The Sharpest Blade Sleeps in Its Sheath

Whump!

A carrier pigeon cut through the evening air of the dusk-shrouded Kunlun range and alighted on Sa Do-myeong's forearm. With practiced fingers, he untied the bamboo tube from its leg and drew out the secret letter. His pupils dilated in an instant.

"So Ryong… beat a rank-90 fighter?"

It was information too hard to believe. So Ryong, who had been scraped off the very bottom of the Wind Cloud Board at rank 100 mere days ago, had crushed his old nemesis, the Remnant Blood Wolf, in a single stroke.

"…And Martial Artist Yun Cheon didn't even step in himself?"

He had already witnessed Yun Cheon's cunning when the man drove off the Muk Family. But to think even the subordinates under him were cracking out of their shells so rapidly — that was another matter entirely. Martial prowess, and more than that, the ability to teach it, belonged to a different dimension altogether.

Does the man possess the makings of a grandmaster itself?

The Wind Cloud Board was already showing signs of turmoil. Clutching the letter, Sa Do-myeong hurried on his way.

At the Inspection Bureau, in the Vice Director's office, a cool space suffused with the faint scent of aloeswood, Sa Gong-jin skimmed the report Sa Do-myeong had submitted and let out a pleasant, hollow laugh.

"Ha, look at this fellow. Fast. No — fast doesn't cover it. He's outright audacious. It seems having his name at the tail end of the Wind Cloud Board didn't satisfy him. He's swallowed the entire Black Dragon Sect whole."

Sa Do-myeong bowed respectfully and answered. "That is not all. Word is that the Black Dragon Sect is swelling its strength at a ferocious pace under the pretext of offering instruction to the rogues of the frontier. The wandering fighters of the Qinghai region are flocking to its gates like swarms of clouds."

Sa Gong-jin's eyes narrowed. "Teaching martial arts to rogues? Their qi channels have long since hardened and they're saturated with turbid qi — how, pray tell?"

"From what I hear… even So Ryong, who never so much as entered a proper internal cultivation art before he passed the proper age and learned only external techniques, has somehow begun handling dense, weighty true qi. The rogues who witnessed that miracle had their eyes turned completely inside out."

"Hoh… so he holds a secret method that lets even the aged enter internal cultivation. Then the story changes entirely."

Rogues steeped to the brim in turbid qi, wielding internal energy? That would turn the common sense of the murim on its head. Whatever means he used, if it's true, ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠the Black Dragon Sect is about to raise a new storm within the Cult. And yet that was precisely what the Inspection Bureau wished for. A moment later, hearty laughter burst from between Sa Gong-jin's lips.

"Hahaha…! Gathering rogues to him like that. If men who've spent their lives rolling in the gutters learn to wield internal energy, they'd toss their very lives at their benefactor without a second thought!"

"Indeed. They were treated like consumables, discarded like rags… so they say those who can learn from Sect Leader Yun Cheon would leap into hellfire for the chance."

Sa Gong-jin tapped his fingers lightly on the Wind Cloud Board roster resting on the table. "The Black Dragon Sect, hm. Until now it was nothing more than a mid-small sect in some rural backwater, but its position isn't bad for gripping the information and logistics around Qinghai City. What if our Inspection Bureau became its sturdy patron? Do you think it's grown into a vessel worthy of that?"

"More than enough — it overflows. Beyond So Ryong the Young Sect Leader, who defeated the Remnant Blood Wolf, 'Black Spear' Jin So-wol, daughter of Jin Mu-yang, has joined as a retainer, as has Yayul Hui of the Wild Wind Yayul Family. In practical terms, they are late-blooming masters who soar well past rank 100."

"Ho-ho. Three young masters — no, four, counting Yun Cheon himself, is it?"

"Furthermore, though his age places him outside the rankings, the seasoned master Lee Mok, the Drunken Sword, has been added to the household as well. No rising sect anywhere boasts a lineup of this caliber."

