The Legend of Red Cloud - Chapter 104

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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 104. Two Secret Teachings

Gyeongcheon Chu-gwi’s eyes darkened as he set down the letter.
He could not immediately grasp what was written there.

He could not fathom what it meant.
Like Sam Il, Gyeongcheon Chu-gwi could decode nothing save the final passage—”Request for Aid, Gyeongcheon Chu-gwi”—which plainly asked him for his help.
Sam Il asked carefully, seeing Gyeongcheon Chu-gwi troubled by the riddle.
“Can you… make sense of it?”
“No, I have no idea what it means. But the fact that it asks me for help suggests I’m capable of solving it. I’ll need to take my time and think on it carefully.”
“Yes, sir. Please, I beg you, Master. All of my sect’s secret techniques must be recorded in this letter’s instructions. I cannot fully inherit my sect’s legacy without mastering them.”
Gyeongcheon Chu-gwi nodded to Sam Il, who clasped his hands in supplication.
He could not refuse, given his bond with Man Byeon Ho Ri, who had entrusted him with this letter.
Moreover, if he found where such secrets were hidden, it would bring him gain as well.
There was no harm in him claiming a thing or two for himself.
So he had no thought of refusing.
He would repay the debt he owed Man Byeon Ho Ri, bestow another kindness on his disciple Sam Il, and profit himself in the bargain—all at once.
In Kangho, where every step is treacherous ice, to sow kindness is to prepare oneself for whatever may come.
Was he not living proof of that very truth?
Had Man Byeon Ho Ri not saved him, Gyeongcheon Chu-gwi would never have spared Sam Il, his disciple.
So then…
“Very well. Don’t worry yourself.”
“Thank you, Master. Thank you.”
Watching Sam Il bow so deeply his forehead nearly brushed the ground, Gyeongcheon Chu-gwi’s gaze softened somewhat.
Gyeongcheon Chu-gwi had never taken a disciple.
Not by design—but when he had resolved to do so, he had met that one.
The one who had given him new life, granted him power beyond his wildest dreams, and whom he now served as master.
There had been no time for disciples. He had to scour the world for anything possessed of pure Yin energy and send it to that one.
For that reason, the dead friend’s disciple did not feel like a stranger.
That was why Gyeongcheon Chu-gwi’s eyes had softened for the first time in ages.
But it was brief. When Sam Il looked toward the back of the cave and asked his question, Gyeongcheon Chu-gwi’s gaze turned icy.
“But what is in there, sir? I feel a most strange energy—cold and clear at once.”
“Don’t think of it. You must never set foot in that place. In fact, don’t even give it a second thought. If you break this rule—and I don’t care if you are Man Byeon Ho Ri’s disciple—I will not spare you!”
Sam Il quickly averted his gaze and bowed his head at Gyeongcheon Chu-gwi’s words, uttered in a voice as cutting and bitter as a winter gale.
“Yes? Ah! Yes. I won’t even glance that way, Master. I swear it!”
His casual tone and manner gave little real assurance, but Gyeongcheon Chu-gwi saw no point in pressing further now; instead, he issued one more warning.
“Remember—remember well.”
“Yes, Master!”
Only when Sam Il bowed again did Gyeongcheon Chu-gwi finally release his cold stare.
***
Yucheon Chu-hon blocked the path of Gyeongcheon Chu-gwi, who was on his way back to the Mun Chang-so House, head tilted in thought.
“G-Great Master!”
Gyeongcheon Chu-gwi, startled, hastily raised his hands in a Clasped Fist Salute, and Yucheon Chu-hon grinned widely at him.
“Ah, Gaeko. Let’s have a word, shall we?”
“A w-word, sir?”
“Yes. Very quietly, very seriously.”
His mouth twisted in a grin, yellowed teeth bared, but the eyes fixed on Gyeongcheon Chu-gwi gleamed the pale yellow of a beast eyeing its prey.
Gyeongcheon Chu-gwi, who knew all too well how dangerous that signal was, shook his head.
