Reincarnation of the Cloud Dragon - Chapter 27

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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 27.
The spear of the guard stationed at the entrance to the Inner Library lunged forward like a viper, aiming for Yun Cheon’s shoulder.
Whoosh—!
It was no mere feint.
A true killing thrust—one that would pierce clean through his shoulder if he failed to respond properly.
‘Fast.’
Yet Yun Cheon did not evade.
Rather, there was no need to.
Clang—!
A dull, heavy metallic ring echoed through the corridor.
Yun Cheon had merely raised his left arm and flicked the incoming spearhead aside with a casual tap.
“…?!”
It was the attacking warrior who gasped in shock.
He had struck a human arm, yet the rebound felt as though he had slammed against a massive boulder, the force threatening to tear his grip apart.
‘What… what is this arm?’
His gaze fixed on the black iron rings wound around the inside of Yun Cheon’s sleeve.
Iron rings specially commissioned from the Supply Officer—three times heavier than standard.
An overwhelming mass resided there, enough to forcibly twist the trajectory of the spear’s attack.
“Is that all you have?”
With Yun Cheon’s cold voice, his right hand moved this time.
A flash of light gleamed as his hand brushed past his waist.
‘Flying blades!’
The warrior flinched and hastily tried to withdraw his spear to block, but Yun Cheon’s movement defied expectation.
Instead of throwing the blade, Yun Cheon deployed the Shadowless Step.
Like a shadow seeping through, Yun Cheon’s form infiltrated the warrior’s guard.
“Ugh!”
The warrior tried to retreat in panic, but it was already too late.
The cold touch of metal pressed against his throat.
“…!”
The flying blade that Ya Jin had gifted now rested in Yun Cheon’s hand, its edge against the guard’s neck.
“A flying blade is not merely a weapon meant to be thrown.”
Yun Cheon’s eyes, reciting Ya Jin’s very teachings, were as cold as death itself, as though he might sever the warrior before him at any moment.
“Has my qualification been proven? Or must I demonstrate further?”
The blade in Yun Cheon’s hand pressed coldly against the guard’s throat.
Cold sweat trickled down beneath the warrior’s mask.
The monstrous strength to deflect a spear with iron rings, the footwork to slip past all defenses, and a killing intent without hesitation.
This was no mere child to be underestimated by appearance alone.
“…Proven… it is.”
The warrior answered in a trembling voice, withdrew his spear, and opened the way.
The other warrior watching from the side swallowed hard and hurriedly turned the mechanism to open the iron gate.
Creak―.
The massive iron door swung inward, and at last, the heart of the Demonic Way Hall revealed itself—the Inner Library.
Behind me, I heard the murmurs of the martial artists.
“That movement just now… isn’t that the footwork of the Shadowless Kill Sect?”
“That iron ring on his arm—it’s no ordinary weight. Young as he is, another monster has entered….”
Their voices carried the tone of those overwhelmed by the crushing martial prowess I had just displayed.
They clicked their tongues as they watched my retreating figure disappear.
“Isn’t he the youngest among the late-stage candidates Gal Mu Heun has selected recently?”
“The other Library Keepers were all extraordinary too, but… there’s something different about his presence.”
I left their whispers behind and stepped into the Inner Library.
….
The heavy air, mingled with the scent of aged paper and the dust of centuries, enveloped me.
Before my eyes stretched endless shelves that reached the ceiling, forming a vast forest of knowledge.
The scale was incomparable to the basic martial arts archive.
‘So this is everything the Demonic Cult has gathered from across the Central Plains….’
The magnitude was overwhelming.
Moreover, the cool temperature, optimal humidity, and perfect light control—the preservation was impeccable.
I quickly surveyed the overall structure.
‘Not just martial arts texts… formation arrays, medicine, pharmaceuticals, alchemy… books from diverse fields are mixed together.’
Even materials on martial forces located throughout the Central Plains.
