Yongbongjihoe. (4)
Gu Jieye was born into the Gu lineage.
His parents had already died in the Demonic Realm when he was five, so he had no memories of them.
In Gu Jieye's earliest memories, his only parent and master was his grandfather, Gu Changjun.
Gu Changjun, coveting the position of the Gu Clan's Patriarch upon seeing Gu Jieye's talent and handsome appearance.
And for Gu Jieye, who was struggling in that gap but trying to carry on his will.
There was one small dream that no one else knew, one that even his grandfather Gu Changjun was unaware of.
Xiake (俠客).
Gu Jieye wanted to become a Xiake.
A true Xiake who roams the Central Plains, saving those exhausted by malice and crisis.
The beginning of this dream wasn't for some grand reason.
The martial artist Gu Jieye respected the most was Jianzun.
He couldn't help but respect a martial artist who achieved everything solely with his talent as a swordsman.
When he roamed the Central Plains making a name for himself, the title of Xiake followed behind the name Jifeng Jian.
Not even the pointing fingers calling him a ronin could block his chivalric spirit.
The countless achievements piled up based on that became a tower, greatly contributing to him later being called Jianzun (Sword Venerable).
What is chivalric justice?
What on earth could it be that it could ignite his heart so fiercely?
It was too difficult for a young boy to ponder, yet conversely, it was also a simple story.
-A martial artist's conviction must not be broken.
-A swordsman's chivalric justice is not blocking the flow of the heart.
If I walk the path I wish to walk, that is chivalric justice.
In the distant past, when Jianzun was called Jifeng Jian.
These were the words he spat after single-handedly blocking the Great Demonic Gate that opened in the slums.
This spread throughout the entire Central Plains, becoming a famous saying that was more than enough to heat the hearts of countless swordsmen.
And it was the entire reason the current Gu Jieye came to dream.
I must become a Xiake.
No, I have to become one.
The saying that one must let the heart flow as it wishes to achieve chivalric justice.
Carried the premise that he had to be such a person.
Therefore, Gu Jieye had to become a Sage (聖人).
The direction imprinted at a young age was a straight line. And since his intention was upright at the time, there was no problem.
However, as time passed and Gu Jieye grew older, it gradually began to show.
That the direction toward his destination was slightly skewed.
The reason he didn't complain about Gu Changjun's goal alongside his own dream was.
Because he thought his grandfather's intentions were aligned with his dream.
Even though his life became one of being oppressed and watching his step.
The First Young Master, born of the main bloodline, harassed the servants with his cruelty and selfishness.
So he crushed him in the martial duel.
His grandfather's words that it was better for him to become Patriarch than such a person sounded quite reasonable to the young Gu Jieye.
He never particularly wanted to be the Patriarch, but he thought it was right for him to become it rather than Gu Yangcheon.
Like that, a year passed, and that day arrived.
The starting point of change, and what Gu Jieye considered his greatest dark history.
The day Gu Jieye was defeated by Gu Yangcheon.
Gu Yangcheon, who couldn't even touch his collar a year ago, was still small.
Not to mention his frail-looking body, and his lowly tone of voice just like that day.
The subtle sense of alienness felt in that gap was probably because of his eyes.
Cold and empty.
A tranquil lake where not a single emotion could be felt in the gaze looking at others.
Yet a deep, deep bottomless chasm whose depth could not be known.
Unable to meet his eyes properly, his breathing twisted, and his way of speaking grew vicious, unlike himself.
Like a rabbit screaming in terror before a beast of prey.
‘Me? No way...!’
Unable to accept reality, he screamed and charged in.
And as the result showed, only a devastating defeat awaited Gu Jieye.
Around here, one thing that could be realized was that Gu Jieye had better intuition than expected.
Because he was able to catch the sense of danger emanating from Gu Yangcheon.
-Young Master!
Gu Yangcheon's gaze looking at the female servant after winning the duel.
And in the eyes of the servant looking at him, Gu Jieye was able to gain a small realization.
That Gu Yangcheon, whom he thought was an absolute villain, might not be entirely so.
That to exclude others based solely on his own thoughts, his own gaze was infinitely insignificant.
‘I am an incomplete human.’
Then how can one become complete?
I don't know.
Because he himself was not complete, he could not know the method either.
What is chivalric justice?
What is justice, and what is malice? Gu Jieye still couldn't know.
"You owed us a bit at the inn, didn't you?"
While endlessly repeating such thoughts, one thing was certain.
