A Baby Cat Who Commands the Dog Clan - Chapter 131

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com

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Chapter 131
‘I’m certain I’ve seen that woman before!’
A scene flashed through Nam Goong Baek’s mind in that instant.
It was the image of the woman who had caught Hong Seol when she stumbled in front of the Wandering Minstrel Tavern.
“So she had ulterior motives from the very beginning!”
Nam Goong Baek shoved Hong Seol behind him and shouted fiercely.
Seeing this, Dok Bi Jo smiled faintly. Her crimson lips curled upward, creating an enigmatic atmosphere.
“It has been a long time, Young Master Nam Goong Baek. Was it our first meeting since Changnyeong Mountain?”
At those words, the tip of Nam Goong Baek’s sword wavered.
It was certainly a voice he had heard before.
“The herb gatherer… Jang So Jeo…?”
“Yes, I am indeed that woman.”
Dok Bi Jo smiled brightly and lifted her black hat.
Beneath it was not the face of the herb gatherer Jang So Jeo, but Dok Bi Jo’s true visage.
“A disguise…!”
Nam Goong Baek, still refusing to lower his guard, glared at her.
Somewhere along the way, Dok Bi Jo’s manner of speech had transformed from that of a gentle herb-gathering woman into that befitting a weighty Orthodox Sect leader.
“My true name is Dok Bi Jo. I am the leader of the Black Eagle Gang.”
At those words, Nam Goong Baek’s face turned ashen.
Dok Bi Jo, leader of the Black Eagle Gang.
A master of the Orthodox Sects said to be well over one hundred and twenty years old.
Yet the woman before him was no ancient crone. Nam Goong Baek’s voice trembled.
“Half-Immortal Realm…!”
“That’s right. A realm even your proud grandfather could not surpass.”
Dok Bi Jo was a master so formidable that I could scarcely dare to fight her, let alone gaze upon her.
Nam Goong Baek tensed like a wolf caught by its tail.
Though his opponent released no killing intent whatsoever, cold sweat drenched his entire body and his breathing grew ragged.
‘Why would such a master kidnap us… no, why would she kidnap Seol?’
And why did Seol stand before my blade?
Everything was bewildering.
Yet I could not simply retreat before Dok Bi Jo.
‘I have no choice but to protect Seol myself!’
His grip on the sword tightened with renewed determination.
Whether Dok Bi Jo knew what lay in Nam Goong Baek’s heart or not, she continued speaking with perfect composure.
“In exchange for bringing you two here, I left Dang Song Baek as a gift… I wonder if it pleased that boy Nam Goong Ho?”
Even the revelation that they had captured a Demonic Cult spy who may have poisoned him seemed not to register with Nam Goong Baek.
“Whatever scheme you’re plotting…”
In that moment, Nam Goong Baek drew upon his inner force.
Whoooosh.
A brilliant blue Changcheon energy blazed around his body, so intense that even those standing beside him seemed elevated by its radiance.
“If you dare harm Hong Seol, I won’t stand idle!”
The icy killing intent was unmistakable.
Yet Dok Bi Jo didn’t even raise an eyebrow.
She simply continued speaking with an expression of amusement.
“Hoho, hard to believe he’s only eleven. No wonder Nam Goong Ho carries himself with such pride.”
“Nonsense!”
Nam Goong Baek grasped his sword with both hands and aimed for a single point.
“Haaah!”
In an instant, he thrust through Dok Bi Jo’s opening.
The Third Form of the Changung Grand Sword Technique.
Concentrated thunder at a single point pierces through all obstacles!
Crack-crack-boom!
The moment the Nam Goong Family’s distinctive clear thunder echoed out.
Nam Goong Baek’s delicate forehead contorted.
Dok Bi Jo was blocking his all-consuming strike with merely her index and middle fingers raised.
“This can’t be real!”
At his outcry, Dok Bi Jo’s eyes narrowed with laughter.
‘Interesting, this child.’
Though he had received the impact, his fighting spirit remained completely unbroken.
Rather, it was clear he was grinding his teeth and seeking an opening for counterattack.
‘The one making this boy like this must be that furry beast.’
She gazed quietly into Nam Goong Baek’s blazing blue eyes and spoke.
“Already your eyes are spinning like some Daoist I once knew.”
Dok Bi Jo smiled softly, then flicked her finger lightly.
“Flick!”
“Brother!”
Hong Seol’s anguished cry rang out.
“Whoosh!”
Nam Goong Baek was sent sliding endlessly backward.
Boom!
He finally came to a stop only after crashing his body against the base of a bamboo stalk.
Dok Bi Jo watched him struggling to regain his balance with a pitying expression and spoke.
“I intend to teach that furry beast the Transmission of Power Across Bodies.”
Transmission of Power Across Bodies.
It meant transferring one’s inner power through physical contact.
“Why on earth?”
Nam Goong Baek asked in disbelief.
Accumulating inner power requires long years of cultivation.
Yet she would give it freely.
There was certainly some hidden scheme at work.
“Moreover, you’re from the Orthodox Sects, yet you’re proposing to conduct a full-contact sparring match with Seol, who has learned the martial arts of the Demonic Cult?”
Transmitting the inner force of the Orthodox Sects to Hong Seol, who had mastered the cultivation techniques of the Demonic Cult!
Then Seol would surely fall into demonic possession.
