Childhood Friend of the Zenith

༺ An Unsatisfactory Act (5) ༻

“Oouugh…!”

Even the sword that the Gu Clan provided Muyeon looked the same, let alone his appearance.

“So this explains why you’ve been tailing me for a week.”

Over the last week…

Some unknown guys were chasing me without any signs of doing anything, but now I felt like I knew why.

It was most likely because they were in search of the right candidate to replicate.

As such, it was understandable why they had been shadowing me for some time.

Not only did they have to copy one’s physical appearance, but they also needed time to observe speech patterns and facial expressions for an accurate imitation.

And they were probably confident in not getting caught.

And having briefly assessed their capabilities that day, I realized they were highly trained.

To the point that I wouldn’t have noticed them if I wasn’t focusing enough.

Right before I left Hanam, during my conversation with Peng Woojin, if I didn’t notice these guys back then, it was likely that I probably wouldn’t have noticed now.

‘So were they executing their plan now since they concluded they are ready?’

Then, curiosity struck me as I pondered why they bothered to approach me this way.

Was it to kill me by an ambush?

In my eyes, it didn’t really seem that way.

They probably knew my martial arts realm ever since they started following me, so they must have had a different motive if I could overpower them so effortlessly.

I slightly relaxed my grip on the bastard’s mouth.

“Huff… Huff…!”

“Who are you?”

“Young Master… why are you doing this to-“

Crack-

“Ughhh!”

The bastard began to scream when I twisted his arm brutally.

And judging by how his muscles reacted as he screamed…

“So you can feel pain?”

Unlike the bastard I met back in Shaolin, this one seemed capable of feeling pain.

‘Can’t he regenerate?’

The guy I met back then displayed an astonishing ability to regenerate, healing from a twisted neck.

But could this guy not do that?

‘Or was it merely an act?’

Not having comprehensive knowledge about them, I needed to gather more information.

“Y…Young Master. Please stop…!”

“If you wanted to imitate him, you should have done a better job.”

“What do you…”

Shing-

I pulled out the sword that was on the bastard’s waist.

It was a sword that seemed to be taken care of nicely just like how the real Muyeon would.

“Hey, did you not notice that his sword changed? I didn’t know you were that blind.”

The bastard’s expression immediately froze at my mocking tone.

After seeing that, I smirked and spoke.

“Just kidding.”

“…!”

“He goes around keeping that sword hidden because he doesn’t want to ruin a gift that I got him.”

I gave it to him for use, but he didn’t even use it and instead kept it hidden as if it was a treasure.

It almost looked as if he feared it would be stolen.

‘Although Gu Jeolyub did seem like he was staring at the sword a lot.’

I noticed him staring at the sword, but he probably was just drooling because he didn’t really have any way to get the sword.

Anyway, I mentioned this just to test him, but because he was shaken for even an instant, his expression was caught.

Thanks to that, I was certain that he was putting on an act.

“Where are the others?”

“…”

It seemed like he didn’t expect to get caught, since his eyes started to wander around everywhere.

And judging by this, it seemed like he didn’t know that I killed off the bastard back in Shaolin.

Either that, or they belonged to a different association.

“Seven.”

“…!”

“That’s correct, isn’t it? The number of people in your group.”

The bastard flinched in shock as my deduction was accurate.

‘It doesn’t seem like they belong to the Dark King.’

Otherwise, there was no way I would’ve noticed them with my senses.

They also didn’t have any reason to target me either.

‘And it seems like they can’t regenerate.’

Unlike the bastard who could swiftly recover despite being impervious to pain and martial arts, this bastard here seemed like the opposite, where he could use martial arts, but couldn’t do the rest.

‘So is that a difference of them having Qi?’

That was possible, but it was still too early for a conclusive answer.

Nevertheless, this was not the primary concern at the moment.

I sharpened my senses as far as I could.

It ate up a ton of Qi, but thanks to my gaining access to the middle dantian, I was able to do it nice and easily.

‘It doesn’t seem like they are nearby.’

Not only was I not able to find where four of the bastards went, but I also couldn’t feel Muyeon’s presence, which was the most important part.

This meant that they were either too distant for my senses to reach.

Or…

‘They were actively employing measures to avoid detection from my senses.’

I thought of the possibility that Muyeon had been defeated, but Muyeon wasn’t a martial artist who could be easily beaten like that.

It wasn’t like a First-Rate martial artist, who was at the brink of reaching Peak Realm, could be so easily defeated like that.

I stared at the bastard and asked.

“Are you not gonna talk?”

“How did you know?”

In the end, the bastard realized that his act didn’t work against me and spoke with a changed expression.

