The Youngest Member Chapter 130

All officials who had an audience with the emperor were not to look at his face until permission was granted.

This was a very irreverent act, and depending on the case, it was a situation where one could not complain even if a great punishnt was given.

Nevertheless, Cheon Woojin looked straight at the emperor. No, he did not just look at him, but he also had a blatant killing intent.

A cool atmosphere descended upon the hall.

Cheon Woojin was already in a situation where he was recognized as a master of Heaven Beyond Heaven.

Tension was etched on the faces of the Eastern Depot Admiral, the Embroidered Guard Commander, the Grand General of the military, and the Hebei Peng family head, Peng Myeongseok, who were there to assist the emperor.

"How audacious! Do you know where you are, how dare you...!"

It was the head of the Peng family, the Saber Guest, Peng Myeongseok.

As the older brother of the elder, the Saber King, Peng Myeongho, he had many occasions to enter and leave the imperial palace, so he had deliberately attached 'Guest' to his title instead of 'King' or 'Emperor'.

In any case, since he was the only martial artist in this place besides Cheon Woojin, he had stepped forward first before the sparks flew to him.

Regardless, Cheon Woojin's gaze was solely on the emperor.

'...Different.'

The emperor's face was exactly like the silver-haired man he had seen before. Not only his face, but also his slender build and his age, which seed to be just over twenty, were the sa.

But his gaze was different. The gaze was what revealed the inherent energy and character of a person.

The gaze of the man he had faced before was similar to that of his master, the Black Master. However, the emperor in front of him, although he felt a certain dignity, did not feel like a martial artist.

The Admiral gripped the silver dagger in his sleeve.

The Embroidered Guard Commander placed his hand on the hilt of his sword.

The mont the Grand General and the Peng family head were about to raise their greatswords.

Cheon Woojin ca to a conclusion.

It was unbelievable, but the emperor and the silver-haired man had perfectly identical appearances, but they were not the sa person.

It was truly an incomprehensible matter.

When Cheon Woojin washed away his energy, the cold, frozen atmosphere in the hall softened.

Even with the four masters who had reached the pinnacle of their respective fields in front of him, it was Cheon Woojin who controlled the atmosphere here.

"Take it."

Cheon Woojin threw the Crescent Moon Staff to the Embroidered Guard mber who was guarding the gate. It flew gently, imbued with the profundity of telekinesis.

The Embroidered Guard mber, who had caught the Crescent Moon Staff in a daze, blinked his eyes. His whole body seed to be still stiff due to the atmosphere just a mont ago.

"..."

A heavy silence descended upon the hall.

Everyone had an expression that demanded an explanation.

Cheon Woojin looked at them one by one and then pointed at soone at random and said.

"That person's prayer was so sharp that my body moved instinctively. I apologize."

Everyone looked at the man Cheon Woojin had pointed at.

The middle-aged man in a gold-embroidered martial robe blinked his eyes with a dumbfounded face and then his lips twitched.

The Emotionless Guest, who was said to have single-handedly destroyed the Qingcheng Sect, felt danger? From ?

That was exactly his expression.

"Hah, Your Majesty. Originally, masters of a high realm like the Emotionless Guest often have such things happen due to the instincts engraved in their bones. I beseech you to forgive his rudeness with your ocean-like generosity."

A clear sense of pride was etched on the face of the Embroidered Guard Commander.

Although he was an official of the imperial palace, his essence was a martial artist.

How could he not be happy when a master of Heaven Beyond Heaven seed to acknowledge him?

The silver-haired emperor nodded.

There was no displeasure on his face either.

On the contrary, his eyes, looking at Cheon Woojin, were full of interest.

"I heard that that child is a great master, but it seems you, Commander, have not been lazy in your training either."

"Hahahat, Your Majesty's grace is truly boundless."

The middle-aged man, who had burst into a cheerful laugh, this ti said to Cheon Woojin in a tone full of goodwill.

"I am Gam Jibyeok, the Commander of the Embroidered Guard. I have recently gained so enlightennt, so I could not completely sheathe my prayer. It is understandable that you were surprised. Please understand. Hahaha."

"...Yes, well."

Cheon Woojin bowed his head lightly.

Although he seed to be a lighter person than expected for the head of the Embroidered Guard, who was said to be able to make even a flying bird fall, the words that he had recently gained enlightennt seed to be true.

While laughing heartily, he had slightly twisted his toes and was ready to protect the emperor's front at any ti.

Soon, Cheon Woojin, who had taken his gaze off the Commander, looked at the emperor. He had to look up because the throne was located quite high.

For a mont, the two t each other's gazes.

Cheon Woojin had his usual indifferent expression, but the emperor looking at him had a very amused face.

"I am very interested in martial arts."

The emperor suddenly said so.

