The Legend of Red Cloud - Chapter 52

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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 52. A Trap Within a Trap
Among the Jeok Sa Jo members, Yi Song caught a brief glance of the Taegeuk Sword King sitting at ease on one side.
“I suspect it might be because of the tall one who followed us…….”
Jeok Sa, who had cast a sidelong glance at the Taegeuk Sword King at Yi Song’s words, shook his head.
“The strategist Gong Chan designed this operation. A man like him wouldn’t lock someone away like this—he’d find a use for them no matter who they were.”
It was a harsh assessment, but Yi Song found no reason to object.
In truth, countless men had fallen meaninglessly under the operations Gong Chan had devised.
He had a tendency to regard the deaths of martial artists as negligible if it served his purpose.
It had reached the point where people openly said that Gong Chan’s pen was written not with ink, but with the lives of Maeng Ui Dan warriors.
Yet Gong Chan retained his position as strategist of the Maeng Ui Dan because, since his appointment, victories had outnumbered defeats.
It was decidedly better results than his predecessors.
Before Gong Chan’s arrival, defeats had accounted for seventy percent of engagements.
The Hyeol Gwi Dae’s assaults had been relentless, and the Maeng Ui Dan had barely managed to withstand them.
But now the Maeng Ui Dan was the one pressing forward more aggressively.
In particular, the frequency of offensive operations through the Jeok Myeol Dae had increased considerably.
Of course, the casualties suffered by the Jeok Myeol Dae had tripled compared to before Gong Chan’s appointment.
“Still, what’s the objective of this operation? Does anyone know?” Dong Pil asked.
To his question, Jang Min Su, who officially held the position of commander of the Jeok Sa Jo, shook his head, as did Yi Song.
Like Dong Pil’s doubt, this operation had not disclosed its objective.
They had no idea what they had marched out for.
It was entirely unlike the precedent they had followed, where at least a surface objective had always been announced, even if the actual purpose differed.
To Dong Pil’s bewilderment, Jwa Ryang offered a sharp retort.
“Don’t you know the objective? It’s simple—survive, no matter what.”
At Jwa Ryang’s words, Dong Pil pouted, but he offered no further protest.
There was truth in what had been said.
After all, the objective of everyone in the Maeng Ui Dan on this operation, not just the Jeok Sa Jo members, was precisely that.
Of course, most of the many Maeng Ui Dan warriors deployed were as ignorant of the operation’s true goal as the Jeok Sa Jo members themselves.
Naturally, the anxiety that arose from this ignorance ran high.
The Maeng Ui Dan warriors compressed and channeled that anxiety into heightened resolve.
With the enemy’s morale thus elevated beyond its usual state, the Hyeol Gwi Dae warriors arrayed across the Hwan Do could not help but feel swept by unease.
The current flowing from their opponents felt different.
Time slipped away as both sides remained locked in this high tension.
The Maeng Ui Dan, having advanced first, should have made some move for the Hyeol Gwi Dae to respond to—yet the Maeng Ui Dan made no movement at all.
After the hours had passed this way, both sides faced the coming of night.
Though not quite as bright as daylight, campfires flickered throughout, and camp was established.
Both sides set their encampments merely fifty leagues or so behind their main positions—a ludicrous situation—yet neither the Maeng Ui Dan nor the Hyeol Gwi Dae showed any inclination to withdraw their warriors.
As the deep hours of night arrived, there were those who slipped into the Hwan Do, unseen by the warriors of either side.
“Wait here.”
“But…….”
“I understand your concern. But we cannot appear cowardly before our opponent, can we?”
The calm voice was oddly familiar to the ear.
Slowly, as moonlight fell upon him, the figure resolved into the strategist Gong Chan.
At his words, his guard withdrew, and Gong Chan moved deeper into the forest of the Hwan Do.
There was someone waiting there, having arrived beforehand.
But it was not the person Gong Chan had expected.
At the sight of Gong Chan’s expression of mild surprise, the young man who approached slowly opened his mouth.
“At last we meet.”
Gong Chan’s eyes grew heavy and dark as he regarded the young man greeting him warmly.