Now he felt more natural.

“I told you that it was quite noticeable.”

“That’s not possible. There’s no way that a kid like you should be able to notice…”

“So you have no intention of telling me where you guys are from, correct?”

Interrupting him, I observed a subtle smile forming on the bastard’s lips as they shook.

It almost looked as if he was smirking.

“Kill me.”

After hearing that, I twisted his neck without hesitation.

Along with the sound of bones cracking, the bastard’s body fell to the ground effortlessly.

[…Hmm?]

Elder Shin displayed surprise at my swift decision to end his life.

It seemed like he didn’t expect that I would actually kill him.

[Weren’t you going to get him to talk by torturing him?]

‘I was going to.’

Given his capacity to feel pain, I believed obtaining information would be relatively straightforward.

However, I wasn’t in a situation where I could waste my time with him.

First, I had to look for Muyeon and then I had to learn what goal the seven guys had for them to separate.

And more than anything, there was one thing that was on my mind.

I placed my hand on the body that fell to the ground.

When I started to absorb the red energy with my Demonic Absorb, the bastard’s body twitched in response.

“Urgh… Ug…”

“So you’re not dead.”

As expected, the bastard remained alive.

Which made sense, because the lingering energy around the bastard’s body was basically telling me that he wasn’t dead.

It didn’t seem like he was able to regenerate fast like the bastard I met back in Shaolin, but he seemed to be feigning death, evident from his panic as he felt his energy being drained.

“Now do you want to tell me?”

“Ugh… Urghhh…”

With his neck twisted, he couldn’t nod, but his responses indicated agreement.

I then spoke while maintaining my gaze on him.

“Sorry, I don’t really give second chances to things like these.”

As I finished my statement, all the energy was absorbed from the bastard.

When he completely lost his energy, his body disintegrated, just like the bastard I met back then.

This part was no different to the bastard back in Shaolin.

After confirming this, I got up.

All that remained were the uniform, a clear indication of Muyeon’s affiliation with the Gu Clan, and the sword that was only given to the swordsmen of the Gu Clan.

I retrieved the uniform from the ground.

‘It’s not fake.’

Only members of the Gu Clan could gain access to this dense red uniform.

Its striking resemblance to my current uniform eliminated any doubt.

Having confirmed this, I started to leap to move places.

I crossed the forest with my senses as sharp as it could get, and my first destination was the camp.

Moving swiftly, I detected a faint presence in the distance.

It was thanks to me sharpening my senses.

However, it wasn’t Muyeon’s presence.

‘It feels like Namgung Bi-ah.’

The faint Lightning Qi I felt from afar was definitely Namgung Bi-ah’s Qi.

However, the problem was that she wasn’t alone.

Racing towards the location with urgency, flames enveloped my feet, and a surge of heat intensified within me.

When I arrived at that location with flames all around my body, I saw that the environment had been fully destroyed as if a battle had already occurred.

And Namgung Bi-ah stood in the midst, gripping someone’s neck.

“Ah.”

When I arrived, Namgung Bi-ah was looking in my direction, or already had been, as if she knew that I was coming.

I checked just in case, but thankfully, Namgung Bi-ah wasn’t a fake.

The devastated surroundings and fallen figures indicated she had encountered multiple adversaries, unlike my singular encounter.

“…What happened here?”

When I asked her carefully, Namgung Bi-ah calmly sheathed her sword and let go of the bastard.

Sensing a tingling sensation, I realized it wouldn’t be long until Namgung Bi-ah reached the Peak Realm.

“Ambush.”

Namgung Bi-ah explained with a single word.

And that was enough to explain.

“This.”

When I walked slowly toward her, Namgung Bi-ah gestured downwards.

And in the direction that she pointed to, there was the bastard that Namgung Bi-ah was grabbing,

And he had Muyeon’s face this time as well.

When I saw that, I tried telling Namgung Bi-ah that this wasn’t Muyeon.

“It’s not him.”

But instead, Namgung Bi-ah was the one telling me that instead.

And I couldn’t help but be shocked when she spoke with so much certainty.

“How did you know…?”

To my response, Namgung Bi-ah looked at me while tilting her head.

It looked like her eyes were telling me, ‘Then how did you know?’

I was able to know thanks to the treasure’s ability.

But what about you?

“Are you hurt anywhere?”

Putting aside the question for now, I first checked on her health. Namgung Bi-ah nodded in response to my words.

Counting the fallen bastards on the ground, there were four in total.

Namgung Bi-ah fought against the four of them by herself, but she still looked like she had just woken up from her sleep, just like back in the carriage.

It suggested that it wasn’t hard for her to fight against these guys.

