Reincarnation of the Cloud Dragon - Chapter 20

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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 20.
“Next match: Yu Ha versus Kyoto and Geum So So!”
In that instant, every eye in the Training Ground turned toward a single point.
The boy who always wore that effortless, knowing smile while observing the matches.
The organizer of the night’s duels, a figure whose true intentions remained impenetrable to all.
Naturally, a nickname had emerged among the students to describe him.
“The Smiling Fox!”
The Smiling Fox—a creature of cunning grace.
A fox with a laughing face, they called him.
Yu Ha received the weight of hundreds of gazes with ease, his shoulders rising in a casual shrug.
Then, with light, unhurried steps, he made his way toward the center of the Combat Platform.
His entrance stirred something entirely different from the fierce determination Yalü Hee had brought, or the lethal poison of Muk Ha Jin—a strange, electric anticipation.
No one truly knew the extent of his abilities.
“…That bastard always seems so composed, doesn’t he?”
“Just how strong is Yu Ha?”
His opponent was Geum So So, known as the Cold Swallow, one of the few female instructors who wielded the gracefully curved Swallow Whip with devastating precision.
She was among the rare female instructors, celebrated among the students for both her exceptional martial prowess and her striking beauty.
“…This match should be entertaining.”
“A swallow against a fox—now that’s a rare spectacle.”
Geum So So’s eyes swept over Yu Ha’s slender frame from head to toe, her expression cold as winter frost as she spoke.
“Yu Ha. I know better than anyone that you’ve been hiding your true strength—I trained you myself. So I won’t hold back.”
Even at Geum So So’s warning, Yu Ha showed no inclination to abandon his easy smile, his tone playfully irreverent.
“I’m honored, Instructor. Masters of the whip are truly rare.”
“…Hmph. How composed you are. We’ll see if that composure survives until the end of this duel.”
Clang—!
“Begin!”
The moment the referee’s cry erupted, the Swallow Whip in Geum So So’s hand came alive, slicing through the air like a living creature.
Whoosh!
With a sound that tore through the very atmosphere, the whip’s tip traced an unpredictable arc, hurtling toward Yu Ha’s cheek.
It was no simple strike.
Like a living swallow toying with its prey, the direction of the attack shifted moment by moment, impossible to predict.
But Yu Ha was already moving.
His form seemed precarious, like a willow leaf surrendering to a fierce wind.
Yet that was his technique.
‘The Bewildering Willow Step!’
Yu Ha’s body swayed with fluid grace, the whip passing by with barely a paper’s thickness between them.
There was no collision of raw force.
Only the exquisite interplay of technique against technique.
A probing exchange that left all who witnessed it holding their breath.
Yu Ha’s eyes gleamed with pure delight.
‘Three variations with each strike… it’s not easy to predict where an attack will end. But….’
Meanwhile, Geum So So’s brow furrowed ever so slightly.
‘That footwork… I can’t discern its pattern. However… let’s see how far I can evade!’
Recognizing that Yu Ha’s footwork was too exquisite for probing exchanges to bear fruit, Geum So So’s eyes turned glacial.
At that moment, the referee who had announced the match’s beginning called out the time.
“From this point forward, don the Black Iron Badge and resume the bout!”
With the Black Iron Badge affixed to her chest, she no longer regarded Yu Ha as a mere student.
She acknowledged him as an opponent worthy of her full strength.
Yet Yu Ha’s tactics grew even more cunning.
He paid the affixed Black Iron Badge no mind whatsoever.
Circling the edges of Kyoto’s stance, his movements appeared to pursue only minor scoring points through deft strikes.
Even this alone sent the students into raptures of admiration for his footwork.
“Look at that movement! Won’t he surpass Yalü Hee’s record?”
“…No, even more than that! If he keeps this up, his score might actually exceed Muk Ha Jin’s!”
“Truly a cunning fox!”
The scoring record that Yalü Hee had painstakingly accumulated through relentless assault crumbled beneath Yu Ha’s fingertips like a mere game.
Geum So So’s complexion hardened.
‘This wretch ignores the Black Iron Badge entirely and aims for high scores through safe exchanges alone? If I allow myself to be toyed with by this youngster, what becomes of my honor!’
Fearing the loss of her prestige, Geum So So wielded her whip with far greater aggression.
“That’s quite enough of your insolence!”
Her reserved ultimate technique, the Swallow’s Three Severing Whip, erupted forth.
Whiiiip! Whiiiip! Whiiiip! Whiiiip! Whiiiip!
