King Shura

Chapter 58. The Power of a Dragon’s Pearl

Cho Ryu Hyang sat at the edge of the pagoda and stared into the artificial pond. It had been ten days since he came here.

The moment he arrived, he asked Um Seung Do to send a message to his house, but he still didn’t get an answer.

Because of that, Cho Ryu Hyang was feeling quite stressed at the moment. It was partly due to the fact that he knew how his father would react to his current condition.

‘It hurts.’

Cho Ryu Hyang took off his glasses and cleaned it with a bitter expression.

His father made both the Black Moon Guild and the Heavenly Demon Church look amazing, but Cho Ryu Hyang knew that in truth, his father didn’t accept them at all.

To be honest, his father didn’t even want to be near them.

Even Cho Ryu Hyang could see how much his father distanced himself from them whenever he had to take their request.

‘And to think I’d become the Heir to the Heavenly Demon Church…….’

There would be nothing as surprising as this to his father. Cho Ryu Hyang bitterly smiled. Cho Ryu Hyang, unlike his father, didn’t have a bad opinion of either the Black Moon Guild or the Heavenly Demon Church.

Perhaps he was like this thanks to his father’s education that aimed to get rid of prejudice, or perhaps it was a tragedy caused by false education.

No matter what had happened, however, his current predicament couldn’t be changed.

‘I should talk to him soon.’

As this was a very big decision in his life, he had to get his parent’s permission.

He believed that his parents would respect his decision, but at the same time felt that his parents would have a hard time accepting all this. When he thought about this, he bitterly smiled.

Cho Ryu Hyang shook his head in order to clear it of any useless thoughts, then sat down and began to fondle the Moon Edge Blade Technique manual in his arms.

‘Ryun…….’

The Moon Edge Blade Technique was comprised of thirty different parts, and each part was provided with a method to train it.

Ryun, the beginning of the Moon Edge Blade Technique. Cho Ryu Hyang was stuck there. He didn’t know what to do.

’Turn the whole body into a weapon.’

The words had a nice ring to it. A body that wouldn’t break from anything in the world. The Moon Edge Blade Technique started by creating a body like that.

But just this much description of ‘Ryun’ wasn’t able to give Cho Ryu Hyang even the slightest hint at how to start training.

‘Make the body stronger by pulling up the power of the world inside the body. Once one does that, he/she will be able to attain a power that can shake the heavens.’

This was the explanation of the first part of the Moon Edge Blade Technique. The most important part in the sentence was ’the world’. Cho Ryu Hyang couldn’t even figure out what the author meant by that word.

—Sometimes, there’s a need to see everything in a simple light. You see, the truth is usually simpler than you might think.

The advice his teacher had given him floated randomly in his mind. Look at it in a simply light? Just what was he supposed to look at, and how was he supposed to look at it? To Cho Ryu Hyang, his teacher’s advice just made everything more confusing.

‘Just solving this should make everything else easier…….’

Everything was hard in the beginning. Cho Ryu Hyang felt that everything else would get simpler after mastering ‘Ryun’, but he simply didn’t have any idea as to how he should master it.

Cho Ryu Hyang kept thinking hard with a hand over his forehead. Right then, he could hear someone laughing in his mind.

[Child, you’re still obsessing over useless things.]

Cho Ryu Hyang’s eyes sparkled. He knew this arrogant voice in his head.

‘Elder!’

Zhuge Liang. That man suddenly talked. Just where was he all this time? Why didn’t he respond no matter how much Cho Ryu Hyang called for him?

What was he doing when Cho Ryu Hyang really needed help? When Cho Ryu Hyang suddenly thought of various things that made him feel disappointed, Zhuge Liang smiled bitterly.

[I was busy thanks to your stupid actions.]

Stupid actions? Busy? What was he talking about? Wasn’t Zhuge Liang a being without flesh?

[Tian Nu, that dragon played a amusing trick on you before he ascended. Because of that, I became unexpectedly busy.]

Zhuge Liang’s voice contained a hint of anger. What was he angry about?

And wasn’t Tian Nu the imugi that ascended to heaven a while back? When Cho Ryu Hyang thought of this, Zhuge Liang flapped his fan while speaking in a low voice.

[To give an unprepared child a Black Dragon (墨龍) Pearl…… Taking care of it took quite a bit of time.]

The two gifts Cho Ryu Hyang received from the dragon. One was the Moon Blade Edge Technique, and the other was a purple sphere. That purple sphere. It was actually a Black Dragon’s pearl.

[It’s a little shattered, but a Dragon’s pearl isn’t something a human can take care of. You, greenhorn, foolishly touched it without even knowing that.]

Cho Ryu Hyang nodded. He almost died that time. After being penetrated by an immense amount of electricity, he had fainted. Thankfully, he survived, but the experience still scared him.

[It wouldn’t have been weird if you had died then.]

No. Normally, he should’ve died. The power of a dragon’s pearl was too much for a mere human to take in. Even Tian Nu knew that much.

The reason Tian Nu entrusted the pearl to Cho Ryu Hyang was because he trusted Zhuge Liang inside Cho Ryu Hyang’s body. Tian Nu believed that with Zhuge Liang, Cho Ryu Hyang would be able to contain the power of the pearl without much problems.

’This child probably didn’t even know that he could’ve died.’

Zhuge Liang’s lips twitched as he fanned himself. When he thought of just how much he suffered to save this child, the anger repressed inside him rose up like a tidal wave.

Even if he was the Zhuge Liang, the man who prided himself in absolute perfection, he could only show his true power when he had a body. Right now, he was powerless.

Because of that, the event where Zhuge Liang helped Cho Ryu Hyang take in the pearl was really hard to digest. His consciousness almost got swept away by the immense power of the pearl.

