Chapter 648: Nine Layers (Nine Layers)

There’s nothing I’d call a great memory.

It was around the time my younger sister ran away to the Central Plains, and I personally appeared in that distant land to catch her.

Questions followed.

Why did the Palace Lord, who should have stayed in the palace according to the pact, have to go all the way to the Central Plains?

Yucheon, in his relatively young days, couldn’t understand at the time.

Much later.

Only when I came to know that it was a father’s love for his daughter did he come to understand the previous Palace Lord, but…

Even so, Yucheon could not have made the same choice as him.

Because I was closer to being a Palace Lord than a father.

The Central Plains at that time were hot.

Was it called summer?

The extremely hot weather made Yucheon feel various things.

Weather where I didn’t have to wear thick fur coats, and the cold energy that pierced into my body felt a little better. It was truly a mysterious sight.

Should I say I felt a glimmer of lost romance?

The Palace Lord’s expression was constantly dark, but the young Palace Lord, who had reached the age of twenty, couldn’t help but feel excited.

New land.

Hot heat.

People who seemed a little relaxed.

All of that came to Yucheon as a mysterious experience.

At least.

Until I met him.

Kuuung–!!

Kung–!!

From a distance, tremendous waves surged from the direction of Mount Tai.

The current master of the Central Plains was said to be an old man called the Sword Saint (劍尊).

The King of the North Sea was now confronting him in terms of power.

I hadn’t come officially to the Central Plains, and friction arose, forcing us to battle.

At that time.

The Young Palace Lord was confronting another man.

“[I greet the Young Palace Lord of the North Sea.]”

It was a man with black hair and crimson eyes.

His age was similar to mine.

Fluttering a light blue cloak that proved his affiliation, the man looked at Yucheon with his hands clasped behind his back.

Yucheon was also meeting the man’s gaze.

Not long after, the man introduced himself to Yucheon.

“[I am Gu Cheol-un, Leader of the Divine Dragon Unit, affiliated with the Martial Arts Alliance.]”

Wariness naturally arose.

For some reason, the cold energy within my body formed hostility.

I felt nothing from the opponent, so instinct arbitrarily raised my energy.

Kuuung—!!!

A roar spread from the northern Mount Tai.

Hearing this, Yucheon frowned and said,

“[Move aside.]”

It was the point in time when the Alliance Leader and my father, the Palace Lord, were fighting a fierce battle.

Within that, I had something to do.

Execute the blood relatives of the Moyong family who took my sister and bring her back.

That was the order given to Yucheon.

To Yucheon’s reaction, Gu Cheol-un said,

“[That cannot be.]”

His expression was clearly indifferent.

“[Your sister has already become a person of the Moyong family.”

“I must protect the members of the Moyong family according to the Alliance Leader’s order.”

“Therefore, I cannot let you pass.]”

“[How dare you block my way.”

“Is that what you mean?]”

At Gu Cheol-un’s attitude, Yucheon chuckled.

“[I don’t care about the orders of a place called the Alliance.”

“We just handle things according to the laws of the North Sea.]”

“[I do not know about the laws of the North Sea.”

“[So? Are you telling me to follow your words?]”

“[No.”

“You are outsiders, so you don’t necessarily need to follow the laws of the Central Plains.]”

Kkwadeudeudeuk—!!!

The wind pressure gradually intensified.

Yucheon felt impatience, his frown deepening.

“[It simply means we must each play our respective roles.]”

Gu Cheol-un looked at Yucheon with his eyes slightly open.

“[I cannot move aside.”

“You have something you need to find, so if you wish, go ahead and take it.]”

“[Huh?]”

“If you want, go ahead and try to take it.”

I felt his absolute confidence that I couldn’t break through. It was arrogant yet weighty.

That tone kept provoking Yucheon’s mood.

“[You… do you really think that old man called the Sword Saint can defeat the Palace Lord?]”

“[Hmm?]”

At Yucheon’s words, Gu Cheol-un tilted his head.

His expression was incomprehensible.

Seeing that expression, Yucheon was convinced.

“As expected, these guys know nothing.”

“No matter how outstanding the people of the Central Plains are, they are humans at best.”

“You cannot defeat us.]”

Thinking about it now, it was an embarrassing tone.

I said that because back then, I thought the world was mine.

That’s why I regret it.

“If only I had known the world a little better, I wouldn’t have these memories.”

“[Soon, the Palace Lord will execute that old man and come here.”

“When that happens, you will eventually meet death.”

