The World’s Greatest is Dead - Chapter 162
—————
This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
—————
The Heavenly Supreme Has Died – Episode 162
The journey had begun, heading toward Benmaeng.
From where the Cheongwol Sect was located, Benmaeng wasn’t particularly far away.
At most, two days of travel.
Though distances varied even within the same Hannam region, even in the longest estimate, I would arrive within two days.
Today marked the end of the first day, and we were now entering the second.
“Elder, when do you think we’ll arrive at our destination?”
I asked Chudong. In the past, I would never have dared ask such a thing, lacking the nerve.
But after spending a few months together, I’d grown comfortable enough to ask this much.
At my question, Chudong, seated at the reins, chuckled and replied to me.
“It seems we have about two or three hours left, I’d say.”
“Hmm…”
Two or three hours—hardly any time remaining when you thought about it.
Calculating that, I leaned back into my seat in the carriage.
‘…I never imagined I’d come this far.’
Benmaeng’s location—the heart of Hannam and where Shaolin, one of the Nine Great Sects, stood.
The epicenter of the Orthodox Faction, a place where only the absolute elite among the Martial Alliance’s members were permitted to enter.
Recalling this fact made it feel strangely real.
[Are you excited?]
At Yoo Cheon-gil’s words, I suppressed a laugh.
Excited?
‘Not a chance.’
Excited my ass. I was terrified out of my mind.
‘…Am I really going to Benmaeng?’
Back when I was in Anhui, I’d felt a certain sense of relief at becoming part of the Martial Alliance.
Even if I’d entered through the back door, so to speak, I’d become part of the Alliance—called the future and present of the Orthodox Faction.
I’d thought that if I just gained what I could here, the rest of my life would at least be comfortable.
‘It would’ve been nice if it stopped there.’
But I never expected things to go this far.
Suddenly caught by that Demon, forced to become the Heavenly Supreme, or
told I’d die if I didn’t master martial arts, or
having my cultivation forcibly elevated.
And now I was heading toward Benmaeng itself—a place I was supposedly never supposed to reach.
‘…Is this right?’
How had my life become like this?
‘Tsk.’
I’d tried to live a decent life, but I never imagined it would turn out this way.
‘I hope it goes well.’
The Dragon-Phoenix Assembly.
The reason I was heading toward Benmaeng now, and recalling my worries about it, I furrowed my brow.
What could Shin Chang be thinking?
The current Alliance Leader and one of the few active Celestial Demons.
I wondered what intention Shin Chang had in summoning me.
Surely not.
‘He’s not actually trying to mess with me, is he?’
Would an absolute master who had reached the pinnacle really summon me for such a reason, even exercising his authority?
‘Considering what that old man has done before, it’s possible.’
The possibility was certainly there.
Which made me even more anxious.
‘Gulp….’
Just as I swallowed hard along with my worry and was about to close my eyes.
“Are you nervous?”
I shifted my gaze toward the voice. A handsome face came into view.
It was Cheon Euijin.
“…It would be a lie to say I’m not. This is my first time participating in such a grand festival, after all.”
“Haha. It’s nothing much. It’s just a grand festival in name, but there’s really no need to be nervous at all.”
“Ah, yes….”
As I spoke, I glanced down at Cheon Euijin’s leg.
“…Then that statement would apply to the Heavenly Supreme as well, wouldn’t it?”
“Huh? Ah, of course.”
Cheon Euijin answered confidently, and hearing that, I made a displeased expression.
‘Then stop shaking your leg like a madman….’
Beneath his composed expression, Cheon Euijin was bouncing his leg frantically.
A clear sign that he was far more nervous than his words suggested.
He was telling me it was fine, but I understood what he really meant.
‘He’s saying it to himself.’
It seemed like words meant for Cheon Euijin himself as well.
The most nervous person in this carriage was Cheon Euijin.
As for the others.
‘Everyone else seems calm.’
The others showed no particular reaction.
Do-hyeong had his arm resting on the window frame, checking what was outside.
Cheonhye-in sat upright in proper posture with her eyes closed.
As for Dang Cheon-il, as usual, he was just biting his tongue with a discontented expression.
We had traveled by carriage for a full day in this state.
‘Hmm.’
Recalling that, I looked at Cheonhye-in.
She had closed her eyes the moment she boarded the carriage and hadn’t spoken a word.
She hadn’t even conversed with Cheon Euijin, whom she herself had recommended.
It was Cheon Euijin who was watching her expression.
‘I didn’t say anything as she asked. I wonder why.’
