Reincarnation of the Cloud Dragon - Chapter 105

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This chapter is translated by Falnar Novels Team.
Support us by reading on our official site: https://falnarnovels.com
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Chapter 105.
Nak Wol’s Moonlit Heavenly Net.
Upon the Combat Platform, a web of moonlight enveloped Yun Cheon from all sides.
Against that net, the dragon that slumbered beneath the frozen river bared its fangs.
Crack.
At first, it was the faintest of sounds.
A single strand of the Moonlit Heavenly Net.
A frost flower bloomed upon it, spreading white before gnawing through the moonlit line like teeth grinding bone.
Crack, crackle.
The second.
The third.
Across the web of moonlight that blanketed the Combat Platform, frost flowers burst into full bloom.
Each petal and stamen was a fang.
Shatter—!
The moonlit strands that composed the Moonlit Heavenly Net trembled in unison.
“…!”
Nak Wol’s eyes wavered.
The Moonlit Heavenly Net was no mere technique of scattering countless lines.
The meridian pathways of the Moon Shadow Saber. The flow of Nak Wol’s Technique. The breath and tremor of her fingertips.
All woven into one, subjugating a vast domain beneath her dominion—a supreme technique.
Yet Yun Cheon did not evade.
He did not defend.
He was devouring it.
‘Head-on…?’
An unexpected response.
Masters who faced such nets typically sought to block or evade.
Nak Wol’s fingertips stiffened for a moment, but it lasted only the briefest instant.
Soon her gaze settled into composure.
‘…No, this is better. If he comes at me directly.’
A net is such a thing by nature.
Even a fierce beast with sharp fangs grows weary when caught in a net.
The more it bites, the more its jaws become entangled; the more it tears with claws, the more its limbs are bound.
The breaking of one strand does not make the net disappear. Rather, other strands converge upon the torn place.
That is the principle of the net, and the truth of the Heavenly Net.
Nak Wol’s voice flowed low from within the web of moonlight.
“…Do you truly believe you can devour the Heavenly Net?”
Her hands moved.
Her sleeves flowed. Her fingertips curved. The strands of the Moon Shadow Saber awakened anew to her command.
Tighten. Release. Weave again.
Following the delicate orchestration of her fingertips, the net was rewoven with exquisite precision.
The threads of Moonlit Heaven and Earth surged toward Yun Cheon from all directions at once.
Where frost flowers had gnawed a single gap, three strands of moonlight now wove closed.
Each time teeth tore through one thread, five more wrapped around him in the next instant.
There was no longer any need to ensnare the entire Combat Platform.
Because Yun Cheon did not evade.
The net of heaven that had once blanketed the entire platform now constricted toward the form of a single man.
Zzzzzzzt—!
The Moonlit Shadow Sickle drew taut.
Nak Wol was certain of it.
‘No matter how… even you are still a man.’
In a direct confrontation, there was no reason to yield.
A net was forged to capture the mightiest of beasts.
No matter how sharp the fangs or how fierce the claws.
The moment the net tightens, one is ensnared.
‘You’ve been caught.’
The light of victory gleamed in Nak Wol’s eyes.
A gambit requested before the finals—the Moonlit Heaven Covenant.
That request had bound Yun Cheon’s feet. He could have evaded. Yet he did not.
Because he was a man.
To answer the woman’s resolve with directness.
The masters in the spectator stands held their breath.
“…!”
The net of moonlight embroidered across the Combat Platform, and the frost flowers blooming above it.
It was a sight rarely witnessed—ethereal and sublime.
Yet within that beauty lay a ferocity of ascension that ordinary eyes could scarcely fathom.
“…Truly, a heaven-spanning net of fate.”
“Tightened like that, none could escape.”
And yet Yun Cheon stood quietly within that net.
His sword tip hung low, the sword seal of his left hand unbroken.
His eyes did not look upon Nak Wol.
Nor did they follow the threads of the Moonlit Shadow Sickle.
Yun Cheon gazed only at the gaps between the mesh.
The infinitesimal void where moonlight could not reach.
No matter how fine the net, no perfect mesh exists in this world.
Not even a net spun from heaven itself.
For the dragon that roams the clouds, a path always remains.
With the mysteries of the Cloud Dragon’s Eight Forms, slipping through the net would be effortless.
Yun Cheon saw that path. He need only shift his feet by a fraction.
But Yun Cheon did not evade.
The Moonlit Heaven Covenant.
A promise Nak Wol had made before all those assembled.
A woman bearing the name of a sect, staking her martial prowess and conviction on this challenge.
I could not answer such a plea with evasion.
To refuse.
It had to be direct.
By the law of the strong.
My eyes grew cold and sharp.
“A net can certainly ensnare a beast.”
Nak Wol’s pupils trembled faintly as she met my gaze.
‘Why…?’
The tip of my blade rose ever so slightly.