Sa Gong-jin rested his chin on his hand with a satisfied expression, then rose and approached the great map of the Central Plains behind him. "Hmm… Behind young Yun Cheon stand the Life and Death Venerable and Gal Mu-heun, the Pavilion Lord of the Mad Path besides. Grow a little further, and he cannot help but collide with the other entrenched power blocs of the Cult."

He lifted his brush and drew a large, vivid red circle around the Black Dragon Sect's position on the map. It sits far enough from the main bastion at Mount Heaven that the old serpents' surveillance grows lax, yet near enough to the Mad Path Pavilion for easy resupply. The perfect ground to quietly raise our private soldiers without the mainstream factions keeping us in check… Don't tell me even this placement was deliberate?

If it were so, then this boy Yun Cheon was frighteningly deep in his calculations. His resolve settled, Sa Gong-jin nodded and set down the brush.

"Good. Begin covert support. Pour materials and silver tokens into the Black Dragon Sect generously, so that it lacks for nothing as our Inspection Bureau's secret hunting hound."

"As you command."

"However!" Sa Gong-jin pressed his thumb firmly onto the circled spot on the map. "Tell Yun Cheon this: standing out too much is forbidden. For the time being, heap all surface-level renown upon So Ryong, who broke rank 90, and upon the instructors. The sect leader himself, Yun Cheon, is to remain thoroughly behind the curtain, wrapped in mystery. Make that plain to him."

"You mean he should build real substance rather than climb the rankings."

"Exactly. If the tail grows too long, the old serpents of the Cult will not sit still."

"Understood. I will deliver it exactly so."

A cold gleam settled in Sa Gong-jin's eyes. The arrogant smile blooming at the corner of his mouth sprang from his certainty that he alone was the master of this vast chessboard.

At the same hour, before the Black Dragon Sect's training ground, there was not an inch of ground to step. The heat of the rogues crowding the courtyard clear to the tavern's front gates was enough to melt even the biting cold of deep winter.

"Sect Leader! Take me into this hall's discipleship, I beg you!"

"I will bury my bones in the Black Dragon Sect! Please — grant me your instruction!"

It was no blind reverence for a master. For those who had been turned away at every door and treated like garbage their whole lives, this was the first unrotted rope they had ever been thrown.

"There's no end to those begging for admission. What shall we do? My heart wants to take them all in…."

So Ryong asked Yun Cheon's will, his face smeared with sweat and blood. From atop the dais, Yun Cheon gazed down with indifference at the crowd's clamor, then opened his mouth slowly.

"Ask nothing of their origins, their age, or their past."

"…Sir?"

So Ryong's eyes and the rogues' eyes flew wide open. It was a declaration that upended the very common sense of the murim.

"…There are too many, so run them first. Sift ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠out only those with the grit to still walk the path of martial learning even amid training that sends them to the gates of death and back. Let the instructors handle the sorting."

"Aha! You mean to make the ones who can't endure it walk off on their own two feet. It shall be done. Ah, and… Sect Leader. What of that one? When he wakes, he's bound to raise a ruckus…."

So Ryong cast a sidelong glance toward the infirmary and hesitated, but Yun Cheon replied flatly. "We shall see. Whether the beast is a wolf or a dog. If it's a wolf, it will recognize a true beast of prey when it meets one."

Grit. The horrible sound of shattered jawbone grinding against jawbone. The rancid stench of blood stabbing at his nostrils. And killing intent boiling up from his gut. Gang Hwi, the Remnant Blood Wolf, snapped his eyes open.

"Ggh…!"

The moment consciousness returned, pain like being torn apart from the inside flooded his whole body. His jaw and face, which had taken So Ryong's right fist dead-on, burned as if scorched by fire. But the wound to his pride cut deeper than the wounds of the flesh.

I… I lost? To that half-baked cripple?

Gang Hwi tore off his blood-soaked bandages in rough strokes, kicked open the door of the infirmary, and strode out.

Crash!

From the tips of his ten fingers, the blood-red aura of the Blood Wolf Claw bloomed once more, savage and seething. I'll kill every last one of them! If he ran now, he would carry the brand of the defeated for the rest of his life.

"Get out of my way, you mongrels!"

