Chronicles of the Silver Dragon — Episode 23
“Haa….”
Looking at Jehwa, who had his head lowered and didn’t know what to do, Sawollin finally let out a long, deep sigh and pinched his cheek.
“Uwaaaah~”
Ordinarily, he would have smashed her over the head with his fist, but since he was in the wrong, Jehwa simply stood by and watched what Sawollin was doing.
“You pulling this isn’t exactly a once or twice thing! Goodness… Really… I can’t even hit you for this… Oh my! Now that I think about it, the elasticity of your cheek flesh is incredible! And the texture is so nice… I’ll forgive you, so can I pinch them whenever I’m bored?”
“Noooo!”
When Sawollin spoke with sparkling eyes, Jehwa urgently shook his head and shouted.
With that, Jehwa’s cheek slipped free from Sawollin’s fingers.
Instantly putting distance between them, Jehwa wrapped both hands around his own cheeks and began to watch her warily.
“Pfft!”
At Jehwa’s appearance, Sawollin burst into laughter despite herself.
“Kikikik…”
As she struggled desperately to hold back her laughter, Jehwa tilted his head.
‘Ah, he really is cute.’
Watching him from time to time, Jehwa truly was cute.
At times he was too cold, at times too scary, at times too unfamiliar… But still, so cute.
“Why are you laughing?”
When Jehwa tilted his head and asked, Sawollin eventually pulled him into a tight embrace.
“Uwak! What! Let go!”
“Sometimes you’re just too cute~ Jehwa, when you finish your business later, let’s live together? Hmm?”
“Uwak! Let go! Let go!”
Jehwa struggled to pry Sawollin off as she clung to him, but she wouldn’t budge easily.
No matter how bold Sawollin was, she wouldn’t normally hug a man her age so suddenly.
But looking at Jehwa, rather than thinking of him as a man, he strongly evoked a sense of cuteness that stimulated her maternal instincts. Moreover, since he was even pretty, she felt no reluctance whatsoever in hugging him tight.
Seeing Sawollin rubbing her cheek against his head, Jehwa urgently broke free from her embrace.
“Aww….”
At that, Sawollin made a disappointed expression.
“If you have time for this nonsense, think about going to the Kunlun Sect!”
Jehwa said with a scowl.
“Hmph… This is really troublesome.”
“Can’t we just storm in?”
When Jehwa said this to the troubled Sawollin, she scowled and retorted.
“Rejected! Did you hear anything I said earlier!”
“But…”
Jehwa grumbled, and Sawollin looked at him and let out a deep sigh.
“Let’s think about it a bit more.”
“Mmm….”
At Sawollin’s words, Jehwa nodded weakly.
***
A night where faint moonlight illuminated the world.
Two figures moved under the cover of darkness.
“What!”
When Jehwa narrowed his eyes and glared at Sawollin, she averted her gaze with a sheepish expression.
“So this is the conclusion you came to after all that thinking?”
“Ahahaha! W-well, you see.”
“Ha~”
Jehwa smirked at Sawollin, who was laughing awkwardly and making excuses, then began to blow on his fist.
“Eek! W-wait!”
Sawollin, who knew all too well that this was the preparatory stance to smash her head in, panicked and stopped him.
“Wait for what?”
At Jehwa’s brutal expression, Sawollin answered with an awkward smile.
“Hahaha! No matter how much I thought about it, this was the only conclusion I could reach… Umm… S-so just let it go.”
“Mmm…”
Jehwa pondered her words for a moment, then smacked her head.
Thwack!
“Ack!”
Whether Sawollin screamed in pain or not, Jehwa merely snorted.
The place where the two of them were now was inside the Kunlun Sect.
In the end, the conclusion Sawollin had reached was to secretly infiltrate the Kunlun Sect at night.
After all manner of commotion, the two who had safely made it inside hid their presence and looked around.
“It’s quiet.”
“It would be… It’s the most mysterious and closed-off place among the orthodox sects.”
At Jehwa’s muttering as he looked around, Sawollin nodded as if it were obvious.
“I’ll say it again… Even though we got in, you can’t run wild. This isn’t a place outsiders can just enter casually.”
“Yeah, I got it.”
Jehwa nodded to show he understood, but for some reason Sawollin felt even greater anxiety. This guy would always nod like he understood, then later cause trouble and hit her when she wasn’t looking, so she could never let her guard down.
“Don’t just say you understand—really be careful….”
Sawollin was speaking with a deep sigh when she suddenly made a blank expression and looked to the side.
He truly was someone you couldn’t let your guard down around.
“Where did this guy go!”
He had disappeared while she was warning him again!
What the hell kind of guy was he!
“Ugh! What did you take my words for, seriously!”
Sawollin shouted with an annoyed expression.
Among the Kunlun Sect’s famous martial forces was a unit called the Taecheong Unit.
