A Baby Cat Who Commands the Dog Clan - Chapter 205

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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 205
I suspected that the embers I had kindled at dawn to warm my body had been revived when they encountered dry grass.
Hong Seol cried out toward where the Old Monk was, meowing desperately.
“Meow! (Father, wake up quickly, Monk!)”
But perhaps he had sunk too deeply into meditation.
The Old Monk showed no signs of opening his eyes.
In moments, the flames would ignite his yellow robes.
Hong Seol, who had been hopping anxiously, made a decision.
‘To hell with it.’
Surely demonic possession was better than burning to death!
Hong Seol leaped from the pagoda and bounded forward with desperate speed.
Then she struck the Old Monk’s wrinkled face with her front paws without hesitation.
“Meow meow meow meow!”
The Old Monk, suddenly struck across the cheek by soft paws, snapped his eyes open.
“You insolent cat… Wait!”
Just before the licking flames could consume his robes.
He instantly grasped the situation and launched himself forward.
The next moment, he stood on one leg atop the highest pagoda in the Pagoda Forest.
Hong Seol’s scruff was caught firmly in his grip.
Suddenly suspended in mid-air, Hong Seol flattened her ears against her head.
“Were you frightened?”
The monk cradled Hong Seol in his arms and roughly stroked her head.
“That was a close call, little one.”
“Meow!”
Hong Seol thrashed her front paws in protest.
“Yes, yes, I understand. It wasn’t me who saved you—you saved me, didn’t you?”
“Meow…!”
“Very well. When the day comes that you need me, I shall repay this debt.”
The Old Monk laughed heartily.
“Come to the Pagoda Forest or the Abbot’s chamber at Shaolin whenever you have need of me.”
At those words, Hong Seol’s eyes nearly bulged from her head.
‘This man… was the Abbot of Shaolin?’
And the opportunity to repay his kindness came sooner than expected.
The next dawn.
When the poor boy Jin Mok was seized by the monks of the Janggyeonggak.
“Meow!”
Hong Seol returned to the Pagoda Forest, once again in the form of a cat.
Fortunately, he did not pretend not to know her.
“Yes, lead the way, little one!”
* * *
Hong Seol somersaulted through the air the moment she rounded the corner of the Monk’s Quarters.
Now that I’ve brought the Abbot to the Monk’s Quarters, my part is done.
From here on, it’s Shaolin’s responsibility.
There was nothing more for me to involve myself in.
But there was someone far more important to me than all of this.
“…Elder brother.”
It was Dang Yi Woon, laid beneath a nearby tree to escape the chaos erupting in the Monk’s Quarters.
Since I had retrieved an internal injury medicine from his possession and fed it to him earlier, he should be recovering by now.
Hong Seol rested his head upon her lap and whispered softly.
“Elder brother, are you alright?”
“Mm.”
Dang Yi Woon stirred with a low groan.
A thin trickle of blood still traced the corner of his mouth.
“Seol Ah…?”
Hong Seol reproached him in an anguished tone.
“How did things come to this!”
“How was I to know…that demonic qi was sealed within Mu Yeop’s Golden Needle Acupoint and Jade Liquid Acupoint.”
It was undoubtedly a safety mechanism of the Demonic Cult to prevent betrayal.
The way the demonic qi erupted when Jin Mok tried to speak the truth made that clear.
“No, that’s not what I was asking about.”
Hong Seol shook her head as if she didn’t understand, and asked instead.
“Why hasn’t Mu Yeop collapsed even after a quarter hour has passed? Didn’t you administer the One-Quarter Hour Poison to him, elder brother?”
At those words, the red-eyed young master lying down laughed weakly.
“With you by my side, I couldn’t bring myself to harm another.”
A kind soul like you would be troubled by it, wouldn’t you.
Dang Yi Woon reached out his finger to tickle Hong Seol’s cheek, then stopped short.
At that futile gesture, Hong Seol felt tears threatening to spill.
‘As always, Yi Woon elder brother is so tender-hearted.’
Even when his own life was in danger, he remained steadfast in his care for me.
“Whimper.”
Seeing Hong Seol’s eyes glistening with tears, Dang Yi Woon wore an awkward expression.
“I’m fine. But what do we do about the Golden Cat Sect insignia?”
At those words, Hong Seol grew serious.
Not only had I lost the Golden Cat Sect insignia that was nearly within my grasp, but worse still, it had fallen into the hands of the Demonic Cult!
“….”
“So here’s the thing.”
Dang Yi Woon whispered to Hong Seol as if to lift her spirits.
“Want to know a secret?”
“Yes? A secret…?”
“Well, you see.”
At Dang Yi Woon’s gesture, Hong Seol brought her ear close to his face.
It was merely a whisper, yet her heart inexplicably quickened its pace.
“The truth is, in that final moment, I heard it clearly from Mu Yeop—where the Golden Cat Sect is right now.”
“…!”
* * *
“Fresh fish! Get your fresh fish!”
“We have freshly made tofu!”
Hong Seol and Dang Yi Woon strolled amicably through the bustling streets of Deng Peak.
Since this town lay considerably distant from Songshan, the air no longer carried the scent of incense.
“Now that I think about it…. I’m hungry, brother.”