Yet the steps of Gang Hwi, who stormed onto the training ground spilling killing intent, froze after only three paces. As it happened, So Ryong and Yun Cheon were walking toward the infirmary at that very moment.

"Once the selection and admission of the new sect members are settled, we should…."

So Ryong, offering counsel on the sect's affairs at Yun Cheon's side, came face to face with Gang Hwi bursting through the infirmary door. "Ah — that fellow! Looks like he's woken up!"

"Hoh. Decent bone in him, it seems. The blow should have landed properly."

"…My shame. My handling of internal energy was still crude. I will subdue him again myself."

They had been heading for the infirmary precisely to deal with the unconscious Gang Hwi. The dreadful humiliation of having lost to a man he'd deemed far beneath him had dyed Gang Hwi's eyes blood-red with killing intent.

"Subdue me? Over one fluke win, you dare, So Ryong, you bastard!"

Just as So Ryong screwed up his face and drew up the Black Dragon Rigid Body to bar his way — Yun Cheon raised a hand, light and effortless.

"Step back, So Ryong."

Yun Cheon's voice was low, but the formless pressure within it pressed down on the whole of the training ground. Gang Hwi's gaze swung to Yun Cheon.

"Y-you…! You're the new Black Dragon Sect Leader!"

Gang Hwi growled, wrenching the blood-red energy of the Blood Wolf Claw up through his bandaged fists by sheer force of will. "I'll make you regret leaving me alive!"

He kicked off the ground and hurled himself at Yun Cheon's throat. But Yun Cheon did nothing more than let his eyes flash once, coldly, at the onrushing man.

"I took you for a wolf. You were nothing but a mad dog that only knows how to bark."

Yun Cheon's voice was like a dry winter wind, carrying not a shred of emotion. Wh-what is this man…! The energy I feel from him is anything but ordinary! I strike first!

His instincts were screaming, but he could not stop himself.

Tap. Yun Cheon stepped lightly against the ground, slow and unhurried. Nothing more than a single turn of the foot. And then —

Sfft—.

Yun Cheon's figure vanished from Gang Hwi's field of vision without leaving so much as a shadow. The signature technique of Instructor Ya Jin. The Shadowless Step.

"Hk…?! What—what—!"

"A frightened dog always barks the loudest."

The chill voice came from behind him. Gooseflesh raced across Gang Hwi's entire body.

WHAM—!

There was not even time to turn his head. A heavy impact rang through the bone of his calf, and the next instant Gang Hwi's vision flipped upside down. The Whirlwind Leg, following hard on the Shadowless Step.

BOOM—!

Gang Hwi, spun through the empty air, crashed to the ground in a graceless tangle. "Gaaaah!"

Under the impact of being slammed into the floor, his fractured jawbone screamed all over again. Consciousness hovered at the edge of flight.

"Tch… your form is too rough. Flailing about without so much as gauging your own body's condition…."

Gang Hwi's body trembled violently. Humiliation and fury crossed each other in him — and yet he had not even managed to brush the hem of the man standing before him. His instincts were warning him. Even so, he gritted his teeth and snarled. Because he believed that the moment he bowed to those instincts here, he truly would become not a wolf, but a dog.

"…N-next time… I'll… fight you… again…"

Before the words were even fully out, Gang Hwi's head sagged slowly toward the floor.

Thud—.

"See that this man's treatment is completed. However — if he wakes and rampages like this again, handle it as you see fit."

"Y-yes, sir!"

Watching Yun Cheon subdue with ease the man who had given So Ryong such a hard fight, So Ryong grasped the gulf between them all over again.

"Now then… what was it you were about to propose earlier?" Yun Cheon did not forget to ask. Gang Hwi's outburst had cut off So Ryong's proposal mid-sentence.

"Ah… that. Sect Leader, though you have taken your seat, the murim at large does not yet truly know of it. What would you think of holding an inauguration ceremony — an occasion to announce the Black Dragon Sect's new departure to the murim and formally enthrone you as its leader?"

"An inauguration ceremony, hm."

