Childhood Friend of the Zenith

༺ Pieces (2) ༻

‘What the hell is he talking about?’

I couldn’t understand.

What did he even mean when he said that the Blood Demon is dreaming of resurrection?

‘So…is the Blood Demon alive or not?’

I didn’t know what kind of an individual the Blood Demon was nor did I know his martial level, but as far as I knew, it was impossible for a human to live hundreds of years even if they had reached an extremely high martial realm.

It was possible for one to become young again, but still there was a limit to that.

Also by looking at the fact that so many martial masters chose to keep their elderly appearance, it seemed that choosing to regain your youth probably makes you lose more than you gain.

This made even more sense as the process of changing one’s appearance to a younger one, didn’t necessarily mean that they would live longer.

‘And more than anything,’

I didn’t know anything about the Blood Demon.

That was the biggest problem.

I had never heard about the Blood Demon in my past life.

And judging by how he said the word ‘resurrection’, that would mean that the Blood Demon wasn’t alive right now.

I was basically forced to learn about the Blood Disaster that had happened generations ago because of how big of an incident it was, but I never once heard anything about the Blood Demon resurrecting in the future.

‘So does that mean even if it had dreamt of resurrection, it’s something that will happen much later in the future?’

Then is that something I don’t have to care about?

[…Resurrection…]

Elder Shin’s voice trembled from shock.

[How…? I heard its breath stop, so how can it even think about resurrecting?]

It was contradictory.

The Light of Might said that the Blood Demon had stopped breathing at their last battle, but now he’s saying that it was dreaming of resurrection.

[Shincheol.]

The Light of Might, Cheolyoung, spoke.

[The Blood Demon wasn’t something that could be killed.]

[What…?]

[Although you may not remember because you have lost your memories.]

[Cheolyoung, will you really continue to say incomprehensible things?]

My dantian suddenly flinched, it felt like something huge was moving inside my body.

This was Elder Shin’s existence.

And just by feeling the presence that moved along with Elder Shin’s emotions, I was truly able to know how strong Elder Shin was.

‘…So I’d really prefer it if you go easy on my body.’

Thanks to him, I felt like I was going to die trying to endure it.

I was feeling glad that Elder Shin had come back, but this was rather hard to endure.

Ignoring Elder Shin’s frustration, Cheolyoung continued.

[My response to you will remain the same, Shincheol.]

[Cheolyoung!]

[I have many things I want to say, but I’m unable to do so.]

[…]

Grrr.

A dragon let out a breath inside of my dantian.

I assumed that meant he was about to explode any moment now.

In the midst of trying to calm down the energy inside me with my Qi, I was able to realize that Elder Shin had been keeping the Taoist Qi and other energies inside of me, in control for this whole time.

‘…I might be a little thankful for that.’

At first, I had thought that it was just him paying rent for living inside my body, but I didn’t understand how hard it was, so he deserved my gratitude.

[You are not able to tell me anything, you say huh? Are you being serious right now!]

The fish’s movement slowly weakened.

His whiskers lost strength and his scales seemed to have lost its colors a bit.

No elegance could be felt from it, compared to the first time I had seen the fish.

[Shincheol.]

[…Speak.]

[This is the decision we made.]

[We? Did you just say we?]

[Yes, we.]

Judging by Cheolyoung’s words,

I would assume that ‘we’ meant the Five Masters.

The masters that protected the world by stopping the Blood Demon.

[It’s something you had also agreed upon.]

Elder Shin was stunned for a moment Cheolyoung’s words.

[I agreed to it, you say?]

[You did. This was even something you were more adamant about than the others.]

Elder Shin, after a brief moment of silence, spoke with a faint voice.

[I… I don’t remember anything.]

[Yes, which is more so the reason why I can’t say anything.]

Cheolyoung continued in a lamenting tone.

[Hah, the heavens have abandoned us, Shincheol. And you right now, is the proof of that.]

His tone sounded way too apathetic for it to come from the almighty Cheolyoung himself.

‘Is he really the Light of Might himself?’

It was to the point that I even started to doubt his identity. Well, he had the appearance of a fish, and the only thing backing up the fact that he was the Light of Might, was the way Elder Shin talked to him.

And it seemed like Elder Shin also noticed that something was strange about him.

[You aren’t the type to say such words.]

[The ever shifting sands of time changes our perspective.]

[And it changed even you, the one who used to be called the Unyielding Rock of Shaolin?]

[Multiple centuries have gone by since then.]

Cheolyoung’s voice sounded very exhausted.

[I was left here, alone, and had to endure for all those years. Do you know why I did that?]

The white fish then started to swim.

It swam as if it was trying to draw a circle.

[It was because of hope.]

I felt eagerness from him.

‘Hope huh.’

I wondered what that hope was for.

A person like me wouldn’t understand.

However, Elder Shin seemed to know something,

He waited for Cheolyoung to speak.

Despite the fact that I could feel his rage boil inside my body, he waited.

[You were like an ember that could be put out with even a slight gust of wind, yet you were also hope, one that could burn forever, rekindling again and again. You were hope to all of us.]

Elder Shin responded with an absurd expression.

[Me? Not Il-Cheon?]

[You said the exact same thing at the last moment. That it should be Il-Cheon, and not yourself.]

It seemed like Elder Shin didn’t remember anything about that either.

The lost memories. What was held inside those memories for Cheolyoung and Elder Shin to be left in today’s world?

And the Il-Cheon the two mentioned was someone even I knew despite me having zero interest in the history of the world.

