The Heavenly Demon Cult’s Strongest Maid - Chapter 329

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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Chapter 83

Even after Jegal Mun-gi left the inn, I sat there for quite a while.

My mind was complicated with many thoughts.

If we were to rank the Ten Martial Arts Masters, Seon-jon was an incredible master second only to Elder Buljon.

If my identity were exposed because of him, the Righteous Faction meeting would be ruined in an instant.

The Buddhist power that Elder Buljon planted in me should exert its full strength.

But strangely, I felt uneasy.

“Would you like some candied fruit?”

“…What?”

“When your nerves are on edge, something sweet can help.”

Oh my, look at this sweet Jeong-in.

The psychopath has really developed a lot.

He even knows how to look after my mood and make sweet suggestions.

Yes, let’s forget about Seon-jon for now and go eat some candied fruit!

It’ll work out somehow.

If I get caught, so be it!

I linked arms with Eok I-geon with unnecessary bravado.

“Let’s go quickly, Young Master!”

We headed straight to the familiar street stall not far from the inn.

I was walking while happily wondering what kind of fruit candies I should eat today.

‘…What’s with that kid?’

About thirteen? Fourteen maybe?

A child who seemed too big to be called a little boy, yet somehow too small to be called a boy, was staring at the candied fruit with the most serious expression of his life.

The child’s clothes were terribly shabby.

Though cleanly washed, they were worn in places with clear signs of being mended dozens of times.

Not only that, they were baggy as if he’d inherited clothes that didn’t fit him.

Even with the sleeves rolled up several times, they looked uncomfortable, and his waist cord seemed to be wrapped around several times.

Even those weren’t ordinary clothes, but Taoist robes that only Taoists would wear.

I guessed he was a child who had lost his parents and been taken in by a Taoist temple.

Then naturally he wouldn’t have money.

That’s why he was just staring like that.

‘How pitiful.’

It would be harder for a child that age to dislike candied fruit.

My compassion stirred and my feet naturally headed toward the child.

“Hey.”

I approached with a smile so the kid wouldn’t be startled.

“Did you call this humble one?”

The boy looked at me with his hands behind his back, pretending to be solemn.

“Yes, you.”

“For what reason did you call me?”

“…”

But why does this kid talk like this?

His way of speaking like an old man who’d lived through everything left me speechless for a moment.

Don’t tell me he’s lived only with elderly Taoists without a single friend?

Suddenly a sad feeling gripped me.

“Do you want some candied fruit?”

This big sister only has money.

I’ll buy you as much as you want, so don’t worry about appearances and just tell me.

“Haah.”

But the boy suddenly let out a deep sigh and looked up at the sky with distant eyes.

“That is the problem. Even after cutting off countless worldly desires, how is it that only this candied fruit cannot be severed?”

Wow, his way of speaking really was exactly like an old man who’d lived a full life.

This is why environment is important during one’s growth period.

I held back my laughter and offered again to the boy.

“Come here. Big sister will buy it for you.”

“No.”

The boy declined, saying it was fine.

Seeing him up close, he was quite cute with his small, round features.

“It is said that those who know contentment are wealthy.”

“…Huh? Those who know what now?”

“It is a saying from the Tao Te Ching. Those who know contentment are the wealthy ones.”

Why the sudden Tao Te Ching?

Is this a side effect of growing up in a Taoist temple?

“I already finished my morning meal and had a bowl of water. I thought my mind was calm and I had let go of all worldly matters like flowing clouds, but…”

The boy gripped the hem of his shabby Taoist robe and stared once more at the candied fruit neatly displayed on the stall.

“It says to reach the ultimate in emptiness and maintain sincere stillness, but how… Haah!”

Another sigh.

What is this kid even saying?

“What karma is this fragrant sweet scent that disturbs all that stillness?”

The boy kept sighing and muttering.

“It says to act without forcing and nothing will be left undone, so I should live like flowing water without forcibly grasping… but this is surely selfish desire and greed… abandon excess, abandon luxury, abandon arrogance.”

The boy squeezed his eyes shut.

Like a Taoist enduring a trial of desirelessness, he was trying to resist the sweet taste of the secular world.

“Though I have worked so hard at cultivation, only candied fruit cannot be severed! To shake me so… truly futile!”

Wow, I don’t know which Taoist temple it is, but they really educated him properly.

The little one uses difficult words well and seems quite smart.

