The World’s Greatest is Dead - Chapter 223

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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 223
The Blooming of Wol-an.
Cheon Euijin’s azure eyes opened. I widened my gaze upon witnessing Wol-an’s sudden awakening.
‘He has opened Wol-an.’
Cheon Euijin opened Wol-an in the midst of combat.
Could it be.
‘Was this what he was waiting for?’
Was this the meaning of Yoo Cheon-gil’s words to wait? That Cheon Euijin would open Wol-an, so I should stand by.
That I could not steal this opportunity with my own worries.
‘So that was it.’
I understood Yoo Cheon-gil’s intention.
I began to grasp why he had told me not to interfere with Cheon Euijin.
The opening of Wol-an is the beginning of the Cheongwol Sword Dance.
Regrettably, without opening Wol-an, it was difficult to manifest true power.
I had felt this directly myself.
Moreover, the very meaning of Sowoldae was the same.
‘Sowoldae can only be entered by opening Wol-an.’
A feast of azure eyes. One could discern this merely by observing the conditions required to enter Sowoldae, a symbol of the Cheongwol Sect itself.
In that sense, Cheon Euijin had now properly stepped onto the path.
‘…Sigh.’
How did he know. That Cheon Euijin stood before a wall.
Had Yoo Cheon-gil seen all of this as well?
In that moment, finding him truly remarkable, I gazed upon Yoo Cheon-gil.
[Ah, I see.]
Yoo Cheon-gil spoke with hardened eyes, looking upon the arena.
[It’s time to prepare.]
‘Pardon?’
Prepare for what, all of a sudden?
화아아아아—!!
“…!!”
My senses bristled. My very soul resonated.
A vile and repugnant aura. As though I had witnessed a demon consumed by lingering attachments and obsessions, my spiritual essence reacted instinctively.
Turning my head to gaze upon the arena, Cheon Euijin was gathering azure sword energy into his blade, seemingly about to unleash Wolrang.
‘That man.’
The source of this repugnant aura.
Baekcheon-in emanated a malevolent force invisible to others, his gaze fixed upon Cheon Euijin.
This is dangerous.
This is dangerous.
Even without releasing his aura further, with such malevolent force surrounding him, he will surely commit some act.
Thinking thus, before I could even react.
[Billima.]
In that instant, my vision darkened to black.

