Childhood Friend of the Zenith - Chapter 100

༺ Nice to Meet You, Kid (1) ༻

The first day of the tournament had come to a close, and the sun was already setting beyond the horizon.

Despite most of them being quite likely to be exhausted and hungry, the crowd didn’t stop cheering.

“I... lost...”

After a long time, the last duel of the day finally ended, and the last person still standing in the arena was a man named Yung Sung.

I had seen this man before with Yung Pung.

I heard that he was one of the best third-generation students, one of the most skilled among his peers, excluding Yung Pung.

After her initial win, Gu Ryunghwa did not go further in the tournament.

Her victory was achieved due to her opponent letting his guard down, and although Gu Ryunghwa showed a sudden and explosive spurt of strength, she still had clear limits to her strength.

Despite losing, however, she looked somewhat refreshed when coming down from the stage after the fight.

It seemed that, despite her loss, she gained even more from this experience.

“That second-generation girl from earlier...”

“Oh, yeah, that pretty girl...”

“This is the first time I’ve seen her. What was her name again?”

The crowd began to develop an interest in Gu Ryunghwa, which was understandable, given the insanely impressive movements she had shown despite her small stature.

After the last duel, the two fighters on the stage paid respect to each other, their heads lowered, and other disciples came up the stage to clean things up.

The spectators began to take their leave since Mount Hua was located at such an altitude that it would be dangerous for them to walk back home at night.

Wi Seol-Ah lifted up Namgung Bi-ah, who was half-asleep, having been defeated by boredom, and I walked toward the people cleaning up the arena.

The reason for that was because I noticed a familiar face.

“Master Yung Pung.”

“Oh, Young Master Gu...?”

The man working hard along with other students was none other than Yung Pung.

For me to witness the Sword Dragon cleaning some chairs... This world really is a mysterious place.

Yung Pung looked at me, the corners of his mouth curling into a bright smile.

“Oh, were you watching the tournament?”

“Yeah, I somehow ended up watching the entire thing.”

It was somewhat outside of my control.

I was planning to leave after I had seen Gu Ryunghwa get eliminated, but Wi Seol-Ah begged that we leave after watching a bit more.

Subsequently, Namgung Bi-ah fell asleep, which was how I ended up in this cumbersome situation.

As I chatted with Yung Pung, the young man suddenly jerked as a sudden thought sprang into his mind.

“Oh, I’m sorry, Young Master.”

“Huh? Sorry for what?”

“I don’t think I can do night training with you today as I have to go to bed early...”

“I never suggested that, though...?”

What was he even thinking, and what’s even worse, did I just get rejected? By this guy?

Strangely enough, I felt a bit offended by that.

“Then what brought you here...?”

Hearing Yung Pung’s question, I put on a serious face.

Clearly, I wanted to talk to him about something important. Seeing the change in my expression, Yung Pung also donned a somber expression.

Careful not to be overheard, I whispered into Yung Pung’s ear,

“Can I get the name of that suc— the person that fought my sister?”

Yung Pung frowned after hearing my question.

“...Pardon?”

He was looking at me as if I were a lunatic.

* * * *

Around 1 AM at night.

Most people were asleep around this time.

Namgung Bi-ah had most likely fallen asleep as soon as we got here, as she had already been tired during the tournament, and it was the same for the Sword Emperor and Wi Seol-Ah.

Taking advantage of that, I snuck out and took a look around. There were some escorts on a night watch, but thankfully, Muyeon wasn’t among them.

That was my reason for choosing such a late hour, and luckily, it worked out.

I hid myself as best as I could and looked around. After I made sure it was safe, I jumped over the wall.

Even if I was caught, I could still use the excuse that I was out because I wanted to go for a walk, but ultimately, I didn’t need to; no one noticed me.

I may have gotten better, but still, I didn’t expect my night stroll to go this smoothly...

‘I should tell Muyeon to scold them later.’

Judging by the gigantic chair that was leaning against the wall, it seemed to be Ya Hyeoljeok’s room.

‘It’s honestly strange to call this a room too.’

There were no vestiges of it left. Did they take everything that could be considered a trace?

This place was also empty, just like the others. As I was about to conclude that it might be better to get help from the Beggars Sect or the Hao Clan—

“...Hmm?”

I stopped in my tracks when I caught a whiff of a certain stench— the metallic stench of blood was still lingering in the air.

‘What the...’

The stench was so dense that it felt almost weird.

The smell is bad enough to make me feel sick, yet the Murim Alliance just left a place like this without any guards?

I stepped back after I felt an ominous sensation that gave me chills down to my very bones.

It was then that I realized...

‘This isn’t just any smell.’

Neither was it a stench or anything of the sort. It was closer to Qi.

Then I was able to realize.

Where? Where is this Qi coming from?

‘And despite this being some sort of energy, why didn’t the other people notice this?’

After all, had they noticed, they wouldn’t have left this place.

‘Where is this coming from?’

I conjured up a bigger flame in my hand to light up the room even more. As expected, the room only had one way out, which was the entrance I had used, and the rest was surrounded by walls of stone.

The Qi I was feeling was certainly coming from one of the walls, though...

Is it locational magic?

Despite thinking that, I knew that was incorrect, as I couldn’t feel anything from it even when I focused.

‘Is it some sort of contraption?’

I had my doubts that they would invest that much into a mere branch, and I didn’t believe that the Black Palace had the necessary skills to do so.

However, if they really had some sort of relationship with the Demonic Cult, their actions wouldn’t be that hard to believe.

I touched the wall of the cave, thinking that there would be some traces of the device left.

‘I’m not a professional when it comes to things like this, but considering this place belonged to Ya Hyeoljeok...’

The device wouldn’t be hard to solve, as he wasn’t the type to use his head.

Still, all of this was purely my speculation.

I walked away from the wall and started to look around the chair.

This spot also doesn’t look that strange...

– Tap, tap.

“...!”

I felt some sort of sensation underneath the chair’s armrest.

The difference between it and the right arm was very slight, but something was definitely added to it.

I pressed on the bump and easily pushed it into the insides of the arm.

Contrary to my expectations, the room didn’t change at all; nothing seemed to have happened.

There was no way the search team wouldn’t have found it, considering its location.

Thinking the chair wasn’t it, I was about to go look elsewhere, but a sudden thought struck me and stopped me in my tracks.

Just in case...

I circulated the little strand of Demonic Qi that was inside my body.

I had to circulate it separately from the other types of Qi because they couldn’t be mixed with one another.

I felt the demonic Qi that was sleeping in my body react ever so slightly.

– Flinch.

Subsequently, I once again pressed the button under the armrest.

– Creak... Creeeaaak...!

“God...”

The thing I had hoped would be wrong turned out to be right.

I now understood why the Murim Alliance and the Mount Hua Sect hadn’t been able to find this.

The devices that were built by the Ferocious Beast were to be used by future branches of the Demonic Cult.

The chair I had found was the same and could only be activated by injecting it with a hint of Demonic Qi.

– Slaaaam-!

Along with the sound that echoed throughout the cave, dust spread everywhere as the walls began to shake.

Soon, the wall behind the chair opened up to reveal a huge door.

The disgusting stench of blood I had smelled earlier promptly followed...