The Red Dragon Martial Emperor - Chapter 14

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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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Red Dragon Sovereign, Episode 14

Chapter 14 — A Destiny That Brushed Past

The man watched Yi Hwan retreat before the Blood Ghosts that had materialized suddenly, and disappointment crossed his face once more.
‘He doesn’t appear to be the one we’re searching for, after all.’
[It will be difficult to determine which side he belongs to just yet, sir.]
Chung Po-in’s words were true.
The man still couldn’t be certain whether Yi Hwan was enemy or ally. Only one thing was clear: Yi Hwan was no direct heir of those they sought.
One who had inherited the True Lineage would not be so frail.
‘He’s not concealing his strength either. Was what I sensed back then merely a mistake?’
From what he’d observed of Yi Hwan thus far, the man was fighting with everything he had. If he were hiding his strength, what explained the sweat covering his face?
[Will you continue watching, sir?]
[A while longer.]
The man maintained a prudent distance as Yi Hwan fell back. Just then, the Blood Ghosts rushed toward him.
As Yi Hwan retreated, his path crossed with the man’s. The man twisted his body quickly to avoid him, but their shoulders brushed lightly.
For an instant, their gazes collided and tangled. The man felt a shock run through him.
‘……!’
Yi Hwan’s gaze was so profound, so fathomless — as though it could draw in one’s very soul — that he had never witnessed anything like it before.
‘Could he have seen through me?’
The man was currently employing Reverse Concealment. Yet Yi Hwan’s fathomless gaze seemed to pierce straight through him, seeing all his secrets laid bare.
Then Yi Hwan spoke a single line that shook the man’s entire being.
“Snap out of it and concentrate.”
“……!”
Flash!
A streak of crimson light stained the man’s pupils. The flash hurtled toward both his and Yi Hwan’s heads at tremendous speed.
In the same moment, Yi Hwan passed by him, leaving the man to face the full force of the blood-red assault.
[Danger, sir!]
As Chung Po-in’s urgent voice rang in his ear, the man’s blade swept through the air in an arc.
Clang!
“Ugh!”
A strangled cry tore from someone’s throat.
The Blood Ghost who had launched the attack stumbled backward. The other Blood Ghosts gasped and turned their attention not to Yi Hwan, but to the man.
Chung Po-in then charged toward the Blood Ghosts.
The head of the Blood Ghost positioned at the very front went flying with a sickening sound.
Thud!
“Retreat!”
The remaining Blood Ghosts did not counterattack but plunged into the Zhao forces instead. Chung Po-in wheeled back to the man’s side.
“We should escape while we can, sir.”
The man looked back toward Yi Hwan.
Yi Hwan was watching him at that very moment. Their gazes locked once more.
‘Who are you?’
The man swallowed the question that had risen to his throat and fled the battlefield. Chung Po-in followed, cutting down several Zhao soldiers as they went.
Yelp!
A fox emerged and barked insistently. But the object of the fox’s barks was not Yi Hwan—it was Song Hoe.
Chung Po-in, however, had not yet noticed this fact.

* * *

Yi Hwan watched the man’s retreating silhouette vanish from the battlefield, his gaze growing cold.
‘So it was him.’
Through that single glance, Yi Hwan recognized the man as the one whose eyes had met his at the Inn.
‘I didn’t expect him to approach me like this.’
He had never imagined the man would disguise himself as a Yeon soldier and chase him to the battlefield.
Yi Hwan fixed his gaze on the fox that protruded from Chung Po-in’s embrace, barking wildly.
A white fox, specialized in the Ten-Thousand-Li Pursuit Scent—it had been a long time indeed.
“General! Watch your rear!”
Song Cheon-mu’s urgent cry burst forth.
Yet Yi Hwan kept his gaze fixed on the man.
The sinister presence that had been descending upon him vanished in an instant—Song Hoe had struck down the enemy’s head mid-attack.
“Concentrate, General!”
Song Hoe’s voice burst forth, sharp with reproval.
Yi Hwan smiled faintly.
“I’m concentrating enough. Don’t worry.”
“You were nearly killed just now!”
“I knew you’d handle it, so I held still.”
…….

