Childhood Friend of the Zenith

༺ Sound and Smell ༻

An orange light shot out through the fog.

Though not very bright, it was clearly visible even in the curtain of dense mist.

An enigma.

“What’s… wrong?”

Right as I was about to walk forward, Namgung Bi-ah asked me from behind.

“What do you mean what’s wrong, there is- “

I stopped my words just as I was about to ask her.

There was no way she couldn’t see such a clear light.

At such a realization, I asked Namgung Bi-ah.

“Can you not see that?”

“…?”

At my question, she just tilted her head in confusion.

She really didn’t seem to be able to see the light.

‘Is it visible only to me?’

This peculiar light that was clearly visible to me, seemed to be invisible to others.

[Why do you keep saying that you see something? Huh?]

‘Seems like you can’t see it as well, Elder Shin.’

If even Elder Shin—despite us sharing our vision—couldn’t see it as well, did that mean that the light was another ability of the Marble of Celestial Captivation?

Regardless of the truth…

‘It’d be best for me to follow it.’

I was left with no other choice.

To find the correct path in this labyrinth of fog, I had to try anything and everything.

‘Enhancing my senses doesn’t work either.’

My Qi flowed seamlessly, yet I couldn’t enhance my senses.

It seemed like something within the fog prevented it.

‘Fair, there’s no way a fog that has persisted for centuries is normal to begin with.’

It made sense why the Black Palace chose this place for their main palace.

Even if one knew that the main palace was located on the Misty Mountains, finding It wouldn’t be an easy task, especially if formations were cast to further conceal it.

Grabbing Namgung Bi-ah’s wrist, I warned her.

“Follow closely.”

“…Okay.”

First, I sharpened my senses to their utmost limit.

Although the improvement was marginal, it was still extremely helpful in this unfamiliar mountain terrain.

With Namgung Bi-ah’s arm firmly in my grip, we moved forward.

Despite the lack of an explanation, as I dragged her forward, Namgung Bi-ah voiced no complaints about this.

Perhaps the fact that I constantly pointed out her poor sense of direction had convinced her to trust my lead.

We continued to walk through the fog for a very long time.

Under normal circumstances, we would have covered the same distance in just a few leaps, but the need to move extremely carefully hindered our progress.

[It really is a nasty fog.]

‘Indeed, it really is unpleasant.’

[So, this fog is a trace left by a demon?]

‘Yes.’

This peculiar fog had appeared alongside a White Gate of Demons in the past.

And it remained as a trace after the demon that had emerged from that gate was slain.

Historically, the number of White Demons could be counted on one hand, and they all had been successfully sealed or slain.

Yet, as if to show their immense power and ability, they left traces of themselves even after their death.

The blinding fog in the Misty Mountains…

The freezing chill of the North Sea…

And even the scorching heat in the West. They were all examples of such traces.

These anomalies were a testament to the demons’ influence on nature, even after their death.

At my thoughts, Elder Shin clicked his tongue.

It seemed like he was displeased with something.

[Tsk, these bastards leave a mess even after death, and they didn’t even do a good job at cleaning up the mess.]

According to Elder Shin, people should’ve done a better job on cleaning up the mess after the demon was slain.

Of course, slaying a White Demon—a being considered a calamity—was a great achievement in and of itself.

But since it was Elder Shin who said it, I could understand.

[Back in my day… if we slayed such bastards, we were required to clean up the mess that came after, but the ones who came after, though… Ugh, tsk tsk.]

The past, the time when Elder Shin and the heroes fought against the Blood Demon.

A period of time when high-grade demons ran rampant.

And since Elder Shin was active as the Divine Sword of Mount Hua, he had probably encountered a few White Demons.

There were way too many traces left for that not to be the case.

I could tell just by looking at the present Misty Mountains.

‘You are absolutely right.’

[Hmm? What’s gotten into you? It’s really strange for you to agree with me-]

‘You should’ve cleaned up after yourself.’

[…Hmm?]

Elder Shin let out a confused reaction.

The demon responsible for turning this mountain into a mess was named the Mist Dragon.

The Mist Dragon had cursed this mountain with perpetual fog after its death.

And it was slain by none other than the Divine Sword of Mount Hua, Shincheol.

[…]

Reminded of the truth, Elder Shin fell silent.

It seemed he was too embarrassed to speak.

