Reincarnation of the Cloud Dragon - Chapter 55

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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 55.
The Training Ground of the Black Dragon Gang lay blanketed in pristine white, buried beneath snow that had poured down since dawn.
It was the moment when the gang members who had finished their morning run were exhaling plumes of white breath as they cleaned their weapons.
Boom!
The gate they had barely repaired screamed and burst open.
Through the swirling snow and dust, a figure clad in black walked in, darkness itself draped across their form.
“We’re under attack!”
“Again? Who is it this time?!”
The gang members, still haunted by the terror of Yun Cheon’s destruction of the Main Gate, cried out in alarm.
More than a dozen gang members, emboldened by their recent training, rushed forward wielding their weapons.
“Who are you?!”
“What is the meaning of this?!”
As the dust cleared, a woman emerged—dressed entirely in black martial robes.
Her raven-black hair, bound tightly, was elegant and refined.
The gang members froze at the sight of her bearing.
In her hand
she wielded a long spear with a black dragon carved into it.
Hummmmm—
The spear shaft trembled of its own accord, releasing a resonance like the cry of a beast.
Just as the gang members moved to tighten their encirclement, the woman’s spear traced a smooth arc and swept horizontally.
Crash!
A single sweep of the spear shaft.
The blade released a wave of energy in a great arc.
“Ugh!”
“Ahhh!”
Like autumn leaves scattered by the wind.
The men who had charged forward were sent flying into the corners of the Training Ground with screams.
Crimson blood dotted the pristine white snow.
“…Who granted these street thugs the right to bear the name of the Black Dragon?”
Her voice was cold and severe, as if rebuking all present.
Though the gang members had grown confident through their training,
before this woman’s martial prowess, they felt as though they had regressed to their days as common street brawlers.
‘…A… a master!’
‘We cannot stand against her…!’
So Ryong burst out from the inner quarters at that very moment.
But what erupted from his lips was astonishment.
“S… Sister?! Could it be? Sister Jin So Wol?!”
The woman’s cold gaze fell upon So Ryong.
“So Ryong! How dare you still set foot in this place after selling Father’s honor and casting it aside!”
“N-No, that’s not… Ugh!”
Whiiiing—! Crack—!
The spear shaft, wielded without mercy, lashed across So Ryong’s cheek.
His head snapped back, and he tumbled across the ground several times before crashing to a halt.
She pulled a crumpled Feng Yun Ranking poster from her robes and, grinding the characters “Black Dragon Yun Cheon” beneath her spear tip, let out a furious roar.
“Where is this upstart faction leader who dares claim the name of the Black Dragon? I, Jin So Wol, cannot accept this!”
“Oh no! Sister, wait just a moment! Please hear me out first—!”
So Ryong rose to his feet, cradling his cheek, his face twisted in distress.
Jin So Wol.
Once a distinguished guest of the Black Dragon Gang and the only daughter of Jin Mu Yang, who had been like a brother to So Ryong’s father.
She was someone So Ryong could never stand against.
Yet even he felt the injustice of it all.
“So Ryong! Stop calling me sister, and shut that mouth of yours! Today I will hold you accountable for selling the pride of the Black Dragon Gang at such a pittance!”
At that moment, a heavy metallic sound, oppressive and resonant, echoed across the Training Ground.
Clang. Clang.
It was Yun Cheon, walking slowly forward in his dark iron boots.
“Hmm… quite an impressive aura for a spear wielder. There’s a certain flavor to this.”
Yi Mok, who had settled atop the wall at some point, offered his assessment of her.
True to his epithet of Chui Geom, he already held a wine bottle in hand.
As Yi Mok remained a spectator, Yalü Hee sighed and stepped forward, grasping her blade.
“Well… I suppose as a guest, I should take the first move?”
“No. Stand back.”
Yun Cheon placed a light hand on Yalü Hee’s shoulder, stopping her.
“Given our history with the Black Dragon Gang of old, it is only fitting that I, as faction leader, answer her directly.”
Yun Cheon’s gaze settled upon Jin So Wol.
The tip of her dark spear still pointed squarely at the space between his brows.
