Reincarnation of the Cloud Dragon - Chapter 58

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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 58.
Before the massive gates of the Black Dragon Gang.
The air roiled with the murderous intent exhaled by the dregs of society.
Ronin from every corner of the Central Plains had converged here.
Worn leather shoes, blades with chipped edges, and tattered garments bearing countless scars of hardship.
Ptui.
A man spat yellowish saliva and gnashed his teeth.
“Sanctimonious orthodox sects. They prattle on about murky qi and stiffened meridians… as if rejection at their gates is something new….”
“Ha, you still haven’t abandoned hope? They treat anyone past their prime as a mere child and cast them out—that’s their nature.”
“Those of us who’ve eaten from the streets with our blades are meant to be nothing but fertilizer our whole lives. If I’d known this, I should have joined a heterodox sect from the start.”
An elderly ronin beside him, nursing a potent liquor, set down his bottle roughly and spoke.
“What’s different about heterodox sects? When you’re useful, you’re a blade-bearer. When you break, you’re just meat.”
“…Tsk, all I ever wanted was to master a single proper cultivation method in my lifetime….”
Beneath every voice lay a sorrow deeper than anger.
A life without a master, without secret techniques.
Most who lived by the blade knew this existence.
With only scraps of miscellaneous skills picked up from the streets, one could never escape the shackles of mediocrity until death.
More painful than the countless scars etched into their bodies was the unquenchable thirst for knowledge that could never be satisfied.
Their gazes fixed upon a corner of a torn notice board.
[Feng Yun Ranking, Position 100: Black Dragon Yun Cheon]
“If I could just defeat that one….”
Someone’s trembling finger traced over the name.
“Even a lowly ranking position would let me find work as a retainer in some minor sect, wouldn’t it?”
“They say the Black Dragon Gang’s leadership has changed, but it’s probably just a den of thugs anyway.”
“It’s worth trying. No—I must try. This is my last lifeline.”
To earn a proper living by the blade, one needed above all to build a reputation.
With a name, one could find work anywhere, could secure a position as a retainer—could survive.
Word had reached them that the Black Dragon Gang, having lost a challenge tournament and surrendered their entire sect to outsiders, was in complete disarray.
‘Pure chaos….’
‘The new leader is surely worthless.’
‘If I could just establish myself here!’
With such thoughts, ronin had drifted to this place—Qinghai Province, the borderland of the Central Plains.
“Open the gates! How much longer will you cower inside?!”
“You’re unworthy of the dragon’s name, coward!”
At the moment when the jeers reached their crescendo.
Screeeeeech—.
With a thunderous groan, the Black Dragon Gang’s massive gates swung open.
“It’s opening!”
“Move! I’m going first!”
The ronin, surging forward like an angry tide, froze rigid before they could cross the threshold.
“…!”
What they encountered was not a den of ruffians running a drinking game or brawl.
A flag black as pitch—the Black Dragon banner.
Beneath it stood roughly a hundred martial artists, arranged in perfect formation.
A chilling silence.
And a keen, biting aura that pricked the skin.
It was the true martial spirit of genuine warriors—something these third-rate vagrants had never witnessed in their lives.
“What… what is this? Why do their eyes look like that?”
“We were told they were just a third-rate gang of ruffians….”
In the center of the formation, atop an elevated platform, Yun Cheon stood with arms crossed, regarding them with an indifferent gaze.
So Ryong stepped forward and spoke sharply.
“Any who cross that threshold will be treated as enemies. Only those prepared to die should enter.”
The vagrants flinched, yet these were men with nothing left to lose.
“Don’t make me laugh! A mere gang putting on airs?”
One hot-tempered vagrant drew his blade and crossed the line.
In that instant.
“I already warned you.”
With a cold voice, the woman at the front of the formation moved.
Whoosh—!
Jin So Wol’s banner spear swept through the air with a heavy, splitting sound that obscured the view.
As the fluttering flag dizzied the vagrant’s vision, the spear shaft, serpentine and piercing, struck his abdomen with crushing force.
Thud—!
“Gasp!”
With a single cry, the vagrant’s body was hurled beyond the gate.
A clean expulsion without spilling a drop of blood.
Jin So Wol wielded her banner spear in rapid succession, driving back the surging vagrants.
“What… what is that?”
“Is… is this woman the Black Dragon?”
“No, the Black Dragon Gang leader is supposed to be a man!”
One notably skilled master among the group gnashed his teeth and drew his sword.
“Hmph, dazzling eyes with a flag! That won’t work on me!”
This time So Ryong stepped forward.
As the Black Dragon Steel Body unfolded, a dark crimson sheen rippled across his skin.
Clang—!
The sharp blade struck So Ryong’s shoulder, but all that returned was a metallic ring that set teeth on edge.
“…!”
