Childhood Friend of the Zenith – 329 (Part 1)



329 (Part 1)

<Chapter 330> The Demon Realm. (4)

The air is thick with the smell of burning.

The smoke rising slowly is minimal but the stench is unbearable.

Crackle crackle.

The sound of embers burning reaches my ears.

It was the unique sound made when burning firewood.

I whispered while watching it.

“How bland.”

Tap tap.

As I brushed my hand against my clothes something black smudged onto them.

It’s uncomfortable.

Since the clothes have no value anyway I wiped them off carelessly.

I nudged something lying on the floor with my toes.

The body that had been thrashing about had quieted down over time.

The voice that had been screaming in agony was no longer heard.

It had completely breathed its last.

“Considering how heavy the mouth is it wasn’t very persistent.”

It was a remark directed at someone.

But there would be no response.

Looking at something that had transformed into a remnant of humanity.

I extinguished the flames.

Whoosh!

As the flames disappeared the charred human form became visible.

It would crumble if I tapped it.

I stared at such a thing with indifference.

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I sat down low and quietly observed.

Even though I had killed it while inflicting the extreme pain I desired leaving no form behind.

“I feel less than I expected.”

It was much more subdued than I had anticipated.

It was the one I had wanted to kill so badly.

The purpose of my life that I had recalled for the first time after my return.

It was something I had desperately wanted to do in my previous life.

I wanted to see it scream.

I wanted to see it kneel beneath my feet and wail but.

Now that I had achieved it with my own hands.

What I felt was a silent emptiness rather than the imagined thrill.

Tap.

As I touched what had been Jang Seon-yeon’s foot it crumbled and fell apart.

It had long since lost its breath.

Contrary to what I had said about taking it slowly in three stages.

As I entered the second stage it had already breathed its last.

That was a bit disappointing.

As I stood still time passed and my insides slowly cooled.

“It was blander than I thought. Less fun than I expected.”

The impact of Jang Seon-yeon’s death was only this much.

Why was that?

Shouldn’t I feel refreshed and excited?

It was one of the things I had wanted so much.

‘Is it because you’re not the Meteor Blade anymore?’

The current Jang Seon-yeon was not the Meteor Blade of that time.

Jang Seon-yeon who had no memories of being intertwined with me.

Was a different person altogether.

So the death now was ultimately.

Like clearing away an obstacle that would hinder the things I had to do first.

I felt no thoughts at all.

Only a lingering discomfort remained.

As that thought crossed my mind I had to click my tongue briefly.

‘Above all I didn’t hear much about the treasured blade.’

I had many things to say to Jang Seon-yeon.

But I didn’t hear as much as I expected.

I thought there would naturally be a golden seal so this couldn’t be helped.

Should I say it was more trivial than I had thought?

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Rather.

It might have been better to corrupt him into a demonic practitioner and use him.

‘But that’s a bit disgusting.’

Considering that even Namgung Cheon-jun found it uncomfortable.

It would be even more so for Jang Seon-yeon.

Regardless of usefulness or not.

I simply hated the fact that this bastard was breathing on this land.

‘If there’s something that bothers me.’

During the torture that was almost tormenting Jang Seon-yeon the words he said to me lingered.

— Koooaahhh…! Grrr!

– How did you think to attack me in a situation where all the instructors were down?

— 方 OO | —

While I kept asking questions.

It was time to start burning from the tips of his toes.

He hadn’t answered most of the questions he had asked earlier.

And I wasn’t expecting a specific answer either.

As it was an era where the golden seal had developed significantly.

Opening someone’s mouth was a difficult task.

The Tang Clan or certain families specialized in breaking the golden seal and extracting information through torture.

But that wasn’t perfect either.

When I was a demonic practitioner.

The golden seal placed on the opponent would vanish with just a gesture from the Heavenly Demon.

It had a slightly different meaning.

In the end to obtain something from the opponent now.

I had to either dismantle the golden seal.

Or corrupt them into a demonic practitioner.

I found it difficult to apply qi gently enough to break the golden seal.

