The World’s Greatest is Dead - Chapter 18

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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The Heavenly Supreme Has Died – Episode 018
Trembling, trembling.
Namgung Seong pushed himself up with shaking hands.
The blow had been fierce enough that he couldn’t even catch his breath properly.
“Ugh.”
Had I used my inner energy to block, it might have been different. But the ambush came so suddenly that I couldn’t even manage that.
“Cough.”
I coughed dryly and bit my lip.
Part of me wanted to spit blood, but there were far too many eyes watching. Namgung Seong forced himself to swallow and glared ahead.
“…You… dare….”
Bangseong-yeon laughed at his words.
“Your eyes are quite similar. A perfect match, really.”
Similar to whom? I didn’t know, but it didn’t matter now.
“…You spread lies and then ambush? You treacherous bastard…! And you call yourself a martial artist!”
He shouted with his neck veins bulging. At the sight, Bangseong-yeon casually cleaned his ear with his pinky.
“The fool is the one who believed you.”
“You–!”
Namgung Seong moved his body, about to roar again.
Kwack-! A sword came crashing down where Namgung Seong had been standing. It was Bangseong-yeon’s doing.
The spectators’ jaws dropped at the sight.
“Did he just use the Descending Strike…? Socheongeom just unleashed the Descending Strike technique!”
“That’s impossible….”
Namgung Seong rolled across the ground instinctively to evade the blade.
His ears burned at the action. All the more so because everyone had witnessed it.
‘Damn it.’
To think he would resort to such a shameful tactic. My clenched fist trembled violently.
‘That dog-like bastard…!’
The shame welling up inside instantly transformed into rage.
“Rolling on the ground suits you quite well.”
My pride was crushed. Namgung Seong’s face crumpled as well.
“No need to be embarrassed. So what if it’s a bit shameful? What matters is that you dodged. Isn’t that right?”
“Shut your mouth.”
I gritted my teeth and raised my sword. By casting aside my dignity, I managed to create distance.
With fire blazing in his eyes, Namgung Seong glared at Bangseong-yeon and spoke.
“I swear it….”
The hand gripping the sword trembled slightly from the force I poured into it.
“I will stake everything and make you crawl on the ground just as you did.”
“Oh.”
Bangseong-yeon laughed at his words.
“Now that’s a delightful promise.”
Even throughout the long tribulation of blood, could that mere lump of flesh accomplish what no one else had ever managed? The old man wearing Bangseong-yeon’s mask harbored genuine anticipation.

* * *
The Sword King, who was the clan head and father, spoke to Namgung Seong.
“Do you know what is most important to the Namgung Clan’s sword?”
It was the day he had received praise for perfectly mastering the sword path for the first time.
Namgung Seong answered the question.
“Speed.”
At his resolute answer, the clan head nodded as if pleased.
“Correct. Speed.”
The Namgung Clan’s sword is founded upon swift strikes.
We seize advantage through rapid velocity and overwhelm our opponents.
It is said that the Lightning Sword, who led the Namgung Clan’s golden age, moved so swiftly that the drawing and sheathing of his blade were invisible to the eye.
“We are faster than anyone else and advance with pride toward the summit. That is the Namgung Clan’s sword and our will. In that sense, speed is indeed correct.”
The Namgung Clan’s will. Namgung Seong listened intently to those words.
Sensing that this was a position he would one day inherit and must obtain.
The Sword King, observing Namgung Seong, chuckled softly and added to his words.
“However, Seong. There is something you must understand.”
“I shall listen carefully.”
“Mere speed alone does not guarantee victory over slowness.”
Namgung Seong’s eyes widened.
It was a statement he could not comprehend. How could speed not overcome slowness?
Perhaps because this confusion showed on his face, the Sword King regarded Namgung Seong with regret and moved his lips.
“You do not understand. That is natural. Yet it is a path you must one day realize.”
“Are you speaking of what you just said, Father?”
“Yes. If it is possible…”
Why was it?
“I hope you come to understand it before it is too late.”
Why did this memory surface now, of all times?
Namgung Seong could not fathom it.
Clang!
“Ugh.”
Watching the blade tip ricochet away, Namgung Seong gritted his teeth.
He retreated half a step and reset his sword form. Rotating his waist, he turned to the left.
Whirr! The blade traced a circle, gathering more force.
The target was the chest. He swung his sword to strike that location.
But.
Whoosh!
Before the blade reached its destination, it once again cut through empty air.
“Damn it!”
How many times has this been now? Easily over twenty attempts.
The number of times Namgung Seong attacked and failed.
