Chapter 502 - Let Me Grip It Just Once.
I gulped as I looked into the deep crimson eyes staring down at me.
A solid physique and a frame much larger than mine.
A man with deep-set features and the fierce gaze unique to the Gu bloodline.
The current head of the Gu Clan and the person I found most difficult to deal with was standing before me.
The guardian of Shanxi.
Tiger Hero Gu Cheol-un. He was my father.
'Why is Father here?'
I was bewildered. Why was this old man here?
Why was someone who should be in Shanxi in Sichuan?
'Did he come here for a trip...?'
Even though I knew that couldn't be true, the thought came to mind.
That was just how unfamiliar and strange my father's appearance was.
My father looked down at me with an expressionless face.
Staring at that face, I barely managed to ask a question.
"...Wh-why are you here?"
"..."
At my question, Father slightly furrowed his brow and looked me over from head to toe.
His gaze felt incredibly heavy.
After examining me like that for a while, Father soon broke the silence and spoke to me.
"...I saw the missive. I heard something happened at the Tang Clan. Is that true?"
"...!"
My eyes widened at Father's words.
I was surprised that he had seen a missive saying I had gotten into trouble.
'...It already arrived?'
I had heard from Nahi just a few days ago that the Tang Clan had sent a missive.
That the missive arrived quickly was understandable—they had said they used demonic beasts rather than ordinary birds.
But if it was stamped with the Tang Clan's direct seal, only the chief steward or Father would be able to read it.
Even if the chief steward saw it, he would have to deliver it to Father, meaning Father would see it in the end.
However.
'Then... how is Father here?'
No matter how fast the missive traveled, it was another matter entirely for Father to see it and then be here.
'...Does this mean he came from Shanxi to Sichuan in just a few days?'
By carriage, the journey would take several months.
He did it in a few days?
What... did he fly here?
'No, even if he flew, that's problematic.'
If we took my previous life as the standard, flying wasn't much of a problem.
If one had enough inner qi, using emitted heat to lift one's body wasn't difficult.
But to think of coming from Shanxi to Sichuan using that method.
'Impossible.'
Even recalling the amount of inner qi I had back then, it would take at least seven days and nights.
And that's if I used it all up to rush here.
By my current standards, it would take about half a month. Though speed might be higher than back then using compression and rotation.
Due to the limitations of my realm and inner qi, it would still take that long.
But the fact that Father is here means, in the end.
'...He ran here in a fraction of that time. That's what this means.'
Did that make sense? It was a situation I couldn't understand even with the evidence before my eyes.
"Th-then... do you mean you came here right after seeing the missive?"
"..."
Though I asked if it was really true, Father gave no real answer.
While I was watching him, wondering why he was acting this way.
His rugged hand suddenly grabbed my cheek.
"Ghk...?"
His hand was large enough to fully grasp my cheek in one palm.
He grabbed it like a ball and moved it this way and that. I pathetically couldn't even resist.
After kneading my face as if it were clay for a while, Father lowered his already deep voice and asked me:
"Who did this?"
Ah.
So that's why he was doing this—it was because of my face.
'...Damn, I had forgotten.'
I kept forgetting what my face looked like right now.
Knowing that it would disappear in a few days thanks to my excellent recovery.
I had left it alone without bothering to treat it.
To think I would end up seeing Father.
Then.
"Third."
"Yes...?"
"I asked who did this. Was it someone from the Tang Clan?"
"Uh... no...? It's nothing serious, so you don't need to worry..."
"Tell me."
*Squish.*
'*Squeak.*'
The fingers gripping my cheek put in strength.
For some reason, Father seemed slightly angry. And by the look in his eyes, 'I fell down the stairs' wasn't going to cut it....
Then, in the end, did I have to tell him?
After briefly worrying about what to do, I decided to just tell him.
"...It was... the Paejon."
"..."
Father's eyebrows twitched at my answer.
That the Paejon had beaten me up like this.
When I said that, the strength in Father's hand gripping my cheek loosened and withdrew.
Watching that, I thought:
Since a member of the family bloodline had ended up like this, from Father's standpoint, he would have wanted to handle it for the sake of the clan's dignity.
But if it was the Paejon, it seemed Father would let it go.
In fact, since the Paejon had become my teacher with Father's permission, Father was hardly in a position to complain about a master disciplining his disciple for training.
As I thought that and looked at Father.
Father kept a contemplative gaze, silent for a few seconds.
"I suppose I must send a missive."
He spat out those brief words.
"Yes...? A missive?"
"I think I will need to stay two more days."
"...What do you mean by that all of a sudden?"
After saying something incomprehensible, he turned and walked away.
I watched Father's back in confusion, wondering if he was really going to leave just as suddenly as he had appeared.
"I shall return at Haishi, so be prepared."
Father's words saying he would return at night reached my ears.
"What kind of preparation do you mean...?"
When I asked, as if requesting an explanation, Father slightly turned his head to look this way.
Meeting those deep red eyes, I felt my body stiffen completely.
"Prepare to tell me the words not written in the missive. Do that."
"...!"
I swallowed a hollow breath the moment I heard those words.
"What that body of yours is. What you intended to do here. That is what you are to explain to me."
"..."
Having spoken, Father turned his head again and moved his steps.
*Pop—!*
In an instant, he turned into a spark and vanished before my eyes.
Then, the heat I had felt in the surroundings disappeared, and the faint sense of pressure subsided as well.
Only then did I realize.
'So this was Father's influence...'
That the temperature around here had risen was because of Father.
Moreover, I now knew the reason my body had been so stiff until now.
