[{"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-51":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},1240027,1667,"Chapter 50: Mount Hua (4)","childhood-friend-of-the-zenith-chapter-51",51,"\u003Cp>༺ Mount Hua (4) ༻\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>It’s been 10 days since I left my clan to go to Mount Hua.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>If I had to list one thing that made this trip different from the Sichuan trip, it was that I couldn’t relax during this trip.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Young Master, are you feeling alright?”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Y-Yes, you do not need to worry about me.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>It was because of the person, who was acting as the coachman, one of the Heavenly Venerables, the Sword Emperor himself.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Just why, why did he have to be the one driving the carriage that I’m riding when there were other carriages available?\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Thanks to that, I felt like I was going to die from the discomfort these past 10 days.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>To be fair, it was probably because Wi Seol-Ah was in the carriage I was riding as well, but in the end, it made me feel uncomfortable.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>I would have honestly felt better if I was the one driving the carriage instead.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>For fucks sake…\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Muyeon, how long until we arrive?”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>I looked outside the window and spoke to Muyeon.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>It was a pointless question.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Muyeon responded to me with a stiff smile.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Young Master… I feel as if you have asked the same question 30 times by now.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“…Right? I had a feeling I asked that question before.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“To say it again, we still have a long way to go.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“…Makes me sad everytime I hear it, huh.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>This absurdly vast land of this world…\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>While I was heaving a sigh, Wi Seol-Ah approached me and began speaking.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Young Master, Young Master.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“What is it?”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“What’s your favorite dumpling?”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“What kind of nonsense are you talking about for you to ask what my favorite dumpling is, rather than asking something about my favorite food?”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“But the Young Master only eats dumplings.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“…”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>She wasn’t wrong so I couldn’t really argue with that point.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>We got to the point of talking about what my favorite dumpling is, huh.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“I just like all dumplings.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Why is that?”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“It’s cheap while also being rich in quantity.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>It was as simple as that. They were cheap and rich in quantity.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Also, they were delicious.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>There were probably many types of dumplings, but I wasn’t really picky about them.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>As long as they were cheap, rich in quantity, and tastier than ration pills, I was fine with it.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>I’ve had stuff worse than ration pills before, so as long as they tasted like actual food, I ate them.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Wi Seol-Ah tilts her head in confusion upon hearing my response.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Weird, the servant sisters told me that the Young Master was picky with his food…”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Not anymore.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>I was picky before.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>When I was young, I was stubborn and only looked for expensive quality food for some reason.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>But later on I was able to realize that all of that was pointless as I neared my death.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>｢Just eat it already, God damn it.｣\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>｢Fucking hell, how am I supposed to eat this. Do you really think a centipede’s tail is food?｣\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>｢You think I eat it because I want to? I eat it so I can live, you idiot.｣\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>｢I’m not going to eat it.｣\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>｢If you aren’t going to, then give it to me. I’m going to eat more rather than protecting my pride.｣\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>I’m going to admit it now, but the centipede’s tail didn’t taste too bad.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>To be more specific, it was better than most things I could find there.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>I had to drink beasts’ blood rather than water, and had to consume poison while fully aware of its contents, just to fill up my belly.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>What a shitty memory.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“…I feel sick now.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Thinking of this memory made me feel like vomiting.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Wi Seol-Ah, who checked on my condition, took something out in a hurry.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>It was a yakgwa.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>…Why did she take out a yakgwa and not something like medicine?\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Then, Wi Seol-Ah spoke to me with a trembling voice.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Do you want a bite…?”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“…You offer me not even one piece, but one bite?”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“But… This is my last one.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>After hearing Wi Seol-Ah’s words, I moved my neck to reach for the yakgwa.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>I pretended to take only one bite, but ate all of it at once instead.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“N-N-Nooooooo!”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Wi Seol-Ah’s scream echoed in the carriage.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Basically, today summed up everything that’s happened over the past 10 days.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Very pointless.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>When it became night, we, like before, had to set up a camp.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The horses had to rest, and we too had to rest our bodies as this was a long trip.