“Wouldn’t it be better to move aside before that happens?]”

“[Hmm.]”

Even at Yucheon’s words, Gu Cheol-un continuously tilted his head.

It felt incomprehensible, no matter how much he heard.

Unable to figure it out after pondering the question several times, Gu Cheol-un spoke to Yucheon.

“[I shall ask.”

“Are you that weak?]”

“[What?]”

“[Why do you think you cannot break through me until the Palace Lord comes?]”

“[…!”

At Gu Cheol-un’s words, Yucheon swallowed hard.

It was an unexpected part.

Indeed.

Why? Why was I thinking of waiting until the Palace Lord came?

While Yucheon’s body stiffened, Gu Cheol-un, not paying attention, continued speaking.

“[Furthermore, there’s something you’re mistaken about.”

“I must correct that as well.]”

Kung–!!

Kung–!!

The terrain kept breaking in the fight of the absolute beings. Gu Cheol-un said, turning his gaze towards there.

“[Even if the Alliance Leader is defeated, what you all want cannot be achieved.”

“[…What…?]”

“[As long as I stand with both eyes open, your steps will end here.]”

“[…]”

At the casually spoken words, Yucheon had to fall silent for a moment.

Because he couldn’t understand what he had heard.

“[…What?]”

“[You seem quite hard of hearing.”

At Yucheon’s reaction, Gu Cheol-un’s brow slightly furrowed.

“[I don’t really like speaking twice…]”

Seureuk.

Gu Cheol-un released his clasped hands.

His empty bare hands came into view. At that moment.

“[You cannot pass this place.”

“If you don’t want to die, get lost right now….]”

“[…!”

“[Will it be easier to understand if I say it like this?]”

“[This guy…!]”

The moment Yucheon contorted his face at Gu Cheol-un’s words, about to summon his cold energy.

Hwareureureuk—!!!

Flames erupted from Gu Cheol-un’s body.

The surrounding heat became extremely hot.

The flames were terribly red.

It was a form like burning blood, rather than light.

At that reaction, Yucheon lifted his head without realizing it.

“[The sky…!]”

The blue sky gradually turned red.

While briefly flustered by the strange phenomenon.

“[What are you doing?]”

Gu Cheol-un’s voice was heard.

“[Aren’t you coming?]”

When Yucheon lowered his head again upon hearing the voice.

“[Then I’ll come.]”

Gu Cheol-un’s large hand was already approaching Yucheon’s face.

Just as I was about to assume a stance, looking at the hand like that.

Jjyaak–!!

Along with an unknown sound, Yucheon’s consciousness gradually woke up.

Jjak-! Jjaak–!!

“-…Uh, aren’t you hitting me too much?”

“-There’s nothing better than this for waking someone up.”

I hear sounds. Whose voices could these be?

“-What if my teeth break from that?”

“-I wouldn’t know.”

“-Hmm?”

“-It wasn’t me who did it.”

“Who knows if I already had a cavity?”

“-My disciple.”

“-Yes?”

“-You truly are a crazy bastard.”

“-Isn’t it thanks to having a good teacher… Just kidding.”

“Please move your hand.”

For some reason, Yucheon’s eyes slowly opened at the chilling conversation.

It wasn’t because of the sound.

It was strangely because I felt pain in my face.

“Kkeu-eu….”

Yucheon opened his eyes and let out a pained groan.

“”Oh, you opened your eyes. See? This is the direct method, isn’t it? Why don’t you believe people?””

“”…No, why is this happening?””

At the voice heard from the front, sounding surprised, Yucheon looked there.

Someone was looking at me with a hand slightly raised.

Beyond the blurry vision, facial features came into view.

Black hair, slightly visible blue eyes, and sharp eyes like I had just seen them.

Seeing that, Yucheon said.

“”…Gu Cheol-un?””

“”Eng?””

The face of the one called crumpled at the name of the man from memory.

“”You don’t seem to have regained your senses yet.”

“Shall I hit you a bit more… No, shall I touch you a bit more?””

“Changing your words doesn’t make the meaning softer.”

The one blocking the young man beside me was also a young man of similar age.

Shall I say he had a somewhat gentle-looking impression?

Barely regaining my fading consciousness, Yucheon pushed his upper body up.

“”Keuk…!””

However, my body condition was not good at all.

Although it wasn’t that good to begin with, it shouldn’t have been this painful.

Sharp pain radiated from my whole body.

“”It would be best to move slowly.”

