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.

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.

Therefore, the reason why Gu Yangcheon had to stay pathetic was so that Gu Changjun could achieve his long-awaited goal.

When he heard that Gu Yangcheon won against Gu Yeonseo, he thought that it was just a coincidence. Gu Yeonseo had talent, but there was always room for mistakes.

But, it could have been problematic if Gu Yangcheon’s reputation changed in people’s eyes because of the duel.

Especially at his current age.

That’s why Gu Changjun sent Gu Jeolyub.

If Gu Yangcheon accepted Gu Jeolyub’s duel, then he’s just showing his stupidity. And if he rejects? That could also work in Gu Changjun’s favor.

But he was too late to realize, Gu Yangcheon had already become a problem.

A rather big one at that.

“Jeolyub.”

“Yes, My Lord?”

“What would you do if you were to face a huge boulder in front of you while you’re trying to reach a destination?”

“I would look for a different way.”

“Wrong. You won’t be able to achieve anything like that. You would only reach a wrong destination like that.”

Gu Jeolyub looked down as he couldn’t make eye contact with Gu Changjun’s dark, cold eyes.

“It’s fine if you can push it aside. In that case, all you have to do is just break through it.”

But now was not the time. It was too early. Nothing was prepared.

“If it keeps going like this, I’ll have no choice but to break through.”

Gu Jeolyub was trying his best not to show that his body was trembling in fear.

* * * *

“Too far.”

The Second Elder talked to me after I was done washing myself after the duel.

“About what?”

“At the end, what were you trying to do to Jeolyub?”

“I was going to break his arm.”

Just enough to make him bedridden for a month.

Martial artists had fast regeneration due to the Qi inside of their body. So I thought it wouldn’t cause any problems .

The Second Elder gasped after hearing me.

“If you did that, then the First Elder would have freaked out.”

“Then what, I have no intention of becoming the Lord anyway.”

“Uh uh! Why are you saying something like that? You have the blood of the Lord, and you are the only-”

“Yes, the only son. Which is the only reason why I’m allowed to set foot in the clan.”

I was aware of this fact more than anyone else. I’ve experienced it so much in my previous life.

No matter what I did, no matter how I lived, I ended up becoming the Young Lord.

Would this life be any different? I’m hoping it’s a bit different.

“Yes, so I didn’t do it in the end.”

If I had the choice, I wanted to give my stupid Lord position to that Gu Jeolyub brat.

The position of a Lord wasn’t something that garnered my interest, I knew what becoming the Lord meant.

Under no circumstances would father give the Lord position to Gu Heebi or Gu Yeonseo. I knew that as well.

This wasn’t because of how I was the son, it was just the way things worked.

I find the First Elder laughable. He doesn’t know anything about me, my ambitions, my goals, and here he is trying to take something away that I never wanted in the first place.

The one that really wanted to run away was none other than me.

However,

‘I still need the name of the clan.’

When will I be able to let it go?

I have so many problems piled up right now that I suppressed this conundrum in the depths of my mind.

“Young Master! Here, your clothes!”

Wi Seol-Ah came over to me with clothes as if she was waiting.

While I was wearing the clothes, I looked at Wi Seol-Ah.

‘I wonder when she starts to learn how to wield a sword.’

A disciple of the Sword Emperor, that’s what she was called, so I’m sure she would learn from him…

But instead, she’s with the servants all day and is learning how to clean and cook.

Is it really the best idea to teach a Zenith how to do housework…?

“Where did your grandfather go?”

“My grandpa said he’s going to make a bear.”

“Bear…? What bear?”

If you’re talking about bears, we have one near us already.

The Second Elder.

I quickly glanced at the Second. He seemed to have noticed what I was thinking as his eyebrow raised a little.

I quickly averted my gaze.

“He said he’s going to make an eagle, chick, and a bear.”

“…Are you talking about those wooden sculptures outside?”

“Yeah!”

I noticed one day that wooden sculptures of animals started to appear outside.

‘The Sword Emperor made all that…?’

It was sculpted so well that I thought he bought it from somewhere.

The future Zenith, she is learning how to do housework. And the current Zenith, is making some wooden sculptures.

Is this alright?

…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.