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The escorts set up a campfire and went on to look out for any danger as if they were waiting to do so.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>They were keeping a night watch rather early.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Both Wi Seol-Ah and the Sword Emperor left the carriage. Moreover, excluding the nearby escorts, I was left alone in the carriage.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>After positioning myself in the correct posture, I slowly released my fire Qi.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>I felt my Qi begin to spread throughout my whole body from my abdomen, empowering me.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>With every breath, I saw red Qi come out of my body.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>It meant that I was very close to reaching the 4th rank.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>When Qi is released outside the body for too long, it starts going out of control.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>I felt my Qi become rougher and more awkward to control.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>That was the limit of being at the 3rd realm.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>If I continued doing this for any longer, my body would be damaged.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Once I break the wall to reach the next rank, I wouldn’t have this problem, but my physical body was what prevented me from breaking that wall.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Again, this physical body of mine.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>I kept trying again and again because of my impatience, but I kept facing the same wall each time.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>‘I feel so impatient, both in my mind and in my situation.’\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>I withdrew my Qi back into my body as I realized that I couldn’t rush this process no matter how greedy I felt.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>It was important for me to learn how to be patient when it came to transcending to a new level.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>After all, patience was the most important part when it came to reaching a new level.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>However, the reason why I kept trying was not only because I wanted to reach the 4th realm, but also to enhance my Qi.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Little by little, I would strengthen my base and get rid of all the impure Qi.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>With that, the improved Qi would help me gain more growth in the future.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>‘…Sigh.’\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>I found it funny how I was thinking of all of this.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>‘I thought I’d left all my greed for martial arts in the past.’\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>I told myself to only become strong enough to protect myself, and it’s only been a few months since.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Yet I’m becoming greedier after I got the power from the snake.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>I guess I had to face the fact that I truly was a martial artist after all.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>After all of the heat went away, I was able to notice how quiet it was at night.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The chirping sounds of bugs echoed in my ear as I leaned back in my chair.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>I was out of energy after finishing my training.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Whenever I’m in a situation like this, I would only think about stuff like what to do in the future or sins I’d committed in the past which would just hurt my head.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>But recently, those thoughts don’t come to mind anymore.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>It was thanks to the scent of plums that permeated throughout the inside of the carriage.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>I even felt a bit dizzy from the scent after withdrawing my Qi.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>If you are wondering why I’m suddenly talking about some plum scent, it was because of the stone that I was carrying in my pocket.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“…Give me a break.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>I had to smile blankly at the scent that stabbed my nose.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>It was the treasure I got from the Second Elder that was producing the scent of plums.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>At first, it didn’t give off any smell due to it being wrapped in cloth, but ever since a few days ago, it started to give off the scent even when it was still wrapped up in cloth.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>I didn’t put much thought into it since it was a treasure and all, but today was especially bad.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“How did something like this even come to exist?”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>I carefully took out the wrapped up stone.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Something like a treasure was considered to be truly mysterious, even in the future.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>This stone that produced the smell of plums was no exception.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Whether it was the Namgung Clan’s sword enveloped by lightning or the statue of Shaolin Sect holding a mysterious light within itself, they were all similar.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>They all broke the laws of nature.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Things like those were called treasures, but it was still hard to explain why those things even came to exist in the first place.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>I just knew that they did.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>After observing the stone in my hand for a bit, I put it back into my pocket.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>If I broke the stone accidentally while playing with it, I would’ve had to run far away from Mount Hua rather than going there in the first place.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Even after I put the stone back into my pocket, the scent still lingered in the carriage.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>It’s hard to witness a plum blossom in this season…\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Yet I’ve embraced the scent of it in this carriage.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>I’d even begun to hallucinate the leaves of plum flowers blowing because of the scent.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>‘I must be tired…’\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>I rubbed my eyes, but the leaves still remained.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>I thought that I must have been really tired so I decided to lie down.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>It would have been more comfortable for me to sleep outside since they had probably finished setting up the camp,\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>But I felt especially tired today.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Yeah, let’s just close my eyes for a bit and finish my training later.