‘Not only sects and clans, but even materials on the imperial court and military….’
The scope of the collection exceeded imagination.
There were even texts on the Western Regions, Tianzhou, and Parsa—what they called the Outer Martial World.
‘…they didn’t plunder only from the Central Plains.’
The Demonic Cult’s headquarters lay between the Western Regions and the Central Plains.
Thus, there were considerable collections not from the Central Plains.
‘If there were medical texts from the Outer Martial World rather than the Central Plains…?’
Setting aside my amazement, I headed toward the section where medical texts—my greatest immediate interest—were gathered.
Particularly those dealing with severed meridians, qi and blood reversal, and demonic possession.
Ancient texts addressing strange ailments related to qi, blood, and meridians caught my eye.
[Essential Guide to Extraordinary Meridians], [Technique of Reversed Blood], [Demonic Meridian Diagnosis]….
The collection was filled with rare medical texts I had never even heard of.
The moment I reached out to grasp [Essential Guide to Extraordinary Meridians]—
Whoosh―!
A heavy gust of wind erupted from an invisible angle, targeting my wrist.
It was no mere warning.
It was a precise pressure point strike—striking the pulse gate on my wrist with exacting accuracy.
I instinctively withdrew my hand and stepped back half a pace.
In the spot where my hand had reached, a brush-like object cast from steel—a Judge’s Brush—was embedded.
“A newcomer? You lack manners. Reaching for a book without permission.”
A man emerged from the darkness behind the bookshelves.
Pallid skin and sharp, irritable eyes.
He extracted a brush-pen lodged in the shelf and twirled it deftly between his fingers.
‘A weapon of the same caliber as Gal Mu Heun’s beloved blade….’
That alone revealed whom this man idolized.
“I manage the medical texts in this section. Do not touch them carelessly.”
“I entered with the permission of Director Gal Mu Heun. I did not realize your approval was also necessary.”
“Hmph. All the book keepers here have been chosen by the Director. Yet even here, in the Demonic Cult, the law of the strong admits no exceptions.”
The man smiled coldly and pointed the tip of his brush-pen at me.
“The harm that comes from unqualified hands handling medical texts cannot be overlooked. If you wish to access the medical texts here, you must first earn the recognition of Baek Ri Hyeon.”
The steel core, honed to a brush’s point, gleamed with menace.
The Inner Library too was governed by the Demonic Cult’s principles.
Without proving one’s strength, knowledge remained beyond reach.
“Let me test what sort of recruit the Director has sent this time.”
Before the words had fully left his mouth, Baek Ri Hyeon surged forward.
‘Martial techniques wielded through a brush-pen. I could only guess at the extent of Gal Mu Heun’s mastery. How intriguing.’
Whoosh!
Baek Ri Hyeon’s brush-pen drove toward my vital meridians.
A refined acupoint-striking technique that only those versed in the body’s meridians and qi channels could execute.
A martial art perfectly suited to subduing an opponent without spilling blood.
Clang!
Yet I remained unruffled, deflecting the strike with the iron ring on my wrist.
“Ho. You look young, but your fundamentals are not without merit… Each time you block my brush, I shall teach you one rule of this place.”
As I parried the first strike, Baek Ri Hyeon’s eyes widened in surprise, and he spoke.
As though it were a reward.
“First, do not needlessly channel inner force. You will damage the books.”
Baek Ri Hyeon’s brush-pen coiled like a serpent, targeting my ribs.
‘A body incapable of channeling inner force anyway—this rule does not apply to me.’
Even without inner force, the sharpness of the strike threatened to pierce flesh.
I stepped through the Infinite Step, evading the brush-pen’s trajectory by the width of a single sheet of paper.
“Second, each section has senior book keepers who oversee it. Do not touch any books without their permission. Though it may appear disorderly, each has arranged their collection according to their own method.”
A silent exchange of blows between the narrow shelves.
