Reincarnation of the Cloud Dragon - Chapter 75

—————
This chapter is translated by Falnar Novels Team.
Support us by reading on our official site: https://falnarnovels.com
—————

Chapter 75.
The flicker in Gwak Tu’s eyes lasted but an instant. Yet it was enough.
‘Fast!’
Gwak Tu understood instinctively—I had lost the initiative. The left-hand sword that had grazed past me by mere inches now carved back into my field of vision.
‘The left blade again!’
Before I could even recognize it as a feint, my body reacted on pure instinct. I snapped the crescent blade of my guandao upright, intercepting the sword’s trajectory.
Clang!
The blade and crescent edge collided head-on, scattering sparks. The recoil sent Yun Cheon’s body sliding sideways, and the moment I began pulling the shaft back for a counterattack—
Screech!
The right-hand saber thrust diagonally upward from below. I twisted my body desperately to evade, but the blade’s edge raked across the surface of my breastplate, spraying metal shavings.
Screeeee—
It hadn’t drawn blood. Yet that sound sent a chill racing down my spine.
‘To weave two entirely different techniques from a single body so seamlessly…!’
The movement was completely different from the strike I’d just dodged. And yet Yun Cheon’s assault was far from over. The left sword traced another arc, then thrust forward at an even sharper angle.
“Ugh!”
Pushed back in the exchange, I forced my guandao into a wide swing and retreated. Between us, the blood-soaked floorboards came into view.
‘Damn it… for a mere boy to handle dual weapons with such mastery. Born a beast, this one… pressing forward without a moment’s respite.’
My breathing grew ragged. Blood trickled from my ribs, which I pressed down beneath my armor, but the gash reopened with each movement. The entangled blood chain was already useless.
‘…No matter.’
I abandoned the blood chain without hesitation.
Clatter—
The blood-stained chain mass rolled across the floor.
Now only the guandao remained. I lengthened my grip on the shaft and lowered the crescent blade. My stance had shifted from before.
‘Clever tricks won’t work against this opponent anyway.’
When we first clashed, my guandao had been held upright, pointing skyward—a stance to pull down an enemy standing high above.
But now the crescent blade was held low at waist height, angled to the side. A defensive posture against the horizontal trajectory of Yun Cheon’s left-hand sword.
‘The blade itself is flawlessly sharp. Yet… at his age, his swordsmanship hasn’t reached the realm of perfection.’
My eyes bored into Yun Cheon’s left hand.
But Yun Cheon couldn’t fail to notice how my gaze clung persistently to the left-hand sword.
‘He’s fixated on the left blade.’
My mind churned with complexity. I couldn’t afford to lower my guard against the left-hand sword, nor could I neglect the threat of his movement technique. The memory of how he’d exploited blind spots with those bizarre footwork patterns remained vivid.
‘It feels like I’m being hunted. That I, Gwak Tu, would feel this way against a boy…’
I opened all my senses, focusing entirely on Yun Cheon.
A ferocious beast’s glare. Killing intent rose like heat shimmer, pressing down upon his entire frame.
Taut tension hung between us.
Both of us sensed it.
The outcome would be decided in a single move.
This time, I moved first.
Boom!
The floorboards spiderwebbed beneath my feet. Simultaneously, my guandao lunged forward like a serpent baring its fangs—the spear blade leading, the crescent blade trailing. In a single rotation, either edge could determine which of us would be torn asunder.
‘Even without chains…! My Gu Gyeom Spear forces a choice! Can you bear it!’
That was the absolute advantage an unconventional weapon bestowed.
Shrieeeek—!
The sound of air tearing. Not a mere strike. A lethal killing technique saturated with the inner force of a master at the pinnacle.
Gwak Tu’s final hidden trump card—the Sura Twin Fangs.
Two spear blades, like the gaping jaws of a beast, carved a crimson vortex as they surged toward Yun Cheon.
