Childhood Friend of the Zenith Chapter 109: Oops (1)

༺ Oops (1) ༻

By the ti we started returning to the clan, the seasons had changed.

The boiling sumr heat disappeared and the green leaves already started to change their colors.

Fall ca along with a calm, cool breeze that lingered in the air.

It was spring on the day of my resurrection, so it would an that two seasons had already passed since then.

“Finally, we arrived…”

My back hurt because of how long I was in the sitting position when riding in the carriage.

– Crack-!

I only moved a little bit, but I heard all my bones cracking.

Since we were in the streets, many people were crowding the area.

｢So this is Shanxi?｣

‘Is it your first ti here?’

｢Of course not, it’s just that it’s much different from what I rember.｣

Was it really different from when Elder Shin was alive? I only asked him because he was talking as if this was the first ti he had co to this place.

‘A lot of ti has passed since then.’

When Namgung Bi-ah, who was once again sleeping while leaning on Wi Seol-Ah’s shoulder, noticed that we arrived, she slightly opened her eyes. I was going to wake her up myself, so she saved the trouble.

The girl stretched her arms and twisted her body a few tis. Watching her stretch, I said,

“You must have had a good sleep, are you refreshed?”

“I am.”

I asked her half-jokingly, but she answered seriously.

I smirked at her reaction and looked toward the carriage’s window.

Wi Seol-Ah. who was also sleeping, would also wake up soon.

“I think we’ll arrive soon.”

Hearing Muyeon who was walking next to the carriage, I looked far into the distance and saw the wall that surrounded the Gu Clan’s headquarters.

It was only when I saw the huge fortification that I truly felt at ho.

“I really ca back.”

I finally returned to my ho after a few months.

* * * *

As the carriage entered the clan gate, I saw that a good amount of people had already gathered up.

I did expect that sothing like this would happen since I had sent a letter to the clan beforehand.

Gu Ryunghwa’s return to the clan was already big enough news, but it was even bigger because of the arrival of the Sword Master and the Immortal Healer.

When I got off the carriage, I saw a middle-aged man with a fierce expression in front of the crowd. The Tiger Warrior and my father, Gu Cheolun, were waiting for us.

｢That man must be your father.｣

‘You already noticed?’

｢It’d be weird for not to, considering you guys look the sa…｣

Do we really look that much alike? To be fair, I did hear that I looked like him ever since I was young.

And I heard it increasingly often as I grew up.

｢You look even fiercer than him. That’s honestly impressive.｣

‘…’

‘That’s not much of a complint.’

I walked forward and looked at my father.

Our eyes t. I still felt a bit uncomfortable looking into his eyes which emitted dense red light.

“Hm.”

Father’s eyebrow flinched for a second after he looked at without a word.

The eyes that emitted red light passed by .

I supposed he noticed the change in .

‘Even though I tried to hide it.’

It wasn’t that long, but it was enough ti for to calm down all the energy that was inside .

I already purified all the demonic Qi I had absorbed from Nachal, and I was able to calm down the Qi that was flowing around my middle abdon.

I had basically reached a state where I could essentially hide my martial art level, but it seed like I still couldn’t escape my father’s eyes.

After looking at for a bit, he said, “I received the things you sent from Mount Hua, as well as the letter. It seems like a lot has happened there.”

“…There were so incidents there.”

Father nodded to my response. His reaction couldn’t be more mundane.

I had only gone there to return the treasure and to bring back Gu Ryunghwa, but a lot more had happened. How was I supposed to know that all of that stuff would happen?

“Since you just returned from your trip, rest for today and co to my room tomorrow.”

“Understood.”

Our conversation ended there, despite us seeing each other for the first ti in a while. Father then passed by and went toward the Sword Master and the Immortal Healer.

Then, he lowered his head to the Immortal Healer.

“Long ti no see, Senior Immortal Healer.”

“Indeed, it’s been a long ti, Lord Gu. It’s been decades.”

“Have your health been good all this ti?”

“You think being old makes healthy? I’m just living because I can’t die, but I’m glad that you don’t look half as bad.”

It seed like my father and the Immortal Healer knew each other.

To be fair, it wasn’t that weird for them to know each other considering Father had been active for a while.

“We prepared everything for you.”

“What did you prepare?”

“Since you said you didn’t want anything grand, we prepared a building for you to stay in.”

“Tsk, I already don’t like how you’re giving this kind of treatnt. I recall saying that a small room would be enough for .”

The Immortal Healer spoke in an unsatisfied tone, but my father’s expression stayed the sa.

Then, he looked at the Sword Master. Gu Ryunghwa was right behind the woman, so when the imposing man looked toward them, Gu Ryunghwa’s shoulder flinched a little.

The Sword Master looked at the Gu Clan Lord and lowered her head to show respect.