“There might be quite a few broken places.””

“”…Huu….””

Yucheon looked at the owner of the voice.

I thought it was Gu Cheol-un.

It wasn’t.

“…It was Gu Cheol-un’s son.”

“”Are you alright?””

Gu Cheol-un’s son, Gu Yangcheon.

Yucheon did not answer his question.

I was mistaken.

The similar facial features were one thing, but something was different.

Because of that, I mistook him for Gu Cheol-un for a moment.

“”May I ask what happened?””

“”The incident…?””

“”I heard the Palace Lord was eaten by Bingjeong.””

Eaten by Bingjeong?

Yucheon, at those words, suddenly recalled the situation just before.

Clearly, I was with Bingjeong.

Right after Gu Yangcheon left, I seemed to have been watching Bingjeong for a moment.

Why did I do that? I don’t know the reason.

However, Yucheon had to remain in that spot.

As a little time passed like that… Bingjeong emitted light…

Eventually.

“”Kkeu-euk….””

Jikkeun-!

Yucheon clutched his forehead at the sudden headache.

“”Huu… Huu.””

Yucheon, no, Bing Palace Lord, breathed slowly, enduring the headache.

Air seeped through the tips of his nose and mouth.

Feeling that, the Palace Lord’s eyes widened slightly.

“”…What is this?””

The air was strange.

The foreign sensation that was usually felt strongly was not present.

No, should I say I felt the strangeness of its absence?

“”Keuheum.””

As Bing Palace Lord reacted as if sensing something, Gu Yangcheon, who was in front, let out a cough.

“”Keuheum…Keum….””

His gaze darted around, as if pricked somewhere.

“”No, well… there’s no need to recall it.”

“You look quite unwell, so let’s go get treatment first.””

Gu Yangcheon helps the Palace Lord up first, as if trying to change the subject forcefully.

Seeing that, Paejon beside him looked at him with a dumbfounded expression.

Lest he say something, Gu Yangcheon hastily looked at Paejon and said,

“”What are you doing?”

“If you have two hands free, please carry that lump…. No, even General Black Lion.””

“”You beat him up and knocked him unconscious, and you want me to carry him?”

“”Beat him up? It was just a slight accident.””

“”If there are two accidents like that, you’ll be smashed to pieces.””

“”Accidents usually lead to destruction twice, don’t they?””

“”…””

It was strangely true.

Thereupon, Paejon sighed and turned his body around.

And then, turning his face slightly, he said to Gu Yangcheon,

“”Within today.”

“Explain everything.””

“”…””

At the somewhat firm tone, Gu Yangcheon nodded.

Paejon, having confirmed the reaction, was about to walk towards Black Lion.

“”Hmm?””

Someone was already carrying Black Lion.

It was Seong-yul.

“”Can we leave now?””

Paejon nodded, seeing Seong-yul speaking with an expressionless face.

He was perceptive and quick without being asked.

Judging by his attitude, he seemed like the type who silently does his job without complaining.

“‘There’s someone like that.”

“Why is my disciple like that?'”

“My luck with disciples seemed quite lacking.”

“‘If only his talent was a bit mediocre, I would have kicked him in the butt right away.'”

Of all things, what that guy possessed was tremendous.

When I first saw him, I somehow thought he was a bit slow on the uptake compared to his attained level.

A guy not even twenty years old had reached the perfect peak, and soon after reached the Flower Realm (Hwagyeong).

In the Alliance, they seemed to have hidden this fact for some reason, and he himself seemed uninterested.

“This can be considered the youngest in history.”

“He must be an all-time genius, yet Gu Yangcheon somehow lacked confidence and belief.”

Likewise, his talent in martial arts didn’t seem that high, so Paejon also had doubts.

“However, what’s important anyway is how much pain one can endure in cultivating Tuap-acheonmu and the body’s potential to accept it.”

Paejon stopped caring about it.

“What if it’s a bit lacking?”

“If it doesn’t work, just make it work.”

“Several years passed with that thought.”

“By now, Paejon’s thoughts had also changed.”

“‘That guy is indeed a genius.'”

“It’s a certainty.”

“Although somewhat lacking in martial arts, he possessed an uncanny level of control over his internal energy (Naegi).”

“He seemed unaware of it himself, but that level amazed even Paejon.”

“Looking at him, it seemed he didn’t know how difficult it was to ignite and control a massive flame in the first place.”

“Offensive martial arts like fire techniques are impossible to even begin without talent from the start.”