The single whip’s afterimage multiplied into dozens, converging from all directions.
As though casting a shadow across the Training Ground, every avenue of escape available to Yu Ha was systematically sealed off.
The dazzling movements of his Flowing Willow Step began visibly constrained.
Seizing that fleeting instant, Geum So So’s whip finally pierced through his opening.
Crack!
With a sharp tearing sound, the edge of his sleeve was ripped away, leaving a vivid crimson whip mark across his forearm.
“Ugh!”
The Training Ground erupted in commotion.
“Yu Ha took a hit for the first time!”
“So it is Lord Kyoto’s strength!”
Geum So So was certain she had seized victory.
‘No matter how dazzling his movements appear, he cannot escape my net.’
Yu Ha, now pressed into a defensive position.
Yet his eyes showed no trace of panic—instead, they burned with a clarity sharper than ever before.
His gaze fixed not upon the whip’s tip, but upon Geum So So’s wrist and shoulder as she wielded it.
‘That instant of recovery! The opening exists only in that moment!’
The infinitesimal rigidity born from the absence of inner force—Yu Ha had captured that fleeting gap.
In the next instant, the whip surged toward Yu Ha’s head.
Just as everyone believed it was over, Yu Ha raised both hands in defense for the first time.
‘Now!’
Flowing Cloud Palm Technique.
Whoosh—
His hands moved with the fluidity of flowing water, gently enveloping the trajectory of the surging whip.
Then, as if painting a tai chi symbol in the void with an enormous brush, he guided the whip’s ferocious power into the flow of the circle.
Geum So So’s brow furrowed.
The explosive force concentrated at the whip’s tip melted away into the gentle vortex—a sensation most displeasing.
She instinctively withdrew the whip.
That very instant.
Without missing the momentary rigidity of her whip’s retraction, Yu Ha’s form surged forward.
A lightning-swift movement technique utterly unlike the graceful footwork displayed until now!
‘That soft palm technique resembles orthodox martial arts. Yet that footwork belongs to an entirely different lineage—a rapid movement technique. To employ such contradictory arts so seamlessly… impressive indeed.’
Yun Cheon’s eyes gleamed with light.
Yu Ha’s descending form was nothing short of lightning itself.
“Ah!”
The startled Geum So So wielded the recovered whip repeatedly.
Yet somehow, the whip’s attack radius—which had reached the far end of the Combat Platform moments before—had become impossibly short.
As a result, the soft whip wielded from her hands cut through empty air without touching Yu Ha’s body.
“What!”
Geum So So’s eyes flooded with alarm. Then Yu Ha’s soft voice pierced her ear.
“Shall we end this, Kyoto?”
Yu Ha had already slipped into her embrace.
He had not merely blocked the whip with the Flowing Cloud Palm Technique.
While appearing to redirect it, his graceful hand movements had wrapped around and knotted the whip’s middle section.
The whip’s length had been halved.
‘A cunning fox! Did he deliberately seek instruction from Kyoto, who uses the soft whip, to learn this? How many moves ahead was he thinking?’
Yu Ha’s Flowing Cloud Palm wrapped around her arm like flowing water, gently subduing her wrist.
Thud.
The soft whip, once alive as a swallow, now fell limply to the ground like a lifeless rope.
“…You cunning creature! Was this entire exchange merely footwork to set up this single move!”
Yu Ha halted his palm gently just before Geum So So’s chest, then withdrew with a respectful fist salute.
“Indeed, Kyoto. Without the use of inner energy, this was an unfavorable match for you. Now, surrender the Black Iron Tablet to me.”
The match was decided.
Victory achieved not through force, but through perfect reading and technique.
“…I acknowledge defeat.”
As Geum So So conceded, Yu Ha bowed respectfully and withdrew.
Had she been able to use her inner energy, the outcome would surely have been entirely different.
“Strange… I found it suspicious from when you sought instruction from me. Did you perhaps predict even the test’s content?”
A faint smile traced the corners of Yu Ha’s lips.
“…it was merely one of several possibilities.”
Those words amounted to nothing less than an admission that I had foreseen this outcome.
Yu Ha offered a melancholic smile, maintaining his composure even in defeat.
Even Kyoto herself had failed to anticipate the test’s true nature—a flawless victory for me.
“Heh, you’re quite the schemer yourself. That cunning is part of your strength too. Here, take the Black Iron Token.”
Geum So So graciously acknowledged her defeat and handed over the Black Iron Token.
A thunderous roar erupted across the entire Training Ground.
“Incredible! A student has subdued an Instructor?”
