Chapter 1078: Scorched World.

I don’t have many memories of my father.

My life just couldn’t help it. And also because I didn’t bother trying to learn more.

The biggest reason is probably that I wasn’t particularly curious about my father’s life.

What kind of life did he live?

That man, the head of the Gu family and the father of Gu Yangcheon.

What kind of person was he back in those days when he wasn’t like that?

I wasn’t curious. I thought there was no need to be.

Therefore, even when I later heard about my father from others.

I didn’t hold much interest.

However, only a slight doubt followed.

‘Why did Father end up as merely a top-100 master?’

I know it’s not like that.

Father is strong.

The current me. Although I’ve reached transcendence and attained the level of the Three Venerables, he was a being such that I doubt if I could win against Father.

Wasn’t he called the Divine Dragon in his youth?

I knew that too.

I even heard that during the War of Righteousness and Evil, he was called the Fiery Ghost and achieved countless merits.

‘Then why?’

How come Father remained merely a top-100 master at best, not showing his true strength?

Furthermore.

‘Even though he achieved such merits. Why does no one know?’

The fact that fewer people knew him compared to the merits he achieved or the power he possessed.

Everything is just a question.

All the heads of the Gu family of that era were like that, but.

To me, Father was a person who could be called ‘Doubt’ by another name.

He definitely was.

“……”

I looked at the youth before my eyes. My father in his younger days, and my mind raced with countless thoughts.

He looks a bit older than me.

Even so, he probably hasn’t reached fifteen years old yet.

He’s tall too. Of course, Father was much taller than me to begin with.

Broad shoulders and masculine features.

He’s just handsome.

If Old Man Shin saw this, he probably would have…

‘Wow, the mystery of genetics. How can they be so different?’

It was obvious he would have said the same damn thing.

Like a member of the Gu family, he possesses a unique fierce appearance, but.

His handsome features package it in a rough form.

Moreover, his unusually large height for a Gu family bloodline also played a part.

‘Damn it.’

I held back the urge to suddenly lament.

Right now, even thinking these thoughts is overwhelming.

Thump-! Thump-!

Because it was difficult to hide the Gu-yeom Hwa-ryun Gong that kept wanting to move.

‘Ah, it keeps acting up.’

I showed a strong reaction seeing the being before me.

I tried my best to hide it somehow, but the reaction was just too strong.

Pressing down my pounding heart, I looked at Father again.

Young. I knew that the moment I saw him.

‘Wow…….’

He was strong.

Surprisingly so. He shouldn’t be fifteen years old yet…

‘……His cultivation level is blurry.’

I couldn’t properly see the cultivation level Father possessed. Not to mention that he was hiding his own power.

‘Gu-yeom Hwa-ryun Gong seems to have reached the eighth level?’

The state of his martial arts, which seemed almost close to mastery, was also astonishing.

‘I could see it if I tried, but.’

If I forcibly tried to examine his cultivation level, the opponent would notice. Father’s level was that high.

This means…

‘At least Hwa-gyeong.’

It meant he had already reached Hwa-gyeong at that age.

‘This is unbelievable.’

A cultivation level at this age is Hwa-gyeong?

Namgung Bi-ah, or Wi Seol-ah, or perhaps Tang Soyeol, and so on.

There were those who reached Hwa-gyeong at a young age, but.

‘That…….’

He already surpassed the level of those kids.

It was truly astonishing.

As I was stunned by Father’s level.

“Mi Hyoran.”

A heavy voice poured out.

At Father’s words, Madam Mi flinched.

“What are you doing?”

“……”

His red eyes turned towards Madam Mi. His expressionless face gave off a sense of unknowable thoughts.

At those words, Madam Mi said, avoiding his gaze.

“Can’t you see…? I was working.”

It was work, technically.

But.

“Didn’t I tell you not to move around inside the main hall without permission?”

“……”

At Father’s heavy words, Madam Mi let out a dry cough.

“……It’s just that I happened to have some free time……”

This was also surprising.

Madam Mi was making excuses in response to Father’s words. Such a sight was strange.

Just then.

“See, if you just stay put, you don’t get scolded.”

From the side, Baekbong Moyong Bi-yeon chimed in. She looked quite annoying. Madam Mi, perhaps knowing this, glared at Moyong Bi-yeon with a chilling gaze.

“Oopsie……”

Then Moyong Bi-yeon hid behind Father’s back with an awkward look.

“……Haa.”

Following that, Madam Mi let out a slight sigh, then looked towards me.

“Anyway. I apologize. We had our own reasons, you see.”

The word ‘anyway’ bothered me, but I didn’t mention it.

Because I was also preoccupied due to Father.

As Madam Mi spoke to me, Father’s gaze turned back towards me.

I met his red eyes.

It’s hot.

As we stared at each other silently without speaking.

“Ah, you know who this is, right?”

Moyong Bi-yeon, who suddenly started speaking casually, said to me.

“It’s the famous Divine Dragon, the Divine Dragon. Cool, right? He’s someone you won’t see just anywhere! You’re really lucky. Ah, and he’s also my partner.”

