Proof of Growth
“Haa… so the comprehensive evaluation is more than half a year away, you say….”
Do Chan-su's fingers froze mid-click on the abacus.
“…Then your horn tags are more than enough.”
His eyes had gone wide at the staggering quantity of horn tags Yun Cheon had dumped before him.
How in the world does a mere cadet have this many horn tags? Even a drill instructor would have a hard time amassing this much….
Then Yun Cheon rattled off a list of rare herbs needed to stabilize his twisted meridians.
“The herbs I need are chuanxiong, astragalus, aged tangerine peel, cimicifuga, bupleurum….”
Do Chan-su's eyes narrowed.
Every herb that flowed so fluently from the young pup's mouth was one that a person with no grounding in medicine wouldn't even know existed.
This one… is no ordinary cadet. He has considerable knowledge of herbs. But if this prescription is what I think it is….
All the herbs he had named shared one thing in common.
They were precisely the herbs prescribed for weak qi and blood.
He doesn't seem to have formally studied medicine, though….
For his part, Yun Cheon looked entirely unaware of just how extensive his own knowledge of medicinal herbs was.
Naturally so — Yun Cheon had never received any formal training in medicine or pharmacology.
Gathering and drying herbs useful for treating external wounds and internal injuries had simply been part of his daily routine, that was all.
“If you know of any other herbs that would aid in recovering from internal injuries and stabilizing my qi and blood, I would ask that you add them to the prescription as well.”
Do Chan-su frowned.
…At this level, it's no simple internal injury. We're talking about a congenital problem with his qi and blood. Could it be…?
Do Chan-su recalled the sight of Yun Cheon when they had first met.
That gaunt, listless body wasting away by the day.
Is he suffering from Severed Meridian Syndrome? Interesting… a cadet of the Hidden Demon Cave afflicted with Severed Meridian Syndrome.
Do Chan-su handed over a bundle of pills he had prepared as surplus on the day Yun Cheon placed his first order.
“Heh heh… I didn't expect you back this soon. This much is the best I can manage for now.”
Do Chan-su reached beneath the counter and produced a small bundle of pill packets.
“Preparing the rest of the herbs will take some time. I'll send word when they're ready.”
“…Understood.”
Yun Cheon pocketed the pill bundle and his remaining horn tags and left the Myriad Treasures Pavilion at once.
“What a curious turn of affairs. Even the Demonic Physician Hall is said to be researching a treatment for Severed Meridian Syndrome….”
As he fiddled with his abacus, complicated thoughts flickered across the old man's aged eyes.
“So there are several of them — people stricken with a vicious illness seen not even once in decades?”
Yun Cheon's steps were heavy as he left the Myriad Treasures Pavilion behind.
The accumulated fatigue from his sparring with Instructor Jeok Mu-gwang came crashing down on him all at once. His body now felt as heavy as rain-soaked cotton.
And yet, in the aftermath of the sparring session, his senses remained honed to a razor's edge — and something snagged on that edge.
…Who is it?
He froze for an instant, then casually rubbed the iron rings on his wrist so as not to invite suspicion, and kept walking.
Feigning a man lost in thought, he turned into the damp, dark corridor of the Hidden Demon Cave.
This presence… doesn't feel like a cadet….
Cadets returning from training passed him by in twos and threes, but his attention was fixed elsewhere.
When had it started?
After the sparring with the instructor?
Or after he had left the pavilion?
Either way, there's no question — someone is following me.
The gaze was relentless. It was not sharp enough to cut like killing intent, but it trailed his every movement.
So they have no intention of harming me right away.
Yun Cheon did not stop walking. Turning around carelessly would only provoke the pursuer further.
Instead, he headed, with practiced casualness, in the direction where the largest crowd of cadets had gathered.
As if he had noticed nothing, Yun Cheon slipped naturally into the throng of cadets and returned to his stone chamber.
…An observer, watching the evaluations?
Knock, knock.
He was only just about to let out a sigh of relief when someone rapped on the chamber door.
He opened it to find Yu Ha standing there with an artfully easygoing expression.
“My, my. You reek of medicine. Blew all your horn tags at the Myriad Treasures Pavilion, did you?”
Yun Cheon's brow creased.
“I haven't even received the medicine I ordered yet. What do you want?”
“Want? How hurtful. I merely came out of concern for a comrade's well-being.”
Yu Ha's gaze lingered briefly on the pill bundle strapped at Yun Cheon's waist.
