Chapter 3: Heaven Gate Thirteen Needles

Words : 1879 Updated : Oct 11th, 2025

Jason Yare had gone white as a sheet, nearly shouting the words. He finally understood what King Balam's vow-"pave a path to peace for everyone"-really meant. If he stood by and let someone die, he'd be betraying what he believed in. "May five bolts of lightning strike me and the nine hells crush me"-that wasn't just empty talk. A clap of thunder out of a clear sky exploded in his chest. King Balam had warned him. Once he got that, Jason didn't care who he might tick off. Survival was everything. "Does anyone have silver needles, or at least something thin?" He turned a pleading gaze to the crowd. An older woman stepped forward. "Will embroidery needles do? They're very thin." "That works. I need thirteen." He spoke as he stripped the little boy's wet clothes. The enemy was unknown, lurking at the bottom of the lake and pulling some creepy stunt-whatever it was, it wasn't anything benign. After thinking it through, he decided to use the Heaven Gate Thirteen Needles, a technique said to snatch souls from the King of Hell. He'd never studied medicine. Yet the imprint from King Balam's Legacy surfaced in his mind; methods for saving lives arranged themselves instantly, and the skills felt as if they'd always been his. The woman quickly brought a sewing kit and handed him thirteen needles. They were embroidery needles-long and slim, but still thicker than silver. They demanded precision; miss the point by a fraction, and you hurt instead of heal. Jason murmured under his breath, "Grant me true fire; guard the four directions." A flicker of invisible flame flashed across the needles. Once he'd sterilized them, he drew a long breath, pinched a needle, and drove it in half an inch below the navel. People around them gasped. Everyone winced, picturing some vicious old crone from a costume drama, torturing people with needles. Jason placed five needles around the lower abdomen, upper and lower points echoing each other, forming an arcane array. Then he set one needle into the soles of both feet, the centers of both palms, and both shoulders. He raised another and pricked the spot above his upper lip, then exhaled and steadied himself. He studied the black blotch blooming on the boy's forehead, his face growing more grave. Just then, a woman who had been silent at the edge grabbed his arm. "The Heaven Gate Thirteen Needles seize the workings of heaven and earth and defy the flow of life and death. If you use all thirteen, you'll be in danger." "How do you know that?" Jason turned, surprised. Put simply, the Heaven Gate Thirteen Needles is like supercharged adrenaline. In most cases, the patient woke by the twelfth needle. The thirteenth meant wrestling with the King of Hell. It racks up serious karmic debt and comes with a nasty backlash. He knew it, but he was out of options. She said, "That's not the point. Think hard about the last needle. Whatever's trying to kill this boy is dangerous." She pointed at the lake and nodded, her expression taut. "You have Heaven's Eye too?" Jason faltered. He could accept his own strangeness-he carried King Balam's Legacy-but the woman looked like any ordinary person. She only shook her head, bewildered. "All I know is, it's dangerous." Jason let out a rueful laugh. "Thanks for worrying. I should be able to handle it." …I'm stuck with this damned legacy, he thought. He drove a needle into the boy's forehead and opened Heaven's Eye. Black Energy coiled around the boy's body, roiling hard, streaming toward the black blotch. The mark swelled, as if bracing to resist. Then Pure Energy washed out over the boy's skin. It slammed into the black blotch and blew it apart in an instant. That was Innate Vital Energy; everyone is born with it, and it lies hidden in the organs. The Heaven Gate Thirteen Needles was the key that awakened it, turning the wheel of life and death. The boy lurched up and spewed a lungful of lake water. Color returned to his face; his eyelids fluttered open. Jason sighed in relief and started to pull the needles, when a roar exploded in his ears and detonated in his soul. "Ah-" He clutched his head and cried out. In a daze, he saw an enormous, invisible hand reaching from the lake, grasping for him. The jade pendant at his chest flashed red. A contemptuous snort sounded in his mind: "Get lost!" Bang! No sooner had the word rung out than the lake surface exploded out of nowhere, flinging up wave after wave. All of it happened in the space of a breath. Silence returned to his mind, and a sheen of cold sweat covered his whole body. Before he could collect himself, the woman shoved a pill into his mouth. "Good thing the backlash hit your soul. This elixir should keep you safe." The pill was sticky from lake water, but it melted quickly. Warm liquid slid down his throat. In a heartbeat, his spirit jolted awake. The discomfort from the charms he'd used vanished. The medicine blazed into heat, rampaging through his limbs and bones like a dragon returning to the sea, roaming at will. King Balam's Cultivation Manuscript sprang into his mind. The technique imprinted there, King Balam's Mantra, suddenly stood clear. Following its method, Jason closed his eyes and turned inward. With steady breaths, he guided the heat toward his core. It stopped careening around, rushed through the Eight Extraordinary Meridians, poured into the Twin Meridian Gates, and began to gather, drop by drop, in his core. It sounded simple, but each step felt like being sliced with knives. The others stared, confused yet impressed. The woman hauled him to the shade of a tree and muttered, "If you can't pull through, then I guess I was the tribulation you couldn't survive…" She returned to the boy and began to pull the needles. "Ah! Sister, it hurts!" The moment she removed the first needle from his belly, the boy yelped. She wiped sweat from her brow and forced a smile. "Bear with it. I'm not a professional." Both placing and removing the needles required precise technique; otherwise, it felt like punishment to the patient. People gasped again, and that scary-nanny image loomed even larger. Soon all thirteen embroidery needles were out, and thirteen little wounds oozed on the boy's skin. "Folks, could you get him to a hospital?" she said. Then she walked to Jason, hoisted him onto her back, and hurried off as if fleeing. … When he opened his eyes again, he lay on a big bed in an unfamiliar bedroom. A faint perfume clung to the pillow and comforter. Heat welled without warning low in his belly. At the same time, inside him, twelve sharp pops cracked like a string of firecrackers going off. Pop, pop, pop! "Feels… different," he whispered. He sat up and found his arms were corded with muscle. Hurried footsteps sounded outside. "Caleb, my grandpa coughed up a lot of blood this time. Is he going to be okay?" A voice answered, weary. "Ian Juggins carries too many hidden injuries. That's worrying when it gets this bad. I'll do what I can." The voices faded. Jason gathered himself and swung his legs off the bed, ready to find out where he was. He took one step and froze. He was wearing a pink Hello Kitty nightgown. Creak. The door swung open. "Sis! There's a creep in your room!"

Chapter 3: Heaven Gate Thirteen Needles

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