Chapter 27
At the Black Lotus Sect (2)
Kang Yong-un sat face to face with Jegal Hyeryeong.
As if it had been arranged in advance, Sibi soon entered carrying tea.
Breaking the silence, Kang Yong-un personally poured it, and in a calm tone—as though in passing—he made his intentions clear.
“About the title of Strategist you’ve been calling me…”
“Ah, that’s…”
Jegal Hyeryeong quickly tried to respond, but she had to stop when she caught his gaze and the slight shake of his head.
“…I would appreciate it if you refrained from using it further. And you should know that even within the Black Lotus, it’s understood that such a title directed at me is empty.”
“You…”
Jegal Hyeryeong’s voice began to carry a chill.
“…Did you say that yourself?”
Was he opposing the Martial Alliance?
Standing by the Black Lotus’ side and condemning the Alliance? That was the implication of her question.
A faint gleam lit Kang Yong-un’s clear eyes as he calmly met hers.
“I only followed my conscience, Vice Commander.”
“Conscience…”
Jegal Hyeryeong echoed his words as if they were absurd, but Kang Yong-un’s gaze didn’t waver in the slightest.
“I mean it literally, Vice Commander. Though the Red Dragon King did declare me his adopted grandson, that is merely the outcome—it has nothing to do with my conscience.”
“I see.”
Whatever faint goodwill she had felt toward him vanished in an instant.
Jegal Hyeryeong’s voice turned icy cold.
“You’re the Red Dragon King’s adopted grandson and someone who’s earned great merit for the Black Lotus. Even without ties to the Martial Alliance, you could live in comfort for the rest of your days.”
“You’re mistaken.”
“Mistaken?”
Her voice sharpened.
“You stood against the Martial Alliance and sided with the Black Lotus. What possible misunderstanding is there in that?”
“When I say I followed my conscience, I mean it plainly.”
Kang Yong-un’s tone remained gentle, yet unyielding.
“If the Black Lotus insists on calling me strategist, then it would seem as though the Alliance owed me a debt it did not need to bear. That’s all I wished to avoid.”
“Hmph! The moment you broke your promise and crossed the boundary of the sect, the Black Lotus was already indebted.”
She was referring to the Gogeom Sect.
No matter how much he tried to defend it, the Black Lotus had already injured dozens of Gogeom’s warriors.
“What’s more, the Martial Alliance even mobilized a siege formation to aid the Black Lotus. Do you have any idea how many resources and how much manpower were expended for that?”
She was making it clear—there had been real casualties and real costs, much of it borne by the Alliance.
Kang Yong-un’s voice grew firmer.
“The reason for breaking the promise is already known. The matter of compensation is one for the Black Lotus and the Martial Alliance to settle later.”
“Hah! Easy for you to say. Do you think the Gogeom Sect, who already shed blood, will simply let it go? And what about the Martial Alliance, who rode out thinking they were facing a Black Lotus invasion? How will you compensate them?”
“I do not hold full authority. That is not something you need to discuss with me, Vice Commander.”
Her brows arched sharply upward.
“Then why did you come to me at all? With no authority, did you just come here to irritate me?”
“Of course not!”
Kang Yong-un widened his eyes and spoke words that startled her.
“There is one matter that weighs on my mind.”
“A matter that weighs on you? And what would that be?”
He began to point out something Jegal Hyeryeong had not even considered.
“Do you truly believe the hand of the Heretics only reached the Black Lotus?”
“That…”
Her once-overbearing voice faltered.
Her heart suddenly began pounding heavily as she fixed her eyes on his lips, waiting for the words that would follow.
Kang Yong-un’s voice remained steady.
“The Heretics, said to have vanished a hundred years ago, struck at the Black Lotus, Vice Commander. If you were the one directing such a force, would you truly plan only against us?”
“C-could it be—?!”
Seeing her falter, Kang Yong-un nodded heavily.
“Precisely. I am certain. The hand of the Heretics has already reached into the Martial Alliance as well.”
Her eyes trembled violently.
‘Yes… even if I were leading them, I would have done the same.’
Because his words were correct.
‘And perhaps… perhaps…’
Her imagination unwillingly extended to scenarios too terrible to accept.
“Just as the Black Lotus purged itself, so too must the Martial Alliance and the other sects look inward at least once.”
He spoke with the certainty of someone who had already envisioned it all.
“As for the people I met within the Military Division, none of them are suspects. During the Hero’s Tournament, when I entered the exam grounds, if all those who assisted me belonged to the Division, then at least those individuals can be trusted. But naturally, those who were absent must remain suspects.”
His words quickened.
“Among those who handled registration, guided participants, or stood guard at the arena entrance—none of them. Likewise, among the officers stationed around the arena at the time…”
Sparks flew in Jegal Hyeryeong’s eyes.
‘This man… he actually believes he can identify the Heretics himself?!’
That realization struck her.
“I will help. Though I refuse the strategist title, let this be my proof that I hold no intention of antagonizing or breaking with the Martial Alliance.”
Kang Yong-un smiled brightly and added:
“If you think carefully, you’ll see that neither the Gogeom affair nor the Alliance’s mobilization is necessarily a debt owed by the Black Lotus.”
For if the Heretics’ hand was truly at work, then the Martial Alliance could one day act just as the Red Dragon King had. It was, in a way, his prophecy.
“They aimed at the Red Dragon King’s heir—at the very future of the Black Lotus. Thus, focus your suspicions on the Alliance’s high command, who remained within headquarters until noon on the second day after the tournament began.”
That much was certain.
From three days before the Hero’s Tournament until his departure the following day, Kang Yong-un had met countless people while making inquiries.
Naturally, he had inspected all their dantians with his inner sight.
