Childhood Friend of the Zenith - Chapter 21

༺ Why is he venturing out again...? (1) ༻

‘Ancient Gu Clan’ of Shanxi. A small clan that belonged to Tiger Warrior, Gu Changjun’s uncle, which was a small part of the Gu Clan.RêAd lateSt chapters at nô(v)e(l)bin/.c/o/m Only

If the Gu Clan served as the guardians of Shanxi, then the Ancient Gu Clan acted as the sword. The main reason was that most of the martial artists of Ancient Gu Clan were transferred over to the swordsmen of Gu.

Some of the swordsmen were picked through the Nine Dragons Tournament, but most of the martial artists who became Gu’s swordsmen were from Ancient Gu Clan.

-Slap!

A sharp slapping sound resounded through the entire room. Gu Jeolyub’s head twisted the other way along with the sound.

Drip.

Blood fell from Gu Jeolyub’s mouth while he was getting scolded.

“You incompetent brat.”

“...I apologize.”

“You couldn’t even beat one brat. And what did you do instead? You lost miserably.”

In Gu Jeolyub’s perspective, he felt rather sad. He also had no idea Gu Yangcheon was hiding such power. But Gu Jeolyub wouldn’t dare to voice his thoughts to Gu Changjun.

“You imbecile... You messed up because of one servant!?”

– Slap! Slap!

With every slap from Gu Changjun, Gu Jeolyub’s head twisted, but he had no other choice but to bear it.

“Why did you fail?”

Gu Jeolyub struggled to give an answer to the question.

But when he noticed Gu Changjun’s cold eyes, he opened his mouth that was shut before.

“It is true that I was distracted by the servant, but Gu Yangcheon’s skill was real. I never let my guard down.”

Gu Jeolyub clenched his fist to the point of shaking.

His pride was hurt.

He had to acknowledge Gu Yangcheon’s skills now that he was one sidedly beaten. He couldn’t look down on him anymore.

The movement he saw from Gu Yangcheon was real. It wasn’t a coincidence nor did Gu Jeolyub let his guard down, it was just Gu Yangcheon’s pure skill.

How many attacks were exchanged, was it three? Was it four?

Funnily enough, he was stronger than Gu Yangcheon when it came to both physique and Qi. But in the end he still couldn’t defeat him and managed to lose in a distasteful manner.

Gu Jeolyub tried to hide his quivering lips by clenching his teeth.

“Then,”

Gu Changjun spoke.

“You should have at least broken something.”

“...Grandfather?”

“We are at the Ancient Gu Clan, call me by my title.”

“I apologize... Lord.”

The voice Gu Jeolyub heard was so cold that it gave him goosebumps. The eyes that were staring at him didn’t help in this case either.

“Clean. No injuries or any marks. I can’t find a single thing.”

There were only small bruises left on his body from the duel.

Gu Jeolyub took a lot of damage to his face during the duel, but there weren’t any marks visible on his body.

It meant that Gu Yangcheon controlled his power by disabling his Qi, while also inflicting pain.

‘A skill used by the people of Unorthodox Factions in order to torture.’

Gu Changjun stroked his long beard and thought.

He heard from his spectators that the Second Elder stopped Gu Yangcheon from harming Gu Jeolyub any further.

‘Gu Ryoon... You’re getting in my way again.’

What was his problem?

The Second Elder was always like that.

He would always try to force Gu Yangcheon into training, and neglect his job as an elder and instead focus on making him the Young Lord.

Gu Changjun didn’t like that aspect of Gu Ryoon.

He didn’t like it one bit, just because he had the blood of Gu running through his veins meant that he would become the future Lord.

How he would sit at the throne of the Lord even though he had no talent and a poor temper.

No, now it’s just the blood and temper part.

-Tsk

Gu Jeolyub flinched a little from the sound.

“I don’t like how things are going right now.”

Gu Changjun heard that Gu Yangcheon might want to become the Lord if he continued to bother him.

‘How dare he?’

Gu Changjun had to control his wrath after hearing such words.

The reason why the Lord of Gu couldn’t easily deal with Gu Changjun despite the fact that he knew about his ambitions, was because of how Gu Changjun was the owner of Ancient Gu Clan.

The owner of Shanxi may have been the Gu Clan, but the sword of the Gu Clan was the Ancient Gu Clan.