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>With that thought, I relaxed my body.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>While I was about to fall asleep,\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>I slightly heard a voice while feeling fuzzy.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>｢Who the hell is this…?｣\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Wherever it came from, it was the voice of an old man I’d never heard before.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>｢I don’t think this guy is from Mount Hua?｣\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Is this a dream?\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Am I having a nightmare again?\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>｢How is a kid that’s not from Mount Hua eating up all this Qi?｣\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>While I was still feeling dim and fuzzy, the old man sounded like he was extremely angry.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>｢…Oh my god, what am I even witnessing… What blood do you have for you to consume all of this. You’re gonna get sick at this rate!｣\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>It felt like someone was tapping my cheek, telling me to wake up.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>But my haggard body made it too hard for me to move.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>｢…For fucks sake…!｣\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>After hearing his angry voice for a long time, the voice seemingly disappeared after giving up.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>And when I finally woke up from my sleep,\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“What the…?”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Funnily enough, my destructive flame art reached the 4th realm.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>* * * * * * * * * * * * ** * * * *\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The Qi that surrounded my hand swayed wildly.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Even though just yesterday, my Qi had barely given off a small heat haze, it had changed this much.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>This was the proof that my flame art reached the 4th realm.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>I was only able to continue staring at the flame dumbfoundedly, but this was the reality.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“What? What the hell happened…”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Yesterday, my body refused to escape the 3rd realm of flame arts, but all of sudden I reached the 4th realm the next morning.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>I was speechless from how nonsensical this was.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Although I was happy because I wanted this to happen, I still felt frustrated as I didn’t know how it happened.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>My physique was the same as before.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>While the body may have remained the same, my Qi felt strangely calmer.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The Qi that flowed throughout my body didn’t feel rough, but instead felt calm and fluid.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Thanks to that, it didn’t take a toll on my body and I was able to control the flow of Qi.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Fluid, huh… No matter how much I thought about it, that word did not fit the characteristics of destructive flame arts at all.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>If I had to compare this Qi to another, I would have to say it’s most similar to Mount Hua’s Qi.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The art known for being as wild as a beast is seemed similar to Mount Hua’s Qi? This was absurd.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>And the biggest problem was, the normally flame-like red Qi was instead looking strangely lighter.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>…How should I say this, it feels like I’ve seen this Qi before.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>After I took out the stone that was in my pocket with shaky hands, I then started to unwrap the cloth.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Please don’t tell me… God, please.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>‘Please…’\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Is it because I begged for it so much?\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Thankfully, there wasn’t any problem with the stone.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>I would always become anxious around stones because lately, whenever I hold some weird-looking stones, I’d end up absorbing the power within them against my will.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>And if I accidentally absorbed whatever was inside of this stone, I would have had to live in a corner somewhere hiding far away from Mount Hua.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>So because of that, the stone not having any problem whatsoever was very significant to me.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>But even after letting out a sigh of relief, I was able to notice something different about the stone.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>‘…I feel like the light got a bit dimmer?’\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>I felt like the light that should have lit up the whole carriage was now dimmer than usual.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Nah, it’s just a mistake… It has to be.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Just in case… Let’s just put it somewhere else rather than me carrying it around.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>I think it’s better for me to lose the stone rather than destroying the treasure with my own hand-\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>No, I think both would end up making my life a living hell…?\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Fuck, why was I given something like this…!\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>I really felt vengeful towards the Second Elder who made me deliver this thing.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“…It’s fine. They wouldn’t notice as long as I give it to them while pretending to not know anything.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>My main goal of coming here wasn’t the stone anyways, but instead bringing my little sister back to the clan.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>As long as that didn’t conflict with my main goal, it was fine.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>And if it wasn’t fine, I would make it fine.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>That’s what I had thought then.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“I came here as I was curious about something.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>But I forgot about one important thing.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“I am Yung Pung of Mount Hua.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>That I had really shitty luck.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>…Fuck.\u003C\u002Fp>",2471,"2026-06-05T15:09:38.751Z",1,"novelbin.me","843e78ea66d06937758289132b53da7838d68e8e77cc49f96273fbca04b563e6","childhood-friend-of-the-zenith-chapter-52","childhood-friend-of-the-zenith-chapter-500",974,"https:\u002F\u002Fnovelzhen.com\u002Fimages\u002Fcovers\u002Fchildhood-friend-of-the-zenith-cover.jpg"]