The Iron Fist, Yeon Il-Cheon.

He was the Zenith of his generation, and he was also the one responsible for the power I had received in Sichuan.

He was a great martial artist who had left his name onto this land despite a long time passing.

[But, I failed?]

[…]

Cheolyoung didn’t respond.

No, it felt like he couldn’t.

Elder Shin, who couldn’t bear the silence, asked a different question.

[The reason you and I ended up like this. You’re saying that it’s all our fault?]

[…]

[Haa…You can’t even tell me how we ended up in this state…]

[Shincheol.]

[Please tell me Cheolyoung… The reason I was left on this land.]

Elder Shin’s desperation could be felt, but Cheolyoung’s reaction remained the same.

He only continued to swim around the lake.

To that, Elder Shin let out a sigh.

‘Is the reason he can’t say anything because of a prohibition?’

It meant that the prohibition on him was being maintained, despite him having an appearance of a fish, or the fact that his spirit was possessing the fish.

If Cheolyoung wasn’t lying, that is.

I thought about how it was even possible for him to be prohibited from speaking like that.

But because I had experienced so many things that had broken logic, I started to think that it was possible.

To the Elder Shin struggling with complicated thoughts, Cheolyoung asked while swimming around.

[It seems like it’s my turn now to ask you some questions, so, how did you end up with that boy?]

I flinched after hearing Cheolyoung’s question.

[The energy inside the child’s body, it definitely feels like yours.]

[Yes, it is indeed mine.]

The one surprised by those words was me.

I did think that the Taoist Qi inside my body was the energy of Mount Hua, but was it Elder Shin’s energy?

[He doesn’t even seem like a child from Mount Hua, so why are you living inside of him?]

Elder Shin couldn’t say anything to Cheolyoung.

It was because of the many things that had happened.

I mean, how could he even tell him?

Putting aside the fact that Elder Shin was originally sealed inside Mount Hua’s treasure, he would have to tell him that the treasure was taken away due to the current Sect Leader of Mount Hua losing a drinking bet.

Thus Elder Shin couldn’t respond in the end. It seemed like he didn’t want to tell something so embarrassing to his old friend.

[…It just turned out to be this way.]

Cheolyoung didn’t press on Elder Shin any further after hearing his response.

However, he asked something different.

And that question was aimed towards me.

[Child.]

“Huh?… Yes.”

I was surprised because he had suddenly called me.

[I apologize. I thought you were that old idiot just by seeing your martial realm.]

The apology felt quite late, but I nodded anyway.

“…No problem. It was completely understandable.”

I had spoken informally to Cheolyoung earlier, but I now had to show respect.

[I’m thankful that you say that, but child, if I’m not mistaken, you seem to be used to this kind of situation.]

The fact that everything around me had stopped, and the fact that a fish was speaking.

And even the fact that the fish was the great hero of Shaolin, the Light of Might.

[Child, are you Shincheol’s student?]

I couldn’t easily answer Cheolyoung’s question.

It was really hard for me to say that I wasn’t.

There were definitely many things I had learnt from Elder Shin and those were things that I couldn’t have easily gotten without him.

However, it felt a bit lacking for me to be called his student just because of that.

[Stop talking nonsense Cheolyoung.]

So Elder Shin responded in my place.

[I don’t take any students. That’s the promise I made.]

[Your dogshit stubbornness remained the same as ever, even after death huh.]

[Dogshit!! Do you think that you’re any different?]

[Everyone under the name of Shaolin, are my children.]

[You speak as if I have turned against Mount Hua or something.]

Why are these two old men fighting all of sudden?

Just earlier, they were talking about a heavy topic, but now they are fighting as if they were children.

[Anyway.]

[What do you mean anyway you baldhead.]

[…It seems like this child’s talent has reached the sky’s limit. Hmm… It doesn’t seem like you went through the process of changing your age, but for a child to overcome the wall at such a young age. This is just like…]

Cheolyoung dimmed his words at the end.

I was just about to get curious about what he was going to say too.

[Were you going to say that he’s just like Il-Cheon?]

Elder Shin spoke in the place of Cheolyoung.

Cheolyoung then let out a bitter laughter after hearing him.

[You really had to fill in the blanks when I was just trying to pretend that I never said a thing.]

[It’s obvious since the only one that could be compared to him, is that bastard.]

The Iron Fist had that great of a talent?

I wasn’t trying to say that I was great, because it was a special case for me to be this way.

But for someone to reach the level I was at, at the same age was impossible unless they also went through a regression like I did.

‘Unless it’s someone like the Dragon Warrior.’

He too, was a special case, one different from mine.

As I was having miscellaneous thoughts…

-You don’t need to think too hard about it. It’s obvious that he is mistaken.

I suddenly heard Elder Shin’s voice.

However, it somehow felt a bit different.

Almost as if his voice sounds a little different?

-That old bastard can’t hear us right now.

As I became confused as to what was going on, Elder Shin explained it to me.

‘You knew how to do something like this…?’

-Well, it’s not that hard.

It does sound hard, though.

‘But, what did you mean by that he’s mistaken?’

-Well, how would he not be, when the situation is so different from what it is supposed to look like.

‘What?’

My eyes widened at Elder Shin’s words.

“What did you just say?”

I couldn’t help but ask him again.

Because it made no sense at all.

It was something that I couldn’t believe,

But Elder Shin still gave me the same response.

-That Il-Cheon bastard, he, like you, had traveled through time.

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