They all trained in the Taecheong Sword, and the Taecheong Wheel Formation they used—while not on the level of the Kunlun Sect’s Cloud Dragon Great Nine Styles Formation, which was said to rival the Shaolin Temple’s One Hundred Eight Arhat Formation—was still counted among the strongest formations in the Kunlun Sect.
Nuyeongjun, commander of the Taecheong Unit, was struck by a bolt from the blue on his way back to his quarters.
Tak!
“Hmm?”
Nuyeongjun was bewildered by the figure blocking his path.
“Who are you?”
He had been in the Kunlun Sect for thirty years, yet this was the first time he had seen the boy before him.
He had wondered if the boy might be a newly arrived disciple, but that wasn’t the case.
The boy possessed an appearance that one would never forget after a single glance.
Just as Nuyeongjun looked at the boy with wary eyes, the boy smirked and spoke.
“Found you.”
At those words, Nuyeongjun felt goosebumps rise across his entire body.
“Wh-what!”
The crushing pressure and unimaginably massive internal energy! And along with it, an incredible chill.
The most terrifying of all was the tremendous killing intent that made his whole body prickle.
The moment Nuyeongjun, having judged that he could never defeat the boy before him, tried to pull away…
Thud!
With a dull sound, Nuyeongjun’s head burst apart.
“Let’s go back.”
When Jehwa approached from behind Sawollin, who was anxiously searching for him, and spoke, she jumped in fright.
“Hyek!”
“Why so surprised? Like you’ve seen a ghost.”
Jehwa tilted his head and asked the startled Sawollin, and she shouted.
“Make some noise when you walk! You startled me!”
Looking at the shouting Sawollin, Jehwa quietly raised his fist.
“….”
At that sight, Sawollin jumped in surprise and backed away from him. Jehwa looked at her and spoke.
“Let’s hurry.”
“Mmm….”
Sawollin knew all too well that if she talked back here, she would get hit, so she obediently followed Jehwa’s words.
***
The next day, the Kunlun Sect was thrown into an uproar.
“How can this be….”
“C-Commander Nuyeongjun….”
The members of the Taecheong Unit stared blankly at Nuyeongjun, who had become a cold corpse.
The Elders held an emergency meeting as soon as Nuyeongjun’s death became known.
“He was definitely killed by someone who infiltrated the Kunlun Sect!”
Elder Namungil, an expert of the Taecheong Divine Fist, said with a stern expression.
“He is undoubtedly a master of fist techniques. This is a wound from a fist. And from a single strike at that… He is clearly an assassin of the Blood Cult.”
At Elder Namungil’s words, Elder Dotaein, an expert of the Kunlun Sect’s Bell Crane Golden Dragon Hand, spoke.
“We must strengthen security. Another murder may occur.”
“Indeed… The Blood Cult’s movements have been unusual lately.”
Recently, there was only one entity that would kill members of the Kunlun Sect: the Blood Cult.
The Sect Leader of the Kunlun Sect, Woneundam, spoke with a stern expression.
“Issue an emergency alert order.”
***
“Today, I’ll go alone.”
“Huh?”
That night, as Jehwa was about to leave Unwonnam’s thatched hut, he spoke to Sawollin, who was following him.
“Alone?”
“I killed one of the Blood Cult bastards yesterday. Security will probably be tight today.”
“What?”
At Jehwa’s words, Sawollin made a surprised expression.
In that short time he had disappeared yesterday, he had found a Blood Cult member and killed him?
“H-how did you find him?”
“I told you before, those Blood Cult bastards reek. Besides, this place is full of clear, pure, and clean energy. If they’re emitting such a foul stench in a place like this, it’s even easier to find them.”
It seemed Jehwa could smell the stench that subtly emanated from the murky and filthy internal energy of the Blood Cult members.
“Do Blood Cult members really give off a foul stench?”
“Yeah, all the ones I’ve met were like that.”
At those words, Sawollin, suddenly curious, asked.
“Then what smell do I have?”
“You?”
At Sawollin’s question, Jehwa tilted his head and opened his mouth.
“Should I say it’s a bit damp? Or should I say a bit heavy?”
“What? That’s….”
At Jehwa’s words, Sawollin made a disappointed expression.
Indeed, it was too much to hope for a good smell from demonic qi.
Looking at the disappointed Sawollin, Jehwa tilted his head and spoke with a smile.
“Then I’ll be going.”
“Okay, be careful….”
Sawollin sighed deeply and gave a weak farewell. Leaving her behind, just as Jehwa was about to shoot off, he suddenly stopped.
“You there.”
“Hmm?”
It was Unwonnam calling Jehwa to a halt. At this, Jehwa tilted his head and looked at him, and Unwonnam sighed and spoke.
“Please don’t kill anyone other than the Blood Cult. They are innocent.”
“Mmm… Yeah, got it!”
After briefly pondering, Jehwa nodded and spoke. Only then did Unwonnam smile gently and nod in return.
“Then take care of yourself.”
“Yeah, I’m off!”
Whoosh— Jehwa shot into the air.