Chapter 21
The Worm Inside the Lion 獅子身中蟲 (1)
From the rear of the battlefield, watching the clash, Zhuge Hyeryeong unconsciously nodded.
“The Red Dragon King’s grandson—!”
That was what the renegade sorcerer, fleeing in cowardice while hiding behind the hostage’s life, had shouted.
The youth in his grasp, barely of age, was none other than the grandson of the Red Dragon King.
“No wonder… No wonder the Red Dragon King himself broke the pact and forced his way forward without hesitation…”
Now it all made sense.
Not just anyone—but his own grandson.
The flesh-and-blood he cherished as though even putting him in his eye would not hurt. If that child were abducted, who wouldn’t have reacted the same way?
“He regained his grandson in the end, but… in such a grievously wounded state, what now?”
Still, it was fortunate.
Since the boy had been recovered, wouldn’t it now be just a matter of joining hands with the Martial Alliance to face their common enemy?
Of course, that was only Zhuge Hyeryeong’s calculation.
Inside Kang Yong-un’s mind, far darker words—words Zhuge Hyeryeong could not have imagined—kept echoing.
[External Voice]
“Wounds of flesh and internal injuries may heal with time, but the sorcery laid upon that child cannot be undone.”
Kang Yong-un’s eyes widened.
“He’s under a spell?”
Like lightning, he recalled the sight he had witnessed.
When he had neared the hill, he had seen it clearly—the sticky, nauseating crimson aura burrowing into someone’s head.
“It’s swallowed the child whole.”
He had seen it with his own eyes. The venerable master’s words were not an exaggeration.
“So… the youth who was being consumed by that power was none other than the old man’s grandson?”
Breaking the silence, Zhuge Hyeryeong stepped forward.
She bowed deeply with formal respect.
“Zhuge Hyeryeong of the Martial Alliance greets the Lord of the Black Lotus, the Red Dragon King.”
“Greetings to the Red Dragon King.”
“Greetings to the Red Dragon King…”
Bang Geuk and Yoo Sung-jin did the same.
With utmost courtesy, they clasped fists and bowed deeply.
The Red Dragon King—such was the singular weight of his presence.
“Wow—! So this is the Red Dragon King himself?!”
Kang Yong-un’s eyes flashed.
The man was utterly unlike what he had heard from Hong Rugae and Dam Oh.
“They said he was a cold-blooded monster without pity or tears… but looking at him now, all I see is warmth.”
Look at the burning gaze he cast upon his grandson.
Were those the eyes of a heartless, pitiless man?
“Ah—that spell.”
Kang Yong-un’s mind spun rapidly.
The mere fact that the renegade sorcerer had deliberately planted a spell upon the Red Dragon King’s grandson spoke volumes about his sinister intent.
[External Voices]
“If the spell cannot be broken, it’s all for nothing.”
“Right. Keep him alive, and you’re just raising your enemy for the future—ha!”
The lament from the ancient voices made it crystal clear.
The renegade sorcerer had a purpose.
“So he let him live on purpose?!”
Raising one’s enemy for the future—that was the very outcome the renegade sorcerer wanted.
“If the Red Dragon King’s grandson awakens… he may very well rise as a warrior of the Renegades.”
Not necessarily right away. But someday. Inevitably.
A tragic, terrifying possibility.
Without anyone realizing it, the Black Lotus could be absorbed into the Renegades.
“I want to save him. Truly.”
Kang Yong-un’s steps carried him unconsciously toward the Red Dragon King and his grandson.
“Hey, Strategist Kang!”
Zhuge Hyeryeong cried out in alarm, trying to stop him. But Kang Yong-un did not hear her.
“Poor child—!”
Buzz—
With the vibration between his brows, Kang Yong-un’s vision pierced directly into the Red Dragon King’s grandson’s mind.
That vile, roiling crimson energy surged inside.
The pure azure light he once had was nowhere to be found. All was blood-red corruption.
“What do I do?”
