Childhood Friend of the Zenith

༺ Heavenly Eye (1) ༻

Countless tales of the Heavenly Eye were spread throughout the Central Plains.

The Chief Abbot of Shaolin foresaw numerous impending calamities, all of which unfolded exactly as he had predicted.

Not only did he predict the emergence of the True Gate of Demons in the Central Plains, but various other disasters were also averted, thanks to the Heavenly Eye’s prediction.

As his achievements piled up after one another, he garnered admiration not only from the general populace but also from the Murim Alliance.

‘It’s not like there is just one Heavenly Eye.’

When considering the Heavenly Eye title, it bore resemblance to the Five Dragons and Three-… No, it was similar to the Heavenly Dragon title, which became the sixth dragon.

And the position of Shaolin’s Chief Abbot was exclusively bestowed upon those possessing the Heavenly Eyes.

Including the current Chief Abbot, of course,

And the previous and the previous, previous Chief Abbot.

They were all able to become Shaolin’s Chief Abbot because they possessed the Heavenly Eyes.

Numerous speculations circulated regarding the mysterious process of inheriting the Heavenly Eye.

Some rumors suggested that upon the death of the current possessor, the power was passed on to another chosen member of Shaolin.

Alternatively, whispers persisted that the Chief Abbot could directly transfer this power to a designated individual just before their death.

But in the end, no one was able to know since it was top secret of Shaolin and that wasn’t what was important right now anyway.

What’s important was that a man with such formidable power was looking for me for some reason.

‘I wonder why.’

He only looked for me, so he must want something from me.

But I wondered what that was.

‘Maybe it’s about the book?’

The book I picked up yesterday with Shaolin’s martial arts in it.

I wondered if I was getting called because of that, but deep down, I didn’t think the Chief Abbot would call me just for that.

‘Is there any excuse I could use to feign innocence?’

I had none for now.

It was hard for me to just say I came here for a tour, especially when the Chief Abbot himself said he wanted to see me.

‘Tsk.’

In the end, I realized there was no way around it, so I informed everyone around me.

“Go on without me, I’ve got something to take care of.”

Tang Soyeol made a dissatisfied expression after hearing my words, but she also couldn’t argue much since the person who approached me was a high-ranking member of the Central Plains.

“You too, leave without me.”

“Oough… Can I not come with you?”

“No.”

After strictly telling her no, Wi Seol-Ah pouted her lips, but I couldn’t do anything about it.

“Take her with you and go down without me.”

After telling Hongwa, she immediately pulled Wi Seol-Ah away from me.

“You don’t have to wait for me and could just leave.”

Not knowing how long this would take, I told them all to leave including Namgung Bi-ah.

As such, Namgung Bi-ah, too, was about to leave without a word, but the Mighty Staff spoke up.

“The Chief Abbot said that he also wants to see Lady Namgung.”

After hearing him, Namgung Bi-ah tilted her head. It seemed like she didn’t expect to be summoned as well.

“…Lady Namgung as well?”

The Mighty Staff nodded to my question.

‘Namgung Bi-ah too?’

Hearing this, I couldn’t help but furrow my brow.

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

The Heavenly Eye, Chinyoung.

He served as the 23rd Chief Abbot of Shaolin and was a nominee for the Alliance Leader of Murim Alliance, alongside the Harmonic Sword and the Celestial Plum Blossom.

Despite being the weakest in martial arts, he wielded more influence than others.

It made sense.

After all, the Shaolin’s Chief Abbot was the one predicting the disasters of the Central Plains.

While his martial arts might not be top-notch, his significant sway over the Central Plains and the Orthodox Faction justified his standing.

Even though, in the end, the Alliance Leader spot was taken by the Harmonic Sword.

“I apologize for calling you here so abruptly.”

A skinny old man sat across from me.

He had a long white beard and many discolored spots on his face that showed his age.

And he had a rather slender physique for a martial artist.

Despite the Ten Sect Alliance boasting numerous martial artists, the old man, who happened to be the influential Chief Abbot of Shaolin, appeared surprisingly feeble.

“It’s not a problem.”

I hid my inner thoughts.

Just because he seemed physically weak didn’t mean I could let my guard down.

“I’m actually grateful that you called me this way. It is an honor for someone like me.”

[That guy is the Chief Abbot, you say…?]

Elder Shin let out a dumbfounded reaction, clearly not expecting this.

‘He does seem a little off to be a Chief Abbot.’

[A bit, you say?]

He did look weak on the outside, but considering how the Sword Venerable looked similar, it was possible that the Shaolin’s Chief Abbot was also hiding something.

I lacked detailed information about that man.

I never met him in my past life. Furthermore, the Chief Abbot died and someone else assumed the role a few years later.

The Chief Abbot looked at me and smiled lightly.

“You are very similar to the Tiger Warrior.”

He first started by talking about Father.

I didn’t expect that the Chief Abbot would talk about my father.

“I should start by congratulating you. I heard you did well in the tournament.”

“Thank you.”

“The True Dragon, hmm… Now that I see you in person, I can’t help but think that the title fits you perfectly.”

I wasn’t sure what he saw with his eyes closed, but it wasn’t the strangest thing to think about, considering his title.

Sip-

A sound came from beside me.

It was Namgung Bi-ah sipping tea, but it sounded rather loud in this vast room.

So I immediately nudged Namgung Bi-ah with my elbow.

“Hmm…?”

Namgung Bi-ah looked at me, confused about why I did that.

I wanted her to be more aware, but the Chief Abbot spoke, stopping me.

