The Fang Is Severed
Bang―! KWA-BOOM―!
Before dawn had even broken, a thunderous roar tore through the black of night.
Near the Mad Path Pavilion stood a building ostensibly disguised as an ordinary merchant warehouse. In truth, it was the secret stronghold of the Poison Fang Hall, the private army of the Serpent Scorpion Muk Family.
The massive gate exploded inward, wooden shards scattering in every direction.
"We're under attack!"
"Who in the blazes are they?!"
The sleeping warriors of the Poison Fang Hall scrambled out with their weapons in hand. But the moment they laid eyes on the uniforms of the intruders who had smashed through the gate, their bravado froze solid as if a lie.
Black martial robes—and emblazoned across each chest, the unmistakable character for Inspection announced exactly who they were.
"No… it can't be?"
"Th-the Inspection Bureau?!"
"Why would the Inspection Bureau—"
At that instant, the enforcement captain at the front of the column barked out with a voice like drawn steel.
"By order of the Inspection Bureau! Lay down your weapons, traitors! Any who resist will be cut down on the spot!"
The killers of the Poison Fang Hall panicked and reached for their blades—but upon confirming that their opponents were the Bureau's Enforcement Corps, they simply froze in place.
The absolute blade that upheld the Cult's discipline and executed its betrayers. Faced with that justification, the Poison Fang Hall's warriors could not draw their swords. No demonic cultist alive dared point a weapon at the Inspection Bureau. To do so was nothing short of treason against the Cult itself.
"Th-this is outrageous… We are one of the Twelve Guardian Families—!"
Just as one of the Poison Fang Hall's officers opened his mouth to protest, a crisp yet heavy crack split the air.
Crack!
A man pushed through the ranks of Bureau enforcers and slapped the officer clean across the face.
The first to surge through the crowd and leap forward was Sa Do-myeong. His eyes carried a cold venom—the long-nursed humiliation and injustice of days past.
"Are you the one in charge here?"
The officer clutched his stinging cheek and glared.
The man who had struck him was none other than Sa Do-myeong—an inspector who, until mere days ago, had been rubbing shoulders with Elder Muk Wi-gyu. The officer could only stand there dumbstruck.
"Sa-Sa Do-myeong…?"
But the eyes Sa Do-myeong wore now were filled with grievance and fury.
"Yes. It's me. Sa Do-myeong—the man you tried to poison and failed to kill."
"Poisoned…? What on earth are you talking about…?"
Sa Do-myeong ground his teeth and raised his hand once more.
The officer's head snapped sideways, blood bursting from the corner of his mouth.
"Dogs raised by the Serpent Scorpion Muk Family dare to despise the Cult's own Inspection Bureau?"
Sa Do-myeong kicked the officer down, as though venting every ounce of pent-up resentment.
"You are grave criminals—guilty of attempting to poison an inspector of the Cult and of plotting to encroach upon the Mad Path Pavilion! Kneel, unless you wish to die where you stand!"
"……!"
Faced with Sa Do-myeong's blazing fury, not a single member of the Poison Fang Hall dared resist. Casting off the humiliation he had suffered, Sa Do-myeong trampled the Hall at the very front of the charge.
"Search every inch of this place! Tear up the floorboards and smash the pillars if you must—dig out every last piece of filth these scum have hidden away, and leave nothing behind!"
"Yes, sir!"
The enforcement corps pounced like wolves and began dismantling the warehouse. Floorboards were pried up; walls came tumbling down. And what spilled out was the ugly, unmasked face of the Serpent Scorpion Muk Family—ledgers thick with bribes, assassination contracts, and even the vast slush funds the Poison Fang Hall had amassed.
"Hah. So this is how little you thought of the Cult all these years."
With each piece of evidence that surfaced, a bitter smile spread across Sa Do-myeong's lips. This was no mere indiscretion by Muk Yeong-gi—it was a catastrophe big enough to shake the entire family.
"No… no…!"
Brought bound to the scene, Muk Yeong-gi shrieked. The Poison Fang Hall, the work of his entire lifetime, was being crushed without mercy right before his eyes. Watching the secret ledgers seized one by one, his eyes emptied out until nothing remained.
"The Poison Fang Hall… my position…!"
From a hilltop some distance away, a group of onlookers watched the scene unfold.
"Sa Do-myeong is performing better than expected."
Yun Cheon sipped his tea at his leisure, gazing down at the destruction of the Poison Fang Hall.
"…Terrifying bastard."
