The World’s Greatest is Dead - Chapter 182

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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 182
Whiiiing-!!!
A sharp sound cuts through the air, leaving a line in its wake.
As the swift blade tip leaves its mark, sparks scatter in all directions.
Clang-!!
“Ugh!”
With a rough sound, someone is pushed backward. The young man’s name was Mae Seonwoo, a blood relative of the Shandong Mae clan, and though he was a highly promising disciple of the Mae family in this generation, he found himself unable to gain the upper hand against his opponent.
“Your flank is exposed.”
Watching the young man before him smile faintly while wielding his blade, Mae Seonwoo’s face twisted in frustration.
“Damn it…!”
He cried out as if deeply wronged.
“Why are you doing this! You should have already collected all the stones!”
At Mae Seonwoo’s words, his opponent, Naelyong Namgung Cheon, laughed awkwardly.
“What can I do? Isn’t this all just nostalgia?”
“What nonsense…!”
What kind of ridiculous thing was that to say? How could this possibly be called nostalgia?
Mae Seonwoo was certain that this Naelyong had already met the qualification conditions.
It couldn’t be otherwise. One of the Seven Prodigies surely couldn’t have failed to collect stones by now.
And yet.
“After collecting them all, you still try to plunder from others…!”
Even in such circumstances, he initiates a fight and attempts to steal stones.
Mae Seonwoo could not accept such unreasonableness. Moreover.
‘If it were just Naelyong alone.’
One of the Seven Prodigies was already overwhelming, but another figure posed a problem.
That person leaning against the wall in the distance, watching this unfold without intervention.
He was a young man with a somewhat small frame for a martial artist, but possessed strikingly handsome features and blue eyes.
Mae Seonwoo knew him. They had already exchanged greetings at the banquet.
‘The Protagonist…!’
The Protagonist, most famous in recent times.
He had heard that he was the predecessor of the Sword Saint Yoo Cheon-gil, who was called the Heavenly Supreme and the hero of the Central Plains, and that at such a young age he had achieved an extraordinary realm and accomplished tremendous feats against the heretical sects in Sichuan.
He had heard that this talented figure possessed the ability to place even the Seven Prodigies beneath his feet.
‘So that’s why…’
He doesn’t even bother joining the fight?
The Protagonist had not moved at all while Naelyong fought against the two of them.
The fact that Naelyong alone could handle both opponents was already absurd.
‘Is he really just watching?’
And yet he truly was just spectating.
‘Tch…’
Did he consider them not worth stepping in for? Mae Seonwoo felt his pride crumbling, but.
“It seems you won’t have time to be distracted.”
“…!”
Before I could even process the sensation, Naelyong’s blade surged forward.
Crackle—!!
A small thunderclap accompanied the flash of steel.
When my eyes opened, Naelyong’s sword rested against Mae Seonwoo’s throat.
“…ha….”
Mae Seonwoo exhaled sharply and spoke.
“…I’ve lost.”
“That was a fine match.”
It was anything but a fine match.
An overwhelming display of dominance.
Mae Seonwoo knew it, and Naelyong knew it too.
Yet neither of them acknowledged it.
Such was the nature of their fight.
Mae Seonwoo finally withdrew a white stone from his robes and handed it to Naelyong.
Naelyong glanced briefly at Mae Seonwoo’s chest.
Two black stones were faintly visible within.
“Haha. Much obliged.”
He deliberately chose not to mention it.
“….”
“Well then, I do hope you look after your companion and pass the examination.”
At Naelyong’s words, Mae Seonwoo glanced behind him. Far in the distance, his companion lay unconscious from Naelyong’s earlier assault.
“….”
Encouragement while robbing him blind—it was absurd beyond measure, yet Mae Seonwoo had no right to point it out.
“…Thank you.”
Those were the only words he could muster.

* * *
After the battle ended, Naelyong approached me, spinning the stone he had obtained between his fingers.
“Come now, don’t just stand there watching—why not lend a hand?”
I let out a soft chuckle at his dissatisfied tone.
“You seemed perfectly capable of handling it all yourself.”
“There’s still a certain pleasure in doing things together, you know.”
Together, my foot.
‘Didn’t seem necessary at all.’
He handled everything perfectly on his own.
Throughout the entire test, the moment Naelyong spotted another opponent, he would draw his sword and charge—a pattern he repeated endlessly.