"Why no answer? Are you perhaps scared? Because you have no companions?"
That clear malice is more vivid than goodwill.
So much that it cannot be mistaken.
Huangpu Tiewei ground his teeth and picked a trivial fight, but Gu Jieye deliberately didn't react.
-Recklessness is something you display when you can take responsibility.
-Display your irresponsible chivalric spirit when you're alone.
The words Gu Yangcheon had said at the inn still lingered in his ears.
He did nothing wrong.
| |..... .. . ......
Standing up to save a woman being threatened couldn't possibly be wrong.
Knowing that, why did Gu Yangcheon's words bother him so much? Gu Jieye couldn't understand.
"If you're going to be this scared, why did you try to stand so confidently against this Huangpu?"
Then, as if noticing something, he giggles and laughs.
"Ah, is it because of your companions behind you? There are a lot of pretty women. How can a guy like you mix among those women? At best, you're probably just from the Gu Clan."
At best.
That remark particularly rubbed him the wrong way, but he didn't show that he cared.
Because it was like that last time, and he felt that going out of his way to cause trouble would only be a loss.
‘It's definitely not because I'm bothered by what happened last time that I'm holding back.’
It was a claim that it wasn't because he recalled Gu Yangcheon saying, 'Stick your head in.' that he was holding back.
Looking at such Gu Jieye, Huangpu Tiewei continued to speak more and more.
"The guy sitting over there."
At Huangpu Tiewei's words, Gu Jieye's shoulder twitched slightly.
"Is that guy surrounded by women the son of Huxia? It can't be you."
It was too obvious to ask how he knew.
Gu Yangcheon was wearing a martial uniform of red fabric with gold embroidery, representing the Gu Clan.
Unlike Gu Jieye, who looked somewhat cold and sharp, he had an appearance suited to be described as fierce.
Add to that the black hair and eyes with a hint of red.
He was exactly displaying the characteristics of a martial artist from the Shanxi Gu Clan, known to the world.
"Why is his seat in front of me? Even this Huangpu is sitting here..."
Is that what displeased him?
Huangpu Tiewei's breathing grew rougher.
Then he lifted the corners of his mouth and laughed fiercely.
It looked like a forced laugh.
"It was a ridiculous worry. At best, a guy with no ability must have sat there using the family's wealth."
At Huangpu Tiewei's words, Gu Jieye's eyebrows twitched ever so slightly.
Is that really so?
In the past, he might have believed the guy's words, but the Gu Yangcheon he had seen during the past camping trip was not that kind of person.
Completely different from the appearance he first faced in the past.
"Seeing that, you must have had a hard time too."
At Huangpu Tiewei's nonsensical words, Gu Jieye eventually had to open his mouth.
"What do you mean?"
"If that young kid really is the son of Huxia, I know a little bit."
Why did the nauseating malice bypass him and suddenly head toward Gu Yangcheon?
Gu Jieye could understand the reason from Huangpu Tiewei's gaze.
It was because of the women surrounding Gu Yangcheon.
Gu Yangcheon himself didn't seem to realize it, but it was easy to see from afar.
Because women beautiful enough to be called peerless flowers were attending to Gu Yangcheon.
When he finished his tea, they refilled it as if they had been waiting.
For some reason, with a blank expression, he put things in his mouth, and they cleaned up the crumbs that fell.
Occasionally, when he shook his clothes as if it was hot and made a slight gesture, they would fan him from the side.
Even to him, it was an enviable treatment.
It seemed Huangpu Tiewei was displeased both with himself, from the Huangpu Family, sitting in the silver-grade seat, and with Gu Yangcheon sitting in the gold-grade seat enjoying such luxury.
‘What a shameful inferiority complex.’
The reason he couldn't see it as entirely pathetic was probably because he himself was feeling something similar toward Gu Yangcheon.
Huangpu Tiewei spoke.
"The scum of Shanxi. That's what they call him, right?"
"..."
"There wasn't even a speck of good rumor. They said his talent was insignificant, and his temperament was vicious. I heard he was horribly incompetent compared to his siblings."
"I heard that too. They said he couldn't even match half of his sister."
"Me too, there's a world of difference between him and his father and sister. That Jianfeng left only amazing achievements at the banquet..."
"Besides Jianfeng, the second young lady was also formidable. They say her talent is no less than Jianfeng."
"But the son who will actually take the Patriarch position is lacking... Tsk tsk."