With each successive thrust I evaded or parried, Baek Ri Hyeon recited the rules of the Inner Library.
‘Baek Ri Hyeon. Quite skilled. He knows how to command space.’
Baek Ri Hyeon moved with the ease of one accustomed to combat in confined quarters, his mastery of spatial control exceptional.
He anticipated where I would flee and drove his brush-pen into that very spot.
Yet I used the weight and rotation of my iron ring to deflect his attacks, watching for an opening to counter.
“Third, show proper respect when questioning your senior!”
Baek Ri Hyeon’s gaze turned fierce, his brush-pen driving toward the Shoulder Well point on my shoulder.
Both sides were lined with dense shelves. Behind me, the way was blocked. There was nowhere to escape.
‘If there’s no space to evade….’
Rather than dodge, I crossed my forearms fitted with iron rings and caught the Judgment Brush thrusting toward me head-on.
Clang—!
In that instant when steel locked against steel, the vibration transmitted through the Judgment Brush made Baek Ri Hyeon’s eyes widen.
“…You?”
The faint tremor at the tip of Baek Ri Hyeon’s Judgment Brush ceased.
Rather than continue his assault, he remained locked in place without retreating a step, his gaze sweeping over me with an air of peculiarity.
“Your physical condition…?”
In that moment, Baek Ri Hyeon’s eyes transformed.
From the gaze of one observing an enemy, to the gaze of a physician observing a patient.
“It appears… your vital channels are twisted throughout your entire body. Could it be… Severed Meridian Syndrome? And congenital at that?”
My eyebrows twitched.
‘He discerned my constitution after merely a handful of exchanges?’
I had taken him for nothing more than a territorial nuisance, yet he possessed the skill befitting one who oversaw the medical texts section.
“So that’s why you were lurking about the medical texts section? Searching for a path to survival?”
I gave a slight nod without lowering my guard.
“…And if I was?”
An intriguing smile played at the corners of Baek Ri Hyeon’s lips.
His gaze dissected my body as though observing not a mere intruder, but a medically rare subject of study.
“How fortuitous. Another Severed Meridian Syndrome patient entering the Inner Library…”
“Another patient with Severed Meridian Syndrome exists?”
In that moment.
[…How noisy.]
From the pitch darkness high above the ceiling, a weighty pressure cascaded down.
A resonance as though space itself were vibrating.
[Cease your examination, Baek Ri Hyeon.]
Eyes gleaming in the darkness swept past me.
Sensing instinctively that this was no mere administrator, I lowered my head.
[So you are the newcomer. Impressive. To withstand Baek Ri Hyeon’s brush technique while leaving the books unharmed. Gal Mu Heun’s exception is well-founded.]
In that instant, Baek Ri Hyeon asked in disbelief.
“Cheon Gyeon! An exception? Could it be…?”
[Indeed. That child has been granted free access to the Inner Library.]
“Free access…! I labored for more than half a year before being assigned to the medical texts section…!”
Baek Ri Hyeon’s face flushed crimson and pale in turns. It was not mere defeat. The shock and jealousy of discovering that the Demonic Sect Master, who had always seemed as impartial as the heavens themselves, showed favoritism toward a newly arrived recruit.
[Accept it, Baek Ri Hyeon. If you find it unjust, prove it through skill. Your current appearance is unseemly.]
“…Tch.”
At Cheon Gyeon’s rebuke, Baek Ri Hyeon bit his lip and lowered his head.
To fall out of favor with Cheon Gyeon, the administrator of the Inner Library, was to risk losing even his standing as a keeper of the collection.
[Guide the newcomer yourself. Are you not one who walks the path of saving lives?]
“…Understood.”
Baek Ri Hyeon forced down his irritation and turned to face Yun Cheon.
His gaze still harbored curiosity about the state of Yun Cheon’s body.
“Follow me. The medical texts section is this way.”
Yun Cheon silently trailed behind him.
