[{"data":1,"prerenderedAt":-1},["ShallowReactive",2],{"origin-childhood-friend-of-the-zenith":3,"chapter-childhood-friend-of-the-zenith-childhood-friend-of-the-zenith-chapter-36":6},{"origin":4,"title":5},"english","Childhood Friend of the Zenith",{"chapter":7,"nextChapterSlug":19,"prevChapterSlug":20,"totalChapters":21,"novelImage":22},{"id":8,"novel_id":9,"title":10,"slug":11,"index":12,"content":13,"wordcount":14,"created_at":15,"updated_at":15,"volume":16,"translator":17,"content_hash":18},1239962,1667,"Chapter 35: Looking for the Hint (3)","childhood-friend-of-the-zenith-chapter-36",36,"\u003Cp>༺ Looking for the Hint (3) ༻\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>I dropped to my knees, shocked, and marveled at the tree that had suddenly appeared before me.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“What in the world…”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>It was already amazing how the cliff had disappeared and a tree had taken its place, but the fact that said tree was the infamous white maple tree was… insane.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Every single part of the tree was white, even its leaves.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>It looked like it was shining.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>No, the leaves that fell from the tree were actually shining.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>I carefully reached out to pick one up, and the moment I touched it, it crumbled.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“What the hell is going on?”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Is it spatial magic?\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>There was no history of the Zhuge clan—a clan that had been famous for their spatial magic—using their magic before they vanished from existence during the blood disaster.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>‘But then, how do I explain this?’\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Young Master! Look, it’s so pretty!”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Wi Seol-Ah had picked up a bunch of fallen leaves from around the tree.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>‘…But it crumbled when I picked it up?’\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The leaves kept their shape in Wi Seol-Ah’s hands, as if they were discriminating against me.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>I carefully took one of the leaves that was in Wi Seol-Ah’s hands.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>– Crumble.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Like before, it crumbled again.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“…What the hell, is it really discriminating against me?”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>It felt sort of shitty.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>I glanced around.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Looking at it now, the flatland that used to be the cliff looked much more natural now.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>‘So this is how it really looks?’\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Anyway, I think I’ve found the secret vault.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>It was the same as what the Tang clan had described, and the tree was really white…\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>It was almost too white.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The leaves looked like snow as they fell from the tree.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>To think that this tree had been hidden for hundreds of years, how was that even possible?\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>From what I knew, locational magic didn’t last that long, and it needed to be consistently checked on.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>So… does that mean someone was managing this place?\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>I felt like that wasn’t the case though…\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Young Master! There’s something here!”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“…When did you even go all the way there?”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>I was still on my knees in shock, but Wi Seol-Ah was already wandering around, touching the tree.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>I went towards Wi Seol-Ah, who was standing close to the tree, and behind it was a staircase that led downwards.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Shouldn’t something like a secret vault be kept more… secret?\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Maybe they didn’t worry about it too much since the spatial magic was already keeping it hidden?”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Considering the amount of fear one would normally feel when walking to the edge of a cliff.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>But then what about Wi Seol-Ah?\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>She saw the tree, and easily broke through the magic.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>‘It’s good for me, but how do I explain this?’\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>After sighing on my own, I shook off the confusing thoughts.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>I had to first focus on the secret vault.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“It’s dangerous, so you should wait here-“\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Was what I was going to say, but Wi Seol-Ah had already disappeared.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>I heard her voice from down the stairs.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Young Master! Hurry up!”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“…Right.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Does she ever think before doing something…?\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Thanks to her actions, this endless headache won’t be going away anytime soon.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>* * * *\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>I followed Wi Seol-Ah down the stairs.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The staircase that led downward was unexpectedly narrow, and I could see no end in sight.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>I thought that maybe I should go back to town to grab some sort of light so that I could light the place up, but, luckily enough, the white leaves that Wi Seol-Ah was holding in her hands acted as a suitable makeshift torch.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The shining leaves were rather good at lighting the place, and thanks to that, we were able to go down safely.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The problem now was,\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>‘How deep did they make this?’\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>How many steps had it been?\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>It felt like we’d been going down forever, but the stairs still continued downward.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>‘Something’s strange.’\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Is it possible for it to be this deep?\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>‘Is this also locational magic?’\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>I felt like it was a possibility.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Considering that the magic hid this huge land and the tree, while also changing its appearance to make it look like a cliff… I felt like it wasn’t impossible.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>‘I dove straight into action without a proper plan…’\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>I was too impatient, since I knew that this place had a secret vault inside.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>They say that greed blinds humans; at the moment, I was the perfect example of that.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>I spoke to Wi Seol-Ah,\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“I think we need to first go back up-“\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Young Master, there’s a different way here.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“What?”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Where?\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>In front of Wi Seol-Ah, there was only one way down—the stairs that seemed endless.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“What are you talking about? There’s only one way down.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Following my words, Wi Seol-Ah started touching the wall that was next to her.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The leaves fell from her hands, but Wi Seol-Ah didn’t seem to care.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>I then spoke to her.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“There are only walls, what are you-“\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>–Creak.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Huh?”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The wall that Wi Seol-Ah was touching made a sudden sound and then exploded into dust, revealing a hidden path.