Reincarnation of the Cloud Dragon - Chapter 34

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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 34.
Ziiiiing—!
The life-death needles threaded between Saengsa Jjon’s fingers resonated with their master’s killing intent, exhaling an eerie, bone-chilling tone.
The old man’s eyes, caked with dust, flashed crimson with blood-lust.
“Who in blazes are you!”
“I am Yu Ha, Vice-Director of the Ilwol Trading Company. Honored Saengsa Jjon.”
Yu Ha snapped shut the fan he’d been holding and assumed a martial stance.
Though the Ilwol Twin Wheels’ formidable presence served as a shield, Yu Ha’s own composure was equally unshakeable.
Saengsa Jjon’s brow furrowed, displeased by such unflappable calm.
“A mere stripling from the company, then. If the authority rests with you, cease your prattle and hand over the Gongcheong Stone Oil. Its owner lies on death’s door.”
“The owner of the Gongcheong Stone Oil, you say? Might you be referring to my friend Yun Cheon, or perhaps your granddaughter?”
Yu Ha posed the question with an artfully troubled smile. Saengsa Jjon’s eyebrows twitched sharply.
“…Both! There is no time for quibbling—hand it over at once!”
Yu Ha’s eyes narrowed.
Within my mind, the beads of an abacus clicked like lightning.
‘…In moments like these, I must remain composed.’
The spirit medicine I had originally intended to deliver directly to Yun Cheon.
‘Yet Saengsa Jjon himself has moved?’
From the old man’s appearance, the situation was undoubtedly dire.
‘But…’
Saengsa Jjon was a man who would abandon the entire world for his granddaughter’s sake.
To him, Yun Cheon’s life held only secondary value.
‘If I simply hand over the Gongcheong Stone Oil now, there is a grave risk he will seize it outright, leaving Yun Cheon unsaved!’
Yu Ha completed my calculations with cold precision and opened my mouth.
Every variable had been computed in my mind.
“…I grasp the gravity of the situation, yet I cannot release the cargo without proper guarantee. It is the Trading Company’s iron law. Might you possess a letter or token from the owner?”
A man who had rushed here in such haste would possess no such thing.
“A man dying from sudden calamity—how could he prepare such things beforehand!”
“Then I find myself in a bind. If you were to harm the owner and seize the goods, would not our company’s reputation be destroyed?”
At Yu Ha’s blunt words, Saengsa Jjon’s face flushed crimson and then drained to ashen in an instant.
I had struck a nerve.
For in truth, the moment Seol Young’s vital energies stabilized, what had flickered through the old man’s mind was the senile desire to ‘sacrifice Yun Cheon if it meant completely healing my granddaughter.’
‘Had Young Ah not called that wretch her benefactor and staked her life upon him…’
Yet now circumstances had shifted.
If Yun Cheon dies, Seol Young dies as well.
Paradoxically, the boy must live for the granddaughter to survive.
“How dare you regard this sovereign as a petty lackey!”
“Trust is the lifeblood of our company. The Ilwol Escort Bureau does not release goods to a third party without confirmation of the client’s safety—unless you possess a ‘guarantee’ of special relation to the client.”
Yu Ha’s logic was airtight, and the Ilwol Twin Wheels’ stance at my back was impeccable.
Saengsa Jjon bit down upon his lip.
‘If that madman loses control, Young Ah won’t be safe either…!’
Time crept forward like the shadow of death, moment by moment.
Forcing through the Ilwol Twin Wheels by brute strength would cost more time than the damage was worth—a bitter pill to swallow.
In the end, there was only one choice.
“…Very well. My oath, sworn upon my own name, should suffice as guarantee.”
Saengsa Jjon’s voice, infused with inner power, made the Forest Path itself vibrate.
“By the name of Saengsa Jjon, one of the Five Exalted of this sect, I swear before heaven and earth!”
The declaration thundered through the forest like a lightning strike.
The surrounding trees shrieked in unison, their leaves scattering in panic.
The voice of a supreme master, imbued with true energy, was itself a colossal wave of force.
In the moment of the oath, Yu Ha’s lips curved upward in the faintest smile.
“Yun Cheon, the owner of the token, is the benefactor who saved my granddaughter! I swear before heaven and earth that I shall become his guardian from this moment forward! To save this benefactor, I request the Gongcheong Stone Elixir. Should there be even a single falsehood in these words… I shall renounce my martial arts and live out my days as a cripple!”
A vow of guardianship proclaimed with the honor of one of the Five Exalted at stake.
Thus Yun Cheon’s merit was not merely acknowledged—he now had the towering mountain of Saengsa Jjon at his back.
And it was a binding oath, publicly witnessed by the Ilwol Escort Bureau.
This was the gambit Yu Ha had designed on the spot.
Snap—
Only then did Yu Ha fold his fan with a satisfied expression.
‘Now that he’s taken on guardianship, Saengsa Jjon cannot harm Yun Cheon. Instead, he’s bound to protect him.’