“But a net cannot capture a dragon.”
Shhhhh―.
A frost-laden wind flowed along the sword’s edge.
In that instant, I took a single step forward.
Screeeech―!
The sound transformed.
It was the sound of something tearing.
At the very center of the moonlit net.
Where my blade had passed, frost flowers bloomed.
And those flowers bared their fangs in unison.
Not a single point or line, but the very weave of the net itself was rent asunder.
The direction in which Moonlit Heaven’s Thousand Threads tightened. The nodes where lines complemented one another. The flow rushing to fill the torn places.
The dragon’s fangs pierced precisely there.
Craaack―!
The threads of moonlight shrieked.
Nak Wol’s fingertips trembled.
‘This cannot be.’
She immediately moved to expand Moon Shadow Crescent.
But the moment it opened, frost flowers bloomed through the widening gap.
She tried to tighten it.
Then the dragon’s fangs embedded themselves in every tightening strand.
She attempted to scatter it.
In that instant, the tip of my blade was already positioned before where it would disperse.
Nak Wol’s pupils dilated sharply.
‘He did not see the gaps in the net.’
Only then did she understand.
I had not been searching for escape routes.
I was seeing where to tear.
The place where Moonlit Heaven’s Thousand Threads tightened most fiercely.
That is why the most threads are tangled there.
That is why, once torn, the entire web must collapse.
I had entered that place deliberately.
Not to evade, but to destroy.
My sword’s tip rose from below, ascending with terrible grace.
The dragon that had lain dormant beneath the frozen river finally revealed itself.
Screeeech―!
The web of moonlight shattered.
Dozens of luminous threads scattered in all directions around me.
The web still remained.
But it no longer confined me.
The path the dragon had carved was unmistakable.
Nak Wol’s eyes shifted.
Within them burned a desire she could not suppress.
With the web torn asunder, capturing him completely was no longer possible.
‘If it has come to this… even if you suffer some injury…!’
Beyond desperation—a killing intent that would harm the opponent at any cost.
Nak Wol reached for her final technique.
But the space where that final move would land.
My sword’s tip was already there.
Nak Wol’s breath caught.
‘Even the position of a technique I have not yet unleashed….’
I said nothing.
Yet my blade spoke for me.
The match was decided.
Whoooosh―.
A frost-laden wind swept away the remnants of moonlight.
Nak Wol could not move.
Moon Shadow Crescent Blade. Her movement technique. Even the final technique still within her grasp.
All had lost meaning before the tip of my sword.
The entire Grand Martial Arena held its breath.
The chill radiating from my blade touched the silk veil.
Frost crystallized across the white fabric.
One tiny crystal.
And then another.
Crackle, crackle, crackle….
The veil shattered like frozen moonlight.
Fragments of silk scattered through the air.
And beyond them.
Nak Wol’s bare face was revealed.
“…!”
The audience held their breath.
No one could speak immediately.
Nak Wol’s face was like a flower blooming beneath the moon, true to her name.
Someone spoke carefully, sharing their impression.
“Moonlight’s radiance….”
“That sister… she’s so beautiful.”
Yeon Ha Ran swallowed without realizing it.
Yet the expression that crossed her face was one of heartbreaking sorrow.
The woman who had sought the Moonlit Covenant.
And the face of that woman, whose plea had been rejected beneath the law of the strong.
Nak Wol had lost.
Before the tip of Yun Cheon’s blade.
Yet strangely, it did not appear ridiculous.
Rather, it became all the more clear.
What Nak Wol, as a woman, had wagered when she sought the Moonlit Covenant.
Now everyone in the arena seemed to understand.
Nak Wol opened her eyes.
She slowly brought her hands together.
Her voice sounded as though she were wringing out her heart.
“For today… this is where it ends.”
It was an acknowledgment of defeat.
Nak Wol lifted her head.
Her gaze pierced through the shattered veil, fixing upon Yun Cheon.
“I have lost.”
Soft exclamations rippled through the audience.
Nak Wol did not turn to acknowledge the commotion.
“But having spoken the Moonlit Covenant, I cannot abandon its meaning.”
The arena fell silent once more.
Her lips curved in the faintest smile.
A smile tinged with sorrow.
Yet it was not the smile of the defeated.
“Someday again. I will become a stronger being who surpasses you, and beneath the law of the strong, I will make my plea once more.”
Determination crystallized in Nak Wol’s eyes.
Her voice rang clear throughout the Grand Martial Arena.
It was an official declaration from the sect leader of the Nak Wol Bi Yeong Sect.
A declaration that though the plea had not been granted, its purpose would not be abandoned.
The atmosphere in the arena stirred once more.
“She will make her plea again?”
“If it is beneath the law of the strong….”
“So you’re saying you’ll withdraw today, having lost, but challenge again in the future.”
The elders’ gazes shifted.
The Nak Wol Bi Yeong Sect had been defeated, yet they had not surrendered.
