Chronicles of the Silver Dragon Episode 17
Rumble!
No sooner had dark clouds surged forth than thunder rang out.
Beneath the dark sky, a vision of hell was spread out, and standing in the very center of it was Jehwa, his entire body painted red with blood.
It was the Shin’gang region, a place where rain rarely fell even in winter.
Yet now, as if the heavens were weeping in his stead for Jehwa, who could not grieve, rain was threatening to fall.
“Jehwa.”
Sawollin cautiously approached Jehwa.
“These people…… you said they were the Blood Cult, right?”
“Yeah.”
“Right…… the Blood Cult…….”
Jehwa, who had been silent for a moment, opened his mouth again.
“It’s strange…….”
“Huh?”
“It’s strange that I don’t feel anything. The villagers are dead……. People who were always kind to me are dead……. I heard that normally you’re supposed to be sad at times like this? But I’m not sad at all……. Am I strange?”
It was Jehwa, muttering blankly as he stared down at his palm.
“Jehwa…….”
Sawollin called out to him with a sad expression, but he did not answer.
He simply walked toward the village in a daze…….
***
“…….”
Jehwa buried each and every villager’s body by himself. Without anyone’s help, entirely alone.
Because it was a small village, it did not take an exceedingly long time, but even so, a full day had passed.
Finally, after building a grave for a girl named Maye, Jehwa stood blankly before the grave and looked around.
It was a desolate grave without so much as a single tombstone.
“Revenge…….”
Plop!
A single droplet of water fell on the head of Jehwa, who was muttering blankly.
“I’ll…… get revenge…….”
Plop…… Pitter-patter! Swaaaaaash!
Ruuuuumble! Craaash!
Unable to cry, unable to grieve, as if weeping and mourning in the boy’s stead, a torrential downpour poured from the sky.
Jehwa stood in the very center of it.
“So…….”
Since this was all he could do for them, so…….
“Rest in peace.”
Crack!
Swaaaaaash!
“Thank you for everything. For being kind to me.”
The solemn air about Jehwa left the surrounding people speechless.
Chapter 5. The Boy Headed for Murim
Chirp chirp chirp!
The sound of mountain birds could be heard.
The torrential rain that had fallen through the night had long since stopped, and at a spot slightly removed from the village, the warriors of the Heavenly Demon Divine Cult and the delegation of the Murim Alliance were staying.
“A pitiful boy indeed…….”
Cheong Deung-un, elder of the Wudang Sect and the Azure Extremity Dao Master, muttered as he looked at Jehwa sitting blankly in the village.
“But still, where could a boy with such profound martial arts have suddenly sprung from?”
When Cheongseon, the Taiji Sword Cloud Dragon, asked with a serious expression, Cheong Deung-un answered.
“Well…… but what is certain is that he is not an expert who has undergone reversion to youth.”
“What?”
At Cheong Deung-un’s words, Cheongseon, as well as everyone else nearby, opened their eyes wide.
Sawollin also wore a shocked expression. She had thought Jehwa was an expert who had undergone reversion to youth, but he was not?
“Reversion to youth is a phenomenon that occurs after undergoing bone transformation and rebirth, then gaining enlightenment once more; in that process, the body grows smaller. But the bodies of experts who have undergone reversion to youth are usually harder and sturdier than those of ordinary children. There are a few other characteristics as well…… but that boy doesn’t have them. He simply looks like an ordinary boy.”
Currently, the only places in murim with experts who had undergone reversion to youth were the Wudang and Mount Hua sects.
Cheong Deung-un had met both of them before, and though they had certainly possessed the appearance of children, their bodies had differed from those of ordinary children.
But the Jehwa before his eyes had the body of a child.
Which meant this boy had truly possessed such martial prowess at that age.
“He is a truly remarkable boy.”
Cheong Deung-un muttered, stroking his long beard.
At those words, the rest looked at Jehwa with bewildered expressions. Jehwa was now eighteen years old, younger than them. Yet not only did he use Gang Qi, but he had also defeated an expert whom they would likely struggle against even if they all rushed him at once.
Where on earth could such a boy have appeared from?
“Hup!”
Jehwa, who had been sitting blankly, sprang up from his seat.
And without hesitation, he turned around and returned to where the group was.
While everyone looked at Jehwa without saying a word, he looked at Sawollin and asked.
“Those guys……. You said they were the Blood Cult, right?”
Sawollin nodded.
“Yeah, why?”
“I have to get revenge.”
In that instant, Jehwa smiled faintly and opened his mouth.
“If I go to a place called the Central Plains Murim, can I meet them?”
“…….”
Sawollin could not answer Jehwa’s question. If the answer was yes, he would obviously head for the Central Plains Murim.
While Sawollin was hesitating, Seonu Ran answered in her stead.
“Yes, you can meet them.”
“…….”
As everyone’s gaze turned to Seonu Ran, she averted her eyes.
Sawollin looked at Seonu Ran with a slightly resentful gaze.
“Can meet them, huh…….”
Jehwa dragged out those words before opening his mouth again.
“I’ll have to go, then.”
He would have to go to the Central Plains Murim; how could he not, when he had to get revenge? At Jehwa’s words, Sawollin pondered for a moment before speaking.