“That means it’s a high-difficulty martial art in the use of internal energy.”

“Just having a lot of internal energy doesn’t mean one can emit pressure.”

“If you unleash it all at once like that, your dantian won’t remain intact.”

“But Gu Yangcheon casually focuses or controls the firepower.”

“While doing so, he also guided it smoothly without straining the body.”

“Moreover, if it’s Gu Yangcheon, whose internal energy is abnormally large, this should be even harder.”

“‘That guy looked fine.'”

“As the amount increases.”

“Or as it decreases.”

“Gu Yangcheon seemed to have no difficulty with this at all.”

“Paejon felt a tremor within, seeing Gu Yangcheon’s display just before.”

“The energy pouring from all directions.”

“An immense amount that one could hardly imagine a human receiving.”

“Even the violence of energy that wasn’t his own, that…”

“‘That guy controlled it casually.'”

“Though I hated to admit it, that sight was astonishing.”

“If it had gone wrong even slightly, the energy would have exploded, an explosion that even Paejon couldn’t have stopped.”

“On such a razor’s edge, Gu Yangcheon danced as if showing off.”

“As if mocking the sense of crisis, he played with the energy, and finally gathered it all in one place, even shoving it into his own mouth.”

“‘Crazy bastard.'”

“Paejon smiled, recalling that.”

“Eighty and a bit.”

“It seemed long to others, and short in my own assessment.”

“Living such a life, I prided myself that no one was superior to me in terms of martial arts.”

“It’s the same now.”

“Paejon knew the extent of his talent.”

“Perhaps decades ago, I might have considered myself the best.”

“However.”

“Things were a little different now.”

“Seeing the martial prowess Gu Cheol-un, the head of the Gu family, briefly showed, and the scene his disciple displayed, various thoughts crossed my mind.”

“‘I can’t comprehend that family.'”

“Of all things, they have the same surname and are father and son.”

“Perhaps the Heaven and Earth spirits bestowed some blessing upon that family.”

“While it was absurd, anticipation also rose.”

“‘If my disciple realizes his talent and time passes, what will happen?'”

“I’m truly curious about that, but I won’t tell him.”

“‘If I tell him and he gets arrogant, I won’t want to see it.'”

“I don’t want to see him groveling due to low self-esteem.”

“I dislike seeing him swaggering even more.”

“‘Anyway, he’ll find out himself soon.”

“It’s best to leave him be for now.'”

“His father, the chivalrous man, surely knows, yet this is a fact he hasn’t revealed.”

“Even as his teacher, there’s no need to intervene.”

“However, looking at it that way, why didn’t the Gu family head say anything?”

“Being at that level, and as a father, he must have known his child’s talent better than anyone. It was a question.”

“‘Could it be….'”

“As I thought of it, Paejon suddenly thought.”

“‘Because he naturally knew how to do it, he didn’t think it was talent, or something like that, right?'”

“Thinking of Gu Cheol-un’s martial prowess, I wondered if perhaps, but Paejon shook his head and dismissed the thought.”

“‘There’s no way such an absurd thing could happen.'”

“Even I thought it was too ridiculous.”

“Paejon patted Seong-yul’s shoulder a few times and moved his feet.”

“Since there was no one else to listen anyway, I was about to move towards the others.”

“Saaaaa-!”

“”Hmm?””

“Suddenly, a shadow fell upon the ground.”

“The shadow fell enough to cover those around.”

“At the strange phenomenon, Paejon shifted his gaze.”

“Not just Paejon.”

“Seong-yul already, and Gu Yangcheon too, were looking at the cause of the shadow.”

“The difference being, Gu Yangcheon had a deep frown.”

“”That damn bastard.””

“Looking at the sky, Gu Yangcheon spat out curses.”

“”He wouldn’t come out when called, but now that it’s over, he crawls out now.””

“Keureureureung-.”

“At Gu Yangcheon’s words, the being covering the sky let out a cry.”

“It was as rough as a beast’s cry.”

“Yet to call it that, it was much larger.”

“The giant being, large enough to cover the entire sky, moved its body.”

“Its long, thick body writhed.”

“As the creature approached from the air, Gu Yangcheon’s eyes narrowed.”

“”What is it?””

“Keureureureu–!!”

“The ground shook at the loud cry.”

“Seeing this, Gu Yangcheon said.”

“”…Why did that guy get so big?””

“Name: Ttolttol-i.”

“Age: Three years old.”

“The guy’s already large body had doubled in size compared to before.”