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Ta-da!”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Wi Seol-Ah looked at the hidden path and stood proudly.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>She had done a good thing, but I felt a bit spiteful.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“See? There is a path here!”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“…Yes… Why is there a path here?”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Seriously, why is it here?\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The hidden path was located at a spot where you would have had to go down the stairs for a long time, and since it was hard to notice, you would have had to bring in professionals to investigate the place in order to find it.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>But then it was just… discovered.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>…By Wi Seol-Ah.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>‘What in the world was going on?’\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Was this just a part of her natural talent?\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>One could say that she lived in a different world than mine as someone destined to reach the Zenith in the future, but, did something like that also contribute to things like this?\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>I didn’t know the answer.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Wi Seol-Ah was starting to make her way into the hidden path, but I stopped her.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“It’ll be dangerous for you to act recklessly from now on; I’ll lead the way.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>I felt like I shouldn’t have been the one saying that since, up until now, she had been the one leading the way down the stairs.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>But it really felt like it would be dangerous from this point on.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Following my words, Wi Seol-Ah smiled in a weird manner.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>And, following that confusing smile, I asked her.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“…What?”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Young Master is worried about me…!”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“What about it?”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“I don’t know, but it feels nice!”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>I felt embarrassed when she said that for some reason, so I bonked her head.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Ow! Uuu… Why did you hit me…?”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“No reason, I just felt like it.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“So cruel…”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>When I entered the hidden path, the path was bright, unlike the staircase. I walked in, following the light, and stopped after a few steps.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Come to think of it, it was the things that were stuck in the walls that produced the light.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Are all of these moonlight marbles?”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The stones that were making the path bright.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>They were so valuable in this period of time that it would be hard to obtain them even if one had a lot of money.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>But all of these are on the walls right here…\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Fucking hell… I knew the Golden Nature had a lot of wealth, but isn’t this too extravagant?”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>I was in shock.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>How much would I make if I brought all of these with me?\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>‘…Should I take some on the way back?’\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>It felt morally wrong, no, wait—was there any need to feel guilty? I was the one who had found them in the first place.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Yes, it’s not like I lived as a demon because I’d never felt morally wrong in my previous life, so-\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Young Master?”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“…It’s nothing; let’s keep going.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>I held off the thought and proceeded to continue down the path.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>I was on my guard, ready for any attacks,\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>But I felt no presence that gave off a feeling of danger.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>We walked for a while. It wasn’t as long as the time we’d spent walking down the stairs, but it was a fairly long time.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Just as I began to think that this path was actually a trap, we reached its end.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>At the end of the path was a giant door that seemed to be at least twice as big as my body.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>I went closer to the door and slowly grabbed at the knob.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>I was worried that something would happen when I touched it, but thankfully nothing happened.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>I pulled on it with some strength.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>–Creak.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>I expected that the door would be quite heavy, considering its size, but it opened rather easily.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>When I went in, there was only darkness.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>It seemed like no moonlight marbles were installed in this room.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“It’s a bit too dark…”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>As I struggled to see how big the room was, or if this room led to a different path, something flew past me.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>A white light.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>It was one of the white leaves that Wi Seol-Ah had been holding.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Was it being blown by the wind? But I felt no wind here.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>-…Child.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>I concentrated my Qi upon hearing a sudden voice.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>It sounded like it was right in front of me.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The voice was coming from the darkness.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>-…How did you end up in a place like this, child?\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The leaf that was floating in the air, came to a stop.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Then it crumbled, just like when I touched it before.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>-You are not a child of the Golden Nature, so then, how did you find this place?\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>I gradually became able to see; a light began to emerge from the darkness in front of me.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>It was the same white light that the leaf gave out.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>I stood in front of Wi Seol-Ah, protecting her while concentrating my fire Qi.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>‘I feel like this is dangerous; do we just run away?’\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>No matter how much Qi I used, I couldn’t figure out what was in front of me.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Something was definitely there, but it was faint, as if it were covered in a deep fog.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>-…You are holding something strange within you.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Following the voice, a bright light engulfed the room in an instant.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>It was too bright, so I clenched my eyes and protected Wi Seol-Ah.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>When I opened my eyes after the light had faded away,\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>I gasped at what had just happened.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The room that was filled with darkness was now brightly lit.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>But the problem was the cause of that light.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The room was huge, with a ceiling that was at least 30 meters tall, and in the middle of the room was a snake that didn’t fit.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>A giant snake that filled up the entire room.\u003C\u002Fp>",1832,"2026-06-05T15:09:39.031Z",1,"novelbin.me","06020f5c9c221a52e5e432e60e2eb68f627ed1bccc2b0094cccfcbef20de67aa","childhood-friend-of-the-zenith-chapter-37","childhood-friend-of-the-zenith-chapter-35",974,"https:\u002F\u002Fnovelzhen.com\u002Fimages\u002Fcovers\u002Fchildhood-friend-of-the-zenith-cover.jpg"]