Baek Ri Hyeon spoke curtly as he led the way.
“From here to that end—that’s all medical texts. Whether there’s a method to fix that broken body of yours, I couldn’t say.”
“My thanks.”
“Hmph. And let me offer one piece of advice. If you rummage through the shelves, you might encounter ‘her.'”
“Her?”
Baek Ri Hyeon’s expression grew peculiar.
Fear, pity, and reverence mingled into a complex countenance.
“And… avoid her if you can. Where she dwells, even the bookshelves freeze over.”
Baek Ri Hyeon paused for a moment.
What crossed his eyes was compassion.
“Most of all… she may not see another winter.”
Baek Ri Hyeon left those weighted words behind and vanished hastily.
* * *
A week had passed since I first set foot in the Inner Library.
Every single day, I felt sticky gazes boring into my back.
Between the shelves, in every shadowed crevice, gleaming eyes lurked in hiding.
‘Book Fiends, as they’re called… Gal Mu Heun certainly has a talent for gathering eccentrics.’
Some hung upside down from the ceiling like bats, reading, while others lay prone on the floor, muttering ceaselessly at something.
They found the newcomer Yun Cheon intriguing, yet they didn’t rush at me like Baek Ri Hyeon had.
‘…So it seems each Book Fiend has their own designated section of shelves, just as that fellow said.’
Soon enough, I ceased to mind them.
Instead, I devoted myself to studying the medical texts in silence.
Then, pulling an aged medical tome from the shelves, I paused.
The pages whispered as I turned them.
My hand froze mid-turn.
‘…What is this?’
The paper was wrinkled and warped.
Not from having been soaked and dried.
The traces of paper destroyed by freezing and thawing.
When I pressed my fingertips against it, a faint chill still seemed to seep from within.
‘Someone was reading this not long ago.’
Examining the contents, I found a section describing how to respond when one forcibly breaks through meridian points and falls into demonic possession.
‘Is this the previous visitor Baek Ri Hyeon mentioned?’
I closed the book and gazed deeper into the shelves.
Ignoring the Inner Library’s proper temperature, only that one section held the chill of deepest winter.
‘To turn the surroundings into frozen wasteland with mere leaking energy…’
That was when it happened.
Click, clack…
The sound of teeth chattering.
And a suppressed whimper.
“Ugh… Mmgh….”
It sounded like a beast enduring agony, or a person trembling from the cold.
Yun Cheon’s eyes narrowed.
‘There’s something at the center of this frigid aura.’
Footstep.
Yun Cheon carefully traced the remnants of the icy presence. With each step forward, a biting chill swept through, burrowing into the collar of his robes.
At the far end of the bookshelves, where darkness pooled thick and deep.
Someone leaned precariously against the shelf, clutching their chest and struggling to remain upright.
Each time they exhaled, frost seemed to crystallize faintly in the air.
“Hnngh…!”
The closer I drew to the center of the cold, the more I heard faint whimpers.
‘…Could such a vicious aura truly originate from a human?’
A savage and ferocious yin-cold energy that burrowed beneath the skin and threatened to freeze the very blood in one’s veins.
In Young, wrapped head to toe in thick woolen cloaks and a veil that obscured her face.
Trembling visibly despite the layers of fur-lined garments, as if the cold consumed her entirely.
Sensing my presence, In Young turned her head with difficulty to look at me.
What revealed itself between the folds of the veil was not the color of the Central Plains.
‘Jade eyes…?’
Eyes like deep blue glaciers had been embedded directly into her gaze.
Even as they wavered with pain, those eyes retained a cool and mysterious luminescence.
Like an ice flower blooming alone at the peak of a snow-capped mountain.
“Who… are you…?”
Her lips drained of color, she regarded me with eyes full of wariness.
‘…Severed Yin Meridian. And not a mild case at that.’
She was locked in a desperate struggle against the frigid energy that consumed her own life force to keep her alive.

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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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