The Legend of Red Cloud - Chapter 46

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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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Episode 46. The Second-Best Plan
Did such a thing as a second-best plan truly exist?
Those who fell into Demonic Obsession rarely returned to normalcy.
Either their murderous intent had to be sated by killing people in such numbers that the obsession subsided, or they had to engage in mortal combat with a master of equal or superior ability and complete their enlightenment. Both were virtually impossible.
The martial world was not full of passive victims, and no master of Chang-cheon Swordmaster’s caliber would knowingly walk into such danger.
So to call it a second-best plan was grandiose, but ultimately it amounted to throwing waves of inferior masters at the Tae-geuk Swordmaster until he fell.
And so it proved. Ha-un stepped forward and elaborated.
“Bin-do and the Three Swordsmen of the Southern Darkness, supplemented by the Master of the True Martial Temple and the Seven Swordsmen of True Martial—those will comprise the force. With them, we would have one master at the Approaching Divine Realm and eleven masters at Peak.”
Their power alone would have been sufficient to devastate most minor sects.
But against the Hwagyeong Realm, it was still insufficient.
Grasping the mood in their expressions, Ha-un continued.
“We could draw additional masters at Peak from within Wudang, but given the confined nature of the Cave, we judge skill to outweigh numbers.”
The person Ha-un’s gaze fell upon was Ryu.
As though reading the meaning behind Ha-un’s eyes, Hyeon-un Jinin beside him spoke, turning his own gaze toward Ryu.
“When I sought those worthy of aid in this matter, your captain Yi Hwan, my own disciple, suggested that the Jeoksa Squad might prove invaluable. He offered no certainty—only the possibility.”
Alarm flickered across the faces of the Jeoksa Squad members.
Whatever remarkable feats Ryu had accomplished, the enemy was a man who had ascended to the Hwagyeong Realm and lost his mind.
Yi Song’s protest burst forth immediately.
“That’s madness!”
At Yi Song’s objection, Hyeon-un Jinin smiled faintly, regarding him.
“The captain himself says nothing. Why do you speak out of turn? Have you lost faith in your comrade?”
Yi Song’s words caught in his throat.
Moreover, Ryu, turning with a bewildered expression, displayed the composure Hyeon-un Jinin had described.
From that calm face, Yi Song felt a terrible suspicion take root.
“No—surely you don’t mean—the enemy is in a Demonic Obsession, yes, but he’s at the Hwagyeong Realm!”
At Yi Song’s words, colored with anxiety, Ryu spoke in his characteristic blank tone.
“It’s an order. I can’t refuse. You know that.”
“Why can’t you refuse? That’s exactly what we got that for! Hey, Commander Jang! We use our Refusal Order right now.”
Jang Min-su immediately reached into his coat at Yi Song’s mention of the Command Refusal Order they had received as a reward before. Jwa-ryang and Dong-pil nodded in agreement.
The order in the form of a directive—he pulled it free to invoke it.
But.
“I want to try.”
At Ryu’s words, Jang Min-su’s hand stilled, and Yi Song’s head snapped around.
“What are you saying?”
To Yi Song’s sudden outburst, Ryu replied.
“You don’t encounter the Hwagyeong Realm just anywhere. I want to test myself against someone like that.”
His voice held no wavering—only those cold, descending eyes.
Yi Song, recognizing Ryu’s sincerity, felt his expression harden.
He could guess why.
The Jeoksa Squad members yearned for advancement in realm, and Ryu was no different.
But lately, having found no opponent stronger than himself on any battlefield, Ryu had struggled with his own progress.
And now such an opportunity had presented itself.
Yi Song understood.
That look in Ryu’s eyes was one that would not waver from its resolve.
‘If it’s inevitable.’
“Fine. All right. I’ll go fight the Hwagyeong Realm then. Let’s move.”
The other Jeoksa Squad members, reading the situation swiftly from Yi Song’s sudden shift, began setting down their packs and drawing weapons in preparation for battle. Ryu, a faint smile crossing his lips, spoke.
“I’ll do it alone.”
“Ryu!”
“Captain!”
Gasps of shock erupted from the Jeoksa Squad members, including Yi Song.
