Reincarnation of the Cloud Dragon - Chapter 26

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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 26.
[To Yun Cheon]
[By the time you read this letter, I will have returned to my true station. ….]
[Ilwol Trading Company]
A colossal merchant house that moves wealth and information across the realm, day and night without pause.
Beneath the heavy wooden gate of the trading company, a figure wearing a bamboo hat stood waiting.
Not the shabby martial robes of Zamadong, but black silk robes that shimmered with an elegant luster, like ebony kissed by moonlight.
A precious white jade ornament hung from the waist, proclaiming his noble station.
The warriors guarding the gate approached with caution upon seeing the hat-wearing figure.
Their hands had already moved to rest upon their sword hilts.
“…Who are you? This place is forbidden to outsiders.”
The figure in the bamboo hat brushed off their wary gazes lightly, still gazing at the gate as he spoke in a low voice.
“Tell No Tae Ya that the guest he has been waiting for has returned.”
His voice carried not the cunning of Zamadong, but a cool authority befitting his station.
Just as the warrior was about to tighten his grip on his sword with a puzzled expression.
“W-wait… Could it be? Y-Young Master! Is this Young Master Yu Ha!”
A seasoned warrior beside him cried out, his face draining of color.
Only then did the other warriors recognize the youth’s identity, hastily parting to make way and bowing their heads.
“How is it that you have returned so early?”
Yu Ha finally lifted his head from beneath the bamboo hat and smiled wickedly.
“Well… my time away proved so enjoyable that I grew eager to see Grandfather and share my tales.”
The owner of that smile was the fox of Zamadong.
The cunning Yu Ha himself.
His steps led toward the library, the deepest and most secretive chamber of the trading company—the Manwon Library.
What filled the shelves was far more than mere ledgers.
Maps of the entire Central Plains, secret documents containing intelligence on every faction’s key figures, and forgotten histories of the defeated—erased by the victors of ages past—lay dormant beneath layers of dust.
‘It has been quite some time since I last entered the Manwon Library.’
Truly, a chamber where all the realm’s information converged, transforming into wealth and power.
At the center of the room, behind a massive rosewood desk upon which a map of the entire Central Plains was drawn, an elderly man sat in meditation with crossed legs.
Yu Ha presented tea with proper courtesy, and spoke with a natural smile.
“I have returned, Grandfather.”
The Grand Master of the Ilwol Trading Company, the supreme figure who commanded wealth and information from the shadows.
Yu Baek Cheon slowly opened the eyes he had kept closed.
Rather than reaching for the teacup, he examined his grandson—who had returned earlier than expected—with kind eyes.
“Welcome home. Tell me, how was your direct infiltration of Zamadong? Did you spot anyone noteworthy among the Twelve Protectors or the Ten Demon Sects?”
Yu Ha brought the teacup to his lips and chuckled softly.
“Heh, Grandfather, surely you wouldn’t send someone of that caliber to Zamadong? They must be kept hidden away. Besides the Snake and Scorpion Ink Family—those cowards who lack the ambition or strength to climb higher, always fretting and looking downward while committing their petty tyrannies—there was no one worth noting.”
“Then why have you folded your wings and returned so soon? By your nature, you would have dragged things out as long as possible. Did you perhaps discover something of interest?”
At Yu Baek Cheon’s sharp observation, the cunning smile that had lingered on Yu Ha’s lips faded for the first time.
Yu Ha’s gaze grew distant, as if recalling a certain stone chamber within Zamadong.
‘Hoho… Look at this one.’
He hadn’t missed even the slightest shift in his grandson’s expression.
Yu Baek Cheon leaned forward slightly.
Eyes that had seemed nothing but benevolent now gleamed with the piercing gaze of a merchant appraising a priceless treasure.
“Tell me. What ended that tedious existence of yours? A woman? A plaything? Or perhaps… a worthwhile game to master?”
Tak.
Yu Ha set down the teacup he’d been holding with quiet deliberation, the sound crisp and final.
That small noise cut through the heavy silence that had filled the room.
It carried a weight entirely absent from Yu Ha until now.
