Reincarnation of the Cloud Dragon - Chapter 12

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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 12.
Ya Jin’s mind kept replaying the scene from moments before, as if unable to accept what he had witnessed.
‘Impossible….’
For an ordinary trainee, failing to notice a surprise attack coming through the darkness would be the norm.
Even if one possessed exceptional senses and barely managed to evade, that alone would deserve praise.
But Yun Cheon had not merely dodged.
He had caught the flying ring blade with his bare hand.
‘…The goal was to demonstrate my prowess. Instead, I’ve made a fool of myself.’
Teaching a natural-born genius the silent art of treading leaves was an insult to his talent.
“Basic training would be meaningless, then.”
A bitter smile played at Ya Jin’s lips, accompanied by a peculiar heat in his eyes.
“With that perception of yours, I wonder just how far you can truly go… Let me find out starting now.”
As he spoke, he flicked a marble from the Training Ground floor with the tip of his foot.
The marble bounced off the walls and pillars in unpredictable trajectories multiple times.
Then it struck a bell suspended in the empty space behind Yun Cheon’s back, producing a sound.
Ting—.
Only then did Yun Cheon realize.
The bell was not hanging in empty space, but suspended by wire.
“As you can see, this chamber is designed so that even the slightest movement triggers noise.”
Yun Cheon’s senses grew accustomed to the darkness.
Then, at last, the faint glimmer of wires draped like a spider’s web became visible.
The floor was scattered with dried fallen leaves and marbles.
‘Indeed… a facility designed to train assassins to move without making a sound! There is not a single safe place to step….’
As Yun Cheon grasped the structure of the Training Ground.
Ya Jin’s cold voice cut through the darkness.
“From now on, I will hunt you using everything in this Training Ground. Your only task is this: evade the ring blades I throw with all my strength.”
Before Ya Jin’s words had even finished, his form melted into the darkness.
“Ah, if you’re curious about what happens when you make noise, feel free to try it yourself. Then let us begin.”
Silence fell.
Perfect silence.
Ya Jin had completely erased his presence.
Yun Cheon activated the Prolonged Life Breathing Technique, sharpening his senses to detect even the faintest currents of air against his skin.
Then it came.
Whoosh!
A ring blade shot through the air with a sharp cutting sound.
But it was not an attack aimed at Yun Cheon.
Thud!
The ring blade struck the pile of fallen leaves at Yun Cheon’s feet, scattering the bone-dry leaves into the air.
‘Not a direct attack. A ploy to obstruct my vision!’
A cloud of leaf dust swirled before Yun Cheon’s eyes.
My eyes, barely adjusted to the darkness, became utterly useless in an instant.
I immediately shut my eyes and honed my other senses to razor sharpness.
But in the very next moment, Ya Jin’s second assault began.
Ting! Clang clang!
The metal rings Ya Jin hurled struck the bells and orbs positioned throughout the Training Ground simultaneously.
A cacophony of discordant sounds lashed mercilessly against my hearing.
‘This time it’s my sense of hearing!’
I grasped it immediately.
‘He’s woven the real attack into this wave of noise.’
My prediction was correct.
Amidst the proliferation of countless sounds,
a single silent ring flew toward my heart.
But I shifted just half a step with grace, twisting my torso to let the ring slip past.
“Hm….”
A soft murmur of admiration escaped from the darkness where Ya Jin stood.
But the admiration ended there.
Ya Jin’s attacks immediately escalated, becoming one level more cunning.
Whoosh!
This time it came straight on.
An attack with such an honest trajectory.
But my senses screamed a warning.
‘This attack is a trap!’
As expected, something flew from the blind spot.
Crack—!
But it wasn’t aimed at me.
In that instant, the ring flying at me from the front collided with another ring right before my face.
‘A ricochet!’
I instinctively stepped forward half a step instead of retreating.
The two rings that had struck each other traced an unpredictable arc, passing by me.
Had I stepped back, I would have been hit without question.
‘Unconventional ring techniques…! Quite formidable!’
Though I barely evaded the attack, I couldn’t help but feel my breathing grow ragged down to my jaw.
Moving silently through the darkness was never easy.
Even while minimizing evasive movements, my stamina was being steadily drained away.
‘…Maintaining this level of tension is no simple feat either!’
Perhaps it was the result of intense concentration in this extreme situation.
My foot lightly grazed a dry twig on the ground.
Crackle—.
In normal circumstances, it would have been nothing but an inaudible whisper of wind.