Drill Instructor Ma Chung clicked his tongue. Beside him, Senior Drill Instructor Ya Jin nodded with his arms crossed, then murmured:
"He cuts down an entire Hall of the Twelve Guardian Families without spilling a single drop of blood on his own hands. And using the Cult's own authority as his blade—wrapped in a justification so airtight that not a whisper of complaint can follow."
Both instructors' gazes settled on Yun Cheon. He stood with his hands behind his back, gazing down at the burning Poison Fang Hall without a flicker of expression.
Ya Jin stole a sidelong glance at him.
That boy's eyes… there is no joy of victory in them, no hatred for his enemy. Only the detachment of a man who has simply finished what needed doing.
That was what sent a chill down his spine.
Setting down his teacup, Yun Cheon thought to himself:
This is only the beginning.
The Serpent Scorpion Muk Family was nothing more than a stone in his path, swept aside in passing. His true aim was to bring down this colossal demonic cult from within. He could not afford to let the likes of the Muk Family trip him up.
It burns nicely.
The crimson flames rippled in the depths of Yun Cheon's black eyes.
At the main estate of the Serpent Scorpion Muk Family, the atmosphere in the opulent reception hall was more funereal than a funeral.
"GRAAAAGH!"
Crash!
A fine porcelain teacup shattered against the wall.
The family head's roar shook the reception hall. Before his fury, the retainers bowed their heads and trembled.
"Family Head, please compose yourself. You must not act rashly now."
But the family's strategist spoke with cold candor.
"Compose myself? An entire Hall was carved away—small though it may be—and you tell me to compose myself?! Release the private soldiers at once and—"
"Absolutely not! Their justification is too perfect!"
The strategist cried out urgently.
"The Inspection Bureau has secured both evidence and witnesses proving that Hall Master Muk Yeong-gi attempted to poison an inspector. And that's not all—the ledgers that poured out of the Poison Fang Hall…"
Bowing his head deeply, the strategist urged a merciless decision.
"If the main family intervenes now, we too will be branded traitors. We could face the annihilation of our entire bloodline… We must sever it here and now."
The family head's eyes reddened with burst veins. Muk Yeong-gi was of his direct bloodline. But to save the family, he had no choice. Now that the Inspection Bureau had committed itself fully, any clumsy intervention would be suicide.
He clenched his trembling fists.
After a long silence, the family head gave his order as though coughing up blood.
"…Let it be known that this was the reckless undertaking of that fool Muk Yeong-gi, acting on his own authority."
"Family Head…"
"The main family knows nothing of this. Muk Yeong-gi will settle it with his own life."
The retainers lowered their heads with grieving expressions. The family head turned back to his seat, and with eyes gone cold as ice, summoned the shadow lurking in the darkness.
"Sa Yeong."
Shhk. A single shadow emerged without a sound and knelt.
"It would be inconvenient if Muk Yeong-gi were to open his mouth inside the Inspection Bureau. Go to his cell… and send him off gently."
An instruction to seal a mouth. A kill order.
"As you command."
The moment the shadow vanished, Muk Cheon-gwang stared into the empty air and muttered:
"How did things come to this… Inspection Bureau bastards… I swear, one day, I will—!"
The matter was settled with remarkable speed. The Inspection Bureau dismantled the Poison Fang Hall and confiscated its vast hidden wealth. The Serpent Scorpion Muk Family issued an official apology and formally cut ties with Muk Yeong-gi. A perfect case of cutting off the tail to save the body.
Even so, the wound the Muk Family had suffered ran deep.
"And so we carved away one of the Muk Family's outer halls. They'll have no choice but to lie low for a good while."
Gal Mu-heun poured Yun Cheon's tea himself, smiling.
"It's all thanks to the Pavilion Lord laying the board so well."
"No need for false modesty. Wasn't the board yours to design?"
Gal Mu-heun found himself looking at Yun Cheon anew. He had assumed the boy was merely gifted in martial arts—yet his grasp of reading and exploiting the political currents was equally exceptional.
…A frightening child. Too dangerous even for me to keep in my keeping, is he?
Rumors had already spread like wildfire through the Cult. Touch Yun Cheon of the Mad Path Pavilion, and an entire family gets gutted.A monster with the Life and Death Venerable, the Pavilion Lord, and even the Inspection Bureau watching his back. Yun Cheon was no longer merely a warrior—he now stood in a position of de facto power within the Mad Path Pavilion.
"I hear Sa Do-myeong has been reinstated. He says he wishes to pay you his respects in person."
"I'll see him."
