Childhood Friend of the Zenith
chapter-52

༺ The Plum Blossom Dragon (2) ༻

“Young Master?”

Yung Pung called me again.

However, I wasn’t really in the situation to respond to him at the moment.

‘What was that just now…?’

Did I hear that correctly?

I must be hallucinating.

It had to be that.

If it wasn’t, I’d would like to kill myself by biting my tongue right now, right here.

‘I must be hallucinating because it hasn’t been long since I woke up, right?’

Yes, I must have been still half dreaming since I didn’t fully wake up.

After organizing my thoughts, I recalled the fact that I had to respond to Yung Pung’s question quickly.

“…It’s nothin-”

｢Woah, hey! You can hear me, kid?｣

“Oh for fuck’s sake!”

I cried out loud after getting surprised by the sudden voice I heard for the second time.

And because of that, Yung Pung who was right in front of me also seemed to be surprised as confusion flickered across his eyes.

I didn’t even bother looking at Yung Pung’s reaction and quickly hid behind him.

Yung Pung exclaimed in astonishment.

“Y-Young Master! What are you doing!?”

“D-D-Did you not just hear that!?”

“Hear what…That you just cursed out loud just now?”

“No… Not that! A voice of an old man that sounds like he would be the annoying type.”

“What are you saying right now…”

｢You little brat! Who are you calling annoying!?｣

“See…!! You really can’t hear anything!?”

I asked Yung Pung again, but he only looked at me like he was looking at a lunatic.

It was understandable since I suddenly hid behind him while he was just trying to ask me a question.

But for fucks sake, he really can’t hear it? How can he not hear such a loud voice.

Telepathic voice? No, it was different.

It was as if the voice was echoing inside my brain…

｢You little brat, how can I hear such insults from a kid that would piss his pants if I just stared at him for a moment when I was alive.｣

‘When I was alive? So it really is a ghost…!?’

｢Shut it kid! What are you getting scared for such small thing as this when you have a wiener!｣

…When did this thing catch on?

I never went through any kind of graveyard or haunted places, so why is this happening all of a sudden…!

｢When did it catch on my ass, you are the one who is responsible for this.｣

Upon hearing the evil spirit’s words-

｢Evil spirit!? Evil Spiiiriiiiit!?｣

…Upon hearing the ghost’s words, I stopped my thoughts.

What does you mean I am responsible for this?

｢You were the one who secretly devoured that thing up and now you’re acting like you did nothing wrong! Don’t you have an ounce of shame at all!?｣

“Huh!? What do you mean by me eating that thing up!”

“Y-Young Master?”

I ignored Yung Pung who looked at me with fear.

Compared to him I was in a much more hurry, so I wasn’t in a situation to care about my appearance.

To my words, the ghost spoke back as my words seemed absurd to him.

｢You little brat, you really didn’t know? After sucking all of that until you were completely full?｣

What was he on about?

What did I eat?

｢You can’t even remember, how absurd. You really don’t know the reason why you were able to break that wall?｣

Wall?

Upon hearing the ghost’s words, I got reminded of one thing that happened earlier.

The day when my flame art reached the 4th realm.

And the thick plum scent I smelled the night before.

And the fact that the light that came from the treasure got dimmer the next day.

The thought gave me goosebumps.

It surely can’t be that, right?

｢Hahaha! Thank God that you’re not completely dumb.｣

…Oh Lord save me.

｢How dare you treat me as an evil spirit when you were only able to break that wall thanks to me… You really are a spoiled little brat.｣

I did not know that the treasure of Mount Hua was capable of something like this.

I mean, who treats an object that’s possessed by a ghost a treasure? What kind of treasure is this? This is just an object possessed by a spirit…!

｢You are still running that mouth even after all that… You impress me in different ways.｣

‘Who are you?’

Is a ghost really possessing this treasure…?

｢Ghost? Don’t compare someone like me to something like a ghost.｣

My chest tingles along with the ghost’s words.

Was it heat? However, It was too cool and calm for it to be heat.

My Qi was moving by itself without my control.

It was a really disgusting feeling to have when the Qi moved around my body regardless of my will.

It felt like hundreds of insects were climbing my body.

‘I feel like I’m going to vomit…!’

The feeling was calm, but it still was painful as it covered my whole body.

I clenched my teeth and tried to withstand it, but that also wasn’t easy.

And even during this, the ghost didn’t stop talking.

｢I am the 8th generation Lord of Mount Hua.｣

My chest did not stop tingling while the ghost continued to talk.

The disgusting feeling was now entering my abdomen area as well…

Yung Pung tried to give me a helping hand while being confused, but my consciousness continued to fade, and had no intention of coming back.

My sights were slowly becoming white.