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

As we continued to follow the light, the silence from Elder Shin and the naturally quiet Namgung Bi-ah made the journey go much faster, and soon we found ourselves close to the end.

‘…How long has it been?’

Though I wasn’t sure because of all the fog, judging by how it was slowly getting darker, it would soon be night.

‘A camp…’

It was possible to build one if I really wanted to, but the situation was far from ideal.

First, the Marble of Celestial Captivation had stopped working.

Its light was still telling us the path, but even after it had regained its color, I still couldn’t know Gu Huibi’s current situation.

My field of vision didn’t change at all.

What could this mean then?

‘Is there a problem with it?’

I didn’t know the number of times I could use this marble, but I suspected that wasn’t the issue.

It seemed more likely that Gu Huibi had run into a problem.

This was merely a conjecture, but whatever the case was, I had lost a valuable source of information about her.

I had to figure out a way to break through this situation, but it wasn’t easy to make any progress in the current situation.

The dense curtain of fog, coupled with the onset of night, made the visibility almost non-existent.

‘The marble’s light has also become a problem.’

The line of light seemingly told me the right path, yet it felt as if I was moving in a circle.

The problem was not with the light.

It most likely told us the correct path.

“Tsk.”

Noticing the frown on my face, Namgung Bi-ah asked.

“What’s… wrong?”

“Sigh. It seems like there are formations here.”

I sensed an odd aura around here; it was faint, to the point that I wouldn’t be able to notice it if I didn’t focus hard enough.

As I already had my suspicions of formations having been drawn on their palace, I was able to detect it.

However…

‘Hmm. How do I break through?’

That was the problem.

If we had indeed arrived at the Palace, not only did I have to worry about the formations that had been cast around it, but I had to be wary of potential martial artists as well.

So, I had to move with my guard up.

The fog rendered my senses useless…

The darkness that obscured my vision…

And our isolation in the middle of the wilderness heightened my anxiety.

‘This is the worst.’

Ha.

I thought as such, a hollow laugh escaping my lips.

Yet, I couldn’t let my emotions get the better of me.

‘I must find a way.’

I was no stranger to struggle.

Something like this was just another challenge in my life.

‘What should I do?’

If there was a formation in front of me, was I strong enough to break it?

‘That’s a bit difficult.’

Failure could lead to capture and even if I managed to somehow break the formation, the impact from it breaking would alert the enemies.

‘What should I do then?’

I lacked professional knowledge when it came to formations.

If I were to think back to my previous life…

‘…I just smashed them apart.’

My solutions to problems were pretty dumb, so those methods would be of no help in my current situation.

In my previous life, I had simply torn through formations and incinerated everything in my path.

And before I became a Demonic Human, the Water Dragon had handled such situations whenever needed.

Realizing how reckless I was in the past gave me quite a headache.

‘Hmm… should I wait a bit?’

Despite the urgency of the situation, the onset of night left me with no other option.

Neither was I powerful enough to break through nor could I face everyone that I would come across.

‘…I’m not alone either.’

So I had to make more rational decisions.

As I concluded my thoughts, I spoke to Namgung Bi-ah, who was walking behind me.

“First, we’re gonna look for a safe place and wait until… what are you doing?”

She was sniffing the air!

At her absurd actions, I asked.

“What are you doing…?”

“Looking for… a smell…”

“Smell? What smell?”

Why does she keep doing this?

Confused, I tried sniffing the air as well, but I wasn’t able to smell anything special.

I could only smell the leaves of the forest.

“What kind of scent are you even searching for…?”

As I wondered what was up with her,

Shing-

All of a sudden, Namgung Bi-ah pulled her sword out.

Her hair fluttered in the light breeze as her sword became enveloped in Lightning Qi in an instant, sending electric pulses through the air.

Startled, I shouted at her.

“Hey, what are you doing!”

The Lightning Qi was not only visible to the eye, but also quite noticeable. If she lost control, even slightly, we risked being detected.

Despite my outcry, Namgung Bi-ah remained focused on a specific direction.

She finally spoke, staring at nothing.

“Here.”

“Whether it’s here or not, forget that! First, hide your energy, if we get caught like this…!”

Ignoring my warning, she swung her Lightning Qi-infused sword at the air without any hesitation.

Then,

Slice.

“…!”

To my surprise, I heard the distinct sound of something being cut.

