Silver Dragon Chronicles, Episode 4
But Jegal Hwan had shown that he recognized their strength, deeply pondered, and appeared to think of the Orthodox Murim’s future.
‘So a Wise Dragon was born into the Jegal Clan after all… He is the great fortune of the Jegal Clan, and furthermore, the great fortune of the Orthodox Murim.’
Cheong Deung-un smiled faintly inwardly.
Cheong Deung-un did not doubt for a moment that if Jegal Hwan were to become the Patriarch of the Jegal Clan, the Jegal Clan would walk a path of prosperity.
‘There are many outstanding children among the rising stars of this generation’s Orthodox Murim.’
Cheong Deung-un murmured inwardly, thinking of the several memorable rising stars.
“Heh heh heh heh heh….”
Cheong Deung-un laughed, stroking his lush white beard.
“Why do you laugh?”
Seeing Cheong Deung-un like this, Jegal Hwan asked with wide eyes, and the old man replied with a gentle smile.
“Looking at you, I feel as though I can see the bright future of our Orthodox Murim. Truly, there are many outstanding ones among the rising stars of this generation.”
At Cheong Deung-un’s words, Jegal Hwan cupped his hands in a salute.
“It is an honor to hear you say such words.”
Cheong Deung-un smiled faintly and looked at Jegal Hwan with a proud gaze.
***
Those clad in black arrived near the region of Inyeong, located to the northeast of Cheonsan.
Their identity was the 1st Division members of the Heukwoldan, sent by the Heavenly Demon Divine Cult to find traces of the Blood Cult.
Heukwoldan was a direct subordinate unit of the Elder Council of the Heavenly Demon Divine Cult.
With divisions numbering up to the fifth, their duties typically consisted of tracking, searching, and assassination, and they possessed such great might that they ranked within the top ten of the martial forces held by the Elder Council.
Yet when such a Heukwoldan arrived at the outskirts of Inyeong, they were thrown into utter chaos.
“Kuaaaack! Young Lady!”
“Uhehehehe.”
The commander of the Heukwoldan screamed, calling out to someone, and at his cry, a woman’s laughter was heard.
Her age was approximately late teens?
Seeing her standing there dressed in black, Heukwol, the commander of the Heukwoldan, grabbed his head.
Why on earth was this tomboyish young lady here?
“Yahoo! Mister Heukwol, hello!”
“What do you mean, yahoo! Why on earth are you here?”
“I don’t know either.”
“Keuk.”
At her words, Heukwol felt his blood pressure rise and nearly suffered qi deviation on the spot.
She had followed him all the way here and was now brazenly declaring that she didn’t know!
“The moment I thought it looked fun, I ended up here, right?”
“Keuk… Return immediately!”
“But I’ve already come all this way?”
“Even so, please go back. I will assign two men to escort you.”
“No, no.”
At Heukwol’s words, she shook her head and threw a tantrum.
‘Keuk! I can’t even hit her…’
Heukwol truly felt like knocking her unconscious and sending her back to the cult, but her background was far too great for that.
Of course, her background was one thing, but decisively, Heukwol wasn’t confident he could knock her out in one blow.
Mahwa Sawollin—she was the daughter of the Cult Leader.
At nineteen years old this year, she was acknowledged as possessing the strongest skill among the rising stars of the Heavenly Demon Divine Cult, and her martial arts were so profound that she had earned the epithet “Flower of the Demon.”
But there was something even more famous than her martial arts—namely, her completely unpredictable personality.
If the Cult Leader had the biggest headache in the world right now, it was precisely his daughter, Sawollin.
It was satisfactory that she possessed powerful martial arts befitting the Cult Leader’s daughter, but her wildly unpredictable personality was enough to make the Cult Leader’s head throb constantly.
Because she went around causing accidents here and there, the Heavenly Demon Divine Cult had not enjoyed a single quiet day in the last four years.
“The cult is boring~ And the men are all weaker than me, too.”
‘You’re absurdly strong!’
What kind of woman possessed the greatest strength among her peers?
Even the Young Cult Leader, Sawolmu, who was two years her senior, had once sparred with her and barely won, after which he avoided sparring with her altogether.
From that day on, Sawollin threw herself into martial arts with fierce determination and eventually achieved tremendous results surpassing Sawolmu.
A woman possessing a talent for which the word genius—truly, genius—was the only description. That was Sawollin.
When Heukwol looked at her with an exasperated expression, Sawollin narrowed her eyes.
“I’ll cause a scene? I can protect my own body well enough, so just shut up and go, alright?”
“Keuk….”
There it was! Alongside her unpredictable personality, that incredibly foul temper!
“Just go back.”
“Hehh….”
Bang!
Along with Heukwol’s words, Sawollin stomped her foot on the ground.
“Say that again?”
Truly an incredibly foul temper.
Heukwol decided that he would rather take an earful from the Elders than see Sawollin causing a scene right this instant.
He feared Sawollin more than the Elders.
“Let’s go.”
“Ehehehe! You should have said that from the start!”
Only then did Sawollin nod with a satisfied expression, and seeing her like that, Heukwol could only wear a wretched expression.
***
“Haaaahm. Hmm?”