Cheonhye-in had instructed me not to mention that she was the one who recommended Cheon Euijin.
Was that condition included in her request as well?
So I deliberately refrained from explaining it to Cheon Euijin.
‘If you look at it, their relationship isn’t particularly good.’
It was already common knowledge that the relationship between the two siblings was a mess.
Yet I couldn’t understand why Cheonhye-in wanted to bring Cheon Euijin to the Yongbong Assembly.
‘Is there something more to this?’
I wondered if there was some hidden meaning behind it.
‘But now isn’t the time to worry about such things.’
I was far too occupied to concern myself with that.
I shifted my gaze away from Cheonhye-in and looked down at my hands.
My hands were filled with letters.
These were items Wol Seon-geom had sent me before our departure.
They were also things I had asked him to obtain.
‘Things obtained through the Dang Clan.’
The most notable talented individuals currently in the Central Plains.
Detailed information regarding the Seven Prodigies.
Information that went somewhat deeper than what was commonly available.
I was examining each page carefully.
‘Two or three hours remain.’
That should be enough time to commit it all to memory. As I thought this and was about to read again.
[Hey there.]
I heard Yoo Cheon-gil’s voice.
[Look out the window.]
Upon hearing this, I furrowed my brow.
‘Out the window?’
Why would he suddenly ask me to look there?
I turned my gaze toward the window.
‘There’s nothing there.’
There was nothing particularly unusual outside.
What was he asking me to see? Wondering if he was joking, I was about to turn my head back when.
“It seems you’ve noticed as well.”
“Pardon?”
I heard Cheonhye-in’s voice.
Noticed? Noticed what?
Unable to comprehend, I looked toward Do-hyeong, who had already been gazing out the window for some time.
Clang.
His hand moved to the sword at his waist.
What is this?
I wondered if I was the only one who didn’t understand, but fortunately, Cheon Euijin and Dok-ryong also appeared equally clueless.
“It’s coming.”
Do-hyeong spoke.
And then.
“Young masters…! There’s something ahead of us!”
Chudong cried out. At his words, I peered intently out the window again.
Only then did it become visible.
‘What is that…?’
There was a carriage ahead.
And it was remarkably large.
‘…Why is it so enormous?’
The carriage provided by the Cheongwol Sect was already impressively grand, but this one surpassed it.
Three black horses stood in a line, harnessed to a carriage painted pitch-black.
And.
‘That emblem.’
A banner fluttering above the carriage. Within it, a black dragon against a white background.
It was an emblem that no one in the Central Plains could possibly fail to recognize.
That was.
‘…The Peng Clan?’
The absolute power of Hebei.
A prestigious family of the orthodox faction among the Five Great Clans of the Central Plains.
The emblem of the Peng Clan of Hebei.
* * *
The Peng Clan of Hebei.
A prestigious family located in Hebei, and one of the Five Great Clans known as the pillars of the orthodox sects.
Its Lord of the Clan is an absolute master comparable to the Five Heavenly Kings.
Peng Wusung, known as the Blade Absolute, serves as the Lord of the Clan.
True to his epithet, the Peng Clan was a martial family that wielded the blade as their preferred weapon.
They were known as a clan where every member possessed a massive frame, and among internal and external martial power, they had a particularly high understanding of external techniques.
Their defining characteristic, however, was this:
‘Crude.’
Or rather, violent.
Despite their prestigious status, rumors of their brutality followed them wherever they went.
‘…Why are they here of all places?’
What possible reason could the Peng Clan have for being in this location?
As I gazed out the window with bewilderment, our carriage drew near and gradually slowed its pace.
I could sense their presence. There were people there, which meant—
‘They know we’re approaching and are simply blocking our path.’
What was this? An ominous feeling washed over me.
[The Peng Clan.]
Yoo Cheon-gil spoke as if amused.
[The Blade God. So it’s that clan of his.]
At Yoo Cheon-gil’s words, I quietly swallowed.
Peng Sethyeok, the Blade God.
A master from the Peng Clan and a Celestial Demon.
He had died during the war with the Demonic Cult.
Whiiiing.
The carriage came to a complete halt.
The moment it stopped, Chudong descended and dragged his diminutive frame toward the Peng Clan’s carriage.
“Pardon me… we need to pass through. Would you be so kind as to clear the way?”
Just as I thought there would be no response to his cautious inquiry—
The coachman sitting there spoke.
“My apologies, but our master has not permitted it, so we cannot move.”
‘What kind of insane nonsense is this?’
I heard nothing but absurdity. Were they calling that an answer?