* * *

The battle ended before even two hours had passed.
Roooaaaah!
The Yeon army’s roar shook the mountains and earth. They had retaken the position.
“Water.”
“Here, sir.”
Yi Hwan moistened his throat with the drink Cha Jung-gyeong offered, then surveyed the battlefield slowly.
Corpses of both sides lay scattered everywhere. The blood spilled by the dead flowed downslope with the rain, streaming past where Yi Hwan stood.
‘A meaningless fight.’
A war devoid of purpose—nothing seized, nothing gained, only blood spilled.
To Yi Hwan’s mind, it was merely a game played by the royalty and nobility of both nations.
It was precisely because the Martial Arts World could not abide the bloodshed of its own in such pointless warfare that, two hundred years ago, the Martial Arts Non-Interference Pact had been established through the Huashan Conference.
Yet now, two centuries later, all that effort had come to nothing. Watching the Martial Arts World become the sword of power once more, bleeding as they had in the old days, Yi Hwan felt fury rising within him.
‘Fools.’
Clang! Clang!
Jung Cheon approached with the sound of metal. With each step he took, the blood clinging to his armor trembled.
Even the thinning rain could not wash away the blood that covered his armor.
“General, are you unwell?”
“Fortunately, I’m untouched. And you, General?”
“The Vice Commander is also unharmed.”
“My congratulations on the successful retaking of the position.”
“Thank you, sir.”
Roooaaaah!
“Long live General Jung Cheon!”
Roooaaaah!
The soldiers raised cheers toward Jung Cheon.
Jung Cheon raised his sword in answer to their acclaim.
Yi Hwan made his way to a spot clear of corpses. Song Hoe, Song Cheon-mu, and Cha Jung-gyeong followed behind.
Song Hoe gazed after Jung Cheon and muttered under his breath.
“A man of substance is indeed a man of substance. Even the Commander-in-Chief doesn’t receive cheers like that.”
“Are you envious?”
“Not in the least.”
“You don’t sound convinced.”
“I am more than satisfied merely standing at your side, sir.”
“I believe you.”
Clang! Clang!
The Yong Ho Army came running up.
Yi Hwan surveyed their numbers, and his brow furrowed slightly.
Nearly thirty were missing. Even accounting for picked losses, such casualties among a select force promised little for the Yong Ho Army’s fighting strength in the battles ahead.
Though the Yong Ho Army held no bearing on his plans once he departed this place, still the sight of it left him dissatisfied.
“Vice Commander.”
“Yes, sir.”
“When we return, see that their training is rigorous. Make it clear that any man who cannot endure the drills will not be committed to battle.”
“Understood, sir.”
“Have them fed at once.”
“Yes, sir.”

* * *

“You seem troubled by what you’re thinking?”
“…….”
“Do you believe he is not the person we’ve been searching for?”
“Based solely on what we’ve witnessed thus far, even if he were of the Sword King’s bloodline, he shows no sign of inheriting the true lineage. If he had inherited it, he couldn’t possibly be so weak. And yet…….”
The man trailed off, his mind returning to the gleam he’d glimpsed in Yi Hwan’s eyes just before they’d fled the battlefield.
Chung Po-in posed the question.
“Then could they be from the other side?”
“That’s no different. Even if they were descendants of that line, they couldn’t be so weak. He’s certainly not an inheritor of the true lineage either.”
“Ah…….”
Chung Po-in scratched his head.
“Then there’s nothing more to watch for, is there? Wouldn’t it be better to abandon this and seek out the wanderer who supposedly transmitted the Soul Departure Technique?”
The man shook his head.
“He recognizes the Soul Departure Technique. Even if he belongs to neither bloodline, he must be connected to them somehow. We watch a little longer.”
“Yes.”
The man watched Yi Hwan making for the edge of the battlefield. The memory of that gaze he’d met moments ago sent a shiver coursing through his entire frame.
His skill was pitiful, but his eyes were different.
‘A person’s eyes can hold such a thing…….’

