Childhood Friend of the Zenith-Chapter 570: To the Sky (4)

Snow fell coldly, layering the ground with a pristine white surface. Amidst it all, there stood a young man, cradling a woman who seemed to resemble the snow itself.

Blood was scattered everywhere, a vivid contrast to the serene breaths of the young man standing amidst the chaos.

And there, watching him, was an old man.

[Child.]

The old man called out to the young man.

At his call, the young man slowly lifted his head.

His red hair swayed, revealing his eyes.

A deep, dark red.

So intense it resembled the blood soaking the ground.

The old man, upon meeting those eyes, felt an involuntary chill run through him.

Still, he hid his unease and spoke.

[Isn’t this enough...?]

A plea laced with desperation.

[Stop now...]

Foll𝑜w current novels on fɾēewebnσveℓ.com.

[...What is it...]

The young man interrupted, his voice cutting through the old man’s words.

[What, exactly, has been achieved...?]

As he spoke, the young man tightened his grip on the woman in his arms.

[Nothing has been accomplished.]

[Child.]

Fwoosh!

[...!]

As the old man attempted to take a step forward,

a fiery blaze surged toward him.

However, the flames didn’t reach him.

Someone had pulled the old man back just in time.

[Are you trying to get yourself killed? Pull yourself together.]

[...Patriarch Hwangbo.]

The man who had intervened was the head of the Hwangbo clan, known as the King of Force in his era.

After pulling Ubong Chwigye away, the patriarch shouted at the red-haired young man.

[Shinryong...! You reckless brat. How could you have hidden such power?!]

His booming voice echoed, but the young man didn’t react.

He merely stood still, coldly surveying his surroundings.

Despite the searing heat radiating from the young man, which felt out of place in the winter,

his gaze was as cold as the season itself.

[How utterly ridiculous.]

[What?]

The young man’s words made the Hwangbo patriarch furrow his brow.

[What did you just say...?]

[Gathering like this to take one woman... how utterly ridiculous, I said.]

There was no emotion in his voice.

And that lack of emotion made his words as sharp as a blade.

[Can you still call yourselves the righteous faction?]

[You insolent...!!]

The Hwangbo patriarch’s face twisted in fury at the young man’s remark.

[That’s not just any woman, and you know it! Don’t act like you don’t!]

His thick finger pointed accusingly.

Its target was the woman in the young man’s arms.

[While I can understand losing yourself over her beauty, protecting that monster...!]

[Monster?]

[...!]

A chill ran down the Hwangbo patriarch’s spine.

At the same time, he instinctively took a step back.

When he realized that he had been forced to retreat by the young man’s sheer presence,

his pride bristled, and veins bulged on his neck.

[You... damned brat...]

His pride was wounded.

The realization that even for a moment, he had been intimidated by a mere boy burned him with shame.

As the Hwangbo patriarch began to rouse his fighting spirit in anger,

Ubong Chwigye intervened to stop him.

[Hold your temper.]

[Ubong Chwigye!]

[It was you who told me to get a grip, and now you’re the one losing your composure?]

Grit.

The Hwangbo patriarch ground his teeth in frustration, barely containing his emotions at Ubong Chwigye’s warning.

Seeing this, Ubong Chwigye turned his gaze back to the young man.

[Are you truly unwilling to release her?]

All it would take was for him to let go of the woman in his arms.

That one action could bring an end to this brutal situation, restoring peace.

Everyone present knew it, including the young man himself.

Yet his answer remained unchanged.

[That option was never available to me.]

[Child...]

[I’ve heard that the mandate of the alliance is righteousness and cooperation.]

Despite his weary posture, the young man’s voice was firm.

It had been that way from the start and remained so now.

[I do not know what that means. Thus, I cannot grasp the mandate of the alliance.]

His words, declaring ignorance of the righteous faction’s very purpose, elicited no reaction from Ubong Chwigye.

The old man simply waited in silence for the young man to continue.

[However,]

[I may not understand the alliance’s mandate, but to protect what I must is my righteousness, my justice.]

The wind, mingling with the snow, blew fiercely.

Yet before it could touch the young man, it melted and vanished.

[To fail to protect even the woman in my arms would mean losing my convictions. That would be no different from death to me.]

The air distorted,

a mirage created by the intense heat radiating from the young man.

[If you wish to take my convictions from me, then go ahead and try.]

The field was filled with troops,

renowned figures with widespread fame in Zhongyuan.

Yet the aura emanating from this young man, who had barely reached adulthood,

was anything but ordinary.

[I will not,]

He had every reason to be afraid, every reason to give up, exhausted as he was.

But the young man chose neither fear nor surrender.

[I will not let anything be taken from me.]

He chose to stand against the world.

This memory remained vivid in the old man’s mind.

Perhaps it was because it had left such a deep impression on him.

A bold, reckless boy.

Few still remembered what had transpired that day.

Most of those present were no longer alive,

and even among the survivors, few retained the memory.

[May you live forgetting these events.]

At the end of that fierce conflict,

the blood-soaked young man had declared as much.

Ubong Chwigye was one of the few who still remembered.

And it left a lingering debt in his heart.

Why was it a debt? The answer was simple.

‘No one died.’

Even with the pledges and restrictions imposed,

everyone present that day had survived.

Later, even when the Sword Master intervened on behalf of the young man,

that truth had not been erased.

Moreover, the young man had taken full responsibility for his actions.

He carried out his duties according to the alliance’s orders.

And when the contract ended,

he returned to his clan and took on the role of patriarch, disappearing from public view.

After that, he did not set foot in Zhongyuan again.

