Reincarnation of the Cloud Dragon - Chapter 83

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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 83.
“…let me see. Seol Young and the children.”
The Physician’s Quarters Backyard carried a different quality than the tense air of the Administrative Office.
Beneath the shade of a tree sat a low wooden platform, where five or six children gathered in a circle, with Seol Young at the center.
“Is this how you wrap it?”
“Yes. You’re doing well.”
Myeong Jin sat close beside her knee, carefully binding a bandage around a child’s arm. The child kept his eyes wide open throughout, watching only Myeong Jin’s hands as the knot was tied.
“How do you read this one?”
Each child held a slip of paper in their hands.
A single character was written in small script on each.
They were written in Seol Young’s hand.
“That’s the character for ‘bright’—see how it has both sun and moon together in it?”
“What does it mean?”
“It means bright like the sun and moon together.”
As I entered the backyard, several of the children flinched and clutched their slips tightly against their chests.
Myeong Jin lifted his head. He greeted me with a loud voice.
“The Sect Leader is here!”
Seol Young also slowly raised her head.
“Ah, Benefactor! You’ve come?”
A faint smile spread across her lips.
Her pallid face, which had borne the clear marks of illness, now showed renewed vitality.
“How are the children faring, Miss Seol Young?”
My question was brief.
“…Only three have recovered their voices so far.”
Her answer was equally composed.
“The rest—when I call their names, they look at me. Even that is a great step forward.”
Her hand gently brushed the hair of the small child sitting beside her. The child blinked and opened his eyes again.
Compared to when they had been hidden in the underground chamber beneath the disguised inn at Jinguan Pavilion, they had improved considerably.
Myeong Jin finished tying the final knot of the bandage and added in a small voice.
“Seol Young gave each of the children a name. They all start with the character for ‘bright.'”
“Myeong Jin takes good care of the children.”
This time Seol Young gently brushed Myeong Jin’s hair.
The tips of his ears flushed red, but he did not pull away.
I looked down at Myeong Jin.
A child who shared the protection of Kunlun that I had received with the other children.
‘…He acts with righteousness without even understanding its meaning.’
The child whose eyes had not lost their light even when first dragged from that hellish underground chamber at Jinguan Pavilion. That light was now being used in a different form.
The masters of Kunlun that I knew would have gladly accepted children who had lost their way and their names.
“…You are doing very well.”
My voice was low but steady.
Myeong Jin’s ears flushed deeper, yet his gaze remained unwavering.
Seol Young glanced up at Yun Cheon.
“Please visit us occasionally, Sect Leader. The children should know who saved them.”
Yun Cheon nodded briefly.
“I shall. Do not overexert yourself, Miss Seol.”
As I turned to leave, I noticed Seol Young’s hand resting atop a child’s head.
Those fingertips that had once crumbled the very shelves of the Inner Library now tended to the children with care.
Seol Young’s hands were no longer hands that stole warmth.
On the way back to the Administrative Office, So Ryong added quietly from behind.
“Ah, and the items sent by the Inspection Bureau arrived at the Main Gate just moments ago. The quantity is considerable.”
“Your accounting is swift.”
“And… there is one more thing…”
So Ryong’s tone shifted slightly.
When I reached the entrance to the Administrative Office, I saw the reason.
Chui Geom Yi Mok leaned against the wall, swirling a wine bottle, with Yalü Hyeon standing beside him.
He was not in his usual sweat-drenched attire. He had bathed and changed into neat martial robes since dawn, yet he still wore his training ring.
A sealed envelope hung from his hand.
Yi Mok smiled faintly and looked at me.
“Sect Leader. This fellow has been pestering me since dawn, saying he wished to see you.”
With that, he took a sip of wine and stepped back.
Yalü Hyeon awkwardly stepped forward. The hand holding the envelope was tense.
“Sect Leader. Might you spare me a moment?”
“Come in.”
Once inside the Administrative Office, Yalü Hyeon stood before the desk in silence for a long time. So Ryong, sensing the moment, quietly stepped back toward the wall.
I did not press him. Soon, Yalü Hyeon placed the envelope on the desk with both hands.
The seal impressed upon its surface caught my eye first.
‘The emblem of the Guangfeng Yalü Family… indeed.’
The sender was Yalü Cheok.
Yalü Hyeon bowed his head.
“Sect Leader. I am aware that delivering this falls outside my proper duties.
