The Terminally Ill Young Master of the Baek Clan-Chapter 343: The Village Of The White Dragon (3)

Yi-gang’s expression remained calm.

In the brief moment it took to straighten himself and rise from his kneeling position, a memory surfaced.

A small Yi tribe child he’d encountered while riding.

She said she’d traveled a great distance chasing after a young goat that had wandered away from home.

Her feet had been swollen, her exhaustion obvious.

At the time, he merely thought she was a determined child and had marveled at the villagers’ obsession with their livestock.

But there had been signs all along.

While riding back with Yi-gang, Tsering had asked what lay beyond the other side of the mountain.

When he’d answered, “There’s nothing,” she’d looked notably disappointed.

And how was it when they’d returned to the village?

The village chief’s family had treated orphaned children with disdain, yet they’d been oddly fixated on Tsering.

Yi-gang had mistaken that fixation for affection…

But suddenly, Yi-gang recalled something else.

This morning, when he had applied medicinal ointment to her wounds, Tsering had murmured something strange.

If she was fated to be offered as a living sacrifice to the dragon the very next day, medicinal ointment would surely be pointless.

Perhaps the young Yi tribe girl had planned to escape.

Holding tightly onto the baby goat she cherished most, she must have fled the village.

Walking stubbornly on foot a distance easily traversed on horseback, she’d eventually collapsed, her feet blistered and swollen.

If fate had its way, she might have starved to death there.

Had Yi-gang arrived even one day later, he might have found only her small corpse, pecked apart by vultures.

But Yi-gang did meet the Yi tribe child and chose to bring her back to the village.

He unknowingly returned her to the village chief couple, who intended her as a sacrifice to the dragon.

‘Yet she did not resent me.’

「Indeed.」

The little girl gazed at Yi-gang without resentment or hatred.

Not because she was mature, but because she had accepted it as inevitable.

This small child had resigned herself to her own fate.

Yi-gang refused to simply watch.

He did not care if he provoked the dragon’s wrath.

Step, step, step.

As he walked boldly forward, the villagers cautiously raised their heads.

They were horrified by this outsider’s brazen interruption of their sacred ritual.

Oblivious, the village chief shouted loudly toward the Dragon Pond:

“This pure maiden’s name is Tsering! Oh, Great White Dragon… ugh!”

Yi-gang snatched the stone knife from the village chief’s hand that gripped Tsering’s wrist.

“W-what do you think you’re doing?!” the village chief shouted at Yi-gang in shock.

With calm eyes, Yi-gang lightly pushed the village chief’s shoulder.

Struck by a sharp, sudden pain, the village chief released Tsering’s wrist.

Yi-gang quickly caught Tsering as her body swayed backward.

“You… We fed you and sheltered you, and this is how you repay us!”

Spittle flew from the village chief’s mouth in his anger.

The villagers also began rising angrily to their feet.

Yi-gang responded calmly, “You’ve already collected a gold nyang from me; that should more than cover food and lodging.”

“Give us the child! You’ll invoke the wrath of the White Dragon!”

The villagers shouted furiously at Yi-gang.

“You shouldn’t have allowed this outsider into the village, chief!”

“He might even be in league with the sorcerer!”

Yi-gang held Tsering in one arm while drawing his sword.

There was nothing more effective than a blade when it came to intimidating a crowd.

The village chief, startled by Yi-gang’s cold gaze, shifted abruptly from threats to pleading.

“Calm down. That child was chosen long ago. Why do you think we raised an orphan so carefully? Her sacrifice will bring prosperity to the village for a whole year!”

“Chosen? So this happens every year?”

Though the chief didn’t respond, it didn’t matter.

Tsering answered Yi-gang’s question with a quiet nod.

“So, it’s been human sacrifice all along.”

Human sacrifice—

The act of offering a living being as a tribute to gain favor from a higher existence.

While such rituals were common in ancient times, including the Yin-Zhou era, they were now considered absolute taboos.

“Yes! This is the tradition of our village!”

Yet, neither the chief nor the villagers showed even a hint of guilt.

In the Central Plains, this would be the heinous ritual of the most sinister of cults, yet here in Tibet, their faces held no remorse.

「Impossible. Potala Palace and the Dalai Lama strictly forbid human sacrifices.」

It appeared this tradition had persisted quietly, isolated in this Rangachen Village, passed down for centuries.

