Reincarnation of the Cloud Dragon - Chapter 13

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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 13.
Three months had passed since that day.
Muscle definition began to emerge along Yun Cheon’s once-skeletal limbs.
To achieve this, Yun Cheon had to endure hell twice daily, without exception.
The first hell began the moment dawn broke—Ma Chung and Kyoto’s instruction in the Blood Wind Kick.
“Your lower body is nothing but dried kindling! How do you expect to summon a tempest with such a feeble foundation?”
“Straighten your back! Channel strength through your toes!”
“Endure! Push through!”
Ma Chung drove Yun Cheon with merciless intensity, as if reclaiming his own tarnished honor.
Half of each training session consisted of nothing but repetitive foundational drills—the horse stance and rising with a water bucket balanced overhead.
‘Simple, yet remarkably efficient for my current state.’
Though my thighs had grown considerably more solid, the muscle spasms remained unavoidable.
Definition carved itself into my once-skeletal legs, and elasticity returned to my calves.
Sweat dripped relentlessly from my chin, pooling into small puddles beneath my feet.
Yet I endured without a single groan.
This level of pain hardly deserved the name.
‘…I will become the Heavenly Demon and shatter the Demonic Cult.’
Whenever the fallen Kunlun brothers surfaced in my mind,
I would awaken even from sleep and channel the Qian Kun Technique.
Each day accumulated within my body, layer upon layer.
At least outwardly, I was no longer the wretched boy of my past.
“Hmm… respectable progress. From now on, we increase the intensity!”
Ma Chung tossed something down in front of me as I held the horse stance.
Clang—!
The metallic impact against the ground rang with unusual weight.
Four iron spheres, forged from steel.
“Bind them to your limbs.”
Without hesitation, I extended my trembling arms and grasped the cold iron spheres.
The moment I fastened them around my wrists and ankles, a crushing weight descended upon my entire body as if the earth itself were swallowing me.
My muscles, already pushed to their limit, screamed in protest.
“Ugh…”
At the groan that escaped my lips, Ma Chung’s face twisted into a satisfied smile.
“Hehehehe… how does it feel? The weight will increase gradually. This is where the true training begins. Steel yourself! Again—horse stance!”
How much time had elapsed?
These iron spheres were unlike the sand-filled bags commonly used in training.
It wasn’t merely the weight—the material itself made the difference.
Alongside the sensation of joints dislocating, the feeling of metal burrowing into flesh gnawed at my consciousness.
‘I still cannot bear even this much weight…’
Finally, my knees buckled.
Thud—!
His body crumpled, and he was hurled onto the cold floor of the Training Hall.
Clang―.
The iron weights shackled to his limbs scraped against the ground with a deafening clatter.
“Gasp… gasp….”
Air wouldn’t draw into the deepest recesses of my lungs.
Sprawled on the floor, I barely managed to drag in ragged breaths.
Ma Chung gazed down at me with indifference and spoke.
“Heh, only when the body reaches its limits does it finally prepare itself to accept something new.”
He urged me, still collapsed on the ground.
“Get up. You may remove the weights now. From here on, you’ll learn the foundational techniques.”
But I shook my head and rose without removing the weights.
“Have you lost your mind!”
Ma Chung’s voice trembled with shock.
“Learning the foundational techniques in that state isn’t training—it’s self-harm! Remove them at once!”
But instead of answering, I forced my wavering body to move.
I faintly channeled the Qian Kun Dynamic Force, straightening my knees by sheer will and planting myself on the ground like a rooted tree.
Steel-like determination was forcibly raising my body upright.
Witnessing that wild gleam in my eyes and my resolve, Ma Chung found himself at a loss for words.
He exhaled a long breath.
“Hmph. Even the body needs time to adapt… Very well, do as you wish.”
Whoosh―!
Ma Chung’s foot tore through the air with a thunderous roar.
It was no ordinary kick.
Using his waist as the axis, he added rotational force, then detonated that power through his heel.
In the wake of his foot’s passage, a crimson afterimage lingered alongside a sound like tearing space itself.
“The first form of the Blood Wind Kick—Wind Thunder. Can you execute it properly even while wearing the weights?”
Immediately following the hellish foundational conditioning came training in the technique itself.
Yet I gritted my teeth and forced myself upright, swaying.
‘…If it means reclaiming Kunlun, I’ll endure any training!’
I perfectly replayed the movement Ma Chung had just demonstrated in my mind.