Simultaneously, a white barrier began to descend from the air.

“…This is.”

It was an extremely absurd situation.

Following Namgung Bi-ah’s sword swing, the invisible barrier disappeared, revealing a small space that somewhat resembled a door.

“This… How did you know?”

Perplexed at the bizarre turn of events, I asked Namgung Bi-ah.

“…There was a smell.”

Her response left me frowning in confusion.

I couldn’t understand.

Namgung Bi-ah had just sliced through an unstable part of the formation with her sword.

A miss would have caused it to backfire in retaliation and the unstable part of a formation isn’t visible to the human eye to begin with.

Yet, not only did she locate it, but also successfully severed it?

Watching her do such a thing, reminded me of a certain individual.

‘Water Dragon.’

The crazy fucker of the Wudang Sect.

In my previous life, he too had a knack for dealing with formations in the same way.

I remembered him just casually scanning his surroundings before slicing the air, effortlessly solving the problem.

His method was so absurd that I still remembered it.

Despite my best efforts, I couldn’t understand his technique, so I even ended up asking the Water Dragon about it.

About the principle behind his technique, that is.

But his response was even more ridiculous.

-Listen for a sound. Then you’ll hear it.

-What do you hear? The sound of my heart exploding out of frustration?

-I could hear that for quite a while.

-You piece of…?

I was reminded of the Water Dragon’s mocking laughter; it still makes me angry.

‘But putting that aside…’

If I were to compare the Water Dragon’s words to what Namgung Bi-ah just said just earlier…

-There was a smell.

-There is a sound.

For some reason, there was a striking similarity between their claims.

Namgung Bi-ah turned to me.

“Are you… not going in?”

The opening she had made was gradually closing.

She hadn’t fully broken the formation, but merely carved a passage through it, so it would soon fix itself completely.

Recalling the Water Dragon’s words from my previous life, it wasn’t possible to create an opening at the same spot once it had healed.

Enemies would likely notice if the same spot was targeted repeatedly.

Considering this, I couldn’t afford to hesitate.

“…Let’s go.”

I followed Namgung Bi-ah into the opening.

Upon entering, I found the interior to be starkly different from the outside.

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

Pause.

The Palace Lord abruptly halted his steps.

“Palace Lord?”

This prompted the Great Oni, who was following him, to ask.

“Hmm.”

The Palace Lord, however, remained silent, his gaze wandering around and his expression strange.

The Great Oni discerned that the Palace Lord’s focus wasn’t on the wall in front of them, but rather, something beyond it.

After a momentary glance at the wall, the Palace Lord shifted his gaze forward once again.

“…Great Oni.”

“Yes, Palace Lord.”

“Inspect the formation later.”

“…Understood.”

Even as the Great Oni acknowledged the order, he was doubtful inside.

‘The formation, huh.’

He had recently examined it and found no issues, which made the Palace Lord’s order puzzling.

Despite his curiosity, the Great Oni decided not to question it.

His duty was to obey the Lord’s commands.

With the matter settled, the Palace Lord resumed his journey, his destination being ‘that’ room.

As expected, the Leader made his way to the same room he had visited yesterday.

As he neared the door, he pondered.

‘It should be done by now.’

One day, a period as long as that, should have been more than enough for the Great One to consume the flame.

As he approached his destination, he could feel his heartbeat intensifying.

Imagining the most perfect form of His Heaven he would witness in the future, the Palace Lord felt a surge of excitement.

Slam!

The colossal door swung open and the Palace Lord slowly stepped inside.

Slam!

And as soon as he did, the door closed behind him.

Immediately, the Palace Lord knelt and bowed his head to His Heaven.

“Oh, Heaven… I have- “

His words trailed off as he took in the sight before him, shock filling his face.

In a space where only darkness should have prevailed, there was light.

A dense, violet flame illuminated the room.

This flame; it was definitely the Holy Fire created by His Heaven.

From the center of the flame, voices could be heard.

“…Why is this book so hard? Uhm… do you have anything else?”

“Book.”

“No, like, do you have any other books?”

“N.”

“Sigh…You really give the shortest responses. Didn’t I tell you to respond with at least two letters?”

“No.”

“Good Job!”

Gu Huibi, who should’ve disappeared from this world after becoming one with His Heaven, was instead comfortably seated in the room.

With His Heaven, nestled on her lap.

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