“Judging by how prickly you're being… it seems someone's eyes have settled on you as well?”
“…Yours too?”
Yu Ha nodded.
“They're watching us already. So — what's your plan? Any particular organization you'd like to be assigned to?”
“…Hard to say.”
For Yun Cheon's purposes, the ideal organization would be one that could bring him closest to the Demonic Physician.
The problem was that Yun Cheon knew nothing about the Cult's organizations.
“No need to be so guarded. I only wish to offer some advice — as an investor.”
“Advice, you say…?”
“You're not native to the Cult, after all. You wouldn't know a thing about its structure.”
Yu Ha struck to the heart of the matter immediately. Then, seating himself across from Yun Cheon, he spread out three fingers.
“The way I see it, there are three places you might find worth your interest.”
He folded down the first finger as he spoke.
“First, the Inspection Bureau. They enforce the Cult's discipline and root out traitors and corruption within its walls. Say they suspect someone — anyone — they're granted the authority to investigate and interrogate him. For burrowing into the Cult's internal power structure, it's the optimal choice.”
Yun Cheon nodded.
The Inspection Bureau's blade pointed inward, toward the Cult itself.
If the target is the Demonic Cult, I could cut down as many as I wished….
There was a certain appeal in not having to swing that blade outside the Cult's borders.
…But starting at the bottom of the Inspection Bureau — how far could I actually climb?
With a powerful faction at one's back it would be a comfortable post, but for a lone climber it was a difficult ladder. That, in Yun Cheon's estimation, was the Inspection Bureau.
Yu Ha folded down his second finger.
“Second, the Black Shadow Corps. Blades that move in the Cult's darkness — assassination, espionage… they handle every filthy job there is. They don't care a whit about your origins or pedigree. You'll be sent into the Central Plains either way and fitted with a false identity.”
This one was the polar opposite of the Inspection Bureau. Where the Bureau was the Cult's internal blade, the Black Shadow Corps was the covert blade swung outward.
…Operating under a concealed identity does hold appeal.
But in the end, the hand gripping that blade belonged to the Cult's leadership. Go well, and he might become a planted agent among the orthodox sects — but the odds were far higher that he would find himself saddled with missions he never asked for.
Handled carelessly, I could end up as nothing more than a consumable.
Yu Ha studied Yun Cheon's expression as he spoke.
“What's this? Neither one to your liking? Then there's only one place left.”
He folded down his last finger.
“The Myriad Demons Hall.”
A meaningful smile crept across his lips.
“On the surface, it's a place for attending upon the Cult's elders. Of the three, it may look the least glamorous….”
Yu Ha fixed Yun Cheon with a level stare.
“But if you can win an elder's trust, the picture changes. Serving at an elder's side means moving freely between the Cult's interior and exterior, unfettered — and it means laying hands on the Cult's deepest secrets and resources.”
He paused, then delivered the decisive stroke.
“…And the Demonic Physician is one of only five Venerables among the elders. Which means… the Myriad Demons Hall is, you might say, the place closest to him.”
Yu Ha had clearly known from the start precisely what Yun Cheon so urgently needed.
“…Sharp one, aren't you. You knew something was wrong with my body.”
“Of course. Your appearance when we first met. And the two places you spent your horn tags — the Spiritual Nutrition Hall and the Myriad Treasures Pavilion. That much information is more than enough. The others don't seem to have caught on yet.”
“…So you came to recommend the Myriad Demons Hall?”
“Mm… the choice is yours to make. Someone like you would distinguish himself wherever he landed, I imagine.”
Yu Ha spoke as though entirely certain of Yun Cheon's ability.
“Personally, though, I'd rather you not take the long way around. Fix your body first, and quickly. It'll be far more entertaining that way.”
“…Useful information. I appreciate it.”
“Think nothing of it. Wanting maximum return on one's investment is just the mind of an investor, isn't it?”
With his piece said, Yu Ha vanished without a sound, and silence once more settled over the stone chamber.
Yun Cheon turned the information over and over in his mind.
That fox… does he have a stake in the Myriad Demons Hall himself?
He saw straight through Yu Ha's design — appearing at exactly the necessary moment, offering exactly the needed information — and yet he could not deny the value of what the man had given him.
…Even so, thanks to that fellow, the road ahead is clear now.
He began weighing the three organizations with cold detachment.
