Childhood Friend of the Zenith

Chapter 700

The tip of my tongue tingled.

It wasn't just because the poison was strong; my heightened senses, thanks to reaching Invulnerable to All Poisons, made me acutely aware of it.

"Hmm."

I swallowed what I had in my mouth and took another sip.
I swirled it around in my mouth a few times, savoring it, in a way.

Of course, it wasn't because it was delicious.

"What kind of poison is this?"

What purpose does this poison serve?
I decided to figure that out first.

Right after swallowing the tea, I briefly assessed the condition of my body.
Although the poison would quickly be neutralized and disappear, there would be a fleeting moment where its effects could be observed.

Sssss.

The poison I swallowed began to spread slowly but quickly dissipated.
Feeling this, I nodded to myself.

I figured it out.

Hidden Heat Grass.

The poison mixed into the plum tea was likely from Hidden Heat Grass.

Having identified it so quickly, I felt a small sense of pride well up inside.

"Studying paid off."

Over the past few years,
I had occasionally studied poisons with the help of Tang So-yeol and the Tang Clan.

Although being Invulnerable to All Poisons meant I didn't need to fear poison,
it also made me want to understand poisons better.

"Being immune to poison just means… I can use poison more effectively."

While the Cheonma of my past life never used poison or resorted to assassinations,
I was not her.

"I'll use whatever I can."

Poison or otherwise—if I can use it, I will.

To do that, I had to study,
and thanks to that, I could immediately identify what poison this was.

Hidden Heat Grass is a toxic herb that grows only in shaded areas during scorching summer heat.

Its characteristic…

"It disrupts the flow of Qi."

Although not a permanent poison, it posed a risk of disrupting one's Qi for several days if ingested.

"Hmm."

In terms of potency, for someone without resistance,
it could be expected to bind about 30% of their Qi flow.

It had little taste, and while its scent resembled pungent vinegar,
it was well-masked by the fragrance of the plum tea.

This meant…

"They mixed it in quite skillfully."

It was a sign that thorough preparation had gone into this.

Gulp.

After drinking the rest of the plum tea, I carelessly tossed the teacup aside.

Thunk! Clatter!
The cup fell and rolled across the floor as I tilted my head slightly.

"So, the intent wasn't to kill me… What was the goal?"

If they wanted to kill me, there were plenty of stronger poisons they could have used.

Even though my cultivation level made it difficult for most poisons to work, there were poisons capable of killing martial artists.

At least if I wasn't immune..

"That’s what makes it all the more suspicious."

Crack.

I stretched my neck and moved slightly.

At that moment—

"Sniff… hic… sob…"

The person in front of me burst into tears.
A woman, trembling in fear, looked utterly terrified.

I leaned down slowly to meet her gaze.
Then, I asked her.

"Hey."

Flinch!

At my words, the woman flinched violently.

"What’s your name again?"

"Bae… Bae… Baek Yeon… is my name."

Right, Baek Yeon.
That was her name.

"That’s right. Baek Yeon, the attendant."

"Y-Yes… Young Master…"

I looked at the trembling Baek Yeon, smiled faintly, and spoke.

"There was poison in the tea. The tea you brought me, Baek Yeon."

As I reached out, the discarded teacup flew into my hand with a snap.

"Did you know about it?"

"I-I didn’t know… I swear, I didn’t know…"

Her desperation was palpable.
She denied it frantically, trying in every way to escape the danger.

I glanced at her and applied pressure to the teacup in my hand.

Crack!

"Eek!"

The cup shattered in half, and seeing this, Baek Yeon’s body trembled violently.
A dark stain appeared on her lower garments. She must have wet herself.

"Right, you didn’t know. You couldn’t have known."

Watching her trembling figure, I slowly stood up.
Although she looked pitiful, the icy gaze in my eyes did not soften.

And for good reason.

"You wouldn’t have known about the poison… but you were probably instructed to deliver the tea. Isn’t that right?"

"…!"

At my question, Baek Yeon’s pupils shook.

"Th-That is…"

"It doesn’t make sense otherwise, does it? Baek Yeon."

Showing up early in the morning to deliver tea out of nowhere,
using Madam Mi as an excuse, and bringing plum tea, of all things…

There were too many suspicious points.

A situation that seemed strange from every angle.
That’s why I brought the attendant into my room.
Because the whole situation was so odd, I wanted to see what she’d do.

"I was wrong…! Please forgive me, Young Master…!!"

Hearing my words, Baek Yeon fell to her knees and prostrated herself.