In binding Saengsa Jjon as Yun Cheon’s backer,
the Ilwol Trading Company had simultaneously incurred a debt to a supreme master that could not be refused.
A true case of killing two birds with one stone.
“I shall receive the Exalted’s oath with utmost gravity.”
At Yu Ha’s gesture, the Ilwol Twin Wheels parted to either side, opening the path.
Then he withdrew from his robes a jade vial that glowed with a brilliant azure light and handed it to Saengsa Jjon.
“As the Trading Company’s leader, I take full responsibility. Please, take it with you.”
Saengsa Jjon seized the jade vial and gave Yu Ha a curt nod.
“The Gongcheong Stone Elixir is a miraculous medicine that shakes the heavens… I shall not forget the Trading Company leader’s bold decision, made despite the trust placed in this bureau.”
“…Make haste, then. You said it was urgent, did you not?”
“We shall meet again.”
With those words, Saengsa Jjon shot forward toward the Demonic Way Hall like an arrow.
Boom—!
In the dust cloud left by Saengsa Jjon’s departure, the Ilwol Twin Wheels watched Yu Ha with concerned eyes.
“Young Master, are you truly certain about handing over such a treasure? It was meant to be a card for binding the Cult Leader candidate…”
“The Demonic Physician is stubborn as stone, with no faction of his own. Investing in him seems like poor accounting…”
But Yu Ha shook his head.
‘Because this wasn’t an investment in Saengsa Jjon.’
Rather than explain, Yu Ha leisurely opened his fan and posed a counter-question.
“Twin Wheels, what measure of vessel do you believe I am?”
“We who have served you since childhood are certain—a Cult Leader candidate? That position would be beneath you, Young Master.”
“Of course! With the Ilwol Trading Company backing him, who would dare obstruct Young Master?”
Ilwol Twin Wheels answered without hesitation.
“Indeed. With the company’s full strength, ascending to that position would be trivial. But Ilwol Twin Wheels, do you truly believe I lack such credentials and cannot become the Young Sect Master?”
Yet Yu Ha posed the question with a cryptic smile.
“…No… of course not!”
“How could that be!”
Ilwol Twin Wheels hastily replied.
“I was born with too much. The world grew tedious. Seeking a variable to fill that void, I encountered ‘that boy’ in Zamadong.”
Yu Ha’s gaze pierced beyond the Demonic Way Hall, toward where Yun Cheon awaited.
“Look at the Demonic Cult now. Talented individuals languish without backing, scattered like dust. Yet incompetent fools blessed with noble bloodlines occupy the highest seats.”
A cold, defiant gleam crystallized in Yu Ha’s eyes.
“This contradicts our sect’s doctrine of the supremacy of strength. It is merely the hereditary monopoly of the privileged!”
Yu Ha’s grip tightened on his fan.
“But that boy was different. Possessing nothing, he twisted fate itself with his own hands and carved open the heavens. That power to refuse submission to destiny—that is the true ‘qualification’ I seek. I intend to elevate him to the apex of the Demonic Cult.”
Yu Ha’s gaze extended beyond the Demonic Way Hall where Yun Cheon now stood.
“In that process, I shall overturn this stagnant sect and realize the true doctrine of strength’s supremacy…! Could there be any pleasure more exhilarating?”
A delirious exultation flickered across Yu Ha’s lips.
‘So Young Master holds such a person in such high regard….’
‘If that boy fails to meet Young Master’s expectations, I shall not stand idle….’
Ilwol Twin Wheels bowed his head, yet inwardly resolved to test this youth Yun Cheon—whom Yu Ha so highly esteemed—with his own eyes.
“Now then. Since we’ve completed the escort ahead of schedule, we have time to spare. We must commend our escorts for standing firm even before the Sect Master’s formidable authority.”
Yu Ha turned to regard the escorts with a grin.
“To the tavern! I shall treat the Young Escort Master’s successful completion of this mission with celebratory wine!”
“Huraaaaaay—!”
“Young Escort Master, you’re the best!”
The cheers of the head escort and his men echoed through the Forest Path as they departed.
Only Ilwol Twin Wheels, trailing behind, exhaled a deep sigh and pressed his palm to his forehead.
“Mmgh….”
“Young Master, truly….”
One moment he wears the face of a playful boy; the next, his eyes become those of a ruthless strategist surveying the world like a chessboard.
Even the seasoned Ilwol Twin Wheels found it difficult to grasp the ever-shifting tactics Yu Ha deployed.
Yu Ha turned his horse’s head, gazing at the distant, shadowed silhouette of the Demonic Way Hall.
‘Survive. Only then will the game I’ve orchestrated reach its completion.’
There, a fateful bond was locked in a desperate struggle for life and death.
‘Soon, Yun Cheon.’
* * *
[Ice heart forms the foundation; cold qi takes shape….]
Seol Young’s voice pierced through his consciousness.
As if drenched in ice water, Yun Cheon’s awareness jolted awake.
‘…Is this the incantation of the Glacial Soul Divine Art?’
