Chapter 05
“Ah, I’ll carry the stir-fried Ten-Thousand-Year He Shou Wu myself!”
“Second brother, that’s unfair! I want to see what that little kid looks like too!”
At the sudden chaos caused by his unruly grandsons, Namgung Ho frowned deeply.
‘At this rate, the child will get indigestion.’
Feeling a throbbing pain in his forehead, he rose from his seat.
Hong-seol’s chopsticks had already frozen mid-air, startled by the grandchildren’s presence.
“Hong-seol, cover your ears for a moment.”
At his words, she quietly put down her chopsticks and covered her ears with her small hands. Seeing this, Namgung Ho immediately opened the reception room door.
“Put those bowls down and get out at once!”
“Uaaah!”
Infusing his voice with a hint of internal energy, the second and third grandsons fled in panic.
Clicking his tongue internally, Namgung Ho caught the dishes that had been tossed into the air.
Thud, thud.
Even the stir-fried He Shou Wu that had scattered mid-air neatly settled back into the bowl with a few simple movements of his hand.
All the while, Hong-seol had obediently kept her ears covered as instructed.
“You were interrupted by those noisy brats.”
Returning to his seat, Namgung Ho picked up a piece of glistening duck meat and placed it onto her rice bowl.
“Eat.”
Only then did Hong-seol’s chopsticks begin to move again. But after a short while, she put them down.
“Why are you not eating more?”
“I… I’ve had enough.”
In truth, she wanted to eat more. It was the most delicious food she had ever had.
But she forced herself to hold back.
‘Don’t be greedy. If I eat too much, I might get kicked out again.’
Seeing the reduced amount of food, Namgung Ho studied her carefully.
“I really am full.”
She repeated it again, thinking she had hidden her feelings well.
But she could not hide how her eyes kept drifting toward the sweets on the table.
A faint smile appeared on Namgung Ho’s lips—one she did not notice.
‘She says she’s full, but she clearly still wants sweets like a child.’
Yet she did not dare ask for them. It seemed she would only eat them if he personally offered.
But first, there was something else to do.
“Sweets are fine, but eat this first.”
The next moment, if any servants of Cheongcheon Pavilion had seen it, they would have been shocked out of their minds.
The Supreme Clan Lord of the Namgung Clan personally picked up chopsticks and lifted a piece of stir-fried Ten-Thousand-Year He Shou Wu.
“Here. Open your mouth.”
The head of the Namgung Clan feeding a child himself—something he had never once done even for his three direct grandsons.
“Ah…?”
Unaccustomed to being fed, Hong-seol hesitated, then opened her mouth.
The lightly stir-fried herbal slice slipped into her small mouth.
“Umm…”
She chewed without swallowing.
‘It must be bitter for a child.’
Namgung Ho said sternly,
“This is medicine for your body. Chew it well and swallow.”
After a long moment of struggling, Hong-seol clenched her fists. She decided she could not spit out what had been given to her.
Gulp.
“Good. Now, here’s your sweet.”
Seeing her swallow it, Namgung Ho placed a stick of candy into her hand.
Her cheeks turned slightly red as she quickly took a bite.
The sweetness melted on her tongue, and for the first time, she smiled faintly without realizing it.
Watching her quietly, Namgung Ho asked,
“Do you feel anything in your body?”
At his question, she blinked in confusion.
“The He Shou Wu you ate. Do you feel its energy?”
Now that she thought about it, there was a faint ticklish sensation near her navel.
It was unfamiliar, but not unpleasant. Like drinking crystal-clear spring water deep in the mountains.
“I… think there’s something near my belly button?”
“Yes! That is your dantian. Now close your eyes and focus on that feeling.”
After a brief hesitation, she obediently closed her eyes.
The faint energy gathered there began to ripple, slowly becoming more solid.
“I will lightly place my finger on you. Do not be startled.”
She nodded with her eyes still closed.
For some reason, she trusted this grandfather.
Namgung Ho took a slow breath and gently placed his firm finger on her thin shoulder.
From that point, a clear, sky-like energy flowed into her body.
“…Ah?”
She tilted her head slightly.
“Do you feel it?”
She nodded faintly.
“You are very sensitive to energy,” he said with satisfaction.
The energy she felt from him was strange.
Light like a breeze drifting through a blue sky—yet also dense and immovable, like a fortress built over a lifetime.
If he wished, it could become a swift sword that cut the wind itself—or a heavy blade that split the world apart.
“From now on, I will guide this energy through your entire body.”
He intended to help her circulate it properly.
The Ten-Thousand-Year He Shou Wu was a powerful medicinal herb. If taken incorrectly, it could do more harm than good. Many cultivators had collapsed after failing to control its energy.
Thus, proper circulation was necessary.
‘But this child’s meridians are broken. She would never know how to guide internal energy herself.’
So he would show her.
With his seventy years of cultivation experience as Supreme Clan Lord of the Namgung Clan.
A child abandoned by Myeoga Manor.
Yet within her lay the seed of the Yinyang Divine Art—the very art he had long wished to witness with his own eyes.
He would help this child bloom.
“Follow me. Imagine the He Shou Wu’s energy spreading from your dantian to every corner of your body.”
Like this?
She focused and pushed the energy outward as instructed.
And something astonishing happened.
The fragmented energy began to spread through her entire body.
Namgung Ho’s energy led the way, while the He Shou Wu energy followed closely behind.
“…Ah? Ah?!”
Even more strangely, wherever the energy passed, she felt something change. A refreshing vitality remained in its wake.
When the energy completed a full circulation—
“Stop!”
At his command, she halted the flow inside her body.
“You did very well!”
She opened her eyes to see Namgung Ho smiling brightly.
Such a warm expression from him was rare—it showed how genuinely pleased he was.
“You are truly clever, Hong-seol!”
At the praise and warm smile, she felt a strange warmth spread through her chest.
‘Is… he happy because of me?’
The tight, suffocating feeling she had carried since waking here began to loosen.
I want to do better.
I want to be praised more!
Her small heart pounded with excitement.
It was her first time being praised by an adult—and it filled her with both joy and disbelief.
Namgung Ho was also surprised.
‘Is she truly a child who has never trained in martial arts?’
Her sensitivity to energy was extraordinary.
In terms of talent alone, she was no less gifted than the direct heirs of the Namgung Clan—Baek, Heuk, and Jeok.
Even experienced martial artists struggled for years to sense and guide medicinal energy properly.
Yet she had done it effortlessly.
‘Ancient texts say those born with Yin-Yang Severed Veins often have sharp minds and exceptional sensitivity.’
He looked at the small child in front of him.
‘As expected… I was not wrong. This child is a once-in-a-lifetime martial talent!’
“Hahaha!”
Namgung Ho burst into hearty laughter and asked,
“Now then, how do you feel?”