His expression had never been more serious.
“None of those, grandfather.”
Yu Ha lifted his gaze.
With the playfulness gone from his eyes, he met Yu Baek Cheon’s piercing stare directly, without flinching.
“I have simply come to understand you, grandfather, in ways I never could before.”
“Hahaha! You, who could never tolerate boredom, now claim to understand this old man? You, who did nothing but criticize me for being so tedious? The sun rises in the west!”
Doubt still mingled with Yu Baek Cheon’s voice.
Rather than answer, he rose and approached the massive map of the Central Plains hanging in the center of the room.
“Just as you have, grandfather, I believe I’ve found a game worth wagering my life upon.”
He extended his hand toward the treacherous mountain ranges and vast plains depicted on the map.
“Huh…!”
His grandson, who had spent his entire life drifting freely like the wind.
He couldn’t believe such words could come from the mouth of one who had merely wandered the world seeking amusing diversions.
Yet when Yu Baek Cheon turned to face Yu Ha and saw his eyes, he nodded slowly.
“You mean it. You truly mean it!”
Those eyes no longer belonged to a playful boy, but to a man ready to unfurl his ambitions.
“Yu Ha… you don’t mean to walk the same path as this old man, do you?”
Yu Baek Cheon’s voice had grown low and measured.
It was no longer the tone of one testing his grandson.
It was a serious question posed to one of his own kind.
“Yes. I too wish to move the world from behind the curtain.”
Unable to contain himself, a resonant, booming laughter shook the entire Manwon Library.
“Kuh, kuhahahaha…!”
It was joy and exhilaration.
Above all, it was the laughter of a victor, mingled with the satisfaction of finally having found a successor to carry on his legacy.
“So you criticized this old man all these years, and now you’ve finally discovered the thrill! Sometimes the game played from one step back, surveying the whole board and manipulating it, brings far greater pleasure than standing at the forefront!”
Yu Baek Cheon’s laughter ceased abruptly.
A smile still lingered at his lips, but the benevolence had vanished from his eyes.
The air in the room seemed to freeze.
“Especially… if that game is the path of the Celestial Demon’s Reign.”
Yu Baek Cheon clapped his hands together with satisfaction.
“I’m in a splendid mood. You there—bring me wine, not tea.”
Before his words had even finished, a shadow emerged from the darkness, clearing away the tea table and presenting a rare vintage wine in jade cups.
“Have a drink.”
Now the two of them were no longer grandfather and grandson.
“From this moment forward, you are the Deputy Master of Ilwol Trading Company.”
“…I accept with gratitude, grandfather.”
* * *
[I still remember when you first invoked the doctrine of the Strong in front of Chuk Mu Gwang. It was a refreshing shock.]
The letter from Yu Ha, which began this way, revealed his identity without hesitation.
‘Ilwol Trading Company…? A front organization for the Demonic Cult? So he was never ordinary after all.’
Yu Ha’s identity itself was not particularly surprising.
From the beginning, he had been different from an ordinary disciple.
But the contents of the letter far exceeded my expectations.
[The moment you shattered Chuk Mu Gwang’s black-iron token, I was certain. Not just Zamadong, but even the Ten Thousand Demons Hall where the sect’s elders gather would prove too small a pond for you.]
Yu Ha’s letter continued.
[So I invested my own tile first. By now, you should have heard through the Chief Instructor, yes?]
A cold smile played at the corners of my mouth.
[Of course you wouldn’t use that tile. You would have saved it for a grander scheme someday. Isn’t that right?]
‘…!’
An insight as if he had peered directly into my mind.
He had perfectly seen through the choice I made before Gal Mu Heun and the very reason behind it.
The letter did not end there.
[But even for you, winning the heart of the Demonic Physician won’t be easy… A gift I’ve sent will arrive soon. With that gift, you should find it easier to persuade the Demonic Physician.]
Yu Ha announced that another extraordinary gift would arrive.
Even I was astonished by such boldness.
‘To so readily bestow such a precious elixir upon a mere disciple… Ilwol Trading Company. This is no ordinary background.’