* * *

Zhao Army Camp.
A general entered the Commander-in-Chief’s tent.
Located some twenty leagues west of the Gorge where the fortress recapture was underway, the camp had hosted a massive force of nearly a hundred thousand for decades.
“How did it go?”
“My apologies. We failed.”
“Failed? I sent five of them, and you failed!?”
“Apparently there was a formidable master beside the Yeon prince.”
The Commander-in-Chief’s brow furrowed.
“I heard he was a son that even the Yeon imperial family had put forward. Are you telling me he has a bodyguard of such caliber that five masters from the Martial Arts World cannot contend with?”
“The Fourth Prince of Yeon proved to be quite a skilled fighter as well. He apparently held his own against General Heo Yoon alone. I believe there was an error in our intelligence.”
“Hmm.”
The Commander-in-Chief let out a heavy sigh.
“The Fourth Prince of Yeon, who was supposedly little more than a scarecrow, turns out to be a master, and he’s even got an extraordinarily skilled fighter as his bodyguard? This smells very wrong indeed.”
“It does, sir. And Commander-in-Chief…….”
The general hesitated before continuing.
“We’ve lost the fortress.”
“What?”
“We grew careless, banking too heavily on the downpour.”
Crash!
The Commander-in-Chief slammed his hand against the table, his fury erupting.
“Fools!”
“My sincere apologies. I will personally lead a force to retake the fortress.”
The Commander-in-Chief’s anger ended there.
After drinking a bowl of cool water, he continued.
“Leave such petty fortress battles to your subordinate generals. You are to mobilize every intelligence asset at your disposal and investigate the Fourth Prince of Yeon thoroughly. If the prince hid his strength to come to the Southern Army Corps, there must be a reason!”
“Understood.”
“And send word to the imperial palace, requesting that they dispatch more Blood Ghosts. Their usefulness will grow considerably henceforth—send the strongest masters you can.”
“Understood.”
Those heterodox martial artists who had disguised themselves as members of the Haekhohae—they were the Blood Ghosts. Unorthodox martial artists under Zhao military command, known to possess strength and combat capability a tier above the Haekhohae.
“You are dismissed.”
“Yes. Please rest, Commander-in-Chief.”
Once the general had withdrawn, the Commander-in-Chief sank deep into his chair, his gaze growing distant.
Snap!
He flicked his fingers, and the wall behind the tent split open, a figure wreathed in red energy materializing like a phantom.
“Report.”
“The whereabouts of the Haekhohae who pursued Cha Jung-gyeong have become unclear.”
“Not even any word from them?”
“None. So we’ve dispatched agents to track down where the missing Haekhohae went.”
“This must be expedited. Feel free to commit additional personnel if necessary.”
“Understood. But sir, did you not inform the Vice Commander of the true nature of what Cha Jung-gyeong took?”
“The Vice Commander still believes it’s secret funds from the higher-ups. That’s why he’s working himself into such a state, prepared to wage war if necessary. The Vice Commander only needs to play along with the rhythm—but you, no matter what happens, must recover the Jang Bo Do. Understood?”
“Yes, Commander.”
Once Chung Po-in disappeared behind the barracks, the Commander-in-Chief rose abruptly and opened the window.
Whoooosh!
The rain that had thinned moments before had turned savage again.
The Commander-in-Chief’s gaze hardened to match it.
‘Even if heaven itself splits in two, I must find the Jang Bo Do. I must……’

* * *

Having successfully reclaimed the garrison, the Yeon army immediately set about reinforcing the barracks that the Zhao forces had occupied.
Before the Zhao army had seized it, the Yeon soldiers had used these same barracks, so most of the men were already familiar with the terrain.
Once assigned their quarters in the barracks, the Yong Ho Army settled into rest. It was their first real combat in a long time, and tasting victory, they were in high spirits.
But Song Hoe rebuked them sharply. For now, honoring their fallen comrades came first.
Meanwhile, Yi Hwan sat in the barracks sipping tea and examined the map he had received from Cha Jung-gyeong.
‘Not so far from this place……’
The red mark on the map pointed to a location some twenty li from the garrison. Yet without other distinguishing features nearby, it was difficult to determine exactly where it was without going there in person to investigate.
‘No matter how I look at it, this isn’t a military map.’
Then could it really be the Jang Bo Do?
But Yi Hwan soon shook his head.
‘Surely a Commander-in-Chief at the front lines wouldn’t have secretly constructed a treasure vault……’
Just as his thoughts circled endlessly without resolution, he heard movement outside.
Yi Hwan tucked the map into his robes and picked up his teacup.
“Commander, it’s Jung Cheon.”
It was Jung Cheon’s voice.

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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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