The World’s Greatest is Dead - Chapter 193

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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 193
Clang—! Clang clang!
Successive matches unfolded. As everyone concentrated on the sight of blades clashing against blades.
In the highest pavilion erected at one side of the arena, a giant old man gazed down upon the fighting stage with withered eyes.
“….”
The old man was the current League Leader of the Martial Arts Alliance and a hero of the Grand Tournament.
Shin Chang, also known as Jeok Ho-myeong.
He watched the two fighters on the arena with quiet, unwavering eyes.
No, not two fighters. From beginning to end, Shin Chang had eyes only for one person.
A disciple of the Shaman, one of the Seven Pillars—a handsome young man who was blocking every strike from Mudang Unryong’s blade.
Geomseong’s Predecessor, the Protagonist Bangseong-yeon.
While he watched the match without so much as a blink.
“What do you think?”
“….”
Someone approached Shin Chang’s side and spoke to him.
A lean, cold-faced old man—Jegal Jin, the strategist of the Alliance and likewise a hero of the Grand Tournament.
He posed a question to Shin Chang, who was watching the match with interest.
Upon hearing the question, Shin Chang turned to Jegal Jin and asked in return.
“What do you mean?”
“That match. Is he performing well?”
At Jegal Jin’s words, Shin Chang turned his gaze back to the arena.
“Which one are you referring to?”
“….”
If you ask whether someone is performing well, which one are you looking at? Hearing this, Jegal Jin’s face twisted.
“If you’re going to jest, I won’t bother asking.”
He obviously knew who was meant. Jegal Jin grew irritated at such evasiveness.
Just as he was about to distance himself.
“Remarkable.”
Shin Chang offered his assessment, looking at Jegal Jin.
An assessment directed at whom? This too required no further inquiry.
“Remarkable?”
“Yes, remarkable.”
Upon hearing that assessment, Jegal Jin turned his gaze back to the arena.
Clang—! Clang clang—!!
Unryong of the Shaman was relentlessly unleashing strikes upon Bangseong-yeon.
Yet Bangseong-yeon was blocking them with apparent ease.
To the eyes of others, the difference in skill was unmistakable.
It had to be. Unryong was busy extending his blade without pause, while Bangseong-yeon was effortlessly deflecting each strike.
“You mean his strength is remarkable?”
Shin Chang gave a subtle shake of his head at the question of whether Bangseong-yeon’s strength was what he found remarkable.
“Not particularly strong.”
“Hmm?”
“Which is precisely what makes it remarkable.”
“What do you mean?”
Jegal Jin’s tone suggested he wanted further explanation, so Shin Chang pointed at Woon-ryong with his thick finger.
“If we’re talking about realm and cultivation level, Woon-ryong has the advantage.”
Jegal Jin’s face contorted upon hearing this.
Woon-ryong was stronger?
That couldn’t be right.
Clang!
Ugh!
Once again, Woon-ryong’s blade failed to reach Bangseong-yeon and bounced back.
Seeing this, I couldn’t understand how one could claim he wasn’t stronger.
“Because he moves first.”
Shin Chang spoke as if to aid Jegal Jin’s understanding.
“Before the opponent’s movements gain momentum, he arrives first and tangles them up. That’s why he can handle it with less force.”
“Arriving first… that’s possible, so how is he weaker?”
“That’s why I find it remarkable.”
Weaker yet faster.
As if predicting every movement of the opponent, each action was delicate and without hesitation.
Shin Chang observed this with fascination.
Was it talent? It was ambiguous to judge it purely as such.
It happened occasionally.
There were those who predicted their opponent’s movements and acted as if they’d glimpsed the distant future first.
The current Celestial Demons, including Shin Chang himself, were like this.
The younger generation of geniuses called the Seven Prodigies were similar as well.
Among them, Yoo Cheon-gil possessed a talent of a different caliber.
Even Shin Chang possessed eyes discerning enough to acknowledge this aspect.
‘It’s different.’
That child was something different.
There was something that couldn’t simply be called talent.
It was heterogeneous and contradictory.
Something within was signaling to Shin Chang that it was different, yet he couldn’t discern how it differed.
That’s why I find it remarkable.
Though he was performing similarly to Yoo Cheon-gil.
Something was different.
“….”
He blocked every attack while securing his advantageous position.
Bangseong-yeon was accomplishing this from start to finish.
He hadn’t fully matured yet.
Shin Chang had made that assessment while observing Bangseong-yeon.
