Chapter 181: Shaolin Temple
The Ei Sect had a famous martial force.
An elite unit ford by selecting won with outstanding martial arts to carry out the Evil-Slaying Campaign and other external missions. It was called the Tiger-Subduing Monastery.
Just as the na suggested—subduing tigers—each of them possessed the strength of a hundred warriors. Their martial prowess was said to rival the Arhats of the Shaolin Temple, the warrior monks of that great sect.
And now, several mbers of that very Tiger-Subduing Monastery had taken on an extrely important mission and rushed all the way to Beijing, unleashing their Body Movent Technique without pause.
“The Yellow Dragon that fills the horizon. So this is Beijing.”
The gates of Beijing, where a painting of a Yellow Dragon was depicted soaring powerfully into the heavens.
A woman visiting the Imperial Capital for the first ti seed overwheld by its scale and majesty. Catching her breath, she murmured softly.
“It took nine days, but running day and night with Body Movent Technique was worth it, Gi Hyo.”
Standing beside her, Jeong Yo replied with a faint smile.
The two won of the Ei Sect had co to Beijing under the order of their Sect Leader to find a troubleshooter nad Dan Mujin.
They removed their white robes, changed into ordinary martial attire, and blended into the bustling streets of Beijing.
After asking around for quite so ti, they eventually learned that the troubleshooter’s office was located in the outskirts.
“Is this man nad Dan Mujin really worth all this trouble?”
Jeong Yo muttered quietly, suspicion clear in her voice.
After all, in her mind, a troubleshooter was usually a low-class type—so half-baked martial artist from the Evil Sect who did whatever work ca along simply to earn money.
“The Beggars’ Union operatives never speak with certainty about uncertain information. Let’s trust them for now and go inside.”
Gi Hyo replied calmly.
But even after making their presence known and knocking on the door, the inside of the office seed completely empty.
Just as the two Ei Sect won—who had traveled such a long distance—were beginning to feel disheartened, a passing beggar spotted them and spoke.
“What brings you to this office?”
Though his appearance was shabby and ragged, he had a tassel tied to his waist, so Gi Hyo and Jeong Yo answered cautiously.
“We are people from a family in Beijing.”
“We are looking for Master Dan Mujin. We wish to entrust him with a request.”
The Beggars’ Union operative listened with a blank expression, then looked the two won up and down before letting out a short laugh.
“That breathing technique, that posture… and even the sword. Ei Sect, huh.”
“……”
Their identities exposed in an instant, the two won sealed their lips and remained silent.
“If you’re looking for that fellow Dan Mujin, go to the temple area. He should be sowhere near the entrance of an alley.”
Those Beggars’ Union operatives really did know far too much. It made conversation with them uncomfortable.
Following the directions, the two Ei Sect won entered an open lot in a back alley where the main street was clearly visible.
Unlike the main road, this place received no maintenance. Dust floated sparsely through the air, and naless shrubs had grown thick and wild.
Gi Hyo and Jeong Yo looked around in confusion when they failed to see the troubleshooter the beggar had ntioned.
“They said Dan Mujin was here…”
“Even the Beggars’ Union information isn’t always accurate.”
Could they really be wrong about sothing as simple as a location?
At this rate, they even began to doubt the very reason he had been recomnded in the first place.
At that mont, when the na Dan Mujin was ntioned—
Rustle.
Sothing moved in the bushes, and a strange man suddenly sprang up.
“Were you looking for ?”
“……Mother of rcy!”
The Ei Sect won cried out in shock.
First, they were startled by the bizarre sight of the man—his entire body covered with shrubs, leaves, and branches, as though he had rged with nature itself.
Second, they were shocked that they had not sensed his presence at all.
“That outfit… what on earth is it?”
Jeong Yo asked, staring suspiciously at the strange camouflage.
“It’s sothing I made myself. A ghillie suit. Anyway, you were looking for , right?”
The young man introduced himself as Dan Mujin. The two won nodded absentmindedly.
“But what were you even doing here?”
Gi Hyo asked, still calming her startled heart.
“I was investigating an affair. What about you?”
Dan Mujin explained that almost no one ca to this place, and from here he could clearly observe a secret entrance of the tiled house across the street—so he had been lying in wait.
“A Beggars’ Union operative told us that if we wanted to find you, we should co here…”
“Wait, they revealed my location too? …Ah, right. I did ask them to refer clients if they had any requests.”
It seed he had so kind of arrangent with the Beggars’ Union.
Jeong Yo, who had been watching and listening to all of this nonsense with a baffled expression, finally spoke.
“A master of the Righteous Sect who made his na in the Dragon-Phoenix Tournant is spying on ordinary citizens like this… doing such a lowly task. Are you serious?”
The Ei Sect expert openly called his actions shaful and unorthodox.
An affair investigation?
For won who had spent their entire lives cultivating their minds and bodies in the mountains, such a livelihood was nearly impossible to accept.
“You ladies really don’t understand. This affair investigation is actually a process of restoring justice.”
Dan Mujin explained that it was a way to restore the client’s trust and bring peace back to their household.
“Does that make any sense? A husband and wife are built upon mutual trust. Suspecting your beloved in the first place already goes against the Way.”
Jeong Yo preached the Taoist teachings she had learned in the Ei Sect, claiming that even suspicion itself was unacceptable.
“What do you an it makes no sense? Once the seed of suspicion sprouts, it grows uncontrollably. In that case, wouldn’t it be better to hire soone like
and remove the root entirely?”
Dan Mujin responded without backing down.
Jeong Yo made a displeased expression.