Cheon Woojin answered as if to say, "So what?"

"Yes."

"If you are so strong, would you not exchange blows with ? Although I am young, I am a master who sotis wins against the Commander here."

Cheon Woojin looked at the Commander. For so reason, his face was red as if he were embarrassed.

It was obvious that he had deliberately lost. Although the emperor had learned a little bit of martial arts, it seed to be for the purpose of health promotion.

If the Commander had faced the emperor with all his might, he would not have been a match for even one move, but he could have been subdued with just a look.

'Well, he can't beat up the emperor after becoming a mber of the Embroidered Guard.'

Cheon Woojin, who had thought so, answered the emperor's question.

"I don't want to."

"...You don't want to?"

The emperor was lost in thought for a mont.

It was the first ti in his life that he had heard the words "I don't want to."

"Why don't you want to?"

"I think I will hurt Your Majesty."

The emperor's eyes widened slightly and then he burst into a long laugh.

"You are really honest. In fact, I know that I have no talent for martial arts. The Commander's acting skills are only improving as he trains with . Still, I wanted to exchange blows with the famous Emotionless Guest."

"..."

Cheon Woojin looked at such an emperor intently.

If he had been called just to exchange jokes, he was planning to leave the imperial palace imdiately.

Soon, the emperor's words continued.

"Well, I can't do anything about soone who doesn't want to."

The emperor rested his chin on his hand and looked down at Cheon Woojin.

In an instant, his gaze changed.

The gazes of a master who had reached the pinnacle and a scholar who had devoted his entire life to research were different yet similar, and the emperor's was closer to the latter.

Cheon Woojin felt as if the intelligence in the emperor's gaze was piercing straight through him.

"Thanks to you, I was able to punish the one who was committing terrible acts in Sichuan. It is truly a shaful thing to borrow the hand of a martial artist. So, I was planning to praise your rits in front of everyone and give you a reward, but is there anything you want?"

Cheon Woojin was lost in thought for a mont.

The young master of the Black Fortress was one, and for so reason, people kept telling him to say what he wanted whenever they saw him.

Of course, Cheon Woojin had nothing he particularly wanted.

Cheon Woojin, who was about to say that he didn't need anything as always, suddenly thought of his noisy friends.

"My friends will be arriving in Beijing soon. May we look around the imperial palace together?"

"Oh, how audacious...!"

The Peng family head suddenly stepped forward. Because he knew that the friends Cheon Woojin was talking about were the Inspection Hall.

However, the emperor imdiately looked at him. Although he didn't say anything, it was clear that he was telling him to shut up.

The startled Peng family head bowed his head and took a step back.

"Haha, friends. That's nice. I don't have any friends."

"...Yes."

Dry coughs erupted from here and there.

Soon, the emperor made a groundbreaking proposal, saying that he would personally show them around the imperial palace when his friends arrived.

Everyone had surprised expressions, but Cheon Woojin calmly nodded. At that sight, the emperor's eyes narrowed. Even after doing this much, he didn't seem grateful at all, let alone overwheld.

"Is there nothing else you want? The rits you have established are by no ans small, so I can't praise them all just by letting you take a walk in the imperial palace."

"No."

"No? Why not?"

The emperor, who had been born and raised in the imperial palace, could not understand at all.

Suddenly, the Eastern Depot Admiral next to him said.

"Originally, many martial artists are simple people. Because they live looking only at martial arts."

"Haha, I like that too. Because this imperial palace is full of people steeped in greed."

Although there were embarrassed expressions from here and there, the emperor did not care and continued to think.

"Then what should I do? I called you to praise your rits, but if I send you back empty-handed, it will be as if I made you co a long way out of a petty whim."

At that, the Admiral said as if his tongue were oiled.

"Your Majesty, how could that be? All commoners would consider it an honor for three generations just to have an audience with Your Majesty."

"Admiral, don't be ridiculous."

"...I-I am sorry."

Cheon Woojin found the scene quite interesting. The person sitting there was completely different from the emperor he had vaguely imagined in his head. An emperor who cursed? What kind of childhood did he have?

Just as Cheon Woojin was thinking that.

The emperor said as if he had a great idea.

"Let's do this. I will grant Cheon Woojin a pardon plaque."

In an instant, the atmosphere in the hall shook.

What was a pardon plaque? It was a treasure given to the officials who had established the greatest rits for the country, and it could pardon any cri except for treason, just once.

More than the significance of being able to be pardoned for a cri, the aning that the emperor trusted him that much was greater.

For example, there were no more than three people who had received a pardon plaque in the current era, and without exception, they all boasted of imnse power in the imperial palace.

"Y-Your Majesty...!"

The Admiral hurriedly called for the emperor. Of course, it was true that the Emotionless Guest had done the right thing, but it was by no ans to the extent of being given a pardon plaque.