‘Perhaps.’
Wasn’t there something more refined about him? Around the time I felt the need to revise my evaluation.
-Kugh!!
The distance between him and Woon-ryong widened.
Then the change arrived.
Swish.
Sword energy that Woon-ryong couldn’t contain bloomed from his blade.
At this, Shin Chang’s eyes narrowed.
He hadn’t succeeded in timing his sword energy to strike at the right moment.
Rather, Bangseong-yeon had allowed Woon-ryong to manifest his sword energy.
Why?
If he clashed directly with Woon-ryong using orthodox methods, he would lose.
Bangseong-yeon surely knew this. That’s why he had conducted the match with such precision.
It made no sense that he would offer an opportunity now.
‘What could it be.’
What was he trying to show? What was he thinking? Shin Chang’s keen eyes focused intently on Bangseong-yeon.
What could his intention be.
Perhaps he was concerned about the crowd’s reaction.
If he was paying attention to the response felt as the match prolonged.
‘It would be meaningless.’
Shin Chang could have severed his interest in Bangseong-yeon.
The interest he held precisely because he was Geomseong’s Predecessor.
It was a fitting reason to cut it off in an instant, but.
Swiiiiish-!!!
Then, witnessing the sword energy blooming from Bangseong-yeon’s blade, Shin Chang’s eyes widened ever so slightly.
‘That is.’
It.
Moonlight Severance.
A sword energy of a different dimension that only Yoo Cheon-gil used within the Cheongwol Sect.
How many demonic cultists had been cut down by that moonlight, and how many enemies.
That light had been an object of terror for the enemies Yoo Cheon-gil faced.
Yet after the Sword Saint’s death, no one in the Cheongwol Sect had been able to recreate that sword energy—until it manifested from this young man’s blade.
I had already confirmed the report that he used sword energy in the preliminary rounds.
But facing it directly felt entirely different.
‘So it was real.’
To think I would witness that sword energy again.
Crunch.
Shin Chang clenched his fist and lifted the corners of his mouth into a smile.
“…League Leader, are you smiling right now?”
Jegal Jin reacted with surprise at Shin Chang’s altered expression.
Shin Chang was laughing. It was something I hadn’t witnessed in years.
Shin Chang paid no mind to Jegal Jin’s reaction.
His eyes were fixed solely on Bangseong-yeon’s blade.
The Moonlight Blade was certainly beautiful, but even so, it seemed somewhat lacking to face Woon-ryong with that alone.
That’s why I held expectations.
He had supposedly slain a master of the heterodox sects in Sichuan.
Perhaps.
‘Could he use that?’
Could he use not just the Moonlight Blade, but something else as well?
Such anticipation welled up within me.
Just as Shin Chang gazed at Bangseong-yeon with intense emotion.
Whoosh.
Bangseong-yeon’s blade moved toward the charging Woon-ryong.
It traced a perfect circle.
The speed wasn’t particularly fast. The power didn’t appear especially strong either.
The serene blade, wavering like wind through branches, seemed unable to withstand Woon-ryong’s sword crashing down with devastating force.
But.
“Ha!”
Shin Chang laughed aloud at the sight.
At that voice, all the executives of the Alliance around him turned to look at him.
Then.
Clang—!!!
With a sharp sound, Woon-ryong’s blade shattered.
Fragments of the sword scattered and dispersed.
“Hahahaha!”
Witnessing it, Shin Chang laughed even louder.
I had witnessed it directly. In that very moment, I became certain of what I saw in Bangseong-yeon.
He could use it.
That which all the demonic cultivators and heterodox sects had feared so greatly.
That which I myself had feared and sought to overcome.
The secret technique of the Cheongwol Sect, used only by Yoo Cheon-gil.
The Lunar Spirit Sword Path.
Bangseong-yeon could use it.

* * *
After the match concluded, I descended from the arena amid the roaring cheers of the crowd.
-Roooaaarrr-!!
-The Protagonist defeated Woon-ryong!
Woon-ryong’s defeat seemed to be quite a shock to the spectators, as the cheering showed no signs of stopping.
Especially since I was already making quite a stir throughout the Central Plains, the fact that Woon-ryong had fallen to my hand appeared to have considerable impact.
-The Protagonist toyed with Woon-ryong.
-The rumors that he keeps the Seven Prodigies beneath his feet are true.
-Just how far does the Protagonist’s strength extend?
And so on and so forth.
Just as I was hearing all manner of commentary from a single victory.
“Ugh….”