What can the Gu Clan do without their sword?

The current Lord was strong. The Tiger Warrior was in his prime as a martial artist.

However, his views differed from the Lord of Gu Clan, Tiger Warrior, Gu Cheolun.

He knew that himself.

Gu Changjun also wasn’t able to do anything reckless because he was also a member of the Gu Clan.

But that kid who only possesses half of Gu’s blood, dares to warn me?

“What should I do?”

Gu Changjun looked at Gu Jeolyub.

His grandson... He was a very talented kid.

There was a reason why he was compared with the Sword Phoenix.

He even reminded him of his dead son.

...Doesn’t seem right to me no matter how I look at it.

“You sculpted it so well grandpa!”

I looked at Wi Seol-Ah’s face while she was pointing at the wooden horse sculpture with a smile.

‘Did she always have this kind of personality?’

Her personality differed so much from the Wi Seol-Ah I knew in my previous life.

I always told myself that she’s like this because she was still young, but it was still weird to think about.

The first true meeting I had with Wi Seol-Ah in my previous life was the winter of this year.

What was Wi Seol-Ah like then?

Was it the same as now?

‘Why can’t I remember?’

I don’t know, what was this faint memory I had?

The Wi Seol-Ah I faintly remembered was a lot different compared to now.

If a sharp sword had the appearance of a human, it would resemble her. If you went anywhere near her you’d get cleaved in half. Someone that pushed everyone away with an icy gaze.

“Are you crying Young Master?”

I was shocked at Wi Seol-Ah’s words so I quickly rubbed my eyes.

There weren’t any tears.

“What do you mean crying, you scared me.”

“No... It looked like you were crying.”

“I’m not. Now go over there and eat yakgwa.”

I bonked her head with my fist and Wi Seol-Ah ran away after a short scream.

I heaved a sigh as I watched her back. The Second Elder laughed at the sight.

“You guys are having so much fun while playing.”

“Does this look like playing to you?”

“Is it not?”

“...Now that you say it, it kinda does look like it.”

I wasn’t fond of the Second Elder who looked at us like we were his cute grandkids.

“Lord Second Elder, are you going to accept my request as promised?”

The Second Elder put on a sour face upon hearing my words.

“...I guess I have to since I gave you my word. What are you going to request?”

I only had one request.

I had to go to Sichuan during this month, so I was going to ask him for help.

‘If anyone knew of a way for me to get to Sichuan , he would be the one.’

Of course, I still had to make up an excuse, but this way was the fastest way.

But the Second Elder’s face was strange after he heard my request.

As if he didn’t understand.

Was it because of how I wanted to go to Sichuan ?

“It’s hard for me to tell you the reason why I have to go to Sich -”

“No, that doesn’t matter but...”

“Huh? That doesn’t matter?”

Doesn’t it matter? Why isn’t he thinking about that...?

The Second Elder continued to speak.

“Hmm... This old man can’t really understand your request.”

The words that came after were even more shocking.

“Can’t you just run away? Why are you trying to look for a way...?”

“...”

This just made me realize how the old man lived when he was young.

* * * *

Slice, slice.

An elderly man was sculpting something with wood.

It was none other than the Sword Emperor. Sculpting was one of his hobbies.

“You came? Lord Gu.”

“How have you been, Senior.”

The one looking for the Sword Emperor was the Lord of the Gu Clan, Gu Cheolun.

“The request you made. The Beggar’s sect seems to have found some clues.”

The Sword Emperor’s hands froze upon hearing Gu Cheolun’s words. It was supposed to be good news for the Sword Emperor.

But after seeing Gu Cheolun’s face he asked,

“...What’s the matter, Lord Gu?”

Gu Cheolun’s expression showed that something bad had transpired. After a momentary pose, Gu Cheolun spoke.

“...The Immortal Healer is currently at Anhui province.”

Crack.

The knife in the Sword Emperor’s hand shattered upon hearing Gu Cheolun’s words.

Qi emanated from the Sword Emperor’s body shortly after.

It could be dangerous, so Gu Cheolun quickly surrounded the area with a Qi barrier.

“So...”

The Sword Emperor’s voice quivered intensely.

“...You have to come to that conclusion, Lord of Heaven.”

Gu Cheolun closed his eyes. The Sword Emperor was crying.