“I’ll go too……. I want to go too.”
“Huh?”
At those words, everyone’s gaze turned to Sawollin.
“I want to follow you too.”
“Why?”
“Just…… it’s boring if I only stay inside the cult. I’ve also wanted to visit the Central Plains Murim once.”
At that, a warrior of the Heavenly Demon Divine Cult shouted in alarm.
“My lady!”
“What?”
“If you decide so suddenly…….”
“It’s my choice.”
But Sawollin simply answered the warrior.
The Murim Alliance delegation and the warriors of the Heavenly Demon Divine Cult decided to part ways. The Murim Alliance delegation would return to the Murim Alliance, and the Heavenly Demon Divine Cult warriors would return to the Heavenly Demon Divine Cult.
“Tch! What’s this, he was talking like he’d go to Murim right away.”
Seonu Ran grumbled as she watched Jehwa heading toward the Heavenly Demon Divine Cult.
“It’s best to prepare thoroughly before leaving.”
“Who says?”
“She did.”
When Jehwa pointed at Sawollin with his finger, the gazes of Seonu Ran and Sawollin collided in midair.
‘I don’t like her!’
“I could take good care of you too, you know.”
“Why? Is there any reason you need to take care of me?”
“…….”
At Jehwa’s question, Seonu Ran fell silent for a moment before scrunching up her face and speaking.
“Argh! Because you’re pitiful, that’s why!”
“What is?”
“…….”
Seonu Ran fell silent again as she looked at Jehwa tilting his head in confusion.
And after staring at Jehwa intently for a moment, she smiled bitterly.
‘This is why you’re pitiful…….’
This boy before her could not feel sorrow.
As Jehwa tilted his head at Seonu Ran’s bitter smile, she opened her mouth again.
“If you come out to the Central Plains later and come near Shanxi Province, be sure to stop by Taiyuan in Shanxi.”
“What’s there?”
“My home. I won’t turn you away at the door.”
“I’ll think about it if you give me lots of tasty food.”
“My goodness, fine! I’ll let you eat your fill.”
When Seonu Ran said that to Jehwa, who was going on about food, he cheered with a triple hurrah.
“Jehwa, let’s go back.”
Just then, when Sawollin called Jehwa, he turned and approached her.
The disappointed Seonu Ran was watching his retreating figure when, in that moment, Jehwa approached her again, and she wore a puzzled expression.
“Huh?”
“Let’s meet again next time. Don’t get ambushed like that time.”
“Huh?”
Seonu Ran wore a blank expression as she watched Jehwa turn and leave like that. Then she soon smiled faintly and muttered.
“Perhaps……. he might be a good kid.”
***
The warriors of the Heavenly Demon Divine Cult arrived back at the Heavenly Demon Divine Cult.
Upon arriving at the cult, Sawollin immediately rushed to the Cult Leader’s Hall and requested an audience with her father, Sawolma, the cult leader of the Heavenly Demon Divine Cult.
“The people of Jehwa’s village were all killed by the Blood Cult warriors.”
“…….”
At the words of his daughter, Sawollin, Sawolma sighed deeply and fell silent for a moment before opening his mouth.
“So, that is why the boy came to the Heavenly Demon Divine Cult?”
“Yes. But……. he says he’s going to the Central Plains Murim, that he’ll get revenge.”
“Revenge, you say…….”
Sawolma smiled bitterly.
Well, he would want revenge. In a way, it was natural, and depending on how you looked at it, it was a story with some degree of feasibility coming from that boy.
Because even Sawolma found it difficult to guess the limits of Jehwa’s power.
“But why tell me this?”
“…….”
When Sawolma asked with a puzzled expression after thinking of Jehwa for a moment, Sawollin smiled slyly instead of answering.
“You……. don’t tell me?”
Wearing an expression of disbelief, Sawolma sighed and spoke.
“No.”
“But Father~”
Sawollin clung to and pleaded with Sawolma, who refused, but this time he did not grant her request.
In the end, she began to cry. When things didn’t work out, crying was the answer; that was simply how it was.
***
Jehwa sat blankly on the roof of the quarters given to him, looking at the sky.
He usually liked to stare blankly at the sky.
Then, in that moment, someone sat beside him, and he turned his head there.
“Hello, we meet again!”
“…….”
There, Akselin was smiling at him.
After looking at Akselin for a moment, Jehwa looked back at the sky.
“I heard the news. You suffered something terrible, apparently.”
“What?”
“The villagers.”
“Ah…….”
At Akselin’s words, Jehwa showed a blank expression, and it was she who was bewildered by that reaction.
“Aren’t you sad?”
“Why?”
“…….”
“I don’t know what sadness is. That’s why I can’t be sad.”
At Jehwa’s words, Akselin spoke.
“There’s something strange about you.”
“I hear that often.”
After looking at Jehwa for a moment, Akselin smiled.
“Want to go to the Cult Leader’s Hall?”
“The Cult Leader’s Hall?”
“The place where you ran wild.”
“Why there?”
“Because I’m sure some girl is making a loud racket crying her eyes out right now.”
At Jehwa’s question, Akselin smirked as she spoke.