“F-Forgive me, but I… I have urgent b-business to attend to…”
“Oh no, no. If you have urgent business, do go. Of course, you’ll leave your head behind—your body can go.”
As Yucheon Chu-hon spoke, he drew the Yucheon Chu across his palm, and Gyeongcheon Chu-gwi was truly afraid.
So changing his answer was nothing at all.
“O-Of course, no m-matter how busy, your w-word is law, s-sir. Yes, of course. I’ll c-come with you.”
Unable to tear his eyes from the Yucheon Chu in his own hands, Gyeongcheon Chu-gwi’s words tumbled out in reversed order. Yucheon Chu-hon’s smile deepened slightly as he walked toward a nearby forest.
Following him into the woods, Gyeongcheon Chu-gwi’s eyes wavered like a sail upon a churning sea.
After his grave conversation with Yucheon Chu-hon, when Gyeongcheon Chu-gwi returned to the Mun Chang-so House, he gave not even a glance toward the guest quarters where Pung Ryu was staying.
Of course, he said nothing whatsoever about the events that had unfolded during their pursuit.
When Nam On pressed him for answers, he insisted he had been separated and knew nothing of why Pung Ryu had been attacked.
Gyeongcheon Chu-gwi could not forget the blood-spattered face of Yucheon Chu-hon as he dragged out a wild boar from who-knows-where and methodically pounded it with the Yucheon Chu before his eyes.
For in that boar being beaten to pulp, he saw himself.
Besides, hiding it wouldn’t harm the Cheonmyeong Namun or Nam On in any way.
So…….
Rationalizing his own deliberate silence, Gyeongcheon Chu-gwi emerged from Nam On’s interrogation and questioning—only to freeze like a stone guardian before Nam On’s quarters.
Yucheon Chu-hon was waiting, leaning against the wall across from Nam On’s door.
Given Yucheon Chu-hon’s cultivation and ability, there was no possibility whatsoever that he hadn’t heard the conversation happening inside.
So if he’d broken the oath and spoken of it…….
Gyeongcheon Chu-gwi, sweat running cold down his back, watched as Yucheon Chu-hon slowly raised the Yucheon Chu and drew it across his throat.
In response, Gyeongcheon Chu-gwi made the gesture of sewing his lips shut.
It meant he would never speak a word.
Yucheon Chu-hon, regarding him with one more fierce glare, turned back toward the room where Jeok Sa was staying.
As Yucheon Chu-hon entered, the room was saturated with Ghost Energy that made the hairs stand on end.
The source was Yun Yeo-ok.
She was chanting an incantation he couldn’t quite make out, weaving intricate hand seals as she went.
After a moment—
“Manifestation. Gon Gwi!”
At Yun Yeo-ok’s sharp cry, black energy surged up from the floor, then quickly took on human form.
It was Gon Gwi.
Now that he thought about it, Gon Gwi had been with Yun Yeo-ok when he’d gone to meet Gyeongcheon Chu-gwi, but for some reason it seemed she had released the manifestation and summoned it again.
After ending the summoning ritual, Yun Yeo-ok shook her hands out wearily, and Yucheon Chu-hon made his report.
“Gyeongcheon Chu-gwi’s silence appears secure. I’ve confirmed he hasn’t reported to Nam On either.”
At Yucheon Chu-hon’s words, Yun Yeo-ok nodded and turned to face Gon Gwi, who had just fully manifested.
“What did you find?”
“I returned to the place where we first found this man, but I could locate no trace of the beast-man’s direction of flight or the method used to escape.”
At Gon Gwi’s voice, eerily resonant as though rising from the depths of the earth, Yucheon Chu-hon’s shoulders trembled.
Each time he heard it, that damp, hair-raising quality took considerable effort to grow accustomed to.
Unlike Yucheon Chu-hon, Yun Yeo-ok’s expression remained composed as she asked her question.
“You’re certain?”
