The Legend of Red Cloud - Chapter 103

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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Chapter 103. Yin Moon Body
The sudden return of Ryu drenched in blood stirred a commotion through the Mun Chang-so Residence.
The betrothed of their young mistress had arrived without warning in such a state—it was impossible not to be alarmed.
Physicians from the nearby villages, all of considerable reputation, were summoned in succession, and no small amount of medicinal herbs was expended, yet Ryu remained unconscious.
The wounds were remarkably deep, and he had lost a great deal of blood.
The physicians, before taking their leave, assured them that his life was not in danger, though he would require considerable time to recover.
So Gwang-yeo, who had been gazing intently at Ryu lying motionless with an ashen, bloodless face, turned to Yun Yeo-ok, who had brought him in.
“What has happened?”
“I’m not certain, sir. I went for a walk near the residence to ease my mind, and on my return, I encountered someone carrying the great warrior back to consciousness.”
“You did not see the assailant?”
“No.”
At Yun Yeo-ok’s response, So Gwang-yeo cast a sidelong glance at the bamboo-hatted figure standing motionless within the room.
This person must be the one of whom Yun Yeo-ok had spoken.
Even though he had entered the interior of the residence, the figure did not remove his hat. So Gwang-yeo offered the Clasped Fist Salute.
“On behalf of the Mun Chang-so Family, I offer my gratitude.”
The figure in the bamboo hat merely nodded silently in response. So Gwang-yeo’s eyes narrowed slightly as he pressed further.
“By chance, did you not catch sight of the assailant?”
This time, too, the bamboo-hatted figure answered only by shaking his head.
Though unsatisfying, there was little he could say to the benefactor who had rescued Ryu.
This was why So Gwang-yeo, unable even to extend the hospitality of a guest, merely left word with Yun Yeo-ok to look after Ryu, and departed the chamber.
So Cheong-jin, who had followed him out, spoke.
“Should we not send away this bamboo-hatted figure whose inner strength we cannot discern?”
“The reputation of the Mun Chang-so Family casting out a benefactor is something to fear. With young So Cheon still unfound, there are many quarters from which we must seek assistance—this is not a thing we can afford to make known.”
Only then did So Cheong-jin understand why his elder brother had come out without pressing further, and his anxious expression prevented him from speaking again.
Once So Gwang-yeo, the master of the Mun Chang-so Residence, and So Cheong-jin had entirely withdrawn from the guest chamber, Yucheon Chu-hon, who had remained silent until then, opened his mouth.
“What is the meaning of this?”
“I don’t know. He vanished all of a sudden, so I even summoned Gon-gwi to search for him, and this is what I found.”
“You truly did not see the assailant?”
“No. If I ever lay hands on the bastard, I’ll strip the flesh from his bones and salt him down to hang.”
The vicious words spilling from that beautiful mouth made Yucheon Chu-hon’s shoulders tremble involuntarily.
Yun Yeo-ok was precisely the sort of woman who would do exactly that.
Having shaken off that flicker of fear, Yucheon Chu-hon glanced at Gon-gwi, standing in one corner of the room wearing the bamboo hat, and asked.
“The bamboo hat… the idea was sound, but keeping it on indoors is rather unusual, is it not? Stranger still.”
“If we just exposed that face, they’d figure out something was amiss in a heartbeat. There was no choice.”
Yucheon Chu-hon glanced at Gon-gwi, who continued to stand silently, and turned back to Yun Yeo-ok.
“Does this mean a proper tracking is about to begin?”
One of Gon-gwi’s abilities was the Tracking Art.
But Yun Yeo-ok shook her head at the question.
“No. Gon-gwi can pursue men, but not women.”
“What? Why not?”
“It’s a kind of constraint. A protective system of sorts for the Divine Maidens. The Yin-Yang Ghosts created by a Divine Maiden are useless against women.”
No wonder it had seemed odd that they weren’t summoning Gon-gwi, whose tracking arts surpassed any ordinary tracker—there was this limitation.
“Then this creature is of no use whatsoever?”
First Yun Yeo-ok called Gon-gwi “that one,” and now Yucheon Chu-hon called it “this creature.” Gon-gwi bristled.
“Want to die?”
“Enough of this noise. I’ll just snap your—”
Yucheon Chu-hon’s words cut short.
Without warning, Yun Yeo-ok’s Soft Sword had materialized, pressing rigid against his throat.
“Did you forget? Those who threaten a Yin-Yang Ghost threaten me.”
Her voice, unnervingly soft in a way unlike her, was far more terrifying than any threatening snarl.
She was a Divine Maiden known for her peculiar habit: the angrier she grew, the brighter she smiled; when cutting someone down, she smiled more luminously than at any other moment.
“I—I apologize. Please forgive—”
As Yucheon Chu-hon’s voice trembled, Yun Yeo-ok’s Soft Sword transformed back into a silk sash and vanished into the folds of her waist.
“My forgiveness comes only once.”
