Childhood Friend of the Zenith

In a room filled with darkness, a single flickering candle provided just enough light to light the gloom.

Dribble.

There were two teacups in front of me.

With the old man’s graceful movement, the cups slowly filled with fragrant tea.

I wondered what kind of tea it was.

This scent was new to me.

It had a sweetness that surpassed even the Celestial Plum Blossom tea from Mount Hua.

As I took in the scent, a voice whispered in my ear.

-…I’ve never been more speechless in my life.

The voice belonged to the Water Dragon, seated next to me.

Why was he complaining so much?

-What.

-You are even shameless about it, isn’t that a bit much?

He was still bitter about me selling him out earlier, but I gave him a look completely void of guilt.

-You’d have done the same in my place, you know?

-How can you even say that? We’ve barely met. I’m not like that.

Yeah right.

I got fooled by you so many times in my past life, so I’m sure you aren’t like that.

Selling out my friend—

A move I learned from none other than the Water Dragon himself.

Whenever Moyong Hi-ah caught us up to something behind the scenes, the Water Dragon always bailed, selling me out in the process.

He also did the same whenever the Celestial Sword got angry at us.

That bastard would’ve done the exact same thing this time too.

-Who cares? It didn’t even work. How can you be so narrow-minded?

-…Now, I’m sure. You are a crazy bastard.

-Yeah, reverse card.

-…

Crack.

I heard the Water Dragon grind his teeth.

The Water Dragon was seething with anger, and I thought he was about to yell at me,

“It seems like you two have lots to say to each other.”

But our telepathic conversation came to an abrupt halt when we heard the voice of the Qinghai Sword in front of us.

It seemed like the Qinghai Sword noticed us talking to each other.

After taking a sip of tea, the Qinghai Sword sighed softly.

Sigh.

“I’m not sure if I should be impressed that two students are conversing telepathically, or if I should punish you for it.”

Telepathic communication required extreme control of Qi and it was possible for Peak Realm martial artists to do it.

Yet here were two students using it like it was nothing. It was indeed surprising.

Though I wasn’t really surprised.

“The tea in front of you is made from willow leaves. I grow them myself.”

I wondered what it was, and it seemed like it was one of the hobbies the Qinghai Sword had.

“Try it. You’ll probably like it.”

Sip.

Following the Qinghai Sword’s invitation, I took a sip of the tea.

It was hot,

But this is nothing to me.

I could literally conjure flames in my hands, so this mild heat was nothing.

The taste of it was pretty decent as well.

Its slightly sour but sweet taste made it similar to green plum tea, but even sweeter.

As I let the warmth of the tea seep into me, warding off the cold,

Tap.

The Qinghai Sword gently set his teacup down.

“I will now ask you.”

Just as the atmosphere had begun to relax, it tightened with his words.

“What were you doing in there?”

“…”

He was direct, no beating around the bush.

His sharpness, cutting straight to the point, was fitting for one of the Five Great Swordsmen of the Central Plains.

Fuck.

I didn’t know things would turn out this way.

If that memory of the past hadn’t caused any hassle there, I would’ve been able to run away without any problem.

Sigh.

My head started spinning.

Things never seemed to go smoothly for me.

What would’ve happened if Elder Shin hadn’t saved me back there?

Definitely nothing good.

I didn’t know what the memory was trying to do to me, but judging by how the space around me began to crumble, I could safely assume that I would’ve been heavily injured without Elder Shin’s help.

Also, why is this old man so silent?

Ever since Elder Shin saved me with his mysterious power and I was dragged here by the Qinghai Sword, I’d been calling out to him, but he hadn’t responded.

Did he fall back asleep again?

Was he sleep-talking before?

The Qinghai Sword.

Tsk.

I glanced at him, trying to figure out what to do, but he stared back with those strange white pupils of his.

It seemed like he wasn’t going to let me go easily.

And I couldn’t blame him—how could he in a situation like this?

After steadying my breath, I answered the Qinghai Sword.

“I was looking for a secret vault.”

I didn’t bother with pointless excuses.

I knew lying would only make things worse.

Things had already escalated, so I had to face it head-on.

“Secret vault?”

“Yes.”

The Qinghai Sword put on a strange expression.

Of course, it would. It implied that there was a secret vault beneath the Heavenly Dragon Academy—and that a Young Prodigy like me knew about it.