“I said let her go! If you don’t hand her over, you’ll regret it!” a young villager shouted furiously as he suddenly stood up.

Yi-gang hesitated.

With a single gesture, he could easily subdue these villagers who had long engaged in human sacrifices.

He wouldn’t even need to swing his sword himself.

He could simply cover Tsering’s eyes with one hand, and White Fang, the sword strapped to his back, would soar through the air and cut down these savages.

But was that truly the right thing to do?

Would exterminating the entire village of Rangachen as punishment be justified? Would wiping out the village truly serve justice?

Then what would happen to the children left behind—what about Tsering?

Yi-gang wasn’t sure he could take responsibility for those young lives.

This place was a remote region, far from Xi’an, and Yi-gang had other matters to attend to.

“Mister…”

Yi-gang snapped out of his thoughts at the small voice.

Tsering, cradled in his arms, gazed up at him with teary eyes.

Yi-gang paused briefly, then mumbled softly, “…Hey, I’m not a ‘mister.’”

He was hardly old enough to be called mister.

And before Yi-gang could continue pondering, something unexpected happened.

The enraged villagers, who had been rioting moments ago, suddenly prostrated themselves. Even the village chief collapsed to his knees.

“It’s too late… Now…!”

The pool began bubbling furiously, and soon a fierce spray erupted from the Dragon Pond, shooting upward violently.

Amidst humans bowing their heads and trembling in fear, only Yi-gang stood upright, undaunted.

Chwaaak!

From the Dragon Pond, the White Dragon finally revealed itself.

It was massive.

From a distance, it had seemed no larger than a fingernail, but up close, its gaping maw looked large enough to swallow a person whole.

The creature had long whiskers befitting a dragon, its eyes glaring fiercely in deep blue.

Its body glistened brilliantly white, soaked in water, clearly why they called it the “White Dragon.”

Only the highest-tiered spiritual beasts or yokai could possess such an aura, and the White Dragon could even speak.

“Who dares steal my offering?”

Yi-gang remained silent, frozen in place.

Not out of fear—but sheer disbelief.

The White Dragon’s true nature was far from what he had expected.

Even Bodhidharma was beyond confused—he was furious.

「This pathetic thing dares call itself a dragon…?!」

Yi-gang muttered as he looked up at White Dragon, who arrogantly lifted its head, “This thing… isn’t it just a giant eel?”

No matter how he looked at it, it was nothing more than a colossal white eel.

Even the ruler of the pond had once been a mere hatchling.

Born without pigmentation, the eel had originally been no larger than a pinky finger—never meant to grow beyond that size.

In the warm forest streams where it had hatched, predators lurked everywhere, eager to devour young eels.

Then, one fateful day, both its greatest stroke of luck and its greatest misfortune arrived.

A sudden storm swept through the forest.

A powerful whirlwind sucked up the very waters of the stream where it had been hiding, flinging the tiny white eel dozens of majang away. fɾēewebnσveℓ.com

By sheer coincidence, it landed in a pond atop the mountain—the Dragon Pond.

Here, in these clear waters, there were no predators to hunt it down.

An eel that was never supposed to reach adulthood found itself thriving in a pond filled with the concentrated qi of the plateau.

The water was so cold that it nearly tore through its flesh, forcing the eel to grow larger just to survive.

Perhaps 50 years had passed.

By then, the eel had grown as thick as a human’s thigh.

It was around that time that one of the villagers below finally noticed its presence.

A drunk old man, having wandered up the mountain, caught sight of the massive white eel and shouted, “It’s a dragon! Ha-ha! The White Dragon is here!”

To catch it, he snapped branches from trees and threw them like spears.

The eel writhed painfully, struck and injured by the villager’s ignorant attacks.

It had been an act of rage, but the flesh tasted unbelievably sweet.

Especially the old man’s hardened bones, filled with soft, rich matter—it was overwhelmingly delicious.

In that moment, the once insignificant eel awakened to spiritual awareness.

Receiving the plateau’s energy and transforming into a yokai, the eel began to recognize itself as a White Dragon—the White Dragon.

That was how yokai were born.

A miraculous accident, followed by centuries of slow transformation.

That was three hundred years ago.

Now, with divine power and sentience, the yokai ruled over the villagers.

It had lived for centuries, imitating a dragon and demanding sacrifices.

But now, a human unlike any it had ever seen stood before it.