They couldn’t clear the way without permission?
Were they bandits or something?
I furrowed my brow. Just as I was about to step down from the carriage—
Creak.
The Peng Clan’s carriage door opened first.
And then—
Boom—! A massive foot stretched out from the carriage and stomped upon the ground.
“Phew.”
With a heavy sigh, someone struggled out of the carriage.
Crack.
“Ah, damn.”
As he ducked his head while exiting, a sound came from the carriage door. It had cracked.
“…For heaven’s sake. Broke it again.”
The figure spoke as he emerged.
My eyes widened as I looked at him.
‘Massive.’
He was huge. Impossibly huge.
In terms of sheer build, he rivaled Yoo Cheon-gil.
And it wasn’t just his height that was imposing.
His entire body was simply enormous.
A young man in black martial robes, his frame so massive that the carriage door appeared tiny beside him.
“Pardon me.”
His face bore coarse, bold features—a handsome, rugged countenance.
The young man spoke to Chudong, his broad shoulders displayed prominently.
“I have some business over there, so I’m afraid I’ve had to block the path like this.”
‘…That bastard?’
Watching the young man speak to Chudong, something clicked.
I thought I knew who he was.
His appearance matched exactly what I’d just read in that letter.
It had to be him.
“Heuk…”
“Heuk Taedo!”
“Huh?”
Before I could even speak, someone beside me burst out of the carriage.
It was Dang Cheon-il.
What the hell was he doing?
I stared at Dang Cheon-il in bewilderment, but he had already exited the carriage.
“You…!”
“Huh?”
The young man reacted to Dang Cheon-il’s sudden outburst.
“Oh, what’s this.”
He grinned upon recognizing Dang Cheon-il.
“A successor of the Dang Clan. Never thought I’d see you here. Pleased to meet you.”
‘…Damn.’
He threw out a chilling remark without warning.
A successor, he said.
‘Brutal objectification.’
My favorable impression of him rose slightly.
“…This bastard…!!”
Dang Cheon-il, that young man.
His face twisted at Heuk Taedo’s words.
The young man’s identity was a figure of the Peng Clan and quite a renowned one at that.
Heuk Taedo Peng Dojun.
One of the Seven Prodigies drawing attention in the Central Plains.
‘I wondered why that bastard was acting so crazy.’
He was someone with a bitter history with Dok-ryong Dang Cheon-il.
And for good reason.
‘…He defeated him in a single strike, they said?’
At the last Dragon-Phoenix Gathering, it was this giant who had utterly crushed Dok-ryong.
“How curious. What brings you here?”
“…You dog-like bastard. I’ll kill you…!”
“Oh.”
As Dang Cheon-il began to release his energy, Peng Dojun, witnessing it, nodded in admiration.
In that instant.
Boom-!
Dang Cheon-il wrapped his energy around himself and charged forward like an arrow.
His presence had diminished. He had wrapped himself in the Poison Demon Martial Arts and rushed forward.
Was he suddenly starting a fight?
Just as confusion was dawning in the face of this sudden situation.
“My, my.”
Peng Dojun spoke as if troubled.
“You’re still.”
Whoosh-!!
He clenched his fist and.
“Such a lunatic.”
Without hesitation.
Boom–!!!
“Kugh!”
He drove it straight into the face of the charging Dang Cheon-il.
Dang Cheon-il, taking the full force to his face, was driven into the ground.
Jesus Christ.
‘Is he dead?’
His cheeks appeared caved in.
The sight of him embedded in the earth, trembling violently, was ghastly.
Moreover.
‘He crushed him in a single strike, they said…?’
Heuk Taedo had pulverized Dok-ryong with just one blow.
The disparity in strength was unmistakably apparent.
It couldn’t even be called an exchange. In the silence that followed the clash that ended in a mere brush, the air grew still.
Thud.
Heuk Taedo stepped over the fallen Dang Cheon-il and approached me.
“I have a question for you.”
His demeanor showed no concern or interest in the fight he had just finished with Dang Cheon-il.
“That carriage appears to belong to the Cheongwol Sect. I was wondering if perhaps the person I’m searching for might be inside it.”
As he drew closer, my eyes narrowed.
His presence was far from ordinary.
But the real problem was something else.
“What was that name again…? Ah, yes.”
It lay in the words he was about to speak.
“Bangseong-yeon.”
‘What?’
“The Protagonist Bangseong-yeon. Is he in that place?”
Heuk Taedo, who had just crushed Dang Cheon-il,
was searching for me.
—————
This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
—————