Chronicles of the Silver Dragon
Episode 3
Then, perhaps because she had heard Jegal Hwan's voice, Seonu Ran's voice came from inside the carriage.
"I'm fine, so mind your own business."
"Are you really all right?"
"I said I'm fine!"
When he asked persistently, Seonu Ran finally exploded and snapped at him. Startled by her outburst, Jegal Hwan flinched and backed away from the carriage.
'She seems to be in a foul mood today... Tsk, I poked Military Peak the wrong way; it won't be easy getting a good result.'
He had been curious as to why Seonu Ran, who usually loved to wander about, was holed up inside the carriage without budging an inch, but if he provoked Military Peak the wrong way, she might rush right out, draw her blade, and challenge him to a duel. As someone who had no desire whatsoever for such a situation, Jegal Hwan decided to swallow his curiosity and retreat.
"Then that's a relief."
Jegal Hwan spoke, stepping back from the carriage.
Inside, Seonu Ran was looking at the mirror with a terrifying gaze—no, she was glaring at it—with a viciousness that seemed as though she might shatter the mirror itself. The object of Seonu Ran's gaze in the mirror was her own forehead.
'Bastard! Bastard! Baaastaaard!'
Seonu Ran was currently pouring out a torrent of curses, calling someone a bastard in her mind. Naturally, the protagonist of those curses was none other than Eun Je-hwa, who had dyed her forehead a pretty(?) shade of deep blue. Because of that, Seonu Ran's forehead had become so unsightly that she was too embarrassed to show her face to anyone.
'Argh! Damned brat!'
Seonu Ran was mobilizing every curse she knew to hurl at Eun Je-hwa in her mind, radiating a vicious aura to the point that if there had been a straw doll, she would have nailed it with iron spikes and a hammer. So much so that Dokgo Ryeong, the person closest to her, could not even approach.
Seonu Ran inwardly sharpened her blade.
'I shall show them that when a woman harbors a grudge, frost falls in the height of summer!'
Cold flames of rage blazed up from within her chest, and sparks flashed in her eyes.
But you see, what Je-hwa liked most in this world was...
"Ah, damn it! Why is it suddenly snowing like crazy!"
She looked at the heavy snowflakes falling from the sky visible outside and made an annoyed expression.
"Yay! Snow!"
As large flakes suddenly fell from the sky, Je-hwa smiled brightly.
What he liked most in this world was coldness. If frost were to fall in the fifth lunar month, the person who would welcome it with both hands raised was none other than Je-hwa.
Watching Je-hwa smile brightly and spin round and round, the villagers spoke in annoyance.
"It's cold enough to freeze, so what's he so happy about, spinning around like that?"
"Ugh, just leave him be. Isn't he the one who says cold things are the best in the world?"
"Sheesh, you'd think he was the child of a snow woman."
Though the people were muttering like that, Je-hwa was already a more familiar presence to the villagers than anyone else. Seeing him smile as brightly as a child, one couldn't help but laugh.
Je-hwa, who had been running about here and there like a puppy while watching the snow, suddenly paused and perked up his ears.
"Huh? Which crazy bastard is cursing me?"
At Je-hwa's reaction, the villagers flinched.
They knew all too well—his nasty personality!
"Damn it! Annoying. If I catch whoever it is, I'll completely wreck them."
Hearing Je-hwa's muttering, the villagers made identical expressions and muttered inwardly.
'Let's watch our mouths.'
'Let's keep our mouths shut.'
The tale of how Je-hwa, with his nasty personality, had crippled half the village ruffians simply because they had offended his eyes was far too famous in the village.
***
"Welcome."
When the Murim Alliance's delegation arrived at Cheonsan, where the Heavenly Demon Divine Cult was located, a middle-aged man and the cult's warriors came out to greet them.
The Righteous Faction, the Unorthodox Faction, and the Heavenly Demon Divine Cult, which had long pointed swords at one another and fought, had once been forced to ally due to the Blood Cult, which had appeared suddenly one day.
The three allied factions and the Blood Cult had engaged in a prolonged war of attrition for nearly 150 years, until finally, fifty years ago, the first Great Righteous-Demonic-Blood War broke out.
When the Great Righteous-Demonic-Blood War ended in victory for the Righteous-Demonic Alliance, the alliance was dissolved, and they devoted all their energy to restoring the damage incurred during the forty-year war against the Blood Cult.
But just as that damage was being repaired, the Blood Cult, which they had believed to be completely annihilated, began to run rampant once more.
The Righteous-Demonic Alliance, still unable to forget the terror of the previous war with the Blood Cult, eventually allied again and reached the point of exchanging delegations, a relationship that had now continued for ten years.
Thus, for ten years, the Righteous Faction's Murim Alliance, the Unorthodox Faction's Saryeon Alliance, and the Demonic Path's Heavenly Demon Divine Cult had been keeping the Blood Cult in check in their respective territories.
The middle-aged man who emerged now was Mok Cho-ung, the Ink Dragon Palm, an elder of the Heavenly Demon Divine Cult. As he came out, Cheong Deung-un, the Azure Pole Daoist, an elder of the Wudang Sect who held the highest position in the Murim Alliance delegation, stepped forward.
"Amitabha. We are grateful for your hospitality."
"It is merely courtesy toward an ally."
Toward Cheong Deung-un, who uttered the Daoist greeting and spoke politely, Mok Cho-ung replied with an indifferent expression.
Then Jegal Hwan, who was standing beside him, spoke to Mok Cho-ung.