This was only the beginning though.

I had asked the Sword Queen for help, but I had a backup plan just in case things turned out this way.

However, I didn’t know if it was going to work or not.

As I was busy working my brain, the Qinghai Sword asked me.

“If there really is a secret vault here, how do you know about it?”

After hearing a very expected question, I slowly pulled a pass from my pocket.

“This is…?”

The Qinghai Sword’s eyes widened in surprise when he saw the pass.

It was the First Class Beggar’s Pass.

A symbol of the Beggar’s Sect Leader, given to me by the Immortal Healer.

I’d shown it to the Beggar King before.

I always wondered when and where I could use this.

…Will this work?

There was only one reason I’d shown it to the Qinghai Sword.

It was very simple.

I was implying that I got the information from the Leader of the Beggar’s Sect.

Though of course, I didn’t actually get that information from their leader, and even if the Qinghai Sword had a way to contact their leader, I could simply say that I heard it from another person of Beggar’s Sect.

But if that doesn’t work though?

Then I’m simply fucked.

If I’d really considered the worst-case scenario, I wouldn’t have gone searching for the secret vault in the first place.

“…The First Class Beggar’s Pass, huh.”

“That’s right.”

“Did the leader directly give you that?”

“I cannot answer that question.”

“You know you are not in a situation where you can choose to respond or not.”

“I do know that. However, I still cannot answer that question.”

“…”

I was basically telling him to cut me open if he really wanted the answer.

I feared he might actually do it, but I had no other choice. Explaining further would only make things worse.

“Fine. Forget how you got the information. What did you see inside the secret vault?”

“There was nothing in it.”

“Ha… there was nothing, you say?”

It was obviously a lie.

I’d gotten into this mess because of that place—there was definitely something in there.

What frustrated me more was that I hadn’t even been able to check the treasures in the room. I hadn’t taken a single thing. But I couldn’t let that frustration show.

The secret vault closed.

I checked later, but the entrance that the Water Dragon and I entered from disappeared, and it seemed like the Formation around it also disappeared with it as if it never existed there in the first place.

Was it the power of the memory?

Did he erase the vault after trying to implode it?

If that’s the case,

It’s possible that the secret vault was a made-up area in the first place.

The entrance was real and judging by how the Water Dragon remembered it, it wasn’t fake.

He didn’t just create a space; he’d stopped time within it too.

Could this even be considered martial arts?

Elder Shin said that it was Yeon Il-Cheon’s power.

If he was able to do that much, then was he even human anymore?

Moreover, how were we able to get out?

According to the Water Dragon, not long after I disappeared, he sat down and yawned but he found himself outside after a blink of his eyes and he saw me lying down behind him.

In terms of time, it was barely ten seconds

But considering how long my conversation with the memory lasted, that was impossible.

This meant that time was indeed stopped in that room.

As long as what I experienced wasn’t just an illusion.

Should I be glad about it?

I had evidence that it wasn’t an illusion, right on my hand.

Though it wasn’t visible to the Qinghai Sword, since I covered it with cloth.

“As you heard from the Water Dragon, there wasn’t enough time for me to search for anything in there.”

I decided to use this to my advantage.

Only I experienced the difference in time between the room and the outside, so I could play this card.

Though of course, it was up to the Qinghai Sword to believe the Water Dragon.

I personally wouldn’t have believed him.

I would’ve made him speak the truth by beating him up, but that’s only because of my personality.

“…So you lost consciousness as soon as you entered.”

“Yes.”

It wasn’t very convincing. Who would believe that?

“So you entered Heavenly Dragon Academy knowing about the secret vault beneath it?”

“Yes.”

I couldn’t deny it now that I had already admitted to knowing about the vault.

The Qinghai Sword fell silent, clearly thinking something over.

“…Since there was an unknown secret vault down there, I shall inform this incident to the Murim Alliance.”

He sighed before continuing.

“Your punishment will be decided after I finish talking with the Alliance.”

Could I be suspended for this?

Not only that, but I might also be interrogated by the Murim Alliance.

I don’t think they’ll go that far though.

They didn’t know about the secret vault beneath the Academy either, so I’m sure they wouldn’t want this news spreading.

The important part to them though, was what was inside.

