Chapter 387: Have You Eaten Yet (2)

“You seem to be okay.”

“…Yes.”

Father appeared to be the same as yesterday.

Except, there was one slight difference, his back was turned towards me.

“Why are you turned around?”

“No reason.”

“Is my face that funny?”

“…Of course not.”

So he turned around because of my face.

I wondered how bad it was, considering it was Father, of all people, who couldn’t hold in his laughter.

Not only that, but why didn’t that Water Dragon bastard say anything when I looked like this?

That bastard is the more problematic one, I swear.

Gu Huibi burst out laughing as soon as she saw me and even Father couldn’t look at my face for a long time without being able to hold in his laughter. That bastard Woo Hyuk saw it from the very beginning, yet didn’t say a word to me.

He did it on purpose, didn’t he?

He must have, so that I would be made fun of.

It was that bastard, so there was no doubt about it.

For now, I had to focus on Father, so I decided to ask him a few questions.

“For you to train in a place like this, did something happen?”

Father never trained outside of the Gu Clan. A training ground for the Lord was personally made for him in the Gu Clan and we never really ran into each other because of it, but I still knew that he didn’t train in other places.

“I trained for a little while as I found it difficult to sleep.”

“You say little, but you seem to have done so for quite a while.”

I was able to tell judging by the traces of heat still left in the air.

It has been here for a very long time.

He couldn’t sleep huh.

Did he stay awake the whole night?

Right as I started to wonder why…

“Third child.”

“Yes.”

“Where did you learn that power?”

“…”

Father cut right to the chase.

Instead of asking me if I had breakfast or if I slept well, he asked me directly. I felt a strong pressure for an instant.

Though this is more like him.

It suited Father’s personality.

“My power?”

“Yes.”

“What power are you referring to?”

I thought about pretending not to know, but…

“The Heaven Destruction Art.”

“…”

I had to keep my mouth shut when Father named the Art like it was nothing.

“It was the martial art that belonged to the Dishonored Venerable.”

“…Well.”

While I started charging my inner Qi for it, I fainted after getting hit by him, without even being able to use it.

Just how did Father notice?

Does that mean he noticed as soon as I started channeling my Qi?

“So you managed to contain two Mind Arts in your body.”

“It happened… somehow.”

I technically had four to five different things inside my body, but I obviously didn’t tell him that as  it would do nothing good for me.

Then, Father faced me.

“You are fine despite housing two Mind Arts, so you must be something special.”

Rather than asking me why, he tried to look for an explanation.

“Uh… yes, it just worked when I tried enough.”

“Did the Dishonored Venerable make the suggestion?”

“No, not at all. I was the one that stubbornly asked him to teach me it, as I couldn’t afford to throw away my clan’s art.”

“…Hmm.”

Father didn’t seem to be too satisfied with my response, but I told the truth.

I couldn’t afford to throw away my clan’s martial art, and it was true that I was stubborn about it.

“My Lord.”

“Speak.”

“Is the reason why you knocked me out yesterday because I tried to use two Mind Art?”

I wondered if he stopped me because he believed that my body would explode.

“Yes.”

Father confirmed.

Fair enough. In most people’s eyes, a martial artist attempting to use another Mind Art would seem like a suicide attempt.

When I awkwardly turned my head away, Father asked me another question.

“When did you start learning it?”

“It has only been a few months so far.”

“Judging by that, it means the Dishonored Venerable is currently in Henan, correct?”

“…”

Shoot, did I tell him too much? Right as I started to become more cautious, Father continued.

“Since it is your decision, I won’t say too much about it. You may learn it as long as it doesn’t cause any problems to your body.”

“…Got it.”

“If you happen to see him after this, let him know that I would love to see him soon.”

“Understood.”

I didn’t expect the Dishonored Venerable to be too happy about this news, but what could I do? I was already caught.

After quietly letting out a sigh, I spoke to Father.

“Erm… my Lord.”

“Speak.”

“Does this mean that there is no deal?”

After hearing my question, Father looked at me with a strange gaze.

The fight yesterday was so that I could learn about my mother’s whereabouts, but I lost the bet because I failed to land one attack on him.

Despite knowing that, I tried asking him once more anyway.

Nothing good comes from playing fair anyway. I have to try anything I can.

In times like these, I was glad that I had a shameless personality.

“You are more casual about this than I expected.”

“…Ahem.”

He was basically calling me a sore loser for not being able to accept defeat.

Even I found it embarrassing, but I couldn’t afford to let it end like this. Moreover, I had an excuse to use, which is why I asked him in the first place.

“My Lord. You clearly said you were only going to use one hand yesterday.”

“…”

Father’s eyebrows flinched upon hearing my words.

I was able to know judging by his reaction that Father clearly knew what I meant.

After all, I clearly saw it yesterday in that moment.

“But then, why did you use your right arm?”