Then I forced my trembling legs to move.
Whoosh….
Because of the weights’ burden, my movement was sluggish and clumsy.
There was no sound of tearing space—not even the whisper of wind.
But the posture itself was flawless, without a hair’s breadth of deviation from what Ma Chung had demonstrated moments before.
“…!”
Ma Chung’s eyes widened with astonishment as he watched.
‘Ruthless bastard! Without momentum, it should have been even harder… I thought he’d beg to have the weights removed by now!’
I never asked Ma Chung to remove the weights until his instruction ended that day.
Nor did I ask afterward.
As I left the Training Hall, my limbs were still laden with heavy iron rings.
The sight was enough to leave even Ma Chung and Kyoto flustered.
“You’re not seriously planning to keep wearing those rings all day, are you?”
“…Yes, sir.”
My answer was remarkably composed.
Just as a swordmaster who takes his blade as a companion never sets it far from reach even in sleep.
‘For now… these iron rings are my sword.’
Not removing the rings was simply the natural course for me.
He fell silent for a moment, staring blankly at me, before letting out a hollow laugh.
“Hah, do as you wish… you stubborn fool… no, you’re completely mad.”
Ma Chung grumbled at my departing back as I left the Training Hall.
“Tsk, I’ll have to place an order at the smithy right away. For something twice as heavy… damn it, at this rate my training equipment will be completely ruined.”
* * *
If Ma Chung’s training was a furnace that tempered the body through sweat and blood.
Then Ya Jin’s training was an abyss that froze even sound and presence itself.
His training always began in complete darkness.
“…Iron rings? Did Ma Chung give you those?”
“Yes, sir.”
“…It’s certainly not a poor method for rapidly conditioning the body. But can you endure my instruction in that state?”
“I will try.”
A thick smile of mockery played at Ya Jin’s lips.
“Heh, let’s see if you can manage it. The first virtue of an assassin is not strength, but perception that transcends your opponent. Wearing those rings changes nothing—the intensity of your training will not be reduced.”
The Special Training Chamber, devoid of even a single ray of light.
Ya Jin’s voice echoed coldly off the walls.
“Erase yourself. Your breathing, your footsteps, your very presence—all of it. You must become perfect emptiness.”
Ya Jin’s first task was always the same.
To traverse the training chamber from end to end in silence, with only dried leaves and small beads scattered across the floor.
But there was something different this time.
The moment I took my first step, the iron rings around my ankles produced a faint sound.
Clink—
A noise that would never have occurred before.
‘Damn it…’
But in this space of silence, it was like thunder.
“I made it clear—I will show no mercy! You brought this upon yourself!”
Whoosh!
Multiple throat rings tore through the darkness toward the source of the sound, battering my entire body.
“Ugh!”
My legs buckled involuntarily from the impact.
And then the iron rings on my limbs made sound once more.
Rustle. Clink.
“Since I’ve decided to wear the iron rings, I must silence even their sound!”
Ya Jin’s voice was ice-cold, utterly devoid of emotion.
Yun Cheon steadied his ragged breathing and searched for a solution.
Ma Chung’s training had been about explosive power, but Ya Jin’s demanded the perfect suppression of that very force.
Demands that were utterly contradictory.
‘This won’t work. The harder I try to suppress the power, the louder the sound becomes….’
In that moment, the opening incantation of the Heaven-Earth Flowing Technique flashed through his mind.
The essence of the Heaven-Earth Flowing Technique lay not in accumulating power, but in surrendering one’s body to the natural currents of heaven and earth.
‘Have I been unconsciously resisting the weight of the iron rings with all my strength….’
Rather than forcibly enduring the rings’ weight, I accepted the heavy iron itself as an irresistible force of nature.
Yun Cheon recalled the incantation, erased consciousness from every muscle in his body, and released his tension.
At last, the taut strain dissolved from his frame, and the pain where the rings touched gradually faded.
Swish….
When he rose again, his movements were utterly transformed.
Like water flowing, like a shadow brushing against stone.
He moved without resisting the rings’ weight, instead riding the current of their momentum.
‘…He silenced the rings while wearing them? No, that’s not it!’
The fallen leaves beneath his feet did not crumble.
The pebbles rolled quietly in his wake, producing no sound at all.
‘It’s as if… his movements flow like something gentle and fluid.’
Yun Cheon finally reached the opposite end of the Training Ground without making a single sound.
“Haah….”
Only then did a deep, held breath escape from Yun Cheon’s lips.