Thud! I drove my foot into the ground with all my strength. Channeling power into my lower body, I unleashed a rapid succession of blade strikes.
The Namgung Clan’s swordsmanship—the Linked Sword technique based on the Azure Expanse Boundless Sword Method.
Six strikes compressed into a brief opening.
This should land at least once. With that conviction, I thrust my blade forward.
Ting! Ting-ting-tack!
Four of the blade exchanges were blocked, and two were completely evaded.
Watching this, Namgung Seong cursed inwardly.
‘Why, exactly.’
How could this be happening?
‘My blade won’t connect…!’
Why weren’t his attacks landing? Namgung Seong couldn’t comprehend it.
Why wouldn’t his sword touch that man?
‘How is this possible…? My speed should be faster than his.’
That much was clear from their exchanges so far.
That man, Bangseong-yeon, was slower than him.
And it wasn’t just speed. His strength was overwhelmingly superior as well.
With both speed and power surpassing his opponent so decisively.
‘How could this be…!!’
His blade couldn’t even graze that man? No matter how many times he thought about it, he couldn’t understand.
No, it was impossible.
“Ugh.”
He would make it connect, no matter what. Namgung Seong thrust his blade with stubborn determination.
This time was no different. The blade path flowed from his hand. For a moment, Namgung Seong felt a surge of hope.
Even he had to admit it was a clean, perfect strike.
Surely this time it would land. With that certainty, Namgung Seong’s blade cut through the air.
The extended blade tip rapidly closed in on Bangseong-yeon.
Just as the sword was about to touch his throat.
Tack! Ting.
“What…?”
Suddenly Namgung Seong’s blade fell to the ground.
As if he’d seen a ghost, Namgung Seong stared at his fallen sword.
“This… Ugh!”
Then he grabbed his wrist and blood dripped from his mouth. The impact was unmistakable.
A tingling numbness. The trembling suggested he’d taken a direct hit to the bone.
Which meant his hand had been struck and his blade knocked away?
By him?
Unable to believe it, Namgung Seong’s eyes widened.
“Tsk tsk.”
A sharp clicking sound of his tongue echoed. Namgung Seong’s eyes left the wooden sword and fixed on Bangseong-yeon.
“You said you’d make me crawl on the ground. Yet here you are, dropping things left and right….”
He planted the wooden sword against the floor and assumed a crooked stance. There was not a shred of dignity in his demeanor.
“And now you’ve even lost your sword. Has it been that exhausting? Well, I suppose performing tricks is naturally quite draining.”
“…You bastard…!”
At Bangseong-yeon’s mockery, Namgung Seong’s face flushed crimson. There had never been an insult quite like this.
But the words that followed were the real problem.
“Curious, are you? Why your sword cannot touch me.”
“…!”
Struck at his weakness, Namgung Seong clamped his mouth shut.
“You have such a curious expression.”
Should I tell you? Bangseong-yeon’s face suggested as much. He was curious himself. How his own sword had become so utterly powerless. That curiosity burned within him, but.
“Then remain curious.”
“…What?”
“My nature is gentle and kind, so ordinarily I would have explained….”
Bangseong-yeon slung his sword across his shoulder and narrowed his eyes.
“But my generosity does not extend so far as to teach the likes of you.”
With those words, Bangseong-yeon looked toward Namgung Seong.
Then.
“It must be sorcery….”
“Hmm?”
“There is no other way this could be possible.”
Whoooosh.
Energy wrapped around Namgung Seong’s wooden sword.
Those who witnessed it gasped in shock.
-That’s Sword Steel!
-Insane. Sword Steel…!
A formidable force infused into the wooden sword.
Sword Steel—a technique only those who had surpassed the peak could employ.
Namgung Seong, now wielding Sword Steel, yet Bangseong-yeon merely smirked at the sight.
“Sorcery, you say. How typical that is. As always, your clan never accepts anything easily.”
This one and that one—all the same. They only understood after a beating. This was an ancient tradition of the Central Plains.
And it seemed that little bloodling over there was no exception.
“If it is not sorcery… then I could never lose to the likes of you.”
Fuuuuh—! Gripping his sword, Namgung Seong lowered into a ready stance.
He was about to charge forward.
“You must have used sorcery. Therefore, by the name of Namgung, I shall execute you.”
A murderous glint flickered in Namgung Seong’s eyes. He seemed barely in his right mind.
As if he would kill Bangseong-yeon on the spot.
“…Tch.”
Rather, Bangseong-yeon sighed as he watched Namgung Seong.
“As expected.”
