Chapter 502: Just Let Me Hold It Once. (9)
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 502: Just Let Me Hold It Once. (9)
I stared into the deep crimson eyes fixed on me and swallowed hard.
A solid physique. A frame much larger than my own.
Sharp features and the fierce eyes characteristic of the Gu Clan.
The current Lord of the Gu Clan. The person I found most difficult to deal with was standing right before me.
The Guardian of Shanxi.
The Tiger Warrior, Gu Cheolun. My father.
Why is Father here?
I was bewildered. Why was this man here?
Why was someone who should be in Shanxi now in Sichuan?
Did he come on a trip or something…?
Even as I knew it was impossible, the thought flitted through my mind. That’s how strange and out of place my father's appearance felt.
My father looked down at me with a blank expression.
Looking at his face, I barely managed to form a question.
“…Uh, why are you here?”
“...”
At my question, my father’s brow furrowed slightly as his eyes scanned me up and down. His gaze was incredibly intense.
After studying me like that for a long moment, he finally broke the silence.
“…I saw the dispatch. I heard there was an incident at the Tang Clan. Is that true?”
“…!”
My eyes widened at his words. I should have been surprised that he’d even seen the dispatch about my incident.
…It already arrived?
Na-hi had only told me a few days ago that the Tang Clan had sent a dispatch. I could understand it arriving quickly—they used a demonic beast instead of a regular bird. But if it was stamped with the Tang Clan's direct seal, only the chief steward or my father would be able to see it. Even if the steward saw it first, he would have to report it to my father, meaning Father would see it eventually.
But.
Then… how is Father here?
No matter how fast the dispatch traveled, for him to have seen it and already be here was another matter entirely.
…It means he traveled from Shanxi to Sichuan in just a few days.
A distance that would take months by carriage. And he did it in a few days?
What… did he fly here?
No, even flying here would be a problem.
By the standards of my past life, flying wasn't much of an issue. As long as I had enough internal energy, levitating my body using emitted heat wasn't difficult. But if I were to imagine traveling from Shanxi to Sichuan using that method…
Impossible.
Even with my internal energy back then, it would have taken at least seven days and nights of non-stop rushing, exhausting all my energy. By my current standards, it would take half a month. My speed might be higher now using compression and rotation, but the limits of my realm and my internal energy would still necessitate that timeframe.
But for my father to be here now meant…
…he rushed here fast enough to shorten that time, and then some. That's the only explanation.
Did that even make sense? It was a situation I couldn't comprehend, even with the proof standing right in front of me.
“Uh… are you saying you came here right after seeing the dispatch?”
“...”
I asked if that was really the case, but my father didn't answer. As I watched him, wondering why he was silent…
…his rough hand suddenly grabbed my cheek.
“Gah…?”
His hand was so big it could easily cup my entire cheek. He held it like he was grabbing a ball and moved it around. I couldn't even muster a pathetic struggle.
After kneading my face for a while as if it were clay, my father lowered his already deep voice and asked.
“Who did this?”
Ah.
So that's why he's acting like this. It's because of my face.
…Damn, I forgot.
I kept forgetting the state my face was in. My regenerative abilities are so good that I knew the bruises would disappear in a few days, so I hadn't bothered to do anything about it. I never imagined I'd run into my father.
Just then.
“Third child.”
“Yes…?”
“I asked who did this. Was it the people from the Tang Clan?”
“Uh… no…? It's nothing, you don't have to worry about it…”
“Speak.”
Squeeze.
Gack.
The fingers gripping my cheek tightened.
For some reason, my father seemed a little angry. And from the look in his eyes, I knew a flimsy excuse like ‘I fell down the stairs’ wouldn't work… So in the end, did I have to tell him?
I hesitated for a moment, then decided to just say it.
“…It was… the Dishonored Venerable.”
“...”
At my answer, my father's eyebrow twitched. The Dishonored Venerable beat me up like this.
As I spoke, the strength in the hand holding my cheek lessened, and he pulled it away. Watching him, I thought: A blood relative had ended up in this state, so from my father's perspective, he would have wanted to deal with it for the sake of the family's dignity. But since it was the Dishonored Venerable, it seemed my father would let it go. After all, the Dishonored Venerable had become my master with my father's permission, so he wasn't in a position to criticize a master for roughing up his disciple during training.
Thinking that, I looked at my father. He remained silent for a few seconds, his eyes looking as if he were contemplating something.
“I'll have to send a dispatch,” he said curtly.
“Huh…? A dispatch?”
“Two days. It seems I'll have to stay that much longer.”
“…What do you mean all of a sudden?”
He uttered those incomprehensible words, then turned and started to walk away. I stared at his back, bewildered, wondering if he was going to leave as suddenly as he'd appeared.
“I will return at the Hour of the Pig [9-11 PM]. Be prepared.”
His words, saying he'd be back at night, reached me.
“What do you mean, be prepared…?”
When I asked for an explanation, my father turned his head slightly to look at me. Meeting his crimson eyes, I felt my body stiffen completely.
“Prepare to tell me the things that weren't written in the dispatch. That's what you should be preparing for.”
“…!”
I hitched my breath as soon as I heard him.
“What that body is. What you were trying to do here. That is what I mean by explain.”
“...”
Having said that, my father turned his head back and walked away.
Fwoosh-!
In an instant, he turned into an ember and vanished from my sight. The heat I'd felt in the area vanished, and the subtle pressure also subsided.
Only then did I realize.
So that was my father's influence…
The reason the temperature around here had risen was because of him. Furthermore, I also figured out why my body had been so stiff.