"Are you aware that Murim Alliance warriors—including the White Tiger Squad's Vice-Leader, Military Peak Seonu Ran, and the Alliance Leader's daughter, Beautiful Peak Dokgo Ryeong—were ambushed by figures believed to be from the Blood Cult on their way to Cheonsan?"
At Jegal Hwan's words, Mok Cho-ung's gaze turned toward him. Receiving that gaze, Jegal Hwan's body trembled with a start.
'So this is the power of a Heavenly Demon Divine Cult elder?'
The Heavenly Demon Divine Cult had five elders, whom the world called the Five Demonic Thrones. Their strength was said to be so great that each individual rivaled the leader of the Righteous Faction's Murim Alliance or the Unorthodox Faction's Saryeon Alliance, but Jegal Hwan had dismissed such talk as mere bluster—and had thought so until just moments ago.
However, those words were absolutely not false or mere bluster. Cold sweat began to flow from Jegal Hwan's entire body.
The Five Demonic Thrones' Ink Dragon Palm, Mok Cho-ung, standing before him, was in no way beneath the Murim Alliance Leader. Mok Cho-ung appeared to be of a similar age to the Alliance Leader... If so, how strong must the Heavenly Demon Divine Cult's Leader be?
Mok Cho-ung looked at Jegal Hwan, who had recognized his aura, and asked with brightened eyes.
"And you are...?"
"I am called Jegal Hwan."
Jegal Hwan answered politely and bowed. Mok Cho-ung nodded at his greeting.
"The Wise Dragon among the Seven Dragons of the Seven Dragons Three Peaks in the righteous martial world is said to be a junior of the Jegal Family. I see you are the Wise Dragon."
Muttering with an amused expression, Mok Cho-ung then spoke again with an indifferent face.
"We too have detected the Blood Cult's movements and dispatched a unit to confirm whether they remain within our cult's territory. Should they remain, they will be hunted down and killed immediately upon discovery. Furthermore, that location is in the exact opposite direction of the path leading to our cult. For a portion of the Murim Alliance's delegation to have gone there is beyond even our cult's control. We have been closely monitoring the path you were originally meant to take, solely for your safety. Did we imagine that a portion of the Murim Alliance's delegation would head that way?"
He had spoken in circles, but what he meant was clear: 'You should have just come by the designated path; why go to a useless place, suffer a harsh ordeal, and then confront us about it? Don't confront us.'
Understanding his meaning, Jegal Hwan bowed his head and retreated.
"Now then, allow me to guide you to the quarters where you will be staying."
Mok Cho-ung turned and entered the Heavenly Demon Divine Cult.
"That was reckless. Had an elder other than Elder Mok Cho-ung come out, he would have barked orders at you."
As the Azure Pole Daoist Cheong Deung-un clicked his tongue and spoke, Jegal Hwan let out a deep sigh.
"I apologize. But he was incredible. I never imagined he would be that strong. The rumors held no falsehood."
"It is not for nothing that the five elders of the Heavenly Demon Divine Cult are called the Five Demonic Thrones."
Elder Cheong Deung-un had always served as the person in charge of the delegations to the Heavenly Demon Divine Cult for the past ten years. As the senior martial brother of the current Wudang Sect Leader, his age was by no means low.
At sixty-five years of age, he had received the elder position at fifty and had silently handled the difficult affairs of the Wudang Sect for fifteen years, making him a man whose popularity within the Wudang Sect rivaled that of the Sect Leader himself. Moreover, his hidden martial prowess far surpassed that of the Wudang Sect Leader. Naturally, only a select few knew this.
Cheong Deung-un, who had first been put in charge of the Heavenly Demon Divine Cult delegation ten years ago due to his gentle personality, had handled his duties excellently at the time. When they had first headed to the Heavenly Demon Divine Cult, many voices of concern and anxiety had emerged, but because he had handled matters so splendidly, from the following year onward, he became the person in overall charge of the Heavenly Demon Divine Cult delegation.
Even the Heavenly Demon Divine Cult had secretly hoped that Cheong Deung-un would come as the person in charge of the delegation; possessing a sufficiently open-minded way of thinking, in negotiations he would first observe the situation accurately from a neutral stance before stepping forward, arguing what needed to be argued and conceding what needed to be conceded. Thus, even in the Heavenly Demon Divine Cult, he was strongly perceived as "the Wudang elder who is easy to talk to." Several hot-tempered elders had believed that all righteous faction people were narrow-minded, but upon discovering that there was someone like Cheong Deung-un, who was so reasonable, they took a liking to him.
Although it was only once a year, they had met ten times nonetheless, and since the delegation usually stayed at the Heavenly Demon Divine Cult for about a week, the elders and Cheong Deung-un were on fairly good terms. And to that extent, Cheong Deung-un had a good grasp of the elders' personalities.
Had the elder who emerged today been anyone other than Mok Cho-ung, the moment he heard Jegal Hwan's words, he would have radiated an intimidating aura and glared at him.
Cheong Deung-un, who had let out a sigh of relief that Elder Mok Cho-ung had come out, soon looked at Jegal Hwan with an admiring gaze.
Ordinary righteous faction juniors, especially the young successors of the Five Great Families and the Nine Great Sects and One School, had a strong tendency to hate losing to the Heavenly Demon Divine Cult. All those who had come here until now, after seeing the elders, tended to strongly refuse to acknowledge them, claiming that the experts of the demonic path had grown their strength through improper methods, and some failed to notice their power altogether.