‘I almost died.’

Zhuge Liang looked up at the sky, and swore at Tian Nu, who was watching over them with a smile.

But even if Zhuge Liang’s existence was almost erased because of Tian Nu’s antics, he did gain several things from this.

[Greenhorn.]

‘Yes, elder.’

[Are you curious about the ‘world’ inside your body?]

When Zhuge Liang said this with a suggestive voice, Cho Ryu Hyang’s eyes sparkled. As expected, this person must know much about the inner ‘world’ of the body.

‘Please teach me, elder.’

[Fine. I will help you a little.]

Zhuge Liang said this, and smiled mischievously whilst covering his mouth with his fan. The memories of trying to contain the power of the pearl with much difficulty passed in his mind briefly.

Cho Ryu Hyang was standing with eyes filled with expectation. Right then, everything around him turned dark.

‘Eh?’

At the same time, his legs lost strength, and the sound around him disappeared completely.

When he started to stumble and fall, Un Hui appeared and grabbed him before he fell on the floor.

“Young master?”

“…….”

Everything was out of focus. Un Hui’s face hardened as he shook Cho Ryu Hyang, but Cho Ryu Hyang failed to regain his senses.

Un Hui’s face began to harden even more. He quickly took Cho Ryu Hyang’s pulse, and found that Cho Ryu Hyang’s pulses were extremely faint.

‘Just what is…….’

Un Hui’s senses were all warning him of danger. Cho Ryu Hyang was in that much danger. Cho Ryu Hyang’s breathing became shallow, and his body was sprawled out like a corpse.

Not only that, Cho Ryu Hyang’s pink face lost its color as the whole body started to turn pale. Un Hui was assaulted with a feeling of agitation.

“Young master! Young master!”

No matter how much he called, Cho Ryu Hyang wouldn’t wake. Un Hui regained his senses after noticing his master’s face turning blue.

He began to move like lightning. He was carrying Cho Ryu Hyang to the medicinal house.

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* * *

Bam—!

The medicinal house was one of the more important departments in the church. Because of this, the medicinal house was guarded heavily, and the guards stationed there all had considerable strength.

But of course, these people were only strong to normal people. Against a harmonious expert charging at them like a bull, even these guards wouldn’t know what to do.

“Move!”

“Halt!”

After finding a martial artist of immense strength charging at the medicinal house, twenty guards gathered at the gates. Upon seeing this, Un Hui’s eyes grew cold.

“Move, or die.”

“……!”

Un Hui felt extremely hurried at the moment. That was because Cho Ryu Hyang’s breathing kept on getting even shallower.

’There’s no time.’

Was it because of his anxiousness? Un Hui’s body began to emit even more killing intent than usual. The intense killing intent emitted by Un Hui was so strong, that it was enough to make the peak experts guarding the medicinal house almost piss themselves in fear.

‘A harmonious expert!’

The experts at the medicinal house prepared themselves for battle. Even if the enemy was a harmonious expert, they could not run. They had to guard this place with their life.

That was their mission.

‘He’s coming.’

Just when the experts’ faces filled with dread, the gates of the medicinal house opened, and a voice came from the inside of the building.

“Don’t block him. He’s a person I know.”

“Sir!”

“Che, there’s no need to make a fuss about all this. Why did you come here this early in the morning?”

Doctor Sunwu Jo Duk. Thankfully, this man was a person who had met Un Hui several times in the past. Because he could recognise Un Hui’s aura, he could come out in time.

Sunwu Jo Duk frowned when he saw Un Hui approaching him without any explanation or greeting. He could see how anxious Un Hui was.

“Calm down, boy. I can only help you after you tell me why you came here.”

Un Hui just stretched out his arms with something on it. There was a boy who resembled a corpse on his arms.

“It’s the young master.”

Sunwu Jo Duk’s relaxed smile faded when he heard Un Hui’s words.

“What?”

“It’s the young master.”

Sunwu Jo Duk, as if he finally understood what was going on, took Cho Ryu Hyang in his arms. He quickly touched Cho Ryu Hyang’s vein, and his face hardened. Cho Ryu Hyang almost had no pulse.

“…….What the hell were you doing while the young master got to this state?”

“……..”

Un Hui couldn’t say anything. When Sunwu Jo Duk saw this, his body trembled in rage. He looked at Un Hui with a gaze that could kill, and said something in a low voice.

“If something happens to the young master, I’ll kill you ten times over.”

Un Hui looked down with eyes filled with complex feelings. He, too, didn’t know what happened.

But he couldn’t say anything in retort. He was clearly right next to Cho Ryu Hyang, and yet couldn’t do anything to save his master.

‘I’m useless.’

While Un Hui’s eyes filled with self-loathe, Sunwu Jo Duk took out a giant needle. He was using his precious Life-death Golden Needle.

Sunwu Jo Duk quickly pierced Cho Ryu Hyang’s right pinky with that needle.

Puu—!

When he pulled the needle back out, black blood streamed out of Cho Ryu Hyang’s finger. Sunwu Jo Duk observed this as he wiped sweat from his brows.

“…….Someone go alert the Pope.”

“Ah, yes sir.”

Few of the experts at the gate disappeared, as Sunwu Jo Duk quickly carried Cho Ryu Hyang inside the medicinal building.

He then commanded his subordinates to bring several precious medicine as he lay Cho Ryu Hyang down on the bed.

‘I must save him.’

This was a precious heir to the church. They couldn’t lose someone like this in a silly accident like this.

Sunwu Jo Duk grit his teeth, pulled up his sleeves, and lifted the Life-Death Golden Needle. He was prepared to use all the medical skill he gathered over the ages on Cho Ryu Hyang.