“It seems the Grand Master Moyong Sang will not be coming after all.”
“Ah! Yes. The Chong Sa Moyong has stepped down from his position. It is my humble fortune to have inherited that seat. All thanks to the Grand Master’s efforts.”
Gong Chan understood perfectly the true meaning behind the young man’s light bow and words.
That Moyong Sang had taken responsibility for the string of defeats and relinquished his post as Chong Sa.
The identity of his counterpart also became clear.
Among the renowned commanders of the Hyeol Gwi Dae, there was but one young man of this sort.
“Then you must be Gwan Xiao Xia.”
At Gong Chan’s words, a smile bloomed at the corner of the young man’s mouth.
“That is correct. I am Gwan Hong.”
Though not born of a celebrated strategist’s family, his mentor had been a man of uncommon brilliance.
The Gunma Rim, to which the Hyeol Gwi Dae belonged, calls its military commander a Ma Ryeong.
The Ma Ryeong before the current one is considered the greatest in Gunma Rim’s history.
His name was Gu Yeol.
He was not born into the family of a renowned Scholar either.
Unlike Gwan Hong before them, he had never served under a celebrated master.
His origins lay not in the Kangho, but in the bureaucracy.
He had served as a Grand Scholar at the Hanrim Academy, where the nation’s greatest minds gathered—and then appeared without warning to become the Ma Ryeong of Gunma Rim almost overnight.
He was Gwan Hong’s master.
Gwan Hong, whom his master—a man of boundless wisdom and brilliant mind—had cultivated with every ounce of his power.
Thus, whenever the succession of the next Ma Ryeong was discussed, his name always rose first.
Gong Chan’s expression hardened like stone as he recognized Gwan Hong.
Though Gong Chan wielded ferocious tactics well enough, compared to Gwan Hong’s master, he was nothing but a mote of dust.
During his tenure as Ma Ryeong, the average life expectancy of Gunma Rim masters had been merely twelve years—such was the devastation he wrought.
The lives of Cheol Hyeol Maeng masters who faced him were even shorter.
No wonder rumors spread that Gu Yeol broke his fast with the lives of Gunma Rim warriors, took his midday meal with the deaths of Cheol Hyeol Maeng fighters, and supped on the blood spilled by both sides.
And Gwan Hong was the one who had inherited the teachings of such a man in their entirety.
Upon grasping his opponent’s identity, Gong Chan’s form retreated a step.
Gwan Hong watched him with a faint smile and spoke.
“I was uncertain you would come. Even with men marshaled behind you, you did not seem to think it reckless.”
“Custom. It was the trust between us both.”
“Trust, you say. The same words as Moyong Sang. How disappointing. I thought you would be different.”
“Different?”
“Men like us don’t believe in such things as trust, do we?”
“What do you mean by men like us?”
“Those who spare no means nor method for their aims. We speak of doing our best, but we both know it is merely excuse. Don’t we?”
Gong Chan fell silent, saying nothing in reply. Gwan Hong continued.
“To kill with death—a beautiful phrase. My master’s golden words. I thought you followed the same principle.”
“Is that what you prepared for? To kill with death?”
Surely you cannot claim ignorance. Had you not known, you would never have drawn Salang into this. Then at least I could have made a show of trust.”
Gwan Hong finished speaking, and Gong Chan asked,
“Then you mean to proceed despite knowing I have made my own preparations?”
“Did you not think I would have made countermeasures knowing what you prepared?”
Before he could finish, shadows surged from all directions.
Overwhelming Ma Ki cascading forth as if to drive back even the moonlight itself.
At the appearance of these figures, Gong Chan’s expression froze completely.
“Allow me to introduce them. The Seonghwa Pal Suk.”
The Seonghwa Pal Suk.
Elder-tier masters of the Demonic Sect, called alongside the Ho Gyo Jon Ja as the final bastion of the sect.
Their skill was as formidable as their name.
Though they did not appear on the roster of Yeongha Baekwi, all of them were Cho Jeol Jeong Masters.
With only a single step forward and no other word, the pressure that poured forth exceeded imagination.