"I-I really didn’t know… I was just told to deliver the tea and that I’d be paid handsomely…."

As expected.

"How much?"

"…Pardon?"

"How much were you promised?"

At my question, Baek Yeon stammered out a number.
It was slightly less than what the Gu family paid its attendants over half a year.

For her, it would have seemed like a lot.

"I truly… didn’t know there was poison—!"

She desperately clung to my leg and shouted, and in that state, I asked her.

"But you must have had a suspicion."

"…!"

At my words, Baek Yeon froze completely.

"Bringing tea early in the morning? Doesn’t that sound strange to you? At least once, you must have thought about what could be in that tea."

"Y-Young Master…"

"What if it’s poisoned? What if someone dies after drinking it? Thoughts like that."

Thud.

I pulled my leg back, shaking off Baek Yeon’s hands.

"You must have thought about it. At least once, I’m sure you did. But in the end, you went through with it. How is that any different from knowing and still doing it?"

"Please spare me…! It wasn’t my intention…! I—I have an elderly mother back in my hometown and a younger brother who’s still a child…! It was for them—!"

"An elderly mother and a younger brother. Got it."

"E-excuse me?"

The moment Baek Yeon voiced her confusion—

Fwoosh.

"Gurk."

I sent a pulse of Qi straight to Baek Yeon’s neck, ending her life instantly.

As her body slumped lifelessly to the floor, I stroked my chin thoughtfully.

"She really wasn’t a martial artist."

A complete civilian, utterly devoid of any energy.
Acknowledging this, I made a somewhat indifferent expression and muttered to myself.

"Clean it up."

[Yes, sir.]

At my words, someone appeared, opening the door to my quarters and taking away Baek Yeon’s corpse.

It was one of the subordinates of the Shadow King.

Since I’d assigned Nahi to a different mission, I had stationed someone else in her place.

As the subordinate began to carry Baek Yeon’s body out, they turned to ask me a question.

"Young Master."

"Yes?"

"Since there’s been an assassination attempt, wouldn’t it be prudent to strengthen your guard?"

At that, I waved a hand dismissively.

"No need."

"But…"

Normally, no servant of the Gu family would dare to enter my quarters without permission.
Especially here, in a foreign location, where the level of vigilance should be at its highest.

However—

"I let them through on purpose. It worked out better this way."

I deliberately lowered the defenses, as if welcoming such attempts.

"It’s easier to figure things out when they make a move."

When assassins are sent, it’s simpler to identify who’s watching me and from where.
It also makes it easier to determine their timing.

Besides—

"I already control the best assassin group in Zhongyuan."

The assassin division once commanded by the Shadow King now followed my orders.
Any assassin who dared to act wasn’t much of a threat.

"If necessary, I’ll prepare a team to investigate the source of the poison discreetly."

"Keep it as quiet as possible."

"Understood."

According to Baek Yeon, the person who had given her the job had concealed their face entirely with a black cloth, making identification impossible.

Judging by the meticulous preparation of the tea, they likely left no trace.

Who could it be?

I needed to figure out who was behind this.

For now, I knew the plum tea was indeed from Madam Plum Blossom.
But neither Madam Plum Blossom nor the Mount Hua Sect were involved.

"They don’t have any reason to target me."

Nor were they the type to prepare something this overt.
So, who could it be?

"The Martial Alliance, perhaps?"

The Murim Alliance.

They were a plausible suspect.
They had the resources and influence to orchestrate something like this.

However—

"If it were the Murim Alliance, this would’ve been handled far more cleanly."

If it had been them, they wouldn’t have resorted to such sloppy methods.

This seemed more like…

"It was intentionally clumsy."

There was a chance they never expected Baek Yeon to succeed.
I focused more on that possibility.

"It’s unlikely they sent a servant to poison me with tea at dawn expecting it to work."

The assumption that this plan could succeed was already absurd.

"This was a test."

To gauge how vigilant I was.
If it worked, great; if it failed, they could still glean valuable information.

In fact, they might’ve even hoped Baek Yeon would get caught and spill everything.

"So my guard would go up."

Using a servant to poison me was enough to increase my vigilance. Perhaps that was their true aim.

"Or maybe there’s a motive I haven’t figured out yet."

I lacked the information to be certain.

Moreover—

"The important thing right now…"

…wasn’t so much who did it,
but that someone had decided to target me.

"It’s probably because of yesterday."

If the display I’d shown during the preliminaries had drawn unwanted attention,
then—

"Good."

It was the situation I’d been hoping for.

