Reincarnation of the Cloud Dragon - Chapter 23

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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 23.
“A disciple defeating not just Kyoto, but an instructor as well. This is the first time such a thing has occurred since Zamadong’s inception.”
Gal Mu Heun descended personally and stood before Yun Cheon, whose body bore the marks of brutal combat.
He cast a brief glance at the half black-iron token clutched in Yun Cheon’s hand, then spoke in a measured tone.
“I, the Hall Master, made a promise. To whoever seized the black-iron token from Kyoto, I would grant one wish of their choosing. Though it is only half, you have proven yourself worthy of far greater.”
The Training Ground stirred with murmurs.
Even the spectators held their breath.
A wish from the Demonic Way Hall Master—it was the greatest power any disciple of Zamadong could possess.
Yet Gal Mu Heun advanced with an unusual intensity, his treasured weapon, the Judge’s Brush, in hand.
“By the authority vested in me as Hall Master of the Demonic Way, I declare: Yun Cheon, you have passed through Zamadong of this sect. You are no longer a disciple—you are hereby recognized as a formal warrior of our order.”
His unprecedented proclamation sent the disciples into excited whispers.
“What…? They said it takes at least three years to pass Zamadong… In just one year?”
“A formal warrior of our sect? Does that make him a first-rate master?”
“Against an instructor of supreme mastery, and he performed at that level…!”
The disciples exchanged words among themselves, regarding Yun Cheon as though he were a god.
Yet Yun Cheon himself felt little emotion.
‘A formal warrior of the Demonic Cult… Is this truly a reward?’
As a disciple of Kunlun, it was an awkward position to celebrate such recognition.
‘Tch… Still, I suppose I’ve taken one step closer to my goal.’
Yun Cheon’s true objective remained the internal destruction of the Demonic Cult.
To achieve that, what he sought was to ascend to the position of the Heavenly Demon.
But it did not end there.
As Gal Mu Heun gestured through the air, a black-iron token flew toward him from the spectators’ section.
‘Void Seizure!’
As he traced a character in empty space, the character “covenant” was inscribed upon the descending token.
“As a formal warrior, your assignment shall be discussed in due time. Return to me with this token when you are ready. I shall grant you what you desire.”
“…Thank you.”
With Gal Mu Heun’s intervention, the clamorous spectators’ section fell silent.
Thus, the month-end evaluation that had shaken Zamadong came to a close.
* * *
After all the commotion had ended, Yu Ha stood alone before the Combat Platform, speaking softly to himself.
“Indeed, the Demonic Way Hall Master… He appears to bestow a reward, yet in that instant, he redirected the attention of every spectator to himself.”
Gal Mu Heun had publicly handed the black-iron token to Yun Cheon.
Even displaying the Void Seizure technique in the process.
There was a clear intention behind it.
‘Was it to demonstrate that Yun Cheon remains under his influence…?’
Though Yun Cheon had been recognized by the Demonic Way Hall Master as having passed Zamadong and become a formal warrior,
His assignment and placement had yet to be determined.
The decision-making authority still rested with the Hall Master.
‘One stroke, one soul… The method of the trial itself suggests it. He is a man of different caliber from the previous Hall Masters. His schemes run deep.’
With today’s duel, Yun Cheon’s value had skyrocketed.
The Demonic Way Hall Master had declared to all observers that this coveted prize remained firmly within his grasp.
“Now every organization and observer will approach the Demonic Way Hall Master to obtain Yun Cheon… This improvisation is one step ahead of me, isn’t it?”
If things continued this way, all the effort Yu Ha had invested could slip through his fingers into Gal Mu Heun’s hands in an instant.
And yet.
Yu Ha remained composed.
“…Let’s see, how best to use this?”
In his hand lay a black iron token engraved with the character for ‘contract’—the same as what Yun Cheon had received.
Yu Ha had subdued Geum So So and Kyoto, claiming his own black iron token.
‘How I use this token.’
Upon that choice hung Yun Cheon’s fate.
Binding him with crude shackles would never win his heart.
Since both Yun Cheon and I possessed black iron tokens.
I decided to approach from the opposite direction.
“Yes… that would be better.”
* * *
The night when the echoes of the fierce monthly assessment had not yet faded.