If it were a single spear blade, it might be manageable. But two blades striking in syncopated rhythm carried a momentum that ordinary swordplay could scarcely withstand.
‘Twin weapons mean nothing! I’ll grind them to dust!’
As the blood-soaked momentum crashed down like a tempest, Yun Cheon’s gaze sharpened to a lethal edge.
‘This is the turning point!’
Rather than retreat from the beast’s jaws, Yun Cheon advanced to meet them.
Clang—.
Two spear blades cannot be blocked by a single sword.
The rotating spear points, laden with inner force potent enough to shatter steel, surged forward.
To forcibly block them would mean the blade would shatter under the explosive rotation of the Gu Gyeom Spear.
‘Then I’ll simply rotate with them instead of breaking them!’
Clang-clang-clang—!
His left hand’s sword deflected the thrust; his right hand’s saber flicked away the crescent blade.
The sword and saber struck the rotating spear blades in succession—deflecting once, pushing back once, slipping past once.
With each exchange, the feet of the Wuji Step pressed forward across the floor.
Forward, not backward.
Not evasive retreat from the fangs, but aggressive movement that rode the spear’s rotation itself, boring inward.
‘…What?’
Gwak Tu’s eyes wavered. An opponent receiving a spear should be thrown back. Yet Yun Cheon was drawing closer.
Shriek—!
Gwak Tu hastily withdrew his spear and spun. The Gu Gyeom Spear, carrying its rotation, traced a wide arc and slashed at Yun Cheon’s right flank.
But that very motion was exactly what Yun Cheon had been waiting for.
‘Now!’
Yun Cheon did not evade.
Instead, he angled his right-hand saber upward and met the incoming crescent blade head-on.
Clang!
The impact flowed from his shoulder down through his waist.
As he twisted his waist, true energy concentrated at the Yongquan point beneath his feet.
The full-body rotation linking shoulder, waist, and sole bound into a single thread and kicked off the floor.
Boom!
The Wuji Step shoved against the floorboards.
The distance vanished in an instant.
Gwak Tu’s eyes flew wide open.
‘This bastard! He used my own attack to close the distance—!’
The most dangerous range of a polearm—close quarters where the long shaft becomes an obstacle.
Gwak Tu immediately tried to shorten his grip on the spear shaft. But Yun Cheon’s form shot forward half a step faster.
Screeeech—!
The left-hand sword remained hidden behind Yun Cheon’s back, invisible. The right-hand blade couldn’t be discounted either, but Gwak Tu instinctively braced for the left-hand sword.
‘Where—!’
Where the blade would fall,
at what angle it would pierce,
what it would strike.
There was no way to know.
His body was being assaulted from the front, yet the blade remained invisible. For the first time, the instincts honed through a lifetime of real combat—those of a master at his peak—failed to provide an answer.
‘Damn it! I’ve allowed another approach!’
The right blade descended first, and then the left-hand sword flashed from behind.
Dual Righteousness Sword Method—Return to Circle, Single Flash.
The soft curve flowing in a circle bent into a straight line at the final instant.
Lightning erupted.
A thrust that contained the entire collision of that fleeting moment.
A perfect line crossed the battlefield.
Whoosh—.
Between Gwak Tu’s lungs and heart vessels. This time, it was far from shallow.
Half an inch.
His waist and footwork made up for that half inch instead.
“…Ugh!”
Sound vanished from Gwak Tu’s mouth.
The strength drained from the hand gripping the Guqian Spear.
Scraaape—.
The long shaft dragged across the floor.
Then Gwak Tu’s knees buckled.
Thud—.
Silence engulfed the Inn.
The men in crimson robes stared in disbelief at the sight of their commander kneeling before the young youth.
“C-Commander!”
“Cough—!”
Gwak Tu spat up blood in a violent gush. His face had lost all color, yet his eyes still burned with life.
He looked down at the blade’s tip piercing through his chest.
And only then did he understand.