At the end,

｢I am the Divine Sword of Mount Hua, Shincheol.｣

I lost my consciousness after last hearing the ghost’s words.

* * * *

The Blood Demon War.

This was the war brought by the blood demons many centuries ago.

Before the Heavenly Demon made its appearance to the world, the Blood Demon War was considered to be the biggest disaster in history.

But even then, there weren’t many tales to be told when it came to the Blood Demon War.

Many just said that it was a violent and cruel thing that happened, and that the blood demon who was about to turn the world into a sea of blood was stopped by the heroes of the world and that was all to it.

Whether it was me not really caring about the history, or there wasn’t much history of it in the first place, or that particular tale was intentionally not shared at all was something I didn’t know,

But I knew that there was only a little bit of information when it came to the blood demon.

The Iron Fist, Yeon Il-Cheon.

The Light of Might, Cheolyoung.

The Divine Sword of Mount Hua, Shincheol.

The Thunderous Sword, Namgung Myung.

The Heavenly Poison, Tang Jaemoon.

No matter how much time passed, the five masters that stopped the Blood Demon disaster would have all their names be remembered in the history of the world.

During the process, Yeon Il-cheol perished, and the greatest clan of that age, Golden Nature Clan disappeared without leaving any trace.

And Tang Jaemoon of Tang clan also died in that war, which greatly shook the Tang clan.

But in the end, the heroes of the world were able to stop the blood disaster, and were successful in killing the Blood Demon so it was overall a success.

It was thanks to them, that the world we live in continued to exist. It was something I heard so many times that my ears would start to bleed.

And in the future when the Heavenly Demon threatened the world, it was stopped by Wi Seol-ah along with other heroes of the world, so I’d assume it would be similar to that.

That was what made it even harder for me to believe.

I clenched my head that was aching in pain and asked.

“…Who are you again?”

｢I said I’m Shincheol, you little brat.｣

“…So, you’re saying you are the Divine Sword of Mount Hua…”

｢Do you know how many times you asked the same question?｣

“Yeah, probably more than 10 times by now.”

After returning to my sense, I was in the carriage rather than outside.

I hoped that the voice I kept hearing was just a dream, but I heard the annoying voice as soon as I woke up which crushed my hope.

｢Annoying? You little brat! You are still as rude as before!｣

It was a voice of an old man that sounded annoying and harsh. And you are telling me that this was the Divine Sword of Mount Hua…?

There was no way someone wouldn’t know the title, Sword of Mount Hua if they belonged to a martial artist clan.

If one had to pick the most respected name of Mount Hua, the very first name that would be mentioned would be the Sword of Mount Hua if excluding the current generation’s leader of Mount Hua.

It was said that his kindness and dignity was spread to not only Mount Hua, but to the world as well.

｢Kids nowadays… Tsk tsk. Back in my days, if a senior said something, the little ones would have to believe them without saying a word.｣

It was said that the man who earned the title of Divine Sword of Mount Hua,

Would make a dried dead tree blossom with plums if he passed by it.

｢Furthermore, it’s an elderly man talking, so you should treat me with respect, rather than being scared…｣

“…”

…And you’re telling me to believe that he is the Divine Sword of Mount Hua?

Kindness my ass, I can feel that he has a nasty heart. And dignity?

‘It would be more believable if he said that he was an evil spirit.’

That was what I felt he was.

Yeah, it definitely is an evil spirit.

I had to have been possessed by an evil spirit while letting my guard down.

‘…Shit, should I really go through exorcism?’

｢You rotting shit…! How dare you treat me in this way!｣

I clenched my head again that began aching again.

How am I able to find any sign of Mount Hua in that nasty way of talking of his?

There was no way I could believe that he was who he was claiming he was.

Like, why would a hero of Mount Hua become an evil spirit for whatever reason? There was no way I’d believe that.

｢You ate all of that thing up before with joy and now you are contradicting yourself.｣

“What do you mean by me eating something up?”

｢You keep acting like you don’t know a damn thing, I am more curious, child. How come you were able to absorb the Qi of Mount Hua when you aren’t even from the clan in the first place?｣

I couldn’t say a word upon hearing the evil spirit’s question.

It would honestly be weird that I couldn’t remember what happened before.

The voice I heard and the scent of plum blossoms I was able to smell during that night was not a dream, but a reality for sure.

This would mean that the fact I reached the 4th realm of flame arts, would be because of ability, Demonic Absorption coming into play to absorb the energy from the treasure.

‘What happened…’

That made me wonder even more, that if this all happened because of my Demonic Absorption.

That would mean that I absorbed the Qi without my will to do so by not even touching it with my hand, but rather the treasure just being in my pocket.

I thought it was an ability that was only able to absorb the Qi from demonic stones but now treasures as well…? And I didn’t even touch it with my hand and it acted on its own?