Kang Yong-un sincerely wished to know how to undo the renegade sorcery.
Just then, the Red Dragon King roared in anguish.
“You… accursed—!”
While examining the boy’s meridians, he realized the truth.
Inside his grandson’s body—especially his head—was filled with strange, revolting inner force.
“What in the world is this?!”
Rage and grief tore at him.
All his grandson had done was patrol the Black Lotus domain as usual. Why had this horror befallen him?
“Kuuaaaaagh—!”
The limp Yeom Gi-jin suddenly screamed.
Like one struck by lightning, his body stiffened and locked.
“Gi-jin—!”
The Red Dragon King’s anguished cry rang out.
He knew.
The inner force of the renegade sorcerer was resisting the energy he had injected, clamping down on his grandson’s brain and mercilessly crushing it.
“Just a little longer… Endure a little longer. Your grandfather will cure you, I swear it!”
The Red Dragon King roared, as though coughing up blood.
At once, he struck vital points, holding the wounds from spreading and suppressing the foreign force within his grandson’s mind.
“Cure him? Is that even possible?”
Kang Yong-un shook his head inwardly.
The elder’s vow did not comfort him—the voices of the ancients seemed far more believable.
“If I fail, I’ll search the entire world to find someone who can heal you. I promise, my grandson!”
Impossible words.
Flesh wounds were no longer the issue.
Kang Yong-un shook his head again.
“He probed the meridians himself and already knows, doesn’t he?”
Something had taken root inside the boy’s mind.
It had to be safely purged.
That something—was the Renegades’ sorcery.
Unless it was destroyed, even if Yeom Gi-jin regained consciousness, he might never again truly be the Red Dragon King’s grandson.
“And if we fail, and in a short time the Black Lotus falls into the Renegades’ hands…?”
Just imagining it was dizzying.
“We must stop it.”
But how?
“El… Elder—!”
At least, he could ask those who understood Renegade sorcery.
“You hear my voice, don’t you?!”
The presences connected through his spirit answered at once.
[Voices of the Ancient Ones]
“Speak, child.”
“Yes, we are here.”
With desperate resolve, Kang Yong-un asked,
“You said I have the qualification. Could I use it to destroy the Renegade sorcery clinging to that young man?”
His one true reliance—
It was his mysterious power, the Great Celestial Divine Art, which had awakened within him.
Zhuge Hyeryeong’s eyes flashed as she observed.
“Talking to himself? No… he’s speaking to someone unseen.”
By focusing her inner energy, she could tell: Kang Yong-un was asking about breaking Renegade sorcery.
“How does he even recognize such a thing, let alone discuss dispelling it?”
While she pondered, the ancient voices answered within Kang Yong-un’s mind.
[Voices]
“Yes. Your innate qi is your qualification.”
“If you harness it, Renegade sorcery can indeed be cleansed.”
“The essence of the innate is light.”
“Darkness is the absence of light. When innate light shines, Renegade sorcery will wither away.”
“Believe in yourself, child—!”
It was certain now.
Kang Yong-un could break the Renegade sorcery consuming Yeom Gi-jin.
“I can do it.”
He stepped forward.
“Though untimely, I, Kang Yong-un of the Martial Alliance, pay my respects to the Red Dragon King.”
“Begone!”
The Red Dragon King Yeom Hwi, cold as ice, dismissed his formal bow.
“You proved yourself no enemy of the Black Lotus by opposing those villains, so leave quietly now—”
Then his eyes blazed.
Still holding his grandson, he rose to his feet, staring at Kang Yong-un.
“What is this youth…?”
He recognized it at once.
The qualities seen by Hong Rugae and Zhuge Seon-hu—he could not fail to see them himself.
“Why is his aura so clear?!”
It was like the pure sky of autumn—so clear one feared the world’s dust might taint it.
And yet his martial ability was meager.
“His inner force is barely at the first-rate threshold… Yet the sword he wielded was the Three Talents Sword Art.”