The young man grew into middle age,

and the world soon forgot his name.

How had such a famous name been so easily forgotten?

Because that’s what he had wanted,

and because Ubong Chwigye had continued to intervene on his behalf.

And so time passed, bringing the present day.

“Hoho...”

Stepping out of his quarters, Ubong Chwigye let out a faint chuckle.

“How alike they are.”

The conversation he had just had was amusing in its own way.

The boy resembled the young man from his memories almost perfectly.

Though something seemed lacking, the resemblance was undeniable.

Well, he is his son, after all.

Of course—

“His daughter, however, doesn’t seem to resemble him much.”

The girl, supposedly a disciple of the Sword Queen, didn’t bear much similarity.

If anything—

‘She takes after her mother.’

The woman who had been cradled in that young man’s arms back then.

The girl must have inherited her mother’s features.

Ssss.

Ubong Chwigye rubbed his stomach.

He could feel the heavy lock resting inside his dantian.

A consequence of the restriction he had imposed on himself earlier.

‘Hmm.’

Perhaps it was overkill, but Ubong Chwigye didn’t mind.

With little time left in his life, there was no point in holding back.

He was merely amused.

‘The boy has inherited his father’s talents and more. But he’s learned cunning as well.’

Unlike his father, who would break through any obstacle head-on,

‘The son knows how to navigate around them.’

“Hoho.”

‘How terrifying.’

Even with overwhelming talent, the addition of strategy made him even more formidable.

Ubong Chwigye laughed at the thought.

He recalled the boy’s expression during their conversation—

dodging questions, then suddenly baring a pointed, needle-sharp retort.

A sharpness ready to pierce at any moment.

Thinking of this, Ubong Chwigye chuckled.

‘I don’t know what that boy is hiding.’

But he hoped this encounter would instill caution in him.

That was Ubong Chwigye’s wish.

‘It’s beyond me now.’

He could no longer conceal the boy’s existence.

Despite his efforts, the boy had grown beyond his ability to shield.

Especially—

‘With so many unknowns in play.’

Between the alliance’s tasks and the recent events,

Ubong Chwigye no longer had the time to handle such matters.

He had hidden Gu Yangcheon’s existence at the request of the Gu clan’s patriarch,

but it was no longer feasible.

Thus, Ubong Chwigye had chosen to leave Gu Yangcheon with a warning—

To stay vigilant.

To act cautiously and tread carefully.

And also—

‘That figure they called Cheonma...’

The mysterious person who had attacked Wudang.

Thinking of this, Ubong Chwigye glanced back.

Toward the place where Gu Yangcheon resided.

After a moment of consideration, he shook his head.

‘No, it couldn’t be.’

While Gu Yangcheon had used Yeomyeong for something,

the idea that he could be connected to Cheonma seemed unlikely.

Ubong Chwigye quickly dismissed the thought.

Hadn’t the Sword Queen said it herself?

That Cheonma was surely someone who had reached transcendence.

‘And their physique doesn’t match.’

Cheonma was said to be nearly seven feet tall.

Though the situation had grown increasingly strange, Ubong Chwigye concluded that Gu Yangcheon was unrelated.

If, by some chance, there was a connection—

‘It will reveal itself in time. Hoho....’

Through the course of uncovering the truth, it would become clear. Ubong Chwigye trusted in the information network of the Beggar’s Sect.

For now, he could only hope.

That this matter,

and that boy,

were unrelated.

******************

Right after Ubong Chwigye left,

I stood there for a moment, dumbfounded, with a blank expression on my face.

In my hand was the snack he had casually handed me before departing.

“...Tsk.”

I glanced at it and carefully placed it on the table.

“What was that about?”

Seriously, what had just happened?

Ubong Chwigye, who had interrogated me like he was trying to drill a confession out of me,

vanished just as abruptly as he had handed me the snack.

I thought there would be more to the conversation,

but no—he really just left like that.

What was his intention?

I couldn’t figure it out.

“...Should I call this a narrow escape? Is that what this was?”

No, it didn’t feel like I had truly escaped.

More accurately—

‘He let me off the hook.’

That was probably it. Ubong Chwigye had deliberately let the matter slide.

Or perhaps—

‘Was it a warning?’

That could be the case too.

Something along the lines of: I know you’ve been up to something. Stay in line.

It could have been a message to keep me in check.

And if not even that—

‘Then what was it about?’

No matter how much I thought about it, I couldn’t grasp Ubong Chwigye’s intentions.

Was it really just about settling a debt he owed my father?

‘Given that he even went so far as to place a restriction on himself, it could very well be the case.’

Whatever it was, I couldn’t afford to let my guard down at this point.

This wasn’t just anyone—it was the leader of the Beggar’s Sect.

The important thing now was that I was firmly on his radar.

And because of that, my actions might become significantly more difficult to carry out.

‘At least it doesn’t seem like he caught on to anything else.’

He didn’t seem to know that I was the one who orchestrated the attack on Wudang,

which was a relief.

‘...But I can’t be entirely sure of that either.’

It was entirely possible that he knew and was just pretending not to.

I had to prepare for that possibility in advance.

‘At least the demonic energy is in place.’

Though the amount I infused was minimal and subtle to avoid detection,

it was there, and it could be used.

The rest—

‘I’ll have to mobilize them.’

I needed to use people far more skilled in this field than I was.

The complexity of the situation was giving me a headache,

but thinking wasn’t entirely my job.

‘That guy should be here by now.’

With that thought, I stood up.

There was no point in dwelling on it any longer.

“...Hah.”

For now, I needed to act swiftly.