"It will be the stage on which we declare to the Demonic Path and the Central Plains alike that the Black Dragon Sect is no longer the den of rabble it once was."

Yun ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠Cheon saw the ambition burning in So Ryong's eyes. As General Manager of the Black Dragon Sect, So Ryong was more earnest about rebuilding the hall than anyone. And looking into those resolute eyes, something in Yun Cheon stirred — a faint memory of the man he himself had once been.

"……"

Instead of answering, Yun Cheon turned his head and gazed up at the jagged peaks of the Kunlun range, sunk far away in darkness.

…I miss it. Kunlun….

The memory of crossing the sea of clouds, blades crossing with his sworn brothers. The sect leader's gentle smile. But all of it lay buried beyond that ridge.

Yun Cheon clenched his fist around the Black Steel Cold Iron wrapped about his wrist. The chill of the cold metal biting into his palm woke his mind with a bracing shock. The seat of some small sect's leader was never the goal. This was merely the first claw he had grown in order to devour the colossal Demonic Cult from within.

"…An inauguration ceremony. Very well."

In Yun Cheon's clear, still eyes, a cold flame rose and burned. "You said you would prove it is no mere den of rabble. Then an affair for our own eyes alone will not suffice. We must widen the board. First — prepare me a report on the sects and powers in the region around Qinghai City."

"Understood!"

So Ryong withdrew to handle the preparations, and by the time a thick darkness had settled over the training ground —

Sfft—.

Through the open window of the sect leader's office, along with the night wind, a single stealthy shadow slipped inside. "It has been some time, Martial Artist Yun Cheon. No — Sect Leader of the Black Dragon."

The one who had entered without a whisper of presence was Sa Do-myeong of the Inspection Bureau. Kneeling, he carefully set a heavy leather satchel and a wooden case of elixirs upon the table. "The funds and supplies sent by the Vice Director. He says to use them freely for the expansion of the Black Dragon Sect."

"Vice Director Sa Gong-jin is a man of deep pockets."

As Yun Cheon replied offhandedly, lifting his teacup, Sa Do-myeong glanced around and lowered his voice. "And… there is a message. He says that for now you are to hold your breath and stay out of sight, and not be too hasty in climbing the Wind Cloud Board rankings. 'The sharpest blade is most fearsome while it rests in its sheath,' he said."

Yun Cheon nodded without hesitation. "…I understand the Vice Director's meaning well enough."

"Thank you for your understanding." Sa Do-myeong bowed his head in relief. But Yun Cheon's next words sent his heart plunging.

"Though I regret to say — just now our General Manager proposed a grand inauguration ceremony for my installation as Black Dragon Sect Leader, and I have accepted."

"Wh-what? An in-inauguration ceremony! We only just told you to hold your breath…! If you hold so public an affair, the Vice Director will…!"

Sa Do-myeong went pale and moved to dissuade him, but the cold gleam in Yun Cheon's eyes sealed his mouth shut. "Worry yourself too ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠much. Even from the Vice Director's position, there is no grounds to openly block an event the Black Dragon Sect holds of its own accord. Besides… I have my own designs."

Yun Cheon slowly turned the teacup on the table and saw straight through Sa Do-myeong. Like the tea swirling within the cup, his gaze was deep and unfathomable.

"Is there a faction you in the Inspection Bureau would particularly like to see invited to my inauguration?"

"…Pardon?"

"Just as the Vice Director says — I will not move with my own hands to climb the rankings. But the inauguration proceeds as planned. Instead… know this: I will gather, into one place, every thorn in your side that the Inspection Bureau has been itching to remove."

In that instant, Sa Do-myeong's eyes went wide enough to split. Yun Cheon was not holding a reckless ceremony. He was engineering a colossal trap — one that would let the Inspection Bureau annihilate its enemies in a single stroke.

"……!"

A shiver ran down Sa Do-myeong's spine. Vice Director Sa Gong-jin had called this boy "the dagger in his hand." But standing face to face with that glacial gaze, Sa Do-myeong understood at last. This boy was no dagger to be gripped in anyone's hand.

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

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