Chapter 62
Reunion (2)
When Kang Yong-un returned to Angang-hyeon, he asked Ji-hyeon for a place where he could train for a few days.
There was no reason to refuse.
Ji-hyeon immediately offered him a separate annex in the official residence.
Kang Yong-un quietly sat alone and began practicing what Elder Zhuge Liang had taught him, trying to engrave the teachings into his body.
[Imagine that Jiang Taigong is sitting by the river fishing, Yuna. You’ll need a fishing rod, right? A single thin strand of your inner energy drawn out is exactly that rod.]
That was the first stage!
Following this advice, Kang Yong-un tried to create the fishing rod.
Of course, it didn’t go well at first.
Drawing out his inner energy as thin as a strand of hair wasn’t easy, and spreading it outward to maintain it was even harder.
[Casting that fishing rod into the world is like throwing it into the Yangtze River. And then what? Hehehe… if you draw one circle with it, won’t something be caught?]
That was the second stage: the execution method.
And naturally, there was also an advanced stage.
[What if you have two fishing rods? Three? Even four? Hehehe… as you grow familiar, you increase the number. Eventually, you’ll be able to fill heaven and earth with them.]
That was the ultimate destination he had to reach.
“Here we go… huuup—!”
Kang Yong-un drew up the greatly strengthened Supreme Energy he had nurtured, raising it to its peak.
He focused his mind, trying to thin it out to the size of a single hair.
***
On the roof of Baekunru.
There, in a spot overlooking the county office in the distance, Eun-ryeong had taken position.
“A man who isn’t even an official won’t be able to hide there forever. I’ll wait, Kang Yong-un. Until you come out.”
Kang Yong-un’s assumption had been wrong.
Eun-ryeong and the heretic sorcerers hadn’t erased their traces and disappeared; instead, they had chosen to lie in wait.
“Lord Geum-ryeong is on the way.”
She had received the message the night before.
Thanks to that, they had confirmed that the unknown youngster was indeed Kang Yong-un—the very man all of them were searching for.
Naturally, she had replied in turn.
Now all that was left was to wait. The time to take revenge on Kang Yong-un was approaching.
“You might have gotten lucky escaping Lord Jeokhwa’s clutches, but this time you won’t.”
Grinning coldly, Eun-ryeong let out a chilling laugh.
***
Seven days later.
Having achieved modest progress, Kang Yong-un went to see Ji-hyeon to bid farewell.
“Thank you for everything, Master Ji. I feel I’ve imposed far too long.”
“What are you saying?!”
Ji-hyeon Mun In-ryeong’s eyes widened.
He raised his voice as though such words were utterly outrageous.
“If Kang Hero only wishes it, I’d gladly spend my whole life together with you! Hahaha!”
Though his laughter was sincere, there was deep reluctance in his tone.
He simply didn’t want to let him go.
“I must leave now, Master Ji.”
“Ha—! The last two days, you found every hiding spot of the inspectors and guards with such ease… It seems you’ve achieved what you set out to do.”
Even now, he seemed amazed.
Blindfolded with cloth scraps, Kang Yong-un had scanned the surroundings a few times, then pointed out every hidden guard behind walls, halls, rooftops, even beneath the county hall floor.
Ji-hyeon had found it incredible each time the stunned guards revealed themselves.
“I’m still far too unskilled.”
“Hahaha. To be that skilled and still humble…”
“No, Master Ji.”
Kang Yong-un waved his hands.
“It’s the truth. I’m still unskilled.”
“Hahaha. Then what does that make me, whose life was saved by your ‘unskilled’ help? And my two sons as well?”
“Well…”
Ji-hyeon’s gaze softened further.
“I hear that the deaths of the governors of Sunyang and Pyeongri counties were reported merely as sudden illness—heart failure or stroke, things of that sort.”
“I see.”
Kang Yong-un’s face darkened.
It reminded him of his own shortcomings.
“For the governors, old age might explain it… but for their wives and children to perish as well, that is truly…”
The news was shocking.
Even with the sudden deaths of county heads, the matter had been glossed over so easily.
“They say the captains and inspectors of those counties took the lead in reporting it to the provincial supervisors. Compared to that, I feel fortunate indeed, Kang Hero.”
“It only proves how deeply the black paths have entangled with the local officials.”
“Thanks to you, at least Angang-hyeon is now clean. Since Lord Ag Jin of the Ghost Blade Hall confessed everything, we could expose Commander Wu-ryang and his men’s crimes.”
Commander Wu-ryang and his deputy had already been escorted to the provincial inspectors by Inspector Wang Zheng-ha himself.
Whether the heretics would target this place again was uncertain, but for now, there was peace.
“It’s only because you, Master Ji, never forgot your upright integrity. That’s why I can leave here with peace of mind. Hahaha.”
Ji-hyeon quietly watched Kang Yong-un’s bright smile.
Then he made one last suggestion.
“Kang Hero, why not sit for the military exam? With your ability, success would be guaranteed.”
“Hahaha. Thank you for the words, but I do not think the path of an official is mine.”
He had to find his grandfather, or his grandfather’s old friends.
There was nothing more important than locating the descendants of Elder Wang Chong-yang near Zhongnan.
‘I can’t let myself be tied down before achieving that.’
Kang Yong-un clasped his hands respectfully.
“Thank you for everything, Master Ji. I wish you peace and health…”
“Ah—! What a pity, truly…”
Regret welled up in Ji-hyeon’s eyes.
But Kang Yong-un turned away without hesitation.
He strode off firmly.