As this realization struck him, Nam Goong Baek’s face drained of all color.
“Don’t worry. That precious little furball of yours won’t come to any harm.”
Her crimson lips curved upward, and in that instant, the aura emanating from her shifted entirely.
“W-what is this…?”
Even Nam Goong Baek, whose expressions rarely changed, couldn’t help but be startled.
From Dok Bi Jo radiated only a clear and pure energy.
Like that of a martial artist from the Orthodox Sects who had trained for years.
“Just moments ago, I distinctly sensed demonic qi…?”
Dok Bi Jo smiled softly.
“Hehe, isn’t it amusing?”
But I can’t have you interfering, so you’ll need to take a little nap.
Tap, tap.
Before he could even react, her slender fingers moved with blinding speed, striking pressure points across his body, and Nam Goong Baek’s vision went black in an instant.
“Oh!”
As Dok Bi Jo turned around, she caught Hong Seol’s small gasp and felt slightly embarrassed.
“Don’t worry. I merely pressed the acupoints to induce sleep.”
Hong Seol nodded quietly.
Dok Bi Jo approached Hong Seol and asked.
“Are you afraid of me?”
Hong Seol, who had been gazing up at Dok Bi Jo, slowly shook her head.
“I was frightened when I was pulled up into the sky at first, but not anymore.”
“Is that so?”
Dok Bi Jo smiled as if impressed.
“Why are you no longer afraid?”
“Because you spoke to me through sound transmission as we descended to the ground.”
Hong Seol recalled that trembling moment.
– Young lady, didn’t I tell you? If you recover your health, I will surely repay your kindness.
“That’s when I became certain. If the Jang So Jeo I met in the Peach Orchard was truly you, you would never do anything to harm me.”
That was how I found the courage to stand before Nam Goong Baek’s blade.
“The Black Bandit Gang leader may be frightening, but the herb gatherer Jang So Jeo I met is not. Because you’re someone with a warm heart who can think of a loved one while gazing at a peach orchard.”
A gentle smile spread across Dok Bi Jo’s lips. Being trusted as a good person by someone didn’t feel entirely unpleasant.
Hong Seol then spoke calmly.
“Since you’ve been watching over me closely enough to know that I suffer from the Yin-Yang Severed Meridian condition, you must also know that I’ll soon be conducting a martial match with Young Master Dang Cheon Gang.”
At Hong Seol’s measured words, Dok Bi Jo showed a hint of surprise.
Soon after, Dok Bi Jo admitted readily.
“Yes, I knew.”
“That’s why you brought me here, then.”
“That’s true.”
“Then repay the favor starting now.”
Hong Seol extended her arm.
“Ha, honestly.”
Dok Bi Jo laughed as if amused. She had been the one to decide to teach the furball close-quarters combat, yet somehow it felt like she was the one being taught a lesson.
“Very well, let us begin.”
* * *
How much time had passed?
Hong Seol sat alone in lotus position with her eyes closed, circulating her inner energy.
The dantian firmly settled in her lower abdomen now felt as though it had grown to the size of a tiny bean sprout.
With each breath she drew in and released, something shimmered within that space.
Hong Seol understood.
That was the vital energy Dok Bi Jo had transferred to her.
‘Thank you, Grandmother Dok Bi Jo.’
Having offered her gratitude, Hong Seol refocused on her breathing.
Time was necessary to fully integrate the transferred inner power as her own.
“Huuuuh….”
With each deep breath, Dok Bi Jo’s vital energy surged forth from the dantian, slowly circulating through Hong Seol’s meridians.
Simultaneously, turbid energy dispersed outward on the breath of a small kitten.
Each time her small chest rose and fell, pure energy filled her body completely.
‘This Bamboo Forest has energy as abundant as the Dang Family Training Hall.’
Grandmother Dok Bi Jo had clearly taken great care in selecting the location for the energy transfer.
Hong Seol circulated her inner power with nothing but gratitude in her heart.
To defeat Dang Cheon Gang, she could not afford to waste a single moment.
* * *
Nam Goong Baek, now awake, quietly observed Hong Seol from a distance.
He stood guard in case anything went wrong during her energy circulation.
He neither ate nor slept.
Dok Bi Jo, resting her chin in her hand, watched him with keen interest.
Despite having transferred over half a decade’s worth of inner power, her vitality remained completely undiminished.
‘How adorable, these little ones.’
Her own beloved had long been buried in the Peach Orchard many years ago.
A mischievous impulse suddenly stirred within her heart.
Glancing at Hong Seol from afar, Dok Bi Jo spoke to Nam Goong Baek in a soft voice so as not to disturb her.
“You there.”
Yet Nam Goong Baek did not even turn to look.
Though she could see his ears perking up from where she sat.
‘The energy transfer succeeded, so surely he could relax his vigil now.’
Dok Bi Jo let out a quiet chuckle.
“You there, little one!”
At her repeated calls, Nam Goong Baek finally turned his head.
His blue eyes were cold, his demeanor suggesting irritation at being bothered.
Yet Dok Bi Jo remained undeterred, smiling brightly as she posed her question.
“You like that little kitten, don’t you?”
At her words, Nam Goong Baek’s handsome brows twitched.

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com

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