If a pardon plaque was given to a fellow whose martial prowess was said to have reached the heavens, who in the world would not fear him?

Not only the Admiral and the Grand General, but also the Embroidered Guard Commander, who had a favorable impression of Cheon Woojin, vehently opposed it with their gazes.

Nevertheless, the emperor had an official bring the pardon plaque in the end.

"Now, co and receive it."

The emperor deliberately did not smile at all. He had no intention of giving the opposing officials a chance to step forward in the first place.

Cheon Woojin approached the emperor with calm steps.

Although it was a great honor to receive sothing given by the emperor directly, Cheon Woojin's expression was just dry.

In the first place, he would not live by committing cris, so he wondered what aning this small piece had.

Cheon Woojin approached the emperor.

In the fleeting mont when the pardon plaque was being passed from his hand to Cheon Woojin's hand. Cheon Woojin infused the faintly raised energy into the emperor's body.

And then he observed for a mont. A martial artist, regardless of the level of their martial prowess, would naturally have their dantian's internal energy react to an external energy that had invaded.

But nothing happened.

The emperor had really barely learned any martial arts.

'Then that silver-haired man...'

Why did he have the emperor's face?

If the Dark Heavenly Son had really returned, what on earth was he thinking to do such a strange thing?

Cheon Woojin, who had been deep in thought for a mont, fell silent.

At that, a small misunderstanding arose between the emperor and Cheon Woojin.

'Hehe, no matter how dry a fellow he is, he can't help but be moved if I give him a pardon plaque.'

Without even knowing that he had just infused energy into his body.

Soon, Cheon Woojin bowed his head and retreated.

The emperor nodded with a very pleased face and ordered the Embroidered Guard Commander to give him a place to stay. In any case, he would need a place to stay until his friends arrived.

Since the Embroidered Guard was the closest to martial artists among the institutions in the imperial palace, it seed like a pretty good judgnt.

"T-to the Embroidered Guard?"

A master of Heaven Beyond Heaven, and one who had even received a pardon plaque, could he be taken into the Embroidered Guard?

The Commander had such a doubt for a mont, but when the emperor looked at him with a serious face, he was startled and bowed his head.

Soon, the emperor watched the Commander and Cheon Woojin retreat with a pleased expression, and then he sent everyone in the hall out.

The emperor, left alone, rested his chin on the armrest.

His gaze, staring into the air, seed to be captured by deep thoughts.

"He truly resembles a person I miss."

The Grand Tutor.

A person who taught the crown prince or the young emperor. Naturally, due to the nature of that duty, he wielded imnse power.

The emperor had also had a Grand Tutor when he was young. Although he was gone now, the influence he had left on the emperor was so great that it continued to this day.

He was a person with no background, nothing, but his martial arts alone were very high. The reason why the emperor was so interested in the martial world and martial arts was also because of him.

The emperor, who had ascended to the throne at a very young age, was surrounded by all sorts of treacherous officials and found it difficult to lead a proper life.

The one who had saved such an emperor was the Grand Tutor left by the previous emperor who had passed away early. When he was by his side, no one in the imperial palace dared to try to manipulate the emperor.

Because just by standing next to him, there was an atmosphere that strangely overwheld the surroundings.

The Grand Tutor would visit the imperial palace once a month, or once every couple of months, and put the emperor's mind at ease.

But he disappeared suddenly when the emperor passed the age of learning and could take care of himself.

He still didn't know who he was. Because he was a person who had taken care of him due to his connection with his father, the previous emperor.

But there was one request he had left him.

- I have a child I am raising like my own, and when that child grows up, would you please take care of him?

- Hah, this is a big problem. With the Grand Tutor's personality, how on earth can you raise a child? Bring that child to the imperial palace quickly before he becos a demon lord.

The emperor just wanted to have a friend.

But the Grand Tutor shook his head firmly.

- The imperial palace is too small a fishbowl for that child. If you force him to sit there, he will die of frustration.

- How audacious. So, I need to know who that child is to help him in the future.

- He is a child nad Cheon Woojin. Please take good care of him later. That's why I've smashed the heads of the Eastern Depot and the Embroidered Guard one by one. Ah, I'm thinking of eting the fellow called the Grand General tomorrow. I don't like the look in that arrogant bastard's eyes. Should I just go and kill him at night?

Even at the Grand Tutor's harsh words, the emperor didn't even care, as if it were a common occurrence.

- Well, how many people nad Cheon Woojin are there in this big land?

At the emperor's question, the Grand Tutor just smiled his characteristic smile.

Soon, the emperor woke up from his thoughts. At that ti, he had not understood that smile, but now he did.

"Seeing him in person like this, there's no way I can't recognize him."

(End of Chapter)