Jehwa, who had been caught up in the battle between the Martial Alliance delegation and the Blood Cult two days ago, was lounging on a tree branch as always, basking in the sunlight.
The snow that had fallen two days ago had turned the entire world a pristine white. As he enjoyed his sunbath atop the tallest tree in the village while admiring the view, Jehwa’s senses caught the presence of several people.
Jehwa had first come to sense such presences at age fifteen—that is, when he began hunting birds.
Jehwa was a truly peculiar child.
Not only did he not feel the cold, but he also possessed tremendous physical strength despite never having learned martial arts, and a mysterious silver light flickered within his black hair and black pupils.
He was also a strange child who learned speech and writing on his own without being taught.
Such a Jehwa scrunched up his face.
“Those rotten bastards. How dare they trample such a beautiful snowfield barefoot? Should I smash them? I came all this way without stepping on it because it was too precious.”
If anyone else had heard, they would have made a fuss about someone his age using the Tread-Snow-Without-a-Trace technique, but to Jehwa, it was only natural.
What was he supposed to do about something that just happened on its own?
At sixteen, he had looked at a pristine snowfield and thought about walking on the snow without dirtying it, and that was simply what had happened!
It was the perfect sort of thing to be called a madman for, but what could he do when it was the truth?
If martial artists learned that he was using Tread-Snow-Without-a-Trace at that age, they might foam at the mouth and collapse.
And if they heard he hadn’t learned any martial arts, wouldn’t they make a fuss about qi deviation and insist on taking him away?
Of course, even if he had suffered qi deviation, they would undoubtedly rush to take him as a disciple, claiming he possessed an indomitable will.
It was when Jehwa, who had briefly watched the group trudging through the snow, cut off his interest in them and looked back at the sky.
“I’m bored! This is no fun!”
Thud, thud, thud!
A woman began kicking the tree Jehwa was lying on.
Twitch!
Naturally, a vein popped on Jehwa’s forehead at the woman’s actions.
“Has that girl gone mad? Daring to kick the tree I’m sitting on with her foot?”
Crack!
Jehwa snapped a nearby twig and threw it at the woman.
“Aaaack!”
The woman, struck directly on the head by the twig Jehwa threw, screamed and rolled on the ground.
The fallen woman was none other than Sawollin.
The Heukwoldan, which had been tracking the whereabouts of the Blood Cult, concluded that there were no more Blood Cult forces in the vicinity.
Thus, Sawollin, who had been eagerly hoping something interesting would happen, could not help but be disappointed.
Having come up empty-handed, Sawollin arrived at a small nearby village in a state of extreme irritation, and unable to vent her anger, she had been kicking a nearby tree.
‘Won’t something really interesting happen?’ She had come with such expectations, yet to have gained nothing! As she threw a tantrum, complaining that this was too much, everyone in the Heukwoldan sighed deeply and clicked their tongues, thinking inwardly, ‘I truly worry about who will take that tomboy off our hands.’
Of course, they only thought it inwardly and did not utter such words aloud.
If they said it, what kind of rebuke would they face?
Just as everyone was sighing inwardly and worrying about her future, Jehwa threw a twig and hit Sawollin, causing her to collapse on the ground.
As Sawollin suddenly grabbed her head and rolled on the ground, the startled warriors of the Heukwoldan drew their swords and became wary of their surroundings.
“Hey, you crazy girl! Shut up and let me get some sleep!”
Completely ignoring the Heukwoldan, Jehwa vented his irritation at Sawollin, who was rolling on the ground.
“Uuugh… Who are you?”
Jehwa looked at Sawollin, who was glaring at him with a teary face, with an expression that said, ‘Why are you asking such a stupid question?’
“You’ve never seen a person before?”
“Who are you!”
At Jehwa’s words, Heukwol, who had been watching him with a wary expression, barked, and at that cry, Jehwa’s gaze turned toward the Heukwoldan.
“And what are these guys?”
As Jehwa looked at them with an annoyed expression, the Heukwoldan raised their demonic energy.
“Interesting.”
Thud!
Jehwa, who had been observing the Heukwoldan with an expression of interest, suddenly twisted his face at Sawollin kicking the tree he sat on once more, and turned his gaze to her.
“What the hell did you throw at my head!”
To her scream as she grabbed her head and shouted, Jehwa spoke as if it were no big deal.
“A twig. It’s right next to you.”
At his words, Sawollin looked at the very thin, freshly snapped twig next to her and made a dumbfounded expression.
That incredibly light twig had collided with her head and caused such an impact?
“Lies!”
“You gonna keep spewing nonsense? Want another hit?”
“Eek!”
As Jehwa flashed a brilliant smile and raised his fist, Sawollin flared up and immediately drew her sword, cutting the base of the tree he was sitting on.
“…!”
At that action, Jehwa’s eyes went wide.
Thwack!
After cutting the base, Sawollin pushed the tree with her foot, and unable to withstand that force, the tree collapsed.
Jehwa lightly leaped from the falling tree and landed directly on the ground.
Rumble—crash!
Jehwa, having landed on the ground, blankly watched the falling tree, and Sawollin, her anger unabated, merely panted as she glared at him.
But Sawollin’s choice to cut the tree was truly the worst choice she could have made.