His speed was remarkably swift.
‘More vicious than it appears.’
Naelyong’s sword was far more intense and brutal than I had initially perceived.
While Socheongeom, who shared the Namgung surname, wielded a refined and composed style,
‘What is this?’
Naelyong wielded an entirely different sword technique.
It was absurd for me to evaluate the Namgung clan’s swordplay, but that was the impression my eyes conveyed.
‘No hesitation whatsoever—why does he move like such a beast?’
Despite his refined appearance, his combat style was pure savagery.
As if savoring each swing of his blade, Namgung Cheon wielded his sword with thunder itself.
Thunder incarnate, one might say? Yes, that was the perfect way to describe it.
‘Thunder isn’t exactly clean and orderly, after all.’
Rough and chaotic, layered with countless elements.
Such was the sword Namgung Cheon commanded.
‘He’s strong.’
Genuinely strong.
After observing him for so long, I understood.
He was formidable—his reputation as one of the Seven Prodigies was no jest, incomparable to the other disciples.
‘We fought together occasionally, true.’
But that amounted to merely providing assistance.
‘He handled everything so well there was nowhere for me to fit in.’
Whether two or one, he managed it all himself—my role was little more than occasional restraint.
It was convenient, at least.
‘The matchups worked out well too.’
I had only encountered another of the Seven Prodigies at the very beginning of the secondary preliminaries, never again after that.
Thanks to that, my collection was substantial.
‘Let me see what I’ve gathered…’
Ten black stones. Eight white stones.
For fighting nearly until sunset, it didn’t seem like much.
‘Perhaps they’re all hiding well.’
Finding another opponent in this vast mountain was proving somewhat difficult.
‘This much will do.’
The harvest wasn’t bad. As I thought this and began organizing the stones I’d collected.
“Say, you know.”
Naelyong spoke to me.
“Yes?”
“The test seems to be almost over. Doesn’t it?”
“Yes. Well. I suppose so.”
I looked up at the sky. The sunset was fading completely.
At this rate, the secondary preliminaries seemed to be coming to an end.
‘I wonder how the others did.’
Cheonhye-in and Dok-ryong—I didn’t really care about them. If anything, I was concerned about Cheon Euijin and Do-hyeong.
Considering we hadn’t encountered each other on the mountain, I believed they’d managed on their own.
‘Though I shouldn’t be worrying about them right now.’
I was fortunate to have teamed up with Naelyong; otherwise, things might not have gone so smoothly for me either.
Recalling that, I looked back at Naelyong.
“Well then.”
Naelyong grinned and spoke to me.
“Since the test is nearly finished, how about we cross blades once?”
“…What?”
Suddenly?
I stared at him with widened eyes at Naelyong’s proposal.
Out of nowhere, he wanted to cross blades?
“You want to spar? Now?”
“That’s right. The time’s almost up anyway, and finding someone else would be tedious. Why not have a little fun and give it a try?”
“…Really?”
I could just stay still and be done with it, yet he was insisting on crossing blades. I looked at him with a puzzled expression.
“That’s right. Really.”
….
Looking into Naelyong’s eyes, I understood.
‘Ah, I see.’
This bastard wanted this from the beginning?
‘He wanted to fight me.’
Perhaps throughout this entire preliminary round.
His mind had been occupied with nothing but that thought.
Those were the eyes of someone desperate to spar with me no matter what.
“…I….”
I really didn’t want to do this. As I looked at Naelyong, wondering if I really had to fight.
“Ah, don’t worry.”
Naelyong waved his hand as he spoke.
Oh, what’s this? You’re saying it doesn’t matter if I refuse—
“This wasn’t a request for permission.”
*Shing.*
…Ah, I see.
‘…So it was a notification.’
A notification that from now on, I must fight you.
With that understanding, Naelyong draws his sword once more.
‘How troublesome.’
Since he fights so well up front, I’d momentarily forgotten that the Sevenfold was teeming with madmen.
‘I forgot that this lunatic got along so well with Heuk Taedo.’
Naelyong approaches me with eyes burning with fighting spirit.
“Must we really fight against our own comrade?”
“Fight? This is merely a game, a game.”
“Stop spouting nonsense with that relaxed look. Honestly.”
There’s no point in trying to stop him.
I let out a sigh.
‘Hmm.’
Then, suddenly, my hand moved to my waist. A sparring match with Naelyong?
