Childhood Friend of the Zenith

Chapter 703

The Emei Sect —one of the Nine Great Schools, representing the orthodox martial sects of the Nine Heavens.

Situated in Sichuan, it stood apart from other sects in that it was composed exclusively of female martial artists.

Why was that? I wasn’t sure.
Frankly, I didn’t care enough to find out.

From what I did know, it wasn’t always this way.
After the Blood Demon War, the sect began exiling male disciples and restructuring itself with only female practitioners.

People often wondered how such a sect could retain its status among the Nine Great Schools while being exclusively female, but such speculation was meaningless to me.

Once Qi enters the body, gender ceases to matter.

From the perspective of martial artists, the distinction between men and women was irrelevant.
Power was defined by cultivation, not biology.

It’s those idiots who hesitate because she’s a woman that are the real problem.

That kind of thinking might apply to ordinary people, but for martial artists, it was meaningless.

Hesitating or getting distracted by a pretty face? That’s how you end up with your throat slit.

During the demonic invasion of Sichuan, the Emei Sect had been particularly troublesome for this reason.

It wasn’t that their strength or strategies were overwhelming, but rather, the invaders—drunk on lust—created problems for themselves.

The nuns of the Emei Sect, despite their monastic nature, often grew their hair out, keeping it short or shoulder-length.

This appearance led some of the invaders, beast-like creatures that they were, to commit unspeakable acts.

At least I kept the Black Flame Brigade in check.

Those caught behaving that way were burned alive, so there were no issues in my brigade.

Unfortunately, the Ghost Blade Unit and the Green Flying Flag Unit weren’t as disciplined.

It wasn’t until I crushed the Sword Demon and ripped out the intestines of one of the culprits in the Green Flying Flag Unit that things finally calmed down.

Still, it had nearly jeopardized the conquest of Sichuan.

Anyway.

For now, I needed to focus on the woman in front of me.

Her hair was cut to shoulder length, and a deep scar ran across her cheek. She looked to be in her thirties.

I have no idea who she is.

She wasn’t a famous martial artist—not based on her appearance, at least.

I locked eyes with her, examining her scarred face.

"What’s this about?"

“...Urgh…”

I tightened my grip on her throat, and she let out a strangled groan.

I had already disrupted her Qi flow and sealed her movements.

Her cultivation level? At most, she was at the Zhengjing stage.

Using my free hand, I examined her body.

“…!!”

Her expression twisted in humiliation, but I ignored it.

From the musculature, she’s an assassin.

Her well-developed physique marked her as one, though the calluses on her hands suggested she was also skilled in palm techniques.

An assassin with a martial artist’s palm techniques—an unusual combination.

“Curious. Why would a nun of the Emei Sect be skulking around like this?”

Loosening my grip slightly, I posed the question.

“W-What… are you talking about? W-Why are you doing this to me?!”

As expected, she feigned ignorance, refusing to answer my question.

I stared into her eyes calmly.

Her pupils were shaking uncontrollably, her breathing was uneven, and her heartbeat raced.

Was it fear? Or panic?
It was hard to tell the exact difference, but it didn’t matter much.

What did matter was one thing.

She recognized me.

She had called me the Little Lord of the Underworld.

Ordinary people almost never recognized me.
That was by design—thanks to the Murim Alliance’s agreements and my own efforts to keep a low profile.

And yet, she had recognized me instantly.

Not that it’s entirely unusual.

Even if rumors about me weren’t widespread, anyone with a keen interest might know enough to recognize me.

But…

It doesn’t feel like that’s the case here.

Her reaction wasn’t just surprise.

This encounter itself is suspicious.

I needed to understand the reason behind this entanglement.

"Does a nun of the Emei Sect have business with our Miss Pi Yeon-Yeon?"

“...Pi… Yeon-Yeon?”

Pi Yeon-Yeon—
A fabricated identity for Bong Soon, my little bait.

She was also a decoy I had deliberately set loose.

That’s right, bait.

The Sword Queen was a figure of immense interest—someone the Alliance tried desperately to keep under wraps and other factions paid close attention to.

It was peculiar.

She had been dead for decades, and her legacy had been passed on to Mount Hua.