The moment I descended from the arena, I had to shield my eyes with my palms.
“It’s burning like hell….”
My eyes felt like they were about to ignite.
The searing sensation was so intense it felt as though I’d suffered actual burns, and the pain continued relentlessly.
“Hah….”
It had lasted mere moments at best.
A single sword strike—that was all it took—yet the backlash was extraordinarily severe.
“Ugh….”
As I kept my eyes shut, struggling against the pain.
“This is… impossible!!”
A harsh voice rang out, and I turned to look. Squinting through my barely-open eyes, I could see Woon-ryong screaming in anguish.
“I… I couldn’t have lost…!”
Unable to accept it, he shrieked with such force that spittle flew from his mouth.
What the hell is wrong with this bastard.
He was making quite an unseemly spectacle, screaming at the top of his lungs, but now Maeng-won was leading him away down the steps.
“…I…! I am…!”
Then Woon-ryong’s gaze turned toward me.
Hostility and rage radiated from his eyes immediately.
“Sigh.”
Seeing that, I felt a twinge of regret. I should have beaten him more thoroughly; it was unfortunate that I hadn’t.
‘I need to get used to this if I’m going to accomplish anything.’
As I was frantically rubbing my eyes against the pain, Yoo Cheon-gil spoke to me.
[Still, the fact that you maintained control isn’t bad.]
“….”
Though I received praise, my mood wasn’t particularly good.
Because I had literally only maintained control, nothing more.
‘…After all that suffering in the Sealed Pavilion and the Realm of Dreams.’
And all I had to show for it was mere maintenance.
It was utterly absurd.
‘Why is this so difficult?’
I held back a sigh and pondered.
The power I gained from my closed cultivation. It was about the Lunar Sword Path.
They called it the secret technique of the Cheongwol Sword Dance.
The proper form of Wol-an, and what occurs when the power of Cheongwol Heart Technique properly permeates the body.
That is precisely.
‘It reveals the sword path.’
The moon’s path shows the direction my sword should follow.
That is what Yoo Cheon-gil called the Lunar Sword Dance.
The awakening of Wol-an that reveals the opponent’s movements through me.
Should it evolve further, now Wol-an reveals the path I should take.
That is called the Lunar Sword Path.
It reveals the optimal sword path.
It was truly an absurdly broken power.
The conditions were the awakening of Wol-an and the use of Guangyue Flash Mirror.
If those two things were possible, Wol-an would undergo two awakenings and I could use the Lunar Sword Path.
The problem is.
‘I can’t even maintain it properly.’
The recoil from each use is too severe to sustain it for long.
Of course, the results were certain precisely because the recoil was so strong.
Even now, and looking back at the preliminaries, the sword path revealed the way, and I cut exactly as shown, effortlessly splitting a pillar that no one else could break.
‘…Can this even be called a martial art?’
At this point, it’s strange to even call it a martial art.
I understand it’s an impossible power.
‘If I could just master this properly.’
I felt I could truly become the Heavenly Supreme.
Keeping that in mind, I continued cooling my eyes.
[Don’t use it anymore today. There’s nothing more to use it for anyway, but if something happens, you’ll overexert yourself… hm?]
Yoo Cheon-gil was warning me when he suddenly paused.
What?
I wondered why he suddenly stopped.
“I really enjoyed watching your match.”
Someone spoke to me. Enduring the pain in my eyes, I looked up to see a beautiful woman who appeared to be my age.
Who is this?
Being here meant she was a disciple participating in the Yongbong Gathering….
‘I don’t recognize her face.’
She was someone I’d never seen before. Was she at the banquet but I just didn’t notice her?
As I stared at her in confusion.
“Ah, I am.”
The woman smiled softly, about to introduce herself.
[…Wait?]
Yoo Cheon-gil’s eyes widened as he looked at her.
Then he spoke.
[Yeo Ryeong-seon?]
‘Yeo Ryeong-seon?’
Was she someone Yoo Cheon-gil knew?
But how does that old man know about the disciples?
Confusion washed over me.
‘…What is it? The name sounds familiar somehow.’
I felt like I knew that name too.
Yeo Ryeong-seon? Yeo Ryeong-seon….
‘Ah.’
It came to me.
If it’s Yeo Ryeong-seon….
“She’s the Sword Empress.”
“The beauty of the Gwangdong clan….”
“…What?”
“…?”
Before the woman could even introduce herself, the words spilled from my lips.
At my words, the woman’s body went rigid.

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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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