The Moonlit Covenant had been broken, but its name now clung to Yun Cheon even more deeply.
I watched Nak Wol quietly.
Her eyes were those of a challenger.
“I will accept your challenge whenever you wish, under the doctrine of the strong.”
My voice was calm.
Whenever.
At those words, Nak Wol’s pupils trembled ever so slightly.
The smile at the corner of her lips deepened.
“…I won’t forget those words.”
This time, it was not a smile tinged only with sorrow.
A faint glimmer of joy.
And a stubborn resolve to meet again.
The Butler swallowed dryly.
He too had been momentarily at a loss for words.
But soon, as if remembering that the Combat Tournament must continue, he drew a deep breath.
“The final match…”
His voice wavered once.
Yalü Jin nodded quietly from his elevated seat.
That was sufficient.
The Butler cried out again.
“The victor!”
Every eye in the Grand Martial Arena fixed upon me.
“Yun Cheon, Master of the Black Dragon Gang!”
In that instant, the Grand Martial Arena erupted.
Roars. Gasps. Exclamations.
All that fervor burst forth at once.
“Yun Cheon!”
“Master of the Black Dragon Gang!”
“He tore through the Moonlit Heavenly Path of the Nak Wol Bi Yeong Sect!”
In the Black Dragon Gang’s section, Kang Hui clenched both fists.
“Master…”
It was a brief utterance, yet his voice could not hide his pride.
Yalü Hyeon gazed at me in silence.
The main family’s Combat Tournament.
The gaze of the Guang Feng Yalü Family.
In the very center of it all, the Master of the Black Dragon Gang had emerged victorious.
Not the legitimate heir of the main family himself.
The leader of the Black Dragon Gang.
Strangely, the fact did not taste bitter.
Rather, my heart raced.
It felt like proof that the position I had chosen was not wrong.
Yalü Hee watched Yun Cheon with her arms crossed.
A faint smile played at the corner of her lips.
“Befitting a leader.”
Upon hearing those words, Yeop Cheong A beside her gazed at her quietly.
Yalü Hee said nothing more.
She simply watched Yun Cheon on the Combat Platform.
After today, the standing of Yun Cheon and the Black Dragon Gang would be vastly transformed.
“To Yun Cheon, the Black Dragon Gang leader and champion of this martial competition… I shall bestow the prize!”
Yalü Jin, the patriarch of the Guang Feng Yalü Family, ascended the Elevated Platform himself.
Yet he did not immediately present the jade box.
Instead, he slowly surveyed the Grand Martial Arena.
“But before that… I have one question.”
Yalü Jin’s voice resonated low across the arena.
“I wish to bestow upon this man the epithet of Dragon. Does anyone object?”
The assembly stirred.
“A Dragon, you say…!”
“Yet he certainly possesses the qualifications.”
“What of the Frost Dragon? Did you not just witness that sword?”
“Ah, my friend, the Frost Dragon already belongs to the Demonic Path Seven Dragons!”
“Then the Black Dragon?”
“That would suit this man far better.”
Someone murmured softly.
“…The Black Dragon.”
That name spread across the Grand Martial Arena.
The Black Dragon.
Yun Cheon the Black Dragon.
And someone drew a sharp breath and spoke.
“Another Dragon is added to the Demonic Path Seven Dragons.”
“Then shall they now be called the Demonic Path Eight Dragons?”
At those words, the assembly’s stirring intensified.
The Demonic Path Seven Dragons.
And the eighth Dragon.
Those names hung heavy above the Grand Martial Arena.
There was no one who objected.
Rather, all were gauging how far the weight of that name would reach.
Yalü Jin’s gaze remained fixed upon Yun Cheon.
“Black Dragon.”
A brief utterance.
Yet that single phrase silenced the murmuring of the assembly.
“A title befitting one without lack.”
The crowd held their breath, watching for my reaction.
“….”
Cloud Dragon.
That had been my original epithet.
But now it was a name buried beneath the mountain gates of Kunlun.
The Absolute Frost Dragon Sword was merely the name of a blade.
Yet what I now carried was far more than a single sword.
The Black Dragon Gang.
Those who stood behind it.
A name forged in the heart of the Demonic Cult, destined one day to shatter it.
I lifted my head.
The epithet Yu Ha had once posted on the Feng Yun Ranking, stripped of the two characters meaning “gang leader.”
The Black Dragon Yun Cheon—a title begun in jest.
But now it was different.
Here, at the conclusion of the Guang Feng Yalü Family’s martial competition.
That name would spread as legend throughout the martial world.
Black Dragon Yun Cheon.
I spoke with quiet resolve.
“I will accept that name.”
In the age of the Demonic Path Seven Dragons, the name of an eighth dragon had risen into being.

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This chapter is translated by Falnar Novels Team.
Support us by reading on our official site: https://falnarnovels.com
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