Unlike the simple-dressed Yi villagers under its rule, this young man wore elegant robes and wielded a gleaming sword.

The White Dragon seethed with rage.

“I am… the White… Dragon.”

“What nonsense. Anyone can see you’re just a giant eel.”

A mere human dared mock a dragon.

In its centuries of existence, this was the first time it had ever been insulted.

Of course, the people of the secluded Rangachen village had never actually seen an eel before…

The White Dragon, despite claiming its name, was undeniably just a giant eel.

“A mere eel, pretending to be a dragon while devouring humans…” Yi-gang muttered, dumbfounded.

「Unbelievable. To think we were deceived by something like this.」

Even Bodhidharma grumbled in frustration at the deception.

More pressing than dealing with the villagers was the urgent priority now before him.

The white eel that had been eating humans…

“It needs to be exterminated.”

The White Dragon would not tolerate Yi-gang denying its identity.

“Die!”

It was the absolute ruler of this pond.

As long as its body remained submerged, it feared nothing.

The water was an extension of itself, as easy to manipulate as breathing.

A powerful surge of water erupted, twisting together like living serpents.

Then, like a whip, it lashed toward Yi-gang.

Kwaaang!

The sheer impact sent even the village chief flying helplessly from the shockwave.

Where the water whip had struck, the ground was deeply carved out.

The White Dragon was not a weak yokai.

Having gained spiritual awareness and even the ability to speak, it was likely close to ascending to the rank of a great yokai.

“Whe…re…”

But the scene before it was unexpected.

Yi-gang, who should have been a bloodied mess, was nowhere to be seen.

The White Dragon sluggishly lifted its head.

At the edge of its vision, Yi-gang was suspended midair.

With astonishing leg strength, he had leaped high while holding Tsering in his arms.

The White Dragon was caught off guard—humans weren’t supposed to be capable of such feats.

Without a word, Yi-gang extended his hand forward.

Nothing seemed to emerge from it.

Instead, a silver flash erupted from his back.

A sharp pain shot through the White Dragon’s body.

For the first time in its life, it felt true agony.

Yi-gang’s White Fang had sliced cleanly through its flesh.

Chwaaaak!

Dark crimson blood sprayed like a fountain.

“Krraaaagh! Aaaaargh!”

What did it matter if it was a powerful yokai or could command water at will?

Yi-gang’s telekinetic sword technique left a deep wound on the White Dragon.

“Hm, tougher than I expected.”

But Yi-gang muttered in dissatisfaction.

He had aimed to sever its head completely, but the eel’s hide was tougher than expected, and its body was too thick.

Tsering tried to push away Yi-gang’s hand covering her eyes.

“Where…”

“Don’t look.”

Yi-gang didn’t remove his hand and prepared to strike again.

However, the eel was far more cowardly than he had expected.

For the first time in its life, it felt fear—and thrashed wildly in terror.

“Uuuaaaagh!”

“Tch…!”

Astonishingly, the eel lifted its massive body into the air.

It had long dreamed of escaping the water and soaring freely through the sky.

Its ability to fly was still incomplete, but at least for now, it could evade Yi-gang’s attack.

Yi-gang sent White Fang flying once more.

Was it because White Fang was an unparalleled divine sword?

This time, it cleanly severed the creature’s body.

Swish—Splash!

The massive tail fell into the Dragon Pond, sending up a violent spray of water.

Yet, even that wasn’t enough to halt the eel’s escape.

Instead, having shed its heavy tail, the eel moved even faster, scattering its own blood through the air as it fled.

At this rate, it might actually escape.

And then—the impossible happened.

From a clear sky, a bolt of lightning struck down upon the eel.

Zzzeo-jeojeojeong!

The eel’s flight ceased, and it plummeted into the pond.

Puwaaang!

A deafening explosion sent water splashing in all directions.

Yi-gang halted in his tracks.

Thunder God’s Movement Art was his specialty, but that bolt of lightning had not been summoned by him.

Then, the sound of a massive beast charging echoed through the village, and the terrified villagers cried out.

“A-a shaman…!”

Moments later, from the forest, a massive blue-and-white beast leaped into the air and clamped down on the White Dragon’s writhing body.

The beast—a fox—had a masked figure seated on its back.

“Oh?”

As the masked man removed his disguise, a familiar face was revealed.

“This counts as my catch, right?”

It was Dam Hyun.