Not only Huangpu Tiewei but also the people around started badmouthing Gu Yangcheon.
Gu Jieye clenched his fists without realizing it.
Gu Yangcheon is not that kind of person.
He knew that well enough through the journey.
A terrifying amount of training that didn't fit the exhausting journey. It was at a level enough to give Gu Jieye goosebumps as he secretly watched.
Gu Yangcheon, younger than him, was doing such intense training every single day.
He saw with his own eyes him squeezing out time to train as if he barely slept.
He realized it again while enduring the assault disguised as a duel.
The fact that he couldn't even touch Gu Yangcheon's collar.
His attitude toward the servants was also so different that he wondered if it was the same Gu Yangcheon he had seen in the past, or if he had misjudged him.
What kind of master looks after the meal of a servant who hasn't eaten?
What kind of master would try to dry their clothes with qi because they got wet by the water?
Gu Jieye could even see the servant who followed him looking at Gu Yangcheon with secretly envious eyes.
‘Is Gu Yangcheon truly an inadequate person?’
In the past, he thought so.
But now he wasn't sure. Rather, Gu Jieye himself appeared to be the more inadequate person.
The breath he tried to exhale kept catching. It felt as if he had assimilated with a fierce emotion.
It wasn't that he was angry hearing the insults toward Gu Yangcheon.
For this part, it was rather something he wished someone would insult him for.
Nevertheless, the reason he was angry was because he felt that the stories Huangpu Tiewei was telling were not about Gu Yangcheon, but words directed at himself.
Failing to notice such Gu Jieye, Huangpu Tiewei continued to speak.
"Our family has a guy like that too. A guy born with the Huangpu surname is useless and has no talent... I get angry every time I see such a guy."
"Because of what?"
"I don't like you, but you seem to have skill compared to him. Can't you sympathize? Seeing your own blood relative be so incompetent makes my blood boil. Ah, you're not a True Bone, so it doesn't matter to you?"
After cutting him down sharply, he now seemed to have vented a little, chugging the tea placed in front of him as if it were alcohol.
"Moreover, weren't you just watching from behind last time? A man acting so pathetically—"
He seemed to be bringing up the fact that he had just watched from behind when he picked a fight with Gu Jieye at the inn.
The sight of Huangpu Tiewei acting so proudly, as if threatening a woman wasn't a pathetic action, was so obscene it was hard to look at for long.
Eventually, letting out a deep sigh, Gu Jieye adjusted his sword at his waist slightly and got ready.
So that he could draw it at any time.
He tried to endure it somehow.
But it seemed impossible any longer.
"A guy like that needs to be educated. The martial tournament is right around the corner. If this Huangpu meets him, I will personally..."
"Stop barking."
"What?"
A momentary silence arrives.
Not only Huangpu Tiewei, who had been blabbering away, but also the people around.
As Huangpu Tiewei asked back, Gu Jieye pulled up his internal qi slightly and continued speaking.
"What did you just say?"
"I said stop barking, because it seems it will rot my ears."
"This bastard right now..."
"Huangpu, a great prestigious family. I know it too."
The king of beasts.
The Huangpu Family is a family where Menghu Gouquan is the Patriarch.
It was once a family said to be the closest to the Four Great Families, but with the flow of times, its standing had diminished somewhat.
However, a prestigious family is a prestigious family.
This is a fact no one can disparage.
"However, I don't know if you are a great enough person to wield that name. In my eyes, you look worse than a beast that barks without even knowing its place."
At Gu Jieye's calmly spat words, Huangpu Tiewei instantly burst out his internal qi.
Boom-!
The internal qi contained in the qi pressure spreading around felt deep, unlike someone like Huangpu Tiewei.
As if proving that even if he dies, he is still a blood relative of a prestigious family.
"You worthless bastard... What kind of nonsense are you spouting!"
As he stood up, his massive physique was overwhelming. It was definitely a well-trained body.
But he wasn't afraid.
His intuition was good. So he could tell.
That this guy was definitely weaker than him.
"How dare a bloodline from some rural backwater bare its teeth at this Huangpu!"
His internal qi radiated as if he no longer cared about the surrounding gazes. But even in that gap, Gu Jieye observed Huangpu Tiewei's movements.
While doing so, his mouth didn't rest.
"If you speak of Huangpu, you are called the tiger of the Central Plains, yet how is it that your actions are no better than a cat, let alone a beast of prey?"
Huangpu Tiewei twisted his lips at those words.