But here, it shattered the pitch-black silence.
The sound was impossibly sharp and clear.
In that instant, Ya Jin’s low voice echoed through the darkness with a chilling resonance.
“Your composure is crumbling. Have you reached your limit?”
Before the words even finished, every nerve in my body screamed in warning.
Though Ya Jin’s form remained invisible, the sound of the pouches of ring projectiles in both his hands emptying completely filled the air.
Whoooosh—!
Dozens of black specks rained down from all directions like a torrential downpour.
It was far more than simply scattering projectiles.
A perfect net had been woven, sealing off every possible escape route I could take.
‘I cannot evade this…!’
I abandoned the attempt to dodge.
Instead, I crossed both arms to shield my face, heart, and other vital points.
Rat-a-tat-tat-tat! Thwack-thwack!
Countless ring projectiles came flying,
mercilessly lashing against my emaciated frame.
A crushing pain surged through me as every bone in my body seemed to cry out.
Livid bruises bloomed across my skeletal form in an instant.
“Ugh…!”
I could barely manage a groan before collapsing to my knees.
After all the ring projectiles had been unleashed, Ya Jin slowly emerged from the shadows.
He stood before me and spoke in a voice as cold as ice.
“The smallest sound completely exposes your position.”
His foot flicked one of the scattered ring projectiles on the ground.
“In real combat, you would already be dead. Remember this: the sound an assassin makes is the sound of death itself. Now, get up. This is the final round.”
That was when it began.
Ya Jin’s total offensive commenced.
Dust obscuring my vision.
Noise paralyzing my hearing.
Unpredictable projectile attacks raining down from all sides.
Ya Jin assaulted me using every object in the Training Ground.
‘Senior Ya Jin Kyoto intends to push me to my absolute limit!’
I responded by pushing the Formless Step and Shadowless Preservation to their extreme limits.
“Hah… hah….”
Ragged breathing rose to my throat from the repeated evasion maneuvers.
Having reached the physical limit of my body, I abandoned conscious, efficient dodging and moved purely on instinct.
Along with a pain as if my lungs were being torn apart, my skeletal frame screamed out its exhaustion.
‘With this body, there is no way… the gap in our levels is far too great!’
The more I tired, the more relentless and precise Ya Jin’s attacks became.
As I threw myself about mindlessly, forgetting to think,
I suddenly understood.
Within the merciless storm of attacks, a peculiar rhythm existed.
‘Could it be…?’
The first strike forced his left foot to a specific point, while the next compelled his right foot forward in a predetermined path.
‘Tch… I’m not evading. I’m simply walking the path Senior Kyoto has opened for me.’
Ya Jin’s attacks were never meant merely to strike me.
He was ‘guiding’ me to dodge in specific directions and with specific movements.
‘This is… not merely a test. It’s training! He’s forcing me to master the Shadowless Steps completely, even unconsciously!’
Yun Cheon felt both admiration and a chill at Ya Jin’s extraordinary teaching method.
‘So different from the masters at Kunlun. Yet… remarkably practical.’
Having grasped Ya Jin’s intent, Yun Cheon squeezed out every last ounce of strength.
Within the trap of simultaneous attacks from three directions, I deployed the Shadowless Steps perfectly and slipped through that space like a beam of light.
But that was the limit.
With that perfect evasion complete, all strength drained from my legs entirely.
‘Damn… this wretched body.’
My body collapsed straight toward the ground.
Thud.
All attacks ceased, and silence fell over the Training Ground.
Ya Jin emerged from the darkness.
He stood before Yun Cheon, who gasped for breath.
Satisfaction and intrigue mingled across his face.
“So your stamina ends here. I acknowledge your talent, but your vessel is pathetically inadequate….”
Ya Jin placed a hand on Yun Cheon’s back to assess his condition.
“This… what is this?”
The moment he checked the exhausted boy’s physical state, a shocking truth flowed through his fingertips.
Meridians twisted and blocked in an eerie manner.
A body of severed meridians—where not even vital essence could flow properly, let alone inner force.
Ya Jin’s eyes filled with astonishment.
‘This… this is severed meridian syndrome! You mean to say he’s been catching and evading the projectiles I threw all this time with such a body…?’
He examined Yun Cheon once more.
A boy who endured the trial with no inner force whatsoever—only a body on the verge of shattering and genius-level instinct.
Moreover, that final movement seemed to have even grasped the hidden intent of the training.