The Inspection Bureau. The power to stir up the Cult's interior is tempting… but if I fail to cure this Severed Meridian Syndrome, power becomes nothing but an illusion.
He crossed off the first option without hesitation.
The Black Shadow Corps. Getting into the Central Plains is appealing. I could investigate the hypocrites of the Martial Alliance — might even reach the surviving disciples of Kunlun. But….
Yun Cheon looked down at his own body.
In this body, unable to even properly circulate internal energy, becoming a “disposable blade” would earn me nothing but the fate of the hound slaughtered once the rabbit is caught….
He would be discarded long before he ever had his revenge.
In the end… just as he said, there is only one road.
The Myriad Demons Hall.
For Yun Cheon — a Daoist of Kunlun — to attend upon an elder of the Demonic Cult was an insult to his pride.
But at the end of that road lay the Demonic Physician, and with him, the Demonic Bone Metamorphosis Art — his one and only hope.
Yes. I had the order wrong.
Revenge, the seat of the Heavenly Demon — all of it came after surviving, after growing strong. The most urgent matter for Yun Cheon now was survival. Healing this accursed body.
Handled well, the position of an elder's close attendant could become the springboard to everything — the Inspection Bureau's power, the Black Shadow Corps' freedom, all of it.
The judgment was complete. Yun Cheon's eyes hardened with resolve.
For now, the Myriad Demons Hall is the best path.
And to reach it, he would have to catch their eye at the coming comprehensive evaluation.
The talent the elders of the Myriad Demons Hall desired was obvious.
…What an aged master wants most of all — a successor of exceptional caliber.
Mere attendance would never win an elder's trust, much less his freedom.
The path, in the end, was unmistakable.
Proof of talent.
Yun Cheon's gaze dropped to the pill bundle at his waist.
“Starting with this….”
The fruit of an investment of no fewer than one hundred and fifty horn tags.
Sitting cross-legged on the cold floor, Yun Cheon shook a single pill into his mouth and swallowed it without hesitation.
The moment the pill slid down his throat, an exquisitely pure thread of energy spread through his entire body.
Good….
Like a fine mist soaking into parched earth, the medicine's power seeped gently into every corner of Yun Cheon's withered, twisted meridians.
The faint aches that had bound his whole body subsided, and a sense of stability settled over him.
So even pouring in herbs of this caliber only keeps me from breaking further — it does not open the way….
Yun Cheon clenched his fist.
“Even so… this is enough for now. The horn tags were well spent.”
From that day on, time flew.
Yun Cheon rose the earliest and trained the latest. This was not merely because he was diligent — it was also to maximize the efficiency of his training in the Heaven and Earth Moving Art.
Most internal energy methods relied on seated meditation — circulating qi while sitting still. What Yun Cheon had learned was a moving art, one that trained the body through motion itself.
And not by accumulating energy in the dantian, either — but by spreading it throughout the entire body.
Thanks to the herbs breathing new life into his blocked qi and blood, Yun Cheon's body changed by the day.
The ragged boy who had seemed half-dead upon his admission to the Hidden Demon Cave had become a well-built young man with proper muscle on his frame.
…Still incomplete as a martial artist's body, but.
The iron rings still filled his wrists and ankles. To the eye they looked no different than before, but he had raised their weight month by month, and now each weighed as much as a small boat's keel.
On an ordinary morning like any other, Yun Cheon trained the Heaven and Earth Moving Art and sealed the session with the Life-Prolonging Breathing Technique.
At that very moment —
“All cadets, to the central training grounds!”
Every cadet in the Hidden Demon Cave was summoned to the central arena. Anticipation and tension warred openly on their faces.
“It's finally… today?”
“I'll show everyone everything I've honed!”
A full year had passed since Yun Cheon entered the Hidden Demon Cave.
In other words — the day of the comprehensive evaluation.
On the raised dais stood not only every drill instructor, but both chief instructors as well — Jeok Mu-gwang, the Mad Blood Blade, and Ga Cheon-ak, the Iron Fist.
Yet unlike every other day, the very center of the dais stood empty. The instructors had withdrawn a step back, leaving that space flanked on either side.
“…There's an empty seat!”
“Isn't it the instructors who preside?”
“…This isn't what I heard.”
A ripple of murmuring spread across the arena.
And then —
Shhhk—
As though he had been standing there from the very beginning, a man appeared in the empty center of the dais, silent as a shadow.
