Childhood Friend of the Zenith

༺ Immortal Healer (4) ༻

Hundreds of people were kneeling inside a large room engulfed in darkness.

In between the martial artists that were wearing uniforms dyed only in black color, a man could be seen slowly walking between them.

Every single one of the demonic humans, who were kneeling in the room, was trembling due to the demonic Qi that leaked out of the man and was thoroughly suppressing them.

However, he was only looking at the front.

The man was only looking at the end of the path he was walking.

｢We are happy that you came back without a hitch.｣

The man’s walking speed gradually turned faster after hearing the calm voice that came from the end of the path.

｢Ughh…｣

｢Aghhhh!｣

The demonic Qi that the man leaked out unconsciously was suppressing everything around him.

｢Oh no, it seems like you are angry.｣

Even then, the person at the end of the path continued to drink his liquor calmly.

The man roared after seeing that figure of his.

｢Are you satisfied now!?｣

The slightest hints of demonic Qi leaked out with those words.

It was due to the rampaging emotions he was feeling right now.

｢What do you mean?｣

After hearing his words, he directed the demonic Qi that scattered all over toward the man at the end of the path, but before the attack could even reach him it ceased to exist.

– Crack.

The man clenched his teeth hard after gazing at the person sitting at the end of the path.

The Heavenly Demon’s power was still protecting that man.

｢Lord, I can’t understand why you are so mad with this small brain of mine.｣

The guy brushed his long hair with his hand.

There was a scar on his cheek that led up to his eye.

｢We were able to conquer Sichuan as planned, while also fending off the Tang Clan in the process.｣

And during that process, the Poison Queen ended her life on her own.

｢There was an unexpected death during the war, but we gained more than we wanted as a result.｣

We were successful in killing the majority of the Orthodox Faction warriors while also taking the head of their leader with the reasoning of them being irresponsible.

But the Demonic Sword died in the process.

｢So what is the problem?｣

His voice which had the faintest traces of a chuckle mixed within itched my ears.

He positioned his fan to cover his mouth.

I forced myself to withstand the headache that was ravaging my head.

｢Lord.｣

He was beckoning me to come toward him.

Zhuge Hyuk.

The only man who wasn’t a demonic human amidst all these demonic bastards.

He was the man that had turned into a key member of the cult with his tongue alone and he was now looking at the man that approached him with a calculative smile.

｢This was what our Lord wanted.｣

｢They say that you can’t cover the sky with your hand, yet you are trying to cover the sun with your mouth?｣

｢I don’t know why you are acting like this, is it because that woman died?｣

– Blaze-!

At those words, seething flames instantly engulfed the room, but they never reached that guy, sitting there with that wretched smile on his face.

｢Aghhhh!｣

｢My body…! I’m burning alive!!｣

The flames soon engulfed the poor demonic humans around him, but the man’s eyes were only aimed at Zhuge Hyuk.

Maybe he found something funny in this situation, as Zhuge Hyuk still had that same smile on his face.

｢Your soldiers are all burning alive, you should calm down.｣

The vicious flames didn’t seem to have weakened down a single bit.

Since the more emotional the man became the more unruly and violent would the flames become with him.

After the war between the demons and the Tang clan, Sichuan had turned into a land that was unsuitable for living, and in the midst of the never-ending poisonous fog, lay the Poison Queen who had taken her own life.

And the Demonic Sword who swung her sword under the faint moonlight, gazed up in the sky to search for that ethereal moon and even closed her eyes under the same sky in the end. Never to open them ever again.

The moon she loved so dearly was nowhere to be seen as it had already been covered by the dark clouds of rain and despair.

Then what was left, in the end?

Nothing…

That was what the word sacrifice meant, and I knew that more than anyone else in this world.

So why am I so angry?

Did I still have a bit of humanity in me even after throwing that title away?

It was pretty ironic at this point.

Slowly, my hand that was reaching for that insufferable guy’s neck went down,

And the chaotic flames that were engulfing the whole room in their wrath had started to die down.

Zhuge Hyuk only giggled as he saw that sight.

｢So you finally calmed yourself, huh…｣

｢Shut your mouth, as I’m trying my best to restrain myself from ripping that mouth of yours.｣

｢I hope that you aren’t mistaken.｣

Zhuge Hyuk’s eyes, which had been closed from the start, opened slightly as he spoke to me.

｢We all came here voluntarily, so your behavior just now doesn’t help us here.｣

｢What are you trying to say?｣

｢Don’t forget that our Lord is still here. That’s all I am trying to say. You only serve our Lord and nothing else.｣

Zhuge Hyuk folded his fan and tapped my shoulders with it.

Looking at Zhuge Hyuk with fierceness rumbling in the depths of my eyes, I clenched my teeth hard and turned around.

In the first place, I had not come to this place to have such a conversation with this fellow.