‘This transcends genius. This is… a monster. If only that broken vessel could be repaired, how far would this creature grow…!’
A firm and terrifying plan to train Yun Cheon took root in Ya Jin’s mind.
‘Did Young Master Yu Ha know of this?’
With such a monster, he would become the ultimate hidden blade no one could imagine.
‘A blade that could kill even a master of the highest realm and beyond… the makings of an elite assassin.’
He extended his hand toward Yun Cheon.
“Rise. Heaven granted you talent, but the vessel to contain it is so pathetically weak. It will shatter before the blade is even sharpened.”
Ya Jin lifted Yun Cheon to his feet, speaking with a cool yet strangely fervent voice.
“From tomorrow onward, we sharpen the blade—and simultaneously, we must forge that broken vessel anew.”
At those words, Yun Cheon’s eyes—dulled by exhaustion and collapse—rekindled with light.
He swayed but forced himself upright, his voice steady as he sought to confirm Ya Jin’s intention.
“…You’re saying there’s a way to heal my body?”
Ya Jin shook his head.
“I don’t possess such means. However….”
His gaze pierced beyond the Training Ground, toward the deeper, darker recesses of the Demonic Way Hall.
“One of our sect’s most extraordinary talents—the Demonic Physician—might make it possible.”
“The Demonic Physician…?”
Whispered rumors echoed through Yun Cheon’s mind—tales the disciples had murmured among themselves.
A practitioner of forbidden arts whose very existence remained uncertain; a master of techniques that rewrote one’s constitution.
“Indeed. Our sect’s greatest healer… and its most deranged eccentric.”
Ya Jin clicked his tongue as though recalling something horrifying, then continued his explanation.
“That master created the Demonic Rebirth Bone Art. With the power of such forbidden techniques, you might be reborn with a demonic skeleton.”
Ya Jin’s words alone were terrifying enough to make one’s flesh crawl.
“However, that technique remains incomplete. Should you succeed, you would gain a vessel capable of containing the talents heaven has bestowed upon you. But….”
His voice dropped to an even lower whisper.
“Should you fail, you become nothing more than the Demonic Physician’s test subject. Nine in ten never return….”
Yet Yun Cheon’s eyes did not waver.
‘…I chose this path from the beginning—to live for Kunlun’s vengeance. Fear has no place here.’
Instead, his eyes blazed with the light of hope.
“I will do it. How must I proceed to receive the Demonic Physician’s treatment?”
At his unhesitating answer, Ya Jin himself seemed taken aback, studying him intently.
“…Will you harbor no regrets?”
“…I refuse to embrace a greater regret than that.”
I have only just been reborn through the Immortal Sage’s power.
To fail in avenging and rebuilding Kunlun—what greater anguish could exist?
“Good. But not everyone can undergo the Demonic Rebirth Bone Art. The world is rife with demonic cultivators whose foundational bones are inadequate. First, you must prove your worth.”
“Prove it how?”
Ya Jin presented Yun Cheon with a harsh yet unmistakable milestone for the path ahead.
“Your first trial comes in one year—the Comprehensive Evaluation. You must rank within the top ten.”
“…Top ten.”
Yun Cheon repeated the words softly.
To place within the top ten among hundreds of Zamadong disciples was no trivial goal.
“Those who rank among the highest receive various privileges. With such standing, you would be granted an audience with the Demonic Physician.”
Hundreds of youths born and raised within the Demonic Cult’s martial traditions, their entire lives devoted to cultivation, their bones refined to the highest grade—
And I must surpass them all within a month, despite my crippled state.
‘…The odds are grim. Yet I have no choice but to succeed.’
A faint smile crossed Yun Cheon’s lips.
A clear milestone had been planted in the fog of uncertainty that had shrouded his path.
“I understand.”
His voice was remarkably composed.
As if the difficulty of that objective held no curiosity, no concern for him whatsoever.
At that response, a smile bloomed across Ya Jin’s lips.
‘This one… truly pleases me. For an assassin, the difficulty of a mission matters not. Once a mission is given, one simply finds the means to accomplish it.’
Within Ya Jin’s chest, anticipation for this being called Yun Cheon began to swell.
‘Did the young master mark this boy as a candidate for the Transcendent Demon Body from the start…’
“Excellent.”
He seized the collar of the fallen Yun Cheon and lifted him, whispering into his ear.
“Then from tomorrow onward… you will taste hell in every moment save sleep.”
The corners of Yun Cheon’s mouth curved upward.
“…I look forward to it.”

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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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