Despite my wariness, I could not help but acknowledge the existence of a kindred spirit—a ‘soulmate’ who read the board from the same height as myself.
‘Did he already know that the Demonic Physician no longer practices medicine? That cunning fox… I have no choice but to accept it, if only to persuade the Demonic Physician.’
The postscript was quintessentially Yu Ha.
[P.S.: Next time, let us play a grander game from a higher place—one that will make night sparring look like child’s play. I hope that when that time comes, you will discuss the doctrine of the Strong with a fully intact body.]
I folded the letter in half without a word.
Then in half again.
‘…A higher place. How fitting—it aligns perfectly with what I desire.’
Once the letter had been folded to the size of my palm, I brought it unhesitatingly above the candle flame.
Whoosh.
The white paper instantly transformed into black ash, scattering into the void.
The burning flames flickered in my cold eyes and faded.
Yu Ha’s gift, the grand game he envisioned—all of it now existed only in my mind.
‘I shall play along willingly… if it serves to destroy the Demonic Cult!’
Leaving the letter reduced to ash behind me, I rose from my seat.
‘Let’s go.’
There was barely anything to pack.
A few worn garments, some emergency supplies, and the last of my internal injury medicine.
That was all.
Creak―
I opened the door to the Stone Chamber where I had lived for a year and stepped into the corridor.
“….”
The eyes of disciples passing through the corridor fixed upon me all at once.
Some held curious gazes, others reverent ones, and still others carried lingering jealousy.
Yet no one dared to block my path or speak to me.
Merely a year ago, the boy who had arrived in rags and faced contempt had now become a ‘wall’ they could not dare to look up at.
Step, step.
I walked forward, silently bearing their stares.
The roars of the Training Ground, the aroma of rice from the dining hall, the fierce air of competition—all faded behind me.
Upon leaving Zamadong’s territory, the surrounding landscape transformed entirely.
Instead of lively chatter, only a heavy and solemn silence permeated the depths of the Demonic Way Hall.
Where children’s noise had once echoed, silence now reigned, and in place of shabby stone chambers stood well-maintained pavilions.
‘The air is different here.’
Even the density of spiritual energy felt different against my skin.
The number of people passing by noticeably decreased, and those I encountered all possessed an aura surpassing even Zamadong’s instructors.
Soon my footsteps halted at the end of a corridor carved from a massive cliff face.
An overwhelming iron gate of deep crimson blocked my path.
‘This must be it.’
A repository of knowledge plundered and collected by the Demonic Cult from across the Central Plains.
The Inner Library Archive.
Two warriors stood motionless before the gate.
They wore pitch-black martial robes and masks that revealed only half their faces.
From them emanated an aura as weighty as Zamadong’s instructors, perhaps even heavier.
Clang― Before I could even approach, the spears of both warriors crossed, blocking the way.
“Stop. Entry is forbidden to those without authorization.”
Without a word, I withdrew the black-iron token engraved with the character for ‘covenant’ that I had received from Gal Mu Heun and displayed it.
“I come by order of the Hall Master.”
A strange light flickered in their eyes.
“The token is… genuine.”
“Yet its owner seems far too young, does he not?”
Rather than step aside, the warriors alternated their gaze between the black-iron token and my face.
“….”
“The Hall Master’s black-iron token is a mark of strength.”
“Yet here stands a boy who still reeks of mother’s milk.”
The warrior’s lips twisted bitterly beneath his mask.
It was far more than mere territorial posturing or suspicion.
‘They want to test me directly….’
My eyes narrowed.
Even common gate sentries had the doctrine of the strong etched into their very bones.
This was the way of the Demonic Cult.
“You’re not ignorant of our sect’s laws, are you?”
“If one without strength possesses power beyond their station, it is either theft or deception.”
The gazes of the two warriors crossed in the empty air.
If they opened the gate too readily for someone bearing a token, they would face censure for allowing an unqualified person to pass.
One of them stepped forward and leveled his spear at me.
“Whether you’re truly the owner of this token or just a rat who stole it… I’ll verify it myself!”
A chilling killing intent emanated from the spear point aimed at me.

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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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