"How dare you, whose family is called a prestigious family with nothing but sparks no better than dying embers, insult the Huangpu? I was going to show you some magnanimity...!"
"Magnanimity is bestowed by the strong upon the weak. Unfortunately, you cannot do that to me."
"You bastard..."
Finally unable to hold back, Huangpu Tiewei bulged his muscles.
An overwhelming sense of pressure could be felt from his fully expanded physique.
He placed his hand on the sword hilt in one breath. Inside, a wave of regret rushed over him for seemingly causing too big of an incident.
But he couldn't back down now.
This was his pride.
‘I might die at my grandfather's hands when I get back.’
Funnily enough, such a thought crossed his mind in the middle of this.
The face of Gu Changjun, who said he could shine brighter than Gu Yangcheon, came to mind.
But at least for now, it was impossible. He wasn't someone who could shine brighter than Gu Yangcheon.
For now, he had to catch up.
And someday, he would surpass him. Not for the First Elder's desire, but for his own dream.
"I didn't like how you kept crawling up, alright, this Huangpu will definitely tear your mouth apart right here."
Huangpu Tiewei took a step forward.
The internal qi radiating from his feet was unusual.
‘His shoulder is twitching. The left arm.’
His eyes moved quickly. He would react sensitively to even the smallest movement.
Funnily enough, Gu Yangcheon taught him this.
-Hey, you bastard, see that thigh moving? Trying to run?
-N-no sir!
-No my ass! I told you to jump forward, but your toes aren't even pointing that way.
-Aaagh!
‘...’
It wasn't a good memory. It was closer to torment than teaching. The journey was certainly like hell, but absurdly, it was a period where he could grow more than any other time.
Huangpu Tiewei moves. He had already anticipated the trajectory.
Dodge the left arm and strike the chin with the spine of the sword to neutralize...
Zzt-!
Gu Jieye, who was about to take his stance, immediately turned around at the suddenly felt chilling sensation.
It was a foolish choice with Huangpu Tiewei in front of him. But it was what his intuition told him to do.
‘Two people.’
A different level of qi blasted toward this direction.
He found the owner of the qi that seemed about to bare its fangs.
Damn...!
One was the Thunder Dragon Nangong Tianjun, whom he had briefly encountered at the inn.
The other was the boy named Zhang Xianyan, who had made the banquet even noisier by claiming to be the Alliance Lord's son.
Gu Jieye broke into a cold sweat at the chilling aura he just felt.
If either of those two had charged in to suppress this side right then, he wouldn't have been able to block them with his skills.
‘Thank goodness.’
He became grateful that his intuition was excellent.
However, while swallowing his saliva, he noticed something strange.
The Thunder Dragon, who had placed his hand on his scabbard.
And Zhang Xianyan, who was about to raise his internal qi.
Rather than charging in, they were staring at this direction with wide eyes. To be exact, in front of him.
‘What is it...?’
Even the other late-stage experts who were watching from the sidelines were the same.
Everyone had looks of disbelief, as if they had seen a monster.
Only then did Gu Jieye realize.
That Huangpu Tiewei, whom he was facing right now, hadn't reacted.
Following the gaze of everyone, Gu Jieye also turned his head again to look at Huangpu Tiewei.
What Gu Jieye could see was not a martial artist showing off his massive physique, but Huangpu Tiewei, already on his knees and collapsing.
Revealing the whites of his eyes as if he had already lost consciousness, he fell very slowly.
The giant, who easily exceeded eight feet in height, collapsed helplessly like a sandcastle before the wind.
Only then could Gu Jieye see.
The person in front of him.
"I don't understand."
Thud-!
Huangpu Tiewei fell to the side of the fierce-looking boy.
"Why are you causing trouble when I'm the one who's supposed to? You fucker, did you follow me just to do this?"
At the sight of him flicking his hands with an extremely annoyed expression, Gu Jieye unknowingly took a step back.
His survival instincts were telling him to do so.
No internal qi could be felt from the boy.
Let alone figure out when he had approached.
Unlike the internal qi of Nangong Tianjun and Zhang Xianyan, this boy's couldn't even be felt.
The boy. Gu Yangcheon spoke, his glistening reddish eyes gleaming.
"You're so useless, honestly."
Gu Yangcheon's small voice echoed throughout the entire banquet hall.
It was a normal volume without any internal qi contained in it.
But since the late-stage experts watching from all directions had all closed their mouths, it could only be heard loudly.