Why, then, would anyone bother monitoring or interfering with her supposed traces?
It made sense for the Alliance, but for others, it raised questions.

The Sword Queen wasn’t known to belong to any specific faction.

In her final days, she was said to have been allied with a group, but…

That was just the Alliance’s fabrication.

I didn’t trust it.
And even if it were true, it didn’t matter.

If it’s real, I’ll make it fake.

Evidence can be manufactured.
The Sword Queen’s legacy was a double-edged sword to me.

And yet…

Who could it be?

Who, aside from the Alliance and me, would seek to uncover this?

It was a lingering curiosity.

Who was moving in the shadows, and why?

Are they an ally?

Or were they an obstacle—a pointless nuisance in my plans?

That was the question. To answer it, I needed bait—bait valuable enough to draw them out while subtle enough not to expose itself.

I had cast my line into the ocean, and to my surprise, something bit almost immediately.

And that something was none other than…

The Emei Sect.

The nuns of Sichuan. The so-called guardians of the region.

Though they had nearly been wiped out in my previous life, they were an oddly notorious group.

Now, they had taken the bait.

“…Let… me go! Little Lord of the Underworld, why are you doing this?!”

“First things first.”

Ignoring her plea, I asked my question.

“Why were you watching that child?”

She had been seen observing Bong Soon outside the tournament preliminaries.

To be precise, my agents—subordinates of the Shadow King stationed around the area—had reported her behavior.

“What are you talking about? I wasn’t watching anyone…!”

Though her words denied it, her breathing grew slower, her pulse steadying.

A well-trained liar.

At this point, it was hard to tell if she was acting or genuinely lying.

Fortunately, I had other ways of finding out.

"If not the child, then was it the Guiyeong Tree you were watching?"

“…!”

Her reaction was immediate.

Got you.

Her widened eyes and disrupted breathing gave her away entirely.

“What… what are you…”

She tried to regain her composure, but it was already too late.

“You were startled by the object Miss Pi was carrying, weren’t you?”

“...”

“That’s the staff the Sword Queen used to carry, isn’t it?”

I asked with a grin, watching as the woman’s cheek twitched.

Her expression had already collapsed into shock, her eyes filled with disbelief.

The sight was utterly satisfying.

It’s only natural. I meant for it to be discovered.

The Guiyeong Tree (???).

The name alone might suggest it was merely some kind of wood, but it was a rare artifact—a weapon crafted from a mystical material.

It resembled a wooden staff carved from a tree.

But it could also become a wooden sword or a spear, depending on the wielder’s intent.

The weapon could transform, similar to the effect of Gui-jeong.

The Sword Queen was known to use a wooden sword, and it was likely she wielded the Guiyeong Tree in that form.

“H-How do you know about that?”

Her voice trembled as she stammered, unable to hide her astonishment.

“How I know isn’t important. What matters is why you reacted so strongly to seeing it. Isn’t that right?”

“...”

The staff Bong Soon carried was engraved with black embroidery in the shape of a flower. That was one of the distinctive features of the Guiyeong Tree.

The Sword Queen had likely concealed this engraving by wrapping the handle.
In my previous life, the Demon Spear wielder had done the same.

That was something I had only learned later, directly from the Demon Spear wielder himself.

There was a specific reason I used the Guiyeong Tree as bait:

The artifact is bound by bloodline inheritance.

The unique property of the Guiyeong Tree was that it could only be wielded by those of the same bloodline.

Anyone else would be unable to use it.
It was similar to the characteristics of the Namgung Clan’s Thunder Fang.

However, there was a key difference.

Unlike Thunder Fang, which could recognize and accept any acknowledged member of the Namgung Clan, the Guiyeong Tree required true blood relations.

This was a fact the Demon Spear wielder had explained to me. In practice, no one but him could even touch the Guiyeong Tree.

That’s when I realized something.

Various factions have been searching for the Sword Queen’s descendants.

I was aware that factions were not only collecting information about the Sword Queen but also investigating whether she had any children.

The gathered intelligence confirmed as much.

This led me to wonder:

How were they planning to identify her descendants?

Surely they weren’t relying solely on physical resemblance. There had to be a method.

I speculated that the Guiyeong Tree was that method.

That’s why I instructed Bong Soon not to conceal its engraving and to carry it openly.

