Childhood Friend of the Zenith

Chapter 329: The Abyss (4)

The air was thick with the stench of something burning.

Though there wasn’t much smoke, but the smell was disgusting.

Crackle, crackle.

The noise gradually grew clearer.

It was the sound of wood getting burned.

I muttered under my breath as I watched the flames.

“Lame.”

Tap, tap.

I brushed against the discarded clothing, and a dark smear stained my fingers.

It was unsettling.

I wiped it off quickly; the clothing didn’t matter.

I nudged the object on the ground with the tip of my feet.

The body that had once writhed in agony was silent now, its screams nothing but a memory.

He was gone.

“Unlike your mouth that refused to speak, but you weren’t as resilient.”

I spoke to him, knowing full well I wouldn’t get a reply.

I gazed at what had once been a living person, then extinguished my flames.

Swoosh!

As the flames faded, the charred figure of the man emerged, blackened by fire.

It looked fragile, as if it would crumble at the slightest touch.

I crouched, quietly staring at the remains.

I gave him a slow painful death that I so desired,

“I don’t feel anything… which is unexpected.”

But it wasn’t as satisfying as I had imagined.

He was a bastard I’d wanted to kill for ages.

He was the first target ever since my regression, and it was something I wanted to do in my past life as well.

I had wanted to see the bastard scream, to see him collapse in despair beneath my feet, but the reality left me hollow, not filled with the joy I had envisioned.

Tap.

I nudged what remained of Jang Seonyeon with my foot, and he crumbled to dust.

He had been dead for some time now.

I had planned to drag out his death over three stages, but he was gone before I even reached the second.

That was a disappointment.

A chill settled inside me as I stood there, motionless.

“It wasn’t as satisfying as I’d imagined, and it wasn’t even amusing.”

This was all I felt from Jang Seonyeon’s death.

But why?

Shouldn’t I feel joy?

I’d wanted this for so long.

Is it because you weren’t the Meteor Sword from back then?

The Jang Seonyeon wasn’t the Meteor Sword I remembered from my past life.

The man in my memories was different from the one I killed.

I had killed him now only to prevent him from becoming a threat in the future. That explained the lack of satisfaction—only unease.

I clicked my tongue at the realization.

And I didn’t even get the information I needed from him.

I had many things I wanted to hear from Jang Seonyeon, but I got less than I expected.

I knew he’d have a Shackle on him, and there wasn’t much I could do about it, but it still left me unsatisfied.

Maybe it would have been smarter to turn him into a Demonic Human and exploit him.

But that would have been too disgusting.

Given how uneasy I felt about Namgung Cheonjun, there was no way I could do the same to Jang Seonyeon.

Useful or not, I didn’t want that bastard alive in the same world as me, breathing the same air.

One thing did catch my attention, though.

While torturing Jang Seonyeon, he said something that stood out to me.

-Aghhhh…! Ughhhh!

-How were you going to kill me with all of those instructors around?

-Hughhh!

Even as I slowly burned away his body with my flames, he didn’t answer my question. Not that I expected him to.

Given how advanced Shackles were in this era, it was nearly impossible to extract information from people.

Tang Clan  and a few others specialized in breaking Shackles through torture, but even they weren’t flawless.

In my days as a Demonic Human, the Heavenly Demon could shatter a mere Shackle with a single hand gesture—it was a different world back then.

In the end, if I wanted information, I’d either have to learn to break Shackles or turn them into Demonic Humans.

I lacked the refined Qi control needed to break Shackles, nor did I have any experience in doing so.

But I couldn’t let him become a Demonic Human, so in the end, I chose to inflict pain.

-Ugh… he… he…

Amidst Jang Seonyeon’s screams, he suddenly started giggling.

-Are you crazy? What’s so funny all of a sudden?

-He… hehe… Why did I do such a thing…?

-Oh? Are you going to tell me?

-Even if… you manage to escape this place by heaven’s luck… it’ll be too late. In the end, you won’t be able to… Urgh!

I narrowed my eyes, hearing Jang Seonyeon’s curse.

It seemed like he never acted without a plan, after all.

He must’ve prepared something.

-What did you do?

-Do you think… I’ll die in a place like this…

-So what did you do?

He kept spewing nonsense, so I twisted the part of his body already burning in flames.

Squeeze.

-Ufgh…!

His eyes widened as he resumed screaming.

I spoke over his screams.

-Keep this up, and your last words will be you begging for death. Let’s speed this up, unless you’d prefer that.

I intensified the flames as I spoke, but in the end, I couldn’t follow through.

The bastard screamed until the very end, but never begged for death.

I wouldn’t have pushed this far if he had just begged for mercy.

I couldn’t tell if it was the Shackle that silenced him or his pride.

With that thought, I stood up.

It seems like he did something behind the scenes.

But unfortunately, there was something the bastard didn’t know.

I was going to return, and no matter what, I wouldn’t be late.

By the time I returned to the real world, only a few days would have passed.

That’s how it was in my past life.