As exhausted cadets retreated to their stone chambers for rest.
Someone knocked upon Yun Cheon’s chamber door as he quietly tended to his battered body.
The presence that registered against his heightened senses was not unfamiliar.
Knock, knock—.
“Hey, Yun Cheon. If you haven’t fallen asleep yet, could we… talk for a moment?”
The voice beyond the door belonged to Yalü Hee, yet her usual sharp edge was nowhere to be found.
“What is it?”
As Yun Cheon silently opened the stone door, there she stood beneath the moonlight, her expression troubled.
“…Come in first.”
Upon entering the chamber, Yalü Hee remained silent for a long moment.
….
She stared at her feet for some time before finally lifting her head as if reaching a great resolve.
“Your eyes were right. The truth is, my martial technique is… incomplete without movement arts.”
From her proud lips came an honest confession.
Yet within it lay no shame.
Only the gravity of one who had faced her own limits.
“The flashy Guang Feng Thirteen Strikes? You know of it? It’s all incomplete. Without mastering the Wind Soul Step, I cannot even unfold the latter half of the Guang Feng Thirteen Strikes.”
A cold self-mockery played at the corners of her mouth.
“My family has… a brother called a genius. I have always lived in his shadow. Even the family elders don’t regard me as a true martial artist. They only calculate which family alliance would be most profitable.”
She continued with a self-deprecating laugh.
“Pathetic, isn’t it? Every man in this academy looks up to me, yet I am destined to become someone’s spoil of war.”
To those who thought in terms of family, a daughter was always someone destined to leave.
A woman married away, no longer one’s own.
Her place had been determined from the moment of her birth.
“That’s why Father and my brother have no intention of teaching me the latter half of Feng Hun Bo and the Guang Feng Thirteen Paths. They think of me as someone destined to marry into another family anyway. We can’t let secret martial arts leak to rival clans!”
For the first time, deep anger mingled with the confidence that always seemed to characterize Yalü Hee’s voice.
All she truly wanted was recognition from her family and to stand proudly as a martial artist in her own right.
‘They preach about strength so loudly, yet they shackle themselves with bloodline and convention, kicking away their own jade like fools….’
As a martial artist, I understood Yalü Hee’s frustration.
Even amid anger and resignation, there burned a pure yearning for the martial way.
It was the same light that burned in my own eyes.
Such talent was withering away, bound merely by the desire for family approval.
It was a tragedy.
Yet at the same time, I thought:
‘Perhaps here lies the key to destroying the Demonic Cult from within.’
What if I could guide a Demonic Cult member not toward becoming a demon, but toward the path of a true martial artist?
Even I couldn’t be certain whether this was ‘calculation’ or genuine ’empathy’ as a martial artist.
Before me now stood simply a martial artist wandering before a wrong path.
“The world is vast and martial arts have no end. So why cling only to your family’s techniques?”
“What…?”
“I ask you: do you wish to live as a martial artist? Or do you merely seek your family’s recognition?”
My question became a blade that pierced through her heart.
“If you truly wish to live as a martial artist, pursue your own martial way—no one else’s. That path must be forged by your own hands. That is the martial way.”
“…!”
Yalü Hee was struck as if by a hammer blow to the back of her head.
For the first time, a crack appeared in the massive wall of the Guang Feng Yalü Family that had constrained her all this while.
Her family’s recognition.
Her father’s praise.
Surpassing her brother.
‘Ah….’
The world she had believed was everything
was shaken to its foundations
by a single sentence from the boy before her.
‘How foolish. I’ve always been staring only at the walls that blocked me.’
I simply waited in silence for the storm within her to subside.
When Yalü Hee finally lifted her head after a long silence, the world seemed to appear differently.
The fog of confusion had lifted, and a new path lay clear before her eyes.
‘From now on, I will no longer resent the walls. I will simply soar toward the heavens by my own strength.’
At the beginning of that path stood I.
Come to think of it, I was unlike anyone Yalü Hee had ever met.
Not just the students of Zamadong, nor the members of her family or the scions of the Twelve Orthodox Families.
‘Yet it was not the people of my family, but rather this boy I had once dismissed, who treated me as a true martial artist….’
I was the most martial and most sincere person she had ever encountered.