Though I didn’t understand half of what the kid said, one thing was certain.

He desperately wanted to eat candied fruit!

“Hey, wipe the drool from your mouth.”

At my words, the boy quickly wiped his mouth with his sleeve.

His face turned red with embarrassment.

“So, should I buy it for you or not?”

Since he was agonizing so much, it didn’t seem polite to just buy it without asking, so I asked once more.

“Hmm.”

The boy looked around, then spoke in a very small voice.

“…If you buy it for me, I will gratefully accept.”

I thought so.

“A moment’s delusion is also part of the Way…”

“You sure make wanting to eat candied fruit sound complicated.”

I shook my head and handed the candied fruit to the boy.

“Won Si-an-jin.”

The kid quietly recited his Taoist name as he took the candied fruit in his hand.

And the moment he took a bite.

“Heuuuu.”

He shuddered at the sweetness.

Yes, that’s the taste of the secular world.

Once you eat it, it’s not easy to give up.

“Aren’t you eating any, Young Master?”

I also put a piece of candied fruit in my mouth and asked Eok I-geon.

‘It really is delicious.’

“You used to like them before, but lately you don’t care much for sweets?”

Unlike his handsome appearance, Eok I-geon’s eating habits and tastes were quite simple.

It was strange that someone who used to devour over ten pieces of sweets in one sitting hadn’t even touched them recently.

“I’ve discovered something even sweeter.”

I knew this would happen.

He must have eaten something without me knowing.

“What is it? What could be more delicious than sweets?”

No matter how much I thought about it, nothing came to mind.

“Perhaps mahua?”

Sugar-coated fried pastries would be about the same.

“Or maybe huashengsu?”

Peanut-based candy made with sugar and syrup is also amazing.

“Besides those…”

I was asking quite seriously, but Eok I-geon didn’t answer and just stared at me intently.

But his focus wasn’t on my eyes, but somewhere a bit lower.

Judging by the angle… my lips?

Flush!

Heat suddenly bloomed across my face.

So he was shamelessly saying that something sweeter than candy was my lips.

“I told you not to say strange things just anywhere! There’s even a child here!”

I hit Eok I-geon’s chest with my fist and turned my head away sharply. Then, trying to act as if I wasn’t embarrassed, I spoke to the boy.

“Hey, is it tasty? Should I buy you one more… huh?”

Huh?

Where did he go?

He was definitely right beside us just a moment ago, but had vanished without a trace.

I opened my eyes wide and looked around, but the boy was nowhere to be seen.

“If he was going to leave, he could have at least said something. Really, kids these days!”

I was reminded of that cheeky Muk-mul kid who was called the clever one of Luoyang.

“You knew he was leaving, didn’t you, Young Master?”

“I had no idea. To disappear while deceiving my senses…”

“It’s because you were too focused on my lips!”

Seriously, he’s been really sly lately.

I scolded Eok I-geon while ordering another piece of candy.

Nothing beat sweets for lifting one’s mood.

Not far from the street stall selling sweets.

On the rooftop of a building, the boy was crouched down, chewing on candy.

“Hmm!”

The boy’s gaze was fixed on Seolha in front of the street stall.

“The Buddhist energy is so thick with Gak-yeon’s scent. What was that fellow thinking, opening the innate energy channels for a demon and teaching Buddhist martial arts?”

The boy shook his head as if he couldn’t understand it at all and took a big bite of the candy.

Chomp!

But it was just an empty stick.

The candy had long since entered his stomach.

“Why do you shake this old man’s heart so? Hmph!”

A wistful heaviness filled his chest.

“If this poor monk fails to ascend to immortality, it will all be your fault.”

He tried to pull himself together from being swayed by worldly sweetness.

The boy’s body shimmered like a mirage and quietly disappeared into thin air.

The courtyard in front of Martial Arts Alliance Yangeum Hall.

In that tranquil place where only a gentle breeze blew, the boy descended from the air as if walking down from the sky.

“Come here!”

As the boy fluttered the sleeves of his loose Taoist robes, the doors and windows of the pavilion opened, and Mudang Sect Taoists came rushing out.

“Master!”

“Master!”

“Wonsi Anjin!”

Upon seeing the boy, they were startled and showed proper respect.

“Taewon Sabak, have you arrived?”

Following them, Mudang Sect elder Cheon-geon Jin-in came out and greeted the boy—no, the venerable Tae-won Jin-in.

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