Chapter 23
The Worm Within the Lion 獅子身中蟲 (3)
Deep inside the inner court.
The Red Dragon King had finally arrived at the Grand Prince’s chamber. He gently laid down his grandson, Yeom Gi-jin, whom he had been carrying in his own arms.
“Will you begin right away?”
“Yes, Lord Consort.”
“Is there aught I can do to help?”
“Not at the moment.”
Closing his eyes, Kang Yong-woon revealed his thoughts with utter frankness.
“Please keep in mind—I am no physician. This could take longer than you expect.”
“Of course.”
“Then I will begin. As for the request I asked of you on the way here—please only see that it is carried out without fail.”
“Worry not about that.”
The Red Dragon King’s eyes gleamed with a cold, deadly light. It was raw killing intent itself.
“I too am curious to know what bastard dared help in this treachery.”
An accomplice to the traitors.
Kang Yong-woon was convinced that such a figure must exist within the Black Lotus Sect.
That was a reality even more bitter than Cho Ho-i-san’s schemes.
“The Grand Prince’s schedule is a tightly kept secret within the sect. True, he patrolled diligently, but that was only by comparison to the scions of other great sects.”
At best, once every three months. He mostly inspected businesses that rendered large tribute or areas embroiled in disputes.
“There’s no way the traitors could have attacked and kidnapped him so precisely unless someone deliberately leaked his itinerary.”
They had even set up three formations meant solely to stall for time. Hundreds of hired vagabonds had been gathered just to divert the Red Dragon Guard’s attention.
That was the exact point Kang Yong-woon had whispered into the Red Dragon King’s ear.
There had to be an insider. Nothing else explained the situation.
The Red Dragon King accepted his reasoning. The branch lord who had received the second secret letter from the Red Dragon Commander must already be moving.
Kang Yong-woon drew a deep breath and shut his eyes.
“Great Celestial Divine Art.”
That was the only thing he could rely on.
He slowly guided the coiling current of the Great Celestial Divine Art with his will.
“Let’s begin.”
He placed his hand gently upon the Grand Prince Yeom Gi-jin’s lower abdomen, where he lay in a deep, unnatural sleep.
“In accordance with Heaven… entrusting all to the Highest Will above…”
As he whispered the incantation, he committed everything to the heavens.
[Child, stop this at once—!]
[You fool! The boy is already in danger, and you would finish him off?]
Just before Kang Yong-woon’s hand touched Gi-jin’s lower dantian, the elders of the Firmament intervened.
[Though you wield innate qi, the one you treat is of the acquired realm.]
[Heed our words well.]
Their timely advice struck him.
[If you force innate power directly into a dantian filled with acquired qi, disaster will follow. The acquired body cannot endure it, and it will plunge him into deviation and madness.]
A chill ran down Kang Yong-woon’s spine.
“Ah—!”
He groaned inwardly.
“That night when my innate qi first awakened, I felt my cultivation turn so dangerously chaotic… I nearly repeated that same peril within this boy’s body.”
As he reflected, the voices of the elders continued, revealing the core truth.
[Every technique and sorcery has a foundation, a core, or a pivot.]
[The spell that swallowed this child is, put simply, a ‘fusion of will.’]
[The caster imprinted his own will directly.]
[You needn’t know all the details—only the concept.]
[With that concept, find it. Find the core born of the caster’s will. That is where you must begin.]
The fusion of will.
The pivot, the nucleus of intent.
He did not ask how to see it. He simply moved the Great Celestial Divine Art.
He focused his inner sight entirely on Gi-jin’s head.
“See it. As clearly as one sees the flow of inner strength, I will see the core of this will-imposed sorcery.”
He could already see inner energy flows with ease. This would be his first time gazing into sorcery itself—but he would not fail.
“When that heretic sorcerer cast his spell within the formation, I saw the flow then. I can see it again now.”
He would see it. He would find it.
Bzzzz—!
With a violent tremor, Gi-jin’s mind was projected before him.
And in that instant, Kang Yong-woon’s eyes flared with sudden brilliance.
“There it is.”
Something pulsing, alive—an obscene red mass writhing ceaselessly, clutching Gi-jin’s brain. It was the heretic sorcerer’s spell itself.
“They said to find the core of will… that must be it.”
He intensified the Divine Art, peering deeper into the thick red mass that revealed nothing of its inside.
“Where is it? Where?!”
Wading through it was like stumbling blind in a fog. Just looking filled his whole body with a sticky, nauseating revulsion.
Then suddenly—
“Ah!”
His gaze fixed upon something.
At Baihui and Nao-hu acupoints atop Gi-jin’s head, two distinct lumps glowed, unlike the rest.
“Is that it?”
Two vividly crimson cores, lodged like a great spear piercing straight through.
“Yes. That’s the one.”
The roots of the pivot were buried deep, breathing like a living thing, impossible to simply pluck out.
“How should I deal with this…?”