The boy’s eyes—eyes I had always known—felt deeper and more resolute than ever before.
‘…I’ve learned something valuable. A youth beyond his years, they say.’
A martial artist worthy of emulation, yet merely my peer in age.
“…Thank you.”
“Don’t mention it. Formalities are unnecessary.”
Yun Cheon noticed Yalü Hee’s hesitation and spoke with casual indifference.
For rivals locked in competition to seek counsel from one another, and to accept it—such a thing was never easy.
‘If she can truly accept this, she might walk the path of the martial way without being bound by the Demonic Cult or her family.’
Yun Cheon spoke with the unspoken wish that she would advance as a true martial artist, not as a member of the Demonic Cult.
“Walking a solitary path inevitably brings loneliness. As a fellow traveler of the martial way, I can offer counsel whenever you need it.”
At Yun Cheon’s calm words, Yalü Hee found herself momentarily speechless.
To one whom even her own family had abandoned, the hand extended by the one she had considered a rival was an unexpected gesture.
She nodded, her heart turbulent with conflicting emotions.
And soon after, she broached another matter that had brought her to the Stone Chamber.
“…Your concerns are settled now. Let’s discuss your situation. You once said your body was like a broken vessel.”
It was not in her nature to merely receive counsel without reciprocating.
Her gaze swept across Yun Cheon’s entire frame.
The excellence displayed during the month-end evaluation.
Yet to her eyes, which had observed Yun Cheon all this time, it appeared instead as a desperate, anguished struggle.
“If you’re thinking of entering the Ten Thousand Demons Hall to meet the Demonic Physician, you should reconsider.”
“…Why?”
“The Demonic Physician no longer practices medicine.”
“…!”
“His only granddaughter suffers from an incurable disease. Even the greatest physician under heaven could not cure his granddaughter’s affliction.”
Deep furrows carved themselves into Yun Cheon’s brow.
“He laments that medicine which cannot save his granddaughter holds no meaning. He abandoned the art of healing long ago. He no longer performs the Demonic Bone Reconstruction technique.”
The information was devastating.
‘This cannot be… If this is the case, even if I meet the Demonic Physician in private, there is a high chance I will be turned away at the gate, let alone receive the Demonic Bone Reconstruction technique!’
The most certain path to treatment had been blocked.
Yalü Hee added a warning.
“The problem isn’t simply meeting him. The problem is breaking the stubbornness of the Life-Death Sovereign, the Demonic Physician. Even the Demonic Way Hall Master is but a distant junior to him.”
Yun Cheon listened to her words in silence.
“Moreover, the Ten Thousand Demons Hall is not a place where only the Demonic Physician resides. It is where the elders of the sect gather, and the schemes and madness there are said to transcend imagination. This is all I’ve been able to discover.”
Her information was painful, yet at the same time, it was invaluable beyond measure.
‘If demonic energy seeps into the mind, the end is demonic possession. If aged masters who have cultivated demonic arts gather in one place, it would be nothing less than a Hall of Mad Demons.’
Yun Cheon nodded and expressed his gratitude.
“Thank you. This has been helpful.”
“…No, I should be the one thanking you.”
Yalü Hee turned with a relieved expression and left Yun Cheon’s Stone Chamber without hesitation.
* * *
The next day.
After taking sufficient rest, Yun Cheon sought out the Demonic Way Hall Master’s office.
Knock, knock.
True to his epithet—”One Stroke, Soul Stolen”—the space carried the fragrance of ink and an austere authority.
Gal Mu Heun continued moving his brush across the page, his gaze never wavering from Yun Cheon’s arrival.
“You’ve come.”
Yun Cheon withdrew a black iron token from his robes, its surface etched with the character for “promise.”
“I’ve come to claim my wish. Please arrange a private audience with the Demonic Physician.”
Gal Mu Heun’s brush stilled in his hand.
“….”
Silence stretched between them.
Then, slowly, he lifted his head.
An inscrutable smile played across his features.
“That wish cannot be granted. Ask for something else.”
“…!”
An unexpected refusal.
The shock cut deeper, coming from the lips of one who valued his promises above all else.
Yet his next words defied expectation.
“There is no need to grant the same wish twice, is there not?”
“What do you mean by—”

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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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