Judging the situation graver than expected, Gong Chan tightened his grip.
In that instant.
Crack.
Not a thunderous sound, but loud enough to ring clearly through the forest on this still night.
The Cheol Hyeol Maeng guards stationed at the forest’s edge rushed forward at once.
Before they could even assess the situation, the Seonghwa Pal Suk descended upon them.
Bang!
At the sudden explosion that tore through the darkness, the gazes of both the Maeng Ui Dan and Hyeol Gwi Dae forces, arrayed in opposition, snapped toward Hwan Do.
Among them, the Heuk Ya Dae Ju of Maeng Ui Dan—who seemed to have received advance notice—immediately formed the central regiment and commanded his Heuk Ya Dae and Baek Ui Dae forces to advance into Hwan Do.
Though the encampment had been established and considerable numbers of warriors had already retired to rest, the state of confrontation meant that upon hearing the explosion, the central regiment, already battle-ready, moved into Hwan Do without delay at the Dae Ju’s command.
Though the Jeok Sa Jo were assigned to the rear, they held position barely a hundred paces from the central regiment.
Thus the explosion reached the rear force as well.
All the Maeng Ui Dan warriors emerged, eyes fixed on Hwan Do.
The Jeok Sa Jo members too turned their gaze toward Hwan Do.
The Taegeuk Sword King’s expression was particularly grave.
“Do you feel it?”
At the Taegeuk Sword King’s question, Ryu nodded.
“A gloomy aura. Ma Ki, is it?”
“Right. And substantial at that. I’d wager there are at least five of them—ones on the level of that slant-eyed bastard.”
Though Jwa Ryang had just become that slant-eyed bastard in an instant, he merely pouted and dared not protest.
His opponent was the Taegeuk Sword King.
He was a man who had stepped into the realm known as Cheon Oe Cheon—the heaven above the heavens—which was called the Sinhwa Gyeong.
Of course, even before that, it would have been the same.
The Ipsin Gyeong, which came before entering the Hwa Gyeong, was equally terrifying.
In any case, upon hearing the Taegeuk Sword King’s words that a master from Gunma Rim with considerable ability had been deployed to Hwan Do, tension seized the expressions of the Jeok Sa Jo members.
Especially the mention of Ma Ki caught their attention.
There was only one type of warrior in Gunma Rim who bled Ma Ki so freely.
“The Demon Cult… hmm…….”
Just as Hwangbo Jang Seong’s murmur—half groan—suggested.
In this world, only warriors of the Demon Cult moved about spilling Ma Ki so carelessly.
Even among warriors from the same Gunma Rim, the Demon Cult warriors were qualitatively different from all others.
That such warriors would appear at this late hour on a mere stroll at the heart of where both sides faced off so sharply was all but impossible.
As the Jeok Sa Jo members watched, sensing that something grave had occurred, a commotion rippled through the central contingent positioned ahead, and a portion of them were seen rushing toward Hwan Do.
Then a Heuk Ya Dae member came running and delivered the news.
“The Jeok Sa Jo are to rush to Hwan Do at once—such is the command of the Heuk Ya Dae Ju.”
Every eye among the Jeok Sa Jo members turned toward Ryu.
“Leave the baggage. Take only weapons. We march now.”
Before Ryu’s words had finished, the Jeok Sa Jo members were already busy retrieving their weapons from the tents where they had been laid.
In the midst of this, only the Taegeuk Sword King stood calm and unmoved, the Song Mun Go Geom belted at his waist.
The Jeok Sa Jo, their weapons secured, rushed toward Hwan Do.
The Heuk Ya Dae member who had come as messenger urged them forward, dissatisfied with the Jeok Sa Jo’s pace as it matched that of Hee Jun, whose speed was slowest; yet the Jeok Sa Jo’s speed did not change.
Not that they were unreasonably slow either.
After all, the distance from the rear contingent to which the Jeok Sa Jo belonged and Hwan Do was merely three hundred paces.
Arriving at Hwan Do in half an hour, the Jeok Sa Jo immediately stepped into the forest.

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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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