'...I suppose he was angry?'
It seemed Father was angry after all.
If it was that obvious, he must have been quite furious.
'Besides... he found out everything.'
The body I had been hiding with the Body Transformation Technique.
That I had been trying to do something at the Tang Clan. Father had figured it all out.
I recalled the meaning of Father's words just now.
The meaning was simple.
While he had told me to explain the situation, there was no way I could miss the blatant meaning hidden in his words.
'I'll come back tonight to scold you, so brace yourself.'
That was definitely what he meant.
'Hmm....'
Thinking that, I nodded.
'I'm fucked.'
No matter how I looked at it, I seemed to be thoroughly fucked.
Should I run away right now? That might actually be better.
[...What unsightly behavior is it to run away because you fear a scolding from your father?]
Divine Noya interjected as if speechless.
But from my perspective, there was nothing scarier than this.
"Noya, why don't you try being my father's son? Let's see if you don't piss your pants."
How did he really get here?
I couldn't understand how he had reached this place in just a few days.
[It is not that strange.]
"How is this not strange...?"
That he covered a distance taking months by carriage in just a few days isn't strange?
I made a strange expression at those astonishing words, and Noya added an explanation in a low voice.
[That is how it was in our time as well. Why, even Jemun... no, that friend, who was physically lacking, could make the trip in about seven days and nights.]
'...'
From Sichuan to Shanxi in seven days and nights? Though Noya sometimes spoke of the era he lived in.
Every time I heard those stories, they were hard to believe.
The era of despair, was it. Not long after the Demonic Realm Gate appeared.
And even the Blood Demon War where the Blood Demon appeared.
People referred to that time as the Era of Despair.
[Yes, it is only natural that you cannot believe it.]
Was it because he was hurt that I didn't believe him?
A heavy bitterness was hidden in Noya's voice.
"No... it's not that I don't believe you."
[It is natural that you cannot believe it. Because it is a world where that is impossible. No, rather, I should say it is a world made to be impossible.]
"Huh?"
At the strange undertone in Noya's words, I had to express my doubts.
What did he mean, a world made to be impossible?
If it were just bragging about how great they were back then,
the atmosphere was somehow ominous, to say the least.
What was this? Why was Noya giving off such a feeling?
Was this the cause of the faint dejection I had been sensing from Noya lately?
While I was mulling it over and waiting for him to speak.
[It is something I have found strange for a long time.]
Finally, Noya continued.
[Unlike our time, the quality of martial artists living in the current era is low. I have questioned this.]
"...The quality is low?"
[The power of the younger generation is clearly far superior to the era in which I lived.]
The generation of shooting stars.
It was a phrase referring to the younger generation born and active now.
An era where countless geniuses were born; in other words, it was called the generation of hope.
However.
[However, the level of martial artists who should be in their prime is far too low.]
When speaking of the prime for a martial artist, it is not the warriors in their thirties when their physical bodies are at their best.
Most were those who began learning martial arts before the age of ten and had passed the age of forty.
If one remained in the first-rate due to the limits of their talent, it was when the realizations there had melted into the body.
If one had surpassed the peak, it was the time when the inner qi beginning to permeate the body would bloom.
"Their level is low?"
I couldn't believe Noya's words.
Because the experts I had met were clearly outstanding.
The Weird Immortal I had just met, not to mention. What about the Three Venerables?
As I recalled them and pondered Noya's words.
[Low.]
Even in that gap, Noya spat out decisively.
[I do not mean the realm of martial arts. Rather, the problem is that the power they have gained is far too meager compared to the realms they have built up.]
"...Meager?"
[Yes. Not only those called kings, but even those called venerables. They are infinitely meager compared to their titles.]
Noya's voice as he spoke was filled with unmistakable melancholy.
[At first, I thought it was merely a coincidence. That they had forgotten the essence of martial arts, that desperation had vanished, so it was possible. But even so, is it not strange? That it is not just one or two people, but the quality of all martial artists has declined.]
As Noya slowly continued.
I could feel a creeping sensation down my spine.
My stomach churned on its own, and I swallowed dry saliva.
The era of peace called the present, after Noya's time. The reason the quality of martial artists had dropped all at once in Divine Noya's eyes. And the reason Noya spoke with such bitterness.
Something gradually came to mind regarding this. But I dismissed it, telling myself it couldn't be.
Because if it were really true, the problems would be more than just one or two.
Thus, I hoped Noya would tell me that wasn't it.
I called out to Divine Noya, embracing my anxiety.
"Noya. What you mean..."
[Brat.]
"Yes."
[Do you remember the words Yeon Il-cheon spoke at Bigu in the past?]
"...At Bigu?"
The Bigu Noya spoke of must refer to when we had met at the Divine Dragon Temple.
"The words Yeon Il-cheon said to me then?"
The words of Yeon Il-cheon, who had treated me as a calamity and tried to kill me.
I couldn't remember it well and had been mulling it over, but Divine Noya told me the answer.
[The world does not make the same mistake twice.]
Yes.
Yeon Il-cheon had certainly said that.
That was why they split apart countless worlds to find the damned answer.... The Blood Demon had said that too.
"Huh?"
Suddenly, hearing Noya's words, a thought flashed through my mind.
A very shitty thought, that is.
"Noya. Surely not?"
I called out to Noya with wide eyes.
Praying it wasn't so.
[Jemun told me.]
But.
[Right after we sealed the Blood Demon.... the first thing the world did was....]
As always.
[It cast a curse upon the 'humans' of this world, they say.]
Not a single thing in my life ever went the way I wished.