Even if they did interrogate me, I didn’t take anything from the vault. And if they couldn’t even find it, it wouldn’t be a huge deal.

“I will also send a letter to Gu Clan about this.”

…Oh.

Now that could be a problem.

If Father finds out I caused trouble in the Heavenly Dragon Academy…

I’m fucked.

He wouldn’t let this slide.

I caused trouble everywhere I went, and this time, the punishment could be serious.

Getting punished by Father was a huge problem.

His anger was terrifying.

“…Since it’s already this late, I will stop for today and call you two separately another day.”

Because it was already midnight, the Qinghai Sword decided to let us go for now.

He also told us not to tell anyone about the secret vault.

Considering how he said that he’ll call the Water Dragon and I one more time, he wasn’t going to let us off easily.

‘Am I going to be suspended?

That was a high possibility.

Honestly, I wouldn’t mind being suspended, but I still had important things to take care of at the Academy, even after dealing with the vault.

I still needed to deal with Jang Seonyeon and Cheol Jiseon.

During this,

His hand looks strange.

I noticed something odd about the Qinghai Sword’s hand.

I wasn’t able to see it clearly since he was hiding it with cloth, but something was off about it, though I didn’t know what it was.

“You may both leave now.”

As I was observing the Qinghai Sword’s hand, he told us to leave.

I had braced for more interrogation, but he let us go surprisingly easily.

How do I say this, he doesn’t seem to be in the best condition.

Perhaps his tired voice and exhausted expression was one of the reasons why he let us leave so early.

Outwardly, he seemed the same, but I could sense a difference in him.

I set aside my thoughts about the Qinghai Sword and stood up.

I had to appreciate the fact that, for now, I was free.

After bowing in respect alongside the Water Dragon, I left the building.

“You’re here.”

As soon as I stepped outside, I was greeted by the Sword Queen.

It seemed she had been waiting for me all along.

The Water Dragon seemed a bit startled at the sight of the Sword Queen, then shot me a curious look.

“I shall be taking my leave first.”

He directed his words toward the Sword Queen.

It seemed like he noticed that the Sword Queen had a business with me.

It would have made sense for the Sword Queen to stop him, given she wouldn’t want him spreading rumors about our relationship, but she didn’t bother.

This woman…? What’s she going to do if others found out about it?

Once the Water Dragon left, the Sword Queen quietly began walking, and I followed her.

For some reason, the Sword Queen seemed to be in a hurry.

We soon found ourselves back on the path where we first crossed paths.

“Uh…”

“We have some things to talk about, correct?”

“Could we not do it another day, since it’s midnight?”

The Sword Queen’s expressionless stare said everything—there would be no waiting until another day.

She was telling me that she couldn’t.

The Sword Queen stalled the Qinghai Sword due to my request, but she was expecting something in return.

The Stone of Mount Hua that was supposedly inside the secret vault.

I had promised her I’d bring it to her if I found it.

“I told you earlier, but I didn’t have time to bring anything out of the secret vault.”

The Stone of Mount Hua, my ass.

I nearly died in there when the space collapsed.

“I’m sorry to the Sword Queen, but-“

“Arm.”

Her terse response made me flinch.

“Roll up your sleeves.”

Tsk.

I clicked my tongue at her certainty.

It seemed like I was caught already.

“Sword Queen.”

“You might be able to fool the Qinghai Sword, but you can’t fool me. Especially not when my eyes have blossomed in plum flowers.”

The heavy scent of plum flowers radiated from my arm.

It seemed like the Sword Queen noticed it.

I had tried my best to hide it.

Well, I guess it didn’t work.

“…This isn’t the Stone of Mount Hua.”

“Roll it up.”

With a sigh, I rolled up my sleeve, her serious tone leaving me no choice.

Revealing what was tied to my arm.

“…”

The Sword Queen lost her words after checking my arm.

As I had said earlier, this wasn’t the Stone of Mount Hua.

It didn’t look like a stone, and it didn’t feel like one either.

The object glowed pink, wrapping around my arm like silk.

I don’t think it felt this way originally.

When Elder Shin controlled my body, I had definitely grabbed this in the vault, but back then it felt more like a large marble.

When I woke up, though, it had wrapped itself around my arm like a bandage.

Why was it on my left arm though when I’m right-handed?

For some reason, it really annoyed me.