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Childhood Friend of the Zenith (Web Novel) - Chapter 1115: The World of Ascension (45)
Chapter 1115: The World of Ascension (45)
This chapter is updated by JustRead.pl
The place Namgung Jeohwi led us to was a deeper section within the family grounds.A path lay behind the residence. It wasn’t particularly decorated, just a passage lined with corridors.
Unlike the overgrown vegetation surrounding it, there was a strangely refined sense of arrangement to the area.
An artificial touch. Meaning someone was maintaining it.
Step.
Namgung Jeohwi walked forward and spoke to us.
“......Follow carefully.”
His face was clearly filled with concern. Seeing that, we adjusted our pace to match his.
As I stepped onto the passage, following him—
Zap—!
“......”
A tingling sensation brushed against my body. I didn’t show any reaction.
So that’s how it is.
It seemed they had tried to make it unnoticeable. It was so faint, so subtle, that had I not been suppressing my senses, I might have missed it altogether.
The moment we entered the passage, I felt the presence and narrowed my eyes slightly.
You’re watching, aren’t you?
Watching or sensing.
If I had to guess, it was the latter. I silently moved forward, pretending not to notice as I recalled the owner of that energy.
The path led uphill, winding along the mountainside. But it wasn’t too rough.
It was a well-maintained road.
As we slowly stepped onto the dirt path—
Zap.
“......”
The presence of lightning energy became stronger.
It wasn’t enough to sting my skin yet, but the intent was unmistakable.
Was it getting stronger the further we went? Should I just keep ignoring it?
This is getting irritating.
Even with my senses suppressed and my energy concealed, the irritation was creeping in. Annoyance was rising within me.
At this point, it was practically being scattered openly for us to notice.
Ssshh...
For now, I forced myself to feign ignorance. I didn’t want to react, so I endured.
But just as I was about to continue suppressing it—
Fwoooosh—!!!
“......!”
“What the—!?”
Suddenly, a wave of heat erupted beside us.
A burst of intense energy made Namgung Jeohwi, who had been leading, whip around in alarm. I, too, turned my gaze toward the source of the heat.
It was my father.
He was shaking off flames rising from his body.
“What... What are you doing?”
Namgung Jeohwi asked, clearly flustered by the sudden action.
My father, however, responded with an utterly indifferent expression.
“There was something annoying me, so I burned it.”
“......”
His tone was unbelievably casual.
Hearing that, I couldn’t help but be momentarily speechless.
Wow...
So my father had sensed the lightning energy as well. And he had just burned it away with fire.
The problem was—
He definitely knows whose energy that belongs to.
The owner of that lightning was somewhere in this mountain range. He had to be aware of what it meant to erase someone’s energy so blatantly.
And yet, my father simply dusted himself off as if it was nothing.
For a brief moment, the flames around him continued to flicker.
Fwoosh...
Then, before long, the fire completely dissipated. He had burned away all of the lightning energy.
“Hah...”
Namgung Jeohwi let out a shaky breath. He seemed to have only now realized what my father had just done.
“Deputy Commander... Right now, you just—”
At that moment—
Rumble—!!!
Oh, boy.
A roar of thunder echoed from the peak of a distant hill.
The sky was completely clear—without a single cloud.
And yet, the sound of thunder cracked through the air as if it were perfectly natural.
Did I just piss someone off?
No doubt about it—the owner of that lightning was a little upset.
And as if to confirm my suspicion—
“Interesting.”
Zap—!!!
A deep, thick voice rang out, sending a chill down my spine.
Ah, great.
Yeah, they were definitely pissed.
Whoosh—!!
Pressure descended. The air itself seemed to weigh down on us.
Ssshhh—!!!
The surrounding vegetation was crushed under the invisible force.
“Urgh...!”
Namgung Jeohwi let out a strained groan. His legs trembled under the pressure, barely able to hold himself up.
In contrast, my father and I stood completely unaffected.
That was when I realized—
Damn it, I slipped up.
If I had planned this properly, I should’ve wobbled a little at the same time as Namgung Jeohwi. But I had stood too still, too naturally.
It was too late to fake it now. So I simply remained standing, enduring the pressure.
And then—
“Heh... heh... heh...”
Laughter echoed.
Rumble—!!!
From afar, another crack of thunder exploded, followed by a brilliant flash of light tearing through the air.
Crackle—!!!
Kuaaaaa—!!!
A massive lightning bolt struck the ground.
Light filled the space, followed by a delayed but deafening roar.
Whoosh—!!
A shockwave blasted through, sweeping everything in its path.
I squinted, bracing myself against the wind.
A cloud of dust erupted from the impact, briefly obstructing my vision.
Then, as the dust cleared—
The figure standing before us came into view.
...Heavenly Lord (Master).