* * *
A sharp grinding sound.
“…!”
Baekcheon-in’s eyes widened as he stared straight ahead.
The blade he had released was caught.
Not only had the sword aimed at the opponent’s neck failed to reach its target.
‘It won’t move.’
It remained fixed and rigid. Baekcheon-in’s eyes narrowed as he assessed the situation.
What in the world was happening? It wasn’t simply blocked.
‘It’s been caught?’
The blade was being held. And not just by a hand, but by the thumb and index finger alone.
Not only had he caught the released blade, but he was holding it so it couldn’t escape?
Baekcheon-in was about to let out a hollow laugh at the situation unfolding before him.
“Hold on.”
The young man before him.
Bangseong-yeon, who was holding his blade, spoke.
“With so many eyes watching, you shouldn’t be acting so violently, should you?”
“…My friend.”
“That was a bit excessive. Whatever the case may be.”
At those words delivered with a gentle smile, Baekcheon-in could not manage to smile in return.
Those blue eyes.
The intense gaze he had felt from the moment they first met.
It felt far stronger now than before.
Like the sun.
No.
‘It’s as if I’m facing the moon.’
It was an otherworldly and luminous light, as if beholding the moon in daylight.
He despised it so. He wanted to tear out those eyes immediately.
“…Aha, haha….”
Baekcheon-in laughed. He managed his expression carefully and laughed nonetheless.
“Oh my…. It seems I drew my blade carelessly without thinking due to the frightening situation.”
The strength drained from his blade. Only then did Bangseong-yeon release the sword he had been holding.
With a light tap.
As it came free, Baekcheon-in retrieved his blade.
Like Cheon Euijin’s shattered sword, Baekcheon-in’s blade was also in terrible condition.
A sword provided by the Martial Arts Alliance. Its durability appeared superior to other common blades.
Yet from how fiercely they had clashed, the edge was completely dulled, and it too was on the verge of shattering.
Clang.
Baekcheon-in retrieved his sword and steadied his breathing with shallow gasps.
‘I want to kill him.’
Despite maintaining shallow breaths, his inner world darkened with murderous intent.
A chilling emotion crawled across his entire body. Had Bangseong-yeon not intervened.
‘I could have killed him.’
I would have severed his neck without hesitation.
That arrogant sectarian dog.
Daring to use me to awaken enlightenment.
That hollow faith of his.
I would have cut it all down before my eyes, and it pains me that I could not.
But.
Crunch.
Baekcheon-in clenched his fists and swallowed his emotions.
‘Not yet.’
Not yet. With that thought, he endured with grim determination.
Killing him would have been wrong. Baekcheon-in knew this as well.
Simply.
‘I merely wanted to kill him.’
The surging emotion craved only Cheon Euijin’s neck.
“Haaah.”
As he exhaled once more, the turmoil within him subsided slightly.
Then.
“Stop.”
The Referee intervened between Bangseong-yeon and Baekcheon-in.
Too late.
No.
Bangseong-yeon had simply been that fast.
“Outsider interference in a martial contest violates the Alliance’s regulations.”
The Referee spoke thus to Bangseong-yeon.
“The contest has already ended. Had you left it as was, his neck might well have been severed. So was leaving it alone the right choice?”
“….”
At Bangseong-yeon’s words, the Referee fell silent for a moment.
Seeing this, Bangseong-yeon continued.
“You must have missed it too, didn’t you?”
His words were correct.
The Referee had also failed to perceive the situation in time to intervene.
Had he done nothing, his neck would surely have been severed as he said.
“Is one acceptable and the other not?”
As Bangseong-yeon spoke with a smile, the Referee’s brow furrowed.
You’re right, but rules are rules nonetheless.
“…That part warrants punishment for this Referee, but rules are rules.”
“So you’re saying I’m disqualified as things stand?”
“That is correct.”
“Well. Hmm.”
Bangseong-yeon fell into thought for a moment before speaking again.
“I’d appreciate it if you could look into this a bit.”
“…What do you mean?”
“Just report it to the higher-ups. Ask if disqualifying me outright is the right call. Once you ask, you’ll get an answer.”
“….”
“You can do that much, can’t you?”
The Referee was taken aback by his casual tone.
Why was he so unbothered? As if.
‘Everything would be resolved with just a question.’
It was incomprehensible, yet somehow I felt compelled to heed his words.
Those blue eyes before me felt like they were casting a spell.
“…Very well.”
Perhaps because of that, the Referee found himself answering without realizing it.
“Good. Then I’ll ask for that, and I’ll take this one with me.”
Bangseong-yeon turned back to the dazed Cheon Euijin and supported him.
“Snap out of it. If you lose focus and relax your core, you’ll bleed out.”
“…!”
At Bangseong-yeon’s warning, Cheon Euijin’s eyes widened.
Right. Caught up in the heat of the moment, I had forgotten—I was currently bearing a sword wound.
“Ugh…!”
Now that I was aware of it, the pain in my abdomen became sharp and clear.
As my focus wavered from the pain, the energy I had gathered in my core began to unravel, and blood threatened to pour out.
“Tsk tsk.”
Bangseong-yeon clicked his tongue and placed his palm against Cheon Euijin’s abdomen.
Then.
Whoooosh—!!
“…!!”
“Don’t open your mouth.”
The scattered energy reorganized and gathered at the wound.
Even the energy trembling throughout my body began to settle.
The pain faded. It happened in an instant.
By the time I could finally breathe easily as the pain subsided.
“You did well.”
“….”
Bangseong-yeon spoke.
Those words landed squarely on my shoulders.
I couldn’t respond since I’d been told not to speak, but the warmth spreading through my chest certainly wasn’t from the heat of the arena.
‘Thank you.’
With that silent utterance, I descended from the martial stage.
The match ended in Baekcheon-in’s victory.