He had pursued only the trajectory of the left-hand sword from beginning to end.
But what truly embodied the opponent’s mastery was the waist and footwork that drove the blade forward, the movement beneath it all.
“I deemed it an incomplete sword technique….”
Yun Cheon slowly withdrew his blade from Gwak Tu’s chest.
Shhhhk—.
Blood flowed down the blade and dripped onto the floor. Yun Cheon’s calm voice continued.
“I’m still not accustomed to wielding the left sword. I compensated for the remaining half-measure with my footwork and waist.”
Cough—.
Gwak Tu spat blood once more. What lingered at the corner of his mouth was not pain, but bitter admiration.
“…A most peculiar martial art….”
On the second-floor railing, Yalü Hee, who had been holding her breath while observing the duel between Yun Cheon and Gwak Tu, trembled.
‘He suppressed a master at the pinnacle alone, in direct confrontation?!’
Despite the inferiority in inner force, Yun Cheon’s martial prowess appeared to transcend even that.
Yet what remained in her eyes was not the final left-handed sword strike.
That half-step that erased distance by pressing against the ground.
Receiving the spear’s rotation, connecting it through his waist, driving it forward with his feet—that singular thread of movement.
‘The final half-measure wasn’t filled by the sword… it was footwork. That is the true power of footwork….’
Yalü Hee’s grip tightened on the saber in her hand.
It was not jealousy.
For the first time, the distance between where she stood and where Yun Cheon reached became crystalline and clear.
“…Indeed, standing beside you… I can see the path forward.”
It was in that moment.
Gwak Tu’s trembling hand, having accepted defeat, fumbled within his robes and drew something forth.
Not the Guquan Spear, nor the Blood Seal Saber.
A small, crimson cylinder.
“…!”
In an instant, Yun Cheon’s blade flashed toward Gwak Tu’s throat.
But Gwak Tu’s hand was faster.
“Heh heh… if I must die… at least I’ll have sent word….”
Whoosh—!
A blood signal flare.
A distress beacon aimed at the Sura Blood Sect’s main headquarters.
Crimson smoke pierced through the Inn’s ceiling and surged into the night sky. Scarlet flames tore through the darkness, stretching high above.
Yun Cheon’s blade fell one breath too late, severing Gwak Tu’s neck.
Thud—.
Gwak Tu’s face, rolling across the floor, bore a smile mingled with blood.
Standing alone in the center of the Inn, a sword in one hand and a saber in the other, Yun Cheon remained motionless.
“…A monster.”
“The commander… defeated by such a young boy….”
The dozen or so warriors of the Jinguan Pavilion surrounding him still gripped their weapons, yet their blades had already broken. They had just witnessed their commander fall to his knees and lose his head before their very eyes.
Yun Cheon sensed no threat from them. He lowered his right saber and flicked the blood from his left sword once before asking.
“What was that signal flare he just fired?”
“….”
Silence stretched long. A subtle tremor rippled through the warriors of the Jinguan Pavilion. Some exchanged nervous glances. Others’ grips on their weapons began to slacken.
Yet not a single soul dared open their mouth.
It was the final signal their commander had ignited with his dying breath.
The moment he revealed that meaning, even if they survived, the main sect’s blades would be aimed at their necks.
Yun Cheon did not press further. Silence itself was an answer.
A signal sent somewhere. That alone was sufficient.
Then.
Creak—.
The main gate of the Inn swung inward.
Outside, the forces of the Ilwol Trading Company had already encircled the building without a gap. Yu Ha crossed the threshold with an unhurried gait, his folded fan draped across his shoulder.
Behind him, the shadow of Wol No, wreathed in a chilling murderous aura, seeped in like night mist. And following in his wake, another elder slowly entered the Inn.
Disheveled white hair. Garments thick with the scent of medicinal herbs. A heavy acupuncture case clutched in his hand. The elder swept his gaze across the devastation within the Inn, then clicked his tongue with indifference.
