Childhood Friend of the Zenith – 559 (Part 1)



559 (Part 1)

**Chapter 560: The Master**

The morning after five days had passed.

People were gathered around murmuring.

Most of them were wearing light blue martial arts uniforms symbolizing the shamans and they were encircling something as if to confirm it.

Surprisingly what they were surrounding was a corpse.

The corpse belonged to a promising candidate to lead the shamans in the future.

It was the body of Ji-cheol the Sword Dragon.

The cold lifeless body of Ji-cheol was being silently looked down upon by Woo-baek the Master of the Heavenly Sword.

Ji-cheol’s body was pierced through the neck by a sword and he lay dead.

Blood soaked the ground beneath him.

Next to him was a letter that appeared to be a suicide note.

The content expressed that he could no longer bear the shamans’ narrow-minded actions feeling guilty about his conscience.

With a crunch.

Woo-baek clenched his fist tightly as he confirmed this.

Then.

Huuuuuk-!

A massive energy erupted from Woo-baek’s body.

Despite his aged wrinkled physique and withered form.

True to the name of a master from the Central Plains Woo-baek’s power was formidable.

The surrounding objects trembled violently.

“Grrr…”

“Huuh…”

The shamans clutched their chests and staggered.

In that moment Woo-baek opened his mouth with fierce eyes.

“When did you find the child?”

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“It was just after the hour of the tiger Elder.”

“…The hour of the tiger.”

It was not long after the time he had instructed them to proceed with the task.

With a snap.

Woo-baek bit down hard on his thoughts.

Was it because Ji-cheol had committed suicide out of disappointment in the shamans? No it wasn’t.

‘Whose doing is this?’

Woo-baek did not believe that Ji-cheol had taken his own life.

There was no way that could be true.

It had to be something else.

‘The shaman’s precious item has disappeared.’

The precious item of the shamans had vanished.

While the third-generation disciples and some second-generation disciples thought that the Wind and Cloud Ghost had handled the matter Woo-baek did not share that view.

Moreover the first-generation disciples and Elder-level figures including Woo-baek did not see it that way either.

From the beginning.

‘There is no Wind and Cloud Ghost.’

The very existence of the Wind and Cloud Ghost that had promised to appear was a lie.

In such a situation Ji-cheol had suddenly died.

Moreover it was Ji-cheol who was supposed to play the role of the Wind and Cloud Ghost that night.

This meant that it was the act of someone.

‘Who is it?’

Woo-baek thought with a chilling gaze.

Who dared to commit such an act within the shamans?

Even more so without leaving a trace.

‘Not only the handwriting of the letter but even the slightest trace of someone’s hand is absent.’

It was as if Ji-cheol had truly written it himself and then beheaded himself in a clean manner.

It was unbelievable.

Who could commit such an act?

Perhaps….

‘Could it really be the Wind and Cloud Ghost?’

For a moment that thought crossed his mind but Woo-baek quickly dismissed it.

That was also unlikely.

It had been decades since then.

The probability of a person who had not appeared even once during that time showing up for such an event was extremely low.

Moreover the Wind and Cloud Ghost had never killed a single person while committing theft.

Thus it had to be excluded from the list of suspects.

‘Then who could it be?’

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Woo-baek exhaled a rough breath as he pondered.

He showed signs of deep contemplation.

But it wasn’t something to dwell on for long.

If it wasn’t the Wind and Cloud Ghost there were only a few options left.

‘If it’s an incident that occurred within the shamans and it’s not the shamans themselves…’

In any case there was only one option at most two.

“…I must go meet the guests.”

Woo-baek said this and turned his back after instructing them to handle the corpse.

It was chillingly cold.

The cold lifeless eyes seemed as if they would bring down a snowstorm.

However.

In those eyes at least.

There was no sign of mourning for the death of a martial artist of the shamans.

Not even a little.

******************

Amidst the bustling atmosphere I was sipping tea in my quarters.

“Hmm.”

I swallowed a sip and savored it sweetly.

“It tastes disgustingly bad….”

And then I just set it down.

Indeed I didn’t know what flavor tea was supposed to have.

I let out a huff and cleared the tea away.

In front of me Seong-yul was silently drinking tea.

Seeing that I couldn’t help but chuckle.

“Is it good?”

“…I don’t know.”

“Right.”

He had a genuine expression of not knowing.

Seeing that expression I spoke up.

“Just say it.”

“…Yes?”

Seong-yul looked puzzled at my sudden words. I continued.

“You have something you want to ask right?”

“How did you…?”

“Your eyes say so.”

“…”

His eyes were full of questions that anyone could see.

I was annoyed by his hesitance so I asked first.

“…That is.”

Then Seong-yul opened his mouth with a hesitant look in his eyes.

“Previously when I dueled with Master Geom-ryong… there’s something I don’t understand.”

“Back then? Why is that?”

“How… did you block it?”

I tilted my head at Seong-yul’s words.

What did he mean by blocking something?

“Your killing intent. You blocked it didn’t you?”