A robe black as ink, and the utterly unremarkable face of a middle-aged man.
But the instant he appeared, an absolute silence descended upon the entire arena. Even Jeok Mu-gwang and Ga Cheon-ak bowed their heads and did not so much as stir.
Goosebumps raced across Yun Cheon's whole body.
There was… no presence at all!
This was the first true master he had encountered since entering the Mad Path Pavilion.
At the very least… Peak Realm — and beyond!
The man spoke in a low voice.
“A pleasure to meet you all, cadets of the Hidden Demon Cave.”
His voice was quiet, yet it seemed to carve itself directly into every mind present.
“I am Gal Mu-heun, Chief Instructor of this Mad Path Pavilion — the One Brush Soul Snatcher, Lord of the Pavilion, with total authority over everything from the Hidden Demon Cave outward.”
One needed only the force carried in his voice to understand.
“This comprehensive evaluation is, in a single word, a stage for each of you to prove your own growth.”
At those words, puzzled looks crossed every face.
Prove our growth?
As if he had anticipated the confusion, Gal Mu-heun continued.
“When you entered this place, you all began from different starting lines. How long you had studied the martial arts, your constitutions, your ages… all of it.”
It was true. There were cadets who had arrived knowing nothing of the martial arts — not even letters — while others had entered already at the threshold of the First-Rate realm, nearly the equal of the drill instructors themselves.
Yun Cheon thought of the sneering faces of the Sa Gal-muk clan brats and the other Cult scions.
“Therefore, judging your aptitude by the simple measure of martial skill is impossible. If a man who has trained for ten years crosses blades with a man who has trained for one, the outcome is obvious — is it not?”
Several cadets' faces twisted. They were, without exception, the sons of prestigious houses who had studied the martial arts before ever setting foot here.
…Hoh. Interesting. So this is the method he's chosen.
Gal Mu-heun took a step toward the cadets as he spoke.
“So whatever your starting line, put it out of your minds entirely. My evaluation is independent of it. What matters is how much farther you have moved from where you began.”
“……?”
The cadets looked utterly baffled, as if to ask how on earth such a thing could be judged.
“Heh heh. Worry not. The drill instructors who taught you will each face you personally in the ring.”
“……!”
Even the drill instructors appeared visibly taken aback — clearly they, too, had not been informed of the test's contents in advance.
Gal Mu-heun went on, seeming to savor their reactions.
“The rules are simple. Each of you must endure against the drill instructor who taught you for the span of one steeping of tea. The use of internal energy is forbidden.”
The arena erupted into murmurs.
“Our opponents aren't other cadets?”
“Against instructors who are at the very least First-Rate masters… for a whole steeping of tea?”
Gal Mu-heun continued as if he had expected exactly this.
“Naturally, the drill instructors will show restraint according to the level you each held at your own starting line. Those who cannot withstand even that… will simply vanish from the Hidden Demon Cave.”
A chilling silence swept the arena.
“Merely surviving is the way of the weak. The strong prove themselves — and seize what they want.”
He drew from his robe a black iron plate the size of a palm and held it up.
“Once half a steeping has passed, the drill instructors will affix this plate to their chests. From that moment, they will fight at full strength — and you will be permitted to attack as well.”
Gal Mu-heun's eyes glinted with naked greed.
“Move beyond mere survival and land a successful strike on your drill instructor, and bonus points will be awarded. And should you….”
His gaze swept across every cadet in the arena.
“…succeed in tearing this black iron plate from your instructor's chest — I will grant that person a single wish. Within the limits of what I am able, of course.”
“……!!!”
The arena nearly exploded with uproar.
A favor to be asked of the Lord of the Mad Path Pavilion himself. For a cadet of the Hidden Demon Cave, it was the ultimate reward — and the ultimate power.
While everyone else was swept up in excitement and greed, Yun Cheon alone was reading the board with perfect calm.
His eyes were no longer on the Pavilion Lord.
They were locked onto the man who would be his own opponent in the ring.
He stared hard at Drill Instructor Ma Chung and Senior Drill Instructor Ya Jin, standing in the distance.
…There it is.
While others fretted over enduring half a steeping, Yun Cheon's mind was already filled with a single thought.
Take the black iron plate — and open the road to the Demonic Physician.
—
Return of the Cloud Dragon
Author | Chu Sang (Autumn Frost)
Publisher | Samyang C&C Co., Ltd.
Managing Editor | Editorial Department
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