It was Saengsa Jjon.
Saengsa Jjon’s gaze lingered briefly upon Yun Cheon, a gruff eye checking for injuries.
“Tsk… unscathed, I see. So where are these children you mentioned were trapped?”
Beside him, Yu Ha gestured toward the remnants with his fan, adding his voice.
“Did you not hear Saengsa Jjon? What are you all doing? Put your weapons down.”
In that instant, the eyes of the remaining men wavered at this unexpected presence.
“S-Saengsa Jjon?”
“H-how has the Venerable One come to this place…?”
At that very moment, a warrior with bloodshot eyes, overcome with desperation, raised his blade.
“Venerable or not, what does it matter! I’ll kill you all—”
The words never finished.
Wol No’s lips parted coldly.
“How dare you.”
Whoosh.
As he swept one hand lightly, a line of light and silence carved through the air. In the next instant, the charging warrior simply collapsed.
Thud.
The severed head rolled across the floor a beat too late. A moment behind, the torso knelt as if in submission, spraying blood.
Peak mastery—no, something beyond it.
The air within the Inn froze cold. The last shred of fighting spirit drained from the remaining men’s fingertips.
Clang. Clatter.
Weapons fell to the floor one by one.
The sound of surrender filled the Inn as resistance crumbled.
At a gesture from Wol No, the warriors of the Ilwol Trading Company herded the remnants to one side. The disarming was methodical and swift.
Yu Ha’s gaze swept slowly across the Inn.
The shattered staircase.
Tangled corpses.
Floorboards soaked in blood.
And Yun Cheon standing in the center of the Inn, with the corpse of Gwak Tu collapsed at his feet.
Yu Ha folded his fan and walked toward Yun Cheon.
“It’s been a while. It seems you’ve finished everything alone—was there really a need to send the Black Iron Squad?”
“Not because of me. The problem is what lies beneath—the children.”
Yu Ha’s pace faltered for half a beat.
“…Sigh, so I’m just supposed to clean up the mess. Well, fine… I’ll make sure to collect my payment in full.”
Yu Ha’s gaze drifted upward toward the ceiling.
The lingering traces of crimson smoke still hung acrid and thick across the night sky.
“That smoke….”
Yu Ha tapped his fan absently as he murmured.
“They’ll see it clearly even from Tianshan.”
Yun Cheon did not answer.
If Gwak Tu had deemed it necessary to report with his dying breath, there could be no other recipient.
At that moment, a small gap opened among the remnants bound by the Ilwol Trading Company’s warriors. From one corner of the Inn, a small shadow carefully squeezed through the gaps between the warriors and stepped forward.
“I’m… not too late, am I?”
Number Nineteen.
The only child in this disguised Inn whose eyes still held the light of life.
The child’s gaze was fixed directly on Yun Cheon. Small feet trembled as they stepped across the blood-soaked floorboards, yet the eyes remained unwavering.
Yun Cheon met that child’s gaze.
When we first encountered each other in the Underground Chamber beneath the Inn — those eyes that had not perished even in that hellish place.
“No. You’re not late.”
Yun Cheon answered, meeting those eyes directly.
“…Did you save this child knowing their constitution?”
Saengsa Jjon asked.
Yun Cheon shook his head.
“Seeing that this child alone had not lost their reason, I suspected they possessed an unusual constitution.”
“The Purple Subtlety Ethereal Body.”
A brief, heavy utterance.
Yun Cheon’s eyes narrowed.
Though I heard the name for the first time, it was far from ordinary.
Yu Ha also stilled the hand holding his fan.
Saengsa Jjon slowly lifted his head.
The old man’s lips parted as he faced Yun Cheon directly.
“Whether or not this child belongs to the Sura Blood Sect, they are born to a fate where they will inevitably become someone’s target. What will you do?”

—————
This chapter is translated by Falnar Novels Team.
Support us by reading on our official site: https://falnarnovels.com
—————