“That fox! He exploited the fact that her power drops to half or less when she can’t channel her inner force through the blade!”
An observer from the Ten Thousand Demons Hall, standing upon the Elevated Platform, murmured softly.
“That child must be recruited to the Ten Thousand Demons Hall.”
Though all were observers, hierarchies existed between organizations.
The Ten Thousand Demons Hall was an exceptional institution, home to numerous elder masters of extraordinary skill.
The Ten Thousand Demons Hall’s declaration meant Yu Ha had achieved precisely what he had orchestrated beforehand.
Upon the Elevated Platform, Gal Mu Heun, Master of the Demonic Sect, smiled with satisfaction despite Geum So So’s defeat.
It was not that Geum So So fell short, but rather that Yu Ha’s tactical brilliance—accounting for weapon compatibility, the application of inner force, and every other variable—had been extraordinary.
“Let all bear witness. There is no ‘absolute’ in combat. Remember this well. In matches between masters, not only martial techniques matter—weapon compatibility and even environmental factors influence victory and defeat.”
Gal Mu Heun elevated their duel to the level of a “master’s contest.”
After his brief instruction concluded.
At last, the next combatant was called forth.
“Next. Student Yun Cheon versus Instructor Ma Chung!”
Clang. Clang.
As the heavy iron rings encircling his limbs collided with a weighty resonance, the fervent students finally turned their attention to the new match.
“…this is interesting in an entirely different way!”
“That ragged wretch facing off against the Blood Wind Sect’s Ma Chung, the Instructor from whom he stole a recognition token?”
“The Instructor will surely fight with all his might!”
Just as anticipation reached its peak.
An unexpected voice rang out from the shadows.
“I humbly report to the Master of the Demonic Sect. Instructor Ma Chung already had his recognition token stolen by this student during the bone assessment, and thus it would be more appropriate for another to evaluate him.”
The voice belonged to Chuk Mu Gwang, the Instructor.
Ma Chung’s face drained of all color at his shame being laid bare publicly.
“Ho… the student stole the Instructor’s recognition token during the bone assessment?”
Gal Mu Heun nodded with evident intrigue.
This time, Ya Jin, the senior Instructor who had been standing in the shadows, stepped forward and spoke.
“Then, as one who has observed this child’s talent and instructed him directly, I shall verify his abilities.”
The students gasped at Ya Jin’s appearance.
“That is… Ya Jin, the senior Instructor of the Shadowless Kill Sect, who teaches only those he personally selects!”
“That ragged wretch received the selection of Instructor Ya Jin?”
“How is this possible? Does he possess the innate qualities of an assassin?”
Gal Mu Heun nodded in acknowledgment.
“Ya Jin, Senior Instructor Kyoto taught you directly? Excellent. Then it is most fitting.”
At that declaration, Ma Chung’s face crumpled in dismay.
‘Damn it, I invested so much in the faction and even taught the Blood Wind Sect’s techniques… and now all the attention is being stolen by Ya Jin! I’ve been completely outmaneuvered!’
Yet he dared not voice any objection to the Demonic Sect Master’s decision.
Ya Jin, Senior Instructor, was about to step onto the Combat Platform with a satisfied smile.
Chuk Mu Gwang blocked his path.
“Hold, Senior Instructor Ya Jin.”
At his quiet voice, all sound in the Training Ground ceased as if it had never been.
“I am well aware of your capabilities… but through the methods of an assassin, you can only reveal the surface of that child.”
“….”
Having already taught Yun Cheon directly and experienced his talent firsthand, Instructor Ya Jin could not easily deny it.
“Demonic Sect Master. Though this instructor’s match was said to be a restricted duel, I have already suffered defeat against three disciples—Yun Cheon, Yu Ha, and Yalü Hee.”
In that instant, the entire Training Ground fell into shock.
“…!”
“The instructor… was defeated?”
“By merely three disciples…?”
In the eyes of Gal Mu Heun, the Grand Instructor, a chill of genuine admiration flickered for the first time—something beyond mere curiosity.
“Ho, how intriguing. Does Instructor Chuk Mu Gwang have another proposal?”
“This child, I shall personally verify through direct examination.”
An unprecedented occurrence—a master of the highest caliber from Zamadong stepping forward as the examiner himself.
Every instructor, every disciple, and even the observers hidden in shadow.
All those gathered in the Training Ground looked up at the Elevated Platform, seized by shock and awe.
Watching this unfold, the Demonic Sect Master Gal Mu Heun’s lips curved into a deep smile.
“I grant 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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