“It’s been a while.”

“Yes, indeed it has.”

“I heard that you’re staying here with my daughter.”

“If you’d be so kind as to allow .”

“There’s no reason for to deny you, since I already know. I hope you’ll have a pleasant stay.”

“Thank you for your consideration.”

He then looked at Gu Ryunghwa, but didn’t say much.

“Good work.”

That was all he said.

I felt that he was being a little too cold to his daughter whom he hadn’t seen in a long ti, but Gu Ryunghwa looked like she preferred that kind of response as her expression beca more relieved.

Just when I thought it would be okay to head inside now that the greetings were over, soone stepped out of the crowd and approached my father.

“Huh??”

It was Namgung Bi-ah, who had just gotten off the carriage.

“I greet the Llord of Gu Clan of Shanxi. I am Bi-ah of the Namgung Clan.”

She spoke respectfully with her head lowered, but her tone was sowhat different.

I never heard Namgung Bi-ah speak that clearly, ever.

She felt like an entirely different person that I didn’t know. Her dumb look went away, and she was standing there with her back straight and her hair all tidied up.

Namgung Bi-ah’s unique, concise manner of speech was also nowhere to be seen. She looked and sounded like a mature, elegant woman.

“Who is that girl?”

｢I could barely tell it’s the sa girl that was sleeping in the carriage while drooling all over…｣

It was honestly shocking how different she looked.

After giving Namgung Bi-ah a quick once-over, he nodded.

“I am Gu Cheolun. I was already inford that you were traveling with my son.”

“Thanks to Young Master Gu’s kindness, I was able to tag along.”

“I understand. I have to inform you, however, that the Namgung Clan is looking for you, so I will have to contact them now that I’ve confird your location.”

Namgung Bi-ah nodded at my father’s words.

After exchanging a few more words with him, she ca over to my side.

“What gives?”

“Hmm…?”

As soon as I asked her, she was imdiately back to her usual expression and her manner of speech.

‘What the, this is a little, no, this is really scary…’

I didn’t know she was capable of talking like that.

“What in the, no, what did you talk about?”

“He told to stay here… until my clan sends soone.”

I felt like I had been hallucinating when she conversed with my father because she was right back to her usual self.

It seed they were going to contact Namgung Clan about this, as the circumstances of her traveling with were anything but normal.

I honestly expected that people from Namgung Clan would already be waiting for her at the Gu Clan, but, thankfully, that wasn’t the case.

“Will you be okay?”

I asked Namgung Bi-ah on reflex.

I wasn’t sure what I even ant by the question—whether it was okay for her to go back, or if it was okay for her to stay here.

The words just ca out on their own.

Namgung Bi-ah looked slightly shocked hearing my question, but she smiled right after.

Her smile shocked in return…

“I’m okay,” she replied calmly.

“Since there’s nothing I’m scared of anymore.”

Before I could understand the aning behind her words, she walked away with one of the servants that was assigned to guide her.

‘I wonder what she ant by that just now.’

I felt like there was a lot of aning in her words, but Namgung Bi-ah’s smile was really stuck in my mind.

｢That girl really knows how to charm people.｣

I knew he wasn’t talking about her appearance when he said that.

The more I stayed with her, I noticed that there were lots of sides to Namgung Bi-ah that I didn’t know about.

To be more specific, she looked different compared to her ti as the Demonic Sword.

They were certainly the sa person, but at the sa ti, so different.

The empty eyes she had always used to have were different from the eyes she had now, and her recent smiles made think of her as a completely different person.

｢You seem disappointed.｣

I nodded at Elder Shin’s words. It wouldn’t be wrong to say that I was disappointed. I honestly was. It took way too long to realize that she was a person capable of such a smile.

While I was looking into empty space vacantly, soone grabbed my hand. Their skin was warm and soft.

“Young Master! Let’s go in!”

It was Wi Seol-Ah.

“Right, we should go inside now.”

Father also led the guests into the clan as they were also done talking.

‘He told to rest for the day.’

It was why he had told to co to his room the following day. I really needed so ti to rest as it was a long trip.

‘But the problem is the flower.’

I still hadn’t consud the flower that I had gotten from the Black Palace’s hideout after killing Nachal, even though it had been months.

I had thought a week would be enough, but getting my body used to a new realm took way longer.

｢You also delayed it yourself as you said you weren’t used to the sensation yet.｣

I wanted to learn and master the sensation that Elder Shin had shown . It was the result of mixing calm Taoist Qi with my explosive energies, allowing to use them more efficiently.

‘I just thought it would do more harm than good if I added more Qi into myself.’

It would have been easy to consu the flower during the trip, but I decided that getting my body used to a new realm was more of a priority.

And since this flower didn’t wither away, nor did it lose any Qi over ti, I could postpone consuming it indefinitely.