“Anytime—! Truly, anytime at all, Hero—! You must come back to visit—!”
Ji-hyeon cupped his hands to his mouth and shouted loudly.
Kang Yong-un only turned back with a wide smile.
Leaving Angang-hyeon, Kang Yong-un headed north.
‘Zhongnan Mountain, beneath it lies Jeongan County, right?’
That was the place Elder Wang Chong-yang had mentioned.
‘Then that’s where I’ll go.’
He walked with long strides, continuing to cultivate his pupil techniques.
‘The sun is bright, the wind even better…’
He wanted to unleash his Flowing Willow Steps, but it was midday, and the main road was crowded with travelers.
‘I’ll walk with Elder Wang instead.’
Feeling joyful at setting off again, he invoked the Great Heaven Art with the mnemonic.
“Elder—! If I just follow this road, then…”
[Yuna, do you remember ‘prosperity follows decline’?]
Elder Wang Chong-yang cut in, and soon after, the wills of many other elders poured forth like a waterfall.
[The rebels are targeting you—!]
[Don’t let your guard down, Yuna.]
[Compared to the ones you met when you first went north with Jin-sang, these are greater in both number and power.]
[We regret not warning you sooner… but even we cannot easily speak of such things.]
[Yet because of the virtue you’ve built, we can now tell you this much.]
Kang Yong-un’s face immediately darkened.
‘They’re after me?’
A chill ran down his spine.
‘So they hadn’t disappeared… they’ve been hiding, waiting for me.’
‘Where are they?’
He quickly released the sense he’d trained over the past week, spreading it out in all directions like fishing lines.
But—
‘Nothing… I can’t feel them.’
Nothing was caught.
It meant they were closing in from a distance, tightening the net.
[Endure it, Yuna. We are with you.]
[After hardship comes reward.]
[This is but one more trial Heaven grants to help you grow.]
[Remember: darkness is only the absence of light. When light shines, darkness vanishes.]
[No matter how strong the rebels seem, before the innate will of Heaven itself, they are powerless, Yuna.]
Resolve blazed in Kang Yong-un’s eyes.
“I understand, Elders!”
He clenched his fist and shouted aloud.
“The darkness of the rebels cannot overcome the light of Heaven!”
He would prevail.
He would carve the terror of Heaven’s power into those who wielded vile inner force.
[Northwest—!]
[Your destiny leads there—!]
[Go there, Yuna—!]
What was there to wait for?
Step. Whoosh—!
He immediately unleashed his Flowing Willow Steps, taking the northwestern fork where many roads met.
***
Three hundred jang south, at the edge of Angang-hyeon.
Perched in a large tree, Geum-ryeong’s sharp eyes lit up as he watched Kang Yong-un.
“Well, well… what a little rat.”
The boy who had been strolling along like a happy pup suddenly burst forth with lightfoot technique.
“Move—!”
Whoosh!
From the treetop, he too launched his movement skill like a loosed arrow.
Swish, swish-swish—!
Behind him, over twenty masked fiends followed suit, unleashing their lightfoot arts.
***
They’re here—!
‘The gap is closing fast.’
There was no need to look back.
Kang Yong-un instinctively knew.
‘They’ll be on me soon.’
The leader was the real threat.
The oppressive aura rushing after him sent chills down his spine.
“Ku-hahaha! You rat! How long do you think you can keep running?!”
The mocking voice grew steadily closer, proof that his pursuer was closing in.
‘Half an hour at most?’
At the speed of the Flowing Willow Steps, he wouldn’t last longer than that before being overtaken.
‘Then what?’
He had to find ground that would favor him.
‘That plain is too wide.’
Against weaklings like the Ghost Blade gang, being surrounded wasn’t an issue. But against such masters, it would be suicide.
‘That brook… no, too shallow and narrow. I’d be encircled immediately.’
What he needed was a chokepoint, a narrow passage, or somewhere with one side blocked.
‘There—!’
Finally, his eyes caught it.
A cave.
A narrow entrance opening into a wider interior.
Surrounded by rock, it was perfect for one man to defend against many.
Step. Whoosh—!
He rushed straight there.
With a slash of his sword, he cleared away the vines draped over the entrance and turned.
A cold grin.
‘Come, then.’
He worked to recover even a shred of his Great Heaven Art.
Perhaps a few minutes passed.
Whoosh.
With a blast of wind, a man landed before him.
“Kehehehe—!”
Wearing a golden mask, the man grinned wickedly.
He was Geum-ryeong—trusted lieutenant of Lord Guihua, the one who had overseen the affairs of Angang, Sunyang, and Pyeongri counties for the past two years.
“At last, I’ve caught—”
“That’s my line—!”
Kang Yong-un exploded with the Thunder God Art.
He focused all the power of the Great Heaven Art and Supreme Energy he had already gathered into the tip of his Clearsteel Sword.
Kiii-uuuu-ng—!
Kwah-boooom!
A mystical sword cry rang out, then erupted. In an instant, blazing thunder burst forth.
“Urgh—!”
Caught off-guard, Geum-ryeong flinched.
But he wasn’t Lord Guihua’s lieutenant for nothing.
At a speed so fast it created afterimages, he unleashed Illusory Shape, Shifting Form.
Whoosh—!
Twisting aside like a snuffed flame, he lashed out with a sweep of his hand.
“You wretch—!”
Not only did he evade, he counterattacked.
From each fingertip shot blades of light as though knives were attached.
It was the realm of Gangqi.
The heretical secret art Illusory Soul-Splitting Talons manifested at the level of pure force.