｢The Lord of Heaven died.｣

His voice reached my ears, however, I chose to walk away, completely ignoring him.

｢The Dishonored Venerable would meet the same fate soon as well.｣

My steps never stopped no matter what he said.

｢The Sword Emperor lost his arm, so Lord Heavenly Demon wouldn’t have to put in any effort either.｣

Continuing my gait, I reached for the doorknob.

｢Then who do you think remains?｣

– Pause

I had no choice but to stop at those last words Zhuge Hyuk voiced with a smile on his face.

I didn’t turn around.

As I was unsure just what kind of expression I was making right now.

｢Think carefully, the lord will definitely leave this up to you.｣

– Shatter

The sound of metal shattering into pieces echoed inside the room.

The doorknob that I had grabbed was shattered due to my grip.

｢I hope you make the right decision, sir.｣

Those words, spoken with an unsettling smile on his face, were dirtying my ears.

After breaking the door open, I made a sound barrier and started screaming out loud.

Having screamed my lungs out, I was able to breathe again.

Standing still for some time, I then started moving once again.

I was able to somewhat fix my previous expression that made me frown anger.

The demonic Qi was still rampaging throughout my body, but I just couldn’t afford to make it noticeable.

Slowly, I walked forward.

My next destination was Henan.

* * * * *

The Heavenly Demon was often discussed as a unique existence that came into existence for the sole purpose of taking the mask off of human faces.

But even it was a human.

No matter how strong they were, the demonic cult that was formed by the Heavenly Demon was still a group.

However, it was evident that the group wasn’t a normal one as most of the members had gone mad or had become a raving lunatic after transforming into a demon.

And, even such a crazy group of disoriented individuals were able to conquer the regions of the Martial World thanks to one man.

Even the region that had been known for inhabiting the greatest clan of the world had been erased due to the machinations of the demonic cult.

While the Murim Alliance, renowned as the very heart of the Orthodox Factions, had been destroyed due to the very same man.

Zhuge Hyuk, the brains of the demonic cult, was the name of that man. He was often referred to as the ears and mouth of the Heavenly Demon.

That devilish man was the person I had been so desperately searching for since my regression.

The man that was so hard to find that it made me nervous and think that I would never be able to find him on time… was now standing right in front of me.

“Why are you here?”

Not being able to control my surging emotions, I spoke with slight anger in my voice.

He looked a bit younger than me in age. He had an unusual set of hair on his head one side of his head had black hair while the other was covered with white hair.

His bangs were covering almost half of his face, so I had to part them to the sides with my hand.

“…?”

The scar that I had seen… the scar covered half of his face… there were no scars like that on him right now.

Hmm, maybe he hasn’t gotten that yet.

“You…”

I called out to him in a low voice.

There was no response, only his gaze that kept staring at me in silence.

Even after a while, there was no response coming from him.

Is he ignoring me?

Thinking like that, I wasn’t able to hold in my anger anymore.

The wrath that sprouted from the very core of my body…

Rage that I had been suppressing for some time already had now reached to the top of my head.

‘Oh, maybe I should just kill him now?’

The first thought that came to mind.

I already had the intention of killing him, so there really was no need to hesita—

｢Hey-!｣

“…!”

The sudden shout coming from Elder Shin woke me up from my daze.

｢What the hell are you doing!? Let him go!｣

Let go? Let go of what?

Thinking like that, as I belatedly gazed at my hand, I was shocked to see that I was actually grabbing the boy’s neck.

‘…When?’

What was I trying to do just now?

I felt ominous.

I understand that I was feeling quite emotional and this body was young and prone to emotions, but to act rashly without even thinking about the consequences of my actions like that?

Something was definitely weird here.

I was infuriated, I agree, but for me to lose control like that…

‘…It’s.’

It’s as if I was being controlled by—

“What are you doing!?”

Along with the sudden emergence of someone’s shout, I was quite literally pushed away from the boy which made me fall down on the ground.

After rolling on the grass field for some time, I struggled to get up on my feet.

“…What are you doing after appearing out of nowhere so randomly?”

A voice filled with unbridled anger entered my ears.

When I looked toward the origin of that voice, I was greeted with the sight of the uniform of the Mount Hua Sect.

She had a head full of short hair that barely reached down to her shoulders and a face that was similar to the facial features of the member of the Gu Clan.

However, her face was not quite as sharp as my other siblings; probably because her face resembled more to the other parent that didn’t belong to the Gu Clan.

It had been a while since I had seen my little sister.

Although I had never expected to see her in this current circumstance.

Gu Ryunghwa shouted with anger as she looked at my face.

“It’s already hard enough for me to just see and tolerate that wretched face of yours, why are you making this more difficult for me!”

“What are you—”

“What were you trying to do to a kid that can’t even speak? Did you do that because you thought that doing that would make me suffer as he seemed to be someone important to me?”