However…”
Yalü Hyeon took a breath.
“My elder brother sent this by private correspondence. Though it bears the name of the main family, the Family Head does not yet know of this letter’s existence.”
I opened the envelope and examined its contents.
The letter was brief.
In the name of the Guangfeng Yalü Family, it extended an invitation to Yun Cheon, Leader of the Black Dragon Gang.
The date was the Autumn Equinox. The location was the main family estate.
A brief explanation noted that disciples from families with ties to the Guangfeng Yalü Family would attend to exchange courtesies, and that a martial exchange would take place among the ranked disciples following the Fengyun Bang rankings.
At the end of the letter was Yalü Cheok’s handwriting, neatly inscribed.
However, only his personal seal was affixed—not the family’s official emblem.
The eldest son of the Guang Feng Yalü Family had sent an invitation to the Martial Arts Tournament without the family head’s approval.
“An invitation to the Martial Arts Tournament… Did you plan this, Yalü Hyeon?”
“…Yes. I will explain the circumstances from now on.”
Yalü Hyeon’s voice trembled. This was where the real story began.
“My sister… is being treated as a disgrace by the main family.”
His lips tightened for a moment before opening again.
“When word reached the family that my sister—whom they had cast aside—was serving as an instructor at some third-rate gang in the countryside, the family head… in his fury, summoned the Wind Demon Squad. He ordered them to break her legs if necessary and drag her back.”
Yun Cheon’s eyes grew quiet and still.
“My eldest brother stopped him. He barely managed to persuade the family head, and instead of the Wind Demon Squad, had me sent instead. And since then, to quell the family head’s anger… he chose this method.”
Yalü Hyeon’s shoulders trembled once.
“If at the Martial Arts Tournament… the Sect Leader demonstrates his strength before the family head, then Father’s thoughts about my sister will surely… change!”
His voice grew louder. Determination and desperation poured out all at once.
“If the family head witnesses the Sect Leader’s martial prowess firsthand, he will understand that my sister’s place is not merely some countryside gang. Please…!”
Yalü Hyeon bowed deeply before the table.
A brief silence fell over the Administrative Office.
Yun Cheon placed the envelope back down on the table. Then, quietly but clearly, he spoke.
“…No. You’re mistaken.”
Yalü Hyeon’s head snapped up.
“What… why…!”
His face hardened. His eyes held disbelief.
“Surely you’re not lacking confidence, are you!?”
Yun Cheon looked directly at Yalü Hyeon.
“I will attend the Martial Arts Tournament.”
Yalü Hyeon’s breath caught.
“But the one who will prove herself at that gathering is not me.”
“…What?”
“She has already cultivated the strength to prove herself. She obtained the Wind God’s Dance from the Inner Library of the Demonic Way Hall and perfected the Guang Feng technique as her own. She subdued you—sent by the main family—in a single exchange. Who walked every step of that path?”
Yalü Hyeon’s eyes widened.
“Yalü Hee herself.”
Yun Cheon spoke calmly. And because of that, his words carried greater weight.
“For me to step forward would not be respect. Rather, it would bind Yalü Hee to my shadow. Your sister Yalü Hee walked out of the Guang Feng Yalü Family on her own feet and found her own path. It is right that Yalü Hee herself proves her martial way to the main family.”
The determination crumbled from Yalü Hyeon’s face.
In its place, another emotion rose.
Shock, and shame.
He had thought he was worried about his sister. He had believed he was trying to protect her. But what he had actually done was beg for someone stronger to step forward in his sister’s stead.
This outsider, the Sect Leader, trusted his sister more deeply than he did.
Yalü Hyeon’s lips trembled.
“I….”
That was when it happened.
A faint presence stirred from the direction of the Administrative Office door.
The door was not completely shut. Beyond the gap, someone stood.
Yalü Hyeon turned around.
Yalü Hee stood at the doorway. He couldn’t tell when she had arrived. Yet her eyes were already glistening, and her lips were pressed firmly shut.
Yalü Hee took a step into the Administrative Office.
She looked at Yun Cheon once. Whatever lay in that gaze, I received it with composure.
Then she shifted her eyes toward Yalü Hyeon.
“…Hyeon.”
The shock and shame etched across her brother’s face were reflected perfectly in her eyes.
“Yun Cheon’s words are right.”
Yalü Hee’s voice was low and measured.
“I’m grateful for your consideration, but I am a martial artist. To a martial artist, that isn’t respect.”