“I—I shall remember.”
At Yucheon Chu-hon’s bowed response, Yun Yeo-ok spoke.
“I left that dog-nosed fool behind. By now the acupoint seal should be released, so have him report on the situation when he returns, and keep his mouth shut.”
“That bastard was with you?”
“Yes. It seems he was chasing that thief he mentioned trailing, and ran into the assailant. Dig into it. There’s clearly something more to this.”
“Understood. But about keeping silent—no matter how much we threaten him, that dog-nosed fool might still run his mouth to Nam On’s brat. After all, the creature has been lodging as a Food Guest at the Cheonmyeong Namun.”
“We need to make sure he can’t think thoughts like that. If necessary, cut off an arm. Handle it.”
The way Yun Yeo-ok spoke of severing someone’s limb so casually made Yucheon Chu-hon’s brow furrow without his meaning to, before he caught himself and quickly smoothed his expression.
He didn’t want to give her any reason to fault him.
Fortunately, Yun Yeo-ok seemed not to have noticed his slip, for she said nothing about it.
Eager not to give her any further opening, Yucheon Chu-hon hastily withdrew from the room.
He needed to wait at the path where Gyeongcheon Chu-gwi would return and intercept him there.
Once Yucheon Chu-hon had disappeared, Yun Yeo-ok spoke to Gon-gwi.
“Be careful. Yucheon Chu-hon may look like that, but he’s a master with his name inscribed on the Yeongha Baekwi.”
At her warning, Gon-gwi’s mouth twisted with a bitter taste.
He knew well enough that if they ever clashed one-on-one, he would not come away unscathed.
Noting his reaction, Yun Yeo-ok’s voice sharpened with irritation.
“Have nothing to say?”
“Ah! Yes, I understand.”
Though the Yin-Yang Ghosts that manifested were bound to the Divine Maiden, they possessed not only flesh but also their own will, unlike other ordinary spirits.
Their movements came naturally, and in the case of Dry Ghosts like the one not present here, they retained even the martial power they had possessed before death, completely unchanged.
For this reason, the Yin-Yang Ghosts had to be kept on a tight rein to prevent them from entertaining their own schemes.
No matter that they were bound by the restriction of needing to remain within a hundred paces of the Divine Maiden to sustain their flesh, there was no telling what they might do.
Having thus reminded Gon-gwi of his place, Yun Yeo-ok looked down at Ryu with a measured gaze.
Having watched the recent fight with Yucheon Chu-hon, Yun Yeo-ok could vividly picture the nature of Ryu’s battle from the wounds scattered across his body, without needing to see it directly.
His opponent must have been a considerable master.
Any ordinary martial artist would have had his neck severed before he could properly react to Ryu’s Ghost-Possessed Blade.
Yet Ryu still breathed.
Either there had been reason to keep him alive, or upon sensing her approach, his opponent had fled without delivering the final blow.
If the former, matters grew more complex. If the latter, it was a waste.
She could have sent Gon-gwi after him, torn his limbs apart, flayed his skin, salted it, hung it where the sun shone brightest, and left him to die in maximum agony.
‘The bastard. He attacked my husband. If I ever catch him—’
Gon-gwi, watching her grind her teeth, felt an inexplicable chill and hunched his shoulders.
***
The man in black robes who had fled, abandoning Ryu, barely managed to calm his trembling body by turning his inner strength inward against an inexplicable coldness.
In that moment, he experienced a strange sensation—the recollection of that overwhelming presence that had burst in just before he finished Ryu—but the man in black assigned it no great significance.
He wasn’t even curious about who wielded that presence.
Thinking on the events that had befallen him of late, the world seemed full of inexplicable affairs and eccentrics.
So it would hardly be strange if a master superior to himself appeared suddenly from anywhere.
Thus, the man in black dismissed it as pointless speculation, quickly pushed the thought aside, and entered his destination.
Pushing through what appeared from outside to be merely scattered shrubs in a forest, a rather deep cave came into view.
It had been chosen because it brimmed with cold Yin Energy.
Perhaps it was one of the shadowed places scattered throughout the realm where the purity of Yin ran deepest.
The moment he entered, a bone-chilling cold wrapped around him along with an eerie aura.
As if to shake off that oppressive feeling, the man in black deposited the thief he’d been carrying on his shoulder, dropping him to one side of the cave before moving deeper.
There, a woman lay as if dead.
She was said to rival the legendary beauties—Xi Shi and Wang Zhaojun, who had toppled nations—with her beauty, she who was called the finest beauty of the south.
Yet anyone who saw the woman lying there would say the same thing.
That legendary beauty was nothing. A firefly before the sun.
To such a degree was the beauty of the woman who lay motionless remarkable.
The soft down still on her skin made her appear not yet twenty, and one could only wonder what her appearance would be like once time had passed and she matured fully as a woman.
Now the man in black understood why the Mun Chang-so Family had never allowed her to step outside—not even once.