Outside the Pavilion Lord's office, Sa Do-myeong waited, dressed in his splendid inspector's uniform. The moment he saw Yun Cheon, he bowed deeply at the waist.
"I will never forget this debt."
There was no mistaking the sincerity in his eyes. Not only had Yun Cheon pulled him back from death's door—he had engineered his triumphant return as well. There was no way he could be anything but a benefactor.
"And this as well…"
Sa Do-myeong presented two boxes he had brought with the Deputy Inspector's blessing—part of the spoils recovered from the Poison Fang Hall's secret vault. One box was piled high with silver taels; the other brimmed with herbs and pill elixirs that gave off a rich medicinal fragrance.
"If ever you need the Bureau's blade, simply say the word. I will help you as far as my reach extends."
Sa Do-myeong meant every word of it.
As he clasped the man's outstretched hand, Yun Cheon thought: Now I have a firm line into the Inspection Bureau. He had struck the Serpent Scorpion Muk Family through the borrowed knife of another's hand, and at the same time forged a reliable connection inside the Bureau itself. A double harvest, plain and simple.
After Sa Do-myeong withdrew, Yun Cheon gathered a portion of the spoils and went to see Ma Chung and Ya Jin.
Ma Chung was lying on a cot wrapped in bandages, but when he saw the money and medicinal herbs Yun Cheon held out, his eyes went wide as saucers.
"Wh-what's all this?"
"Call it a dividend on your investment."
"Ho ho! My eye never fails me! Thank you, Yun Cheon!"
It was brash enough to rival his new rank of Drill Instructor, but he had sided with Yun Cheon from the very beginning—his contribution was undeniable.
Next, Yun Cheon offered herbs and spoils to Ya Jin as well, but unlike Ma Chung, the assassin refused.
"Not for me. What I need is neither wealth nor medicine."
Ya Jin's gaze sank deep.
"I believe without a doubt that you will climb higher still. So long as you do not forget today's service—that is enough for me."
Ya Jin had chosen the future over any immediate reward. Truly the dignity and ambition one would expect of him.
"Understood."
"Heh heh… For now, the Pavilion Lord shelters you. But when that vessel of yours brims and overflows… consider the Shadowless Killing Sect. Until we meet again."
He left a short bow and vanished like a shadow.
Last of all, Yun Cheon made his way to the Inner Library. It was Baekri Hyeon's turn.
When Yun Cheon held out the remaining medicinal herbs seized from the Poison Fang Hall, Baekri Hyeon's eyes nearly rolled back in his head.
"These herbs—!"
At the sight of the rare ingredients confiscated from the Poison Fang Hall, Baekri Hyeon looked ready to leap up and dance for joy.
"Yun Cheon! No—Master Yun Cheon!"
The look in Baekri Hyeon's eyes had changed. It was respect—and mixed into it, a hint of fear. He had watched Yun Cheon's schemes and martial prowess more closely than anyone.
"From now on, if you need anything, just say the word! I'll tear the Inner Library down to its foundations if I have to, and hunt it out for you—so you just focus on your training! Understood?"
And so, without ever intending to, Yun Cheon had gained a servant to command even within the Inner Library.
That night, once everything had been settled—
This is only the beginning.
Yun Cheon looked up at the night sky above the Mad Path Pavilion. Countless stars glittered as though about to pour down.
To bring down not the likes of the Serpent Scorpion Muk Family, but the great evil called the Demonic Cult itself, I must grow stronger still.
He stepped over the tattered, burnt-out banner of the Poison Fang Hall and passed on. His gaze rose past the night sky, toward the higher peaks of Mount Heaven, where the head temple of the Demonic Cult stood.
Time flowed on without pause.
The seasons turned. The Mad Path Pavilion's crimson leaves withered and fell, a cold wind swept through, and soon white snow blanketed Mount Kunlun.
And then, the day he had promised the Life and Death Venerable dawned at last.
Return of the Cloud Dragon
Author | Chu Sang (Autumn Frost)
Publisher | Samyang C&C Co., Ltd.
Managing Editor | Editorial Department
Published by | Samyang C&C Co., Ltd. — Dreambooks
Address | 7F, Gwangseong Building, 28 Bongeunsa-ro 114-gil, Gangnam-gu, Seoul, South Korea
UCI | G720:N+A063-20260306113
Blog | blog.naver.com/dreambookss
Twitter (X) | @dreambookss
Submissions | [email protected]
No part of this book may be used in any form or by any means without the written permission of Samyang C&C Co., Ltd. — Dreambooks.