Yalü Hee took a moment to steady her breathing.
“I didn’t want to be treated as the daughter of the Guang Feng Yalü Family, so I left my clan to walk the path of a martial artist.”
Yalü Hee met her brother’s gaze directly.
“So I will prove it. By myself.”
In that moment, Yalü Hyeon realized for the first time how little he truly knew his sister.
His head bowed deeply.
“…I am ashamed.”
His voice wavered.
“I thought I was worried about you. But what I actually did was try to place the Leader in your position instead of you.”
Yalü Hyeon’s shoulders trembled once.
“I didn’t trust you.”
Yalü Hee placed her hand on her brother’s shoulder. It was not a reproaching hand. Simply a hand laid upon him.
“Hyeon.”
“…Yes.”
“I understand the heart behind your concern. The direction was simply a little off.”
Yalü Hee’s voice carried its usual measured tone. Yet her eyes as she looked upon her brother held something different.
“I don’t wish to return as the daughter of the Guang Feng Yalü Family. However, displaying my blade before the people of the Guang Feng Yalü Family is another matter entirely. I will claim that place.”
Yalü Hyeon lifted his head. He looked directly at his sister’s face.
“…I will go as well.”
The tremor had left his voice.
“Not as a member of the Guang Feng Yalü Family. I will go as a guest of the Black Dragon Gang, as a martial artist in my own right. I have learned much in this place. So I too wish to show Father what I have become.”
A faint smile bloomed at the corner of Yalü Hee’s lips. Then she turned her gaze toward Yun Cheon.
I gave a light nod.
“Good. There’s roughly a month until the Autumn Equinox.”
So Ryong, who had been standing quietly by the wall, stepped forward. As if he had been waiting for this moment all along, merely watching for his cue, he carefully opened his mouth.
“Leader, if I may be so bold as to speak.”
“Speak.”
“The Guang Feng Yalü Family’s martial tournament is not merely a gathering where a handful of junior disciples cross blades within the clan. It is an official event held by a family that occupies one of the seats among the Twelve Orthodox Families—people from other Twelve Orthodox Families and influential clans will attend. In other words, it will become a gathering where the young masters ranked high on the Fengyun Bang assemble all at once.”
So Ryong drew a breath and continued.
“On the surface, it’s a friendly martial arts gathering, but make no mistake—it’s a fierce competition for establishing hierarchy within the families. The clans measure each other’s strength, weave connections, and sometimes even arrange betrothals.
It’s an opportunity to draw rising talents to your side, or conversely, to crush those who’ve fallen from favor. By day’s end, the pecking order among the Demonic Cult’s influential families will be rewritten.”
Yalü Hee’s eyes darkened.
It was the truth.
As a child, whenever the main house held a martial arts gathering, the patriarch would spend days beforehand deliberating who to field and how to match them against opponents.
Those who ascended the platform and claimed victory became the family’s pride, while those who fell became its shame.
So Ryong spoke carefully.
“To put it another way… if the Black Dragon Gang takes a place at that gathering, it signals that we’re among the most noteworthy of the rising powers. True, we haven’t received an official invitation from the patriarch, but this is an excellent opportunity. Should you attend this martial arts gathering, the news alone will spread throughout the Cult.”
“I see.”
Yun Cheon’s eyes sharpened imperceptibly.
So Ryong was right. For the Yalü Family, it was merely a public stage to save face, but for the Black Dragon Gang, it was a stepping stone to the next level.
“We’ll attend the gathering.”
There was no hesitation in Yun Cheon’s voice.
“Myself, Yalü Hee, and Yalü Hyeon. The invitation allows four attendees. One spot remains. Do you have someone in mind?”
So Ryong let a subtle smile play at his lips.
“I’d like to go myself, but I can’t abandon my duties as administrator while you’re away. Actually, this morning Kang Hui came to me hesitantly and let slip a word—he heard Yalü Hyeon was returning to the main house and asked if he could tag along.”
“Kang Hui… a stray who’s grown restless, wanting just one glimpse beyond the walls of an influential family.”
Yun Cheon paused to consider, then nodded.
“Jin So Wol is injured, you have duties here, and Yi Mok’s age doesn’t fit. That leaves only him. I’ll bring Kang Hui. He might even climb higher in the Feng Yun Ranking’s top ninety. We’ll sharpen his skills before the Autumn Equinox.”

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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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