“Are you Yun Cheon? I will test whether you have the qualifications to bear the name of the Black Dragon.”
“Qualifications…”
A cold mockery played at the corners of Yun Cheon’s mouth.
“When the Black Dragon Gang fell into ruin and became nothing but a den of bandits in name alone, you stood idle. Now you appear to question my qualifications?”
“…That… I had circumstances beyond my control!”
“If you turned a blind eye while its honor rotted away because of those circumstances, then you have even less right to speak of the weight of this name.”
Jin So Wol’s eyes trembled with fury and shame.
Yun Cheon’s words were a blade that could not be parried, and it pierced deep into her heart.
“…Tch.”
She bit her lip until blood welled forth.
“Quite the lengthy excuses.”
Yun Cheon stood with one hand clasped behind his back, gesturing lightly with the other.
“What you truly want is to cross blades, is it not?”
“…I’ll make no further excuses! My strength will prove everything!”
Jin So Wol’s feet dug into the ground.
“Let’s see if your skill matches that arrogance!”
Whiiiish―!
The Black Dragon Spear slid across the white snow like a phantom, carving a single dark line through the air.
It was no mere thrust.
Though it advanced in a straight line, the spearhead carried a ferocious rotation within it.
The signature technique of Jin Mu Yang, once a distinguished guest of the Black Dragon Gang and known as the “Black Spear.”
Across the years, it bloomed magnificently in his daughter’s hands.
‘Impressive… she has genuine skill.’
Yun Cheon did not retreat.
Instead, he pressed forward with a single step, raising the heavy weight concealed within his sleeve.
Tong―!
A dull metallic ring echoed across the Training Ground.
Yun Cheon flicked away the incoming spearhead with the ink-steel cold-iron of his left forearm with effortless ease.
“…?!”
Shock flooded Jin So Wol’s eyes.
The rebound transmitted through the spear shaft defied imagination.
A heaviness as though she had struck a colossal mountain.
Yet more chilling than that was her opponent’s insight.
‘He read my spear technique?!’
The rotating spearhead moved with such blinding speed that the naked eye could scarcely follow it.
She had been confident she could pierce anywhere on his upper body, yet he had not even drawn a weapon—only the iron rings bound to his wrists had swept her spearhead aside.
‘I thought he would draw a weapon…!’
Yet Yun Cheon calmly deflected the spearhead with the iron rings on his wrists.
‘…How can such a master remain at merely rank 100 in the Feng Yun Ranking?!’
Clang! Clang! Clang!
The sound of steel striking steel screamed through the Training Ground as sparks erupted.
Jin So Wol unleashed a torrential barrage of strikes, exploiting the distance advantage.
Yet all that met the iron rings was the cold, unyielding ink-steel cold-iron.
‘Impossible…!’
Jin So Wol gritted her teeth and rotated the spear shaft.
Using the rebound from the iron rings, she spun the spear in a full circle and swept the lower end across.
A light snow flurry rose across the pristine Training Ground as a sharp arc aimed for Yun Cheon’s ankles.
Whoosh.
Yun Cheon lightly lifted his body, evading the spearhead.
“He’s airborne? This is my chance!”
In duels among Martial World practitioners, launching oneself into the air was typically a fatal blunder.
Without solid ground beneath one’s feet, directional changes became impossible.
Seizing the opening, Jin So Wol’s spearhead rose like a serpent’s head striking.
Then it shot toward Yun Cheon’s chest.
The snow flurry was swept up by the wind pressure as a massive vortex rose along the spear’s trajectory.
‘Black Dragon Ascension!’
But the metallic ring that erupted was not what she had anticipated.
Clang—!
In my past life, I was a master of the Cloud Dragon Eight Forms, moving through empty space with the grace of a dragon gliding through the heavens.
I twisted my body in a grotesque contortion mid-air and swept the spear shaft with the iron rings around my ankles.
“What—? Surely not… on your feet as well?!”
“Your technique is excellent. But this is a martial contest, and you are far too straightforward. You have failed to capture the true essence of martial arts.”
“What gives you the right to speak so carelessly!”
I descended like a feather, treading the Shadowless Step.