"I’ll figure out who it is soon enough."

I stretched my stiff neck and stepped out of the room.

The faint smell of urine lingered, so the place would need cleaning.

"Oh, and one more thing."

As I walked across the wooden floor, I continued speaking.

"The dead servant mentioned having a younger brother and an elderly mother."

As I finished my sentence, the subordinate from earlier reappeared.

"I’ll take care of them."

"Are you insane? What do you mean, take care of them?"

I scowled. What a horrifying suggestion.

"First, confirm whether they actually exist."

I instructed them to verify if Baek Yeon’s words were true or just a desperate lie to save herself.

If it turned out to be true, then—

"I’ll give you some money later. Find her family and deliver it to them."

I planned to send the exact amount Baek Yeon had been paid for this job.

It was the price she had named for her own life.

"Understood."

After acknowledging my words, the subordinate disappeared without another sound.

Tap, tap.

I brushed myself off and kept walking.

The sky was clear, without a single cloud.
The sunlight gradually brightened the atmosphere, creating a warm ambiance.

But contrary to the pleasant scene, I felt deeply unsettled.

Was it because I had killed someone first thing in the morning?
No, that wasn’t it.

"The person tried to mess with me, so what’s the problem?"

It was just a lingering unease from a dream I’d had.

The dream itself had vanished from my memory,
and that absence left me feeling irritated.

Clicking my tongue, I strode forward.

"The person who orchestrated this…"

I thought about it briefly.

No matter how I looked at it, the culprit had to be one of two groups.

"One possibility is the Blade King. That man seems likely."

The other possibility—

"The Emei Sect."

Based in Sichuan, the Emei Sect was one of the Nine Great Sects, known for being composed entirely of female martial artists.

I’d heard some rumors about them in my past life, which suddenly came to mind.

"I should look into it."

Something about this situation was beginning to smell suspicious.

   ******************
   

As Gu Yangcheon was deep in thought, grappling with his speculations, preparations for the second day of the preliminaries were well underway at the Murim Alliance.

"White tokens to this side…!"

The scene wasn’t much different from the first day.

The main difference was the number of participants.
Though not quite double, it was clear there were far more people compared to the previous day.

The reason was simple.

"They’ve arrived…."

All eyes turned toward a single point.
A group was walking in from the entrance.

"It’s Shaolin."

The sect based in Henan,
a rising powerhouse in recent years.

The members of Shaolin had arrived at the preliminaries.

Naturally, among the numerous martial artists from Shaolin, one figure drew the most attention.

"It’s the Divine Dragon."

"That young man must be the Divine Dragon."

At the forefront of the Shaolin delegation stood a young man.

He appeared barely past his twenties, with strikingly handsome and well-defined features.
What stood out most, however, were his yellow eyes.

The golden irises often associated with the Heavenly Killing Star.
Seeing the Divine Dragon’s similar yellow eyes, the crowd began murmuring.

"…If he has yellow eyes, doesn’t that mean he’s the Heavenly Killing Star? That’s what I heard."

A man muttered as he observed, only for the person beside him to snap angrily.

"Are you insane? Calling Shaolin’s Divine Dragon the Heavenly Killing Star! Are you looking to get beaten to a pulp?"

"No, I just thought I’d heard something like that before…."

"Keep your mouth shut. If they hear you, it’ll be a disaster."

The youngest Hwagyeong officially recognized by the Alliance.
A prodigy destined to leave his name in history, accused of being the Heavenly Killing Star?
It was absurd.

"Of all days, why did we have to share the same day as them? Let’s hope we’re in different groups."

"Ugh, what are you so afraid of? They’re just kids, for heaven’s sake."

A third of the participants were already terrified.
Another third dismissed them as harmless.
The remaining third watched with curiosity.

"…"

Amid the varied reactions, the Divine Dragon quietly observed his surroundings.

"Are you nervous?"

A voice broke the silence. It was Wuseong, his senior martial brother.

"…No."

"Don’t lie. It’s natural to be nervous. You’ve never experienced the Dragon and Phoenix Meeting before, so it’s understandable."

"…"

Since the Dragon and Phoenix Meeting hadn’t been held due to recent events, this was essentially the Divine Dragon’s first official appearance.

"But you can do it. After all, we are Shaolin."

His words carried weight, resonating with unshakable pride and faith in Shaolin.

Hearing this, the Divine Dragon nodded heavily.
He suppressed the discomfort rising within him, pushing it down firmly as he spoke.

"…Yes. I can do it."

No, I must.

He swallowed those additional words.