‘So they didn’t send really powerful guys?’

It was still hard for me to comprehend the motive behind orchestrating such a situation.

“This person, it’s not him.”

During all of this, Namgung Bi-ah was constantly telling me that the guy on the floor wasn’t Muyeon.

I looked at her and responded.

“I know it’s not him. Go back to the camp for now.”

“…Alone?”

“Yeah, I have something I want to check on.”

I didn’t know how she knew it wasn’t Muyeon she fought against, but I decided to send her back to the camp without probing further.

“Go protect Wi Seol-Ah for me.”

“Oh.”

Namgung Bi-ah wore a stubborn expression, indicating her reluctance to leave, but when I mentioned Wi Seol-Ah, Namgung Bi-ah put Lightning Qi around her body and prepared to set off.

With a more urgent look than usual, she asked.

“…What direction… is it?”

“Where you are looking right now.”

“Okay.”

At that moment, I was reminded of how she was horrible at finding directions.

I thought that she got better recently as it seemed like she was finding directions fine by herself.

But now that I looked at it, it didn’t really seem that way.

“…I’ll be back… right away.”

Namgung Bi-ah left with a worried tone, but as soon as she disappeared from my sight, I began my preparations. I purposely used Wi Seol-Ah as an excuse to send her away for this.

Because thankfully, it didn’t seem like I needed to go back to the camp.

[What are you thinking of doing?]

Elder Shin asked, but I remained silent. Approaching the guy with Muyeon’s appearance, I absorbed his energy, causing him to perish.

Turning to the other three, I found they were still breathing, having been overpowered by Namgung Bi-ah without being killed. Using Qi, I forcefully awakened one of them who had lost consciousness.

“Ughh…!”

Without giving any time for him to react, I grabbed the bastard’s neck as soon as he woke up.

“I thought it was weird.”

“Ugh…!”

“Setting aside the uniform, obtaining the sword mustn’t have been easy for you guys.”

I was able to see it clearly when I used Qi to check inside.

“Putting aside the bastards who don’t even seem human, I thought this strange energy felt familiar.”

I began to gradually increase the heat in my hand grabbing the bastard’s neck.

“Where are you from?”

“K-Kill me…! You think I’ll tell you…!”

Despite the growing pain from the escalating heat, he only continued yelling at me to kill him.

And unlike the other bastards who could change appearances and wouldn’t die unless their energy was fully absorbed, the one I was holding onto right now was a regular human.

With a martial realm around Second or First-Rate.

While staring at the guy who yelled at me to kill him, I spoke in a way that allowed him to understand more easily.

“Are you from the Third or the Second Sword Army?”

“…!”

“If that’s not the case, are you from the Fourth? Because I don’t think it’d be the First.”

The bastard’s eyes shook intensely in response to my words.

This simply meant one thing; this bastard belonged to the Gu Clan.

Despite his attempts to conceal his presence, the peculiar sensation I felt from afar and my close examination of his body left no doubt.

“What nonsense are you talking about…!”

Unable to conceal his trembling eyes, he loudly denied my accusations.

And I expected this to happen from the beginning.

“Yeah. The first guy usually doesn’t say anything.”

That was something I realized after torturing many people in my past life.

And there was one easy solution to this.

Blaze.

“H-Huh…?”

Feeling the strange heat on his neck, the bastard started to panic.

Then, he opened his eyes widely as he realized why I was charging up my Qi.

“W-Wait!”

Blaaaze!

“Aghhhh!”

Summoning flames from my hand, I covered the man entirely, the fire burning passionately.

It would be unbearable for anyone even with them covering themselves with Qi, but because this guy was being burnt alive without being able to use any of his Qi, the pain must be excruciating.

Setting him aside, I addressed the others on the ground who were pretending to be unconscious.

“You got a good look, right? There are lots of mouths here. Think well.”

Upon finishing my words, I sensed their rising presence.

The two were watching from the ground secretly, thinking that they wouldn’t be caught.

It seemed like they were trying to run away.

Blaze!

But before they could, my flames made a huge dome of fire wall around them.

– Aghhh!

Since I was controlling my power, the guy that I set on fire was still burning alive. I put him aside for the moment and approached the others.

There was no need for me to be shocked because they were from the Gu Clan.

And because there was a chance that I could use this as an excuse, I instead felt more relieved.

It wasn’t completely unexpected.

After all, I had anticipated the foxlike old man taking action soon.

However I didn’t expect him to use such a poor method like this.

“…Ugh!”

After overpowering the last one who tried to run away, I thought of the man.

‘First Elder.’

The old man I suspected of orchestrating this situation.

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