Childhood Friend of the Zenith

༺ Know Your Place (3) ༻

‘How is this possible?’

Unable to conceal his astonishment, Gu Changjun continued to stare right at Gu Yangcheon.

‘The almighty I, mistook him for someone else?’

It might have all happened so suddenly, but for him to mistake Gu Yangcheon as the Lord.

Gu Changjun couldn’t believe it.

‘Even if… that bastard overcame his wall…!’

It was faint, but he saw it.

Gu Yangcheon had surpassed the wall to reach the Peak Realm.

The fact that Gu Yangcheon had achieved this feat at such a young age, while his own grandson and hope, Gu Jeolyub, had not, seemed like a twist of fate working against him.

But putting aside that point, such a thing couldn’t be possible.

The flames that came from Gu Yangcheon were so terrifyingly similar to the flames that the Lord displayed back in the past.

The martial art itself was bound to look similar as they were using the same art of their clan, but that wasn’t what Gu Changjun was referring to.

The terrifying blaze that only the bloodlines of the clan used.

The appearance of the flames, resembling a ravenous beast, roaring and voraciously consuming everything in its path, felt eerily familiar.

The similarity was so striking that Gu Changjun’s mistake seemed almost justified.

This meant that he was also that much more powerful.

‘But even so…’

The level of flames had to be different.

Even if the Lord wasn’t in his prime anymore because of time passing,

For Gu Changjun to mistake that young brat as the lord, it started to make Gu Changjun wonder if that child was just skilled in controlling his flames.

And if that wasn’t the case…

‘…I knew it, my body is…’

“You seem a bit shocked, considering you aren’t saying anything.”

“…!”

“This was a gift back to you for the gift that you gave, First Elder. What do you think about it?”

Gu Yangcheon was smiling.

His wide smile only made him look scarier.

However, the anger woven into his voice contradicted his outward demeanor.

Gu Changjun forced himself to compose his expression, and then asked Gu Yangcheon.

“…Gift you say. I don’t know what I did for our Yangcheon to be this angry.”

“What do you mean by angry, First Elder sir? How could I be angry when you gave me a gift?”

Rustle.

Gu Yangcheon’s footsteps on the scorched ground made Gu Changjun uneasy.

“And going back to the anger thing, I can’t afford to be angry because of an animal.”

Gu Changjun frowned upon hearing Gu Yangcheon’s blunt words.

After all, it was clear to whom Gu Yangcheon was referring.

“Your mouth became rougher during the time we’ve not seen each other, it seems. And here is me, thinking you actually matured. Do you not know who you are speaking to?”

“How could I become mature in such a short amount of time? Furthermore,”

Pow-!

Gu Yangcheon kicked the faltering guard in the face and knocked him unconscious.

The guard lost consciousness, blood spilling from his mouth.

“I learned that there should be a limit for me to remain pretending to be nice. I was very well-trained when it came to that.”

“…You…!”

Slaaaam!

When Gu Changjun stomped his feet onto the ground out of anger, a wave of Qi spread out to the nearby area.

The stomp of a martial artist who had reached the Fusion Realm was enough to reverberate through all of Gu Sunmoon…

But Gu Yangcheon’s expression didn’t change one bit.

“I don’t know what caused you to throw a tantrum, but even if you are a direct bloodline of the clan, there should be a limit to your arrogance!”

“I agree.”

Instead, Gu Yangcheon further charged his Qi, preparing to retaliate.

“You should know that I am the direct bloodline of the clan.”

Cracking his neck, Gu Yangcheon appeared more like a street gang member than a noble clan member.

“Why do you keep causing all this bullshit? I told you that you should just do nothing.”

After a certain point, Gu Yangcheon’s words lost all formality.

The emotion mingled in his words within the fiery atmosphere was anger.

And it was the Qi of that small boy that pushed back against Gu Changjun’s.

The First Elder was a martial artist who had reached the Fusion Realm and despite Gu Yangcheon having a monster-like talent at such a young age, he was still only a martial artist at the Peak Realm in the end.

Even if he had perfected the state of Peak Realm, there was still a clear difference in power level.

So this shouldn’t have been possible.

However, Gu Changjun, instead of being surprised, found himself frowning because he knew fully well why all of this happened.

‘…Crack.’

His chronic disease made it hard for him to control his Qi.

Since he couldn’t use his Qi well, the aging, which had slowed due to his martial realm, was now resuming its natural course.

His weakened body couldn’t even muster half the strength it possessed during his prime.

Because of this, he was struggling against a martial artist in a lower martial realm.

However…

No one in the clan was privy to this information.

After all, he was hiding this fact for his goal.

As such, the only one who knew about this was himself.

That was also the reason why Gu Changjun kept himself silent and hidden while pretending to not know that the great Immortal Healer was there.

‘I was looking for the right time.’

He made the Lord leave the clan and the Second Elder’s eyes were closed right now.

Additionally, the Immortal Healer was still in the clan, so Gu Changjun intended to secretly seek the Immortal Healer’s aid for his ailment.