“Hehe… No need for that, I’m the one who suddenly called you here, so please make yourself at home.”

“…Thank you for understanding.”

“I should be the one thanking you, You came here despite my sudden call.”

The room was large and empty.

It was so large that it echoed every time someone spoke.

I quenched my thirst by sipping on tea a few times and while doing that, I thought to myself.

‘I don’t think he called me here for the book.’

Despite being called the Heavenly Eye, it seemed like he couldn’t see everything.

As I managed my expressions and remained constantly aware of Namgung Bi-ah beside me, the Chief Abbot spoke once again.

“Today, you might be wondering why I called you here so suddenly.”

After hearing him, I looked at the Chief Abbot.

“Is it possible that you heard the term ‘Meteor’ from your father?”

My eyes widened slightly at his words.

It was because it was a word that I heard from somewhere.

Not from Father though,

‘The King of Swords.’

The father of Namgung Cheonjun and Namgung Bi-ah, who was currently being called the King of Swords in the current era.

It was a term I had heard from Namgung Jin.

I glanced at Namgung Bi-ah for a moment, but she only continued to sip her tea, appearing clueless.

“I did hear it.”

I first responded. I concluded that it’d be better for me to be honest here.

“How much of it did you hear?”

“I just heard that it exists.”

The Chief Abbot chuckled at my response.

“I expected that the Tiger Warrior wouldn’t tell his children, so that’s unexpected.”

He expected that Father wouldn’t tell me…?

I wondered why he thought that way.

“The reason I called you here is because I want you to join the Meteor.”

“…The Meteor, you say.”

My eyes became sharper at the Chief Abbot’s offer.

Meteor. It was a strange name that I didn’t know the meaning of.

I couldn’t readily accept it without knowing its meaning, but I couldn’t find the meaning of the name either.

I quickly composed my expression.

“First, I’d like to thank you.”

“Hmm?”

“You probably suggested this offer because you see me in a good light.”

The Chief Abbot nodded to my words.

Was he smiling? Because of his long eyebrows and beard, I couldn’t really see his eyes and mouth clearly.

“However, I’d like to ask something first.”

“Do ask comfortably.”

“I want to ask what this Meteor is.”

I never heard about this in my past life.

Of course, I learned many new things that I never got to learn in this life, but dealing with the unknown was still challenging.

‘It’s not easy to handle.’

It’d be a different story if it was just one or two, but there were way too many and their scale was considerable as well.

It was to the point that I found myself questioning how I had lived without knowing something so significant.

“…That’s something we cannot- “

The Mighty Staff, standing in the back, started to respond on behalf of the Chief Abbot, but the Heavenly Eye raised his hand to stop him mid-sentence.

“Chief Abbot…?”

At the same time as he stopped him, the Chief Abbot spoke to us.

“The Meteor is a small group created by the Murim Alliance to prepare for the disaster that would soon befall the Central Plains.”

The Mighty Staff put on a shocked expression after hearing the Chief Abbot.

It surprised me to see someone with such a stoic demeanor display such a reaction, emphasizing the extreme secrecy surrounding the matter.

I contemplated the Chief Abbot’s words.

‘A disaster. huh?’

This part was a bit shocking.

The disaster that would soon happen couldn’t really be compared to the disasters that happened before since they were pretty small in comparison.

But even so, if the Chief Abbot was referring to the Heavenly Demon in this upcoming disaster…

‘That meant they prepared for that?’

It meant that the Murim Alliance knew the Heavenly Demon was coming and was actively preparing for it…

‘…But what were they going to do about it?’

They might have prepared for it, but the result wasn’t good at all.

But the important thing was that they were preparing for it.

“A disaster…”

“I don’t know how many years we have, but a disaster will come down upon us not too long in the future.”

These words came from the Heavenly Eye himself.

Just the fact that it came out of the Heavenly Eye’s mouth meant that his words held substantial weight.

So I nervously gulped, or at least pretended to… and asked the Chief Abbot.

“…I’m wondering why you are trying to put us in such an important group.”

My, or more accurately, our good performance in this year’s tournament, while commendable, did not necessarily indicate that we were fully developed martial artists.

It puzzled me why the Chief Abbot himself sought to include us in a group dedicated to averting disaster.

The Chief Abbot responded as if anticipating my question.

“More than the accomplished martial artists in the Central Plains right now, I see more importance in the potentials within stars like you.”

‘Potential?’

He mentioned it would be a few years, making me briefly consider that he might be training the young prodigies beforehand, but the Chief Abbot definitely knew that something like that couldn’t be done in just a few years’ time.

It was hard for the young prodigies to reach the level of the hundred masters of the Central Plains just by training for a few years.

‘So that means there is a different reason.’

It struck me as odd that I wasn’t aware of such a group, especially given its purpose of preventing the disaster of the Heavenly Demon.

“The Meteor is a place that could offer you many more things.”

When he mentioned “many more things,” was he referring to rare herbs or something similar?

“If you want, I could help you see a bigger world.”

A bigger world. I started to ask the Chief Abbot as if I was charmed by this one phrase.

“…Is it possible that the New Star is also included in this Meteor group?”

The New Star was a title that was given to Jang Seonyeon after the tournament.

‘I wonder if Jang Seonyeon is in it as well.’

It had been on my mind.

After all, recent events gave me the sense that he might be part of the group.

The Chief Abbot stared at me quietly.

Without uttering a word, he shook his head shortly after.

“That is something you’ll find out if you join.”

It wasn’t a clear yes or no.

But from his response, I gleaned the answer.

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