“Gu Cheol-un.”

Before Moyong Bi-yeon could spout nonsense, Father said to me.

Then, he casually extended his hand.

His large hand came into view.

I watched it for a moment, then clasped Father’s hand.

“Baek…… Yangcheon.”

Our hands touched. There was no particular sensation.

I had hidden the Gu-yeom Hwa-ryun Gong with all my might, so he probably wouldn’t notice.

“……”

“……”

After a brief silence followed, it was Father who spoke next.

“Are you here to take the test?”

“Yes.”

At my words, Father nodded.

“I see. I hope you get good results.”

“Thank you. It was an honor to meet you.”

“Likewise.”

“I… have another test, so I must be going now.”

I let go of his hand and turned my back.

I quickly moved away. I had to escape quickly.

Afraid that my pounding heart might reach Father.

And I escaped as if fleeing.

---

After Baek Yangcheon disappeared like that.

Gu Cheol-un watched the direction the youth disappeared with a calm expression.

Were those somewhat hurried steps for taking the test?

As he watched him intently, Moyong Bi-yeon, who was beside him, said to him.

“It’s strange, isn’t it?”

Hearing her words, Gu Cheol-un looked at her.

“Why are you taking an interest in someone else? Especially a man. Ah, do you perhaps like men…? Gasp! So that’s why you weren’t interested in me-“

“It’s nothing like that.”

He cut off the nonsense simply. It was words he didn’t want to hear.

Just as he was about to ignore her words and look away again, Mi Hyoran spoke this time.

“Did you feel something?”

“Feel something?”

“Yes. That person, the one the Pavilion Master declared he would take as a disciple.”

“……”

“Eh? Pavilion Master!?”

At Mi Hyoran’s words, Moyong Bi-yeon was startled.

“The, Pavilion Master!?”

“Yes. That Pavilion Master.”

“……Huh? Why? He didn’t seem particularly impressive.”

At first glance, he was just a martial artist. He looked unreasonably fierce. Although his eyes had a peculiar blue glow.

But he didn’t give a very strong impression…? The Pavilion Master offered to take that youth as a disciple?

As Moyong Bi-yeon expressed confusion with incomprehensible eyes.

“……”

Gu Cheol-un looked again in the direction Baek Yangcheon had disappeared with a strange look.

Mi Hyoran, staring intently at Gu Cheol-un, tilted her head and asked.

“It seems you felt something? Seeing you act differently than usual.”

“……”

“He didn’t introduce himself first, nor did he offer a handshake… Why is someone who doesn’t usually do that acting like this?”

“Who knows.”

Why did he do that? Gu Cheol-un checked the hand he had shaken.

There was no particular feeling. He seemed like an ordinary person.

Thump……

‘Strange.’

The heart that reacted strangely the moment he saw him is bothersome.

His dantian, which was emitting a faint heat, was also like that.

Should I have felt something?

He barely managed to suppress the urge to release his energy when they shook hands without realizing it.

‘Baek Yangcheon,’

It’s a name I’ve never heard before. The name of the youth with blue eyes. As Gu Cheol-un stored that in his mind.

“And. You too.”

“Huh?”

Mi Hyoran glared at Moyong Bi-yeon, anger in her eyes.

At the sudden gaze, Moyong Bi-yeon flinched.

“Me… Why me?”

“You shouldn’t just start speaking casually like that. It’s rude.”

Moyong Bi-yeon, who suddenly started speaking casually to someone she met for the first time.

When Mi Hyoran pointed it out, finding that attitude bothersome, Moyong Bi-yeon clapped her hands.

“Ah, that’s right. I did, didn’t I? I wonder why. Why did I do that?”

She spoke informally the moment she saw him. No matter how free-spirited she was, she wasn’t usually like that.

“……Why did I really do that?”

Moyong Bi-yeon couldn’t understand why she had done that.

It’s like…

“I just felt like I had to.”

“……What does that even mean?”

“No, but you know. Doesn’t he resemble someone?”

“Who? Young Master Baek?”

Who does he resemble?

With a question, Moyong Bi-yeon pointed at Gu Cheol-un standing beside her.

“This guy. He looks a bit like that youth from earlier.”

“Don’t talk crazy. Who are you comparing to whom?”

“……Why, why are you getting angry? If not, then not.”

Wouldn’t you get angry?

Their faces are completely different, what is this talk?

It was absurd.

‘If anything, maybe their eyes are similar, but the rest is all different.’

Their eyes and gazes seemed somewhat similar, but that was it.

That was just the atmosphere.

“Hmm…… If Dang-seon saw him, she would have liked his face.”

“……”

She didn’t deny that part.

Because it really seemed like something she would do.

…Baek Yangcheon, huh.

‘He’s bothering me.’

As his name was lodging itself in Mi Hyoran’s mind.

“Let’s go.”

Gu Cheol-un said, moving ahead.

As he moved, the two women stopped their chatter and quickly followed.