When hundreds of Young Prodigies disappeared and were consumed by the Abyss, the clans and sects panicked, but they returned just a few days later, as if nothing had ever happened.

They reappeared in the exact spot they had vanished from.

I once claimed to be the only survivor of the Abyss, but in truth, everyone returned to the real world—every last one of them.

They all died, yet somehow, they all returned alive.

spent years in the Abyss, but everyone came back without aging a day and with no memory of what transpired.

It was a mystery how such a thing could happen, and it led me to give this place its name.

A world of lies.

A false world.

The name explained everything.

I didn’t know why, but time in this world didn’t sync with the real one.

It wasn’t precise, but I assumed a few years here equaled just a day in the Central Plains.

No, it could even be longer.

I had no idea how many years had truly passed.

After seven years in this world, I gave up counting the days.

It felt pointless.

Even though countless events and memories happened here, I was the only one who remembered them. That’s why I wanted to forget—it was too painful to hold onto them.

That damned memory of mine served as a shackle, never letting me forget anyone.

Under the red sky, wind blew.

A faint scent of blood drifted on the wind.

It was a characteristic of this world.

Nothing was normal here—neither the sights, sounds, nor smells.

I turned around, the foul stench still in my nostrils.

“But since I came here, I must do what I came here for.”

I came here with a purpose, taking advantage of both Jang Seonyeon and Cheol Jiseon to achieve it.

Killing Jang Seonyeon and extracting information was part of it, but it wasn’t my main objective.

That was only a part of the process, and my main goal here was to go see the damned tree that I saw in my past life, which led me to be associated with the Heavenly Demon.

It’s probably watching me, yet it hasn’t shown itself.

As far as I knew, this entire world was the creation of that bastard of a tree.

That’s what the bastard claimed, though it could have been lying.

I was sure the tree was watching me even now, but considering how it wasn’t appearing,

Is it expecting me to come to it instead?

It was the same back then.

The tree only revealed itself after most of the Young Prodigies had been devoured by Demons, and just before I was about to be eaten after being used as bait by my group.

“So, you’re not going to be easy, huh?”

Fine, let’s see who wins then.

We both have all the time in the world.

I brushed the remaining ashes from my clothes and began to move.

Suddenly, I turned back to where Jang Seonyeon’s body lay.

The remains of his body were still on the ground, not moving one bit.

Of course it would be.

I had burned it down to ashes.

Even then, I was holding back my strength.

I had tried to weaken the flames as much as possible, but it was still too much.

After giving his body one last glance, I turned away.

Meeting you was a filthy experience. Let’s hope it never happens again.

Meeting that bastard twice was more than enough.

I could only hope that this was truly the end.

With that final thought, I continued forward.

Step.

I glanced around after taking a step.

I needed to figure out which direction to go.

I took another stop.

I enveloped myself in Qi.

I considered leaping ahead with speed.

Demons roamed everywhere in this Abyss, but fear was not something I felt.

Just as I prepared to leap after taking my final step,

Step.

Woong…

“…!”

I instantly turned at the uneasy sensation creeping up behind me. Something told me I had to look.

All that remained were Jang Seonyeon’s charred remains on the ground.

However,

Woong-

I heard a strange sound in my ears.

It was a strange resonating sound.

Was it even a sound? It felt odd to label it as such.

I realized its source when I felt the vibrations.

It was his Dantian.

A deeper part of it at that.

…Blood Qi?

That was where he stored his Blood Qi. Suddenly, it began to boil, reacting to something invisible.

I thought Blood Qi was unusable in this world, yet here it was, resonating with a will of its own.

Then,

Rustle…

“…What?”

Jang Seonyeon’s blackened, burnt body, now barely human in appearance, began to move slowly.

With every movement, ashes crumbled from his form.

Yet despite this, it kept moving.

Sss… Sss…

The body slowly stood upright.

Jang Seonyeon’s body no longer had any life in it, let alone the ability to move.

Yet, it somehow stood.

How was this even possible?

And what was this unsettling feeling creeping over me?

Just as I considered whether to destroy the body further, Jang Seonyeon fully stood and slowly turned his head.

He shouldn’t have been able to see, not with his face completely burnt, yet he seemed to be scanning his surroundings.

His movements were stiff and robotic, far from natural.

Then, Jang Seonyeon’s head snapped in my direction.

Instinctively, I flinched.

Although his face could no longer form expressions, I had the unsettling sense that he was somehow smiling at me.

[ Ah… ]

I began to hear a voice.

It felt more like a telepathic connection than an actual sound.

[ I wondered why the connection was severed. Now I see the problem. ]

I recognized the voice immediately.

But where had I heard it before?

Then, in a flash, I remembered.

The last day of the tournament of Dragons and Phoenixes.

This voice had spoken to me before, while using that bastard’s body as a vessel.

Jang Seonyeon’s lifeless form nodded, staring directly at me.

No, I couldn’t even call that thing Jang Seonyeon anymore.

It definitely had a different name.

[ It has been a while. Do you remember me? ]

Upon hearing the question, I quietly muttered the name.