Incredible.
How could someone of such poor skill shine with such clarity? Normally, the impurity of one’s weak inner force would be written all over their face and eyes.
“And yet… here it’s the opposite?!”
Utterly incomprehensible.
“I have something to say.”
While the Red Dragon King was still struck dumb, Kang Yong-un spoke firmly.
“Your grandson has been struck by Renegade sorcery.”
“Renegades?!”
The Red Dragon King’s eyes gleamed anew.
“You mean—the ones who plotted this and ruined him are the Renegades?!”
“Yes, elder.”
The Red Dragon King tilted his head.
He spoke his honest thought.
“Strange. Even when I experienced their strange illusions firsthand, I did not realize their true identity.”
“Truly?”
“Of course. The Renegades, along with the Blood Sect known as the Outer Demons, vanished from the world over a hundred years ago.”
That was news even Kang Yong-un had not known.
“But then—how could you, in an instant, recognize the Renegade sorcery that I myself could not?”
“…It happened by chance. But that’s not what matters now, elder.”
The Red Dragon King narrowed his eyes.
He could sense that whatever Kang Yong-un was about to say, it was no ordinary claim.
Zhuge Hyeryeong, too, watched him with eyes full of curious light.
Kang Yong-un declared firmly,
“When your grandson awakens, he may no longer be the Red Dragon King’s heir. He may no longer be the successor of the Black Lotus.”
***
At the same time—
To the north of Hongho, at the border of Hyun and Hyun Prefectures.
“Are the deployments finished?”
“Yes, Chief Strategist. All thirty-four key points near Hongho have been fully ambushed.”
“Good.”
Pleased with his senior aide Jang Dae-wi’s crisp answer, Zhuge Seon-hu turned his gaze to the horizon.
“Then we shall see soon enough.”
He truly wondered—what kind of mad force dared to provoke the hornet’s nest that was the Black Lotus?
“The Sub-Strategist is safe, I trust?”
The aide asked lightly, but Seon-hu’s lips curled faintly.
“Why? Are you worried?”
“N-no, sir—!”
Caught, the aide blushed.
“I only meant—the opponent is the Black Lotus, and the unknown enemy seems all too formidable…”
“Hahaha! Enough. I only teased you, don’t fret.”
With hearty laughter, Zhuge Seon-hu dismissed the matter, then wiped the smile from his face as he calmly reviewed the situation.
“Was this truly the stratagem of Jo Ho-i-san, or not?”
That was the key question.
If the force that stirred the Black Lotus had used Jo Ho-i-san’s tactics, the situation would be far more dire than it already was.
“Hyeryeong… I trust you.”
The situation was chaos.
To grasp both the external and internal circumstances of the Black Lotus, the surest path was to question the Red Dragon King himself, who held all the knowledge.
That was the Sub-Strategist’s duty—to observe and deduce, then report.
“Though I do not know the exact reason, this must involve the Red Dragon King’s blood kin.”
Truly, Zhuge Seon-hu lived up to his name as a seer of ten thousand li.
Even what Zhuge Hyeryeong had only just witnessed firsthand, he had already deduced.
“The more I think on it, the more suspicious it seems, Chief.”
Aide Jang Dae-wi nodded.
He was proving he had earned his seat not through connections, but ability.
“The unknown enemy that the Black Lotus seeks to surround—had ample time to flee, yet did not. They laid decoy formations and gathered many vagrant warriors. Surely, there’s some deeper reason?”
Indeed, Seon-hu had pondered the same question.
But with so little information, no conclusion could yet be reached.
“Hahaha. Soon, we will know.”
Zhuge Seon-hu laughed boldly.
“Whoever the enemy is, they cannot escape the net we’ve spread.”
They would be caught. Without fail.
“I wonder how the Red Dragon King will repay this debt?”
Just as he entertained the pleasant thought—
Fwee—! Fwee—! Fweeeeeee—!
Three signal arrows streaked into the sky in succession.