“What?”

“Even after coming all the way here, you…”

What did Gu Ryunghwa just say?

He can’t speak…?

I looked at Zhuge Hyuk with a shocked expression on my face.

He still had those emotionless eyes of his.

Even when a guy he didn’t even know had started grabbing his neck with a firm grip all of a sudden, he only lightly resisted, not changing that emotionless expression of his for even a second.

‘He can’t speak?’

My head was puzzled after hearing that this kid, who I had believed to be Zhuge Hyuk, was actually a disabled person.

…Is it, not him?

He didn’t have that grotesque scar nor was he able to speak…

The only thing that matched the description was the age gap and that unusual hair of his.

Although that could just be a coincidence…

For some reason, I was still sure of that fact,

That the boy that was sitting there with that eerie gaze was Zhuge Hyuk.

｢Organize your thoughts first.｣

I took a deep breath after hearing Elder Shin’s words.

As soon as I exited the sect leader’s residence, Elder Shin appeared once more, telling me that not being able to speak was really frustrating for him.

Whether that happened due to the location itself or maybe the power of Celestial of Plum Blossom was something that I wasn’t sure about.

I didn’t have the time to find out about it anyways.

Since, as soon as Celestial Plum Blossom came out of his residence, he ordered some of his men to help my entourage in finding a shelter and immediately started to run off somewhere.

And since I was told to follow, I had no choice but to run along with him.

‘…And what is this.’

In a place that was located a bit away from Mount Hua,

There lay an old hut in the middle of a beautiful forest.

And there was also Zhuge Hyuk in this place.

Moreover, Gu Ryunghwa, who I hadn’t seen in a while, was also in this place but I suddenly went to the kid while ignoring her as if I was possessed.

Elder Shin asked.

｢You know this child?｣

‘…’

｢To say no, wouldn’t explain how this beast has suddenly started rampaging wilder than ever before after you saw that child.｣

I didn’t even use my Qi, so just what happened for it to rampage like that?

After finally calming myself down, I saw the Celestial Plum Blossom come toward me.

“It seems like you two were closer than I thought.”

That really came out of nowhere.

“What do you mean…?”

“Were you not angry because your little sister was with some other boy?”

“…Pardon?”

Just what kind of nonsense is he spouting?

The Celestial Plum Blossom was really blooming flowers in his head, wasn’t he? He really lived up to his title.

Gu Ryunghwa started making a face full of disgust as she heard his words.

She glanced at Zhuge Hyuk and then me and felt goosebumps trailing all over skin.

She even looked like she wanted to scream her lungs out in disgust, but she was trying her best to hold it in as she was in the presence of the leader of the Mount Hua Sect.

– Creaaak

The door to the hut slowly opened.

The person coming out of the building was an elderly man with a head full of white hair.

Who is that…?

｢Doesn’t look like a martial artist to me.｣

That was what I thought as well.

Judging by his physique, he didn’t seem like a martial artist.

But I told myself that I couldn’t just judge someone by their physique as even the Sword Emperor had a similar physique to the elderly man I was gazing at right now.

The elderly man looked around and spoke.

“Why are you all causing a hassle in front of someone’s property!”

The Celestial Plum Blossom smiled at the elderly man’s words.

“Tae! I’m here!”

He frowned hard after hearing the Celestial Plum Blossom’s words.

“You fucker… You appear now when you were the one that kept a busy man like me in the middle of a mountain like this!?”

To call the Lord of Mount Hua like that…

However, it seemed that Celestial Plum Blossom didn’t mind after being cursed like that.

Then he suddenly pointed toward me and spoke.

“Please take a look at this kid, Tae!”

The elderly man then looked at me.

He seemed like he was not willing to do that, so I just stood still without knowing what to do now.

After gazing at me for some time, the elderly man shouted at the Celestial Plum Blossom.

“There is nothing to see here, screw off!”

– Slam!

After the door of the hut slammed shut like that,

I couldn’t help but ask the Celestial Plum Blossom.

“Who is that man…?”

While combing through his beard with his hands, the Celestial Plum Blossom spoke in an awkward tone.

“It’s just a healer I know, but he seems to be more sensitive than usual.”

“…Oh, I see.”

“Here, let’s go inside first.”

“Huh? But that man told us to screw off—”

The Celestial Plum Blossom just laughed at my words.

“He told us to screw off but didn’t tell us not to come in, so it should be fine.”

“Isn’t that basically the same thing?”

Whether he didn’t hear me or just chose to ignore me was something that I didn’t know, but he simply opened the door and entered the hut.

-Tae!

-Hey, you… piece of shit…!

I didn’t know what to think after hearing the screams and shouts that leaked out of the hut.

For some reason, I was able to see the visage of the Second Elder within this extremely respected Taoist of the Mount Hua Sect.

Now I understand why they are friends…