Yes.
She was none other than So Cheon, the daughter kidnapped from the Mun Chang-so Family.
The man in black, who had been staring with eyes hollow and entranced, tore his gaze away from So Cheon’s nearly magical beauty with tremendous effort.
In truth, beauty was not why he had abducted her.
A Yin Moon Body.
He had chosen her because he had recognized that So Cheon was born with the Yin Moon Body—one who possessed the purest Yin Energy in all the world.
The sole task he had received from that person was to gather everything that held Yin Energy and offer it up.
Thus he had stolen the Thousand-Year Yin Frog from the Dok Cheon Tang Family, and quietly taken the Hundred-Year Seven-Poison Snake from the O Wol Myeong Mun.
Then he had ventured to steal the Hundred-Year He Shou Wu that the Mun Chang-so Family possessed, when he discovered a woman instead.
A woman born with the Yin Moon Body, bearing Yin Energy purer and clearer than anything in the world.
Upon discovering her, whose Yin Energy far exceeded that of the Hundred-Year He Shou Wu, the man in black had unhesitatingly hoisted her onto his shoulders and departed.
Only after leaving did he realize she had not yet fully matured.
But the abduction had already been discovered and caused great commotion, so he could not simply return her and wait for her to mature fully.
Yet he could not present an improperly matured Yin Moon Body woman to that person either.
In the end, the man in black sought out shaded places, hoping to replenish her lacking Yin Energy so that her Yin Moon Body would be completed as swiftly as possible.
Then his wandering through the world in search of strong Yin Energy would finally come to an end.
Imagining that day with a satisfied smile, the man in black turned away from So Cheon, who lay asleep as if dead.
Returning to the mouth of the Dark Cave, the man in black approached the thief he had cast down so roughly.
“Hmm… What am I to do with this wretch?”
He had known that day that this man had infiltrated the Mun Chang-so Residence.
An unlucky fool. Of all times, to scale the same wall as himself on that very night…
Yet the reason he had not acted then was not simply because the man was a fellow Noble Thief like himself, a professional burglar.
It was because he had recognized him as the disciple of Man Byeon-ho-ri, with whom he had once been close.
Years ago, Man Byeon-ho-ri had been caught and killed in a massive manhunt sparked by something he stole after scaling the Cheonmyeong Namun wall.
What exactly Man Byeon-ho-ri had stolen remained undiscovered to this day.
Only that the Cheonmyeong Namun had failed to recover it was known.
For this reason, the Cheonmyeong Namun still employed numerous Tracking Art specialists as Food Guests, pursuing the whereabouts of that vanished item.
This was why experts like Gyeongcheon Chu-gwi remained in such numbers at the Cheonmyeong Namun, a premier martial sect.
In any case, when Man Byeon-ho-ri died so suddenly, his disciple had been unable to complete his training properly.
One pillar of the two great Noble Thief schools of Joong Won had collapsed.
A considerable number of the techniques Man Byeon-ho-ri had possessed were lost to time.
It was in the Mun Chang-so Residence that the man in black had encountered Man Byeon-ho-ri’s half-trained disciple.
Since the boy had not seen his face clearly enough, he had left him be—but then he confirmed that Gyeongcheon Chu-gwi was pursuing the disciple, and he could not simply ignore that.
Information, after all, leaked from the smallest cracks.
So he had brought the man here… but he could not bring himself to take his life.
There was a reason for this hesitation.
Before the man in black had become what he was now, Man Byeon-ho-ri had saved his life at a moment of crisis.
So then…
When the man in black released the Acupoint Seal, the thief slowly opened his eyes.
“Gasp! W-who are you?”
The man bolted upright in alarm, and the man in black spoke to him coldly.
“Don’t make a fool of yourself. Be quiet.”
Sensing the savage intensity in his voice, the thief’s tone immediately grew meek.
“W-who are you, sir?”
“Don’t you remember? Your name was Sam-il, wasn’t it? I saw you once when you were a child, with your master.”
At the man in black’s question, Sam-il’s eyes widened as he stared at him intently.
“G-Gwi Hyeong Sin Tou! M-master!”
Since Sam-il was the disciple of Man Byeon-ho-ri, who had been sworn brothers with Gwi Hyeong Sin Tou, it was natural that he would address him as his master.
“Yes, you fool. But what’s this sorry state you’re in?”
At Gwi Hyeong Sin Tou’s rebuke, Man Byeon-ho-ri’s disciple Sam-il spoke in a voice trembling with shock and excitement.
“H-how is this possible? Do you know how long I’ve been searching for you?”
“Searching for me? Why?”
“My late master left me a riddle, and he said there was no one in all under Heaven but you who could solve it…”
“Man Byeon-ho-ri left a riddle?”
“Yes. It seems he sensed his own end was coming, for he left me a letter. Here…”
As he spoke, Sam-il withdrew a letter from his bosom, and Gwi Hyeong Sin Tou took it from his hands.

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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