Yet Ryu’s resolve did not waver.
To him, Hyeon-un Jinin spoke.
“We had no intention of throwing the entire squad into danger. As Ha-un said, we will have him and Wudang’s masters at his side.”
At Hyeon-un Jinin’s words, Ryu shook his head.
“I will do it alone.”
“That is far too dangerous.”
At Hyeon-un Jinin’s remonstrance, Ryu spoke.

“The cave is narrow, and one’s room to maneuver is constrained. Several people tangled together in such a space would only make things more dangerous.”
To put it kindly, it’s dangerous; to speak plainly, it’s foolish.
In confined spaces, facing a master means fewer numbers are better—ideally, going alone.
The enemy can swing their blade however they wish, but we must wield our weapons without letting allies take damage, so those with lesser skill end up surrendering their own mobility as well.
Still, Hyeon-un Jinin seemed to weigh the opponent’s danger more heavily.
“That’s precisely why we’ve assembled only a small force. Bin-do vouches for the skill of those selected, including the Three Swordsmen of the Southern Ridge.”
“Skill isn’t the issue—it’s the matter of space and coordination.”
At his answer, Hyeon-un Jinin spoke again.
“Space we cannot help, but coordination may have a solution. I can buy you several days. If you use that time to synchronize your movements—”
“We’re facing someone of considerable skill. If a few days of coordination could solve this, you wouldn’t have called on me in the first place.”
At his words, Hyeon-un Jinin fell silent.
Had Wudang been confident, they would have simply enlisted more of their own masters instead of calling on him.
So Hyeon-un Jinin simply regarded him in silence.
Anyone else would have clung desperately, demanding more Wudang masters be assigned.
That the man could stand forth now, saying he’d do it alone without Wudang’s support, showed how formidable the task truly was.
Yet even as he volunteered to face it alone, Hyeon-un Jinin held his gaze steady.
But he felt nothing.
In those cold eyes there was no hint of stubborn folly, no trace of calculated cunning, not even a shred of reckless competitive spirit.
This was not some shallow desire to test himself one-on-one against a master.
After studying that emotionless gaze for a long moment, Hyeon-un Jinin finally spoke.
“Then do as you see fit.”
“Master!”
This time, Ha-un’s cry of alarm burst forth.
For him, it felt as though their only chance were slipping away.
Though he had not voiced it, Yi Hwan, who had mentioned the Jeoksa Squad, added one more thought.
‘He might well be at the Approaching Divine Realm.’
It was the reason Wudang had agreed to the Jeoksa Squad’s dispatch.
Even as Ha-un’s objections erupted at the thought that this master of the Approaching Divine Realm might not join them after all, the Sect Leader approved his solo operation.
Only then did he lower his gear and check his weapons, while the Jeoksa Squad members approached with concern etched on their faces.
“You really mean to do this alone?”
“…”
To his question, the man simply nodded without speaking, and Yi Song continued.
“Then come with me instead. At least you won’t have to worry about our coordination being off.”
Before the words had even finished, Jwa-ryang stepped forward.
“Forgive me, but I’d be better than Song. Come with me.”
“Song’s strength may be superior, but my agility is faster. Everyone knows that in tight spaces like a cave, speed of movement matters most. So come with me, Commander.”
It was Jang Min-su who pulled Dong-pil back as he tried to push past Jwa-ryang.
“The opponent is at the Hwagyeong Realm. Ordinary attacks won’t land. While you aim for one decisive strike, I’ll hold the defense. No one here has better defensive capability than I do. You know that.”
The five recruits watched in astonishment as the Jeoksa Squad members each volunteered to go.
They knew the deep camaraderie that had formed among the Squad, knew their frighteningly strong unity—but this time, to volunteer was to guarantee death.
That they would still vie to go struck the newcomers as nothing short of extraordinary.
Under their watching eyes, he shook his head.
“If I go alone, I’m confident I won’t be caught. I may not kill him, but I won’t die either. So this time, I go alone.”
“But—”
As Yi Song moved to object again, he caught his shoulder.
“I won’t die. Don’t worry.”
With only those words, he drew the Flowing Blade and entered the mine.