“Still, to use the martial prowess of soone in the Transcendence Realm for sothing like romantic entanglents between n and won… it’s utterly trivial.”
As he spoke with her, Dan Mujin felt that she was so rigid it was difficult to have a proper conversation.
“So then, you honorable and incorruptible mbers of the Ei Sect—what kind of request did you co to entrust to soone as crooked as ?”
Since they had co because of a request, Dan Mujin asked about their business.
“Ah.”
“……”
The two Ei Sect won suddenly hesitated, unable to say the contents of the request, their expressions clearly saying they had dug their own graves.
Well, well.
A short while later. At the troubleshooter office on the outskirts of Beijing.
Warm tea for guests filled the room with a gentle fragrance.
The two Ei Sect won, Gi Hyo and Jeong Yo—having revealed the entire story—were quietly avoiding my gaze.
“So in short…”
Roasted peanuts crunched between my teeth.
Swinging one leg idly, I continued.
“The greatest genius of the Ei Sect and a candidate for Sect Leader ran away to the Shaolin Temple because she fell in love with a man?”
That was a catastrophic disaster.
The sect had lost both its martial foundation and its next Sect Leader at the sa ti.
“Th-the sacred relic of the Ei Sect, the Yitian Interspatial Sword… also disappeared…”
Jeong Yo added weakly, her voice barely above a whisper.
Now this was a complete ss.
“And you people still lecture others about their livelihoods while bringing requests like this? Really?”
“Ahem.”
At my words, the two won lowered their heads, unable to respond.
The backs of their necks turned red with embarrassnt.
“We were short-sighted. Please forgive us.”
When a client paying good money apologizes like that, you’ve got to let it go.
I snorted and grabbed another handful of peanuts.
“Captain, then what about the previous request?”
Ilhong asked.
It was the resentful request of a client who wanted us to find the affair partner of their cheating spouse.
Since Ilhong insisted we uphold the motto written on the sign in front of the office, failure was not an option.
“It’s almost finished. I just need to go tell the client who the affair partner is.”
Once that happened, the client would storm off in a fury to confront the lover.
That was the most entertaining part of these kinds of requests—but since a new client had arrived, it seed I would have to leave quickly this ti and miss the show.
They said the situation was urgent, so I’d have to sprint at full speed using Body Movent Technique.
“Mujin, then you’ll be making good money for a while again, huh?”
“Yeah. Like rain during a drought.”
When people beco blinded by love, they stop fearing even the Imperial Household.
The Trading Lord of a famous trading company had handed
a huge sum and begged
to find her imdiately.
The requests I took were either to accumulate good karma or to earn a living.
This one fell into the latter category.
“Anyway, Shaolin Temple. I’ve heard a lot about it and seen it a few tis. Ilhong, do you know much about it?”
“Of course I do. It’s the Shaolin Temple.”
Even Ilhong—who seed to know everything except the things she didn’t—spoke confidently about it.
Right.
The Shaolin Temple.
The head of the Nine Sects One Gang, and the pillar of the Righteous Sect with a long and illustrious tradition.
And we were going to sneak into such a place with a rather improper objective and fish soone out.
“For now, Harang and Ilhong will have to stay.”
The two employees of the office imdiately protested.
“What? Why?”
“I’m coming too. Why are you going alone?”
Why go alone?
“The place forbids won entirely. It’s a male-forbidden sacred domain.”
I answered while stuffing the necessary items into my travel bundle.
Ilhong suddenly leaned close and whispered into my ear.
“This ti, I’m definitely coming with you.”
“Didn’t you hear
earlier? It’s far away, and only n can go there.”
“You’ve always treated
like a boy anyway. Why change now?”
Hmm.
That was hard to argue against.
Ilhong strongly insisted on joining, and soon began packing her own things beside .
Watching this, Jo Harang suddenly slapped her knee as if realizing sothing.
“That’s it, Ilhong. Since you’re good at disguises—like when you made that Human-skin Mask last ti—just disguise
as a man.”
She suggested cross-dressing so she could co with us to Henan Province.
At that mont, both Ilhong and I instinctively glanced at her chest.
“That would be hard to hide, wouldn’t it?”
“…Yes. Probably.”
It’s easy to make sothing appear when it isn’t there.
But making sothing disappear when it is there?
That’s difficult.
Disguises are like that.
“Stop staring, Captain.”
“Ahem. I was just confirming the feasibility.”
My intentions were pure.
“Then I’m guarding the house again? That’s boring… Ilhong’s lucky.”
At those words, Ilhong glanced down at her own chest.
She bit her lip slightly before lifting her head again.
“W-well… you’re still in your growth period, Ilhong. Don’t worry about it.”
“Please be quiet, Captain.”
“Alright then.”
I nodded and quickly headed out of the office.
One of the greatest landmarks in the Central Plains throughout both past and present—the famous Shaolin Temple.
Located in central Henan Province, and further up from the mountainside where we previously visited, once you reach Shaoshi Peak, the most famous great sect in martial arts stories reveals itself.
The full view of the Shaolin Temple unfolded before our eyes.
“Oh, so this is the Shaolin Temple.”
After crossing the rugged mountain terrain, the sect that stood at the peak of the Murim appeared.
The vast temple complex, carrying a thousand years of history, seed naturally embraced by the mountain ridges, as if it were one with the mountain itself.
“So that Ei Sect woman is hiding here, right?”
Though the spirit of the Righteous Sect flowed through this place, the purpose of our visit today was anything but righteous.
“And the warrior monk who lured her here must be hiding sowhere too, Captain.”
I nodded at Ilhong’s remark.
Today, we were not ordinary visitors.
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