“Within the scope of my search, yes. The presence was definitely there, but I found no trace whatsoever of the direction or method of his escape.”
At Gon Gwi’s answer, Yun Yeo-ok’s brow furrowed in displeasure.
All the effort expended—the complex process of releasing Gon Gwi from manifestation and re-summoning him, the vast expenditure of vital energy it consumed—had yielded nothing.
“A man who leaves no trace even for Gon Gwi to follow…….”
At Yun Yeo-ok’s murmur, Gon Gwi continued in that distinctively damp voice.
“I found no trace, but there is one thing that troubles me.”
“Troubles you?”
“I sensed a remarkably powerful Ghost Energy at the scene.”
“What do you mean? I felt nothing there.”
At Yun Yeo-ok’s puzzled question, Gon Gwi replied.
“I too felt nothing when I first found this man. But when I returned to examine the scene this time, I discovered filthy Ghost Energy clinging everywhere.”
“Filthy Ghost Energy?”
“It seemed to be Black Ghost Energy—cursed energy.”
That explained why nothing was felt initially.
Black Ghost Energy leaves no trace when first manifested, making it difficult to detect, but after twelve hours pass it begins to emit Ghost Energy in massive quantities.
Viscous, unpleasant energy that churns and roils, just as Gon Gwi had described as filthy.
Of course, those who haven’t properly trained in Ghost Energy would struggle to tell the difference.
For ordinary people, whether the Ghost Energy is pure or foul, it all feels equally unpleasant and eerie.
The problem was that only one place in the world possessed those capable of using Black Ghost Energy.
“Surely not… the Paramita Teaching!”
At the note of shock in Yun Yeo-ok’s voice, Gon Gwi nodded.
“Yes. Only they can use Black Ghost Energy.”
“But didn’t they disappear a thousand years ago?”
“That’s correct. After being driven onto the desolate plateau of Cheon Chuk by the Haenam Geom-mun, with the aid of Potala Palace and the empire of Jinjin, they haven’t been seen since.”
Come to think of it, around that same period, the Suramil Teaching, to which Yun Yeo-ok belonged, suffered the exact same fate.
The difference was that while the Paramita Teaching fell to the Haenam Geom-mun, who had the support of Potala Palace and Jinjin, the Suramil Teaching chose to merge with the Haenam Geom-mun instead.
They chose to survive in shame rather than perish with honor.
The Secret Teaching, already driven from Joong Won, clung to survival in Haenam—only to vanish even from there.
No one understood the pain of that wound better than Yun Yeo-ok.
For she was the Divine Priestess of the Suramil Teaching, the one through whom the transmission lived on through memory.
Though she lived in the present world, her mind held two thousand years of accumulated knowledge and memory of the Suramil Teaching—all of it preserved through her.
Not merely memory.
The Divine Priestess’s abilities were transmitted along with it.
This is why the Four Yin-Yang Ghosts—four spirits bound by contract across four centuries by the Divine Priestesses of old—faithfully obey Yun Yeo-ok’s commands.
Thus the Suramil Teaching survived.
Merely by wearing the face of a branch of the Haenam Geom-mun.
Yun Yeo-ok’s brow tightened as that bitter memory rose before her.
The world believed the Paramita Teaching had been utterly destroyed.
And not merely rumor—the memories of Divine Priestesses passed down to Yun Yeo-ok confirmed it.
Yet without warning, Black Ghost Energy from the Paramita Teaching had surfaced.
Yun Yeo-ok knew that Black Ghost Energy could neither spontaneously arise nor accidentally revive.
It could only be wielded through the Paramita Teaching’s unique Secret Teaching arts—the traditional method alone.
Even the Suramil Teaching, which held unshakeable faith that it stood supreme in all matters of Ghost Energy, could not produce Black Ghost Energy; that was the proof.
Then the Paramita Teaching, a thousand years ago, had not truly been suffocated—its lineage had persisted somewhere, quietly, all this time.
“Stubborn bastards….”

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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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