As if waiting, the elders spoke again, showing him the way.
[Now that you’ve found them, seize them at once with innate power.]
[Fear not, child. The innate is of a wholly different order than the acquired.]
[Acquired energy is rough, tearing the body when forced through, even risking life when opening meridians. But innate energy is pure and gentle, flowing without obstruction. It follows your will entirely.]
[Trust in the innate.]
If the venerable ones spoke with such certainty, what reason was there to doubt?
“Understood.”
Kang Yong-woon gathered the Great Celestial Divine Art into both hands, preparing to thrust it into Gi-jin’s head.
[Strike in swiftly, cutting off every path of escape.]
[Envelop them completely from the start.]
[Once grasped, imprint the Mandate of Heaven upon them.]
That was the end of it. Time for action.
Though the order sounded daunting, Kang Yong-woon somehow understood what it meant.
“In accord with Heaven, by the Highest Will…”
How could the false sorcery of traitors resist the Mandate of Heaven itself?
“Thank you for your counsel, venerable elders. Though my strength is small, I shall do my utmost.”
Without fear, he laid both hands upon Gi-jin’s head.
“Come, you foul thing—!”
He drove the Divine Art in.
Twitch. Tremor. Spasm.
The pivot and core of the sorcery shuddered violently as he seized them in an instant.
“Ghhk—! K-Kyaaaah—!”
Gi-jin screamed, his body locking rigid.
“Jin-ah—!”
The Red Dragon King cried, rushing forward, but dared not interfere with Kang Yong-woon, whose eyes remained shut, wholly absorbed.
“What… what is this? So pure?!”
The King felt it again—Kang Yong-woon’s entire being shone with a clarity and purity of energy unseen in this world.
“Hah… I can only trust him.”
Though his inner strength was small, its purity put even the Red Dragon King to shame.
He stepped back, entrusting everything to him.
Kang Yong-woon acted on instinct.
“By Heaven’s accord, by the Highest Will!”
He branded the Mandate upon the trembling cores.
“I am the force that follows Heaven. You vile spawn of sorcery—obey the law of harmony!”
Crack—!
A streak of thunder tore across Gi-jin’s mind, the pure intent of Kang Yong-woon’s Divine Art etched deep.
And then—
—Kiiiyaaahhh!
A chilling shriek echoed directly in his mind. The sorcery itself was screaming.
But that was all. Caught in innate power, the acquired spell dared not resist.
“In accord with Heaven… no demon or deviant can defy the Highest Will.”
He entrusted all to the Great Celestial Divine Art’s formula.
Time passed—
—Kiiiing…
The hideous cry weakened, its force crumbling like a beast subdued by its master.
Then—
Whoosh—!
The heretic sorcery, rooted deep in Gi-jin’s brain, was ripped out whole.
“It’s gone!”
He clearly saw it—bloody light uprooted, dissolving into his innate qi like melting snow.
“Hah—! This… this is…”
The Red Dragon King too could see it, for the core was forged of the heretic’s powerful inner strength itself.
Ssshhk—
At last, the blood-red light in Kang Yong-woon’s hands scattered and vanished.
It was annihilated.
Spark—
Gi-jin’s eyes fluttered open.
“Huh? G-Grandfather?!”
He pushed himself halfway up.
“Hah—! Hahaha.”
With a laugh that was half sob, the Red Dragon King’s eyes glistened.
“What… what happened, Grandfather?!”
“Hahaha… it is a long tale.”
Smiling warmly, the Red Dragon King explained everything—what had transpired, who Kang Yong-woon was, and the grace he had bestowed.
“Thank you, benefactor.”
Gi-jin sprang up despite the lingering pain of the blow he had suffered. Bowing deeply, he clasped his fists in salute.
“The Grand Prince of the Black Lotus Sect, Yeom Gi-jin, shall never forget the great debt owed to Hero Kang Yong-woon.”
“What I did was small.”
Kang Yong-woon waved a hand.
“It is your grandfather who deserves thanks, for trusting me with so reckless a task.”
He gave all credit to the Red Dragon King with a broad smile.
The King’s eyes softened.
“Not only pure of spirit, but of such bold character as well.”
How he longed to claim him.
“Un-ah.”
“Y-yes?!”
Kang Yong-woon nearly jumped when the Red Dragon King suddenly addressed him so familiarly.
“Why so startled? Hahaha.”
“Ah—just that you suddenly called me so familiarly…”
Embarrassed, Yong-woon scratched his nape.
Then the Red Dragon King’s face grew solemn.
“You are no longer an outsider.”
“My lord, I…”
“You are tied to the Martial Alliance? I know. Yet you are also the Black Lotus Sect’s savior. So enough talk. I shall regard you as such.”
What could he say to that?
“Thank you for thinking so kindly of me, Lord Consort.”
“Lord Consort, my foot. Just call me Grandfather.”
“G-Grandfather?!”
Yong-woon’s eyes went wide.