Another thing I learned was…

‘You can’t feel the energy of this flower if you don’t possess demonic Qi.’

This was more of an assumption, but I was basically certain.

Both the Sword Emperor and Muyeon didn’t notice this flower during our long trip. It may have been wrapped up in cloth, but if this was a flower with normal Qi, there was no way that they wouldn’t have noticed it.

Namgung Bi-ah looked like she might have noticed a slight sll, but it didn’t seem like she noticed it ca from the flower either, which was good news for .

｢Do you think you’re ready now?｣

Elder Shin asked if I could consu the flower now.

‘Yes, at this point, I think I’ve prepared enough.’

I couldn’t really say that I was certain that I was ready, but I believed that I was in a satisfactory state.

‘I’m planning to consu it tonight.’

Elder Shin didn’t offer much further comnt. He was basically telling to do whatever I wanted.

My place which I hadn’t seen for a long ti looked about the sa. Though that much was obvious, since even when I was gone, I had servants to take care of the place.

The servants that had gone with to Shaanxi were probably just as tired as I was, but they began working as soon as they put away their belongings.

I was very impressed by their dedication.

I washed my exhausted body and changed my clothes. I was thinking of relaxing for a bit since there was still so ti left before sunset.

“Young Master.”

And then, a servant ca to disrupt my peace and quiet.

“What’s up?”

“A guest has co. They’re waiting in the guest house.”

“A guest all of sudden? Did they co to et ?”

“A guest is here even though I just got back?” I asked while standing up.

“Who is it?”

When I heard the servant’s answer, I knew I had to move quickly.

* * * *

Ten days.

The guest had been waiting in the Gu Clan for ten whole days.

It was way too long of a ti for a guest to stay in a foreign place, especially since the person the guest was looking for was not here.

At that point, she could’ve just accepted the fact that she was unlucky and co back at a later date.

Furthermore, a girl from a noble clan would certainly feel uncomfortable staying at a place like this.

Despite all that, she spent ten days here despite that.

“…Why are you here?” I asked while looking at the girl.

I tried to look into her eyes, but she kept avoiding eye contact and continued to sip tea in silence with a slightly blushed face.

“Lady Tang.”

The girl flinched when I called her na.

“Yes…?”

“I heard that you ca here looking for .”

The precious daughter of the Tang Clan I had run into back when I went to the military exhibition was sitting right in front of .

The girl that was currently called the Poison Lady, and the girl that would be called the Poison Queen in the future.

Tang Soyeol took a deep breath and finally spoke up.

“Y…Yes! I ca for… you.”

It seed like she tried to speak as confidently as she could, but her words faded away at the end.

“From Sichuan, all the way here? It’s pretty far away, no?”

“It probably isn’t that… far?”

Her tone sounded like she was questioning herself when speaking. Of course it was far, I had taken that trip myself!

‘I only went there for the secret vault; what’s this girl here for?’

When I was first inford of her presence, I honestly thought that she had co here for Namgung Bi-ah and not .

Of course, that didn’t make sense since we were in the Gu Clan after all, but her presence was so weird, that even such a wild prospect wasn’t out of the question.

｢…You piece of shit.｣

‘P-Pardon?’

I thought I misheard him for a second.

I called out to Elder Shin once again after his harsh words, but I was t with pure silence.

I put the old man’s comnts aside for now and decided to focus on Tang Soyeol that was right in front of .

“So it’s true that you ca here for ?”

“Y, Yes! I ca here to see you…”

“Why?”

“Because I wanted to see y… Blahhh!”

She suddenly stopped talking and bit her tongue. Then she started to gulp down tea with her face a vibrant shade of red.

‘Isn’t the tea too hot for her to drink it like this?’

Even I couldn’t drink hot things like that despite my body being tempered with fla arts of my clan. I supposed this much wasn’t a problem for Tang Soyeol, though.

When she finished her tea, Tang Soyeol opened her mouth again, steam coming out from her mouth.

“Young Master Gu…”

“Yes?”

“I ca here because I wanted to ask you sothing.”

Soone from the Tang Clan ca from Sichuan all the way to Shanxi.

‘I wonder how important this matter is for her to co all the way here personally.’

I pushed Tang Soyeol for an answer, still wondering what could have possibly warranted her presence at my place.

“Please speak.”

“Um… Before that, I want to ask you sothing…”

“What do you want to ask…?”

Tang Soyeol seed to have cald down, but it seed like there was so resentnt in the eyes that were looking at .

I wondered what she was going to ask for her to look at like that. The question mark that ford above my head quickly went away when I heard Tang Soyeol’s question.

“You told that your na was Gu Jeolyub… What was that about?”

‘Oh… Oh.’

I had completely forgotten about that.