I hadn’t mastered such techniques.

And I didn’t want to create him as a demonic practitioner.

This was ultimately close to a justification for tormenting him.

Koo… hhh… hhh…

As Jang Seon-yeon burned and screamed.

He mixed a small laugh into his screams.

– Are you crazy? Why are you suddenly laughing?

— Huh… heh… why do you ask…?

– Oh you want me to speak?

– Yes… even if you say you’ll escape from here with heavenly luck… it’s already too late. In the end you will have done nothing… gurgle!

As Jang Seon-yeon spat out words like a curse my eyes narrowed slightly.

It seemed that the actions taken without thought were indeed not so.

It seemed he had set something up.

– What did you set up?

– Do you think… I would die in a place like this…?

– What did you set up?

As he kept spouting nonsense I gripped the part that was burning fiercely and applied pressure.

Squeeze.

– Guh…!

His eyes widened and he screamed again.

Hearing that I spat out again.

– If you keep this up the last thing you’ll say will be a plea for death. If you don’t want that let’s hurry up.

With those words I reignited the flames.

But unfortunately I couldn’t keep my word.

He only screamed until the moment he breathed his last but he never asked to be killed.

If he had even asked to be saved it wouldn’t have come to this.

At this point I couldn’t tell if his mouth was sealed by the golden seal.

Whether he wouldn’t open his mouth even if it meant dying was beyond my understanding.

I recalled that and stood up again.

‘It seems he did set something up.’

Unfortunately there was something he didn’t know.

I would return.

And no matter what happened I wouldn’t be late.

How long would it take for me to disappear? At most a few days would pass right?

It had been the same in my previous life.

During the incident when hundreds of people disappeared into the Demon Realm.

While the Murim Alliance and the sects of those dragged in were thrown into chaos.

Hundreds of people returned just a few days later as if it were a lie.

They appeared exactly in the same place they had vanished from.

Even then I had said.

There were no survivors in the Demon Realm except for me.

But those who returned were all those who had disappeared at that time.

Everyone had died.

Yet everyone returned alive.

The time I experienced there.

At least several years must have passed.

Yet not a single one had aged.

Moreover no one returned with any memories of that time.

If you ask how that was possible.

It was related to the name I had created in this world.

A false world.

A fake world.

That would explain everything.

For reasons unknown the timeline of this place and the one I originally belonged to was twisted.

It wasn’t exact but…

A few years here might equate to about a day in the Central Plains.

No it could even be more than that.

How many years had passed?

From around the time I turned seven or so.

I had stopped counting the days in this place.

Because I felt it was meaningless.

Even if it was a place filled with many stories and incidents. A place that could be called my own memories.

The memories I held alone were as uninteresting and pitiful as could be. I wanted to forget this place.

The memories shackled like chains.

Now they made it so that no one could lose them.

Under the red-stained sky.

The wind blows.

The wind carries a faint scent of blood.

It’s a characteristic of this world.

Nothing seen.

Nothing heard.

Not even the scent that can be smelled.

None of it is normal in this world.

As I caught a whiff of that sinister scent I turned around.

“Well since I’m here I have to do what I must.”

There was a reason I had to come to this world even using Jang Seon-yeon and Cheol Ji-seon.

While I wanted to obtain information I also wanted to kill Jang Seon-yeon.

But that wasn’t the main point.

That was just a process.

The purpose of my arrival was.

To meet the damned tree that had made me stand out in the eyes of the Heavenly Demon in my previous life.

‘You must be watching anyway but you’re not showing up.’

As far as I know this is the world he created.

That’s what he had said directly. Of course it might not be true.

But it’s certain that the tree is watching me now.

If it’s not showing up.

‘Is it telling me to come find it myself?’

It was the same back then.

While watching countless prodigies being devoured by the demonic beasts of this place ending their lives.

In the end I was about to be used as a discard for them and be eaten by the demonic beasts.

That’s when it finally revealed itself.

“You’re not going to show up easily are you?”

Alright let’s see who wins.

We both have plenty of time.

I brushed off the remaining ash.