Indeed, it was an enigmatic incantation worthy of being called a Divine Art.
An ordinary martial artist would spend a lifetime and never cross its threshold.
But Yun Cheon was different.
The experience of dissecting Seol Young’s meridians with meticulous precision, combined with the vast martial knowledge accumulated in my past life, opened my eyes.
‘Cold. And exquisite.’
The essence of the incantation etched itself into my mind with crystalline clarity.
The nature of the Glacial Divine Art was to compress scattered cold qi into a solid inner elixir.
But therein lay the problem.
Both Yun Cheon and Seol Young suffered from severed meridian syndrome.
‘The method of handling yin-cold qi is worth referencing… but forming a dantian this way would be unwise…!’
I could not repeat the mistake that had worsened Seol Young’s yin meridians.
‘Is there… another way?’
Flash!
A cool brilliance cut through my mind.
The essence of the Heaven-Earth Dynamic Art.
Not stillness, but movement.
Not containment, but flow.
‘I see it.’
Common knowledge dictated compressing qi into a fixed inner elixir.
But what if I maintained dynamic flow while preserving centripetal force?
‘A spinning vortex does not scatter.’
The sensation carved into my bones through countless rotations of the dynamic art provided the answer.
Once my resolve solidified, I deliberately twisted the path of inner force that Seol Young was channeling into me.
Crack!
The meridians near my dantian shrieked as they contorted.
The rampaging yin-cold qi spiraled inward, violently drawn toward a single point.
“…!”
Seol Young’s shoulders trembled slightly as she supported my back.
The qi flowing through her palms traced an unfamiliar trajectory, swirling in patterns she had never witnessed.
‘What… a hidden art?!’
Though momentarily startled by the unfamiliar cultivation method, Seol Young chose to trust me and observe.
‘…It’s not the Glacial Divine Art. But it’s clearly controlling the yin-cold qi. Just in a different way!’
An unprecedented method that mocked conventional wisdom.
Uuuuooom―!
A strange resonance echoed from deep within my lower abdomen. The gathered qi began to rotate.
A heavy vibration, like a millstone turning, traveled up my spine.
A bizarre spiral began to whirl in my lower abdomen.
‘Now.’
The principle of the Supreme Ultimate met the flow of Heaven-Earth, forming the eye of a typhoon.
A divine technique that did not compress yin-cold qi into solidity, but made it rage in a vast vortex, sustaining its own form through sheer momentum.
“…!”
Behind Yun Cheon, Seol Young’s eyes widened as she channeled her inner force into him.
She had certainly taught him the incantation of the Glacial White Soul Technique, yet the phenomenon unfolding within Yun Cheon’s body diverged entirely from the inner power she had cultivated throughout her lifetime.
‘The energy… it’s rotating endlessly?’
A peculiar spiral materialized around Yun Cheon’s dantian, drawing in the surrounding yin energy at a terrifying velocity.
Within the tempest of yin force, the profound mystery of the Tai Chi blossomed.
“…Ugh!”
Seol Young let out a brief gasp.
The vibration felt through her fingertips was extraordinary.
Though she had transmitted the incantation herself, the transformation occurring within Yun Cheon’s body far transcended the scope of the Glacial White Soul Technique.
‘It’s not the Glacial Soul. This is….’
Seol Young trembled.
What pulsed within Yun Cheon’s body was not frozen ice that had hardened.
It was a majestic, rotating typhoon of cold energy.
“Haaah….”
At last, the relentless vortex spinning deep within Yun Cheon’s lower abdomen finally settled into place.
Something far too fierce and alien to be called a dantian.
White cold energy streamed forth from Yun Cheon’s mouth in a long plume.
The ashen pallor of death that had shrouded his face receded, replaced by a serene yet vibrant complexion.
“I… I’m alive….”
As tension released, Seol Young’s legs gave way and she collapsed to the ground.
She too was on the verge of exhaustion.
Having controlled her own yin energy runaway and immediately harmonized Yun Cheon’s vital force, her fatigue was inevitable.
Yet a radiant smile bloomed across her cheeks.
“Are you alright, sir?”
Yun Cheon slowly opened his eyes.
A cool jade light flickered through the depths of his pupils.
“Thanks to you.”
Yun Cheon gently swept his hand across his lower abdomen.
It was not a complete dantian.
A precarious form of dantian that required constant concentration to maintain its rotation.
Yet with this, for the first time in a year, I had grasped the power known as ‘inner force’ in my hands.
“You saved my life. And you’ve even imparted a precious secret technique….”
“You saved my life as well, sir. And….”
Seol Young lowered her head shyly.
“You didn’t even learn it the way I taught you. Rather, I learned a lesson from you.”
It was the moment Yun Cheon was about to rise.
Crash—!
The thick doors of the Demonic Physician Hall were torn away like paper and scattered in all directions.
Piercing through the billowing dust, Saengsa Jjon burst through.
“Young Ah! Your grandfather has arrived! The medicine…!”

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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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