The blade bounced away, and So Ryong’s rock-like grip drove into the vagrant’s chest.
Boom—!
“Argh!”
A body of steel that repelled blades themselves, and overwhelming crushing power.
“What in the world is this monster…!”
“Is this really just the level of a rank-100 member of the Feng Yun Ranking…?”
The challengers stumbled backward, gripped by terror.
The wanderers’ faces drained of all color.
They understood now.
The Black Dragon Gang was no longer a lifeline they could cling to, trading on its name and reputation.
It was a vast swamp that would swallow them whole without leaving a bone behind if they stepped wrong.
“This is different from what we heard…!”
“They’re not a gang of ruffians! What in the world are these people?”
As murmurs of shock rippled through the crowd like waves, Yun Cheon descended slowly from the elevated platform.
With each step, a weighty internal pressure bore down upon the Training Ground.
“The Black Dragon Gang does not shy away from challenges.”
My voice was low, yet infused with inner energy, it rang clearly through the wanderers’ ears.
“Every day at noon, we will accept challenges at the Combat Platform before the Heuk Ryong Guest Inn. If you wish to face me, first prove your worth by defeating our instructors.”
“Instructors? The gang leader won’t face us directly?”
“Hmph, isn’t this just another stalling tactic?”
“But… the instructors’ skills were far from ordinary either.”
A cynical voice cut through, but it did not continue for long.
Yun Cheon’s cold gaze pierced straight through the speaker.
“However, there is a condition. Those who lose in sparring must abide by the Black Dragon Gang’s discipline.”
“The price of defeat? Are you asking us to forfeit our lives?”
“Hmph. Do you think we’ll retreat just because you threaten us like that?”
Yun Cheon shook his head quietly.
“No. After the sparring ends, those who wish to seek instruction may stay; those who do not, may leave.”
In that moment, silence descended as if time itself had stopped.
“…What? Instruction?”
“You… surely you don’t mean to teach us?”
“…Is that… truly so?”
The wanderers’ eyes trembled violently.
“You are martial artists who have journeyed far to seek out the Black Dragon Gang. Such passion deserves respect. To those who have glimpsed their limits through martial arts, I will show them a path suited to their nature.”
These were men who had spent their entire lives turned away from the gates of countless sects.
“You lack qualification.”
“You are too old.”
“You have no foundation.”
A lifetime of rejection for every conceivable reason.
Yet the gang leader of the Black Dragon Gang, whom they had provoked as ruffians, was treating them as “martial artists.”
“I… I will challenge you! Please grant me instruction as well!”
“Please give me a chance too!”
The wanderers’ response was explosive.
“There is no need to rush. Four instructors will take turns accepting your challenges.”
* * *
Noon.
The Combat Platform before the Heuk Ryong Guest Inn.
The crowd that had gathered like clouds held their breath.
The first to ascend the Combat Platform was Yalü Hee.
Her opponent was a ronin who had spent seven years eating rough rice with a blade.
His appearance was shabby, yet his gaze burned with intensity.
Whoosh!
The ronin swung his sword as if pouring out his sorrow, but Yalü Hee’s form drifted like a gentle breeze, evading his trajectory entirely.
Tap!
Yalü Hee had not even drawn her blade.
A mere touch of her scabbard’s tip to the ronin’s solar plexus—and the match was decided.
“…Ugh… I… I lost.”
A humiliating defeat.
The ronin hung his head.
Yet what emerged from Yalü Hee’s lips was not mockery.
“You’re putting too much tension in your shoulders when you swing. That’s why your trajectory becomes readable. Try anchoring yourself from your lower body instead.”
The ronin’s head snapped up.
It was not derision.
A piercing insight into his own flaws—something no one had ever revealed to him in his entire life.
It was a ‘teaching’ he had never received before.
“I… thank you! I am grateful for your instruction!”
Thud!
The ronin prostrated himself on the platform, his gratitude overflowing.
The subsequent matches were no different.
Jin So Wol pointed out the spacing of polearms, So Ryong revealed the rigidity of external force, and Yi Mok exposed bad habits the ronin himself had never noticed.
‘It feels like meridians blocked for ten years are finally opening….’
‘As if I’ve encountered a lantern for the first time after a lifetime in darkness….’
The ronins marveled at the instructors’ incisive teachings and gave thanks to the Black Dragon Gang.
The eyes of the spectators and ronins watching this unfold began to change.
It transcended astonishment—it became reverence.
“Those masters are merely instructors?”
“They don’t even charge teaching fees, yet impart wisdom through combat… aren’t they superior to most martial masters!”
“I… I want to challenge them too!”
Before long, a long line of ronins eager to challenge had formed before the Combat Platform.
They were no longer standing in line for money or fame.
They sought the opportunity for ‘learning’ they had yearned for their entire lives.