In an instant, I occupied all four corners of the space, my palm rushing toward her shoulder.
Jin So Wol hastily rotated her spear shaft to defend, but I had already read its trajectory.
I withdrew my palm strike and simultaneously drove my foot upward in a vertical kick.
Thud—!
The overwhelming mass of my ink-steel cold-iron boots struck the spear shaft directly.
Rip—.
Along with the searing pain of her palms tearing open, the Black Dragon Spear slipped from Jin So Wol’s grip.
A spear master who had lost her weapon—the contest was over.
“Ahhhhh…!”
“The Black Dragon Gang Master is victorious!”
The gang members witnessed with their own eyes how the basic movements they repeated every dawn with screams of agony had been woven into my sublime techniques.
‘What we’ve been learning was real.’
‘The Gang Master is… truly a dragon.’
And so, watching the contest between me and Jin So Wol, the gang members naturally found themselves identifying with me, trembling in unison.
“…This can’t be real.”
Jin So Wol stared blankly at her empty palms.
Her father’s legacy had been wrested away by an opponent who hadn’t even bothered to draw a weapon.
Her eyes wavered with despair.
The Black Dragon Heaven-Rending Spear, which she had devoted her entire life to perfecting, was the embodiment of her very pride.
“Do you know why your technique crumbled so pathetically against an opponent wielding no weapon? Because your spear art is dead.”
I twirled the spear I had seized and drove it into the ground with a light motion.
Boom—.
Before the vibrations had even settled, my cold voice struck her mind.
“Martial arts learned in solitary seclusion, locked away from the world. Your spear is shackled by the ghosts of the past. You chased only the former glory of your name. You never truly confronted your opponent, nor did you wield your own spear.”
Jin So Wol’s complexion turned ashen.
I had pierced through the chronic flaw in her martial training with a single contest.
“…Stop the mockery and end this. If the Black Dragon ever makes its name known, I will have no regrets.”
Jin So Wol closed her eyes and waited for her execution.
“Shame? Begging for death after a single defeat—how childish and arrogant that is.”
What came back was cold derision.
“Think of how many times a child falls while learning to walk. The Way of Martial Arts is perfected only after thousands of falls.”
Yun Cheon’s gaze swept across the frozen gang members.
“Look at her hands. Though she trained alone in seclusion and faced limitations, if any of you dare claim you’ve poured more effort than the blood and sweat she has shed, step forward now.”
Yun Cheon rebuked the gang members while simultaneously imparting a lesson.
‘The calluses and scars on her hands… they’re extraordinary…!’
‘Thinking of how grueling her training must have been with a woman’s body… I feel ashamed.’
The moment Yun Cheon mentioned her hands, Jin So Wol hastily covered them.
Her hands bore the marks of countless blisters that had burst and hardened—rough and unladylike.
“Why do you hide the pride of a martial artist? Rather than the empty name of the Black Dragon Gang, take pride in the years you’ve built with your own strength.”
Jin So Wol clenched her empty fists as snow fell upon her face.
“Jin So Wol, was it? If you wish to advance further, steel yourself to be broken and shattered again and again.”
At that moment, a warm coat draped over the shoulders of Jin So Wol, who sat dazed on the ground.
It was So Ryong.
“…Sister, I told you to listen to me. The gang leader is the one who will restore the name of the Black Dragon Gang.”
So Ryong continued with a glib smile, rubbing his cheek.
“If you have the will, Sister, why not join us as a spear technique instructor to teach our gang members? If you stay by the gang leader’s side, you might truly witness the Black Dragon Gang’s ascension to heaven.”
After So Ryong bowed and entered the inner quarters, the Training Ground once again filled with the resounding battle cries of the gang members piercing through the blizzard.
‘…As a martial artist, I have only taken half a step forward. I am still but a child.’
In the end, Jin So Wol rose to her unsteady feet.
She tidied her disheveled hair neatly, walked to the entrance of the inner quarters, and knelt on one knee.
“I am Jin So Wol, daughter of Jin Mu Yang. From this day forward, I wish to become a member of the Black Dragon Gang. Will you accept 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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