“Blood Demon.”

[ Hehehe. ]

As if the voice was satisfied, it started to giggle.

**************The Qinghai Sword, one of the Five Great Swordsmen of the world, and a Leader of one of the Ten Sect Alliances, was watching the forest that was outside of his window.

“Hmm…”

The Qinghai Sword let out a sigh as he watched, but he still had a curious expression.

This was where Gu Yangcheon had allegedly found the secret vault, yet the Qinghai Sword could sense nothing out of the ordinary.

The Sleeping Dragon claimed a door had appeared when he broke the surrounding Formation, but not a trace remained.

“I don’t understand.”

If someone of his level couldn’t detect anything, it either meant that the Sleeping Dragon and Gu Yangcheon lied to him, or that the secret vault disappeared completely without leaving a single trace.

The former seemed more likely, yet the Qinghai Sword doubted those children would lie to him.

“A secret vault huh… But why here, of all places?”

The Murim Alliance might provide more details, but he doubted they would give him the full story.

“Even if the vault existed, I can’t believe it was that child who discovered it.”

Gu Yangcheon was a child the Qinghai Sword had been thinking about often lately.

His talent was extraordinary compared to others, but that wasn’t the reason for it.

He claimed the Beggar’s Sect provided the information. Could they be involved*?*

That part seemed difficult to believe.

The Qinghai Sword knew the Leader of Beggar’s Sect very well, which made it harder to believe.

But then… What about the First-Class Beggar’s Pass he had?

The Qinghai Sword was aware that Gu Yangcheon was full of secrets, and none of them were easy to unravel.

Like father, like son, huh?

“…I told him I’d call on him again. I’ll have to be more direct next time.”Nôv(el)B\\jnn

The Qinghai Sword sighed once more, and brushed his beard.

It seemed to him that he sighed more with age.

With the instructors out proctoring the test, the academy was quiet, and the Qinghai Sword thought a walk might do him good.

Just as he considered a walk to clear his mind,

Cggkkk-!

“Huh…?”

The Qinghai Sword’s senses stretched over the entire academy and caught something.

Instantly, he drew his sword, Qi surging through it.

The sensation alone made him feel uneasy.

He detected the unmistakable stench of the Unorthodox Arts, the kind the Unorthodox Faction wielded.

Sensing it, he let out a disbelieving chuckle.

“I must really be getting old.”

He was standing guard himself, yet these nobodies from the Unorthodox Faction dared to barge in, brazenly revealing their intent.

In his younger days, no one would have dared such insolence.

Just as the Qinghai Sword prepared to leap toward the source of the disturbance,

“Pardon me.”

He heard a sound from nearby.

“Are you perhaps the Qinghai Sword?”

At the question, the Qinghai Sword’s sharp Qi flared out around him.

He hadn’t even sensed a presence until they were right behind him.

How?

His senses covered the entire Heavenly Dragon Academy, yet the intruder had slipped past them and approached him from behind.

With Combat Qi surging, the Qinghai Sword addressed the voice.

“Who are you?”

He sized up his opponent.

They were an extreme giant.

They wore a black outfit, and they also had a strange beast leather as a garment.

A deep scar ran down their neck, and just looking at them sent a chill through the Qinghai Sword.

Qinghai Sword knew instantly.

He wasn’t sure if he could defeat this opponent.

Just who is this?

His level of power was undeniable, yet his identity remained a mystery.

Cold sweat ran down the Qinghai Sword’s spine.

As he was full of tension,

“I thought so. Nice to meet you.”

The giant smiled, staring directly at the Qinghai Sword.

Yellowed teeth showed as he opened his wide mouth.

The Qinghai Sword watched his opponent warily.

His only thought was escape.

Martial pride didn’t matter at this moment.

The fact that someone like this had infiltrated the Academy meant only one thing.

The students are in danger.

The students’ lives were at risk.

Rather than finding a way to win, the Qinghai Sword had to find an escape route.

He had to protect the students.

Then,

“You  seem distracted, Qinghai Sword. Your eyes are trembling.”

“…!”

“I’m glad. It means that I’m still dangerous to you, and I’ll take that as a compliment.”

“I will ask again… who are you?”

“Me?”

The giant smiled, clearly satisfied by the Qinghai Sword’s question.

“Ah, it’s pretty exciting since it’s been a while.”

Swooosh-!

A rough, ominous aura began to pour from his massive frame.

“I hope you remember who I am.”

As the ominous aura engulfed the area, the giant drew his great sword and drove it into the ground.

“I am the Black Dragon.”

“…!”

“It seems like you know who I am judging by your expression.”

The Qinghai Sword’s eyes widened after hearing the giant’s title.

It was a name he knew all too well.

Yet, it was said that the man with that title had died long ago.

The giant chuckled, clearly savoring the Qinghai Sword’s shock, before pointing his great sword at him.

“Shall we have a dance of swords?”

The Black Dragon’s ominous smile widened, eager for his first sword dance in ages.