…He seems angry, doesn't he?
It seemed my father was angry. To be that obvious about it, he must be quite furious.
And besides… I've been completely found out.
My body, which I'd been hiding with the Qi Body Transformation Technique. And the fact that I was trying to do something at the Tang Clan. My father had found out everything.
I recalled the meaning of what my father had just said. The meaning was simple: I had to explain the situation. But I couldn't miss the blatant meaning hidden beneath his words.
—I'm coming back tonight to punish you, so prepare yourself.
That must have been what he meant.
Hmm…
I nodded, thinking about it.
I'm fucked.
No matter how I looked at it, I seemed to be royally fucked. Should I run for it now? That might be the better option.
[…What a pathetic sight, running away because you're scared of being scolded by your own father.]
Elder Shin interjected, sounding dumbfounded. But from my perspective, there was nothing more terrifying.
Elder Shin, you try being my father's son. See if you don't get scared.
How did he really get here? I couldn't understand how he'd reached this place in just a few days.
[It is not so strange.]
You're saying this isn't strange…? Traveling a distance that takes months by carriage in just a few days isn't strange?
As I made a bizarre face at his incredible words, the Elder added an explanation in a low voice.
[It was like that in our time. Even… that fellow Jaemoon, who was physically inferior… no, that friend, was able to make the round trip in about seven days and nights.]
...
A round trip from Sichuan to Shanxi in seven days and nights? The Elder sometimes talked about the era he lived in, but every time I heard those stories, I found them hard to believe.
The Age of Despair, was it? The era not long after the Gates of Demons appeared. And on top of that, the Blood Demon War when the Blood Demon appeared. People referred to that time as the Age of Despair.
[Yes, it is only natural that you cannot believe it.]
Was he disappointed that I didn't believe him? A heavy bitterness was hidden in the Elder's voice.
No… it's not that I don't believe you.
[It is natural not to believe. Because this world is one where you can't help but disbelieve. No, perhaps I should say it's a world that was made to be that way.]
Huh?
I had to question the strange nuance in the Elder's words. A world made to be that way—what could that mean? It was more than just a boast about how amazing they were back then. The atmosphere, somehow, was unusual.
What is it? Why is the Elder giving off this kind of feeling? Was this the reason for the faint discouragement I'd sensed from him lately?
Just as I was racking my brain and waiting for him to speak…
[It is something I have continually found strange.]
The Elder finally continued.
[Unlike in our time, the quality of the martial artists living in this era is low. I found that questionable.]
…Low quality?
[The power of the young prodigies is clearly far greater than in my time.]
The Meteor Generation. It was a term for the young prodigies born and active now. Because it was an era where countless geniuses were born, it was also called the Generation of Hope.
But.
[However, the level of martial artists who should be in their prime is absurdly low.]
For a martial artist, their prime isn't when their body is at its physical peak in their thirties. It was mostly those who started learning martial arts before the age of ten and were now past forty. If they had reached the limits of their talent and remained at the first-rate level, it was the point when their enlightenment at that level had seeped into their bodies. If they had surpassed the peak realm, it was when the internal energy that had begun to permeate their bodies was about to bloom.
Their level is low?
I couldn't believe the Elder's words. Because the masters I had met were clearly outstanding. The Monster of Wudang I had just met, for instance. And what about the Three Venerables?
As I mulled over the Elder's words, thinking of them…
[Low.]
In that gap, the Elder spoke with finality.
[I am not referring to the realm of their martial arts. Rather, the problem is that the power they've obtained seems too meager compared to the realms they've built.]
…Meager?
[Yes. Not just those called Kings, but even those called Venerables. They are endlessly meager compared to their titles.]
The Elder's voice, as he spoke, was filled with an unconcealable gloom.
[At first, I thought it was just a coincidence. That perhaps they had forgotten the essence of martial arts, that the desperation was gone. But even so, isn't it strange? That the quality of not just one or two, but all martial artists has declined.]
As the Elder slowly continued to speak…
…I could feel an unsettling feeling creep up my spine. My stomach churned on its own, and I swallowed dryly.
After the Elder's era, in what is now called the Age of Peace. The reason why, in Elder Shin's eyes, the quality of martial artists had dropped all at once. And the reason the Elder was speaking with such bitterness.
A thought was beginning to surface about this, but I dismissed it, telling myself it couldn't be. Because if that were true, it would mean there wasn't just one or two problems.
So, I desperately hoped the Elder would tell me that wasn't it. I called out to Elder Shin, filled with anxiety.
Elder. Are you saying…
[Kid.]
Yes.
[Do you remember what Il-Cheon said in the secret vault that day?]
…In the secret vault?
The secret vault the Elder was talking about must have been when we met at the Heavenly Dragon Academy. What Yeon Il-Cheon said to me back then? The words of Yeon Il-Cheon, who treated me like a calamity and tried to kill me. I couldn't quite remember, so I kept mulling it over. Elder Shin gave me the answer.
[The world does not make the same mistake twice.]
Right. Yeon Il-Cheon had definitely said that. That's why it was searching for the goddamn answer by dividing the world into many… The Blood Demon had said so as well.
Huh?
Suddenly, hearing the Elder's words, a thought flashed through my mind. A really shitty thought.
Elder. Don't tell me?
I called out to the Elder, my eyes wide. Hoping, praying, that I was wrong.
[That fellow Jaemoon told me.]
But.
[Right after we sealed the Blood Demon… the first thing the world did was…]
As always.
[to place a curse on the ‘humans’ of this world.]
Nothing in my life ever went the way I wanted.