“…”

The hand he used to hit me in the face yesterday… was his right arm.

“I’m correct, right?”

Father remained silent.

I was rather scared by his serious expression, but I knew that his expression contained a hint of panic

“That means I won the bet, right?”

“…”

He remained silent. Father tried to play it as if he didn’t know, but there was no way I was going to let this go.

I was better than anyone at picking up on other people’s actions, so how could I miss this?

Father put one of his hands behind his back when our fight began, and it was definitely his right hand.

He may have knocked me out, but it still meant that I won since he used his right hand.

When I stared at Father waiting for his response, he spoke.

“I’m not sure what you are talking about.”

“Woah.”

I accidentally voiced my surprise.

I never thought I’d see the day for Father to do something like this.

“You are really going to do this?”

“However, because you seem so disappointed, I shall give you another chance.”

“What do you mean? I’m not that disappointed though?”

He’s really going to play it off as if it never happened?

Quite frankly, I wasn’t disappointed at all.

While looking at Father with a speechless expression, I started to laugh inside.

The fact that he came all this way and acted like this meant…

“…So you really don’t want to send me to that place.”

“That’s what I said from the very beginning.”

“But even so, I must go. I’ll go there, no matter what it takes.”

“…”

“I’ll break through even if you decide to stop me.”

I had to go there, no matter what the cost was.

I couldn’t do anything about the Celestial Sword’s soul inside my body myself. I had to find her in order to learn more about myself.

Even if Father wanted to stop me, I had no choice but to go anyway.

As I spoke with determination, Father spoke, after a moment of silence.

“Fine.”

“Huh?”

Did he just say it was fine? Right as I started to get excited after hearing an unexpected answer…

“I’ll let you go if you wish to go to that place that badly, but on one condition.”

I had to frown given his response..

“Are we going to be fighting again?”

I couldn’t win against him right now.

I became certain of that from my fight against him yesterday.

It might’ve been possible if I was at the level I reached in my past life, but in my current state, I couldn’t even touch my father.

It would take a long time for me to reach the level I achieved in my past life.

“It’s not a fight.”

“Then what is it?”

“What is your Destructive Flame Art’s current rank?”

“It has reached 7th rank.”

More accurately, it was the beginning level of 7th rank.

My Destructive Flame Arts ascended to a new level when I reached the Fusion Realm.

“Reach the 9th rank. Only then, I shall tell you where she is located.”

“…9th rank?”

“Yes.”

The 9th rank was the level I reached in my past life.

It basically meant that he would tell me once I reached my former peak.

I suppose it’s a little different though.

In my past life, I was more focused on making my Demonic Qi stronger compared to my martial arts. I would most likely reach the 9th rank much sooner than I did in my past life as long as I put effort into its development.

That part was nice and all, but I was curious about one thing.

“May I ask… why you specifically chose the 9th rank?”

He was oddly specific with his condition which is why I asked him.

After hearing my question, Father answered without hesitation.

“Only then will you be able to survive in that place.”

“…”

I was at a loss for words…

I didn’t know how dangerous that place was for him to set such a difficult condition, but I was able to see that he wasn’t going to change it judging by his serious expression.

So this is how much I was able to get by mentioning his cheating, huh?

Despite him using both of his hands in the end, I knew that the fight was only able to happen thanks to Father’s generosity, so this compromise was the best I was going to get.

9th rank huh…

I only had two more ranks to climb, but raising it only became more difficult as its rank rose.

“…Understood. I shall ask you again once I reach the 9th rank.”

I had no other choice, so I had to accept.

I may have agreed to his condition, but I still planned to look for different methods in order to reach that level as fast as I could.

Father nodded.

Then…

“…”

“…”

Because our conversation ended, we fell into a long silence.

It was rather uncomfortable.

Right as I started to wonder if I should run away or ask him more questions…

“Third child.”

Father spoke to me first, which surprised me.

“Yes.”

“Have you eaten yet?”

“…”

I was taken aback by Father’s question. I’ve heard this somewhere before…

Where did I hear this again?

I immediately recalled where after thinking for a moment.

It’s what I always say.

I always said this whenever I had nothing else to say, to check if anything happened to a person, or if they were skipping out on their meals.

“I… didn’t eat yet.”

“I see.”

Father then walked past me and spoke shortly after.

“Then we shall go eat. Follow.”

“…”

I stared at Father, who was walking away, for a moment. It felt like this was the first time I heard such a phrase from him.

He simply asked me to eat breakfast with him, right?

After thinking about what else he may have meant, I carefully started following him.

“…Yes, Father.”

Father’s shoulders slightly flinched when I called him Father.

I wondered if I made the wrong decision by doing so, but Father didn’t say a word.

Afterwards, silence fell once again just like always.

However, the current silence didn’t feel uncomfortable like before.

It was a very strange feeling.