He had been eager to meet the Immortal Healer for a long time.

So, Gu Changjun thought this was the perfect timing.

If only Gu Yangcheon didn’t appear.

‘This is a problem.’

The child he had perceived as a jagged stone in his path was actually a mountain that was hiding itself under the ground, but Gu Changjun realized this too late.

‘If I knew earlier, I would’ve gotten rid of him no matter what method it took.’

‘Who could’ve known that a brat like him would block my path this quickly?’

Gu Changjun fixed his posture along with the sword he pulled out earlier.

‘But still, the brat doesn’t know about this.’

There was no way that Gu Yangcheon knew about his chronic disease.

This made it more confusing for Gu Changjun.

Why was Gu Yangcheon appearing in such a violent manner?

‘I get that he’s immature and has a fire-like personality…’

Moreover, he was a child who had reached the Peak Realm at a young age, o it was obvious, in a way, for his arrogance to reach through the sky.

But Gu Changjun started to suspect a deeper reason for his violent behavior.

‘Perhaps…’

‘Was I caught?’

‘Did Gu Yangcheon find out about the commission I made to the Great King?’

‘I didn’t see him as someone who would do such a poor job.’

While Gu Changjun wasn’t well-acquainted with the Great King, his lengthy collaboration with the figure led him to believe that failure wasn’t in the Great King’s nature.

‘It doesn’t matter if he failed.’

Furthermore, even if Gu Yangcheon had discovered that the clan’s incident was orchestrated by him, it wouldn’t matter.

After all, Gu Yangcheon didn’t have any evidence to back it up.

“What is causing you to be so violent!”

“Just by looking at your expression, it already seems like you know everything, but are pretending not to know which is making you look pathetic.”

“You keep spitting out words that I can’t understand…! If you’re going to come out like this, then this old man will also have to…”

“If that’s not the case, perhaps you are desperate?”

“What?”

Gu Changjun questioned what Gu Yangcheon meant, but Gu Yangcheon wasn’t where he previously was.

A breeze passed by for an instant,

And Gu Changjun hurriedly and instinctively swung his sword, only to find it cutting through nothing.

A sharp sword slash cleaved through the air and along with flames forming at that spot, it disappeared while leaving a faint trace.

‘He’s not there…!’

He swung his sword toward the source of the presence, but funnily enough, all that remained was a small remnant of fire.

‘Then… Where…!’

Slam!

A small fist broke through the formidable Qi barrier enveloping his waist.

Despite the fact that the Qi barrier around Gu Changjun’s body was in no way weak in any form, the fist broke through the barrier as if it were a mere sheet of paper.

Pow!

“Ugh!”

The impact of the fist colliding with his body produced an explosive sound, causing Gu Changjun’s body to convulse heavily.

Thankfully, he didn’t lose his posture and was sent up in the air.

Chhhhh!

But he was pushed back with his feet forming skid marks on the ground.

“Cough…!”

When he finally managed to take a breath, blood came out of Gu Changjun’s mouth.

It was just one attack, and the attack made contact only after being slowed down by the barrier, so the damage should have been small, but the pain that started from his waist disrupted the stability of his Inner Qi, tormenting his body.

“Haaa…”

Rather than dwelling on the fact that he had been attacked by Gu Yangcheon, Gu Changjun found himself sighing at the level of prowess exhibited by Gu Yangcheon in that single blow.

He hid his presence for an instant to ambush.

Moreover, he created a silhouette of himself inside the flames while hiding his real presence to trick him.

And even on top of that, the fist that dug through his waist.

Gu Changjun knew how powerful his Qi had to be for him to execute such an attack and Gu Yangcheon exhibited flawless movements with a level of skill that left Gu Changjun astonished.

‘…He’s a monster.’

It had only been a year since Gu Yangcheon had become active in martial arts.

Even if Gu Yangcheon had genius talents that even the lord had failed to recognize, a level like this didn’t make sense.

Ring-

“…!”

Sensing a presence, Gu Changjun readied his sword once again.

The presence he felt wasn’t a mistake this time.

After all, Gu Yangcheon was practically giving his position away purposely this time.

“How lame.”

A voice emerged from the darkness.

In the wake of the giant flame that had overwhelmed the guards of Gu Sunmoon, the only discernible feature was the red glowing eyes of Gu Yangcheon shining in the darkness.

“…You brat, even if you landed a blow thanks to a miracle…!”

“Miracle? How could you use that as an excuse with a body that can’t even react properly?”

“…What?”

After hearing Gu Yangcheon speak in a mocking tone, Gu Changjun felt the sensation of his heart skipping a beat.

It seemed as if Gu Yangcheon knew something.

Whether he was aware of Gu Changjun’s thoughts or not, Gu Yangcheon smiled while shaking off his hands.

After hearing him speak with certainty,

“Your body. It’s destroyed, no? Especially your heart.”

“…!”

Gu Changjun’s thin beard quivered.

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