had received great help from the consultation.
In other words, they were showing their martial arts in exchange for consulting Mu-yul about their pets.
Mu-jin, watching this spectacle for almost half an hour, chuckled.
“It’s like he’s a dog whisperer…”
It seemed that even in the Beast Palace, there was no one like Mu-yul who could communicate with all animals.
The warriors of the Beast Palace could only guess their animals’ thoughts through long-term bonding and mutual understanding, which could lead to minor misunderstandings.
Mu-yul was resolving these misunderstandings, strengthening the bonds.
“…So, is he like an animal communicator?”
And are these animals his clients?
Anyway, it was clear that Mu-yul had chosen the wrong profession.
Although he watched and mimicked the warriors’ martial arts as a fee for the consultation…
“There’s no way he’ll successfully learn them.”
He was merely imitating them. There was no way Mu-yul could grasp the essence of the martial arts just by watching once.
Although his ability to imitate animals after one glance was remarkable, it didn’t mean he understood the martial arts techniques.
“Or perhaps they’re consulting Mu-yul knowing he can’t master the essence!?”
Mu-jin had underestimated them for their barbarian attire, but maybe they were smarter than they looked.
As Mu-jin pondered over such trivial thoughts.
Ou-yang Pae, who had been meditating and regulating his energy, got up and approached Mu-jin.
“Things seem to have been resolved here, so I’ll be on my way.”
“After some meditation, I’ve stabilized.”
With a deep voice and sincere expression that exuded nothing but honesty, Mu-jin smiled wryly at Ou-yang Pae.
That charming face might work on any woman.