As if he had been waiting for exactly this moment.
“The sword technique is impressive too—this young one shows great promise.”
Bangseong-yeon.
No, Yoo Cheon-gil lowered his sword to grip it properly.
“I was worried he might not go through with it. Thank goodness. If he’d failed, I’d have had to make excuses to this troublesome fellow.”
Fortunately, that didn’t seem likely to happen.
Yoo Cheon-gil watched Namgung Seong’s sword force and lifted the corners of his mouth.
It wasn’t bad.
Certainly, truly not bad at all.
‘He could even be compared to the Lightning Sword of my youth.’
Setting aside his character, the talent he possessed deserved high praise. His sword force seemed to have only recently blossomed, yet its execution was remarkably clean.
“Excellent.”
His mood was good.
Namgung Seong, brimming with brilliant potential, and the murderous intent boiling forth as if to kill him.
The current situation where he could grip a sword and move directly.
Yoo Cheon-gil found everything about this moment good.
‘I’m sorry to this fellow, but this is truly delightful.’
Something he thought he would never do again, yet here he was doing it—how could anything be more joyful?
The moment Yoo Cheon-gil smiled, savoring the situation.
“Hah!”
Namgung Seong burst forward with a shout. His sword path was similar to before, but the traces left in the air were different.
The sword force poured forth in brilliant light.
Like a night sky unfurled in broad daylight.
‘Splendid.’
A sky unleashed with intent to kill the opponent. Yoo Cheon-gil moved his body at this thrilling sight.
He did not erase his smile. Was it because the situation was easy? It was not.
The sword force was intense.
With this wretched body, he couldn’t even receive it. Likely, merely touching it would shatter his form.
Yet Yoo Cheon-gil walked forward.
A dull thud. His dantian stirred.
A meager wager with almost nothing. The Cyan Moon Heart Technique he had painstakingly embedded within himself.
A pittance so fleeting and frail that it hardly deserved to be called a wager.
‘Once should be possible.’
This alone was sufficient.
Shhh.
Yoo Cheon-gil’s sword moved.
Compared to Namgung Seong, it was a motion that seemed to lack everything.
Nothing could be felt even from the wooden sword. Naturally so. He couldn’t even coat it with sword energy, let alone sword force.
What could I expect from a body that would shatter under a single attack from Namgung Seong?
That was precisely the kind of body I possessed.
Yet.
‘The moon does not choose the land upon which it rises.’
Only those who wish to cultivate something upon the earth concern themselves with such things.
The moon, as always, pays no mind and simply ascends into the heavens.
Whoooosh.
Bangseong-yeon’s azure eyes, now wearing Yoo Cheon-gil, blazed with light. I stepped gradually into the Milky Way that Namgung Seong was creating.
The sword falls.
Namgung Seong’s wooden sword had already drawn dangerously close. At that moment, Yoo Cheon-gil’s blade was tracing the moon.
Azure Moon Sword Dance. First Form.
Lunar Wave.
Just as the moon was about to crash down upon Namgung Seong.
‘What?’
Yoo Cheon-gil’s eyes widened.
For some reason, my vision was receding. It wasn’t that I was losing consciousness.
I saw a back in my field of view. Astonishingly, it was Bangseong-yeon’s back.
This could only mean one thing.
[Damn it!]
The possession had been severed.
Yoo Cheon-gil had been ejected from Bangseong-yeon’s body.
Of all times, why now?
Fire ignited in Yoo Cheon-gil’s eyes. The sword had already been drawn. The distance was far too close for Bangseong-yeon to evade.
At this rate, Bangseong-yeon’s head would be shattered by the blade.
[No…!]
Yoo Cheon-gil screamed into the desperate situation.
Crash—!!
“Kugh—ack…!!”
[Wh…?]
It was not Bangseong-yeon who cried out and flew backward from the impact, but Namgung Seong.
He tumbled across the Dueling Arena floor, skidding far away.
[…Huh?]
Witnessing this, Yoo Cheon-gil let out a dumbfounded sound.
[What?]
By all accounts, since Yoo Cheon-gil had been ejected, Bangseong-yeon’s head should have been shattered by the blade.
Yet.
[…You. What did you do? How on earth….]
Yoo Cheon-gil had no choice but to stare at Bangseong-yeon in disbelief.
“Haah…. Huff…. Hah….”
Bangseong-yeon, breathing heavily and roughly, was observed by Yoo Cheon-gil as he asked.
[He maintained the Blue Moon Sword Technique…?]
Bangseong-yeon drew forth the moon.
And it was the same moon as his own.

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
—————