Curiously, even the Murim Alliance, which should have been more diligent in its efforts, appeared oblivious.

This means the Murim Alliance knows neither of the Sword Queen’s child nor the distinguishing features of the Guiyeong Tree.

In contrast, this woman from the Emei Sect…

She not only recognized the Guiyeong Tree but also understood its unique characteristics.

This confirmed my suspicion.

“Let me ask again. Is your target our Miss Pi—or is it the Guiyeong Tree?”

“...”

She remained silent.

She seemed to realize there was no way to escape, and even maintaining her composure had become impossible.

I grabbed her cheeks, forcing her mouth open.

“Guhk!?”

Caught off guard, she flinched in panic.

I sent a small pulse of Qi to inspect her mouth.

No poison.

She hadn’t hidden poison under her tongue or behind her teeth.

After confirming this, I kept the pressure steady, ensuring she couldn’t bite her tongue to attempt suicide.

“Whatever the case, the Emei Sect is clearly involved…”

“Grk… Urk…”

“It’s curious. Why did this happen so suddenly?”

The Sword Queen was known to be unaffiliated.

She wasn’t tied to any specific faction or sect and had risen to her status purely through her mastery of swordsmanship.

Why now?

Why was the Emei Sect searching for Bong Soon?

Or… were they searching for the Guiyeong Tree instead?

Could the Guiyeong Tree have once been a signature artifact of the Emei Sect?

That’s plausible.

It might not be about finding the Sword Queen’s bloodline. Instead, perhaps the Sword Queen had stolen the Guiyeong Tree from the Emei Sect.

If that were the case, they might have spent decades trying to recover it.

An artifact of that value could certainly inspire such persistence.

This is all speculation, of course.

Still, it was worth keeping in mind.

For now, knowing the Emei Sect is involved is enough.

That much was a fruitful discovery.
The fact that the bait worked so quickly was a bonus.

Now for the final order of business.

“Grk…!”

The woman writhed, unable to even close her mouth properly.

Unfortunately for her, I wasn’t finished.

“Truthfully, I don’t care about Pi Yeon-Yeon or the Guiyeong Tree. What I’m about to ask is the most important thing.”

If it came down to it, I could always turn her into a demon to extract the answers I needed.

But that would be my last resort. I preferred not to corrupt others needlessly, especially without fully understanding their circumstances.

“So, let me ask you something.”

I tilted my head slightly, speaking as if the matter was trivial.

“I drank some poison this morning.”

“...”

“Was that your doing?”

The woman flinched.

Her reaction didn’t escape my notice.

“So it was you?”

“N-No… no…”

She tried to deny it, but with her cheeks held tightly in my grip, her words came out garbled.

Watching her struggle, I clicked my tongue lightly.

“Ah, now I feel bad for suspecting the Poison King. I thought it was obviously his doing.”

Regrettably (or perhaps not), my second guess turned out to be correct.

Her eyes flashed with unspoken questions—how did I know? How could I pinpoint it so precisely?

It was a reasonable reaction. After all, there was no clear evidence or motive pointing to the Emei Sect as the culprits.

But…

“I heard a rumor.”

Unfortunately for her, my past life had been rich with useful information.

“They say the Emei Sect, the so-called nuns of Sichuan, has recently been targeting prominent male martial artists out of jealousy.”

“…!”

“Is that true?”

Of course, it was a lie.

That rumor had circulated in my previous life but hadn’t surfaced in the present timeline yet.

It had started creeping up when the Little Sword Star rose to prominence. Whispers claimed that the Emei Sect was secretly sabotaging men in the martial world.

I was merely repeating a story I’d heard back then.

The problem was…

“When I looked into it, I found evidence pointing to a few cases besides mine.”

It seemed the rumor was true.

“Grrk… urk…”

There had been reports—gleaned from my network of spies—of innkeepers, servants, and even courtesans attempting to slip poison into food or drinks.

This had occurred throughout Hunan from the previous night until dawn today.

The culprits varied, but the poison used was always the same, and every attempt had failed.

The perpetrators, amateurs paid significant sums, had been caught using laughably crude methods.

To me, it was clear: those failures were deliberate.

The common thread?