Of course, it had to be him.
One of the Three Masters, the previous Head of the Namgung Clan in this era.
Even though he had stepped down from his position, he was still the real power behind the family.
He looks young.
Much younger than the Heavenly Lord I had known in my time. But then again, this was the past.
“How amusing.”
Ssshh...
Every step he took made the earth sizzle.
The heat from his lightning energy was scorching the ground beneath him.
“Where did the Clan Head find such children?”
“...Father.”
“I’m sure I made myself clear, didn’t I?”
Heavenly Lord’s gaze turned toward Namgung Jeohwi.
That look was so fierce that I instinctively swallowed dryly.
“I told you not to let anyone inside the barrier for a while. And.”
As he spoke, his figure disappeared.
When he reappeared, he was standing right in front of Namgung Jeohwi.
“That includes you, Clan Head. Did I not make myself clear?”
“......!!”
Cold sweat dripped down Namgung Jeohwi’s face.
His eyes wavered, his body trembled ever so slightly.
At the same time, the surrounding pressure weakened.
In other words—
He’s concentrating all that pressure on Namgung Jeohwi now.
Instead of dispersing it across the area, he was focusing it like a direct assault.
For someone who hadn’t reached Hwagyeong, withstanding it must be excruciating.
“Guh... Kugh...”
Even so, Namgung Jeohwi held on, refusing to show weakness.
Before long—
Tsk.
At the sound of the Heavenly Lord clicking his tongue, Namgung Jeohwi’s breathing finally returned to normal.
“Guh... Haah... Hah...”
Watching this unfold, a realization crossed my mind.
The Heavenly Lord’s authority is too absolute.
I had been wondering why Namgung Jeohwi, despite being the Clan Head, couldn’t mobilize forces or issue evacuation orders freely.
Because someone above him had to approve it first.
The Heavenly Lord’s position was so unshakable that, in the end, nothing could be done without his permission.
“...I apologize. The matter was... too urgent...”
“Yes, I’m sure it was. Which is why I’ll let it slide this time.”
The Heavenly Lord’s blue eyes flashed before he shifted his gaze away from Namgung Jeohwi and onto us.
Zzzzt—!!!
Hah.
An overwhelming surge of lightning energy invaded my body. The pressure mixed with lightning, aggressively pushing inward.
Fwoooosh—!!!
At the same moment the Heavenly Lord unleashed his energy, my father erupted into flames.
His body released a retaliatory surge of heat, refusing to be overwhelmed.
The sheer intensity of it shifted the air itself.
As expected.
It was astounding.
Such compression and rotational force at that level...
When I was at Hwagyeong, I couldn’t manifest anything like this. Or rather, I could have, but the energy expenditure would’ve been at least twice as high.
As I stood, silently admiring my father’s flames—
“Hahaha.”
The Heavenly Lord chuckled as he watched him.
“I had taken some interest after hearing that a promising young talent was arriving. But this... this is beyond expectations. So, are you this generation’s Divine Dragon?”
My father nodded at his words.
“Deputy Commander of the Azure Dragon Division, Gu Cheolwoon. I greet the Heavenly Lord.”
Creak—!
Despite his laughter, the lightning aura thickened even further.
As if he wanted to test just how far my father could withstand it.
“How peculiar. Where did such a child come from?”
The Heavenly Lord looked as if he genuinely couldn’t understand my father’s flames.
I mean, even I, who trained in the same techniques, found it baffling.
My father wasn’t a regressor like me.
So how had he reached this level? Where did those absurd numbers and that monstrous talent come from?
While he was observing in fascination—
“I must commend your audacity,” the Heavenly Lord said. “To burn away my energy as if it were nothing. I rather like that.”
“Thank you.”
“I only tried it out as an experiment, just to confirm something. But for you to dispel it so easily... You might just be the best I’ve seen in generations.”
“......”
The man was showering my father with praise, yet his expression remained unchanged.
As I continued debating how I should react to this—
“That is precisely why I have a question.”
The Heavenly Lord tilted his head slightly.
“The Divine Dragon is standing here, burning away my lightning with his flames.”
His gaze shifted—away from my father and onto me.
Then.
Crackle—!
“—!”
Before the sound even reached me, my head turned instinctively.
Kiiiiing—!!!
A blinding flash of lightning brushed past my cheek.
BOOOOOOM—!!!
The bolt exploded behind me.
Fucking hell.
I didn’t turn to look back.
I kept my eyes locked forward.
“...What are you?”
The Heavenly Lord’s gaze bore into me, his eyes now laced with clear intent.
“What exactly are you, to withstand my lightning without any energy of your own?”
“......”
Hearing that, I slowly ran a hand through my hair.
Shit.
“...Ah, goddamn it.”
I screwed up.