Thinking of this, I chuckled softly. It was rather absurd.
‘I’m thinking it’s not so bad.’
Fighting that monster doesn’t feel entirely unpleasant.
Recalling that I felt this way, I let out a hollow laugh.
‘Ah, I’m done for….’
I too seem to be gradually corrupted in strange ways.
‘I didn’t want to fight battles with no gain.’
What meaning could this possibly have?
It’s truly pointless.
There’s no need to fight, yet I’m about to do it anyway.
I’m someone who truly hates taking losses.
*Shing.*
I had drawn my sword.
Fighting Naelyong is something where I have only everything to lose.
‘That’s only if I lose.’
If the problem is defeat, then wouldn’t winning solve it?
‘Naelyong is strong, but.’
Can I not defeat him? Well, I have peculiar thoughts on that matter.
The man is utterly mad.
‘To think I’d feel like fighting the Sevenfold.’
Perhaps because I’ve consumed so much fortune, I’ve become arrogant.
In the past, I would never have entertained such a thought.
“Will you have any regrets?”
I narrowed my eyes and spoke to Naelyong.
Upon hearing that, Naelyong’s eyes curved into crescents as he smiled.
“Regrets? I’m afraid not.”
쿠르르르릉—!!!
As the sun descended from the sky, dark clouds gathered upon Naelyong’s blade.
“Such is not my nature.”
“That’s quite an admirable character you possess….”
The essence of the Namgung clan’s sword technique flowed through his blade.
Naelyong, gripping it tightly, prepared to rush toward me.
Seeing that, I also readied myself to assume my stance for the Moonlight Sword Technique.
Crack.
“…!”
“…Hmm!”
At the sound of movement from the side, both of us immediately turned our heads.
There was.
“Ah. How awkward.”
A young man carrying someone on his back, wearing an embarrassed expression, had stepped on a tree branch.
“…Did I interrupt? I’m terribly sorry. Haha….”
Noticing that we had detected his presence, he forced a smile and spoke.
Naelyong’s brow furrowed as he looked at him.
More precisely, he was looking at the other young man being carried on the first one’s back.
“…Seo-pyeong?”
Surprisingly, the one being carried was Seo-pyeong.
Mudang Unryong Seo-pyeong. He was being carried by the young man, apparently unconscious.
“Ah.”
The young man, noticing Naelyong’s gaze, spoke.
“I just came from dealing with an incident… My colleague here lost consciousness, so I was bringing him along.”
Seo-pyeong had fainted?
As Naelyong and I stood bewildered by this revelation.
“Ah, please don’t mind me. Do continue with what you were doing. I’m merely passing through.”
The young man spoke urgently and attempted to move away.
The moment Naelyong tried to approach him.
“That’s far enough.”
Someone appeared between us.
I was startled. There had been no sound of approach.
Turning my eyes, it was a Martial Artist from the Martial Arts Alliance with a covered face.
“The preliminaries have concluded. No further combat is permitted.”
“….”
“How troublesome….”
At those words, Naelyong’s face fell with visible disappointment.
“Ugh… I really wanted to test myself against you…”
He grumbled his displeasure while sheathing his sword.
“We must verify the results. Follow the guide.”
One of the Alliance members spoke to Naelyong and gestured for him to move.
Naelyong followed the Alliance representative, and I moved to follow as well before suddenly turning back.
My eyes met the Young Man’s.
He looked slightly startled upon seeing me, then offered a friendly smile and a respectful nod.
“….”
I returned a slight nod in acknowledgment.
But.
‘That bastard.’
My thoughts ran in a different direction.
‘…It’s him.’
Now I understood. I’d been wondering where I’d seen him before.
‘The man Yoo Cheon-gil was watching.’
The one with the black wind aura who had passed me in the arena.
Yoo Cheon-gil, unable to tear his eyes away from that figure.
Recalling that moment, I was certain.
‘It’s him.’
This is the man Yoo Cheon-gil had focused on.
Which meant.
‘There’s something about this bastard?’
It meant this man possessed something extraordinary.
‘…What kind of human is he?’
Regardless of that.
The Young Man before me wore a friendly smile, yet I could perceive the truth.
‘Such a deep malevolent aura?’
An presence at least on par with a Demon.
A sinister energy that could never emanate from an ordinary human.
It radiated from this Young Man.

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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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