He saw countless lights as though walking through a field of radiant flowers, but never again did he see that nauseating pink glow he had seen among the Heretics in the Black Lotus.
“My apologies. I’ll take my leave.”
That was the end.
Jegal Hyeryeong quietly set down her teacup and, with strangely shining eyes, watched Kang Yong-un’s retreating back for a long while.
Time crawled like three autumns in a single moment.
From the next day onward, Kang Yong-un eagerly awaited the day arranged by the Black Lotus when he could finally meet Master Left Guardian.
“To help you find your grandfather? Very well. I’ll give you my full support.”
So said Sect Lord Yeom Jungho. A meeting with the Left Guardian would surely follow soon.
“Thank you, adoptive father.”
Overjoyed, Kang Yong-un thought to himself:
‘Now I can focus on my Supreme Art training without worry until then.’
But unexpectedly—
With a grave expression, Yeom Jungho suggested another form of training.
“From tomorrow, spar in real combat with your younger brother, Jina.”
“Real combat sparring?”
What? That was not what he had anticipated at all.
“Yes. Were it up to me, I would pass on some of the secret techniques your grandfather and I mastered. But that might conflict with the martial arts and internal energy you’ve already cultivated. That’s why I suggest sparring instead.”
“Ah—!”
“I hear you barely held your own against a Heretic warrior with just first-class internal energy, yes? And that you used your Wind-Cloud Belt to read his movements? That shows you already have an extraordinary battle sense. You must sharpen that even more.”
Kang Yong-un’s eyes lit up.
‘True. All the battles I fought on the way to the Alliance were against opponents close to my own level, maybe a step stronger at most.’
But Yeom Jina was different altogether.
Only a year younger than him at nineteen, yet already at the pinnacle of martial prowess.
“Who knows? Strengthening your combat instincts may help you complete your martial arts later.”
It was an obvious truth.
Experience is the scale that weighs life and death, the force that drives one through trials and hardship.
“Thank you, adoptive father.”
“Hahaha. At last, proper gratitude!”
Yeom Jungho laughed heartily.
“Real combat sparring won’t be easy, brother. You’d better steel yourself. Hahaha.”
Yeom Jina laughed too, in good spirits.
And half an hour later—
Kang Yong-un found himself standing with him in the training yard.
“Brother—! You know the saying: strike while the iron is hot! We start today, right now, yes?!”
He had been pestered so insistently, there was no helping it.
“Well, alright. Let’s go.”
After quickly changing into training clothes, he stepped outside and saw Yeom Jina holding two wooden practice swords.
“Hahaha. Be ready, brother. I won’t be going easy.”
“Oh no, what trouble I’m in. Hahaha.”
“Here we go—Haah!”
“Understood. I’m coming too! Hup!”
The instant Yeom Jina’s inner strength moved and his sword angled toward Yong-un’s knee—
Whoosh. Crack!
“Ugh!”
Pain flared in his arm and waist.
“H-how?”
“Hahaha. I merely added the secret of swiftness to a simple basic form, brother.”
Thud.
It was as though he had been struck on the back of the head.
‘I see… if my opponent is at my level of knowledge but has greater internal energy and experience, then I can’t even keep up as I am now!’
Thankfully, this was just sparring.
In real combat, he would already be dead.
‘I must give my all.’
The countless battles and his survival against the Heretic had made him arrogant.
“My father advised me to drive you to the edge of the cliff.”
“The edge of the cliff?”
“Yes, brother. He said you’re already used to fending off careless attacks. That will do you no good now.”
“I see… I had grown arrogant.”
He admitted honestly.
His eyes began to change—calm and steely, like when he faced the Heretic.
“And father added this: if you could fend off even a Heretic’s strike, then you surely have the instincts. To grow stronger, you must be pushed to the point where your life is at stake.”
“Thank you, brother. I’ll give it my all.”
With that, Kang Yong-un drew up his Great Heaven Divine Art as if facing a life-or-death foe.
At once—
“Here I come again—Haah!”
“Chaah!”
Yeom Jina leapt forward, and Kang Yong-un met him head on, unleashing the Three Talents Sword Art.
Wood struck wood with sharp force.
As their inner energies rose, the dull thuds became clearer, almost ringing.
Clang! Clang-clang-clang!
At a glance, they looked evenly matched.
But—
“Ugh…!”
Kang Yong-un soon began to get grazed again and again by Yeom Jina’s wooden sword.
Even blending basic principles into the flowing Three Talents Sword Art, he couldn’t fully block techniques at the pinnacle level.
‘As I thought!’
It was a bitter truth.
‘There’s no answer against an unrelenting assault unless I fully master the true form of the Three Talents Sword Art spoken of by the Celestial Beings.’
Still—he was grateful.
‘If this were a real blade, I’d be dead already.’
But this was training. He lived, and he was slowly improving.
Clang! Bang!
Twice in a row, he managed to block Yeom Jina’s strikes.
Though he only half-mastered the Three Talents Sword Art, his instincts were slowly moving beyond it.
“Hahaha! That’s it, brother! Again!”
Whack! Thud!
“Ugh!”
Just like back when his father drilled him mercilessly, Kang Yong-un endured the blows, slowly but surely progressing.
Then—
‘I can see it! I can see it!’
Truly.
Yeom Jina’s sword, weaving in from every angle, was becoming familiar to his eyes.
‘Yes. I may only wield the Three Talents Sword Art for now, but my combat sense is evolving!’
His body and instincts were beginning to outpace the martial arts he had formally learned.
He perceived the twisting arc of Yeom Jina’s sword tip right before him—and guided his wooden sword accordingly.
‘Deflect, then counter!’
The moment he recognized it, his sword followed.
Clang! Swishhh!
Kang Yong-un’s sword tip drove toward Yeom Jina’s side.