‘Though many geniuses afflicted with congenital meridian deficiency die young… this one walks a different path!’
From the darkness where he watched, Ya Jin’s eyes gleamed with astonishment for the first time.
‘If I could only mend this one’s body… a master assassin might be born—one of the finest the Sect, no, the entire Central Plains has ever seen.’
Behind him, Ya Jin’s low but trembling voice rang out with barely contained excitement.
“…Even iron rings cannot suppress your talent. Starting tomorrow, I will strip away your senses one by one. First shall be your sight.”
* * *
Completely exhausted, Yun Cheon sat in a corner of the Spirit Nourishment Hall.
The heavy iron rings fastened to his limbs made even sitting normally an ordeal.
‘Ordinary movements are harder than martial techniques that use large muscle groups….’
Walking, running, executing martial arts—most relied on large muscles.
But lifting food with a spoon required the finest, most delicate control.
‘…I can’t even manage chopsticks.’
Yun Cheon abandoned any attempt at chopsticks and lifted a spoon with trembling hands.
With shaking fingers, he barely managed to bring medicinal food to his lips.
This was what wearing iron rings meant.
Every mundane action stimulated his muscles.
From sheer exhaustion, he had lost all appetite.
‘…I can’t even taste it.’
Yet nourishment was essential for my body’s recovery.
The warm essence of the medicinal broth I forced down traveled through my esophagus.
It was at that moment.
“Hmph. Eating such fine medicinal broth all alone. Your contribution points must be running low.”
With a sharp voice, someone sat across from me.
It was Yalü Hee.
With her arms crossed, she swept her gaze over me—her eyes a mixture of contempt and curiosity.
“When exactly do you plan to stop wearing that hunk of metal? You couldn’t even use chopsticks properly. If your body breaks down like this, what’s the point of training?”
Her tone was blunt, but concern was woven beneath it.
“….”
I continued eating in silence, lacking the energy to respond.
Just as Yalü Hee’s brow began to furrow at my indifferent attitude, another voice interjected.
“My, you two. Still haven’t gotten past that formal distance?”
Yu Ha, who had approached unnoticed, naturally took a seat beside us.
He alternated his gaze between my meal and Yalü Hee’s expression, laughing as if amused.
“I’ve heard the rumors about you. Half of Zamadong’s gossip revolves around you. Now they’re calling you a madman who won’t take off that iron ring, rattling it constantly?”
As Yu Ha spoke, crude laughter erupted from the other side of the dining hall.
It was Muk Ha Jin’s faction.
Their voices were deliberately loud, meant for everyone to hear.
“Heh, look at that. A ragged beggar dangling hunks of metal all over himself.”
“Does he really think he’ll get stronger doing that? His level of thinking is….”
“A member of the Twelve Orthodox Families mingling with such vermin. Well, I suppose the blood of a barbarian from the borderlands can’t be trusted.”
Crack―!
Yalü Hee gripped the chopsticks in her hand with force, and they splintered and snapped.
A cold killing intent flickered in her eyes.
As she began to rise from her seat, Yu Ha gently pressed down on her shoulder.
“Whoa, calm down. No need to mind such trash.”
He gestured with his chin toward me.
I didn’t spare Muk Ha Jin’s faction a single glance, focusing entirely on the medicinal broth before me.
With such composure, as if the barking of dogs wasn’t even worth my attention.
At that sight, Yalü Hee unconsciously let her rising anger subside.
“But Yun Cheon, will you be alright like this? With such expensive medicinal broth and internal injury medicine… your contribution points must be nearly depleted. Don’t you need more contribution points soon?”
“What? Internal injury medicine? Don’t tell me you’re also the subject of that strange rumor…?”
Yalü Hee asked back, but I fell into thought.
Yu Ha’s words pierced directly through my current reality.
The contribution points I’d extracted from Kyoto were already spent.
All I had left were ten contribution points.
‘…It’s true. I wish I could reinforce my medicinal supplies.’
I set down my spoon and looked at Yu Ha.
His gaze posed a silent question: “So what’s the real point?”
Yu Ha smiled, as if he’d been waiting for this moment.
“As it happens, there’s a setup tonight where we can arrange a match. Interested?”
Rather than answer, Yun Cheon scraped the last medicinal herb paste into his mouth without leaving a trace.
As though desperate to gather every last wisp of spiritual energy.
Setting down the empty bowl, Yun Cheon replied.
“…Perfect timing.”

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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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