“Ah.”

Is that what he was talking about?

He was asking about the time when I controlled Seong-yul’s killing intent when he was about to kill Yeong-pung because he couldn’t control the Heavenly Killing Technique.

Was he that curious? Seong-yul’s eyes were particularly intense with interest.

No rather than interest.

‘Hope perhaps.’

That was the feeling I got.

‘What if I ask how I did it?’

I had no particular way to explain it.

“I just told you not to do it.”

“…”

That was really it.

Telling him not to do it. That was all I had done with Seong-yul.

However.

‘It’s just that it’s hard to explain but it’s not that there’s no method.’

I had just used a slightly special method.

This wasn’t martial arts. It wasn’t using qi or demonic qi either.

I simply gave a ‘command.’

That command was just a bit special.

What this meant was.

‘The advantage gained after the detachment.’

Physical growth and changes in the qi center.

Including the expansion of my capacity. It was another change embedded in my body.

The Dark King referred to this as the power of a dragon.

‘Power huh.’

Just hearing the word sounds impressive.

In reality it was indeed remarkable.

At least the power of righteousness that the Dark King explained to me had such value.

The Dark King cursed by the blood of the dragon did not possess the strength of a dragon.

However he had an immortal body that could not die by his own will and the powers used by dragons.

Here the power referred to was not the use of a specific energy but simply the strength that could be used because he was a dragon.

‘The darkness that the Dark King used that was called power.’

Creating an unknown black veil.

The power to trap someone in darkness and bring them back to life no matter how many times they died.

It was a power that suited the Dark King perfectly.

‘Perhaps that’s why he’s called the Dark King possessing such powers.’

Whatever it was the power of a dragon was that exceptional.

Just because it was such an existence it possessed such strength.

It was truly an unfair and absurd power.

Such absurd power.

Also existed within me who had become a dragon.

The problem was.

‘…Why do I have such an amazing power yet I don’t know why it’s like this.’

Playing with darkness.

The power of the Dark King who had been cursed and turned into a half-dragon was so magnificent and outstanding.

Yet my power was pitiful in comparison.

‘What is the Dragon Speech?’

That was my power.

Simply speaking.

Making what I said a little easier to hear.

That was the power of the Dragon Speech I possessed.

It was truly absurd.

“…At least I won’t lose in a verbal fight.”

“Excuse me?”

“Nothing.”

It was funny to have such a thing as a power.

But it wasn’t a power that worked universally either.

To a certain extent it wouldn’t work on people of a higher level so it felt ambiguous to use.

At the very least.

In the presence of demonic qi the power of the Dragon Speech was meaningless.

If I turned someone into a demonic practitioner they would listen well anyway so what was the point of this?

‘It’s just not different from alleviating my guilt.’

The guilt I felt when corrupting others.

It could be seen as a power to alleviate that guilt.

‘How ridiculous if they’re not someone I want to kill I won’t even use them as a demonic practitioner.’

Unless they were someone worth killing I wouldn’t turn them into a demonic practitioner.

That was my principle.

‘But it doesn’t seem entirely useless either.’

Thinking that I looked at Seong-yul in front of me.

‘It worked. Definitely back then.’

Seong-yul who was about to kill Yeong-pung while unleashing the Heavenly Killing Technique.

At that time I had used the Dragon Speech on him.

When I spoke with power Seong-yul momentarily released his killing intent.

Seeing that.

‘Could the Dragon Speech control the Heavenly Killing Technique?’

I thought that might be the case.

That was the reason I hadn’t turned Seong-yul into a demonic practitioner.

Such doubts lingered for a moment.

‘I need to confirm it for sure.’

I would definitely check whether it worked or not.

If I determined that it wouldn’t work then I would turn him into a demonic practitioner at that time.

That was my thought.

‘If it were originally I would have done it by now.’

There was also an experiment to see if I could control the Heavenly Killing Technique.

However there was another reason I was reluctant to turn Seong-yul into a demonic practitioner.

‘If only he wasn’t related to Cheong Hae-il-gyeom.’

If he had no connection to that deceased person I would have turned him into a demonic practitioner long ago.

It was a somewhat bothersome situation.

—Please find peace.

The face of the old righteous man who worried about my peace came to mind.

The only reason I hesitated to look at Seong-yul was that one thing.

Whether he knew it or not Seong-yul looked at me and asked.

“Um… Master.”

“What is it?”

“May I ask you another thing?”

“What is it?”

What else was left?

Indeed there were many things to ask.

‘What he will do with himself. Where he will go now. What he will do etc.’

It was rather strange that Seong-yul hadn’t asked anything and was just following me.

Just as I thought he would start asking such things.

“I wanted to ask how the shamans came to call themselves the Wind and Cloud Ghost.”

“…!”

I widened my eyes at the completely unexpected question.

When I looked at him with a startled expression Seong-yul was staring at me with his characteristic yellow eyes.

“How… did you know?”

How on earth did he know? I asked filled with surprise and curiosity.