Among those watching this scene, a new question began to bloom.
“Wait, if the instructors possess such skill….”
“Just how strong is Yun Cheon, the Black Dragon who commands them?”
The instructors’ overwhelming martial prowess, and the caliber of Yun Cheon who commanded them.
People had begun to question the number—Feng Yun Ranking’s 100th position.
“Could the Black Dragon Gang Master truly be ranked merely 100th…?”
“Is it possible the Feng Yun Ranking itself is mistaken?”
Even as they faced challengers ascending the Combat Platform without pause, the instructors showed no sign of fatigue.
‘As expected of the Gang Master….’
So Ryong, too, marveled anew at his new leader.
He himself had only thought of extorting money from wanderers, never imagining teaching them openly to expand the gang’s influence.
‘News of today will surely spread far and wide! The Black Dragon Gang will draw far greater numbers now.’
The reason most martial sects refused to accept wanderers was because building inner strength was difficult.
It was common knowledge that wanderers who began martial training late accumulated turbid qi in their bodies, making it nearly impossible to achieve high attainment even with basic meditation techniques.
However, So Ryong, who had directly cultivated the Black Dragon Inner Energy, understood the truth.
‘With Black Dragon Inner Energy… even those who began martial training late could properly build inner strength through diligent effort! It may take longer… but it is not impossible!’
So Ryong himself was living proof.
A half-baked martial artist who had learned only external techniques, never cultivating inner strength.
Yet after mastering Black Dragon Inner Energy and training day and night, he could now feel genuine qi flowing through his body, however faintly.
‘I too… can become a true martial artist!’
So Ryong felt no fatigue even as he fought match after match.
Rather, a smile played at his lips.
Then it happened.
Boom!
A deafening sound tore through the air of the Combat Platform.
“Ugh, cough…!”
A wanderer who had been about to request a challenge screamed and rolled across the ground.
A vivid blue footprint was stamped across his chest, and blood foam bubbled from his mouth.
“What, what happened?!”
“Who cut in line like that…?”
Someone pushed through the wanderers waiting in line and stepped forward.
The crowd parted in confusion.
At the end of that path, a man walked forward.
A scarred face revealed between disheveled crimson hair.
A scarred, weathered face revealed between disheveled crimson hair.
Most of all, the savage killing intent radiating from his entire being was of a different caliber from all the wanderers thus far.
“That… that man? Could it be…?!”
He watched the Black Dragon Gang’s instructors teaching, then spat on the ground.
“Ptui. Playing house like pathetic fools.”
His voice carried unmistakable mockery and malice.
So Ryong was the first to react.
“…Kang Hui?!”
The Black Dragon Gang’s ancient nemesis.
An old enemy who had once dealt So Ryong a painful defeat.
The man crumpled a wrinkled stack of papers from his breast and hurled them to the ground.
They were Feng Yun Ranking posters torn from the Heuk Ryong Guest Inn last night.
Kang Hui ground the character for “Black Dragon” beneath his foot, growling.
“My name is Kang Hui. I rank 90th in the Feng Yun Ranking. People call me the Scarlet Wolf.”
Kang Hui’s gaze fixed upon Yun Cheon atop the Elevated Platform, his eyes burning with suppressed inferiority and madness.
“Isn’t it absurd? I am merely a wolf, yet some mere 100th-ranker dares to claim the title of dragon?”
Dark crimson light bloomed from his fingertips—a manifestation of blood energy.
This was far more than a simple grievance over a nickname.
To anyone’s eyes, dragon and wolf held vastly different standings in the hierarchy.
Kang Hui could not accept that someone ranked below him possessed the epithet of dragon.
“One who fails to recognize their place requires instruction.”
Kang Hui lowered his stance.
As he moved to take a step forward, So Ryong gritted his teeth and blocked his path.
The sting of past defeat crept up his spine, yet he could not retreat now.
But Kang Hui dismissed So Ryong with contempt.
“Get out of my way, So Ryong! A loser like you is beneath my notice! My business is with that false dragon sitting up there.”
So Ryong’s fists trembled.
In the moment fear and rage collided, So Ryong felt the serene gaze of Yun Cheon upon the Elevated Platform.
‘The Patriarch is watching. And I… I am not who I was three years ago!’
So Ryong stepped forward.
At his refusal to yield, Kang Hui’s brow twitched.
“I told you to move! Do you truly wish to die, So Ryong?”
“Don’t be ridiculous, Kang Hui! Our Patriarch is not someone to be challenged by the likes of you. If you’ve come to the Black Dragon Gang, then abide by its laws!”
The vital energy of the Black Dragon Pupil Technique began to circulate across So Ryong’s muscles.
Facing the wolf’s killing intent head-on, So Ryong clenched his fists.
“You face me, Kang Hui. I will settle the debt from three years past, here and now!”

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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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