The darkness that first enveloped him proved no real obstacle.
He possessed the ability to see far and clear through the gloom.
So what truly concerned him was not darkness, but the possibility that his opponent lay hidden, waiting to ambush.
If a master this formidable struck from hiding, he might not even mount a proper defense before finding himself in mortal danger.
Some might ask how someone who had lost consciousness could mount any ambush at all, but habit is a fearsome thing.
Without conscious deliberation, the body’s ingrained experience would dictate his actions—and naturally, concealment and attack would flow from that same wellspring.
“Hup!”
With a sharp breath, he slid backward, and before him erupted a vision like a torrent of stars cascading down.
He had heard of it.
The Seven Star Fist.
A technique said to channel the essence of constellations?
The fist-force that poured toward him carried devastating power without exception.
And the speed at which it approached was terrifyingly fast.
Judging that retreat alone would not resolve the situation, Ryu positioned the Flowing Blade before him.
Whoooosh.
With that rush, the Flowing Blade rose forward, cleaving through the stars and beginning its advance.
***
Three hours had passed since Ryu entered the mine.
The sun, which had hung at the zenith, now rested halfway beyond the Western Mountains, and darkness crept slowly across the crimson twilight.
The members of the Jeoksa Squad, their lips parched and dry, kept wetting them with saliva—their expressions suggesting they might charge into the mine at any moment.
The disciples of Wudang encircling the mine entrance showed no less tension than the Jeoksa Squad.
They knew all too well who they were meant to stop.
That high state of tension dissolved in an instant.
Ryu walked out slowly, the Flowing Blade slung across his waist as always.
There was one who reached him faster than the Jeoksa Squad members who rushed forward together.
“What happened?”
To the question from Hyeon-un Jinin, who had hurried over using Lightness Martial Art, Ryu replied with clear signs of fatigue.
“He is in Energy Regulation.”
“E-Energy Regulation?”
Seeing that Hyeon-un Jinin did not immediately understand, Ryu continued.
“Since there is no demonic taint in the energy being released, it should be fine.”
Hyeon-un Jinin’s eyes widened as he belatedly grasped what Ryu meant.
“Is that truly so?”
…….
Ryu nodded silently, and Hyeon-un Jinin, his face radiant with joy, rushed into the cave.
Ha-un and the elders of Wudang hurried after him in a flurry.
The members of the Jeoksa Squad, now finally able to move, crowded around Ryu.
“You’re alright… Oh, no! Such deep wounds! Hee-jun.”
At Yi Song’s cry of alarm, Hee-jun rushed over with the First Aid Kit.
Ryu’s wounds began to be treated amid the clamor of the squad members.
They were deeper and more numerous than any wounds they had ever seen on Ryu before.
The expressions of the Jeoksa Squad members darkened with worry.
***
Under the pretext of being benefactors to Wudang, the Jeoksa Squad members unpacked their belongings in rooms they had obtained at a branch temple of Wudang in Juksan.
The stated reason was that they could not simply let their benefactors leave, but every member of the Jeoksa Squad knew the truth.
What was happening now was, in essence, confinement.
Wudang would likely release the Jeoksa Squad only after deciding how to conclude this matter.
Of course, before that, they would have to swear an oath of silence or pledge to tell the story according to Wudang’s account.
In any case, when they learned that the Tae-geuk Swordmaster had fallen into Demonic Obsession, they had anticipated that certain restrictions would be placed upon them.
Still, since Wudang had not abandoned propriety, this was something the Jeoksa Squad could be grateful for.
It was distasteful, but that was the reality.
Instead, the hospitality was not neglected at all.
While not quite at the level of temples, Wudang—a Daoist sect that also abstains from meat, and moreover one called the ancestor of Daoism—served meat in generous portions.
The wine provided was also of considerable quality and offered in abundance.
Ryu ate and drank from it without hesitation.
The Jeoksa Squad members, who had hesitated and wondered if something might have been put in it, found their caution rendered futile.
In any case, following Ryu’s example, the entire Jeoksa Squad eventually became absorbed in eating and drinking.
Wudang’s hospitality was that lavish.

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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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