The victims were all participants in the martial arts tournament.
Specifically, they were young male martial artists starting to make a name for themselves.

And yet, despite the failed attempts, none of the victims sought help from the Murim Alliance.

That in itself was amusing.

Why wouldn’t they turn to the most reliable authority in Hunan?

This wasn’t just about pride.

Even the orthodox factions didn’t trust the Murim Alliance.

The situation was, in a word, a mess.

“N-No… no…”

“Why go to such lengths? I’m genuinely curious.”

Her denials meant little to me.

The fact that a rumor from my previous life had proven true was amusing enough, but the motivations behind it intrigued me even more.

I wondered if it was worth turning her into a demon to extract the answers.

After all, this was an excellent opportunity—not just to gather information about the Sword Queen, but perhaps more.

I hadn’t planned to create any new demons for the time being, but if it served a purpose, the situation might justify it.

Should I corrupt her?

I hesitated, weighing my options, when a better idea struck me.

“Hm.”

This involved more than one faction.

The Emei Sect, the Murim Alliance…

And possibly others. What I needed to figure out was:

Are the Emei Sect and the Murim Alliance allies?

Or were they opposing forces?

They’re both orthodox factions, so they’re unlikely to be outright enemies.

But that didn’t necessarily mean they were in full cooperation.

If they were working together, it wouldn’t make sense for the Murim Alliance to lack information about the Sword Queen.

Whatever the nature of their relationship, one thing was clear.

To me, both are enemies.

It was far better to exploit that dynamic than to get caught between them and struggle unnecessarily.

“Alright.”

Having come to a decision, I smiled.

The woman shivered as if sensing danger, and I tightened my grip on her.

Crunch—

The sound was sickeningly satisfying.

 
   ******************
   

A vast residence located in the northern region of Hanam Province.

This was one of the areas managed by the Martial Alliance.
Currently, it was being used by disciples of the Mount Hua Sect.

Inside the third-largest residence under their jurisdiction.

There,

“Aaaargh!”

A sharp scream echoed through the air.

“S-Sister!”

“Yeonyeong has been…!”

The women dressed in martial arts uniforms turned pale as they rushed to assess the situation.
At the center of their gathering lay a woman, motionless, having already drawn her last breath.

It was Yeonyeong, a second-generation disciple of the Mount Hua Sect who had been dispatched on a mission.

“W-what is the meaning of this…!”

A corpse suddenly discovered in the field.

As the women faced the grim reality, their expressions twisted in disbelief.

“…Step aside.”

A voice came from behind, causing everyone to flinch.

The women immediately cleared the way.

An elderly woman strode forward with measured, dignified steps toward Yeonyeong’s lifeless body.

“…”

A cold, lifeless corpse.

Judging by the marks on her neck, it seemed she had died instantly from a single blow.
The old woman, her gaze sharp, scanned the surroundings as she spoke.

“…What happened here?”

“T-that is… while we were on watch, s-someone appeared out of nowhere….”

“…What did you say?”

The old woman’s expression darkened at the explanation.
This was a space under the Alliance’s jurisdiction, not to mention that it was being guarded by disciples.

Yet, how could a body suddenly appear in such an unimpeded, open space?
And,

‘The child I sent on a mission?’

One of the five she had dispatched on a secret mission the previous night?
It was incomprehensible.

Sensing something was amiss, the old woman examined the corpse once more.

“Hmm…?”

She noticed something clasped tightly in the deceased’s hand.

The old woman immediately attempted to pry it free.

The body was stiffening, making it difficult to open the hand, so she applied more force, causing a cracking sound to echo.

Crunch!

Only after crushing the hand completely was she able to retrieve what appeared to be a letter.

The old woman, seemingly unbothered by the mangled hand, unfolded the item to inspect it.

On the letter was the emblem of the Martial Alliance, accompanied by a single line of text.

[Do not delve further into the secret.]

“…”

The moment she read the words.

Whoosh!

“Master!”

“It’s dangerous!”

The letter suddenly caught fire and disintegrated.

“…Hah.”

The old woman.

No, the Sect Leader of the Mount Hua Sect, and one of the Seven Masters of the Martial World.

The Pulverizing Moon Fist Immortal grimaced, her face contorted with rage.