* * *
“Phew….”
The moment I sent Cheon Euijin to the medical tent, the possession released and breath burst from my lungs.
“Ugh….”
I wiped my head wearily. It had been ages since I’d possessed someone.
I don’t think I’d done it even once since joining the Martial Arts Alliance.
‘…Is it because it’s been so long?’
A slight headache throbbed through me.
“Ugh….”
I twisted my body, enduring the pain. But then.
‘Hm?’
When I moved my arm, something felt off. What is this? Why—
‘It doesn’t hurt?’
The pain that had been there moments ago was completely gone.
It had hurt far worse than any muscle soreness.
Yet now, no matter how I moved, I felt no pain.
What in the world had happened? As that question arose—
[Your body was in such terrible shape that while I was at it, I fixed it up a bit.]
Yoo Cheon-gil spoke.
“Ah, the Old Man did this for me?”
[Well, who else would it be?]
“That’s true enough.”
It seemed Yoo Cheon-gil had done something while I was possessed.
‘Why didn’t I notice?’
If Yoo Cheon-gil had done something, I should have sensed it while I was in possession.
But I hadn’t. I hadn’t even realized what was happening, yet my body had been healed?
‘What is this now?’
How had he managed it? As the question formed—
[Don’t worry about it. You’re not ready to use it yet anyway, and there’s nothing strange about not sensing what you can’t perceive.]
Once again, Yoo Cheon-gil spoke as if reading my thoughts.
In any case, his perception was sharp.
[I may do it again later, but before that comes, you’ll need to understand it first.]
“Is that how the order works?”
[No? It’s less about order than….]
Hmm.
Yoo Cheon-gil fell silent as if choosing his words carefully, then spoke in a flat tone.
[By the time you experience it twice, you’ll be dead first, won’t you?]
“….”
It was a chilling thing to say. Where did such terrifying words even come from?
What was even more frightening here.
‘He means every word of it.’
Yoo Cheon-gil’s words would be sincere without a trace of falsehood.
That was the part that frightened me most.
‘…Yes….’
That could be the case.
It was too late to worry about such things now.
I simply nodded vaguely and moved past it.
‘At least my body is healed.’
Thanks to that, my body had recovered. Thinking that was enough, I took a step forward.
‘I wonder if Cheon Euijin is alright?’
His abdomen had been pierced by a blade, and the wound was quite severe.
As a martial artist, there shouldn’t be a problem, but I couldn’t help but be concerned.
‘Why?’
Why did Baekcheon-in stab Cheon Euijin in the belly?
‘It didn’t seem like he would make such a choice.’
Since he was deliberately showing weakness.
I had expected he wouldn’t display anything excessive.
‘Did something happen during the match that I didn’t know about?’
There was a possibility that Baekcheon-in reacted to something unexpected.
The problem was not knowing what that something was.
‘The match did continue.’
There seemed to be no point in watching more.
I had thought about watching a bit more since Geombong’s match remained.
‘They said it was already over, didn’t they?’
When I took Cheon Euijin to the medical tent, they said it was already finished.
‘Was it a single strike back then too?’
A single blow. Geombong had been ending all her matches with just one attack so far.
‘I should have watched.’
I wanted to observe more deeply what method she was using.
Unfortunately, I couldn’t do that.
‘Tsk….’
It was regrettable that I hadn’t confirmed anything.
But there was nothing more I could do about it.
‘I need to think of another approach.’
I needed to think of something else quickly. Among the Seven Swords, information about Geombong was the scarcest.
The Dragon Phoenix Records from before had the most data, at least.
‘Even that’s vague.’
There were no records of her struggling.
Only overwhelming victories were documented, leaving no weaknesses to exploit.
A monster.
That was how most descriptions of Yeon Yeon ended.
‘Hmm….’
What had she been doing all this time?
What had she been up to during my absence that earned her the title of monster among others?
I was pondering this very question.
Still lost in such thoughts, I finally returned to my quarters.
“Oh, my son!”
“….”
A voice I despised greeted me.

* * *
A figure with a distinctly impressive upper frame.
My father and Lord of the Bang Clan, Bang Cheon-ho.
He sat at the first-floor dining table, waving at me.
And moreover.
‘What are they doing here?’
Beside my father were Muyong Youngsoon and Baekwang.
And.
‘…Yeon?’
The very person I had been thinking about.
Yeon Yeon sat naturally, waving her hand.
Alongside my father.

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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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