‘…I’m in deep trouble.’

I wasn’t sure before since the appearance of the treasure didn’t change much,

But now that I realized what was happening, I felt like there was no hole left for me to escape through.

｢I swear that your body is already preoccupied with another form of Qi, so how can this be…｣

“…Before that, if you really are the Divine Sword of Mount Hua, then how come you are talking to me right now?”

｢Like I said before, it’s because you little shit absorbed the stone’s Qi.｣

“So you were stuck in the treasure for all this time?”

It’s said that it’s been hundreds of years ever since this stone came to exist, so he was stuck in there for this long?

Is that really possible…?

｢Not quite. It hasn’t been long since I’ve opened my eyes.｣

“It hasn’t been long you say…?”

What the heck does this mean?

｢Yes, when you brat first picked up the treasure, it was at that moment, when I regained my consciousness.｣

When the Second Elder gave me the treasure? That really makes no sense.

If that really was true, then how…?

Maybe this was a side effect that gave me hallucinations because of I absorbed too much Qi from the treasure…

I even had thoughts like these.

And whether if this truly was the Divine Sword of Mount Hua, or it was a lowly ghost that was trying to trick me into believing that he was the hero of Mount Hua,

Whichever it was, it didn’t change that all of this was a hassle for me.

｢How funny, I helped you just in case you lose your life because you overdid yourself trying to break that wall, and yet I’m still getting treated as an evil spirit!｣

The ghost spoke.

He was probably correct.

I couldn’t break the wall because of my body not being able to handle the harsh Qi, but thanks to absorbing the Qi from the treasure, I was smoothly able to break the wall with ease.

The problem was, I was avoiding that issue, but after hearing the Divine Sword’s words, I was certain in something.

The Qi that got meshed into my body.

And the scent of plums that would linger around me no matter how much I tried to hide it.

And the fact that I was able to reach a certain level in the martial arts of the Mount Hua Sect with ease when it took their martial artists endless training to reach that point.

“…What do I do?”

Something like, ‘Hehe! I accidentally absorbed the Qi from the treasure. Sorry.’ wouldn’t cut it.

It was already problematic that I now had possession of Mount Hua’s Qi when I wasn’t even accepted by the Mount Hua Sect,

But it was more problematic that I didn’t even know how to explain why I even possessed such Qi in the first place.

The ghost laughed while I was conflicted in my thoughts.

｢Your fault for devouring all of that up.｣

“You think I wanted to do that…?”

｢You devoured all that Qi like a ravenous wild beast that night, yet now, you are trying to contradict your very own actions.｣

That’s true… How much did I consume for it to be this noticeable?

It made it more annoying since this wasn’t my intention in the first place.

This shitty demonic ability… It’s ruining this life as well when I’m trying to live a normal life.

I ignored my irritation and asked.

“…Let me ask something. Why were you even in there in the first place?”

If it was really the Divine Sword of Mount Hua, the reason why he was in the treasure,

And if it wasn’t really him, then who this really was, I had to know it all.

Upon hearing my question, the ghost became silent for a moment.

｢…Hmm.｣

Was it difficult for him to answer, or was he trying to be careful with his answer since it was important?

After a while, the ghost started to speak.

Unlike before, the voice was quieter.

｢…I don’t know myself. Why was I even there?｣

Upon hearing the ghost’s words, I heaved a deep sigh and opened the door of the carriage.

He basically didn’t know a thing either.

Or it could be that he knew but was pretending to not know.

Which would mean that he didn’t want to tell me. In other words, either option weren’t helpful to me at all.

The Divine Sword of Mount Hua my ass, this is definitely just some evil spirit.

I’m just gonna go outside rather than continuing this pointless conversation.

I had to check what was going on outside since I missed some stuff while I was unconscious.

｢You little brat…! I told you it’s not-!｣

“Not what-”

“Oh! Young Master!”

Because of the enthusiastic voice, both me and the ghost stopped talking.

It was Yung Pung who was calling for me.

But something was weird.

The appearance of Yung Pung was now much poorer than the neat appearance he had before.

He was tied up firmly with ropes while he had his knees on the floor, and was getting threatened by the Muyeon’s sword.

And behind him was…

“Mount Hua…?”

Martial artists that wore the same white uniform as Yung Pung were standing against the people from my crew.

No matter how I looked at it, it wasn’t a nice confrontation they were having, so I looked at Yung Pung.

Yung Pung smileed brightly while looking at me.

“Haha! Young Master! Any way now you can lend me a helping hand!”

“…What?”

His voice was way too enthusiastic which didn’t fit the situation he was in, so I was confused.

｢…Why is this guy acting like that?｣

It seems like something had transpired again.