Hong Seol and Dang Yi Woon had eaten nothing since leaving Shaolin.
They entered the first inn they spotted and sat down.
“What may I serve you!”
Dang Yi Woon placed an order with Jeom So Yi, who came scurrying over.
“Vegetable dumplings for one…, no wait, I’m sick of dumplings.”
Hong Seol and Dang Yi Woon’s eyes met, and they burst into laughter without hesitation.
It was a joke only those who had endured the dumpling ordeal together could appreciate.
“I’ll have the fried pork!”
“And one spicy steamed fish with plenty of minced chili peppers, if you please!”
Soon, steaming dishes arrived. Hong Seol and Dang Yi Woon eagerly filled their bellies with outside food for the first time in ages.
“It’s already been a week since the chaos at Shaolin.”
“So Mu Yeop…, no, Jin Mok—he entered the Repentance Cave?”
“That’s right.”
Hong Seol nodded.
All this time, Hong Seol had prowled about every night in cat form, gathering rumors from here and there.
This included the Shaolin Sect Grounds and the streets of Deng Peak.
Such movements were possible because she had become known as “the clever cat who saved the Abbot.”
The Repentance Cave was where monks who had committed sins were confined.
Ordinarily, they would have to atone and live there for the rest of their lives.
“The Abbot showed mercy. He said that although Jin Mok turned to the Demonic Cult, he did not learn demonic arts of his own volition.”
The Abbot permitted Won Mok, the Dining Hall Master, to enter the Repentance Cave alongside Jin Mok.
“Once the Dining Hall Master’s Great Prajna Paramita Heart Sutra can completely separate the demonic energy, the Abbot said he would release Jin Mok!”
“Good, that’s fortunate.”
Dang Yi Woon spoke indifferently.
In truth, what became of Jin Mok was no concern of his.
He was simply pleased because the kind cat before him was happy.
“But I don’t understand something.”
“What is it?”
“Why did the Dining Hall Master hide our identities!”
When Jin Mok’s demonic energy had run rampant.
Even caught off guard, Dang Yi Woon had inflicted no small wound upon Jin Mok.
And the Dining Hall Master Won Mok surely knew this fact well.
After all, he had felt Jin Mok’s pulse.
“Moreover, I myself… used the term ‘older brother’ instead of your title in front of the Dining Hall Master…”
Hong Seol, confessing her mistake, hung her head in dejection.
“You did that, Seol?”
“Yes. When I saw you collapsed, I was so startled that it just slipped out.”
Hong Seol wore a downcast expression, yet Dang Yi Woon appeared to be in good spirits.
“So you did that, Seol…”
“Why didn’t the Dining Hall Master report to Shaolin that we were hiding our identities?”
Dang Yi Woon found that question of little consequence.
“Who knows. Perhaps he was too preoccupied to hear properly. Since Jin Mok’s body is corrupted by demonic energy, he likely thought his meridians were simply twisted.”
“Hmm.”
The reason Won Mok had fallen silent.
Hong Seol would never come to understand that it was a gesture of gratitude toward the “Mysterious Savior” who had summoned the Abbot.
“Still, no one from the Nam Goong Family has come searching yet?”
“Perhaps they’re all quite occupied?”
Hong Seol replied.
“Shaolin reported this incident to the Martial Arts Alliance. So for the time being, the entire Martial Arts World will be preoccupied hunting down Demonic Cult members who stammer.”
At those words, Dang Yi Woon let out an inward scoff.
The people of the Nam Goong Family he knew were not the sort to abandon their search for Hong Seol merely because they were busy.
‘They would choose Seol over the entire Central Plains itself.’
By Dang Yi Woon’s reckoning, the Nam Goong Family’s pursuit must be nearly upon their heels by now.
‘Ah, the time I spend with Seol is almost at an end.’
Dang Yi Woon found that thought deeply unsatisfying.
‘I’ve only chopped vegetables, it seems. I haven’t truly done anything with Seol.’
Once this matter was resolved, he would need to begin thinking of returning to Sichuan.
The coming-of-age ceremony awaited him.
After that, he would truly become an adult.
It would mean he could no longer freely travel between Anhui to see Hong Seol.
‘…Before returning to Sichuan, I must say those words without fail.’
Words that did not come easily, even to one who dispensed compliments of beauty so readily.
The moment Dang Yi Woon’s teeth pressed into his lower lip.
“Older brother! What are you thinking about so intently?”
As Dang Yi Woon lifted his gaze, his cheeks flushed crimson without his knowing.
Right before him, Hong Seol’s dark eyes sparkled with brilliant light.
“Nothing, really.”
“Then shall we get moving?”
Hong Seol, smiling brightly, stretched and spoke.
“Once we find the Golden Cat Sect, Deng Peak can say farewell for a while!”
Upon hearing those words, Dang Yi Woon hesitated abruptly.
It struck him that Hong Seol had something far more pressing than the Golden Cat Sect at the moment.
After a long pause, he asked.
“Before that, Seol Ah—don’t you want to know what happened to your real parents?”
At those words, Hong Seol froze.
The mysterious man who had entrusted the Golden Cat Sect to Jang Gyeong Hall Master Won Gwan in the past.
He who had vanished after transforming into a cat was undoubtedly Hong Seol’s father.

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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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